Chapter 1:

Of Conscriptions and Blights

9:29 Dragon, Denerim, Royal Palace

"Your Majesties, Your Highness, I'm so sorry to interrupt your breakfast…" Kervis began. He waited until both the King and the Princess looked up from their plates, and the Queen and Teyrn looked up from their reports, "… but there is a Grey Warden here to see you. He says his name is Duncan."

"Thank you, Kervis. Please send him in."

Kervis bowed low and left. Moments later, a tall, dark skinned man entered the room. His dark skin marked his Rivaini descent, and he carried himself proudly in silverite armor that was polished to a shine, the griffon on his breastplate gleaming proudly.

"Your Majesties, thank you for receiving me on such short notice. I am truly honored." He said, crossing his arms against his chest and bowing, the official Warden salute. "Your Highness. Teyrn Loghain." He said, nodding to each of them in acknowledgement.

"Warden Commander." Loghain said simply, and returned to his reports. Duncan sighed inwardly. He and the Teyrn had never gotten along.

"Always so formal, Duncan." Cailan said, rising from the table. "You forget we're practically family." He wrapped his arms around the old man, embracing his surrogate uncle.

"That doesn't mean I don't have to treat you with respect, Your Majesty."

"What? Don't I get a hug, Uncle Duncan?"

Duncan watched as the young girl also rose from the table, wearing a blue dress that matched her eyes perfectly, and walked toward him, her arms extended.

Kassina Theirin, the second child of King Maric and Queen Rowan, Princess of Ferelden, born two years after Cailan, shortly before Queen Rowan's untimely death. He had not seen her in years! She had truly blossomed into a beautiful and confident young woman, he could tell just by looking at her. She carried herself proudly, standing tall with her head held high and shoulders down and relaxed. Her long, blonde hair curled all the way down to her lower back, and with her high cheekbones and strong chin, everyone always said she had Rowan's face.

Except for the eyes, Duncan thought. Those blue eyes were Maric's, and the blond hair, and the nose too, for she had inherited the straight "Theirin nose", as some called it. It brought a bittersweet joy to his heart to see his friend's children, and desperately wished Maric still lived to see them. He would have been so proud.

The young woman hugged him and said, "It's so good to see you, Uncle Duncan. You've been gone for too long! Where were you? What brings you here to Denerim?"

"Dear, you didn't even offer Duncan a seat and some food!" said Anora. "Welcome, Warden Commander. Please sit, is there anything you would like?"

"No, thank you, Your Majesty, I have already broken my fast today." He did, however, sit down and turned back to Kassina. "Recruiting, I'm afraid. I've been traveling across Ferelden the last couple of months, trying to recruit for the Grey Wardens."

"If Kassina wasn't my lovely sister, I'd suggest you recruit her! She's become a real menace with her sword and Grandmother's shield."

"Oh stop, Cailan! You'll make me blush!"

"I'm pleased to hear you've kept up with your training. Your father would be proud." Duncan remarked.

"And mother, too! Loghain always said she was a fierce some battle maiden herself!" Cailan added. Loghain merely grunted in acknowledgment, not even bothering to look up from his papers.

"I heard you recruited a promising Templar after a tournament the Chantry held, just a few weeks ago…" Kassina remarked, looking at Duncan directly in the eye, with one brow raised. "Conscripted him, in fact."

Her statements had the desired effect, and tension immediately rose in the room. Both Anora and Loghain put down what they were reading and turned to look at Duncan as well. Cailan on the other hand, looked stricken.

"You conscripted him?" he asked.

"Yes, I did."

"Why?"

Duncan sighed. He had to try to answer tactfully. This was rather a delicate topic, and he did not want to risk angering the King of Ferelden.

"He was not happy as a Templar…" he began. "And he really is a great fighter, Your Majesty. Also a sword and shield warrior." He looked at Kassina, as if fighting with a sword and shield connected them somehow.

Perhaps it did, she thought. I rather like having that in common with him, as opposed to Cailan, who just loves his greatsword.

"But not skilled enough to actually win the tournament." Loghain remarked icily.

"He may not have won, but he held his own against seasoned warriors." Duncan replied, matching his glare. "Like Ser Talrew, who won many victories against the Chasind, and Ser Kalvin."

"He really held his own against one of the finest blades in Ferelden?" Anora asked.

"Yes, he did." Answered Kassina. Duncan couldn't help but notice she had a proud look on her face. Maybe she really was proud of her younger brother's accomplishments. "And Ser Eryhn, too. She can wield a sword and shield with unequal grace, but people tend to forget about her because she's a woman."

"How do you know so much, Kassina?" Loghain asked.

"Why, the Grand Cleric told me when I went to the Chantry the week before last." She looked pointedly at Duncan and winked at him. "The poor woman was absolutely scandalized. She could not believe a Grey Warden would dare conscript one of her Templar Trainees."

"Are you sure?" said Loghain.

"What are you implying, Loghain?" Cailan asked defensively. He had remained silent, until now.

