Errands

"I got it, I got it!" Called a familiar voice as the door opened and Maghai stood there looking at the three people at the door. He held onto the reigns of a bored little mare pony that seemed to be ignoring him as it scrounged for grass at the side of the road, "Rakot! I almost thought I'd never see you again but by gosh here you are and right on time as we are going to see Nygozy but you can come if you like as long as you and that dude there promise never to hurt my sister again or you won't have any balls left before Ianto takes your top head off and that just wouldn't be nice but other than that I'm glad to see you and what'sis'name back there with you cause I really missed talking to you because you were always so nice to me and ..."

Suddenly he looked down and started swatting his leggings then dropped to the ground and rolled around screaming, "It's eating me!!! Beetle beetle it's a deadly beetle! I bet it's poisonous! Oh it's dead." He hopped back up and tilted his head to the side, "Who's your new friend?"

Rakot gave Maghai a blank stare for a minute, then quietly walked to a wall, slammed his head against the stone and kept on slamming.

"Wow...that was...how did you say all that without taking a breath? I'm Ostef, and you must be...Maghai, yes I think Rakot mentioned you once, and then he just randomly went and knocked out a cow with a single punch. Remember that Rakot?"

Ostef looked at Rakot, then looked back at the new company.

"We should give him a minute or two, it'll be okay, thats some quality stonework right there, the wall will PROBABLY not cave in."

After a few more minutes of awkward silence, interrupted only by the sound of Rakot's skull smashing against the stone, the berserker turned around and looked up.

"I need a drink."

"There ya go, thats the Rakot we all know and love. Lets see about getting inside, maybe we'll find that drink for you."

The person who greeted them was more annoying than Rakot and Ostef combined. When all was said and done, Wolfram found his hand about to grab his knife. What concerned him was he didn't know if he planned to turn it on himself or Maghai. It seems Rakot didn't like the idea of suicide, so he decided to just mutilate his forehead on the wall.

"I'm a Grey Warden from Orlais. My name's Wolfram Caron. And I think I'll have a drink too. It's much better than the idea that I think I just had."

Maghai smiled widely at the men even as Rakot bonked his head against the wall. Repeatedly. He was used to this action from the man. He seemed to get some thrill out of hurting himself and people said Maghai was crazy. They certainly never met Rakot. But that was ok. Everyone was crazy in their own little ways.

The idea of a drink was thrilling but something was wrong with it. The blond could not put his finger on it so he put it on the middle of his lips as he considered it then lifted his finger to the air when he figured it out, "Oh a drink sounds good but I won't be able to come along. We have to go meet with the Grey Warden Commander on the road because we're off to some Virgil's Keep. I hope Virgil is nice and will give us something to drink there."

He looked back to his group, the last that would be leaving and then got onto his bored little pony which hadn't even lifted it's head when Rakot had done his head banging. It seemed that the animal was used to this type of occurrence but when he took the reigns it lifted it's head and gave the men a bored look before turning, "It's too bad that Jez and the others have already left. I'm sure she'd be interested to see you too. Nice to meet you, Wolfy! Well, have a good drink." He waved at them as he turned to leave.

"Sodding shit...we have to go with him to report to the Commander."

"Yes...we do....and you said you traveled with this crazy elf how long?"

"Four months....four sodding months, the most painful four months of my entire life, and that was right after I spent a year in the Kokari wilds hunting and being hunted by the entire sodding darkspawn horde....just some perspective for you."

"How...?"

"Did I not kill him? I don't know....by the ancestors, I just don't know....lets get a move on before I start releasing my irritation on innocent bystanders. Hopefully, we'll be done in a few hours and then we can go get that sodding drink. Just a bit more Rakot...you can do this, think of a happy place...a happy place."

The berserker walked back to his horse and mounted it.

The realization that this elf was their only lead to the commander almost made him grab the knife. It would be more merciful to kill himself then have any more prolonged contact with the elf. But he promised that he'd bring them to the commander. He wasn't about to abandon his life unless Rakot and Ostef planned to as well.

