Note: In my story Rise of the Wardens the only Warden's origin that was never really discussed was Tabris'. The reason is that it would have played out almost exactly as it did in-game, and I didn't want to write that. Later on I started of thinking of ways to change it up, and make it more original, eventually I was able to put this together. If you haven't read Rise of the Wardens, then don't worry, all you need to know going into this is that Eebon Cousland was recruited at the same time as Alistair and has been a Grey Warden for about six months now.

Dedication: This story is dedicated to a fellow writer, LyriumLove. At first I really hadn't planned on writing this at all, but while discussing ideas, she demanded that I write this, so here it is.

Elven alienages were usually somewhat dour places. Very few of its denizens had respectable jobs, and fewer still had coin to spare on aesthetics or celebrations. Weddings were different however. The long standing tensions between the humans and elves had forced the less fortunate elves to almost exclusively rely on themselves, and so when there was a wedding literally the entire alienage threw in and contributed something. This time however it was two weddings, so it was twice the celebration. Alarith, practically the only elf in all of Denerim who owned his own business had pitched in and nearly emptied his supply of ale and other alcohols to supply the celebration of Kylae and Soris' weddings.

There was really nothing unusual about Kylae at first glance, she looked just like every other elf maiden, perhaps a bit undernourished, but at the same time lithe and athletic looking. Kylae had a lightweight build and usually kept her almost black hair pulled back in a ponytail. On second glance however, one could tell that the young Kylae Tabris was anything but average. There were scars on her hands and on the insides of her forearms , clear signs of a knife fights or dagger practicing, or in Kylae's case, both.

The weapons and martial training had started when Kylae was at the tender age of eight years old, unfortunately, Kylae's trainer and mother, Adaia, had disappeared when Kylae was only twelve. She wasn't dead, despite what Cyrion, Kylae's father had said, Kylae knew that her mother was still alive. She would never forget the last time when her mother had come into her room late at night, sweeping her up in her arms, repeatedly kissing her forehead and saying over and over again 'I love you… I love you so much!' And then she was gone. After her mother's disappearance Kylae hadn't had anyone to mentor her in knife fighting, or other combat skills, so she had struck out on her own, using her skills in subtlety to pull off risky thefts with her cousins, and betting on herself in pit fights. She'd killed before, both inside and out of the fighting pits, dwarves, humans, elves, it didn't really matter to her, as long as she managed to gain some coin out of it. Her cousins, Shianni and Soris, who might as well have been her sister and brother both knew about her thievery and killing, her father didn't, and Kylae was happy to have it that way, she didn't want Cyrion to know under any circumstances. No matter what she did, she would always be the innocent daughter to her father, and that was exactly how Kylae wanted it.

Kylae looked up from the scars on her forearms to her cousin, Soris, as he brought her another clay mug filled to the brim with ale. "Drink up cousin!" He said happily, "This might be our last time to do so as free singles!"

She accepting the drink and took several swallows before saying, "So whaddaya know 'bout our betrothed?"

"Nothin' really." Soris answered. "I know they come from Highever, and that your man is better off than most… but nothing else."

Kylae smirked. "Funny how ya know more 'bout my betrothed than your own."

"Please don't bring that up." Soris begged, "It makes me imagine things when you do, and not in a good way."

Kylae grinned evilly, "Like what? Like how she jus' might look like the wrong side of a dog?"

"Kylae!" Soris shouted, "Would ya stop that?!"

"Hey, whatcha doin' to my cousin!"

Both Soris and Kylae looked up to see Shianni. Aside from the fact that Shianni's hair was flaming red and Kylae's was a very dark brown, the two of them could have easily passed for sisters, twins even, and they acted like it too.

"Me?" Kylae said, adopting an expression of childlike innocence. "I wasn't doin' nothin'… and he's our cousin."

Shianni smirked and shook her head at Kylae before sitting down with her two cousins. Kylae tipped her head back and drained her ale in one long pull, sighing contentedly as she set the now empty mug back down.

Kylae asked, "So I take it you don't know anything 'bout this Nelaros I'm being forced to marry do you?"

Shianni shook her head again. "No, but I hear that he's dreamy."

Kylae only rolled her eyes, then lifted her empty cup and shouted, "Hey… HEY! Refill here!" She waited until another elf had given her the refill before she said, "What 'bout Highever… since I'm gonna be dragged off there."

