Traveling south, I couldn't help but feel bad for Duncan. He was quite obviously very bothered by whatever happened in Denerim, and it seemed to be more than a general annoyance over missing out on a recruit. I wondered if it was a friend of his who had died. That seemed to fit his reaction and attitude. I already knew he had similar luck in Orzammar and Highever, on top of that. It seems like, from his list of potential recruits, he'd only managed to come away with one. I couldn't help but think it was more bad luck on his part that I was the apparent winner.

Towns became further apart the deeper into the Hinterlands we went. At one point he left me alone in camp for a day, saying he had to investigate something. I held onto my note, hoped no wandering templars passed by, and read the book I stole from the Denerim tavern. I missed Jowan. I wondered if he was sitting at a campsite somewhere, by a fire of his own. Part of me wanted to be mad at him, but really I just wished I knew if he was all right. I even missed Brennan. Or at least fooling around with him. Maybe I needed to find a less… exciting book.

It was dark already. I hoped Duncan would return soon. I was starting to get jumpy.

A snapping sound behind me got my attention. It sounded like someone breaking a branch in half, and it was louder than the other noises I'd been scared by so far. I turned to look and saw a man stepping beyond the bushes. He caught sight of me sitting alone by the fire and started laughing. "Someone leave you all by yourself, girl?" the man asked, walking towards me. "I'll keep you company." I didn't know if he was a thief or bandit, but it seemed clear he had nothing good in mind. The smell of strong liquor came from his direction.

I grabbed my staff and jumped to my feet. "Stay back," I ordered him. "I will kill you!"

"What, you'll hit me with a branch?" he said. Maker's breath, he was either dumber than dirt or so drunk it was a wonder he could even walk. Did the robes not give me away? But, in either case, he continued to walk towards me. I summoned a blast of energy, knocking him to the ground and pushing him away from me.

"I said stay back," I shouted.

"What the?" he muttered. "Damn, you're a sodding witch," he climbed to his feet and pulled out a dagger. "I'll get you for that!"

That was what I'd been waiting for. He was threatening but, until now, unarmed. Something about killing an unarmed man bothered me. Fortunately, that was no longer a concern.

I froze him before summoning lightning. Dead, his frozen body fell backwards.

I shifted further away from the corpse and built the fire up, putting water on for dinner. Holding my staff on my lap, I waited for Duncan to return and hoped it would be soon.

Duncan finally walked back into the campsite late that evening. I admit, I was nervous about going to sleep in the middle of nowhere by myself, especially after already meeting one of Ferelden's less friendly residents, and stayed up waiting, keeping the fire going and a shield already cast on myself just in case. He looked startled after seeing the body but calmed down when I assured him the man died before he even managed to lay a finger on me. I hadn't known what to do with it so I left it where he fell. "I'm not defenseless," I said him. After all, if I was that helpless I wouldn't be here. "I feel kind of bad. It wasn't a fair fight at all."

"He brought his end on himself," Duncan said, after pulling the body to the edge of the woods and leaving it there.

"I know," I said. "And if I let him go the next girl might have been defenseless. So there's that. I mean, I only feel kind of bad. Not really bad or anything. He deserved it."

Since the only thing I'd learned to cook with any degree of success so far was sweetened oat porridge I offered him a bowl of it when he sat down by the fire, clearly exhausted. "There's a dalish clan camped not far from here," he said as he ate. "Two of their hunters managed to stumble onto a tevinter artifact, tainted by the darkspawn. Maybe even dating to the days of the first blight. That's what I was able to sense. If it was that tainted… they may have been corrupted instantly if they touched it. I wasn't able to find any trace of either of them." He sighed. "But, I destroyed it so no one else will be harmed, at least."

"What happened to them?" I asked. He must be exhausted, this was far more information than I usually got. I wanted to ask what he meant by 'sense' but I was afraid pressing for details would end the unusual stream of information I was getting.

"The darkspawn do take prisoners," he said grimly. I decided I would be much happier not knowing what they did with them. "Since their numbers were down by two, and they were preparing to move north to avoid the blight, they claimed the clan couldn't spare a single person as a recruit."

"What are the Dalish like?" I asked. I'd heard of them, of course, but knew very little. Most people didn't know much about them, they kept to themselves. From what I know they hated elves from the cities as much as they did humans. That was about the beginning and end of my knowledge of the dalish.

