Chapter 1

Bethany awoke, feeling a dizziness & grogginess that she'd never felt before. Her head throbbed relentlessly & the rest of her body ached with every simple movement. A cough forced its way out of her, causing her head to throb even worse than before. She'd never drank much alcohol in her life (maybe a glass of wine on special occasions), so she had never felt a hangover, but she imagined it felt something like this.

After Bethany tried adjusting her eyes to the light (which was like daggers poking at her brain), she looked around, half-expecting to be back in Uncle Gamlen's rat-infested home, with her mother holding a wet cloth to her head & her sister Lyanna waiting for her recovery, some witty remark in her mind. But as she took in the sights, she realized she recognized nothing in the room, & she was all alone. Not even the sounds of Gamlen's near constant complaining could be heard. Where was everyone, & how did she get here? Where was here?

Desperately trying not to vomit, she started recollecting the events before she passed out. She remembered the expedition to the Deep Roads. Lyanna wanting Bethany to come along, despite Mother's pleas. Bartrand's betrayel of not just them but his own brother for a lyrium idol. Through darkspawn, rock wraiths, & demons, they fought their way out, until Bethany collapsed.

She remembered that she had been feeling sick. At some point in their fights with the darkspawn, she was injured & contracted their plague. Anders offered to lead them to some Grey Wardens who could provide a cure for the disease by making her go through the Joining. Faced with the choice killing her sister or making her a Grey Warden, Lyanna had gone with the latter. Then, they met Stroud & some other Wardens, who rushed her back to their base of operations & quickly prepared her "cure"... a cup of darkspawn blood.

Footsteps outside her room made her jump back to the present. Looking down, she realized that she was in a nightgown instead of the clothes she had been wearing through that Maker-forsaken expedition. Who dressed her, & what had they done with her clothes? She blushed in embarassment at the idea of Stroud or some other Warden undressing her. At least they left her undergarments on... or she hoped these were her undergarments.

The door opened, revealing a dwarf in plate armor. For a moment, she thought it was Bodahn from the expedition, but then she noticed his hair was noticeabley darker, about as dark as her own hair in fact, & braided in the back. His beard was also much longer & fuller than Bodahn's, with braids at each end of his mustache. There seemed to be a tattoo covering his right eyelid and stretching above to his eyebrow in what seemed an arrow. His armor looked different from the other Wardens' armor. It had the griffon on the breastplate, but seemed to have more armor-plating. Bethany got the impression that he must be a leader in the Wardens.

"Ah, you're eyes finally open!" he exclaimed with a smile, his deep blue eyes shining. "You must be Bethany! Stroud told me a little bit about you." He stepped closer, & Bethany saw he carried what looked like a blue robe & chainmail, not her own clothing. "I've brought you a new robe & some new armor. Your old clothes were soaked in darkspawn blood & had quite a few rips. We tried mending & cleaning them, but they were beyond any hope of that working. We had to burn them." Great, first the darkspawn take away her brother Carver, then they take away any chance at a normal life, & now they destroy her clothes! Well, it seems I'll spend my life paying them back for that, she thought to herself.

Bethany attempted to sit up, but it just made her dizzier. The dwarf rushed to her side, removed his gauntlets &, after wetting a cloth, placed it on her head. "Just relax. The pain will eventually subside." He looked at her empathetically. "It'll take time, but at least you have the time to recover. My Joining took place hours before a battle. I even took a couple of arrows to my left shoulder that very night. So, in a way, I know what you're going through." He smirked, perhaps hoping it would help her feel a bit better.

Considering everything I've been through right before this, it might take more than that, she thought to herself. Although, she did appreciate the effort.

"Where am I?" she asked him, noticing how dry her mouth felt as she talked.

"You're in the Grey Warden Keep outside of Tantervale. Not the best fortress, at least by Orzammar's standards, but hopefully my stonemason can fix that. However, there are more Wardens here than I'm used to working with, so you should be safe for now."

At this distance, Bethany could see every detail on his face. Though his eyes were mostly blue, there were hints of grey in certain areas. Save a couple of scars & some wrinkles, he seemed to be fairly young. Her eyes caught a glimpse of a tattoo under his right eye in the shape of what she thought must have been a dwarven rune. She remembered Varric talking about how casteless & surface dwarves were forced to wear tattoos in Orzammar, & how the only jobs they're allowed to have were as criminals. The dwarves that she saw wearing tattoos were typically in the Carta. Had he been in the Carta as well?

She had tried asking who he was, but her throat tightened & she began coughing loudly.

"Cauthrien!"

A woman, in Grey Warden armor much like Stroud's and a greatsword on her back, appeared in the doorway. "Yes, Commander?" she asked, a strong Fereldan accent in her voice.

"This woman needs drinking water. Where are the servants?"

"I see one down the hall. I will inform her at once."

"Thanks." The commander helped her to sit up in the bed. He then grabbed her hands, & placed them on top of her head. "This'll help open your air passages, or so an old friend of mine claims. Come to think of it, though, she did have a tendency to try & make me look ridiculous."

Just then, an elven woman came into the room, hurrying but careful not to spill the water she was holding. The dwarf smiled at her. "I'll take that from you. Your name is Kallian, correct?"

The elf seemed pleasantly surprised at that. She started blushing a little, & looked down out of embarassment. "Y-yes, Commander."

"Thank you, Kallian." The dwarf tipped the cup to gently pour the water into Bethany's mouth. Feeling the water roll down her parched throat was a great relief, and she took the cup from him to take heavier gulps. "Careful you don't drown yourself in that cup!" the dwarf warned with a chuckle, "although, you would make an awfully fun drinking companion." He turned to Kallian. "If you don't mind, & you have no other duty to attend to, I'd like you to attend to Bethany, and make sure she stays hydrated."

"But of course, serah! Anything for you!" Her face immediately flushed, and she averted her gaze. "I-I mean, I'll do m-my best."

The commander smirked at her, then turned back to Bethany. "Rest easy, new recruit." He then left the room, the woman named Cauthrien and another dwarf following him.

Kallian was still blushing a little when she attended to Bethany. "You're very lucky! He had just arrived when the Wardens rushed you in for your Joining. He's more handsome than the stories describe him."

Stories? Some were probably Varric's, she thought to herself. "You seem to have a bit of a crush on him," Bethany said, weakly smiling to the elf.

Kallian looked at Bethany, embarassed. "Was I that obvious?"

Bethany nodded. "It was cute watching you talk to him," she teased the elf.

"Well, why wouldn't I be interested in him? You do realize who he is, right?"

She shook her head. "I never got to ask."

Kallian eyes got wide in surprise. Then, a bit amused, she said, "That's Faren Brosca! The Warden-Commander & Hero of Fereldan!"

Bethany practically spilled what was left of her water over her sheets. Of course I'd meet a living legend & be in nothing but a nightgown!