I must say, I have the most patient readers on the internet. Seriously, I am probably the worst updater in 's history! Yes it took me months to write the last installment - so I decided to be a little bit more... proficient in posting my next chapter.

Yes this is still a little of the game's storyline. But I may post one last Chapter before I send Elayne and her crew back on their quest to save Ferelden.

And thank you for your patience with my lack of time-management skills and ability to be constant with my chapter writing and posting. I really hope you enjoy this installment!

Cailan's POV

The Seeker rolled as Cailan brought down his greatsword. "Ice would be good right about now." He shouted as he blocked an intended slash to his inner knee. The Seeker was a better swordsman than Cailan and the man was about to have his head. "Now Morrigan!"

A flash of blue light blasted the man, ice curling around his legs up to his torso. The Seeker was frozen, for now.

"That better pretty boy?" Morrigan asked obviously annoyed. She had been staying back the entire fight, making sure that nothing came out of the tear. She has sworn more than enough times at Zevran and Cailan during the fight that was why she was watching them getting slaughtered.

She had also mentioned that seeing them die would make the situation better.

Cailan took his precious opportunity to disarm the man, he didn't want to kill him. It would not look good for the King of Ferelden to kill a Seeker – he needed to keep those Orlesian ferrets and Chantry in check. But he was not about to get killed by one.

"Zevran, tie our friend up." He ordered, the elf jumping at his command. Cailan looked to the tear again. The tear had begun pulsing again, the light from the Fade getting stronger. "It looks like we will have company soon?"

"Oh, now you're an apostate too?" Morrigan snapped as she walked up to the tear tenderly. "You can sense them coming?"

"The light is getting stronger?" Cailan said as he looked back at the Seeker. "That's always a marker for the power getting stronger, well... usually anyway." He didn't want to add he'd in fact referred to another one of his father's stories. Morrigan and the rest of the group already made enough fun of him as it was.

The tear's light burst blinding everyone in the cave. This was it, the demons had finally come through. That Seeker had destroyed the world.

Cailan opened his eyes to see Alistair holding Elayne awkwardly. She looked over at the four other people in the room and faintly smiled. "Thank you for coming to save me everyone." She said weakly, "Morrigan, do you have any Lyrium by any chance? I need lot of it."

Without a word Morrigan dove into her pockets pulling out a large vile of Lyrium and handed it to Elayne, who had been put down on the ground.

"What did you learn from your friend?" The Seeker asked ignoring Zevran's kick to his ribs. It would take more than a kick to shut the man up apparently. The Seeker looked up at Zevran and smiled, "No need to kick."

She looked at him gingerly but there was no anger in her eyes – as you would expect from the battered mage. Instead the woman smiled, "That he is not as kind as you thought." She looked towards the group, "I do not mean to be rude but can we make our way to camp? We have werewolves to kill."

Morrigan nodded, "She needs to rest."

Elayne's POV

Elayne sat alone in her tent, arms wrapped around her. She had tried to sleep for two hours now but she just couldn't. Not with that tingling in the back of her mind, Loki was a part of her now. She felt dirty, exposed.

A tear rolled down Elayne's face. Demon or spirit, she was now a host to a parasite.

The tent door rolled up and Cailan poked his head through the gap. "I thought you'd be awake. I was going to knock, but then I realised this was a tent."

Elayne was too drained to be angry at the man, she smiled. "Thank you for checking up on me and sending that Seeker on his way but you don't need to worry. I'm fine, he hasn't come back." She looked down at her staff, was it going to be different now? Casting spells? She knew that Alistair had distanced himself from her completely. How much more would change?

Cailan laughed, "I may be stupid but you are a terrible liar." He came into the tent and lit the lamp. He looked at her again. The man looked odd without his armour. The man still managed to have the same regal air to him even though he sat in clothes no better than servant's rags. And he looked more like Alistair than ever, with his short ponytail.

Elayne flinched, Alistair. The man would never talk to her again.

