9:31 August 8th

I made my way back through the courtyard to the dungeons. I saw the chest there and opened it. It had Nathaniel's equipment.

"Are you here to pick those up?" The Guard asked.

"Yeah. Nathaniel survived the joining. He's going to want his things back." I grabbed his armor and his bow. I went outside and back toward the throne room. I heard two bellowing laughs and saw Derek with Oghren near the barrel of ale again. I shook my head. Anders was near Nathaniel that already woke up from his gargle and spit take.

"Oh nothing, nothing was worse than that. Where is the king? I would like to have a word with him with this punishment."

"He left." I said and dropped his things in front of him.

"Left?"

"Such is the life of a king. You got a whole country on your back." I said.

"Hmph, then I don't envy his position."

"Not a lot of men do."

"Eren finally left?" Alistair asked.

"Yep, that means you're on your own on leading."

"Oh that still gives me shivers."

"You did accept being Warden Commander."

"That's true. Speaking of which, now that all of you are up, we're going to do some work here in Vigil's Keep."

"And what is that?" Nathaniel asked, getting on his armor.

"During the explosions of one very happy dwarf, it rocked the cellars and has caved in a section to reveal an opening to the Deep Roads. We'll need to find a way to close a point so we won't have more darkspawn coming up in the middle of the night, waking us in our breeches."

"Pft, breeches." Anders chuckled.

"Sounds like a plan." I said. The doors opened and about fifteen dwarves came in. Derek got up from his seat to join Varel.

"Derek."

"Templar."

"I assume you'll be leading this joining."

"You bet I am."

"Good. Oghren, time to kick some darkspawn ass."

"About time!" Oghren shouted, from his table joining all of us at the front of the throne room.

"Lead the way, Commander." I said. Alistair rubbed his face sheepishly while Nathaniel looked at the both of us.

"Are you two together?"

"No!"

"Why does everyone always things that?" Alistair wondered.

"They can't be together, she's already married." Anders said. I looked at him with my eyes wide.

"How did you know?"

"Your ring. I noticed you playing with it during our joining." Anders said. I had my mouth open before I smiled.

"I have decided, you're my favorite one."

"What about me? Am I just chopped nug liver to you?"

"Oghren your liquor made me black out for a week during the festivities after the fall of the Archdemon. I'm still trying to remember what the hell I did during that time."

"Well I know you did go into the Pearl with Zevran and-"

"Alistair shut up or I will smash your face in!" We went outside, the rain still going past the statue of Andraste to Sergeant Maverlies that told Alistair.

"Commander."

"Sergeant. How goes the digging?"

"Well are you ready to go into the basements to find the few pockets of darkspawn?"

"I am. Lead the way."

"Straight away Ser." She opened the door in front of us. The cellars were typical of what you would find. There wasn't much in the way of food preparation however. Then we went down stairs and more stairs and more stairs.

"Damn, how long do we have to go?"

"These cellars have been here for years and years. Some of the older hallways are weak and their structures aren't good. The mad Dworkin's explosions didn't do the Keep any good. Here we are. It seems the men have already cleared away the rubble. We will back here if you need us Commander."

"Hehe, time to kill some darkspawn." Oghren said, rubbing his hands together.

"Yes that's not creepy at all." Anders said sarcastically. "You must get so many women being a small smelly dwarf."

"Actually he has one, Felsi right?" Alistair said. Oghren grumbled at that when we went down the stairs and opened the door to a room full of darkspawn corpses. I heard a whining from the center of these and there was a mabari covered in blood.

"The poor thing." Alistair mumbled. I knelt and patted its head. It looked at me with sorry and it sighed, putting its head down on the floor.

"Easy." I reached in and took a slip of paper from its collar.

"What does it say?" Alistair asked.

"It's a note for help from a woman called Adria."

"Adria! She cared for me when I was young, she's like a mother to me. We must save her."

"Then we shouldn't keep her waiting." Alistair said.

"A young woman in with darkspawn? Isn't that always a recipe for disaster?" Anders asked.

