Before the Taint Fayola Mahariel and Elyon Andras

  "Run, Elyon! Run as far as you can go, get to the dalish, son", tears fell down the woman's cheeks as she watched her little boy run from the guards.  

  He didn't understand, he couldn't understand why the shems were hurting is family. They had killed his brother and father and his sister was taken by them, what more could they want from them. He turned around hoping to see his mother running behind him but
instead saw her lying on the ground, blood trickled from her throat, they had killed her. He was the only one left, he wanted to turn around a die with the rest of his family, but he knew they wanted him to be strong he kept running. He was somewhere in the forests surrounding the city, when he heard the loud sounds of the guards' armor. He could he his heart beating, if they caught him he would be dead or sent into slavery. 

  He felt an armored hand grab his shoulder and pull him towards the sounds of the guards; he kicked and screamed, hoping to free himself. They started beating him; he felt nothing but pain and numbness. They were laughing, did they think torturing a child was funny! He heard something hit one of the guards, the guard fell, an arrow sticking out of his back. More guards fell; arrows were lodged in their backs and heads as well. Finally the last guard fell, dead just like the others. He looked to some bushes were he heard rustling, a group of elves came out and helped him up, they were dalish. He followed them hoping he could stay with the dales, at least till he was old enough to leave.    

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  Merrill looked up from her book about the elven gods. It had been two years since she was given to the Sabrae clan, or was it three, Merrill couldn't remember. The rain had slowed to a drizzle but she was still happy to be under the dry cover of the aravel. Many of the other clan members were still working even when it had rained heavily down; her original clan had never worked so efficiently they would often stop during rain showers. "Boo!" Merrill nearly fell back, Fayola Mahariel hung on to a branch that hung just above the aravel, she laughed, let go of the branch and landed on her feet.

  "You okay, Merrill?", she helped Merrill up, "Yes I'm fine"  

  "Good. I don't want the Keeper hounding me 'cause I got our First to the Keeper injured", she stopped before continuing, "again"  

  "You aren't injuring any more Firsts are you", Fenarel had walked up to the two girls soon followed by Tamlen. Merrill had become close friends to the three. Often she found herself asking if she could go practice with them, more often did she find herself healing them. She noticed small necklaces on all three of them, Tamlen's had an acorn pendant, Fayola's had a paw print pendant, and Fenarel's had a great bear pendant; she wondered how she just noticed them. She thought about the pendant on each of the necklaces had and realized they each had a dignified significance to each elf, Tamlen was
best when it came to herbs or any plants or seeds, Fayola was best at tracking and was a skilled survivalist, and Fenarel was the best hunter of the three.  

  "Hey Merrill", Fayola and Tamlen said in unison.

  Merrill looked at their faces, "Come see", she took a couple steps closer to them, Tamlen held out a thin silvery cord and at the end of it was a pendant shaped like a star.  

  "I-I couldn't think of anything very distinctive for magic", Tamlen had often stuttered around anyone really but it had already started to disappear. "You're the best at magic of us four; well you're the only mage too but whatever"  

   Merrill was astonished they had never referred to her as part of their group. She grabbed the necklace and put it on. She held the pendant in her hand, it had a purple-blue tint to it; she could see her reflection in it. The three opened their pendants and showed her what was inside, there was a picture of the four of them. Merrill studied the picture and concluded that they were all drawn by Ashalle, she had been like Fayola's
mother for as long as Fayola could remember. Fenarel pointed at her pendant, Merrill opened it and saw the very same picture.  

  "Keeper Marethari linked them. Our friendships can't be torn by even death for as long as these pendants are in one piece"  

  They heard a crowd of dalish hunters at the edge of the camp, there was a flat-ear or city elf with them. The group rushed to see them, he was about their age. There was a scratch across his forehead, his lip was busted, he was full of bruises and blood smears, and he was limping badly.  

"What happen to him", Fenarel questioned. One of the hunters looked at him, "A group of shemlens beat him when he was trying to escape the city"  

  "Is he okay?", Fay asked, the elf coughed, "I-I f-fine" He wiped his lip, smudging the blood across his face. Fay examined his face; he would've been quite handsome if the damned shemlens hadn't jumped him, as if Fay needed more reasons to hate them.  

