Hey, sort of a story I'm putting on the back burner, so maybe it'll be a while before the next chapter. R&R maybe?

I made my way through the busy streets of Windhelm, followed by eight other people, to my home, Hjerim. I paused for a moment before opening the door. 'Should I really let eight strangers stay in my house while I'm away all day? I mean sure, Kalder's here, but he doesn't really do anything except eat me out of house and home and do errands occasianaly.' I pondered on this topic for a moment. They might be thieves. I have some pretty valuable stuff in there, not to mention access to maps, books, spells, weapons, and armor. They could just get supplied and go rob a bunch of places.

"Hey!" I shouted at these strangers. They turned around to face me.

"Is this your home? Oh, it's so big! But I'm sure it's lovely!" a girl, she looked like an elf, stared at me with huge green eyes. I looked back at her.

"Yes, this is my home, and yes, it is both big and lovely. I must warn you though, I'm a dragon, and if you so much put one gold piece of mine in your pockets, I will tear you apart from limb to limb in two seconds using only my voice." Some of these strangers stared, mouths agape, some of them obviously didn't believe me, and the elf girl looked very confused.

"Are you saying that you are a dragon? You don't look like one… and you can talk! If you're a dragon, why do you live in a house? My, this land is so different from Kirkwall." Another one of the strangers, one all of them seemed to respect very much, stepped forward from the group. She touched the elf on the shoulder. The elf turned to face her. "Do you need something, Hawke?"

"Merrill, I will do the talking." The elf Merrill seemed to lose a bit of the confidence she had before. She replied with a nod and stepped back.

"We are not from this land. I know not of what you speak." I sighed.

"Alright, step back. I will show you what I mean by 'I am a dragon'." I tilted my head at the sky. A few seconds passed without anything happening. Then, I shouted "Fus Ro Dah!" and the very air seemed to bend under the pressure and power. "So that is what I mean when I say I am a dragon." I opened the door. "So, do you want to come in?" Hawke smiled.

"I would love too.

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I watched as these people helped set the table at the order of Hawke. They were strange, very strange, but I liked their leader, and, more or less, everyone else. There was Isabela, the pirate slut. She was funny. I liked her well enough. There was Aveline, the one who was guard captain back where they called Kirkwall. I was comfortable around her, but didn't like her as much as Hawke or Isabela. Then there was that elf, Merrill. She seemed stupid at first, and stupid people irritate me, but this Merrill was just so lovable and cute that I soon got over that. I went out of my way to make sure Merrill was happy. Then there was that weird Anders-Justice guy, who seemed surprised and overjoyed that the mages there didn't suffer persecution, only distrust. Honestly, what a stupid thing, being surprised at free mages. All mages everywhere were free, of that I am absolutely sure. Oh, and there was the tattooed elf, Fenris. He was kinda cute. Not my type, and Hawke obviously had already claimed him, but still cute. There was Sebastian, dressed in the shiniest white armor I had ever seen. He wasn't even a knight! I didn't think it was fair that this 'exiled chantry boy prince' as Hawke had described him, got such nice armor and knights got this bleak gray stuff. No, it was not fair at all. Lastly, there was a dwarf, of all things! Everyone had thought the dwarves were extinct, but no, here one was sitting and talking to her! His name was Varric. He was…not like the old tales told the dwarves to be and he didn't seem to know who the Dwemer were either. I was quite skeptical at first as to whether this odd little man was actually a dwarf, but in the end they convinced me. A strange band of warriors, indeed. (Although Merrill was hardly a warrior) I wondered if my house would be big enough. I pondered moving some of them to my other houses, but quickly abandoned the thought seeing as they probably wouldn't like living so far away from each other in a land they knew nothing about. Perhaps transferring to Solitude where my home was bigger was a good idea, seeing as ten people in one house wasn't the most spacious thing, a bigger home would be nice. It would take a lot of horses to move everyone, though, and I was reluctant to spend that much money on the smelly things. The best solution might be traveling on foot. It was a dangerous road, but heck, everyone loves adventures, right? My thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of shattering glass. I leapt to my feet and raced into the kitchen. What I saw was one of my best glass drinking mugs reduced to a small pile of dangerous shards and Kalder looking sheepishly at the mug and then at me.

"Damn it Kalder, I told you a thousand times to only use the glass ones when I say so!"

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I was astonished to see everyone be sitting down and ready to eat after I got back from running to the blacksmith's. I sat down at my usual place at the head of the table and was pleased to see Isabela, Merrill, and Hawke all sitting at my end. I looked down at what was on my plate and my smile quickly disappeared. There was this dragon scale grey goo jiggling in the middle of my plate. I looked up and glared at Kalder.

"Kalder, what the hell did you do in the kitchen?! It looks like some random dragon took a shi-" I cleared my throat, remembering not to swear in front of guests, "Well, never mind, all that matters is that you better get that beef stew I was making for us on the table immediately and if you ever screw up food like this again-"That's when I noticed Isabela and Merrill stifling giggles and realized I had just been tricked. I punched Isabela playfully on the shoulder and got up to dump…whatever it was in the trash bins and put actual food on the table.