"Have them check again. Don't want any of those Tevinter bastards getting away. No offence, Krem."

I strained myself trying to listen to the voices around me, my younger brother clinging to me inside the old, fallen tree.

"None taken. At least a bastard knows who his mother was. Puts him one up on you Quinari, right?"

I gasped. A Quinari and a Tevinter working together was the last thing I had ever expected. But of course with the sky torn open, I suppose anything was possible.

"What was that?" I heard a voice ring out from beside the tree.

"What are you going on about, Dalish?" Came another.

As my brother began tugging at my robes, I rested a hand on his back. "Hush, Vhenan."

"A voice. Over here." The voice began growing closer, along with the rustling of footsteps and I held my breath to keep as quiet as possible. The footsteps stopped and I breathed out, only to be met by the splintering of wood by an axe, which quickly gave way.

I screamed and held my brother close. I squeezed my eyes shut tight, opening them to see several faces staring at me. "Please!" I spoke out. "Do not hurt us." Glancing around, I spotted dead Tevinter soldiers littering the beach. "We are not Tevinter. We only wish to-"

"What are you lot doing over here?" I cast my glance upward to the approaching man. He looked down at us and his brow furrowed. "Move! All of you. Let me through." He quickly made his way to us and knelt. "Who are you?"

"Please, ser. I am called Aaleigha. This is my younger brother Phillip. We are from a Dalish clan north of here, in the Free Marches. We only wish to go to Haven. To join the inquisition." I looked down, my nostrils flaring.

The man smiled softly at me. "You've nothing to fear from the Chargers. I am Krem."

"Krem!" Came a voice from behind him. "Tell the men to finish drinking on the road. The Chargers just got hired."

Krem stood and turned to face the voice that I dare not look to. "What about the casks, Chief? We just opened them up! With axes."

"Find a way to seal them. You're Tevinter, right? Try blood magic."

I gasped and grabbed first for Phillip, then my staff on the ground beside me. "You're a maleficar?"

"No!" Krem held his hands out. "No. It's just an ongoing joke with the Chief. I'm not even a Mage."

My face softened as I heard a burst of laughter from the Quinari man. I dropped my head as well as my staff and stood. "Please. I ask that if you are on your way to Haven, you at least take my brother."

A taller man knelt next to Phillip. "Well then Boy, can your little legs keep up?"

I felt my brother cling tighter to my leg. "He doesn't speak your language, Shem." I managed, wrapping a protective arm around him for comfort.

"Enough, Stitches." Krem said, shaking his head. "You'll both come with us. We're headed to Haven ourselves, anyway."

"Thank you, Ser." I swallowed the lump in my throat and breathed a sigh of relief. "We will try to make ourselves useful."


As we approached a large gate, I felt myself let out a soft gasp. I had lived my whole life on Sundermount with my clan and had never been permitted to travel, and the human structures were magnificent. I stared upward at the large stone building looming overhead and protectively reached for Phillip.

"That's the Chantry." Krem informed me, following my gaze. "The place of worship. I can show you the inside later, if you like."

I smiled up at the building with a nod. "I would like that." I looked first to Krem, then to my brother who clung tightly to my leg, still gawking up at the Chantry. "I suppose I should find a place to stay first, though." I took hold of his hand and inhaled deeply. "Thank you again, Krem. We may not have made it without you. Come Vhenan." I tugged my brother toward the gate to Haven and waved good-bye to the chargers.

I stood at the top of a flight of steps looking around when I felt a tug on my tug. "Lethallin!" I looked down to my brother who was pointing to a woman just a few feet away.

The woman looked to us and I immediately grabbed at the boy's free hand. "Din, Da'len! It is not kind to point. Abelas, my lady." I bowed my head, but looked back to her when I noticed a green light being emitted from her left hand. I gasped and knelt with wide eyes. "You're her! The Herald!" I glanced over her, my eyes resting first on her ears, then on the tattoo lining her forehead. "You are Elvhen!"

"Aaleigha?" My eyes widened more. "That is you, isn't it?"

"Yes, Hahren. We have met?" The Herald only grinned and she made her way to where I knelt and reached to help me stand. As she approached, something in the back of my mind reached out to me. "Allena! You're the Herald?" I gave a light chuckle as I threw my arms around her.

"You two know each other, I take it?"

I turned to see Krem standing behind us, his back against a wall.

"We're from the same clan." Allena began, taking a step toward him. "You two know each other as well?"

"We found her and her brother in a fallen tree on the Storm Coast."

"What in the world were you doing there?"

"We were on our way here when we got caught in the crossfire between the Tevinter slavers and the Chargers." I rested my hand on Phillip's shoulder as I spoke. "Thank you for the whole, not killing us thing once again, Krem."

He chuckled with a nod. "Well, now that I know you're friends with the Herald, I imagine it would have caused more than a few issues if we had. Herald, you'll find them a place to stay, won't you?"

"They will be well taken care of."