faderift | [open] With a weary heart...

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[open] With a weary heart...

WHO: Kaidan Alenko and you
WHAT: Kaidan is feeling old. Or weary. Or something
WHEN: The day after this takes place
WHERE: All over Skyhold
NOTES: Grumpy Wardens...

A

The view from the battlements was incredible, but did nothing to ease the turmoil in his mind. Frankly Kaidan just felt old. Fifteen years as a Warden, he knew there wouldn't be all that many more, but he was fine with that - or it would be if the incessant singing would stop. Felix's Joining had affected him more than he thought it would. Were they truly so desperate that they would take someone so close to death from the Blight? Apparently so. He just needed to do something. Find out what was going on with his brothers and sisters. Stop them from doing something so ridiculous that it would get them all killed. But instead, he was stuck here, finding out just what the Inquisition was about. They were doing good things, yes, but would it help in the long run?

Who knew?

B

He knew he shouldn't push it, but the occasional fireball that was thrown towards the training dummy? He couldn't help it. Sometimes hitting things just wasn't enough, and he just needed to blow off steam, ignoring the inevitable headache that would most likely cripple him for the rest of the day. And if the training dummy exploded... whoops?

C

Later, he was to be found in the tavern. At least for a little while, the noise and company could drown out the singing, and he could feel human again. Or as human as a Warden ever was going to. He might not be the best company, sat in a corner as he was, but there was the occasional smile there at least, and he wasn't going to turn any company away.

D

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Really, he wasn't trying to blow the dummy up. Apparently one fireball too many was all that did it. Whereas he was pleased he could actually cast a fireball or two without getting a crippling migraine, maybe doing so in a less destructive fashion might have been a wise move.

He just hated dealing with people who would accept that Grey Wardens kept the secrets they did because they had to. There was a reason he'd resisted being granted the rank of Warden Commander, and put in charge of a nation's forces. He knew the politics only too well, understood them. Didn't mean he had to like them.

He gave the newcomer a sheepish look. "It, uh, wasn't exactly intentional," he pointed out, bending down to pick up a piece of dummy that had flown off to the side. "They keep plenty of spares. Apparently we all keep using them up." Odd that.

"Funny how a ball of fire kind of does that." He raises an amused brow, eyeing what was left of the dummies and then back to the man who had done it all. "Well if everyone keeps blowing them up or hacking them to bits, I'm not surprised they have spares."

"Normally, no." Kaidan's fireballs really weren't that powerful. "I guess I had more steam to blow off than I thought." The last couple of days had gotten to him. Joinings tended to do that, especially when accompanied by people who really didn't take no for an answer when you went 'Warden secrets'.

"Though I probably should go an haul another dummy out if you want to train."

"If you know where they're at I could help with doing that. Though... probably should put out the fire on those dummies first," Garris offers, one corner of his lips turning upward in a small smile.

"It's been a while, Alenko. Now is it you who followed me south or the other way around?"

Kaidan glanced at the dummy, one eyebrow quirked up. "Maybe. Though it probably won't burn for much longer." He hoped, anyway.

He glanced over at the other man, and now that the chaos had calmed down he saw just who it was. The joys of travelling all over Thedas - you run into people you'd met before. "Well, it would seem I followed you," he chuckled. "I only arrive from the north a few weeks ago."

"Hm. Few weeks you say? Well guess it was me who followed. I only trotted in maybe about two weeks ago." It was a surprise to see Kaidan again especially here since Wardens didn't seem to busy themselves with other issues, but it was still pleasant all the same.

"Here on you own, or did you brings others with you?"

Kaidan gave a chuckle in response. "What brought you here? I suppose there is plenty of work for a mercenary here."

He shook his head. "Arrived on my own, met up with some of my brothers and sisters here." There were far more Wardens here than expected, and he suspected more would turn up. "Where were you here before here?" he asked. Maybe he could find out more information.

"From what I've been hearing there is plenty of things going on for a mercenary to keep themselves busy. Course I'm not the only merc here... we all have to work together right? Not like it is out on the field."

He wasn't all that surprised to hear that Kaidan had been on his own, after all that's how they had met, but hearing that there were other Wardens around does have him raising his brows. "I was still up in the Free Marches before coming here. Course with everything going sky high - pun intended - it seemed like actually doing something that mattered was a good idea. What about you? I suspect it's "Warden business" as usual."

"Yeah, from what I've seen, they don't take kindly to stabbing your own kind in the back to take their contract," Kaidan deadpanned back to Garris.

Kaidan had been wandering around the Marches, hunting for information when he ran into Garris, who had proved a useful contact. "Isn't it always?" he joked in return. "Yeah, it is Warden business as usual." Meaning he wouldn't necessarily speak of it, although... "You haven't run into any Wardens outside Skyhold lately, have you?" Other than himself, of course.

"I take it that no one takes kindly to that sort of thing. Course saying 'own kind' to mercs is... a bit more complicated than that. The name is the only thing that we all share, doesn't meant we're the same."

