A/N: Bioware owns all...

Thanks to all of my readers and extra special thanks to my reviewers Ladyamesindy, Erynnar, ajramsey, wisecracknmama, roxfox62, Crazy4DA, Shakespira, Piceron, Abydos Jackson, BubblesScream-jahm4-, StellaSmooth, and CynderJenn. Keep them coming, they rock my world!

As always I must send my deepest thanks to my betas, without whom I would never be able to get through some of these chapters. Piceron and Ladyamesindy, thank you for helping me to piece together the last part of this chapter...I never would have gotten through it without you and Erynnar thank you for reading over all of this so late at night to make sure that everything made sense to someone other than me (since I was half asleep).

Oh and just a note, it may be next week till I get to post again, I have got family in town from Wyoming that I do not get to see often and I feel guilty writing while they sit here with nothing to do. I'm going to try to write at night after everyone is in bed but I hope you will understand if it is slow going for a few days.

Once again thank you all for showing such interest in my little story...it is so touching to me that you all like it.

~Love One Another~


Denerim~

Alistair led Leliana downstairs and out a large set of doors that opened into the private gardens. He thought that perhaps the fresh air and sunshine would help to not only lift his spirits but assist him in shaking off the effects of the copious amounts of mead he consumed the night before.

He took Leliana to a small section of the garden where Shey would often come to have some time to herself. Sheyna would spend hours upon hours reading her books or sometimes simply laying in the grass relaxing; taking in the delicate aroma of the flowers that surrounded her.

The stone bench, the one where Alistair confronted Shey about his need for an heir, stood just feet in front of them, a screaming reminder of what had transpired since that day. Alistair found himself lost in thought. If only I had just ended it there…why did I force her into this?

Leliana watched her companion as he stared at the large willow tree that stood behind her; seemingly lost in thought. He was sad, that much was obvious; but there was something else…something in his eyes that Leliana had never seen there before. Was it guilt? No, why would Alistair feel guilty if it was Sheyna that left? But this look...I have seen it in other men; maybe it really is guilt…but over what?

Leliana touched her friend gently on his shoulder. "Alistair, what happened?"

The tears that she saw falling down Alistair's cheeks when he turned to face her confirmed her suspicion; every drop told her more than his words ever could. "Leliana, I think I've made a big mistake."

Leliana gently led him to the nearby bench and Alistair continued. "It's all such a mess and I don't know what to do to fix any of it...if I can fix any of it. I don't even know where to begin to tell you about it."

The bard gave him an encouraging smile. "I find that the beginning serves as a fairly decent starting point."

Alistair took a nervous breath, he wanted to get it off of his chest but he was unsure of how Leliana would react; still, he pressed on. "Well, you remember Morrigan..."


Lothering~

Zevran led Sheyna to a small room that he had rented above Dane's Refuge. Once they entered he motioned for her to take a seat on the bed, as it and a small nightstand were the only pieces of furniture in the room.

The assassin began rummaging around in a large pack that sat in the corner of the room and soon pulled from it a bottle of Antivan brandy.

The sight of that bottle made Shey's conscience start screaming. She closed her eyes quickly, trying to stop the cacophony of voices, but it was too late…That's what you used Shey, that bottle of brandy…the one that you slipped that potion into and gave to that poor, sweet, trusting man…the man you betrayed…the one you crushed...Teagan…You should be proud of yourself, after all you put on quite the performance...you even had yourself believing that it was real, that it was not all just one big show put on to fulfill your own selfish wish to stay in a world in which you don't belong...Alistair deserved someone who could give birth to his heir...instead your King will live out the rest of his life knowing that his heir is another man's bastard...Teagan's bastard...after what you did to Teagan you do not even deserve to speak his name...you deserve nothing.

Zevran unknowingly interrupted Shey's tortured symphony as he handed her a glass. "You do still enjoy the occasional Antivan libation, si mi amore?"

Shey continued staring absentmindedly at the bottle he held before her. She knew he was saying something to her, but it took an abnormally long time to figure out what it was, as she was having to strain to hear him over her own twisted thoughts. "Yes, I…I mean no…no, none for me. Thank you, Zev."

Zevran laid the items in his hands down on the table before sitting down and leaning against the headboard of the bed. He opened his arms and gestured toward Shey to join him to which she obliged immediately. Shey curled up in the elf's embrace like a child in the arms of their father after a nightmare or during a thunderstorm. Zevran laid his cheek upon her soft hair before whispering, "It is not like you to refuse Antivan brandy, mi querida. Would I be correct in assuming this has something to do with your recent infidelity to your doting King?"

"My infidelity was encouraged by my doting King; in fact in order for me to remain with my King it was quite necessary that I be unfaithful."