"No kidding." Oghren said. We continued downward were we found four darkspawn looting corpses. Nathaniel got his bow and shot one in the leg. Alistair ran forward to meet the Hurlock with his shield. Anders froze the emissary and Oghren shattered it. I ran into one of the Hurlocks and tripped it. Nathaniel seized the opportunity and shot it in the eye. One Hurlock left and Oghren swung his axe, nearly hitting me. It got the darkspawn good though and it fell in a heap of guts.

"Hey!"

"Sorry girly!"

"Keep your eyes peeled Oghren."

"Why are you here?" Nathaniel asked.

"Excuse me?"

"You are not a Grey Warden. You have no reason to be here."

"She's not a true Grey Warden but don't question her experience fighting them. We were both responsible for cleaning up the camps that were all over Ferelden." Alistair argued.

"She can be tainted."

"I won't let that happen."

"I'm careful."

"Is that so? Then why run into the heat of battle with darkspawn when you can pose a liability?"

"I've been doing this for far longer than you give me credit for!"

"Hey we're here to kill these blighters not ourselves!"

"Oghren is right, stop it both of you." Alistair said. I humphed away and Nathaniel scoffed at me.

"Good to see that we have perfect group dynamic." Anders quipped. I heard the cries of shrieks from a room and they opened the door to where we were. Oghren jumped right in front of them and swung. One shriek fell, its body cut in half. The other was frozen and shattered by Nathaniel. I felt a presence behind me and ducked from a concealed shriek. I swung my leg and tripped it, bashing in its head with my knuckles until it stopped moving. I flicked the blood off my daggers and looked at Nathaniel. He shook his head at me and my rage came up again. Stupid ignorant bastard.

We went through the hall and down the stairs were we heard more screams of help. There were a few prisoners stuck in their cells. There were bodies on the ground that moved toward us as soon as we came in.

"Aren't these people?" Anders wondered.

"Ghouls! Followers of darkspawn!" Alistair answered.

"Nothing but target practice!" Oghren said, swinging wildly. These ghouls had minor clothing or none at all. Most didn't stand a chance against Oghren's axe. The one I caught I upper cutted and it fell to the ground. I did a boot smash on its head and I crushed it. Another jumped on me but I grabbed its arm and threw it off me where it was shot in the head by Nathaniel. Alistair clocked two in the face with his shield and they went down without a fight. The last two were frozen by Anders and shattered by Alistair. I saw a pile of books and backed slowly into them until I found a bunch of letters. I stored them away in my pack for now. I didn't like Nathaniel at all but he didn't deserve to suffer the fate of his dad when he knew nothing of them.

"Oh thank the Maker you've come! Please let us out!"

"We don't want to be killed by those things!"

"What's in it for us?" I asked.

"Oh you are not serious." Alistair said.

"Dead serious." I said flatly.

"We don't have anything, just the clothes on our backs!"

"Your clothes then!" They all looked at each other before starting to undress.

"You are a special sort of evil aren't you?" Nathaniel said. Oghren was too busy laughing his ass off. We opened the gate where all three of them ran out nearly naked.

"Well that was a sight to see." Anders said.

"Saw anything you liked?" I asked.

"Not the time Nia."

"Aww but Alistair!"

"Let's keep moving." Alistair chuckled. I tried a door but it wouldn't budge.

"Huh? It's locked."

"Let me." Nathaniel said, and I moved aside. He got it to unlock and we found ourselves in the crypt. "So this is where it was…we shouldn't linger down here. My grandmother said that you should never disturb a resting place."

"Still this place looks so old-Wah!" The one step I took on the stairs and it was rotted through. I fell down the stairs and undead started to come to life.

"Oooh that hurt!"

"Undead!? Say hello to my big friend!" Oghren shouted in glee, beheading all that stood before him. I got myself back up. There were six skeletons right at the bottom with me and another six more at the upper level. I evaded as they clashed all around me. Nathaniel kept on shooting but it didn't make a dent.

