Special Delivery
Alistair was reading a book on battle strategy. It was extremely dull. Duncan had given him a reading list, and told the Senior Wardens to make Alistair stick to his studies. The young man thought he had left this kind of education behind when Duncan had rescued him from the templars. Switching between the terror of darkspawn skirmishes and the sodden boredom of reading was leaving Alistair perpetually shaking his head, trying to clear it.
"Are you the warden named Alistair?" a man asked.
"That depends on what you want him for," Alistair replied, closing the book gratefully. The man looked somewhat familiar.
"I've got a letter for you, from Duncan. I'm one of his new recruits, Ser Jory is my name."
"Glad to meet you. Duncan still out hunting then?"
"It's explained in the letter, I suppose. He said I wasn't to mention anything to anyone," Ser Jory said.
Alistair was surprised. He took the letter, but resisted the temptation to open it immediately. He'd find Ser Jory a billet first and get him fed. The man looked like he needed a hot meal. Those duties seen to, he took the letter off to a far corner of the camp where he hoped to read it undisturbed.
Alistair (he read)
This should have reached you by the hand of Jory, a knight of Highever. I am sending him on ahead while I take a more indirect route. The identity of my other recruit from Highever necessitates caution. Her parents gave their permission and the girl is willing enough
"Girl? Oh, interesting. Very interesting."
but there are those who have another fate planned for her. I don't want to risk conscripting anyone else at this point. She'll need to go through the Joining as quickly as possible, for her protection if nothing else. Have the other recruits waiting. You'll go out with them, of course. Additionally I want to keep her away from the other Wardens until after the Joining. She is in a bad way right now, and if they see the state she's in, I think I would be hard pressed to convince them of her suitability.
"I wonder what sort of state that is?"
She is highly competent nevertheless, trained as a warrior with sword and shield. I think she will be an excellent sparring partner for you, Alistair. She is nimble and fast. She has also had the political education you lack. You will be able to learn much from each other. I will tell you the details of her recruitment when I arrive. Another unhappy tale, I'm afraid. I hope you are keeping out of trouble. Duncan
Word had been passed along. Mounted scouts had seen Duncan and a companion nearing Ostagar. Alistair had all the arrangements in place. The mages had been asked to stand ready for potion preparation. The other two recruits, Ser Jory and Daveth, were nearby. He had positioned himself where the Revered Mother would see him, and find a task for his idle hands. The Grey Warden camp was closed to all visitors, and that alone had taken some fast thinking on his part.
Alistair was winding up a self-important prig of a mage when he spotted a young girl approaching. She came closer after the mage flounced off.
"Are you Alistair?" she asked.
"You're not another mage, are you?" he joked. He wasn't confident talking to women and the younger they were, the worse it was. Apart from babies. He could talk to baby women just fine.
Anyway, this girl looked far too young to be in the middle of an armed camp. Her eyes were two deep, dark holes in a pale grey face. She was dressed in expensive looking light armour. Alistair noticed her arms and legs were blotched red with cold. She looked awful. Ah ha!
"You must be Duncan's new recruit. I recognise you from his description," he said, then mentally slapped himself. Let's hope she doesn't ask what that description was, Alistair thought.
"Yes. I'm Amelie. Duncan told me to find you when I was ready to prepare for the Joining ritual." She was soft spoken, with an educated accent.
"Are you? Right, let's collect the others and meet up with Duncan."
As they walked through the camp Alistair chatted to Amelie in a friendly manner. In his head, there was an entirely different conversation.
'Sweet Andraste! What was Duncan thinking? She's what? fourteen? fifteen? What kind of mess can a genteel child get into so that her only hope is becoming a Grey Warden? And she is freezing cold. She's clenching her jaw so her teeth don't chatter. Her build's sturdy enough, I suppose. I can see some good muscle on her arms. Shame she looks three-quarters dead."
Duncan was waiting by a large fire. Alistair saw Amelie edging closer and closer to the heat. Poor kid! He frowned at Duncan and pulled him to one side.
"I don't think she's up to this," he said quietly.
"She has to be." Duncan was grim.
"Who is she? Tell me that at least before we go on."
"A freshly made orphan. I had to drag her from the side of her dying father. Her mother covered our retreat. She's being hunted and thanks to Cailan meeting us at the gate, her enemies know exactly where she is."
Alistair chewed his bottom lip. An unhappy tale, indeed. "Will becoming a Grey Warden be protection enough?" he asked. He wasn't going to ask why Duncan wanted to protect the girl.
"Maybe. At least we can put plenty of swords between Amelie and her enemies."
"She's still a child though. Is she even old enough to survive the ritual?"
"Amelie's older than I was when I joined." Duncan spotted Alistair's disbelief. "She's nineteen, Alistair. How old did you think she was?"
"A lot younger than that, obviously," Alistair replied. "Can I at least get something hot inside her to warm her up?"
"As long as you do it in private," Duncan agreed with a small smile.
"Huh? Oh! Hey! That's not what I meant." Alistair blushed hotly and hung back as they rejoined the recruits.
If this was what it was going to be like with a girl along, Alistair thought he might need a new mentor. He wasn't sure he could cope with Duncan's sense of humour and a female at the same time.