"Insular. They distrust most humans, and with good reason, but respect Grey Wardens. We don't have any among us now but we have in the past. They're the finest archers in Thedas." He paused, helping himself to more food. "You would probably find their magic interesting. They have their own mages and their own traditions, completely separate of the Chantry. They see magic as a sign someone is favored by their gods. When a child displays the ability the whole clan celebrates."

"Lucky," I said. "Can you leave me with them if I make a lousy Grey Warden instead of sending me back to the Circle?" I grinned, hoping he knew I was joking. Well, mostly.

"What?" he said, staring at me. "Where did that come from?"

"Well, you know, if you decide I don't work out…"

He shook his head. "You're not going back to the Circle. Being a Grey Warden is forever. Have you been worried about that since we left?"

"Maybe?" I said, blushing.

"That is the last thing you need to worry about," he said. I wondered what the first thing I needed to worry about was. "To be completely honest, I wouldn't send you back to the Circle if you begged at this point. You're extremely capable, you seem to have no problem with the more unpleasant decisions we face, and you're clearly willing to learn everything you can. We need you with us more than the Circle ever could. You've been conscripted, there's no going back on that."

"Thank the Maker," I sighed, falling backwards with relief. "I'm pretty sure they'll kill me if I ever set foot in there again."

"They can't," he said. "If you ever went back it would be as a Grey Warden. For all legal purposes it's like you become a new person when you join us. The slate's wiped clean." He paused. "Not to say we're exempt from laws after joining. Far from it." He looked at me. "So if you decide to start dabbling in… less traditional magical schools I'd ask that you speak with me first and exercise extreme caution. Although we allow any means necessary that won't stop a templar from cutting you down as a maleficar should you be discovered. Their oaths make no exception for Grey Warden mages in that regard." I nodded. I hadn't had plans to take up blood magic, but something about the way he said that made me think Duncan assumed it was a matter of when and not if. I wondered if the other mage they had was a blood mage. Maybe he could give me advice. That Jowan had knocked so many men straight to the ground wasn't lost on me. If he could manage that what could I do to darkspawn with the same spells?

"I have to admit," I said. "It's… far more powerful than I expected. I know I'm a stronger mage than Jowan, and he caused some serious damage. I wonder if I could do more, even just using my own blood. I don't think I could ever deal with using… other people, though. That just seems wrong. If I can find a way to learn without having to bargain with a demon I'll let you know and you can decide if I should."

"That's all I ask," he said. "As I said, we allow any means necessary. I'd rather you not enter a bargain with any demons, either, though. That never ends well." That was an extreme understatement since it usually ended in possession and abomination, two things I was quite keen on avoiding since they ended in death. I wondered how Jowan had learned blood magic. He was too smart to bargain with a demon. Or, I thought he was, at least. A lot of what I thought wasn't exactly proving to be true these days.

We must have been getting close to Ostagar. I was seeing more people on the roads every day, most armored. I even saw a few on horseback. "We should be there tomorrow," Duncan told me. I nodded, too nervous about that prospect to respond. Getting there would mean… meeting all the other Grey Wardens and hoping they liked me, this mysterious joining he wouldn't talk about, finding out why he couldn't answer any of my questions, and, of course, the actual battle which wasn't the least of it by far.

Duncan stopped us to speak to a man leading a group of armored people and dogs. He returned to me a moment later. "There's an inn not far ahead. We'll stay there tonight. Camping with this many people on the road isn't wise, we're likely to wake up and find everything but the clothes on our backs are gone." Once we arrived he arranged for two rooms and gave me a key. It had a number on it, I suppose so I could know which door it was. I went up to find it and set my pack down, putting my staff with it. It was a small room, I suppose, but I'd never actually slept in a room by myself. Not unless a tent counted. It would be strange not hearing dozens of other people snoring. And having a big bed all to myself sounded amazing. At least I would arrive in Ostagar well-rested. After a final look around I locked the door and returned downstairs.

People began pouring in as we ate dinner. I saw the men with the dogs, although the animals were apparently left outside if the barking was any indication. A small group in shiny metal armor came in not long after. Although the man leading the people with the dogs was close to Duncan's age, and one of the people in armor, who looked to be knights if the heraldry on their shields was any indication, was perhaps even older, most of them were about the same age as me. I tried not to stare, but… it wasn't easy.

