Her mind and heart was heavy, she had to decide soon, or risk losing them both. She could only throw the resources of the Inquisition behind one of the scenarios ahead, meaning that it was likely that the other would be damaged beyond her ability to salvage it. Would she save the mages of Redcliffe from the Tevinter Magister that owned them? Would she save the Templars? She heard that they were in Therinfal Redoubt from Cullen, who had received a message from Ser Barris. She knew that Cullen was itching to save his brothers and sisters from whatever was occurring, yet he had said that no matter what, he would go with her. She bit her lip in thought, she felt lips press against her cheek, and the scent told her it was Cullen. A small smile on her lips let him know that his action was appreciated. "We need to get the Templars." She said after a while. "I want to protect my brothers and sisters, but if Lord Seeker Lucius is doing something untoward, then we need to free the Templars from that fate." She cradled her head in her hands. "Maker... please let my choice be right, may it not be a folly." She picked up the the piece on the board that marked the Inquisition and placed it at Therinfal Redoubt. She looked up at the other advisers, the three ladies all gave her knowing smirks. "We need to present the Lord Seeker something enticing that will draw his attention to us." She said. "We want his interest, maybe an alliance?" In a ways she felt like she was sullying herself for contemplating it, but when she looked at Cullen she remembered that he was once a Templar himself. The order was his family, just like the mages were hers. "If we offer them a way they can help us seal the Breach they may just ally with us."
"We need to prove to be more attractive than any alternative." Leliana said.
"We should appeal to some of the noblest of houses in Orlais." Josephine said. All around the table nodded.
"Then we take them to Therinfal with our forces, and as a united group, we demand that the Templars help us to close the Breach." Leliana said.
"Do you really think that will work?" Loghain asked. Cassandra nodded.
"It is difficult to ignore Orlesians, especially when they're about as noisy as they come." Cassandra said. "And with you there, Herald, he will find it even harder to ignore." Aoife gave a single nod.
"Leliana, allow your ravens to fly." Aoife said. "Let Andraste do her job and work her miracles. We need the Templars to see sense." That was all she needed to say as her council sprang into action, writing and entreating various nobles to help their cause. That the world needed the Templars, and that they needed their aid in securing that. Only her two military advisers remained in the room, and she looked at them both. Maybe this would be her only opportunity to do this. "As for you two, I want you to bury the hatchet, and not into each other. I need you to work together, things can only get harder after this, and I don't need to babysit your interactions." What she didn't expect from both men was a full laugh. "I mean it, set your differences aside. Talk things out here while they're not here to listen."
It was then that she saw the two men watching the other warily. It was Cullen who first spoke. "How could you bring yourself to abandon her?" He asked quietly. "My mother... me?" What Aoife didn't expect was water to be spluttered all over the table.
"Boy, I was faithful to my wife until her death. Even after, until Avenia... asked me to give of myself to save the Wardens from the Archdemon." Cullen's eyes looked up. "I am not your father, if that is whom you seek." Loghain laid a hand on his shoulder before looking at Aoife. "Were you that curious yourself?" He asked.
"No, I never thought..." She said. "I just knew I had to get you both communicating about things. I never thought that he would have thought that..." She pinched her nose, a habit that watching Cullen too much brought on her. "Oh Maker's breath..." She got up to leave, but instead saw both eyes fixing on her to remain, Cullen's pleading with her, while Loghain's commanding.
"He may need you to be his rock in the world." Loghain said as he squeezed Cullen's shoulder. "Your mother was Mhari Stanton, affianced to Kendrick Rutherford, she was a lovely woman." Loghain said. "She did catch the eye of a nobleman, but that noble wasn't me, but the one that I travelled with." Cullen's eyes narrowed. "You remind me very much of him, sometimes I forget myself. Your father was quite an impressive man, and you are no different." Aoife could see Cullen's hands clench into fists. He now knew who his true father was, without Loghain confirming the name, all the while he tried to deny it. Aoife moved to hold her love at that moment, holding him. She could feel him shaking, trying to hold back his anger, his pain. He buried his face in her hair. "Your father was King Maric. You are of Theirin blood, and your half brother, Alistair, sits on the throne in Denerim." Cullen clutched Aoife to him as though his life depended upon it. Aoife looked at Loghain, who had turned away.
