A Rogue's Sparkle
Note:

First of all, my thanks to bluevixen87 and Nemi-Chan for adding this story to your alerts and to Erynnar for the review! I appreciate it!

Second, I do not use a beta at this moment so please let me know if I make any mistakes in sentences/words etc. I do not wish for a beta unless he/she has the time to respond to me within a reasonable timeframe. Not that I think anyone will ask, but just so you know if you do wish to ask ;-)

Third, I have made a drawing of how Catherine looks. If you want to see the drawing go to .com/#/d3jxgrl

Last but not least, I do not own anything of Dragon Age. It all belongs to Bioware. I only gave it a little twist of my own which I hope you'll like.

Chapter 7
Lothering in a Day

=Catherine=

"Cath." the person whispered. I choked in my own words as I looked to the side to see my brother standing there. I gasped and quickly stood to give him a crushing hug.

"Aedan!" I whispered back. "I knew it." I said as I looked at his face. "I knew you would escape." He started laughing and held his hand on my hair briefly.

"Maker's sake, you need a bath sister!"

"That I do brother. That I do." Alistair walked towards us as well and briefly flashed a smile.

"It's good to see you're alive Catherine." he softly said.

"And you, Alistair." I noticed something was bothering him. "I... I'm sorry about Duncan." I whispered. His face betrayed him and I knew I was right.

"I'm sorry I couldn't safe him." I continued as I bowed my head. "I should have been faster and..."

"Stop Cath." Aedan interrupted. "Do not torture yourself."

"You weren't there!" I shouted a whole lot louder than I actually meant, but I continued. "You didn't see how that Darkspawn... with that... you didn't see!"

"It wasn't your fault Catherine." Alistair replied. I lowered my head and a woman stepped forward. I looked at her and back to my brother.

"This is Morrigan. She helped us get the treaties to get an army to stop the blight."

"Oh... I'm Catherine. Please to meet you." I said automatically.

"Just as polite as your brother is." she answered. "I shall wait outside." I watched as the woman walked away and wondered if she ever got cold with those kind of clothes. I pinched the bridge of my nose and decided to derail my current train of thoughts.

"We must go to Redcliffe and see if we can help Arl Eamon. He's deadly ill and perhaps we can help by finding the Urn of Sacred Ashes by ourself." I continued. Dantos barked as he agreed and I sat down to give him a hug. He had been waiting so patiently for some attention.

"He's ill? Aedan and I also talked about where to go and Redcliffe came up first as well. This way we can see where to go next and if we can get help from them once the Arl gets better." Alistair said.

"Do you know the Arl?" I asked.

"Yes. He... sort of raised me before I was sent to the Chantry for Templar training."

"So you're a templar?"

"Not officially. I never took my vows, but only done the training. Duncan... got me out right in time before I had to take those vows. If he hadn't done that, I'd probably be high on Lyrium now."

"Lyrium? Why do Templars use it?"

"It's said that it enhances our abilities. I'm not quite sure what to think of that personally." I stopped with my questions, not wanting to launch every single comment to Alistair. I looked at Aedan and doubted for a moment.

"What happened to you both in Ostagar?" I suddenly asked.

"When we arrived at the tower, we saw it was overrun by Darkspawn." Aedan started. "We had to clear the tower before we could light the beacon. When we finally managed we got shot by Darkspawn archers." I gasped and started checking Aedan on wounds to which he took my hands.

"Don't worry. We're all right. We were saved just in time by the woman you just met and her mother."

"How?" I wondered out loud. I couldn't imagine people could break through that Darkspawn horde so easily.

"Ugh. Don't ask. She said her mother became a bird and plucked us out of that tower..." Aedan's mood changed. "We saw now movement down there. I thought you died." he whispered.

"I survived as you can see." I replied.

"What happened to you down there?" I frowned and turned away from Aedan. It took a minute before I decided what I wanted to answer.

"I don't want to talk about it." I said as I walked passed Aedan and Alistair to get out of the Chantry. I felt his eyes on me and was grateful that Once outside, the woman sighed.

"You all certainly took your time." she said.

"Feel free to leave if it bothers you." I said as I walked to the bridge without giving the woman a look. We decided to help some people while we were here. Surprisingly some of the missions included killing corrupted guards or attacking beasts. When we got back to report to the people their mission was finished, I got some money from Aedan and bought the dagger for the agreed fifty silvers. Glad that I finally had a set again I turned towards my brother. Aedan and Alistair wanted to stop by the inn before going towards Redcliffe. When we stepped inside, the inn was filled with guards, pushing all the other people aside. One of them turned around and started grinning. His mate turned as well and looked as if he recognized us.

"Aren't these the ones we were looking for?"

"They are indeed. We are here to arrest you..." the man said as he pointed towards us. "... for the murder of King Cailan."

"What? Don't be so stupid!" I said while stepping forward.