"We haven't met many people your age since we left the Circle," Duncan observed. I nodded. We hadn't met any people my age since then, to be more specific. Most of them were drinking and laughing. A few glanced at me but no one said anything. I tried to smile at people but I'm sure the expression just came out… wrong. "Here," Duncan said, handing me a gold coin. "Bring it to the man at the bar and tell him to hold a tab open for you. He'll understand what you mean. When you want another drink he'll just take it out of this, and give you whatever is left at the end." He stood up. "Just remember we have a lot of walking tomorrow. Enjoy yourself, but try not to overdo things."

I thanked him and he disappeared upstairs. Following his instructions, I handed over the coin and got a drink. "Please let me know before I run out," I asked. The bartender looked at me like I was insane.

"Sure thing, lass. You planning on buying drinks for everyone?"

"What? No!"

"Well, unless you're secretly a dwarven warrior you should be just fine," he laughed. I guess dwarven warriors drank a lot.

I sipped my ale and wondered if I should say hello to someone, or if someone would say hello to me. I eventually decided, near the end of my second drink, that people were nervous enough about mages without me walking up to them. Waiting for someone to talk to me first seemed better. I tried my best to look friendly and not dangerous hoping someone would do that.

I suppose it worked, since a man about my age with short red hair and intricate tattoos covering his face walked over to me eventually. "So, what are you?" he asked.

Huh? He didn't look that drunk. He couldn't tell? "A mage," I replied, not sure how he didn't know.

He laughed. "Yeah, no kidding. The robes kinda give you away. I mean you don't have the buckethead guard so you can't be with the Circle. Are you a healer with one of the nobles or…?"

"Oh!" I said, understanding. "I'm a Grey Warden. Or, well, I will be soon." He looked impressed. "What are you?" I asked.

"I'm an Ash Warrior," he said. I must have looked confused so he explained. "We learned to fight like the dwarven berserkers, but, since this is Ferelden, our dogs fight at our sides."

"You have one the dogs outside!" I said. "They're wonderful. You're very lucky. I love mabari."

"Yeah?" he said, grinning and stepping closer to me. "Mine's name is Hafter. Some of the other guys laughed—"

"Why would they?" I said. "That's a perfect name for a mabari! That or Dane are like the best names for a dog ever."

"See, that's what I said," he replied, beaming. "And he likes it. They'll let you know if they don't, they're smart like that. What's your name? They call me Noll."

I introduced myself and we continued speaking through several more drinks. I began to lose track of how much I had. He asked me some questions about being a mage, the Circle, and how I ended up a Warden. I decided to tell him Duncan found me at the tower and skip the whole 'caught helping a maleficar' part. For the most part, though, he talked about his dog. On and on and on about the dog. Dogs are great. I love dogs, but Maker's breath, talk about something besides the dog! I would have been bored half-senseless… well, no, I was bored half-senseless, but he was cute and it had been weeks since I'd so much as kissed anyone. I wasn't entirely sure he was thinking the same thing as me, since he was only talking about his dog, but I suspected.

We were interrupted by people trying to lead everyone in a toast. "To King Cailan!" someone shouted. Automatically, we held up our glasses, repeating that.

"How about one for the man who'll really save us," someone shouted. "To Teyrn Loghain!" With that everyone enthusiastically cheered and hollered, holding up their glasses again. I'm sure I was among the loudest.

Toasts were offered to the various factions that were taking part in the battle. When someone cheered for the Grey Wardens Noll actually grabbed my arm, holding it in the air so everyone held their glasses out towards me. I blushed and covered my face, laughing.

Very drunk, and hoping to stop him before he could start up on his dog again, I turned to Noll and asked "Did the tattoos hurt?"

"A bit," he admitted. "Not bad, though." He handed me another pint, holding his hand over mine longer than necessary. All right, maybe he was thinking the same thing as me. Now that I got his mind off the damn dogs, at least.

I held up my fingertips. "Can I touch them?" I asked. Maggie, you are a wicked, wicked woman, I thought to myself as he grinned, closing his eyes. I traced my fingertips across one cheek and he grabbed my wrist, moving my hand so he could kiss my palm. We both smiled at each other. He let go of my hand and blushed before quickly turning and ordering another drink for himself.

Apparently several people had brought musical instruments with them, and began to play from the corner of the room. "Can you dance?" he asked me.

"You kidding?" I said. "I love to dance! But… where?" The room was packed with tables.

