She felt so warm and comfortable that she didn't want to open her eyes. Instead she lay in bed, slowly trying to remember the dream she had been having. There had been a lyrium corrupted dragon, commanded by a mutilated human that had called himself Corypheus. But as more came back to her she realised that it hadn't been a dream: she had to warn the others. She sat bolt upright and cried out as her bruised ribs protested furiously at her.

"Careful now," said Dorian reproachfully, "I only repaired those ribs a few hours ago, don't go ruining all my hard work!"

He took her by the shoulders and gently guided her into a sitting position, adjusting the cushions behind her.

"Dorian?" Jen asked, completely confused. She glanced around, realising that she was in one of the Inquisitions large twill-woven tents. There were multiple lit braziers set around her bed to keep her warm.

"A little addled are we?" he asked, taking the wooden chair beside her. "Well I suppose that would happen if you face down the Elder One and his pet dragon, race an avalanche and then travel five miles through a snow storm with broken ribs and a concussion." He smiled at her and took her pale hand in his tanned one.

Jen felt slightly chastised when he put it like that. "How many got away?" she asked quietly.

His expression softened and he squeezed her hand. "The majority of the townspeople and the Inquisition did get away. Your little stunt was worth it, but I wouldn't recommend it again. I was worried about you, everyone was. Iron Bull in particular was deeply unhappy."

"Why?" asked Jen.

"Because you ordered him to go, which he had to obey, but he is your bodyguard and he felt he had abandoned you." Jen was surprised by the insight Dorian seemed to have on Iron Bull. She hadn't thought they would speak much, given the tensions between Qunari and Tevinter.

"How did you find me?" Jen asked wearily. Her head was starting to spin again.

"We had started looking as soon as we were sure that the Red Templar army couldn't follow us. Cullen was quite insistent that you would have survived all that, he organised the search parties himself and lead one of them. It was him that found you."

"It was Cullen?" Jen was unable to keep the disbelief out of her voice.

"Yes," Dorian raised an eyebrow, "you do realise how important you are to the Inquisition don't you? And I'm not just talking about the mark here, you have basically been leading it."

"No I haven't," Jen replied, "I close rifts and do what needs to be done. I don't lead the Inquisition at all compared to Cassandra, Leliana, Josie and Cullen." She couldn't help but grimace.

"You have become the Inquisition's public face, they need you and they respect you."

Jen's headache was becoming stronger with every word Dorian said. She was so tired and didn't want to think.

"They don't need me." She said bluntly.

Dorian laughed. "This is why you so intrigue me, you don't see yourself very well do you?"

"I know exactly who I am thank you," Jen replied scathingly. Then recklessly she plunged on, maybe it was the aftermath of the concussion, or her exhaustion or the guilt getting too much to bear. "I was going to leave before we were attacked."

Dorian stiffened. "Why?" he asked slowly.

"Because I'm done here Dorian, I fixed the breach. I don't see any other reason to stay."

"I just told you why." His brown eyes fixed on her violet ones. "This is to do with your past isn't it? You mentioned it in Redcliffe."

"I—"

"That's a yes then," he frowned and let go of her hand. "I thought you were a brave woman, not a coward."

"It's not like that Dorian," Jen replied quickly.

He stood up. "We all have a past Jennifer, and some of them are painful. But regardless, you are doing good here. Who cares what you did before, so long as you are making up for it now."

"You sound like Leliana."

"Well perhaps you should listen to her then," he said in a disappointed tone as he made to leave.

Recoiling at his tone, Jen turned away from him pulling the blanket up to her chin. But she didn't want to leave it like that between them. Especially given he had clearly spent a lot of time and energy looking after her while she was unconscious.

"Dorian?" With an effort she turned back towards him.

"What?"

"Thank you for all that you have done for me."

His expression softened again as he looked back at her from the entrance to the tent. His hand paused on the flap of the tent, gripping it tightly.

"I wish you would let me help more," he murmured softly.

Jen said nothing. Sighing, Dorian left the tent without a backwards glance.

[A/N Apologies for the shorter chapter! I was going to upload more, but I wanted to spend a bit longer tweaking it first. The next chapter should be a lot bigger]