Chapter Text
Saturday morning.
"Elissa?"
No answer.
"Hello?" Fergus called again. Barkspawn barked in the back seat. Loudly enough to pull Elissa out of her thoughts. She gasped and started to recall where she was and what she was doing. She was sitting in the passenger seat of her brother's SUV. The car was filled with boxes containing her personal stuff. Clothes, books, mostly historical ones which she would need in the upcoming academic year, cosmetics (most of them were a gift from Oriana, though Elissa rarely had the patience required to do her make-up), her computer and unfortunately a large stock of antidepressants which were helping her with anxiety. She would need them to function properly. Surprisingly all of her belongings could be transported in one turn.
She was moving from Highever to Denerim to study history at Denerim University. One of the best in the country. First time she moved out of her family house to live on her own. She was glad to finally begin a new chapter in her life.
Fergus and Elissa's parents were killed in a car crash a year ago. By a drunken driver. Elissa was also injured in the crash, however the psychological damage she suffered was thousand times worse than physical. She was struggling with some sort of survivor's guilt and grief eventually turned into anxiety. It hit her during her last year in high school, however the pills, therapy and having a goal of passing her final exams helped her cope with loss. However it couldn't be completely rooted out. While in Highever, the memories of her parents flooded her mind at every turn. The park in which her dad used to bring her and Barkspawn, the mall in which her mum and she shopped. Parts of them left everywhere. She was unable to enter her parents bedroom for a long time, the memories too painful and their lives cut too short. The worst thing was irrational worrying about her remaining family. Oriana and Oren could simply go shopping or Fergus would stay late at work and Elissa's stress level could go up through the roof, when they didn't return home when expected. Thankfully, now she thinks it was stupidity and couldn't shelter them from living their life.
Whenever she heard "Howe" name, she wanted to spit. Rendon Howe made pathetic excuses for his deed in court. For Elissa, he was a murderer, a reason everything went to shit. He will rot in prison till the end of his miserable life.
Relations with her friends didn't pass the test of time. Everyone either left for university or didn't want to deal with a grieving, angsty girl. Elissa wasn't exactly the sociable type of person, an introvert, she preferred a quiet time spent in her room, with a book, rather than going to the town with her peers. That meant that she avoided some... unpleasant parts of a teenager's life. Cigarettes, drugs, excessive drinking, it all wasn't for her. She never drank much alcohol, save for some family occasions but now she has forsaken alcohol completely.
"What do you want?" That sounded a little harsh, she thought. "Sorry. I was just thinking."
"Impossible," Fergus smirked. Elissa gave him a middle finger but she couldn't help but smile and giggle as well. That was her big bro. The biggest support she had. Despite a rather large age difference of twelve years, the bond they shared was irreplaceable.
"Jerk," she replied.
"My little sister, leaving to live on her own. I might start to suffer from empty nest syndrome," he sniffed jokingly.
"Oh, it won't be so bad. Finally you and Oriana will have some time for each other. Of course after Oren will be soundly sleeping in his bed," she teased with a smile and winked. "Thank the Maker, I'm leaving."
He laughed, "You won't react like this, when there will be a man in your life."
"Three at least, at the same time," she groaned. "Do you want to ask me something? Do it now. I want to sleep for the next 36 hours."
"We will be in Denerim in six hours."
"And?"
Knowing that there was no point in arguing further, Fergus gave up and asked, "Anyway, did Duncan contact you?"
Duncan was a military man, commander of the elite Grey Wardens unit, working for the Fereldan government. He became an acquaintance of the Couslands, shortly before Bryce and Eleanor passed. He and Bryce worked together for some time. Hearing about Elissa being admitted to university, Duncan actually offered her a place to stay in Denerim. His son, Alistair, was a student as well and he was looking for a roommate, which thankfully saved her a lot of trouble in finding her own place. Having a big-ass mabari didn't make the task easier but Duncan assured her that he won't be a trouble. Barkspawn, despite his size, behaved like a puppy. He wouldn't hurt anyone, unless to protect his mistress. To be honest, Elissa never had the opportunity to test that theory.
"Nope." She looked at her phone. "His son messaged me though." She checked it.
Alistair (9:37): Hi!
Alistair (9:37): Have I reached Elissa Cousland? I'm Alistair, I hope that Duncan passed my number to you? :)
Calling his father by his name? Strange.
"What should I reply? I hate small talk."
