#lenya mahariel

[sundogsandrainbows]

Lenya Mahariel -- Korcari Wilds

[impossible-rat-babies]

Inktober Day 20 -- Lenya Mahariel

A little gift for @merilsell who is wonderful and fantastic! I love Lenya and her whole story is so good :D

[allisondraste]

Breaking in my new tablet by drawing the lovely OCs of my dear friends. First up is Lenya Mahariel for @merilsell.  Thank you, Meri, for being such a supportive friend and amazing person.  I love you and your feisty, kick ass girl. <3

[musingmycelium]

a birthday gift for @merilsell <3 

Dawn bleeds over the horizon, through the trees and fog clinging to the countryside. Alistair stands at the entrance to their tent and breathes in the chilly morning air. For the first time in a long time, he woke before Lenya did and he’d lingered for a while just watching her freckled face scrunch and relax in her sleep. 

Now though, he stretches before he has to start making breakfast for the two of them. It’s a beautiful morning and Alistair hopes it will continue into a beautiful day, free from all the rain they’ve been traveling through so far. 

Jumping when fingertips brush across his bare shoulder blade, Lenya’s quiet laugh not quite contained. “When did you get up?” Turning around to ask and grinning at her sleep disheveled hair Alistair reaches out to grasp her shoulder. 

“After you poked my cheek.” Lenya’s eyes are smiling even if her lips aren’t and Alistair’s smile is big enough for both of them. 

Alistair mocks affront, gasping and curling his fingers into Lenya’s skin. “I would never.” 

But he definitely had. Alistair hadn’t been able to resist trying to fix her cowlick and her skin is so soft Alistair couldn’t not kiss her. He hadn’t thought it would be enough to wake her but he shouldn’t have underestimated her ability as a light sleeper. 

“I guess I should apologize then,” Alistair wiggles his eyebrows at Lenya bending down to kiss her properly this time. 

He’ll never be used to kissing Lenya, never be used to how gentle her lips are against his, never be used to how she steals the very breath from his lungs with nothing more than a good morning kiss. Dawn sun warms his skin but it can’t compare to Lenya’s hand on his neck, the heat of her splayed fingers could melt him down completely. 

Honestly, it already has. Lenya could ask anything of him and Alistair would go to any length to do it for her. Though she’d be by his side the whole time. 

Her kiss makes his knees weak, turns him to jelly in the best possible way.  Kisses as necessary as fresh air and morning dew, sweet as dawn after a long night. Blush rising in his cheeks even though Alistair has kissed her so many times he’s lost count. 

“Good morning.” Smiling against her lips, his arms around her shoulders. Greeting the morning together.

[chenria]

Remember the outlines which I drew back in 2012? No? Don’t worry... I admit until yesterday I had no memory of this lineart either... it was a commission I did for @merilsell back then... and she so happened to commission me to color it now. 

So... since I am too unconcentrated for linearts of the other commissions I should be working on, I squeezed in coloring for some existing lines... also because coloring is relaxing and I needed that after today.  I only made tiny tweaks with some of the lines, otherwise it’s the same lines I drew 7 years ago... 

So, Lenya Mahariel and Alistair fluff... I haven’t drawn much Dragon Age lately... 

[morriganleliana]

Lenya Mahariel for merilsell

Is this what you meant by (grumpyface)? ;)

Hope I did her justice :)

[needlesslycryptic]

Holiday gifts from lovely asolitaryrose ~

1. Mairead Cousland for howeliday 2. Catalina Shepard for zevranes

3. Lenya Mahariel for merilsell

4. Nemain  for sehnsuchttraum

been waiting for so long and now i can finally show them!

[sundogsandrainbows]

Of Elves And Humans: Redux, Chapter 53: Sounds Of Yesterday, Part II

[QUICK LINK TO THE CHAPTER UPDATE]

STORY SUMMARY: Trust is a delicate flower that needs to get nurtured and time to grow. Even more so love. A tale of two disparate Wardens forced together, of finding a way to overcome the distrust, and their own painful past in the time of the Blight. Very in-depth, character-focused exploration of the Dalish origin/warden, of all DA:O companions, and their relationship dynamics during the Fifth Blight. Follows and expands on canon events; AU in some ways. Multiple POV's, origins, and pairings. Slow burn af. 350k of Aliwarden Blight fic goodness, thus far. 2 treaties done, 1 and a half (Urn) and a lot of DLC content to go.

