Two
The air in the Gnawed Noble Tavern was thick with smoke from the hearth.
She walked with her head down and her hood drawn tight that no one might notice her. It was late, so the common room was mostly empty and those who were still lounging around were so deep into their cups they likely wouldn't have noticed her anyway.
She took a right turn down the hall and went to the end, ducking quickly into the last room. She shut the door behind her and drew the hood back from her head.
He was sitting there, dressed in plain garb with a hood of his own pulled back and resting behind his neck. Two glasses of ale sat on the table, awaiting her arrival.
"I was wondering if maybe the guards had picked you up on the street. Thieves guild has been a problem lately and I seem to remember meeting a red-haired elf who knew how to pick just about any lock if she thought she might find shiny, shiny treasures inside."
Alistair's smirk was the same as the first day she met him, before thoughts of becoming King of Ferelden had even been considered as necessary realities. He had hardly changed since those days fighting the Blight. Even leading the realm hadn't taken the glow out of his face or that playful bite from his tongue.
"What guards?" Kallian said with a smirk of her own. "I was wondering if maybe it was some human holiday I wasn't aware of, St. Thiefy's Day or something, where all the guards get the night off."
Alistair rose from the seat and he hardly looked a king. He didn't even look like a Warden. He just looked like a regular man stealing away to the inn for a pint or two before bed.
He looked comfortable.
They hugged and he took one step back and shot her a disapproving glance. "You know what the turnover for that city guard job is?" He paused. "Neither do I, but I'd bet that it's a lot. All that standing, the late hours. And there's always that off-chance that the whole city is overrun by thousands of darkspawn and a giant, darkspawny dragon thing."
"I'm sure the pay is stellar, though," Kallian teased.
Alistair laughed. Kallian laughed.
They both knew this visit was the last time they would see each other, but there was laughter. Alistair understood the taint the same as her. They were both Wardens and they knew what that meant. He knew the price they all had to may.
That's why she had started with Alistair. The farewell would be the easiest of the toughest.
Leaving Vigil's Keep and the other Wardens were the least difficult of all. Like Alistair, they knew. They understood.
Most of her closest friends and companions has moved on anyway and it had been years since she saw them.
Nathaniel had left Ferelden to return to the Free Marches where he felt most at home. She had received a few reports from him about the work he was doing in the Deep Roads between Kirkwall and Starkhaven. He had found a good group of Wardens there, friends who had heard about his exploits at Vigil's Keep and the battle against the Mother. He now commanded his own small company of Wardens and she heard that darkspawn sightings in the Marches were as low as they had ever been.
She had left her recommendation that he take over as Commander of the Wardens in Ferelden in her stead. Seneschal Varel promised he would make the proper arrangements. They had sent notice to Weisshaupt far off in the Anderfels, but Ferelden was so far away she doubted they would question her appointment.
Velanna had been missing for years while in search of her sister. After the Architect, Utha and Seranni disappeared after the battle against the Mother, she made it her personal mission to track them down. She had led a small company of Wardens - Dalish and even a few humans she had all seen through their Joinings - for years trying to find them.
Those Wardens had returned to Vigil's Keep without her one day, saying she had darted down a tunnel after shouting Seranni's name. They searched for days, but found no trace of her. Kallian had wondered if she fell prey to a darkspawn trap, or perhaps she had truly found her sister and the Architect and joined with them.
Justice had abandoned the decaying body of Kristoff a short time after the coastlands were secured. He had always known his entrapment in Kristoff was unnatural, although wondrous to him. He had shown up at the doorstep of Kristoff's wife, spoken a few short words to her and abandoned the body. Whether the Spirit wandered the Fade again or was destroyed, Kallian wasn't sure.
Anders had abandoned the order, much to her dismay. She had heard reports of a Ferelden Warden in Kirkwall, a mage who fought to free his brethren from the oppression of the Templars there. She knew it had to be him, but she had never gone to find him or sent others to track him. He had always desired freedom and she had once promised not to enslave him to his vows. She made good on that promise, although she had always hoped he would return to the order some day.
She had shared a few mugs with Oghren and left him on good terms. The dwarf wasn't one for tearful goodbyes, but they left each other with a firm hug and years of good friendship between them. She could feel fear in the darkspawn whenever they stood before his mighty hammer. Their collective mind knew him, recognized him and feared him. He would be a terror to their numbers for the rest of his life.
Those were the easy ones.
She sat down and sipped her ale. It was warm. How long had Alistair been sitting there waiting for her, she wondered. Probably hours. She had never known the king to pass an opportunity to get away from the palace and the court.
As they sat, Kallian said, "I heard your sister is getting along well enough at the palace."
"Oh yes, yes. She's absolutely great at driving the old ball-and-chain up the walls. I thank the Maker every day that Goldanna is at least good for that," he said. "I always tell Anora that if she doesn't behave I'll name one of my sister's whelps as heir."
Goldanna's tune had changed after Alistair was named as the King, although she was still grossly unpleasant to be around. Alistair had reached out to her again and invited her to live at the court with her children and she had accepted.
From the moment Kallian had laid eyes upon Goldanna, she had never believed they were related. If they indeed had the same mother, they didn't look it. Certainly Goldanna didn't act it, but her life had been vastly different and more difficult than his. He lived in an Arl's estate and trained with the Templars. She had literally scrubbed out a living on her own with multiple children.
As much as Kallian disliked Goldanna, she couldn't fault her for the woman she grew into. She was a victim of circumstance.