He gestured to one of the other ash warriors and the two began clearing off the largest table in the room. Noll climbed up and then reached down, grabbing my hands and pulling me up. His friend did the same, pulling one of the female knights onto the table. She looked at me and grinned. Leaning forward she whispered "Hey, we could all be dead tomorrow. Might as well have some fun first just in case, right?" I laughed and said something in agreement. The four of us linked arms and began stepping in a circle, around the edge of the table, laughing the whole time. It was a basic reel and I knew all the steps, even as drunk as I was. After the fourth direction change we all took a step towards the middle, giggling as our heads bumped. It seemed like everyone was in the same state as me.

Unfortunately we'd either underestimated the length of our steps, or overestimated the size of the table. As soon as we all stepped back, well, it turned out our dancing surface wasn't quite big enough. The knight was the first to fall, shrieking as she went backwards and landing on the ground with her feet still on the table. I tumbled off next, landing on the ground with my one leg tangled in a chair and the other on the table edge, my robes flying up almost to my waist, followed by Noll who actually landed on top of me. The table went sideways and hit another, knocking it to the ground and sending broken glass everywhere.

"Hello," Noll said, looking down at me lying on the floor below him.

I giggled, looking up at him. "Oh! You're bleeding," I said. He had a cut on his cheek from a glass.

"So are you," he replied, tapping me above my left eyebrow. Well, that would explain why my vision was tinted red. We both started laughing, too drunk to care, and then he finally kissed me. Of course, we were lying on the ground surrounded by broken glass, bleeding, and I'm sure more than half the room was getting a real eyeful of my underpants, but Andraste's sword, it was about time, and it was fantastic.

"Maggie, is this what you call not overdoing things?" a familiar voice said after a moment. Noll pulled back and I groaned, putting my hands over my face.

Noll scrambled off me and climbed to his feet, offering me a hand up. Uncovering my eyes I saw Duncan standing next to him, doing the same. I quickly took each of their hands and stood, straightening my clothes and shaking a few bits of glass from my hair.

"Sorry, ser, er, Duncan. Sorry Duncan," I mumbled. "Um. It was an accident."

"That is a relief," he replied. "I'd hate to think all of you started intentionally upending tables and rolling around in broken glass." He reached into the pocket of his armor, removing something. Handing it to me, I could see it was a health poultice. Noll helped me clean out the cut on my face, and then I took care of the one on his, while Duncan spoke to the bartender. I noticed him getting a glass of something. "Water," he said, passing it to me. "I also recommend you think about going to bed soon, I want to reach Ostagar tomorrow, hangover or not." I nodded, accepting the glass, and he disappeared back towards his room. I was fairly sure I could hear him laughing on the stairs.

"That's your commanding officer?" Noll said. I nodded glumly. "Wow. You're lucky. Mine would be screaming his head off right now if he saw this. Not patching me up and getting me water. Good for me he's passed out drunk upstairs." I looked over, the female knight was currently getting shouted at by a very angry looking man. I was lucky.

"Yeah, I'm amazed he wasn't angry," I agreed. "I just hope he doesn't yell tomorrow. I haven't seen him yell yet, but something tells me it would be… bad." I sipped the water and realized there was no way I could use a health poultice on my cut without covering my entire eye. I set the glass down. "Right. I'm going to try and heal this. If I accidentally set myself on fire can you dump that water on my head?"

He looked nervous. "Um… sure."

After a few tries I was able to summon a spell. Fortunately for me it was the proper spell and I felt the shallow cut heal. Touching it I sighed. "A scar. Figures. I really should have paid more attention in healing class."

"Nah, it's cute," Noll said. "Like, it's got character. You can tell people you got it at the Battle of Ostagar! Here, get mine." I raised my hand and, being extra careful to use the right spell, healed his cut. Fortunately they were both from falling glass. Bleeding a lot since face and head wounds always did, but very shallow. Barely more than deep scratches, really. He touched the cut. "Nice," he said. "I can brag about that."

"Battle of Ostagar?" I asked, giggling.

"No way," he said. "Dancing with a pretty mage. Much more exciting than some battle."

Impulsively I leaned forward and kissed him. From the way he grabbed me and pulled me closer it seemed I had the right idea. After a moment I realized his fellow ash warriors were watching us and hooting from across the room. We broke apart and laughed. He looked over at our audience and flipped them the finger. "So, I'm going to bed," I said, keeping my voice quiet enough his friends couldn't hear me.

"What?" he said. "Now?"

