Fergus could not believe his own eyes. Why? Why? Even after his very sane, cautious reply that they were incapable of hosting her at the moment, the Queen stood in the remains of his main hall, her mantle wrapped tightly around her shoulders. Her expression was set, unyielding, and his stomach dropped. There must be something more to the very limited story that Leonie had finally given him...

"Your majesty." He managed. She shouldn't be here. "I sent a message that..."

She waved him to stop and he did, doing his best to not watch the entrances to the hall...to not watch for Leonie's approach. If...no, when...she came, there would be no stealth involved. He'd have plenty of warning.

"I received your message, Teyrn Fergus. I regret that I cannot do as you ask, for I need to talk to your sister. I understand her reasons to give Denerim a wide berth, but if she will not come to me, then I must come to her."

Damn it all. Just let it go, Anora. "I swear that my sister will not be a problem, your Majesty. Whatever caused her to..." Leonie appeared in the open doorway to the courtyard, the mabari at her heels. She did not seem at all surprised, leaning against the door jamb and folding her arms over her chest. It was exactly as their mother had done when she was very much not amused by something.

"Anora. What brings you here?" Oh, and she wasn't even going to play at the correct social graces, addressing the Queen herself as an equal, or less.

"As I just told your brother, Warden, I need to speak to you. If there is someplace where we can have this discussion in private...I will get it done and leave Highever. I do understand the situation and have no urge to impose upon your brother's hospitality. There is just something I need to know from you before I go before the Landsmeet again."

"You can assure them I have no further designs on the throne." Leonie came into the light. "There's no other business between us."

"This is a discussion we should have in private." For all of her amazingly lovely face, Anora had the same stubborn steel under her words as Leonie did. The same ungiving expression. It was like looking through a flawed mirror, the two daughters of Ferelden's teyrnirs pushing each other.

"Seems rather private to me. Say what you mean to say, Anora."

The Queen's eyes fell on Fergus and he stood, caught. It was obvious that she wanted him to leave, and it was equally obvious that Leonie did not want him to leave. And she was his sibling, his blood. If Anora brought trouble with her, then it was his duty to stand with Leonie. And that was exactly as he did, moving to stand just behind his sister, silently.

"If this is truly something you wish to discuss in front of your brother, then we shall, Leonie. I need to talk to you about Alistair."

Leonie snorted, shaking her head, moving to take a seat at the table...breaking the staring stalemate that had erupted around her. "Nothing to speak of there, Anora. Alistair is dead."

And those words were dead on her lips, the moment after them marked by a very pointed whine from the mabari. Who was Alistair? Why did his death cause Leonie to stumble in her focused rage, and more to the point, cause Feef to mourn his loss aloud?

"I know. I did not have the opportunity to tell you this earlier, but I am so very sorry for your loss." Anora sat across from her, and Fergus was lost. This wasn't what he was expecting. He was expecting threats, posturing, not commiserations. Leonie had something wrong. "Alistair seemed like he was a good man. You both deserved more."

"None of this matters now." The edge was coming off of Leonie's voice, she was still distant but not as confrontational. He felt it was safe to sit as well...still uncertain but he didn't feel like he was going to need to break up a fray. And he was getting the answers that Leonie hadn't wanted to give him. There had been a man in her life...come and gone before Fergus had even had the chance to meet him. That explained so much...

"Wrong." Anora frowned, her eyes falling on Fergus. "He stood in front of the Landsmeet and named you his betrothed."

"I am not after the throne, Anora." Now Leonie sounded genuinely concerned, wary. Why would a betrothal, spoken before the Landsmeet, be part of this? Especially a betrothal to a dead man? She'd found somebody, and lost him. He regarded her sadly, wishing he could gather her up and make it all go away. He knew better, the best he could do was to be there.

"I'm not accusing you of that at all. But Alistair did stand before the Landsmeet and call you that."

"Yes. He did. Because we were."

Anora nodded slowly, her gaze still on Fergus. "So, Teyrn Fergus. Your sister was legally betrothed to the last Theirin heir, Alistair, before the eyes of the Landsmeet."

And that was the piece that made it all fit together. Leonie never did anything with half of her weight. She couldn't just fall for a Bann, or an Arl. Or even a commoner. No. This was why this was all still so very sticky. Anora was a Teyrn's daughter who had married a Theirin heir and become Queen. And now, Leonie was a Teyrn's daughter who had been betrothed to the last of the line. If the man had lived...

"I see." He stated. Leonie was still a threat, if she wanted to be.

"You were fond of Alistair. I am told you were close... that you knew him as a woman knows a man."

Fergus coughed under his breath, shifting in his chair. For all of Leonie's noble blood and esteemed birth, she'd been raised by their mother. If she'd truly been fond of the man, truly considered herself affianced to him, then yes, she would have bedded him.

"I love Alistair. And yes, I knew him as a woman knows a man...if that's how you wish to word it. We bedded together. Not quite certain why this is important, though. Please enlighten me why you're delving into this?"

"I need to know if you're with child. If you carry Alistair's babe."

Ooooooohhhhhhhhhhh. Anora was childless, her union with the King had been barren... and now Cailan was as dead as Leonie's betrothed. And Leonie's betrothed had been the royal bastard he'd heard rumors of, the last of the line. "Leonie?" He whispered. She'd been unwell, but he'd just thought it was grief.

"That's impossible. Alistair told me that the chances we could have a child were very slim...if not impossible."

Ordinarily, Fergus would be choking down laughter at those words. That was the oldest line in existence to come out of a man's lips when he wanted up some skirts. There was no way that his mother had not warned Leonie against the tried and true 'I had the fever when I was young and now I cannot sire children.' trap. And this had been a man she loved... he would welcome a young niece, a young nephew...another Cousland. Family. They'd suffered so much loss that a child would be a gift, a beam of hope.

"And I am told the same. But I want to be certain before I make decisions. Have you bled since Denerim?"

"No. I have not bled since Denerim." Leonie's brow knitted. "I have not bled since...well before Denerim. But it is still impossible." She pushed her chair back, striding to the window and staring out of it. Anora remained motionless, watching her, but he would not, could not stay put. He moved to put his arms around her shoulders, resting his forehead on the back of her head.

"Why is it impossible?" He asked. It seemed that she might welcome the idea... if she'd loved the man, why wouldn't she?

"Because I am not that lucky, Fergus. Not that lucky." She was shaking under his fingertips, "And even if I was...why would she need to know?"

Unfortunately, Fergus knew all too well why. "Leonie." He mourned and she pushed him away with a brutally well placed elbow.

"Why?" Anora demanded, "Because I can't think of any more worthy to hold the throne after me than a child of yours and Alistair's. The heroes of Ferelden. The ones who stopped the Blight in its tracks. If I cannot name a worthy heir to the Landsmeet then we will have war when I die. They would accept a child of yours...of Alistair's...if there was one."

"There isn't one."

"Are you certain? Absolutely, totally certain?"

"No." Leonie hissed through her teeth, "I am not absolutely, totally certain. I laid with him, and I have not bled. Is that what you want to hear? I assume you brought a healer with you to be certain, since you bothered to come yourself?"

Anora gave Fergus a sad look, but nodded slowly. "I brought the only one you'd trust, Leonie. I brought Wynne."