"You will come with us. Dead or alive."

"You may certainly try." Aedan said. The guards took their swords out, but halted when a priestess interrupted them.

"I can't let you harm these people." she said.

"Step aside, priestess. Else I cannot guarantee you won't be harmed as well." he threatened. The red headed woman chuckled and held up her daggers to defend us. The guards obviously didn't care about a priestess on their 'to do' list and started attacking us. It didn't last long when the leader of the group gave up and begged for his life. When Aedan stepped towards the guard to kill him the priestess stood in his way.

"He surrendered." She said with an Orlesian accent. "Let this man go." I stepped next to the priestess and with my hand I lowered his sword.

"She's right, Aedan."

"Are you kidding me Cath? This man just accused all Wardens of killing our King!"

"I know, but he can pass a message to Loghain." I whispered. I could see Aedan thinking about that remark.

"Fine. Leave. Now, and tell Loghain we're not done with him yet." The man nodded and rushed out of the inn with his fellow guards. Aedan sheated his sword and I turned to the priestess.

"You fight pretty well for a priestess." I said.

"I was not always one." she stated and looked at Aedan. "You are Wardens, are you not?"

"Well... yes. This is Alistair and I am Aedan. Morrigan here, helps us as well and next to you is my sister, Catherine." The sister smiled and nodded to all of us when Aedan introduced us.

"My name is Leliana. I will come with you to help stop the Blight." Aedan and I exchanged a look and he lifted up his shoulders.

"All right." We both said at the same time.

"Welcome to our little group!" I happily said.

"You have obviously hit your head harder than mother believed." Morrigan said to Aedan. He tossed Morrigan an annoyed look and focussed back on Leliana.

"How did you know we we're Wardens by the way?" he asked.

"I had a vision from the Maker."

"Eh... can you elaborate?" The woman lowered her head for a second.

"I know it sounds strange, but I had a dream. I knew it was about the Blight. You're arrival here, it could not be a coincidence. Also, you're not from Lothering. That helped to identify you as well." she chuckled. We all left the inn and stopped by the merchant to get Leliana some leather armor. Once she was changed into the armor we continued.

"We shouldn't stay too long around here." I said to Aedan.

"You're right. This village is too close to Ostagar. The horde might come here quickly enough." He said. We walked to the other end of Lothering when we saw a man in a cage. Aedan kept on walking along with Morrigan, but I stopped. Leliana stood next to me.

"We can't just leave him in there." I whispered to Leliana. "No matter what he's done, leaving him to the Darkspawn is a horrible fate." I looked around and saw no guards in the area. At least none that was watching this man. Not like the man at Ostagar, who was protected all day and all night long.

"He is a Qunari and far away from his home. The revered mother set him in this cage when we learned he slaughtered an entire family. Even the children." I ignored that fact and looked at the man.

"What is your name?" I said to the man. He looked at me without any emotion on his face.

"You are not one of my captors. I will not amuse you any more than I have the other humans. Leave me in peace."

"I can free you from this cage!" I said.

"You have the key? I confess. I did not think the priest would part with it." I looked towards the Chantry and considered it safe enough to free him.

"She did not." I simply replied.

"Why do you want me freed?" he asked.

"We can use any help we can get against the Blight."

"You are a Warden?

"I'm not, but my brother and our friend overthere both are." I said as I started working on opening the cage.

"So be it. Set me free and I will follow you against the Blight."

"Cath. What are you doing?" I heard Aedan say. When I ignored him he turned me around, away from the cage. I broke free from his grip and turned back.

"Stop it Aedan. We cannot leave him here. He can help us." The lock broke free and the man stepped out. My brother sighed and I looked at the man.

"I will follow you into battle. In doing so I will find my attonement."

"Glad to have you with us, Sten." Leliana said.

"Can we proceed? I am eager to be elsewhere." I nodded and we made our way to the other side of town where a bridge would lead towards the road. Of course, things could never be easy as I quickly noticed the group waiting for us. They were holding pitch forks and other things they could find which could cause harm. I frowned and whispered to Aedan.

"Carefull."

"We heard you were Wardens! You will not leave without having paid for the muder of our King!" Before we could even try to reason with them they attacked us. It confused me why they thought they had a chance against five people with real weapons and armor. For this reason and the fact that they were not really soldiers of any sort they died rather quickly. Morrigan laughed at them and with a cold glare walked further to the bridge. Up at the bridge I heard growling. It seemed familiar and I fastened my face to see if I was right. When we arrived I was in front of the group with my daggers ready to be used. Darkspawn were blocking the way for two Dwarves. I rushed into them followed by the rest of our group.

When the last of the small group were killed by Morrigan, I turned towards the older Dwarf.

"Thank you for your timely rescue!" he said with a large smile on his face. "My name is Bodahn and this is my son, Sandal." He turned to the younger Dwarf.

