(Somewhere in the Free Marches – A random tavern inn on the road to Starkhaven along the Minanter River)

Rain was falling in sheets around the tavern, forcing any and all sane travelers into it's sheltering walls and ordering all the hot cider that the small local staff could handle. At one table, near the back of the main room, sat a lone woman; her loyal mabari lying on the ground beside her feet, keeping watch of all the patrons as they began to mingle with each other. Every once in a while she would need to wave off the advances of one man or another, and when her own warnings weren't enough, his growls were. It was well after midnight before those whom she was waiting for arrived, properly drenched from the rain and tired from a weeks worth of traveling in the harsh weather. The mabari beside her got to his feet and let out a great 'woof', silencing the crowds and drawing instant attention to her.

One of the newcomers pushed back the hood of his grey cloak, revealing his close cropped black hair and shocking blue eyes. He made eye contact with the woman, gave her an imperceptible nod, then motioned for the group with him to follow as he made his way to her table. As the group sat down the noise level returned and the other patrons went back to their … "activities". The first woman raised her hand and ordered a round of cider for her companions as they new group began to remove their sodden traveling cloaks and other assorted wraps. The woman remained silent through it all, her grey eyes barely visible from beneath her drawn cowl. The first to speak was a young woman, seated next to the man who had identified the first, "And your name would be?"

The first woman smiled, waiting for the serving maid to leave before pushing her cowl back enough to reveal her face. Her eyes were a bright grey and seemed to dance with some hidden secret. Her nose was straight and the tip seemed to lift at the end, as though she had recently been pressing it against a paned window. Her lips were a deep subtle red and were parted slightly as she breathed. A few stray strands of purple brown hair were pulled forward from the depths of her cowl and fell down from her shoulder in a tight braid. There was something familiar about this woman... She was certainly Ferelden, there was no denying that, but... "My name is Felyca Theirin, but you may know me better as the Warden-Commander of Ferelden. You," she pointed to the other woman, "are the Champion of Kirkwall, Lady Hawke. Your brother has told me a lot about you."

Hawke smiled, "Please. Everyone calls me Hawke. It'd be nice to be called by my name once in a while. Rhiannon."

Felyca smiled and offered her hand to shake, "A pleasure to finally meet you, Rhiannon." Rhiannon was quick with the introductions, first with her brother Carver, then the Starkhaven prince, Sebastian Vael, a dark skinned elf with intriguing white tattoos named Fenris, and her own mabari hound, Fang. The two dogs were already acquainted with each other and were now simply lying on the floor, waiting for a spare bone or slab of meat.

The one name that caught Felyca's attention was Sebastian, and the air seemed to go out of her lungs. "Sebastian Vael... I hear you recently lost your family."

The prince set his jaw and glanced away before returning her pointed stare, "Yes? And what would you know about it?"

The corners of her mouth flicked upwards before she sighed, "You have my condolences, Prince Sebastian. Truly, you do. It's not everyday that someone issues a massacre..." she did laugh now, "Well. Not outside of Antiva, anyway." She put her hands on the table and they all caught sight of the finely tooled leather gauntlets she wore, coupled with the thick archers gloves. "I asked Warden Carver to bring you here so that I could remain anonymus within the Marches as I travel." She swallowed, as though she was fighting something. "I asked to see you specifically, Sebastian."

He gave her a soft smile and raised his eyebrows, "I'm honored, Queen Felyca. But I am only newly restored to my throne so I am curious, why would you want to see me?"

Again she swallowed, and her eyes were now glued to the table. For an instant she looked like so many other penitent faithful that he had helped in Kirkwall. Then she looked at him, straight into his soul with those eyes of hers. "I came to ask your forgiveness."

Sebastian chuckled, "And what could you possibly have done that would require my forgiveness?"

"Murder." She took a quick breath before explaining, "It's because of my weakness that Grand Cleric Elthina is dead. Because of my love of a friend that this entire madness with the Chantry and mages is happening."

Sebastian was silent for a full moment while the others watched as their friend thought through what he had been told before leaning forward on his elbows, "And how is any of that your fault, my lady?"

She chewed her lip, let another round of cider be served before answering, "When I was the Warden-Commander in Amaranthine I recruited Anders, mostly to prevent his being taken back to the Circle accused of crimes he didn't commit, and I asked Justice to fight with us – after he had been forced from the Fade by a blood mage into the decaying corpse of another Grey Warden. Then, a few weeks later, after our fight against the Mother," she raised her hand to Rhiannon who looked like she was about to... "Don't ask, you won't like the image it conjoures. Anyway, Anders and Justice came to me with a proposition. Anders was going to allow Justice to... join with him. I had the obvious misgivings, but there was nothing I could do about it. Justice was living, if you could call it that, within the decaying corpse of a former Warden, at some point he had to do something! Spirit or not, I wasn't about to let him just die, but I couldn't think of anything to do for him. I could have ordered Justice to not follow his plan, but Anders..." she smirked and shook her head ruefully, "you knew him. Telling him what he could or couldn't do was something that you simply didn't do."