Both Shianni and Soris shrugged. "Just what travelers tell us." Shianni answered.

Then Soris added, "I did hear that the alienage there is much smaller than this one, but apparently the human lord over there… well, they say he's a good man."

"Pah!" Kylae spat as she began guzzling ale again. "No such thing as a good shem!"

The elven cousins drank and laughed, and they talked about all the fun the three of them had had together, and the trouble they'd got themselves in, and then how they got themselves out. Kylae had always been something of a ring leader to them, always willing to venture out into both the market and the palace districts to liberate the rich from their unfairly earned coin and belongings, and with her martial training, Kylae had caused more than a few broken bones and bloodied noses. Shianni excelled at causing distractions, she had a big mouth, and the red hair only helped. But on the other hand, Shianni could also very convincingly play the opposite role and appear a doe-eyed submissive woman, all depending on what the scheme called for. She could fight as well, since everything that Kylae learned she passed onto her cousins, Shianni lacked Kylae's enthusiasm on the issue of combat, and Soris was a total disaster when it came to blades. Soris was the voice of reason, and in the words of the other two cousins, a 'kill-joy'. Soris was always reluctant when it came to crime, although Kylae and Shianni both knew how apply the right pressure to get their hesitant cousin to bend. With Soris' cautious nature however, he'd more than once saved the more eager women from getting arrested by the city guards.

Shianni was starting to sway drunkenly, and Kylae wasn't far behind when another girl approached the group of cousins. "Soris," She smiled sweetly. "Do ya wanna dance with me?"

"I…" He slowly drew the word out, then looked to his kin for support.

"Whatcha lookin' at me for?" Kylae grinned, "Dance with the girl! Maker knows she likes ya, and pretty soon you're gonna be on lockdown for the rest of your life!"

"Yeah!" Shianni chimed in, "Go for it Soris!"

Nessa was considered by most of the male population to be one of the prettiest single elves in the alienage, and was only a year or two younger than the cousins, she'd made some rather unsubtle moves towards Soris, although up till now at least he'd always been too shy to take advantage of it.

Both cousins laughed as Soris was hauled away. Kylae drained her ale again and held up the empty mug. "Hey!" She yelled for another refill.

"Haven't you had enough?" Shianni asked.

"Look who's talking!" Kylae laughed, then glanced back at Soris and the auburn haired girl he was now dancing with. "How long has Nessa been tryin' to get with Soris?"

"Beats me." Shianni shrugged, "Long enough though… good for her. How far do you think the two of them are gonna take it tonight?"

Kylae snorted, "I'm ain't that curious."

Eebon Cousland jumped off the still moving peddler's cart just outside of Denerim. "Thank you." He called to the traveling merchant, just as he dug a few silver coins out of a pouch and passed them to the man as a token of appreciation. "Safe journey."

"Eebon!" A third man called who still sat in the back of the cart. "Remember that true talent is not always in the most obvious of places. Don't hesitate to search through the slums, the alienage, even the prisons. And don't come back until you've found at least one recruit."

"As you command, Duncan." Eebon bowed his head. "Hopefully either the name of the Grey Wardens or the my own name will carry some weight." He fixed a large greatsword across his back and watched as the cart started to move away. "Good luck with the Dalish." He called loudly, "And be careful, you never know what stories about them are true and which are lies."

Duncan only nodded in answer as the cart drew further away and lifted a hand in farewell. Eebon returned the gesture, then made his way towards the large gates of Denerim. He could see the spikes over the gate and along the walls where the Alamarri barbarians in the old days would have placed the heads of their enemies and criminals, a tradition that had long since been discontinued.

Eebon himself was an imposing figure. He stood several inches taller than most people, and even with the suit of scaled armor concealing his physique was obvious that he was a powerful man, the heavy greatsword across his back only gave more credence to his physical power. Unlike most professional soldiers, Eebon's hair was long, almost touching his shoulders. Long hair tended to get caught and tangled up in a helmet or chainmail coif, perhaps it was a touch of nobleman's pride. Despite his intimidating stature however, Eebon had a friendly looking face and smiled easily, his steel blue eyes had a penetrating look, like he could determine a person's entire worth just by glancing at them. The guard who was standing sentry at the gate sensed this about him, and averted his own gaze, remaining silent as Eebon passed into the city. His first stop would be the military stronghold of Fort Drakon, he wondered if the training the Denerim soldiers received would equal the rigorous training regime of Highever.

