Ayale ran into the forest, not caring that she had no torch to light her way; she didn't need one anyway. She also didn't care for the panicked cries that came from her companions in camp. All she cared about was finding Tamlen.

She knew he had a few seconds lead on her, but she was a master tracker. Also, he had the taint within him, which she could follow. She hadn't noticed the sensation before because the echo from him was so faint, so weak, just like it was in Alistair. But, now that she had sensed him, she knew that she could follow him to the ends of Thedas, if she had to.

A brown shape beside her made her glance to her left and saw Torgan running with her and then overtake her. While she could find Tamlen without him, it would take longer.

"Where is he, boy?" she called breathlessly. "Take me to him!"

Torgan barked twice as he understood her order, and tore into the undergrowth.

Ayale ran after him as quickly as she could. Her lungs were screaming for air and her sides were cramping, but she didn't slow. Her legs were aching as she forced them on, and the burns on her right leg were crying out in pain at the exertion. Her hands were covered in scratches as she pushed herself away from nearby trees and her arms were throbbing from the close impacts.

Suddenly, she ran through a couple of thorny shrubs, and she found Torgan stationary before her, watching something. She slowed and came to a stop beside the Mabari. She saw his ears were flat against his head as he growled a low warning to his prize. Ayale turned her head to follow Torgan's gaze.

It was a small impression into the earth, devoid of trees. There was a fallen tree on the other side, making where Ayale and Torgan were standing the only suitable exit. It was a good enough place for one person to make camp, if not a little restricted in escape routes.

Next to the fallen tree, with his back to Ayale and his hands on the truck, was Tamlen. His head was bowed, his shoulders were scrunched up to his neck and he was hunched towards the tree. From what Ayale could see in the dim light, Tamlen was shaking.

"Good boy," Ayale murmured to Torgan, patting the Mabari's side.

She walked forward slowly. Her footsteps were practically silent on the leaf strewn ground. She took three steps before pausing. She absorbed every miniscule movement from Tamlen, something she had always practised when approaching shaal. It pained her to think of him like that, but he was behaving much like a cornered animal.

"Tamlen?" she called softly to him.

"Don't look at me!" he barked, turning slightly to her. "I am... sick."

A twig snapped behind Ayale and she whipped her bow out instinctively. She had notched an arrow before she finished turning round. She raised her weapon and didn't flinch when Alistair skidded to a halt in front of her.

The templar was covered in blood which was running from his face. It looked like it had been him who had restrained her back in camp, and she had broken his nose. He had his sword in hand and his shield was strapped to his arm. The shemlen looked ready for battle.

Leliana skipped gracefully to a stop beside Alistair, looking confused and very concerned at the situation she had just involved herself in. She had an arrow in her bow, which was currently slack but ready if need arose.

Wynne appeared the other side of Alistair. The mage looked apprehensive as she also assessed the events that were before her. She too looked prepared to engage in another fight, but her face showed how exhausted she was.

Three shemlen standing before her ready bow... this brought back memories that Ayale would rather stay buried.

Everyone stood silently for a moment. Each was trying to weigh one another up. No one was willing to make a move encase things escalated into a big problem.

Leliana's eyes suddenly shifted from Ayale to beyond the elf, and she unconsciously drew tension in her bow and raised it slightly. She must have seen Tamlen, perhaps he'd moved or something...

"Don't," Ayale warned the bard.

"Ayale," Alistair murmured, his tone equally as serious. "What are you doing?"

Whether he did it intentionally or not, Alistair took a step towards Ayale. The elf responded by lowering her bow and releasing the arrow in her bow. The arrow embedded itself into the ground before Alistair's toes, causing the man to recoil with a strangled yelp of surprise. By the time he raised his head from the arrow to look at her in confusion and outrage, she had already readied another arrow.

"I'm protecting my kin," she replied instantly. "I don't want to fight you, Alistair, but the next one won't miss."

"Ayale," Wynne hissed.

"None of you are going to hurt him," Ayale stated with the utmost confidence, her eyes raking over her companions. "I won't let you."

"Ayale," Leliana whispered softly to the agitated elf. "Why are you-?"

"His name is Tamlen," she replied, desperate for a break.

A shocked realisation swept across their faces as soon as she mentioned his name. Leliana's face fell into a sad, pitying expression as she relaxed her bow and lowered it to the floor again. Wynne had also slipped out of her battle stance, though she wasn't putting her staff away. She too was looking at Ayale sympathetically. Alistair, however, hadn't moved a muscle.