"This doesn't change who you are, Cullen." Aoife said. "This doesn't change what we mean to each other, unless you want it to." She felt his head shake. "Then nothing has changed. Your father may have been king, but you are you and not him." She felt his lips move against her hair. She pulled back gently, before hearing a small displeased noise from Cullen, yet she still kept contact with him. "In fact, if you think about it, I'm the lucky one." She said. "The heir presumptive to the Ferelden throne loves me." Her mentioning his title, made Cullen give a strangled noise, and Aoife gave a small sadistic grin it was something new to tease her love with. Loghain watched, vowing that he wouldn't betray this son of Maric.
It took a few days for the replies to return, and that they would all be converging on Therinfal Redoubt in three days. The nobles would be led by a Lord Abernache, whom Josephine advised in advance not to sign anything he gave her. With her vanguard she picked Cullen, Sera and Solas to accompany her again. She just hoped that they would learn to at least tolerate each other.
As they arrived at Therinfal Redoubt, Aoife could hear a man calling for the Herald of Andraste. "I'm Lord Esmeral Abernache, I am honoured to participate in this gathering." She sad as he approached her. "I must say that this is not unlike the Second Dispersal of the reclaimed Dales." He got a blank look from Aoife. "Nothing? I heard that a Trevelyan or two had taken up the cause there." The rest of the group passed, leaving the two Orlesian men, with Cullen and Aoife. "The lord Seeker is willing to hear our petition about closing the Breach, certainly a credit to our alliance with the Inquisition." He said. "You need to mark this moment, dear Herald, you have ten Orlesian houses that walk with you on this matter."
"We all value this alliance, Lord Abernache." Aoife said diplomatically. "The Templar Order must see reason, after all. We cannot let the Breach endanger our lands and lives any longer."
"Indeed, that ghastly-looking thing really doesn't do the sky justice." Lord Abernache replied. "We cannot let the Lord Seeker think that we are ignoring it and the affront to our country that it remains. Speaking of the Lord Seeker, I don't suppose that you would divulge what finally got their attention? Rumour certainly will even if you don't." He smirked as Aoife just stared at him. "The Lord Seeker won't meet with us until he has greeted the Inquisition 'in person'. It was quite a surprise to hear, especially from what we heard happen in Val Royeaux. I can only assume that you have a very persuasive Ambassador, if you know nothing about this. I guess Lady Montilyet knows just which buttons to press with this Lord Seeker. The Chantry never took advantage of their Templars, and more suitable heads should leave their wayward Order." He had no idea that Cullen knew better than he what the Templars had to endure. "And here we are, Therinfal redoubt, make a good impression and we will get what we desire."
Aoife looked at her companions as they crossed the bridge. "The Lord Seeker changed his mind about us rather quickly." She said to Cullen. "Is he known for such change in thoughts?"
"I don't know him as well as Cassandra, but from what I've seen and know of him... it's a little uncharacteristic of him to be so... fickle." Cullen replied. "Let us be on our guard when we enter."
They approached the portcullis that controlled entry to Therinfal Redoubt and they saw the same dark-skinned Templar from Val Royeaux. Lord Abernache also approached as another man then spoke up. "I present Knight-Templar Ser Delrin Barris, the second son of Bann Jevrin of Ferelden." The man then continues to announce, Lord Abernache, however, Barris seemed to have little interest in him, and moved to greet the Inquisitor instead.
"Lady Herald, I'm the one that sent word to Cullen. He said that the Inquisition works to close the Breach in the Veil." He said, as he looked to the man in question and saluted. "I honestly had no idea that you'd think to bring such lofty company."
"Barris... moderate holdings, I believe." Abernache said. "And you're the second son."
Choosing to ignore the words of the Orlesian noble, Barris looked back at the Inquisition party. "This... promise of status has garnered interest from the Lord Seeker, far beyond any sense of reason. The sky burns with magic, but he ignores all the calls to action until you and your friends arrive." Barris shook his head. "I fear that he has taken command of the Templar Order permanently."
"Cullen?" Aoife asked, knowing that as a Knight-Commander, he'd be able to know more of the inner workings.
"The Seekers are above the Templars in the Chantry order." Cullen said. "If the Lord Seeker feels that there is a mandate to do so, he can absorb the Templar Order back into the Seekers of Truth. The organisation was once one and the same, but it was changed when the Chantry and the Seekers became one force."
