Sorry for the wait. Ill get right into the story A/N with be at the end

Chapter 4: Ostagar

Duncan had to hold back a chuckle. It would have been disrespectful to laugh at Night's comment. Calian was not the greatest candidate for the throne, even though he was Maric's son. But he cared for his subject and wanted to protect them. But He was still a boy, in all that entitled, but when it came down to it, he was the best chance this country had.

His charisma was great for the troop's morale. It was able to make light of the darkest of situations. Duncan let out a sigh and turned to face Night, "What the king said was true. We've won several battles against the darkspawn here," Duncan said and gestured his hand for them to walk.

They had? She thought. It must have been when she hadn't been paying attention, Oh well. "Despite the victories so far, the darkspawn horde grows larger with each passing day. By now, they look to outnumber us," he said, his tone was grim.

"I know that there is an archdemon behind this. But I cannot ask the King to act solely on my feelings," he finished and stopped causing Night to turn and face him once more.

She could tell there was something behind his eyes that he was not telling her. It probably had to do with whatever strange occurrence that was within his blood. She scoffed, her eyes scowled as she look at him, "You could if he were not such a fool!" she spat.

"You must not speak of the king like so. He is… over-eager, perhaps,"

Over eager my ass! The child is an incompetent fool, plain and simple, Night thought to herself. It was hard for her not to yell that out. Night always said what she felt, no matter who it was she was talking to. But this man in front of her, something about him demanded respect- a respect she had only ever felt to give to one other living person- so she held her tongue. Also having the king of a country angry at you for calling him an incompetent fool is never a good plan she found.

", but he is also one of the few that the Grey Wardens can call an ally. The Wardens in Ferelden are few in numbers, so we must look to Teryn Loghain to make the difference. To that end, we should proceed with the Joining ritual without delay."

Lovely. It's always a ritual, Night thought grimly. Night couldn't help but let a mirthless smirk creep onto her face, which was lost on Duncan thanks to her mask, creep onto her face. "So… what's this ritual all about anyways?"

"It is what gives the Grey Wardens the ability to fight the Darkspawn as only a Grey Warden can. It goes back to the first Blight. There is not much else I can tell you about what it requires."

"You know you're asking me to take a leap of faith with this whole situation, right?" Night asked.

"Yes I do, Night. I'm sorry it has to be this way. But it is a secret for a reason."

Night let out a sigh. This whole situation was royally fucked. The control over her emotions was slipping slowly. Night shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose under her mask, "We should move quickly then."

"Indeed. Feel free to wander around, but I ask you not to leave the King's camp for the time-being. Also you should visit the quartermaster," Duncan reached for a small leather pouch that was tied to his belt. He handed the pouch to Night it jingled lightly with coin. "There is five sovereign's in the pouch. After you visit the forge I would like you to go find a man named Alistair. He is the junior member of the order."

She nodded in acknowledgement. "Visit the quartermaster and find this Alistair, got it. Anything else?"

"No, that's it. Find me at the Grey Wardens tent when you have completed those tasks; it is across the bridge," Duncan said and turned to leave.

Guess that's the end of our conversation. These Ferelden's are very rude. Night thought, Ahh, reminds me of the Nord's. Kinda makes me miss home.

She quickly made her way across the massive bridge that connected the two parts of the ruins. She had stopped to ask for directions around the camp from one of the soldiers. He had been shocked by her appearance, but none the less she had gotten directions to the quartermaster and some general information about the camp. Once Night was done asking question she continued on her way.

Night walked towards the man who was most likely the quartermaster, given that there was a forge behind him. As she made her way towards the man she was interrupted by a voice not too far back from where she had come from. She turned to come face to face with an elderly woman. Said woman was quite clearly well past her prime, hair was grey with streaks of white, and wrinkles had formed near her eyes, but had not spread rest to the rest of her face. Above all of that, the old woman had a confident smile plastered onto her face. Night immediately wanted to slap that smile right off her face… hard.

``Well met," the other woman said, extending her hand towards Night, probably expecting her take it to and shake. All Night did was stand there waiting for the 'older' woman to take the hint. After a few moments the other woman retracted her, but this did not deter the woman to engage in conversation.

"You must be Duncan's newest recruit. My name is Wynne," this Wynne said to Night.

Honestly Night couldn't care any less about this woman and what she had to say, but once again she went back to her training. "You would be correct. You may call me Night if you wish."

"I'm honored to make your acquaintance, Night," Wynne said. Night felt skittish under the 'older' woman's gaze. She gave off an aura of wisdom and kindness, an aura that Night had little acquaintance with, other than the feeling she got when she was near the Night Mother. This Wynne seemed the ideal image of a caring grandmotherly figure, not that Night had anyone to compare her to. "It must be an honor to join such a prestigious order of warriors."