"I'm sure the Queen would love that," Kallian said, taking her ale and sipping first. Anora was hardly the queen Kallian would have wished upon Alistair, but at the time she seemed like the best option.
There were hard times at the beginning. It was many months before Alistair had even wanted to speak to Kallian again after her decision to put Teryn Loghain through the Joining.
She had trusted Riordan and rightly so. It was shortly after she learned the grim secret of why a Grey Warden must be the one to slay the Archdemon. She kept Loghain close at hand and when the Archdemon was subdued, she gave him the order to strike the killing blow. To her, it was a redemption for a man who had caused so much death and strife.
He went to his end fearlessly.
The people regaled in the story of the last sacrifice of the Hero of River Dane in the taverns and many found it as cause to support the new union of Queen Anora to Alistair. In the end, her decision brought a greater good to Ferelden, even if she never expected to speak to Alistair again.
When they finally did meet again prior to her being named as Warden Commander in Ferelden, it was a terse conversation.
"I'll never agree with what you did," Alistair had said. "But I understand why you did it. And I forgive you."
They slowly spoke more and more after that, and by the time she came to lead Vigil's Keep, it was like it had never happened at all.
Alistair nodded and took a drink from his mug. "I only hope the transition won't cause another civil war."
It was no secret that the Grey Wardens rarely conceived and there were rumors around the court in Denerim that the Queen was barren. She had failed to provide an heir for King Cailin, although there had been other rumors regarding that, that he hadn't tried very hard.
It was a harsh reality that Ferelden's current rulers would probably end their lives without providing an heir from their union. Civil war was a thought that wasn't far behind. Arl Teagan of Redcliffe still held a connection to the Theirin line through his sister Rowan. Goldanna's children held common lineage with Alistair through his mother, supposedly, but all came from common blood.
While pairing Alistair to Anora had worked in the short term, Kallian still wondered about the fallout of her decision. She would be long gone by the time it became a matter, but she had worked to preserve Ferelden and would lament to see it ripped apart again in some mad grab for power during another succession crisis.
Alistair placed the tankard down and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. His face went from typical Alistair to serious. "So you're hearing it when you sleep?"
"Yes," Kallian said. "You?"
"No, thankfully," he said. "I can't believe it's come on so fast."
"Me either," Kallian said. "They say the Calling comes faster to the Wardens during a Blight. And after dealing with the Blight and the Awakening, I can see why my time has come so soon."
"It's a shame," Alistair said. "Ferelden still needs you."
"They have you," she said, with a little smile at the corner of her mouth to break the heaviness of the conversation.
"Trust me, they're hardly better off for that," he said.
"I told you that from the beginning or have you already forgotten all that 'But I don't want to be king! I don't want to marry Anora!'" he added, tailing into a mockingly whiny voice.
"I've heard some say the Theirin kings were never much for rule, but nobody denies the positive effects they've had on Ferelden, yourself included, Alistair," she said with a smile.
"Now I feel all warm and fuzzy inside," he said, taking another drink from his mug.
As they talked, Kallian realized she missed these times. The way she and her companions used to sit around the campfire while fighting the Blight, sharing hot food and stories and even laughter despite the enclosing darkness.
She knew they were all off following their own great paths now, wherever they led. Alistair was leading a nation. Wynne, she had heard, was doing her best to try to hold the lid on the boiling pot that was the Circle. Shale was still seeking answers to her past. Leliana now served the Divine in Orlais. Sten had returned to Seheron and had not been heard from again. Zevran, she had heard, was dismantling the Antivan Crows in his effort to gain his freedom.
And then she remembered Morrigan. She had looked almost sad as they spoke before the ancient Eluvian. She had given a warning of the future, but Kallian knew she would not be here to try to prevent it. She hadn't exactly trusted Morrigan's word, anyway, but there was an equally strong sense that she could not trust in Flemeth either.
Snakes birth more snakes, she thought. Although she had considered trying to kill Morrigan before the witch escaped through the portal, her hands would not allow her to strike her down. It would be murder. She had no proof that Morrigan was up to anything sinister, although she expected the witch's purpose was less than pure.
She had left information with Varel and the Wardens at Amaranthine in case the witch did return as an antagonist, and she felt sad that perhaps she was passing problems she created on to others.
"I wish we could do this more often," she said with a smile.
"I suppose all we need is another Blight," Alistair said. "No big deal, though, right? We've done it once, I'm sure we could handle it again."
"I've heard them say that there are only seven Old Gods, therefore two more Blights maximum," she said.
She hoped that was true. Although she had trusted the Architect to try to free the darkspawn of their impulses, she held out little hope that he would actually succeed. Someday they would be back and perhaps they wouldn't be so lucky as they had the first five times.
"Right, let's just push those through them, get them out of the way and then we can have happiness and sunshine until the end of time," Alistair said.
"If only." She smiled too and clinked her cup against the King's and drank deeply, downing the rest of the glass. Alistair had done the same and they placed the empty cups on the table.
Alistair could tell that she had to be going and she could see sadness in his eyes. Although she had hated him at first in the pathetic way she hastily judged and hated all humans, she couldn't think of a better friend she had in all Thedas.
"Maybe someday we won't need Grey Wardens," Alistair said wishfully. "And maybe someday we won't have to have sad partings like these."
They hugged, a good firm hug, the kind people gave when they knew they wouldn't see each other ever again. Kallian blinked back tears in her eyes and squeezed the king she had made. "Take good care of Ferelden for me," she whispered.
"I'll try my best," he said.
