A Sith & A Mage & Hijinks...

[kallig]

It had been a week now since that day they had decided to start traveling together.

It had been nice- traveling alongside someone else, having stories shared with him and even sharing some very heavily edited ones of his own given that edited stories were all he could offer without sounding completely off in the head. It had also been difficult given that Altair had to be very careful to not let even a slip of skin show. Wandering off on his own during times Anders was otherwise occupied to clean himself or to eat or drink.

Still, Altair preferred it to traveling alone- even if he had found a lot of ghosts along the way to talk to. Having a friend among the living was nice too.

As they traveled on this particular day, the light was quickly being replaced with the darkness of night.

Some old and unused path through a forest, that had once been a well-traveled road if the old rock fence he was currently keeping his balance on as he walked along the top of it rather than on the path through the trees was anything to go by- maybe the place had been settled some time ago. Maybe people had lived out here. It seemed likely, all things considered. Maybe they'd find something neat if they kept walking in this direction.

Who knew.

He wasn't so focused on that at the moment though, instead keeping his head tilted back so his face was turned up to the sky- knowing that the stars would be starting to come out soon.

"Do you ever wonder if there's life out there?" He asked his companion, breaking the comfortable silence they'd been traveling in for a little while.

It was a question that had been on his mind, all things considered.

Maybe there was a similar Empire to his own out there. Maybe a Galactic Republic or something like it. Or perhaps all the worlds out there were like this one- still so early in their development.

Altair wondered if this planet had even gotten to the part of history where they were wondering or theorizing about whether or not there was life out in space too. Maybe he was sounding completely insane to Anders by asking.

But then, a lot of things Altair had said and done since they first met probably seemed completely insane, so it really was business as usual.

Comments

[rebelhealer]

Anders wondered if this was an old merchants' trail, or an Orlesian path from back when they ruled Ferelden. It wasn't a Dalish path, since they preferred to travel along the plains or through the woods in their landships. They had to be close to the Brecilian Forest, or possibly Amaranthine. Anders had seen a sign a ways back that pointed them towards Crestwood.

During their travels, he'd told Altair of his adventures. The Wending Woods, the Deep Roads, Kirkwall, and even some of his escapes from the Circle.

He looked up at the stars. "You know, I never thought about it."

[rebelhealer]

Altair was proving to be quite the travel companion, even if he still didn't know much about him. He knew that Altair came from a far away land, that he was a former slave, and that he came from a place without Templars or the Chantry. Yet he didn't know what his homeland was called, whether or not he was a mage, or even what he looked like. He could even be an unusually tiny, hornless qunari.

Not that Anders had opened up that much either. He'd told Altair that he was from Ferelden, that he'd been in a Circle and spent time in Kirkwall. He'd told Altair about his hand in the Kirkwall uprising, and even about Justice. But he hadn't gone into more personal details about his life or what he'd gone through in Amaranthine or Kirkwall.

Currently, the two were heading towards Orlais. It was dangerous there for the likes of them, but they'd picked up some promising rumors.

Anders paused when he saw smoke in the distance. "Think we should investigate?"

[kallig]

Coming across Templars wasn't exactly a rare occasion. Seemed their particular brand of evil was spreading across the land like a sickness, if you asked Altair. Even now they woke up every day and chose cruelty despite having every opportunity in the world to stop and say that enough was enough and that they would no longer raise a hand to harm another innocent mage.

There were a lot of them this time though.

And trying to avoid them hadn't worked- it had become a battle before Altair knew it.

It had been going fine until another group of them had joined the fray, and he could sense their intent- to separate him from Anders and overwhelm them separately. He could sense their intent to hurt too and when that intent turned to Anders despite Altair's attempts to keep most of their attention on him, his desire to protect the mage- not to mention his desire to not lose him, selfishly- won out over continuing to pretend to be something he was not.

The lightsaber hidden beneath his outfit was unhooked in a flash, red blades flaring to life, casting its eerie glow over the darkening surroundings- a single swipe cut through the Templar who had been crowding him, slicing through the metal of his armor like it wasn't even there. A dash forward and the hum of his blade and two more of them laid in pieces, and the battle fell into chaotic shouts as malice turned to fear.

The rush of a blade overhead, the pressure of the air moving just above his head as he ducked down, bringing his lightsaber up and slicing through the sword like it was nothing as well, sending the pieces into the ground, followed by the shocked Templar's arm, and then his head.

Through their shock he could sense the remainders of the ones who had attacked them turn to at least try to get at Anders- the wise thing to do would have been for them to run- and as Altair sensed killing intent, he thought he heard himself yell no because as much as he knew the mage was plenty capable and even confident in battle, Altair hated the feeling of attention leaving him to be directed at someone he loved.

Whether it was Anders or his loved ones at home, it was better if people attacked him.

So perhaps it was no surprise that he instinctively reached out with the Force- halting the Templars where they stood, swords raised but unable to bring them down, followed by the sound of metal being crumpled and flesh and bone breaking beneath, followed by the clatter of heavily armored bodies to the ground as Altair came to his senses again.

"Anders!"

Returning his lightsaber to his side, he was quick to head toward the other man, concern obvious in his body language as well as in his voice- "Are you- Did they hurt you-?"