Disclaimer: Bioware owns all, except what I most humbly imagine. While, at times, I will take verbatim from the game, I attempt to use the events of the Dragon Age games, expansions and universe as a loose structure around which to construct my re-imagined tale. If you are looking for a strict canon piece, I have no desire to offend, and so I warn you upfront that I will divert from the traditional tale.

When reading these stories, I hope you can easily imagine it being told by the very best of storytellers in Varric Tethras (from DA:2). In my version of events, Varric meets "The Hero" (Elissa Cousland) in Kirkwall during the time period of DA:2. I mention this only so that readers can understand his connection along the way, and so I don't have to mention and rehash it again and again as I make my way through the tale.

A/N: As I progress through these stories, I will try to add tidbits of things that might have inspired me while writing if they occur to me (mostly music). I have always found those notes interesting when reading other stories, and it never hurts to have a bit of thematic inspiration at hand for fun :D Feel free to take or leave them as you will – nothing is ever required "listening".

Muse Music: Fire Woman by The Cult (Elissa's Theme), and 3 Libras by A Perfect Circle (Nathaniel's Theme).

Thanks to my readers, followers and reviewers and to my wonderful beta artemiskat.

Edit posted 7/27/2012.

Happy Reading!

-Frayed One

Chapter One: A Change in Perspective

"It's all his fault."

"What's that?" I looked up from my notes to find Fergus Cousland staring at me, his eyes bleary from all the ale he'd poured into his mouth from the moment he sat down at my table.

"All of this… everything that's happened. You can track it all back to the same place." He tossed back the last of his mug and slammed it empty to the table, grabbing the pitcher in front of him and refilling it before starting over again.

"I'm assuming when you speak of him you're referring to Lieutenant Howe." I listened to the bitter bark of his laughter and flipped to a blank page.

"Lieutenant Howe. Does he make you call him that? Arrogant bastard…"

"Honestly, I call him Archer or Howe. Some of the others have more… colorful… names for him, but I tend to stick with neutral. He's quite good with his bow." The elder Cousland nearly spilled his ale laughing at that comment, turning his glassy eyes away from the alcohol and back in my direction.

"I'm not afraid of Nathaniel, nor should you be. Temperament and parentage aside, Nate's always been hogtied by his senses of honor and decorum. You'd have to do something leagues beyond tossing an insulting nickname to draw an arrow." He worried with his hair after that, long fingers working their way into the deep, auburn strands. It was impossible to mistake the bloodline that tied him to his sister. It was there in the pale skin and flashing green of his eyes; though his glare was far less deadly.

"You can't honestly hold him responsible for all of this? I thought you two buried the hatchet when he rescued you from those bandits." I checked that theory as those eyes narrowed in my direction, hoping my gentle prod back to topic would not be my undoing.

"I see you aren't familiar with the inner workings of noble society." He poured another mug, putting a good half of it away before speaking again. "He saved my life and forced me to reciprocate or appear the tyrant to my men and my people. I'm certain he thought of that before he made the decision to ride to my rescue. Without my generosity his sister would still be raising her spawn in one of the groundskeeper cottages on the edge of Vigil's Keep."

"It isn't possible he rescued you simply because you come from the same blood as the woman he loved; because you were once his friend and it was the right thing to do?" He glared again; jaw twitching as his temper rose – another trait he shared with his mercurial sibling. "Simply posing a question, not suggesting it to be fact."

"I doubt our friendship ever registered in the equation, I honestly don't think it ever did. I was only ever a way for him to get to Elissa. I don't know if he planned it all himself or if it was orchestrated by his father but worming his way into her heart…" I could see in his eyes that Fergus was pained by the thought that this could be true, though he absolutely believed it. "Looking back, I know the exact moment when everything changed. I saw it even then, but I did nothing to stop it. If I had… I can only imagine how different things might be."

