AN: Hello, I decided to take a break from writing Bold in Deed. I'm at a bit of a block with what I want to do and I thought writing this would help stimulate the ol' brain, also this story has been in my head for a hot minute.

This story is AU, still set in Fereldan, but also our world. There will be new characters and also some of our dear friends from the games.

This story is set after the events of Inquisition, many years after, and is told as if Alistair was made king and married Lady Cousland in Origins.

I hope you all enjoy this.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, this story is strictly for entertainment purposes.

I am a normal girl that has lived a fairly normal life. I have a mother and a father, and while they are both a bit odd I love them dearly. Then there is Gran, my mother's mother, she is quirky and spends her time gardening and talking to her plants.

I grew up in a small southern town, I never had friends my age, my mother homeschooled me, something the people of our small community found odd. They also found mother odd for wearing long skirts and flowers in her hair year-round, I just thought she was a princess. They also liked to whisper about father and his long trips. He was a freelance writer and he would be gone weeks, sometimes months at a time on a project. Mother was always sad while he was gone, Gran always had to make her her special tea to help her sleep at night.

I remember everything about the night it happened, the night I went from a normal girl to an orphan, except the actual crash.

It had been odd when father returned home, mother had not rejoiced as she usually did. She had held me and cried as she rocked me. I was only eight at the time, so I had simply returned her hug and kissed her cheek in hopes of making her feel better.

Father with his reddish blonde hair and handsome smile knelt before me as I sat in mother's lap.

"I love you, my little dove, you know that don't you?" His English accent had always sounded so soothing to me. I smiled.

"I love you too daddy." I reached out to him, I had begun to grow taller but he still lifted me into his arms with ease.

"My little dove, my little princess." He said softly as he held me tight to his chest.

Mother sniffled, and she stood to hug us close and I was naive to their sadness, I just enjoyed the warm embrace of my mother and father.

"Let's go for ice cream." Father said suddenly and I cheered and squirmed from his arms to put my shoes on.

I woke up to the sound of beeping. My head hurt and all I could remember was the sound of metal being smashed and mother crying and saying she loved me. I touched my head where a deep slash separated my eyebrow. I winced at the pain and looked to my side to find Gran watching me.

"Gran?" I croaked.

She rushed over to hand me a glass of water and that's when I realized the beeping was coming from the monitor hooked to my body. I was in a hospital bed.

"Where are mother and father?" I asked, suddenly very afraid.

Gran's eyes grew sad and she reached for the long chain with the odd green rock at the end that she always toyed with when she was nervous. Then she told me the horrible thing that had happened. She told me of the crash, and how mother and father had… Died. I sobbed as she held me.

Just like that my innocence was taken, I would no longer be a normal girl. I would be an orphan for the rest of my life.

"You listen to me dear one, you and me, we are going to stick together okay? We are going to make it through this." She said as she stroked my hair.

I didn't believe her.

"Bretta! Come down, there is someone here to meet you!" Gran beckoned me.

I was upstairs drawing doodles at my art table. It had been nearly a month since we had scattered mother and father's ashes. The car had been set ablaze when we crashed, it was a miracle I had made it out at all.

It had been a hard month, Gran had let me mourn, but she had been talking of finding me a tutor to carry on my schooling where mother had left off.

I sighed and stood from my art table and slowly walked down the stairs. I stopped in my tracks when I met eyes with the stranger. He looked so much like father, perhaps a few years older but not much. He had the same facial shape and he smiled at me and it nearly made me want to cry at the resemblance, this stranger was not my father, however, his hair was too dark, almost black.

I swallowed thickly and walked forward to the man. He knelt before me so we were eye-to-eye. He smiled at me again and I felt my nervousness leaving.

"Hello, little Bretta, my name is Kieran."

"Kieran was a dear friend of your father's, Bretta." Gran said from her spot at the doorway.

I had never heard of this Kieran, father rarely spoke of family or friends. It was always just he, mother, and I in our little world. I tilted my head to the side slightly and looked at Kieran.

"How come father never told me about you?" I asked skeptically.

He laughed, "Oh you look so much like your mother it's eerie." He stood to his full height and I looked up at him. He had an English accent like father.

"Did you live near father in England?" I asked.

He glanced at Gran and they shared a look that I didn't quite understand. He cleared his throat before answering.

"Yes, yes we did." I nodded, satisfied with this answer.

"Kieran is going to take over your schooling from now on, Bretta. It was also your mother and father's wish for him to help in taking care of you if anything should ever happen to them. He will live here with us now." I bowed my head in sadness as Gran spoke.

I felt Kieran touch the top of my head and I looked up at him. His eyes were filled with sorrow as well and I guess him and father were very close indeed.

"Did your father by any chance ever teach you how to play Wicked Grace?" He asked me.

I grinned widely, "Yes!" I said feeling happy for the first time in too long.

I looked to Gran who was frowning, she had scolded father for teaching me the betting game. It was a game from England father had said. I remember once when I had saw two children at the doctor's office playing Go Fish I had happily asked them if they were playing Wicked Grace. Their mother looked at me in confusion and father had chuckled nervously as he ushered me away. He then told me that it was a game they only played in England.

"Just don't break open your piggy bank like last time." She relented with an eye roll.

I cheered and ran upstairs to get my cards.

AN: There's a bit of an introduction, yes I reused the name Bretta for this character as well. It's a friend of mines name and I always admired the uniqueness of it. So… Sorry.

I really hope you all like this, it's going to be weird but hopefully in a good way.