He watched her sleep making observations about the way her eyelashes fluttered or the subtle quiver of her lips when her breathing would hitch in a fright. His body screamed for what it desperately wanted. It was demanding it with aching joints and torn muscles that he sleep. He wouldn't give in to the pleas of his natural inclinations. The rising sun brought forth movement from the other awakening residents. Soon she would join him again consciously. She was a sleeping beauty that laid beside him until the morn signaled her to arise.

She stretched with a groan; her back arching with unparalleled flexibility. His hand grasped her hip playfully, refusing to give back the bony prominence to its owner. Her abdominal muscles grew taut the further she went backwards, unaware that he was there. Still half-asleep and yawning she returned to her natural position and stared at him. It was if the message wasn't being sent or she was imagining him being there. The more she roused from her state of slumber the more sequence of events swirled by in rapid succession.

Her eyes enlarged and as she rubbed them to see if they weren't deceiving her, he laughed at the coyness of her smile. She was overjoyed and he was enraptured. The morning couldn't have started any better than it had. It was like watching a morning glory open when the day broke the horizon. It was thoughtful and peaceful as if serenity couldn't hold a candle to the splendor of such a delicate life unfolding.

"Good morning," he said with a gentle caress to her cheek.

She sighed at his touch and smiled.

"Good morning," she repeated. "How long have you been watching me?"

"Since I got back," he replied. She blushed with embarrassment and pulled the blanket over her face to hide it from him. He moved it aside and smirked. "There's nothing wrong with watching you sleep."

His hand slid down her neck and across her chest. He brought her closer to him and made his way in gentle embraces with his lips, tasting the fruit he had longed to taste again. He snaked his hand up the rough shirt separating them and felt the ridges of her ribs expand and contract as she respired in hurried breath. He was growing hard in his britches and as it brushed against her thigh she shuddered in anticipation. He rolled her on to her back and separated her legs with his knee.

Her body bowed as his tongue invaded her mouth. She moaned the further his hand slipped down her side. The soft jingle of metal sung the more her body moved under his. Her hands fought the strap that lashed around his waist keeping back the aroused part of him. He drifted further down letting the distraction of their kissing keep her busy. Then he heard it, the key turning in the cylinder and the shackle breaking open and hanging there swinging.

She pulled away in fear and looked down at the swaying open padlock with the key still lodged in it. She looked up at him questioningly and again to the device coming loose. He unhooked the opened lock and tossed it on to the ground beside him. She pulled her pelvis up and let the heavy contraption be slid out from under her. The worked quickly to regain what was going on before the holdup at the gates. He watched as the heat from her body began to wash over him. He parted her delicately letting each texture be thoroughly explored before moving further in. She was hot, slick and velvety. Each inch he gained became a new lesson in control. He was fully willing to delve in to her in one thrust but this was a moment where time was not an issue and patience would be rewarded to the fullest extent of the word.

He was almost fully in her, feeling her body relax from nervousness. He looked in to her eyes and saw a flooded anxiety build in her. She was overcome with curiosity and fear – both a dangerous combination in equal measure – as to what to expect. She didn't know how to proceed or to give in and let him take control like Danarius had always done. The years of conditioning for this event had left a toll on her. It was always about the master: what she could do, how to do it and when. There was no enjoyment for her in it. It was never allowed to be an experience of enlightenment, but of pain and degradation.

He tried to calm her with sweet kisses and whispered nothings. As he began to move in her she closed her arms and he witnessed her change from the frightened virginal woman he knew she was deep inside to a woman who was willing to give him whatever he asked. He didn't want anything from her if she wasn't inclined to give it. His muscles shook as her hand came up to his neck and pulled her down to him. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled in to her deeper. She gasped as if all the air had been sucked away.

"Fenris! You in there?" Kallen called from behind the closed flap.

They both froze and looked at where the voice came from. She pulled him back and moved around him; her body taking in the fullness of him in swaying motions that would send him over the edge if he wasn't careful. It was bliss and passion wrapped in a simple moment of unity. They moved together letting her body use him as much as he used her. He pinned her hip to the bed to still her. His head was swimming with unconventional thoughts. Ones that weren't meant to be there in the first place at that time. They were only shadows to him; each made less sense than the one before it.

"Where is he? He's late for patrol," Imogen grumbled.

"I don't know. Maybe he's still sleeping."

The lovers groaned at the intrusion. They weren't going to be able to finish their singular thought. He landed on top of her and muttered in to the pillow. Adria held him close and kissed his shoulder. It wasn't over, they would finish this later. Preferably sooner and when the odds of being interrupted were far less than what they were now.

