Elissa followed her mother through the burning halls and into the castle's kitchen. The corridors were choked with smoke and attackers. She gagged on the smell of burning corpses. The blood of her enemies was sticky between her fingers and drying in her hair.

Everywhere she looked she saw the bodies of Highever soldiers, knights, staff and family. Her sister-in-law and her nephew were stabbed in their sleep. The young squires' bodies lay sprawled in the hall where they were cut down by torrents of arrows as they ran. Her valiant old tutor was slaughtered guarding the door with naught cut a cane for a weapon. They found dear Nan's boney form in a still heap on the threshold of her domain. The house elves' bodies were just beyond hers. Feeling a traitor, Elissa followed her mother into the kitchen and stepped over their limp forms without pausing. The soldiers she had sparred with and the knights who had mentored her were fighting and dying to buy time for Elissa and her mother to escape. There was just too much death to react with anything except disbelief and numbness.

She clutched the Cousland sword, her knuckles white on the pommel, and the Highever shield was strapped to her back. She had seen both these family relics before but never wielded them, never thought there would be a need to take them away from Highever.

All this devastation and horror was at the behest of one man, Rendon Howe, and for what? Why, why would he betray his friendship with her family? Why would he undermine Ferelden's battle against the darkspawn hoard? Elissa shook her head.

They found her father lying on the larder floor clutching a stack of kitchen towels to his stomach. Blood formed an ever widening pool around his writhing body. He was weak and teary but their arrival seemed to strengthen him. "Thank the Maker, you're both alive."

Her Mother dropped to her knees beside him. "Bryce! Maker's mercy, what happened?"

"Howe, he attacked me as his men stormed the gate." Death was written in the pained lines on his face.

Elissa turned away and busied herself checking the servant's entrance while her parents talked. She was relieved to find no invaders blocked their escape route, yet. "The way is clear. We need to go."

"And soon," said a voice from the door. They all turned and watched as the visiting Grey Warden stepped in and closed the door behind him. His white surcoat and silver plate mail was smeared with gore but other than a cut lip he seemed to be uninjured.

"Duncan, thank the Maker," her father sighed, "please, take my wife and daughter to safety."

"No! Father you must come with us." Elissa hoped he would at least try, it was a better death than bleeding out on the larder floor.

"Ah, Pup. You know better, I won't survive the standing and I certainly won't be able to slip by Howe's troops."

"I am sorry to say that I agree with your Father, my lady, his wound is a fatal blow." Duncan turned to Teyrn Cousland. "I will see that they reach safety, my Lord, but I must ask something of you in return. Though Highever's fall is terrible, the situation to the south is far graver; I came here for a recruit and the need is desperate. "

"I...I understand." He nodded his permission and looked up into her eyes.

Just last night she'd argued for this chance. She wanted to be a Grey Warden. She wanted to stand amidst the best of her generation and fight the darkspawn. Tears leaked from her eyes but her Father held her attention.

Duncan turned to Elissa. "Lady Elissa Cousland, I invite you to join the Grey Wardens."

She nodded gravely, more to her Father than Duncan. "I would be honored."

Duncan crossed his arms and bowed first to her parents and then to Elissa. "Then it is settled, your lady wife and daughter will travel with me to Ostagar where Elissa will become a Grey Warden."

"No Bryce," her mother said, "I will not leave you; 'til death and beyond, remember. Besides they will have a better chance escaping if I guard this exit to keep Howe's men from following."

"Maker's mercy! Am I to be orphaned?"

"Elissa, your father and I did not bring our children into this world to watch them die when we can still protect you. Give us this chance without guilt, tears or recriminations."

"You have always been there for me, Mother."

"Not always, my dear and for that I am sorry."

Elissa shook her head sending tears flying left and right. "Mother, Father I have to know, where are they?"

Her parents looked at each other for a moment. "Eleanor, even a bastard Cousland will be needed after this."

Her mother nodded and then looked shrewdly up at Elissa. "Well, my dear. Will you tell us now?"

Elissa leaned between her parents and whispered, "King Cailan, it was Cailan."

"Maker's breath," her mother grabbed her arm, "you were the thief."

"I'm sorry, so sorry. It was meant to be a prank but everything went wrong. He did not know me. I was dressed as a maid. I've kept it here," she touched her keepsake pendant, "and I told no one."

Her mother squeezed her arm, "I'm sorry my dear, I understand now, I do understand. I wish you had told me, I would have liked to..."

A large crash echoed through the halls.

Duncan stepped closer to them. "The door has been breached; we must go now."

"Denerim," her father said as he grimaced through the pain, "he's being raised by Ser Gilmore's sister in Denerim."

"He?" Elissa asked desperately as Duncan pulled her from her Mother's grasp.

"I'm sorry my dearest, only one of the twins survived. His name is Aedan. Maker's blessings and my love go with you, my daughter."

