Disclaimer: I own nothing except Karina.
Duncan glanced at the young woman he shared camp with. Tomorrow they would reach Ostagar and she had yet to say more than a few words to him. He wondered if perhaps the shock of her parents' death had broken something inside of her, if perhaps his estimation of her strength had been wrong.
"So we should reach Ostagar tomorrow shouldn't we?" his companion asked.
"Yes." He waited for some further comment but her eyes were on the fire and her mind seemed to have wandered again. The Warden leader wondered if there was some way to draw out the fire he sensed and seen in her when they had first met.
The woman lifted her green eyes to the Warden who had saved her life and part of her wondered if she would have been better off staying behind, staying with her family. Duncan and her family had told her it was the only way for her to survive, to survive and get revenge. Duncan had saved her only to recruit her into the Warden's. It was something she had never in her wildest dreams imagined happening. Oh when Duncan had first come to her family's holding she had dreamed of becoming a Grey Warden but Father would never have allowed it no matter how much she might have pleaded with him. Now she would give it all up just to see her family once again. That wasn't a choice however. Taking a deep breath Karina Cousland drew on her training as a noble and a rogue and that inner strength that had first drawn the Grey Warden to her. She missed her family, she ached for their loss but at the moment there was nothing she could do for them at the moment so she shoved the horror and aching and the tears and everything else into a small box inside her and closed it. For the time being it was the only way she could deal with it.
"Thank you, Duncan. For rescuing me," she said quietly and than glanced at the sleeping dog beside her and small smile formed. "Us." Seeing Rascal curled up next to the fire made her realize that she wasn't totally alone. Rascal, the mabari who had imprinted on her when she was still a young girl, had survived the destruction of the Cousland family as well.
The Warden glanced up in surprise at her words although he recovered quickly, "It was not without reasons of my own. You will make a good Warden."
"Thank you."
Duncan glanced at the moon hanging low in the sky. They had only a few more hours of night left and he wanted to leave as soon as dawn arrived. "You should get some rest. I will explain more tomorrow when we reach Ostagar."
Leaf green eyes lifted up to the moon and the stars hanging in the sky above them. Tears pricked the corner of her eyes briefly as an unbidden memory of star-gazing with her father rose in her mind. Mercilessly she drove the memory away and followed Duncan's instructions. Tomorrow would be the start of her new life...and eventually one way or another Howe would pay for what he had done. She only prayed Fergus hadn't somehow found out. Thoughts of her brother and the knowledge that she was not the only Cousland left lulled her to sleep. Tomorrow was a new day...and a new life. With that she joined her mabari by the fire and let the sounds of his breathing lull her into sleep.
A/N: Ok so Change is a little stalled at the moment, I'm about half way done with the newest chapter and this has been floating around in my head for a while. So as always please R&R and I promise more will come soon.