A/N: Hi guys! To those of you who have been reading 'The Other Companion' don't worry, I'm not going to stop writing it. I just had a really awesome idea for my Warden. Or at least, I think it's awesome. I'll get back to it once I've gotten part of this out of my system. Thanks and I hope you all enjoy this spin-off.


Pantheras Cousland was a man of 32 years, who had saved Ferelden from a Blight—losing his entire family save his elder brother in the process— become the Warden Commander of that country, and saved a city and his new Keep. The woman who he'd cared deeply for ran off with his son, and had not said a word since. Still, he kept on going through every day, hoping something good would come out of all his trials.

Every day he hoped that he could find an end to all the fighting he had to do. When he started out, he was barely a man of 20. For a year, he had travelled Ferelden with his comrades and forged alliances out of necessity. He'd put his best friend, Alistair on the throne and ended up not dying to the Archdemon because of Morrigan. Morrigan. The woman he'd lost. The woman he'd chased for far too long. The woman who was now with this organization called 'The Inquisition'. He only knew because his dear friend, Leliana had written him a letter, asking for his help. She talked of his son.

Apparently, Kieran had his same deep green eyes, and kind smile. Kieran had his mother's hair and curiosity, but had Pan's quiet demeanor. He'd sent back a letter happily enough saying how he wanted to meet his son and all, but he was sorry to inform the Lady Inquisitor that he had no idea who this Corypheus was. Leliana's Inquisitor, Mina seemed like the good sort. He hoped that his old friend was happy.

He ran a hand through his dirty blonde hair and stretched. He'd been sleeping on the ground for far too long. He'd gone on a personal quest to try and find a way to cure the corruption that consumed the Wardens after some years. Or, at least extend the time it took for them to be taken by it. He had been a Warden for 12 years and felt that he didn't have much time left. He hadn't heard the Calling just yet, but the others said it wouldn't be long. Maybe two more years at best.

Just then, his companion called to him, "Hey, Pan! You'd better get your slobbering goofballs in order before they attract some unwanted attention!" He laughed and whistled to his two Mabari. They were still pups at heart. Elana was just tired of fighting off bears because of them.

"Dragon! Fauxe! C'mere you two, or you're not getting breakfast!" he hollered. Out of the bushes bounced two balls of fur. One was black and one was red-brown with white paws. Pan had had Dragon since before the Blight. They'd grown up together, and were becoming old men together. Fauxe was one he'd saved from the corruption during his time at Ostagar. She was a bit younger than Dragon, but they got along famously. In fact, they'd had a litter of pups a few years back. The Wardens fought over who got which. They'd ended up being taken care of by everyone.

They sat at his feet expectantly. He raised his eyebrows, prompting them to give a pitiful whine. He smiled and dug two rabbits out of their stash of food.

"Is this what you want? I don't know… You've given Elana quite a bit of trouble," he teased.

Fauxe gave a little growl and snorted. Dragon nudged Pan's leg, trying to goad him.

"Fine, fine. I don't want my two vicious guard dogs too hungry to fight when we run into a dragon," he said and dropped the meat.

Elana dropped out of a tree then and rolled her eyes. She was an Elf of about 28 years with black hair and stern brown eyes. She was one of the best scouts, which he needed in the Emerald Graves.

"Put a shirt on, will ya? I don't want to see that," she said motioning to his tanned skin. He was more built and toned than most guys his age, and had three times as many scars. He had one from a dragon on his back that went from just below his left shoulder blade to right above his left hip, one on the right side of his head where it was shaved, one above his left eye, and various others that weren't as noticeable. Not to mention, he had a few burns on his stomach.

He reached his tattooed right arm over and grabbed the top part of his armor. He liked the tribal-looking marks that extended from his right wrist all the way across his shoulders. It made him feel as if he'd become his own man; not just the younger Cousland brother, the Hero of Ferelden, or the Warden Commander. He was a person outside of his duties.

Once fully dressed, he helped clean up their small camp and pack up their things before heading back out into the endless trees. They'd been exploring the Graves for a bit more than a week and come up empty handed. His last lead pointed to something there, but he just couldn't find it. They said that there was an entrance to another Dwarven city. So far, nothing had even suggested Dwarves had been there. There was stone, but nothing had been carved into. There were plenty of Elven paintings to be found, and they were beautiful, but it wasn't what he was looking for.

Too soon, it was nightfall and they'd found nothing once again. He could tell Elana was getting irritated. She thought his quest was a fool's errand and he was wasting his time when he should be doing other things. He shook his head at her and told her stories about his friends during the Blight when she did that. Everyone they'd come across had thought what they were doing was madness, but in the end, they'd won. They'd defeated all odds and from two they'd become many. They'd overthrew Loghain and stopped the mages from being completely wiped out. They'd done so much good despite what everyone had thought of them.

