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Ari blew a strand of hair out of luns face, sweaty hands grasping luns staff as lun fired ice missiles at the bandits. Luns mana reserves had run dry, and luns companions weren’t doing so well either; even Leliana had given lun a sign to say that she wouldn’t be able to keep this up for long. But every time they knocked down one bandit, another took their place, and there wasn’t even time to come up with a strategy. At this point, it was just survival.
Lun dodged a dagger as one of them ran up to lun, wincing as lun tried to stay balanced and cursing at luns bad luck. Of course they’d attack the mage; lun was a nuisance with luns frost spells, and completely undefended. Lun blocked the next hit with luns staff, but then a dagger came in low, aiming for luns ribs.
It never got there.
Another dagger planted itself in the bandit’s forehead, having flown right overtop Ari’s head, and lun was quite thankful at that moment to be smaller than most humans. Lun let out a shaky sigh and watched with a grin as Elfroot the mabari—named for his questionable taste in plants—howled and barreled into one of the bandits, tearing them apart within seconds.
“Need help, dearest Warden?” Zevran called cheerfully, coming up from behind Ari to retrieve his dagger. His group had been off hunting and gathering herbs, leaving Alistair, Ari, and Leliana at camp.
“Ambush,” lun said, leaning heavily on luns staff as Zevran fended off an attacker. It was good to have a moment to breathe, and lun wasn’t sure how much longer lun could go right now.
Thankfully, Ari didn’t need to worry too much. With Wynne there to help heal everyone and Sten and Elfroot there to take down the attackers, the bandits were all either dead or fleeing within minutes.
“That could have gone a lot better,” Alistair said, glancing around with a grimace at the campsite. “And look! There’s blood! On my cheese!”
“It’ll all taste the same if we throw it in the stew,” Zevran assured him, “but I might need a new bedroll.” He nudged the object in question—which was now out in the open after his tent had been set on fire—with his toe.
“Ari! Are you alright?” Leliana called, jogging over to the elf.
“Yeah, just fine,” lun said, then frowned at luns staff, which lun was still leaning on. “Help me walk to my tent?”
Leliana took luns arm over her shoulder, the two of them walking over to Ari’s (thankfully, very clean) tent while Alistair bickered with Zevran and Wynne and cast anxious glances their way. Once they were in the tent, Ari was settled down on the bedroll with a sigh, lying on luns back comfortably.
“Were you hurt? Do I need to get Wynne?” Leliana asked. At her lover’s head shake, she asked, “Do I need to get Wynne for that one spell you like?”
“No,” Ari said. “Unless we need to move on today, but it would be better if I just rested, I think. I don’t want to strain Wynne, and she’s probably already low on mana.” Wynne had a few spells that would help Ari move about easier for a short time, but overusing them would strain luns body too much and lun might crash afterwards, not to mention the strain they caused on the spirit healer.
“Alright.” Leliana pushed a strand of hair behind Ari’s ear with a smile, then lay down next to lun on her stomach. “Day off of traveling, then. No, I see you apologizing,” she said, and Ari shut luns mouth with an audible click. “Resting for a day is a sound strategic decision. You need it, Wynne needs it—Maker, we all probably need it.”
Ari still felt some guilt over it—every day they rested was another day for the darkspawn and Loghain—but didn’t argue. Leliana’s assessment was a sound one. If they never took a day to rest, they’d never have the energy to move on, and as difficult as it was, Ferelden was reliant on Ari and Alistair right now. If one of them needed something, ignoring that would only hurt them in the end.
“Fine, you win, I’ll rest,” lun said, tilting luns head to accept a kiss from Leliana. “But I don’t think everyone else is keen on sleeping on bloodstained grass surrounded by corpses.”
“That is… a very good point,” Leliana said, cheeks flushing pink. “We’ll have to move camp pretty soon before it starts to smell. We should still have a bit of time before then though.”
“Unless Elfroot decides to start bringing us gifts.” Ari wrinkled luns nose. The dog was smart, but still didn’t quite grasp what made acceptable gifts for humans or elves.
Leliana laughed, bringing a smile to Ari’s face. They had so few chances for laughter and happiness lately, but each one of those moments was golden.
“But it is summer,” Ari said. “Which means we really should move camp soon. And you should get back out there to tell Alistair I’m not about to die dramatically in your arms without giving him so much as a goodbye kiss.”
Leliana kissed luns cheek. “Alright then. I’ll tell everyone to start packing up. You’ll be alright?”
Ari nodded. “Give me ten minutes and I’ll be back out there. And some elfroot tea, if you could.”
Ten minutes passed by all too quickly, but Alistair and Leliana’s smiles when lun emerged helped lift luns spirits. It might not be a good day, but lun still had them, and that counted for something.