Author's Note: I'm just about Dragon Age, it seems. I must apologize to the readers of my other works that...haven't been updated in...two years... -cough-

I haven't really had the urge to write anything in the last 4, to be honest. But somehow, I suddenly feel like writing about everything. Especially Dragon Age.

Funny story, I had actually written the first part of this chapter months ago, and I finished it earlier this evening...I'm still caught up in my excitement over Inquisition. Hehe.

Also-this story is on Archive of Our Own. Like my Cullen story. -cough-

But~! I'm really excited for this retelling of the Origins story, because with Inquisition came a bucket load of lore and detail that for the most part, we've all had to imagine. Exciting. -rubs hands together while cackling-

So please enjoy. I don't own Bioware. Or Dragon Age. Sadly. ;-;

I walked in silence behind Duncan. I was tired. Unbelievably tired. I could only focus on following him, putting one foot in front of the other, and I was barely listening to him as he talked about Ostagar. My mabari hound, Saban, trotted at my side, staying close to me, his ears up and alert for any sign of danger. My swords felt heavy on my back, the Cousland shield resting on my back as well. My hand reached up to my hair, finding the choppy, short length unnerving still. I exhaled slowly, feeling my breath rattle my chest as I looked up just in time for Duncan to stop, greeting a golden haired man in heavy gold plated chainmail. I thought he looked familiar, but I couldn't focus. I was exhausted.

"And this is the newest Grey Warden recruit!" the kind voice of the king broke through my mental tiredness, and I stood straight up out of habit and smiled, meeting his blue eyed gaze. He looked so excited to about to ride into battle later that night.

"King Cailan, I don't think we've actually met-"

"Ah, you're Teryn Cousland's youngest! Elissa." I nodded vaguely. "And how are your father and mother?"

They're dead." I said, my voice hollow, my gaze drifting to remember the bloody scene in the larder before Duncan bodily removed me from it. "Arl Howe…he betrayed us…"

"I'm afraid it's true, your majesty…" Duncan's gaze was on me, his eyes full of concern. "The arl betrayed them during the night and slaughtered everyone in the castle. I only just saved Elissa from the same fate as her parents." Cailan looked outraged, almost to the point where he could barely speak.

"Wh…what?!" his voice was low, shaking his head in disbelief as he turned, looking off to some unknown horizon. "What would the arl think he would have to gain by doing this?!"

"Where's Fergus?" Suddenly I was awake. "I need to find him, tell him-"

"I sent him and several of his men as scouts into the Wilds." Cailan turned to look at me, his face like stone but his voice betraying his feelings. "I don't know when they'll be back, but probably not before the battle." I let my gaze fall, my stomach plummeting with it. I looked back up, however, when I felt a heavy, gauntleted hand rest on my shoulder. I was surprised to be face to face with Cailan, and despite everything I felt my face get hot.

"I promise you, I swear to you, that Arl Howe will pay for what he's done." His voice was low, but his gaze was steady. "Stay strong, Elissa. Fight for them as a Grey Warden." And with that, he backed away, looking at Duncan with a smile. "Now I must be off before Loghain sends out a search party for me."

"So be it, your majesty." And Duncan bowed as Cailan turned and walked off, followed by his escort. I managed an awkward bow before he left, and Duncan and I continued walking. "I'm afraid I will have to leave you, as well. In the camp you will find another Warden, Alistair. Find him, and he will help you and the other two recruits get prepared for the Joining."

"The Joining, sir?" we walked across the biggest stone bridge I had ever seen, the mountains rising up on either side of the pass, as war machines were being tended to in the valley below.

"The rite of passage to become a Grey Warden." Duncan said, waving his hand.

"Where are all the soldiers? There's supposed to be a battle here tonight…" I wondered aloud, and Duncan smiled underneath his beard.

"They're down below, in the valley. Everyone is nervous, although no one will admit it." Duncan continued to talk about the functions of the camp, where things were, who was there, but I wasn't really listening. Cailan's words to me about fighting for my family as a Grey Warden had locked in my head, and suddenly my exhaustion turned to a surprising mix of rage and energy. "You should go find Alistair, as our newest Grey Warden he will be taking you and the other recruits on your excursion into the Wilds to collect vials of Darkspawn blood."

"Wait, what?" I snapped back to reality as we entered the main part of camp.

"For the joining, we will need darkspawn blood." Duncan said, looking at me. "There's a smith here, if you need to sharpen your blades before your task. I will be in the Grey Warden tent, reviewing the battle plans with the other senior Wardens. Go find Alistair; he's tall and blonde, has a bit of a sarcastic tone. He shouldn't be hard to find." With that, Duncan then placed a hand on my shoulder. My eyes met his. "Like Cailan said…fight for your family and everything that was lost." And with that he turned and strode away towards one of the larger tents in the vicinity, with the Grey Warden griffin emblazoned on the side. So I was suddenly alone in the large war camp, the sounds of swords ringing, dogs barking, people talking, the smells of the fires and sweat and shit mixed with the stench from the surrounding Wilds. I ran a hand through my hair, sighing.

"Alistair, huh…" I started walking around, looking for a tall blonde guy. Blonde hair wasn't that common, so it should be easy to spot. Should being the key word. I looked down at Saban, who was simply sitting beside me, and despite myself I knelt down and hugged my great war dog around his neck. "Thanks for being with me, friend." I whispered, my heart aching as I looked into Saban's bright brown eyes. He responded by licking my hand, and I giggled a bit before standing up and taking a deep breath. At least I knew Saban would always be there.

I decided I would head for some old ruins first; there seemed to be a bunch of soldiers milling about on break over there. I walked past the quartermaster up to what appeared to have once been a tower; I had always loved ruins, and Ostagar was famous in and of itself. However, as I made my way up the sloping floor, I saw a scene playing out before me.

