Part 1
Evie

Her eyes fluttered open once, then closed. She tried again to open them, but they wouldn't obey. She saw blasts of green, and falling sky, and death when her eyes were closed. "Make it stop!" She wanted to scream, but her voice wouldn't cooperate. All she could hear in her mind was the voice of the Divine. "Help! Someone please! Help me!" She tried to move, but her body was unresponsive. Unwillingly, she felt herself slip back into a restless sleep.

***
When Evie Trevelyan's eyes flitted open and stayed open, and she glanced around the room. It was a small cabin, and she was on a bed. She heard what sounded like a door creak open, and the shuffling of feet entering the room. She was greeted by a boy throwing himself on the floor, begging for her blessing, and saying Seeker Cassandra Pentaghast was waiting for her.

Slowly, with unsure footing, Evie made her way out of the cabin, and into the town of Haven. Crowds lined the streets saluting, offering allegiance, and referring to her as the Herald of Andraste. She found her way to the War Room, and immediate dropped her hands on the table, holding herself steady.

Chancellor Roderick was doing what he did best - yelling. Evie tried to block him out. Something about how she was the one to blame, and that thing on her hand… That thing. She grabbed her left hand and stared at it. There, blazing across the palm of her hand, was a large gash. She hadn't been aware of how much her hand ached until that moment.

"I did everything I could to close the Breach. It almost killed me." She heard herself say.

The Chancellor turned and aimed his fury at her. "And yet you live! A convenient result insofar as you're concerned."

Cassandra and Leliana, the spymaster that had come to Evie's aid, fought back. Evie began mustering her strength to be able to stand up to him. Cassandra slammed a large book down on the table between all of them. As she did, she invoked the memory of the Divine, and that of the Inquisition of Old. "As of this moment, I declare the Inquisition reborn!" Roderick surrendered and left the war room.

The preparations for war began. Troops began arriving at Haven daily. An Antivan ambassador, Josephine Montilyet was barking orders at anyone who walked by. The former Templar Knight-Commander from Kirkwall had joined the ranks of the small group of soldiers, and he led the training on a daily basis. Evie often found herself drawn to watching the troops work. They were slow and clumsy, but she observed improvements daily. Commander Cullen Rutherford was an excellent trainer.

Often, Cassandra could be found among the men and women of the infantry. She seemed comfortable with them. Evie had taken to making sure she went through the training yard daily to speak with Cassandra, and to observe the training. Lady Evie Trevelyan had been born among nobles, and should have had a decent amount of knowledge about what was happening around her. Instead, she grew up in the Ostwick Mage Tower, and battles were not common. She tried to study their moves the way she studied magic; watching, listening, drinking in each movement with her eyes.

"I could teach you, you know."

"Hmm?" Evie jumped. How long had someone been watching her watch them? She looked behind her, discovering the man known as The Lion of Ferelden standing there.

"You come down to watch them train every day. I can teach you to fight."

"Me? With them? No, I don't think that's a good idea." She rubbed her left hand while looking down at the unhealing gash on it. "Besides, I couldn't hold a sword up if… well… if my life depended on it."

He smirked and let out a chuckle. "Well, at least let me show you how to hold one." He motioned to someone to bring two training swords. While she looked like she might drop hers on her toes, his appeared to be a natural extension of him. She attempted to mimic his ease in holding it.

"Now… attack me." She did, rather ungracefully, the sword hanging heavy in her hands. She wasn't weak, but the feeling was unnatural for her. He sidestepped her easily, and hit the sword out of her hand.

"I could do better if I used my staff… I won't be using a sword anyway." She tossed the sword into the snow, and picked her staff off the ground. She reminded herself to choose spells carefully - this wasn't like a dulled sword. There were no practice spells she could cast that wouldn't injure him.

They readied themselves. This time, he struck first, and with no warning. She defended with her staff, then swung it around to try and take his legs out from under him. Cullen was ready for her, and jumped over the staff. She reached out and struck him with a gentle ice spell. He had been trained to work through minor spells, and continue swinging his sword. Attack, block, parry, attack, parry. They continued the dance of combatants for several minutes, unaware of the crowd that had gathered to observe.

Finally, he swung his shield in an attempt to disarm her, and wound up hitting her lower leg. She cried out and fell to the ground. Caught up in the adrenaline, he tackled her and pinned her down, knocking the staff out of reach, and had a Spell Purge prepared just in case.

The crowd cheered, breaking Cullen's concentration. Evie moaned. "Cullen… Cullen, I think you broke my leg."

"Maker's breath. No…" He kicked himself off her. "Where did I…?" He patted her shins while she sat up. "Oh, Herald, I -"

She sucked in air.

"I am so, so sorry."

"Ow! There! Ohhhh…" She fell back into the snow. He continued to poke at her leg. "COMMANDER! That HURTS."

He let a cockeyed grin escape. She hissed in again, but this time, it wasn't caused by the pain. Her close proximity to him was not lost on her. "It isn't broken, just badly bruised. You'll have a pretty big bruise for a while."

"A healer now, are you?" She couldn't take her eyes off him. The weeks spent watching him from yards away, and always talking with him at a professional distance, did not prepare her for this. She never got to see him smile. It was different, and… nice.

He stood, and offered her his aid in getting up. She didn't want to appear as bruised as her ego felt, so she stood mostly of her own accord, leaning on him only when she had to put weight on the injured leg to stand. He was still standing close enough that she could feel his hot breath on her hair. When she was sure she was steady, she looked for her staff. Cullen had it ready for her to take, and she was sure she'd need the support to get to the healer to get something to dull the pain. He offered to walk with her.

"No, no thank you Commander. You've done quite enough for one day."

As she hobbled away, she heard him chuckle softly. And then, the familiar orders were being shouted again.

"Attack! Block! Parry! Attack! Parry!"