The Missing Family
"The Blight is over! We are free! Maker save the Queen!" the citizens of Ferelden shouted out joyously.
Indeed it was over. The Blight that plagued the land of Ferelden had been quelled. The Archdemon was slain by the original, and constant, Hero of Ferelden, Teyrn Loghain. But it was a high price to pay and he knew that it had to be done in order to save his beloved Ferelden one last time. Katrine, Wynne and Sten watched as the man they sought to destroy, took the killing blow against the Archdemon and destroyed himself.
At the funeral for Loghain, The Queen, his daughter Anora, refused to acknowledge the one person who sent her father away from her. Katrine. The poor city elf from the Denerim Alienage, who had risen to the ranks with the famed Grey Wardens, made a deal with Loghain to make him a Grey Warden too. He accepted, but not with open arms. Anora was against it but he told her that he had to do what was right for his land and to keep her safe. She didn't like it, but knew that he was right.
Anora thought that she could trust her new aly, Katrine, with her father's life that fateful night. But when Katrine and the others brought his body down from the top of Fort Drakon, Anora resented the elf completely.
The days following Loghain's funeral, Katrine traveled back to the Elven Alienage in Denerim where she grew up to help rebuild it. It was hard for her to go back after fighting her way through it that long night as she is certain that her family had died in the siege. But she had no choice as the Queen had sent Katrine there before she could be whisked away to Orlais with the other Grey Wardens in order to be made a commander. The Queen wanted Katrine to feel her pain as Katrine was ordered back to her ruined home.
As Katrine began to sift through the rubble she once called home, memories of her childhood swam through her mind. Memories of when she was younger and playing with fake swords and daggers with her mother nearly made her tear up. Just then, inside the rubble around her former fire place, she found a rolled up note. She looked at the note and thought, 'I wonder, why did this survive the siege?'. She knelt down and unrolled the note. It read:
'My Dearest Katrine,
If you are reading this, chances are that our home can't be much of a home any more. Shianni, Soris and I have fled to Amaranthine with some kind humans that offered to save us before the Blight made its way to us. Shianni didn't want to go but there was no other way to be safe. We were not trained to fight like you were. Please if you survive the Blight, please seek us out. We await to hear from you.
Love, your father Cyrion'
As she stood, clutching her father's note in her right hand, she looked at herself in the tarnished mirror above the mantle. Most of the glass from the mirror had been shattered when the darkspawn horde had attacked. She put her left hand out and touched it lightly. At her touch, some of the already broken glass crumbled away. A single tear streaked down her face as she realized why the Queen sent her here. "She wanted me to feel her pain. I know what I must do now," she said as the Queen herself walked through most of the rubble and stood at the doorway.
"Good afternoon Katrine," the Queen said simply, staying away from Katrine as she often did.
"Good afternoon your highness. What brings you out here? Especially since you vowed silence to me since your father died and you blamed me for his death," Katrine said with an edge of bitterness to her voice. When she found out that Anora hated her for what happened, Katrine couldn't believe it. She thought that it was the most childish thing a Queen could be angry about. But as she stands in her ruined family home, she finally understands why Anora hates her so much.
"You know why I am here," Anora said.
"You came to see me twisting in the winds like you did at your father's funeral," Katrine said as she began to regret choosing Anora over Alistair to rule Ferelden.
Alistair. Katrine began to tear up again at the thought of his charming face. A face which she missed as much as she missed her family. The same face that had gotten angry at her when she chose to make Loghain a Grey Warden. She also missed his once kind words to her, his smile and the way they made love every night in camp. She thought of those long nights, his hands would explore her body ever so delicately. His kisses always made her feel so special and they were always filled with love. At the thought of their love, and when he indefinitely ended their relationship and became a drunkard, she held her right hand, still clutching her father's note tightly, up to her chest.
"I just came to see if you had found anything valuable to which you wish to keep with you before you have to leave for Orlais and so that we can rebuild the Alienage," the Queen said, still not leaving her place and speaking calmly.
"I'm not going to Orlais," Katrine said finally looking at Anora.
Anora stared at Katrine, surprised at her words. "The other Grey Wardens from Orlais are getting ready to leave Denerim any moment now. They said that you are to go with them immediately. Why are you defying your order?" Anora said.
"I will send word to them that I will not be joining them for a while. But you didn't have to come here yourself," Katrine said.
"I know I didn't have to, I am Queen I have bigger responsibilities to fulfill," Anora said.
"Well then I must leave now. Excuse me your highness," Katrine said as she walked towards the door way where Anora stood blocking it.
"No! As your Queen, I forbid it. Where are you planning on going that's so important?" Anora asked, a bit of anger to her words.
"This is why I defy you and my order," Katrine said holding up her father's note to Anora's face. She didn't let Anora touch it. "In it, he says that he took the rest of my family to Amaranthine before the siege, and I think they may have been taken by slavers," Katrine said, lowering the note and placing it in her pack.
Anora looked at Katrine in disbelief and horror. She asked, "Slavers? Again? Here in the Alienage?" Katrine shot her a look then Anora quickly said, "I'm sorry."
"Yes I believe so. And thank you," Katrine said. "And yes, before you ask, yes we took down the slavers from last time. Look I know you do not like me for what I "did", but I must take my leave now. And I'm sorry for your loss your highness," Katrine said as she walked passed Anora and patted her on the shoulder. Anora moved away silently to let Katrine pass.
"Thank you. Thank you for convincing my father to do what he loved to do," Anora finally said as she turned around towards Katrine's back as Katrine kept walking away. Katrine said nothing as she turned to a Grey Warden messenger boy standing nearby.
"Tell the Grey Wardens to continue on without me for now. The celebrations can wait until I get back. I'm going to Amaranthine. I have some loose ends that need tying up first," Katrine said to the messenger.
"Yes miss! I will go to them now!" the messenger boy said as he ran off.
As Katrine walked out of the Alienage, the Queen's carriage rolled by. Anora glanced out of the carriage window and told her driver to slow the carriage down. Katrine kept her stare straight a head of her, something she learned from Sten.
"I heard that Alistair was sighted near Amaranthine," Anora whispered to Katrine as Katrine continued her walking but slowing down at Anora's words. "I know what it's like to love a Theirin. Cailan was a good man and a good lover. I can only tell by your face just how much you love Alistair and even though it was my doing to make him leave you, I feel ashamed of myself for it," Anora said as Katrine looked at her with a single tear running down her face. Katrine said nothing as Anora resolved to say, "Good luck with finding your family...my friend." "Thank you Your Majesty," Katrine said as Anora turned to her driver and told him to pick up speed again.
Katrine stopped at the gates to the Alienage before crossing the bridge back into Denerim watching the Queen's carriage pass by. She held onto something under her cloak, fighting back more tears. She knew the risks of going alone but she also believed that she had no other choice in the matter. 'I will do what ever it takes to get my family back. And if Alistair is in Amaranthine, I'll...I'll...', she thought to herself as she looked across the bridge, tears finally, and fully welling up in her eyes and said in a whisper, "Alistair."