Chronicles of an Elven Bed-warmer

Chapter the First:

Unexpected Expense

I don't own Dragon Age, well I own a copy of the game, otherwise I wouldn't have written this but not the copyrights or anything.

Aeden Cousland was too curious for his own good.

That was the only explanation he could think of for why he was getting involved in this. What business was it of his that some elf had killed that malodorous jackass Vaughn. That someone had wanted to kill the Arl's son came as no surprise to Aeden- he himself had felt like killing the man within five minutes of meeting him. He should just be grateful for the improvement of the gene pool and go about his business. But noooooo, he was curious. He had to know. Who was this elf that rumor claimed, had killed two dozen of the Arl's guards wearing just the blood spattered remains of her wedding dress?

So he had investigated.

He talked to the elven servants at his father's Denerim estates, who had told him of the elf in question. Her name was Kallien Tabris. She lived in the alienage with her father and two cousins. Her mother, who had taught her to fight, had been killed by the city guard, yet she was a member in good standing with the Alienage Watch. The elves informal internal police force. He had spoken to the reverend mother that had presided over the interrupted wedding that she and her entire bridal party had been abducted from.

And now he stood, in the rain, at the entrance to Fort Drakon, bribing his way in to see her.

"This way, your lordship." indicated the guard captain.

Aeden nodded and followed, all the while telling himself to give it up and go home until they came to their destination: a filthy cell like all the others.

"Wake up, you knife-eared whore!" bellowed the captain as he dumped a conveniently placed bucket of water over the comatose prisoner. The only response was a cough and a weak moan. The sight before him turned Aeden's stomach.

The girl, for she couldn't have been more than seventeen summers, was small even for an elf. He had expected her to be...bigger somehow. If she was more than five foot two he would eat his doublet. Her chin length hair was such a pale blond that it was almost white. He expected that under normal circumstances she had the complexion to match, but as it was he was hard pressed to find any part of her body that wasn't an angry red or a dark purple bruise-since she was naked he could see quite a lot of her.

Sensing Aeden's growing concern the captain spoke.

"Interrogation." he said. "The Arl's convinced that this is part of some knife-ear conspiracy." he spat on the elf, "We'll get it out of her eventually."

Aeden found the idea laughable, most likely the paranoid delusions of a father unwilling to admit the truth of his sons depravity.

Aeden came to a decision.

"Captain," he reached for his money pouch. "How would you like to retire?"

The official report would read 'died under interrogation' and if no body could be found, well that kind of thing happened at Fort Drakon all the time.

0-0

Aeden wrapped his newly...well no way around it, purchased elf in his cloak and carried her, bridal style, to his carriage.

Well, he thought, now what?

The girl needed medical attention but who could he trust? The coachman was under his employ and could be trusted not to say anything, but the same could not be said for a healer. He rode back home without coming to a conclusion

"Elle," he called as he entered the estate, the housekeeper, a middle aged elf woman, appeared quickly by his side.

"Yes, m'lord?" she asked in question, before a shocked expression overtook her features when he saw what she was carrying. "Sweet Andraste, what happened?"

"Well, you know that elf that killed Lord Vaughn a few days ago..."

Concern superseded her training to await her employer's instructions, and she took over the situation. "Take her to your sister's room." Once that had been done she turned to him and ordered, "Get me some warm water, clean rags, bandages and some poultices." He nodded wordlessly and fetched the requested items thinking it was for the best that Elle took charge anyway. As he watched the maid clean and bandage her wounds he couldn't help but notice that now that he had a minute to stop and look she was rather attractive. Then berated himself for thinking such inappropriate thoughts.

0-0

The following morning.

"No!" Kallian jerked awake, looked around wildly and tried to assume a fighting stance. Unfortunately she became entangled in the bed sheets and fell out of the bed onto the floor, resulting in quite a bit of pain from her still recovering body. She curled up into a ball and gritted her teeth until it abated somewhat. When she was able to think again she took stock of her situation: she hurt all over, was on the floor and didn't seem to be wearing any clothes. On the other hand Kallian doubted that any room in Fort Drakon had such expensive looking carpets, so it was very likely she was somewhere else. Whether that was an improvement had yet to be determined.

"Ah, you're awake." Greeted a middle-aged elven woman who had appeared seemingly from nowhere. Considering how she was dressed Kallian guessed she was a maid.

"Er...hello?" She asked timorously.

The maid responded with a cheery little wave. "Hello dearie."

"Um..where am I?" She hated to ask such a cliched question but it was rather important information.

Unfortunately, the maid's answer was a deadpanned "On the floor?"

Kallian shot her a pointed look. The maid chuckled to herself and helped the rouge get back up into the bed, in a seated position, before replying. "You a currently residing in the Denerim estate of Teyrn Cousland."

That got Kallian's attention immediately. "What would a Teyrn want with me?"

"Not sure but his lordship payed a hundred sovereigns to keep you from the gallows."the maid replied casually.

"A h-hundred..." Kallian was at a loss for words. What could she possibly do that was worth that much money? Only one thing came readily to mind. And it wasn't a nice thing at all.

She really needed to get out of here. The frightened girl quickly scanned the the room for anything resembling a weapon. She didn't see anything and briefly considered tearing a strip off the sheets for use as a garrotte, but disregarded this as being impractical.