"Damn it," she muttered with a chuckle as he threw his armor on with sweat clinging to his hair. "They are really going to make fun of you today."

"Why do you say that?" he snorted sarcastically.

"You're loud," she said with a grin.

"Eh… pardon?" he questioned at a loss.

"Loud. Do you realize you were speaking arcanum through it and rather oddly I might add," she stated with a wink.

"Fine, make fun of me. See where that gets you," he warned with a smile.

"Will it get me back in to bed with you right now so you can prove me wrong?"

"Tempting. You're beautiful, Adria, but we both know that it will have to wait till this evening."

"Of course," she said with a frown. "You don't want to keep the patrol waiting."

He turned from her and resumed readying for the exhausting day ahead. He heard the rumpling of sheets and glanced over his shoulder as she pulled his shirt over her head. Long silvery scars laced across her back as a reminder of Danarius' cruelty. She pulled her black dress on and rose. He looked away from her and clasped his belt around his waist. Her arms came up around him and her head rested on his back. He let her hold him in an expression of complete devotion.

He faced her and gave her a kiss before heading out. She followed quickly behind him, still tying the lace to her gown. The patrolmen looked at his damp hair and disheveled appearance and stifled the grins that they knew he would scowl about. There was no way to escape it, they would prod him for information he refused to divulge and listen to their snide remarks about her performance. The typical comments he'd heard from them before, but now they had whatever proof they needed to relentlessly goad him the rest of the day.

Adria went about her morning with a skip in her step. The freedom achieved by discarding the device that demeaned and humiliated her made her in light in mood. She smiled and hummed as she foraged, much to the giggles that the other women were giving her. The blush to her cheeks and the simple gait were one clue to her unleashing, but it was the sparkle in her eye that had given her away.

Keir was the first to say something about it. She seemed overjoyed in the change in disposition and congratulated her on the release of her mortal bonds. Everything seemed to be playing out as if a dream had occurred in real time. She never wanted to wake up from it if it was. She glowed with exuberance all the way back to camp, the basket she used pressed against her hip. The children circled around her and begged for another story and she graciously told one in a very animated fashion. The children squealed as the tale reached its climax. A new life was breathed in to her and as she concluded her story, she looked around for Fenris' patrol. She returned to her tent and grabbed the clunky metal object and tucked it in to her pack. She hurried to the river's edge and threw the heavy disgusting tool in to the water. There was no need to see it, no need to remember it now.

Keir was walking with the three month old. Adria couldn't help but walk over and coo to the smiling bundle that had begun to sprout teeth in its gummy smile. She allowed herself to entertain the idea of having her own. The ability to conceive a child through her own will and be overcome with joy at the response of the life she brought in to the world.

"Adria," the elf said suddenly. She grabbed her arm forcefully and drew her attention to a group of visitors approaching the camp. She knew the armor and weapons. Easily they were Tevinter in make and the man at the head of the pack was the one person she dreaded seeing most of all.

"Take the women and children and hurry in to the jungles," she ordered rapidly. Several of the warriors were arming up at the sight of the uninvited guests. She waved them to lower their weapons and waited for them to stop. "Whatever happens, don't interfere."

"What about you?" the old qunari asked.

"Just get a message to Fenris to not return. Tell him I died and that Danarius has returned."

"Don't be foolish about this."

"I'm not. This is the sanest thing I've ever done," she remarked over her shoulder as she took a step away from the group.

The magister grinned when he saw her and beckoned her to come to him. She refused with a glare and shook her head.

"Now Adria, I didn't come all this way for you tell me no. Come to your master like a good girl and no one will be hurt," he said with a menacing look.

Her head lowered. She was defeated, he had found her and the freedom that came at the right time was going to be stripped away again. She struggled to get to him. She scuffled her feet when they refused to move anymore. The closer she got the more ill she became. He took her hand in his and pulled her nearer to him.

"Adria?" Saarebas questioned. "Who is this man?"

"The only questions that are going to be asked are mine." Keir and the women bolted for the jungles. Danarius rallied four of the slavers and told them to go after them. Adria closed her eyes at the screams of the women and children being silenced one by one. "Where's my little wolf?"

"He's not here," she muttered.

"That's a lie, my love," he growled. He slapped her across the face and glared angrily at her. "You know how much I hate it when you lie." He yanked her up by her arm and wrapped his arm around her waist. She felt him pawing around her waist and stopped. He grabbed her by the hair and wrenched her head back. He was looking down at her. Death and rage flashed in his eyes. It was only the tears that she shed that kept him from killing her on the spot. "Where is he?"