"And what do you think you're going to do?" he asked. "You can't help him."

"I'm going to try," Ayale retorted defensively.

"Ayale, he's too far in the corruption," Alistair explained. "And, even if he wasn't, there's no cure for darkspawn corruption."

Ayale's eyes lit up. She didn't quite catch what Alistair said after that, something about mercy killing, but it didn't matter. The idea she had in her head... It was perfect! It was brilliant! The hahra had certainly gifted her with a sharp mind.

"There is one way," Ayale murmured, more to herself than to the shemlen before her.

She glanced down to her chest, wondering and hoping. Her Warden's Oath was there, lying on top of her armour, pitch black in the dim light. Since she had it, all she had to do was convince everyone to let her try.

She looked up to the three before her.

"Please, let me try," she asked, although she could hear an amount of begging in her tone.

"There's no way to help him," Alistair repeated.

"I know what I'm doing, Alistair," she assured. "Please, vegade'ninn. Trust me."

Leliana looked dubiously between the Grey Wardens, wondering who was going to give out first. She then sighed and shook her head. She relaxed her bow completely and returned her arrow to its quiver. She stood straight and watched Wynne relax as well.

Now, they were just waiting for Alistair to follow suit.

"Give her a chance, Alistair," Wynne instructed gently.

"You can't help a ghoul," he insisted. "They're too deep in the corruption. He is too far in the corruption. The archdemon's call will have driven him mad by now. The only thing you can do is kill him out of mercy."

"If that were true, Alistair," Ayale reasoned. "If all you can do for a ghoul is kill them, then I'd be dead."

"You're not a ghoul," Alistair noted.

"Look at my face," she ordered sharply. "I have the taint marks of a ghoul on my face! I may be in the early stages of the process, but I am still a ghoul!"

Alistair didn't speak. He chewed his lip irritably as he weighed out his options, which Ayale had to admit weren't brilliant. He still wasn't convinced that anything could be done for Tamlen. That much was obvious.

"I know what I'm doing," Ayale repeated. "Vegade'ninn."

The templar didn't move for a moment before relenting. He stood straight, but didn't sheath his sword. The look on his face told Ayale that he wasn't going to either.

The elf lowered and relaxed her bow, and nodded to him in understanding. She replaced her arrow and gently placed her quiver and bow on the ground. She remained unfazed by everyone's disapproving looks, and she turned around to face her clanmate.

Tamlen had moved slightly. He was looking over his shoulder to her, probably curious as to what was happening. He had always been curious. It was one of the reasons the pair of them were in this very situation.

Ayale could see a small amount of fear in his eyes. He knew he was trapped. He turned round to face her fully as she slowly approached. He fidgeted and twitched, as if he was trying to stop himself from doing something.

That thought probably wouldn't be too far off the mark. Ayale stopped a safe distance away from him... just in case.

"It's okay, Tamlen," she stated calmly, softly. "I can help you. Don't be afraid."

"No help!" Tamlen closed his eyes and he frowned as he seemed to concentrate. "There's... no help... for me."

Ayale ignored the way her heart skipped a beat at his words, or the way her stomach flipped over. She forced the tears that were threatening to flow back into the depths of her eyes, and demanded to her lungs that they didn't seize up. She couldn't let her body be overrun by the emotions that she refused to register in her brain.

"The song... in my head," Tamlen continued, struggling to speak in sentences. "It... calls to me, sings to me. I can't stop it!"

He held his hands up to press against his head and he cringed at the sound that was only so loud in his own mind.

Ayale knew what he was referring to: the group mind of the darkspawn. It was always there, in the back of her mind, Alistair's too. The archdemon spoke through the taint, commanding all who could hear it. Well, it controlled all the darkspawn. Ayale and Alistair weren't affected by its orders.

Tamlen fidgeted under her unwavering gaze. He twisted his body about slightly as if he was trying to work an ache or itch out of his body. Ayale remembered the pain that had spread through her body before the Joining and knew exactly what he was going through.

He opened his eyes and looked Ayale with a pleading expression.

"I... don't want to hurt you, lethallan," Tamlen groaned pitifully. "Please... stop me."

Ayale froze at the request. Her closely guarded expression fell into utter shock. She knew what he meant when he was asking her to 'stop' him. He wanted to die. Was the torment so great that he would beg for death? She hadn't even proposed her idea to him. She had to try!

