A/N; So before we start, I just wanted to provide a little context behind my warden and my hawke
For my warden, she grew up in the ferelden circle but escaped when she was eighteen along with Anders' and Jowan's help (who were planning to escape as well but got caught), so then lived in Redcliffe with Kaitlyn and Isolde seeked her out, assuming that she was mage to help Conner but Eamon found out and sentenced her something not very pretty (something I won't give away for you'll find out) but Duncan intervened which was how she became a warden. Ell is a shapeshifter mage as well

My Hawke in this is Oriana, who romanced Merrill and she focuses on healing magic, not being a fan of blood magic but accepts it for Merrill's sake.

So Hawke/Merrill and Inquisitor Adaar/Josephine are kind of background relationship with Alistair/Ell being the main focus but there will be scenes of the former two if you wish

Also another warning is that there is a tad Cullen bashing on Ell's part being that his obsession with her on the tower was something she found SUPER creepy


Her face was pressed against the fur of Oriana's armour, arms draped across the Champion's front loosely. Soft snores fell from the Hero of Ferelden's mouth, her elf ears twitching as she slept. The cool breeze of the frostbacks drifted past, ruffling the few blonde strands framing her face. Hawke heaved a sigh, causing Elarinya's body to move up and down from it.

"Is she still asleep?" Hawke wondered to the people around her, all of whom glanced back to her.

"Yep, she completely knocked out," Varric informed his friend, a wry smile on his lips as the mage hugged Hawke more tightly now, whom fidgeted slightly but tried her best not to move.

"The poor dear, I imagine that that ghastly cave wasn't the most delightful place to sleep in," Vivienne commented, sounding more empathetic than any of them have ever heard before for she was normally quite condescending in her tone.

"Plus it was probably hard to sleep with the fake Calling singing in her head. Can't imagine that it's pretty," Hawke grumbled lowly, feeling quite sorry for her friend.

The elf hadn't had the best luck these past ten years to tell the truth. In fact, she probably didn't have any luck at all.

"You should wake her up now, we're nearly at Skyhold," The Inquisitor, Nazena Adaar, commanded from her position in front of them all on her Bog Unicorn that made everyone a little uneasy.

Removing one hand off the hand, Oriana peeled Elarinya's arm away from her stomach, keeping ahold of it so that she could shake it.

"Ell, mate, wake up," She shook her arm again when her words didn't piece her bubble.

This time, she sent a small electric bolt through her friends arm, which succeeded this time.

Ell jolted awake, nearly toppling over off the horse if not for her other arm still latched onto Hawke's waist. Her eyes flew open before instantly squinting them as the bright white light scorched her eyes. When her blue eyes adjusted to the light, they narrowed to glare at the back of Oriana's head.

In retaliation, she sent a shock back to Oriana through the tips of her fingers, her lip quirking up into a mischievous smirk. Oriana let out a shriek that had everyone whip their heads back to the pair. Varric and Nazena were amused whilst Vivienne and Cassandra were the opposite.

"Ell! You bugger! That hurt!" Ell snickered quietly at Oriana's whining, childlike tone, her hand covering her mouth to make sure she didn't have a full blown laugh.

After all she was the 'Hero of Ferelden' she needed to act somewhat presentable in front of everyone.

"Serves you right! Would it kill you wake me up nicely?" She retorted, a cheeky grin on her face, this time jabbing her friend on the shoulder lightly.

Before Oriana could answer, there was a noise that came from someone that sounded rather disgusted.

"How is it that the pair of you made decisions that will change Thedas for centuries w-when you act like children!" It was Cassandra, who seemed rather distressed over their behaviour.

Ell found the Seeker extremely terrifying, afraid that if she made eye contact with her that she would be quaking in her boots.

"Did you hear that Oriana? We act like children," Ell mocked Cassandra's words, feeling a tad miffed that the Seeker would call them out on simply having fun.

Oriana's piercing green eyes glanced back at Ell, her eyebrows raised in fake shock.

"What? You mean to tell me that I act like a little squirt who can't tell their left from their right! Absurd! I demand the biggest castle in all of Thedas as an apology!" Oriana demanded, her voice pretending to be like a stuck up noble.

"Don't forget an endless supply of cheese,"

"That too,"

At this point, Cassandra's entire face was mottled red, her scars hidden from its dark shade. Ell felt a bit guilty for the woman, whom probably had this imagine that her and Hawke were these strong warriors that were stone faced, took everything seriously and commanded everyone with strong authority.

Yet her and Hawke were still only young, she twenty eight and Hawke thirty two, and they still both had their immature side. Ell was actually surprised when her playful side would come out, after all, during the fifth blight, she had to grow up quite quickly when she had to save Ferelden from the Archdemon. Before memories of those days could come back to cause her pain, Nazena announced that they had neared the Skyhold bridge.

Ell leaned her head to the side, having to stretch her neck past Oriana's pauldrons to see what was so impressive about this Skyhold. Her jaw fell open and her eyes widened when she finally saw it.

Skyhold was beautiful from the outside, she could only imagine what was inside. She was certainly jealous, this was far more impressive that Amaranthine, its own significance a pale comparison to Skyhold's greatness. The Inquisitor was truly that of a lucky sort if she managed to snag a place like this.

"Holy Andraste's tits!" She exclaimed and in the corner of her eye, she nearly saw Cassandra fall from her horse whilst everyone but Vivienne chuckled.

"Quite impressive isn't it?" The soft voice of Nazena came.

