While Eamon seemed to take the news well enough, Elissa had not missed the mistrustful glance the Arl of Redcliffe had given her as Alistair set forth the terms of his temporary retirement from court. The Arl had been initially elated when Alistair had chosen her as his wife; as the sister to the Teryn of Highever, she was ideal given that she was trained for court life and as a good, biddable wife for a high ranking noble. As Aedan correctly predicted, because the law of averages dictated that one day Aedan would get something right, Eamon had expected to be in control of a puppet King and Queen with Alistair and Elissa playing the affable front to his decisions. So it came as a shock to him when the new Queen of Ferelden started developing a voice when Alistair asked her opinion. She stoked Alistair's confidence, encouraging his decisions and challenging him with alternative points of view. Elissa had heard it said that she was becoming as intolerable as Anora in her influence but Elissa knew it not to be true. Not once did she push her opinion nor did she go behind her husband's back as Anora was wont to do. Although the accusations of her overreaching influence upset her, she knew they were words said by a jealous man who had hoped for more by being partially responsible for the crowning of the new King.

Alistair was a good King, his kind fair minded approach combined with his ability to truly empathise with the disaffected commoners meant that the rebuilding process was going a lot faster than it might well have done under Aedan and Anora, who would have cared little for the lot of commoners. All Elissa desired was to see her husband realise his true potential as a monarch and that could only be achieved by putting an end to Eamon whispering in his ear, telling he was wrong because Alistair's approach was different to Eamon's. Ferelden needed changes if it was survive into the future; whether the nobles liked it or not, the Blight had devastated the lands and they needed a King who would lead them forward with vision and energy, not squabble with them over decisions that were not to their personal advantage.

As it happened, Fergus Cousland agreed with them on the matter of reform.

After Redcliffe, the King and Queen continued north, stopping at Kinloch Hold to observe how the Circle was being rebuilt following its annulment, before continuing east to Elissa's home at Highever. Queen Elissa had not returned to the place of her birth since the terrible sack that had seen her parents murdered and left her in a nightmarish existence. But the crowds gathered and the town's folk gave their favourite daughter a rapturous welcome. She dismounted and looked around with tears in her eyes at the sheer exuberance, hands to her mouth as she gazed around the town square she had once feared had been razed to the ground. A top a hill, overlooking it all was the Castle itself, the stronghold of the Couslands that had been their home for since before the founding of Ferelden as a united Kingdom.

A little girl broke free of the crowd and ran to Elissa holding up a little flower for her. Elissa bent over to take and the girl blushed as she told the Queen that she thought she was as pretty as her mama had told her. Alistair joined her as she stood up and the little girl seemed to really shy away when she saw the King, curtseying hastily before running back to hide behind her mother's skirts. Elissa remembered the woman, she had been the baker's wife, she had been young when before the sack but now she looked old and careworn. Everyone looked old and careworn now.

'You're popular,' Alistair remarked with a smile.

She turned to face him with a brood grin on her lips. 'I don't really know what to say.'

He kissed her brow. 'Don't say anything, just enjoy it.'

Once they had made their way through the crowd, greeting anyone who wanted to be greeted, they mounted their horses and continued up to the castle. Elissa tried to focus, but it was so hard; the last time she had seen it, it was burning and she could hear the screams as she fled up a twisty mountain path in nothing more than her night clothes and a blood stained dagger. She shook the memory from her head reminding herself that she wasn't going to be held hostage by the past any more.

Even though she was able to go through the motions easily, bolstered by the presence of the two men she loved the most, her husband and brother, she still couldn't stop seeing the horrific memories. Elissa chanced a glance at Alistair wondering if this was how he had felt as he had looked at the walls in Redcliffe, casually remarking that the blood had been scrubbed from the walls. It was the same here as well; the blood had been cleaned from the halls and pathways and it felt as though her memories were not quite real. It was as though she was walking in a trance and as she settled into Fergus' living room for the private drinks the three of them had arranged for after the formal meal, the flickering shadows caused by the fire did nothing to ease her fears. The shadows of Howe's men had flickered against the stone walls of the Castle, encroaching in on her from every direction. She stood looking around the nicely decorated but simple room that proudly bore a banner with the laurel arms of the Couslands above the fire. The last time she had been in this room was that day, saying goodnight to her father while he had drinks with Arl Howe, blissfully unaware of the extent of his conspiracy with her brother. She had foolishly thought that her young sibling sought nothing more than to marry Delilah Howe and then oust her and Fergus when their father died. How very wrong she had been; she had completely underestimated the magnitude of her brother's ambition.

The door opened, but she was so lost in her thoughts of that day that she jumped and spun around scaring the life out of the serving girl who was bringing in the wine that Fergus had ordered for their drinks. The tray teetered in her hands and then she curtseyed self-consciously. 'Your Majesty, I didn't realise you were here already.'

Elissa took the tray. 'It is quite alright,' she said, her queenly mask sliding back into place. 'Thank you.'

The elven maid curtseyed again before scurrying from the room. Elissa set the tray down and shook her head; the staff hadn't been frightened off her when she had just been Lady Cousland of Highever but then, she had been nothing more than a child and it was unlikely that any familiar faces had survived the sacking. The door opened again and this time it was Fergus, thankfully. Elissa smiled at her brother glad that all formality was now to be left at the door.

Although both the Cousland siblings had been well versed in propriety, and thus used to speaking in titles, it had been a little odd hearing her brother call her 'Your Majesty' as well as being strange calling him 'Your Grace'. However, as the local nobility were present the Cousland siblings had been forced into a formality with each other which grated the two notably close siblings and had they been anywhere other than Highever, it might have led to them shooting disparaging looks at one another. But in Highever, together, they would not dishonour their rank and behaved in a manner their parents had instilled in them from a young age.

