Zevwarden week - Day 5: Role Reversal
It is a rare thing to see a mage working with one of Thedas’ most
deadly groups of assassins because it is well known that the Crows are
very selective in who can join their ranks.
Forced into a place she had not wanted to be because of a religion she
did not practice and their fear of things they did not understand.
She grew up secluded with others like her, but somehow someone found
out she was very talented in the art of seducing both men and women
before she was caught and taken to the circle, that someone happened
to be an Antivan Crow.
It had been five years since she was broken out of the circle and
recruited by the Crows.
Five years since she became a Crow herself when she was offered a
contract on someone different than her usual targets.
Her usual targets were usually men with more coin than common sense
who she could hardly stomach to look at, but this target was
different, quite attractive if she were to be truthful.
While she glanced at the sketch of the elf she was supposed to kill,
the man in charge of giving her the information cleared his throat.
“This man, Zevran I believe he was called, has been a pain in
someone’s neck in Ferelden, one Teryn Loghain will be notified once
you finish your part and report back to the man we will have stationed
in Denerim.” the man said.
“We need him taken care of very soon, by that I mean the sooner, the
better.” the man added.
Alia just glanced up at the man with a confused look, “You want me to
go to Ferelden, one of the coldest places in all of Thedas?” she
asked.
“Cold weather aside, I believe this is one you can handle on your own Amell.”
“I’ll take it,” she said before standing up and walking away.
“Just be careful, Amell, because there’s rumor he may be a Grey Warden.”
She just laughed coldly as she looked over her shoulder at him, “Good,
I’ve never killed one of those before.” she told the man before
leaving the room completely.
The next thing she knew she was on Ferelden soil and ready to
“I can’t believe Duncan recruited you of all people!” Alistair groaned
as the elf walking in front of them started to flirt with the old mage
that had just joined them.
“What can I say, he had good tastes.” Zevran laughed.
“I can’t believe that the fate of everyone in Thedas lies with the two
of you imbeciles.” Morrigan groaned, causing Zevran to laugh.
As the small group walked and threw banter back and forth, the sun got
lower in the sky, and the assassin mage Alia Amell worked out her plan
for attack while she followed, not far behind the group.
Where she got the horse she was riding, well, she stole it, as she
does many things when circumstance calls for it.
Finally from not far behind, just far enough to not be seen, she made
out their forms starting to set up camp, and with that, she knew her
plan was being set into motion.
She shook her hair down from the elegant style it was in and glanced
around at the surrounding trees, “Time to put on a show.” she smirked.
The group was gathered around the fire that night eating in relative
silence aside from a few attempts on Leliana’s part to interact with
Morrigan and Sten when a woman’s scream broke through the air.
Mere seconds later the entirety of the camp was standing with their
weapons drawn, frantically looking for the source of the terrified
screaming when a woman riding a horse broke through the nearby
treeline, appearing to be holding onto the horse’s neck for dear life.
As soon as the horse started to jump over the small firepit, the woman
screamed again as she seemingly lost her grip on the horse’s neck and
started to fall to the ground.
Wynne was quick to approach the short woman as soon as she hit the
ground, “Oh dear, are you okay?” she asked when the woman let out a
pained whimper.
“Fine, fine, I’ll be fine,” Alia assured the older mage in a shaky voice.
“That was quite some fall.” the redhead pointed out as she approached
the stranger.
Upon seeing her face, Alia smiled, “Maybe I fell for you, I do have a
thing for redheads you know.” she joked.
“Not another one,” Morrigan groaned as she shook her head.
“Oh, damn.” Alia winced as she attempted to sit up straight, “Don’t
worry, you’re pretty sexy for a brunette.” she assured the apostate,
gaining a laugh from someone currently standing behind her.
“As much as I’m enjoying this, maybe you should tell us what
happened.” the voice behind her said.
She soon realized that the voice belonged to a templar and moved
quickly as if she was trying to get away from him, but she whimpered
in pain when her arm touched the ground.
“Alistair, quit, you’re scaring the poor woman!” said the man she was
sent to kill, “This is Wynne, she’ll heal your injuries and I am
Zevran,” he announced.
Introductions were then made, granted Alia already knew most of their
names from earlier when she was eavesdropping on their little group.
Zevran had already attempted to get Alia to blush, but with every
inappropriate joke he had, she had one to counter his and the only one
left truly flustered was Alistair.
She played her part well, a scared apostate from the Kirkwall that
spent most of her life running away from the circle and the templars
that hurt so many she knew.
Even going as far as deliberately staying out of the way of Alistair
for most of the night, putting on a face of fear, granted she knew of
at least seven ways she could put him on his ass without magic or a
weapon.
Sten, Morrigan, and Alistair were the only ones who didn’t immediately
trust her, but the others fell into a state of ease around her, as
most of the people she killed had done before.
For some reason, Alia hesitated though, she couldn’t bring herself to
kill the Wardens, nor their companions that night as all but the one
keeping watch slept mere feet away from her.
She already had it planned, when the Qunari took his watch, she would
kill him first, then the ex-templar followed by the bard then she
would kill the mages, leaving the elder one for last while hoping the
resident mabari didn’t alert them to her.
Somehow she couldn’t do it, she had killed hundreds of people but
these ones were different.
The night she infiltrated their group she knew she would have to do
what she was sent to do, no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t
kill them.
