Start to Denerim - Sinjan's group

"You're not gonna try to take her away are you?" He asked Lithawen as he held her closer, "I can't let anyone hurt her. They've already hurt her and no one wants to let us be friends." The boy tried to look strong but it was easy to tell he was scared not only for himself but for his female friend as well.

Lithawen shook her head. "No. I won't take her away. We just want to make sure the darkspawn didn't hurt either of you." she said with a smile, extending her hand a bit. "My name is Lithawen, and I promise I won't hurt either of you. What are your names?" Looking down at Sinjan she pointed to Snow, and mouthed "blanket?".

Sinjan waited as Lithawen went after the children, concerned that she might go after the girl considering how she'd treated her brother earlier, but she was being nice to both of them. He smirked thinking of how she was right now.

As she mouthed for him to get a blanket and did so.

The boy watched Lithawen and then looked down at Sinjan then back to Lithawen. He held onto the girl, "But ... Dena says you wanted to kill her and her family."

Lithawen looked back up at the boy with slightly wide eyes, confused a bit by his comment. "Dena? I don't know a Dena..." she said as she reached down to grab the blanket, she draped it over the boy wrapping it around him and the girl.

Her mouth went wide as she realized who the girl was, the farmer's daughter from before. No one was gonna let her live that down were they? Would have been easier to kill them all after all, wasn't her fault she hadn't know their leader was so different from her previous Warden Commanders, Weisshaupt bred sold and indifferent men but Orlais wasn't all hugs and rainbows either. Maybe she was just unlucky with her Commanders.

"I... I'm not going to kill anyone. The bastard down there is here to make sure of that." she said signaling down to Sinjan. "Even if he wasn't here, I wouldn't kill a child such as yourself or your friend."

A smirk appeared and disappeared quickly as the boy pointed out that Lithawen had wanted to kill Dena. The look on the Dalish's face was priceless but he behaved, even when she called him names but he did stick his tongue out at her, being childish for the hell of it.

"Ok. I'm Merav." He said as he got down and helped Dena from the tree, "We ran from the creatures. I think they got Dena's family."

"They ... they did." Dena acknowledged, trying to look brave.

"We will find out soon enough. That is our secondary camp spot. I'm sorry Dena." He touched the girl's shoulder and whistled for Snow, "Let's get going slowly. You are both hurt so we'll go at a walk. Sorry Arlathan. I know you and your boss like to run wild."

Lithawen helped both of them down from the tree, jumping down next to them. "Run wild?" she asked with a glare. "I don't like your tone knight."

Arlathan snorted in agreement, he didn't like this man one bit. For one he got on Lithawen's nerves, and even if a horse wasn't capable of understanding Arlathan certainly was capable of knowing his rider's emotions.

"Come on then, Merav." she said helping the boy up to her horse's back. Arlathan didn't seem happy with the little boy on him, stomping his hoof into the dirt, Lithawen patted his neck and sighed "Ir Abelas Arlathan. Da'len isala hamin." she spoke softly to him as she climbed up behind the boy. "Tell us what happened?" she asked Merav.

"As if there was any time you liked my tone." He muttered snidely, "And running wild isn't a bad thing. Most of the time."

Drake helped Dena up on Snow but Merav became upset as Lithawen put him up on her horse. He slid off, tripped and rushed over to Snow and Dena the pulled himself up there to hold the girl against him. He looked back at the Dalish woman while shaking his head, "I can't leave her alone."

"You don't have to. I'll walk and Snow will walk slowly." He said as he started to walk, his horse following at an amble, "Lithawen is right though. We need to know what happened."

The boy sighed, "Dena and I were gonna run off when those things attacked. They got Dena's family and we tried to find mine but they got them too. We tried to run, and I killed a couple with my bow but they caught us and then you two came along."

Lithawen sighed, "Come on up then. You can ride with me," she said as she extended her hand down to Sinjan.

"Run off? You were playing to run away from home? Where did you think you were going to go?" She asked quickly, her Keeper instincts kicking in. She sounded just about as concerned as any parent would be. But the tone was quickly thrown away after she realized how she sounded.

