Depending on your state of mind,
it could go either way for you
You're either standing in the shoes
of a genius or a fool.
—Genius or a Fool, Jonatha Brooke

"I'm sorry. I had to have misheard you. Because it sounded like you said 'we can't kill the demon.'" Alistair couldn't keep his voice from rising at that last part.

Elissa put a hand on his chest. "Shh!" she said, bringing a finger to her lips and angling around him to peek into the main hall. "They'll hear you."

"Sorry," he whispered, trying to ignore the way his heartbeat sped up when she leaned into him. Elissa had some . . . idiosyncrasies when it came to invading his personal space. Not that he was complaining, of course, but this particular moment was not a good one for him to focus on his developing crush on his fellow warden. "What do you mean, we can't kill the demon?"

She still had her hand on his chest as she leaned back to shoot him an exasperated look. "Do you listen at all when other people speak? Or are you just constantly making wisecracks in that handsome head of yours?" She removed her hand from his chest to wave it dismissively at his head.

He stared at her, momentarily tripped up by the word handsome. "I listen!" he said aloud, trying to sound indignant. He knew Elissa had some point to make here—she always did—but Maker help him, he couldn't see it on his own. "I just . . . don't see how not killing the demon will solve anything."

"It doesn't," she said agreeably, before putting her hand to her chin and looking off in the distance in thought. "I wonder if it could be reasoned with? Of course, if I were a mage I could be the one to go in the Fade and negotiate . . ."

At first when Elissa had told Teagan that she and Alistair needed to speak in private he had wondered if it didn't make them look weak or indecisive—now that he heard what she had to say he was beyond thankful that they didn't have an audience. He sputtered in outraged confusion. "Ne-negotiate? You want to negotiate with a demon?"

Elissa shrugged. "Well, if I thought it wanted anything we were willing to give . . . maybe. But I doubt that's true." She shook her head wistfully.

Alistair pinched the bridge of his nose. "Elissa," he said, trying to sound as patient as possible. "Will you please explain . . . whatever it is you're trying to say."

She rolled her eyes and heaved dramatically, like she always did when she felt she had to explain something painfully obvious. "Connor made a deal with a demon to keep his father alive. What do you think will happen to that deal if we kill the demon?"

He felt his throat constrict at the thought. The idea of Eamon dying was obviously a terrifying one, but, what else could they do? He blew out a loud breath. "Yeah, I know that's a risk, but I don't see how we have much choice."

"There is always a choice! And in this case, we have the choice of doing nothing."

Alistair gaped at her. "Arl Eamon's important, but we can't just let this demon go on terrorizing everyone."

Elissa shook her head silently for a few seconds, and Alistair felt his heart in his throat again. Surely she had to listen to reason.

"Listen, if you're worried about . . . look, it doesn't have to be you that does it." Her head snapped up and she peered at him sharply. He gave a little shrug. "I was trained as a Templar. I don't relish the idea, either, but . . . I'll do it. You won't have to."

He hadn't really planned on saying the words until they were out, but once they were, he was surprised at the rush of protectiveness he felt for her. He hadn't proven all that effective at keeping Elissa safe since he'd met her, and he supposed that wasn't really his role anyhow, but he could keep this task from her at least.

She gaped at him disbelievingly. "You think I'm saying this because I don't want to kill a child? That's just . . . first of all, we wouldn't even do that. If we were going to do either of these options we'd do the ritual."

Alistair simply couldn't keep his jaw shut at that little admission. How was it they could both witness the same set of facts and circumstances and come to such separate and opposite conclusions? "Are you kidding me? You think more blood magic is the solution? How can you even say that?"

"She wants to sacrifice herself to save her son." She closed her eyes and a flicker of pain crossed her features before she opened them again. "Believe me, I'm in no position to deny her that."

He wasn't sure what that meant, but he wasn't willing to push the issue either, what with that haunted look Elissa had in her eyes. The two of them had grown closer over the last couple of days, but he knew better than to push when she displayed this specific kind of vulnerability—the kind that seem driven by very recent painful memories. There was an unspoken rule between them not to speak of either of their losses, so he didn't ask what she meant, as much as he might've wanted to.

He gave a deep sigh and tried to calm his ragged breathing. "Alright." He had to remember who Elissa was, after all. Ever since Ostagar, he'd promised himself not to doubt her again. He took a deep breath and tried to think. "So, we can't kill the demon." He gulped, feeling his throat go dry again. "What's your plan?"

