Ever After

This is a ONE-SHOT about what happened a day after they killed the Archdemon. Alistair hasn't been crowned yet, Elle isn't his Queen yet and the public hasn't seen their Hero yet either. Lady Elle Cousland is left alone with her thoughts for now.

It's a day before Alistair his coronation. The sun is slowly moving down to leave the World to be dark for hours. The sky is orange with pink touches here and there. The few clouds that are floating in the sky, move slow and are thin. It causes the light to reflect in them only making the scenery more beautiful. It's like nothing happened. Like the whole world is in peace. If someone would see this for the first time, they couldn't tell that an Archdemon was just slain. That darkspawn had been crawling over the lands. That the taint caused everything it touched to die. That people had been dying, and going mad. That blood had been spread everywhere they looked. The grass felt soft, and had a healthy (as far as grass can be healthy) green color. I stroke me hands through the grass while I'm sitting on it. On my left hand is the most beautiful ring I can ever imagine. Not because it's expensive, but because it's from Alistair, the love of my life. Who would have thought he would survive this. Who would have thought we both would! It wouldn't matter if we could not get an heir, or if we would take ages to conceive one. If we couldn't we would find an answer to that, and if we could well, we would count ourselves very lucky.

The sky with the big yellow-orange ball of fire catches my attention again quickly though. I smile while thinking about everything. How we ended it, the friends I made during my journey to stop the blight, the love I found, my brother who seemed to survive. Everything is as perfect as it could be. It's quiet. The city noises cannot be heard from up here, though it's not even a half a day walk to get back. I lie down on the grass and spread my arms. I smile and close my eyes to enjoy the last warmth of the sun.

When I open them, I see Alistair looking at me. He is sitting next to me, but his face is right above me. I reach up and give him a kiss. I cup his cheek with my left hand while I sit up and give him my most honest smile. He puts his hand on mine and I see his ring on his finger. Without saying a word I crumble myself into his arms, his strong arms hold me and my face is against his chest. He smells so much better than he would on the roads I thought. I chuckled softly and inhaled his smell silently. While in his arms I take a last look at the scenery. How can nature be like this after what happened.

With his free hand he stroked my hair. I had removed the leather strap from my hair before I washed it and liked the way it looked. I decided to wear is down more often. My dark, red long hair could be seen by everyone. I mostly did it for Alistair though as he loved seeing my like that. Then, I heard Alistair say the exact same thing as he said to me the first time we met, and I smiled. We just sat there and we smiled.

"You know, one good thing about the Blight is how it brings people together".