Wynne's POV

It was madness. The Qunari was leading us through Dust Town, but everyone was too scared of the massive man. We were not got anywhere closer to Jarvia.

"Maybe we can this dwarf," Alistair suggested.

Sten stood silently contemplating the situation, "We'll split up. Rabbit, Morrigan, and I; Alistair and Wynne. Find out what you can. We will return to the gates of Dust Town in an hour."

And so Alistair and I went off with a small bag of coins for persuasion. Near a campfire, we met a young, angry and dirty female dwarf named Nadezda. She glared at us from the moment we spotted her. She instantly distrusted us.

Alistair immediately decided to ask her about Jarvia and she glanced around in an even angrier state. She stumbled to her feet and I think I could smell cheap dwarven ale on her, instinctively I took a step backward. She just smelled so foul. I saw her eyeing the pouch on Alistair's hip.

"Gold for information then?" I questioned her.

She nodded and told us about finger bone tokens as well as her hate for Jarvia and the new carta. Alistair was about to walk away, when he remembered the coins. He pulled out several silver pieces and threw them to the ground at the dwarf's feet. The man was only human, and not that of a good quality human like the Warden. The Warden saw all man as being created equal. Alistair seemingly did not feel the same, although I'm sure he would deny it at all costs. Aye, he was only human and guaranteed to have faults.

I sighed, "Sleep easy tonight on a full stomach."

Thus, Alistar and I waited at the gates of Dust Town, waiting for Sten, Rabbit, and Morrigan to meet with us. I leaned against a large stone pillar while Alistair stood in his great steel armor before me. He stood nervously; through his helmet I could see his eyes flashing from left to right.

Alistair, in his anxious manner decided to talk, "So tell me," he said, "you have any children? Grandchildren? I don't know, great grandchildren?"

"What would make you think I have any children at all?" I said, having no desire to speak about this topic, "You have to know I've spent most of my life in the Circle of Magi."

"You just seem like the grandmotherly type to me," Alistair spoke, "I don't know."

His uncertainty made me smile. Just like a child was he. Despite his idiocies now and then, I hoped my child would have ended up like him. I smirked and decided to tease him a little bit.

"I suppose I'll take that as a comment on my demeanor and not my age."

"Mages aren't forbidden to marry or anything, are they?" he looked downright confused, but no longer wary of his surroundings. I suppose talking did help the man calm himself, "It's not such an outlandish question."

"Isn't it? What sort of man would marry a mage, do you think?"

"How about another mage? There are just as many men as women within the Circle, as I recall," Alistair said and my thoughts flurried back to my youth within the circle.

I can remember sitting in one of the Circle's many libraries. I can remember my golden hair and my petite physique, features that I no longer retain. I would study in there for hours on end, study deep into the night. That was where I met Remus. Remus was a Templar who had the night watch in the Circle on my floor.

Remus had fire-red hair as I recall. He also had quite an appeal appearance too. He was years older than me. I knew he was beyond the average Templar when he did not react to mages the same way as other Templars would. In my day and age at the Circle, Templars were not as kind as they are today. I knew many mages who would get "a-talking-to", code for a thrashing, for speaking out of turn or for even less. Remus was caring toward the other mages and myself. Maybe that's why he got the night watch, for the other Templars did not seem to like him as much.

I was reading about Circle politics when Remus spoke up to me on his rounds for the first time. I can still see the soft brown of his eyes. Nothing, up until that point, had ever looked at me so softly. He had even pulled off his helmet so as to speak to me!

"Is everything okay in this area?" he had asked me.

I had lost voice at the sight of him. He was a handsome human Templar talking to me.

"Aye, ser," I eventually managed to say.

I was sitting at a long table, surrounded by books that were too heavy for me to carry all at once. My cheeks had been burning a fierce scarlet.

"What are you doing awake at this hour?" he questioned me.

"Studying, ser," I replied.

He made himself comfortable at a seat across the table from me, "You must be real smart."