"What her reverence desires is of no concern to me!" a dark skinned circle mage with flat, shoulder length hair was complaining. "I am busy helping the Grey Wardens-by the king's orders, I might add!"

"Should I have asked her to write a note?" came the light, glib reply from the young man talking to him. I bit back a smile.

"Tell her I will NOT be harassed in this manner!"

"Yes, I was harassing you by giving you a message."

"Your glibness does you no credit." The mage observed, and as I watched the scene, I couldn't help but smile. The young man in question had short, dirty blonde hair, with it spiked a bit at the front. He had a shadow of stubble growing on his chin; the makings of a beard, it looked like, but it suited him well. He had handsome features, and the build of a warrior; also, taller than me. He was wearing the thicker armor of warrior; a sword and shield on his back.

"And here I thought we were getting along so well!" the sarcasm in his voice just made me try to hide my smile behind my hand "I was even going to name one of my children after you. The grumpy one."

"Enough." The mage said, obviously overly annoyed with the man messing with him. "I will speak to the woman if I must. Get out of my way, fool." He huffed, knocking into the man's shoulder roughly as he walked by. I hurriedly walked up to him then, to see if he was alright, but before I could say anything the young man spotted me.

"You know…" he said, taking a few steps closer to me. His eyes were golden; such a light brown that they appeared to be liquid gold mixed with honey. Maker, was he handsome. "One good thing about the Blight is how it brings people together."

"You don't say?" I asked lightly, a smile still playing on my face. "I couldn't tell."

"It's like a party," his face lit up that someone else shared his sarcastic attitude and wanted to joke about the hostilities in the air, "We could all stand in a circle and hold hands. That would give the Darkspawn something to think about." A small laugh escaped me, before I noticed that he was surveying me as I had surveyed him moment before. "Wait…we haven't met…have we? I don't suppose you happen to be another mage?" and suddenly his voice was filled with dread. I couldn't help myself; I laughed out loud, earning a look of surprise from him.

"Oh no, I'm not, sorry." My mirth earned me a raised eyebrow. I tried to contain myself. "I'm sorry. Just…." I coughed. "We haven't met. You must be Alistair." He eyed me warily; I could see the clinks moving slowly in his mind as he put it together.

"Wait, I do know who you are! You're Duncan's new recruit. He didn't mention-"he suddenly stopped himself, his ears going red. "The weather. He did not mention…the weather. Nope." He sighed, giving me an apologetic look with a crooked smile. "I should have recognized you right away. I apologize."

"That's all right, no offense taken." I said, raising an eyebrow at him, smiling.

"Good. You didn't exactly catch me at my best with that mage there." He said, placing a hand on his hip as he reached up to rub the back of his head with his other hand. "Allow me to introduce myself." He made a sweeping bow, with exaggerated hand gestures and everything. "I am Alistair, the new Grey Warden." He straightened up, a light blush on his cheeks as he laughed at himself a bit. "Although…you already know that." This guy just knew how to bring a smile out in me. Considering everything that had just happened-"As the junior member of the order, I shall be accompanying you while you prepare for the Joining."

"My name is Elissa Cousland, it's a pleasure to meet you." Yet suddenly the voice that came out of me sounded hollow. Alistair didn't seem to notice though, that my introduction had been automatic.

"Right~! That was the name." he said, laughing. I felt my mouth crinkle up in a smile. "You know, it just occurred to me that there have never been many women in the Grey Wardens. I wonder why that is?"

"You want more women in the Wardens?" I asked slyly, taking a step forward, giving him a noticeable up and down that made his face turn red.

"Would that be so terrible?" at first he seemed to respond to my obvious flirtation, gazing down at me with what I could only describe as husky. But then he withdrew, again. "Not that I'm some drooling leecher or anything, please stop looking at me like that." I burst into a fit of giggles, retreating to give him some breathing room.

-.-.-.-.-.

Alistair's POV

"So I'm curious, have you ever actually encountered darkspawn before?" he asked.

"No, I haven't." came the soft reply. Maker's breath, this woman was beautiful. She was about a head shorter than he was; not that he minded that. Her eyes were a deep blue, outlined by long eyelashes. Her hair was muddy brown, flecked with strands of lighter brown all over. It looked as if her hair had been…hacked off by a sword, almost, as choppy as the ends were; her hair was above her shoulders, bangs lightly in her face. She wore light armor; two daggers on her back behind a shield. He wasn't sure if she was a warrior or…a more stealthy kind of fighter. Her armor was spattered in old blood though, and he couldn't help but wonder why. The mabari hound at her side sat obediently, it's tongue lolling out as it panted happily. He raised an eyebrow at it.

"When I fought my first one, I wasn't quite prepared for how monstrous it was." He tried to focus on Elissa's face. He wasn't looking forward to sending this beautiful creature into any darkspawn's path. "I can't say I'm looking forward to encountering another." Her eyes darkened slightly, and he could tell she had her mind elsewhere. "Anyhow, whenever you're ready, we should go find Duncan. I imagine he's ready to get started." She blinked; her eyes were now focused on him again. This woman; she had such a smile. He had seen her trying hard to not laugh out loud when she had stumbled upon him and the mage, which made him only try harder to make her laugh, finding he didn't really care what the mage thought of him. He had a feeling he'd be doing a lot of that.

"Yes; let's go back to Duncan. I'm eager to get started as well." Her voice sent a flutter into his stomach.

"Alright. Well if you have any questions, I'll be here. Besides that though, lead on!"

Yay~! Here it is. :) Please do review and favorite/follow.

Let's all dote on Alistair and his glibness and how he makes us laugh from the moment he's introduced into the game. ;u;