Seemingly oblivious to her guest's growing anxiety, the maid had continued talking: "I'll let the master know you're up."

The Master? Kallian cringed at all the wrong connotations of that form of address.

She was shocked out of her reverie by the maid's shout of "HEY BOSS, SHE'S AWAKE!"at what was probably the top of her lungs. The sheer volume of the proclamation made the young elf's head spin.

"Dammit Elle, how many times have I told you not to do that?" A fairly handsome young man, a little over six feet tall with red hair and a neatly trimmed goatee, groused as he walked into the room She estimated him to be no more than a few years older than herself, but she had always had a hard time discerning the age of humans. Part of her was relieved that he wasn't some ugly old man but the rest of her was angry at that part. She was potentially going to be forced into some kind of sexual servitude but it was okay because the guy was good looking. Nice principals there Kallian. She thought to herself.

"So how are we this morning?" he asked in a pleasant, friendly voice.

Mustering her courage, Kallian shouted defiantly, glaring at the man as harshly as she could. "I'M NOT GOING TO HAVE SEX WITH YOU!"

"Um...what?" he stared at her looking like he had just been slapped with a fish.

"You heard me you sick pervert! If you so much as look at me cross eyed I'll gut you like a pig!" she continued flailing her hands in what looked to be an attempt at a violent gesture

The man turned to his maid, who was, for some reason unknown to him giggling. "Elle?"

"She thinks you're going to rape her." Elle managed to say between giggles.

"What? I would never..." he sputtered.

Kallian was confused. This was not the reaction she had been anticipating. She tilted her head at him and cautiously asked "So you're not..."

"NO!" he interrupted vehemently in protest

The maid laughed so hard she fell over.

"Oh." Kallian replied sheepishly. "I'm sorry?"

Aeden pinched the bridge of his nose. "Let's just start over." he turned and left the room only to return moments later. "Hello, I'm Aeden Cousland."

"Kallian Tabris m'lord." she did a sort of sitting curtsy.

"How are you feeling?" He asked again in that pleasant, friendly voice.

This time she elected to answer politely "Pretty sore, but otherwise alright. m'lord."

"Good. Uh, do you need anything?" he asked uncertainly

she bit her lip, not sure if she should be asking things after he had saved her life, but modesty won over pride "Some clothes, maybe?"

His eyes widened as he finally noticed her undressed state. "Oh yes, of course, Elle,"

The maid had finally stopped laughing and was sitting up, wiping tears from her eyes. "Whew, heh heh, ahem, yes sir?"

From the way Aeden rolled his eyes as he gave his instructions, Kallian suspected the maid's behavior was a regular occurrence. "See if we have anything that will fit Miss Tabris."

"Yes sir." she replied, still giggling slightly. Aeden frowned at her in what looked to be fond exasperation, and left the room.

"What's so funny?" asked Kallian irritatedly, mirroring the exasperation Aeden had felt earlier.

"You'll understand when you get to know his lordship a bit better." she replied cryptically. "Anyway, enough of that, let's find you something to wear."

0-0

Kallian soon found herself outfitted in a nightdress several sizes too large for her as well as some underwear and something called a 'bra' that was quite a bit more comfortable than her usual chest bindings. She was as comfortable as she could be given the situation; her thoughts turned to her rescuer.

"What's Aeden like?" she asked.

The maid grinned knowingly. "He's a good man, a proper noble, kind to women and small animals, the whole family's like that. Aedan's in charge of the Alienage and let me tell you, Highever Alienage is the best in Fereldan, real cobbles on the streets and everything."

"H-highever?" Kallian rolled the word tentatively, even as memories surged. "That's where Nelaros..."

Recognition flickered over Elle's face. "Ah, yes, your intended."

Startled eyes were raised quickly to meet Elle's "How did you know?"

"Dearie, practically the whole city knows by now." She informed her fellow elf, wondering just how much she had missed, locked up as she was.

Not that it seemed to matter to Kallian, given her sudden exclamation. "The ring!" she looked through the bedclothes frantically. "I had a ring..."

"Most likely in some guards pocket by now." Elle matter-of-factly stated.

Kallian struggled to rise, frantic energy pushing her forward "I need to get it back!"

Elle put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Let it go child."

"But, " she had tears in her eyes. "He died trying to save me!" Kallian started to weep and the maid embraced her as she cried onto her shoulder. Eventually she fell asleep and Elle tucked her in as she had often done with her own children, and left the room with a sad smile. Aeden was waiting for her just outside the door.

"Is she going to be all right?"

She shrugged a non-committal shrug. "Only time will tell, she seems to be coping for now. Give her a few days for it to set in and see what happens."

"Have we sent word to the family?" He asked, accepting her answer.

"Yes, m'lord." She hesitated a second before forging ahead. " Do you mind if I ask you something?"

"You will anyway so go right ahead." Aeden sighed, knowing his maid all to well.

Instead of some painfully silly question that he was expecting, he merely received a cautious look before Elle continued with her question. "Why did you save her?"

Startled, Aeden thought for awhile. "It was the right thing to do, Kallian's the victim here, she was only defending herself, if it hadn't been the Arl's son and she wasn't an elf, she probably wouldn't even have been arrested."

"She's quite pretty too." noted the maid with a wink.

"Oh? I can't say I noticed." Aeden lied.

First dragon age fic, not completely sure where I'm going with this.

But reviews will get me there faster.