#Sort of a rehash so dont worry if yall dont like that sort of fic

[dumpsterfireofthedas]

Child Of The Dalish (In-game quest name)

Title: “Child Of The Dalish” (In-game quest title) Fandom: Dragon Age: Origins Pairing: Mostly Gen but a brief implication of Tamlen x Mahariel (Sabre) Summary: Jaydzia and her fellow Dalish hunter Tamlen are scouting in the Brecilian forest when they come upon three humans running from something. (In game Prologue) Author’s notes: This mostly the prologue from the game but with my own twist based off my Dalish warden and her thoughts and stuff to make it interesting. I completely understand however if this is simply not to your taste as it is a bit of a rehash. There will be plenty of “non” in game scenes as it were for this story anyway. No worries and for those who read, I hope its interesting and enjoyable!

Under the cut for length! (Crossposted to Ao3)

Jaydzia Mahariel of the Dalish Sabrae Clan sat perched high in a tree within the Brecilian Forest where clan dwelt this time of year. She was hunting and scouting with her clan-mate and best friend, Tamlen. There was plenty of game in the forests and their clad did have plenty of supplies to last them for a time but hunters and scouts needed to keep up their skills as their elders and their Keeper often said.

Aside from the usual sounds of the forests, birds, bees, deer and the like, it was also quiet and peaceful. Jaydzia allowed herself a few moments to simply close her eyes and enjoy the serenity of the forest. It grounded her, kept her mindful. Something that Keeper Marethari often said her father did.

The abrupt sound of loud heavy footsteps crashing through brush and foliage however, jarred out of her moment. The clumsy loud crashing sounds sent birds and animals alike fleeing and scattering about the forest. Pale-green eyes opened and she quickly surveyed the forest from her perch. The trajectory of various fleeing birds and animals narrowed down the path. The loud heavy, even clumsy-sounding footsteps were quite obvious to find as they grew closer, soon, revealing three poorly dressed and harried humans.

Pursing lips, partly from the interruption, partly due to finding it was bumbling humans that were the cause, Jaydzia started to expertly descend the tall tree when she heard one of the humans speak.

“It’s a Dalish!” The exclamation wasn’t directed at her, there was no way any of the three bumbling fools would have seen her. Tamlen must have made himself known to the group. One of the shems demanded passage, despite the trembling fear in his voice.

“And you three are somewhere you shouldn’t be,” Tamlen voice, somewhat cocky and utterly unimpressed with the sight before him.

Jaydzia moved quietly through the foliage, she could see the three humans, Tamlen and his bow trained on them. She silently knocked an arrow to her own bow, giving a slightly heavier foot step with a twig crack as a sort of signal to Tamlen that was she was about to enter the clearing.

“You’ve got no right to stop us, Dalish!” Another of the shems called out.

“No? We’ll just see about that, won’t we?” Tamlen said, unperturbed. She stepped out of the foliage and joined him, bow and arrow joining his to be trained on the humans.

Pale-green eyes narrowed at the humans as Tamlen explained finding three bandits lurking in the bushes. They didn’t seem particularly dressed or armed for anything, let alone banditry. But she knew better, as did Tamlen. Their clan had been tricked before…But there was something about these shems that…struck her as particularly…dense for lack of a better word.

With two arrows trained on them, the trio of humans seemed to blanch, color draining from already pale faces.

“We aren’t bandits! I swear!,” The red-haired shem exclaimed, his voice a bit high-pitched. “Please, don’t hurt us!”

“You shemlen are pathetic,” Tamlen scoffed, contempt lacing his voice. “It’s a hard to believe you ever drove us from our homeland.”

“We-we’ve never done nothing to you, Dalish!” Stammered the dark-haired human. “We didn’t even know this forest was yours!”

“This forest isn’t ours, fool,” Tamlen said with annoyance. “You’ve stumbled to close to our camp. You shems are like vermin. We can’t trust you not to make mischief.”

After a tense moment, Tamlen spoke to her though he kept his sapphire-blue eyes and his bow trained on the three cowering humans before them. “What do you think, lethallin? What should we do with them?”

Jaydzia’s gaze studied each human in turn quickly. None of them alone posed any real threat to them or the clan. But if they went back to their town and gathered more…There was also something…odd about them, about their fear. While having arrows pointed at them would probably cause it especially as not one of them looked to have ever seen a small fight before let alone real combat, she was certain that it wasn’t the arrows that had them in visceral quivering fear. Something else had invoked such a reaction from these men, whatever may have sent them running blindly through a forest like this.

