Eriana didn't trust Daveth at all. Every time that he looked her way, she felt as if she was being appraised in some way, like he was looking for her weaknesses, assessing her strengths, looking for ways to exploit them. The first night out of Denerim, Duncan asked her and Daveth to spar so that he could assess their fighting styles. Eriana was surprised by how easily she was able to disarm Daveth. He was a quick fighter, but he was a bit clumsy and heavy-handed with his fighting technique. Eriana quickly disarmed him in their first sparing match. After getting advice from Duncan, they faced each other for a second match.

Eriana circled the thief slowly, looking for an opening to disarm him or take him down. Daveth, however, was very patient this time around, waiting for her to make the first move. She lunged forward with her sword, spinning as she moved to try to catch him with her dagger as he danced out of the way. The move caught them both off balance for a moment and gave her a chance to knock Daveth's feet out from under him. In the process of falling, he pulled her down on top of him, and they found themselves in the very position they initially met, with Eriana pinning him to the ground with her knee. Duncan laughed as he got up to tend the fire, but Daveth caught Eriana's arm and pulled her down to him as she tried to get up.

"One day, pretty, little elf, our positions will be reversed," he hissed in her ear, too quietly for Duncan to hear, "and I won't be so gentle."

Eriana jerked her arm away from him and scrambled to her feet, but said nothing. She refused to give him the pleasure of responding to his idle threats, but all the same his leers made her nervous.

Duncan didn't ask them the spar again; instead, he insisted on working with them individually. At first, Eriana was unsure about the older man's abilities, but after finding herself disarmed in less than a minute, she was forced to revise her opinions about him. Duncan moved with such speed and grace, she wasn't sure if he was fighting or dancing. For the first time since the death of her mother, Eriana was finally fighting against someone who was genuinely better than her. They spared every night on the way to Ostagar, and Eriana found that she was improving a great deal under his tutelage. She was actually able to get the better of her commander on occasion.

It was their seventh night on the road, and the small party was about two days out of Ostagar. They had finished their nightly training session and were starting to turn in when Eriana approached Duncan, who was sitting by the fire, preparing for the first shift on watch.

"I never really thanked you for saving me back there in Denerim," Eriana said, as she sat down. "I'm pretty sure that you were the first human man who has ever stood up for me, and I wasn't exactly sure how to react."

Duncan looked over at her. "I am sorry that you have only seen our darker nature, but all men are not like the ones that you encountered"

Eriana pulled her knees up to her chest. "The only man who was ever decent to me was the barkeep at the tavern, and I'm pretty sure that was because he knew my mother." She sighed as she looked up at Duncan. "I wasn't sure what to expect when you walked into the alienage, but I assumed that you were after the same thing as all the others. The fact that you helped us out, even though we were just elves.."

Duncan interrupted her. "You are not just elves. You have the same rights as anyone else in this kingdom, and you are an equal to every other Grey Warden in Fereldan. We are a band of brothers and sisters," he said looking down at her. "And I didn't conscript you because I felt sorry for your situation. I did feel for you, don't get me wrong, but I conscripted you because you are very talented. Elder Valendrian bragged of you often, and truth be told, you were my first choice of recruits till I heard you were getting married."

Eriana grinned up at Duncan. "Now that surprises me. All he did was fuss at me for causing trouble with the guards and the Chantry Sisters. That and sneaking back into the alienage after curfew."

"You had a curfew?"

"All elves in the alienage did. We weren't supposed to be out after a certain time; it made the humans uneasy to have us out after dark."

Duncan shook his head. "At times I forget what it is like outside the ranks of the Wardens. Well, my dear; you don't have to worry about that any longer; you are among equals now."

Eriana stole a quick glance at Daveth's tent and considered telling Duncan what he had said earlier that week. He hadn't said anything else, so it may have just been his frustration at being bested by a woman that prompted the threat she reasoned. His actions, however, still worried her. He still stared at her with a look that she knew all too well, and he seemed to find reasons to be close to her, to touch her accidently. She could tell Duncan her concerns, but then she thought better of it. That would only prove that she was weak and needed Duncan's help. She could handle Daveth on her own.

"Thank you, Duncan," Eriana said as she got up to head to her tent. "Again, I appreciate everything you've done for me."

As she ducked into her tent, Eriana looked back at Duncan as he fed the fire. "He's not bad, I guess," she thought, "for a human."