"He believes that such a mandate exists." Barris said. "And our commanders does nothing but parrot his every word." Barris looked between Cullen and Aoife. "The Lord Seeker's actions have no sense to them. He promised to restore the Order's honour, then he marched us here to do what? Wait until the world burns? Templars should know their duty, even when they're held from it."
"About bloody time someone said that." Sera chirped in the background.
Barris shook his head. "Win over the Lord Seeker, Heraldm and every able-bodied knight here will help the Inquisition seal the Breach."
"If you think that we're right, then join us now, abandon the Lord Seeker and help us." Aoife said. Barris looked imploringly at Cullen.
"They have orders, and are conditioned to follow them." Cullen said. "While their officers live, they follow their orders. We need to confirm first that the officers are not of sound mind, or are being manipulated, and to do that, we need to meet with the Lord Seeker himself." Barris looked relieved. "Will you take us to him?"
"Well he has one request first." Barris nodded towards the three standards in the courtyard. "These are the Standards. It is an honoured rite that is centred of the people, the Maker and the Order. The Lord Seeker asks that you perform this rite so that we may all see the order in which you honour them. There is no true right order, just what lies in your heart."
"Let us see the Lord Seeker now." Lord Abernache said. "Stop prolonging this."
"Very well, I shall perform this rite." Aoife said as she looked at the standards. She then raised the Standard of the People, the one bearing the Fereldan lion highest, followed by the Standard representing the Maker, then finally the one for the Templar Order." She looked at Barris who led her to a door leading into the Keep. There was grumbling from Abernache as the Lord Seeker wasn't immediately inside waiting on them, but soon one of the higher ups approached the group, leading Barris to salute him.
"Knight-Captain Denam." He said simply.
"You were expecting the Lord Seeker." The Knight-Captain said. "He sent me to die for you." There was a pregnant pause in the room before Lord Abernache spoke again.
"knight-captain, I am Lord Esmeral Abernache, I am honoured. It is not unlike the Second Dispersal of the reclaimed Dales. No doubt rank puts you above such things, a pity that more people don't understand that."
"So this is the grand alliance that the Inquisition offers us? Pathetic." The Knight-Captain looked around the table. "The Lord Seeker had a plan, but a certain woman ruined it by arriving with purpose." Denam said with disgust. "It sowed too much dissent in the ranks. You were all supposed to be changed, but now we much purge the questioning knights, and its all the Inquisition's fault." He gave a single nod as the Templars under his control moved to execute those in the room. "The Elder One is coming, and none will leave Therinfal who has not been stained red."
The battle was short and bloody, and Aoife had not the time to mourn. "Give him a healing elixir." She said. "I want him to suffer judgement for what he has done here." Barris picked up the keys that was on the belt of the Knight Captain, handing them to her.
"We should carry on. I have no doubt that we all want to know about the Lord Seeker and this Elder One." Cullen said, wanting to kick Denam while he was down. "I cannot stand to look at that sorry state. Hos eyes looked at the other Templars that they had killed. Each and every one of them were veined in red, and he backed away quickly. "Red Lyrium, Maker's breath what have we walked into." Aoife knew about Meredith and the red Lyrium idol that changed her, but this was different from what had been described to her. "They've been ingesting it like normal Lyrium, the idiots!" They could all hear the loathing in his voice. "To think... this could have been me if Cassandra hadn't..." The last line was said so quiet that Aoife doubted that anyone had been meant to hear it. She placed a hand on his left shoulder, which he covered with his right hand. "Now isn't the time, the Lord Seeker has to pay."
Everywhere they went there seemed to be Templars fighting Templars stained with the red Lyrium, with them helping where they could. Eventually they fought their way until they heard a voice, beckoning them onward. "Was that Lord Seeker Lucius?" Cullen asked, though Aoife could sense something not quite right ahead, and she ran before her companions. If she was right... she didn't want Cullen to be the one that met with the fate ahead.
"Aoife wait!" She heard him shout as he ran after her. "You shouldn't run on ahead!"
She approached the Lord Seeker, who had his back turned to her, before he suddenly grabbed her. "At last." He hissed, and a moment later she felt something ripping at the inside of her mind, making her cry out. Vaguely she could hear Cullen's horrified scream as he realised what was happening, but already she found herself dragged into the Fade.