What is she talking about… the Grey Warden's. I wouldn't call it an honor.

Night shrugged her shoulders in an uncaring fashion, "Not really."

"That is understandable. The Grey Wardens have lost much of their recognition over the years. I have to ask you a question though."

Night's eyebrows scrunched in frustration. Of course you do. Everyone does. Night glared daggers at the woman, even though she couldn't see it. "Go ahead," she said, struggling to keep her voice level.

"What do you know of the connection between the darkspawn and the Fade?"

"Nothing at all," Night said in an uninterested tone, "Don't even know what this Fade of yours is."

Night saw the 'older' woman's pupils shrank ever so slightly. She caught it often in people, like when a thief spots a gem. She knew it happened to her right before a kill. The idea of lecturing, or teaching as this woman would most likely say it was, was something enjoyable for Wynne.

"Whenever your spirit leaves your body, whether it is to sleep or in death, it enters a realm called the Fade. Basically it is the realm of spirits. Many believe that demons rule the realm, but there are benevolent spirits embodying the better parts of mortals," Night was trying to understand what Wynne had just told her, "But I'm sure Duncan wants you to do more than talk to me. You should get going now and finish whatever task Duncan has given you."

She is excusing me as though I'm the one that started the conversation! Night thought angrily, Stupid old hagraven of a woman! She turned on her heels and continued onward to the quartermaster.

"Well you're not what I expected," Night turned to face were the voice came from. She came face-to-face with the man. She had seen him flirting with one of the prettier soldiers-to no avail. Her eyes traveled up and down his body quickly, evaluating what his threat would be to her.

He was wearing full studded-leather armor that obviously seen better day. He had a rather ornate elm long bow thrown over his right shoulder and a quiver, with what looked like simple iron arrows. He also had two steel daggers sheathed to his waist.

"What did you think I'd be?" Night asked cautiously, oblivious to her slightly contracted hands that were ready to break his neck if he so much as thought of touching her.

"Not a woman. Yet here you are," this man said, a smile spread across is face as he looked at her figure. She shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. "The names Daveth," he explained and extended a hand for a quite obvious gesture. He dropped it back to his side when she didn't return the gesture. "It's about bloody time you came along. I was beginning to think they cooked this ritual up for just our sakes."

"What do you know about this ritual?" Night asked.

"I just happened to be sneaking around camp last night, see, and heard some of the Wardens talking. So I listen for a bit," Daveth said, his expression took on a serious look, "I'm thinking the plan on sending us into the Wilds."

Night frowned slightly, an expression lost on him, "So what?"

"I grew up in a village near here and grew up on stories of the Wilds. Even been there a few times; terrifying place that is," his eyes shot to the ground for a second before looking absently over Night's shoulder, "Witches, barbarians, beasts, cannibals too, and to top that off, a bloody horde of darkspawn."

Sounds like the Reach. Well, besides the darkspawn. Night thought, "It's all too secretive for me. Makes my nose twitch," he concluded. Night shrugged her shoulders, quite visibly.

"Guess we'll have to wait and see. Not like I have a choice," Daveth said without a hint of malice or anger in his voice.

"I wouldn't be here is I did," Night replied honestly.

"You take what you can get right," he said. He looked over her shoulder, to the fire where Duncan was standing. "Anyways, I expect it's time to get back to Duncan. That's where I'll be if you need anything for me," Daveth said before turning and walked towards the Grey Warden's tent.

Night shook her head. She was seeing a pattern appear in conversations with these Ferelden. She had to admit that she found herself liking Daveth. Making the best of a bad situation was something was somewhat of a…expertise for her. Although she highly doubted that he would make a good assassin or even a Grey Warden, thieves tended not to be much use in a fight. She knew he was a thief; it didn't take a scholar to recognize his kind. Most of her encounters had ended quickly with them bleeding out in the gutter, or the exchanging of coin and most often some threating words.

Night tightened the leather belt that was attached to a sheath that held her newly purchased steel sword. She grabbed the hilt of the sword and pulled it free from its confines and brought it up to inspect it in better light.

She looked up and down the blade. There was nothing special about it. No designs could be found, but the Blacksmith's mark. She didn't understand why he would do it. No smiths that she knew would want to be associated with this hunk of scrap steel. Night sighed, it was sharp and it would have to do for now, until she could make a trip back to the Denerim to retrieve her blades.

Stupidly she had only taking the Blade of Woe with her on the contract she was caught. She had left Ebony and Ivory with Babette in the Sanctuary before she started the on the list of contracts she had received.