"Wake up…" Shianni drew the two words out, making her voice high pitched and child-like. "Time to wake up cousin!"

Kylae groaned and turned her face to the wall. "Go away!" She moaned as she grabbed at her forehead. "And close the damn window! It's too bright!"

"Kylae…" Shianni tried to keep herself from giggling, "It's noon already!"

"Noon?" Kylae repeated, and rolled over again to look at her surrogate sister through one eye. "You serious?"

"Completely." Shianni confirmed, "Now get up! It's a big day today!"

Another groan answered the red-head. "Today is recover from yesterday-day! Go away… my head is pounding!"

"Shouldn't have drank so much!" Shianni giggled again. "And I gotta surprise for ya… your husband-to-be, Nelaros… he's here early! And the stories were true! He is dreamy!"

Kylae's only response was to roll over so she was face down and bury her face in the pillow. "Quit joshin' me!" She said, her voice badly muffled from the pillow. "He ain't gettin' here for 'nother week! At the very least gimme five more minutes!"

"Well what can I say? He arrived early!" Shianni beamed. "And fine… I'll give ya five more minutes, if you're not awake by then I'm resorting to the cold water… Well… maybe more than five minutes, it will give me a chance to get to know Nelaros better!"

"Yeah, well… lemme know how the wedding between the two of you goes!" Kylae mocked as she pulled the blanket over her head and focused on going back to sleep. It would be so hilariously ironic if her dear cousin and betrothed ended up getting married, stranger things had happened before. 'And it's my right to dream!' Kylae smiled to herself at the thought as she drifted back onto the seas of sleep.

Kylae didn't know how long she'd been sleeping before a bucket of ice cold water was dumped over her head, and she suddenly woke up, sputtering like a drowning woman. "Shianni!" Kylae yelled after recovering from her moment of panic, "What in sod-all was that for!?"

Shianni instinctively ducked to avoid the boot that Kylae threw at her. "Well… I did tell you that I was goin' to resort to using water if you weren't up in five minutes… and it's been an hour by the way."

"An' ya got my bed all wet too!" Kylae raged.

"Stop your whining, cous!" Shianni grinned. "Now get your ass out of bed so we can get you out of those wet clothes and into your wedding dress."

Kylae growled one last time and then finally pulled herself out of bed and began stripping out of the clothes she'd been wearing since the previous day consisting of a patched and colorless dress. It was comfortable attire however, if only because it was several years old and so worn that it was threadbare in some places. Shianni glanced at her cousin and briefly analyzed her.

"Hey, what's that for?" Kylae said, noticing Shianni's interest.

"Nothin'." Shianni answered. "Jus' makin' sure that you don't have no fresh bruises or scars on ya… That could make for an awkward conversation with your new husband tonight. Speakin' of which, what are ya gonna tell him when he asks where ya got the scars?"

Kylae shrugged. "I dunno. Prob'ly the truth… He's gonna find out sooner or later."

Shianni sighed and handed her surrogate sister the wedding clothes and began helping her to put it on. At first Kylae was muttering angrily under her breath and cursing, but she soon stopped and began admiring herself in the small, cracked mirror. The clothing consisted of a pattered grey-green skirt that came halfway below her knees, and a white silk shirt with the shoulders left open and with green and brown embroidery down the center and around the body in several places. As Shianni began tightening the laces that ran down the back, Kylae moved her hands down the front of the outfit.

"Oh…" Kylae said as she continued to touch the expensive clothing. "I look… well… I look like a…"

"Like a bride?" Shianni suggested.

Kylae rolled her eyes and groaned.

Eebon glanced around the alienage square and swallowed. He hadn't been to the alienage in Highever very often, but it was obvious that the Highever elves were better off. From the moment he'd crossed the bridge spanning the River Drakon and stepped into the alienage he'd received nothing but hateful and even hostile looks from the elves, and it was clear that if he wasn't wearing a suit of scaled armor or had been without the massive greatsword strapped to his back then he would have been attacked.

