Chapter 11) Scars

Nuada POV

He coughs and, for a second, he wonders if he's coughing up blood. Thankfully, though, it's not the case. He has too much work to do. No matter how little he slept, ate… whatever… there's always work to be done.

He sighs and rubs at his tired eyes and lets himself relax slightly. He's in his own study, so he has the luxury. As soon as he steps out, he'll have to be the 'perfect' Cousland. Even if that reputation is working against them, thanks to political nonsense, he has to keep it up for his people. Even if he's not suited for this, and he really isn't. Elspeth was supposed to inherit Highever. He was supposed to just be a general in the army. Nuada…well, Nuada was a Warden, like expected, but he was supposed to be a Warden who wasn't tied up in politics. Yet, here they were. Elspeth was queen, Nuada was Teyrn of Gwaren and a bunch of other things, and he was the Teyrn of Highever.

So much went wrong. So many people died when they shouldn't have. Father… Mother… Orianna… Rory… Nan… Aldous… Mother Mallol… so many. So many gone. So many dead. And he can't mourn. Not really. There's too much to do, and…

"Papa?" Oren pokes his head in, and so, he smiles and throws all the thoughts to the side. "Papa, can we play?" Oren asks. "Please?"

"Let me find a stopping point," he answers. He can't deny his son much. He had spent too long thinking his son dead to avoid spoiling him. "Be patient."

"Okay. Love you."

"I love you too."

"So, this is where the guards are being temporarily diverted to," I explained to Layla, showing her the piece of paper as we walked down the hall. Cleon had originally been with us, but we got word that the paths below were clear, so he took Nathaniel and Velanna to determine if there was a good place to set up a blockade against further darkspawn attacks. "Once we get enough granite and silverite, we'll put them back to defending the farmlands."

"Do we truly have to divert them though?" Layla asked, frowning. She took the paper from me to skim over it. "Are we really that low on soldiers?"

"Amaranthine's soldiers were thinned out by both attacks on Highever, the Civil War, the Blight, and the recent attack, sadly."

"Can we request more soldiers?"

"You did that this morning."

"Oh, I forgot." Layla sighed, drooping a little. I rubbed her back, knowing she'd rather be working in the infirmary with Anders than dealing with this. "I do not like leaving the farmers without protection. Do we need guards for the transporting?"

"Bandits."

"Damn." She scowled and passed the paper back to me before gesturing a bit with her hands. Little bits of flame burst from her fingertips, and I was once again reminded I was in love with someone who could very easily kill me with a thought. Of course, that was part of her charm. "Why are there bandits? There was a Blight!"

"People lost a lot. They turned to banditry in order to try and make ends meet. You judged someone who did that, right?"

"I… oh." She threw up her hands and a harmless bunch of sparkles flew up with them. Some servants squeaked, but I was just… charmed. "Reconstruction sucks."

"That's why the stories stop with 'happily ever after'." I took her hand and kissed it, and she smiled back. "I can see about poking some of the local nobles to lend us their soldiers, though, and I have a feeling that once this conspiracy is over, we are going to have more soldiers to work with."

"We will?" She frowned again before gasping. "Oh, that is right. They will be Oathbreakers."

"Well, we'd have to go through legal things to officially call them that. That's why Loghain isn't officially one." Becoming a Warden meant there was no point to it, and the designation of 'traitor' screwed Anora enough. "We might make the ringleader officially one as a warning. But either their holdings will go to you, or their heirs will be tripping over themselves to make it up to you."

"I see." She smiled slightly, eyes warm. "This is why I wanted you helping me sooner, you know."

"I… didn't want to undermine your authority?" I looked away, but she moved in front of me. "We went over this."

"I know." She reached up to cup my face and got on her tiptoes to kiss me. "I wish we had talked about it sooner."

"We both anticipated more time before weird things happened."

"That is very true."

"Warden-Arlessa Amell! Warden-Teryn Cousland!" A messenger jog up, looking a little frazzled. I spared a moment's thought of being amused by the titles before focusing on them. "Sorry to bother, my lady, my lord," they continued, saluting. "But there is a visitor for Warden Oghren? A very… argumentative visitor."

"Is that so?" Layla asked. She frowned for a moment and then looked at me. "I have to meet Varel…"

"I can handle placating a visitor," I reassured her. She smiled brightly and turned to the messenger. "Oghren is training soldiers in the back. If he's not there, check his room or the cellar." The messenger saluted again and dashed off. "Whoever it is, they must be quite the visitor to cause this much fuss."

