It had been hours since they had killed the Archdemon, thus officially ending the blight, yet there was still much to do before the two remaining Gray Wardens of Ferelden could seek their rest. While most of the darkspawn hoard had turned and fled upon the death of their leader, there had been stragglers to deal with. Once the fighting was over, there was wounded to see to and bodies to dispose of. The darkspawn corpses especially had to be burned quickly to reduce the spread of the taint. Kallian and Alistair had spent the last couple hours helping some mages collect and preserve blood from the Archdemon to be used in future joining rituals. Kallian was glad that she had thought to ask Riodan to explain what was needed to be done in detail before the final battle as there was no way they could have waited till the other Orlesian Gray Wardens arrived before dealing with the corpse. As it was, they had managed to collect enough blood to last for many centuries, greatly extending the Warden's dwindling resources. Now the Archdemon's body was in the process of being cremated, a massive roaring bonfire atop Fort Drakon. Elsewhere on the roof, tired soldiers sorted through the remaining bodies, dragging over darkspawn corpses to add to those already burning. Human corpses and those of their elven and dwarven allies where kept separate, laid out in rows to be identified and claimed by their respective commanders and dispose of properly as their various customs dictated.
Kallian rolled her shoulders and sighed, trying to release some of the tension that had settled between her shoulder blades. She was exhausted. She had been awake for what seemed like days and had fought multiple grueling battles. There were many occasions where she would have died if it hadn't been for Wynn and her remarkable healing abilities. As it was, only the most severe of her more recent wounds had been healed out right. The minor ones had simply been cleaned and bandaged, saving the magical healing to be used to save lives. This left her with an aching and stiff body, something she wasn't used to dealing with for long since Wynn had joined their group after the incident at the Circle Tower. She was also feeling acutely the need for a bath. The worse of the blood and gore that invariably covered her after a fight had been wiped away when her wounds were treated, but she was far from clean. Blood and sweat had collected in hard to reach places, causing her armor to itch uncomfortably. Alistair didn't appear to be doing much better despite the fact that his plate mail did a better job of keeping the blood and gore out. Kallian knew from experience, though, that he tended to sweat quite a bit underneath the armor and would want a bath just as much as she.
She was just finishing confirming that someone would see that the collected archdemon blood would be delivered safely to the warden compound near the place when a messenger approached her explaining that the queen wanted the wardens at the palace. Kallian fought back a surge of annoyance from the summons. She disliked being ordered around. Still it was a reasonable request and the Queen couldn't really help but take charge. Still there was hint of snippiness in her voice when she spoke to Alistair.
"Shall we go and see what her Royal Majesty wants?" she asked, motioning him to lead the way.
"Yes, it really wouldn't do to keep the Queen waiting," Alistair replied, a hint of playfulness in his voice that didn't quite reach his eyes. Neither one of them particularly liked Anora though they both agreed that she was a competent ruler. She just had a way taking over and talking down to a person that grated on their nerves quite a bit since she was usually asking for their aid when doing so. Kallian was convinced that Anora was physically incapable of saying thank you unless faced with a formal ceremony and an audience of over a dozen. She also had the tendency to treat Alistair like an idiot and Kallian like a half-civilized wild animal. But as much as they personally disliked Anora, they had supported her as Queen and now they had to work with her. And Anora, for her part, had kept her word, supporting them at the Landsmeet and since. Furthermore, in public, she was nothing but respectful in her treatment of them both. The least they could do was return the favor, when in public that was.
As they made their way through the streets of Denerim, Kallian and Alistair were greeted with scenes mirroring that atop Fort Drakon as soldiers sorted and burned corpses under the direction of their commanders. Apparently someone had decided that it was safe for the evacuated citizens to return, as there were also quite a number of unarmored people wandering around helping with the cleanup and surveying the damage. Kallian was pleased to see that someone, perhaps the same someone, had at least seen fit to warn everyone of the dangers of the taint as everywhere she looked people had covered their noses and mouths with cloth and were treating the darkspawn corpses very gingerly.
