Naming The Team
“So, I've been thinking”, Alana began, gesturing to the assembled group who sat around the low round coffee table in the Lighthouse library.
“Oh, dear”, Neve murmured under her breath, a coy half-smile creasing her eyes just enough so that you could tell she was joking.
Alana let that quip slide and carried on with determination. “We need a name, for the team. Something heroic and inspiring and stuff – make people take us seriously”.
Taash rubbed their chin thoughtfully. A second later they yelled excitedly, “I've got it! The Avengers!”
“I don't know”, Alana replied, “We're trying to stop ancient evil gods, but are we really 'avenging' anything? Not sure that's the angle”.
“Don't you want to avenge Treviso against the Antaam? And Neve, same with Minrathous and the Venatori, and…er…” Taash trailed off.
“I want to avenge my grandmother”, Lucanis mumbled from behind his fifth cup of coffee of the morning.
“See? There you go!”
“That's three of us, at most, Taash”, Alana said gently. “Anyone got any other suggestions?”
Bellara looked lost in thought, as she often did when she wasn't following a conversation and had gone on to think about something else instead. “Bel?”, Alana asked, “you with us?”
“Ooh, yes, sorry” Bellara squeaked in response. “I was just thinking...we want justice, right? For our homes, our people, the world? So how about...The Justice League?”
“Oof”, Davrin exhaled. “I literally wear a big yellow cape with my armour, and even I think that's a bit cheesy”.
“Oh, OK, nevermind” Bellara said quietly and went back to solving complex maths problems in her head, a trick she did sometimes to calm her brain.
“Got an idea there, Davrin?” Alana asked, a bit snappily. “Bel, that was a great suggestion”, they added.
“The way all this is going down, we may as well call ourselves the Suicide Squad”, he replied brusquely.
“Aaand thank you for that. Anyone else?”
“I got one, it's a bit corny though” Harding piped up. “We're trying to protect the Veil, right? Stop Solas and the gods from destroying it? So maybe we could be the Guardians of the Veil”.
“I like that, Lace”, Emmrich said, gently patting Harding's shoulder. “The Mourn Watch are so named because we stand ever vigilant to watch over our beloved dead. So too, we chosen few take up this sacred duty as Guardians of the Veil”.
“Bit wordy, ain't it, kid?” Varric spoke up for the first time, from the side of the group where he stood a little distance from the others.
“I think that's great, Harding”, Alana began, “but what if it was shorter? Kind of snappier? Like...the Veilguard.”
“The Veil Guard?” Harding repeated, her voice rising at the end as if it was a question.
“Well, not if you say it like that. One word...Veilguard!”
“I could live with that”, Davrin's low voice rumbled in agreement.
“Votes for the Veilguard?” Alana asked, raising one hand.
A unanimous group of hands raised up in assent.
“Ooh, can we get badges? Or capes? Or a secret handshake? Or, ooh I know, let's all get tattoos!” Bellara said excitedly, rushing off to her workshop, no doubt to draw up various designs.
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To fend off any confusion, Veilguard fic from here on in will feature Alana, my original Rook, because they’re more fun to write. This is a silly little scene that popped into my head this morning.
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