It drove Pan nuts to think that the world had gone back into chaos twice after he'd spent a year desperately trying to save it. Once in Kirkwall with the mages, and then again with the Inquisition. He fully believed that the Mage rebellion had started in Kirkwall. What made him more furious was that it had been ignited by someone he'd known. Anders was a Warden and a friend for a time. Pan swore that if by some chance he came across the mage, he'd kill him on the spot.

They set up camp again and once more, Elana began her speech about how this whole thing was pointless. Pan sighed and ignored her, walking off into the trees with an "I'll be back later" thrown over his shoulder. There was a waterfall nearby and he wanted to clear his head. Swimming would help. Dragon followed him, giving a sad look to Fauxe who stayed with their Elven friend.

Pan stripped down to his leather pants and dove in. The water was chilly and refreshing, but did nothing to cool his growing anger. It took a lot to piss Pan off, but he was finally reaching that point. He swam over to the edge where Dragon was watching him and rested on the rocky shore. Dragon had always been his trusted confidant. The poor dog had listened to just about all of the Hero's problems. Once more, Pan felt the need to unload his burdens to his faithful pup.

"You know, Dragon, I'm getting tired of all this. I've done so much and have nothing to show for it. A few meaningless titles. I don't have a home or a family. Well, I have Fergus, but I never get to see him, and I have a son I've never met. I'm just wondering what I did to piss the Maker off so much. If doing all the good you can gets you nowhere, maybe I should just retire and become a bitter, cranky old man."

Dragon barked angrily at his master's words and nuzzled one of his hands. The Mabari didn't like that idea at all. He quite liked roaming freely throughout the entirety of Thedas.

"You're right. I'd never be able to do that. I'm not so good at being cranky. What I do want is to see my son. I want to figure things out with Morrigan. If she wants to be with me, that's great. I'd love that. If not… I dunno. I guess I'll just have to move on. I do love her, you know. Told her once too. She brushed it off and told me I was being an idiot. I bet that if she missed me, she'd never tell me. I should've gone into the Eluvian with her. Maybe she was right; I am an idiot. For a different reason, but even so."

Pan trailed off and slid back into the water. He didn't want to think about what he'd lost anymore. He did that entirely too often. Instead, he dove as far down as he could and watched the little fish swim by. They weren't scared of him once bit. It was fantastic! A few of them glowed in the moonlight, acting like little lanterns in the water.

He came up for air and found that he'd swam behind the waterfall. There was a cave that lead further into the green hills above. He couldn't call Dragon over the roar of the water, but he still wanted to know what exactly was in the cave. Pan hopped out of the water and looked around. There were torches that looked like they hadn't been lit in ages. That was probably the case, actually. Unfortunately, he didn't have anything to light his way since he'd left everything back on shore. Including the better part of his armor and his bow.

Taking a deep breath, Pan walked deeper into the darkness, as cautiously as he was able. Luckily, he always kept some throwing knives on his belt just in case he needed them. The tunnel seemed to grow larger with every step, and the ceiling grew taller. About five minutes into it, he noticed that there were lyrium veins running horizontally along the walls. His one source of light.

Fifteen minutes passed and Pan stood gaping at a huge Dwarven looking door made of Paragon's Luster. It had an iridescent orange color that made the tunnel around him glow. This was it. This is what that scroll in Perendale had told him about. The dreadful trip to Nevarra wasn't for nothing! He studied it further, trying to figure out how it opened when he spotted a partially done picture. It showed a Dwarf with its arms raised, but the rest of it was scrambled up.

"I bet that picture is the key to getting this monster of a door open," he mused. It took him half an hour to get all the pieces in the correct spot. The artwork wasn't like the Dwarf art he'd seen in Orzammar. It was less blocky and had more detail to it. That had made it a bit harder to figure out which part went where. Pan stepped back and looked at his handiwork. There was a group of Dwarves welcoming some kind of strange Elf. And a Qunari… It was as if they had traded at one time or another.

The locking mechanisms began to clank around and open up. The door swung open, letting out a smell akin to the ocean. It was salty and fishy like the many harbors he'd been to during his journey. What a strange thing to smell in the middle of a cave. He was far enough away from the sea that there shouldn't have been any runoff. Much to his surprise, there was a small, circular lake that filled up most of the room. In the middle was a pedestal with something on it. On the far wall, was some kind of teal light in a cage. That was most likely his prize. What made the whole thing even more bizarre was that the water was frozen. It took extreme temperatures for seawater to freeze. As he got closer to the water, he saw some kind of creature in the depths. It had tentacles and angry eyes as if it were ready to attack a trespasser. Pan let out a sigh of relief and carefully walked over to the pedestal, slipping a couple of times and falling on his arse.

