Thank you to Wicked Lullaby, Bear Mage and Fallon-Idalia for the reviews! =)

The unwanted dawn came quickly. That night the rebellion focused on burning the bodies, the evidence as well as tending to the wounded and preparing to leave Tantervale. Once Astoria had cleaned Fenris' wound and loosely wrapped it to catch any further bleeding, she had worked through the night with everyone else.

He had dozed and drifted in and out of consciousness, but never really slept the way someone should. The orphanage was loud; everyone was frantic and rushing about. Astoria checked on him periodically, and he knew that in between everything she hadn't had time to wash the blood from her hair. With Eshan wounded as he was, Garsen and Astoria had to step up and take temporary control over the rebellion.

But their time was running out, and Fenris knew he needed to help in order to get them out of Tantervale as soon as possible. He stumbled out of the orphanage, bleary from blood loss, and looked around. The bodies weren't burning fast enough, the stench in the alienage almost unbearable.

Other than the rebels, there were no others around. The elves of the alienage were avoiding coming out of their homes in case the city guard swooped down upon them and hauled them all off to the gallows.

Astoria was rummaging through a stack of mail that Eshan had never gotten to. Fenris limped to her, frowning at how exhausted she looked.

"Are we almost ready to go?" He asked.

"Not yet," Astoria said softly, her eyes scanning over a sheet of vellum before she dropped it and opened another one. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," he lied. It hurt to breathe and his side throbbed painfully, but he could ignore it. It paled in comparison to his first memories.

Astoria tossed a sheet of vellum aside and ripped open the next one.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm looking for information. I need to see if we're the only ones that have been found out." Judging by the opened stack that had accumulated at her feet, she had been going through it for a while.

"Would we be that lucky?"

Astoria shook her head. "We are never lucky." She paused on the vellum she read. "Oh, shit, Fenris-"

He narrowed his eyes at the vellum in her hands. "What?"

"It says here – no, just read it."

He held the letter out and read it impatiently.

Astoria,

I regret to inform you that I don't have any information in regards to your son, and I also cannot tell you what magisters research lyrium warriors. However, I can tell you who raided the estate that you speak of. A magister by the name of Valinius, to the best of my knowledge, was the one who raided Danarius' estate. He is young and power-hungry, and he lives just outside of Asariel. I hope that helps you in your search.

Hollan, Coordinator of the Minrathous branch

Astoria was watching Fenris with intensity as he read. He met her gaze levelly.

"Valinius." He muttered, folding the vellum and stuffing it into one of his packs on his belt.

"Is he familiar to you?"

"No."

Astoria nodded. The way she stared at him, Fenris knew she was trying to predict how he was going to react. It made him incredibly self conscious of how volatile he was – how much people expected him to be the sudden storm that he was. As his heart rate increased, he tried to breathe steadily, though each breath caused him pain.

Valinius may possess all of the known information on Fenris' lyrium. If he could find answers anywhere, they would be in the walls of Valinius' home. This was another lead, the lead that Fenris wanted.

Astoria took a tentative step towards him. "Then we're going to Asariel."

The gratitude he felt at hearing those words was astounding – as if closure, his very sanity, was actually visible on the distant horizon. Astoria smiled at him and squeezed his arm reassuringly. Fenris shivered, but looked looked around; at the fire that burned in the center of the small square, at the elves that loaded up a wooden cart with the few supplies this branch of the rebellion had.

"What if the city guard come here before we have time to leave?" He asked suddenly, the anxiety of their precarious situation unsettling him deeply.

"We have some connections with the guard – since we take all those 'poor, filthy elven children off the street,'" she said with disgust directed at the guard, "and we keep the peace down here. I would say that the Tevinter who escaped would be our biggest threat – if there are any other slavers or bounty hunters in the city, I imagine that he'll be gathering them."

Fenris nodded slowly and then smirked, the tense situation seeming to ebb away. "You have blood in your hair still."

Astoria chuckled. "No more than you do, I imagine."

He hadn't seen his reflection. He lifted a wary hand to his head and felt it had crusted with blood, but he knew it was not his own.

"That is a good point though," Astoria said as she gathered up the mail at her feet into a neat stack, "I suppose we can't sneak out of Tantervale until we get cleaned up – being covered in blood might draw some suspicion."

