Chapter 12 - Oaths of Fealty

The journey back to Vigil's Keep the next morning was filled with cold silences and avoidance of looks between Nathaniel and Emilia. Oghren wasn't in a chatty mood either, and after numerous attempts on Anders' part to make conversation with the dwarf and the archer, the mage decided to try his luck with the commander.

He rode along side her. "Hey, Em. Is it ok if I call you 'Em?'"

"No," Nathaniel answered for her from the back of the group.

Anders witnessed the emerald eye roll and then slowed his horse so he could see Nathaniel's face. The man did not look pleased. Anders was quite confused. "Um, did I miss something?"

"You can call me whatever you want, Anders," Emilia called back to him, sassy in her overruling of Nathaniel.

Nathaniel scoffed at her reply, glaring at the mage with a look that said "don't even think about it." Anders wasn't scared of Nathaniel, and was well aware which rogue he answered to. The mage caught back up to Emilia, not giving any sort of response to Nathaniel's dirty look.

"What crawled up his ass?" Anders asked her in a low voice.

"He and my brother always called me that when we were kids," Emilia replied, hiding emotion from her tone.

A simple "ah," escaped the mage, who then addressed her as "Lia" instead. Changing the subject, he asked her about the legend of Haelia Cousland. Emilia was delighted to tell him the tale, though she noted she couldn't offer much more than the bard's version from the night before. But the mage insisted, saying he wanted to hear her tell the tale. Emilia was glad to oblige him; it was one of the proudest legends from her family's history, as well as one of an ancestor she greatly looked up to. She smiled proudly as she told the story. Even Oghren caught up to the pair, glad to hear his friend speaking jovially for once. It wasn't the most common occurrence, and surprisingly had become rarer with the end of the Blight.

One would have thought that the restoration of her family's name and her brother's return would have made her happy, but it didn't appear to be so. There was relief in having Fergus back, and the anger was mostly gone now, but happiness had not replaced it. The Warden-Commander was complacent to be sure, but there was no joy in what she did.

Oghren had noticed the change right away. The day after the Battle of Denerim, when it was all finally over and everyone was praising her, she was different. Distant. Whatever happiness she had finally found with her companions during their travels washed away as everyone went their separate ways. Sure, she was pleased to be reunited with Fergus, but it was also bittersweet. Everyone knew the Cousland siblings had nothing left to return to in Highever. Nothing left for them but to grieve.

And so they did, for months the two remaining Couslands hardly spoke to anyone outside of Highever at all. The day Alistair informed Emilia about the Darkspawn in Amaranthine, she was given a solid purpose again. And perhaps her new companions would bring her joy. Evidently, she was making friends with one of them already.

Anders seemed pleased to make her smile, and had been immediately comfortable around her. Emilia wondered if he meant his friendliness as flirtatiousness. She didn't think so, and unless he explicitly flirted with her, she wouldn't bother to address the fact that she saw him only has a friend.


That evening, the Great Hall of Vigil's Keep was filled with the nobles of Amaranthine, all making an appearance to swear oaths of fealty to the Warden-Commander and new Arlessa of Amaranthine, Emilia Cousland. She graciously had told Nathaniel and the others they needn't be present that evening if they wanted to rest, but the three all came anyways. Oghren stated that he thought he might get a laugh out of it, and Anders assured her that he just wanted to be there for "his friend" - and to keep a keen eye out for anything suspicious. Given that Nathaniel hadn't responded like the other two, Emilia had assumed he wouldn't be present.

But this, he had to see. His father's former vassals, those who should have been swearing to him, instead swore to her. He watched from the corner as each of them approached the Cousland, bowed to her, and made their dutiful promises. To the victor go the spoils, Nathaniel thought. But then his sister's voice invaded his mind. "If you want to blame someone for destroying our family blame our father - not Emilia Cousland." He sighed internally and chose to drink his wine instead of drowning in his thoughts, wondering why he had bothered to come this evening at all.

And then, the reason became painfully obvious. Though she was doing well to hide it, Nathaniel noticed the pattern in which Bann Esmerelle of The City of Amaranthine spoke with the other nobles in the room. With each new person she greeted, she made her way closer to Nathaniel. Finally, she pretended she had just spotted him, trying to hide the fact that addressing him had been her intended purpose all along.

"Oh, Nathaniel, is that you? Nathaniel Howe?" she softly spoke, scampering closer to him.

"Bann Esmerelle," Nathaniel greeted, his leathery voice proper and aristocratic as he bowed. "A pleasure to see you again."

"Oh believe me, the pleasure is all mine, my dear. Come, let us catch up," she offered her arm, and Nathaniel took it, as was proper. The two walked the length of the hall together, making idle chit-chat until they stopped by the portrait of his mother. Esmerelle sighed. "I do miss your mother. And your father." The woman looked over her shoulder before lowering her tone. "There are many here who would see a Howe put back on top in Amaranthine. Who would aid you in taking your rightful place as the ruler over these lands."

Nathaniel offered no words, only a simple smirk in response. The bann smiled, released his arm, and patted him on the back. "I'll be in touch, dear," she concluded, returning to the other guests of the gathering, playing the game as if she hadn't just proposed high treason.

The evening had certainly given the Howe much to consider.