True to his word, Alistair talked with Eamon about Briana's new project the next day. The chancellor knew of the clinic but not in very much detail because it hadn't been a very high priority in his eyes. At Alistair's request, Eamon promised to look into it and put Alistair's support behind the project if it was feasible. The project slowly worked its way through the council and was sent to Alistair for his approval. Once that was done, then the preparations were made to start work on the building itself. The core group set to administer and run the clinic, including Briana, were hoping to open its doors in six months. The building was in such bad shape that a lot of repair work had to be completed before they could even begin to think about opening.

While this was going on, Alistair was still working long hours but kept up his visits to Briana. He desperately wished she would conceive as their time together became more and more perfunctory. Each month around the time her courses would flow, he found himself getting irritable and short with everyone around him. He tried to counsel himself to patience and reminded himself constantly that the delay was more than likely his fault rather than hers. Meanwhile, Briana was caught up in all the excitement with the new clinic and seemed to be in a sunny mood all the time.

Finally, all the hard work Briana and her group of healers had been putting in came to fruition. The clinic was ready to open. Briana even talked Alistair into taking a tour of the place before it did so. Alistair was more concerned about noting the condition of the elves in the alienage as he remembered what it had been like when Loghain had been regent. He had been appalled at the living conditions when they had come through the alienage before that first Landsmeet. He was pleased to note that there were signs the alienage's conditions were improving. The streets seemed cleaner with no beggars accosting people as they went about their business. The elves he saw on the streets seemed to be moving purposefully, and there were even children playing around the great tree. Once they had toured the facility, he told Briana he couldn't believe the building was the same one that he had helped slay demons in not that long ago. Everything was repaired, painted, and set up ready for the first patients.

If Briana had been happy before during the preparations for the opening of the clinic, she was ecstatic now that they were actually treating patients. She came home happy most evenings with many stories to tell Alistair about her patients and what she had done that day. If Alistair became more distant as time passed, she didn't seem to notice.

Everything was running along smoothly until about two months after Briana started seeing patients at the clinic. That morning, Alistair had reminded her they were to go to the chancellor's estate for a small dinner party that evening that Eamon was having. Unfortunately, one of Briana's patients, a young child, was down with a high fever which needed careful watching and dosing, and she didn't feel comfortable leaving until the child's fever had broken. She did send a messenger to Alistair letting him know what had delayed her. When the child's fever finally broke later that night, she and her two guards, whom Alistair insisted she keep with her, trudged their way wearily back to the palace.

Once they had finally arrived back to her suite, Alistair was waiting for her. He was sitting off to the side of the room in the shadows when she entered the room, and she didn't see him. When she came in, she immediately headed towards the wash stand, rubbing her eyes and yawning with her tiredness.

A familiar voice came out of the dark, "Where have you been?"

Briana turned in surprise, "Alistair, I didn't see you there. What do you mean where have I been? I've been at the clinic. I sent you a message."

"And where were you supposed to be?" he asked.

She gave a big sigh, "I know. The chancellor's dinner party was tonight. I'm sorry, but as I told you in my note.."

Alistair cut her off harshly, "What did you promise me before the clinic even opened?"

"That I wouldn't let it interfere. I'm sorry, Alistair. I just thought a child's life was more important than a dinner party."

"If you were any normal person, I would agree with you, but you aren't. Am I to believe that there was no one else at the clinic that could have handled the situation?" he asked.

"No, of course not. The child was my patient, though," said Briana.

"So you wanted to be there instead of doing your duty here with me." said Alistair as he rose from the chair. "How nice it must be to be able to do as you wish. Maybe the next time it's a nice day, I'll decide to stroll through Denerim instead of attending those boring old council sessions, just because I FEEL LIKE IT."

"Alistair, no. It wasn't like that," Briana pleaded as she came over and took hold of his arm. "Please don't act like this."

Alistair shook her off and started walking towards the door to his rooms, "I'll leave you alone for tonight, but I'll remember in the future that you only keep promises that are convenient." With that, he stepped through the door and shut it firmly behind him.

Briana stared at the door in disbelief. Who was that stranger who had just been in her room? She had never seen Alistair behave like that before. She couldn't believe it was the same man she had married.

Once Alistair was back in his rooms, he immediately went to the door that exited out to the hall and opened it. "Adair," he called.

"Yes, your Majesty," answered one of the guards who was stationed outside the door.

"You and Reilly, get out of uniform and into plain armor. We're going to The Broken Sword tonight," said Alistair.

"Are you sure, Sire? Isn't it a little late?" asked Adair.

"Yes, get moving. I want to leave soon," said Alistair.