"I'm not going to tell you. You'll have to kill me," she muttered. He threw her to the ground and began kicking her. She tried to shield herself from the blows when a sharp kick to the ribs made her gasp in agony. She choked and coughed spitting blood in to the dirt when he finished. "Jealous, Danarius? You only get this way when you think someone else has something you believe is yours. What if I told you I never belonged to you in the first place? You never had power over me to begin with."

She began to get up off the ground. If her freedom was going to be taken away she was going to die before it happened. He punched her in the mouth and sent a mist of red in to the air. Her teeth rattled in her head and another spurt of blood spat out of her mouth. The sky was in front of her face, white clouds hovered overhead. Everything looked so tranquil in the heavens that watched her battered body be defiled by her master.

He forced her legs open and slid his fingers in to her. They moved and twitched sending a wave of pain through her lower abdomen. He glanced at him in anger as he withdrew his dampened fingers and ran his thumb over the viscous fluid. He examined it and sighed.

"Get up. And don't toy with me this time," he ordered. She got to her knees, where he grabbed her chin and smeared the clear fluid across her face in disgust. "It seems you have been playing with others far too much. Who was it? The horn heads? The knife ears? One of the humans or was it Fenris himself, testing the master's property? Did you climax for him like you've done so for me? Tell me Adria: what was it like to be bedded by an inferior person?"

"I hope he kills you one day," she spat.

He grabbed her by the throat and drew closer. He looked her over and smiled. He spun her around when his attention was directed elsewhere. She heard him unsheathe his dagger and felt the cold razor's edge press in to her throat. She swallowed trying to hide the terror she was feeling. His hand fell to the small pendant and ripped from her neck. He eyed it and with a vindictive spirit threw it to the ground.

"Do not try my patience, slave. I won't ask again: where is he?" he hissed.

The patrol seemed uneventful. While they hacked their way through the underbrush little talking passed between them; they were on constant alert for movement. The jungle was an entity all its own. They knew the path they were on was directing them in to Tal-Vashoth territory, but as the route permitted they cut in to the lush thickness; determined to avoid the dishonorable qunari that stalked the region.

As they were circling back around to head back to camp, Fenris stopped and spotted movement coming towards them. He couldn't make out what it was. Perhaps an animal of the large boar kind or a Tal-Vashoth patrol had finally caught wind of them? He drew his weapon and signaled the men to the sway of leaves from the ferns. The air stilled, there was no noise but the scuffling of leaves underfoot. They waited for a visual of what was hunting them.

A small quilled animal came through the rough and scurried under the roots of a leaning tree. He gave the 'all clear' and continued walking. He couldn't wait to see Adria again. He was sweaty and dirty. Leaves were in his hair and had fallen in to his collar. They itched as the fine fuzz fell off. She would soothe his irritated skin. She always had some concoction at the ready in the event they came across some poisonous plant that would infect him with rashes. It was all part of the job. While it was disgusting and filthy, being amongst the trees and away from the city seemed to fall in to the scope of freedom.

"Fenris!" a teenage boy called. He knew him, barely of hunting age and had been on patrol with him once before. "There's a problem back at camp."

He hurried up to him, flanked by the other warriors and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"What's happened?"

"Some man came with several soldiers. Adria appeared to know him. She told me to tell you not to come back."

"Is that all?" he yelled when his heart stopped. "Is she alright?"

"She was fine when I saw her. She just told me to tell you to run," the youth stuttered.

"Danarius," he scowled. "We need to get back there. Now!"

"You heard what Adria said. If your old master did return, this is your chance to escape," Imogen said. "By now they are probably gone with her in tow."

"No, I know Danarius: he won't leave unless he has his precious pet back," the elf growled through clenched teeth. "He'll level that entire camp to find me, killing everyone in the process. We go back."

They made haste; cut and bruised from stumbling they took the fastest path possible. They came up on a scene they weren't prepared for. Bodies, broken, bloody and cooling rapidly. An assortment of flesh and ages face down, cut down and left to rot in the heat of day. Kallen began turn over the corpses one by one. He couldn't tell which one was his wife. All were too heavily painted in blood. Matted hair clung to their faces. Fenris could only watch as the grieving man fell to his knees beside Keir. Her lifeless body shielded their child from the attack, but even the newborn was motionless. He bent down over the crying man and dead beloved. Blue lips and closed eyes told of a tragic passing.

