First Joining

Everyone who was currently an initiate had been contacted in regards to the joining ritual. Some were to go through the joining this day and others may wait but any which way one looked at it there would be more than enough to go around.

Waiting was the hardest part as the Warden Commander watched Jezarine putting together the concoction and did her best to keep from asking questions. She could see that the healer was nervous. There would be no reason to make her any more skittish than she already was. Apparently the woman had seen joining rituals before but Nygozy had not had that experience except for watching Daveth and Gory die. She had no idea how she had looked when she joined.

"It's ready, Nygozy." Jezarine said quietly as she set the chalice on the table.

"You do not have to stay if you do not wish to Jez."

"I know but I feel I should. I will go sit down." The healer was not sure if she could stand and watch, the nervousness threatening to make her be unable to stand long. It was something she would never get used to.

Nygozy nodded and waited for the one who would say the words and the initiates. A hand touched her shoulder, gave it a squeeze then the touch was gone but the feeling of having her back up remained.

Today was the day. The Joining. Marcus licked his lips. Something seemed wrong. There were rumors the Grey Warden Joining was rather morbid but non violent. He didn't know how that could be possible but evidently he would find out today. At his side was the tall, athletically built human lass who carried the oddly shaped sword at her hip, her black frock coat wavering slightly in the breeze. She had a steely gaze to match her steel blue eyes and it made him feel uncomfortable.

Fremelda had waited long for the Joining. After her conscription she was assuaged of her thinking that she was blackmailed by the Warden Commander, which made her feel better. She waited patiently, drumming her fingers on the pommel of Thorn at her hip. The other hand rested on her hip as she stood lazily there.

Maddox stood by in waiting. His fate hinged on the outcome of the next few minutes. He'll either stay a Warden or return to Cercium a corpse. Marcus was here, it seems he had spoken to the commander about becoming a warden. Two other notable people were here. One was the violent looking lady with a rather impressive looking sword. She didn't really look the type to join the wardens. But what surprised him more was the rather young looking lad with the weird clothes. Wasn't he a little young for this?

Robert was anxious, to say the least. He was by far the youngest here. Seeing Jezarine here made him a feel a bit more confused. It was comforting to see a friend here, but he can see on her face that she did not like this one bit. This was what he wanted, right? Yes. Now is no time to be second guessing himself. He didn't spend all that time looking for the Wardens for nothing.

Ianto was so nervous he was bouncing on the balls of his feet, and his fingers kept absently playing with the cuff of his sleeves. But why shouldn't he be nervous? No one knew what the Joining entailed, least of all him, and for such a super-secret club of awesome, it probable required more than a friendly handshake and a 'hey, welcome to the Wardens.' It didn't help that, as Jez went about preparing something, she looked nervous as anything. Her hands were shaking, and she was biting her bottom lip like she did when she was trying her hardest to not show how worried she was.

He didn't go over to talk to her, though. He was afraid of talking right now - his mouth would probably start going and then never stop, because he certainly didn't have control over his brain at the moment. Instead, he stood where he was, fidgeting nervously, and tried not to look around at everyone else.

Trying to think of good thoughts would probably help, but his mind couldn't help but go back to her own trial each time he tried to not think of it. A Harrowing was probably a lot different from this, but that had . . . she had still . . .

He probably shouldn't think about that. He stole another glance at Jez, and then looked back at his feet. He remembered the other morning, when they'd woken up together . . . his face heated, but it was a good heat, and he even managed a small smile. There had been nothing frightening or nerve wracking about that, not like now. Whatever happened, at least he could have that thought in his head.

There were so many people here to join the wardens and that seemed like a good thing as Tatsoo kept smiling, pleased that there were many to this tribe. They were all strong and that was well too. She looked at Marcus and smiled at him then to Maddox hoping both of her new friends, and she, would survive.

Harval stood with his arms over his chest waiting impatiently. How could this take so much time just for a simple ritual? Fine enough, this should be over soon and he could go drink and find some fun.

Calliara, Gunnar and Bowen arrived at the same time, together as they had been since they were reunited.