The two guards bowed and moved off down the passage heading for the armory, leaving one guard still stationed in the hallway. Alistair shut the door to his room and moved off to where his armor was kept. As he entered the small area off to the side of his large bedroom, he saw the pommels of the two swords that hung on the wall in a place of honor gleam in the candlelight, Starfang and Spellweaver. At Fort Drakon that horrible night, he had taken the sword from the roof by the Archdemon's head and brought it back to the palace with him. He felt it only fitting that the two swords hang side by side, much as he and Lanie had lain side by side so many nights while carrying them. Wynne must have managed to pass on the arcane warrior knowledge that she acquired from Lanie before she left Denerim because Irving had been making broad hints lately about wanting the sword sent to the Tower of Magi for one of the young arcane warriors to use; however, Alistair wasn't ready to let go of it yet. He reached a hand up to graze the pommel lightly with his fingers, right where her hand had so often rested, as he thought what a shame that the only person who touched it these days was the squire whose job it was to keep all his armor in good repair.

He then turned to an armor stand where the set of leathers that Zevran had given him was kept. How he missed Zevran. He didn't realize until Zev had left for Antiva how much he relied upon Zevran's humor, companionship, and the experiences they had shared to help ease the ache that he seemed to always carry with him now. Lanie would have laughed herself silly to have heard him say that he missed Zevran after the way he used to go on and on about the assassin and how untrustworthy he was. Sighing at the memory, he started to put the armor on.

By the time he was dressed and had armed himself with a hidden dagger or two and a plain, but serviceable, long sword, he had pretty much calmed down. He would have to apologize to Briana in the morning even though he was upset with her for not keeping her promise. He knew that a lot of his anger tonight came from jealousy and frustration. She was free to do something she loved and be queen while he had given up everything he had loved to be king. Yes, he had a lot of power, but the restrictions of what he could do and who he could be were really starting to chafe at him.

He exited the room and collected Adair and Reilly, who were both fully armed and in plain armor. They then left the palace and headed for the king's favorite low-life tavern where for a few hours he could pretend he was just a regular person and let the worries of the kingdom fall from his shoulders.

The next morning, he stiffly apologized to Briana, and she very distantly accepted his apology with one of her own. She promised that it wouldn't happen again and that she would be very careful to be at the palace when he needed her.

And so things went for a little over the next year. Briana was careful to restrict her time at the clinic to the times Alistair was working. She continued to get a lot of satisfaction out of her work and was content. Alistair continued to throw himself into the even-handed governing he had started his rule with, championing policies that would benefit Ferelden. He was a bit of a social reformer trying to improve conditions for other races in the human-dominated areas of the country, as well as humans living in poor conditions. The alienages prospered and trade between the dwarves and the surface increased as well. Even the land grant for the Dalish had finally been pushed through the council.

In his private life though, he was becoming more and more unhappy. He continued to visit Briana's bedchamber, but he was losing hope they would ever have a child. When not busy ruling or working out with his guards, he seemed to spend most of his time reliving his memories of the year of the Blight. How sad was it that those days he and his friends had spent fighting for their lives were the happiest he had ever been? He considered It even more pitiable when he actually found himself missing Morrigan. Sometimes at night after he had made a raid on the larder for some cheese, he would wander the palace listlessly wondering how different his life would be if Lanie had made Anora queen.

One morning in June 9.33 Dragon, Briana knocked at their adjoining door and then came into his room. "Alistair, may I have a moment, please?"

Since Briana hardly ever came to his room, Alistair gave her his full attention, "Of course, what's wrong?"

Briana was nervously shifting her weight back and forth from foot to foot. "I think maybe, well I'm pretty sure-I'm pregnant."

Alistair's first emotion was relief followed by a surge of happiness. "That's wonderful!" he said as he moved over to pick her up, hold her against his chest, and swing her around. "Are you sure?"

"Not completely, but I'm over a week late and I usually don't run late, plus I've starting feeling sick in the mornings." Briana said.

"Is there any way to know for sure?" asked Alistair.

"Time," said Briana. "We just have to wait."

"Let's keep this to ourselves," said Alistair, "until we know. I'll say something to Eamon but that will be all."

"Okay," Briana said.

Alistair put her back down and stepped back so he could peer at her belly. Briana started to laugh at him. "There's nothing to see yet, Alistair. The baby is still quite small."

Alistair grinned sheepishly at her. "I was just checking."

Briana gave him a kiss on the cheek, "I'll see you this evening, dear," she said.

"You take care of our baby today," Alistair said with a smile.

She left the room with a smile of her own. "Of course I will," she said.

Once Briana was gone, Alistair threw himself down onto his bed, the smile dropping off his face. No more would he have to force himself into Briana's bed. The inescapable need for an heir had turned what had been an act of love and joy between he and Lanie into a desperate, unceasing duty with Briana. Maybe if that unanswered obligation hadn't been hanging over their heads and they could have taken their time in developing a relationship, some sort of true affection would have had the opportunity to grow between he and Briana. He had thought at the beginning of their marriage that there was a chance for that to happen. Somewhere along the way, however, that too had been sacrificed in the overwhelming need for a child, but at long last, an heir was on the way. He felt as though a huge weight was lifted off him. Thank the Maker!

A.N.: Thanks to my beta, Melismo.