Refusing To Step Aside

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age.

Note: The worst part is, she does try to be nice to him. He just can't see it.

Prince Trian Aeducan was still fuming about it hours later. Aunn might have claimed that she was going to listen to him and head back to the feast being held in her honor that she really should have attended from the start but he'd looked back to see her continuing towards the commons and, likely, her Proving. It was one thing for her to disregard her duty and his authority and do whatever she had been planning on doing in the first place – she always had been maddeningly stubborn – but to lie about it as well? And so blatantly? Did she really think he wouldn't notice? He shuddered to think how stupid he would have to be to not notice when she didn't even bother to try to hide it. He felt absolutely justified in breaking his word to her, in turn, and went straight to his room with Bhelen upon returning to the Palace instead of stopping by her feast to toast her command. After all, he reasoned, if she wasn't going to be there then why should he?

Not to mention that he was already on edge from the sheer absurdity of there being a Proving held in Aunn's honor to celebrate her first commission. There wasn't a Proving held in his honor and he was the heir to the throne! And it wasn't just that, either. There had never, to his knowledge, been a Proving held to celebrate anyone's first commission and yet when it was Aunn everyone was falling all over themselves to honor her. Why did everyone love her so much? It had always been like that and yet not once in the twenty-three years she'd been adored had she done anything to deserve it and quite a bit not to. She was stubborn and sarcastic, often foregoing duty if it involved something she didn't care for and letting the lower castes speak to her as if they were anywhere near worthy of addressing her directly or – as was the case with her second – familiarly. It was a nightmare, she was a nightmare, and yet no one seemed to mind. Far from, it in fact. She was the favorite. Their father looked upon her breaches of protocol fondly and called her 'spirited.' Technically, Trian knew he could not blame her for her Proving as she was not the one who organized it but Lord Harrowmont had always had quite a bit of affection for her and, as their father's top adviser, things like that mattered. He didn't want to see his father dead but no one could deny that the day his reign ended was approaching and he needed to be ready. Aunn, as always, complicated matters.

Beside him, Bhelen tapped his foot nervously as if trying to come to an important decision. It was extremely aggravating and was trying to come up with a way to solve what he had long ago dubbed the Aunn Problem.

"Do you have something to say, little brother?" he finally demanded.

Bhelen started. "I…well, yes, actually but you're not going to like it."

"Not liking your reality doesn't make it any less true," Trian reasoned. Oh, how well he knew that. His reality of having an inexplicably beloved grandstanding sister was one he had been displeased with for years and now that she was to be a commander she might actually start doing something to earn some of that adoration and then who knew how out of control her cult of personality would get?

"Right," Bhelen nodded quickly, biting his lip. "You know that I've tried to stay out of the…disagreements you and Aunn have had over the years, right?"

"I do," Trian confirmed. That was actually the one thing about his brother that had ever impressed him: Bhelen's remarkable ability to stay out of the conflicts raging around him. He'd make a good diplomat.

"I still don't want to pick a side but after what happened…well, I can't just sit back and do nothing. Aunn's forced my hand and now I have to get involved," Bhelen said miserably.

"Am I to assume that you've picked mine?" Trian asked, his voice containing a hint of a threat.

Bhelen nodded. "Of course. Given the circumstances, I could not, in good conscience, do anything else."

Trian bristled a bit at the implication that the only reason Bhelen was taking his side was because Aunn had done something so horrible that he felt he could not actually side with her. He consoled himself that that probably wasn't what Bhelen had meant but rather that if it weren't for Aunn's actions than he'd be happy continuing to be a neutral party. "Do I even want to know what she's done this time?" he asked wearily.

"Probably not," Bhelen said seriously. He'd been looking uncomfortable all day except for the five minutes they'd run into Aunn and her second. Had he been putting on a show for her benefit? To what end? "But it's important."

"Tell me," Trian commanded.

"Last night, Aunn came to me," Bhelen began, looking for all the world like he'd rather be taking on an ogre unarmed than having this conversation. "She told me that Father was getting old and that he wasn't going to live forever. I knew this, of course, but I still didn't like to hear it. She said that you…" Bhelen stopped here, reluctant to go on.

"She said that I what, exactly?" Trian prompted, trying to be patient. This could be important – and it probably was if Bhelen was willing to surrender his prized neutrality and was acting so seriously – but if he pushed too hard then he might make Bhelen shut down and then who knows when he'd find out what their sister was planning?

"She said that you were weak and ripe to be displaced," Bhelen said hurriedly, as though hoping that by getting this out as quickly as possibly he could disassociate himself from the words he was relaying. "She said that everyone was just waiting for you to be easily moved aside so that she could sit on Father's throne."

Trian froze. He'd long suspected Aunn of wanting their father's throne for herself – how could she not? – and perhaps a few of her more fervent supporters but this? The beginning of a plot? And did she really think so little of him? Ah, but she must. Why else would she have treated him like such a fool earlier? She told him what she thought he wanted to hear and then completely ignored what he had been saying. He was hardly just going to step out of her way and offer up his birthright just because she wanted it. "She can't possibly think I'll step aside and let her rule, can she?"

"She…may think you won't have to," Bhelen admitted. "She may have asked me to help her kill you."