"I wonder who it is." Layla sighed, frowning worriedly. "Also, Oghren's been drinking a lot more. I know he's a bit of a drunk, but…"

"He has, but let's wait for him." I kissed her cheek and she nodded. We knew we couldn't force Oghren to tell us anything. "Let's get to work, love."

"Of course." She smiled teasingly. "Don't forget the word for 'kitten' now."

"Andraste's blood, Layla!" I scowled, but she laughed and laughed. "Well, if that's how you'll be…!" I picked her up and grinned as she continued laughing. "I'll get you back later."

"I look forward to it."

We teased each other a little longer, longer than necessary really, before she went to go about her day's work with Seneschal Varel, and I went to deal with Oghren's visitor. However, I was surprised to realize I knew who it was: Felsi.

"Where is he? I know he's here!" she demanded as soon as she saw me. Her eyes flashed with anger and hurt, and her entire demeanor screamed 'I will cut you'. I couldn't blame the servants one bit for being a little frazzled. "Cough him up, Warden!"

"It is a pleasure to see you again too, Miss Felsi," I replied, defaulting to cheerful politeness. Sadly, it seemed to make her angrier. "I take it you're here for Oghren?"

"You're not going to pull the moss over my eyes! Tell him to get his hairy ass down here!"

"I've a servant getting him now. He's training the soldiers out back." I smiled as charmingly as I could and she calmed down slightly. "I fear you made the servants a little nervous, so they went to one of us first to make sure all was safe."

"…Suppose I shouldn't have taken my anger on them." The anger slowly faded, making the hurt far more prominent. "Still, though, that dwarf…!" Though the anger certainly made a comeback! "Honestly, he…!"

"Hang onto your beard, woman." Thankfully for my barely-there sanity, Oghren walked in, grinning and acting confident. However, it really was just an act. He gait 'swung' too much, and his smirk was a little too wide. "Is this a conjugal visit?" he joked, snickering. "Need Oghren to-"

"Don't lay a finger on me," Felsi instantly snapped. She was right back to glaring and I took a step back, making sure I was not in the way. "You've done a lot of stupid things on a whim, but joining the Wardens-!"

"Didn't you say it would be hot?"

"We were roleplaying!" Quite a few passing servants covered their ears at that point. I didn't blame them one bit. "Oghren-!"

"Look, I didn't sign up on a whim, all right? Aiden wouldn't let me. He's not like most Warden recruiters who trick and hide. He's open." Oghren shrugged and dropped the cocky act. "Besides, you kicked me out. For good reasons."

"You were just looking for an excuse!"

"You kept trying to make me into something I'm not." Some pain threaded through Oghren's words there. "I can't play house like you want me to." I heard the silent 'like I wish I could' added on the end. "I'm only good at one thing, Fels, and it's killing."

"You had a good thing in the army, though!" Felsi's voice cracked, holding back tears. "They respected you!" She looked away sharply. Oghren reached out briefly, but then dropped his hand. "Fine, though. Fine. If this is what you want, the baby and I will just get by without you."

She left then, and I found myself very confused. Baby. She had said 'baby'. But it had been six months… though, then again, it was possible dwarven pregnancies didn't last nine months. I knew humans did, but…

"Gah, sod it!" Oghren growled, jolting me from my thoughts. He tried to storm away, but I stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "Nuada."

"I won't force you into anything, and I won't force you to talk about anything," I murmured. I wondered if this was why he'd been drinking more than usual. "But let me say something, please." I waited for his nod before continuing. "Wardens are allowed to keep families. You can't be the typical father, but you couldn't be that anyway. That's why you came to us."

"I couldn't settle down again. I did once. You… well, you weren't there to see the fall out with Branka." That was true, but I had heard. I knew Aiden and Cleon continued to have nightmares about it. "Felsi will get by. The nugget, though…"

"As I said, Wardens are allowed to keep families. You can visit, and write." I thought about other things that could be helpful and came up on one. "Oh, you do get a stipend, or will. That's one of the budget things I'm working on."

"That'll… that'll help them a lot." Oghren laughed and patted my hand, still on his shoulder. "And hey, the little one will grow up thinking Daddy's a great hero."

"You are one, Oghren. You might not have traveled with us long, but in that time, you helped us a great deal. Without you or Sten, the darkspawn would've overrun the gates of Denerim, and we wouldn't have gotten the opening we needed to kill the Archdemon."