"Say hello boy."

"Hello!" he happily said.

"Pleased to meet you both. My name is Catherine and my brother here..." who now stood next to me. "... is Aedan." The dwarf nodded.

"You're not travellers by any chance, are you?"

"Well, we are, but... he's a Warden. I'm not quite sure if you want to travel with us?"

"Ah no. You will walk on dangerous roads. My boy and I shall clear up and continue then. Again, my thanks for the rescue, my Lady." The Dwarves continued to pack their things and we made our way across the bridge. There were no signs of Darkspawn anymore and everyone relaxed a bit again. Morrigan walked at the back and Dantos found it fun to cross her path, causing her to get more annoyed by the minute. Aedan walked in the front and searched for a place where we could stay for the night. How could he stay so strong? Leliana walked behind me and stayed silent so far. I glanced at Alistair who was walking next to me and noticed he was deeply in thoughts as well. I moved closer to Alistair and gently but briefly touched his arm.

"Do you want to talk about Duncan?"

"You don't have to do that." he softly replied. "I know you didn't knew him as I did."

"That doesn't mean I don't mourn his loss."

"I...I should've handled things better I suppose. He said he came from Highever. I'd like to visit it and pay my respect to him once this is all over." I nodded.

"Maybe I'll go with you when you do." He looked at me and smiled.

"I think he'd like that."

"We'll stay here." Aedan said as he stopped. "Morrigan and I shall look for food. If the rest can set up the bedrolls and a fire?" he suggested as he took Morrigan on their search for food.

"Well at least we're temporarily rid of the bitch." Alistair said. I chuckled and he turned around.

"You don't agree?" he said with a grin.

"I agree that's the impression she gives to other people. I just met her, I don't know if that's really who she is."

"Hmm. Maybe. I still think she's a bitch." he mumbled.

"Come, let's look for dry wood for a fire." I said as I took Alistair's arm to join me. As we searched for wood I noticed Alistair glanced towards me every once in a while. One time he even caught me looking at him instead and he instantly blushed. When the sun started to make way for the moon and stars we walked back to the camp. Morrigan and Aedan were already back and we noticed we took too long with collecting the wood. Aedan rushed over to us impatiently and took the wood I gathered and started working on a fire. He seemed rushed to have one as soon as possible and Alistair dumped his pile next to Aedan without disturbing him any further.

"Next time we should take less time collecting wood." he whispered to me. I bend over to Alistair a little and looked him in his eyes.

"Or more time looking at each other when we're not occupied with collecting wood." I whispered back. I turned around and I checked if Leliana and Morrigan needed help preparing food. When they denied me access anywhere near them I walked back to my bedroll and called Dantos with me. He wagged his tail around like crazy and was happy that we all were back together.

When the fire was lit, Aedan sat next to me as Leliana took over to cook dinner.

"Cath. We need to talk about what we're going to do. I'm a Warden now. No matter how much I dislike the fact that our ways will part... we have to think about our duties. You know that." I stayed silent. I did not like the direction of this conversation already and he just started!

"Catherine." he said as he touched my arm. My focus stayed on Dantos. The faithful Mabari sat in front of me looking at Aedan. "You will have to run Highever if Fergus is not alive."

"We don't know that." I whispered.

"True, we don't. However, we cannot think everything will turn out all right and let Highever rot away in the hands of Howe."

"What do you want to do Aedan?" I said as I turned my head to look at my brother. "You want me to go back to Highever, say hello and let me being captured by the bastard who almost killed me? Just to get killed for sure that time? You know as well as I do that's not a great plan." He sighed and I saw him thinking.

"Maybe we should get you safe somewhere."

"Oh yes. Hide me away from the world and let me rot in my misery. Is that it, Aedan? Is that your best idea?" I didn't whisper anymore and the whole camp enjoyed our little chat.

"Do you want to hear my idea? I will help stop the Blight. We will be travelling often and nobody will think someone is actually stupid enough to put him, or in this case herself, in danger. Maybe I even get a chance to slaughter Howe if we visit Denerim." I viciously replied.

"Don't you get it? If you get killed there is absolutely nobody to run Highever! All our effort for absolutely nothing!"

"Get Morrigan to heal. Problem solved! You seem to like her anyway so you'll have a shot at persuading her." I said as my focus went back to Dantos.

"All right. You win, for now!" he said as he stood up. He went to get his dinner and not long after everybody in camp did. We discussed who would take first watch and I was relieved when I found out I could stay in my bed for the night. Relieved and absolutely not looking forward to it. As everybody slowly made their way to their bedroll I decded to clean up. Maybe I should get some rest. I was of no use if I would want to sleep by the time we got to Redcliffe. Or worse, before we would arrive there. Once I was done and as clean as I currently would be able to be, I stood up and lied down on my bedroll.

The feeling was quite welcome and it didn't take long for my sleep to take over.