Chapter Text
"Welcome to the Meadows, I guess." Maria welcomed forlornly, a blush of shame crawling up her neck.
Stuck in one of the forgotten corners of the city, in between the cold outer walls and a high fence of stout, sharpened poles, sat the Tantervale Alienage. The barricade that hemmed it in broke for one small archway that allowed the elves to move in and out of it. Templars guarded it, or more accurately stood in lazy groups and occasionally threw a glance at who was moving in and out. Even so, as he stood there on the threshold, Orsino cowed under the scarf he had wrapped tightly around his head. Their very presence caused some ingrained fear in him.
It was under this archway, looking out onto the cramped chaos of the small plot of land in front of him, that Orsino now stood. Before him, a muddy track served as a avenue through the myriad of homes he could make out. It wended its way in a loose circle before ending back where he was. The homes, if they could be called that, were little more than wooden shacks. They looked to be single-room buildings with rooves patched up with what scraps of materials could be scavenged. Wooden board covered with canvas seemed to be the popular option but here and there, Orsino could see hay being used, or branches that had been thinned of leaves and laid over the holes.
He simply didn't know what to think. The numbness that took hold shocked him. In Kirkwall, he had heard of the poverty and desperation the elves had lived in, but he had never seen it with his own eyes. He had no real memory of Ansburg save being ripped from it by those who stole him away to the Gallows in Kirkwall. He remembered that as painful so he presumed he had been happy enough there. But he could remember no details on what it was like or how he lived.
But this? He simply didn't have the words. He made no sounds as his eyes swept his eyes over grimy children and battered housing. As he turned to talk to Maria, a harsh voice cried out to them.
"Had your fill, shemlen!? Come to stare at the poor of Tantervale?"
A fierce looking male elf stood further in on the threshold of a tattered looking shed. Wild bronze-coloured hair framed an angry face. Elf children that played nearby stumbled to a halt and peered to see what their protector was shouting at. Indeed the sudden barking of the man had turned the heads of many elves nearby. They all stared at the trio who stood in the archway. Orsino glanced at the back of Iselle who was stood rigidly save for a slight tremor. It was to she who the elf had shouted at and with whom he now appeared fixated as he stomped over. Even from behind, Orsino could feel Iselle's fear as she bent back slightly, trying to escape the wrath.
"Terriel, stop." Maria tried to soothe as she moved to intercept.
"You!" he said as he clocked eyes with her. "How many times have we told you we don't need your help!"
"And still I offer it. Every time. You know this."
"What do you want this time? To show us off to your shem friends?" Terriel snarled, jerking his chin at Iselle. "What's the matter, princess? Have you never seen a city elf before? Let me guess, the ones you've read about in books all run free in the forests around Thedas, baying at the moon, and singing songs to each other of Arlathan. Is that it?"
The new male elf bored his dark brown eyes into hers. Orsino felt the anger rising in him and it made his fingers twitch. He glanced to the Templars stood guarding the gateway. They weren't even paying attention. Just there to keep the mirage up of safety.
"No, Terriel. It is not her that requested to see the Alienage but I think it best we take this further in." Maria soothed leadingly, throwing her eyes to the Templars that stood mere metres away.
"You are not stepping a foot inside my patch until you tell me why you're here."
Maria sighed and looked at Orsino who stepped out from behind Iselle. He met the fierce man's gaze and, with his heart beating unsteadily, pulled down the scarf that covered his face. Terriel's eyes widened and he fought to keep still. At last he nervously glanced at the guards who stood so near but so far away.
"It was I that asked to see where my people live." Orsino asked quietly but with no hint of any quarter being given. He stared straight back at this fearsome guard.
"Come on then." Terriel snapped finally as he turned and stomped to the shack he had come out of. Orsino made the decision to follow him but not before he rested his hand briefly on Iselle's shoulder. She still trembled slightly as she stared after the new man.
"It will be okay. I will keep you safe." he whispered. Her shoulders dropped a little at this.
Assuming the mantle of First Enchanter, he held his head high and walked gravely over to the shack. The door had been held open and Orsino walked up the few steps into the waiting unknown. Stopping for a moment, he allowed his eyes to adjust to the dark. The smell of damp and of sickness hit him before he was able to see where it was coming from. Terriel stood proudly at the end of the room and faced the three of them, arms crossed and still glaring.
"Take the damn scarf off then. Let me see your whole face."
With a jolt, Orsino realised he still had his face covered. Slowly he unwound the material from round his head, feeling the familiar safety net of anxiety at what he was showing. But now? There was something new. Something exhilarating. His ears heated as he realised that this would be one of the first times in his life that he didn't have to worry about what people thought of them. A smile lifted the side of his mouth as he felt the cool air against his ears. For an age, Terriel simply looked at him.
"And what do you want with us?"
"I have come quite a distance to find someone. This city seems to be the place where they would be. Maria has been gracious to help us." Terriel snorted softly at this and threw a disgusted look her way. "We have to find this person before it is too late."
"Why are you here in particular?"
"In Tantervale, or here at the Meadows?"
"Call it what it is; the Alienage."
Orsino thought long and hard about how to answer such a simple question.
"Because I have been a prisoner for so long and I've never had the chance to choose where I want to go."
Terriel looked at him for a long time, his face grim and severe.
