#novhen took the reins of the narrative and said i'm not allowed to gamble his relationship with his son for likes | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bumblerhizal-art · 1 year

Note

hidden

(Set shortly after Novhen and Morrigan's post-Inquisition reunion. Possible Inquisition spoilers re: the old god baby. CW: Discussions of memory loss)

[70 One Word Prompts]

Someone was watching him. Novhen felt the eyes boring into the back of his neck plain as anything. The Vigil's gardens were small and simple. He was on their edge and, by all appearances, alone, save for his mabari resting at his feet. All that was behind him was a single waist-high hedgerow and the roofed corridor that led back into the keep's interior. Just enough shadow for someone to conceal themself.

His hand tightened around his cane, but his muscles burned too much from old wounds to let him rise from the bench.

Novhen leaned forward as best he could and pet Griffon for a chance to get a good look at the hound, but he was placid, yawning even. It was doubtful that he wouldn't have noticed an unfamiliar scent. Whoever it was couldn't have been a threat, but the unwelcome feeling wouldn't go away. If they were going to watch him, Novhen at least deserved to know who it was.

"Griff," he whispered into his ear, "do you think you could fish out whoever's spying back there?"

Griffon smushed his snout against Novhen's jaw and hopped up. He ran around the bench and over the hedges behind it. He stood tall and barked with his tail wagging vigorously.

Novhen turned in time to see a child fall backwards out of the shrubs. The child held his arms defensively in front of himself. His face was the spitting image of Morrigan's.

"Griffon, stand down," Novhen commanded.

Griffon barked affirmatively. He toddled back to Novhen’s feet and laid down to passively watch events unfold. He had done his part. Kieran lowered his arms and stared at anything but his father.

Novhen looked at him apologetically. "Hope he didn't give you too much of a fright, kid."

Kieran twiddled his fingers anxiously, "Hello, Father. I'm sorry for hiding."

Novhen's chest sank. The poor boy clearly didn't trust him. Not that he could blame him. They'd only just met. Until last month, he had been nothing but an absence for years, worse than a stranger. He had no right to expect any better.

He tried to smile, "There's no need to apologize for that. You don't have to be so formal with me either, you know. You can just call me Da."

"Right… Da," Kieran said.

A silence fell between them. Kieran looked at his feet. Novhen kicked himself. He was lucky the boy acknowledged him as family at all. He shouldn’t try to force that familiarity so soon. He would have to earn it, but this could be a perfect time to work towards that goal.

Novhen said, "Kieran, why don't you come sit with me while I wait for my strength to come back? There's still space for another."

Kieran cautiously stepped forward. As he turned the corner around the nearest gap in the hedges, he kept his eyes fixed on Griffon. Novhen followed his line of sight.

"Don't worry yourself about him," he said. "He's a smart dog. Wouldn't hurt a hair on your head."

Griffon huffed as though any other possibility would have been completely absurd.

Kieran sat down slowly. He now stared off into the distance, refusing to look either Novhen or Griffon in the eye.

Novhen leaned back. Birdsongs filled every inch of the air at this hour. The thought flitted through his head that Kieran could have snuck up on him by shapeshifting into a bird or some other innocuous animal. He was all but guaranteed to develop magic someday, and Morrigan would certainly be a willing teacher. It was only a matter of whether or not he already had. Or, Novhen mused, maybe he used more traditional means of sneaking around, like a Tabris.

The boy sat stiffly next to him.

"Something on your mind?" Novhen asked.

Kieran hesitated to answer. "I remember you with a sword. I haven't seen you with a sword here though."

"Don’t know where you would’ve gotten that image of me from. I'm not really a swordsman. I don't think I've even touched one since…"

Right. The archdemon. Of course he would remember that.

Novhen cleared his throat. "I guess that doesn't matter. I only used a sword that one time."

Kieran looked down at his hands and said quietly, "He said that you killed him, but he wasn't mad."

A pause.

"How much do you remember of that day?" Novhen asked delicately.

"Not much anymore."

"That might be for the best. I can't imagine those being pleasant memories for you to hold," he said softly, "but hey, that gives us something in common, doesn't it?"

Kieran looked at him quizzically, "What? But how would you forget? You were there."

"Ah, so I was," he answered, "but as it went, I also hit my head something awful right after and was still recovering from the last time I got knocked down that fight. I only know I'm the one who killed the archdemon because everyone else spent the next six months screaming in my ear about it nonstop."

He said, "The story I heard was much more heroic than that."

"I bet it would be. The truth makes for a lousy story, and your storyteller had dignity to protect."

"Can you tell me the truth then?" Kieran asked.

"Would if I could, kid, but like I said, I got slapped around a few too many times to remember much of anything," Novhen shrugged. "I guess if you want to know about any earlier part of that battle? Or is there any other story? I know a few good ones."

Kieran furrowed his eyebrows for several seconds before he responded, "How did you become a Grey Warden? Whenever I asked Mother, she would say she didn't know."

From the ground, Griffon raised an ear.

Novhen drummed his fingers against his cane's handle, "Yeah, I suppose I never told her much of that one. It's not my favorite to tell, but for you, I'll let it slide this once. Listen close because I can't promise you'll hear it again."

Novhen cleared his voice for the show. This would be a lot of details to smudge.

#askbox #ectoderms #ask game #novhen tabris #kieran #writing #yeah that story is not going to be the moment where novhen suddenly becomes a crusader for truth #i think i'll wait to crosspost this one to ao3 til rites of passage is ready for upload #that way i can get this as a weekly update right before that one's weeklies begin #it'll be a nice little meta level segue and lets me make a few more last minute edits #this has been in my inbox for like six months it needs pushed out #(that said i am still accepting those prompts lol)#this was originally going to have a much tenser ending but i couldn't connect the tissues so this happened instead #novhen took the reins of the narrative and said i'm not allowed to gamble his relationship with his son for likes

8 notes · View notes