"Oh, you… get going before I get misty eyed." Oghren rubbed roughly at his eyes, so clearly, he already was. "Go on. I'll be fine."

"Try not to drink so much after today. We've been worried." I patted him on the shoulder and almost left him to it. But then another idea came to me. "Actually, what do you say to a spar?"

As much as I would love to just 'fix' everything, there were some things you just couldn't help with. This was one of them. But Oghren would make it work for him, hopefully. Even if he couldn't, at this point, all I could do was try to support him, as much as I could.

After sparring with Oghren to help him bleed off frustration, I went to double-check that the group below was doing well. The soldiers by the door reassured me that no one had sent for help, yet, so I decided to check how repairing the walls was coming along. However, a different messenger informed me that there was another visitor, one that they didn't want to leave 'alone' for long, and Layla was busy. I was confused as to why they didn't want the visitor to be alone until I saw it was Loghain. Then it all made sense.

"I was wondering who they'd get to be my watcher," Loghain joked, leaning against one of the pillars. It kept him in shadow, and let him avoid all the people glaring at him. "Thank you for the maps, by the way."

"I'm glad they reached you safely," I replied, feeling a little awkward. I'd sent him maps for his birthday, partly out of habit, but now, I didn't know what to say. "What brings you to the Vigil? Did the Wardens assign you here?"

"No, sadly, I have been ordered, by the First Warden, to go to Montsimmard." He waited for me to process the information, and I had to struggle to not laugh. Montsimmard was the headquarters for the Orlesian Grey Wardens, and also home to a Circle of Magi. "You can laugh. I can appreciate the irony too." He rolled his eyes when I did break out into snickers. "Here I thought darkspawn blood would be the last poison I'd have to swallow. Maric would be laughing his head off."

"He would." I continued snickering for a little longer before sadness took over and killed whatever cheer I'd had. I wished we knew just how he'd died. He just… went to Antiva, and vanished. He probably got caught in a storm or something. "I miss him."

"I do too. Even now, I wish he'd just walk on in, wondering what was going on."

"It would be a bit awkward, now."

"It would. But I'd suffer it, if it meant seeing him again."

"I suppose you would." Everyone had always talked of the strong bond between Loghain and Uncle Maric. It didn't surprise me one bit that he'd suffer any sort of anger if it meant Uncle Maric was still alive. "Speaking of seeing people, did you see Anora?"

"I did, actually. She offered to watch me until Layla was done, but the messenger didn't seem comfortable with that." Loghain looked down briefly and I just shrugged. There wasn't anything to say to that. We both knew why that was. "She's doing well. I'm glad."

"Fergus tries to be a good husband."

"He better."

"Oh, Loghain…" Layla, thankfully, walked up then, trying to clean her hands. She had ink blotches on them, showing that a pen had exploded on her. "I had not expected you," she greeted, nodding politely. "I don't suppose you came with extra soldiers?"

"Sadly, no, but I wish I had," Loghain replied, bowing respectfully. "I just thought I'd make sure no one was giving you all too much trouble."

"Aside from some conspirators and weird darkspawn, no, we seem to be doing well." She frowned when Loghain chuckled. "Might I ask what has you amused?"

"I had conspirators just as quickly after the Rebellion. It's amazing how quickly people forget that you're a war hero who can kill them as easily as one carves a cake."

"Well, I am pleased to be normal, for once." Layla's voice was so dry that Loghain and I had to laugh. "Though, I am gladdened to see you. I had a question for you." Layla bit her lip and hesitated before continuing. "I know you hate Orlais, but…"

"Hate doesn't describe it. At least, I don't think so." Loghain's words became clipped from raw pain, and I barely resisted the urge to facepalm. I should've warned her to not directly ask about that. "Growing up, I saw painted, masked lords beat an old farmer to death with riding crops. To this day, I don't know why. Maybe they were bored." Old anger crept into his voice and Layla looked at me worriedly. I simply smiled, knowing better than to try and stop." I saw good, sensible men fighting armored chevaliers with nothing. No weapons, no armies, not even a hope of success. All just to see the occupation end." He started gesturing sharply. Layla winced and I kissed the top of her head to try and reassure her. "They snatched up my mabari, my best friend, because she was pretty and they felt entitled to her. Bred her with whatever lap dog they wanted to give her coat to until she was used up. They pushed her out of a wagon like a sack of rotten vegetables, thankfully near where we were. I held her as she died. Then, weeks, months later, I was held down, bleeding from a leg wound, as their soldiers raped and murdered my mother, all because my father didn't want to give up his home." Layla flinched and I patted her shoulder. I knew from experience that this would be over soon. "Is all that hate? No, Hate is too tame of a word. So is 'loathe'." He paused and visibly got his emotions under control, bowing his head apologetically. "But I can admit it overcame my reason. I can admit it led me to a warped 'I did what I had to' mentality."