"You will spend some time with this guy, make some effort," Fergus replied. "Use your charm."
"Very useful, thank you."
Elissa (9:38): Yes! Is there something you want to ask me? Currently we're leaving Highever. We are yet to reach the Highever Highway.
Alistair (9:39): I hated this highway's name as a child.
Elissa giggled.
Alistair (9:39): And by 'we', you mean?
Elissa (9:39): Me and my brother. Fergus. He is helping me. Is that an issue?
Alistair (9:39): No, not at all! Good to have an extra pair of hands.
Alistair (9:40): Anyway, please let me know when you will be in Denerim. If there's anything I can do, just let me know!
Alistair (9:41): Just don't ask me to cook, please. I will burn our place to the ground.
Alistair (9:41): My cooking will kill us.
Elissa (9:41): Are you serious?
Alistair (9:42): Deadly.
Alistair (9:42): Anyway, I have just sent you an invitation on Facebook.
Alistair (9:43): Well, I hope it's you. I based it on Fergus Cousland in your Friends. Are you blonde? Like, really, really, light blonde?
Elissa (9:43): Aren't you quite the detective? Let me check.
Fergus glanced at his sister, "You realize that you are smiling? I guess that the conversation is going well."
"He seems nice," Elissa replied. "Well, this is a good sign right? Giving this judgement after... one, two, three... a couple of messages?" She quickly added.
"He better be, or he will deal with me."
"He sent me a Facebook invitation."
"Check him out. And report at once."
"Yes sir!"
Elissa has accepted Alistair's invitation and began to scroll his profile page. There wasn't any particularly interesting stuff. His profile picture was a photo of probably him, turned back to the camera, with his hoodie on his head. She could not see what he looked like and he didn't have any more pictures ready to be investigated. They didn't share any friends, personal information on his profile were mostly empty, except from the university he attended. She found Duncan's account. He did not share the 'Theirin' surname with him. That was strange. Even stranger than finding him on Facebook. Perhaps Elissa was biased, her parents always required help, while using social media. And Duncan always spoke of Alistair as he was his son. Well, you don't have to be blood-related to be a family, right? She wanted to ask Alistair about it, but didn't want to be nosy. She could live without this information. Perhaps.
Alistair, instead of sending her another SMS, started texting her on Messenger.
Alistair (9:48): Hello there. 😎
"Well?" Fergus prompted.
"Nothing particularly interesting. He doesn't have his face on profile picture. Why do you think that he doesn't share a surname with Duncan? And he also calls him by his name," Elissa asked and yawned.
"Before you will pass out again, maybe he was adopted?"
"Possible," Elissa yawned. Her eyes were getting heavier and heavier. With her still remaining consciousness, she wanted to reply to Alistair, before she would accidentally ghost him.
Elissa (9:50): Answering your earlier question, yes I'm blonde. And I'm going to sleep.
Elissa (9:50): My neck will hurt like crazy but I will die, if I don't.
Alistair (9:50): I totally understand. Moving out tends to do this. Sweet dreams! See you in Denerim.
Alistair (9:51): Or maybe you will write to me when you will wake up? I don't want to disturb the sacred act of sleeping.
Elissa (9:51): I will. 😉
Fergus smiled, when he looked at his sister and saw her being pressed to a window, with her mouth open, snoring quietly.
~~~~~
Alistair was blushing furiously after texting with Elissa. His soon-to-be roommate. Why was it suddenly so hot in his room? He needed to calm down a little bit and act cool. He didn't want to scare her off or come across as creepy. Well growing up in an orphanage run by the Chantry tends to do that. A little to none experience with women. Seeing how she responded Alistair thought he did a pretty good job.
Alistair lived on his own and following Duncan's departure from Denerim because of some top secret military business, he started to look for a roommate. Sharing the rent's cost would also come in handy also he could be a little bit more selfish when it would come to the household chores. He already let Elissa know that he sucked at cooking. He didn't write that she should be doing it outright but hoped that she would pick up this signal. Alistair obviously could do some basic things in the kitchen but some sort of elaborate dinners were out of his reach. At any rate they wouldn't starve to death. Maybe.