Rhiannon smiled but no one caught it as Felyca continued, "It was soon after their merging that I began to see changes in Anders. He grew more sullen, broody, he even kicked at Calen once!" The great mabari at her side let out a soft growl that was quickly answered by Fang before both dogs were quiet again. "I returned to Denerim, thinking that it was perhaps only my imagination about Anders. That he was simply needing more freedom than the Keep could afford him. I had other responsibilities in Denerim, overseeing the rebuilding from the Blight and helping the people of Ferelden return to a sense of normalcy – not an easy thing to do when your own bann turned against you to fight for a traitor." she sighed heavily, rubbing her forehead as though she had a terrible headache, "Sorry, that wasn't necessary. I caught wind of the Templars planning a raid on Amaranthine. There are several free mages in the Wardens, you must understand. The Templars seemed to think that they had the free rein to return my Wardens to the Circle. I wasn't about to allow that. I got a message to Anders – he was the Templars main target – along with enough gold to get him to the Free Marches. I soon heard that Warden Stroud had been sent to clear out a nest of darkspawn in the Kirkwall area so I sent another letter warning him to be on his guard. That was the last I heard of him... until word of the destruction of the Kirkwall chantry reached us."

She blew out her breath and shook her head, "If I'd known then what I know now... If I'd known how much of a mess he would make, what would happen to Justice, I would NEVER have allowed them to become what they were. I wouldn't have let him leave Ferelden, where I could have kept an eye on him."

Sebastian set a hand on hers on the table, his voice barely above a whisper as he spoke, forcing her to lean forward to hear him more clearly, "You've done nothing wrong, my lady. You had no way of knowing what would happen. You tried your best to care for your friend, and neither Elthina or the Maker would fault you for that. Elthina's death is not on your hands."

She snorted and grabbed up her mug, "You'll forgive me if I don't believe you." she took a long swig of her cider.

Sebastian returned her smile, albeit rather sadly, "You already have been."

Before she could respond a ruckus erupted near the front of the tavern. One of the locals had made a pass at on of the barmaids and that hadn't sat well with another of the drunken men. As tables were turned over and fists began to fly, the noise level raised to a thunderous roar and no one at the table could hear themselves think. That is, until Felyca stood and tossed back her cloak, revealing a fine cut of leather armor that framed a trim figure that curved in all the right places. There was a slight swish as a deadly longbow was brought forward and an arrow nocked. She only released one, but that was all she needed. It hit its mark on the far wall, cutting through the thickest of the fighting and was still twitching as the crowd all turned to see another arrow ready to fly as she glared at the worst of the lot.

"ENOUGH." Her voice was firm and clear. Exactly what the voice of a commander should be, and it was enough to have every last one of the combatants to release their holds and sit down very slowly, their eyes glued to the very angry heavily armed woman. "Right the tables and clean this place well. Now." The people she was with looked around the tavern as tables were righted, chairs set around them. "Good. I think it's time that all of you head home. I doubt many of your wives would be happy to hear about your.. exploits this evening." Many men were nodding and all but all but their table and staff left for home while Felyca sat back down and returned to sipping her cider. Rhiannon looked at Felyca in shock.

"How did you do that!"

Felyca smirked, "I was the Warden-Commander, remember?" She finished her mug and slipped a small purse onto the table. "It sounds as though the storm has passed, so I must bid you farewell. This should be enough to cover tonights drinks and a pair of rooms."

Rhiannon lifted the purse and her eyes widened, "My lady... this is... too much! You don't have to pay for our rooms..."

Felyca raised a hand and shook her head, "Don't say a word. I asked you here, I will pay for your rooms. I need to get going though, before words spreads that I'm here."

Sebastian stood as well and bowed slightly to her, "Your Majesty, please allow us to escort you to your horse, at least." Felyca's mouth twitched in a smile and she nodded. As she stepped away from the table Sebastian offered his arm and the pair of born nobles led the way out of the tavern into the muggy summer night. Once outside Felyca tugged on Sebastian's arm to stop him and the others did as well, circling around her as she removed the glove on her right hand. "What are you..."

Felyca shushed him with a look, then knelt and placed her palm flat on the ground, whispering something that sounded remarkably like an incantation to Rhiannon. As she stood the ground seemed to shake as a great white horse with a ghostly mane and tale appeared from nowhere and came to a stop in front of Felyca. Sebastian's eyes bugged as Felyca walked towards the creature, its nostrils flaring with the exertion. "Allow me to introduce my horse, Oren." The group's jaws seemed to drop collectively – save Carver, who stepped forward to help Felyca mount the warhorse. Upon closer inspection it was obvious that the horse wore the typical trappings befitting a royal warhorse, with breastplate and leg guards along with a great skirt of chain that clinked softly when Felyca was hefted into the side saddle.