"I was… more using that for a lead in, but I see I spoke too lightly of it. I am sorry." Layla also bowed her head, blushing faintly. I took her hand and smiled encouragingly. "It was truly a question about the Alienage."

"Of course." Loghain took a couple of breaths to help him calm down further and then nodded. "What is the question?"

"Why was it…?" Her voice cracked, but she coughed to clear it. "Why is it that you thought it was better for elves to live as slaves than die free, when you nearly let Fereldan die for fear of Orlais?"

"…I can admit to being hypocritical, Layla. For further proof, you could also bring up how I told Cailan that we had to attend to reality, and then deluded myself into believe there was no threat with the Blight." Loghain smiled bitterly. "I am afraid there isn't much of a better answer, save the obvious."

"I see." Layla frowned and brushed her hair behind her ear with her free hand. "I never realized how… in the Circle, I did not see things like this. Though, perhaps I was blind to them, or perhaps it was just where I grew up. Kinloch Hold is infamous for how tolerant it is."

"I've heard that as well. Though, I don't think I've seen an example."

"If Anders had been from Kirkwall, he would have been killed for all his escape attempts. Knight-Commander Meredith is known for her harshness. Though, Kirkwall apparently has a lot of trouble with abominations and blood mages."

"Like Uldred, but more… regular?"

"That is what I heard."

The two of them began talking, the subject slowly turning away from Orlais and elves, and I almost stepped away, noticing Cleon entering the room, triumphantly covered in blood and mud. However, as I did, a servant swung by to offer Layla some wine. I vaguely paid attention to their words, focusing more on how they kept fidgeting, eyes darting around like a skittish kitten. However, I did catch the vintage they claimed the wine was and frowned, because the wine was far too dark for that. So, with a shrug, I stole the wine from Layla and took a sip myself.

It was far too bitter for the vintage they said. It was honestly too bitter for typical wine. That was about all I could think before the paralysis hit and I realized with horror what just happened. The wine had been poisoned and, worse, it was the same poison that nearly killed me, back in Antiva.

I collapsed, the wine glass shattering on the ground, and desperately tried to not choke on the wine as everything locked up. My lungs burned. My eyes watered. Terror flooded my mind, covering up my ears and ability to reason. Someone caught me before I hit the groun. Someone shouted for Anders to 'help'. Someone chased, pounding footsteps leading away. I struggled to catch what bits I could, to help me remember that I was not alone in Antiva with only an assassin. I was surrounded by people who could help, who were helping. I would be fine, no matter what the terror tried to scream. I hoped.

Thankfully, that hope was answered. After an eternity-filled moment, I could breath again. I immediately started coughing, gasping for air and spitting up the wine. My eyes still burned, but I held back tears to simply focus on breathing. The inside of my mouth was tingling, borderline numb. My shirt was ruined from the spilt wine. My hand was sticky.

Other things slowly began filtering through. People shouting, people running… my focus centered on someone stroking my hair, and I finally looked u to see Cleon had been the one to catch me. He also cradled me against his chest, and smiled when he saw me looking. He brought up a hand and signed, 'I take it the wine did not agree with you.'

"Yeah, it didn't," I croaked, coughing more. It took a couple of tries to get my hands to make the signs, lingering paralysis and my own shakiness, and then I looked to see a relieved Anders and a teary Layla also hovering over me. They had been the ones to save me. So, I made sure to smile at them. "I don't recommend that wine, by the way. I highly don't recommend it."

This was not what I had planned for the day, not one bit.

After my poisoning, I was ordered, by both Layla and Anders, to take the day off. They left Anora as my 'make sure he actually listens' watcher, because everyone else had things to do. Cleon had to deal with arranging people to work on below, because they had apparently found an actual mechanism that would seal off this section of the Deep Roads. Layla had to reassure people and return to administrative things. Oghren and Anders were checking all the food and drink in the entire Keep to make sure nothing else was poisoned. Loghain had chased down the servant and was in the middle of interrogation, and Nathaniel was patrolling to make sure there wasn't assassin-assassins running about.