He's not surprised in the least that Kaidan is here on 'business', nor that he isn't going to share, but honestly Garris wasn't expecting that he would. Just knowing he was right was enough. At the mention of other Wardens, Garris gives a soft hum and rubs his chin. "Can't say that I have. Not like I ran into many even before Skyhold, save for you. Bit of an elusive bunch you all are."

"Well, yeah. There are mercs and... there are mercs." Kaidan was lucky. Garris had seemed an honorable merc, if there were such a thing. Which meant that when it came to recommending mercs for missions, well, Garris was high up the list.

"Hmmmm," Kaidan hummed thoughtfully. Not running into any probably meant that Clarel wasn't looking in this direction. "A friendly warning from me to you. Stay well away from Wardens out there for a while," he said quietly, not wanting to be overheard. "At least, unknown ones. The ones here are decent people." So were all of Clarel's cronies, they were just terrified.

Garris could read into that what he liked, but he didn't want potential allies being hurt in the rush to find blood sacrifices. At the moment they were only looking at Wardens, but who knew when that would spread?

Well that certainly has Garris raising a brow at the Warden, and leveling him with a look. He always appreciated a well meant warning, but something like that? That was a bit concerning when you had to be warned about members of your own order. "I'll... keep that in mind... thanks.

You know that only leaves me with more questions. Course knowing your lot that's all I'm going to get, yeah?"

"At the moment, yes. When we know more of what is going on... then you'll probably hear." The whole of Thedas will probably hear if he's being honest. And their lives were going to be harder from now on, but they would deal.

When they knew more he would hear more? Oh well that didn't bode well either; Wardens giving up their 'secrets'? With a bit of an exasperated sigh at that bit of news, Garris gives a small shrug, glancing at the dummies once more to see that most of them had stopped burning for the most part.

"Guess we should go get those dummies then, yeah? Better then playing twenty guesses with a guy who knows how to keep secrets."

Well - that was the big question. Even Kaidan couldn't answer that, much as he might like to. And with the Wardens being so few in number, it meant that they couldn't do anything, and that might be the most frustrating thing of all.

"Yeah, probably should replace the ones I damaged." Whoops. "And yes, I've been taught too well." One day. One day he would tell him what was going on, because to be honest, he had a feeling he might need every ally he could get his hands on.

"And who taught you to keep secrets? Warden training that I can't hear about, or is that a mage thing?" Garris makes a face and does a motion with his hand trying to imitate magey motions, in a teasing way, but eventually stops.

"Alright, lead on. Show me where they keep the dummies since I have a feeling I'm going to be doing this often."

"I'm the most magey mage you know," Kaidan joked in return. Truth was, he may be a mage, but he rarely cast spells, only when he had to. "Special Warden training school. Very secret." Who else kept secrets the way Wardens did?

"Yeah. Boredom does set in easily here." The Wardens had all found it, as they waited for more information, and the chance to do something.

"You do know that is probably going to change with the number of mages they have in this place, right?" he teases right back, though with a bit of truth with it. He hasn't seen Kaidan cast much, but it seems like they're both going to see a large amount of it happening soon and quickly. "I knew it. There is a school." Garris snaps his fingers at that, giving a loud sigh as well.

"Really? Maybe you need to find some hobbies to do while you're here if you're getting bored."

Kaidan laughed at that. He knew the calibre of some of the mages that were here. Maybe he should talk to some of them, see if there was a way past the feedback that always seemed to happen, or if he were just unlucky with that. "I didn't mean to let that slip," he joked in response. "I might have to kill you if you tell anyone."

He frowned. "A hobby. I can't even remember what one of those is."

"You'd have to catch me first to kill me, Alenko," he throws right back, crossing his arms and a smug look. Jokes aside though Garris doesn't want to have Wardens after him, but if that happened for whatever reason he certainly was going to give them a run for their money.

"A hobby. You know something you do for the fun of it. Obviously setting dummies on fire isn't that. You don't have at least one thing you like to do?"

He smirked back at Garris. He knew the wily merc well enough to know that if he wanted, he simply couldn't be found. And that was fine.

"That involves that old concept of 'free time'," he pointed out. "I suppose... well, maybe I'll stick to setting dummies on fire."

"And you don't have any of this so called 'free time'?" Keeping up pace with Kaidan, he raises his brows and gives the man a disbelieving, but amused smirk. "Do the Wardens have daily group activities and such that you're busy doing? Wait... let me guess. That's secret, too."

"Normally? I'm travelling. Takes time to move from one place to another," he pointed out. "But yes, I'll let you into a secret - they have all group activities. Most involve quantities of very dubious alcohol."

That has Garris narrowing his eyes, silently judging if Kaidan was just pulling his leg or if he was being serious about that. "I'm calling bullshit on that. You'd be a lot happier if you were doing things with that kind of drinking." A pause. "Or a lot more drunk."

"Oh I'm serious. I'll introduce you to mine at some point." Hey, it was tradition. It had started out as whiskey, and now... who knows? "But it would mean a time when you weren't expected anywhere else afterwards."

Typical Garrus... =)

Calibrations man.

Any excuse! Are we going with them having met before?

Think that was the plan.

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