Arren and his companions retreated from the Dalish camp to their previous campsite further down the lake. They could already hear the sounds of mourning songs rising soft into the air behind them. Arren had taken Lanaya aside and told her the whole grim truth of Zathrian's involvement in the curse; he'd decided to leave it up to her how to break the news to her clan. She'd been horrified and shocked by the news – which overall Arren tended to believe was a good sign that the clan had not been corrupted past redemption by Zathrian's long leadership – and had said she would need to come to terms with the news herself before she was ready to speak of it to the clan as a whole. He had let her know that he planned to tell Marethari as well; there would be no keeping it secret, if she found herself tempted to do so once he'd moved on.

"We'll take a rest here for a few days before we return to Redcliffe and let Arl Eamon know that we've gathered all the allies we can with the treaties," Arren told the group. "It will take a while for word to be spread among the Dalish clans anyway, and we've nothing else pressing to do at the moment."

He returned to the Dalish camp himself after that – as little loathe as he was to mourn the man himself, he felt it politic to support Lanaya with his presence. Mara went with him, feeling that he should have at least one of them by his side and knowing the Dalish would be less than open to human visitors during their mourning.

Morrigan watched them go, then turned and walked over to Jowan. "With another journey to Redcliffe in our near future, you should practise your hound form more. 'Tis too many days since you last did so, and it becomes easier with use, not merely with time."

Jowan nodded, and turned to Alistair. "How about Mouse, you and I take a nice long walk in the woods?" he suggested.

Alistair nodded. "Certainly. Let's just try to avoid the bits with wolves, bears, undead, maleficarum and walking trees, shall we?"

Jowan laughed. "We can try, yes... I'd suggest you bring your sword just in case."

"Can we avoid the mercenaries too? And the giant spiders?"

Briar grinned doggishly at him and barked.

They stuck close to the lake, Alistair walking slowly along the shore while Briar and Mouse romped through the trees and underbrush. When they disappeared out of sight for too long he'd stop, find a place to sit down, and wait for them to return. They were rarely gone for more than fifteen minutes at a stretch. Thankfully it was a peaceful walk, disturbed by nothing more exciting than the occasional breeze riffling the surface of the lake, or the mabaris starting up a partridge or rabbit.

By mid-afternoon they'd reached the far end of the lake, well out of sight of both the Dalish camp and their own, and Jowan reached the limit of his endurance for the shift and changed back to his human form. He'd just returned from another dash after a rabbit with Mouse, so he was tired and out of breath, and sprawled out on the sandy beach to recover. Alistair grinned and sat down on the sand beside him, looking out over the lake before glancing down at the mage. "That looked like a lot of fun," he said.

Jowan grinned. "It was. Except when Mouse caught and ate one of the rabbits we were chasing. He offered me some. I can't decide which horrifies me more, how gross watching a hound eat raw game is, or how delicious it looked and smelled to me-as-Briar."

Alistair laughed, then leaned over and kissed Jowan gently, just a brush along the lips and the littlest tickle with his tongue.

"Mmm, nice," Jowan said, smiling back up at him as he withdrew.

"How about we strip down..." Alistair said, voice low and husky, and glanced furtively around. "...and go swimming!"

Jowan laughed at the teasing look on Alistair's face. "All this lovely privacy and that's what you want to do?" he asked plaintively.

Alistair grinned back at him. "Yes," he said. "Do you remember that time on the way from Denerim to Lake Calenhad, when all of us went swimming together and had the cattail fight?"

Jowan smiled warmly. "Yes. Maker, that was a lot of fun! Why?"

"Oh, just... I think that was when I first became aware of just how aware of you I was. I caught myself admiring your ass while you were bathing," he admitted, blushing a little. "Surprised me, scared me more than a little too. I'd... never been attracted to a man before."

Jowan snorted, and smiled warmly at Alistair. "I think I started noticing how aware of you I was not very much before that," he admitted in turn. "The fight with the darkspawn the day before. At the end of the fight, you were standing there, dripping with gore, grinning, and just so... well, I think I figured out about then why Owen had such a thing for strong men in armour," he finished, grinning widely. "Seeing you naked in the pond the next day only confirmed for me that I was feeling more than a little attracted to you. Good thing the water was relatively cold."

