My Warden (COMPLETED)

Unspoken Fear

Fire burst from a woman's fingers, tendrils of flames sparking over the heads of people who -- instead of cowering or retaliating -- clapped appreciatively. Smiling, the woman dressed in a glittery red and orange dress with provocative cuts in all the right places, took a bow. Lana shifted over to Leliana and sniffed, "Am I to be impressed? I was doing that when I was ten. Not usually on purpose mind, but..."

Leliana brought her hands together harder to try and make up for Lana's lack of clapping. "The dancers here rarely use a mage and have to rely upon more practical effects. I watched someone saw a man in half."

"You don't need a mage to do that," Lana folded her arms, still unimpressed.

"The man remained unharmed," Leliana's crystal eyes sparkled under her drawn hood. While the incognito Divine pulled out her old spy gear, for the first time Lana wore the dress she selected hot off the seamstress' loom. It was beyond simple in a soft sky blue, with an A-line skirt and a bodice left loose for her hopeful weight regain. She insisted the pockets be deepened by another inch. Even if she was hiding her being a mage she still liked to carry things around. The only hint of a softer side to the one wearing it was trim skirting over the daring sweetheart cut. White lace rested against her sienna skin, just enough to hinder the view of her ample assets.

"What's the point of sawing someone in half if they aren't hurt?" she said, but her jibbing tone slipped away as she fumbled for the wine glass Leliana kept refilling. They started with a biting red, astringent to match their platter of cold meats, then moved on to a slightly sweeter red, then a white, and now they were mixing every remaining bottle together to see if they could discover something new.

"This is why you'd never make it as a bard," Leliana said. She slipped a delicate hand over her chin while watching a young woman step up to the stage armed only with a lute. It seemed doubtful the singer planned to set anyone on fire. "You don't understand the importance of spectacle."

"I can shoot ice and lightning from my hands. How is that not spectacle?" Lana responded, perhaps a bit too loudly as a few eyes swiveled back towards them.

Despite the winter night, she only wore a thin cloak for cover which was currently wound about her chair. The drink covered over any chill she felt, its alcoholic spell enveloping her in a warm hug. Admittedly, when Leliana first suggested a jaunt out of the Cathedral to get away from the same four walls, Lana assumed they'd head somewhere indoors. But as she gazed around at the crackling fires beating against the press of night while stars speckled through the sky, she began to understand her friend's choice. And the wine helped with that as well.

"Perhaps we should pause for a moment," Leliana's calculating eyes no doubt noticed Lana's glissando in pitch, "imbibe a few more crackers instead." Leliana waved at a garçon who panicked from her attention and scurried over. He seemed to be the only one at the establishment aware of who lurked below the hood. All the other patrons only cast a curious glance over their attire and lack of masks before turning back to the entertainment.

Lana regretfully slid her glass away before accepting a few crackers and sending them down to check on the rest of her dinner. It'd grown quiet lately in her stomach and she was getting concerned. Leliana had extended the offer to join them to Cullen, but he said that he had much yet to do and thanked her for thinking of him. At first Lana wished he'd come, but after an hour out of the apartments she was grateful for his choice. They both needed space and by the Maker did she miss getting into trouble with her old friend. The kind of trouble her stoic templar would grumble himself to death over.

Bobbing her head, Lana tried to follow the beat, when she spun fully around in her chair and gawped at the singer. While the girl couldn't be more than fifteen at most, her voice was strong and bursting through her chest instead of the nose. It wasn't the power that drew Lana but the words. "Did she just mention Cullen?"