Chapter Text
“Stop, thief! I'll have your hands for a trophy, street rat!”
Jowan looked back at the guards chasing after him. Their faces were set in anger, and even their armor glared as the sun beat down on them. Jowan turned back to look over the edge of the building. There was nothing but ground to break his fall. He looked down at the crusty, freshly baked bread in his hand.
“All this for a loaf of bread?”
He backed up a bit and took a running leap over the edge, grappling for the rope of a clothesline. It didn’t snap like he’d been hoping, so he brought his leg up high enough to grab the dagger out of his boot, and then in one quick slice cut the rope.
He immediately started careening at full speed through the air, falling lower as the rope dropped. He braced himself for impact before he slammed into the wall of a building, clothes scattering around him and a shirt landing on his head.
“Oww.” He groaned as he hung there for a moment, then let go.
He fell through the air for a millisecond before the air was pushed out of him as he landed on the awning of a stall. It collapsed under his weight, and he ended up jolting his tail-bone on the ground as he landed.
He didn’t have time to check himself over, as he heard shouting from above.
“There he is!”
“You won't get away so easy!”
“You think that was easy?” Jowan snorted, standing and rubbing his back with a grimace.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that more guards had arrived.
“You two, over that way, and you, with me. We'll find him.”
“Uh-oh…” He muttered under his breath, edging away slowly so as not to draw attention. He saw a sheet that had fallen off the line and snatched it up, wrapping it around himself.
A few women were nearby, giggling at him. He flushed and waved self-consciously.
“Morning, ladies.”
“Getting into trouble a little early today, aren't we Jowan?“
“Trouble? No way. You're only in trouble if you get caught—”
Just then, his shoulder was grabbed and he was yanked backwards.
“I’m in trouble!”
“Gotcha!” The guard spat in his face, hands gripping tightly at the collar of his tunic. “And this time—”
“Woof!”
The guard hollered out, dropped Jowan and reached back to cover his buttocks. Jowan looked behind him to see Lily panting happily, a scrap of trousers in her mouth.
“Perfect timing, Lily!“ Jowan laughed with his hand over his mouth.
“Woof woof!”
“Come on, let's get out of here!“
What followed was a mad dash through milling people, around stalls and stacks of supplies, through alleyways and even a detour through a building, where he ended up jumping out the window and escaping through a side alley that he knew was often abandoned because of its dilapidated state.
He sat down on the muddy ground and caught his breath, before tearing the bread and handing half over to Lily, who happily finished it with two snaps of her jaws. He couldn’t blame her, he hadn’t dared let her out by herself to find herself something for fear that the guards would recognize her as his. Mabari weren’t as common as normal dog breeds and were usually only kept by royalty.
He had taken a few bites already when movement ahead caught his attention. Two children were rummaging around in the refuse, looking for scraps to eat. They were so small and sad looking that Jowan’s heart ached to see it.
Children had a lot harder of a time getting away with stealing than he did. No one cared about orphans here.
Sighing, he stood up and cautiously approached them. They watched with wide, wary eyes, the girl pulling her brother closer to her. Lily wisely stayed back so as not to frighten them.
“Here, go on - take it.” He crouched down and offered the bread.
The girl bravely reached forward and grabbed it. When Jowan didn’t try to snatch it back, the children giggled and smiled up him. He returned it and slipped away as they started in on it.
As he neared the opening leading to the streets, he heard some bystanders gossiping.
“On his way to the castle, I suppose.”
“Another suitor for the prince.”
Ah, they were talking about the Prince of Ferelden, Alistair. He’d heard about the many suitors visiting the castle, but this was his first time seeing one. He’d heard that the king was trying for men suitors now as Alistair had rejected several women already.
Jowan thought that if he were the prince, he’d have just chosen one and lived with it - it’d be worth any mismatch just for the freedom and luxury that a prince had.
Princes didn’t spend every day worrying about how they would make it to the next, if their shelter would hold up, or if the guards would find them and imprison them, or worse, execute them.
The suitor was clearly Orlesian, garbed in gaudy clothes with jewels encrusted in them that could keep a street rat in food for a long time. He had a handlebar mustache and wore a sneer that clearly showed what he thought of everyone else.
Just then, the girl came running out from behind him after the boy, who ran right in front of the suitor’s horse, making it rear back in surprise.
“Out of my way, you filthy brat!” The Orlesian prince sneered down at the boy, raising his rider’s whip to snap at him, but Jowan stepped forward and took the lash himself, feeling the stinging burn on his arm as it connected. Lily growled and stepped up beside him.
“Hey, if I were as rich as you, I could afford some manners.” Jowan snapped.
“Oh - I teach you some manners!” The Orlesian struck out with his foot, kicking Jowan into the mud.
“Woof!” Lily barked, making the horse shuffle nervously away.
The prince gave them one last sneer before trotting on.
The crowd was laughing. Jowan felt anger swell up inside him alongside the embarrassment. It didn’t happen often, but he had a hidden temper. That’s what made him brave enough to stand up and speak.
“Look at that, Lily. It's not every day you see a horse with two rear ends!"
The prince stopped and looked over his shoulder at Jowan.
“You are a worthless street rat. You were born a street rat, you'll die a street rat, and only your fleas will mourn you.”
Jowan started to rush forward, but Lily caught a hold of his shirt, making him stop to look down at her. She gave him her best puppy dog eyes and whined low in her throat. He calmed down immediately, the fight leaving him so suddenly that he felt empty.
“You’re right Lils, I just got out of trouble, I shouldn’t be throwing myself into more, right?” Jowan quirked his lips in a grimace. “I'm not worthless. And I don't have fleas.” Jowan reached down to pat the mabari on the head. “Come on, Lily. Let's go home.“
“Woof.”
By the time they made it home, it was dark out and they were both exhausted. Lily walked right over and curled up into a ball beside his bed. Jowan went over and set at the window, staring out at the stars as they twinkled like mini diamonds.
Jowan hadn’t been born a street rat. He had started out in an orphanage, abandoned there by his father. Apparently his mother had hated him even at age five and made him take him away so she didn’t have to look at him anymore.
He had left when he was eleven, because it turned out that living as a street rat was better than living in that place, packed in with the other abandoned or unparented children, and worked hard for little food. The worse thing was that the owner had only pretended to care for them.
He might die a street rat, but at least he would die free, living by his own choices and with a true friend in Lily.
And about the flea thing? He tried to keep as clean as possible, but it was hard when you lived in a decrepit building with a dog for company.
Jowan pulled back the curtain over the window to reveal the dazzling castle and allowed himself to dream.
“Someday, Lils, things are going change. We'll be rich, live in a castle, and never have any problems at all. “ Even as he spoke the words, his mind brought up several reasons why that wouldn’t work. He rolled his eyes at himself for not being able to turn off his logical side.
He pushed his hair back from his face, and leaned over to scritch Lily’s head (her tail thumped happily against the floor) before curling up on the cold stone and pulling a ragged blanket up over himself.