How To Speak Elvish: The Bard's Tale

A/N: For all those who have read my Mass Effect work, this is just another of my favourite games, with probably one of my favourite female on female romances, aka Lelianna x FemMahariel and I wanted to re write how the relationship works and look into it more, like the watches they do or the travelling between places, that kind of thing, but as usual.

WARNING female on female romance if you don't like it. I don't care, I do and so that's why I am writing this.

Disclaimer: the honour of owning this is Bioware's

"Slow down Rue!" Tamlen shouted as Rue's light footing found the spring in the grass and propelled off her right foot, it was almost like she was running in air and she loved every moment of the wind running through her hair,she loved it even more in the forest as there no humans around to stop her.

Although Rue has nothing against humans, she didn't like the fact her clan called them "Shemlens", she thought it was almost as bad as "knife ear" since it was still a degrading term to call humans but Rue had always found them fascinating but still she couldn't tell how humans told each other apart though she was getting better, since they were in Ferelden she had found they all looked slightly different, unlike the ones from Orlais, which had a heavy accent and enjoyed a rather… materialistic lifestyle, but at least the ground was supple and the air had a musky tang to it, and she loved it.

"Call yourself a rouge?" Rue tease as she swivelled in mid stride to see Tamlen concentrating hard on not falling over, surely he must be one of the slowest rouges in the whole of Thedas Rue thought. Rue rolled her eyes and let out a gleeful laugh as she ran away from Tamlen faster than before and it was at moments like these that Tamlen found his favourite things about Rue, in this case it was her laugh, it was like he had every heard before and it echoed in the tree like wind chimes and the laughter always came with her twinkling eyes, well when he see them that is, at the moment it he is too busy trying to catch up to even see a glimpse of her in the trees.

Whatever made her so fast and agile cannot be natural. Tamlen thought as he shook his head

"Aye, it seems you are!" Tamlen yells after her disappearing form,

"I am swift as the wind and agile like a hawk" Rue yelled back, copying the Keeper's dulcet tones, he laughed before thinking about her parents, and how proud they would be of her.

"Your mother would have been proud" Tamlen mutters knowing that her elven hearing would have picked that up, her footsteps have stopped.

For Rue it had been 8 years since her parents' death and not a day went by that she did not think about it. Rue's hands clenched until the veins were showing as anger coursed through her, she hadn't been strong enough to help protect them,

8 years ago, somewhere in Antiva

"Pull the string taunt now" Her mother said, as she pushed her daughter's tawny hair strands out of her face, the little girl nodded and she pulled it back, she had never been so proud. Her daughter was a rouge just like her, even with her blood laced with magic, she was pure and beautiful, thank the Gods' she had been blessed with such a fine daughter

"Now breathe and release when you are ready, remember the bow is your ally, trust in it and it will fly true" Her mother said and Rue nodded her tiny body flexing with her well trained muscles as they worked in sync to pull off an effortless bull's-eye, Her mother marvelled at the way her body relaxed before the final shot but tensed as the shot flew through the air, she was getting stronger, soon she would be able to work a short sword she reckoned. She smiled as Rue turned back to seek the approval of her mother, her eye colour glowing. And this was the only thing that betrayed the heavy leaden magic, they had a golden centre around the iris and it melded into the most vibrant green, which glowed in the dark and with certain emotions,

"Da'len, that was perfect, now go collect me the herbs and roots for dinner, they are by the lake" Rue nodded and sprinted off in the opposite direction, she shook her head and went off to find her husband, she found him setting up the needle, ready for Rue's Vallaslin, she knew this as Rue's father was once a keeper and knew the magic that supplied the blood inking.

"Hello Aneth ara" She says as she places her hand on his back as he is hunched over trying to thread the needle, he relaxes into her hand and leans back until he can see her emerald eyes, and he smiles

"Hello emma vhenan" He says

"Is it almost ready?" She asks, she still cannot believe her baby is going to be getting her markings, it feels like only two days ago she gave birth to her. Rue was growing up fast, she gave birth to her 8 years ago, he turns back away from her and back towards the alchemy set in front of him and in a flask is a thick vibrant purple liquid, which will be her ink

"Soon, I just need to enchant the ink, get her to sit in front of that sliver birch tree" She nods and turns to face the old sliver birch tree, it has been a long time since a child was inked under the protection of a sliver birch, then a small hand taps her lower back and she whirls round in surprise, she goes to grab the person but where hand has just landed the air is empty but not too far from the right is Rue smiling at her,

"I didn't even hear you Da'len, your feet are swifter than mine! You will make the Dread Wolf proud during your hunting!" She laughs and she picks up her daughter as she is still light enough to pick up and she isn't going to be very tall either

"I was as fast as possible Mamae!" Rue squealed as she was lifted up into her mother's arms

"Serannas Da'len, Did you know I think you will be ready for Da'mi" She said and when she looked down at Rue in her arms she could see the excitement glowing in her eyes

"Really Mamae?! Ma Serannas Mamae! But," Rue frowned and her eyes dimmed in thought "I thought you said I wouldn't get it until after my Vallaslin, unless…" Her eyes brightened and met mine with renewed vigour "Unless it is today! Please Mamae tell me it is today!" she squealed and began to wriggle in her mother's hold, she sighed and let her drop to the ground, and she caught herself before she even hit the ground, she smiled this child was far too smart for her own good. Just like her father really, she was bouncing with energy, but she did not answer her daughter, it was a shame she could never meet her family, they had never wanted anything to do with her after she was pregnant outside of marriage, the same went for Rue, but unlike other elven children she had allowed her to interact with other elves and humans, she was so inquisitive and curious about the world around her and why not? It was out there for her to discover.