It was not unusual for Nathaniel Howe to be roaming about the Cousland estate in Highever unescorted. At sixteen he was the eldest of the three Howe children, and easily the most mature of both clans. This meant in the Teyrn's eyes he no longer required the constant supervision of a true adult.

Some mornings, Fergus, would accompany him on his early hunting expedition. On this particular morning, he refused to get up; mumbling a sleepy "sod off, Nate" into his pillow before rolling over and going back to sleep. If Nathaniel was honest with himself, he didn't really mind. Hunting with Fergus rarely resulted in an actual kill because the eldest Cousland never shut up long enough for them to successfully track anything.

At this stage in his life if given a choice in the matter, Nathaniel preferred to spend most of his time alone. He was a quiet, thoughtful child who had grown into a quiet, thoughtful young man – partially because in the Howe home children were expected to be seen but not heard, and partially because it was simply within his nature to be so.

Nathaniel moved through the forest silently, continuing to track the stag he'd been following for hours and waiting for it to reach an open tract of land where he could be certain to get a clear shot at it. He was a cautious tracker with a great deal of respect for the natural world and would only take aim if he could be certain his shot would kill. There was no reason for the hunted to suffer. These beasts were noble and deserved a clean death; as clean a death as he could offer them.

At the crest of a nearby hill he finally found his opening. The stag stopped in a clearing down below and nuzzled among the grass, completely unaware that it was being watched. Nathaniel pulled his bow loose from its anchor; nocking an arrow between his fingers and drawing it back slowly to aim his shot. Once everything was to his liking, he drew a deep breath and prepared to let fly – stopping only when he heard the sound of another arrow slicing through the air. He could track the shot to slightly left and just ahead of him through the tree line with little effort. His eyes snapped back to the clearing and he watched as the stag dropped. The shot had been precise.

How could anyone else have been tracking it for this long without my noticing? He carefully eyed his surroundings for any disturbances that showed evidence of another hunter in the wood, but found nothing. Curiosity peaked, he wandered off in the direction from which he assumed the arrow had been fired. Whoever it was would certainly remain nearby if for no other reason than to retrieve their prize.

As he moved through the forest Nathaniel became so lost in his search for any evidence of another hunter, which much to his annoyance he still could not find, that he did not notice the object of his obsession was also tracking him. The only warning he received was a slight rustling of leaves, something an inexperienced tracker might easily have dismissed as nothing more than a breeze wafting through the trees.

Nathaniel was not inexperienced and stepped back quickly at the delicate sound, narrowly avoiding a kneecap to the jaw, which would have most likely put him on the ground. He reached to touch the hilts of his daggers on instinct as the other hunter dropped gracefully to the dirt in front of him. Glancing up to the tree above, he had to wonder how long they had been there and how he had managed not to hear them until they came down on top of him.

"Fergus?" Nathaniel was incredulous, wondering if this was just the newest in a long line of practical jokes the two often played on one another. He doubted Fergus had either the skill or the inclination necessary to play such an elaborate hoax to fruition, and this made him even more suspicious of the foreigner parading through the Cousland forests.

When the hunter stood, his eyes wandered over the lean body now stretching with a catlike grace. It became blatantly clear this body did not belong to Fergus. The sunlight drifting through the canopy of the forest revealed curves on the frame that were in all the wrong places to be part of a masculine form. This was definitely a woman. After pausing long enough to observe him, she stretched her arms up, reaching for the light helmet that completely obscured her head and face. When she pulled it free, a tousled mess of unruly, red hair tumbled onto her shoulders.

"Fergus?" came the laughed reply, as she pushed an errant curl aside to meet Nathaniel's eyes. "Honestly Nathaniel, you know as well as I do Fergus would never be able to shut up long enough to track anything. And have you ever seen him launch an arrow that would come anywhere near striking it? Most of his archery attempts end up firmly lodged in the dirt."