"Nothing, Cailan. It's just that Kassina has always been rather vocal about her desire to meet him, I was wondering if maybe she had actually gone to the tournament. I doubt the Grand Cleric could have told her all she seems to know about the matter."

Kassina stayed silent for a moment and then laughed. "You really do know everything, Uncle Loghain! It's either that or the walls here talk. All right, if you must know, I did in fact attend the tournament."

"What?! With who?! And why didn't you tell me, Kass? I could have gone with you! I could've met my brother too! I could have… I don't know, offered him a position in the Royal Guard or something! I could've-"

"First of all, please calm down." Kassina cut him off. "I did not invite you, because I did not go as 'Princess Kassina'. I did not want to be announced at the Tournament, and I did not want Alistair to know I was watching him, and I definitely didn't want the Royal Guard to accompany me, so I simply… snuck out. Besides, I didn't actually meet him, I just saw him compete."

The King looked utterly deflated. Duncan put a hand on the young man's shoulder and tried to comfort him. "It's for the best, Your Majesty. He shall do well in the Grey Wardens."

"I just hoped… After learning about him, I…" Cailan sighed, trying to compose himself. "After Eamon revealed his existence to us, after Father died, I always looked for ways to take him in, but he was already in the Chantry. I thought, once he took his vows, to offer him a position in the Royal Guard… a 'the King's personal protector against magic' sort of thing."

"It's for the best, Cailan!" Loghain said, raising from the table. "He would not have been happy, here at court, always in your shadow. If you had offered him that 'position'", disdain clear in his voice, "he would not have been able to reject it, and would've been forced to follow you around every day. It would have been an insult to your mother's memory!"

"Why?" Kassina immediately jumped in her half-brother's defense. "Why would it have been an insult to Mother's memory? She had already passed away when Father met Alistair's mother. Father never cheated on Mother, and it was his right to try and move on after her death. I, being his daughter, neither blame nor judge him, why should you?"

"Enough!" Cailan disrupted the argument before it could begin. "You're right, Loghain. You're right." He rose from his chair. "I must go now. I'll be in my study if anybody needs me." And with that, he left the room.

Duncan watched him go. When he had decided to come to the King to tell him about the corruption brewing in the south, he never imagined the conversation would take a turn like this.

"I'm sorry, Uncle Duncan. I imagine you did not come here to talk about Alistair. I'm sorry I… steered the conversation that way." Kassina said.

Duncan looked at the girl, before responding. "It's ok, Kassina."

"What exactly did you come here for? What could be so important so as to request an urgent meeting with the King?" asked Loghain.

"A Blight." He said simply.

The effect was instantaneous. The room was suddenly so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Anora covered her gasp with her hand, and both Kassina and Loghain stared at him with wide eyes.

"A Blight, Uncle Duncan?" Kassina asked.

"Here, in Ferelden?" Anora added.

"Yes. I have sensed it's corruption in the South. There have also been reports of Darkspawn sightings on the surface."

"But that doesn't necessarily mean there's an impending Blight. Couldn't it just be a large Darkspawn raid or something?" Anora asked.

Duncan sighed. How could he explain it without giving away Warden secrets? "We, Grey Wardens, possess the ability to… sense Darkspawn. See, after we join, we are given the ability to tap into their collective mind." He looked at the all each in the eye. "I have seen the Archdemon."

"Say no more, Duncan." Kassina said. "My brother needs to be present for this." And with that she rose and went after Cailan.


A soft knock at the door, startled him out of his thoughts. "Yes?"

Kassina opened the door, and let herself in. "Cailan…" she took one look at his face, saw his red rimmed eyes, and decided Duncan could wait a few minutes. Her brother needed comfort. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know. I don't know what I'm feeling right now, honestly."

"I know." She said simply.

"Oh, yeah?" He got up, agitated. "How could you?! You didn't even tell me you were going! I could've gone with you! Sneak out with you!" he slammed his fist against the back wall.

"I already explained why I didn't tell you!" she yelled. She felt her eyes welling up, and desperately tried to hold back tears. The lump in her throat made it a hard to talk, so she tried to calm herself before speaking again. "I know how you feel, because I felt the same things after I saw him."

Cailan turned to look her, hearing her meek tone.

"Cailan… I know you're angry, and upset, and sad all at once. But this is really what's best for Alistair." She walked up to him and hugged him. He held her tightly and kissed her forehead.

"Just tell me one thing." He said. "What's he like?"

Kassina laughed. "He looks like you, you know, and Father. I recognized him, instantly. But his hair is more 'dirty blond' as opposed to your 'golden blonde' and his skin is couple shades darker, no doubt from training all day in the sun… but he has the same nose." She ran a finger down the bridge of his nose. "The eyes are brown, though. Probably his mother's."

Cailan laughed, hearing her description of Alistair. He didn't have the heart to tell her he'd seen him before. He had actually met him, even, that one time they visited Redcliffe, though he did not know it was his brother, then. "What about his character?"