"I won't," she replied, shaking her head. "I won't kill you. I can help you, Tamlen. You have to let me try!"

"Then... I'll have to make you," Tamlen mused. "I'm... so sorry, lethallan. Never... wanted this..."

Ayale barely had time to understand what he meant when her clanmate screamed and lunged at her. His fists were raised in a threatening gesture and he swiped at her.

Ayale easily dodged out of the way, moving to his left. She watched him stumble as he missed her, and she waited patiently as he regained his balance. He was crouched over, gasping for breath, when he suddenly yelled and charged at her again. For a second time, she slipped away from his sluggish and uncoordinated attack.

She saw Alistair step towards them, his sword raised. She held out her hand to him, causing the shemlen to pause. She didn't look at him, focusing on Tamlen and his movements, ready to spring away from him like a halla away from a bear.

A halla away from a bear... the creatures of Ghilan'nain and Dirthamen, the gods that she and he honoured through their vallaslin... had she thought that on purpose?

To her relief, Alistair lowered his sword but continued to watch the situation before him with the utmost scrutiny. She could see that he was waiting for any reason, any excuse, to come in with his sword swinging.

Tamlen lunged at her a third time and Ayale skipped around him gracefully. She saw him turn to charge at her a fourth time, but he had a dazed look about him. He had spun round to follow her and he hadn't given himself time to let his head settle, thus making him dizzy. He stepped towards before tripping over himself and landing on the floor.

Ayale was still as she waited for any indication that it was a trick. Although she doubted he was lucid enough to make that kind of tactic, she wasn't about to risk it. She watched him struggle to get back onto his feet, falling to a side twice.

When Tamlen finally managed to raise himself to rest on his hands and knees, Ayale knelt down.

"Tamlen, look at me," she instructed softly.

Her clanmate shook his head, cringing into himself further. She could hear him muttering quietly to himself, and his shoulders shook as he cried. He had obviously realised that he couldn't goad her into killing him.

"Tamlen, look at me," she repeated sternly. "Look at my face."

Reluctantly, he raised his head and looked forlornly at her. She felt her heart break at his expression, but she refused to let herself be swayed. She had to help him, or at least try. She raised a hand to slowly caress one of her cheeks, and one of her taint marks.

"Do you see this, Tamlen?" she asked gently. "Do you understand what it means?"

His eyes flickered across her face. Confusion crept into his expression, showing that he didn't understand. When he finally returned his attention to her eyes, a small glimmer of curiosity was present in his. He shook his head slightly.

"It means that I was sick," Ayale explained calmly. "Just like you."

She knew that it was a gross simplification, but she also knew that he probably wouldn't understand anything more complex. At least, he wouldn't while he was like this.

Regardless, Tamlen understood enough. His face fell into surprise when he realised what she was implying. A flicker of hope shone in his eyes, but Ayale could see that it was a dwindling flame.

"The shemlen," she continued, risking a glance over to her companions before looking back at him. "They gave me medicine, a kind of cure. They saved me."

While she gave time for Tamlen to comprehend her words, she reached for her Warden's Oath. She twisted it slightly, unscrewing the lid off the vial. When the tiny container was free, she held it out slightly towards him.

"That cure is in this vial, Tamlen," she stated. "All you have to do is drink it."

He looked at her and then to the vial, back to her, and back to the vial. He didn't move for a moment. It was as if he couldn't believe that his salvation was in a tiny bottle that his clanmate was holding before him.

Slowly, he shifted his weight onto his left arm and raised his right. His hand was shaking as he reached out to Ayale and the vial. He stretched out his hand farther and farther, closer and closer to her own.

He then cringed and shot his hand back. He lost his balance and fell onto his back, but rolled over and bolted upright. He ran to the tree trunk, as far away from Ayale as he could be in the tiny glade. He shook violently, holding his head in his hands as he scrunched his face in anguish.

"No, no, no, no, no," he half-muttered, half-cried. "Can't... I can't lethallan. I can't..."

Ayale stood up slowly. She winced as her legs cramped up against her, and her burns complaining even more. She stepped towards her clanmate, struggling to not limp. She frowned concernedly, waiting for him to explain.

"The... the song... I can't," he explained in broken sentences. "It's... it's always there. I can't stop it. It tells me to... to... do things, but I... I don't want to..."

