After Joining Partay - VK

There were berries there that people had gathered and then the vegetables were all arranged nicely and all of the breads. Hey where was the cheese? Huh.

Jezarine turned and glared at one of the helpers, "Get that cheese out of there. I don't care if Alistair wants to hide some. Nygozy likes the stuff as well and she deserves a lot of treats. Now chop chop!"

Of course she couldn't look mean or even sound it but the helpers did get about doing what they were supposed to. Due to this Jezarine was happy and she walked about, arms around herself and hands on hips as she wandered around sashaying back and forth.

Even with all the strange stuff today was still a good day. All of the initiates lived and Nygozy was pregnant. Not only that but from the intense look she had of the tiny bundle of life said that it was healthy and as far as she concerned both mother and child were going to stay that way.

And tonight was going to be fun. Food was ready, drinks were ready and there was more than one bard more than ready to sing.

Khael still couldn't believe that both him and Takara were now grey wardens. Two weeks ago if anyone had told him this was going to happen he would have thought them insane.

When he had awoken after the joining Takara had still been out cold but all the others seemed to be up and about. He had heard rumours that something was wrong with the commander but knew no details. He had been told there was going to be a party for the new wardens, so things couldn't be too bad.

The young dwarf sat with Takara until she awoke and then they both went to bath and change their clothes. The amount of pain they had suffered earlier caused them to sweat quite a bit, and then laying unconcious in the sun for hours hadn't helped. Khael fancied he didn't smell all too great.

Bathed and changed Khael went to the tent next door that Takara occupied. "Knock Knock little sister." He called from beside the tent flap. "We don't want to be late for our own party!"

"I've never been to a p... party before." Takara said as she emerged from the tent, playing nervously with the skirt of the new set of robes someone had found for her.

"Wow," Khael said as the woman exited the tent. "You sure clean up nice Takara." He commented and then took her arm. "Come on, i'm absolutely famished!"

Macha ambled around the area where Jezarine was going about setting up the party, giving glares to any of the slacking helpers where Jez was obviously unable to. She didn't mind - she was going about helping, too, and since most of the traveling party feared certain species of bunny rabbits more than they feared Jez, she was more than happy to walk around as the reinforcing muscle for the night.

And what a night it was. Andraste! A full-survival Joining, paired with a pregnant Commander! Macha never could have dreamed of it! It certainly made for a festive evening, even if no one else knew about Nygozy's pregnancy. She'd only jusy found out herself, and now, later in the evening as it was, she was surprised that the word hadn't gotten around. She supposed that was a good thing, too.

She frowned a little to herself as she and Argos were carrying firewood to the pit. She didn't know if it was possible for a secret like that to be kept for long, but she sort of hoped that no one found out, at least for a little while. One would have to be a fool to doubt Nygozy's fitness for duty, but some people got funny about women who were with child, and even though Macha trusted (almost) everyone here, she couldn't help but worry how some people would react when they heard the news. Would they think Nygozy was too weak to lead? Would they fuss over her, insisting she shouldn't go to battle? (On Macha's part, already designating herself 'Aunt Macha' in her mind, she wasn't going to let Josie run out to battle with a baby in her tummy, even if she had to tie the feisty dwarf down).

With a heavy sigh, Macha set the fire wood down, and turned to get more. She'd try not to think of this now. Tonight was a night for joy, and worrying could wait until tomorrow.

A pair of arms snaked around Jez's waist and lifted her up an inch or so off the ground before putting her pack down for a kiss to be placed on the top of her head. "And what are you looking so happy about, hm, sauntering around like you've just found a dragon's hoard all for yourself?" he asked from behind her, rocking her from side to side a bit before letting her go to go and stand in front of her, his hands on his hips in a mirror-image of her own previous stance. "Could it be because we had such a successful Joining? Or that it's such a great night? Or maybe because we're all finally going to have a decent meal?"