CHAPTER SUMMARY -- SOUNDS OF YESTERDAY, PART II: In the search for Cailan's chest key, the Wardens find far more than they bargained for in a destroyed, tainted Lothering, but also comfort in each other. Back at camp, Alistair checks in with a devastated Leliana.

Continuation of the previous chapter with lots of new elements and a few action scenes. Also this subplot is all part of Alistair becoming "hardened" (aka taking on more responsibility and standing up for himself) since that is a long development process, not a few magic words like ingame lol.

READ IT HERE || [OR READ FROM THE BEGINNING]

[sundogsandrainbows]

STORY SUMMARY: Trust is a delicate flower that needs to get nurtured and time to grow. Even more so love. A tale of two disparate Wardens forced together, of finding a way to overcome the distrust, and their own painful past in the time of the Blight. Very in-depth, character-focused exploration of the Dalish origin/warden, of all DA:O companions, and their relationship dynamics during the Fifth Blight. Follows and expands on canon events; AU in some ways. Multiple POV's, origins, and pairings. Slow burn af.

CHAPTER SUMMARY -- CHASING ECHOES: Back on the road, Zevran has to find his own amusement to liven up the dreadful days of walking toward their new destination. But he gets more excitement than he'd bargained for when some ghosts of the not so distanced past start to appear in front of the Wardens, and a secret is revealed.

CHAPTER EXCERPT:

[...] The Wardens, of course, both stuck together at the front like glue, as they always did these days. Even when not talking they were in sync with their steps, despite the Dalish being more light-footed in the snow than the human stomping through it. Come to think of it, they’d been insufferably inseparable ever since he’d joined their merry band to escape the Crow’s retribution, actually. They were just not aware of such, back then. 

That strong bond between both Wardens was all the more apparent since their latest return from Orzammar and their private talk together that night. Ah to have been a fly at the proverbial wall there during it to understand what caused it, but alas. However, the dear Warden hadn’t realized that shift in her attitude toward Alistair yet, nor her feelings. Amusing, that. Unsurprisingly, Lenya also wasn’t at all receptive to his usual attempts of flirting or teasing, which probably was for the best as he already came too close to her flame. No reason to burn just because it was so bloody cold, no? 

Alas, this made the dear Warden not less interesting. Ah, to be able to gaze behind her prickly veneer and experience her fierce protectiveness instead of constantly being subjected to it when teasing Alistair would still be so worth it, indeed. He’d expect nothing more of her, always acting on the principle of reciprocation in interpersonal matters. Since there was nothing more loathsome than one person feeling entitled to another’s attention or time just because they shared the same vicinity or group. Progress with the dear Warden was glacial at best anyway, but there , so given enough time maybe – ah here he flew again too close, all too ready to burn, tsk . Zevran shook himself. Perhaps it would be better to fall back a little in their group instead to stare at her – admittedly very lovely and lean-muscular – back. Wearing lighter travel leather instead of her usual, more sturdy Warden armor,

Lenya would only leave Alistair’s side to periodically scout ahead with her mabari in tow. Either looking for impending danger, game to kill or a suitable place to camp the night, such as clearings or crevices of valleys in the hilly areas that started to come into view more often now. Before this it had been flat terrain only, leading along the last vestiges of that enormous mage lake that was curiously not frozen over. Still all in the same monochrome white, the snow as its pesky, sticky blanket. [...]

[CONTINUE READING] ||[READ FROM THE BEGINNING]

[sundogsandrainbows]

STORY SUMMARY: Trust is a delicate flower that needs to get nurtured and time to grow. Even more so love. A tale of two disparate Wardens forced together, of finding a way to overcome the distrust, and their own painful past in the time of the Blight. Very in-depth, character-focused exploration of the Dalish origin/warden, of all DA:O companions, and their relationship dynamics during the Fifth Blight. Follows and expands on canon events; AU in some ways. Multiple POV's, origins, and pairings. Slow burn af.