Duncan hauled her along the hall and the down the steps into the dark musty store rooms where Elissa shrugged off his hand and moved to take the lead. She ignored the obvious delivery entrance that opened into the courtyard. Instead she strode past the barrels of oil and swung around the tall shelf of fruit preserves to the dark corner behind the hanging sacks of winter wheat. There she opened the short door cunningly concealed in the wood work. After they both ducked through she pulled it closed behind them. At the end of the long squat tunnel there was a small alcove with several large sealed jars and a door.

"Supplies, we check them every 6 months."

Elissa smashed open the jars with her sword and they picked through the supplies. They managed to find packs, cloaks, several blankets as well as twine, hooks and other supplies to help them live off the land.

"Good planning."

Elissa released a choked laugh. "Father always said he would never really be able to believe the war was over. He lived to many years in the hills, in hiding."

Duncan glanced at her but continued to search through the ruined jars for anything useful.

"Now, it will be up to Fergus."

"Wouldn't this Aedan be a Cousland heir?"

"I'm not sure, yet."

Duncan shook his head dismissively. They shouldered their packs, donned the ancient green forester's cloaks they'd found.

"What will we find behind this door?"

"Either, a small overgrown cave or the back end of a mudslide."

Duncan stopped in his tracks and turned to look at her searchingly.

"We cleared it out last year, after the rains."

"We?"

"Father, Fergus, Ser Gilmore and myself did all the work. We've always kept this in the family." She pulled the door open to find that the cool damp muddy hole had not succumbed to the rains.

Elissa doused the candle and closed the door. Duncan stared out of the entrance for some time before he beckoned her and they marched out into the cold wet night.

Duncan pushed her beyond exhaustion. They walked through the blustery weather until sunset the following evening.

Elissa's strides were reduced to stumbles by the time he ushered her into a sheltered corner of Tevinter ruin and left her to rest. She woke gradually to the sound and scent of fish sizzling on a spit over an open fire. It took her a moment to realize she owed her comfort to the warm fuzzy body curled up at her side. "Red?" she exclaimed, "Oh, Red, where did you come from and how in the world did you find me?"

"Your mabari arrived just as I started the fish cooking," Duncan replied for her happy hound. "I think I've cleaned all his scratches. He was more interested in getting to you than being cared for."

She nodded. Duncan turned the spit slowly and deliberately. Elissa checked Red over but found no injuries other than the few scratches that had already been treated. She stared up at the night sky then around at their shelter. Her restless mind catalogued the two white stone walls as the bottom of some ancient Tevinter tower. The heat reflected off the pale stone walls making the corner very warm. The damp firewood hissed and spit as it burned but the air was still heavy from the rain and the weeds between the paving stones were still sodden so the sparks did not fly far nor find purchase.

"We have another three and a half days of hard travel by foot to reach Ostagar and we need food or this trip will take longer," Duncan said. He continued to focus on the fish he was cooking.

Elissa watched him for a moment. He seemed to be expecting something from her but she couldn't imagine what she would know that he didn't. "Can't we buy or better yet commandeer food and horses from the farms along the way."

"Do you know any of the people on our route personally?"

"No." She looked down at her feet then at Duncan's face. His dark eyebrows were drawn together in a frown but he was still staring at the cooking fish. He did not speak for a time and she wondered if he was waiting for her to say more. She had no intention of elaborating. The only thing getting her through this nightmare was pretending that nothing had happened at home. Every time she let herself dwell on the cowardly ambush that destroyed her home a weight settled at the bottom of her stomach and she began to feel ill. She blinked and frantically cast about for a topic of conversation, anything that would keep grief, death and despair at bay.

"... little coin ... horses ... already with the army ... barter for food."

"Pardon?" She was sure he said something about bartering. Didn't he have any coin? She'd had the impression that both the late King Maric and his son King Cailan had done well by the Grey Wardens.

"I said, what coin I had is with the remainder of my belongings in Highever. There likely won't be any horses to purchase anyhow but we need to eat. We'll just have to barter for the rest of our needs."

"I didn't manage to grab my money pouch either. What do we have to trade?"

"I have a few gems on my person but I hesitate to use them."

Elissa frowned in confusion. "Why not, isn't that the fastest way?"

"Few farmers will have any use for a sapphire or emerald and such a transaction will be more memorable than two late recruits heading south. I think it best we do not leave Howe's soldiers an easy trail if we wish to reach Ostagar."

She nodded in comprehension. Elissa hadn't considered the possibility that Howe might count heads and come up one short. So they needed to find something to trade that would not raise eyebrows. "What about wild herbs?"

"If you have the herb lore to find them that would be very useful indeed. I should be able to craft a few more arrows from the supplies I have with me those should trade well, too."

Elissa stood up quickly ready to bound out into the dark forest.