"Watch out!" Anders shouted but I got hit in the back with a shield and stumbled on the ground. I saw a longsword loom before me before it froze along with three others. I didn't waste time and took my knuckles to the ones that were frozen. There were two more but Alistair and Oghren made short work on the six that were on top and headed down to where I was. Nathaniel came by and used his bow to hit the ones that were coming for me. I rammed one and slice off its head. I hissed in pain. My back felt bruised.

"Ow and Eren wonders why I will never live in a house with stairs."

"What happened?" Alistair asked.

"She fell down the stairs." Nathaniel said. Anders came over and put his hand on my back. I felt the sweet relief of a healing spell.

"That should keep the pain at bay for now." Anders said, rubbing his fingers together with a confused look on his face.

"Oh that feels better."

"Here you are stomping to make sure you don't fall down stairs, the one time you do stomp and you fall." Oghren laughed.

"Shut up! This is why I don't like stairs." I said.

"Well unfortunately we'll keep on going down a few stairs. If you feel that scared, feel free to hold onto my hand." Alistair said.

"You suck." I stretched my back and saw a longbow perched against the wall. I wondered on taking it but I thought that once we come up, I'll be able to snatch it to give to Nathaniel, the prick.

"Time to keep moving." Oghren said. I went up the stairs to go down some more stairs. Anders laughed as I cautiously made my way down. We went into a wide room where we saw Adria.

"No, no. We must help her, Adria?" She turned to us, her face scarred. It was too late. She shrieked and more ghouls that were behind her came to help. There were four more ghouls that came. Oghren and Alistair went up first. Anders did a cone of cold and froze all of them in place. Alistair and Oghren shattered all the ghouls minus Adria which shook herself out of it. She ran toward Nathaniel with two daggers and he pulled on his bowstring, letting the arrow fly through her eye and skull. She landed dead on the ground. Nathaniel looked at Adria with remorse. He grabbed her hands and put them together.

"We'll make a pyre for her once we're done." Alistair said.

"I…would appreciate that." We went through the small opening and saw the way blocked in front of us.

"That's a might for concern. Everyone could go up if you want. I'll have a talk with Sergeant Maverlies about this."

"Aw that's it? That was more of a playtime than anything." Oghren shrugged.

"Let's go up top then. I prefer the rain than the smell of dirt and darkspawn." Anders said. I joined them and saw Nathaniel saying a bit of the chant to Adria. I followed the others until I went down into the crypt again. I saw the bow and grabbed it. Nathaniel didn't follow us. The Sergeant walked past me along with Voldrik, the dwarf that was in charge in fortifying the Keep, probably to talk about Alistair about the cave in. I opened the door past the cellars and felt the rain on my face again.

"Ah you smell that fresh air!" Anders said.

"Where's Oghren?"

"Where do you think? Out drinking again." I laughed. "Is that a bow, where did you get that bow?"

"In the crypt." I said as we passed by the statue of Andraste. Anders wolf whistled at the statue.

"You know I always marveled at these statues but do you really think Andraste was that much of a looker? Wasn't she a barbarian?"

"It's an icon, not much for realism."

"I'm just wondering. Andraste did exist didn't she? I wonder what she would think about the state of the circle? Mages forced to fight against demons or be made Tranquil if they think they're not strong enough?"

"Probably confused by it all. If there was one thing I think, is that she wanted peace for everyone. The thing is whatever she said or what the chant says can't be taken literally. Everyone finds their own meaning in the chant."

"My thoughts exactly but the Chantry uses it to chain us and collars just for being who we are."

"It's not right that's for sure."

"Of course you'd agree-wait what?"

"It's not right what the Chantry does to you guys. You were born with magic and no one can control that. Why punish you for something out of your control?"

"Aww you agree with me? That makes me all tingly inside. Well aside from the serious conversation, she is quite a looker."

"Don't have sex with the statue Anders."

"What!?" I laughed and I went back into the throne room. It was packed with nobles and Seneschal Varel looked up to his breaking point.

"My lady, we have cleared away a room for you." A guardsman said.

"Oh, can you take me to it? I doubt that I'll be welcome in here tonight."