  The next few days the Keeper healed his wounds and Merrill would watch, Fayola had stayed outside the aravel most days. About a week later he came out with little to no wounds. His hair was trimmed and styled much differently than the day he had arrived. He wore simple dalish leather armor and carried an arrow quiver and a wooden bow. The quiver's strap had "Revas Falon" copied into it, meaning "Freedom Friend"  

  "You never told anyone your name", Fay was eager to know his name it wasn't often for a flat ear to leave the city to become dalish, "My name's Elyon Andras" "I'm Fayola Mahariel or Fay"  

  "Uh, where's your friends?", Fay gestured to a large oak tree, Fenarel was lying on a branch, Tamlen was climbing and examining the plants that grew on it, and Merrill was practicing spells.  

  The two walked over to the three young elves, "Aneth ara, so remember that flat ear who came to camp like a week ago, well his name's Elyon" Fenarel hung off the branch, now face to face with the new elf, "Aneth ara Elyon. Glad you decided to join us real elves and leave those seth'lins"  

  Elyon was confused; he wasn't used to elves speaking so much elvish, "He said hi", Fay shot a dirty look at Fenarel, he had just insulted the only elves Elyon knew.  

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2 Years Later
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  "You-You un-serannas fen len!", Fay shouted before running off into the woods. She had told Fenarel how she felt about him, she wouldn't had been so upset if he just said he didn't feel the same but instead he laughed in her face.  

  "Great idea Fenarel, crush Fay's heart!", Merrill followed Fay into the woods. Elyon almost followed but realized that he should talk to Fenarel; he didn't understand how Fenarel could just laugh at Fay like that or just completely not like her. Fay had been his heart's desire, or his vhenan'ara in elvish, for a year at least. Elyon walked
up to Fenarel and Tamlen who were still in shock by either Fay's insult or Merrill's reaction.  

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  Merrill could hear Fay crying, she walked around the tree trunk and placed a hand on it. Fay had her face buried in her knees and her hands around them.  

  "Fay? A-Are you alright", she looked up at Merrill, tears stained her cheeks, "Y-Yeah I-I'm alright. Merrill kneeled next to her friend, "Y-You saw how he reacted. I-It was like
h-he didn't even care"  

  She looked up at the sky, it was a mixture of lavender and blues, "Come on we'd better get to camp"  

  She got up and headed in the direction of camp, Merrill followed. She wondered about what Elyon was doing or Fenarel and Tamlen. They got back to camp and heard shouting from near the large oak tree, the two rushed over to see Elyon and Fenarel yelling at each other. It took a few minutes before she understood that the two boys were fighting about her.  She watched intently, they usually gave up but instead she saw Fenarel punch Elyon. Elyon's nose was now bleeding and he grabbed Fenarel's necklace, pulled it off of him and threw it on the ground with such force that the pendant shattered, the fight soon escalated and Tamlen and Merrill had left to get the Keeper or Ashalle. The two boys were punished to the aravels they had been living in for a couple of weeks.  

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9 Years Later
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"Your turn, Fay", Fenarel said. They were finally of age to get their vallaslin, Fenarel
had gone first. He had a complex design of a more common vallaslin; Fay was chosen for a simple but rare design.

  A few hours later Fay, Fenarel, Tamlen, Merrill, and Elyon all had their vallaslins. Elyon was given an exceptionally rare design, the Keeper said that it was rare for a city elf to be willing to have a vallaslin that parted the true elves from the seth'lins so they were given a special vallaslin. He was very much proud to be parted away from the city elves he was born into. Fay still couldn't believe that a group of shems would be
cruel enough to beat and nearly kill and innocent child, he had only been six when he left to become a dalish, no what was sad is that she could believe that. She looked at his pendant on the necklace he wore; it was a shield to symbolize him as a guardian or the guardian of the young elves' friendship. It was given to him a day after he shattered Fenarel's pendant. Fenarel was no longer a close friend of theirs and Merrill had slowly drifted away from Elyon and Tamlen, she was always studying or with Fay.  

  Merrill and Fay walked over to the Keeper's aravel while Tamlen and Elyon talked at the oak tree. Elyon picked a small rose, it was pinkish and had soft petals, he looked over to Fay and Merrill who got up and walked to the halla corral, out of his sight.

  "Just go talk to her Elyon, unlike Fenarel she actually has a heart", Tamlen said. Elyon nodded and headed off to the halla.  

  He walked around the nearby aravel, with the rose in his hand. He froze when he saw Merrill and Fay, they were talking in hushed tones and, before Elyon had time to let them know he was there, Fay kissed Merrill. He dropped the flower down and ran off back to the oak tree. His heart ached, he just saw the girl he loved kiss one of his best friends. He didn't understand, he thought she liked guys, what had happened in the past nine years, did Fenarel's rejection make her change her mind about guys or did she like both guys and girls? His mind was racing with thoughts, Tamlen walked back up to him, "How'd it go?"