"It's late," I pointed out. The healing spell directed at my head had the side effect of sobering me slightly.

"Oh."

I turned towards my room, he stayed at the bar looking dejected. "You're not coming with me?" I finally asked, wondering where his thoughts and mine had split off.

"Oh!" he said, nearly knocking me down as he raced for the stairs. I giggled, following him up.

"So… your room or mine?"

"I'm sharing my room with three other guys," he said.

That answered that. "I got a private room."

"Nice," he said. I unlocked the door and kicked my boots off, sitting on the edge of the bed. He followed me in and locked the door behind him, setting his boots neatly by it before sitting next to me. "So, um, where were we?" Noll said, grinning at me. We fell back on the bed, kissing. "I have a confession," he said after fumbling behind me for a moment.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" he insisted. "Nothing's wrong… I just… well, I've never been with a mage before and—"

"We're… built the same as normal people," I assured him. I knew that much, at least, even though I'd only been with other mages in my life. Someone had asked once, when all the girls got the big 'don't let some idiot get you pregnant' lecture. I, and a few others, laughed. I mean, if we were somehow different physically they wouldn't have to wait until we cast a spell to discover we were mages. That much was obvious. Still, I suppose it was something people thought about.

"No, I know that," he laughed. "I just have no idea how to get these robes off you!"

I started laughing, too, then. "Well, we're even since I don't know how armor works!"

"Each get our own?" he suggested.

"Sounds good," I agreed, and we climbed off the bed to our feet. Once my robes were off I debated on ditching my underwear immediately. I glanced over and saw he had, so I did the same before climbing back onto the bed, this time under the blankets.

"Should I put out the candles?" he asked.

"I can," I said, and raised a hand. One by one they went out, snuffed by a tiny amount of ice.

"That has to come in handy," he said, laughing and wrapping his arms around me.

"Sometimes," I admitted, nibbling on his earlobe. I was running my hands over his arms and across his bare chest. Mages weren't exactly known for their physiques, so I had to admit, now that I had a chance to get… up close and personal with someone this muscular I could see why the women in books talked about it so positively.

"Why am I asking you about candles?" he said, before kissing where my neck and shoulder met, and, after a moment, biting at the same time the fingers that had been exploring my chest pinched down roughly. I groaned, equally glad the candle discussion was over. We were on our sides, facing each other. He worked his way up from my shoulder to my mouth, kissing me with an almost violent intensity.

A hand fumbled between my legs. I tried to shift my hips, hoping he would take the hint. When that didn't work I took his wrist and moved his fingertips to where I needed them. "There," I gasped. "Please."

"Whatever you want," he replied, grinning. I reached down and wrapped my hand around him, trying to match his speed. "Harder," he whispered. I complied and he groaned, burying his face against my neck. "Oh, Maker," Noll gasped out against my skin. I had my head thrown back, gasping and biting my lip.

I was moving my hips against his hand, breath becoming erratic.

"Stopstopstop," he gasped out, pulling his hips back. I moved my hand away, wrapping it around his hip instead. "Not how I want this to end," he managed after a second. I couldn't respond coherently since his hand was still very busy. After a moment I turned my head, muffling a cry in the pillow as my body shuddered. "Good?" he asked.

"Very good," I replied, still gasping for breath.

"Ladies first, that's what I say. It's just proper manners," he said cheerfully, climbing on top of me. "Ready?"

"Oh yeah," I said, shifting my legs and wrapping them around his thighs. I moaned as he slid into me, raising my hips to meet him. Pushing up to meet his thrusts, I wrapped my hands around his biceps. Yes… muscles were… very nice. My hips shifted from our movement and I gasped, arching my back.

He started moving faster, groaning before collapsing on top of me. After a moment Noll rolled over, and we curled up next to each other, covered in sweat.

"Do you think the battle will be bad?" he asked quietly after a few moments of silence.

"I don't know," I said. "Maybe?"

"Are you nervous?"

"Yes," I admitted. "Terrified. You?"

"Yeah," he said.

Neither of us spoke again. What more was there we could say?

A/N: So... in several years Maggie will mention this while on a trip through the Deep Roads when the subject of her scar collection comes up. And every time I would mention potentially writing about her during-the-blight days someone would say I had to be sure to include Maggie dancing on the table. So... here she is in all her crazy drunken glory. Hope it lived up to expectations.

Thanks so much to everyone who reads and reviews!