She became aware, gasping as she looked around her. She was cut off from the outside world, held against her will by the demon. Compelled to walk forward, she saw the burning carcases that she remembered from the Temple of Sacred Ashes, and saw two forms ahead of her. One clearly male, the other female, but with the way the fade worked, with the murky shadows that made the world, she could barely make out more than that, so she approached, and almost wish that she hadn't. The figures that she was seeing was of Cullen and of Josephine, she couldn't help but gasp and stumble back. Then a third appeared, and she knew that it was Leliana. "Is this shape useful?" 'Leliana asked in her Orlesian accent, perfectly mimicked for Aoife. "Will it let me know you?" Now Aoife could hear the slight echo of the timbre of her voice. "You know everything tells me about you. As will this. Now watch!" The fake Leliana said as she walked behind fake Cullen, a blade drawn, and Aoife saw him raise his head. His golden brown eyes looking directly into her violet ones as the dagger was placed against his neck.
"What do you want demon?" Aoife spat, knowing that this wasn't real, steeling her heart for what she knew would happen. "Are you trying to tempt me or copy me?" Without a word the demon ran the blade across Cullen's throat, the body dropping soundlessly to the ground. Yet the action seemed to awaken something deeper in her, something more primal, a power that she hadn't felt.
The voice changed as the demon morphed. "Are you trying to copy me?" It was trying to sound like her. The fake Leliana then seemed to fade away, which then brought the demon to play with the fake Josephine it conjured up. "Being you will be so much more interesting than being the Lord Seeker." The demon passed her, but before Aoife could follow 'her' 'she' disappeared. Appearing behind Aoife. "Do you know what the Inquisition can become? You'll see." Aoife leaped back at the first sound of Josephine's voice, but when she looked around she was gone again. "When I'm done, the Elder One will kill you and ascend. Then I will be you."
Aoife hardened her heart. "I saw through your game. What else do you think that you can gain from this?" She asked, her face a picture of fury.
"You are under the rather mistaken impression that I require your consent." There was a small chuckle. "Every reaction, every protest, is an answer to me." The demon then appeared before her again. "Glory is coming, and the Elder One wants you to serve him like everyone else: By dying in the right way." Josephine then walked away, before another familiar voice spoke up, clawing at her heart.
"I am not your toy!" She heard Cullen say, and she tried to clamp down on her heart even more. "I am Envy, and I will know you." He walked behind a replica of her in shadowed forms. "Tell me, oh Herald, in your mind. Tell me what you think!" Then he was behind the war table at Haven. "Tell me what you feel!" The next moment she heard her own cry of pain, but when she turned around she saw she had collapsed and the blade was in her own hand. The voice was more seductive now. "Tell me what you see." The demon Cullen then also disappeared, leading Aoife to look around her, seeing only a doorway. She had vowed then not to listen to the demon's voice, she would just find her way out.
The doorway brought her to the prison that she knew so well. The scene that she remembered. Cassandra questioning her over the Temple's destruction. She rushed forward, not letting the scene bother her, and instead threw open the door. The next scene, was different, as it pictured a potential future. The Inquisition had seemingly grown, and was powerful in its own right, enough to rival a kingdom. She watched the scene play out before she called out to the demon. "Is imitating what you can't have your only pleasure, demon?" She asked, wanting to move on from there.
"Accusing... trying to find a weakness, is that the woman you are?" He asked. He cackled as the scene exploded. "Is the Chantry so important to you that you would choose its symbolism for your own standards? Will it grieve you when the Elder One topples it?" She headed on, running by fountains of green veilfire. She pushed the demon's voice out of her mind as she continued on, but then another voice spoke, comforting and caring.
"You're hurting, helpless, hasty." It said, sounding like a young male. "What happens to the hammer when there are no more nails?"
"What are you? Get out! This is my place!" The enraged Envy demon snarled at the other presence. Were they working together or not? Aoife wasn't sure any more.
She ran into a room, trying to get some reprieve, instead the door closed behind her, and she turned to open it again. As she was about to exit. She heard the same voice from before telling her to wait, and so she walked back into the room, not seeing the form appearing as if from nowhere behind her. "Envy is hurting you, mirrors on mirrors on memories. A face it can feel, but not fake. I want to help. You, not Envy." Aoife looked around, but he had disappeared again.
"Who are you, I've seen you before, have I?" Aoife asked.
