#jowan is the best body pillow

[massgrav]

Body pillows are good stress relievers

[mementotori]

Path of the Grey: Chapter 10

So a little break in all the nonsense here’s my babies being shitty

@mad-mod, @ineffablewitch

I cannot even imagine where I would be today were it not for that handful of friends who have given me a heart full of joy. Let's face it, friends make life a lot more fun.

-Charles R. Swindoll

9:28 Dragon

"Does this mole look like Andraste to you?"

Nani looked back at Eshne, who was lying across the silky blue sheets of Nani's bed. Eshne looked up from her book and cocked her head to the side, looking at Nani's mostly naked body. They had been doing their monthly body checks, sometimes for the fun of it, and sometimes for medical purposes.

"Which one?" Eshne asked, suddenly becoming interested with the many freckles that were littered across her breasts.

Nani raised her brow, "Which Andraste?"

"No, which mole." Eshne corrected her.

"I have more?"

"On your back, yes. Ask Niall. Though he probably doesn't pay much attention when he's hitting it from behind." Eshne started cackling.

Nani picked up a book from her dresser and threw it at Eshne. When it collided with her chest it just made Eshne laugh more.

"You're one to talk." Nani then laughed, turning back around to face her mirror.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Eshne asked.

"You think I don't see the way you look at your Templar. It's not right." Nani said.

"Did you not take the last name of a Templar?"

"He raised me, it's different. And you took the name too..."

"Listen, they're both daddies in different situations-"

Nani screamed, "Eshne Sylvia Surana!"

"Hey! Only Wynne and Redd can use my middle name." Eshne said pointedly.

"You want to tell dad what you said?" Nani asked.

Eshne sat up and pointed her bony white finger at her sister, "Don't you dare Na'Nalia."

Nani wiggled her brows.

"You're topless." Eshne pointed out.

"So are you." Nani stepped toward the entry that let out of her private mage quarters.

"N-Don't-Nan-" Eshne furrowed her brow, "Nani-I'm-I'm serious."

"Bye."

Nani bolted from her room, leaving behind whatever cloth she had been using to cover herself. She was now only running in her dyed underwear and her brightly colored tall socks.. Eshne shot up from the bed and ran after Nani, similarly clothed.

"Eshne, don't run too hard you'll end up wheezing!" Nani called behind her.

"Worth...it!" Eshne answered, she shot a quick freezing spell at the ground just before Nani took another step.

Nani's socks caught the slippery ice, and she sped forth. Eshne hadn't been paying attention to how much of the floor she iced, and began slipping as well. She ended up next to Nani, grabbing onto her sister while they slid uncontrollably. Both of them laughed and screamed at the same time.

They passed Greagoir, who was giving a tour to a few new initiates. Once he saw the two mages slide by, he put a hand to his head and sighed. He looked behind him, where Redd was already wide eyed, trying to avoid Greagoir's glare.

Nani and Eshne ended up in the Mage's quarter library. Coming to a halt when the lowered step into the library sent them flying into the air. They landed atop a wool rug, right in front of a group of younger mages.

Eshne's eyes fluttered open and she saw Wynne's scowl. She was ushering the children away, her eyes burning into Eshne as she did so.

"Hello, beautiful." Eshne said.

Nani sat up and looked at Eshne.

"Let's do that again."

"I think not."

Both of them looked at the doorway and saw Redd, his face the color of a cherry tomato. His nostrils flared, and his armor clanked as he stomped towards his adopted daughters.

"I don't even know where to begin with you two." He said through his teeth.

"How about 'Are you okay?'" Nani suggested.

Redd glared at her, Wynne was seething as she came up next to Redd.

"You should be ashamed." She started, "Can't you girls act your age for once?" She then threw up your hands, "Prancing around, NAKED, in front of the whole tower! Are you trying to kill yourselves."

"Well there was less fire this time." Eshne said, "That's an improvement."

Nani nodded in agreement.

"Maker, keep me." Wynne walked away, shooing away any mages who were staring for too long.

"Na'Nalia Surana," Redd said, "You are a full mage now. You should know better than to do this kind of thing."

"What if I say I was teaching dear Eshne about the physics of weight and velocity?"

"Oh Maker…" Redd sighed.

There was a clamor of armor that came from behind Redd. Cullen was already red faced when he walked in, no doubt the victim of Greagoir's screaming for not being with his charge. When he saw Eshne he felt weak, mostly because now Eshne was standing proudly topless next to an equally bare chested Nani.

"Andraste, preserve me." He choked.

"Get ahold of yourself, lad." Redd said gruffly, "If I don't like the look you give my girls I'll snap your neck." Then he added, "Now take Miss Surana back to her quarters with the rest of the apprentices." He clapped Cullen a little too hard on the back.

"Yes, ser." Cullen couldn't stop himself from blushing, looking away from Eshne when he handed her a nearby blanket to cover herself.

"This isn't over, young woman." Redd said as Eshne passed him.