'I look like a toddler trying to walk,' he chuckled in his head.

Once more, he steadied himself and slid on towards the center of the lake. The pedestal itself was made out of what looked like veridium. But, what interested him more was the book on top of it. Clearly, it was old, but it didn't seem weathered what so ever. In fact, it looked better than most of the books that were sold in shops around Thedas. Except for Orlais. Everything was fancy in Orlais. Especially their ridiculous hats.

"Oh, but their cake is so good…" he mumbled, "Ah, right! Back on track, Pan. Find out what's in the book!"

There were a few sections written in the ancient Dwarven tongue, ancient Elven tongue, and a bit in Qunlat. The majority of it, though, was in common tongue. It was a relief too, because he didn't speak any other language very well. He'd have to learn some later.

The main text described a city in Rivain that was grand and the center of trade inhabited mostly by Elves. It wasn't one he'd ever heard of, but that was because, as the book explained, it had fallen into the sea. Most people had thought it destroyed, but some years later, strange looking Elves came out of the sea bearing gifts and wishing to trade. It said that they had legs and arms like everyone, but their skin had turned a grey akin to the Qunari's and they had fins on each leg and arm, and one on their back. It also said that they had gills on their neck just below their ears. For a while, they were at peace with all, then something happened with the humans and the 'Sea Elves' were never heard from again. The writing became harder to read at the end then switched back to Dwarven altogether.

"Huh. Sea Elves? That's new. I wonder what this has to do with the corruption. Maybe something I can't decipher is the answer. I'm just gonna take this," he said, picking up the book. As he did that, he saw a button hidden below it. And, of course, he had to press it. It unlocked the cage surrounding the object on the far wall, but the water also started to thaw. Along with the creepy monster thing inside of it…

Pan hightailed it towards the glowing object, intent on snatching it before he somehow made his escape. Right after he grabbed the bottle that appeared to be a potion, he noticed that the water was rising and covering up the small bit of land that lead to the exit. Running was no longer an option. Pan belly-slid on the ice, making it halfway back before he stopped. The creature below saw this and was determined to stop him. It thrashed about, breaking some of the ice on top.

"Fuckin' shite! You can't be serious right now. I don't have any weapons, so I'm not fighting you!" he yelled at the mass of tentacles slowly making its way towards him. The lake was now almost completely melted. He jumped across to other pieces of ice as they floated by, almost sliding off into the water. One of the creature's tentacles raised up out of the water, ready to smash the Warden, but Pan flung three of his knives at it, hoping to catch it off guard. It worked. He only needed another minute or two before his ice chunk was at the other end and he could just run out of the tunnel.

The thing in the water, however, wasn't going to let that happen. It flung another rubbery tentacle into some ice and sent it flying towards the one Pan was on. He was airborne for about thirty seconds, clutching the bottle and book for dear life. He landed with a thunk on the stone floor. A thunk!

He stood up right in front of the giant door. "ANDRASTE'S SWEET ASS! I'M THE LUCKIEST BASTARD EVER!" he cheered as he ran down the tunnel, bare feet slapping the floor.

He gladly dove into the waterfall and swam back to the shore where Dragon was barking his head off, Fauxe was sniffing around, and Elana was calling for him.

"Commander! Damn it, Pantheras, I'm going to kill you if you got eaten!" she screamed.

Pan threw himself onto the shore and started laughing. Dragon leaped on him and started licking his face. The females of the group were not so pleased. Fauxe nipped at his stomach and Elana kicked one of his legs while scolding him for scaring them.

"Elana, I believe that is an inappropriate tone to address your senior officer with," he said with a grin. He was so pleased with himself that she sputtered to a stop. He hardly pulled rank on anyone for one, and he rarely smiled like he was at that moment. Usually it was some half-hearted smile that was more sad or tired than anything.

"I found something behind the waterfall. In fact, I think I found what that scroll lead me here for," he purred, holding up both objects he'd retrieved.

Elana's eyes widened and she snatched the book from him.

"I swore you were crazy! I said there couldn't be Dwarven ruins in an Elven place. I-I…," she bowed her head and blushed, "Commander, I was wrong. And I'm sorry."

"'S okay. Let's go home. I've got some research to do," he said happily. His grin was gone, but his eyes showed exactly how pleased he was. For the first time in ten years, he had some hope of the future. He felt something other than the certainty of death looming over him and his fellow Wardens. He'd have to make a stop by Denerim and let Alistair know the good news. Plus, he wanted to see the little prince again. Killian was his favorite godson. His only godson, but still his favorite. Pan had snicked at his best friend when Alistair told him that he'd named his son after Pan. Pantheras Killian Cousland was probably the worst name in the history of Ferelden.