He was grinning like a loon, he knew, and the funny thing was, he wasn't even sure why he was so . . . happy. He hadn't been this stupidly happy all day. He'd just been walking around camp, minding his own business, neither happy or unhappy, just 'normal,' and then he'd seen Jez with that secretive little smile on her face, like she couldn't imagine being any happier than she was right now, and he'd been struck with such a fierce feeling of 'pride' and 'joy' that it was almost like she'd infected him with it. Not that that was a bad thing - as sudden as this mood was, he couldn't deny that feeling good felt, well . . . good.

Jezarine kicked a little bit as Ianto picked her up then stopped when she realized it was him but began laugh giggling before he let her down. He then kissed her on top of the head and she tilted her own head to look up at him with her big eyes and followed his movement to in front of her and giggled again.

"All of that and more." Her eyes twinkled with hidden information that she was just bubbling over to tell him but didn't know if she should. She bounced a bit, her smile wide and bright as she watched his eyes, "Strange things be a happening and I think that we're all gonna be having a really good party tonight. But don't give Nyggy any wine or ale. She's not allowed alcohol anymore."

Her mouth shut suddenly and she checked about to see if anyone had heard her as she sort of let it slip in a way but it was true. Nygozy wouldn't be able to drink alcohol anymore but she felt sheepish about saying it and more than a little naughty, but amusingly naughty as she looked up at him like someone who just got into the cookie jar.

Kassina knew that it was not right to spy on the joining, but she wanted to make sure her new friends were okay. In eagle form she had flown slowly over the joining area several times to check on them. When she was sure everyone was okay she headed into the forest and joined her pack.

The elf had learned there would be a big party tonight for the new wardens, and she knew wardens were always hungry, so she wanted to make sure there was plenty for them to eat. Landing and changing to wolf form she lead the pack on a hunt of the forests around the camp.

Later that evening Kassina ran happily up to Jezarine who seemed to be in charge of the party and barked happily as she helped the back bring in two large deer they had caught. She dashed back into the forest can came back in elf from carrying a large basket full of fish she had caught in a river nearby. She had already cleaned the deer and fish out in the forest so they only needed to be cooked now.

"Kassina bring food wardens. Wardens hungry. Clean but need burn." She said to the other elf before she dashed back into the woods on some other errand known only to her.

Tatsoo showed up with a bright smile on her face because this was the first party the wardens were having outside of Denerim and it was even more special because it was outside. There were lots of foods laid out and decorations which were made from plant life. There were flowers and vines in places that normally would not grow such things so she figured a mage had a green thumb. It must have been Jezarine.

She took a deep breath and smiled back at Shade then tossed him an apple and laughed, "Ah think dis will be fun." She laughed then noticed the deer Kassina had brought, "Would ye like me ta skin that for ya, Jezarine? Ah ken do it fasta den most an have de skins hung ready to set up ta work on lata. Ye don mind d'ya, Shade?"

Shade watched Tatsoo glow like the sun as she enjoyed herself, His hand caught the apple and took a bite and shrugged. "It's fine with me my Golden Bird go ahead. I'm just gonna go examine those strawberries for bruises and other things." He walked over to the table and took a couple of Strawberries feeling he delicate flesh and bit into it the sweet juices pouring into his mouth. He looked around the clearing seeing people he never met but he was too preoccupied with these delicious berries. He whispered a silent Prayer to the Hunt for the Deer's life than went back to the fruit.

Shade walked to a tree and sat down watching the others as he gobbled Apples, oranges, Strawberries, Blueberries, wild-berries, and Blackberries. His lips were six different colors stained by the juice. He watched the preparations and walked over to Jezarine. "Is there anything you would like me to do?"

Marcus was in the woods chopping firewood for the camp fires for the party. Meanwhile, Garoll was already sampling the alcohol. The Shadow elected to stay out of the festivities entirely. It knew that it's presence would spoil the mood. Fremelda was helping Macha out, but she was ultimately quiet and had a glum look on her face. And The Tamassran was sitting by the fire pit, warming his hands. He was going to be telling stories to the children tonight, along with Sophia if she wished to.