Alistair smiled in amusement. "Your friend's tastes seem to have changed a little. Or am I misreading him?"

Jowan shrugged and smiled. "I think the only person misreading him is our favourite assassin. You can't say that Zevran isn't a strong man though. And he does wear armour, even if it's made of leather, not that horrible heavy steel stuff you wear."

"Hey! My armour's not horrible!" Alistair pouted, then looked thoughtful. "I wonder how long it will take to have that silverite set we collected from those revenants refurbished so I can wear it. Not long, I hope... Maker, but it's a glorious set."

Jowan snorted. "Here we are, lying on a warm sandy beach with no one around for miles, and all you can think of is armour!"

Alistair grinned. "It's some seriously sexy armour," he said, then poked Jowan in the ribs with his finger. "Come on, let's get in that lake. I have a fantasy or two I'd love to fulfil, featuring you and me bathing together."

Jowan grinned and sat up, and started tugging at the laces of his shirt. "I might have one or two of those myself, truth be told."

"Let's see how many we can take care of before we have to head back to camp then."

Jowan groaned as he tiredly stripped off his clothing again. "Remind me next time we have a bright idea like that just how long a walk it is back to camp. Especially when I already tired before we started."

Alistair laughed. "Poor little mage. It didn't tire me out."

"You hadn't just spent several hours working a continuous spell while racing around exercising heavily. And you've got that damned Grey Warden stamina on your side," Jowan groused.

"Still got it on my side, too," Alistair said, grinning sheepishly.

Jowan glanced over and down. "Again? Are you trying to kill me?"

"Only in the best possible way."

"Liar. All right, but you have to do all the work, I'm too tired."

Alistair snorted, then smiled. "You could always tell me no, you know."

Jowan ducked his head, lips twitching in a rueful smile. "I might kind of like when you keep going. It's... nice."

"Nice? Only nice?"

He laughed. "Okay, better than nice actually. You do everything so slow and gentle and... it's just nice."

Alistair smiled warmly at him. "Come here then," he growled softly, turning on his left side and patting the bedroll in front of him. "Spoon up against me."

Jowan did as told, curling up on his side as well. Alistair stretched to reach their backpacks nearby, and poured a little oil on his hand, then reached down between them, smoothing some over his ready erection before beginning to work his fingers into Jowan's rear. "You're still pretty loose," he remarked.

"Not surprising, considering how energetic we were earlier," Jowan said, then shuddered and hissed as Alistair's fingers stroked against just the right spot deep inside.

For a minute or two they were both silent, apart from Jowan's occasional little sounds of pleasure as Alistair prepared him. "All right, lift your leg a little," Alistair murmured, tapping one finger against Jowan's right thigh. He moved around a little to get the angle right, then slowly pressed forward, sliding into place. "You can lower it again," he panted out. He adjusted their position slightly, so Jowan's head was resting comfortably on his own outstretched left arm, then reached across to wrap his oiled hand around Jowan's erection. "Ready?"

Jowan gave a pleased little hum of assent, and he began to move, just a slow rocking of his hips that moved him a little in and out of Jowan, matching the motion of himself inside Jowan with longer strokes of his hand around him. As spent as they both had been earlier, it was a pleasantly languorous time as they rocked gently together, a long, slow build of sensation, of oiled flesh gliding against oiled flesh. Jowan was beginning to make frustrated mewls of pleasure before Alistair felt his own orgasm approaching. He picked up the stroke, gripping Jowan a little firmer and rubbing his thumb in circles against his moist tip.

Jowan lifted his hand to his mouth and bit down on it, muffling his cries of pleasure as he started to come. Alistair bent his left arm around him and smoothly rolled over onto his back, Jowan atop him, gravity helping to seat them a little more tightly together, and went over the edge as well as he felt Jowan's flesh quivering around his own. He groped for a cloth, and wiped up the mess on Jowan's stomach first, then between them as he slid out, before rolling them back onto their sides for sleep.

"Nice?" he asked, unable to keep an amused note out of his voice.

"Very," Jowan breathed out, eyes already fluttering shut.

"Good."