Cailan smiled. "Sometimes it's better to talk than to hide the truth." He looked down at his boots. "I went in to the Battle of Ostagar knowing that we were all supposed to die. There were too many darkspawn, the Archdemon could have appeared. We didn't have enough men." He took a deep breath. "That was why I wanted to be in the front lines. I couldn't bear sending my men in to their deaths without sacrificing myself too."

"You knew you were going to die?" Elayne asked shocked. He was less headstrong than she had originally thought. Cailan was willing to die along with his men. Not many Kings would have made that sacrifice.

"As I said, there were too many darkspawn and a possible Archdemon and I didn't have enough men..." He looked her in the eyes. "...Even if Loghain had been loyal. But then a miracle happened, a dragon emerged from nowhere and saved me and a small portion of my army."

Elayne just stared into his eyes too shocked to say anything. He knew.

"It was you wasn't it? And what you did back there was what you did at the battle." He smiled, "And so I just want to thank you. You saved not only my life, but that of my men. And for that I am thankful." He reached out and grabbed Elayne's hand. "Really thankful. I was sending them to their deaths and you saved them."

Elayne's tears turned into a waterfall. "I'm a monster..." She cried pulling her hands away from Cailan. "I'm not your hero. I'm not even worthy of being a Grey Warden. I am an abomination." She felt his arms wrap around her.

"You are not an abomination. I don't know what happened to you but being a mage and doing magic does not make you any less human or any less of a hero than me or Alistair... even Morrigan and she is pretty monstrous."

Elayne looked up from Cailan's chest, still crying. "I am a blood mage with a spirit now inside of her. How much more monstrous can you get?"

Cailan smiled. "Did you willingly let the spirit inside of you?"

Elayne shook her head.

"Did you use blood magic for personal gain?"

Elayne shook her head.

Cailan's smile widened. "Then you aren't a monster."

"Then what am I?" Elayne asked still sobbing. "A victim of fate?"

Here was a King comforting a mage. Elayne was certain that her reality could get any odder. And the Dalish clan was looking to her to save their people from Werewolves. Ok. Reality did love to play games with her.

"You're not a victim. You're a fighter. That is what you are. You had a tough life in the Circle and you have a tough life now. And guess what? You're still here fighting." Cailan smiled. "You saved me and my men, you saved Redcliffe, and now you're going to save this clan."

"Thanks for your faith." Elayne laughed suddenly aware that she was still in Cailan's arms. She pulled away awkwardly and looked away. He told her his secret, she would tell him hers. "I was tortured by the Templars after I somehow set my brother free. They had found him after he foolishly tried to free me when the Templars held me down in their 'basement'." She flinched at the memory. "They tortured him to make sure he would never run away again. I begged them to let him go and he just disappeared. They didn't believe me when I said I didn't know where he was. But Loki helped me and from that day he was always there."

"How old were you?" Cailan asked cautiously moving closer to her again.

Elayne pulled back without thinking. "Around ten, he was thirteen. I lost the only family I had." She took a breath. "So I accepted Loki as a friend. He showed me blood magic so I could influence the Templars to stop their questioning. That was when I met my Seeker friend. He even taught me how to use knives while the Circle was still under supervision."

Cailan sat back and rested gently on the walls of Elayne's tent. "Is it normal for Templars to be so forceful? To a child?"

"I was a possible weapon not a child in their eyes." Elayne looked back to Cailan. "Mages are not humans to Templars. They are walking bombs. And because we are bombs that means Templars can use any means necessary to make sure we don't go off."

Four seconds passed and Cailan didn't say anything, he just stared at her in disbelief. "That... needs to change. I am sorry that you suffered. I don't know how I can change that, but I still owe you for saving mine and my men's lives."

Forgetting the dirty feeling lurking in her mine, Elayne smiled. "You know, you're not such a bad guy after all."

Cailan reached out and touched Elayne's jaw lightly and tilted her head slightly. "I try." With that he leant down and kissed her gently.