Fenris snorted in response, looking at the elves around them – exhausted, anxious, afraid and bloody. "In that case, we'll be lucky to get out of here by sundown."

Fenris had been right in his prediction. It was dusk by the time the rebellion had finally gathered as one on the Minanter River, outside of Tantervale. Throughout the day, several groups had left the city, with a couple hours in between as to not draw too much suspicion.

Twenty-two of them began their journey east down the wide river. Caroline and the children had stayed at the orphanage, of course, as there was no place for them to join the imminent fighting. This left Astoria, Fenris, Garsen, Eshan and the rest of the recruits that hadn't died from the previous night's battle.

They set up camp on the banks of the river only an hour into their journey, with the vast Tantervale city behind them. Everyone was exhausted and supplies were limited because they had left Tantervale days before they had planned. Luckily, with twenty-two people, the night watch was quick for each and most people could sleep through the entire night. This was welcome news to Fenris.

He settled on the riverbank, a bit away from everyone else. Astoria had given him a woolen blanket, which was more than some others had, before she had gone to help some elves set up a net in the river to catch fish.

Feeding this many people would be a nightmare, Fenris was sure of it as he sat near the water and looked around in the growing dark.

A twig snapping behind him startled him, and he reached for his sword before he heard the voice behind him.

"Whoa, it's only me."

Garsen's voice sounded from behind him. Fenris relaxed and looked over his shoulder, eyes drawn narrow.

"What is it?"

Garsen stood beside him before sitting down a couple feet away. "Astoria says that you've broken a couple ribs. How do you feel?"

Fenris wondered why Garsen was trying to be friendly. That wasn't like them. "I'm fine," he replied with a frown. A campfire was building in the center of the camp, but he was too far to feel any warmth from it.

"That's good. We need a good warrior like you around."

"I can't help you train them just yet," Fenris said quickly.

Garsen shook his head. "No, you misunderstand me. I am a good friend of Astoria's, and yet she has told me so little about you. I just want some information."

This didn't sound good to Fenris. "What kind of information?"

Garsen took a breath, uneasy. "You're a lyrium warrior. I want to know about that. If I may be so bold, what is your bounty?"

Fenris felt himself beginning to scowl. "I hardly see how this is your business."

Garsen visibly tensed. "It isn't exactly, but you would be doing the rebellion a great service if you could help me."

He failed to see how someone knowing his bounty would help the rebellion. He didn't even know his own bounty, though he figured it was astronomical.

Fenris glanced around at the elves – most of them hopeless and frustrated with their second class position in society. He hated the Imperium as much as any of them, but the rebellion seemed weak and hopeless to him. They were still his best chance at finding information about his markings and finding Astoria's son, and that was something he had reluctantly committed to.

"What do you want to know?" He asked eventually.

"Well... Astoria never told us that you were a lyrium warrior, and I've asked her about it, and she told me to ask you." As Garsen took a deep breath, Fenris silently felt grateful that Astoria had respected his privacy so much as to not tell everyone about him. "I'd like to know... how do you get the markings? How does it work? What can you do?"

"Why?"

"We could use more like you, honestly."

Fenris scowled, clenching his fists. "I would never wish this curse on anybody."

Garsen, looking genuinely surprised, sputtered for a response. "I - I didn't know that you saw then negatively." Garsen stood up and brushed off his pants nervously, but then he seemed to steel himself. "If you change your mind, let me know. There are some that would not see that as a curse."

Fenris didn't answer as Garsen left him by the river, seething. He wondered why Astoria had said so little about him – he was appreciative of it, but if she was such good friends with Garsen, why hadn't she told him anything? Perhaps she couldn't understand his markings herself, which Fenris realized was a perfectly reasonable explanation.

It struck him how little she knew about him post-markings. He had told her so little in his own efforts to learn about his past, that he hadn't realized that the past nine years of his life were almost completely unknown to her. Yes, she knew who he had spent his time with, she knew little details about Danarius, but she didn't know how he escaped, how he had spent so many years just running.

It wasn't long until Astoria went to Fenris and knelt down beside him that he found himself wanting to tell her about everything; Seheron, the Fog Warriors, his years just running from city to city.