"I've been watching. I'm Cole. We're inside you, or I am. You're always inside you, you and the song." Aoife still looked around her for the boy. "It's easy to hear, harder to be a part of what you're hearing. But I'm here, hearing, helping... I hope." Then she saw him. A blond haired boy, no older than his mid teens at a guess, and sitting on the roof of the room. Clearly a spirit of some kind. "Envy hurt you, is hurting you. I tried to help, then I was here, in the hearing. It's – It's not usually like this."
"None of what you just said makes sense to me." Aoife said. "Please help me understand." A scream echoed through her mind.
"I was watching. I watch. Every Templar knew when you arrived. They were impressed, but not like the Lord Seeker." He said, now sitting on the bed.
"The 'Lord Seeker' is an Envy demon. It wants to be me." Aoife said. "If it wasn't me that went up the stairs... would it have..."
"Maybe, but it would have done it to manipulate you. You command respect that it cannot have. Cannot begin to understand how you have." Cole said. "You are not like the Lord Seeker. He demanded respect, and it could use that. It twisted the commanders, forced their fury, their fight. Now the commanders are all red inside." Aoife still had so many questions, but she bit them back. "Anyway, at this moment you're frozen. Envy is trying to take your face. I heard it and reached out, then in, and now I'm here. You are not alone, she still sings to you, even if you don't hear the song yet. She is incomplete, but she will help you. You will help her."
"Okay, Cole, how do I get out of here?" Aoife asked, feeling a little better that she wasn't going to be run through by Cullen at any moment.
"Relief and happiness that this is taking no time, love and joy for the one who would but won't swing the blade." He mumbled. "I thought that you'd know how to stop it, its your head." Aoife shrugged. "All of this is Envy." Cole said. "People, places, power. If you keep going Envy has to stretch, it has to give you more, and that takes strength. Being a single person is hard, being many, too many, will break Envy down, and will let you go. You will be freed."
"So if we keep moving, then we tire Envy out, and break it into submission?"
"Maybe, especially if the Singer helps too. It is better than sitting here and waiting to lose your face to the demon after all." With that Cole left, Aoife following behind him.
It felt like it took forever, she could feel Envy's control slipping as she pressed on. She had to break free, had to get out. She tried to block its frustrated cries, knowing that Cole was there in her mind to help. Eventually she found herself outside, bodies lay around her. "Keep going up, Envy will come out soon, it's so angry, but so are you, and the Singer even more so." Eventually she realised where she was. This place was the copy of Therinfal Redoubt. He was going back to where this all began.
Suddenly she felt a hand touch her shoulder, and as she turned around, her doppelgänger was there, lifting her off the ground by her throat. "Unfair, unfair! That thing kept you whole, kept you from giving me your shape!"
"What could you gain from being me?" Aoife choked out, not realising that her defiance was feeding the presence of another.
"What could you gain? What..." It broke off before its eyes gleamed. "Well we shall just have to start again, won't we? More pain this time, the Elder One still approaches."
"It fears you." A melodic voice said in her mind, echoed by Cole. Aoife blinked. "Use its fear against it, it cannot harm you, not if you believe." She could then hear the song that Cole had been trying to tell her about. Quiet, weak, but still there. A sweet melody seemed to settle comfortably around her. Then she broke the demon, pushing it away from her with such force that it shattered the door behind it before fleeing into the darkest recesses of the redoubt, setting up barriers to stop them following.
"The Lord Seeker!" Barris said, refusing to believe his eyes.
"No, it was an imposter." Aoife said.
"That monster made sure that we were unprepared. I still don't know what we're truly up against." Barris said.
"Well I know what demon it was." She said, knowing that there was some comfort in knowing the enemy. "It was an envy demon, and apparently I also caught its fancy." Cullen wanted to kill her and kiss her. Maker bless her, she knew and took the blow for him, or at least suspected. Cullen would have been ahead of her and if Envy had... if he had been touched by the demon... he knew that he would have surrendered immediately. Aoife faced him, and seeing the soft, but pained expression in his eyes... it hurt her too. "Cullen, I'm fine." She said, stroking his cheek, she wanted to kiss away his fears and doubts, wanted nothing more than to melt into his arms, but they weren't done yet. They had a demon to kill, and Templars to save.