CHAPTER 52 SUMMARY -- SOUNDS OF YESTERDAY, PART I: In order to find the key for the chest left behind by Cailan in Ostagar, the Wardens and companions make a very reluctant detour to Lothering. Or rather what little is left of it, with it being now a destroyed, corrupted husk of a village.

CHAPTER EXCERPT:

[...] Smoke billows cloyed the firmament, obscuring what little daylight was left. Alistair had the infinite wisdom to take a torch with him, lest he’d stumble blindly through the torn down ruins of this village. What made it hard to breathe and watered his eyes wasn’t just the plumes of smoke from the fires still burning. It was the corruption here, like a leaden cobweb it wrapped itself all around them, stealing all life and oxygen. No wonder the man they’d met had contracted the taint sickness for entering here, for it was absolutely and entirely darkspawn territory now. Dead land, rotten and destroyed to what seemed its core. Unthinkable that it could ever recover from it, not with how thick the stench of death permeated the air.

“Ugh, lovely.” Lenya kicked at a stone in frustration. He illuminated the ground for a closer look at it, which was a baaaad idea in hindsight. Since it wasn’t a stone after all… but a small skull, long since picked clean. Maker, if that wasn’t belonging to an animal then… no. Nope. Nope . Refusal to complete this thought was the best course of action here, and the only valid one. “It is even worse than I expected it to be here.”

“Yeah.” Hard to imagine now that they were walking through this then-intact village almost half a year ago. Fresh-faced and thrown together after the tragedy that was Ostagar and their near death experience, in the search for information and equipment for their larger than life quest. It always had held the air of despair, filled to the brim with refugees as it were, but this here… was a completely disparate world. Theirs , to be exact. And every place would look like this, whole cities turned graveyards, should they fail. So many more people would die, futures and hopes crushed underfoot by incessant floods of darkspawn hordes. It was all the pressure, all the burden now visualized in this forsaken place; of what was at stake and expected of them both –just the two of them– that robbed him of all oxygen. How could he ever— The ground began to spin around him and with the torch still in hand, Alistair stumbled to a house's ruin at the side, to empty out his stomach into the snow-covered, decayed soil in front of it. The torch cluttered to the ground as he doubled over to heave. [...]

[CONTINUE READING] ||[READ FROM THE BEGINNING]

[sundogsandrainbows]

Yes, after three years I'm finally back to writing this story and have been done so several weeks already, actually :D But since my tumblr got erroneously terminated for over a week or more, I only now can post about it, sigh. Anyway, yay for another update?

STORY SUMMARY: Trust is a delicate flower that needs to get nurtured and time to grow. Even more so love. A tale of two disparate Wardens forced together, of finding a way to overcome the distrust, and their own painful past in the time of the Blight. Very in-depth, character-focused exploration of the Dalish origin/warden, of all DA:O companions, and their relationship dynamics during the Fifth Blight. Follows and expands on canon events; AU in some ways. Multiple POV's and pairings. Slow burn af.

CHAPTER SUMMARY/ All The Way/ 4U, Part III: While Lenya is deep in her cups, having a good time for once, Alistair is deep in his feelings, struggling to find his footing after his confession and how to handle this (perceived) one-sided love going forward. But maybe things aren't as black and white as thought? Note: This is part three of a three part act. Catch up on the previous three chapters I have posted after its long loooong hiatus here, here and here, respectively, before reading this one.

CHAPTER EXCERPT:

[...] If nothing else, Alistair could be at her side, support and protect her, whenever possible. Take the fall for her, if needed. This was what love was about, wasn’t it? Selfless and selfish, all in one. It could be a source of strength instead of weakness as Morrigan had disparagingly called it. And in the way Lenya could easily shatter him with a few words but put him back together and make whole as quickly showed it was strength and weakness, both. Not black or white but the in-betweens of it, more like. Complicated too, especially as a Warden in the time of a Blight to reconcile it with the duty he was bound to. But nothing of it had been planned, these feelings for her just happened . And now his life would be so much poorer without her in it. He didn't want that, not anymore. 

