Birthday Month Fic - #7

[galadriel1010]

Prompt: Coworkers
Fandom: Dragon Age
Pairing: Bethany/Nathaniel

Bethany and Nathaniel take a quiet moment towards the end of one of her first missions with the Wardens. CW, mention of Broodmothers.

The fissure in the cliff face had been barely visible until they were right upon it. If they hadn’t had the Blight coursing through their veins and the twisted song ringing in their minds, they could have continued as blissfully unaware of it as the locals had been until people started going missing. Unfortunately, one of the first to disappear was a young woman, and once the Darkspawn had been identified as the culprits, the Warden Commander had given orders for them to venture into the Deep Roads after her. Not as a rescue mission, but as one of mercy. Her face was grim as they descended into the darkness, and no less grim when they finally began the long journey back.

They didn’t stop until they reached the upper levels of the Deep Roads, where the fissure had granted entrance to a fine trading post, emptied, abandoned and sealed with tons of rock Ages before, but still largely untouched by the Darkspawn taint. Weary, hurting and hungry, they made camp in one of the side chambers, which looked to be the ambassador’s apartment or perhaps luxurious accommodations for visiting merchants and dignitaries. Oghren was already asleep and snoring on the old bed platform, and the Hero and Sigrun had drifted off with a torch to poke into corners for anything of interest to the Shaperate. Bethany had got the fire going and warded the doors, and when Nathaniel returned from setting up some simple traps on the passage behind them she was sitting on the edge of a stone table, staring into the distance. He stopped in front of her and waited for her to look up at him. “I wanted to thank you for saving my life back there,” he told her. “We are lucky to have a healer as talented as you among our number. I am lucky.”

She finally smiled at that, albeit weakly. “You saved mine first, more than once. We aren’t even yet.” Her eyes drifted again. “Is it always like this?”

“No. We rarely venture below the surface these days, save for visits to Kal Hirol.”

“Just my luck, then.” Bethany held her hands out, and they sparked with magic that traced over and between her fingers like water. The light seemed to fascinate her, and when she spoke again it was distant and quiet. “I thought I’d seen the last of the Darkspawn when we reached Gwaren, but my brother just kept finding more. If I’d just let him go alone into the Deep Roads...”

Nathaniel took a risk, and wrapped his hands around hers. The effect was strange but not painful, tingling warmth dancing up his arms, and warmth in his chest when she looked up again and met his eyes. “He shouldn’t have taken you. He shouldn’t have gone in the first place. The Deep Roads are dangerous. Too many fools have lost their lives in search of wealth and fame, and worse, have risked too many others along the way. It’s lucky that Stroud found you when he did.”

“Is it?”

He held her hands a little tighter. “Well, it is for me.”

Was it a blush colouring her cheeks, or just the effect of the firelight? Either way, she gave him what he thought was the first real smile he’d seen from her since they met. “You do need someone around to save you when your heroics get you hurt,” she admitted.

“That too,” he agreed.

She stared back at him, lovely in the lamplight, and the moment hung between them until Oghren, because it was always Oghren, rolled over and farted. They both recoiled instinctively and burst out laughing at each other’s expressions. “We should... get out of here for a bit,” he suggested. “Before he does that again.”

“Agreed.” Bethany slipped off the table and picked up her staff before turning to join him. “Do you think he can do that on demand?”

“Oh, he definitely can. But not in his sleep. That was pure accident.”

“Alright, I’ll forgive him then.” She glanced over at him and laughed. “This time.”

Nathaniel raised an eyebrow curiously. “And next time?”

“I have a field of silence spell I used to use on my brothers. I feel like it might come in useful. As might a lock on the door.”