Chapter Text
The walks through the Brecilian Forest had been long and arduous. Several days of rain with little reprieve besides the makeshift camps they put up at night, had left the group more worse for wear. But when Talza woke the fourth day, she was pleasantly surprised to find rays of sunshine blinding her.
No one else was up yet, so she took her time waking up, packing her things and set off to check the traps Leliana had set the evening before. Not long after beginning her walk though, the sounds of the woods were broken by a long, drawn out ‘psssssst’. At first, Talza’s instincts kicked in, reaching for her dagger, her short time with the Wardens keeping her on edge. She quickly realized, however, it was just Alistair, trying very hard not to wake the others.
“Mind if I walk with you?” he whispered. She smiled and nodded her head in the direction of the path, signaling him to come along. Once they were far enough away from the others, they talked at a normal volume again.
“Why were you up so early today? Normally you sleep in later than Sann.” Alistair joked, lightly bumping his elbow into her arm. She just smiled and blushed.
“The sun woke me up today. It wasn’t awful waking up early, but I’m sure I’ll be tired by later. What about you then?” She asked him.
“Oh, I’m always up around dawn. Part of the Templar training I think. You know for years they had to practically pry me out of bed, but now, it seems as though I can’t stay in very long.” He moved his arms upward to stretch and yawn.
“Yeah, well don’t get used to me being up. I enjoy sleep as much as I can.”
They were quiet for a while, just listening to the morning or their own rapid heartbeats. After checking all seven though, found that there was nothing bring back aside from grim news.
“Well, we may not have food, but at least it’s a pretty morning.” Talza finally said.
“Oh, I’m sure Nyx’s mabari can wrangle up a rabbit or something. But you’re right, it’s beautiful.” Alistair stopped and bent down to pick a dandelion that’d bloomed in the morning dew. He leaned down slightly to carefully place it in the loose braid in Talza’s hair, mangled from humidity and damp.
“There, now it’s even better.” Talza blushed at his kind gesture and it reminded her of the rose he gave her a few days before. She silently noted how she’d press this flower in the same book where the rose sat.
They continued walking and briefly commenting on the wildlife around them. More than once his hand had brushed hers, definitely more than enough times to be accidental, and so she decided to take a leap. Her fingers ever so slightly grasped his, and when she did this, she could see his body go a little rigid before comfortably allowing her hand to settle with his and relaxing a bit. She didn’t though. Her heart raced and pounded in her chest and all she could feel was the reassuring warmth radiating from his hand and the way he kind of stroked her palm with his thumb with every step they took. After a few minutes of silence though, Alistair pulled away to briefly wipe his hand on his shirt and looked away awkwardly.
“Heh, sorry, I doubt holding a sweaty hand is very enjoyable.” Talza just grabbed it again and held it tighter.
“Alistair, a little sweat isn’t anything. Besides, I thought it was me who was the sweaty one.” She beamed up at him, trying to show confidence. He just laughed a held their hands up together.
“Well alright, we’ll hold each other’s sweaty hands. Deal?” she brought them back down.
“Deal.”