Post #2611650 in The City of Chains, a roleplay on RPG

Within a few weeks of being accepted into the Argent Lions by their commander, Lia was at last ready to move out of the Alienage for good. She didn’t have all that many things, and honestly didn’t want to bring much that she couldn’t carry on her back. All the more reason she didn’t the need the house in the Alienage. They couldn’t afford to waste any space, and she’d been given more than she needed, or could properly use. As far as she had heard, a small family would be moving in once she cleared out. In all, she had more than enough reason to want to hurry.

It did not snow on the day she left, but the air was cold and crisp, and she dressed warmly, a scarf wrapped around the lower half of her face. Ithilian saw her off at the exit of the Alienage. It wasn’t as though she were leaving the city, or had any intention of abandoning the Alienage. She would visit him often, and she knew he’d do the same for her. After all they’d been through, she was immensely grateful to him for being able to let her out of his sight. To trust that she was ready to make her own way.

Shouldering her pack, she set off, and made good time to the barracks. The first few weeks had been a learning experience. What time she’d spent with Amalia prevented her from being as sore as she might otherwise have been, and already she could see her skills improving. Ithilian was excellent to learn from by example, but he was not the most practiced teacher, nor was he a natural at it. She was getting along with the other Lions well, and putting her all into her training. There were still many rewards to be reaped.

At the barracks door she pulled up, knocked twice, and then let herself in. “Goodbye Alienage!” she called, to anyone that might be within earshot.

“And hello barracks?” There were, in fact, people within earshot, at present about four, and the one who replied was Tessa, seated at one of the long tables with Estella, Cor, and Donnelly. They all grinned, apparently quite aware of what Lia was doing today, and they tossed the cards they were playing back into the center of the table and stood. “I’d ask if there was anything we could help you carry, but it looks like you’ve got everything under control.”

“Probably for the best; these rooms are comfortable, but they’re not the biggest.” Estella smiled slightly. “You’re sharing with me, by the way. I hope you don’t mind.”

"No, that's great!" Lia grinned upon finding her favorite people in the company awaiting her arrival, and proceeded to head towards the room she was sharing. "I've never gotten to share a room before." Not with anyone remotely her age, of course. The Alienage was obviously a small space, tightly crammed with people, but she'd still managed to have the experience of the only child, exacerbated by her turbulent youth. Most of the other elves had trouble relating to her. It made collecting friends troublesome.

Stepping into the room, she set her bags down at the foot of her cot, before setting herself down to test it. She imagined for some in the company this was harder living, but for Lia, she was being paid now to live in a better place. After bouncing a few times on the cot, she stood back up and stopped in the doorframe, leaning against the side.

"What about you guys? Anyone have lots of siblings?" She'd trained with them long enough to become curious about them, especially the ones she liked. Now that she was living here, she imagined she'd have a lot more time with them that wasn't taking up by training and drills.

Everyone looked at Tessa when the question was asked for some reason, and she mock-groaned, holding a hand to her heart dramatically. “Only about six. But let’s maybe sit down before we talk about my family, huh?” There were a few scattered chuckles and some agreement, and Donnelly ran to Idris for some of the man’s rather locally-famous tea over ice, and it wasn’t long before the five of them were settled comfortably in the room. Tessa had plopped down next to Lia on her cot, and Estella gave up half of hers to Cor. Donnelly sat backwards on a chair he’d dragged in from the main room.

“But really, six?” The question came from Cor. “My whole family’s always been my mom and my sister. Just the three of us.” Or at least, since the boat. But he didn’t really talk about anything before that, and the rest never asked.

“Six,” Tessa confirmed. “Four sisters, two brothers. I’m from Starkhaven. My family’s a bit puffed-up, so they took the ‘heir and the spare’ thing very seriously. But once you’re spare number three, you don’t really matter much in the long run. It wasn’t so bad growing up, though—having so many older siblings really took all the pressure off. No one cared if I spent all day in the kennels or the forest or whatever.”

“I’m an only child,” Donnelly confessed, tugging at the ends of his fringe in what was by now a familiar tic of his. “Loads of cousins, though, which is probably the only reason my pop didn’t murder me when I said I wanted to join the company.” He grinned sheepishly.

“Pop?” Cor repeated, his voice indicating his mirth. “Sometimes I forget you’re a farm kid, Donny, but you make it really easy to remember again.”

“Shut up, Corvin,” he replied, reaching over to shove the elf hard in the shoulder. This knocked him against Estella, who rolled her eyes and shoved him back the other way.

“I’m, um… a twin, actually.” Her statement got the other two to quit pretending to fight each other for a moment. She’d never really talked about where she came from, or what she did before she was one of them, and they’d all respected that. “I have a brother, back in Tevinter. Cyrus. He’s… we’re not very much alike.”

“Yeah, I’m not really like any of my siblings, either,” Tessa observed. “Honestly, I get along better with you guys. Probably because you’re all knuckleheaded enough to join the weirdest merc group in the history of merc groups.”

“Yeah, we’re pretty… hey. Did she just call us stupid?” Donnelly attempted to whisper the last part to Cor, but the room was small enough that he didn’t have a chance. Tessa only winked at him.

Lia's grin hardly wavered throughout the exchanges, though she could sense the slight serious dip when she inadvertently got Estella to mention something about her past. Even being with the group for a short time, she'd come to understand that some of them were more tight lipped about stuff than others. She imagined she might end up as one of those herself. She didn't mind sharing quite a bit, but certain things were definitely going to remain her own, if she didn't have to speak of them.

"So... do you think I'll be getting jobs with you guys soon?" she asked, glancing sideways at Tessa. "I think I'm getting there."

Tessa hummed, tilting her head from one side to another. “I imagine the commander will want you to be familiar with more types of combat before you get anything like a raid, but honestly, you could be doing recon or scouting now, if there was anything along those lines. We get a few of those from time to time; it’ll be nice to have someone else along who knows what they’re doing.” She grinned. “Donnelly can’t keep quiet to save his life.”

“Hey, I resemble that remark,” the youth in question replied, his wryness a good indication that he well understood that stealth and tracking were weaknesses of his, and openly acknowledged it. He was more of a frontliner, anyway.

“I wouldn’t worry about it taking too long, Lia,” Cor continued. “It’s pretty obvious that you’re really good; you’ll be out slaying dragons with the rest of us in no time.”

“Yeah, and she’ll be a lot smarter about it than you, Ser charge-right-at-it.” Estella hid her smile in her glass of chilled tea when the tips of Cor’s ears turned red.

“Hey, it worked.”

"Someone's gotta be the punching bag, right?" Lia offered, amused. That fight with the high dragon was something she was probably going to hear about for a long time to come. There were few better ways to spread their reputation than by working with the city guard and some well-known figures of the city to bring down a high dragon. And everyone had come back alive from it, no less. Very few people could match what they'd done already.

"Can I practice with you sometime then?" she said, directing her question at Estella. "I don't think I'd get along well with a shield or a broad sword, but your style seems like something I could maybe pick up." She also happened to know that Estella had a drive for practicing like few others here, so she seemed unlikely to turn down a chance for a little more.

Estella blinked a couple of times, looking vaguely bewildered. When she replied, it was slow and deliberate. “I’m… I’m really not that good, but if you think it would be helpful, I don’t mind.” She nodded slightly, and Cor next to her nudged her with his elbow.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. One day I bet you’ll be showing us all how it’s done, the hours you put into it.” She scoffed, but smiled slightly anyway, and from the way the others grinned, that was a victory of some kind.

“Yeah, if ‘it’ is getting beat down by all comers.” There was a distinct lack of bitterness to the way she said it, though. “In the meantime, I’ll spar with you whenever you like, Lia.”

“The rest of us, too,” added Tessa. “You’ll be getting plenty of it in drills, of course, but there’s nothing wrong with a bit of extra work, and between the four of us, you’ve got most types of opponent covered.” The other two inclined their heads in affirmation as well.

“I know you’ve really been here for a while, but… since this seems official and all, welcome to the Lions, Lia.”

"Thanks, Tessa."

Snippet #2611650

located in Kirkwall, a part of The City of Chains, one of the many universes on RPG.

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