Homeland (Alarian)

 Castle Surana- Tevinter

We went from Ferelden, and then the free marches in Kirkwall, and then to Tevinter. The quest, take back my ancestral home. The castle and seat of power of House Surana. We have a few problems though, 1.The Tevine people act as if slavery is a normal thing, Krem's father had to sell himself into it because of this. 2. The castle is in shambles, the walls partly covered in Ivy and clouded windows cracked and dirty. And finally 3. The place is overrun with Qunari soldiers. Now if you know me at all, you'd know I'm terrified of Qunari, and freaked out when I first saw Sten when I got back. Their looking for me, or anything that connects to my family, tearing the place apart, but they won't find me, Mr. Stratford hid me too well for that. They can't find me, not again. He accompanied us on our journey, it's me, Oghren, Sten, Shale, Wynne, Morrigan, Alistair, Zevran, Leliana, Barky the dog, Lilly my girlfriend, Kenelm Stratford, and Bull wanted to come along, I think he's mad at his people for kidnapping and torturing me for at least a month in that camp. We fight our way through the town that lies below the castle, which overlooks it ominously. I wonder if anyone else is left. The town looks deserted but I see glimpses of people hiding in their homes, and the place doesn't look run down to look empty. We get outside the gate and Zevran stops me and puts a hand on my shoulder “Ok Ali, when we get inside I want you to find a safe place and stay there.” He seems worried.  “ok.” I nod. His other hand takes mine “Don't come out for any reason. We’ll come find you when it's over.” I look up at him, and he smiles reassuringly. I think he's afraid of losing me again. “You ready Kadan?” Bull asks and draws his sword. I nod steadily trying to remain serious. “Their ready Kenelm.” He says to Mr Stratford who's standing up front with Alistair, Sten, Oghren and Shale. Morrigan, Wynne, Leliana and Zevran stand back, Leliana armed with a bow and a sword by her side, Zevran has two daggers from his days with The Antivan Crows, Wynne has spirit healing magic, and draws most of her power from the earth, whilst Morrigan draws hers from frost and snow,while I can draw mine from a number of things with equal power,utilizing any of the elements, frost, fire, earth, and air, as well being able to draw raw power from The Fade via the markings in my skin, which act as alchemy transcribes. Morrigan has her staff made of steel that was enchanted by Sandal, Bodans adopted son, he has what I think is either a nonverbal learning disability, dyspraxia and I'm 99% sure he's on the Autism Spectrum. He can't really talk, mostly just says simple things, like when I go over to him he's like “enchantment?” And if I say yes he claps and gets really excited and says “Enchantment!” And I have my staff which functions as both a magic weapon that's incredibly lethal when fully charged with energy. And then can be turned into a sparing weapon, a near unbreakable thing, that combined with martial arts and a small bit of magic, can be deadly. We are the specialized part of the company, rouges, bards, mages, shape shifters, a living messenger of a higher power that works for the good of general society whilst battling their own personal demons. Sure anyone can swing a sword, but magic, or assassinations, or cunning negotiation skills, that takes practice. Sten and Bull crash open the doors “be careful with my castle!” I yell before we all change in. I stay at the back, then slip away when everyone's focused on fighting. I run through the halls trying to find a place to hide. At the end of a hall, at the top of a long staircase, I find a hidden room, there's an unlit candle that looks unlike the rest, I pull it. The wall rumbles and disappears. It leads to a secret room, I look around and avoid going into it, as it's pitch dark, who knows what's in there. I turn to the door across from me, carved with gold inlay I slowly push it open. The rooms trashed, drawers torn apart, curtains faded and ripped, even the bed is in tatters and ware. What is this place? Over in corner I see what looks like a basket on a stand, I walk over to it treading carefully, the last thing anyone wants is a splinter in the foot. I peak into it, casting back the fabric that partly crumbles when I touch it. I can make out faded elvish letters on the mattress, “A. L. R. N” this was my cradle. I turn quickly away from it. And go over to the desk picking up the black and white photograph of two royle people with a man in a trench coat, I squint trying to see the picture better through the broken frame. Thats Mr. Stratford. Then those people must be- My Parents. This is too much, I shrink against