Fen'Tarasyl

Chapter Eleven

Iron Bull and his Chargers decided to travel with Talyn's small group back to Haven. Talyn found it fun to travel with them. Iron Bull was pleasant to be around, and so were his men. There were six of them that seemed to be in his "inner circle", and Talyn quickly got to know each of them.

There was Krem, a Tevinter man who was Iron Bull's second-in-command. Talyn learned that this was odd, because Tevinter and the Qunari had been enemies for centuries. They often threw good natured insults at each other. And then there was Rocky, a dwarf from Orzammar, which Talyn learned from Varric was the homeland of the dwarves, deep beneath the earth. He was a little too into explosives, but he was nice enough.

Then there was their medic, a human they called Stitches. He seemed exasperated most of the time, often scolding the others for their improper use of his medicines. Grim was another human, and his name fit him. The man didn't speak, and never smiled. Then there was Skinner, a city elf who joined the Chargers because she was no longer welcome in her alienage. She didn't say much on why she had to leave, or why her name was Skinner, except that a human lord tried to take something that wasn't his to take. Talyn decided that she didn't want to know the whole story.

Talyn's favorite out of the group though, was Dalish. She was a Dalish elf, with a Syalise's fire symbol over her eye. They were called vallaslin's, each Dalish elf had one dedicated to an elvhen god. The process was painful, but it was an important part of growing up in a Dalish clan.

Talyn didn't like them. For some reason the sight of that tattoo on Dalish made her want to dig her nails into the other elf's skin and tear it off. It didn't belong.  But she couldn't figure out why she felt that way about a tattoo.

Dalish was a mage, but when Iron Bull pointed it out, she said that her staff was merely a bow.

"But you have a gemstone in it." Talyn had also pointed out.

Dalish winked at her. "That's just a Dalish trick to help with aiming. You wouldn't understand."

"Do you know any stories about the Evanuris?" She asked the mage-slash-archer.

Dalish nodded. "'Course I know about the Creators. Why do you ask?"

Talyn looked around to make sure that Solas wasn't within ear shot. He had something against the Evanuris, but Talyn had been burning with curiosity.

"I can't remember much about them. I was hoping you could refresh my memory."

Dalish grinned. "Well, there are nine of them, so this may take a while. Which one do you want to start with first?"

And, honestly, that was how Dalish became her favorite out of Iron Bull's inner circle. Just like how Varric became her friend, and Solas. People who could spin tales like no other fascinated Talyn. Every bit of information she could obtain was like treasure to her, because she had nothing except for the few weeks she's been the Herald of Andraste. And all she heard about was the Chantry, which Talyn was growing to dislike immensely. Especially their hatred towards elves.

"How did you learn to fight, Herald?" Iron Bull asked one night.

Talyn cringed at her title. Which made Iron Bull and Varric break out into laughter.

"You were right, Varric! Her face does twist when you call her that."

Talyn glared, which just made them laugh harder.

So, she stood up, and walked away from the fire. That was when Bull's men started laughing too.

She walked into the trees and found Solas quietly gathering herbs. It was night, but he had no light to help him see. Yet, Talyn saw that not a single herb was untouched in the little patch of elfroot he found. His night vision was almost as good as Talyn's.