"Eat. You can look for herbs in the morning as we walk without losing too much time."

She sat back down and gingerly accepted the hot fish from Duncan.

"Good night, Ser Duncan."

Duncan looked up from the arrow he was fletching to nod briefly. "Just Duncan will do, I am not a knight of any sort."

"Good night, Duncan."

"Good night, child."

The towers of Ostagar had come into sight a full hour before they reached the edge of the ruin. Elissa had mixed feelings about her journey's end. On the one hand, she looked forward to sleeping in a tent or to be more precise having the privacy to weep. Duncan seemed a fine and kind man but he was nearly her father's age and as stoic as a rock. Unfortunately, Ostagar brought its share of problems and responsibilities. For the first time in five years she might well come face to face with him. She spent most of the morning quietly trying to decide what, if anything, to tell Cailan should they meet again. She had yet to come to any conclusion when they were confronted by his Majesty at the gate.

While Duncan and King Cailan talked Elissa unscrewed the bottom of her keepsake pendant and pulled out the ring wedged in the bauble's hollow center. As she stared at the ring in her hand she felt Duncan touch her elbow.

"Your Majesty, allow me to intro..."

Elissa interrupted, "You needn't introduce us, we, uh, met, once before."

"I can't imagine I'd forget meeting someone as lovely as you," the King said merrily.

"Perhaps this will help you remember." Elissa held her hand out with the King's signet ring flat in the centre of her palm.

King Cailan slowly retrieved his long missed ring. "How did you get this?"

"I took it out of your hand and put it safely in the dish, as you instructed. Later I took it from the dish before I left your tent."

"Why are you telling me this now?"

"Because being ruined seems a petty concern, now. You need to know, there is a child. His name is Aedan."

Duncan coughed gently. "Perhaps this conversation is best continued somewhere more private."

Elissa and Cailan looked at Duncan and nodded in unison.

Duncan said, "I regret to inform Your Majesty that the Castle Highever has fallen to the forces of Rendon Howe. He killed every member of the Cousland family he could find. Lord Fergus Cousland is here with your forces and of course Lady Elissa Cousland is joining the Grey Wardens."

King Cailan spun. "You're Bryce's youngest," he said in a strangled voice, "Maker. How old are you?"

"I was fourteen, I reached fifteen before..."

"Yes," Duncan interrupted again, "Your Majesty, perhaps it would be best if you put aside this matter for now and meet with Teyrn Loghain. I don't imagine you want to bring him up to date before you've had some time to think."

The King nodded slowly and began to turn away then suddenly he turned back and stepped closer to Elissa. "I am sorry, my lady. I was a brute. Somehow, I will find a way to make amends. Your brother is scouting in the wilds. Send him to me, tomorrow after the battle. We will plan the campaign to recover Highever and negotiate for your due." He grabbed her hands then leaned over and kissed her knuckles. "I know it may seem inappropriate, my lady but thank you, thank you. I feared I was to be the last of my line."

Elissa pulled her hands out of the King's desperate grasp then watched mutely as he turned on his heel and left.

"Well," said Duncan, "that was interesting."

She didn't say or do anything.

"There is time before the joining Ritual for you to rest or perhaps explore the camp. I will take your mabari with me so you needn't worry about his antics."

"I'd like that, thank you."

Duncan nodded, "There is one other Grey Warden in the camp; his name is Alistair. Find him when you are ready to proceed."

"I won't be long," she promised.

Duncan and Red set of across the bridge leaving Elissa alone for the first time since she had left her bedroom in the middle of the night five days earlier. She wandered into the tall grass where she absent-mindedly stripped the seeds off the top of the stalks and threw them in the air for luck. Her childishness did not go unnoticed by the guards but no one was going to criticize any bid for favour on the eve of this battle.

Before long she found herself staring down into the valley far below. The trees, tents and people appeared so small she felt as though she could reach out and sweep it all away with her hand. She wished she could wipe away the events of the last week. She wished that Howe had been slain on sight, that her brother had never left Highever and that there was something, anything, she could do to regain her old life.

She ran into a small stand of trees and dropped to her knees and let the tears come. She reviewed her final impressions of home and sobbed for her innocent nephew, her helpless sister-in-law, ever honourable Ser Gilmore, her brave parents and herself. After a time the tears abated, leaving her with a headache and the feeling that her heart was already in the Fade. She yanked the tail of her padded shirt out of her armour to scrub her face. When she saw the brown smudges on the fabric she realized that she'd probably just moved the dirt around. There had been no time to soak the blood out from under her finger nails or wash her hair properly since she'd left home. The need to find clean clothing and to scrub away the horror of Howe's attack was overwhelming. She dried her eyes and squared her shoulders. Well, at least she had achievable goals now. She needed to find the baths and this Alistair. After that, she'd face her duties and responsibilities and bring honour to the Cousland name.