"The two of us?" she asked looking around. "Where the bloody hell did Marcus go? I bet he ran away, fucking coward." she growled out, scowling.

Sinjan took her hand, got up on Arlathan behind Lithawen and sighed, "Thank you, Lithawen. I believe Marcus was in his own world carving away. He's probably hanging about waiting or fighting Darkspawn himself."

"They didn't want us to be ... uh ... friends." Dena said quietly, frightened that these people might act the same way as their families had.

Merav rubbed Dena's arm, "Our parents didn't want us being around each other 'cause I'm Dalish and she's human. We were going to find a nice place to stay and no one could tell us we couldn't be around each other. I know a town that is half-Elves. They would have accepted us."

"What about your clan? What about your Keeper? I don't know much about the other Dalish, but... my clan has been known to take in strays." It was odd for her to say that. And such a statement carried uneasy feelings with it. After all her father had been a stray, but Lithawen herself could never see past her hatred for everyone else to allow other people into her clan. Outsiders brought in complications, unwanted problems and baggage.

"Or perhaps it would be best to get you to that town." she scoffed, biting her lip slightly, trying not to frown to much, though her hands tightened around Arlathan's mane.

"My parents left our clan before I was born, something about how they treated half-Elves they didn't agree with even though both are ... were Dalish. They wouldn't accept Dena and even if other clans would accept me I'm afraid they'd try to kill Dena before we could get to any who would." He closed his eyes, saddened by that fact.

Dena nodded, "And humans don't usually accept Elves. I guess ... our parents just didn't want us hurt by how mean people can be and they said half-Elven children are treated even worse lots of times."

Sinjan took a deep breath, "We are. Neither side trusts us or believes in us, for the most part but there are some good people who don't care."
Both youth looked at Sinjan with surprise as he brushed his hair back to show his ear.

So as they walked along they heard the sound of Darkspawn. Right away, Sinjan and Lithawen went to engage the Darkspawn and Marcus lifted an eyebrow. Blindly charging into battle without looking for defences? Fools... Still, he shrugged as he put his carving in progress away, hopped off of his mare and started in deeper into the woods, looking for Archers, or Mages. Sure enough, he found some. He unslung Durbans from his back and crept behind the Darkspawn who were priming their aiming at his two companions and another couple in the woods.

He smirked as he silently wrung the neck of a Darkspawn in his powerful hands, but he stepped on a twig which snapped and got the attention of the remaining two archers and their Emissary commander. "Let's dance" He grinned at them and charged forward, as arrows loosed, bouncing off his cured leather vest whenever they aimed at his heart, it was designed for such a purpose. However, one arrow got him in the leg, which slowed him down. Tapping into his berserker rage, he blocked the pain out and hacked the two archers in half, while the Emissary doubled back to Hex Marcus. Marcus' vision blurred, causing his aim to be confounded, but with a heavy, large weapon like Durbans, accuracy wasn't much needed when one could swing blindly. Striking the jaw of the Emissary, the Darkspawn staggered back a few paces and then Marcus stabbed the pommel of the axe into the Hurlock's gut just as his vision cleared, and he grinned down at him. "Nice try, binky boy." He then lopped its head off.

Wincing as he limped to the bodies, he removed the heads of each and bagged them, and then found his mare again, and caught up to the others. He kept the arrow in his leg to prevent it from bleeding out. "Ho there, friends. You seemed to have jumped a little too soon, and missed the snipers on yonder ridge who were seconds away from ending your lives. No thanks are needed, I don't let my companions die that easily." He shrugged and held up the bag with the Darkspawn heads. The black blood was leaking from the bottom of said bag. He smiled at the young couple. "Hello, are you two alright?" He asked them.

"And here you've been making me out to be a criminal for hating everyone." Lithawen said, elbowing Sinjan, gently.