"Mi amore, if your tryst was encouraged by your husband you cannot truly be considered to be unfaithful, no?" Zevran found himself completely baffled as to what circumstances would exist to necessitate adultery, but did his best to find a way to get Shey into a state of mind to be able to help him understand.

Shey sat up and gazed into Zevran's friendly amber colored eyes. "I suppose I should explain...shouldn't I?"

He grinned. "If you wish, though I will admit you are extremely sexy when you are flustered."

Shey stood from the bed and began pacing the floor; unsure of exactly how she was going to explain to Zevran the tangled mess that her life had become. Finding no definite answer she decided to just let her thoughts flow and pray to the Maker that it all made sense. "Zev, the true reason that I am upset and feeling the way that I am has nothing to do with feeling unfaithful to Alistair, because as I explained this was at his behest. The thing that is absolutely eating away at me is the circumstances under which all of this occurred."

"Mi amore, perhaps you could grant me the permission to assist you in navigating your stream of thoughts, yes?" Zevran approached the frazzled woman and squeezed her shoulder. "If you continue along your current course I fear we shall both be engulfed by the rapids…and I do so hate getting wet."

Sheyna felt a sense of relief surge through her body as she let a light giggle slip from her lips; had he not offered to help she had no idea how she would have been able to get through it.

"The first question that comes to my mind, mi querida is what circumstance could possibly require infidelity toward your handsome King?"

"An heir;" Shey noticed that she had begun to chew on the tip of her thumb…a habit that plagued her for as long as she could remember. After quickly pulling it out and mentally admonishing herself for doing it she continued. "It is known that Grey Wardens have trouble conceiving, even if their partner is not a Warden, and as far as I know there has never been a child born to two Warden parents."

"Mmm…and I suppose his Majesty was exhibiting all of the patience of a toddling child, no?" Zev's harsh tone indicated his displeasure at the details which were coming to light.

"No, not Alistair…Eamon; since before we were wed…before the Blight was even over for that matter. Eamon has been insistent of having an heir in line for the throne…to ensure that a Theirin is always the one wielding power."

Zevran rubbed his forehead as he puzzled over the statement that Sheyna laid before him; he then glanced at his companion from the corner of his eye. "Forgive me, my sweet, ambrosial flower…at the risk of sounding disgracefully obtuse I must bring your beloved husband's logic into question. How precisely would you falling into the embraces of another result in the birth of Alistair's progeny? I always thought our darkly beautiful witch friend to be exaggerating the degree of your husband's supposed idiocy, but after hearing this morsel of information, I am beginning to think that Morrigan's comments were not purely in jest."

"I believe that is due to the fact that I was insistent on me being the one to give birth to his child. So Alistair decided that he would find someone who's looks are close enough to his that the child's parentage wouldn't be questioned by the other nobility; and that would be the man who I would lay with."

"Sheyna, I am sorry my love but I am still not able to determine the reason for your self-condemnation. If all contributing parties were in agreement, then to me, it would seem a win-win situation, would it not?" Zevran furrowed his brow as he continued to rub his forehead.

"But all parties were not in agreement Zev...in fact one party was left completely in the dark; and that is where the guilt comes in because that person is someone who has always been a dear friend to both Alistair and myself and also to my family."

"Ah, and who might this unwitting participant be?" Zevran felt a sense of relief that his friend's story was beginning to make at least a modicum of sense.

"Teagan…"

The assassin raised his brow in surprise as his eyes once again met Shey's. "Truly? I would think that Teagan of all people would jump at the opportunity to assist you in your 'task'; the man did seem quite enamored with you as I recall, no?"

Sheyna shook her head. "As enamored as he may have been, Teagan has a certain code of ethics that he lives by; he never would have agreed."

"My sweet innocent Shey, the good Arl was quite eager to sleep with a married woman, not only married, but wife to the ruler of the country in which he was born and to who's throne he swears fealty." Zev took Sheyna by the hand and led her once again to sit at the edge of the bed. "I have no doubt in my mind mi amore, that Teagan is outwardly chivalrous, but if his conscience would allow him to be party to adultery then his 'code of ethics' may not be as constrictive as you seem to assume."

"Trust me, Zevran...Teagan was nowhere near the willing participant that you believe that he was; in fact I had to betray almost every moral value that my parents spent nearly twenty years of their lives instilling in me." Once again, Shey felt a pang of horrible shame at the mention of her dear parents...they would have been horrified by the things that she had done, not to mention the person who she did them to.

Shey laid her head upon Zevran's shoulder, buried her face in his neck and cried, unable to continue to hold back her tears.

Zevran began gently stroking her hair in an attempt to offer her a small amount of comfort. "Shh...mi querida...I am here, and I shall go nowhere until you are able to return to being your happy, beautiful, enrapturing self...this I swear to you."

The elf gently took Sheyna's face in his hands and stared deeply into her eyes. "Now, mi amore...how did you manage to break through our knight's marvelously shiny armor?"