  "Weeeeeellll", he started, "I may or may not have seen Fay and Merrill kiss" Tamlen looked confused, "Yeah, uh, I don't think she's into me.......Or any guys"

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  When Fay and Merrill parted, she saw something in the grass near the corner of the aravel. She walked over to it and picked it up; it was a pink rose, freshly picked too. She wondered if someone had come near meaning to give it to her or Merrill but saw them together. She decided to keep it, she didn't know who picked it but it was still a beautiful flower. She heard footsteps, they were heading towards the aravels. Fay stood up and started to walk towards Master Ilen's aravel but a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her away. It was Ashalle who had grabbed her but Keeper Marethari was behind her with Merrill and behind them was Tamlen who had seemingly forced Elyon to do something because the former flat was on his knees, his hands cupped, and mouthing apologies. She looked back to the two adults and saw they had a uncommon look on their faces, it was shame. When Fay looked around she realized everyone was looking at her and Merrill with a variety of unhappy looks.  

  Dread Wolf take me now, she thought when she realized that the clan had most likely found out about her and Merrill and it started with Elyon, which was probably why he was trying to apologize.  

  "Halam sahlin", Ashalle spoke as if Fay was a shemlen. Fay tried to think of an excuse, she could be very persuasive, but it was hard to think of any excuse at all, let alone one she can say aloud to her entire clan. "You shame me Ashalle. Abelas to any and all of you if some silly rumor Elyon made about me and Merrill. I mean everyone knows he's had that da crush on me, he was probably just jealous of me and Merrill's friendship. You know how I've helped her through all those little rough spots in her life since she's been a part of this clan", she spoke casually but on the inside she was terrified.

  Her short speech had convinced all but Ashalle, Marethari, Tamlen, and Elyon. The two adults knew her and Merrill best, and could tell when Fay was lying, making it impossible to fool them. Elyon had seen her and Merrill, Tamlen was just curious about the truth. Merrill and Fay were pulled to the Keeper's aravel followed by the two boys. Merrill sat quietly, it was obvious this was one of her first times in trouble so she probably didn't know what to say, but Fayola on the other hand had been sent to the Keeper's aravel to be questioned or to be punished.  

  Ashalle started going on and on about why there were so few relationships like the one between Merrill and Fay, it confused Merrill. And then the Keeper came up and ranted on all the trouble they caused in the clan. The two didn't even notice the two boys eavesdropping next to the aravel behind the group. Fay talked more than Merrill would have in a day, every time a complaint popped up about their girls' relationship she had a complaint that used more elvish than anyone thought she knew. Merrill wasn't sure who had won the lengthy argument but Ashalle and Marethari eventually gave up on talking to
them. But Fay's tone when she spoke after that was much more cheerful leading her to concluded that they had won.  The two boys walked up to the girls, "I never knew you had that in you, Fay", Tamlen spoke though if he was talkingabout her fluent elvish or her resent to stop defending her relationship was unclear.  

  "Elyon? How'd you find out?", Fay asked, he blushed remembering the past event, "He was going giv-"  

  Elyon covered Tamlen's moth with his hand, "I-I-I was going check on the halla, Maren had asked me to watch them while she went go get something from Master Ilen"  

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4 Years Later
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  A human came running, followed by two others. Tamlen trained an arrow on one. The spoke as if it was a surprise to see a dalish elf in the forest. Fay and Elyon soon came out with their arrows trained on the other two humans, "What do you think we should do with them"  

  "Kill them, we don't want them bringing a mob here", Fay still had a strong hatred for humans, "No! They probably have families", Elyon hated humans as well but could never kill one.   

  "How about we kill one as a warning", Tamlen said as a compromise, he was a voice of compromise between the two.

  They shot one human and let the others go but not before learning some information about why the humans were there.

  "Here we are", Tamlen said as he looked around an entrance to the cave the shemlens spoke of, "Now how about we go see this demon"

  The three entered the cave and fought tons of spiders and even some living corpses but the worst was in the last room. A dreaded beast, it looked like a bear but it had spots of visible flesh and bone and its teeth were jagged and uneven, it had bony spikes protruding out of its back, charged at Elyon, knocking him down and leaving some severe injuries. Fay and Tamlen were able to kill it before it killed Elyon. Fay bandaged him while Tamlen walked up to a mirror that stood in the center of the area. His curious got the best of him, when he touched it there was an explosion of light from it. Elyon and Fay jumped away but Tamlen was not quick enough. Fay woke up to see a bearded man helping her; her vision was blurry but next to her Elyon lay sprawled on the dirt, unconscious. She faded back into obliviousness.  

