Prompt: Reunion

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age.

Note: So I've never actually played the Darkspawn Chronicles DLC but I've heard about it and this is, to the best of my knowledge, consistent with that universe.

Ferelden had not been at all what Zevran had been expecting, to put it mildly. He had volunteered for the contract on the Grey Warden so that he could see if he could find a way out of the Crow-dominated rut he'd found himself in. Maybe he'd wind up dead, maybe succeeding at a task everyone else had shied away from would give him some validation at last – validation he desperately need ever since Rinna had just stared up at him while….

One outcome that he had never expected because it was so far beyond anything he'd ever experienced was that the Grey Warden would have woken him up, questioned him more or less civilly, and – upon learning that he would not go after Loghain – decide to simply let him go. Sure, Zevran could attempt to kill the Warden again but he thought that that might be pushing his luck and all of his men were dead, anyway. He was just going to have to try to live with his failure…something that would be a lot easier far from Antiva. It would also be a lot easier if the Blight engulfing the land really had been a myth like that man Howe had said.

Still, Zevran would rather face darkspawn than the Crows and he doubted very much that the monsters of legend could make him regret ever having been born as much as the Crows did. Could. He meant could. Since Zevran was going to be hiding in Ferelden for the foreseeable future, he had decided to seek out another group of elves to blend in with. He had never fit in with the Dalish and so he'd come to an Alienage. He had been roughly halfway between the Denerim Alienage and the one in Highever when he'd decided this but he had heard all about the chaos going on in Highever since the new Teyrn had taken over and wanted no part in it.

The Denerim Alienage had been no better. He had been there for only a few short hours and quickly realized that he should get out of there. The elves were rioting and that wouldn't end well no matter how many people had been abducted for what purpose. Unfortunately, before he had time to leave, that Teyrn from Highever – Howe, it turned out – had claimed the mantle of the Arl of Denerim as well and sent troops into the Alienage. It was…horrible and it was months before the gates to the Alienage had been open again.

He had just learned of his newfound freedom (there didn't seem to be much of it even here in Ferelden) and started towards the gates before they could change their minds and keep him trapped in here. To his great surprise, Taliesin of all people stood, arms crossed and smirking, framed in the gateway.

Zevran had stood there staring stupidly for a moment before he caught himself. He hadn't been away from the Crows for that long. "Taliesin? What are you doing here?"

"I think the better question is what are you doing here in an Alienage," Taliesin returned.

"I had only just stopped by when the gates were closed and I had no way of getting out for months," Zevran explained. "The soldiers were too on the look-out for rioters. Now, what brings you to Ferelden?"

"You know that Grey Warden you were hired to assassinate?" Taliesin asked rhetorically. "It turns out that he's not quite dead yet and professionalism requires him to be so I volunteered to go investigate the matter. Opinion's pretty divided on whether you died or tried to run away and I really don't think anyone would have expected this."

Zevran had been trying to run away but, much like with the Dalish, he actually found life with the Crows preferable than remaining here. "So what are you going to do now that you found me?"

Taliesin eyed him suggestively. Really, Zevran might have known he'd take it that way. "I was thinking that we could just go and assassinate the Warden together and then hurry back to Antiva before the darkspawn kill everyone. I'm not sure how you'll explain being unreachable for so long – because the truth is really embarrassing – but I'm sure that between the two of us we can think of something."

Taliesin was always trying to find ways to save Zevran from his own choices. It was rather un-Crow-like and that was why it meant so much to him. "I'm sure we will," he agreed. "But until we actually kill the Warden then neither of us can go back so there's little point in thinking of a cover story until the job is actually done."

"True enough," Taliesin nodded. "So you're in luck. The Warden is actually in town right now which is how I was able to find you."

"He is?" Zevran asked curiously. "That sounds reckless. Is he still an outlaw or did that change while I was…busy?"

"He's still an outlaw," Taliesin confirmed. "But another noble has called one of those quaint Ferelden 'Landsmeets' to challenge the regent's right to the throne and aims to put the Warden on it instead."

"We'll need to hurry then," Zevran remarked. "How long do we have?"

"The Landsmeet is to take place two days from today," Taliesin revealed. "Technically, I suppose we could do this anytime before the coronation which will likely take place after the Blight but I don't want to stay in a Blighted country any longer than I have to and there's every chance that the Warden will die in the Blight which I'm not sure we could take credit for."

"And should he manage to become king then he'll likely be far harder to kill," Zevran added.

"I have it on good authority that the Warden is on his way to our client's Denerim estate right now in order to meet up with the current queen," Taliesin announced. "We can ambush him there and then we can go home. Both of us."

This wasn't exactly the way that Zevran had expected his trip to Ferelden to end or, if he was being honest with himself, the way he wanted it to but it seemed that, once again, the Crows proved to be the only place he belonged."Let's go then."

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