Clearing the palace grounds seemed to have been a priority as they were already empty of corpses and several servants were in the process of spreading around sand to soak up any remaining blood. When the wardens had fought their way through the area the night before, the palace had been completely evacuated, with large barricades erected to discourage the darkspawn from attempting to break in. Now it was an entirely different place. The barricades were gone and servants and guards swarmed the place. Luckily, it seemed that they were both expected and easily recognizable as they were allowed to enter the palace unmolested except to be asked to wait patiently while someone who could show them where to go was found. Unexpectedly they were not led directly to Anora. The Queen was busy at the moment and had asked that they be given some rooms and be allowed to clean up in the mean time. Kallian was too thankful at the prospect of a proper bath to be annoyed by the slight while Alistair simply seemed relived not to have to deal with the Queen's disapproving stare for a few hours more.
At first, the chamberlain had tried to give them separate rooms. Kallian had quickly put a stop to that by calmly stating that they would share when the servant tried to lead Alistair away once he had showed her to her room. Of course the servant tried to object, but she simply gave him the look. The 'don't argue with me unless you like pain' look. He crumpled. Alistair watched the proceedings with amusement as he was well familiar with the look and knew just when to step in before she actually started hurting people. He also knew that to step in too soon would likely result in her giving him the look. He didn't like being the subject of the look. It never ended well.
Kallian finally let the stammering servant go once she had arranged for a bath, food, and for their excess gear to be delivered. It looked like they were to be staying at the palace for at least a day or two and she didn't like having her 'loot' out of her sight for too long. It was a habit born of long months on the road where their survival was dependant on the trade value of items scavenged from the bodies of their fallen foes. At first Alistair had not liked the idea of 'robbing the dead.' But he came around when she pointed out that they were outlaws and asked him how else were they to get the coin for food. It was surprising how practical he could be when his stomach was involved. When they had enough coin for food, she had pointed out that they needed better equipment, and so it had continued. Eventually he had gotten use to it and no longer complained as long as she never robbed from the living unless they really, really deserved it. It actually reminded him a bit of the stories of the Black Fox, a childhood hero of his that had stolen from the rich and evil Orlesians occupying Ferelden to support the rebel army hidden in the woods. Or at least that was what he told himself when he started to feel guilty.
Once the servant had run off leaving the two of them alone, Alistair began the somewhat involved process of divesting himself of his plate mail armor while she took a closer look at their rooms. They had been given a reasonably large three room suite consisting of a bedchamber, a room for bathing, and a sitting area.
"You know," Alistair began in a conversational voice, "if we share a room, people are going to talk."
"People already talk," she replied in the same tone searching his face for signs that he was mad. She knew he wasn't ashamed of her or their relationship, but that he was shy about certain topics and was uncomfortable with the idea of other people knowing they were intimate.
"True." Alistair seemed content to drop the topic and as his face hadn't turned red she decided it was safe to assume that he wasn't too mad or embarrassed. It was likely he was just looking for reassurance that she herself didn't mind the rumors.
"Alistair, I killed an archdemon and ended the Blight. I deserve a reward, and the only thing I want is you. If some people can't deal with that, I'll just feed them to the darkspawn!"
"See, that's what I love about you," he chuckled, giving her one of those smiles that made her knees go weak, as worry melted from his face. Luckily, further sappiness was prevented as a small troop of maids arrive bringing their food and filling the large tub with hot water. They took their time bathing, washing each other's backs and enjoying the simple intimacy of bathing together. Clean and fed, it was tempting to just climb into the large bed and sleep for a week, but they still had the Queen to deal with. Their extra gear had shown up while they were bathing, left inconspicuously in the sitting room without bothering them. Several messages addressed to Kallian had also appeared. While most of them seem brief passing on of relevant information, Anora had written a rather long note using both sides of the parchment.