Gareth sat apart from the others, sitting atop a plateau nearby, taking guard duty. He wasn't a warden, nor was he involved with them much outside the fact he was simply tagging along for the ride. The young Arl knew there were lots of pretty girls down there but many of them were taken (Not that that'd stop him), but also he felt his presence would merely serve as an embarrassment to his cousin, Macha. So guard duty it was, making sure nothing aside from Kassina's wolf pack made it to the group.

"Hello everyone," Khael called out as he and Takara approached the party area. There were several people he recognized as well as several he had not yet met. Takara was following in his wake, self concious in her new burgandy robes.

Khael headed instantly for the food, he didn't think he'd ever been so hungry in his life. There were so many foods here that he hadn't seen in years he didn't even know where to start.

Takara slowly drifted towards Jezarine, the only person she really knew here.

"He...hello," The mage stammered, approaching Jezarine and the man with her slowly. She didn't think she had met the man, but her first day or two with the wardens were still pretty fuzzy so she wasn't sure. There was also another mage with Jezarine that Takara vaugly remembered from the joining this morning.

"W... what do I do?" Takara asked nervously, having no idea what parties were about. She played nervously with the skirt of her robe and kept her eyes focused on her feet.

"It's fine with me Tatsoo." Jezarine smiled as she watched the other woman get right to the skinning then Shade came back to ask if there was anything he could do.

"Well, you could help Tatsoo put those deer near the pit over there where they will be cut up for steaks once she's done then just have fun. Oh. Shade, this is Ianto. Ianto this is Shade. He is Kraven's apprentice and has taken a shine to our honey girl." She chuckled as she noticed other things going on.

Then Takara came over and Jezarine took the girl's hands, "Takara! Oh I am so glad that you all survived the joining. I get to be your teacher!" She was excited about having students, "This is Shade and Tatsoo and this is Ianto, my ..." She looked up at him to see what he'd call himself to her.

Shade looked at Jez than at Ianto than at the other mage who came up and decided there was too many people. He turned leaving the group and over to the deer and picked up the ones Tatsoo had already skinned and moved them over and laid them down on a stone slab. He drew a dagger and began cutting it into sections for Steak and removing the extras and threw them into a pile for the Wolves. He looked over at Tatsoo and smiled watching her skin and clean the deer. A chuckle escaped as he whistled at her.

"Not allowed?" He wondered, looking quite confused as to what Jez might mean by that. "Why, is she sick?" His head tilted a little to the side as he looked to Jez for an answer, but before it could come, several people came up to them in quick succession. A younger elf, a mage woman, and that wolf-elf was dragging in a . . . dead thing. He smiled at all of them politely, but really smiled at how well Jez was doing with dealing with all of the people. She didn't usually give herself enough credit as a leader, but the truth was that people just liked doing things for Jez. It was her puppy-dog eyes, he swore.

He nodded his head with a smile at the little mage girl, greeting her on cue from Jez. "I'm Ianto, her '...'," he said, glancing at the dark-elf with a playful smirk. "Isn't that right, my fellow '...'?"

It was not taking long for her to skin the animals as she was very used to this being a leather smith. Once Shade took the meat from her she hooked the skins up to dry out in a place away from the others then walked towards Shade as he whistled at her, "Ye be about as quick as I be wif de cuttin. Dose steaks look good. Where did ye learn dat since ye be vegetarien?"

Shade smiled kissing her stomach. "I wasn't always a vegetarian I became one a few months before meeting up with Nygozy, While I was alone I learned to hunt with magic and to live off the land but magic couldn't slice the meat and though it helped make a fire it couldn't cook, So it was either learn or die and since I am still here I must have learned." Shade worked the last meat from the bone leaving behind a clean skeleton having set the extras aside for the scavengers and the meat out for the people. "I became a vegetarian one day quite by accident I was hunting as usual and I heard a noise so I ran to it and there was a poor baby doe trapped in a bear trap it's leg broken badly and making noises that broke my heart. I freed it and healed it and as it ran off I made a pact never to cause suffering like that again and fruits and berries became my nourishment. Helps really does running, magic, training, eating healthy that is how I got all this muscle."

