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Pride of the Dwarves ~ Jamie Christopherson (Orzammar)

We made for the Dwarven city of Orzammar, our second stop to have the treaties fulfilled by ancient Grey Warden allies. As we passed into the Frostback Mountains we approached a group of six men. When we moved closer they rushed us.

"About time a Warden showed!" one cried. "Loghain sends his regards!"

The name seemed to anger Alistair. He rushed forward, slamming his shield into the nearest bounty hunter. I ran at his side, my own blades carving a crimson path. They had fallen before the others could barely react. I slipped into the Elven tongue as I cursed Loghain's tactics. First an assassin, now bounty hunters?

"That was... interesting," Wynne said. "They very mention of the name and you two are upon them as if they were Darkspawn."

I shook my head. Wynne seemed to understand. We went to the gates of Orzammar without any more run ins.

"King Loghain will not suffer the delay of his appointed messenger!" A man was saying to a very bored-looking gate guard.

"King?" Alistair asked. "Teagan was right."

"Enough!" The gate guard said. "This land is held in trust for the sovereign Dwarven kings. I cannot allow entry at this time."

"King Loghain demands the allegiance of the deshyr or lords or whatever you call them in your Assembly! I am his appointed messenger!"

"I don't care if you're the king's wiper, Orzammar will have none but its own until our throne is settled."

I walked up at that point. "I have urgent need to speak with your king," I said.

Loghain's messenger looked at me. "Who doesn't? If I don't get in, no one should."

"Orzammar has no king. Endrin Aeducan returned to the Stone not three weeks ago, sick over the loss of his sons. The Assembly has gone through a dozen votes without agreeing on a successor. If it is not settled soon, we risk a civil war."

I pulled the Dwarven treaty from my pack. I had the way in. And I wanted to rub it in the face of Loghain's messenger. Perhaps a bit rash and dangerous for me to do so, but by the time Loghain had word of Alistair and I being here we would have moved on to the Elves. I held it out to the gate guard.

"I am a Grey Warden. This treaty obliges Orzammar to aid me."

The guard took the treaty.

"The Wardens killed King Cailan and nearly doomed Ferelden! They are sworn enemies of King Loghain!" I was very close to snapping his neck if he referred to Loghain as king once more.

"Well, that is the royal seal. That means only the Assembly is authorized to address it. Grey Warden, you may pass." He handed the treaty back to me.

"Thank you." I returned it to my pack.

Loghain's messenger wasn't too happy. "You're letting in a traitor? And a foreigner?" he cried. "In the name of King Loghain," He pointed at me. "I demand you execute this... stain on the honor of Ferelden!"

I looked amused. Alistair shifted into a defensive stance. I shook my head to tell him and the others to stand down. "Run to your false king. The Dwarves will not hear him today," I said, dismissively.

"You... you'll hear of this. King Loghain will see you quartered!" He turned on his heel and marched down the steps. Zevran gave him a wave as he retreated. Morrigan chuckled. Alistair gave me an approving nod.

"You are free to enter Orzammar, Grey Warden, though I don't know what help you will find."

The gates were opened and we went into Orzammar. After the doors shut, we were met by another guard. "Well met, Warden," he said. He must have heard the conversation outside. "Your arrival is a mixed blessing. We prefer that outsiders not witness our infighting but your presence will be tolerated."

We descended down a flight of stairs to a hall filled with various statues.

"Those statues are Dwarven Paragons, if I remember right," Alistair said when he saw my looking at one curiously. "The best of their ancestors." We made our way through the hall.

"You can stop flinching, Sten," Wynne was saying. "I'm not going to harm you." It was hard to imagine Sten flinching at Wynne. Or anything for that matter.

"I do not fear harm to myself."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"An unbound Mage is like a wildfire. As prone to simply consume itself as it is to devour all that surrounds it."

Alistair and I shared a look. He only shook his head.

"I do wish you wouldn't refer to Mages as 'it'." The conversation ended there because we walked through the doors into the Commons of Orzammar.

As we walked in, several Dwarves were gathered nearby.

"It is the Assembly who makes a king and a king who nominates his successor," a grey-haired Dwarf was saying. "None of it is carried in the blood."

