Backscene: No One Knows the Trouble I've Known Who: Davin Athirus, Ordhan Wyland Where: The Denerim Alienage When: 22 Matrinalis, Dragon 9:27 Summary: The first day of guard duty in the Alienage isn't as uneventful as Ordhan hoped it would be. Rating: PG
Ordhan had been surprised when he learned he had been assigned Alienage duty. Even though it had been over a year since he was injured on duty, Sergeant Kylon had been reluctant to reprimand him as firmly as he did the others under his command. Perhaps it had emboldened the young guard: he had become increasingly lax in the duties assigned him, daring more defiance with each passing day. It was not a simple phase of shock. It was insubordination, and must be dealt with.
Alienage duty was a punishment for quite a few reasons. There was no lost love between the elves who lived there and the humans of Denerim, especially the humans stationed in the elves' home to keep them in line. Crime was frequent, and a station there could be dangerous. Beyond that, it was deathly boring, cramped, dirty, and smelled strange during the summer months. Like right now. Danger was no longer an excuse for Ordhan, unfortunately. Careful training had restored the use of his arm, as the healer had predicted, and the sergeant knew quite well that he had been well-trained before joining the guard.
The afternoon found Ordhan near a muddy gurgle of a stream, near some precarious-looking houses teetering over the water on stilts. His eyes kept wandering up to them at every creak of timbers or snap of a nearby twig, half-expecting it to be the herald of the lot of them crashing down on his head. The guard stood stock-still near the corner of a shack that was (sensibly) built on the ground. For one, he didn't know his way around this part of the city, yet. A few idle steps in any direction could have him lost, and wouldn't that just be icing on the cake?