I'm sorry for the long wait everyone, but I've been trying to push and get Paying for Regrets finished and I've nearly got it done and when I do I will be able to update this story at least once or twice a week. Here's a chapter to keep you interested! Again, I'm sorry the update took so long!

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We trudge back into camp on the outskirts of Redcliffe, tired and weary from the fights. We are to return in two days' time to make plans on how to help Arl Eamon overcome his sickness.

I pitch my tent in silence and crawl inside. I strip out of my armor and lay it aside and drift into a deep sleep.

I am awakened some time later by shouting. I stick my head out the flap to see what is going on.

Alistair is yelling at Lyna.

"How could make a decision to kill Connor like that? He was a little boy, how could you?"

"Alistair!" Lyna snaps back, and for the first time I see true anger in her eyes. "The only other option was blood magic which I refuse to do! If you're so against it what was your great plan?"

"We could have gone to the Circle for help!"

"The Circle was days away and people were still dying Alistair! You left me the one to make the decisions around here or have you forgotten? A decision had to be made, and I made it! Deal with it!"

She storms away from him and to the tree line. Near a large pine tree she jumps eight feet into the air and perches on the lowest branch before she leans heavily against the trunk.

I am the only one to see her do so. I turn to Alistair.

"You are a fool." I tell him.

"Just what do you mean by that? I'm not the one that kills children in cold blood!" Alistair fumes.

I frown and reply, "She is a woman."

"What is that supposed to mean? You talk in riddles."

"She grieves the child you moron."

Alistair looks like he might want to reply, but I return to my bed and lay down to sleep.

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The next morning I dress and step out into the sunlight. After I take a deep breath of the cold Ferelden air, I set about to breaking down my tent and packing away my gear. Others are doing the same. I am placing my belongings in the buggy when I hear Alistair's whining voice.

"Please, Lyna, come down from there. You've been up there all night!"

"No." she replies coldly, and does not look at him.

"I wish to apologize!"

"No."

"No, I can't apologize?"

"No."

"No, what?"

Lyna does not reply this time, and sets up to ignoring all comments coming from the ex-Templar. I admire her patience. I would have long ago separated his head from his shoulders.

Finally, in his exasperation, Alistair begins to shimmy up the tree. It takes him several tries before he can crawl up onto a low branch, but when he reaches to touch Lyna, she jumps to another branch above his head. Alistair climbs again.

I watch with amusement, seeing what Lyna is doing. She can get out of the tree just fine, but Alistair will have trouble coming down out of that ancient pine.

Sure enough, when Lyna has led Alistair to the very tip of the ginormous tree, she throws herself out into the air. She twists a couple of times before settling her feet up under her and landing gracefully on the balls of her feet. I watch the muscles in her legs bunch and coil to absorb the impact.

She does some impressive things.

Morrigan and Leliana laugh loudly at Alistair's predicament, and Lyna begins to break down her tent and put her belongings in the buggy.

Bodhan and Sandal are already packed and ready to go, and Lyna gives the order to move out.

"What about me?"

"You will collect your things and catch up with us in Redcliffe." Lyna states.

Alistair swears but I ignore him and step up beside Lyna. We walk side-by-side in silence for the longest time before she finally says in a quiet voice, "Thank you for staying with me the other day, Sten."

I nod and we continue down the road.

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I stand at the edge of the black water, looking up at the tower in the lake. It is lit up brightly against the night sky. I frown at the stench of decay floating on the wind.

Lyna glides up beside me silently.

"This reek on the wind bodes ill."

"Aye." I reply.

So she can smell it too.

"Would you come with me?" she asks.

I grunt in acknowledgement and follow her to the boat where Alistair and Leliana were already waiting.

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Inside, the tower is a mess. Debris is strewn everywhere and Templars are running around as if they have no heads.

After an inquiry of the Knight-Commander, we discover the tower is taken by demons.

"This is why the Qunari sew the lips shut of our mages."

The Knight-Commander agrees with me.

After a short discussion, we are marching across the floor to be let in the infected areas of the tower.

"Looks like we couldn't have come to the Circle for help with Connor after all." Lyna mutters under her breath without thinking.

Alistair trips and stares at the back of her head with his mouth hanging open.

"Fool." I chide him.

He blushes and falls back into line.

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I stand staring into the fire, surrounded by my brothers as the day wears into night. I am at peace, but something is bothering me. Something is not right.

Then she is at my side, staring with me into the fire.

"Warden." I greet.

"Sten." She returns.

After a moment, she turns to me, and before I can stop myself I look back at her. I am ensnared in the intensity of her green eyes.

"This is a dream Sten. None of this is real." She says softly.

"It is a good dream." I reply, a little reserved.

"They are dead."

"I know."

"Then why are you still here? You know they are dead by Darkspawn hands, yet you sit here in contentment because it suits you. They cry out for vengeance Sten. You should be the one to give it to them."

My eyes widen as her words strike home. She is right. As Sten, it had been my duty to lead them. Now, with their deaths, my duty is to avenge them.

The shades stand and draw their weapons, and for the first time I know they are not my brothers. We defeat the demons easily.

I turn to Lyna.

She shifts and begins to fade. I reach out for her, but the earth disappears out from under my feet and I fall into inky darkness.

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Back at the camp, I wish to find some way to show my gratitude to Lyna for retrieving me from the demon's grasp. I can think of nothing.

But when I see her come out of her tent in a white shirt and breeches, I have my answer.

I enter her tent and pick up her armor and daggers and return to the fire with them in my hands. I ignore Alistair's protests and Leliana's jibes and set to cleaning the daggers first.

I feel her eyes on me then, and it is a hard won fight that I do not look up to meet her gaze.

"Leave him alone." She says, and Alistair and Leliana fall silent immediately.

I hear something in her voice, however. A kind of tenderness I haven't heard from her before. Perhaps cleaning weapons and armor is as intimate in her culture as it is in mine.

I do not dwell on what this means for me.