Smith From Another Land

Chapter Four

Solas did not have much time to think about what he had learned about her from the dream. Instead, he was catapulted into consciousness when he heard the men outside.

He snarled to himself in irritation as he roused but his irritation gave way to concern when he heard some of their words becoming a bit more derogatory towards the sleeping woman. He hastily got dressed and stepped out of the door just in time to see the fight unfolding.

Solas watched in shock as Ara took the sword to her side and grabbed the man by the throat. The tenseness of her shoulders made it clear that she was one short second away from crushing the man's wind pipe and something told him she would do it.

"Ara!" He barked out quickly as he advanced down the hill. He was well prepared to fire a spell but it seemed that the men were fine on not approaching the wild looking woman as she held one of their fellows up by the throat. One was limping to the side, trying not to lean on one of his legs. The rest just seemed to have lost whatever spark of fight they had when they realized she was going to fight back.

Solas felt anger at these men who dared menace her for no reason simply because she was different. They were all fools, these humans. Every single one of them.

One of them had taken off on a run but he knew the man's face.

"What do you think you're doing?" He snarled at them as he strode past Ara.

They all muttered a few things at him and he was certain he heard one of them call him knife-ears. Had this been any other night, he probably wouldn't have cared but the fact that they were all so willing to gang up on a sleeping and unarmed woman was beyond wrong. He could see why the mages of this era rebelled if Templars were anything like these soldiers.

"Shall we involve the Commander in all of this, hmm?" He said, staring at them all with a disapproving look. They were not his soldiers but he remembered how to look the part of a commander.

No one had any responses for him at that point.

He turned to look at Ara and where she stood. She was nearly a head and a half taller then the soldiers that surrounded her, and there was no fear in her face despite being completely unarmed. That could have been the fact that she had already disarmed the first man that tried to attack her, despite her wearing little more then rags. The threadbare shirt did little to hide the bunching of muscles all along her arm and up her shoulder. It was clear that she was just naturally strong and she held a soldier aloft, his dangling feet not quite reaching the ground. The man's face had already turned a little bit blue and Solas moved quickly.

"Ara, put him down." He said softly as he laid a hand on her arm before motioning towards the man. He would have let her end the man then and there but he knew that the Inquisition would not tolerate her presence if she was killing their soldiers. Even if they clearly deserved it.

She snorted at him but she did do as he asked and dropped the man. Solas let out a breath he didn't know he was keeping when the soldier collapsed in a heap. He saw the look she gave the fallen soldier and was thankful that she had the restraint to not act on it.

"Ma serannas." He said beneath his breath, not expecting her to hear or understand him.

She responded with a smile and some words he didn't understand but he could guess at the meaning.

"Sathem." She said with a pleased smile.

He looked at her in surprise as it made it clear that she had picked up the word from the dream which could prove both helpful and perhaps a little bit troublesome. It did, however, make him wonder why she learned elvhen easier compared to the trade tongue.