“Let’s find out why they’re here, what they were doing…” She suggested to Tamlen. She didn’t need to look at him to know Tamlen had rolled his eyes, she could hear it in his voice.

“Does it matter? Hunting or banditry, we’ll have to move camp if we let them live,” He stated flatly.

Annoyance flashed across her face, she grew weary of some of the views on humans that floated around the camp. She wasn’t necessarily fond of humans but she wasn’t particularly fond of people in general. She also didn’t hate them as some of her people did. The history between humans and elves left enough issues on both sides that it wasn’t a wonder why both sides harbored old hatreds.

“L-look,” said the trembling dark-haired human in the back of the trio. “We didn’t come here to be trouble…We-we just found a cave…”

“Y-yes! A Cave!” Said the second dark-haired man as if he’d not only forgot about this bit of information but also believed it would be their saving grace. “With ruins like I’ve never seen! We thought there might be…uh…” He fell silent, his face falling as he realized what he was about to say and the very elves standing before him. His dark eyes, darted away…

“Treasure,” Tamlen finished the shem’s sentence. “So you’re more akin to thieves than actual bandits.”

“If you were there,” Jaydzia interjected, sounding a bit doubtful. “Then you can prove it, right?”

The red-haired shem blinked then cautiously approached Tamlen, slowly producing something from his pockets.

“One wrong move…” Jaydzia warned.

The shem in question froze for a moment, hand outstretched towards Tamlen, eyes wide, “I…I have proof. Here…we found this just inside the entrance…”

Tamlen took the item as she kept her bow trained. The human stepped back hastily. She heard Tamlen gasp in disbelief and shock. “This stone has carvings…Is this…elvish? Written elivish?” he sounded disbelieving.

“We…uh…didn’t get very far in,” Said the shem in the back, not looking at anything but the ground at his feet. He was trembling the most, fear held him tight in its grasp even now.

“Why not?” Jaydzia asked, frowning.

It was the red-haired human that gave the answer, “There was a demon! It was huge!”

“With…with black eyes…like a void…”the shem in the back spoke quietly, almost a whisper.

“Thank the maker, we were able to out run it,” Chimed the third human, sounding honestly relieved.

Tamlen scoffed but kept his patience, “A demon? Where is this cave?”

There was something about the shem in the back of the trio. While she was disbelieving it had been a demon…or this cave truly existed, she could see that this man was not just scared but…haunted. He had seen something…something dark, something that would surely haunt him for the rest of his days.

“It’s…back that way,” The red-haired human said, pointing back behind him and his friends. “You really can’t miss it…C-can we go, please? We wont come back! I swear it!”

Tamlen sighed, clearly done with the three fools. “Well?” He asked her. “Do you trust them? Shall we let them go?”

Jaydzia eyed each of them then nodded, “They’re frightened enough. They won’t bother us.”

“Run along, shems,” Tamlen ordered, lowering his bow as the men started to make haste away from the elves. “And don’t come back until we Dalish have moved on.”

The three humans sputtered thanks profusely as they ran.

Jaydzia and Tamlen waited quietly until the humans were out of sight before sheathing their weapons entirely. He moved to stand before her, a slight smile on his face as well as curious and mischievous glint in his blue eyes.

“Well, shall we see if there’s any truth to their story? These carvings make me curious…” He asked, producing the item for her to inspect. Jaydzia trailed her fingers over the weathered but clear elvish-looking runes on the jagged piece of stone in Tamlen’s hand. There was something strange about them…Something almost ethereal and otherworldly…It gave her pause. There was a flash of shadowy images in her head as if some ancient memory was trying to desperately to come out of the shadows of long forgotten knowledge.

It left her…uneasy.

“I don’t know… I have a bad feeling about this so-called demon,” Jaydzia said quietly as she looked up at Tamlen.

He chuckled in amusement, “Skittish shems say it’s a demon and you believe them? They probably woke up a bear.”

Jaydzia frowned, “The shem who cowered in the back of that little group seemed as if he’d seen a real ghost. He was more than simply frightened.”

Tamlen laughed, “Come now, Jay. Did any of that lot look as if they had ever seen a real bear before in their lives?”

She pondered that for a moment and shrugged, “I suppose not. Humans are…odd.”

Tamlen pocketed the item and threw an arm around her shoulders and started to guide her in the direction of this supposed cave. “Let’s see if these ruins actually exist, then we can worry about what to do, sound good.”

Jaydzia wrapped an arm around his waist and chuckled, his easy charm clearing her head of her worries, “If you insist. If there is a bear thoug-“

“I’ll protect you,” he said fondly. “Don’t worry.”