He did have to admit that the square did look somewhat festive, with colorful decorations almost everywhere he looked, and the trunk of the gigantic tree in the center of the square being painted as high up as the elves could reach. Eebon wondered if it was some sort of elven holiday. He really didn't know if there was such a thing. To the best of his knowledge the elves had always celebrated the same holidays and festivals that the humans did, but perhaps things were different in the Denerim alienage.

Not far away stood two elves, a man and a woman, who seemed to be the center of attention at the moment. The male elf had short-cut blonde hair and appeared to be a bit more broad shouldered than most elves. The woman looked a bit odd with overly large ears that flayed out to the side too far.

"Would you be the new Grey Warden that Duncan told me to expect?"

Eebon turned to look at who had spoken. It was an elder elf, his hair turned completely grey with a single braid to either side of his craggy, aged face. The elf smiled oddly enough, this seemed to be the first elf in the alienage who didn't overtly hate his presence.

"Yes, my name is Eebon." He almost included his last name before remembering that Grey Wardens were strongly encouraged to leave their old lives behind them, and as such rarely used their surnames. Eebon didn't even a clue what Duncan's family name was. But as he came from one of the highest and most respected families in all of Ferelden, it was a difficult practice for him. "And who would you be?"

"I am Valendrian." The elf answered, and the shock on his face was plainly readable when Eebon bowed politely. " I am… the elder here." He continued after recovering from his surprise. "Duncan wrote to me a couple weeks ago, telling me that he would be sending one of his junior Wardens to look for recruits."

"Indeed." Eebon said as he straightened. "Would you happen to know of anyone suitable for the Wardens?"

Valendrian stroked his chin as he thought for moment. "Well, there is Garth… a bit of a brawler if you ask me. He's a fiery one, who's spent more than a night or two in the dungeon for his spirit."

Eebon noted that Valendrian cleverly avoided saying anything about how Garth was obviously picking fights with humans.

"Then there is Rammus, a Rivaini elf who has recently come to live with us…" He lowered his voice as he said, "I suspect his life was a bit more… colorful than he lets on. And finally there is Kylae and Shianni, the cousins who are a constant headache to this old man."

Eebon lifted an eyebrow in curiosity. "How is that?"

"Well… Kylae's mother fought during the Orlesian occupation, and after Kylae was born she began to teach her all she knew. And then Kylae taught Shianni. Ever since they were little, along with their cousin Soris, they've been getting into trouble. Mostly harmless mind you, but sometimes… not so harmless." Valendrian stopped and pointed behind Eebon. "Speaking of who…" He said.

Eebon turned just as two she-elves left their house. The first was a red-head, pretty by elven standards, although Eebon had never been much into elven women… And then he saw the second elf and for a few moments he was sure he could hear his heart beating in his ears. 'She is beautiful!' And it wasn't just because of the dress she was wearing that forced him to quickly reevaluate his stance on elven women, it was everything about her from the way her dark brown, almost black hair fell down to her shoulders, the cocky half-smile that was pasted on her face, the shape of her body beneath the form fitting dress, it was in the self-confident, sure-footed stride as she followed her cousin, it was everything.

Valendrian loudly cleared his throat and Eebon quickly shook his head and looked back at the hahren. "That would be Kylae." The old elf stated. "And today is her wedding day, along with her cousin, Soris. So while I'm more than aware of how you can conscript anyone you like into your order, I would ask that you spare her, family is everything to us elves, and it's all we have."

Eebon raised his eyebrows in suspicion as he looked at Valendrian. "Did you plan it this way? Marry off a promising candidate to keep her from becoming a Warden? That would especially make sense since you've known that was coming for several weeks now."

Valendrian was smart enough to not answer the accusation, he only looked up at the much taller human and awaited his own answer.

"Very well." Eebon finally agreed, trying hard not to turn his gaze back to the beautiful Kylae. "Kylae will be off limits."

"Thank you Warden Eebon." Valendrian said, "And now if you'll excuse me, I have my own duties to attend to." The elf was again shocked as Eebon once again bowed politely.

