WIP Week: 2, An Underrated WIP

[singedsun]

Day Two for wipweek

I don't know I would've thought of this story had I not just reread the whole thing two weeks ago when I got a new comment on it completely out of the blue. (The only comment I've ever received on it that wasn't from the person beta reading it for me.) It is on AO3, because I fully intended to finish it but through a variety of unfortunate events I never did. It's been enough years now I can appreciate it for how much I loved the way I was writing it and not feel weird about what was going on behind the scenes at the time.

This is a Dragon Age story about one of the mages (a Surana) that grew up in the tower, and specifically a story about the mage that isn't chosen to become a Warden. I really wanted to closely explore the different friendships that formed there, how each of them were strained and complicated and none of them romantic (not really). But as are many of the mage stories from the first game, it's also a lot about freedom and the many forms that it can take. Here's a short excerpt form the first chapter.

When they were eight, she and Jeanne helped each other up to the ledge just inside one of the large windows high up in the tower. They opened it, but sat just inside and watched the rain as the wind turned it sideways and drove it past the tower in thick sheets. She fell in love with the the rain then, with Jeanne's dark hand held in hers, and both of them laughing when the wind changed and drove the rain inside soaking their robes completely.

Teza found she loved nearly everything about the rain, the way it sounded against the tower’s walls, as though it might break each stone down into pieces so small there was nothing left to keep anyone within. The way the sky turned dark and grey and menacing was a reminder that there was a world somewhere beyond the tower walls where other people lived, and like her, they too could be drenched from head to toe if they stood outside too long. The rain could beat against her skin, the sensation not unlike the tingle of magic that sizzled underneath each time she readied a spell; it evened her out, trouble inside and out.

It wasn’t that they meant to make trouble, she and Jeanne, but invariably they found themselves in it: exploring parts of the tower forbidden to the children, searching the kitchen for snacks after mealtimes, in the library reading spells that were far more advanced what any pair of eight year old girls should be capable of. So yes, the rain knew her, and she it. The bright flashes of lightning through the sky were nothing different than the sparks that still came from her hands when she was too excited to remember control. And the booms of thunder were the hammer beats of her heart on the days she feared would be the day the templars took her and branded a sunburst on her forehead.

Then the rain would come again to wash away her fears. It would be quiet at first, small drops beading on tan skin when she stuck her arms out open windows. She would press her face near the glass and inhale the breeze that brought her smells from other parts of Ferelden. If she closed her eyes and remembered her lessons and the brightly colored maps tacked to the walls of First Enchanter Irving’s office, she thought she could place each scent. Rich pine from the forests sent by peoples that looked like her, but that she’d never seen and likely never would. The tang of metal and coins exchanged in cities in every direction, places full of people that were free to come and go in the sunshine as they pleased. Earth and stone from the stout dwarves near the Frostbacks. She had never seen a mountain before, but like the rain, she knew the snow too, and supposed she might like it there very much.

If you want to read the five or six chapters are are available, it's called Woven of Dust and Starlight


Something funny I'm noticing about my old works (this one is from 2012) is that I hadn't yet trained myself out of the double space after a period when typing. I fixed this one and yesterday's too before posting because now I find those large gaps so strange to look at, but back then I never thought they were weird. I'd grown up typing with that double space and it looked like it belonged. I'd have to comb through all to find out when I finally made the change but I know it couldn't have taken me too much longer.

Bonus Question: What small fandom/rarepair would you love to see/create more fanworks for?
My Dragon Age rarepair list is GIANT. It's easier to say the pairs I love from those games are all rarepairs. I didn't really write any very popular pairings. That said, the rarest among them was Aveline/Fenris from DA 2 and Teagan/Anora from DA:0.

As far as small fandoms go, well other than Dragon Age and Critical Role, all my fandoms are already pretty small. Most of them are still Yuletide compliant and will be for some time yet to come. That's just part of the scope when most of your favorite fandoms are video games. Although I think I've mentioned before that I feel like the smallest fandom I love that no one else likes as much as I do is the Dracula TV show from 2013. vamp!Lucy had so much potential, it's a shame it only got the one season.