Author's Note: Unfreaking believable! I don't now how I managed it, but after going through my chapter for the umpteenth time before I posted it...I deleted the second half of the chapter before saving. I'm sorry everyone, the little Leliana/Zev blurb was supposed to move into this and be posted as one! But since there are already comments, I'll just post this as the part 2 of that chapter. Apparently my brain hasn't actually started up again since all the craziness of this last month =/

Spitting dirt from her mouth, Kila finally wretched free from the ground. Scrambling to her feet, she kept her stance low and defensive as she spun around to face…nothing. Absolutely nothing. No demon. No buildings. No vendor stalls. Nothing.

Jace stood several feet in front of her, with his fists still up in a challenge to nothing. Hearing her stir, he finally turned around, clearly as bewildered as Kila. "Where are we?" he breathed the words they were both thinking.

Shaking her head, Kila kept looking around. They were in a small clearing, covered with what appeared to be dried grass. The ground gently rolled and met with a ridge before them that jutted too high for her to see the top. Carefully, Jace picked his way through the bits of dried grass and stood beside Kila as they continued to glance at their new surroundings.

"Where are we?" she echoed him, in a louder voice.

"You are safe," the unmistakable words floated down to the pair from an unseen source.

Quickly, they both spun around to find nothing behind them. Nervously, they reached for one another's hands, trying to find a small bit of assurance in this disorienting situation.

"Who are you?" Jace called out in a surprisingly confident voice. "Show yourself!"

The disembodied voice seemed amused as it replied, "Jace Valence. You have done well."

Doubt crept in as Jace repeated, "Done well?"

"As Kila's guide."

Jace shot Kila a look of confusion, "What?"

"Although, interestingly, it was Ruck who found her. And he has passed on to the afterlife. It is a strong bond he has to her. A remarkably strong bond," the voice mused thoughtfully.

Ruck…the taint addled dwarf from the Deep Roads. The voice that called her from the blackness. Another obvious connection clicked in Kila's head and she held back a quick rush of emotion with a clenched jaw. Finally she growled, "Who are you?"

"A friend," the voice calmly replied before adding, "Jace you have done your job. You are free to leave now."

As those words were spoken, Kila suddenly felt as though she were holding feathers in her hand. Shocked, she glanced down to see Jace's hand was becoming transparent. She pulled away in surprise and looked up at Jace's face to see it too was becoming transparent. "Jace?" she asked, panic seeping into her tone.

His face reflected that panic as he looked down at his hands, flipping them over to see both sides. Kila pressed her fingers to her mouth as she helplessly watched her only friend fade. After a brief moment, Jace's face suddenly lit up. With a smile, he simply said, "It's okay."

Then he was gone.

Frantically, Kila tried to hold back her tears as the overwhelming sense of abandonment rushed through her. Try as she might, she was hardly able to grasp her situation, and now she was alone. She felt like a lost child. Silently, she desperately wished Zevran were with her – his quick wit always cut through such nonsense. Even though she fared better than he did on their last encounter in the Fade, she knew he could make sense of this all. Weakly, she asked again, "Who are you?"

A rustle behind her caught her attention and she quickly turned to face the noise. A figure was coming down the side of the ridge on a hidden path. She could see white hair on the person's crown, and squinted in an attempt to see more details.

Finally, the figure came into view and Kila gasped. It was a woman with her white hair pulled back. She had loving eyes and yet a stern demeanor. She was dressed in a mage robe. Wynne. Wynne smiled kindly at Kila, but remained quiet.

Kila shook her head, this was impossible. Her face screwed up in confusion as she murmured, "No. You…you can't be Wynne, she is still alive."

Instantly, the form shimmered and blurred. Subconsciously, Kila took a step back as her pulse began to quicken again. Part of her demanded she run, but she was paralyzed by fascination. It came back into focus and she felt her blood run cold as a distant memory stirred in the depths of her mind. Again, she knew it was impossible but she wanted to believe. Maybe it could be…she was dead after all, and this was the Fade…

After a long pause she finally whispered, "Mom?"

As quickly as she said it, the rational part of her mind took over. If that was truly her mother, why would it look like Wynne first? Coldly, she shook her head to snap herself out of it. No. It was a mind game, it was a cruel joke, but it was not her mother.

"You are a demon," Kila accused, slowly backing away.

The figure smiled and started to advance.