Charnia

Gates of Life was my original fanfiction, written from Zevran's point of view.  But as I wrote it I thought I needed to write what Blair was thinking in some situations, and added The Broad Road.  The Broad Road was supposed to be short supplements to Gates of Life, but there are key parts that can only be told from Blair's point of view, so it grew in scope.  Passages from the two are interwoven.  For ease of navigation I will link entries in order here, although they are also posted in order. 
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The next morning Blair chose a few party members to go with him to retrieve the Urn while the others made preparations for their trip back to Redcliffe. He found himself actually looking forward to the chance to get away from Zevran for a while–not because of anything he’d done, because Zevran wasn’t rude to him, indeed more polite than usual. But he felt guilty, and was worried he lose their friendship, so was glad when he, Alistair, Leliana, and Wynne headed up the trail to the mountaintop.

Blair actually felt a creeping feeling of reverence as they entered the ancient temple. He reminded himself it was a Chantry holy place, nothing that he should revere, and strode in. ( Read more...Collapse )

The sea was wet as wet could be,
The sands were dry as dry.
You could not see a cloud, because
No cloud was in the sky:
No birds were flying overhead–
There were no birds to fly.

“The Walrus and the Carpenter,” by Lewis Carroll



Blair had been feeling morose since they descended from the mountaintop, a mood that was not alleviated by the gradual onset of lyrium intoxication.  His mood only began to lighten as he and Leliana searched the houses of Haven for food and drink for the party she wanted to have.  She rummaged through a cupboard and squealed in delight.  “Look, real brandy!  I thought all they had here was wine and bad ale.  Oh, this is going to be so much fun!”  She barged out the door of the house, leaving Blair staring after her in bemusement.  He had been putting apples from a barrel into a canvas bag, and when he looked down at the apple he held was momentarily distracted by the sheen of light on its skin, the blending of the colors into one another–reds, purples, and pinks.  He blinked and looked around.  There were none of those shapes visible, but it was only a matter of time.  Suddenly feeling like he was being watched, he picked up the bag and left to join the others’ company.  ( Read more...Collapse )

They were just heading into the abandoned village when they heard a whoop, and turned to see the others running out of the trees towards them.  Greagoir reached them first and forgot himself so far as to jump up and put his paws on Blair’s shoulders, knocking him down. Blair looked annoyed for a minute and then laughed, trying to catch the mabari scampering around him to scratch his ears.  Greagoir finally stood still and Blair rubbed his head, still sitting on the trail. ( Read more...Collapse )

Blair went into the battle with the dragon without thinking about it very much, as if it were any other fight, and only realized afterward that was because he thought that they were going to die.  ( Read more...Collapse )

They started on their way to the Tower as the leaves were beginning to change.  At times the path curved away out of sight of the lake, and at other times traveled almost at the water’s edge.  As they camped at night often the lapping of the lake waters against the shore lulled them to sleep.  The nights grew colder, though there was still no threat of frost.  Zevran found Ferelden too cool and rainy for his tastes even in summer, and began to dread traveling in the coming winter. 

Finally Zevran caught his first glimpse of the tower, a tall spire jutting up out of the water in the distance.  As he grew closer he saw it stood on a barren island.  With nothing to use for scale, it was hard to say how tall the tower was.  Upon reaching the shore, they found a small village huddled at the edge of the lake.  It was clear from the state of the roads that not much trade got in or out.  Jutting into the lake was the ruins of an ancient causeway that had once run over the waters to the Circle Tower.  Zevran could not tell if it had fallen from disuse or purposefully been destroyed.  Beside the ruins was a dock with a ferry and a couple smaller boats waiting tied to it.  A Templar was posted at the docks. 

Zevran had never seen Blair around a Templar before and glanced at him, curious to see his reaction.  Blair was staring at the man, tight-lipped.  He turned to Alistair and said in a low voice, “Why don’t you go talk to him, he’s your kind.”  ( Read more...Collapse )

In camp that night the group gathered around the campfire to talk of dragons. 

“As bizarre as it is to find myself asking this, what do we know about killing dragons?” Blair asked.    ( Read more...Collapse )

In search of the fabled Urn of Sacred Ashes, the party had entered the ancient temple built into the mountainside above Haven.  The other half of the party was camped just inside the entrance to the Temple, guarding against returning cultists and catching up on routine chores such as equipment repairs and washing clothing.  Blair had taken a few of the party further into the temple.  Leliana had begged to come along to explore the ancient temple, and Alistair accompanied them at Blair’s request.  Blair was trying to keep Alistair close, Zevran noted.  He and Alistair had patched things up along the way to Denerim and back, but Blair still seemed tense. 

They traveled deeper into the ruins of the temple until eventually they reached a tunnel cut through the wall of the temple and into the mountain itself.  The cult of the supposed risen Andraste had apparently been at work here for generations, slowly digging out these passageways.  They now followed the tunnel as it wended slowly upwards, the flickering light of their torches casting dancing shadows on the sandstone walls.  ( Read more...Collapse )

After their trip to Redcliffe Blair found himself spending more and more time with Zevran as they traveled towards Denerim.  The elven assassin had continued periodically making passes at him, and Blair still could not tell if he was being serious or just playing.  He knew now that Zevran wasn’t mocking him, since his attitude otherwise was respectful.  The flirtation rattled him, but Blair found himself seeking Zevran’s company.  ( Read more...Collapse )

Zevran parried the genlock’s slash with his dagger and stabbed it in the gut with his sword.  It fell to the ground howling and Zevran turned away, ducking a swing from a hurlock’s sword.  They had been ambushed on a simple resupply trip, and things had gone very wrong very quickly.  Zevran sidled towards the glowing glyph of warding that Blair had placed on the ground where Alistair had been until a moment ago when he’d gone charging after a genlock.  Instead of following Alistair, most of the remaining darkspawn had turned to attack the rest of the party.  Zevran had three hurlocks trying to surround him.  He glanced back over his shoulder to see another pair heading towards Blair and Leliana.  ( Read more...Collapse )