"Think of it as your last trial before your Joining," Wolfram commented as he mounted his horse. "Now, if any of you can think of a remotely sane, yet comforting comment directed at me, I'm sure we'll all be fine."

Maghai tried to get his pony to do more than walk but no matter how much he bounced on it, whistled, clanked his feet against it's sides or shook the reigns the pony just toddled ahead, "Cestrah! We have company! See, see this is Rakot and Ostaff and Wolfy!" He rode towards a young lady who was on a pony as well.

He continued sort of riding over to the young lady then stood up in his stirrups, "Sinjan! Sinjan!"

Sinjan sat on Snow with a tired expression on his face as he watched Maghai getting the three people and waited for them to show up. He was not all that thrilled with having to deal with this part of the group but he was chosen and it was his duty to watch over these two, get them to Nygozy's position safely and not kill Maghai.

He rolled his eyes as the elf yelled at him and sighed as he was easily seen on Snow since his stallion was much larger than the cute, stalwart children's ponies that the other two were riding. The ponies had been chosen due to their easy attitudes as they had been used for little children so had a strong sense of patience which would be required for at least Maghai.

"Welcome to the rear crew." He said to the three before taking a swig from his canteen.

"....happy place..."

Rakot continued muttering under his breath.

"I think Rakot is too busy trying to get into his happy place, and I'm all out of sane, comforting comments. Looks like we're doomed, boss. Wait....eh....at least its not raining? Thats kind of comforting if you don't think about it...."

Then the elf rode up to them, and then, thankfully got distracted and went away.

"Okay...so here is the new plan, Wolfy...we don't make eye contact with him, or make any sudden movements, maybe he'll just move on, we take advantage of his short attention span."

"Well...that's better than nothing, I guess." He paused a bit and thought about what Ostef just called him. He used the elf's little nickname for him. He preferred it when he was he just called him Warden. Going off of his recollection of the dossiers of the Ferelden wardens, there already was a warden with a similiar nick name. Calliara Maherial was associated with the name Wolf.

He had his own reasons for not being called that name. One being familiarity, the other being he only allowed his sister to call him that. Granted he never really let anyone get close in the past, so he may be more lenient with it.

Wolfram led his horse up a bit to keep up with the person Maghai called Sinjan, who greeted them to the rear crew. Which meant that his objective was still a ways off. Which meant following Maghai to Virgil's Keep? That definitely didn't sound right. It sounded a bit like Vigil's Keep, which was a keep he heard about. "Greetings. I'm Wolfram Caron, a Grey Warden. With me are Rakot and Ostef, a couple of warden recruits. We're looking for the Warden Commander and the elf mentioned something about a Virgil's Keep. I'm assuming Vigil's Keep is our real destination, is that right?"

Sinjan had trouble keeping from laughing at Rakot continually talking about his happy place but had to behave himself even though even he still had some hard feelings towards the two who had just returned but he was willing to give them another chance, because Nygozy told him to.

"Lead the way, Maghai." He called to the elf who happily took the lead, still fighting to make his pony move faster. Sinjan's horse ambled along calmly as Wolfram introduced himself to his person, "Good to meet you, Wolfram. I'm Sinjan Koru, one of the warden commander's assistants. I'm not a warden, if you're curious. I know of Rakot and Ostef. They have returned early and I am not sure if Nygozy will be pleased with that but there must be a good reason they've been sent back."

The fighter relaxed as Snow followed the ponies at a distance, "It is Vigil's Keep that we are going to. Point to remember: Never accept what that elf says as fact. If it is from his sister then do so but not from him. He has the basics but never the details and often will make those up as he goes along."

"Alright...I think I can do this now...

Rakot shook his head, waking up from his trance.