"So you came here?"
"It is who I am." he replied, the sudden pride at those words surprising even him.
Orsino could no longer remember his early years in Ansburg, could no longer remember the faces of his mother or father, or any of his family. He could not remember the last time he had spoken any Elvish. But he could remember every time he had heard knife ears. He could remember the feeling of intense loneliness in the pit of his stomach when people had seen his face and ignored him. He could remember the times that, despite his education and intelligence and position in the Circle, he had been treated as nothing more than vermin. He was so incredibly proud and sure of who he was as a mage but there, in the background, was always the small whispers of uncertainty about his elven heritage.
"Where have you been?" Terriel asked as confusion started to leech the anger from his stance.
"Held captive by my birthright." Orsino said softly.
"I don't understand. No vallaslin so you're not Dalish. That should have led you to an alienage. Our life here shouldn't be a shock to you. Unless you've been in prison."
A wistful smile pulled at the corner of Orsino's mouth. At this he looked first at Iselle and saw only worry and concern. A very slight nod of the head was given with a warning look; only if you know what you're doing. He then looked at Maria who, with a nonchalant shrug of the shoulders, gestured for him to go ahead. Turning back to Terriel, Orsino held up his hands and showed his empty palms.
"I mean you, nor anyone here, any harm. I need you to understand that. Okay?" Terrial nodded slowly, keeping a wary eye on them but flicking his eyes over the escapes. "I have been a prisoner not because of who but what I am." Sparks skittered over the palms of his hands briefly. Understanding flashed through Terriel's eyes as his mouth gaped and his eyes widened in fear.
"You're a ..."
"Yes."
"What do you think you're doing?" Terriel hissed fearfully as he stomped past them to the door they had come in by. He opened it once and threw his head through the door, looking skittishly from side to side for something, before slamming the door shut. Orsino was sure beyond belief that the Templars would not have cared about the commotion. "Are you crazy?" he rasped as he stopped inches from Orsino's face. The force at which the elf pounded the floor towards him caused the First Enchanter to take a step back. "What do you think the Templars will do to you if they had felt that? Why would you do that?"
"Because I need you to trust me that I'm on your side. Why would I reveal this if I wasn't serious?"
"You've brought that power to the most fortified and devoted Chantry stronghold in the Free Marches for some quest? Are you mad? Why would you pit yourself and us in that jeopardy?"
"Because I don't come here out of some misplaced tourist quest. I come here because I'm trying to stop someone suffering the same fate as I did all those years. I'm here, in the Meadows, because I wanted to see my people. To see how they live."
"How they live? I'll tell you how they live! They live in constant fear that someone will slice their ears off with a blade. They live in constant fear that the Templars will send them to prison. They live knowing that they are seen as worthless creatures, even though they are loved and beautiful in Andraste's eyes."
"If only I had intimate experience of what that feels like." Orsino snapped crossly. "When I say I have been imprisoned, I'm not lying to you! I have been imprisoned and on the run and hunted. Because of who I am. Held a prisoner for a chance of birth. And do you know the best part? I'm not talking about just one way. This," he said angrily as he waved his hands, "is just one way I am hated. I have had those I loved ripped from me because of who they are, and I couldn't do a damn thing except watch as the Templars butchered the people I was imprisoned with. Yes, I hate them too." Tears were now pricking at the corner of his eyes. The air in the room seemed thick with pain as the memories hemmed him in. "The other is the same way you have been forced to cow your entire life. Do you think I have not felt everything you have felt? Every time someone looks at my body? My face? My ears? The looks, the names. I know! I know that anger you carry with you down to the very fibre of my being!"
There was silence as Orsino stalked over to the table and slumped into one of the chairs. The fight seemed to seep out of him into the floor and he felt simply heavy.
"To be so feared and hated as the elves are, is one thing. But to be hated as well for being a mage? It is a lot to bear."
If he stopped to think for a moment, he had known only adversity his whole life. There were flashes of warmth that if he cared to stop and think on would make him smile softly to himself. But every time he did stop, the bad memories of the Gallows, of Maud, of Ansburg, of Kirkwall, of Meredith Stannard - they all muddied into one dull swamp of unhappiness.
"I came here because ... I guess because given the chance to go where I wanted, my heart led me here. To some semblance of identity that I have never been able to enjoy. I guess I have never known a home." he said softly as he turned to stare out of the window. One elbow leant on the table and those fingers drifted up for his chin to rest on. "Not in the true sense of the word anyway."
For one terrible moment, a promise he had made to Maud all those years ago ran through his mind. That they would find some way of breaking free and find a place to stop together.
"Promise me, Orsino, promise me we'll follow that wandering star and wherever it touches the ground, we'll make our home there."
The edges of his memories pulsed with guilt that he had let her down. In the still silence of the room, he heard chairs being scraped and knew Iselle and Maria had joined him at the table.
"Okay." Terriel soothed, his hands held up in open calm and he moved to make tea. Hot water from the kettle was poured into a pot and brought over, and he found cups from somewhere. The others sat without saying a word and simply waited for the First Enchanter to break his stillness. The tea was poured and brought over and for a while, they all four sat quietly sipping the herbal brew that Terriel had made.
"So," he spoke eventually, "who is it you've come to find?"