Ayale chewed her lip thoughtfully. If the echoes from the darkspawn group mind were preventing Tamlen from taking the vial, well, without trying to kill her in the process. If only there was something else he could focus on.

"When we were da'len, Ashalle taught us something," Ayale noted curiously. "Do you remember what it was?"

Tamlen frowned in confusion at the new direction of topic. He squinted for a moment to show her that he didn't remember, nor could he understand why she was asking.

"She taught us that the hahra watch over us, all the time, even if we can't see them, or feel their presence," she reminded.

His eyes flickered as he tried to remember what she was talking about. However, he eventually shook his head to her.

"Then I'll just have to teach it to you all over again," she surmised. "If the song you hear isn't good, then sing a different song. Listen to me, Tamlen. Listen to me and sing."

She knew that just saying the words wouldn't be enough for him. No spoken words had the same power as the ones that whispered in her friend's head, and also within her own. She closed her eyes and concentrated. She listened for the call of the darkspawn within her mind, and she searched for her voice within the call.

When she opened her eyes, she opened her mouth and sang.

~:Hahra frao ee'ya:~
~:Hahra frao ee'yo:~

Tamlen's eyes widen in surprise when she sang the first two lines. He looked at her in amazement and confusion as her words reached him through the taint, as she was certain it had.

She smiled and sang the next lines.

~:Uus noob'eila:~
~:Hahra frao ee'yo:~

She saw Tamlen mouth the last word. His movements weren't as twitchy as they had been, and his attention was focused entirely on her. But, it wasn't a dangerous focus, more like the old proverb 'a drowning man clutching at straws'.

She was suddenly a lifeline for him, and he wasn't going to let go anytime soon. So when she sang the rest of the song, Tamlen quietly sang along.

~:Ootu'ras more hooa'uus:~
~:Ootu'ras more ias:~
~:Morid'ya:~

Ayale stepped towards him, holding out the vial to him. She saw his eyes widen fearfully, but he quickly squashed the emotion and watched her with a determination that she hadn't seen since the two of them had entered that temple that had torn their lives apart.

The pair of them sang the song quietly as the distance between them slowly closed. Ayale was still singing when she raised the vial to Tamlen's lips and poured the contents into his mouth.

"Swallow it," she instructed when he did nothing. "Tamlen, swallow it!"

He gulped awkwardly, and there was silence between them as they waited for the cure to take effect.

Then, Tamlen cried out in pain and grabbed his head. Ayale held his shoulders as he went through the Joining. When he fell to his knees, she went down with him, watching him all the time. She started singing again, trying to help him focus.

He suddenly struck out. His hands wrapped themselves around her neck and were in the perfect position to strangle her. However, he didn't tighten his grip.

She raised a hand to her shoulder as she heard movement behind her. Obviously Alistair was getting twitchy with the situation, and Leliana and Wynne probably weren't at ease either. Regardless, she didn't stop singing. She could hear Tamlen trying to sing with her, though his voice was breaking under the pain and the words were disjointed.

Eventually, his hands slipped down from her throat to rest on her shoulders. He doubled over and he brought his hands down to sit on the back of his head and laced his fingers together. His shoulders shook as he fought against the pain.

Ayale knew he was merely one moment away from screaming his throat raw. She laid her hands on his back and massaged the tense muscles in his shoulders and back. All the time, she continued to sing softly to him, hoping that her voice was giving him some small comfort.

Then, all the tension in Tamlen's body was gone and he went limp.

End note: Sorry, another cliff hanger. I know I'm evil. I wonder if anyone can guess where the song is from. I'll reveal it in the next chapter, but I'm curious as to everyone's thoughts.

Elven translations (my words and phrases in italics):

Da'len –Child

Hahra –Gods

Lethallan –Friend (female)

Shaal –animal (Spoken by my character when she entered battle with wolves)

Shemlen –Human

Vegade'ninn –Trust me

Vallaslin –Blood writing

(The next lot of translations are my personal translations, and are only valid for my story)

Hahra frao ee'ya –The gods watch over you in the day

Hahra frao ee'yo –The gods watch over you in the night

Uus noob'eila –They are there when you dream

Hahra frao ee'yo –The gods watch over you in the night

Ootu'ras more hooa'uus –They call you to join their games

Ootu'ras more ias –They call you to join so

Morid'ya –Don't be afraid