Calliara had left Fenrir locked in her room, enterteined with a juicy bone to chew, because she didn't wanted the puppy to see if someone died. She didn't wanted it either, but as Nygozy's second it was her duty to be there.

Bowen was a bit upset, but hiding it behind his usual badass grin, but was wondering as well if someone they knew would die that day. When he saw Ianto and Robert there he frowned, worried for them. And Marcus. Maker, how he hoped them to survive.

Gunnar was studying everything with his own usual careless expression, smoking from his pipe. Seeing how worried Bowen and Calliara were, he hoped as well no one, or at least not everyone, would die during the Joining. That was always a mess.

Macha was late, she knew, but she was nervous, and she knew that she had to calm herself before she went in. She couldn't look afraid for the initiates - she had to be the confident one, the brave one who was welcoming them to the Order, and not inviting them to their doom. After the first initiate drank, the cat would be out of the bag, but she could at least let them keep some hope until that moment.

She was worried about Fremelda most of all. Everyone else may not have known what they were getting into with the Joining, but they'd all come to try for it of their own free will. Fremelda, though . . . She'd forced the woman into this, threatened her with death if she did not come. Was she only inviting the woman to an even darker fate, a more painful death? She couldn't stand by the side and not care if the Joining proved too much for the red-headed assassin - her blood would be on her hands.

She knew that Nygozy had not seen a Joining besides their own. Until the Blight had ended, Macha had been similarly unaware as to what really happened during the ritual. She'd passed out when her time had come, and no one had offered her any information afterwards. But since Nygozy had gone off to the Frostback mountains, Macha had overseen two other Joinings, and they had not been sights for the faint of heart.

But she could stall no longer. After pacing once or twice more outside of the hall, she took a deep breath, and threw the doors open before her. She strode into the room and looked around her - one, two, three . . . seven hopefuls? A bigger number than she'd ever done before. Nygozy had certainly done a fine job of finding recruits.

She stepped up onto the low platform to stand next to Nygozy, and offered her friend a terse smile. "Hey. You ready for this?" She asked, knowing full well that there was no real way to be 'ready.' She could very well be standing back to watch her friends drink their death. Macha only hoped that the group assembled here didn't know what the risks were - the ignorance of it was easier.

"I need their names," she said lowly to Nygozy. "So that I can call them forward in turn. Is there anyone you want me to call first, or should I do it alphabetically?"

As everyone assembled the Warden Commander waited with a calm exterior image but was reeling inside with concern. This would not be easy in any way if there were deaths. It would be even worse if anyone tried to back out now. Any of them dying would be painful to accept but to have to deal with anything else would be hellish.

It was no surprise that Macha was late and Nygozy could not blame the woman for being so. Nygozy had come earlier than anyone and spent her time pacing in the other room, trying not to get sick at the memory of Daveth and Ser Jory. Macha had seen more than she had when it came to the ritual and the dwarf trusted her as her aide for these "events."

"Hey. You ready for this?"

"No." There was no sense in lying. It was one thing to beat around the bush and play political games with the ones who did not matter or were political but to friends there was no sense in it for her. With them she could be true to herself and her friend as she spoke very quietly, "But I am here anyway. Obligatory pain killers after the joining, remember and stay." Which basically came down to booze for the administrators.

"I need their names, so that I can call them forward in turn. Is there anyone you want me to call first, or should I do it alphabetically?"

That was something she had fought with herself for quite a long while because of the healer nervously wringing her hands over and over, "See the light haired human, two tones? His name is Ianto. He will be first but the others can go left to right or whatever. He and Jezarine are close so I want to get the worry over for those two first, whatever may happen. I fear she will rub the skin off her hands if we do not. I will announce them all." It had been a hard choice. Risk a scene at the start or wait until the end when Jez would probably be having fits from worry.

"This is Ser Macha Cousland and she will be performing the ritual. Today we have Ianto Bryland, Marcus Kel'thor, Fermelda, Harval Ortek, Maddox Hyperion, Tatsoo, and Robert Scwarzer joining the ranks for Grey Wardens." She indicated each person with a slight hand gesture, "Let us begin the ritual."