"Of course." We went through some hallways and I smelled something being cooked. My room was right next to the kitchens. I went in and it was a modest sized room with my own bed, desk, drawers, and all my stuff. I put the bow on top of my bed. I saw that I had a bath as well and I pumped my arm in victory. I drew some water and heated it near the fireplace. After it was warm I filled up the tub to the brim. I got my own soap that Wynne always sent me and relaxed in the bath.

"Oh yeah, this is what I needed." I relaxed for a minute, letting the warm water soak through. At the same time my thoughts wandered. I didn't like not doing anything. I lose focus and when I do the demons in the back of my head began to crawl ever closer to me. I washed what I wanted and let the water drain out. I sat on my bed drying and putting on my clothes. I couldn't stay in there. Being alone was the worst thing to do right now. I went out and looked into the kitchens. They barely had anything. We really needed to open Pilgrim's Path. I went back into my room and saw the letters and bow on the bed. I didn't want to give them to Nathaniel right now but these were important to Nathaniel. I grabbed them and looked for a guard to talk to.

"Excuse me but do you know where Nathaniel is?"

"They are setting a pyre for the ones we lost in the cellars my lady. He should be outside in the courtyard."

"Thank you." I went out of Vigil's Keep and I saw Alistair talking to Voldrik.

"We don't have that type of money you're asking for. I'll try to gain what I can get but I won't make any promises."

"If we don't make these walls stronger Commander they will be falling if we get an attack."

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Voldrik is going to need some heavy pockets for the gold he's asking me for to pay the stonemasons to get our walls up to stand against an army." Alistair said, rubbing his face.

"How much?"

"80 sovereigns." I rubbed my chin.

"Yeah I can do that."

"Of course you can."

"No really Alistair I can. Remember that heavy chest I brought?"

"You said that it had money from…You have…that heavy chest is filled with-"

"Oh yes go ahead Alistair and announce it to the Keep. Not that anyone could open it without me anyway unless they intend to destroy the chest and what's inside. Voldrik, you'll have your money. Anything else you might need?"

"Be on the lookout for any granite around Amaranthine and I'll send my boys to start mining. This keep needs a dwarven touch."

"Then you got it. Don't gape at me Alistair."

"But how did you get so much…gold?" He whispered to me, following me where the pyre was set at.

"I own half of the farms in Orzammar Alistair. Half of the profits go to me. After their first success, people have been flocking to see them. It's good for them and me." I saw Nathaniel talking to an old elven man in front of the pyre.

"I am sure you'll find your sister."

"I hope so Samuel." Nathaniel mumbled.

"You two know each other I take it?" Alistair asked. I hid the bow as well as I could behind us.

"He was the groundskeeper since I've been raised here. He tells me that he knows about my sister, she's still alive!"

"That's…wonderful news!"

"I know. Could we take a look at the shops the next time we visit Amaranthine? It would be one less worry for me."

"Of course." Alistair nodded.

"Warden Commander. Seneschal Varel has sent me. Your vassals have been waiting patiently in the throne room." Alistair groaned.

"One more thing to go through…"

"Don't worry about it Alistair. If you feel the need, my shoulder is here for you to rest on." That made Alistair chuckle.

"Well I shouldn't keep them waiting. Nathaniel, Nia, behave yourselves." Alistair went off with the private back to the throne room. The fire crackling in the background and I stood awkwardly trying to hide his bow.

I cleared my throat. "Here."

"This is…I can't believe it. That's the Howe's crest burned into the wood. This is my grandfather's bow…well more accurately he was the last to use it. This was made for one of my Ancestors during the Exalted Marches. Where did you find this?"

"In the crypt. I saw it leaning against the wall and I figured you might like it back. You said you were looking for your family's things right?"

"Yes…it seems I have misjudged you." I rubbed my face, not liking the awkwardness. "I must repay you somehow."

"No that would just make it weird."

"You don't like me do you?"