"You can bloody say that again,"

The group remained silent as they reached the open gates and Ell could see a large gathering of people eagerly awaiting at the entrance. Suddenly, Ell's stomach churned at the masses, her positive mood fading. Despite all her years of endless meeting with people and through all her experiences, she hated crowds with a passion because it reminded her of what happened ten years ago in Redcliffe when…

No, she couldn't allow herself to think about that, not know when she was in an only ready panicked state as it was. However, as the finally reached the gate, voices came and her stomach churned with trepidation. All were cheering over the Inquisitor's and Hawke's return and it seemed that they hadn't noticed her yet, something she was thankful for. She noticed that Oriana was about to slide off of their shared horse but she shot her hand out to grab her before she could.

"Ori, wait a second," She murmured, eyes peering off her shoulder, observing the crowd with narrowed eyes.

"What? What is it?" Oriana lent her head back, covering Ell's view from their gathered audience.

"Can we wait until they all leave?" Ell hissed, hand tightening on her friend's arm subconsciously, her nerves getting the better of her.

Honestly, she didn't want to make a big fuss over her return, knowing that word would spread. After all, she had been missing for more than half a year, news would probably to every corner of Thedas and she didn't quite want Clarel to find her anytime soon. She wanted to keep a low profile.

"Us staying here is causing a scene!" Oriana mumbled

"If I shapeshift here everyone will notice!"

"Oh please Ell! Just get off the horse, everyone's looking at me and my good looks anyways," At that Ell rolled her eyes, Oriana's humour and wit never being too far whenever she spoke.

Reluctantly she let Oriana's arm fall from grip, huffing like a child, now understanding where Cassandra was coming from earlier.

Before she did anything, her fingers curled around her hood, pulling it over her head to hide her golden hair and hopefully her face. It was hard to miss with giant pointy ears and a deep, visible scar that ran from the left of her forehead down her eye (where it was now blind due to the cut) to the very middle of her chin.

Once, she did that, she swung her left leg over the horse's back and hopped off the worst the best one could with only fully intact foot, the other gone, replaced by some fancy mechanism that allowed her to walk still. She didn't question how it was made nor who had the skill to construct such a feat, as along as she could move, that's all that mattered. Underneath her hood, her eyes surveyed the view in front of her, finding that everyone had gone back to whatever they were doing before.

She let out a breath she didn't realise she was holding, glad that she wasn't going to be the centre of attention anytime soon.

"Honestly, Ell, you're so dramatic, you should perform at an Antivan theatre, hear they're the best in the world," Oriana snarked, ambling towards a set of stairs, Ell hurrying to follow her.

"Piss off, I'm trying to keep a low profile, something I have been doing for the past ten months. Or have I been hiding across all of Thedas just for some fun," Ell retorted back just as sharply, two could play at this game.

Oriana didn't reply as they continued to journey up the steps though Ell knew that the woman was rolling her eyes.

She turned her own to the group of four that were waiting underneath a broad arch. One, a woman whom seemed Antivan, was dressed in a gold ruffled outfit that shined brighter than the sun itself. She was talking in hushed whisper to the Inquisitor, a blush on her cheeks as the Qunari gave a small, bashful smile. It was an image she knew too well and made a heart sting at the sight.

Instead, she moved her eyes over to the next. This time it was blonde man, who had chestnut pauldrons that rivalled Hawke's own, his head turned to the side as they made their approach. A sudden wave of disgust rolled over her as his face came into full view and she could feel her ear twitch underneath her hood, having no idea who this man was at all.

"If you are trying to hide yourself, you are doing an awful job, cherié," The amused, sing song voice that had a steeling edge to it came and Ell's lips stretched until her sharp teeth were bare. Her head turned to the side, her hood falling as she made eye contact with her closest friend, whom matched in expression.

"Leliana!" She practically squealed, quickening her steps as much as she could in order to meet her friend.

Once she did, she all but leapt into Leliana's open arms, hooking her own underneath the woman's arms, pressing her face to the side to rest on her chest. Leliana's grip on her was just as strong as her own. Ell nearly collapsed into her friend's arms there and then, eyes pricking with tears. Oh how she had missed her dear friend. The last time she had seen her had been more than three years ago in Amaranthine when Divine Justina had been visiting. From then on, they had only communicated through letters, which had become more scarce each time, both very busy with their high roles that never lacked for work.

When she had heard about the destruction of the conclave and Divine Justina's death as she passed through Antiva City eight months ago, Ell had nearly toppled over then and there, her mind whirring to the worst immediately. After losing so much to the world, she wasn't quite sure what she would do if she had lost her best friend, the only one she knew that she could trust anymore along with Oriana of course. Thankfully, when she had met with the latter, her mind was put at slight ease but it didn't end the anxiety with whatever Leliana was doing in that moment. She inhaled deeply and Ell's nose was assaulted honey, wine and … birds?

Figuring that their hug and drawn on for quite a while now, Ell drew back with a perplexed expression on her sun kissed face.

"Leliana why do you smell like bird shit?" She questioned bluntly, that caused two people behind her to gasp at her forwardness and vulgarness, whilst two others snorted.

Though what mattered was Leliana's reaction, which consisted of a mix between a laugh and a sob, her eyes shining with mirth and tears. Her friend's gloved hands came to rest on either side of her face, squeezing her cheeks together like a loving a mother did to her child.

"Oh how I've missed you cherié," Ell wiggled her face out of Leliana's hands, pushing them away lightly in a teasing way.

"Me too, cherié," She mocked Leliana's accent, though the smile was stuck to her face like glue, her cheeks hurting from not having moved this way in a while.

Leliana rolled her sky blue eyes before settling back down on her friend, her eyes alive.

"Now, why don't we get you presentable before we doing anything first," Leliana suggested, her smile downplaying to a slight smirk.

"If presentable means a bath and a change of clothes then that's a bloody good idea,"