"How are you doing?" She asked softly, digging out a small hole in the ground in which to prop up her torch.

"I'm fine," he replied.

"I wanted to look at your wound, if that's alright with you."

Fenris nodded, glancing around. There was no one close by, not that it made him want to take his clothes off any more, but he had the blanket anyway. He put his breastplate on the ground and got out of his tunic while Astoria busied herself with a clean bandage that she had, keeping her eyes on anything but him. Fenris laid down on his back and pulled the blanket over himself, exposing only the area Astoria needed to see.

"It's been bleeding again," she noted softly. A cool and damp cloth pressed against his side as Fenris tensed uncomfortably, hissing a breath through his teeth at the pressure on the broken bones. "Just from moving around, though, I'm sure. You were lucky that the mace didn't hit you the way he had meant it."

The first stars were beginning to show in the sky, the wide river rushing against the riverbanks as it bled east and raced towards the sea. A village across the river shone as tiny lights, like Wilder had when they had slept on the lake.

"Garsen wanted to know how to 'make more of me,'" Fenris said bitterly. He felt Astoria's care on his wound pause momentarily.

"Oh, no, did he?" Astoria asked softly, "I'm sorry, Fenris – he doesn't know. I think he admires your... abilities."

Fenris growled low in his throat. "Does he admire my memory loss? Does he admire that I will forever be hunted for my 'abilities?'"

Astoria hummed. "No, he doesn't know about any of that."

"So it seems." He frowned, clenching his fists at a sharp pain racing through him. "Why didn't you tell him?"

Astoria furrowed her brow, confused. "It wasn't his business. I can tell him, if you'd like, but I... I don't know how to explain them either. I can't tell anyone how you can just plunge your fist through someone. I can try to explain, but -"

"No, don't, I'm glad you didn't." Her fingertips grazed his skin away from his wound, and the touch made him shiver. It must have been accidental because she drew her hand back quickly. "Do they wonder why we don't act like we're... married?"

She chuckled, but the sound seemed grim. "Yes. They're like noblewomen with how they gossip."

"And if they don't know about my memory... what do you tell them?"

"I don't tell them anything. I let them assume what they want. Some of them think you're in love with someone in Kirkwall, some think that you and I just drifted apart, some have other assumptions."

Fenris frowned. He knew that Astoria was respected in the rebellion, for whatever reason. He hadn't realized how much his presence may have disrupted her standing, if it had. What if some of them saw her as someone to be pitied, a woman whose husband left her and now shows her no affection, only following her because of a duty to a child.

He knew immediately that it would have been easier for her to forget about him, to tell people that her husband had died. But she hadn't, and that showed an honest bravery that Fenris was not used to. He knew how he seemed to others – cold, unforgiving, uncaring – and surely those were not traits that others would imagine Astoria's husband to have. Just explaining to others that they were married must look badly on her.

Fenris frowned at this realization while Astoria silently cleaned his wound with meticulous care and gentle hands.

"I'm going to miss our sparring sessions," she chuckled.

Fenris was still for a moment before he let himself smirk. "I enjoy them as well."

He saw Astoria smile out of the corner of his eye as she put a hand on his shoulder. "Sit up so I can wrap this."

He did as asked and watched the firelight of Astoria's torch play across her face, her hair loose and laying across her back, no longer caked with the blood of Tevinter bounty hunters.

"You must be tired," he said, noticing the bruised-looking circles under her eyes as she leaned forward and reached around him, pulling the bandage around him. He caught a whiff of her lavender-scented hair as she pulled away.

"I'm exhausted."

"You should stop taking care of everyone else. This isn't your rebellion." He suggested. Astoria smirked and tied the bandage around him, resting her palms on her knees when she was finished.

"This isn't my rebellion, it's ours." She gestured to the elves at the camp. "Everyone brings something to the table."

"Oh? Most of them are helpless – they can't fight, they can't hunt -"

Astoria frowned and shook her head in disagreement. "So let's educate them, Fenris, let's teach them. Do you know how hard it is to oppress a population that has seen the other side of the fence? Isn't that why Danarius felt that he had to erase your memories? By telling ourselves that we are hopeless, we set ourselves up for disaster, and we practically ask for the magisters to take us."