"Elissa?" Nathaniel couldn't stop himself from gasping in surprise, unsettled as he was in that moment by a great number of things – mainly how her broad smile and the sparkle of her emerald eyes were beginning to cloud his mind.

"You sound disappointed," Elissa laughed again, turning to walk in the direction of the stag as she continued the conversation. "Were you expecting someone else?"

"Someone else?" He watched the sway in her hips for a bit longer than he should have, shaking his head to regain focus and increasing his pace to catch up to her. "No, it's not that… it's just, when… when did you…"

"When did I what?" She turned her face to smile at him as he fell into step beside her, inspecting him carefully with a twinkle in her eyes that made him wonder if she could read his mind. It forced him to sever eye contact and turn his face away just in case she could.

Nathaniel couldn't control the roving of his mind over just how much she'd changed since last he saw her. The girl he'd known was gone, replaced by this… woman… all soft curves and pale, ivory skin. Thankfully all that came out of his mouth was, "Learn how to hunt like that? I saw no signs that anyone else was in the forest this morning, and I'm an excellent tracker…"

"Perhaps, Lord Howe, you aren't as good as you think you are," Elissa taunted him, bumping her hip against his and laughing aloud as she ran the last distance through the trees to where her stag had fallen.

Nathaniel lost his footing and stumbled over a nearby root. The physical contact between them threw him off balance physically and mentally, and he cursed himself for being so completely disarmed by her actions. He'd known Elissa Cousland for as long as he could remember. She'd never been anything more than a little sister to him. A very annoying, confusing little sister - but a sister nonetheless. What in the Maker's name was wrong with him?

Somewhere between the last time you took notice of her and today, 'little sister' went and grew into a woman's body that you can't seem to stop admiring, Howe, said a voice inside his head. A voice he tried desperately to ignore.

Nathaniel finally made it to where Elissa crouched next to her kill, and watched her hands as she carefully removed the arrow, attempting to do as little damage as possible. It had been a one in a million shot, straight through the stag's jugular, meaning the creature died almost instantly. He realized that even with his best efforts he could only have hoped to match the skill it took to make it.

"An impressive shot," Nathaniel tried to sound as casual as possible, working hard to disguise how blown away he actually was. "I did not know you had taken an interest in archery. When last we spoke you were still training among your father's knights and determined to be a swords-woman."

"I'd wager there are a great many things that have changed about me since last we spoke, Nathaniel, the least of which would be my choice of weaponry." A smile twitched at the corners of her full lips and she caught his eyes with a pointed gaze before turning her attention back to the stag.

He was lost for a moment pondering the words she had chosen. The way she allowed his name to roll languidly off her tongue sent a shiver down his spine; a shiver that now settled warm and insistent in his pelvis.

"So it would appear…" Nathaniel fought for some semblance of control over the hysteria that was rapidly overtaking him. His voice cracked as he spoke, but if Elissa noticed his condition, she did not acknowledge it. "I do wonder, my lady, how you expected to transport such a prize back to the keep by yourself. Did you not think to plan beyond the actual kill, or is magic yet another skill you've kept hidden all these years?"

"Sadly magic lies not within my blood," Elissa laughed, pulling her hair back into a messy tie as she stood. "But I certainly didn't come here intending to be so drastically unprepared. I have been tracking this beast for several days; learning his patterns and planning my approach. You are correct that I could never move such a large creature on my own, and I did have plans in place to address that issue. Unfortunately, it would seem the person I recruited to assist me with this task has either forgotten completely or is running very late."

"Seeing as I no longer have a prize of my own to transport, I could offer my aid, if you would accept it..." Nathaniel smiled at her, hoping that he didn't appear too eager to rescue the damsel in distress.

"Your appearance is fortuitous, Lord Howe... I will admit." Elissa chewed at her lip as she pondered over her dilemma, drawing Nathaniel's eyes once again, though she did not notice. "Still, you and I could not hope to move this monster alone, not without the help of a litter. My absent companion was supposed to bring one. Now I fear all of my hard work may be for naught."