"Well, the people are firmly on your side, after such a heinous and messy attempt on Layla's life," Anora explained, fixing some tea for me to help me get the bitter taste out of my mouth. "Between that, whatever information Aiden finds, and the information Father is getting out of the servant, we should be able to deal with this fairly quickly. I do still expect some sort of protest, though."

"The poison certainly explains why they were confident enough to form a conspiracy," I replied, trying to not fidget. I hated being laid up, but if I showed any sort of discomfort, Anora would be fussing over my blankets and pillows again. "Ah, thank you." I took the teacup from her and sipped it. It was a lighter tea and just what I needed. "Thanks for this, Anora."

"Of course." She sat down on the bed beside me and proceeded to fuss with the pillows. She'd noticed my discomfort, damn it. "Is it steeped enough?"

"It's exactly what I need." It really was, and with it, embarrassment began creeping in. Exasperation joined it. "I can't believe we didn't think they'd resort to poison." Once again, our arrogance almost cost us. Maker's balls, you'd think we'd be more aware. "Though, it's not really a 'Fereldan' thing to do. Orlais and Antiva favor the 'poison in the wine' trick. Fereldans prefer just stabbing."

"Must you joke?"

"It's not the first time I've been poisoned, Anora."

"It's not the first time you've gotten hurt protecting someone, but that doesn't mean it's any easier to watch." She gently touched my cheek, by one of the scars, the one I'd gotten protecting Cailan. "…I wish he were here. He'd have everyone laughing."

"I miss Cailan too." Whenever any of us were injured or under the weather, he'd done his best to cheer us up. "Though, in my defense…"

"Ah, I don't want to hear it." Someone knocked on the door and Anora turned towards it. "Come in?"

"Oh, good, he did not somehow trick you into leaving." Layla stepped in, smiling slightly. "I had worried he would," she teased, smiling slightly. She looked drained, though, so the smile was weak. "I am not sure why, though."

"No, he's been very good," Anora replied, standing. I chose against responding and just sipped more of my tea. "Are you here on break?"

"Actually, Varel said I was done for the day." Layla shrugged, though, her smile becoming bitter. "Though, truthfully, I am not sure if I truly am 'done', or if he was just tired of…"

"Varel would make sure you were done. That's how he is." Anora smiled reassuringly. "Though, if you would like, I can double-check your work?"

"I would greatly appreciate it."

"Of course." Anora patted Layla on the back as she exited and shut the door behind her.

Layla just looked at me, hesitating over something. At first, I waited for her to say something, continuing to drink my tea, but the second I finished, and set it to the side, Layla lunged and crawled into bed with me, curling up against my chest with her ear right over my heart. That was when I realized the obvious. She had just been waiting for me to finish my tea, so that she didn't make me spill any on our blankets.

"You know; you could have said something," I teased, hugging her tightly. She shrugged, still just listening to my heartbeat. "I'm not used to people wanting to cuddle me after a poisoning."

"You and Elspeth didn't?" she asked softly. She shifted so that her hip didn't dig uncomfortably into my abdomen, but kept her face against my chest. "In the Circle, whenever one of the Templars had to kill an abomination or something, we would all curl up together. If it were evening, we would drag the pillows and blankets off the beds and make a nest. Otherwise, we would just… do something like this."

"It was too dangerous. We couldn't show that sort of weakness, nor did we want two easy targets in one location." I kissed the top of her head and slowly relaxed, noticing something. "You're wearing perfume."

"Anders found me some in the market, when he was helping Dworkin make more bombs. Is it a nice scent?"

"Well, I like it. Do you?" I smiled when she nodded. "Then, you should… wait, hold on, did you just say bombs?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes, you did not really encounter Dworkin, did you?" She looked up and smiled mischievously at me. "He is Voldrik's brother, and makes explosives from lyrium sand. They are quite powerful. A lot of the interior damage was due to him setting off one."

"I can't imagine the Qunari liking that." Though, I did wonder how Dworkin's explosives compared to the Qunari's gaatlok. I had never seen it used before, but from Sten's descriptions, I knew it was more powerful than our black powder. "Anders helped him?"

"Anders is a talented alchemist, though he normally just focuses on healing potions. He's going to work on different antidotes, just in…" Her smile fell and she went back to listening to my heartbeat.