She stepped back to a location beside but slightly behind Macha at which point Torture took a position in front of the door behind the initiates, just in case.

Macha looked out into the crowd of initiates, and when her eyes landed on the one Nygozy had mentioned, she nodded. "I understand," she answered, just as quietly. She could understand how they'd want to get it . . . out of the way. She almost grimaced at the thought, but knew that she had to promote a more encouraging front.

She stood back solemnly as Nygozy stepped forward and addressed the present hopefuls. She looked down their line, memorizing each of their faces so that she'd never forget them if they were unfortunate enough to meet there end here and now. The young man at the last Joining . . . he still joined her in her darker dreams, from time to time.

But then Nygozy was finished, and was moving back, and Macha knew it was time. Her hands were steady as they held the chalice filled with darkspawn and Archdemon blood, though she was shaking inside.

"My brothers," she started, and she thanked Andraste that her voice was strong. "The words we speak are but few, and are steeped in old tradition. I will do nothing to change them now. I wish only to say that I grant you, all of you, all the luck in my heart." She wanted to invoke the Maker, for those who believed, so that their spirits might find their way to him should they die, but she knew that even speaking the Maker's name here would make them nervous, so she refrained. Instead, she nodded, and then raised her chin, and the words that followed sounded old and practiced. "Join us, brothers and sisters. Join us in the shadows where we stand vigilant. Join us as we carry the duty that can not be forsworn. And should you perish, know that your sacrifice will not be forgotten, and that, one day, we shall join you."

She watched the nervous faces before her for a moment more, and then turned her gaze steadily on Ianto. "You will step up and drink in the order Nygozy has called. Ianto Bryland, please come forward."

Dammit! How could that cold hearted bastard not be in tune with the fact that the joining was today? If she did not get to the joining in time then it was possible that she would be dismissed as an initiate and that would certainly not bode well for her honour. That would rip her sense of duty right out from her but what could have she done? The man who had been working as secondary trainer was no keen being and seemed to take pleasure of other people's expense.

There it was. The door was now in front of her and Guremi fought to get her helm onto her head properly before going into the room. She could not be seen with an old, grimy helm for something this important. It had to be the one she used for official appointments even if she did not wear her official gear, only a good cloth outfit that she could don in good time.

She took a deep breath, opened the door and walked in quietly only to find that not only was she late but it had already started. Dammit. Even worse was that it looked like someone was about to do the ritual.

Her eyes shifted to see Nygozy look at her at which point she lowered her head slightly, now forgetting about affixing her helm properly.

"Sorry for the interuption. The woman who has just joined us is Guremi Darslan. We will speak after the joining. Please continue, Macha. Ianto."

Guremi closed her eyes, embarrassed and disheartened. At least she had not been dismissed as an initiate but this was hard to bear. She had never before made this kind of mistake.

Ianto was almost too nervous to notice the door opening behind him. As it was, he only vaguely heard Nygozy announce another initiate into the room, and even then, he didn't look away from Macha, who was giving him the most sympathetic look he'd ever received. That couldn't be a good thing.

Steeling himself as much as he possibly could, Ianto nodded (more for his benefit than anyone else's, though Macha returned it with a short nod of her own), and stepped forward. As he came up to the platform Macha was standing on, she stepped down, and handed the stone chalice in her hands to him. He couldn't for the life of him figure out what was in the cup (actually, he could - it looked remarkably like blood, but he only tried to ignore that fact), but he took it anyway, and with one last look to her, he drank.

For a moment, there was no change. Relief almost had time to wash over him until . . . it was like fire. His entire body felt like it was being ripped apart from the inside, and his back arched as his vision faded. He was out before he hit the floor.

Macha didn't look up as 'Guremi Darslan' entered the room. Right now, the initiate Ianto had all of her attention - he deserved no less. She stepped down to him as he approached, and she was glad that he didn't let his gaze stray over to the nervous healer standing behind her. She didn't know if he even noticed that he didn't look, or if he was doing it on purpose, but Macha knew that looking at someone you loved before this was not a good idea. Comfort was nowhere to be found in this room right now.