"Is it that obvious? Ok look I don't personally dislike you but I dislike your ignorance. You don't know what happened to Eren's family, you weren't there. I was. I saw your family's crest on the shields of the attacking men. One killed Oriana, Fergus' wife and the woman that I was the handmaiden of. She was the one that gave me a job, accepted me. A young woman walking around in the Castle with nothing to her name and covered in blood. I should have been kicked out or thrown in the dungeons but she kept me there. I couldn't repay her for what she did no matter how long I worked for her and she's dead. You don't know what I had to leave behind when the attackers burst through the main doors. I had to abandoned Eren's dying father and his mother to your father just to save two people, two people! Do you still think your father is the almighty hero you think he is? He was nothing but a monster and I saw what he did to poor innocent people in his dungeon back in Denerim. I don't like this part of myself but I enjoyed it. I saw his death and was glad for it. I'm sorry that I have let my rage get the better of me but after what I've been through? You have no right or say on what your father was. You weren't there." I ranted. Nathaniel glared at me but looked at his bow. I brought out the letters from my pack and gave it to him.

"What are-"

"These are the letters I found in the crypt as well. These are from your sister. When we find her…you'll have to ask about your father. I'm a wounded party and I'm biased but if there was anyone that had something good to say about your father, it might be her. Just don't get too hurt when you learn the truth." I said, looking at the ground. The crackling of the fire was going strong even with the small drizzle. I couldn't bear to stand there in such heavy silence and I walked away.

"Hey Wade! Glad you could make it!" I heard Derek bellow out from the blacksmith.

"Oh it's you."

"Good to see you too Herren." Derek guffawed. "Hey there missy! I heard about you going into the cellars to defeat the darkspawn, well done!" He slapped by back and it hurt.

"Ow. I fell down some stairs Derek, that area is slightly bruised." I groaned.

"Hehe sorry missy."

"Ah you must be the new princess I've been hearing about. Welcome my lady." Herren said in a honeyed voice.

"The Princess? Then maybe she can do something about this atrocious state I have to work in!"

"Wade…" Herren stressed. "We were asked by the King remember?" I shook my head at their antics and I saw the dwarven legion of men standing around.

"So I guess this means you're leaving as well."

"Yep. All but two of my men died. As much fun it is to stay here and drink with Oghren, I have to get going back. We're trying to push toward the Ortan Thaig now and several others. The men that Eren sent me have been doing wonders and I want to keep it that way. Not only that, there's still my nephew to worry about."

"Aww! One of these days I have to see him! I can't believe he was born just as soon as I left Orzammar."

"Aye he's a bundle of chubs right now. There's always a place for you missy in Orzammar. Write to me sometime. Your share will be deposited in your account every time a harvest comes by. Try not to break bank." I chuckled.

"I'll try not to. Have a safe trip Derek."

"I will. Also do me a favor. Keep an eye on Oghren for me will you? I have a feeling that Felsi didn't just agree to him becoming a Grey Warden."

"Another gut feeling?"

"Those have been keeping me alive so far!" Derek guffawed. We shook hands and he grabbed my arm and squeezed it.

"Atrast tunsha missy."

"Atrast tunsha Derek. Find your way in the dark." Derek nodded.

"Come on you nug wrangling sods! Time to march on home!" Derek ordered. I saw his party leave past the gate and sighed.

"And then there was one."

I finally beat inquisition! HOLY SHIT! _ it is awesome! I totally have everything down pat for the story and that includes the romance!

Shout out to Egon Bach, justme2134, and Tadwin for following/favoriting!

Chimera Spyke: I have a few shout outs doused here and there. I think in this chapter you find out why Nia doesn't like him. Nathaniel gets better, slightly lol
PetalsOfSin: Yes, yes you are lol
Dforce76: The eggs are all the way in Weisshaupt during Inquisition so I don't think that Nia will have time to go there. Besides, Hawke will go there if you save her and, if the ending has anything to do with it, we might be seeing Griffons in the next game...
Buggy300: In the world of thedas volume 2 they even have recipes for a few of the foods that you find in game! Totally making those. Halo...you'll see soon enough.
GamerGeekGirl: I've only played through once and it's hard to find what you really need to do unless you look it up, which I suggest you do because there are so many endings to that one quest its hard to find all you can do.

Thank you tatewaki2000, GuestDB, and EG for your reviews!

Please Review! :D