When I Look at You (a Dragon Age fanfiction)

Forest

They found the Dalish the following day, and after a lot of running around in the Forest, were eventually able to resolve a curse, cure the Dalish hunters who had been bitten by werewolves, and gain the promise of the new Dalish Keeper, Lanaya, that the Dalish would be ready when the Grey Wardens needed them. It was more complicated than Una had hoped it would be, but they had accomplished their first objective.

The next few days, marching toward Redcliffe, were relatively peaceful, and the whole party felt somewhat healed by the time they camped outside the town. It had been nice just traveling and talking and beginning to get to know one another. They sat around the fire that night, eating something Leliana had whipped up with berries in it.

"I don't know what we're eating, Leliana," Una said, "but is there any more?"

"Sorry," Leliana said, "but, uh, Grenli, is it? He seems to have enjoyed more than his fair portion."

"Gren!" Una looked at him sternly. The mabari burped and looked abashed, but when he caught Alistair's eye he grinned and wagged his tail happily.

"Don't drag me into this, hound! I wanted seconds, too." Grenli licked Alistair's cheek and grinned unrepentantly.

Alistair, rubbing at the slobber on his cheek, looked at Una. "Your dog needs some discipline," he said sternly.

"I've heard that before." She reached out to ruffle the dog's ears before getting up to collect the plates. Morrigan, who continued to camp separately, was staring morosely into her fire, and Leliana was quietly tuning her lyre near her tent. Alistair reached up to hand Una his plate and their fingers brushed in the handoff.

Una caught her breath. The firelight shone on his strong features and caught the highlights in his blond hair. Before she could stop herself, Una heard herself blurting out, "Has anyone ever told you how handsome you are?" Then she froze. Oh, Mother, what did I say that for? she thought.

Alistair's eyebrows shot up. He said something about those two 'girls' from Denerim that one time ... and then it hit him. Was she saying what he thought she was saying? The brown eyes studied her speculatively. "Wait. Does that mean you think I'm handsome?"

Una blushed. "What if I do?" she muttered, turning her head away.

He chuckled, and she felt the timbers of his voice reach straight down into the pit of her stomach. She bit her lip. "I think I'd grin a lot and look foolish," he said. "Which wouldn't be all bad."

Their eyes met, hers filled with relief and a sudden hope, his thoughtful but wary. She clutched the plates. "I think I'll go wash these," she said, withdrawing hastily. Rolling her eyes upward as she wound her way between trees, she said, "Well, Mother, that wasn't too disastrous." She could see her mother's shake of the head and hear the tongue-click. "I know. Curb the impulsiveness. I'm working on it."

"Do you always speak to your mother as though she could hear you?" Morrigan asked casually from the darkness of the trees.

"Who's to say she can't?" Una countered.

"I suppose your Chantry would be the first."

"The Chantry doesn't know the answers any more than anyone else. I know, that would sound like blasphemy to many, but ... if it helps me to think that my parents are close to me, does it matter if they are or not?"

"A bit indulgent," Morrigan mused, "but not entirely impractical. If Alistair had your philosophy we would all have had to listen to much less whining."