Shade wrapped each piece of meat in a Soft leaf to keep it from getting covered in dirt and grass and lined them up for the feast. "You did a good job cleaning them my love expertly done." He stood up and kissed her softly lifting her up into his arms.

Takara looked at the elf woman and the human behind her in confusion. There was obviously something going on that she didn't understand so she just smiled and nodded. This could be normal behaviour for all she knew. It wasn't like she'd ever had a social life as a slave. Growing up as a slave in a brothel didn't teach you anything about normal social interactions, especially not between men and women.

But this woman was going to be her teacher? That was something she could latch on to. "Th... thank you. I... I'm very excited to have a real t.. teacher. I w.. want to learn to heal better. Khael and some of t.. the others are h.. helping me learn to r.. read. Miss Wolf g... gave me some b... ooks." Takara managed to stammer out.

"Here my scrawny little sister, eat! That's an order!" Khael mockingly barked as he came over and shoved a plate of food into her hands. Takara had never seen so many different kinds of food before and didn't even know what half the stuff on the plate was. But she was hungry, and eating would save her trying to talk, so she slowly began to nibble.

"Glad to hear my little sister will have a proper magic teacher," the young dwarf commented with a smile. "Thank you very much for taking her as a student. I guess I'm probably going to train with that lovely dwarven lady I met on the road."

"Ianto!" She giggled then wiggled her nose at him, "Fine. Boyfriend, yes?" She chuckled at him, "You are saucy, mister." She stuck her tongue out at him then looked back to the other two.

"That is great! I also teach people how to read and write so you are stuck with me then. Ianto sometimes helps me as well. That's right Khael. I'm sure that you and Pendra will get along just fine. She's going to teach me some fighting too." She chuckled.

Varen walked from the forest near camp. She had taken the time away from others to make herself look at least barely decent. She had taken her own light gray feathers from her harpy eagle form and placed them in her hair at the ends of small braids she had woven. She still wore her dark red mage's robes, but had shed the cloak. Thin, sharp black lines could be seen on the backs of her hands, trailing up her arms under her sleeves.

The mage smiled softly at the sight of the party. It truly was festive. The food looked delicious, especially to an empty stomach. She held herself back from the table, however, and looked at the rest of the camp. Everyone was running around doing something or the other. Varen considered asking if she could help, but felt that she might be more of a burden than a blessing. The elf stayed on the fringes of the crowd and hummed a soft song she had heard Joshua sing once. She looked to the sky and smiled, glad to be out in the open instead of locked up in a stupid tower.

Maddox had came by to help with the party, celebrating the perfect joining. It must be a rare occurrence for a celebration, no doubt. His joining, as large as it was, only had one who succumbed to it. When he saw Macha, now was his chance. He needed to get this off his chest.

He ran over to Macha, who had just dropped off some firewood. "Hello Lady Cousland. I'm not too sure you remember me, since it's been a number of years since I squired at Castle Cousland, but my family holds the bannorn of Cercium. My father served your father back during the occupation. He also traveled with your brother to Ostagar while I stayed behind to wait for..." Maddox kinda cringed a bit. He knew this must be a very sensitive subject for her and mentioning it may have some repercussions. "In any case, Cercium fought tooth and nail against the traitors whenever possible."

Wolfram stood by watching Shade, wondering what about him interested Kraven so much. He assumed the woman to be Tatsoo, who never seems to get called by name much. Every one kinda just calls her names in reference to her hair color. It was nice that Rakot or Ostef weren't here right now, especially considering their reaction to her accent.

His attention turned over to one of the new Wardens, Takara, who apparently is going to be Jezarine's apprentice. Both offered interesting things to him. On one hand, Shade was a shapeshifter. Would be useful, but it was something he wouldn't do much. On the other, Jezarine must be a spirit healer. However, with how draining it is for her to use, he'd after to start using blood magic to bypass his lowered mana. Perhaps using a new school isn't really that good of an idea.

He took out a book that he acquired about entering the fade. It was not unfamiliar to him, but with the fade issue and a small amount of battle ready mages, and currently being unsure if they actually have to enter the fade, they need to bring in some help in with them. Unless Kraven has a plan for that already.