"Vigil's keep? That's near by the city of Amaranthine, gonna take us a few days to get there. If I may ask, Sinjan, what made the Commander decide to leave Denerim? Did something happen?"

Maghai rode ahead, finally giving up on making his pony do anything but run, then turned it around and went back to the others. He smiled at them all as he got his pony in line with the others and kept pace with them as the pony wanted to move like the bigger equines.

"Virgil's Keep is a long way away, yup!" He mentioned as he bounced about on his pony which seemed to be just shy of booting him off for that but then he settled down, seeming to notice the mare's new mood, "Nyggy told us nothing. Drake said we have to go and to move my ass or it was grass. Well not in those words but something like that. He said we had to go anyway. That's all."

Sinjan closed his eyes, seeming to be going through almost the same thoughts as Rakot had just gone through, "The warden commander did not give instructions as to why we are leaving now but she has been getting edgy so I'm guessing it has something to do with that. Maybe a bit more due to her ordering a move out in such short order."

"Can I ride your horse, Sinjan?" He asked innocently.

"No."

"Aw you always say that."

"It's because I always mean that. No. Snow would kill you." Sinjan suddenly seemed contemplative and looked at the back of his horse's neck and whispered under his breath as he patted Snow's neck, "I couldn't put you through that my friend."

"Fine!" Maghai sniffed, his nose in the air until he looked over at Rakot then he smiled as he forgot all about the horse, "You guys did want a drink didn't you? I have my wine flask if you want some." He was trying to be helpful thinking that Rakot would appreciate it. He lifted his drink towards Wolfram first as he was the closest. His smile increased as he thought someone would want a drink.

"I think it may have something to do with needing a base. It may cause some friction to have the Wardens in Denerim for too long. Vigil's Keep may serve as an interim headquarters until the Lothering Base goes up."

Maghai continued to pester Sinjan. It seems like his entire existence is meant to try people's patience and will to live. Sinjan's own...pony...would try to kill Maghai.

Maghai came over and offered him a flask of wine. Besides lacking the required alcohol content to actually drown out Maghai, it was generally not a wise idea to be drunk on horseback. "No thanks, Maghai. I don't drink when on the move."

"Keep your drink, knife-ears. I drink to get drunk and your wine is too watered down for my purposes.

Rakot then turned to Wolfram.

"Well, the king gave Vigil's keep to the Wardens after the Blight, so if the main permanent base is going to be anywhere, its there. Though Denerim also seems like a logical spot, and forget tension, the Wardens slayed the archdemon, people love them. If they ever figure out what to do with Lothering, I doubt they'll make it much more than an outpost, there really isn't any infrastructure for something like the main head quarters. The way the Commander decided to pick up and go without giving out much information suggests that whatever the reason is, its important enough to be kept a secret. Perhaps there has been a development, perhaps if the general public were informed it would cause a panic....its all mere speculation of course, but you never know. You wardens always got to be all mystical, it seems to the point there you yourselves don't know what the hell is really going on."

"I see. I didn't know just how much the opinion of the Wardens changed since the blight. As for Lothering, my reports claimed Lothering is meant to be the main base. Then again, I had no reports on Vigil's Keep, so maybe I didn't get up-to-date reports. Although from what it sounded like, they really dropped the ball on a Vigil's Keep report, since they were awarded it after the blight."

Wolfram went silent and started checking his bag. He had kept most of his reports with him. Perhaps he overlooked something. He began looking through them, trying to maintain balance. He couldn't find a Vigil's Keep report, instead finding one on Amarathine. Perhaps that was what was actually given to the Wardens. He looked through it and found info on Vigil's Keep."It seems they decided to squeeze Vigil's Keep on the report on Amarathine. This report says that the Keep belonged to a Rendon Howe, the Arl of Amarathine...did the King award the Wardens with their own arling?"

Sinjan patted his war horse's neck again and listened to the others then looked to Maghai, "Go show Cestrah what way to take to get out of the city, Maghai."

