**Disclaimer** All the character, places and events belong to Bioware.
A.N: This one was much easier to write than my first attempt, a quick thanks to my fiancee for sharing his "first love" story and how he failed to date the girl since he was too shy. I used it and molded it, and in the end it reminded me of Alistair.
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"Do you know what this is?"
He held out a single red rose, waving it under her nose. Its sweet fragrance left her light headed and warm. "Well I certainly hope it's not your new choice of weapon," Amelia smiled at him, laughing as he resorted to a joke when he got caught off balance with her response.
"This… I want to give it to you. I picked in Lothering and it just…" Alistair blushed but barreled on, "I thought, 'How can something so beautiful live in a world where darkspawn will soon overrun it'?"
Amelia frowned at him, "not if I can help it, Alistair."
"What? Yes, of course! I'm not giving up or anything. You have to realize this was right after… Duncan's death. I was all angst and depressing, remember?"
"How could I forget?"
"Ouch!" he laughed as she rolled her eyes, "in any case… it reminded me of you."
She stared at him for a second, and then tilted her head, "it reminded you of me… as in, the taint will one day overcome me but its okay because I'm beautiful now?"
Alistair's eyes widened, "No! Oh Maker, I can't do this!"
"Alistair," Amelia hurried after him, putting a hand on his forearm, "I'm sorry. That's my defense mechanism speaking. Make you confused so that you'll hopefully leave. That's… how I work, I suppose. I shouldn't keep you out though. We're in this together." He nodded slowly and she smiled, encouraging him, "I think I understand the sentiment. Thank you."
"No," he whispered, shaking his head, "thank you. You haven't had the best time as a Warden and yet you go at it, every single day. No thank you from any of us, just complaining and mostly from me."
Her ears reddened, "you don't have to thank me. It's my duty."
"I want you to have it. If you want it, of course. I wouldn't want to push you to do anything you don't want to do, that wouldn't be very polite of me. So you know what? Just forget I said anything. It was stupid and-"
Amelia sighed heavily, grabbed his cheeks with one head and brought his lips down to hers. Alistair's eyes went wide for a second, and then slowly drifted shut. She could have sworn she heard him sigh, a certain degree of happiness in that sound.
"Um… I was under the impression that the men should be the one to court the woman?" said Alistair hoarsely when she let go of him.
She raised an eyebrow at him as she reached for rose, "I was under the impression that the man didn't know how to take the lead."
"I… not really. You don't get much chance of that in the Chantry."
Amused, she leaned back and looked at him, "you've never kissed a woman?"
He shot her an accusing look, "One. Besides you, I mean. And well… I thought she knew that I liked her, after I kissed her. But all we did was dance around the subject for months. Eventually, she became a real bitch and would only send me dirty looks."
Laughter tickled her throat, "So you courted this poor woman, even kissed her but never asked her out properly. No 'may I take you to dinner', no indication that you wanted to go further than just friendship with her."
"I thought the kiss was indication enough!"
Unable to resist, Amelia let out a laugh, "Oh Alistair. You are so innocent."
"Well, she didn't take the lead either! She could have said something or slapped me or something!"
"Perhaps she was under the impression that the man was supposed to take the lead," laughter still bubbled in her throat, a sound that drove Alistair crazy with emotions. He never would have guessed that a human was able to feel so many things at the same time. He stared at her from under his lashes, and loved the way the fire light played across her skin. She seemed truly happy for a moment, and he wondered if many he had anything to with that.
***
Amelia sneaked out of her tent later that night, walked by Alistair's tent and waited until she heard the even breathing. She smiled at herself, and then hurried to the outer edge of the camp where Morrigan sat by her fire.
Morrigan raised an eyebrow at the approaching woman, saying nothing as she pulled up a log and merely looked into the fire. After a minute of silence, Amelia muttered, "I need your help."
If Morrigan was caught by surprise, Amelia couldn't tell. When the black haired mage nodded slowly, she continued, "Tell me I'm being an idiot. I'm falling for him, Morrigan. I can feel it. He gave me a rose. No one has ever done that for me before."
She spared a glance at the rose in Amelia's hand, her lips curling into a smile. She knew that Amelia had come to her for a reason, the plain fact that she was well aware that Morrigan lived by survival instinct and not foolish emotions. "You are being a complete and utter fool. Does your order not pride itself on duty first? What will happen if Alistair is made King? You shall be cast out. They won't care what happens to you or your heart, and do you think he will challenge them? He is weak; he won't be able to give you what you want. A pillar of strength, is that not what you need?"
Tears swam in Amelia's eyes, but she refused to shed them. Morrigan could see Amelia's jaw lock, take a gulp and look down. She began to cast the rose to the fire, looking up only when Morrigan's hand stopped her. She was smiling, a rare thing for her. "He also brings out the best of you, sickening as it is to watch. You have suffered, that much is true. Yet you have refused to let that shape your life. I think that a bit of that so called joy that man brings you. Are you being a fool? Of course, but for the moment, I suppose it doesn't hurt."
Unsure of what to say to that, Amelia merely nodded. She fingered the rose, thinking of what Alistair had said to her. Finally, she spoke, "I need to ask of yet another favor."
Morrigan laughed softly, "feeling daring today, I see."
"You're not as scary as you make yourself out to be, Morrigan," Amelia chuckled when Morrigan glared at her, "Is there any way you can preserve this?"
The rose again. Morrigan took it gently, running her hands down the petals. In her mind, she could see Alistair bending down and picking it, thinking of what to say and when to say it. "Is this from Lothering?" she asked Amelia, and by the revelation in her eyes concluded that it had indeed begun its journey in Lothering. Almost two months before and yet the rose lived. For a moment, the young foolish girl that Morrigan restricted to herself emerged and she wondered if the rose thrived from Alistair's caring and compassion. She scolded herself quickly; reminding herself that love did not have that kind of power.
Yet as Amelia walked away, smiling to herself, it was not the first time that Morrigan questioned her beliefs.