Tatsoo giggled when Shade kissed her tummy and looked down at him with a bright smile but she became more sedate as he spoke of how he had become a vegetarian. It was sad with killing anything but the young makes one even sadder. She nodded with understanding and made a light yelp that was muffled by his kiss as he lifted her into his arms.

She kissed the tip of his nose, "Have enough food or should we grab a berry basket and go back to da tent?"

Shade leaned down kissing her neck right by her ear one thing about learning vital killing points was learning where sensitive areas were. He kissed up and down behind her ear his arms holding her off the ground gently. "Back to the tent already my love? I thought you wanted to stay for the party and sing and dance and throw food at each other?" He kissed her lips briefly then pulled back smiling. "I'm full if you would rather we just go to the tent for a little while, I will even carry you my Golden princess."

He looked over her shoulder at all the people watching them get to know each other and talk he was proud when he saw Varen out amongst others and was glad there was one elven mage who escaped the tower and became a Warden. His place was somewhere else but right now his whole being was with the woman in his arms.

Takara watched the elven mage and the honey haired woman as she nibbled on the food that Khael had brought. She wondered if she would ever be able to be like that with someone. Between the brothel and the fighting ring she knew only abuse at the hands of others and could barely stand to be touched. Khael was the brother she never had and she was okay with him holding her hand and such as he never wanted her that way. But the thought of letting someone touch her like that and enjoying it... she wasn't sure if that would ever happen.

Remembering this was supposed to be a party and she was supposed to be enjoying herself she looked around at the others, trying to distract herself from unhappy thoughts. That's when she noticed another elven mage on the fringes of the party. She recognized this one as another new warden and slowly drifted over to her.

"H... hello. W... would you like some f..food?" She asked, holding out her plate which still had plenty on it. "I d.. don't know what m.. most of it is, but it is v.. very good. Especially these r... red things." Takara said, gesturing to a pile of strawberries.

Varen blinked in surprise when the other warden came over. After seeing what the girl was motioning to, the elf smirked slightly. "Those are strawberries, friend. And thank you." Varen gently took one from the plate. She ate it quickly, and then spoke to the other mage again.

"Congratulations on making it through the Joining. My name is Varen, and it is a pleasure to meet you." Varen was slightly confused at why the other woman seemed so timid. Perhaps something had happened in her past as well? The thought made the mage's blood boil, but said nothing on the matter. Instead, she held her hand out for a handshake.

"St... strawberries, right. Khael t... told me about them." Takara said as she slowly ate another one.

"Con.. gratulations to you t.. too. My name is Takara." The mage replied, staring at the offered hand for a minute before slowly reaching for it with her own free hand. She tried hard not to flinch at the brief contact, but only partly succeeded.

"I h.. heard you escaped from the t... tower. Is it really as aw.. awful there as people say? I.. I've never h.. had much contact w... with other mages before a f... few days ago. O... only the woman who t... taught me and that was y.. years ago." Takara managed to stammer out. While her stammer never truely went away it certainly got worse when she was nervous, which was pretty much always.

Varen took her hand back after the handshake, seeing as how the other warden didn't like the touch. Varen would remember that.

The elf's face dropped the smile like a brick when the question was asked. She wasn't angry at the question, just upset at the past. Her jaw clenched in anger when she answered. "Oh, the Tower. I'm sure it's all fine and dandy for the human mages there. They seem to have a whole lot of fun tormenting the rest of us." Varen's voice was loaded with venom. Her face stayed as passive as it usually was, but her eyes betrayed the anger she felt.

The mage shook her head. "The tower was always too....restricting. When I studied in Shape Shifting, it was still basically frowned upon in the Circle society. Add that with how the humans," She spat the word out as if it tasted bad. "treated me and..... well." Varen stopped herself before saying anything else. She envied the other mage for living away from the tower.

She looked to the other mage with calmer golden eyes. She was trying to calm down, and decided the best way to do so was to ask the other girl. "What was life like...being free?"