The flat wasn't something extraordinary but it had two bedrooms which could allow privacy. Sometimes Duncan would sleep in here rather than going to his own home. Alistair always looked forward to spend more time with his father. Adoptive one but still. He had taken pity on him and formally adopted him as his own. The chantry's orphanages outside of providing an education, allowed for their pupils to be trained as a templar, a military unit strictly tied to the Divine which allowed her to have major impact on politics across all Thedas. Alistair was quite good at training and it allowed him to develop some discipline and skills but he hated that the path of his life wasn't chosen by him. He believed in the Maker but not enough to want to devote his life in service of the Chantry. This sad state of his life continued until he met Duncan. As a military man, he oversaw the training and developed some sort of bond with Alistair. He quickly became a father figure for him, someone in whom he could confide in. Duncan managed to move heaven and earth to adopt him. Everything and everyone were against him, he was a middle-aged single man whose job didn't allow to provide stability for a child. But the day he signed the documents and took a teenage Alistair from the Chantry's grasp was the best day of his life. For both of them. Alistair would always get emotional when he thought about it.
He had some cleaning to do before Elissa would arrive. Nothing that would require some extra effort. Alistair wasn't the most strict person when cleaning was the topic but he didn't let his flat grow dirty like a typical student would do. When he wrote to her, she mentioned that they were just leaving Highever. That meant their arrival would be in around six hours, around 4 PM. A lot of time left. Usually on the weekend Alistair would go to the mall where he worked part-time as a security guard but this one was free for him. Academic year was yet to start. Alistair studied to become an engineer. As far as he knew, Elissa was going to study history. He enjoyed this topic, the Fifth Blight was his favourite time period in Ferelden's history. Partially due to the histories and legends surrounding the Hero of Ferelden and the Bastard King but this was his guilty pleasure. A little secret that he was a romantic at heart. He was twenty years old but he was never in a relationship with a woman and even was yet to experience his first kiss which was a source of shame for him. A stupid reason but still it bothered him, being a virgin at twenty. And it wasn't like he was insecure about himself, the years of training allowed him to be proud of his body and strength, he thought of himself as quite handsome. Alistair usually explained his failure of a love life that he didn't meet the right person yet. Well, everything was ahead of him.
A call forced Alistair to take a little break from tidying up. It was Duncan on the phone. Older people always tend to call rather than send messages. If Elissa was to call, he would probably start babbling and would embarrass himself.
"Hello?" Alistair picked up.
"Alistair, how are you? Have you heard from Elissa?"
"Yep! We texted a little bit. I was cleaning by the way. I don't want to make a bad first impression, no?"
"Sure you don't." Duncan made a suspicious pause. "She's pretty you know."
"Wh... what?" Alistair stuttered and blushed again. "I meant... sure! I saw her picture on Facebook." Duncan laughed through the phone. He was teasing.
"Don't worry about it. I'm sure you two would get along just fine."
"When you hear me crying through the phone, you will take your words back." Duncan sighed deeply.
"You have so little confidence. Just be yourself."
"Uhuh, if you say so."
"I said so. I know you Alistair." Emotional support from Duncan was something invaluable. It always moved Alistair when he saw his father, this big, usually stern man allowing himself to show his softer side to him. It always was that way. And he was grateful for it. But something about his tone... Duncan was definitely teasing him about Elissa, Alistair could smell that from a mile away. He didn't even meet her yet, for Maker's sake! "At any rate, I have to go. I will probably be out of range for some time but let me know how it went, okay?"
"I guess... Alright, I will. Goodbye Duncan. May the Maker watch over you."
"May the Maker watch over us all." He hung up.
"Back to cleaning, I guess..." Alistair muttered to himself.
~~~~~
17:23
Elissa and Fergus drove up to the apartment building. They were late, a traffic jam slowed them down significantly. Elissa had let Alistair know about their situation and he was very understanding. Or she hoped so.
According to Duncan the building's location was great due to the proximity of the university itself but also due to good public transport. He was right, the bus stop was right next to the building. She could take a direct bus to the Market District which served practically as a city center. A heart of Denerim in which there was an annual fair held during Satinalia, a mall in which Alistair worked and multiple work opportunities. Elissa had sent her CV to the Gnawed Noble Tavern, one of the oldest and most popular restaurants in the city. They were looking for a waitress and Elissa attempted to snatch the opportunity. She didn't want to be a parasite who would only take money from her brother, even though he would have nothing against it as he could afford it.
