Prompt: "There were times Alistair almost wished he'd never left the Chantry."

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age.

There were times Alistair almost wished he'd never left the Chantry. Today, the day he had finally had his coronation, was one of those times. He had honestly never expected this day would come…well, not until he had seen a worrying expression on a certain Warden's (who he was pointedly not thinking about) face after he'd finally confessed to his parentage. Still, he had almost managed to convince himself that she, not really being a citizen of Ferelden, was seeing possibilities where there wasn't any when Arl Eamon had awoken and fallen in love with the idea of making him king as well. The Warden thinking he should be king, Alistair could sort of understand even if he disagreed. Eamon, though? The man who had spent years carefully making sure that Alistair never accidentally got any ideas about not being a commoner? Honestly, Alistair was a little concerned that there might have been something in those Ashes.

Alistair had slowly – VERY slowly – come around to the idea that he should take the throne because Eamon had pointed out that if he didn't then they would have no choice but to all join Loghain and Alistair was willing to go a great deal further than just taking the throne to avoid that fate. He still thought he lacked the proper training to be a good king but at least he was willing to learn and to take the advice of those who knew better while he was still figuring things out and it wasn't even like there was another option…until Anora had showed up. Despite the fact that he and the Warden had had to go to Fort Drakon to protect Anora and break themselves out, the queen and the Warden had really hit it off and before he knew it, he was being asked to marry the spawn of Loghain. There were worse things than being asked to marry Anora, he supposed. Being asked to marry Morrigan or Loghain himself, for example. Still, Anora was definitely up there on his 'DO NOT WANT' list of potential brides. Still, the Warden had made a compelling case about it being what was best for Ferelden and his duty. Besides, anything to ensure that they could take Loghain down, right?

The Landsmeet…he had never attended one before but would now have to sit through at least one a year every year for the rest of his life. If they were anything like his first one then he doubted his sanity would survive long enough to allow him to rule for even as long as Cailan had. It had started off well enough, better than he'd expected really, and that would make him nervous at future Landsmeet even when things were going well. The Warden's arguments and evidence were dominating Loghain's and the nobles (except what's-his-name, Ceorlic) were all hanging onto her every word. Loghain tried to seize upon his missing daughter to gain back some footing but then Anora calmly came into the Landsmeet Chambers and supported them. Things were going very well. A vote was called and it was near-unanimous – Ceorlic again – in favor of them. Unfortunately, though perhaps unsurprisingly, Loghain refused to accept the vote and called for an all-out brawl. To Alistair's shock, the Teyrn actually agreed to a duel instead, apparently still seeking to pretend to have some honor. Alistair wanted to be the one to fight Loghain almost more than anything but the Warden promptly volunteered herself instead.

It was a tense fight. Loghain might have been evil but he could certainly fight and he nearly won on a number of occasions. Finally, the Warden tripped him and bashed him over the head with her sword. It was hardly an inspiring victory, but at least she won. Alistair had been so relieved he could have cried. Everything he had been working for since Duncan had died was about to pay off in this one moment. Only…it hadn't. Riordan, clearly still addled from his months-long torture and not fully comprehending the magnitude of Loghain's crimes, suggested sparing Loghain. No, not just sparing him. Riordan called to make him a Grey Warden. To Alistair's eternal horror, the Warden agreed with him and no amount of argument on his part would convince her otherwise. What was he supposed to have done? He still wasn't quite sure what the answer to that was but what he did end up doing was declaring that he was leaving the Grey Wardens. In order to appease his sense of duty that was screaming at him that leaving was wrong even though letting Loghain in after what he'd done was equally wrong if not more so, Alistair announced that he was leaving the Wardens to marry Anora and be Ferelden's king. That was a duty he had, too, right? And unlike being a Grey Warden, it was one that only he seemed able to fulfill. The Warden and Anora hadn't seemed very impressed with this announcement and quickly moved on but Alistair hadn't paid much attention to that, so busy wondering where it had all gone wrong. They'd had Loghain and now they were just going to let him get away with everything? Anora, he could understand since it was her father and she was a lot like him if not as evil. The Warden, though? How could she.

Alistair glanced over at the Warden. She was talking animatedly with Eamon, no doubt very pleased with herself. And why wouldn't she be? She was a hero now, the Hero of Ferelden. At least Loghain hadn't managed to grab that title as well even if he hadn't had the courtesy to die during the Blight which the Orlesian Wardens who had already contacted him found to be very suspicious. Loghain himself was glowering at Alistair as if he were the one who couldn't believe he were forced to put up with Alistair! This coronation reception had better not go on for too long or he couldn't guarantee that Loghain would manage to leave this room alive. As Loghain was now being regarded as an even bigger hero than before for helping to end the Blight, if Alistair did give into temptation in front of all these people then he knew that Anora would ensure that he could kiss the kingship and maybe even his life goodbye. Speaking of Anora, she was currently peering suspiciously at him. Perhaps she could tell that he was seriously debating with himself whether it would be worth it?

At least there were some people coming up to him and ensuring that he wasn't focused solely on that evil, evil man he was going to be related to in six months (he made a mental note that if he was going to give into temptation then he'd better do it before the wedding to avoid that). Unfortunately, the distractions weren't always the most pleasant. Oghren had stumbled up to him, far drunker than usual, demanding more ale and Sten was right behind him complaining about the lack of cake. What did he look like, a caterer? He would have thought a king would have gotten more respect. Eamon had informed him that he didn't have to worry because he was planning on becoming the new royal chancellor. Alistair had thought it was odd that Eamon was just deciding that instead of having him appoint Eamon (for he knew Anora never would. The fact Anora and Loghain hated Eamon really increased his affection for his old guardian) but it wasn't like he would have picked anyone else anyway.

Leliana had wanted to perform some of her ballad about the final battle for him and, as Leliana was a friend, he had put up with as much of the Loghain-praising as was humanly possible before he cut her off as politely as he could. Lanaya came up to complain that some of the drunken revelers wouldn't stop making lewd comments about her because she was an elf and while Alistair did feel terrible about that, he didn't quite know what he was supposed to do about that. Irving had taken the opportunity to try to influence him on the new mage tower that needed to be constructed. Fergus Cousland had expressed his outrage that Howe had been allowed to get away with what he had for so long and had been the Teyrn of Highever for months and while Alistair had sympathized with him, he had also taken great pleasure in directing the new Teyrn's complaints to his lucky betrothed. That odious dwarf, Vartag Gavorn, had stopped by to 'remind' him that Bhelen could be a valuable friend and he was fairly certain that Vartag had both insulted him and threatened him but he wasn't quite sure how. Orzammar politics gave him a headache anyway. Zevran had offered his assassination services to the Crown and Alistair had promised to think about it. The assassin had turned down a job to assassinate Loghain once before but maybe now that he was so close by and no longer regent he would change his mind?

Something to consider.

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