He drank, and Macha held her breath. She counted in her head - one, two, three - it had taken as much as ten seconds in the past for a reaction to occur. She didn't count far past four, though, before she could see the white taking over his eyes, and then he convulsed in pain. She sucked in a breath, held it nervously, and watched as he fell to the ground. No sooner was he down than she was on her knees, checking, and then let out her breath in a whoosh of relief.

"He's alive," she mumbled, more for the terrified elf behind her's sake than her own. "Ianto Bryland," she announced to his unconscious body, a small smile finding its way to her face. "Welcome to the Grey Wardens." She stood, and nodded to Nygozy. There was a small area to the side where Macha had laid a large blanket, where the survivor's bodies would be put aside until they woke. "Help me move him," she said gravely. "We should continue as soon as possible."

One down and more to go. Thank the stone that he survived! Nygozy was faster than one could expect as she moved to Ianto's head and Kai suddenly appeared at the human's feet, "We got it." She said calml as they moved Ianto to the side carefully arranging him on the blanket. They hardly had a moment before Jezarine was there, craddling his head on her leg and brushing his bangs back with feather light strokes.

Nygozy went back to her spot and nodded at Macha to bring on the next initiate.

Macha watched as Nygozy and her shadowy bodyguard moved the prone body off to the side. She caught the dwarven Commander's gaze and returned the nod, and then took the cop back up, straightening her demeanor. Who had Nygozy said next?

"Marcus Kel'thor, in the order the Commander has issued, you are next. Please step forward."

Marcus blinked and watched Ianto step up to the platform when called, and put the chalice to his lips and promptly faint, convulsing on the floor of the platform. A grisly sight if ever there was one. He found himself stiffening when he heard his name called next. As relieved as he was that Guremi had made it, he did not look at her as he stepped up to the platform. He looked into the chalice as it was handed to him. It was black-red fluid. And it stank. Darkspawn blood? No this seemed richer... More thick.

He sighed. "Here goes nothing." He said and then took a drink from the cup. The fluid burned on the way down, like fire. He winced as his eyes rolled back, showing only the whites of his eyes. It definitely tasted like distilled Darkspawn blood. He had turned on his berserker rage to block the pain as he stood there, convulsing, a red haze across his vision as his shoulders shook. When it was over, his eyes returned to normal and he folded his arms. "Well...that was fun."

Calliara sighed with relief when both Ianto and Durbans survived the Joining. She hadn't noticed, yet, but her hand was grabbing firmly Bowen's hand, and her other hand wished to grab something as well, but Drake wasn't there.

Bowen just stared at them, waiting for the worst, but managed a smile when Macha said Ianto was alive and Marcus said it himself. He squeezed Calli's hand softly

Gunnar just expelled more smoke, waiting for the next one.

Nygozy walked over to Marcus and put a hand on his arm to usure him along, "Come this way and have a seat. There is water to drink over here." She said. He had done rather well with the joining but she wanted to make sure that he was going to stay well. It was best to be safe and even better to keep the ones who already joined out of the way while the others went through it.

Macha watched with relief as the large elf opened his eyes once more. It was a feat indeed to see him stay on his feet, but she was glad of it. She watched as Nygozy helped him away, her concerned eyes looking him all over as she offered him a cooling drink, but Macha had others to attend to, and she looked forward once more.

"We continue again in the order the Commander has given us." She paused, and her eyes found Fremelda's. This was it, then. She wanted the woman to pass, to survive, not just for her own conscience but so that she wouldn't be another waste of life thrown aside by a careless noble. Fremelda deserved better than that. She swallowed, and continued. "Fremelda, please step forward."

Marcus was grateful to be helped by Nygozy. His body felt like it was throbbing all over and his mouth was dry. The drink of water was much appreciated and he nodded his thanks with a smile.

