Origin of the Alienage Bride

Soris couldn't help but sigh at the mention of their matches. "Heh. Wrong guy to ask about him, but you should consider yourself lucky from what I hear, Aerith. Apparently, your groom is a dream come true. My bride sounds like a dying mouse." As soon as those words left his mouth, Soris immediately felt like he set the wrong impression. From what he was told, she was an average, homely type of girl. Not quite what he wanted, but beggars couldn't be choosers. "She's not ugly, er, exactly. I-I dunno. Maybe it's...just nerves."

"Yeah, yeah. You're right. Let's go introduce you to your dreamy betrothed before you say, 'I do.'" Soris said with a weathered expression as they walked off to their matches. Off into adulthood, for better or for worse.

Along the way, Soris and Aerith were greeted with the sight of Shianni and the other bridesmaids, all donning homely yet formal dresses. Shianni grinned and waved to her cousin, eager to get the ceremony over with so the celebration can begin. The girls didn't notice that they had uninvited visitors, human nobles no less. That is until the ringleader, a dirty blonde, stubble donning middle aged man reached forth and crudely groped the chest of Nola, a black haired bridesmaid. "Ngh! L-Let go of me! Stop, please!" Nola whimpered as she barely managed to escape the man's fondling hold. A wicked grin spread across the man's face as he lowered his groping hands and spoke with a rich Ferelden accent, soured by malicious intent. "It's a party, isn't it? Grab a whore and have a good time." he said to his two cohorts with a wicked laugh. His gaze shifted to Shianni, eyeing the red haired elf like she was a piece of meat. "Savor the hunt boys. Take this little elven wench here. So young and vulnerable." Shianni's face contorted with revulsion at the perverse words this stuffed shirt shem. "Touch me and I'll gut you, you pig!" she yelled with a defiant glare. Her brother shifted with terror at her words as she didn't seem to comprehend who this was. "Please, my lord! We're celebrating weddings here!" he pleaded, hoping to settle this peacefully. Peace however was far from achievable. "Silence, worm!" *SLAP* The human backhanded Shianni's brother, drawing horrified gasps from the bridesmaids.

Soris saw Aerith clench her fist and step forward and quickly grabbed her hand. "Aerith, I know what you're thinking, but maybe we shouldn't get involved." he whispered cautiously, recognizing the man they were dealing with. He feared for his cousin's life, among other things, should this man draw his attention toward her.

Soris cringed anxiously as Aerith stormed over to the man. And his fears seemed to be coming true as the human turned to look at Aerith with....an even more disgusting look than the one he gave Shianni. He didn't seem to care about Aerith's protests as he only saw another elven wench to crudely undress with his eyes. "What's this? Another lovely one come to keep me company?" he said in a disturbingly lustful voice. His breath reeked of bad alcohol as he got uncomfortably close to Aerith, licking his lips.

Vaughan, as he was known, however looked less than amused at Aerith's defiant slap. As he recovered, he glowered furiously at the audacious elf. In his eyes, she clearly didn't know her place. "Hah! Do you have ANY idea who I am?" he asked with a chiding point of his finger. Unknown to Aerith and Soris, Shianni glared even more furiously and ran off to find something to teach their intruder a lesson. This human had the gall to intrude on what was supposed to be a day of celebration, he gropes one of the bridesmaids, he undresses her with his eyes, he backhands her brother, then he has the gall to give Aerith that same disgusting look? Soris finally noticed her and waved his hands, shaking his head. Vaughan didn't think much of it until he finally turned around curiously, just in time for him to see a furious Shianni who followed up Aerith's slap with a bottle into Vaughan's face. The impact made him let out a shocked yelp before he toppled down onto the ground, not badly injured fortunately for him.

Both his cronies dashed forward with stupefied expressions on their faces. They never anticipated the alienage elves would attack. "Are you insane!? This is Vaughan Urien, the Arl of Denerim's son!" As soon as those words left one cronies mouth, Shianni paled. Justified or not, she just hit the son of the Arl! "What!? Oh Maker." she gasped, defiance being replaced with shock. She just hit the worst possible person to hit, even if he had it coming.

Both of Vaughan's lacky's glared at Aerith furiously. "You've a lot o nerve, knife-ears." they retorted haughtily, not even hesitating to throw out the racial slur for those they saw as beneath them. As they gathered up the downed son of the Arl, they turned toward Aerith one last time and warned, "This will go badly for you." before hauling his prone body out of the alienage.

With that storm passed, everyone seemed to relax. Well, except for Shianni who rubbed her brow anxiously. She rarely ever regretted letting her hot-headed nature loose, but this...was probably one of the worst times. "Oh, I really messed up this time." she mumbled. Soris stepped forward, patting Shianni's shoulder with a reassuring smile. "It'll be alright. He won't tell anyone an elven woman took him down." he said with certainty. If he was as arrogant as he was piggish, he was clearly good at hiding his....reputation. Of course, Shianni wasn't as convinced by Soris's reassurance. "Hah...I hope so." she replied nervously. Shianni was really worried that the impulsiveness of Aerith and herself, especially herself, would cause problems later on.

Shianni nodded, appreciating their concerns as she went off to get cleaned up. Soris eagerly agreed with Aerith's sentiments and turned toward an approaching pair. One was a rather homely seeming woman, a bit on the mousy side. "Is everyone else alright?" Soris asked. "I think we're just shaken. What was that about?" the mousy woman asked, looking between Aerith, Shianni, and the direction in which the humans went off. At that point, a young elven man with short, bright blonde hair, walked up to join her. His eyes immediately went to Aerith with a look of anticipation, but a slight twinge of nervousness as well. "Looks like the Arl's son started drinking too early." Soris joked, trying to lighten the mood. "Um-*ahem* Well, let's not let this ruin the day. This is Valora, my betrothed." Soris said, gesturing to the mousy woman who briefly bowed her head in greeting to Aerith.

The young man smiled and returned her curtsy with a gentlemanly bow. He wanted to make a much better impression on his betrothed than what that piggish human gave her. "A pleasure. I am Nelaros. Soris said much of you-some of it was even positive." he said, casting a cheeky look at the younger cousin of Aerith who cringed with a nervous smile when he saw Aerith turn to him. "Hey, I just wanted to give you a sporting chance to run." he said with a nervous chuckle. One that earned him a bap on the head from Aerith.