"So, as I was trying to explain to Anora…" I absently undid her braid to play with the strands. I loved playing with her hair. "I didn't think the wine was poisoned. I'd thought it was simply a stronger wine than the servant claimed, intent on getting you drunk so that you made a fool of yourself."

"You promise?"

"Yes, I promise. Being poisoned sucks. If I had thought poison, I would've just had someone check for it."

"I see." Absently, she pushed my sleeve to trace the scale-like scars on my arm. They were a visual reminder of how I was a Reaver, along with the sharper than normal canine teeth and the silver eye. "For a second there, I was back in the Temple. I was on the mountaintop, watching you suddenly collapse. It did not help that the wine was red. Though, at least you were not rattling off facts and tactics while dying. I had wanted to hit you for that."

"Well, that time, I could actually breathe." I grimaced at the words. I'd meant them to be a joke, but… "I'm sorry. That wasn't…"

"You know; back then, you asked me how we fought." She said the words dully, and I winced when I remembered that. "You were in so much pain that you could not even remember I was a mage. Though, you did, somehow, remember how to fight the dragon."

"It was more of the immediate concern?"

"Did you even remember who Alistair and I were? I am guessing you remembered Elspeth, but…"

"I…" I fell silent, wondering how to explain, and tilted her head up so that I could look her in the eyes. "I remembered you were both people I trusted and loved beyond anything. That didn't require anything to remember. It just was. Other than that, though, yes, I was in a lot of pain. I knew there was danger, and a dragon, and I was always taught that if I die, I would die doing my duty. I would die protecting people. So, I used what sense I had to try and say whatever information could keep you alive."

"That was while you were dying, you know." She sighed gustily, and I could only smile ruefully. She and I both knew that if we were in a situation like that again, I would probably do the exact same thing. Some habits were too ingrained to break. "I never want to have to jolt your heart again."

"Well, that'll be hard." It was time to properly joke and change the subject. "You do so every time you smile."

"Nuada!" She scowled, but softened when I kissed her. "Be serious."

"I am always perfectly serious." I rested my forehead against hers. "I love you, and I am very sorry about earlier. It didn't occur to me, at all, that the wine was poisoned. I promise you that."

"I believe you." Once again, someone knocked on the door. "Come in." Layla twisted towards it, but she didn't leave my arms, not even when a servant opened the door for Cleon. "Oh, hello, there."

'Wanted to make sure you two were not in the middle of something,' he signed with a teasing grin. I playfully scowled, and Layla blushed all the way to her ears. 'I also wanted to check in. You okay?'

"I'll be fine," I reassured, bringing up my hands to sign. Layla curled up more against my chest. "Thank you for catching me, Cleon."

'Glad I was close enough.' He hooked his foot around the leg of my desk chair and dragged it over. 'Also, warning, the others are going to come by. Anders wants to give you another check, and Nathaniel mentioned something about making sure you had funny stories because you hate being laid up.' He signed the word 'hate' three times and I smiled. I was touched Nathaniel remembered that. 'So, sadly, unless you want to pretend to be asleep…'

"No, I'll pay my dues for scaring people."

'Good.' Cleon leaned over and patted Layla on the back. She smiled back. 'Anyway, mind explaining why you drank poison?'

"Maker's breath, I didn't think it was poisoned!"

I had to go through the explanation quite a few times, because everyone thought it was very 'me' to purposely drink poison to protect someone. Of course, I couldn't blame them given the other things I'd done in the past, though I did pretend to get annoyed. Most saw through it, though, just as they saw through my attempts to stay awake. Eventually, they left me to nod off and Layla stayed to run her hands through my hair and, likely, to reassure herself that I was, in fact, breathing.

Overall, it was one of the better poisoning experiences I'd had. I did hope I wouldn't have another, though.

Author's note: Decided to go with the poisoning to give the conspirators some form of sense. Otherwise, they just send assassins after you. Loghain's ramble about Orlais comes from his in-game party conversations, while maps are his 'preferred' gifts. Some callbacks here, too. Oghren's companion quest here is technically two parts, the encounter with Felsi and then the talk about how he could write letters to his family after you get him to 76+ approval. Which for some reason resets between Origins and Awakening, but the diminished returns from giving gifts is still there. I chose to string them both together because I doubted the approval would completely reset if this wasn't a game.

Next Chapter – Cleon in the Keep