"Oh! I left her alone. What a bad friend I am." Maghai noticed Cestrah trying to figure out where to go and got his pony into a trot. The pony did move at the faster pace because the animal liked the smaller equine better as it's strides were close to it's own.

He waited until the man was out of hearing distance then turned his attention to the others, "Good thing you avoided that lava brew. It's scary even for those who do subside on lyrium. Anyway, the situation is that the warden's keep is to be built at Lothering. Nygozy finds taking over someone else's keep, even if the father was a traitor, to be tasteless. She won't do it unless absolutely necessary. As for more political information than that, I have no idea. I'm just a fighter even though my father would love me to know more, or care."

"Build an entire keep? That will take years..and in the middle of the tainted lands? Her advisers did know that nothing grows on tainted soil? Even food will have to be constantly shipped from up north, nevermind everything else. But I guess since 'bad taste' is involved...times like these I'm happy to be a grunt."

"Well, I for one have complete confidence in our Great Leader's judgement."

Ostef remarked, barging into the conversation.

"Because you're from Lothering and you're hoping they'll have it rebuilt?"

"I'm thinking that Keep won't build itself, so they'll have to ship in workers, those workers will bring their families, and build homes for themselves."

"Or they'll get tainted and either die or turn into ghouls."

"I'm an optimist, I'm sure out of every dozen at least a couple will survive the taint without becoming all twitchy and subservient to the darkspawn. That'll be enough to revive the town."

"Or...after the first batch of poor idiots dies off, the second batch will decide that loosing their lives isn't worth the money."

"Regardless, it'll be entertaining to watch."

"Agreed."

"That might be the main reason behind the research into the land. While it is something that needs to be cured, the new keep may be the true reason for it." Wolfram added.

"As you said, Ferelden loves the Wardens. I'm sure there would be no shortage of people who would want to help, if what you said was true. The commander can have help come in from where ever, be it Redcliffe or Orzammar. I wouldn't be surprised if a few dwarfs came in to help in the construction."

"Wait." Sinjan turned his head to look at Rakot, "You are saying that the Blight ravaged the landscape of Lothering to the extent of not being liveable for some decades? That must be why my fa... Ser Koru sent you back here. Did he send you with any messages for Nygozy? She would want to know of this as soon as she possibly can. She would never risk people's lives like that." He pointed out as he rode, becoming somewhat disturbed.

"If this is so then the reports received must have been incorrect or falsified." He pointed out and went silent for some moments, his mind delving into the memory of the pretend militia and guardsmen.

"Maybe not decades....all I know is that it hasn't retreated much in the past year. This is the first blight I've been through, same as everyone else alive today, hard to make an educated guess then I have nothing to compare it to from my past experience. I have some soil samples on me that I am supposed to hand over to the Commander, Ser Koru had his own alchemists run tests on a portion of the samples, but we left before we were informed of the results."

"He did mention to me that they couldn't stay for too much longer in Lothering." Wolfram added. "I'm guessing their own supplies are starting to run thin. They may have had some preliminary results and wanted to double check. But we have no more info on it then you do."

Wolfram continued skimming through his documents and found a dossier on Sinjan Koru. It was weird that one of his dossiers would be of a non-warden. He looked into it some more and saw some dossiers on other non-wardens. Could these be on some of Nygozy's companions? "Hate to change the subject, Sinjan, but how long have you been traveling with the commander?"

"Then I am sure he must have sent further information with those samples. Any way you look it does not seem person friendly." He said calming down and shaking his head, "Well that makes it more difficult in some ways but I'm sure she has alternate plans in case others did not work out."

"I am glad that he is leaving the area if it is in sad shape." Sinjan was relieved that his father would be leaving the place soon. He did not want to see him endangered by results of the Blight, or anything else for that matter.

The question that was put to him made him look to Wolfram and grin, "Long enough to know that I don't want to be a warden. I have been with the group since close to the start, soon after she and King Theirin got to Lothering."