Fenris met her gaze in the dim firelight, the buzz of the camp behind him. He knew she was right, and perhaps that's why she had such standing within the rebellion, being the only human. Maybe that was why he had married her in the first place – hadn't he been enamored with elven culture? Marrying a human was out of the question for many elves, but there must have been something about her to grab his attention in the first place.

Fenris sighed and moved to put his tunic back on, grunting slightly in the effort it took.

"You're right," he said. "But... what will you do if you get the boy back? Will you stay and help the rebellion?"

Astoria gazed at him with an unreadable expression for a while before taking a breath and speaking. "I'm not sure. I don't think I would stay. I can't keep him in danger like that. If... if you," Fenris realized whatever she was about to say was difficult for her, "do not want to be in his life, I will take him to Ferelden."

Fenris nodded, looking down at the ground. He had no idea what he would do after this entire thing was over.

Sensing his discomfort, like she had a knack for doing, Astoria squeezed his arm reassuringly. "I am not asking you to do anything, Fenris. The fact that you are here now is... it seems a miracle in itself. I will not hold you to anything in the future."

He nodded, his throat feeling tight as he struggled to find words to say, to thank her for being unassuming and gentle and not making him feel guilty or obligated. Astoria gathered up the bloodied bandage and other supplies that she had gone to him with.

"Sleep well, tonight, Fenris. And I encourage you to sleep on your injured side."

"What? Really?"

"Yes. And take deep breaths occasionally."

He nodded again. "Where will you be?"

Astoria plucked the torch from the ground and looked at the rest of the camp. "I'm going to help Garsen ration out our food and take inventory on what exactly we have. And then I'm going to sleep. Anything else you need?"

"No. Thank you."

"Of course, Fenris." Astoria turned and left him on the bank with his constant thoughts and the dark night closing in on Thedas.

Three nights later, Fenris finally had his first watch since leaving Tantervale. That was the one luxury of traveling with so many people, he admitted to himself. Most nights, he could expect to get a full night's sleep.

His shift was the first one, which was always the easiest one to stay awake through. He assumed that people were too frightened of him to wake him up in the middle of the night, and that was alright with him.

The camp had settled down finally, and the moon was high in the dark sky. The night was cooler than usual for the springtime, and people were huddled under their blankets near the fire. Fenris looked around for Astoria out of instinct, and saw her laying on the ground without a blanket near a woman that reminded him of Orana. She was curled in on herself in the fetal position and Fenris felt guilt swarm through him.

She had given him a blanket days ago, and in doing so probably had gone without since then. He hadn't bothered to think about it until now.

With a frown, Fenris went for his own blanket, and draped it over her gently, avoiding touching her. It was the least he could do, really, for everything that she had done for him thus far. He felt that he owed her – for finding him, giving him answers, her patience, his birthday.

Fenris turned to the sound of a chuckle nearby. Eshan was looking at him while he sharpened his sword, sitting on the edge of the wagon they used to carry the communal supplies. Fenris frowned at him, but Eshan waved him over, inviting him to talk.

"Nice work the other night," Eshan complimented. "How long have you been training as a warrior?"

Fenris stepped towards Eshan and gave a slight shrug. "I'm not sure."

"That long, eh?" Eshan turned back to his sword. "No know, I argued with her not to leave the rebellion to go fetch you."

Fenris tensed instantly, like a coiled spring, as he peered at Eshan. He hadn't heard this before.

Eshan shrugged as he continued sharpening the blade. "I wouldn't have bothered if I had known you'd be such a capable fighter."

"Well, she didn't know either." Fenris glanced around him apprehensively.

Eshan raised his gaze from the sword to Fenris curiously. "No?"

Fenris knew Eshan was fishing for information, but since he had spoken with Astoria a few nights before, he felt badly for her that the others assumed he had left her for another woman. He hadn't realized how his presence had potentially changed everyone's perception of her. He had wondered if the others wondered why she would marry a man like him – so broken and cold as he was. Surely he wasn't reflecting well on her. She was a woman of high standing in the rebellion, looked up upon by the new recruits.

Fenris decided to tell the truth to Eshan. He didn't want to be the one to ruin Astoria's reputation.

