amellsinferno | In Another World | locked to apostate

"I do expect you to leave me in the water." Anders frowns at her, but before he can protest further, she's got them both tied to the rope.

Nellie looks very worried.

"Sol..."

She turns to Cullen.

"We'd better hurry up. The stubborn pair isn't going to be able to hold out much longer...And you're letting me help with the boat."

Cullen frowns. Must Solona have to be so stubborn? But what could he do at this point? He sighs and looks at Nellie with a somewhat pained expression.

"I hate the idea but yes, I might need your help here, love." He hands her the other set of oars and helps her adjust them in place. "Just follow my rhythm," he instructs her.

"Don't, Cullen. I want to help. We'll get to shore faster this way."

She nods and takes the oars, following his instructions. It's not exactly easy, but she can do it.

In the water, Anders gives Solona a look.

"You're insanely stubborn, you know that?"

Solona smiles weakly. "I'm aware of that. One of my unappealing traits, it seems." She wraps her arms around him, letting the mana flow into the water now that she had more to spare, slightly kicking her legs as they're pulled along with the boat.

Cullen still takes charge of most of the rowing. He was after all, probably the strongest of the four of them-- and he couldn't let Nellie strain herself. It was a bit of a challenge, having to carry along the extra weight but he manages, watching Nellie's back carefully, making sure that her form wouldn't hurt her too much when it was all over. They're about three fourths of the way. Cullen looks over his shoulder and sees the approaching shoreline.

"Almost there," he says.

Anders just nods, rolling his eyes. "I'd say your more appealing traits make up for it, but I'm irritated with you for staying in here."

That doesn't mean he doesn't hold her close while they're in the water.

Nellie is strugglign a bit, simply because it's a lot of weight, but she's managing. And they're close.

"You here that, you two? We're close."

"As long as you still feel something for me, whether it be negative or whatnot, it's fine," Solona giggles. "At least I know you still care." Then she hears Nellie announce that they're almost there and she beams, crooning her neck-- and there! She could see the shore quickly approaching.

"See, it wasn't that bad," she smiles. "Besides, you would've been lonely all alone."

Cullen picks up his pace. Nellie was doing a far better job than he expected.

Anders laughs, a wet sound due to the water.

"If I didn't care, I wouldn't have asked you to come with me, Sol. And oh, look, shore!"

He laughs again.

Nellie turns and smiles at Cullen.

"See? It's not so bad."

"It could have been much worse," Cullen sighs exasperatedly as he moves to step out of the boat and pull it towards shore.

Solona carefully undoes the ropes and wades her way to the shore, shivering. "F-f-finally!"

Nellie gets out of the boat, rubbing her shoulders slightly once they hit land. That was a bit tough...ah well, they made land!

She smiles and goes over to her sister and Anders, handing them their robes.

"Here, I think you're going to need these."

Anders, shivering and wet, nods gratefully at Nellie, taking his robes and putting them back on.

Solona sneezes, gratefully accepting her robes back and after making a futile attempt to dry herself off with another piece of cloth in her pack, she pulls the robes back on. Her hair's still wet though, and it was still cold. But they were across the river now. That's what mattered.

"We have to move quickly," Cullen announces, picking up the packs from inside the boat and gently passing Nellie's and Solona's to them yet throwing Anders his pack. "The faster we're out of the templars' sight, the better." He grabs a two cloaks from within his pack and tosses one to Anders. He wraps the other around Solona. Then he starts walking in the direction of the trees, taking Nellie by the hand. "Once they find out the three of you are missing, nothing will stop them.

A horrible thought crosses Nellie's mind as they start moving through the forest.

"Our phylacteries...Oh, Maker, they've still got our phylacteries...!"

This is enough to cause her to stop and just stand, a look of terror across her face.

Anders turns around to face Nellie, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Nel, don't worry. I promise, we'll all be okay. I have a friend dealing with the phylacteries."

"Are we sure we can trust your friend?" Cullen asks, squeezing Nellie's hand for comfort. He looks Anders straight in the eye. No one fucks with Cullen.

Nellie squeezes back, looking at Anders, unsure.

Anders just nods and gives her a reassuring smile.

"Promise you can trust her. Bianca's the best rogue in Denerim, if anybody can get them, she can."

"Ah, that elf girl you kept yapping on about after your last escape attempt," Solona smirks. She rubs her hands together, trying to find some way to warm herself. She would use fire, but that would alert the templars.

Cullen watches Anders' face. "Fine. But just in case, we go to Denerim after we've stabilized out here."

Oh, Nellie does remember Anders mentioning this elf girl after his last failed escape attempt. She feels a bit better now, and nods at him.

"Okay, Anders. I trust you."

Though, she does look worried anyway...it's dark, the longer they stay still, the worse their chances of getting out of here safely become.

Anders seems to realize that, motioning for them all to move and talk at once.

"Fair enough. Wouldn't mind seeing how Bianca's doing, anyway."

"I'd love to meet her actually," Solona grins, trying her best to keep up to everyone else's pace. She's a bit out of breath but she can manage. But she was still cold. She wraps her cloak tighter against her body. Being cold sucks.

Cullen nods, keeping a quick pace forcing Nellie to keep up with him. He hates to do this but he sensed the exact same thing she was. "So, where are we going now, exactly? Are we just to stay lost in this forest or do we have an actual destination?"

"Well, if we're ever in Denerim, I'll take you by the Alienage to meet her!" He grins, before frowning slightly, wrapping an arm around Solona and pulling her close. Sharing body heat works.

In regards to Cullen's question, Anders sighs.

"We can either head south to Lothering, or move up towards the coast."

Solona curls an arm around Anders' waist. He wasn't that warm-- she was slightly shivering himself but any amount of heat was good.

"I say Lothering," Solona says. "We can stock up on supplies. Get some clothes and food then make our way to the coast if needed."

Cullen nods in agreement. "We only have enough food to last us maybe five days if we ration properly. Lothering would be our best bet."

Nellie nods in agreement with her sister and Cullen.

"Lothering is closer, isn't it?"

Anders nods, holding Solona close. She was shivering...

"Lothering it is, then."

"Then let's get moving," Cullen says, speeding up his walk. "It'll take us how long till we get there, Anders?"

"Depends on how fast we move...but we should be there in a few days."

Nellie looks surprised at this.

"A few days? How far away is Lothering, exactly?"

"If we keep moving, maybe a little less than a week. Hopefully," Cullen replies with a grimace. "The soonest we can get there would be in four days... right?"

Cullen hardly traveled but from what he knew, Lothering is a really long walk from the Redcliffe area.

"Redcliffe is closer, yeah...but the problem is that that's the first place any templar is going to look. So we need to walk fast. Four days, three if we're lucky."

He gives everybody in the group a once over.

"Can we do that?"

Nellie hesitates for a second, before nodding.

Solona stares up at Anders before whispering a 'yes'. She was bloody tired but if she had to keep moving, she would.

Cullen however notices that everyone is worn out in one way or another. "Maybe we should stop for a moment." He turns to Nellie, remembering that she and Solona aren't exactly physically prepared for the walk. A good rest would serve them all well. "We're a good distance away from the Circle as it is and we don't check the forests immediately. We could set up camp first."

Anders nods. It's true, everybody does look exhausted, himself included.

"How about we get a bit deeper in and then set up camp."

He turns to Solona and leans over.

"Well? Get on."

He knows she's tired, and this is one thing he can do to help.

In Another World | locked to apostate_amell

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