Her Father calls over Rue and a calm aura has taken over her demeanour, she sits down and closes her eyes,

"Will it hurt?" She asks, not evening letting her voice shake, but you can see it in her hands, even though her body is relaxed

"No more than it has to Da'len" He says as places his hand over hers whilst her mother has walked over and places a kiss on her forehead

"Remember it is for the Dread Wolf and Andruil that we give you these markings" She nods gently and her mother moves away

"We shall begin the Vallasiln now" He says and he plans out the markings. Tribal like veins start above her right eyebrow and fall down her cheek down her face, passing her neck until it winds up reaching her bow-drawing fingers, leaves curling off it in entirely random, and she just sits there. But he isn't done, covered in her blood and ink he moves to her opposite shoulder and begins to form a tribal spiral that encompasses her entire shoulder and more as it travels down to her elbow, where it forms another Celtic spiral and a few off strands that finish about halfway on her forearm. Her father once more moves and lies her down and where hip bones will eventually be there are two tribal designs dancing on them, it curves around her back but they don't meet in the middle instead just below her waist line. The purple glows against her tanned skin, giving it the magical mystery it is so famous for.

Then he stops and opens his eyes

"It is over, you may rise now dorf fen may your Guardians protect you" Blood clings to both of their clothes and it takes a while but she manages to stand up, she opens her eyes and you can see a great amount of knowledge has passed in a few hours. She says nothing as she goes and washes, unlike her, her father stays and frowns in her direction, she rests a hand on his shoulder

"She does not yet understand what has just happened emma vhenan" I nods as if in deep thought before he hears a crunch of twigs from the left, he feels the deep connection of magic inside of him ignite and he feels frost appear on his fingertips, he looks to her and she nods and she draws a dagger, it was only a matter of time before they sent someone after them, an arrow goes whizzing past them and he just moves out of the way in time to see thirty shemlens storm the camp. The first one he encounters gets close enough for him to grab his chest just above the heart and he forces the crystals through it jarring it's cycle and he lets out a gurgle and falls to the ground, at close range he wasn't the most helpful and his wife was paying for that, her skill was remarkable but she couldn't take on so many with such a small dagger, after slitting another throat and cutting a hamstring they finally stopped her with a well-placed kick in the back and she fell onto her front, the men cheered and they held her down as they turned on him, he tried as hard as possible, but it wasn't enough, he managed to send out a mind blast which distracted them all for a few moments, but that was all he needed, he sent out a distress beacon to the closest clan Keeper, it drained all his magic and then a dagger got between his ribs. He fell to his knees, and dropped his head, he didn't want to see what they were about to do to his wife, even though he already knew

"Watch it Knife Ear" A man snarled and lifted up his head and forced him to watch his wife screaming out in pain as man after man took his wife and defiled her, then when the last man had re-buckled his trousers he stab her in the heart, she gasped and looked up at her husband

"Dareth shiral ma'arlath" Before her eyes rolled back and she died, he shouted out something unintelligible as tears poured down his face and his knees gave way and he felt the cold bite of a blade against his throat

"Dareth shiral dorf fen" He muttered as he felt his life throb away into the ground beneath him,

"I hope so" She said as she remembered back to that day, her pendant grew hot against her skin, she took it out and watch the sliver bark catch in the light, carved and hollowed out into a locket with a picture of a howling wolf with the moon behind it, inside of it was a token of her parents, their rings, for her they were her very being, a pale blue ring, cold to touch, but warm to wear was her father's and a green ring that glowed in the night, always a source of light in darkness, was her mother's and she never took it off, not even to shower, they meant too much.

But, would they be proud of me? She thought she was the best hunter, but she was consistently in trouble because of brawling with others or getting Merrill, Keeper Marethari First, into trouble by spending the night with her or getting her drunk on the strongest elvish ale she could find, she smirk, she loved Merrill dearly, but she was just a convent person to share a bed with, just like Tamlen really. Tamlen catches up with me and when he isn't even two steps behind Rue, she speeds off leaving Tamlen in her echoing laughter

"Such a show off" He mutters with a smirk

A/N: So guys here is the first instalment to this story, the first few chapters are going to be about Rue and the Dalish but it will follow the game plot. So please review and correct me on my Elvish if I am wrong

Dareth Shiral – Safe journey

Dorf Fen - Grey Wolf

Ma'arlath – I love you

Emma Vhenan – My heart

Da'len – Child

Mamae – Mother

Vallaslin – Blood Writing

Ma Serannas – My Thanks

Da'mi – Small blade

So please review, oh and I am going to keep on writing my Mass Effect story "The One and the Only" so don't worry! Thank you for reading!