"That thing used the red Lyrium to corrupt the Order, didn't it? I knew that miserable stuff was risky. They often give us new kinds of Lyrium. Our commanders... some used the red stuff first, to prove it was harmless." Cullen snorted. "The Knights would have been next. That demon turned our leaders so we couldn't question when this started!"
"Stop blaming yourself and help me defeat this thing. What's done is done, and we can't change the past, but we can change the future." Aoife said, when she felt Cullen's hand she knew what she said was right.
"You there." Cullen pointed at a recruit. "What is Envy?"
"It is a coward, sir." The young man said. "It studies its victims so it makes less mistakes than other demons, however most of all, it hides, it lies in wait, and it attacks when you least expect it."
"We will need our veterans." Barris said. "Our commanders were turned, as were the captains, but the lieutenants may still be fighting. We can hold the hall, get the lieutenants and the uncorrupted Lyrium stores. Bring them here and I'll give you Envy." He turned back to the other Templars and drew his sword. "Prepare yourselves, men, we fight with the Inquisition!"
It took some time, however Aoife and her group eventually returned with the three lieutenants that were still untouched, along with the Lyrium required for the Templars. In the process she had also uncovered information that there was going to be an attack on the life of Empress Celene. That was all that was needed. Uncontrolled mages, missing Grey Wardens, and now a murder plot. "He wants her dead, Empress Celene." She heard a familiar voice say, and she noticed Cole walking from behind the bust. "He hates her, hunts her, wants her dead, but he hides away. He hid other things too." A moment later and he disappeared again, nobody having seen him.
The barrier was soon broken by the Templars, and as the barrier gave way, Aoife and her party headed through. They intended to put an end to the demon, and that was what they were going to do.
"I touched so much of you. More than he will ever know." The demon said with a cackle. "But you are selfish with your glory, with your song, and so now I am no one."
"Dark and desperate, death to make yourself alive. I used to be like you." Aoife saw Cole walk past her. "I'm not like that anymore, and neither should you." Yet that didn't stop the demon from attacking, all the while taunting them. Eventually the beast fell, before they headed back to the Templars. Aoife could see just how weary Cullen was, the Lyrium in his blood was likely reaching its minimal level. Should she tell him to take the Lyrium? They had a decent supply here, and she was certain that the other Templars wouldn't mind, but then she remembered that Cullen wanted nothing to do with that life. He wanted to be free, and to tell him to take the poison that held all his rancour... she could never do that.
It was Ser Barris that approached her. "The demon is dead, Andraste be praised: she shielded you from its touch." Yet Aoife heard a small hiss in the back of her mind at that notion. It wasn't Andraste that saved her from that demon, it was something else. "We have numbers all across Thedas, but we let this happen. Our officers either failed to see what was happening, or was complicit in the actions happening here. The Templars are ready to hear what the Inquisition needs of us." He said, taking charge like a leader should.
"You need to hear this. To feel the truth of my words in your hearts." Aoife said as she looked at the Breach. "I am the will of Our Lady manifest. I am the Herald of Andraste. She sent me to remind you of your sacred duty: a shield against dark magic, knights who will end the Breach." She could feel Solas and Sera both glaring at her, while Cullen gave a small smile.
"We will not deny Our Lady's will... Not anymore." Ser Barris said as he approached her. "However, our Order is leaderless, gutted by betrayal. We must rebuild it." Aoife could already feel Solas' opinion of her drop even more.
"Your Order is a symbol that holds the people's respect. That cannot die here today, not like this." She said, looking at Cullen. "We offer you an alliance! We offer you supplies, weapons, and grounds to shelter you. We only ask that you help us close the Breach." She then paused right there, looking at Cullen. "Join with us, help us face the evils that would harm Thedas."
Ser Barris turned and faced his other Templars. "What do you say, brothers and sisters?" He asked. "Do we take the Inquisition up on their offer?" The Templars all shouted their agreement. He turned back to Aoife and saluted her and the Inquisition party. As he did so, each Templar followed in short order. Cullen gave a tired smile as he casually draped an arm over her shoulders, leaning on her a little more than he had intended to.
"Let's head home." She said with a smile. "We will have work enough to do later."
Author Note: If anyone is interested in what would have happened if she went to save the mages going down the 'In Hushed Whispers' route, drop me a review or a message and I'll write it up in a small stand alone fic separate to this one.