#laisal

I can't BELIEVE I never saw this I'm so sorry!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway I'm so glad you asked! My Surana is named Laisal and follows the canon mage origin so that's all self explanatory. But he finds it extremely hard to trust Alistair for a long time due to some really traumatic experiences he suffered in the Circle. Like, Alistair is kind and funny but honestly a lot of the Templars he's met have seemed that way as well, and maybe he didn't want to be a Templar, but he still does have the ability to stifle Laisal's magic if he wanted to and the fact that he seems to be kind and harmless (to Laisal anyway) makes the suspicion worse. They're reasonably friendly by the time Zevran joins their party but he still holds Alistair at arms' length.

This is almost the complete opposite to Zevran, whom Laisal is fully aware could kill him (and would have, without a thought) but instead pledges otherwise. The fact that Zevran doesn't pretend to be anything but what he is to Laisal, even though he's a dangerous killer, is really comforting, and he's the first friend Laisal makes that is utterly unaffiliated with mages, Templars, or the Chantry. (Sten is not, at this point, friendly with Laisal.) Laisal grows close to him very quickly because there aren't really other layers to their relationship? Nothing between them is defined by Laisal's status as a mage.

They're well on their way to a committed relationship by the time Laisal realizes he might also have feelings for Alistair. (Alistair has been pining away for Laisal the entire time but kept it to himself, especially once he and Zevran became an item.) And he just sort of ignores it for a while, because polyamory isn't really on his radar, and because he's absolutely happy with what he has with Zevran and doesn't want it to change. It doesn't really come up until Zevran mentions somewhat casually that he finds Alistair physically attractive, and then overcompensates by getting jealous of Alistair, because he doesn't want to be honest and say that he is interested in Alistair physically and romantically.

He realizes he's being stupid pretty quickly and tells Zevran the truth and then they sort of leave it for a while because he doesn't know how he wants to handle it and Zevran doesn't want to rush him. But eventually he writes Alistair a letter and just. Leaves it in his pack for him to find, hoping to avoid the awkwardness of the conversation but it doesn't work because they still have to talk about it. They do and it works out with some weirdness because navigating new relationships is always weird and meanwhile Alistair is sort of operating under the assumption that he is "sharing" with Zevran until they all find their footing.

It surprises Alistair a lot when he finds himself wanting to be with Zevran as well, instead of both of them being with Laisal individually, and he sits on that because he's been very vocal about not trusting Zevran since they first met. They don't actually have a conversation about renegotiating their relationship dynamic until after the Battle of Denerim and Alistair, at this point, is like "Well, what's the worst that can happen?"

"The worst" is that they all have to separate soon after: Laisal to Amaranthine, Alistair routing the last of the Darkspawn in Ferelden, and Zevran back to Antiva to settle his scores. But they write each other frequently and come back together whenever they can.

Slightly updated design

They are.... Running brain right now.....