Her hand bunched in the sturdy fabric of his gambeson, asking him wordlessly to stay. Alistair did, how could he not? “I’m not leaving, don’t worry.” Lenya relaxed, closed her eyes with a long, stuttering exhale.

I love you.  

There was a clarity to that thought now, to these three words. No longer pushed away but embraced as immovable fact as it was by now. One day Alistair would have to let go of it, set it free, and her . He couldn't remain the hopeless fool forever. But for now it was a sense of purpose in a directionless world gone mad, a reason to fight beyond that lofty, nebulous goal of his duty of slaying an archdemon, to end this Blight. 

Her breath had slowed to an even rhythm, but she was still holding onto him. Alistair took her hand, hesitated as she stirred but she only settled down even closer to him, seeking him out as if by instinct. He very likely was just fooling himself here, yet his stomach was aflutter at the slightest possibility of it being real, and the cold no longer an issue for him. 

Cusping her hand into his in a gentle grasp, he marveled at the difference in size for a moment. So small in comparison, yet so powerful. Alistair bent down his head to kiss its backside, just a whisper of lips, as thankful for the comfort of her presence as she was for his. 

He waited until she was calm and asleep before leaving the tent again. [...]

[CONTINUE READING] || [READ FROM THE BEGINNING]

[sundogsandrainbows]

STORY SUMMARY: Trust is a delicate flower that needs to get nurtured and time to grow. Even more so love. A tale of two disparate Wardens forced together, of finding a way to overcome the distrust, and their own painful past in the time of the Blight. Very in-depth, character-focused exploration of the Dalish origin/warden, of all DA:O companions, and their relationship dynamics during the Fifth Blight. Follows and expands on canon events; AU in some ways. Multiple POV's, origins, and pairings. Slow burn af.

CHAPTER SUMMARY -- BRIGHTER THAN THE SUN : Next morning in camp, Lenya is hungover and Alistair sleep-deprived. But together they navigate their companions and (partly unaware) feelings for each other as they get ready to get back on the roads toward the wilds.

CHAPTER EXCERPT:

[...] With a smile toward her, Alistair picked up his prior abandoned bowl to help himself to a second portion. Oh no, the coin. Lenya winced with every scoop of the ladle in the pot. What if he ate his coin by accident and choked? Shit, would she end up killing her own and only fellow Warden?

“Um–”

“... because you are a good person.” Alas he was too caught up in scraping out what was left of the stew and his words to notice her distress. “And fiercely loyal to the people you care about, ready to help them in every way possible.” 

Yes, yes, wonderful. He knew her too well by now that her whole keeping-others-at-arm’s length-through-hostility -act wasn’t working any longer, nor was needed with him. But damn the stew – “You don’t wanna eat that, lethallin!”

Sitting down with the bowl in his armored hands, he frowned up at her. “Why? I know Zevran cooked it, but it is perfectly fine and–” Taking a spoonful of the stew, something distinctively round and metal had landed on it. Wow, lucky. Guess the token wanted to quickly return to its owner, thankfully now where it was noticed in time in a less chokey way. “Why is there a coin in my stew?” 

“...Surprise?” Lenya offered, but as expected Alistair wasn’t convinced… and very confused on top of that. “Well you startled me and I dropped it in there.”

“I… um, see?” Removing one gauntlet, he used his bare hand to fish it out of his bowl and shook it clean from the reddish stew. “Wait…this is mine. I’ve searched for it, thought I have lost my token… but here it is, in the stew, no less.”