the wall clutching my cloak to me and dropping the picture frame watching it hit the floor. I stay there, still and unmoving, frozen in place. Then footsteps get closer and closer, two Qunari officers run into the room, I bolt back to reality, grab my staff and cast fire bolt, sending both of them to hell with a quick burning strike, leaving them little more than ashes in the carpet. Minutes later all sounds of fighting stop, I don't hear anymore harsh yelling of the mercenaries sent to occupy this place. My friends will be searching for me now. I stay put. And Zevran was right, Wynne, Mr Stratford and Alistair find me, with the others shortly following. Kenelm takes the broken frame from the ground “this was your Mother, Mesha, and your Father Alexander, shortly after your name day. I have another picture of them with you, here-” he goes into his wallet and takes out a small picture, also in black and white, and hands it to me. I look it over, wow I was tiny. Also my mother was quite beautiful, like an actress in a play or something like that. Lily sits down and puts an arm around me “You okay Alarian?” I stare at the picture, and the tattered room. No I'm not. Zevran comes running into the room skidding to a stop “found something you should see.” He pants and takes a second to recover, then leads us out to the overgrown castle garden, there is a stone there, inscribed with tevene runes, and then in elvish “I'm memoriam of Lord Alexander And Lady Mesha Surana. As well as their daughter Alarian, whose fate remains unknown.” On the headstone is a series of stones, some mere pebbles, it's a tradition when visiting a grave. I grab a stone from the ground and place it on top of the stack “let's go.” I whisper and walk back to the throne room. We go back to the village and we see the people come out of their homes, elves for the majority, with a few humans and the odd surface dwarf. They look at us as we stop in the square. “Who are you?” An older man yells to us “Oh shut up Gerald they're the Queen!” A woman, who I assume is his wife says back to him “She is correct. My name is Alarian Surana, my parents used to rule this land, and most of southern Tevinter. They were killed by Qunari during the elvish holocaust. I have returned.” I say to the people. “Can you prove it?!” Mr. Stratford steps forward “I can vouch for them! I was there when Lady Mesha was murdered, I narrowly escaped, My little friend here was hidden in a basket, a Qunari soldier slashed through the cloth and sliced the scar in their face. Whence the soilders had left I took the basket with Ali in it and brought it to a place of safety. Two years later Alarian was brought to The Circle and remained there for fifteen years, until being recruited by The Grey Wardens, and during Ostagar was one of the last two Grey Wardens to survive. Alarian defeated the blight that plagued Ferelden. For these, and many other reasons, is why I, Kenelm Stratford, vouch for Alarian Surana Cousland.” When he finishes, some people start to clap. The clapping grows louder and louder, until it's so loud I cover my ears. We go back to the castle and clear some of the debris and corpses for the night, I burn some of the bodies that aren't of the former staff, a few people from the village turned out to be part of the castle staff and came back after they escaped. We sleep on the floor, I don't really sleep well, and wander during the night. I see some white transparent people in dresses and robes, they go about their duties, ignoring me. Ghosts, spirits bound to earth, or sent from The Fade. I wander into the ballroom, lots of them are dancing about, swirling and twirling. “Excuse me?” I say to one of the serving girls, she looks around confused then notices me “wha?! Oh hi there. Wait you can see me?” She jumps in fright at first then calms down. “Yes I can. I'm a wizard, and I'm a messenger of God, so I'm not totally alive either. I'm Lady Mesha and Lord Alex’s child, Ali.” I say leaning against the wall. “Your their child?! I knew you when you were born!! I thought you'd been killed too but then you didn't show up in The Fade like your mother and I was like ‘they'll be okay Madeline they'll be okay.’ And here you are!” I smile, so this was my mother's chambermaid. The ghost and I talk for a while more, until Zevran comes looking for me, finding me talking to Madelines spirit. “Ali. I've been looking for you.” He whispers to me “whose this?” Madeline asks pointing to him. “Oh this is Zevran, he's part of my company of companions.” She smiles “nice to meet you.” And chuckles that it's technically not a real meeting of its with someone whose a ghost. “You need to go to sleep.” Zevran says, and we bid Madeline goodnight, she jokes saying she'll be here every night. Zev and I walk back to the main chamber and our friends are still sound asleep unaware of our absense. It's nearly morning by now, and we watch the sun rise through the large bay window behind the throne. The next day we work on cleaning up the castle, and by Friday its in working condition. Saturday is the coronation. Leliana digs through her pack and pulls out a red velvet dress with gold and silver thread “it's orlesien make. I hope it fits you, might be a bit big.” And helps me put it on. During the ceremony that I wasn't really listening to Mr Stratford says some stuff and then puts a silver circlet on my head. “Queen Alarian of Tevinter.” And everyone claps again. “Ok, so, party?” I ask. “Sure!” Someone pulls out a violin and starts playing a lively tune, a flute player adds in next. Some kitchen staff bring out food, of which Alistair gets excited about and takes Barky to go eat. I stand up to go walk around and Lilly grabs my hands and pulls me onto the dance floor “come on!” We twirl around “can I go get changed first Lilly?” I say confused trying to find the rhythm, as I'm a good dancer on my own, I've been dancing since I could walk, mostly ballet, I never knew how to dance at a ball or anything. “Can't I just have one dance with Queen Alarian, and then you can go back to being your regular Grey Warden Ali?” She wraps an arm around my waist and the other takes my hand, showing me what to do. “Fine.” Lilly smiles “thank you.” And the two of us spin around the dance floor, my dress billows out around me. The music slows after a while longer and stops. We walk off together and stand off to the side, Zevran high fives me and says good job. Leliana comes over and asks me if I want to get out of the confusing contraption that is this dress, I eagerly respond yes and she leads me upstairs. Whence upstairs I dig through my pack and produce a set of my usual clothing, a blue tunic and brown pants, I keep my cloak upstairs with my things, and keep the crown, because this thing is bloody fucking awesome. It's really intricate and has fancy designs and is made of silver and it's really cool!!!! “Better?” Leliana asks after we’re finished. I look at myself in the mirror, adjust the crown a bit and smooth my ponytail “better.” The two of us head downstairs again. Alistair comes over with Barkspawn “your back to that already?” He says. I frown at him “says the person who spent the entire time with the dog.” And walk away, Morrigan stifles a laugh and walks away to leave Alistair thinking about his life. I sit over at a table in the corner with Sten, Wynne, and Zevran. Oghren a busy getting drunk, Shale is wandering around, Leli joined the band and is singing a song, Morrigan is off chatting with Lilly, and everyone else is just doing their thing. Eventually the party dies down and guests go back to their own homes. I go back to the ballroom later to chat with Madeline, and tell her about everything, Zev comes with me again and goes to chat up a few of the other Spirits who are going about their times wandering the places they'd been in their past life. “Congratulations Ali! Will you be living here now or going back home?” Madeline says enthusiastically. “Thank you! I'm pretty sure that we’ll be going home after maybe a week or two. But we’ll visit every so often. I've appointed one of the head staff that work here now to send me notices of important documents and things.” She says that that's a good idea to do, and she'll miss me when I'm not around. I said I can ask Solas to say hi for me because he spends a lot of time in The Fade. Zevran and I go climb onto the roof and sit for a bit. “When are we going home?” I ask swinging my legs back and forth “I don't know Alarian. Soon probably. I'll talk with the others tomorrow. First we need to get things here settled.” Zevran replies leaning his arms against his legs with a sigh. I inch towards him “you okay?” He shrugs. “You know who my family was right?” He asks. I look at him “yes.” I say barely audible. “It just makes me sad, to know, that you- that you never had one.” He bites his lip, like he’s holding something back. “Are you okay Zev? You gonna cry.” He shakes his head, and then the first tear falls. Zevran puts his face in his hands as if he hide himself. I move to him and wrap my arms around him, hugging him tightly. “Thank you.” He whispers. I feel my cheeks get warm, and then the tears fall against my face as well. We stay like that, mourning our vanished families, gone either by abandonment or death, their still gone and never coming back, the only memories and the ghosts in the halls.

Aaaaaa that was rough, mostly the ending. I need sleep...still.

Until next time,
Max