She knelt down by the stag once again, stroking its face softly and whispering something Nathaniel couldn't quite hear. A few moments later, as though she had somehow willed him into being, another young man came bustling through the trees on the hill above them.

"Before you yell, it's not my fault! Well… not entirely," The young man panted as he reached the clearing, leaning forward to brace against his knees in an attempt to catch his breath. It was obvious he'd run the entire distance between the castle and where he now stood; his thick red hair was tousled and wet from exertion, falling heavy on his forehead and drifting into his eyes.

"It never is." Elissa sighed and rolled her eyes, pushing down a smile as she reached over to retrieve half of the litter he'd dropped unceremoniously from his shoulders. She knelt down to inspect the ties and ensure it would be strong enough to bear the full weight of the stag.

"Your mother kept coming up with errands." Her companion knelt down to help with her evaluation; completely oblivious that Nathaniel was there at all. "I swear she knows where all my time is being spent these days."

"Don't be silly, Rory." Elissa laughed and blew a curl out of her eyes without raising them. "You're just being paranoid. It's not as though we're involved in anything sordid."

"Well n-no…" The young man stuttered in response, and Nathaniel watched as color bloomed bright against the pale skin of his face. It was clear he wouldn't have been opposed to anything sordid if that had been asked of him. "But if I continue to avoid my duties to aid in whatever scheme has currently taken possession of your mind, then your father is eventually going to remove me from his service."

"You know I would never let that happen." She reached over to still his hand where it worked at the ties, forcing him to meet her eyes and holding them until she was certain he believed her words to be true. "If you were gone I'd have to go through the effort of finding and molding a new able-bodied young man to my whims."

That quickly the moment of seriousness was gone, and they both fell into laughter as they finished the last of the ties and prepared to lift the stag onto the litter.

"Maker have mercy on the next mark you set your sights on, Elissa Cousland. I know from experience you will not." Rory chuckled and shook his head, rolling his eyes when Elissa poked out her tongue in response to his taunts.

It's as though I have ceased to exist… Nathaniel was unable to suppress the harsh bite of jealousy blooming within him at what was clearly a strong and very intimate friendship between the two.

At 17 years of age, Rory Gilmore was only a year Nathaniel's senior, but the physical difference between them could not have been more drastic. Where Nathaniel's musculature was wiry and lithe across his long frame, Rory was broad chested and heavily muscled throughout his body. Nathaniel attributed this mostly to his weapon of choice, noting the broadsword strapped between his shoulder blades. Nevertheless, he found himself wondering if he was getting a glimpse into the type of man Elissa preferred.

"Do you intend to stand there gawking while we do all the work, or are you going to lend a hand at some point, Nathaniel?" Elissa tossed a smirk in his direction, making it clear to Nathaniel that though the knight may not have seen him; she had not forgotten he was there. Her voice jarred him from his thoughts and forced the knight to finally acknowledge his presence.

"L-lord Howe…" Rory barely managed to get the words out, glaring pointedly at Elissa. It was clear he was unhappy to find himself so lax in the company of a noble who outranked him and was not a member of the Cousland family. After pausing to collect himself, he turned to Nathaniel and offered a slight bow. "I apologize for any inappropriate behavior I may have unknowingly shown you. I did not realize Lady Cousland had acquired another hunting partner for the day."

"Don't be daft, Rory. It's only Nathaniel, and he's not offended. Are you, Nathaniel?" Elissa turned to him, something in her smile speaking the volumes her words did not say.

Nathaniel briefly considered the idea of feigning offense, if only to make the young knight squirm a bit more. But as he looked at Elissa he realized that not only would this merely be a snap reaction to his irrational jealousy, it would most likely only anger her and destroy any chance he might be asked to spend more time in her company. Realizing he most definitely wanted to do that very thing, he checked his ego and fashioned a polite smile of his own.