Eebon leaned a shoulder against the tree and crossed his arms over his chest, he considered going to seek out one of the candidates that Valendrian had mentioned, although it wasn't long before his eyes drifted back to Kylae. The beautiful she-elf was now talking with the blonde boy-elf, and Eebon assumed that it was her betrothed. Eebon sighed and shifted his weight to one leg. 'I might as well stick around a while longer.' He told himself. 'I've never even seen an elven wedding before.'

A bout of drunken laughter caused him to turn his head towards the opposite side of the tree just in time to see Vaughan Kendalls, along with two of his sycophantic friends, stagger through the alienage. 'Oh no… not this drunken idiot again!' Eebon couldn't stop himself from snarling. He'd only met Vaughan on one occasion before, when his father, Bryce Cousland, had taken him along for a political meeting in Denerim with Vaughan's father, Urien Kendals, the Arl of Denerim. Vaughan had promptly gotten drunk early in the evening and couldn't keep his hands off one of the servant girls to the point where Eebon was certain he was either trying to assault her or rape her… or possibly both. He'd stopped after Eebon had threatened to beat him bloody and Urien had made it clear he had no intention of interfering. Eebon's hands curled into fists at the memory, and he hoped it would come to that again… he doubted it however.

The groom and bride to be, Nelaros and Valora, made their excuse about having to prepare for the wedding and disappeared along with Valendrian into his home. Kylae briefly wondered what the three of them were discussing as she turned to look at Soris. "Well," She said, "He seems… nice… I guess."

Soris shook his head and chuckled quietly, "So maybe marriage won't be the prison you were afraid it would be."

"Maybe not." Kylae relented.

"And Valora." Soris shrugged. "Yes, she looks a bit odd… but I could get used to it. And I think I like her."

"You just met her!" Kylae teased as she jabbed him in the ribs.

"Yeah, so?" Soris rubbed his side where his cousin and roughly poked him, then his face turned sad. "I am going to miss you Kylae. It won't be the same without you around."

Kylae snorted.

"For one thing it will be a lot quieter!" Soris laughed and Kylae joined in, then the two of them hugged each other.

"If I ever had a brother," Kylae said quietly, "I'd want him to be just like you, Soris."

The moment between the surrogate siblings was ruined when they heard one of the bridesmaids named Nola gasp out of surprise and horror before saying, "No, let me go! Please!"

Kylae and Soris released each other and Kylae snarled in hatred, she'd seen Vaughan enough times in her life, and had heard more than enough stories about him, but so far she'd never had the bad luck to have to deal with him. But now it looked like that was about to change. Kylae touched the hilt of the dagger that was strapped to her leg under the dress, she never left home without it!

Nola finally succeeded in pulling away from Vaughan and instantly disappeared into the crowd. Vaughan and his two friends laughed drunkenly. Then Vaughan took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Do you smell that my friends?" He said, "The air is just right for whoring! Each of you grab one… it's going to be a good day today!"

"Get out of our alienage!" Kylae spat. "While you're still able to walk, and before we make you leave!"

Vaughan gave another drunken laugh. "What's this?" He said, "A blushing bride no doubt?" He staggered closer and had the audacity to lean over and smell her hair. It took every ounce of Kylae's self-control not to pull up the dress, unsheath the dagger, and then plunge it into his gut before twisting it, so she settled for punching him in the sternum. Vaughan staggered back two steps before rubbing his chest and saying, "And a feisty little one at that… oh I'll break you of that!"

'That's it!' Kylae mentally growled and started going for the dagger. Soris grabbed her at the same time to keep her from drawing the weapon, and then both their eyes shot wide open at the scene unfolding in front of them.

Shianni came up behind Vaughan and reaching up tapped him on the shoulder with two fingers, the much taller human turned around and at seeing the red-headed elf a cruel smile began to play across his face. It turned into unbelieving shock as Shianni swung the jug she'd been holding in the other hand around with full force and crashed it into his head. Vaughan staggered back and forth for a few steps before slowing moving a hand to the side of his head where the bottle had impacted. "Ouch…" He said distantly, and then promptly fell over backwards into the muddy street.

Kylae couldn't hold it in any longer and let out a loud hooting laugh, she was the only person in the alienage square who was laughing, everyone else was frozen in shock.

"What have you done?" One of Vaughan's sycophants said, stooping by his side. "Do you have any idea who this is?"

"I sure sodding do!" Kylae snarled, answering for Shianni. "And if you don't get him out of here right now then we're gonna do worse to you!"

