Serendipity:

Part Two

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Characters, plot points, and dialogue recognizable from Dragon Age: Origins are the property of Bioware.

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You knew as soon as you saw her that she was going to be trouble. Alistair/Cousland, DAO.

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You wake disoriented, blinking away sleep as you attempt to place the familiar face hovering above you.

It takes a few moments for your memories to return, but when they do, they hit like a warhammer. A tower full of darkspawn that shouldn't have been there. Lighting a beacon. Arrows sticking out of your chest, a bloom of pain and darkness. And now you are here, staring up from a strange bed at a witch of the wilds.

You must be dead or dreaming.

Morrigan weaves a tale together of all the terrible things you remember, things you'd hoped weren't memories. The king and Duncan are dead. The Wardens are dead.

You try not to cry. Not in front of the witch.

You don't even remember Elissa immediately. It's Morrigan who mentions her, and you're embarrassed first at forgetting about her and then at how glad you are to hear she's alive. When you are finally allowed out of bed, you ask to see her and are denied. Looking at the witch and her mother, you aren't sure you believe she's even here.

Your worries are eradicated within an hour's time. You don't want to admit how much relief you feel when you see her walking up to you with that enormous warhound of hers following on her heels. And that's when it really hits you—she's all you have left. Duncan is gone, you have no king, and the blight is a larger threat than ever. You almost cry in front of her, and you wish the ground would come up and consume you.

When Flemeth begins to talk about sending the two of you out to fight the blight together, you can't help but feel a slight surge of happiness in spite of it all.

It's like a douse of cold water when she wants to send her daughter with you.

…

You tell Elissa that you can't be the leader. She assumes it's because you are distraught over Duncan's death, and she isn't entirely wrong. So you let her believe it—the last thing you want her to know is that you fear your feelings for her could compromise your decisions.

She seems pleased to take the lead, more comfortable in the role than you could have imagined. The witch, on the other hand, makes constant derogatory comments towards you about your lack of leadership skills, not caring for a moment that you've just lost your mentor and friends. Elissa takes up your defense, but Morrigan is hardly deterred from entertaining herself thusly during your journey.

Before long, you arrive at the nearest town to supply and prepare. You ask around for news, help out a few scared peasants, and make a few sovereigns doing tasks from the chanter's board without incident. It's only once you get to the inn that you realize Loghain is after you. You and Elissa—the two most insignificant Grey Wardens—are being blamed for the death of the king.

Elissa agrees to let Loghain's soldiers live, and for a moment you question her judgment. But when you see the fierceness in her gray eyes and the men cowering before her, you can't help but be impressed. Hearing her message to Loghain gives you almost as much pleasure as killing them would have.

"He'll have to do better than this," she says, and it's the first thing that makes you want to smile since you awoke in the Korcari wilds. When she turns to go, you think you see a hint of a satisfied smile on her lovely face.

The chantry sister who begged for their lives turns out to be good with a bow, and she asks to join your quest. You aren't sure about this vision she claims to have had, but Leliana doesn't seem like the dangerous kind of crazy. Elissa appears to agree with you, and allows the girl to come along, provided she pulls her weight.

You get angry when Elissa wants to take the caged giant with you as well. You ask her if she's adopting any stray she finds, and she shoots you a glare that sends you reeling. If it came to it, you could overpower her, but you have no desire to go up against that indomitable will. Besides, she's the only ally you've got right now, and you can't afford to lose her.

Resigned, you go along with her decision, hoping that the next person who wants to join your cause is a little more friendly and a little less… murder-y.

…

You suggest Redcliffe as a starting place, and Elissa agrees without question. You had been prepared to explain your reasoning, and are a bit taken aback by her eagerness. Is she placating you because of your grief over Duncan? Or does she have reasons of her own that she hasn't shared? With her, it's impossible to tell.

As you approach Redcliffe village, you begin to wish she hadn't been so eager to agree with you. Not that you were wrong to go to Eamon first—but it seems all too soon to reveal your secret. Truth be told, you were kind of hoping she would never have to know.

You debate with yourself and put it off as long as possible, but she needs to know before Arl Eamon gives it away. You don't want those eyes trained accusingly on you, wondering why you didn't tell her something that could be so important now that you've lost your king.

You've been dreading this moment since you met. No one ever treats you the same once they learn that you are King Maric's bastard. They either hate you for it or want to use you, and you wonder sardonically which it will be this time.

But you don't get the reaction you expect. She gets an odd look on her face, one you can't interpret, and asks you if you can recall her introduction that first day at Ostagar. Of course you do, but you try to pretend that you don't have every one of your moments together memorized. When you give her a non-committal shrug, she reminds you that she is a Cousland and asks if you know what that means. And with that, it hits you. You finally remember how you know that name.

The thought enters your mind of its own volition: If you were Maric's legitimate son, the two of you would likely be betrothed—the younger son of the king and Teyrn Cousland's daughter would have been an obvious match. Just as that thought reaches the forefront of your mind, you see a slight blush rise on her cheeks, and you can't help but smile at the idea that she might be thinking the same thing you are.

But that thought disappears in the wake of another. A teyrn's daughter would be familiar with politics. There's no way she won't have her own opinion on how a king's bastard ought to be treated… or used.

She surprises you by taking the news casually, almost as if she hears this kind of admission every day. She even makes a joke about it. If anyone but her were to call you "your highness" they would be flat on the ground before they could laugh at their own joke. Somehow, she is different—there's nothing snide in her words, nothing derogatory. Not like so many others. When she says it, you almost wish she would say it again, just so you could see that rare trace of laughter in her eyes.

