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Loghain stopped at the top of the steep knoll, shifting the weight of his pack. "This is wrong," he said, without turning around. "We've gone the wrong way. I told you."
Maric pursed his lips and came up beside the other, exasperated by the heavy disapproval in his voice. "Would it kill you to trust me for once?"
"We're supposed to be finding the underground passages, not wandering around the entire nation like a couple of fools. I told you we passed the valley hours ago."
"And I told you I knew a better way, through the hillside!"
Loghain's icy blue stare met Maric's determined gaze, silently voicing an unspoken threat. If the prince didn't know any better, he might just kiss that damned scowl off his face. Still, that unnerving glare persisted until Maric felt his skin crawl-- satisfied, Loghain turned away and stood just slightly straighter. What a smug, handsome bastard.
"Fine. But if we don't find the passage by nightfall, we're going my way in the morning."
"Fine!" Maric huffed a little, back straightening until he stood at full confidence, and marched along toward what Loghain was sure would be another dead end.
They hiked for another two hours or so before the sun seemed well on its way down.
"Maric," Loghain began, "This isn't working. We're setting up camp."
"No!" He spun around, and his partner nearly crashed into him with the sudden stop. "Could you just let me do one thing without your permission!"
"You never do anything with my permission!" Loghain tossed his hands into the air, a deep scowl on his face. "I'm always riding up like some knight in shining bloody armor to save you from your own idiocy! I'm not here to be your nanny, Maric, I'm here because of my father!"
"What, so you're only staying for what he wants?" Maric's face turned red with anger. "You aren't staying for yourself, or for me? You aren't staying for us? Not for Ferelden, the nation you love so much but won't willingly fight to protect?"
"I'm staying because my father wanted me to, because he thought you were worth saving, to chase after this unreachable fantasy of reclaiming Ferelden! I'm staying until you don't need me to hold your hand every step of the way like some blithering infant, then I'm leaving. I'm leaving to go back to the camp your presence destroyed, sorting through the ashes of good people, all slain because of your fucking pureblood lineage, and I'm burying the bones of my father!"
"You aren't allowed to just walk away when things get hard! Maker forbid you might experience an inconvenience or have to sacrifice your own desires to save an entire nation, the one you go on and on about loving so much and giving up everything for! You go on about how terrible Orlais is, about how soldiers defiled your mother and murdered your father and stole your damned dog! You talk about how you're going to do so much to help, and then when being the second in command of the rebel prince gets to be too hard, you want to run away!"
"I am not running away!" Loghain's eyes blazed with anger and he found himself getting in Maric's face. The few inches he had above the other on height wasn't usually significant, but now it made him seem much more frightening.
The rebel prince's resolve did not waver. "Then what are you doing, Loghain? What is staying here out of pity and then leaving as soon as you're able to? What is that if not running away?"
"How dare you speak to me like that? I--"
"Would you just-- Would you just shut the fuck up?" Maric interrupted, and stared at Loghain, gaze angry and hurt. "Shut the fuck up, Loghain."
The commander said nothing. He stopped talking, startled by the sudden sort of indignant bravery Maric showed, disbelieving that the blonde-haired boy before him actually had the guts to say such a thing. Instead of arguing, Loghain's eyes met only the ground-- he seemed to regret his anger, at the very least. However, despite it all, he did feel a strange new layer of respect for Maric.
It was another half hour before the sun had dipped about halfway down below the horizon.
"...Maric?"
"What?"
A few moments of quiet passed, the only sound between them being the leaves crunching beneath their boots.
"I'm sorry. That was... unworthy."
The prince released a soft sigh. "It's alright, Loghain. I wasn't exactly kind to you, either." He glanced over his shoulder as he walked. "I want you to know that I'm sorry too, and I didn't..." He trailed off when the sound of old wood creaking came from beneath his feet. "Wait. What is..." The poor fool couldn't even finish his sentence before the rotten wooden planks beneath his feet gave way and split.
Maric cried out, and Loghain lunged forward to catch his arm-- they scrabbled for each other for a few seconds, though it felt like minutes. Maric's feet kicked and Loghain's jaw clenched as they managed to heave themselves up and the prince climbed out of the poorly sealed hole in the ground. Both men breathed heavily, startled by the sudden danger, which had passed as soon as it had come.
"...What was that?" Loghain panted, looking down into the hole. It was hard to see with such little daylight, but it smelled earthy and thick, almost damp.
"I think, uh..." Maric grinned. "I think I just found a roundabout entrance to our underground passages."
The two stared at the hole, then up at one another. Maric chuckled, bewildered, and as his dumbfounded laughs rose, Loghain joined him.
They laughed together, anger seeping away, and Loghain realized that perhaps Maric had really been onto something after all.