"Duncan speaks very highly of him, which is a good sign. That day… he looks loyal. Like a good person, with a strong heart, maybe." She broke the embrace, and wiped a tear from her cheek. "The Grand Cleric, however…" she laughed as she sat down. "She said he was 'incorrigible'. He was always up to no good, playing pranks on his roommates and on the sisters."

"That old bat has no patience for children, it seems." Cailan said.

"Well, in her defense, apparently he wasn't a child anymore, and yet the pranks continued."

Cailan laughed. "Did you come here just to check on me, darling sister?"

"No, but are you feeling better now?"

"Yes, a bit. Thank you. Now, tell me, what is it you need?"

"I interrupted Duncan before he could actually tell you why he had come. It is… quite serious."

"What, like a Blight or something?"

Kassina cringed, and he immediately knew his outlandish guess was, in fact, correct.

"No… Truly? A Blight, Kassie?"

Kassina nodded. "He said he felt the corruption in the South and that he saw an Archdemon."

Cailan ran his hand through his hair. This was bad. A Blight? Here, in Ferelden? It would devastate it! Ferelden was still weak from the century of the Orlesian occupation! They didn't have the resources nor the manpower to handle this! And Duncan! How could he just be telling him this now? If he had known about it sooner, Ferelden would stand a chance! If only he had been warned earlier…

"Do you remember the witch we met in the Korcari Wilds? Back during the rebellion, when we were fleeing the Orleasians?"

"Yes, the mad woman who nearly killed us. What of it?"

"She told me a Blight was coming to Ferelden."

"I see. Did she say when?"

"Only that I wouldn't live to see it."

The memory came flashing back to him. He remembered himself at six, hiding underneath his Father's giant throne in the Main Hall, hoping to get a glimpse at the fabled Grey Wardens who had asked for a meeting with the King. He remembered barely holding his excitement as they entered and asked for Father's help to go on a heroic quest to the Deep Roads. He remembered his Father agreeing to go, he remembered Loghain getting angry, the Grey Wardens leaving, and his father and Loghain arguing. All of it had led to that conversation, that quiet confession from his father to Loghain, that warning, that had they heeded, they would be infinitely more prepared.

"I never thought that old witch would be right." He murmured.

"What?" Kassina's flicked up to meet his. "What old witch?"

"Oh, I didn't realize I had said it out loud." He said sheepishly. "Remember when Mother Ailis told us the story of Father and the Rebellion?"

"The Stolen Throne, yes. I think that's what Brother Gaider decided to name the book, anyway."

"Ok, remember the part where Father and Loghain encountered the Witch of the Wilds?"

"Oh Cailan, you really don't believe that, do you? You know tales become exaggerated over time." She chided.

"Kassie, it is true! I… asked Loghain." He lied.

"If it were true, then what was the so called promise she had Father make in exchange for helping them?"

"I don't know, but listen. She said a Blight would come to Ferelden, but that Father would not be alive to see it!"

"She also said Loghain would betray him, and that never happened…"

He was silent for a moment. "What about Katriel?"

"The elven bard? What about her?"

"Don't you consider that betrayal?"

"She was a spy, hired by Severan. It was because of her Father lost the Battle of West Hill, and Grandfather Rendorn died."

"But she really loved him! She was going to confess to Father, and ask his forgiveness! But Loghain did not give her that chance, and it was because of him Father killed her."

"Maker, Cailan, I did not think you were such a… romantic." She teased. "Nevertheless, she was a spy, and deserved what she got. Uncle Loghain only did what he had to in order to help his King."

"Andraste's tits, Kassie. May the Maker take pity on whoever betrays you!"

"Yes, but thankfully, no one has dared betray me so far. Come, Cailan. We should get back to Duncan. We need to plan how we're going to face this."

She stood, and when Cailan offered her his arm, she took it and together, the siblings walked out. They would face this threat as they always had faced everything else: together.


Author's Note: And here, we meet Kassina, my 23 year old OC! She just suddenly appeared in my head and would not go away, beating me with her sword and shield, until I promised I would give her a "part" in my story! Like it says above, she's the second child of Maric and Rowan. I may have portrayed her a bit hard, while talking about Katriel, because, for now, she is still in that stage in her early twenties, when she thinks she knows everything and thinks the world is black or white. I will be having fun, making her grow up and realize the world is not black and white, and it's actually shades of grey. I have my reasons for adding another Theirin in the mix here, which will be explained later in the story.

In regards to Alistair, David Gaider has said in various interviews that Cailan wasn't as um… dumb as he let people believe, and that he had actually known about Alistair's existence. He has also seriously hinted that Alistair was in fact wanted. Both Maric and Cailan cared about him, but were reluctant to actually approach him, because they were afraid he would be angry and bitter and reject them. So that's the approach I'm going with here, that both Cailan and Kassina knew about Alistair and had wanted to approach him some way or another when the time was right, and since Loghain never really cared for Alistair, I'm assuming it would be an usual argument in this little family.

Not much action in this chapter, mostly dialogue and I wanted to give a bit of depth to Cailan's character here, and show a bit of his day to day life. As always I hoped you liked it! And thanks for reading!