She may have asked me to help her kill you. The words echoed in his head. Aunn…they gotten on reasonably well as children, he supposed, but she'd refused to behave as she should growing up and he seemed to be the only one unwilling to make allowances for her because of how 'accomplished' and 'talented' and 'charming' she was. He had to admit, he had often thought of how much easier his life would be without Aunn – and likely she thought that about him – but that she would resort to fratricide to do it? He hadn't thought her stubbornness had been malicious but then he never spent enough time around to tell. Had he really been so wrong about her?

"Are you certain about this?" Trian asked quietly.

Bhelen's eyes shone with regret as he nodded. "It's difficult to accept, I know. I wouldn't believe it myself had she not spelled it out for me."

Bhelen may not been the most responsible person in the world and far more concerned with jokes and having fun than in his responsibilities as a Prince but he wouldn't fool around about something like this. If Bhelen said that Aunn wanted him dead, then Trian might as well have heard her declare it himself. "How can she possibly justify something like that?"

Bhelen shrugged slightly. "She said that it's inevitable, that if she doesn't do it that someone else will. She doesn't seem to think that you're strong enough to take the throne even without the complication she poses."

Trian was seething with rage. It was one thing – a horrible thing, to be sure, but still – if she were plotting to murder him because she had a lust for power but to try and justify it by saying that it was bound to happen anyway was quite another. Just how incompetent did she think he was? He was suddenly quite certain that he did not want to know the answer to that. "Did she tell you her plan?" he demanded.

"She did," Bhelen said grimly. "And we don't have much time. She intends to ambush you tomorrow in the Thaig. She intends to kill you and your men and then claim mercenaries did it. She may have even hired mercenaries herself to help her do this or to pin the blame on."

"And what are you to do?" Trian asked sharply. "Are you supposed to join in this ambush?"

Bhelen shook his head. "As Aunn's becoming a commander, I'm taking her place as Father's second. She told me where the rendezvous point is and said she intends to wait for you there. She asked me to keep the rest of the expedition out of the way so that she has time to kill you and make her escape before anyone comes by and catches her in the act."

"And did you agree?" Trian pressed.

Bhelen winced as though he were afraid of what Trian's reaction would be. "I-I did. But not because I have any intention of seeing you dead! I just thought that it was for the best as if Aunn knew that I wasn't going to help her then she would likely change the plan and I couldn't warn you. Yes, I could put you on your guard against her but that's not quite the same as being able to tell you the details of her murder plot. Plus there was always a chance that by not helping I might cause her to decide that I'm more trouble than I'm worth and try to get me out of the way. After all, is she can live with killing one brother then why not two? And that way anyone who suspects the truth or who supported you won't rally around me to try and keep her off of the throne."

"You've put a lot of thought into this," Trian noted.

"Once I realized that our sister has apparently gone mad with power I needed to see if I were going to be in any danger," Bhelen pointed out. "I'll admit, I've always been against the thought of us killing each other but now…well now it may be unavoidable."

Trian blinked. "What do you mean?" he asked carefully. Did he not think that they could stop Aunn's schemes? Did she suspect that Bhelen would go running straight to him and fed him a false plan so he wouldn't see the real one coming?

"You and I both know that Aunn's going to try to kill you but the problem is that she hasn't done anything yet and she's been careful to keep it quiet and not act any differently towards you," Bhelen explained. "And because of that there's really nothing we can do. No one would believe that Aunn would do such a thing and if we strike first that makes us look like the bad guys and, with no way to prove why we struck, she would come off as a victim."

"You have a point," Trian admitted grudgingly. He was quiet as a plan came to him. "You said that she intends to ambush me tomorrow at the rendezvous point?"

Bhelen nodded. "Yes. She's going on a special mission and will be apart from the main group."

"Here's what we'll do," Trian declared. "You'll keep your word to Aunn and delay the main expedition. Aunn will need to hurry up and finish her mission before she can ambush me or her lack of accomplishing her objective may draw suspicion to her. I will get done with my part of the expedition as quickly as is dwarvenly possible and beat her there. She won't be able to ambush me if I get there first and instead I can confront her about her treachery."

"Are you sure that's such a good idea, Trian?" Bhelen asked uneasily. "You know she'll just deny it."

"Maybe," Trian agreed. As per usual, his brother wasn't thinking hard enough about the consequences. "But if I can get her to confess and be tried in front of the Assembly then that would solve all of our problems. She could no longer be a threat to us, we wouldn't have to worry about how it looked when we took measures to protect ourselves, and we wouldn't have to become Kinslayers."

"And if she doesn't surrender?" Bhelen asked dubiously.

"Then…" Trian gave a heavy sigh, hating his sister for putting him in a position where he'd have to plan for her death at his hands. "Then I will kill her."

That proclamation hung heavy between them for a moment.

The silence was broken by Trian's door swinging open and their treacherous sister herself sweeping into the room, followed closely by Gorim. She seemed excited and looked for all the world like she wasn't planning on killing him. He shouldn't take it personally, he knew, as she certainly wasn't. Still, it was trying enough to deal with Aunn at the best of times and he was hardly up for it now.

Trian crossed his arms impatiently. "Shouldn't you be attending our King-Father?"

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