"Really? Because I'm walking away…" Eshne said, then whispered as Cullen quickly escorted her from Redd's wrath, "Walking. Waaallking. Away."

"Maker I wish I could do more than ground her." Redd muttered to himself. Then he looked at Nani, "To your quarters now."

"But-"

"Now." Redd gritted his teeth, glaring as Nani groaned and walked out of the library in a huff.

Wynne walked over to Redd, she crossed her arms.

"Don't-"

"You know you let them get away with too much." Wynne interrupted him, "One of these days Greagoir will finally-"

"No he won't, I won't let him." Redd said. He looked down at Wynne, his eyes softening a little, "Is class over?"

"Now it is, no thanks to those girls you call daughters…"

"Just me?" Redd raised his brow.

Wynne did a double take, "Excuse me, Redding Surana."

Redd looked around, seeing no one he whispered, "C'mon Wynnie. Let me walk you back to your chambers..."

"Don't try to get cute with me, Ser." Wynne scoffed.

Redd smirked, "You still think I'm cute?"

"And you wonder why Eshne is so infatuated with that boy." Wynne shook her head, "It's unhealthy."

"I thought she took example from you?"

Wynne gave a slight smile, "Be quiet, you beastly man."

"What happened to you?" Jowan asked, looking at Eshne as Cullen walked her into the apprentice quarters.

"Be quiet, Jowan, I am deep in thought and I mustn't be disturbed at this delicate time." She handed Cullen the blanket that was covering herself.

"Oh, Maker." Jowan and Cullen both said, looking away as Eshne went over to her drawer to get out her blue robes.

"I should go." Cullen said quickly, "Yes…"

"Bye, Ser Cullen." Eshne called, watching the Templar race away.

"Why do you have to do that?" Jowan asked, sitting on Eshne's bed.

"Do what?" Eshne asked, pulling the belt around her robes taught.

"Anything remotely Eshne-like."

"Dear sweet Jowan," Eshne started, "I have to be myself." She sat next to Jowan, "It's so boring here."

"We make the best of what we have."

"Oh! Jowan! The philosopher!" Eshne said, laying down with her head on the pillow.

"What's wrong with you? You've been so grumpy lately." Jowan pointed out, laying next to Eshne.

Eshne sighed, "Ever since Nani had her Harrowing I've been waiting for mine. I'm old enough. It sucks having her on a different floor. She has her own room, Jowan."

"I know. I've been thinking the same thing." Jowan said.

Eshne shrugged, "Maybe it'll come sooner than we think. If we don't always have it on our minds it should come! That's the way the world works sometimes. Like when you're trying to find your sweet apple tarts and then you search and you search...and as soon as you don't think about it you find them under the pillow all along."

"That's where my sweets went?" Jowan asked.

"I admit nothing."

Jowan was quiet for a long time, they both listened to the rest of the mages come in from their classes, finally dying down when some went off to quietly read or work on their experiments. Jowan looked down at Eshne.

"Hey," He started, "Do you really think we'll both go through our Harrowing?"

"Of course!" Eshne said, "We're the smartest ones out of this sorry lot. You and me." She held up her pinky.

Jowan curled his pinky finger with hers.

"You and me." He repeated.

Eshne sighed, "Now, let's go sneak into the kitchens. I need more apple seeds for my pots."

"The others ones didn't make it?" Jowan asked.

Eshne pulled out a small box of lined pots filled with soil, a few withering sprouts came from them, nothing more.

"They need more sunlight," She said, "It's hard enough during the summer months, but now that it's getting colder they're not gonna make it," She frowned, "Maybe I'm no longer as Dalish as I'd like to be…"

"Esh…"

"I'm serious," Eshne said, "Jowan, I can barely recall what my life was like before I came here." She stared at her plants and sighed.

"Well…" Jowan thought for a moment, "What do you remember from them?" He asked thoughtfully.

Eshne looked up at him and raised her brow, "Why?"

Jowan patted the bed. Eshne put her plants back and laid back down next to her friend.

"I'm trying to be nice," Jowan said, "C'mon, Esh."

"Alright…" Eshne thought for a moment, "I remember trying to get my friends to steal our own aravel so we could be land pirates."

Jowan started laughing, "I guess you were always just this commandeering."

"Be quiet, Jowan, I'm reliving my glory days." Eshne said dramatically.

"Forgive me." Jowan rolled his eyes, "Who dared be friends with the great Eshne Surana at such an important time?"

"A lot of kids." Eshne answered, "There was Melia. She always seemed to have my back when the boys wanted to be mean. Her and Tamlen were always at each other's throats. Then of course sweet Merrill. I felt bad, she was so quiet. But my best friend at the time was Thackery. We were exactly alike."

"That's too much chaos in this world." Jowan commented.

"It was always fun getting into trouble with him…" Eshne said, "I wonder what he's like now."

"Do I make a good substitute?" Jowan asked.

"Of course. You have nothing to fear." Eshne smiled at him, she laid her head on Jowan's chest, "Besides. It's not like I'll ever see them again."