"It's also possible your parents just hated the thought of elves." she said looking to Dena. "I know that, when I would have been Keeper, I wouldn't endanger everyone just to take in a human. After all you would be better off in a city than an elf. You have your place, isn't it enough that you've taken ours too?"

"And I have yet to meet a human who truly doesn't care,"

"Well... look at that, you're not dead." she said as she looked to Marcus with a blank stare. "Congratulations you killed the snippers we would have gotten. Just happened before we got them."

"If my father hated Elves he wouldn't have helped any but he had many a time." Dena snapped furiously. She wasn't happy with that woman since she hurt her brother and now she wasn't as freaked out by the Darkspawn and just had enough, "And the land we lived on was owned by a rich Dwarf who gave it to us. It was already plowed and set up for farming."

Merav held the girl closer, "They gave us food when we first came here, hungry and starving. After that we hunted and they farmed. We worked together. It's just they all didn't want us liking each other so much."

"Hey! I was not happy that you wanted to kill innocents. You'd have my father's head on a pike if you saw him just because he is human." He snapped when Lithawen poked him and went to get off the horse.

Then he saw Marcus, "I was more worried about these two youngsters. They would have been dead if we'd gone after the other Darkspawn first. I was hoping you'd back us up.." He sighed as Lithawen griped at Marcus, "Thanks for getting those ones."

"Oh shut up, you keep over reacting to everything I say." Lithawen said looking back at Sinjan, her hand up and rubbing his ear.

"The only people in this world who are truly innocent are children. And that's because they have yet to be corrupted by their racist parents. The believe that mages are monsters. Elves are only there to be kicked and spat at. So as you can see, nothing in this world is safe from the taint of hatred, it run more wild than the Darkspawn."

She sighed a bit and looked forward again, wondering when they would reach the farm so she could ditch the annoyances, maybe catch up with Iauron (though he too was an annoyance) and just rest.

Marcus frowned a bit at Lithawen's abrasive attitude. He shrugged. "Mkay, I can let the snipers shoot you in the back next time in that case. Kidding. My nature prevents me from letting that happen." He said and tossed Lithawen the carving he was working on. A bird carving, one that was nuzzling its own side with a wing raised up. It looked almost lifelike. "For doing such a good job, you get a carving." He smiled over at her then shook his head and placed the bloody sack into his saddlebag.

He turned to the young couple, his eyes narrowing a little. "Not all humans are bad. But no, you can't go anywhere without finding SOMEONE who hates us Elves. It's just nature. One day we'll be the racist ones looking down on the formerly enslaved humans. It's how the cycle of life works. An oppressed species becomes equal with a dominant one, and then dominates their oppressors, and so on." He said in a crisp tone. Surprising that it wasn't his usual nonsensical jibberish. The look on his face showed he did not mean to show such intelligence. He cursed under his breath.

Lithawen caught the carving, looking at it as she took in what Marcus was saying. "I doubt Elves will one day rule the lands again. We've had our age, and now it's the age of men. One day.... there will be no more elves. Then men will have no one to dehumanize but themselves." she retorted, not looking up from the carving, running her fingers over the wings of the bird.

"I do not need your praise." Lithawen said quickly, handing the carving back to Sinjan.

Dena looked at both of the older Elves and seemed like she was going to cry and snap at them but instead she turned her head and glared straight ahead.

"Can't you get it through your thick skulls?!" Merav yelled at them, "Dena's family HELPED US! They had no reason to do so but they did. If it hadn't been for them MY FAMILY ... DALISH ELVES WOULD HAVE DIED! If you keep spouting off hatred all there is going to be is hatred!" He snapped his head back around and kissed Dena's cheek, whispering softly to her, "It's alright. We'll find that place."

Sinjan didn't take the carving. He got off Arlathan and walked over to Snow, "You two go on ahead to the farm." He took the horse's reigns as he went.

Marcus was losing his patience with these strangers, but contained his boiling anger. He put on one of his dimwitted smiles instead. "Perhaps, little man. But you forget, all Half-elves are born human. It simply means you can blend in with any human community out there." He shrugged to the pair. "I'm certain there will be a place for you, not this fabled village." He grunted, being realistic about this approach. Logical and careful planning would get them a home, not chasing after fairy tales.

