Alistair crashed through the trees after Solana. She was easy to track; being stealthy was not on the top of her priority list at the moment. The forest however, was pitch black. He couldn't see an inch in front of his nose, and so had to follow her through sound alone.

"Solana! Solana!" he cried. Her sobs seemed to surround him, coming at him from all directions.

"Dammit, where in Andraste's name....." he cursed under his breath, turning in circles as he desperately tried to identify where the sounds were coming from.

His hand went to his sword pommel, as he realised that he was out in the wilds, alone, with darkspawn liable to leap from the shadows and beat both of them to a pulp at any moment. His senses were good, but the way his brain was at the moment....well lets just say, he struggled to buckle his armour on properly nowadays let alone have any awareness of his surroundings.

There, to his right. Alistair paused and listened to the stillness. There it was again. A soft sound, like muffled squeaking. Slowly, he moved towards the noise. The trees in this direction had obviously been disturbed, the branches buckled and damaged as if something big had charged through them. Solana wasn't that large, but she had shot off like a cannonball from a ballista. His steps brought him to a slight opening in the forest. She lay ahead of him, dirt streaked across her face, clutching at her ankle which was awkwardly tangled up with a fallen stump that she had tripped over in her flight.

She was sobbing uncontrollably, desperately trying to catch her breath, but unable to stem the tide that was coursing out of her. Her cries were terrible, like that of a wounded animal, raw and broken.

Alistair stopped in his tracks, stunned. This beautiful woman, who had taken leadership of their party without batting an eyelid, who had fought with the heart of a lion when outnumbered 3 to 1 in battle, who displayed such courage in the face of adversity and who would always give anyone the benefit of the doubt no matter their crime. She was, diminished now. Small and scared. It broke his heart.

He went to her cautiously, as one would approach a nervous marbari. She looked up from her leg and tried to pull away.

"No.....don't, please!" she whispered desperately, her lips wet and glistening from her tears. Alistair ignored her, and went down on both of his knees. He couldn't bare this...this was just horrible, seeing her like this. He vowed to try and make sure that she never hurt again.

"Ssssh, let me help" he whispered. Gently, he took her leg in his hands, and bent it experimentally forwards and backwards. He slowly twisted her ankle, and watched her face as it grimaced.

"Hurts there huh? Really bad?"

Solana shook her head.

"Ok, I don't think its broken, try to move it off of the log". Solana bit her bottom lip, as she always did when she was concentrating. Alistair often wondered how on earth she got through a fight without biting her tongue off. She tried to get her hands underneath her to lever herself backwards, but she slid on the wet ground, unable to get purchase.

"Hold on a second." Alistair moved behind her, and gently wrapped his arms around her waist. Make she was tiny! Although they often fought as a team, back to back, he had never realised just how small she really was under all that plate.

"Ready?" he whispered. She nodded stiffly, and Alistair gently pulled her back towards him and away from the log. So far so good, she hadn't hit him yet and not had she yelped as her lag had scraped across the bark. He didn't think she was capable of being overly brave right now, but then again, she has always managed to surprise him

"I think you have just twisted your ankle" he said softly, painfully aware how badly her body was shaking against his. He left his arms linked closely around her waist, trying to offer some comfort. Her body continued to shake as she fought to get her tears under control, the silence punctuated by an occasional but heart wrenching whimper that escaped from her throat.

"You....you can't do this" she stuttered. Her hair covered her face, dragging across her skin in damp tendrils. Alistair boldly brushed the strands away from her skin, turning her body around gently to face him. The moonlight managed to filter through to the forest floor here, and he took her chin in his hand and raised her face to look at him. Her expression stabbed through him like a blade.

"Why Solana? Why can't I do this? I love you" he whispered. She shook her head in defiance.

"No" she mouthed. "No, you don't. You can't" Alistair looked at her in dismay. Why was she resisting this? Could she not see what she meant to him? Her deep brown eyes looked so frightened, so desparing....what had happened?

"Solana, talk to me, please. Help me understand". His face was so close to hers now, she could feel the warmth of her breath on his lips. To his horror, another sob burst forth and fresh tears appeared.

"No.....you can't" she repeated. "I.....I'm broken. You can't break me anymore....."

She seemed to collapse in on herself then. She sagged against him, crying harder and harder, her body shuddering and shaking, as if her very soul was being purged.

Alistair held her as tightly as he could to his chest as her heart audibly broke, rocking her slowly back and forth, desperately trying to reach her in that dark place that she had retreated to.

"Its ok" he whispered into her hair. "I love you, I love you, I love you"