She already let Alistair know that they were close. He promised to help with her packages and after they parked and Elissa left the car, she spotted a guy coming to them. A tall ginger, wearing a brown hoodie and a black sweatpants. Elissa noted his smile which turned out to be contagious as she smiled at him as well. She could take a better look at him, as he came closer. Elissa never was particularly tall but he was larger than both her and Fergus. His hoodie was quite loose but she could notice his broad shoulders and chest and the muscles on his forearms were pronounced. She started to blush while checking him out, so she quickly turned her gaze on his face. He had a little bit of stubble on his chin, a goatee to be precise. His eyes were brown as well but were lighter than hers. Overall, he was quite handsome. Elissa bit the inside of her cheek to remind herself to stop gawking at him and be ready for a proper conversation.
"Hi! You must be Elissa. Let me introduce myself again, I'm Alistair." He reached out his hand to her. Elissa shook hands with him and she noticed that it was quite calloused. Not what she would expect from a twenty year old. Before she could respond, Fergus came from the car as well. "And I presume this is your brother. Sir." What manners. Elissa started to count down when Fergus would start talking that he isn't that old yet.
"Call me Fergus, if you don't mind. I hope that my little sister won't make many troubles." He winked. Elissa gasped and playfully smacked him in the shoulder.
"He hasn't met Barkspawn yet."
Fergus released the dog from his seat and he jumped out of the car in a blink of an eye. Alistair wasn't prepared for him and paid the price when Barkspawn jumped on him and tackled him to the ground. He fell with a loud thump. Barkspawn climbed on his chest and started to lick his face to which Alistair responded with giggles. Elissa could have sworn that she was a moment from a heart attack. First meeting covered in a dog's slobber. Perfect.
"Barkspawn!" she shouted at her mabari. Usually this was enough, but the dog was thrilled to meet a new friend and didn't listen. She had to come forward and take him by his collar and pull him from Alistair. He didn't resist much thankfully, as Elissa wasn't the strongest person around. Fergus stayed behind, enjoying the spectacle, chuckling into his hand. She would later bash him about it and he would tease her, she was sure of it. "Maker's breath, I'm so sorry, are you alright?" She gave him a hand to help him stand up which Alistair gladly took. He had a gloating smile plastered on his face which was covered in Barkspawn's spit. Elissa gave him a tissue.
"Thanks. I didn't expect to be kissed by a dog though. I know that I'm irresistible but I hoped it worked on women not animals," he added with a smirk.
"Don't feel special, he does that to everyone. Although you may not be wrong about the second part." She winked and Alistair chuckled again. Fergus coughed behind them.
"We have many boxes to carry here, if you didn't forget about them, Liss." First time he used her nickname since they left Highever. Next to Alistair. Interrupted the flirting. Clever.
"Don't worry about it, there is an elevator here," Alistair added.
When they finally moved every package to their flat, Fergus exchanged phone numbers with Alistair, just in case. He always was quite protective towards Elissa but Oriana and Oren waiting for him in Highever prevented him from staying any longer.
"Call me if you need anything, sister." He hugged her. "Alistair, it was good to meet you."
"Likewise."
"Just behave and don't burn this place down. Stay safe, both of you."
They were left alone for the first time. They stayed for a while in the corridor in awkward silence. Alistair scratched his chin and began to talk.
"Do you need help with unpacking? Or maybe a little tour around here?"
"I would appreciate this, yeah. Show me how you are living here first."
"Follow me." The flat had two bedrooms but only Alistair's bed was king-sized. A pity but a single bed would be enough for her. At least Barkspawn won't crawl into it during the night. She had to alert Alistair to close the doors in the night. There was a rather small kitchen and a living room with a table in front of the couch. On the shelf, a tv stood. There was a bath in the bathroom which will make bathing the dog a much easier task. Her bedroom was recently tidied up, she noticed as they moved the boxes into her room to make the corridor usable again.
"I expected more stuff. I thought that those boxes would be filled with clothes alone."
"Have you ever lived with a girl?"
"No..." he admitted quite sheepishly.
"Don't worry, I won't steal your wardrobe for myself. Don't let Barkspawn enter your room." The dog was sleeping in the living room, giving her a room to breathe. He was safe for a while from another assault. "I'm starving. Based on your messages I suppose we have to order a takeout?"
"Sorry about that but the art of cooking is out of my reach. Pasta with a tomato sauce is the peak of my skills. Provided that I won't start a fire." Elissa giggled. "I know a very good pizzeria nearby. I can order something. Do you have any preference, Elissa?"
"I'm a carnivore, a lot of meat would be welcome."
"You have a taste. It's my treat," he smiled.
Elissa smiled back at him. She had a good feeling about the future.