"I need you to promise me something," Elissa said. She was staring straight ahead, not looking at the ex-Templar to her left. They sat in a tunnel, resting after their awful fight with the Broodmother. Everyone was trying to clean up as much as they could.
"For you?" Alistair responded with a smile, as he removed his helmet and ran his hand through his sweaty hair. "Anything. You know that."
"At the end…when it's time to…you know…end it..." Elissa peeked at Alistair out of the corner of her eyes. His face paled.
"Oh, you want to talk about that. A pleasant topic, considering where we are," he responded, looking at his armor as he tried again to wipe off some of the grime, blood and…other fluids. "Not exactly morale-boosting talk, you know."
"I need to..." Elissa said softly. "I need to know."
Alistair frowned and looked at his partner. She'd never looked quite so frail before, in spite of the heavy plate armor she was wearing. Unlike the others, she wasn't making any attempt to rid herself of the muck they all felt compelled to wipe off. She just sat there, staring straight ahead.
"What is it? What do you need to know?"
"I need to know that you'll be with me. At the end," she said.
"Elissa…"
"No," she cut him off, firmly. "No, I'm not finished. I need to know that you'll come here with me. And you'll make sure I don't get captured. "
"Oh," Alistair said quietly. "You mean…because of what they do to…"
"Yes." Elissa said. "I won't…I don't want to become that. "
She turned to face him now, finally, and her look was steely. "Alistair, I know you can't promise me…some things. I know we don't really know what our future will hold. You and me… we can't say right now, what will happen…"
"Don't say that…" Alistair started.
"You know it's true." She moved so that she was kneeling in front of him. "We have so much riding on us, on ourdecisions…as Gray Wardens, or even as king of Ferelden..." Alistair started to speak, but she raised her hand to stop him.
"Don't. We can't make a lot of promises to each other right now. I know that, and I'm fine with it. I know you know it too."
He said nothing, looking down at his boots. After a moment, he nodded sadly without looking at her.
"But this one thing…this one thing you CAN promise me. You must. You WILL."
He looked up then. She was staring at him—eyes pleading, hands clenched into fists. He grabbed one of those fists now, and held it with both of his hands.
"Ok, Elissa. I promise you…I'll be here with you at the end." He said, pulling her armored glove off.
"And you'll make sure I don't get captured."
"Yes, I'll make sure."
"No matter what," Elissa said. "…no matter what happens." She looked down. He was holding her bare hand in his own, caressing it.
"No matter what," Alistair repeated softly, and brought her hand to his lips.
"Thank you." She said quietly, as he kissed first the top of her hand, and then turned her hand over and kissed her wrist. She pulled her hand away, and made a move to stand, and walk away.
Alistair grabbed her wrist. "Wait, Elissa…I love you. You know that right?"
"I know." She turned again to face him, and then leaned down to kiss him softly on the lips.
"If that ever changes," she whispered, "I'm still holding you to this promise."
"That, will never change, my love," he whispered back.
She pulled away from his embrace and stood. "That's not something you can promise," she continued. "This is."
And she walked away to join the others.