The Fate of the Tainted

"It sounds like you take your duties very seriously, my lady" Duncan says to me as we stand in the warm dining room waiting for mother to arrive.
"Duty first, Death second. And if I die doing my duty it's a good death. My mother doesn't like that I think like that much. Speaking of mother.." I say nodding behind him to where my mother was entering the hall after changing her attire from the green dress she wore earlier, to a black velvet one with gold trimming round the waist and the collar.
"Duncan, what a pleasant surprise, it's been twenty years since I last saw you" she says smiling as she walks closer.
"Indeed, time has been kind to you, My Lady" he replies with a slight bow. My mother holds him by the shoulders lightly and kisses him on the cheek. Which I find quite odd.
"Why can you not dress like a woman for once?" My mother asks after noticing me. I just shrug with a sly smile.
"It'd get ripped" I reply and she shakes her head before turning back to Duncan
"When my daughter told me there was a Grey Warden here I had no idea it'd be you. I thought Genevieve, I take it she's..." My mother doesn't quite know how to finish her sentence.
"It's a long story, one I'd rather not discuss at the present"
"I see. So Commander, what brings you here then?"
"Just a passing visit, I'm heading down to Ostagar where the King and his armies are waiting for a Darkspawn hoard amassing in the Korcari Wilds."
"The Wilds, that's not far from here" I state. "That explains why the spawn we've faced have all been heading south whenever we've spotted them"
"So you fight Darkspawn a lot?"
"Only when they surface, there's a cave nearby they come out from time to time. I'm always the first person the guards tell. They've been coming up more frequently lately and in larger numbers. I've had to double patrols for every other day. The last battle had about twenty or so in number, one of which was an Alpha. Amnon shot the blighter with her amazing skills and accuracy with a bow, lucky for me,"
I'd been knocked onto the floor on my back, dazed after being hit in the head with a shield and the Hurlock Alpha towered above me raising his double bladed axe high about to bring it down when it was shot between the eyes and fell backwards. Thankfully not forwards.
"I would've been sliced in two otherwise" my mother sighs worriedly and puts her hand on her face. "But with that out of the way we quickly took out the rest of them. Set the bodies alight before coming back here. It was quite gory, and the smell."
I turn my nose up remembering the foul stench of the burning, sizzling corpses all piled on top of each other guts hanging out, heads lobbed off, throats sliced open, limbs hanging from or missing their bodies.
"but I will not go into detail about that. Wouldn't want to put anyone off their food." I say
"You sound like just the kind of person I'm looking for,"
"You're recruiting?"
"Oh, Duncan, please don't encourage her"
"But mother, I would like to become a Warden, if the Spawn's numbers get too high every Warden in Ferelden will be no match for them.
"It's true, there aren't many Grey Wardens in Ferelden as it is and in a time like this they're sorely needed"
"The Wardens need all the help they can get, please mother"
"I'll consider it" she says sternly
I can barely contain my glee so I excuse myself saying that Damon, my loyal Mabari hound, needs some exercise. He's just lazing by the fireplace napping so I walk to the end of the long room, trying not to look rushed as much as possible.

"Your daughter is a very charming young lady, there's something about her that reminds me of how I used to be, you remember those days?"
"I couldn't forget if I tried." She laughs
They just watch the young woman who's just been pounced on by the faithful pet.
"She is a brave woman, not anyone would willingly face the Darkspawn, yet she does it often. Her men follow her where some wouldn't even follow a king. I'm sure her father must be proud of her. And I must say, she has a certain something about her that reminds me of myself in my younger days." He says with a sideways smile at the woman.
"I don't know, are you proud of our daughter?" She asks looking slightly apprehensive.
"Our daughter?" He asks turning completely to face the mother of his child, remaining composed but his eyes giving away his surprise.
"This is why I had to leave the order, Genevieve is the only one who knew I was with child. She didn't ask who the father was, but I suspect she knew. She always had a way of knowing most people's secrets. But she said it was better if I left, I of course protested, but in the end she ordered me to take my leave. And I always follow orders." They look over at the young woman who's rubbing the stomach of her playful Mabari in an almost childlike way, the hound barking as it stood up and started jumping around at the supposed lady talking in an almost childish tone to the beast before growling playfully which the canine responded to growling itself. "Unfortunately our daughter is a bit of a wild one at times and she prefers to give orders rather than take them, but she's a good little soldier for the most part. The guards and soldiers would follow her, even to their deaths."
They both shared a glance and though hidden to most, if you looked closely you could see the longing each one held to embrace the other, they had missed each other and it had hurt them deeply, to see each other again after so long must be testing. Both too proud to admit how they felt in the presence of their daughter who he had just found out existed, not to mention she has no idea who he is beyond his title as Commander of The Grey. She would think it odd if they suddenly embraced one an other. The short pause between the two was interrupted by another bark before both woman and hound race off through the double doors at the front of the hall.