How shall I begin….
We are writing the year 9:41 Dragon. The world is in turmoil. Mages fighting templars, templars fighting mages, each of the groups fighting amongst themselves and as a small beacon of hope an Inquisition that tries to restore order.
You now might ask yourself what I have to do with this. Very little would have been the answer not too long ago. But now things have changed. Now I am a Grey Warden and a new order has been issued. An order that I have been chosen to fulfill.
Looking back on how this came to be I am barely able to tell the story since it all happened so fast. Not that it matters. What is important is the task the Order has given me.
Since all of us have suddenly started to feel the pull to the Deep Roads our leaders have thought of ways to keep the Order alive. Since they assume that it has something to do with the current happenings in Ferelden and Orlais they sent me away. My mission is to keep the Grey Wardens alive through my children and my children’s children until a new Blight rises and we are needed again.
And that is what brought me to the quaint little town of Dragon Valley. When I first heard the name I was a bit worried, but so far there don’t seem to be any High Dragons around.
Since the Order is under a lot of duress at the moment they couldn’t offer me much help in getting me started. But as hard as it may be I am not some pampered Shamlen princess. Life in the alienage wasn’t easy either and at least here I am surrounded by nature.
I don’t think the Order expects me to report back on a regular basis, but since my knowledge is the only one my children will be able to rely on when they become Grey Wardens I have pledged to write it all down. Hopefully in a few generations to come I will be remembered as the one that kept the Wardens alive.
But in order to do that I will have to get to know Dragon Valley and it’s Citizens better. So far the town has been full of surprises. The elves here are living amongst the humans like equals. And not even the smallest whisper of secret slavery can be heard.
But even though everything seemed to be okay between elves and humans here I still mostly stuck to my own kind. I’m simply not used to talking to humans. And so it probably shouldn’t have been a surprise that I found the man of my dreams amongst my own kind.
Between Aaron and me there was a special spark from the start. What can I say…I have a weak spot for redheads. But it wasn’t only that. He was simply a wonderful person. A hard-working man with a kind heart and a strong body. What more could a woman, who is looking to start a family, want?
Well…there was a downside to him. Since he worked at a local merchants he was busy during most of the day, so he had little time for me and I spent most of my days home alone in my little shack, waiting for his shop to close.
Don’t take this the wrong way though. I didn’t slack in my duties. I kept writing down all my knowledge about the Darkspawn, even going so far as to draw pictures of them for my future children. After all, who knew…so far I haven’t seen any Darkspawn here. If they truly are gone now, how are my successors to know what to look for?
I also spend some of my time exploring the town. I think they had a circle once, but so far I haven’t been able to see any activity around there. I wonder what happened to the mages, since so far I haven’t seen any. Maybe there are no mages left in Dragon Valley.
With the limited amount of money the Order had given me I could barely afford food for myself, much less for Aaron when I finally dared to ask him over to my house. Unfortunately the fishing grounds around Dragon Valley don’t seem exactly worthwhile. Or maybe I just lack the skill.
I was almost ashamed when Aaron finally visited my hut, but he didn’t seem to mind my humble living conditions.
Quite the opposite in fact.
We got so much closer that evening. After talking and some more for hours and hours Aaron finally felt confident enough to reveal his biggest secret to me.
Maybe I should have noticed the fact that he is a mage sooner, but I was never expecting it. He also explained to me that the Circle in Dragon Valley had been closed a long time ago and mages, normal humans and elves lived in harmony since that time. The thought alone was too good to be true and yet all the evidence I had collected suggested that it was. I only wish that the rest of Thedas would manage to go this way too.
With the big secrets out of the way we both rested easier and I even found time to explore the local plant life a bit. I was expecting elfroot and embrium, but so far I haven’t found any of the plants that are common in the rest of Thedas.
My explorations helped me to find out that at least the local plant life was plentiful and the generous people of Dragon Valley didn’t mind sharing their harvests with me.
Finally convinced that even with our limited wealth we would not starve if we started a family I was brave enough to approach Aaron about it. He was ecstatic.
I think the maker and all my fellow wardens are watching out for us, because when we finally tied the knot that fateful day under the stars…
….a single shooting star could be seen, brighter than any I ever saw before.
tbc…
The Grey Warden Legacy 