Somewhere in the Frostback Mountains
The drake slowly climbed the difficult trail to the cave. She had found it earlier and wished it for herself. The other drakes thought her to be foolish for wanting to live somewhere so remote and far away from them, but then they had always found her a little odd. They had no idea how true they were.
As she approached the cave, she could sense no presence inside it. It was probably too remote for any normal creature to consider for a lair. But then, she was not a normal creature. As she cautiously entered the cave, she again reached out with her senses, but again detected no one. Satisfied with her discovery, she plodded to the middle of the cave. Abruptly the drake vanished with a cloud of smoke, and a slender raven-haired woman stood in its place.
It had taken Morrigan quite some time to study the drakes long enough to mold her form to their shape, but she considered the effort well worth the time spent. No other creature in the mountains would challenge her in that form save a dragon, and she had no intention of ever giving one of them a reason to do so. Her continued examination of the cave she had discovered revealed that not only did the main chamber have a natural chimney, but that there were several side chambers that were also unoccupied. Morrigan smiled to herself. "This will make a fine location for a lair."
Some time later, she had managed to start a fire in the main chamber and placed a simple ward at the entrance to shield against the cold and the wind. The meat of a bear who had wandered too close and met her new form was roasting on the fire, as she had no desire to embrace the drake's eating habits as well as its appearance. At this time, as she often did now, Morrigan turned her senses within her to the child she was bearing. It had been several months since the Archdemon was slain at Denerim, and she could feel her daughter growing within her. Morrigan smiled to herself. She knew her child was female, having seen to that personally. She was the child of the Witch of the Wilds after all, and she also found it fitting that a child with Urthemiel's power should share her gender. She herself could sense that there was something unusual about her daughter, and she was content with that knowledge.
As Morrigan observed her daughter, her thoughts turned unbidden to the man who had sired her. She had tried again and again to prevent this from happening, but it seemed in this case her thoughts had a mind of their own. He certainly was unlike any other man she had met. All of the others had either looked down upon her or lusted for her, and both were easy to manipulate. But this man had been the only one she had gotten close to without having him profess his love for her, and the only one she had called friend. Perhaps she needn't have disappeared without a trace. Perhaps they could have worked something out. Perhaps...
Morrigan angrily shook her head to clear her mind. Such thoughts were wasteful, idle flights of fancy that could serve no purpose other than to weaken her. This is the way it had to be, just like Flemeth had always told her. "Besides," she muttered, "he's probably busy bedding that overly-preachy red-headed girl. Let them have each other. I have what I wanted-the ability to bring forth into this world a power that has not been seen in centuries."
Satisfied, she returned to her pack to continue studying her mother's grimoire. She had read a little bit at a time during her journey into the mountains, but now was her first opportunity to truly study it at length . As she reached for the book, however, she noticed something out of place: a single letter stamped with what she recalled as the seal of Redcliffe. "How could this have come into my possession?" she thought. She considered simply tossing it into the fire, but her curiosity won out and she broke the seal and began to read.
Morrigan,
I had hoped to deliver this message to you in person, but somehow I knew that you would not be there for me to do so. I wanted to thank you for what you did that night. Although I was prepared to sacrifice everything to defeat the Archdemon, including my life, I am glad that you gave me the opportunity to live on and be with Leliana. I have not told her of what we did, nor do I intend to any time soon. Perhaps later, towards the end, I will tell her everything.
Which brings me to the true reason I wrote this. There is something I want you to do. Do not worry, it does not involve breaking the agreement we made that night . I know that I will never see you or our child again, and I am at peace with that knowledge. This request is far more important. It is the last, most important, and probably also the most difficult request I have ever made, or ever will make of you.
The Archdemon is gone, but the darkspawn will return someday. By all accounts there are still two Old Gods that still remain locked beneath the earth, and one day the darkspawn will find one of them, and the Blight will begin anew. I will not be around when the next Blight comes, but I suspect that you and our child will be. I do not believe you were entirely truthful about the true nature of our child or your purpose in bearing it, but I trust you enough to believe that you would never willingly bring something evil into this world. Thus, my request is this: when the next Blight comes, I want you to send our child to fight it, just like Flemeth sent you. If the child indeed possesses the power you sought to preserve, he or she would be a powerful ally against the Archdemon, perhaps the most powerful ally of all. If the next Blight is anything like this one, the Grey Wardens will need that power on their side. I do not know what you intend to do with our child after it is born, but whatever your plans are, I want this to be part of them.
You told me that you always valued our friendship, even if you were afraid that at times you were not worthy of it. For my part, I always valued our friendship as well. I could not have accomplished what I did without you. For this, and for my life, you have my eternal gratitude. Do this one thing for me, you may forever put any doubts that you were worthy of my friendship to rest. Be safe my friend, and may our child turn out to be all that we both hope for.
The letter was unsigned, but that hardly mattered. Morrigan knew who had penned it and why it bore the seal of Redcliffe. She once again thought of tossing the letter into the fire, but instead she folded it up and tucked it away. She then turned and walked to the cave entrance. Once away from the glow of the fire, she turned her eyes to the night sky. As she gazed at the stars her thoughts once again turned to the father of her child, and this time she did not drive them away.