"Oh!" She looked up at him in hopeful surprise. "Well . . . convincing you not to kill the demon was step one." She paused. "I . . . haven't really gotten much farther than that."

"Elissa!"

"Give me a second to think, would you?" she said, rubbing the back of her neck and frowning at the floor in concentration.

Alistair opened his mouth, and then snapped it closed, watching how Elissa's brow knit together. She got this little line between her eyebrows that was actually sort of adorable, now that he thought about it, whenever she was really lost in thought. He caught himself grinning as he stared at her and then shook his head, disgusted with himself for the distraction.

He crossed his arms to his chest and looked down the hall. They'd left the main gates wide open when they'd finally staggered into the castle from the courtyard, after their harrowing encounter with the Revenant. He peered down the darkened hall to the sunlit entrance, frowning as he tried to think of some solution. "There has to be something we can do," he said, feeling helpless. "There has to be some way to save the arl."

They stood there for a few seconds in defeated silence, until Elissa gave a small shrug of her shoulder.

"Maybe if Morrigan had any healing ability . . ." she started to say, but drifted off. "But even if she did, we'd still need another mage to enter the fade." She leaned against the wall, crossing her arms across her chest. "You know, sometimes I think . . . maybe we should have gone to Kinloch Hold first." She looked up at the ceiling. "Of course, then we probably would have arrived too late to Redcliffe to help."

He narrowed his eyes at the arch of light coming from the main gates. It suddenly struck him how you could see the Circle Tower from Redcliffe's beach on a clear day. "You know, it's too bad we couldn't just sail over to the Circle and ask for help," he said quietly, almost to himself. Then he instantly straightened. "Hey actually . . . why couldn't we go to the Circle for help?"

Elissa turned to regard him with wide eyes, and her mouth slowly formed into a perfect little "O".

He started grinning to himself. "Hey, yeah! I mean, they'd have lyrium at the Circle, right? So we could do the ritual without blood magic." Elissa simply blinked at him in surprise. He frowned with a sudden thought. "But, actually, that doesn't really solve anything," he said, shaking his head in disappointment. "I mean, we still have the whole demon deal to contend with."

One of Elissa's eyebrows shot up and her eyes went impossibly wide. "They have healers at the Circle," she said in a breathy whisper. "Spirit healers . . . they might be able to shield the Arl . . ." she trailed off, her mouth hanging open and slowly forming into the most astonished smile he thought he'd ever be likely to see on Elissa's face.

He felt his own grin start to grow even wider, before he checked himself with another frown. "Do you think they'd even do it, though? It's a bit much to ask . . ."

She gave a loud, sharp, maniacal-sounding cackle at that, and then slapped a hand over her mouth to quiet herself. "Have you read these treaties? They are delightfully vague in their wording! Yes, they will do it. Trust me on that."

There was a distant part of him that found it deeply amusing that she was this excited over vague wording in an ancient contract. But that was all just . . . perfectly Elissa, and he couldn't help getting swept up in her enthusiasm. "Do you really think we can do this?" he asked. "Just . . . leave them here and run off to the Circle for help?"

She looked around, still with the maniacal grin on her face, before returning her gaze to Alistair and shooting a smile at him. "Yes I do," she said, in a low, breathless tone that set his heartbeat racing again.

It sped up even further when she stepped up to him, closing the distance between them in a few steps. "Alistair," she said, reaching out to grip his shoulders. "You did it!" He could only stare down at her in wonder when she suddenly reached out and took his face in her hands. "You figured it out!" she said, and whether she pulled him down or he just bent his head he would never be sure of, but the next thing he knew she was pressing her lips to his in a kiss.

Alistair froze the second her mouth hit his. He had only time to close his eyes and feel his eyebrows climb his forehead when it was over, and she gasped and let go of him. He opened his eyes to see her take a step back, staring up at him with a look of pure horror on her face that set his insides to twisting. "Um," he said, too dumbstruck to form words.

"I don't know why I did that!" she said waving a hand in his vague direction. "That was completely inappropriate! I'm so sorry!"

He tried to breathe normally. "It's fine." His voice sounded strangled and strange from the strain of trying to keep his tone casual, sure that she could hear the way his heart was thundering in his ears.