The two lordlings quickly decided to take her advice and scooped up their unconscious friend and made their way out of the alienage. As if on cue, Valendrian came back out of his house with Nelaros and Valora.

Valora said, "We heard something of a commotion. What happened out here?"

"Umm…" Soris looked for the right way to put it. "The arl's son came by… and it seems like he had a bit too much to drink. But he's gone now."

Valendrian looked around at each of the three cousins before touching his temple with two fingers and slowly shaking his head, he could already feel another headache coming on. "Very well." He sighed tiredly, "Let's get on with the wedding, come along."

Just as Soris started to follow the Hahren, Kylae grabbed his arm and nodded towards the Vhenadhal, "What does that look like to you?" She asked.

"Another shem?"

"Very observant…" Kylae said sarcastically. "And shem spells trouble. Come-on, let's get rid of him before the wedding starts. I'd rather not have any more interruptions."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Soris asked apprehensively. "I don't know about you, but I've had quiet enough excitement for one day."

Kylae rolled her eyes and started pulling him along. "Come-on you big baby… I'll be right here next to you to make sure the big shem doesn't hurt you!" And pulling her reluctant cousin along, Kylae made her way towards the human who stood leaning against the Vhenadhal. As she came closer however, a funny thing happened. The human pushed himself away from the tree and with a slight flourish of his right hand he bowed, quickly straightening back up and looking over both her and Soris with his eyes, which looked to be forged from blue steel.

"What…" Kylae said, and for some reason she wasn't certain of she lost her train of thought, maybe it was the bow, which had seemed sincere and not all mocking, or perhaps it was the eyes, the eyes that seemed to analyze her entire being and were satisfied with what they say. Relocating her thoughts, Kylae tried to sound intimidating as she said, "What in sod-all are you doing here shem? You get lost or something? You run out of entertainment at your big, fancy house?"

The human didn't take the bait however and answered in a calm voice, "No. I am here on a mission for the Grey Wardens."

Kylae fought to keep her jaw from dropping. "The… Grey Wardens?" She repeated.

"You've heard of us?"

"Yeah, I have… What? You think us elves are stupid, or ignorant, or something?"

"Not at all." He answered. "I'm just not used to people knowing about my order."

"My mother told me a few stories." Kylae replied, and then she saw Soris staring at her out of the corner of her eye. She knew what Soris was thinking, 'Why is she making conversation with a shem now?' And Kylae found that she was wondering the same thing.

Soris said, "Whatever your reasons are for being here, you need to leave now! This isn't a good place for humans. You being here is just going to make trouble for both of our sides?"

The human turned his gaze from Kylae to Soris and said, "Sides? Are we at war now?" He smirked, and Kylae was surprised that she had suppress a laugh herself. "I will be gone before sundown, but I have no intention of leaving before my task is finished.

Kylae looked back to where Nelaros, Valora, and Valendrian were all waiting for the two of them. Even the priestess, Mother Boann was ready to begin. Kylae nudged Soris and motioned with her head that it was time to leave. Soris nodded and wordlessly began to make his way through the crowd, Kylae followed but then stopped after a few steps and looked back at the Grey Warden. "You gonna stick around after the wedding?"

"That's my plan, yes."

"Good. I wanna hear some more about the Wardens. We'll talk more later… hey what's your name anyway?"

"Eebon."

"I'm Kylae."

Eebon grinned. "An honor to meet you."

As she reluctantly turned back towards the wedding that was waiting to start, Kylae suddenly found herself wishing that the wedding was on another day. She wanted to sit and talk to the shem, Eebon. And as crazy as it sounded even to herself, she had a feeling that his Eebon just might be a decent shem. He would still have a long way to go before she'd call him a good shem… but decent might not be too much of a stretch. Kylae had never seen a human be so polite to an elf before, and he was a Grey Warden, part of the same order that her mother had almost become a part of! She definitely wanted to learn more. Even more absurd was that Kylae realized part of her eagerness to talk with him again had been due to his handsomeness. Kylae felt her cheeks flush and shook her head to clear the images that were forming there. Taking her place beside Nelaros she glanced at her almost-husband, then over at Soris with his almost-wife. She had to fight the urge to keep from looking back at Eebon.