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Rhianna shivered from the cool breeze that came in through an opened window. The room was completely dark, the chill in the air unchallenged by a fire in the hearth, or even the light of a single candle.

She could see nothing, but even so, something about this place was familiar . . . a particular scent of herbs, and tanned hides . . .

"Did you enjoy your gift, girl?"

Rhianna gasped at the sound of the old woman's voice from a far corner of the room. A small light burst into life, as Flemeth lit a candle, and then approached the chair where Rhianna sat.

That's why this place was so familiar; she was in Flemeth's hut in the Korcari Wilds. But how had she gotten here?

"I asked you a question, girl. It's impolite to gape at me like a fish out of water."

"Gift?"

With a sob, Rhianna remembered the contents of her dream. The defeat at Ostagar. Loghain and her father, dead. The executions in the courtyard, and the forced marriage to Gauvain. Her son being taken from her, and raised in the Orlesian court. Her tiny, beautiful daughter.

Then, too overcome with grief to face even one more day, she had climbed Fort Drakon . . .

"Gift? That was no gift. It was a nightmare."

"What's this? Don't be a fool. That was no nightmare," she retorted. "That was a glimpse into another reality. A reality in which you got the thing you most wanted. The one thing you most regret. The thing you would have gone back in time to change, given the chance. You sit and feel sorry for yourself, and wish that things had been different." The old woman chuckled. "But can you see now that sometimes we are far better off if we do not get what we wish for?"

Maker. Is that what this had been about?

"Yes," Rhianna murmured. "I see that now."

"And can you see that perhaps things do happen for a reason? Even if we cannot understand those reasons at the time. Even if we never understand those reasons."

"I do."

"Good. Because that was the life that could have been. The life you thought you wanted. The thing that was supposed to bring you the happiness you feel you've been denied. But is any of that what you truly want? A life drained dry of all love and hope?"

"No," Rhianna whispered, more to herself than to Flemeth. "That isn't what I want."

"Of course it isn't." When Flemeth spoke again, her voice was surprisingly gentle. "Remember this: that is not what lies before you now. I won't lie to you, or pretend your path will be easy, but I swear to you, it will not be that hard. Let that be my Satinalia gift to you, child."

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