She didn't seem to know where to look, because her gaze kept flicking to him and then away. "Do not read anything into this," she said sharply. "I was just . . . it doesn't mean . . ." she stopped herself from finishing whatever it was she was going to say by sharply shaking her head. She still didn't meet his gaze. "We need to talk to Teagan," she said, before turning on her heel and fleeing back into the main hall.

He watched her go, paralyzed by his wildly warring emotions. Elation? Dread? He wasn't sure what he was feeling after that kiss and its aftermath. Unconsciously he raised a hand to his mouth before he caught himself and lowered it. He hurried after Elissa, his footsteps ringing out loudly in the quiet hall.

Elissa was surrounded by puzzled looks from their party and Redcliffe's knights as she knelt on the floor in front of Isolde and Teagan, the contents of her pack spread out before her.

"I know I have at least four spirit shards," she mumbled to herself, rifling through the items.

Morrigan cocked her head the side. "Spirit shards?" Her eyes went wide. "You're making spirit balm."

"Spirit balm?" Teagan frowned down at Elissa. "What is going on here? Elissa, what is it you're planning on doing?"

Elissa glanced around and seemed to take in for the first time the number of people staring at her in confusion. She rose to her feet, taking two deliberate steps to stand before Teagan.

"Bann Teagan, you said before any of this started that you and Isolde and Connor were expendable." Isolde gasped at her words, but Elissa ignored her and went on. "You said yourself that Arl Eamon is the priority here." She narrowed her eyes at Teagan. "Do you still believe this to be true?"

Teagan's face went pale at Elissa's serious look, but he frowned and nodded, looking resolved. "I do. Without the Arl, our plans against Loghain will come to naught."

Elissa nodded crisply. "Good." She put her hands behind her back and trained her gaze across the room, as if making she sure had their undivided attention before proceeding. Needless to say, she did. "This demon is still in the Fade, working through Connor, and it apparently needs a mortal vessel—living or dead—with which to act."

She knelt in front of her items again, before grabbing the soft velvet bag and standing. She turned to Morrigan. "Take these," she said, pressing the bag into Morrigan's hand. "And make as much Spirit Balm as you can. That'll protect you from the demon's mind control."

Morrigan frowned at her. "Why are you speaking as if you won't be here?"

Elissa beamed. "Because I won't. Alistair and I are going to the Tower for help. If we can find a spirit healer to come back with us, they might be able to keep the Arl alive after we go into the Fade to kill the demon."

"Plus, they'll have lyrium at the tower," Alistair, feeling his own sense of excitement grow. This really was a good plan! "So we won't have to resort to a blood magic ritual."

Teagan made a thoughtful hum. "The Tower is about a day's journey across the lake. You could attempt to get the mages' help—"

"But what will happen here?" Isolde asked. "Connor will not remain passive forever!"

"That's what the spirit balm is for!" Elissa said with an enthusiastic shout. Everyone startled and looked at her, and she shook her head and went on a trifle more calmly. "Use the spirit balm to guard against the demon's mind control, and for the love of Andraste, burn all those corpses in your dungeon!"

Teagan nodded thoughtfully. "It is a risk, but it is one I'm willing to take to save the arl." He looked at Elissa with naked admiration. "This is a good plan, Elissa."

Elissa's smile spread even wider and she blushed a little when she glanced at Alistair. "It was Alistair's idea, actually," she said quietly. After a beat, she added, "Though of course, without my planning and additional input, we would surely fail."

Alistair gave a soft snort of a laugh, but couldn't keep from grinning back at her. "Of course."

"Congratulations!" Morrigan said, voice dripping with sarcasm as she moved to inspect Elissa's supplies. "Together the two of you almost make up one fully functional Grey Warden!"

"Hey!" Alistair was offended, but Elissa waved aside Morrigan's insult, pulling Leliana by her elbow a few paces away from the others. With a curious frown, Alistair joined them. Elissa turned to Leliana and said in a low voice, "I need you to stay in the castle with Sten and Morrigan."

Alistair and Leliana shared a look. "What? I'm not going with you?" Leliana asked.

Elissa gave an undignified snort. "Of course not! I'm not leaving Jowan alone with Isolde and Connor. And I'm not eager to bring Sten or Morrigan to the Circle Tower. We'll need people here making sure the demon doesn't attack again." She gave Leliana a pleading look. "I need you here to help . . . facilitate things, between the Arlessa and the Bann. I'm hoping you can provide a kind of . . . buffer . . . to Morrigan and Sten."

