What Is Gone And What Is To Come

Title: What Is Gone And What Is To Come

Series: Dragon Age

Characters: Morrigan, F!Brosca, Finn, Ariane

Words: 1,409

Summary: Two years after the events of Together At Fault and Finding A Connection, the Warden goes looking for Morrigan after rumors of her begin to surface.

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“Dwarves were not meant for this mountain climbing nonsense,” grumbled Carina as she continued trudging up the incline they were on. Besides her Salroka let out a whuff of agreement and then moved closer to allow her to sling her arm over his broad back. “Good dog,” she said as she gave him a firm pat. “Someone’s getting treats at dinner tonight.”

Behind, above, and to her left, Finn chuckled and quipped, “If you aren’t meant for mountain climbing, then why is Orzammar in a mountain?”

By the Stone, how was it that she managed, one way or another to get saddled with a comedian? First there was Alistair during the Blight, then Anders when her lover was in Weisshaupt, and now Finn. Did she have a sign above her head that said male human comedians apply here to annoy duster dwarf?

Carina then frowned at her own thoughts and cursed in Antivan. By the human’s flaming prophetess, she was picking up their sense of humor! She really needed more dwarves besides Oghren and Sigrun in the Warden ranks, else she might just start going mad.

“Orzammar,” she growled in response, “is in a mountain because some deshyr’s golden-bummed ancestors decided it should be. You have any other stupid questions, like how dwarves are born?”

“I –“

At a muffled thwump and a grunt from Finn, Carina glanced over her shoulder to see that Ariane had elbowed the mage in the ribs. Hard. Nodding at the elf, she turned her attention back to the steep incline that led upwards into the Dragonbone Wastes and sighed.

Maker, she wished she had brought Alistair now. He’d have happily carried her. She knew him well though after just over two years together and more hardships than many couples faced in a lifetime. If she’d brought him to find Morrigan, it was likely that he would have demanded to see the child just once.

They had been happy since he’d come back from Weisshaupt but she’d caught him at times with a melancholy look of contemplation on his face. She’d also found him pouring over magic books in their library at odd hours as well as notes in the margins of the various maps that were stored in her office. Part of him wanted to find Morrigan and she’d always known it because he had told her once in the dark of their shared tent during the Blight that he never wanted to curse a child with the life he’d had as a bastard.

Every time she remembered that she’d made him break that vow, it was like a knife in her chest.

A wet nose poked into her ear then and Carina laughed before shoving Salroka’s broad head away, scratching his chin as she did. Then she heard the mocking laugh of a raven and jerked her head back so swiftly that her neck popped.

The bird wheeled overhead for a moment and she narrowed her eyes at it before it disappeared behind one of the cliffs ahead of them. Maybe it was Morrigan, maybe it wasn’t…but its appearance strengthened her resolve to get through the Wastes. “Come on!” she barked over her shoulder to Finn and Ariane as she began to climb faster, ignoring their somewhat confused mutterings at her sudden change.

Once they reached the area that led to where they’d fought the Mother, Carina started running. The further they went, the more she became convinced that they were going to miss the witch and she’d never see her friend again. Never know what happened to Alistair’s child. Everything blurred after that and she could barely recall the stunned shouts of her two companions as they chased her and her hound.

And then Morrigan was in front of her.

“No further, please,” said the witch with a pained expression as Carina stepped forward with her arms open in a hug. “One more step and I leave. For good, this time.”

The first emotion to burst through the sheer joy of seeing her friend – her sister in all but blood – again was anguish that Morrigan had reverted to the emotionless woman she’d been when they’d met. Then anger rose, hot and hard, at the threat to leave before reality struck. She wasn’t emotionless and it wasn’t a threat.

Leaving was a promise. And she was pushing away because she was leaving.

Carina swallowed hard then asked, “Aren’t we still friends, Morrigan?”

The witch flinched and closed her eyes for a moment before speaking in a shaky voice. “After all that I have done, I did not believe you would wish to claim me as such.”

“We were like sisters.”

“And did I not break that trust by bedding Alistair?”

“I sent him to you!” shouted the dwarf. She realized her hands were shaking and clenched them, gnawed down fingernails digging into the leather covering her palms. Drawing in a deep breath, Carina reached for the calm she tried to maintain as Warden-Commander and said, “But you remember that, just as you remember the reasons why I talked him into it. This is merely you trying to push me away.”

A dark brow lifted and Morrigan nodded slightly before she spoke, “Indeed. You broke the promise you made to me, sister, to never seek me out.”

Carina shrugged at that. “It was either me or Alistair.”

“I see.”

The witch looked at the tall frame of the mirror behind her then smiled sadly down at the dwarf. “You may tell him that the child is safe and beyond the reach of those that would do him harm.”

“’Him’?” repeated Carina. The part of her brain that had gained practice in dealing with politics began to wail an alarm because that meant another male heir to the Theirin line. She ignored it, however, because she knew that Morrigan didn’t want that kind of power. With the soul bound to that child’s body, she had more than enough at hand.

“A male child,” confirmed Morrigan, “and much like him in appearance.” She then frowned and continued, “That is all I can tell you, sister, lest my plans become known to those who would use it against me.”

“I understand.”

Morrigan cast Carina a look that said do you truly then said, “I can tell you this: Flemeth ‘tis alive. How I do not know but I do know that her plans were not what I thought they were.”

Carina merely gaped at her for a moment then asked, “What does that mean?”

“Change is coming to the world. Many fear change and will fight it with every fiber of their being but sometimes change is what they need most. Sometimes change is what sets them free.”

The dwarf furrowed her brow at that. “That is far too cryptic.”

“I am truly sorry, sister, that is the only answer I can give you.” Morrigan shrugged helplessly, spreading her hands wide. She then looked over her shoulder at the mirror and said, “I cannot tarry longer, Carina.”

The fact that the mage had actually used her name, something she had done rarely as she had begun with ‘Warden’ and gone straight to ‘sister’, told Carina everything she needed to know. Morrigan had to go. Nodding, she found there was only one thing left to say.

“You know that if you need me, all you need do is find me.”

Morrigan smiled – a true, honest smile – at that. “Goodbye, sister.”

As the witch disappeared through the mirror – Eluvian, Carina corrected in her head, as the traveling mirrors had been one of Alistair’s many ideas of what sort of magical items Morrigan might have been after – Finn remarked, “Well…that was anti-climactic.”

He then paused and she knew it was coming.

“Oh, and you let her sleep with your –“

Ariane jabbed her elbow into his ribs again and as the mage flinched away, the elf asked, “Is that it?”

Carina nodded and leaned against Salroka as the mabari whined, staring at the spot where her friend had disappeared. She then straightened, put on what Alistair called her Commander Face, and turned to look at her two companions.

“Well then, let’s see if we can’t find that book of yours, Ariane.”

“And after that?” asked Finn as he straightened with one hand pressed against his side and a nervous glance at Ariane.

“We go home,” answered Carina simply. To herself she added, And prepare for whatever is to come.