1.
The muffled sound of angry female voices rose higher through the Keep. Suddenly the shouts were clear, ringing through an open door. The door slammed shut in the stone walls: Velanna and the Commander were done arguing for the night.
2.
Felsi and Oghren both turned to Neria. Their shouts died away and in the background someone plucked a lute. She opened her hands and backed away from the dwarves, eyes wide, head shaking as if trying to move through a dream.
3.
She was crying, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts and he was crying over this I know, I know, I'm hurrying as he propelled her into her room. He rummaged through her things until he found a bottle of blue and swallowed it back. He pushed her on the bed and pulled the bones of her arm. She screamed in pain and then arched in pleasure as the pain was abruptly taken away by his magic. Eyes still shut, she put fists in his hair and drew him down into the bed.
4.
He was so big, so slow. She had to pull him down to kiss him, couldn't get her arms around him properly, and the rough hair on his chest, which she had once loved to run her hands through, now felt like an intrusion on his skin. His large fingers were pleasant, if slow, and though she found pleasure there she felt split open when he entered her.
After he left she wept into her soiled bedding and felt over her skin the ghost of smaller hands, strong and nimble as they lifted her, the ghost of a chest that fit well over her back, silky hair tracing her shoulder and full lips at her ear breathing amora into a night that held nothing but silence.
5.
To the Grey Warden Alistair, lately of Highever,
I well realize that you have not received my previous letters, so allow me to reiterate that you must make for Vigil's Keep and Amaranthine at once. It is unlikely that I will survive and I wish for you to command the Wardens that remain. We both know what your thoughts would be on this issue and so I beg that you forgive me for asking this of you.
Know that I do not share your doubts. Your abilities exceed those of mine and even Duncan's, for while we were both suited to leading the order in times of war, you are the one who will be equally gifted in times of peace.
I pray that this finds you in good health. If I do not see you again, I would have you know that I have always held you in the highest esteem and affection.
Warden Neria
6.
The Commander's helm was at her hip as she spoke with the Seneschal. The conversation was abruptly broken at the moment when soldiers arrived through the splinters of the gate. She began running toward them, scrambling over a broken wall on the way, and the blonde man at the front of the newcomers turned.
She flung herself at him with a clash of armor, holding herself off the ground by her arms around his neck. She pushed her face into the side of his throat, shaking, and he held her up and close against him by his arms wrapped around her. His eyes were wide in his reddening face, but after a moment he closed them and bowed his head against her, murmuring something, and all Anders could think was, I thought it was an elf that she loved.