"No harm done," Nathaniel assured the knight, walking closer to the litter to offer his assistance. "Where would you like me?"

Elissa bit at her lip for a moment and stared wistfully at Nathaniel, not entirely sure how she wanted to respond. She noticed Nathaniel did not miss that pause and quickly focused her attention back onto the stag. "Rory can bear the weight at the front alone if you'd be so kind as to help me with the rear of the litter."

"As you wish, my lady." Nathaniel bowed lightly to her and moved into position. Once settled, the trio easily lifted the litter and headed back to the castle.

The weight was manageable spread between the three of them, as was the conversation, so the journey back into the castle yard went by quickly.

When they crossed the clearing outside the main gate, several servants came to take the stag back for butchering, and promised that the horns would be retained for Elissa to take as a trophy from her kill. Rory excused himself soon after they arrived, hoping to get back to his daily tasks before anyone noticed he had been gone, leaving Elissa and Nathaniel to walk back into the castle alone. The awkward silence at his departure was deafening.

Well… you wanted her alone, Howe, here she is. The voice inside Nathaniel's head mocked him as they entered the front doors and moved deeper into the castle. Do you think to spark her interest with your mastery of silent walking?

Say something, you nit! Say anything! Elissa's own conscience hissed, but nothing would come out.

The silence stretched on for what seemed an endless amount of time until Fergus' voice rang out behind them. If they could have read each other's thoughts in that moment, they would have found themselves both thanking the Maker for his arrival.

"Blimey, Nate, that's one heck of a beast you dropped!" Fergus smiled and clapped him on the shoulder in congratulations, situating himself between the pair. He completely ignored his younger sister's glare and focused in on his friend. "I expect your thanks for not coming along to ruin your stealth with my bumbling."

"Though I heartily agree you should be thanked for not ruining the hunt with your inevitable bumbling, I cannot take credit for the kill, my friend." Nathaniel caught Elissa's eyes with a small grin across her brother's shoulders. "It was your sister who felled the great stag, and she did it with a single perfect shot few could ever hope to attain."

"Nonsense, Nathaniel." A light blush crept into Elissa's cheeks at his praise, though she did her best to fight it down. "You have always been the most talented archer among us. You could easily have done it. I simply got the shot off first, nothing more."

"I thank you for your kind words, my lady." Nathaniel smiled and offered a slight bow to her, pressing the flirtation to see if he could pull even more of that lovely color into her cheeks. "Sadly, even had I gotten my shot off first, I could only have matched the skill required to make yours – not exceeded it. You have grown to be a talented archer in your own right, and are as worthy of praise as I am."

Elissa felt her cheeks burning, and could no longer manage to meet Nathaniel's eyes or even to speak for fear she would embarrass herself further. She knew he was watching her. She could feel his eyes, cool and grey like polished steel, and she prayed to the Maker for any excuse to remove herself from his company and rein in her racing emotions.

"Maker you two are acting strange…" Fergus came to a standstill in the middle of the hall, turning his gaze from one to the other when they stopped a few steps behind him. "Can you go back to your usual routine of ignore and insult? This new found… admiration… you seem to share for one another is beginning to make me ill."

"I have no idea what you're going on about, Fergus." Elissa knew her words were a little sterner than she intended, but it was too late to take them back now. She stared down the hall and pretended to be looking for someone or something – anything to avoid her brother's curious inspection, anything to avoid Nathaniel's inquisitive gaze.

"Uh-huh… sure…" Fergus' eyes narrowed on the pair, unconvinced. "Regardless, you'd best go get cleaned up for dinner. Mother is already cross that you missed tea with Lady Ashland to go gallivanting about in the forest."

"Delightful… I'm certain that will be a conversation well worth having." Elissa grumbled and stomped off down the hall toward her room, secretly sighing with relief. However unwelcome her mother's lecture might be, it was better than continuing to make a fool of herself in front of Nathaniel Howe.