  She woke up in camp, Fenarel ran up to her, "You've been out for days lethallan", she looked up at him, "We haven't been friends for thirteen years, Fenarel"  

  "That doesn't mean I can't be worried about you", he retorted, "Under the circumstances of why we aren't friends I'd say yes it does"  

  "Look, Fay I want to be friends again", Fay looked at him, "No. Now where is Tamlen and Elyon?"

  Elyon came limping to the two arguing elves, "Tamlen is missing Fay. And you've been sick for days"  

  The Keeper came up to them and dismissed Fenarel, "Elyon is right. That's why we need him to help guide Merrill to the cave", Fay looked at the Keeper disappointingly, "What about me, Tamlen was my friend too! This is about me and Merrill isn't it?"  

  "No it is not about you and Merrill. You both have the corruption in your veins but it's worst and spreading quicker in you", Fay threw her arms up defensively, "I'm going and you can't stop me"  

  She walked away and Elyon followed. Fenarel came up to them, "I'm coming with you"

  "No, you aren't!", he followed as they started to walk away, "Fenarel I don't care now and I wouldn't care  if your life depended on coming with us you are not coming!"  

They walked up to Ashalle after Fenarel walked away, "So I-I hear you're going with them, to find Tamlen"  

  "Yes Ashalle I'm going", Ashalle looked at Elyon, he walked away and talked to Maren nearby, "I knew you wouldn't have listened to the Keeper's reasoning. Look Keeper Marethari wanted you to stay because it's likely that you might die soon but the human that saved you spoke of a cure. The problem is he won't tell anyone"  

  After a while she gave Fay a key that held some of her parent's possessions. Fay and Elyon went go get them and then headed to the aravel Merrill was waiting at. She stepped in front of them, "By the Creators y-you're alive. Keeper Marethari said you might not make it, emma lath"  

  Elyon had grown used to the girls speaking elvish to each other. He had even picked a couple of phrases up, though it wouldn't be of much use when he didn't have any one special to say them to. It often annoyed him but he thought it was better than them speaking in hushed tones to stay hidden from the other elves of the clan.  

  When they got to the last chamber of the cave they found Duncan, the grey warden, who wouldn't let them continue their search for Tamlen and shattered the mirror. When they got back to camp after they told the Keeper what had happened, Fay and Elyon went go wait for the Keeper and Duncan to finish talking so they could get the cure and leave with the clan.

  "He'd better hurry with talking to the keeper. I'm ready to get the cure and leave this place to the Dread Wolf", Fay never had much patience, Elyon looked behind him, the Keeper and Duncan came out of the aravel, "Look there he is, now let's go get the cure"

  The two got up and walked to the aravel. "Can we get the cure and go now?"  

  The Keeper sighed, "Da'len, I'm afraid you won't be leaving with us" Elyon backed away from Fayola, he knew she was gonna do something. "What do you mean I'm not leaving with the clan? You're abandoning me?", she stepped closer to the Keeper and Duncan, her fists by her sides.  

  "You and Elyon are going to Ostagar to become grey wardens", the Keeper's tone was no longer soft and gentle, "You can't do this! We're members of the clan, blood and soul! You can't just sell us like slaves because we're sick, Marethari!", Fay's face was red. "I swear to you I'll drag you from here to Ostagar, kicking and screaming if I have to!", Duncan interrupted. Fay grunted and kicked at the dirt, she stormed off to an aravel, she paced in front of it. Duncan and Marethari talked again, Elyon watched his friend pace angrily, at one point she stopped and punched a hole in the aravel. And he didn't doubt that it was real, she was definitely strong enough.

  He stopped watching when Merrill came up to her and they started to talk. He stepped forward towards the grey warden and keeper, "I'll do it", he said his face was emotionless, except a tear falling down his face; his voice was forceful and determined. If he could get away from the people who have caused him hurt, then maybe he could find someone new in his life.

  His plan to get away from Fay and Merrill didn't work as well as he hoped, Duncan was serious about dragging her to Ostagar, when she refused to leave, he picked her up and carried her away from the forest. Elyon thought that maybe her might not find someone new but he might manage his way in to her heart as she had.