Many of the companions were sent on errands throughout the city, seeking noble support for the upcoming Landsmeet. They had learned much invading the Arl's castle, and they planned to take advantage of it all.

But Morrigan and I were not to leave the castle until the search for us died down. I spent much of that time alone. I did not feel like talking to anyone.

On the second day after the infiltration of Fort Drake, I woke to the deep purple irises of the jungles of Seheron placed in a vase beside my bed. At first I was saddened to see the wild flowers contained in such a sterile way. But as I smelt them, I felt a sense of home and was comforted.

I went downstairs, seeing the Warden reading by the fireplace. It was mainly for show since she had learned little of reading and writing in the Alienage. She stood, now without pain, and walked towards me.

"Where did you find them?" I asked.

"The Orleasian fine crafts dealer," she smiled, "I went out for a walk yesterday and saw them. I was guessing just on your description…was it all right?"

"It was…beautiful," I replied, "Thank you."

"I'm sorry I was so…pestering," she said gently.

"Do you have need of me today, Kadan?"

"I…I have heard that there is something happening in the Alienage. I've sent pretty much everyone out for different things, there's really only the four of us here. I'm not strong enough to go on my own right now. Morrigan and Alistair have already agreed, but I just want to-"

"Yes," I said, bowing my head.

"Thank you," she said, smiling slightly. She sat back down, bringing the book back up to her vision.

The Alienage smelt of death. The Warden's face remained one of horror as she waded through the masses of the sick and the dying.

The Warden looked for her father, but could not see him in the crowds. We saw her cousin, a fierce woman who reminded me of the Warden herself. There was no end to the fighting once the Warden learned of her father's capture at the hands of Tevinter slavers. It boiled my blood, thinking of the freed slaves I had grown up with, the ones I had fought beside, the elves who had been slaves of Tevinter. But here, here they claimed no slavery and yet they sold their own citizens for profit.

When we reached the slaver, the Warden would have no mercy. She did not care to have evidence to convict Loghain. She needed vengeance.

I saw her fight through the slavers like a ghost, barely touching the ground as she ran them through with her blade, blood covering her face like war paint. When we reached their leader, she swore she would have his head.

As he lay on the ground, begging for mercy, I saw myself at the farm, the blood frenzy. She cut off his head and kicked over the body.

She stood up, covered in the mage's blood. Her hands shook and Morrigan went to her side, tearing off a part of her robes to clean the blood off of her face. She said something quietly to the Warden and she nodded, looking back up at the two of us.

"I need to find my father," she said softly, "Please, look for him when you let the other slaves out. Direct them to my house, I want to make sure everyone is reunited, safe, and given some coin for damages."

Morrigan and Alistair went off into the basement of the apartments. The Warden stood there, still shaking, and I went to her side.

"Kadan," I said softly, "We are safe now. Your father will be safe. I will go with you and we shall find him."

"I understand a little better now," she said, looking up at me, "I could have let him live…I could have…"

I took her in my arms and she started to cry. I had never seen her cry before, despite all that had happened since we had begun our journey. Just one wiped away tear in the forests. I held her tightly, resting my cheek against the top of her head, smelling the essence of her hair, her skin, her blood. She let go of me, and said again, "I need to find my father."

We went into the lower areas of the apartments, finding holding cells of half starved elves waiting to be shipped to Tevinter.

"Papa!" She yelled, running to the edge of a cage, her hands reaching out for an old man who stretched out his arms to her.

I opened that cage first, letting them reunite as I worked on the others. I was not as skilled picking locks as the Warden was, but I did not wish to disturb her as she was reunited with her father.

I gave the elves directions to the meeting place, where they could be brought back to their families after being given coin and food.

The Warden came back to my side, her father in tow. I nodded and I followed her out of the darkened room into the light of day.

The two women prepared food and medicines and Alistair and distributed them to the elves, giving out coin from our small purse.

I saw her family, the father and cousins. I did not understand what it meant to have a father, but when I saw the man Cyrion hold the Warden, I began to understand a little. He took us into his home, fed us and told us of the sickness and the riots. Alistair was quite engaged, discussing with him the changes his rule would make to the Alienage.

We were leaving the hut, the others distracted by the cousin Soris asking them about the Blight, when Cyrion touched my arm. I turned and looked down at the man, raising an eyebrow.

"Take care of my little girl," Cyrion said with a sad smile, "I know she will be safe with you. I can't keep her safe anymore."

I looked over at Alistair, who was doing a poor impersonation of Loghain to the others. I looked back at Cyrion, who merely shook his head.

"My daughter is not one who is won over by jokes and flattery," he said quietly, "She needs no titles, nor gold. But she needs loyalty, courage. Maybe she does not remember that now. She was…heartbroken by what happened with Nelaros, I know."

"I am Qunari," I protested, "I think you misunderstand-"

"And we are both men," Cyrion smiled, "There have been far stranger things in both of our lives, I would imagine, then one of the Qun falling in love with an elf."

"Bring her home, Qunari," he said finally, reaching out to shake my hand, "Keep her alive."

"Even if it takes my own life, I will protect your daughter," I promised, "Until my final breath."

"I know," he replied, letting go of my hand, "Go. They need you."

Morrigan raised an eyebrow at me as I rejoined the group, but said nothing.

Love. That was the word. There was no word in Qunari for this. Nothing that meant anything positive or worthy. We had words for putting others above the Qun, for lust, but nothing like this.

I loved her.

Despite everything I had done, how much I tried to fight it, it was plain to even an old man glancing at me that I loved her.

The Warden came to my side, my heart leaping into my throat, and said, "My father seemed to take quite the shine to you."

"He is a good man," I said, "I respect him."

"He seems to respect you too," she said teasingly, "He'd rather say goodbye to you than to me, it seems. Did he have any words of advice or was he trying to convince you to get me to eat more?"

"You are very slim, Kadan," I replied back, "Perhaps the darkspawn would be more threatened by you if you were not merely skin and bones."

She laughed, "See? He's a very convincing man, my father. Perhaps he can convince the darkspawn to start behaving themselves."

As we left the Alienage, she looked back at the ruined huts and apartments and she paused.

"They couldn't take the blame out on me," she said softly, "So they took it out on Soris. The guards nearly beat him to death. And when they rioted…they nearly destroyed everything. I tried to take the blame. I tried to save them. And even now…I was too late. They took so many of them."

"You are one person," I said quietly as we walked over the bridge, "Do not blame yourself for not being a god."

"Well, I have to have some weaknesses," she smiled, "We cannot all be the invulnerable, unfeeling, militant Qunari, can we? No weakness for you, my dear Sten, I know."

The words came to my mind, but I pushed them away before I could speak them:

my weakness is you.