While Felyca adjusted her traveling cloak to flow more appropriately around her for shelter, Fenris suddenly spoke, "Ah, so that's why you wear the cloak." Felyca looked up from replacing her glove, her eyebrows raised, then smiled.

"Yes, Fenris. That is why."

His traveling companions remained confused until Carver clarified, "The Queen is expecting her first child."

Sebastian's eyes widened and he gave Felyca his most appealing smile, "Congratulations, Your Majesty. When might we be meeting Ferelden's heir?"

Felyca's smile faltered, "I wish I knew, Sebastian. I honestly wish I knew. This is technically my fourth pregnancy, and all those before it have ended in loss." She tightened her glove, a shadow passing before her eyes as she remembered that first. It only lasted a second, but it was long enough that Carver put his hand on Oren's flank to catch her attention. She shook her head then looked back at Rhiannon, "It is impossible for a Warden to even conceive, let alone have a healthy normal child. There was a lot of magic and prayer that went into the creation of this babe, and my hope is that the magisters of Tevinter might have the knowledge I need to preserve not only this childs well being, but also his right to Ferelden's throne."

Rhiannon stepped forward, putting a hand on Felyca's leg. "I wouldn't recommend Tevinter, Your Majesty. Blood magic may be your only recourse."

Felyca nodded, "I know, but blood magic is what I will need to free this child of the taint in my blood."

Rhiannon looked back at Fenris, who simply shrugged. Whenever Rhiannon got that look, there was nothing he could do to stop what she had in mind. As she turned back to the Queen of Ferelden, he smirked and shook his head. "My lady. If you are going to Tevinter, you are going to need an escort. Fenris and I will join you."

Felyca shook her head, "As much as you may be used to getting your way, Rhiannon. That I cannot allow. I need to travel as light and fast as possible, and in my experience, even adding one more to the group would slow us. Besides, Oren moves faster than the average horse, you wouldn't be able to keep up with us."

Fenris stepped forward, raising his hand to grab Felyca's cloak and force her to look at him, "Where in Tevinter are you planning on going?"

She shrugged, "To be honest, I haven't planned that far. I'm probably going to the Warden's Keep in Minrathous to start with, then discuss my situation with the others who live there. My hope is to be home by the birth of my son."

Sebastain chuckled, "You sound so sure that it will be a boy. How can you be that certain?"

Felyca's eyes rounded on him, the soft mirth that had been in them gone as she said in a no-nonsense tone, "Because I have seen him, held him and spoken with him." Her eyes softened and a hand fell to the soft lump that was her belly, "Besides, a mother knows these kinds of things. Or so I've been told." Her eyebrows raised and she slipped a hand into the confines of her cloak. She removed a thick package wrapped in white cloth and tied with a soft blue ribbon, "Can I ask you to do something for me?" Rhiannon nodded and Felyca handed her the package, "That needs to get to a contact of mine in Antiva. He knows where to send it from there, so don't worry about that, although I should warn you that he is rather... unique."

Rhiannon's brows knit together, "How so?"

Felyca chuckled and shook her head, "Believe me, when you meet Zevran, you'll know."

"Zevran? I think I've met someone by that name already..." Rhiannon had to think, but yes. The rather attractive elf that had asked her to eliminate some Antivan Crows.

Felyca's chuckle deepened to a laugh and she nodded, "Very well then. You will also know that you don't find him, he finds you. Just spread it around that you are making a delivery for a 'deadly sex goddess' and he'll come."

Rhiannon laughed, "A deadly sex goddess?"

Felyca shrugged, "It's what he calls a captor who happens to be female..." She nodded her head to the group, gripped Carvers hand warmly, "Warden, take Calen back to Ferelden and the palace in Denerim. King Alistair will understand. I'd best make my farewells now, my friends, if I'm to make the border by dawn. With any luck, we shall see each other again soon!" With that, she dug her heels into Oren's flank and the great horse reared back, pawing at the air before they both disappeared into the misty night, heading for the Nevarran border.

Carver clucked to Calen, who cocked his head to the side then followed as the young warden walked back into the tavern. He was about to the door when he turned back to see his sister and her friends watching where the legendary Hero of Ferelden had vanished. "Where did she get that horse?" Rhiannon asked, making Carver laugh softly. He led the group back inside and up the hall to their rooms as he explained.

"She claims that horse was a gift. Although I've never understood quite from whom." Fenris raised his eyebrows, "She didn't give a name?" Carver raised his shoulders and shook his head, "Never gave one, although she did say it was someone who had once saved her life."

Felyca was halfway to the border as the sun broke over the landscape, its rays cutting through the mist around her and setting Oren's pure white coat to a glittery shimmer. She smiled as the beast threw his head back and let out a great whiny, summoning another horse of equal – if not greater – beauty racing to his side. Her mane was black as midnight and her eyes were a mystic purple. Felyca risked a glance at the mare and smiled widely before nodding at the creature, as though the mare could read her thoughts.

Hello again, my old friend.