When I Look at You (a Dragon Age fanfiction)

Camp

A few days later, Una awoke in a tent on the edge of the Brecilian Forest. After getting dressed, she emerged into the camp, looking around for the others. Morrigan, as usual, was preparing her own breakfast at a separate fire. Grenli was gnawing at something outside Una's tent. "Everything okay, boy?" she asked as she went by him. He barked happily, waving his stumpy tail. There was no sign of Leliana, but Alistair was sitting speculatively by the coals, drinking what looked like coffee.

He didn't look up as Una came near the fire, and she watched him carefully, looking for some sign that he was recovering from the depression his grief had sent him into. The humor that had characterized her first experiences with him had yet to come back, and Una didn't know if there was any way to help it return.

"You don't have to stare," he said, without turning around. "I'm not about to do anything ... drastic."

"Good to know." When he still didn't move, she added, "I'm concerned about you, you know."

At this he did look up at her. "You don't have to be." He found her concern somewhat oppressive. She was doing a fine job leading them—what did she need him for anyway?

"Let him sulk," Morrigan called from her own fire. "He's far less annoying when he's too depressed to speak."

"Morrigan, do you think that helps?" Una put a hand on Alistair's shoulder, keeping him from getting up to go after their companion. She looked down at him. "I'll say this for her, though. She's the only person who seems to be able to get a reaction out of you." He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again. He didn't like that idea, at all, that Morrigan could reach something in him that was still alive, any more than Una liked the idea that she herself couldn't.

At this juncture, Leliana emerged from the trees, squeezing water out of her short red hair with a towel. "The water is very refreshing this morning. Quite bracing." She shivered a bit.

"I'll take your word for it," Una chuckled. "Is there any more of that coffee?" she asked Alistair.

"If you can call it that," he said. "I'm afraid I'm not much of a cook."

"Me, neither," Una said. "Spoiled daughter of a noble and all that." She took the cup he handed her. After taking a sip, she grimaced. "But I think even I could make better coffee than that."

"He toils not, neither does he spin," Morrigan commented. "What are we dragging the great whiny lummox along for, anyway?"

This time Una missed the shoulder. Alistair leaped to his feet and she had to grab him by the arm to prevent him from attacking Morrigan. "All right!" she said. "We are not going to be fighting amongst ourselves. We have enough problems without that, and so does Ferelden. Morrigan, lay off. The man has a right to his grief. Alistair, there is no attacking other party members, no matter how provoking they are. And if you can try to pull yourself together a bit, we would all appreciate it." Her tone softened, and she looked him directly in the eyes. "We've all lost people we care about. But we have a responsibility to those people to continue fighting for the things they died for. If we give up under the weight of our grief, it will all have been for nothing."

They were good strong words, and they made sense, Alistair thought. Then another part of his mind said nastily, She never met the other Grey Wardens and barely knew Duncan. What does she know? and he snapped, "You almost sound like you know what you're talking about."

Una stopped her fist an inch before it smashed into his chin. Alistair blinked and took a couple of steps backwards. "That— That was fast."