Lithawen stayed quiet, her mind busy at work trying to comprehend a village that elves and humans didn't hate one another. Sounded (as Marcus said) like a fable, a fairy tale, such a utopia couldn't exist. There was too much that got in the way, all there needed to be was one human wronged and it would blow up. A story book tale for children, to help them sleep at night. Nothing more.

"I have points to my ears." Sinjan stated to the full Elf before the two youth could say anything, "Let's just get these two to the cottage and stop this scrambling about with beliefs and theories on life. It's been a long day and I'm sure you two are just as interested in flopping onto a bedroll and nodding off as I am."

He kept walking, not caring if the other two followed him or went ahead on their own. This conversation was bothering him because of his own mother's desertion due to these very issues. It hurt enough and he did not need other people adding to that misery or discussing it. He'd thought for some strange reason that Lithawen could understand him, what he felt but she'd proven that she felt it was just sex and wanted no more than to harrass him by jumping on everything he said.

Fine. He'd had enough today. There were more people than he had expected to show up in order to help the group and the Darkspawn attack didn't make it any more fun. Normally he could deal with many people but he was getting to like the quiet in the forest. Sinjan was careful, watching out for any trouble but it was easy to see with the way he moved and looked about that he was mentally troubled.

Lithawen sighed, propped up by her arms as she let Arlathan steer himself behind Sinjan and Snow. "Other than that though, you look human. It's easy for you to blend in. It would be impossible for a full elf; if I tried people would be able to tell right away from my size, even if I hid my ears like you have. Teenage humans even stand taller than me." she muttered, clearly tired.

"When I was younger it was easier though. I spent a whole week in Denerim and no one could tell I was an elf... or a girl. Even got to beat up a few of the snobby noble boys. Well... they knew who I was, the guards didn't seem to though."

Marcus let out an irritated breath at Sinjan's pointing out of his slightly pointed ears. He agreed completely with Lithawen's logic. "Like the fair one said, your ears are barely noticeable. Your stature and facial construction show a more human side, so you can blend in a lot easier. It is this way for all half elves." He looked over to the cranky couple who believed in a nonexistent utopia. "The best you can do is find a community to raise any children in that accepts them as humans. Which is just about anywhere except for high born places like Denerim." He grunted. He wanted to help them out, but they were grating on his nerves. His tone reflected that.

Sinjan heard the two but didn't react or even show that he heard them, his head elsewhere. Why in the world they wanted to continue on about that was beyond him because he'd seen what was done to both Elves and half-Elves if people found out what you were. It didn't matter to him what the other two felt about it. He knew what he was and he knew how people acted to both races and to the offspring. Yes there were good people but he wasn't about to argue any points with them.

Then Lithawen mentioned when she had been young and beat up some snooty rich boys so he looked back and smirked, "Beat them up you say? I killed them for their atrocities, thanks. How do you think I ended up here?"

He looked to Marcus who had mentioned about his ability to blend in and snorted, "No kidding. How dense do you think I am? Oh don't answer that. I'm sure others would prefer to immasculate me without your help."
Sinjan turned his head and snorted.

"That's what we were going to do. Find a place that at least partially accepts us and I know where to go." Merav said then quietened, watching the foliage go by.

Lithawen cocked an eyebrow as Sinjan mentioned killing a noble, suddenly a bit more alert. "Would said noble brat happen to be Kestrel Brinn?" she asked blankly. Oh she could only hope, that hypocritical bastard hated elves. Not surprising from the son of a powerful family, one that happened to like the idea of slavery.

Lithawen had been so close to actually killing him when they were younger. The news of his death would be good, even if she was a little sad she could not end his pathetic life with her own hands.

If only their father hadn't been there, then her half brother really would have died. But, there was always her mark on him, no healer would be able to help with the burn that took up half his face and shoulder. That was something he would have to suffer with for the rest of his life.