Night heard a very annoyed male voice complaining about mages being at Ostagar and that the other man was harassing him, coming from the area the quartermaster had told her Alistair would most likely be.

Night got to the top of the stone ramp and finally saw who was talking. There was a young, blond haired man with an amused smile across his lips. Also the source of the complaining came from an older man in robes that matched that old hagraven's she had met early, which meant he was a mage.

"Yes, I was harassing you by delivering a message," The blond haired man said, his words dripping with sarcasm.

"Your glibness does you no credit," The other man said.

"Here I thought we were getting along so well. I was even going to name one of my children after you...the grumpy one."

Night couldn't help but laugh quietly to herself. She could tell that this blonde man would get irritating very fast, but being that irritating is a rare talent.

"Enough, I will speak to the woman if I must!" The mage exclaims and turns on his heels and storms away, "Get out of my way fool," he says to Night and shoves her out of his way, causing her to Night to tense up, involuntarily from the contact.

Younger man followed his going with his eyes and then seems to notice Night. He looked at her in confusing with a little horror mixed in. She wasn't surprised. She often got that look from people from this new country that had no clue who knew who or what she was.

The man was the first to speak, "You know, one good thing about the Blight is how it brings people together."

Night stared at him for a few moments, eyeing him up. Was this Alistair? By Sithis I hope not! She thought to herself, "You're a very strange man," Night replied.

A smile quickly formed on his face and he let out a lively, but short laugh; it was a rather annoying laugh,

"You're not the first person to tell me that," The man said smiling. He focused on her, "Wait, we haven't met, have we? I don't suppose you happen to be another mage?"

Night smirked, "I'm guessing that that would make your day much worse."

"Hardly, I just like to know my chances of being turned in to a toad at any given moment," the man said and stopped to look more closely. Night was starting to get very uncomfortable. She unconsciously placed a hand on her right hip, which held one of the throwing knife belt's she had purchased from the quartermaster along with the sword and a full stock of knives, "Wait, I do know who you are. You are Duncan's new recruit, the foreigner. I should have recognized you right away. I apologize."

"How could you recognize me?" Night asked puzzled.

"Duncan sent word. He spoke quite highly of you," The man replied

Wait, what? Night thought. When in the name of Sithis did Duncan managed to send a message. They'd not seen anyone while traveling other than the three bandits she had killed.

"Well, let me introduce myself: I'm Alistair, the new Grey Warden… though I think you knew that already," Got the right person at least, "As the junior member of the order, I'll be accompanying you when you prepare for the joining."

"I can't prepare on my own?" Night spat out. Did Duncan not she was competent enough to complete whatever task that he had planned for this ritual.

"I know! I felt the same way when I went through Joining," he said, oblivious to her tone or the glare she was giving him, "Unfortunately they don't give us any choice in the matter," Night let out a frustrated sigh.

"You know, it just occurred to me that there haven't been many women in the Grey Wardens. I wonder why that is," he said. Lovely, Night thought darkly, another man that does not think with his head on his shoulder. Night couldn't be angry though, it was not meant as a lecherous comment she could tell from his tone.

"Because I can handle myself better than most," she said in a low tone of voice.

"I'm getting that impression…" Alistair whispered, mainly to himself.

Night and Alistair stood there for a few minutes in an awkward silence. She was starting to get a tad bit uncomfortable until Alistair broke the silence, "I was wondering, have you actually ever seen darkspawn before."

"Have you," Night replied quickly. She didn't enjoy situations when she didn't have the upper hand-so to speak.

What happened next surprised her. The blood in his face seemed to disappear, his eyes shot down to the ground and when he spoke it was low, "When I fought my first one, I wasn't prepared for how monstrous it was. I will say I am not looking forward to seeing yet another."

Night blinked in confusion, had he said he has fought ONE! They were sending a man that had barely lifted a sword to these creatures, as her and the other recruits escort for their joining!

"Anyhow, I suspect we should return to Duncan. I imagine he will be wanting to get things started," he motioned for them to start walking, "After you."

Night shook her head slightly and turned on her heel and started to walk away, "If you want me to answer any question go ahead and ask. I will try to give you an answer."

Let me begin with me say HOW MUCH I HATED WRITING THIS CHAPTER. I always hated this part of the game. You probally didn't see many changes to the actual game besides the Throwing Knives. It always pissed me off that you couldn't buy throwing knives and use them as a weapons. SOOOO sorry for the wait as I told many of you. I have no clue when the next chapter will be out so YOU ARE Warned. Also if anyone want to Beta read for me I shall be forever gratefull PM me if you are interested.