That night, you share first watch, each telling your story as you bide the time. For the first time, you don't feel alone in your losses. When she explains her situation, the loss of home and family in one fell swoop, your blood boils. You want to hunt Arl Howe down and kill him yourself, but the anger in her eyes reminds you that the kill should be her own. She isn't some damsel in distress for you to save.

Some moments you wish she were, because all you want to do is protect this girl from the horrible things of the world. She would probably knock you flat if she heard you say such a thing, but you can't help feeling this way all the same.

When you head to your tent at the end of the shift, your heart aches for her, and you can't make it stop.

…

You thought that reaching Redcliffe would be like a homecoming. Instead, it's like entering a nightmare. As if darkspawn aren't enough to contend with, you have to defend the city against the undead, some kind of horrible twisted creatures that come in waves from the castle after nightfall. You try not to think too hard about what they are. A blade will stop them; that should be enough.

But worry presses in on you despite yourself. If this is what leaves the castle at night, how much worse must it be inside? And then there's Eamon. Deathly ill inside a castle that must be crawling with those things… the very thought makes your stomach churn. Even though Eamon is the one who sent you away to the Chantry as a child, you have come to believe that he had been trying to do the right thing by you. You may never get the chance to tell him that now.

You and Elissa wander around to find anything that might be of use against the monsters that plague the village, and you hope and pray that everything you do is going to be enough. You see creases of worry on Elissa's face that must mirror your own. If you don't save Redcliffe and Arl Eamon, how are you ever going to get Loghain out of the way so that you can focus on the real threat?

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The night's battle is long and difficult, but in the morning you are able to finally enter the castle. Unfortunately, what you find there is no comfort. You have a hard time believing that this is the same place you once called home.

You never knew Eamon's son Connor well, but the change in him still horrifies you to the core. Even had he been a stranger, the idea of killing a child, possessed or not, is a terrible one, and blood magic is hardly a better alternative.

"We have to get help from the mages' tower," you argue, countering what the witch says. To put it simply, you don't trust either her or that runaway mage Elissa pulled from the dungeons, and when has blood magic solved anything anyways?

From a glance, Elissa can tell that it isn't just the templar in you that makes you disdain the blood magic ritual. You want to save both Isolde and Connor. The curious look in her eyes makes it clear that she wonders why—and perhaps that she even admires your resolve. It's true that the woman has never been kind to you, but you can't bear to think about Eamon waking up to all of this horrible news and losing his wife or son as well. "We have to try," you say, and her eyes meet yours.

"We will go to the circle tower," she finally commands, her words a binding order. You give her a grateful smile, and she looks away.

You begin your march for the tower that very day.

…

You look around in confusion, feeling as if you just woke from a daydream.

"There you are, Alistair!" You turn to find your sister standing before you. You scratch your head, bewildered—you don't quite remember what you'd been doing just a few minutes ago.

"It's nearly time for supper," she tells you, and suddenly you remember—your sister has invited you to stay with her for a while, to get to know her and her children better. She smiles. "Why don't you go on and gather up your nieces and nephews so they can set the table?"

You can't help your own smile as you head over to where the children are playing. You love children, and being able to finally spend time with your nieces and nephews is a dream come true. You've never had the sense of belonging that you have here, the warmth that fills you as the children look up to see their favorite uncle. (Well, their only uncle, but you'll take what you can get.)

Before you can tell them to head inside, you hear another voice. "Alistair?" A shiver runs through you, and you aren't sure why.

You're certain you haven't seen her in a very long time… not since the blight, and that must have been years ago. But she looks the same as the day you met her, so young and beautiful that she takes your breath away. Why did you ever let her go, you wonder?

She comes up to you with a determined look in her eye. "Alistair, we have to go."

"Go?" you ask in surprise. "You just got here, and we haven't even had supper yet!"

"Alistair," she begins with a sigh, but she pauses at the approach of your sister.

"Elissa, I want you to meet my sister Goldanna," you say, proud to have someone to introduce her to. Someone to belong to.

"Nice to meet you, Elissa, are you staying for supper?" Goldanna asks, wiping her hands on her apron.

Elissa looks from you to Goldanna with an odd, penetrating look in her eye. "I'm not staying for supper, and Alistair shouldn't either," she tells your sister firmly.

You stare, appalled at her manners. "Elissa, why are you acting like this?"

She grabs you by the shoulders, turning away from your sister completely. "Alistair, do you remember how you got here? Think very hard," she says. Her grey eyes bore into yours.

You think you hear Goldanna calling, but you can't tear your eyes away. You have to do as she says. You have to try to remember.

Your head pounds with uncertainty as it fills with memories, ones that must be years old and yet you can find nothing to fill the gap. You remember a tower of mages and demons and then… nothing.

How did you get here? Nothing is making sense any longer. A question enters your mind and persists, though you had been certain of the answer just moments ago. "Elissa did we… did we stop the blight?"

She shakes her head, eyes still on yours. "No, Alistair, we didn't. Not yet."

The next thing you know, Goldanna is ripping Elissa away from you. "That is enough!" she screeches, glaring daggers at your fellow Grey Warden, and you wonder what it is she doesn't want you to know.

Only then do you remember the sloth demon, and everything around you melts away into a terrible, barren landscape. Demons are upon you from every side, replacing your sister, nieces, and nephews. As the fog in your mind clears, you begin to feel incredibly stupid.

After you cut down the last of the demons, you turn to her and apologize. When you ask her how she escaped to find you, her voice is bitter. "I suppose my dream wasn't as compelling as yours."

You want to ask her more, but all of a sudden you realize that you are fading away, just like your dream. To where, you don't know, but you certainly hope you're heading back to the real world. You've got a tower full of mages to save, and it scares you to wonder how much time was wasted here in the fade.

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