Redcliffe~

"Here is the tea you asked for my lady. Do you require anything else?" Teagan's servant Mikael entered the Redcliffe castle study carrying a silver tray with tea and a small plate of biscuits. He approached the table that was situated between two chairs in the center of the room where Bann Alfstanna was seated reading a book.

Alfstanna smiled at the elven man. "No, Mikael the tea will be fine."

"Is my lord going to be alright?"

"With time; he seems relieved that I am here and he is willing to talk, that is a step in the right direction. Do not worry, he will snap out of this; I will make sure of that."

Mikael smiled as he bowed and then walked from the room.

Alfstanna turned her focus back to the book in her hands and flipped aimlessly through the pages. After agreeing to speak with her, Teagan happened to catch a glimpse of his disheveled reflection in the study mirror and begged that she would allow him time to change and make himself more presentable. It was agreed that they would meet within the hour back in the study.

Moments after Mikael took his leave, the sound of boots striking the stone floors once again echoed through the halls. Alfstanna looked over her book to see Teagan walking toward her; now clean, his facial hair neatly trimmed, and in a fresh set of clothes. Alfstanna put the book on the table by the tea and then stood to greet her friend with a kiss on either cheek. "Now, there is the Teagan I know and love, though that infectious smile is still notably absent…let's see what we can do about that, shall we?"

Alfstanna poured them both a cup of tea as Teagan sat in the chair beside her. They sat in silence for a while as they both sipped their tea and ate the biscuits that Mikael brought in ahead of the Arl. After twenty minutes in complete silence, Alfstanna decided that her friend was going to need some encouragement.

She leaned over in her chair and took one of Teagan's hands in hers. When he looked at her, she began to understand why he was not talking as his eyes were glossed with the tears that he was holding back. "Teagan, dear Maker…what has happened? This is so unlike you."

Again, deafening silence. Teagan looked into the air above him, almost as if he was hoping to find the answer to her question written across the ceiling.

"Mikael tells me that Sheyna Theirin was here visiting and that you started acting differently upon her departure. Did you two have a disagreement?"

Teagan looked into his friends brown eyes as a single tear was able to escape and fall to his lap. "Stanna I don't know...everything was fine; then I awoke and she was gone."

"Teag, there is something you are not telling me. I know that you and Shey were never this close...right? I mean she's always just been Fergus' kid sister..." Alfstanna noticed that Teagan's gaze once again drifted off into nothingness; in an attempt to snap him out of it she shouted. "Teagan! If you want me to help you, I have to know exactly what happened."

"She told me that she loved me."

"Whoa...wait...she told you that she loves you? What in the Maker's name..." Alfstanna shook her head as she tried to collect herself. After that bit of news she felt as though someone took her mind and tossed it in the air, jumbling all of her thoughts in the process.

"Okay...she loves you...so what exactly led to this...revelation...what was she doing here in the first place?"

Teagan stood up and walked to the desk. After rumaging through a small stack of books and sheets of parchment, he returned and handed her the missive with the royal seal that had arrived weeks earlier. Alfstanna read the missive and once finished folded it again and placed it on the table between them.

"So, Sheyna arrived in Redcliffe in a gesture of goodwill from King Alistair. How did it go from a friendly visit to proclamations of love?"

Teagan gazed at the floor and sighed. "From the moment she arrived I noticed something different about her. She seemed so distant, lost...sad." Teagan stood and began pacing the floor in front of the hearth. "I asked her, several times if something was bothering her before finally insisting that she tell me what was wrong; at that point she burst out of the room."

Alfstanna poured some more tea in her cup. "But this was all before she confessed feelings for you, yes?"

"I felt horrible for upsetting her so I did not pursue her. Instead I came to the study and went back over our day in my mind...trying to figure out if something occurred that I might not have realized upset her...or if maybe I was reading too much into it." Teagan took a sidelong glance at the door. "Then...there she was. She apologized for being short with me and said that there was something bothering her that she thought would cause me to think less of her were she to tell me."

Teagan walked to the chairs and sat back next to Alfstanna who now rested her head in one hand; obviously deep in thought. "So... at this point, what did she say?"

"She...she told me that she wanted to be with me; that she always has. She said that she and Alistair were no longer happy together and that their marriage had turned into more of a political arrangement." Teagan tilted his face to his lap but looked at Alfstanna from the corner of his eye. "She said that she wanted me... and truth be told...I wanted her. I tried to resist, reminded myself of the million reasons that it was wrong but in the end my conscience proved to be weak...and...we made love."

Alfstanna gasped, clasping her hands over her mouth. "Teagan, you didn't!" She looked at her friend in amazement, hoping to find a sign that he was joking, however the blush that crept to his cheeks as he cast his eyes to the floor spoke volumes.