“Sorry?” She shifted from one foot to the other. No point in sitting down again anymore. She needed to get ready for the road, pack her things and all that. Ugh. “I’ve found it on your bedroll and I have had it ever since. I meant to return it to you but well you startled me and–” 

“It’s all good.” Alistair brushed it clean with a bit of snow and instinctively flicked it in between his fingers. “I did find it after my first skirmish with a few darkspawn, right after my Joining.” Rubbing a thumb over its surface, he chuckled at the memory. “Must have shrieked like a little girl upon encountering them too, ah good old times.” Given he was only a Warden for half a year longer than her that remark was a bit weird yet so very relatable at the same time. Ostagar already felt a lifetime ago, not to mention regarding any sense of normalcy in their lives. Now fighting and killing was their everyday, as easy as breathing, and a darkspawn encounter was more of an afterthought and inconvenience than horrific. “One of the genlocks Duncan felled had the token on it and… I liked the runes on it. So I kept it ever since as a sort of lucky charm.”

“Right. With all the shit that happened, it doesn’t seem like your lucky charm is working, though.”

“Oh?” Tilting his head a little, Alistair’s mouth formed a warm smile that definitely reached and matched his earthen hazel eyes. “But I have met you, Nel. So I’m thinking I’m plenty lucky, actually.” 

More than that, the warmth of his lingering gaze had been kinda transmitted into her cheeks, as heated as they were right now. Gosh, this human and his damn honesty. [...]

[CONTINUE READING] ||[READ FROM THE BEGINNING]

[sundogsandrainbows]

Of Elves And Humans: Redux, Chapter 54 &55: Heroes And Villains, Part I & II

[QUICK LINK TO THE CHAPTER UPDATE PART I AND PART II]

STORY SUMMARY: Trust is a delicate flower that needs to get nurtured and time to grow. Even more so love. A tale of two disparate Wardens forced together, of finding a way to overcome the distrust, and their own painful past in the time of the Blight. Very in-depth, character-focused exploration of the Dalish origin/warden, of all DA:O companions, and their relationship dynamics during the Fifth Blight. Follows and expands on canon events; AU in some ways. Multiple POV's, origins, and pairings. Slow burn af. 360k of Aliwarden Blight fic goodness, thus far. 2 treaties done, 1 and a half (Urn) and a lot of DLC content to go.

CHAPTERS SUMMARY: Having to wait out a snow storm in an abandoned tavern offers the Wardens and their companions a lot of opportunity for reflection of things past and present, and to reinforce old bonds while forging new ones.

Calm before the storm chapter with loads of character interactions, humor, banter and also conflicts and regrets. And yes, this is the same abandoned tavern you visit in DA:I aka, "The Rusted Horn" where they found refuge from the snow storm. The plot of Crestwood will also have relevance in the chapter, however briefly. But imo it fitted better in here with the Blight fresh and ongoing than to let no one find out what really happened to the refugees for ten frikkin years, ugh. Enjoy?

READ IT HERE || [OR READ FROM THE BEGINNING]

[sundogsandrainbows]

Lenya, my sweet summer child. I don't think Alistair's shivering is because of him being COLD🤣 (They are both the personified "Idiots In Love" trope and I love them sm for this 😂)

[sundogsandrainbows]

Of Elves And Humans: Redux, WIP-Saturday snippet.

I love to write scenes of Alistair/Warden like the next person, but sometimes you need just scenes of the group interacting with each other, and i love how this came together here, using the canon party banter in between 😁

-------------------------

The tavern’s main hall was a lot livelier than when Lenya left it hours age. The durgen’len was playing cards with the bard and assassin, who accused them of cheating with their successive wins. Sten methodically cleaned and polished his armor parts while Wynne held up her large, knitted piece of yarn in his direction, as if measuring up the size of the Qunari with it. 

“I don’t think I have enough wool…” she grumbled under her breath, not destined for her ears and yet amusing. And Shale observed it all so quietly from a shadowed corner that one could mistake her for the tavern’s inventory. Lenya gave the golem a wave when passing by, but she was fully in her ‘I don’t care’ mode, and did not react. Fitting somehow, since there was not much to do, other than waiting out the storm raging outside. Lenya still had to tend to her own equipment, but meh, later. She steered toward the card-playing trio and acknowledged them with a nod. 

