/mashes things together that should not go together

[whowhatwhy]

[ It was a dark and stormy night.

What? It was.

Anyway, the rain was coming down in sheets when a cloaked figure collapsed outside of the gates of Castle Dunbroch. He wasn't injured, at least nothing serious beyond a few scrapes and bruises. Cold, sick, and exhausted? Most certainly. He was brought inside, and it quickly became apparent, thought the insignia on his armor and the papers he carried with him, that he was a Grey Warden. There were only stories about the Wardens this far out, and everyone had to wonder what one was doing so far from his home. Hopefully nothing having to do with the creatures the Wardens were famous for fighting.

But far be it from the king and queen to deny a Grey Warden shelter. He was kept secluded, mostly. Only a few members of the castle staff kept an eye on him, and no matter how much the triplets tried to get a glimpse, they never managed. The castle was buzzing with gossip for over a week, as the exhausted Warden in the tower room rested and healed.

And then, on a relatively quiet day, once the weather had warmed, the Warden emerged. No one was quite sure how he got from his room to the castle's training yard without being noticed. He was just... suddenly there, loosing arrows at a target with deadly accuracy. Obviously, a visit to the king and queen had been first on his list, but since they were both away on some business or other, he contented himself with some exercise.

He feels like he's been in that Andraste-be-damned bed for way too long. ]

Comments

[bearmyfate]

[ it was unfair. Merida hadn't really fought to take a peek at the Grey Warden (so much as she had cajoled, tried to unsuccessfully sneak by undetected, and badgered Maudie about it), but she'd wondered and wondered and almost been driven crazy with curiosity while her mother remained as serenely impossible about it, and her father hemmed and hawed and eventually gave in to the glares his wife was shooting his way.

She'd had to wait. She'd had to not bother the poor man, he needed his rest and not to be 'pestered by a wild lass' while he recovered. It made her curiosity all the more simmering.

But opportunity came, like it had been led by the wisps themselves, and she has to fight back a snort of glee because this time, she can't possibly be at fault for approaching him. She's got to practice, too, and she hadn't known he would be there. Honestly.

She even manages to look somewhat princessly, for all that there's an even more unruly patch of her hair sticking wayward (thanks to Angus' affection) and she's got her bow and arrows loaded on, because it's not like her mother's around to scold her. ]

... [ the princessliness exists for about as long as it takes for her to see him fire off an arrow. ]

Can they all shoot like you, then?