Fergus walked forward and swept his sister up into a huge bear hug which she returned gratefully, squeezing her older brother tightly. He let go of her and looked at her in concern. 'Are you alright?' he asked her.

She shook her head, unable and unwilling to hide her feelings from her brother. It was different for him, because although he had lost his wife, child, and parents here, he hadn't been here to see the tragedy unfold. 'I keep seeing everything replayed over and over again,' she said heavily before sitting down, sighing as she put her head in her hands. 'Sorry,' she said a little ruefully. 'I should be glad you've made it back into a home again, our childhood home and I am, it's just…' she shrugged a little helplessly.

'I know,' he said softly. 'Alistair said you might be feeling a little out of sorts.'

Elissa chuckled softly. 'How right he would be,' she agreed, 'and where is my Lord-Husband?'

'Being harassed by Bann Loren about the lack of funds sent to his demesne,' said Fergus.

'Bann Loren can't have suffered that many losses,' she said. 'The horde didn't come this far north.'

Fergus gave his sister a pointed look. 'And when have you ever known Bann Loren to turn his nose up at an opportunity?'

Elissa gazed into the fireplace at the thought of their neighbouring Bann. 'How has… since… you know?' she asked.

The Bann's wife and son had been killed in the sack of Highever. The Bann's son, Dairran, had briefly been her betrothed, an agreement set in writing not a week before the horrific events transpired shortly thereafter.

'The same as he ever was,' he said, a hint of anger bubbling to the surface, 'bitter, twisted and looking for a way to improve his standing, not realising he could do that if he didn't continually shift his alliances. He supported Howe during the Blight and now he claims to support me.' He took a deep breath. 'He married his mistress not a month after his wife and son were killed here and I have half a mind to advise the King to tell that snivelling weasel to stick his requests where the sun doesn't shine.'

Elissa looked at her brother wide eyed with her mouth hanging open. 'Wow, Fergus, just wow,' she said. 'Anything more you would like to add, Teryn Cousland?'

'No, Your Majesty, I am quite done,' he said sitting down, but a smile tugged at his lips as he took a mouthful from his goblet of wine.

-…-

'Completely out of the question,' Elissa protested, looking between her brother and husband as they dropped the plan on her that they had been hatching over a private breakfast the day before the monarchs were due to take leave of Teryn Cousland's hospitality. The two men had several meetings over the course of their stay, some more informal than others since Alistair had told the eldest Cousland of Eamon's sabbatical. 'No, I refuse,' she said, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at them both.

'Why?' asked Fergus, while Alistair shovelled a large fork full of food into his mouth. 'It's an brilliant idea. The Arling needs an administrator and you are in an excellent position to do that.'

'Plus,' said Alistair after swallowing, 'it keeps the City fully under our control as oppose to having someone else have authority over the city we live in. Do you have any idea of the amount of coin that could be saved if we didn't have to mess about with the Crown being in charge of one thing and the Arling in charge of the other?' He smiled warmly at his wife. 'Come on, Elissa, you are more than capable of looking after the city's affairs.'

Elissa fixed Alistair with an icy look. 'It's bad enough that some quarters think I am whispering in your ear without you giving me an Arling to rule until you can decide what to do with it.'

'I have decided what I'm doing with it,' said Alistair. 'The Arling will move to be under the control of our heir, but until we have an heir, it will be under your control.'

She bit her lip, looking between the two most powerful men in the Kingdom, both of whom looked at her with hopeful expectation. 'But the Bannorn will be in uproar about it,' she said in a low voice as if she were taking part in some nefarious conspiracy.

'The Bannorn can get as uproared as they like,' said Fergus, 'but Alistair and I agree that things have to change.'

'You've seen it for yourself, Elissa,' put in Alistair, 'there are so many Banns that while things are getting done, it isn't as quick as it could be because there are too many vying for money and attention.'

'But you can't just strip a Bann of his title, Alistair,' Elissa shot back. 'Fergus, tell him.'

Alistair answered before Fergus could open his mouth. 'We're not planning that,' he said, 'but there are holdings without heirs now, what I am proposing is combining lands to make larger holdings. Some are barely the size of a farmstead, but if several were combined, they would make more crops, more money with less administration.'

'And less voices in the Landsmeet,' pointed out Elissa.

Fergus chuckled. 'You say that as if it is a bad thing.'

Elissa looked uneasily between to the two men. She truly admired her husband cutting a new path for Ferelden but… 'I feel like I'm committing treason or something,' she admitted, pushing what was left of her breakfast around her plate.

'Technically, you aren't doing anything,' pointed out Alistair, 'I'm doing it. The only thing you are doing is worming your way out of administrating the Arling of Denerim because Arl Eamon occasionally likes to accuse you of whispering in my ear over decisions and matters that I believe you have a right to an opinion to, what with you being the Queen and what not.'

'It's not funny,' replied Elissa.

'No,' he agreed, 'it's out of order which is why he has found himself looking after his pregnant wife instead of at court advising me.' He fixed Elissa with a pointed look that told her he would brook no argument. 'The Arling will pass to my heir and in the meanwhile, the Queen of Ferelden will administrate the Arling until such time that said heir reaches their majority or assumes the throne. Upon assumption of the throne, the Arling will then pass to the King or Queen's heir with a capable administrator of the lands should the new heir to the throne be in their minority.'

Impressed that he had seriously thought this through and realising she had been given a Royal Command, Elissa nodded her head in assent. 'Of course, Your Majesty,' she said.

Alistair smiled. 'Excellent, sorted, I told you she would come around,' he said to Fergus.

'That wasn't really want I had in mind,' sighed Fergus to the smirking King.