Nathaniel watched her go; chuckling to himself at just how easy it had been to get her all bent out of sorts with his words and comforted that she was clearly just as affected by him as he had been by her during their afternoon adventure. He'd thought her pretty in the forest, but she had been downright adorable all flustered in the hall. He became tangled in his own thoughts; wondering when he might get the chance to fluster her again, or simply to spend time in her company, and did not notice Fergus' attempts to get his attention.

"Oi!" Fergus tapped him quickly in the middle of his forehead. "Are you listening to me at all?"

"I'm sorry…" Nathaniel stammered and shook his head to clear it, leveling a smile back at his friend. "I was lost in my own head for a moment. What were you saying?"

"Lost in your own head…" Fergus turned and followed the path to where Nathaniel's gaze had just lain, up the long hall until it rested upon his sister's retreating form. "What exactly are you two playing at?"

"Nothing," Nathaniel answered innocently, noting the way Fergus' eyes had closed to slits with his inspection. It was obvious he needed only the smallest hint that his friend's intentions were anything other than noble to send him into a full outrage. "I just like to torment her. It's been so long since last I spoke with Elissa, I had forgotten how easy it was to do so."

Fergus watched him a moment longer, finally deciding to accept his excuse for the unusual behavior. Nathaniel breathed a silent sigh of relief as they made their way to their own quarters to prepare for dinner.

Had Fergus decided to press him for answers, he honestly wouldn't have known what to say. He was still trying to wrap his own mind around what was happening and would likely have come up with something Fergus interpreted as offensive in some way. The Cousland children weren't known for their even temperament, so Nathaniel decided it would be best to keep a closer watch on his behavior until he had reached some sort of conclusion with regard to his newfound interest in Elissa.

"Do you honestly believe if you'd intervened you could have prevented them from continuing to show interest in one another? Your sister can be quite… focused… when she sets her mind to something." I watched him push up from the table, pacing back and forth across the room in frustration. For a moment, it was almost as though it was The Hero standing in front of me and I had to fight down the urge to laugh at the image.

"I'd have done whatever it took. Nathaniel was still quite malleable at that age. If he'd thought for a moment I'd go to his father with what I knew, he'd have backed away from her immediately – and that would have caused a strain between our families." He was smiling, but it was not a happy smile. It was the smile of someone grasping at the memories of what had been lost and frantically trying to find a way to reclaim it. "With the Howe's out of the picture, my parents would still be alive… my wife… my son… Elissa would never have joined the Grey Wardens."

"I imagine Rendon Howe would have seen your family as a threat regardless of whether either of his sons had been involved with your sister. It's possible that orchestrating such a change would have only given him the opportunity to completely eradicate the Cousland clan rather than leaving you and your sister alive to make sure the truth was known." Fergus stopped pacing and glanced over at me. I could tell he was pondering the words though the expression on his face had changed little. "Not to mention The Blight would have come to Ferelden either way. If your sister had not joined the Wardens, there is no way of knowing who would have led when the others fell at Ostagar. It's possible no one would have – and then an entire country would have been lost along with your family."

"It's also possible father would have seen the change in Rendon without Elissa's dalliances to blind us. If we'd known an attack was coming, he would never have succeeded in taking the castle. Without his whispers in Loghain's ear, the battle at Ostagar would have gone very differently. Elissa would never have been recruited, much less required to lead an army." The elder Cousland stood resolute in his belief that it was The Archer who caused all of the pain in his life and nothing I could say to him – no matter the logic of it – was likely to change his mind.

"I suppose none of it matters now. Things are what they are."

He conceded with a nod, stalking back to his chair and filling another mug to overflowing.

It was painful to see just how broken Fergus Cousland actually was, though like his sister he hid most of it behind the false wall of practiced nobility and bravado. In moments like this it was easy to see why The Hero felt so alone in the world and how important those of us who were now more family than allies would be now that her only blood relative had become nothing more than an angry, distant stranger.