Childhood had been pleasant. Leliana had been doted on much like a beloved child and she had wanted for nothing. But as Lady Cecilie started to grow older, Leliana started becoming less like a child and more like a companion and nursemaid. It was suddenly expected of her to take care of the old woman, in ways that she hadn't been expecting. But she was a fast learner even though it hurt her to see the lady become more and more forgetful and confused. More than once the old woman had called her 'Sabine' and asked her to get water or something else. It confused Leliana greatly as she didn't know who this 'Sabine' was.

As she was getting ready for the events of the evening Leliana fought against the childlish fury that rose in her chest when she found out that Lady Cecilie was going to have one of her gatherings on Leliana's birthday. It was the day she turned 13, it was supposed to be special; but instead she was going to have to sit in a corner while Lady Cecilie and her friends socialised. Leliana had no reason to be upset. It couldn't be expected of Lady Cecilie to remember her birthday.

Leliana sighed, and ignored the girl in the mirror. Instead she pulled on the blue velvet dress that the maid had put out for her but let her hair flow free. She wished that the old lady would let her cut her hair, it was down to her buttocks, but the lady was believed that long hair was best suited for little girls; forever ignoring the fact that Leliana was no longer a little girl.

Downstairs most of the guests had already arrived. Leliana knew what was expected of her and took to her chair in one of the corners. Les petits enfants devraient être vus et non pas entendus. Little children should be seen and not heard. That is what they said. Leliana was supposed to sit on a chair and watch the party; but she wasn't supposed to join in or talk. It was what was expected of Orlesian children at parties. Leliana hated it and was bored within the first ten minutes. When she had been younger, the pretty dresses, elaborate hairstyles and beautiful shoes had been enough to entertain her for hours. But she was not a little girl anymore.

Leliana craved excitement and youth. She felt trapped in this house, with an aging woman and her equally aging youngest people the girl met where the maids. She didn't know how much longer she could stand it. How much longer she could keep standing the constant, smiling, greeting, pleasing, faking, breathing, living.

The girl sometimes wondered if she was a mere extension of Lady Cecilie, so when the old lady died, so would Leliana. Lady Cecilie and her waning health was Leliana's whole life; her whole tedious, drawn out life.

Minute by minute passed. Leliana felt her smile twitch occasionally but refused to let it falter. She knew her role and played it well. It was a strange ritual, this gathering of half-lucid, aging nobility. It was as if it was a play, Leliana observed, a macabre play. Planned and executed by the servants who pushed their masters and mistresses in the right direction. It would have made Leliana laugh if she hadn't been feeling so miserable. There was something so sad about the spectacle. These people had once been some of the most influential people in Val Royeaux, but their time was over now. They just didn't know it yet. They might as well all be dead, Leliana thought.

Eventually the guests started leaving one by one. When the last count had finally left Leliana could stand up and stretch her stiff legs. Orlesian customs could be so exhausting.

"At least no bards showed up," Lady Cecilie said to no one, "I don't know what I would have done if they had." She then turned to Leliana and held out her arm.

"Be a good girl and help me up the stairs."

Leliana went and obediantely helped Lady Cecilie up the stairs, through the hallway and into her room when she sat the lady down on her bed.

"My poor old bones," Lady Cecilie groaned.

"Should I call for the maid, madame?" Leliana asked. But instead of answering Lady Cecilie looked up at her and for the first time in several months, it didn't feel like Lady Cecilie was looking right through her.

"You look a lot like you're mother," Lady Cecilie said dreamily.

"My mother?" Lady said.

"The same red hair," Lady Cecilie continued, "the same smile."

"Tell me more about my mother," Leliana said, eager to learn more during these rare moments that Lady Cecilie remembered who she was, "what was her name?"

Sadness flashed briefly in Lady Cecilie's eyes, she reached up and gripped Leliana's wrist.

"I… I don't remember," the recognizing gleam was slowly disappearing."She would tell you stories."

"Stories, madame?"

"So many stories. When you were little it was the only thing that would calm you. I would walk by her room, your room, and I would hear her voice, telling you stories all night long."

The girl didn't know what to do. Lady Cecilie wasn't acting normal at all and the grip she had on Leliana's wrist was on the verge of being painful.

"Madame," Leliana tried, "would you let go of me please?"

Lady Cecilie looked down in confusion at their adjoining hands.

"I'm sorry," she said, her voice quivering as she let go, "I don't know what happened."

Leliana smiled sweetly.

"Don't worry, madame," she said, "you're just tired, yes? Yes, of course. The party and everything has drained you."

The girl didn't bother calling for a maid. Instead she helped Lady Cecilie out of her dress and under her cover. Leliana even managed to light the fireplace without burning her fingers.

"What's happening to me?" Lady Cecilie asked out loud just as Leliana was about to leave, thinking that the old lady had fallen asleep. She turned back and looked at the woman who had once stood proud. She looked beaten, defeated and her eyes were filled with fear. It was sad that she was just lucid enough to realise that something was very wrong. Leliana found herself feeling sorry for her, remembering all the times that the lady had taken care of her when she had been ill.

"Don't worry about that," Leliana said, walking back to Lady Cecilie's bed, leaning down and pressing a quick kiss to the old woman's cheek.

"Sleep now," she said, "you will feel better tomorrow."

Lady Cecilie nodded, yawned like a child and then closed her eyes. Leliana sighed, feeling strange at the sudden reversed roles. She started walking towards the door again when a small package caught her eye.

It was a plain brown box that could have been anything if it hadn't been adorned with big blue letters on top. For Leliana it said. Lady Cecilie hadn't forgotten! Leliana looked back at the bed, a faint snoring could be heard from it. Leliana picked up the small package and quickly, but silently, exited the room.

She went into her own bedroom and sat down on the floor with her back to the closed door. She took out the package and eyed it curiously.

For Leliana it said. Surely that meant that it wouldn't be wrong for Leliana to open it? She quickly lifted the lid.

Inside on a small piece of cloth laid a small bird of silver with amber eyes and feathers. It was very small, not bigger than Leliana's thumb and was attached to a very light silver chain. Leliana picked it up, revelling at how featherlight it was.

It was a nightingale. Leliana knew what they looked like and this bird looked exactly like one. On the back of the bird she could feel that the silver wasn't completely smooth, she turned it around. It was engraved on the backside, Sabine it said. Leliana put two and two together and realised that that was her mother's name. And this must have been her mother's necklace. How Lady Cecilie had gotten hold of it, Leliana would probably never know, but at this moment she was just grateful of the small piece of history she was now holding in her hand. She hung the nightingale around her neck, finding comfort in the cool metal against her skin.

The girl could sense that things were about to change. Outside a storm was brewing, making the shutters and windows rattle in the wind. It was the wind of change and it was going to change everything.