"I lost all of my memory as a slave," he said, his voice hoarse, "so I did not know that Astoria was even... that she existed until she showed up at my door two months ago."

Eshan watched Fenris carefully, trying to glean more information. "Truly?"

"Truly."

Fenris looked at Eshan, who had narrowed his eyes and was now looking out onto the camp of the sleeping recruits. "Oh, I suppose that makes sense."

Fenris nodded. "I never knew the child."

"I know."

Fenris turned to him, confused.

Eshan chuckled. "I met Astoria a long time ago, back when she was pregnant with him. She was stealing some crops from us," Fenris tilted his head, remembering what this story was – Astoria had told him this, "and when the dogs started barking – we all ran out into the field, ready to chase some thieving kid off the farm."

Eshan chuckled again, pausing the sharpening of his sword as he gestured, "Of course, we ran into her instead. We weren't about to kill a starving pregnant woman, so we told her to go. The next morning, boy, she gave me a heart attack when I saw her on our doorstep. Before I ended up going to Tantervale, to open up a branch of the rebellion, I spent some time with that boy.

"He had a fire in him. You know, the way Astoria does?"

Fenris was frowning, but he nodded. He knew what Eshan meant by the fire. The way she had gotten him moving in the mountains when all he wanted to do was run, the way her compliments dug themselves under his skin and made him feel less a creature of violence and more of a man, the fierce way that her family, or his family, meant everything to her.

"She always said that he was more like his father than her, but I don't see it."

Fenris wasn't sure if he was being insulted or not, but he listened anyway. It became apparent that Eshan wasn't going to continue on the matter, and Fenris quietly accepted that. He didn't want to ask Eshan questions, didn't want to hear his opinion or his version of things.

"You need to be careful, Fenris," Eshan said. Fenris snapped his gaze towards the man, confused. "With her, I mean. Make sure she doesn't... get reckless in her search for him."

"What do you mean?"

Eshan chuckled. "I admire her determination, but you have to make sure she's careful. She's so set out to get Lysander back that she'll risk anything for it. It's good you're here, because she might actually listen to you. She'd get herself killed otherwise – she'd be halfway to Minrathous without a plan."

Fenris knew what he meant – he remembered needing to get between her and the exit back at the orphanage, when she found out that Varania had information about Lysander.

"I mean, don't get me wrong," Eshan continued, "that's the attitude you need, but don't let her get herself killed."

"I won't."

Eshan chuckled. "She's a tough one. She will dance in the face of the Dread Wolf and spit on him."

Fenris felt the corners of his lips tugging in response. He knew that so well – how she had whacked his arm, being dangerously defiant and brave as she tried to get him moving again in the Vimmark Mountains.

"So, tomorrow we will reach the ferry to Hasmal. We will all need to cross it, but we don't have the money for that. I need someone to go into Hasmal and talk with Oshan – he's the coordinator of the Hasmal branch of the rebellion. I need to send Astoria – she can talk a mabari out of a meat cart. I'll be going with her as well, so I need you to stay back with Garsen."

"Why?"

"We need some skilled fighters to stay back with the recruits. We'll only be gone the night."

He didn't know why Astoria's absence would bother him so much. Immediately he grew anxious. He didn't want to stay here with Garsen and the other recruits. Astoria was his only comfort, his only lifeline to answers – the things he had been searching for for years. Tomorrow, she would be across that wide river, out of reach.

"I'd rather go with you two."

Garsen nodded as an elf tended to the campfire. "I'm sorry, Fenris. I can't risk it. If the wrong person sees you tomorrow in Hasmal – we'll be awaiting an ambush on our way back."

Fenris sighed. He couldn't exactly argue with someone like Eshan, who was like a war general as respected as he was. He would have to stick it out and wait for Astoria to be back with Eshan, as unpleasant as he expected waiting to be – with all the recruits who seemed intimidated by him. Some of them downright just didn't seem to like him at all. Not that that was anything new.

"Very well," Fenris said with a curt nod, his forest green eyes scanning the scene before him.

"Good." Eshan held up his sword and examined it carefully. "Now, I'm going to get some sleep. Wake me when your watch is over."

Bah, such a boring chapter, sorry. If I put the next part in it would just be too long.