"So, did you ever… leave the circle before?"

"Do you think this is the right flower?"

Their questions overlapped in the tense silence and Chantal looked up, tipping her head to side. Alistair had his hand on the back of his neck, looking down at her. The other two men were a fair distance away and, she noted with irritation, not looking for the flower like they had said they would. To be honest, both men had seemed pretty irked that she refused to head back to Ostagar until she found the flower to cure that poor dog at camp. She was pretty sure they would have tried to sling her over one of their shoulders and carry her back, except Alistair had acquiesced easily to her demand.

"Well, it's certainly yellow like he said." Alistair provided, rather unhelpfully. "I think all of these kind of look the same, to be honest. Botany was never something I picked up."

"A serious deficit in templar training." She smiled, shy and unsure of her own joke. It seemed like it was okay to joke with Alistair, almost expected.

Immediately, Alistair grinned. "You're right! We should make sure to teach botany to all Grey Warden recruits. I'll tell Duncan."

Chantal grabbed the flowers and tugged them free, roots and all. She shook the dirt from them impatiently and held them up proudly. "Success?"

"Almost as impressive as when you electrocuted that Hurlock. You're a mage of many talents." Daveth said smoothly, inserting himself next to Chantal. He was so close that Chantal could smell the sharp tang of cologne. She wrinkled her nose in distaste.

"May we return now?" Ser Jory asked wearily, directing his attention to Alistair. Alistair smiled down at her with a mock bow.

"If your botanical studies are completed…" He trailed off, teasing. Chantal stuffed the flowers into the pouch around her waist and trailed leisurely behind the other two men, Alistair at her elbow.

"No." She answered finally. Alistair looked down at her, brow furrowed, mouth opening into a comical confused circle.

"I never left the tower. Before." She added quickly, flushing nervously. "I… I don't remember what happened before. I was a little kid, and I did my lessons and we had a courtyard for exercise. But I never left. If my friend hadn't…"

She trailed off guiltily. "It was my home."

"We can go visit! Maybe do some recruiting of our own." Alistair's enthusiasm was almost endearing. "They don't really turn people into toads, right? That's a rumor."

"I don't think they'd want me back." Chantal admitted quietly. "Even to visit. I guess I'll just have to get used to living outside the tower."

She tried to force cheerfulness into her voice. And really, it was nice, wasn't it? She'd never seen trees up close before, and the ground felt different under her feet. It was a grand adventure, a chance to see the whole world outside of a book. And everything was so… very large. She hadn't realized how much space there was in the world.

She hadn't realized that she was actually very, very small.

"Well, that's easy enough." Alistair's eyes were gentle as the mabari's had been back at camp. "You've already mastered the first lesson of surviving outside the tower, after all."

"What was the first lesson?" Chantal asked curiously, clambering over a fallen log.

"Don't get killed by darkspawn." Alistair flashed her another boyish grin. "Arguably, the most important."

She couldn't help it, she laughed out loud. It bounced off the trees and startled her, bringing a hand to her own mouth. Alistair shook his head in amusement. "The second lesson should probably have something to do with ale. I'll think about it."

"Alistair, thank you." Chantal said sincerely. "You're awfully nice. For a templar."

"Failed templar." Alistair corrected. "Just remember…"

He looked down at her and she saw something dark and sad flit across his boyish face. It was easy to forget, but he couldn't be much older than she was. Children, still, really. And sorrow like that didn't belong on Alistair's boyish face. "First lesson, don't die. Most important one."

"Got it." She promised reassuringly. "Don't die. Especially by darkspawn."