"You can't go!" Cried the boy as the Templar he had begun to regard as 'his' made her way out of the chantry. He hooked his little hands into her sash and dug his heels in harder than a stubborn old ox in mud.

She had to pause and turned around to give him a stern look before he toppled the both of them over. Audric was trying his very best to put on an angry little face but he couldn't hide his eyes and the waver in his voice. "Y-you just can't!"

Her fellow Templars only paused briefly and even then only to give her looks that urged her to get a move on. They were ignored for the moment as she went to her knees and gently clasped Audric's little hands in her large and steel-clad fingers.

"Listen Audric. Y've got t' stay here at th' chantry where it's safe." He frowned at her with an impresive pout for such a small face, huffing a breath. "I can look after myself!"

She shook her head. "No Audric. There's gonna be a lot o' dangerous things where ah'm goin'. Apostates, Maleficarum," she leant in close as if she dare not utter the word, something that worked on children quite often, "an' abominations."

When Audric's little face went from stubborn to frightened she felt a twinge of guilt for exaggerating a teeny tiny bit. There'd be no simple Apostates.

As she looked down at him again the small Chasind boy could no longer keep a hold on his sadness and flung himself at the woman, trying to wrap his arms about her cold plate. It was like trying to hug a mountain.

Unwilling to let her little charge go she simply rocked him as he sobbed against her, small tears streaking her breastplate and falling down the sword motif it bore. After a few moments of rubbing his back and comforting him she took a deep breath and pushed away her love for him for the moment to gently pry him away.

"Now c'mon Audric. Y've got t' be a big boy now, y'hear? If y' want t' grow up an' be a Templar y' can't stop us from goin' out an' doin' our duty." Her fingers gently brushed his bronze hair from his eyes as he fought back on his sniffles, wiping his nose on the back of a sleeve.

Once he'd calmed down enough she placed her hands on his shoulders and smiled, leaning forwards to touch her forehead to his. "Someday ah'll be back an' be callin' y' Ser when y'all grown up. But until then y've got t' be a big boy an' do what th' Sisters an' Sers say, aye?"

"Aye." He murmured with a reluctant nod. "But you'll come back, right? To see me?"

Her heart fell again and she had to muster the strength to tell him. Lying to such children never ended well. "Ah can't promise ah will be Audric. They've got a lot of important things for me t' do...but ah promise that if ah can make it back, ah'll come an' see y'."

Again came the face that would break her heart and she had to get to her feet before he could see the flicker in her eyes. Fortunately though he was less opposed to the idea and decided that if she were to go without him, he'd be the one to see her off.

And so he did, holding onto her hand all the way down the path until one of the chantry priestesses started having a fit.

- - -

Sketched in ink and then coloured with my shin new tablet in openCanvas. Still getting used to it so there's not a lot I could do D: Getting the hang of not-looking-at-drawing-hand.

Audric/Pouty McTinybritches belongs to

Ceylon resides with

Dragon Age: Origins and it's concepts are the property of BioWare, who need to bring out a damn artbook already.