Fremelda had watched the whole ordeal between Ianto and Marcus and then suspicious eyes flecked over to Macha. "So your test is poisoning us to see if we survive or not?" she growled. Then she stepped up onto the platform, her steel blue eyes watching Macha the whole time as she picked up the chalice. "If I die from this, I'll be waiting for you in hell to get my revenge." She said and then took it down.

Pain. Excruciating, exquisite pain ripped through her body as her eyes rolled back and she fell forward, mouth open as if to scream but no sound came forth. Her sword scabbard clanked a bit as she hit the floor with a jarring thud. Her body was convulsing, trying to reject the taint spreading through her. Eventually she stilled, her breathing evening out. She still lived.

Without a word, Nygozy and Kai got to the business of moving Fremelda to a comfortable spot but not close to Jezarine and Ianto. It probably wasn't good to put her near the sister of a man the assassin did not like.

Macha couldn't quite help her grimace as Fremelda's angry eyes caught her before the red-headed woman drank, and her breath caught in her throat as the woman began to convulse and go down. She quickly laid the goblet to the side and caught her before she could fall all the way to the ground, and found the pulse-point with shaking fingers. Alive. Oh Andraste, she was alive. Not long after that, the wracks and shivers abated, and the assassin - now Warden - was still.

Wordlessly, she let Nygozy take care of the body, standing back to her feet with the goblet in hand. She felt . . . a little better now, but everything in her still went out to the reminders. So far, they had been incredibly lucky. Perhaps being exposed so much to fighting darkspawn already had helped them all get through the Joining. She could only hope that their unprecedented luck would hold out.

"Harval Ortek, you are next. Please step forward." Most of all, Macha was infinitely proud of how well they were all taking it. It wasn't easy to willingly step forward and drink some poison that had felled everyone before you. Ser Jory hadn't had the mettle, and she couldn't have blamed him for all the world. She'd been shaking.

Three people down almost literally for all and everything was going well. He was next. Next in line for becoming a warden. It was difficult to keep his tongue from yelling in joy with the thought that he'd have something to show for being kicked out for what he was. This was where he could make a difference. As a warden therewas so much good to be done.

"About bloody time." Harval stated as he came forward and took the chalice. He gave Macha a smile, "Thank ye lass."

He lifted the drink and took a draught of it then burped. This wasn't so bad. Then his eyes rolled back and he stood there with blood dribbling from the edge of his lip. No movement was made for a long moment, until his body fell backwards as he had died standingon his feet.

Macha's breathed hitched a little as the dwarf took the drink and then stilled. She was about to reach her hand out to him when, suddenly, he fell to the ground, as stiff as a board. Setting the cup to the side quickly, she knelt down to his side, and felt for his pulse. She waited a moment, and then bowed her head.

"Harval Ortek, may your spirit return to the stone. I am truly sorry." Her hand reached forward and shut his eyelids, and then she looked up at Nygozy and nodded, waiting for her and Kai to take the body away. Standing once more, she looked out into the throng. There it was, the first death of the Joining - she prayed it would also be the last. He had been the dwarf who'd saved Jezarine, too. The order had owed him much. It was sad indeed that he was lost.

"Maddox Hyperion," she called, her voice steely as she kept the emotion from rising to it. After a death, she didn't imagine that the rest of the initiates would be very confident, and she couldn't afford to give them a bad front. "You are next. Please step forward."

Seeing the success of the first three raised Maddox's spirits. The fact that the person over looking the proceedings was none other than Macha Cousland, also helped. Seeing Harval drop dead after all the effort it took to neutralize him only the day before was a huge blow. But one he was intent on over coming.

"As you wish, Macha," Maddox replied as she called him up. He walked up to the chalice and took it in his hands. He brought it to his lips and took a big sip of it, ignoring the taste to the best of his ability. He managed to put the chalice back down before it happened. The pain shot through his body bringing him down on one knee. His back arched and his eyes rolled back into his head. He tried with all his might, but he couldn't remain conscious for long, eventually slumping forward, held up by his knee. He was still breathing after the experience.

((Good stuff on keeping going. Just assume that Ny and Kai move people as they should ... dead brought into another room.))