“Lenya, hi!” Leliana said brightly. “Are you feeling better?”

She sat down on the bench opposite of them. “No more headaches, if this is what you are asking.”

"Good, I’m glad to hear this! Let me finish this round and… then there is something I need to talk with you about, if that’s alright?” 

Ah, always leaving her an out, always cautious. Given their tenuous relationship, it wasn’t a surprise, but perhaps no longer needed. The bard wasn’t as obnoxious as she’d been, or appeared to be, in the beginning. Quite the opposite, she was helpful and very skilled with the bow, at that. Which reminded her… “Sure. There is something I need you to ask too.” Odd that Alistair wasn’t around, though. Was he sleep– 

“Wynne?” Oh. He was coming down the stairs just moments after her. Lenya smiled. Speak of the Dread Wolf. 

“Yes, Alistair?” the mage replied to him with the patience and tone of a mother.

“My shirt has a hole in it.” To make his very whiny point, he steered directly toward the old rocking chair she occupied at the fireplace. He bunched up the torn fabric at his side and poked his finger through it. “Look!”

Wynne was unimpressed. “I see. And?”

“Can you mend it?” 

“Can't you mend your own clothes? Why do I have to do it?”

“Sometimes I pick up too much fabric and it ends up all puckered and the entire garment hangs wrong afterward. And you're... you know, grandmotherly. Grandmothers do that sort of thing, don't they?“

And people wondered why Lenya gave him the puppy nickname and used it for months. This man was taking all his cues from Revas when he was begging for scraps and even Morrigan couldn’t say no to, then. Kinda adorable, though.

“Darning socks and whatnot. You don't want me to have to fight darkspawn in a shirt with a hole, do you? It might get bigger. I might catch a cooooold.” 

There was a pout in his voice, no need to see his expression to know of its existence. 

“Oh, all right.  Give it to me then,” Wynne gave in, had never any chance than to do so. Perhaps he should use that technique to ask the archdemon to leave Ferelden the fuck alone. It would actually work. “But first, fetch me my darning satchel placed next to the fireplace, young man.”

“What is it that amuses you so, my dear Warden?” Lenya flinched, clasped her ear as hot breath grazed it. Shivers ran down her spine, but not of the good kind.

“Eww, don’t whisper into my ear, you weirdo!”

“Apologies. Enraptured as you were, I had to do that to get your attention.” Zevran chuckled, leaned in even closer to look past her. “What is it that made you smile so, I wonder…”

“I didn’t –”

“Oh, I see.” Lenya turned toward the assassin who drew away with another warm, if very irritating laughter. Sitting back down, he continued his card match as if he’d never been a cryptic weirdo to her just now.

“See, what exactly?”

He only glanced up for a second from his stack of cards before playing a pair of eight. “Ah, this is for you to figure out, my dear.”

Ugh, why did this elf have to be —

“Hah, I won!” Oghren banged the table, hard. “Nug suckers! Round is mine!”

Zevran grabbed the table’s edge with both hands to stop it from shaking and possibly toppling over. “Yes. I have to admit, you bested me after all, my stout friend!” he said in an even tone that revealed he’d let him win, so he’d stop complaining. Well, whatever.  

“Lenya!” Leliana lay down her set of cards and looked at her. “Can you… come with me?”

“Nel?” Alistair’s version of her name was shrill on his lips and he crossed his arms over his chest to cover himself. Huh, why was he not wearing… ah. Right. The hole in his shirt that – 

“Lenya… hello?” She nearly jumped out of her seat as the bard appeared in her vision and waved in front of her face. “I have been calling you twice now…did you not –” She turned around and back right after with a particular smug smile. Ugh. “Ah, I see. Enjoying the view, hmm?”  [...] 

[sundogsandrainbows]

Forehead flicking (Lenya), stumbling but being caught in his arms and them staring at each other (Lenya by Alistair) and also piggyback rides at the end due to a (Alistair w/ Lenya)... i'm really showing my 3 yrs kdrama roots in my current OEAH:R wip chapter 😂 But hey: