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Dorian glanced over the book he was reading. The hour was late, that was sure. He listened for a moment, hearing no other sounds than some flapping of wings from the rookery upstairs. He huffed, laid down his book and stood up. His back made a small clack as he stretched himself. He was not sleepy, not at all. Maybe a little walk outside would help?
***
“I knew you liked gardening, but at this hour?” he chuckled when he stepped into the garden.
Shae turned to look at him, smiling. “Helps me to relax”, he said, turning back to the pots of mud he was digging.
“What are you doing?” Dorian asked, extending his neck to look over his shoulder.
“I’m planting new bulbs that got delivered yesterday”, Shae told and placed one into the pot of mud. “They need to be planted at night, because the bulbs don’t stand light. I wonder if I will succeed to grow them.”
“If anyone can make something grow it is you’, Dorian said, drawing patterns to sand with his foot. “I’ve never seen anyone attend to their plants like you do.”
“Oh?”
“With such care”, Dorian paused and smiled, “…and gentle hands.”
It made Shae chuckle slightly, which was followed by a small silence from both of them.
“How did you learn botany?” Dorian asked after a moment.
Shae stopped what he was doing and thought for a moment. “I used to follow Tellen, a man who was the first to the Keeper.” He filled the last pot with mud and turned to look at Dorian. “He was glad to share his knowledge.”
Dorian looked down at his feet when Shae’s eyes, very green and bright in the dark garden were targeted at him. There was something peculiar in the way Shae had caught his interest. Surely, the first time he had laid his eyes on the redhead, he had found him cute, though the Inquisitor was not the type of man he usually found attractive.
Still, they had quickly become friends, finding each other’s company enjoyable. After knowing him for a while, Dorian discovered Shae was a clever man with a truly kind heart. He was open and genuinely accepted people as they were. The more Dorian got to know him, the more he found himself being drawn to this man, who now looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
“What?” Dorian asked.
“You’re rarely this quiet”, Shae told, smiling.
“I apologize”, Dorian chuckled. “I got lost in my thoughts.”
Shae gestured the garden. “Would you like to walk around a little?”
“I’d be delighted.”
Shae rubbed mud from his hands as they sauntered. The evening was quite cool, though the garden was guarded from the wind by the high walls of the fortress.
“You don’t talk much about your family”, Dorian said suddenly, breaking the silence. “You said, you followed Tellen… What about your parents?”
There was a short silence before Shae replied. “I don’t remember them”, he said quietly. “The Avvaar found me wandering in the forest when I was very young, probably around four years old, or so I was told. Later on, the Lavellan’s adopted me.
Dorian stopped walking and looked at him.
“I’ve always assumed my parents are dead”, Shae continued. “The Keeper knew there was a Dalish clan in the Frostbacks but no one really knows what happened to them. All they know there were darkspawn in the area at that time.”
“I am sorry”, Dorian said.
Shae touched Dorian’s arm slightly and smiled. Then he knelt down on the ground, laying his palm against the dirt. He spread his fingers and closed his eyes.
There were blue frosty threads like spider webs, leaving his fingertips, reaching slowly the flower bush in front of them. When the frost reached the plant it gradually froze all the flowers, and when Shae withdrew his hand, the ice shattered, leaving the flowers blue and glowing.
Dorian looked at Shae who stared at his right hand and then met his eyes again.
“The earliest memory I have is this”, Shae said quietly. “When I was alone in the forest, the flowers gave me light at night.”
Dorian reached for one of the glowing flowers. A moment of silence lingered around them for a time.
“Beautiful”, he whispered then, smiling.
“What about you?” Shae asked.
“Me?”
“Your first memory?”
“Hmm…”, Dorian thought for a moment, walking away from the flowers. There were so many bad memories from his youth that many of them had merged together, some of them locked away for good. There were so many things he wished to forget, so many suppressed feelings. He could not remember when was the last time he had spoken with someone about his childhood.
He could see a small frown on Shae’s face. “If you don’t feel like…”, Shae told suddenly.
“No, it is not that”, Dorian said, touching slightly his arm. “I remember running through a corridor. It must have been the family villa in Qarinus.” He smirked a little now. “I had stolen a pastry from the kitchen.”
Shae smiled too. “So a little thief?”
Dorian chuckled. “Sometimes.”
“It’s a nice memory.”
“Yes…”, Dorian said, sitting down on a bench nearby, “yes it is.”
Shae took the few steps and sat down beside him. There was a sudden twitch in his body, and his brows furrowed. He pressed his right hand against the palm of his left one, the one that always glowed green.
“Are you alright?” Dorian asked worried.
Shae took a slightly shuddering breath. “Yes”, he said through his teeth. “It does that sometimes, stings, sets my nerves aflame.”
“That sound most unpleasant.”
“It is.”
“May I look?” Dorian asked carefully.
Shae let his hand go and showed it to him. The green pulsed out from his palm, and Dorian took the hand gently into his own, examining.
“It’s so strange”, Dorian said and brushed his thumb slowly over the green sparks. It sizzled against his skin. When he raised his eyes, he caught Shae watching him. He went still, the moment lingering as they looked at each other, Shae’s hand in his.
Suddenly, a small light flickered in the corner of Dorian’s eye. He withdrew is hand quickly. A door closed somewhere at the back of the garden, and Shae turned to look at the direction where the sound had come from.
Dorian stood up. “I think I’ll be heading to bed now”, he said when Shae looked back at him.
Shae nodded and smiled, but did not attempt to stand up and follow him. “Good night, Dorian.”
Dorian made a small bow with his head.“Good night”, he said and disappeared from the gardens the same way he had arrived.