Alfstanna rose from her chair and began pacing the study as she thought furiously. "Why would Shey suddenly decide she had feelings for you?" Alfstanna turned and faced Teagan. "Are you sure she was telling you the truth? From all reports, she and the King are very happy together. Where would this have sprung from? Don't tell me you believed her?"

Teagan looked away from Alfstanna. "Why wouldn't I have believed her, Stanna? Shey has never been a liar, not even when she was a little girl. Why would she start now? She said that she has had these feelings for me for a long time but that she would not allow herself to pursue them out of a sense of duty and respect toward Alistair; but that his own infidelity had become impossible to ignore and that she longed to be happy...she longed for me to make her happy."

"I don't know why, Teagan," Stanna replied. "But something definitely seems off about this whole situation to me."

"You are right about one thing, Stanna," Teagan stated. "Something is definitely off." Teagan looked down with a miserable expression stretched across his face as he added mentally That something being my heart..

Teagan once again looked over to Alfstanna out of the corner of his eye as he whispered hesitantly. "There is ... something else you need to know as well."

Alftanna paused her pacing, turning to face him. His reluctance was hinting at something she undoubtedly would not like. "What is that, Teagan?"

Still seated, staring down at his hands, clasped and palms upwards, he announced, "Stanna, I have ... cared about Sheyna for a while now ... ever since seeing her with Bryce at a Landsmeet when she was eighteen..." He glanced up at his friend, allowing her to see the entirety of his emotional commitment in his eyes as he reflected. "She was wearing the most beautiful sapphire blue dress, her hair was laying in curls across her shoulders and that smile...Maker, she looked beautiful...and from that moment I could no longer think of her as Fergus' little tag-a-long sister...she had turned, seemingly overnight, into a beautiful grown woman."

"Why did you not pursue her then?"

Teagan shrugged as he continued to look to the floor. "I was nervous...afraid that she would look at me like some drooling lecher...a creepy old man... After I returned to Rainesfere I managed to put her out of my mind, pushing the image of that grown woman from my thoughts, and replacing her once again with her ten year old counterpart whose hair I used to pull before her brother would push her in the mud."

"It worked for a while but then during the Blight, when she came to Redcliffe all of those old feelings came flooding back the second that I saw her. I considered talking to her about it the night that Eamon was cured but it was too late...she was already Alistair's. I saw them from the balcony as they were kissing in the gardens...lamenting their undying love for one another..." Teagan gave a weak laugh as he shook his head. "I was a fool to think that anything had changed between them."

Stanna read the hurt and pain in his eyes. "Oh, Teagan," she said softly. "I'm so sorry."

Teagan couldn't bear the pity he saw in Alfstanna's face. "Well, it doesn't matter anyway. Shey has gone back to Alistair, and I just need to remember that that is where she belongs."

Alfstanna sat back down in the chair beside Teagan and took his hand in hers. "Maybe she really did feel something for you, Teagan. Maybe she became scared and thought running back to her husband was the right thing to do."

"What should I do Alfstanna?"

Though she was still suspicious of what Sheyna's true intentions were Alfstanna did not want to upset Teagan any further without knowing for sure what the woman's reasoning was behind the whole affair. For now, she figured she would be positive...for Teagan's sake if nothing else. "What do you want Teagan, what is your heart telling you?"

"My heart is telling me that she is the one...the woman who I was meant for. I love her and with every fiber of my being I believe she loves me too."

Alfstanna squeezed Teagan's shoulder. "Then you need to tell her that; tell her that you are willing to forgive that she left and that you will do all that you can to get her back if it is what she truly wants. Send her a missive, tell her everything that you just told me...everything that you may not have told me, lay it all out on parchment."

"And then?"

"Then...you wait. If you don't hear back from her or if she tells you that she does not feel the same way then you can start worrying about where to go from there. Chances are she is just as mixed up and scared as you are." Alfstanna gave her friend a reassuring smile.

Teagan nodded and gave her a slight smile; while he still felt terrible, there was a small piece of sadness that fell away as a glimmer of hope shone through the clouds. "I'll do it...right now." Teagan stood from his chair and pulled Alfstanna into a warm embrace. "Thank you Stanna...thank you, I don't know what I would do without you."

Alfstanna kissed him on the forehead and grinned. "You my friend, would be dreadfully lost." And with one last kind smile she turned to leave.

Alfstanna gently closed the door to the study and then turned to lean against it as she continued to try to make sense of everything that had transpired between Shey and Teagan the night before. She wanted so much for her friend to be happy and if being with Shey is what would do that for him she would do everything that she could to support their union.

After a few moments of quiet contemplation Alfstanna decided that a trip to Denerim would be in order before she could return to Waking Sea; she would not return home without answers. I want him to be happy but there is something more to this than I think his heart will allow him to see. I think that Sheyna Cousland Theirin and I need to have a little talk about her intentions with Teagan.