Remus was a kind man. From that night on I made sure to study late every night just so I could see him. As the days passed I grew foolish and allowed our friendship to grow. Soon Remus grew to become a friend. Then without warning, I found myself thinking of Remus as more than a friend. I was involved with this Templar; this man who served this position that would cut off my head if need be. I was surprised when I found that the feelings were returned.

Several months later I could feel my son kicking in my stomach. My pregnancy was unwanted, but I found myself in love with the bulge in my stomach, as well as Remus. However, such things were not to be. I could not be with Remus and could certainly not have a child with him.

When I told Remus of the baby he was ecstatic and he proposed to me. He gave me a copper ring and I was perplexed, to say the least. There was my duty to be a mage, scholarly and focused. Both things could not be done as a mage with a husband and a child. And as if the Circle would have allowed our relationship. If they found out both Remus and I would be torn from each other. Perhaps I would have been sent to a different tower, or Remus to a different post.

Remus thought we should be open with the Templars and the mages. He thought that we could be the tie that bound both Templar and mage together in a not so hostile way. He was foolish to think so and I was foolish to allow him to do what he pleased.

I never saw Remus after that night he proposed. My decision had been made for me. The Templars had removed Remus from my life and I was torn.

A few months later and my child was born. My son. I had called him Remmy, but he too had been taken away from me. I was left in despair for several months afterward.

I isolated myself from everyone I knew. It was then when I recognized the purpose for the Templars. The Templars served a function; saving us mages form being abominations was not their only responsibility. They were there to help keep us focused on our studies. They were saviors, champions of all that is good. They are able to protect the world from the ravages of foul magic, magic that could have gained a hold on me if I were allowed to keep my son and my Roy. For my two loves kept me from studying and being prepared and skilled in the arcane arts.

I have not lost focus since.

"How about another mage? There are just as many men as there are women within the Circle, as I recall," Alistair had said.

"That sort of union is…" I said as I forced my memories to remain the past and responded, "not encouraged. Although that does not stop us from seeking out each other's… company from time to time."

"I… all right, suddenly you don't seem quite so grandmotherly to me anymore."

I forced a smiled, "Good. I would hope not."

"You know, we still have some time before Morrigan meets up with us," Alistair said, "Maybe we could find a finger bone token on our own."

"That would be most unwise. We would be safer if we waited until the others return."

The Templar gave me a glum look and sighed. His eyes glanced shiftily from left to right, nervous because of the surroundings. It made me smile to myself. Maybe my Remmy would react the same way as this man.

Leliana's POV

"Now tell me what else you're hiding," the Warden demanded of me.

I told him of all my misdeeds. The Warden sighed and looked at the ground then met my eyes. His green eyes gave me shivers; they told me he was furious.

"Leliana, I demand that you go."

"Go where?" I questioned.

"Go anywhere! Take care of Marjolane, I don't care," he stated.

He handed me three gold pieces and a loaf of bread. Then he turned to meet up with the rest of the group. The Warden did not look back once. I was left in shock. He found out what I had done. I was unsure of what to do, so I followed the Warden's advice and turned to head to Denerim. I was almost positive that the Warden would kill me if he saw me again. I had lost all his trust and respect. I would never have the Warden as mine.

I arrived in Denerim, dirty and cloaked. I had chosen to hide my hair, lest Marjolane decided to send more spies my way. I bought myself a cheap meal and rested for a long while in a bar. The moment I had recovered my strength I went to find Marjolane's hideout.

At nightfall, I silently slipped through the side door of Marjolane's hideout. There I saw two commonplace thugs, they had not noticed me yet. Using their daftness to my advantages, I crept up behind one of the thugs and slit his throat with a dagger. The man fell to the floor in a loud clank. Only then did the other guard notice me.

He roared with all his might, but after seeing the way that the Warden had roared, I felt no fear. He charged at me, but with a simple sidestep I was able to use his force against himself. As he stepped by me, I flung him onto the floor. Pouncing onto his back with my dagger at hand, I smashed the blade into the back of his throat.

