Chapter 52: Modern Technology

We had another two weeks of walking ahead of us before we would arrive at the base of Soldier's Peak. I wished for a car, or an airplane, for perhaps the millionth time since arriving in Thedas. Even a horse, although I understood from Tomas that you didn't actually get much further per day on a horse than walking, you just did it with fewer blisters on your feet, and more on your butt, and you could carry more stuff. Horses can sprint well, but when needing endurance, their walking speed apparently isn't that fast. And in Thedas, only the wealthiest of nobles could even afford them.

When I mentioned vehicles, everyone was fascinated, and I ended up spending most of the first day trying to explain engines and fuel sources, trucks and trains and helicopters. Sadly engineering wasn't my area of expertise, and my explanations were weak at best. The skeptical look on the faces of Gorim and Dariel were hilarious; everyone else just looked like they had a headache from trying to imagine it.

I'd handed the gifts I'd bought for Sten, Shale, and Morrigan to Aedan to give out. Everyone seemed touched when he gave them away, and I smiled.

I spent some time over the next few days catching up with Morrigan. It didn't take her long to figure out that Alistair and I had finally 'done the deed', and she quietly teased me about it for a bit, which was amusing. I'd never spent much time walking with her – usually she was flying overhead – and I guessed she must have been lonelier than she'd admitted over the last week. In addition, apparently walking with me was a bonus for her because it kept Dariel away; he still wanted nothing to do with me.

I noticed Wynne walking with Dariel much of the time, and at some point she must have offered to teach him, because they were deep in discussion on the nature of magic. I didn't understand much, but it seemed that their healing methods were very different, and Wynne was most eager to learn from Dariel as well. I smiled; it was the most animated I'd seen Wynne since she'd joined us. It appeared she was a good teacher. I could see why Irving had wanted her to stay in the Tower after we rescued it from Uldred. And Dariel's condescending pity towards the older Circle mage was starting to thaw a little, too.

I walked with Sten and even Shale, for a bit; neither had much interesting to say about the past week, but both seemed happy enough to see me, even if they weren't big talkers. Gorim had gotten cornered by Bodahn, and was riding the cart, discussing something or other with the merchant. His expression was distant, but tolerant; he hadn't really opened up to anyone yet, and I wondered if he would. I couldn't imagine what he was going through.

When I walked with Leli, she started pestering me about songs from Earth, and I wracked my brain to think of ones I could teach her that would not only make sense in Thedas but also weren't embarrassing if she sang them. Almost everything appropriate I could think of was a love song – or perhaps that's just where my mind was at. I sang her "The Rose", by Bette Midler, and "River of Dreams" by Billy Joel before Alistair finally joined us, silencing me. I loved Alistair, but I wasn't about to subject him to my singing this early in the relationship.

But most of all I walked with Alistair, hand-in-hand, talking about nothing and everything. Sometimes one or another of our companions would join us, other times they left us alone. I felt drunk half the time from giggling until I was breathless; Alistair's running commentary about what the rest of the group were doing or thinking kept me in hysterics for hours.

The first night, Alistair and I resolved to be courteous, and not have sex after we went to bed. Lying in the dark with him right there, wanting him, knowing he wanted me, was the hardest thing I think I'd ever done. I slept poorly, and even he wasn't as cheery in the morning as usual. The next night we decided to just try not to make any noise after we retired to our tent. When we woke to find visible bite marks in his shoulder where I'd tried to silence myself, we decided we needed a better option. Alistair decided to ask Wynne about silencing spells on the third day, so I was skipping along between Aedan and Duncan, walking a few yards ahead of my templar and the mage, when I heard sputtering from behind.

I turned just in time to see Alistair's mottled face as he shouted, "Andraste's Flaming Sword! I know where babies come from!" and then stomp away looking mortified as the entire group cracked up laughing. Wynne was trying to stifle a smug grin, and failed when she caught my eye and I raised one eyebrow in amusement. When I managed to catch my breath, I turned and headed back to where Alistair was now walking, alone, face beet red, avoiding eye contact with anyone.

When he saw me, he blushed more, and refused to meet my gaze. I took a surreptitious look around – no one was watching us – and then pushed him off the path we followed into a small copse of trees where I proceeded to kiss him senseless. His acute embarrassment forgotten, he wrapped his arms around me and kissed me back, and we lost track of time for a few endless moments.

"So did Wynne know any helpful spells?"

"Apparently not. And the rest of her advice was even less useful." He scowled.

I struggled not to laugh again. "Would you like me to try? I have an idea."

He agreed, and then, holding hands, we proceeded to run out onto the path and hurtle towards the group, who'd left us a ways behind. Red-faced from exertion by the time we caught up, I left him with Aedan and Duncan and approached Bodahn's cart.

"Sandal?"

"Enchantment!"

I grinned. "Yes! I have a request. Do you know any way to enchant something to block sound?"

The young dwarf simply stared at me, head cocked slightly, eyes unblinking. Bodahn leaned over to look at me.

"What are you looking for, my Lady?"

"I was hoping Sandal knew an enchantment we could put on a tent to block sound. Because, you know, Alistair snores so loudly."

The older dwarf grinned at me and winked, making me blush, but he handed the reins to Sandal before reaching behind into the cart, fishing through a small sack. He came out with a tiny stone in his hand, a rune I supposed, and then grabbed one of the rolled up bundles that made up our tents. Turning back to the boy, he took back the reins, handed over the stone, and pointed at the tent material. "Enchantment?" he asked.

Sandal took the rune, rubbing it between his fingers possessively, then eyed the canvas speculatively. "Enchantment." He nodded. "Yes."

Bodahn stuffed the bundle back behind him on the cart and smiled at me. "I'll have him work on it when we set up camp tonight, my Lady."

I'd given up on trying to talk Bodahn into using my name, and just sighed at the honourific. "Thanks Bodahn. What do I owe you for it?"

His smile turned smug. "On the house, my lady. In thanks for thinking about the rest of us and silencing the ... snoring."

I blushed and thanked him, and then slowed down until Alistair caught up with me. As I linked hands with him, I nodded at him quietly and he smiled. That night, Bodahn presented us with a different canvas than we were used to using, winked at me again, and then headed over to climb under the cart with Sandal like he did every night. Deciding to test it out, we set it up a short distance away from everyone, and then I went inside and closed the flap. I shouted, once, at medium volume, and then when no one seemed to react, tried again louder. Crawling back to the flap, I leaned out and looked up at my handsome boyfriend, firelight making his skin glow softly.

"Anything?"

"Nope."

"Good. Get in here."

"Yes ser! Right away ser." He grinned at me. "Want to see how well it works for other sounds?"

Giggling, I rolled away from the flap as he ducked in and tried to tackle me; he caught me on the far side when I fetched up against the wall, pulling at straps and ties with desperate haste. It turned out that making love on the ground, in a tent, was quite acceptable after all. And based on the lack of teasing the next morning, the enchantment worked perfectly.

I hugged the little, simple, dwarven enchanter the next morning, and he blushed and laughed. "Enchantment!"

On the seventh day out of Denerim, I was walking along, holding Alistair's hand as Wynne showed me various plants she'd grabbed from around the campsite to demonstrate after I'd almost used something very bad for my health as toilet paper. She showed me how to tell which were safe and which weren't, and I was trying very hard to memorise the shapes when I became dizzy. I stopped walking, interrupting Wynne mid-sentence, and turned to Alistair.

"I'll find you. Keep going, and I promise, whatever it takes, I'll find you."