A younger, red-haired Dwarf took a step forward. "Or, as now, when someone tries using the Assembly to pull a coup. Who's to say what my father said in his final hours when the usurper Harrowmont was the only one by his side."

"I'll have you thrown in prison!"

"You've bitten off more than you can chew!"

A dark-haired Dwarf stepped towards them. "Handlers! Separate these deshyrs in the Diamond Quarter! I will not have Bhelen incite a riot!"

A blond-haired Dwarf drew his axe. "You'll not speak that way to the man who should be king!" He knocked the dark-haired Dwarf's feet out from under him and then brought the axe down on his chest. The Dwarf was dead when the axe was withdrawn. The grey-haired Dwarf and his followers fled. The red-haired Dwarf, whom I assumed was Bhelen, and his followers calmly walked away.

"Well...," Alistair started to say, but didn't finish the sentence.

"Stone-blind idiots!" A guard cried. "I'll not have fighting in the Commons! Especially in front of outsiders! I find that sodding fool I'll have him in the Legion."

We approached him.

"Greetings, Surfacer. I am bid to let you walk the Commons but keep your place. Warden or not, I want order."

"The Blight is coming and I am in need of Orzammar's assistance," I said.

"Surface problems. Well, we have no king to hear you. You can join the shouting at the Assembly in the Diamond Quarter," He motioned vaguely in the general direction. "If you want. Bunch of deshyr lords bickering over sand. Bhelen. Harrowmont... is one so different? No Paragons here."

"Sounds like Bhelen and Harrowmont are the ones to talk to."

"They've caged themselves for fear of each other. As you've seen, keeping order down among us working people is dodgy. No place for a proper lord. Bhelen speaks through his second, Vartag Gavorn, in the Assembly. Lord Harrowmont speaks through Dulin Forender from his estate."

"Thank you."

As we walked away towards the Diamond Quarter, Wynne marveled at the Dwarves' architecture. "For a tiny people they certainly build such high ceilings..."

Morrigan tried not to laugh but failed. We passed several merchants peddling their wares and I had to pull Leliana away from one that was selling beautiful fabrics.

"Why are you smiling like that? You look suspiciously like the cat that swallowed the pigeon."

I looked over at my shoulder at Alistair and realized he was talking to Wynne.

"Canary," she answered.

"What?"

"I look like the cat that swallowed the canary."

"I once had a very large cat. But not my point. My point is, why are you smirking?"

I listened to the conversation while keeping Leliana from shopping. I didn't think it was a good idea to let her loose in a market of any kind.

Wynne chuckled. "You were watching her. With great interest, I might add. In fact, I believe you were enraptured."

I bit my lip to keep from laughing out loud.

"She is our leader. I look to her for guidance."

Leliana giggled.

"Oh, I see. So what guidance did you find in those swaying hips, hmm?" He was staring at my behind?

Leliana was about to have a laughter fit.

"No, no, no. I wasn't looking at... you know, her... hind-quarters."

I could imagine his face was becoming quite crimson. We were stopped by this point, Zevran having gone to retrieve Tristan from chasing a creature that looked like some sort of hairless rabbit. I had my fist against my lips. I stole a glance at Alistair. Sure enough, his cheeks were a shade of red.

"Certainly."

"I gazed... glanced in that direction, maybe. But I wasn't staring. Or really seeing anything, even." He was so cute when he was bashful. After being caught staring at my rear.

"Of course."

I was trying not to laugh, but I was afraid I wasn't succeeding.

"I hate you. You're a bad person."

"Why is Alistair blushing?" Zevran asked when he and Tristan returned. "And why does Realin have the lower part of her face covered with the back of her hand?"

"Never you mind, Zevran," Alistair said, flustered.

Leliana laughed out loud.

"We should go find the Assembly building... hall," I said. By the Creators! That woman was like the grandmother I never had. And one day she was going to succeed in causing me to turn crimson, like Hahran Paivel did once. Okay, he did several times. The old Hahran was old enough to be my grandfather, but was more of a father to me than anything. But I am straying...

We found the doors leading to the Diamond Quarter.