They were a family of sorts, the kind she couldn’t remember ever being
a part of and that’s is how she ended up joining the small group of
misfits.
As they traveled across Ferelden, Zevran and Alia grew close, closer
than any assassin should be to their mark.
She never once lied when he asked her a question about her past,
granted she did leave small details out, but she was even truthful
about what she did before she came to Ferelden, and telling him she
was employed by the Crows, but asking the others not find out.
It was true, she was born and raised in Kirkwall, and she did run to
get away from the templars that could be hunting her, she let them
know that she was a mage, skilled with seduction and various weapons,
but not how she became a master of the art.
Eventually, she fell into bed with the resident elf and that exact
night, something clicked inside of her head and she knew she had to
tell him why she truly was there in the woods that night.
After that night, she started to ignore his advances and hers
completely stopped, she didn’t want him to notice, but he did notice,
and he asked her about it while setting up camp one night.
She didn’t lie, she told him their night had influenced her and she
just needed to think before she would join him in his tent again.
He had no ill feelings toward her for rejecting his offer of stress
relief, but he was rather worried about her, seeing as she had changed
after they slept together, now choosing to sit further away from him
at night around the camp’s main fire.
Somehow they found themselves in Orzammar with a dwarf who decided to
join their merry little gang of misfits because his wife had run off
before they delved into the Deep Roads.
Camping in the Deep Roads was far from the glamor Alia was used to in
Antiva, but she couldn’t complain too much considering that it was
warmer than the Frostbacks they had just trekked through for much
longer than she would’ve liked.
The tense atmosphere was apparently unbearable to their group’s
newcomer, given how short of an amount of time it took for him to
point of the obvious.
The obvious being lingering glances, longing sighs and unspoken words
on both ends, “What’s wrong with the two of them?” Oghren asked the
older mage as she darned Alistair’s socks.
Wynne glanced up to see what he was talking about and found herself
looking at two clueless fools, “I believe they are in love with each
other but too foolish to realize it.” she whispered to the man,
gaining a humorous snort in reply.
“Any sodding nug humper could see that, but I mean why aren’t they talking?”
Wynne laughed softly, “I believe that would be a question best asked
to them.” she told him.
Eventually, Leliana found herself roped into doing Oghren’s dirty work
that night, getting the two love-struck fools to talk to each other,
she was in charge of speaking to Alia and Oghren took the challenge of
speaking to Zevran.
On both ends, it was difficult to get their comrades to take their
concern seriously, but eventually with some help from Alistair and
Wynne too, Alia confessed she wasn’t sure why she couldn’t talk to him
anymore, that it was just too difficult, that she wasn’t used to
felling such a way.
“That thing you’re feeling might just be love, Alia.” Leliana giggled,
“It’s not a bad thing, you just love him.” she added.
Their comrades had made them realize what was right in front of them,
and on Alia’s part that meant she had to tell him the truth.
The next night as the group was setting up camp, Alia made her way to
Zevran and started to speak the words she had been rehearsing the
entire day in her head, “I need to speak to you, in private about
something very important that I need you to know.” she said in a
single rushed breath.
“Is it about something naughty, because I always enjoy talking about
naughty things.”
Alia just shook her head, “No, Zevran, it’s serious.” she told him.
“Everyone is being so serious these days.” he hummed before motioning
for her to follow him down the corridor for some privacy, or at least
the illusion of it.
The mabari followed them as they walked, “I need you to know the
truth.” she whispered just loud enough for him to hear.
He hummed, nonverbally telling her to continue, “I was sent to kill
you by the Crows, Zevran.” she explained.
“I know.” were the only words he said in reply.
“I understand if you are upset, I can leave now if you- Wait, what?”
she exclaimed, causing Zevran to chuckle.
“I have seen crow daggers before, and there is no absolute way they
would ever let one of their own be hunted by templars,” he said.
“With the pieces of your story that you have told me, it was easy to
fill in the blanks.”
Her mouth hung open as she stopped walking, “You’re going to catch
flies like that, Dear Mage.” he joked.
She started to ask if the others knew but he quickly told her that
they didn’t and wouldn’t unless she wished for them to know.
With their little chat that night in the deep roads, they came to an
understanding or an agreement of sorts.
They spoke much that night, agreeing to go back to the way things were
before they slept together.
Back to being on speaking terms, led to their comrades being forced to
put up with twice as much flirtatious banter than usual, and with
Alia’s agreement, Zevran found the opportune moment to drop the news
of why she really was in Ferelden that fateful night.
Of course, everyone was in shock, but the couple played it off as
thinking everyone knew about her originally only being there to kill
her mark but joining the group once she found out that their goals
benefited much more than if she were to kill them all.
Surprisingly Sten even went as far as praising her, “Not many
assassins would be able to infiltrate a group as easily as you did
without alerting a well trained Qunari to their plans.” he said.
The Crows never sent anyone after her because they thought she was
dead, but they did send another group after Zevran and his group of
misfits in an attempt to fulfill the contract taken out on him, but
with his assassin at his back, those who sought to kill him did not
succeed.
Together this group gathered an army to defeat the blight, they dubbed
them heroes in their victory, and songs were sung of said victory for
years to come.
To this day you hear rumor, stories of an elf and an assassin mage,
venturing across Thedas in the search for a cure, killing Crows when
they find them and doing things that lovers do.
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