Leliana raised a hand. "No need to say more. I understand."

"Good. Now, I need to give Morrigan a few more instructions, and Alistair and I need to prepare to leave."

Alistair watched her walk over to Morrigan and then the two women huddled over Elissa's pack, trading items back and forth and speaking in hushed tones. In that instant it dawned on Alistair: he was going to be traveling alone with Elissa. Who, he all of a sudden remembered with a rush of heat, not so very long ago had kissed him right on his mouth.

"Why is your face all red?" Leliana's tone had a touch of amusement in it.

He rubbed his neck and glanced away. "Uh . . . just nervous I guess." He looked back at Morrigan and Elissa, and just then the witch met his gaze and narrowed her eyes at him in open hostility. He rolled his eyes. "Hey listen," he said in a low tone. "While we're gone, make sure Morrigan doesn't go and do something . . . stupid."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Like, kill Connor or perform the ritual or . . . possess someone and turn them into a frog. I don't know! I just . . . I get the feeling she's up to something."

Leliana regarded him thoughtfully and then nodded. "Do not worry. I will keep an eye on her."

The kiss wasn't even particularly . . . good, if Alistair was going to be objective about it. It was over before it even began and her lips had been pursed together primly as if she were kissing her grandmother . . . and yet, it was tantalizingly close to being something pleasant, and Alistair was sure if they'd had another shot at it . . .

He shook his head to stop himself. What in Andraste's knobby knees was he doing thinking about kissing Elissa? The kiss clearly hadn't meant anything, and he was only going to embarrass himself if he kept pretending that it did.

No, better to focus on all that they had in front of them than indulge in such idle (but oh-so-appealing) fantasies.

"Alistair, we need to speak."

His heart leapt to his throat and he jumped at the voice. Elissa had appeared beside him. They were standing on the boat's prow, having just shoved off from the dock at Redcliffe Village a few minutes before.

She wore a serious expression. A cold knot of dread formed in his throat. She knows, he thought absurdly. She knows I was thinking about kissing her, and she's going to tell me to stop. If it were anyone else he'd have told himself he was being ridiculous, but the fact was he had now come to believe Elissa capable of making just about any deduction he could think of.

"What did you want to ask me about?" he said, trying to keep his voice neutral. He watched as Redcliffe village rescinded into the horizon.

Elissa took a deep breath. "I have a confession to make."

Alistair frowned, feeling at once both relieved and concerned. Relieved at least that she didn't appear ready to scold him for being a lecher, but worried about whatever secret she'd obviously been keeping. "Oh?"

She turned to face him. "It's . . . not likely to matter, but just in case something happens to us . . . I told Morrigan to do the ritual if we're not back within twenty-four hours."

Alistair's mouth dropped open. "You're kidding."

She frowned up at him. "Why would I joke about this?" she asked in all seriousness.

He breathed out a laugh. "Never mind. Just . . . wow. Alright, well I guess I have a confession of my own." He gave her a rueful grin. "I kind of . . . told Leliana to keep an eye on Morrigan and not let her do anything crazy."

Elissa tilted her head back and looked up at the sky. "So . . . basically . . . we may have potentially pit two of our companions against each other?"

Alistair winced. "I guess we did."

They shared a worried glance, and then Elissa's brow smoothed and she shook her head forcefully. "It's going to be fine," she said. "We'll be back well before then. Nothing's going to happen anyway."

He smiled warmly at her. Of course, Elissa was right. She was always right. This plan of theirs was perfect, and everything was going to work out just fine.

This really was the ideal solution, he thought to himself, feeling the warm rush of pride that it was his idea that had propelled them onto this path. At least this way, nobody had to die to get rid of the demon. He wouldn't have to explain to the Arl why he killed his son or his wife-in fact, this way, the Arl stood a chance at waking at all.

Yet again he remembered the feel of Elissa's mouth pressing against his.

Maker, who was he kidding? It was the best idea he'd ever come up with about anything in his entire life. The only question he had now was if he'd ever come up with another idea half so good, and if he did . . . would it earn him another kiss from Elissa?

He was going to have to start using his brain a lot more, he decided in that instant . . .