Once I was sure both thugs were quite dead, I went onward to see Marjolane. To my surprise she was just in the next room. Her beauty struck me like it always had from the past. Marjolane was beautiful. Marjolane's long flowing brown hair had always smelled of flowers, and her lips were always so full and red.

"Leliana! So lovely to see you again my dear…" Marjolane's words stung. I had missed her voice. My mentor had always had an eloquent way of speaking.

I held my ground, "Spare me your pleasantries. I know you're-"

"Oh! You must excuse me for the shabby accommodations. I try to be a good host, but you see what I wave to work with?" she spoke, but I was taking notice of our surroundings. There were two mages in the room along with Marjolane. "This country smells like wet dog. Everywhere. I cannot get the smell out. Even now it is in my hair, my clothes… ugh…"

"Why did you send assassins after me?" I questioned.

"So business-like, you have become."

It hurt to see Marjolane standing there. She was acting like nothing she did was ever wrong. I was pained to see the woman I once loved stand there with eyes that tried to hide the fact that she wanted to kill me.

"You framed me, had me caught and tortured. I thought that in Ferelden, I would be free of you, but it seems I am not," I found that my words were making it hard for me to keep tears from appearing, but nonetheless I continued speaking, "What happened to make you hate me so? Why do you want me dead so badly?"

"Dead? Nonsene. I know you, my Leliana. I know what you are capable of. Four, five men… you can dispatch easily. They were sent to give you cause to come to me. And see? Here you are," Marjolane said with a smug smile on her face. She thought I thought she had won, but really she had lost. Those men were sent to kill me and she should have known that I knew.

I ignored what she had said to the best of my ability. I knew when Marjolane was lying.

"What are you up to, Marjolane? Why are you in Ferelden?" I asked.

"In truth?" she questioned, "You have knowledge that you can use against me. For my own safety, I cannot let you be. Did you think I did not know where you were? Did you think I would not watch my Leliana?"

I tried to not fidget, but it was so strange to see Marjolane again and I was nervous. Those two mages could kill me so quickly. I had seen Morrigan work her magic, and although I was positive Morrigan was stronger than either of these mages, I knew what sort of things mages were capable of.

"What is she up to? I thought," Marjolane said to me, "The quiet life, the peasant clothes, hair ragged and messy like a boy… This is not her. You were planning something, I told myself. So I watched… but no letters were sent. No messages. You barely spoke to anyone. Clever, Leliana, very clever. You almost had me fooled. But then you left the Chantry, so suddenly. What conclusion should I draw? You tell me."

I nearly laughed, "You think I left because of you? You think I still have some plan for… for revenge? You are insane. Paranoid! I was just helping the Gray Wardens. That is all. I am not you, Marjolane. I left because I didn't want to become you."

I wasn't sure how true that was, but I needed to make it sound true. I actually acted almost exactly like Marjolane. I was Marjolane. I did everything that she would have done. I saw an opportunity could be available by breaking the trust that the Warden had given me. I had done wrong when I had poisoned Zevran. This much I now knew. I would not do that again, not like I would have the option to do it again. The Wardens would have nothing to do with me now.

"Oh, but you are me," Marjolane said, we both knew that this was true as much as I didn't want to believe it, "You cannot escape it. No one will understand you the way I do, because we are one and the same. Do you know why you were a master manipulator, Leliana? It is because you enjoyed the game; you reveled in the power it gave you. You cannot change or deny this."

"You will not threaten me again, Marjolane. I want you out of my life, forever. I have put the past behind me. You should too. Leave Ferelden. Go back to Orlais and never return. What you do is no longer my concern."

Marjolaine looked me in the eye, and she warily glanced at my dagger. Marjolaine was never one to want a battle upfront.

"I see," she hummed, "I will go, for now. But you carry a dangerous secret of mine, Leliana. It is not over. Not for us."

My old mentor walked away through the front door, taking her two mages with her. She left me alone in her home. It took me a few deep breaths to regain my normal breathing patterns.

She's gone. I didn't know what to think. She said it was over. No- She was lying. She will not come back.