"Read this for me," she demanded with a grin, handing Alistair Anora's note. Unlike most elves that grew up in the Alienage, Kallian had been taught to read and write, but she had nowhere near the education that Alistair had received at the chantry. She still found reading a slow process and Anora tended to use a lot of words she was unfamiliar with. Alistair, on the other hand, could read the whole thing in just a couple of minutes and never seemed to get confused by the longer words. It was a skill Kallian was envious of, though Alistair had only gotten embarrassed and uncomfortable the one time she tried to compliment him on it. She had latter learned that most humans could read as well as he could, especially those in the upper classes. Normally she would have tried to struggle through Anora's letter on her own first and only ask for his help if she got stuck. That way she gradually improved her own abilities instead of simply relying on his. But it took longer and she was too tired to bother at the moment. Alistair, for his part, merely took the note without comment, his eyes moving back and forth rapidly as he scanned through it. Meanwhile she read through the remaining notes. Her father had come to the palace earlier looking for her. He had apparently done a good enough job of proving who he was as he was formally invited back for some party. Cerberus, her Marbari War Dog, had been taken to the palace kennels to be bathed, fed, and generally pampered and could be fetched at her leisure. The rest of the missives contained similar news; thankfully there was nothing that she had to address immediately.
"Well?" she asked when it was clear Alistair had finished Anora's note. She hadn't liked the way his mouth kept twitching into a frown as he had read certain parts.
"Anora is throwing a victory celebration this afternoon and requires our presence. I'm guessing she's afraid that we're going to embarrass her as her instructions on the matter are rather detailed."
Kallian groaned. She was in no mood for an event. She was in the mood to sleep. "Can't we celebrate after we sleep?" she asked half heartedly.
"Of course not. Everyone knows that celebrations aren't any fun unless you are already half asleep when they begin." Alistair was rewarded for his weak jest with an equally weak smile. "It actually doesn't look that bad. We just have to stand there and look pretty while she officially thanks the Gray Wardens, that's us, in the part we played in saving Fereldan from the Blight. Then we get cake."
"That will make Sten happy at least. Very well, how much time do we have?"
"Just over two candle marks I think. We're both to wear dress armor as she doubts that you have an appropriate gown. And, get this, she's decided that Cailan would have wanted 'his brother' to have his armor and would be pleased if I would wear it today." The move was an empty one. Alistair already had his half-brother's armor as they had been the ones to retrieve it from Ostagar when they return to look for some documents after the battle. Anora of course knew this since Alistair had worn the armor to the Landsmeet. Kallian did find that the Queen's request that Al istair wear the armor a bit strange since usually Anora tried to play down the connection between him and the former king, but perhaps she had assumed that Alistair would wear it no matter what and this way it became by her choice. It was probably just another petty reminder of who was Queen.
"How generous of her," Kallian sneered. "Well it's a good thing they managed to find our gear then," she muttered in a resigned voice as she moved to the two large chests that had been deposited by the door to their suite. With deft movements she drew a pair of lock picks from where she had automatically stashed them in her robe after her bath and popped open the lock on the first chest. The chests, like most of their contents, had been looted and had not come with keys. Not that she let the lack of keys inconvenience her any. She rarely bothered with them even if she had them as she was almost a quick with her picks, especially with locks like these that she knew so well.
Carefully she sorted through the items they had collected over the past year or so that she had deemed too valuable or useful to pawn outright. Each piece of Cailan's golden plate mail had been wrapped carefully in a soft cloth to prevent smudges and other mars to its polished surface. Still Alistair rechecked each piece as she handed it over. Its surface was designed to take a beating in combat without suffering permanent damage, but the shine showed dirt easily. Along with Cailan's armor, Kallian also pulled out another suit of plate, one that they had found in soldier's peak. It had belonged to Warden-Commander Sophia Dryden. She had had Wade adjust it to fit her the last time they had been in Denerim but had never actually worn it. The plate was too heavy for her to fight in effectively, but it was perfect for a ceremonial occasion like the one Anora was planning with its beautiful Gray Warden Griffin motif. Like Alistair, she carefully examined her armor for mars to its finish. It was hero time. They needed to look the part.
Once they were satisfied with the appearance of their armor and reasonably clean underclothes and been hunted down, they began to dress. Alistair, being more familiar with the workings of his armor was finished first and ended up helping Kallian with hers. Weapons, also carefully cleaned and polished, were then chosen. Alistair ended up choosing his father's sword and Cailan's shield over Duncan's sword and shield, which he more commonly carried, mostly because they 'went better' with the armor. He could be pretty vain at times. Kallian chose to carry her longsword, Starfang, and her mother's dagger. A last check in the mirror that their hair looked ok (helmets weren't usually worn at such events as they made people harder to recognize) and they were ready to head back into the fray.