"I'm sorry," he muttered. He looked towards camp and heard the sounds of Adria arguing. She yet still lived. He patted Kallen on the back and motioned for them to move on. There was nothing more they could do now. "We might be able to save the rest if we get back in time."

Kallen wiped his eyes and nodded, heartbroken with a building ire that was unshakeable. They crept along, trying to remain unnoticed as long as possible. Then he saw her: knife at the ready to slit her throat from ear to ear. A ghostly white complexion marred by streaks of blood that trickled to the ground from her mouth and nose. She was dazed, confused and still resistant to the pressure Danarius was laying on her. It was in her eyes that she saw her will begin to wane under the abuse. She was resigning herself to death on account of him.

"I'll go back with you, Master Danarius. Just let these people go. Fenris is gone and you won't find him. I promise you once we get back to Minrathous I will submit completely," she moaned.

He couldn't stomach the carnage anymore. There was no need for her to sacrifice herself for him needlessly. He would go with them without a fight. The delusion was over and the heart that he once had been shelved in exchange for the void he was going to return to.

He took a step out from the brush and walked to face him. A dirge played in his head as he stared him down. Immediately he was submissive. Back to his former self: a slave to the master that tracked them down just to recover his property.

"Ah, my little Fenris. I knew you couldn't help but show yourself to your master. It's good to see you again. I've missed you-," he stated. He held the knife tighter to Adria's throat and he winced. "Both of you."

"How did you find us?" Adria questioned.

"You, my dear," he replied, holding her hand up for her to see. The ring that graced her finger shimmered in the sunlight. He pulled it from her digit and showed her the inscription burned in to it.

Vivamus ut ligatis.

"Son of a bitch," she muttered.

"Tell him what it says. Show him that it was you that brought me here."

Fenris looked at her questioningly awaiting her to tell him the cryptic writing they had failed to notice. She shuddered and cleared her throat. She could still taste the iron in the back of her throat.

"Ties that bind," she said as clearly as possible.

"You see, Fenris, it was she that got me here."

"Without my knowledge," she argued. She glanced at Fenris and his hurtful eyes. He looked like she had stabbed him in the back. "I didn't know. You have to believe me."

"I do," he grumbled.

"We must be off," Danarius said. "Kill these creatures. Playtime is over."

The elf's eyes went blank as if a control word had been activated. The slavers began to proceed towards their target. It wasn't long before a retaliation of spears and arrows were chucked in their direction. Fenris cut through the warriors with ease, phasing in and out and leaving their bodies to rot like the women and children. Danarius pushed her behind him and began casting magic at incredible speed. A fireball sprawled the fighters at a distance before they could launch a volley at him.

She looked around and was hit in the face with a spray of blood. Imogen, fell to the ground in front of her. Entrails hung from the gaping wound in his torso. She smeared the fluid from her face and ran her thumb across it. Her father, she remembered his arms being cut off at the wrist. The same slash of blood, the same worried look in his eyes before succumbing to blood loss.

Slavers fell around her and Danarius was staggering toward her. He still held the dagger in his hand. He clutched his stomach in pain, spattered in blood and flesh cast off from Fenris' blade he fell before her. She was petrified by the destruction. The bodies that encircled Fenris as he huffed in like a rabid animal.

"Fenris! What did you do?" she wailed. The elf looked at his blood soaked hands and the remains of the warriors felled by his hand. His snow white hair was stained in red droplets that began to run down the length of fringe. He was nearly bathed in it. The blood of friends and allies. She began to walk towards him afraid of what he might do to her if she drew too close. He roared at the top of his lungs like a wounded beast. She stopped and put her hands up to show her she was unarmed.

"Adria?" he asked confused by the shock of the massacre. He bolted away. The final glances of complete and utter shame were the only things that he left behind.

"Adria," Danarius groaned. He held the hem of her dress and began to pull himself up. "Don't you leave me here."

She smirked with evil intent and turned to run in to the jungles after Fenris. A sharp pain hit her thigh and dug deep in to her femur. The sound of metal snapping off turned her in to a raving lunatic. She screamed out to her love but he never showed himself. She felt the dagger's blade scrape along the bone. She pierced the magister with homicidal rage. He stared up at her, pleased that she couldn't move.

"I hate you," she growled. She kicked him as hard as she could in the face and sent him over on to his back. He grimaced and grumbled that he would find her again. It would only be a matter of time.

Hobbling away, adrenaline coursing through her veins, she ran in to the deep jungle. A crack of thunder rolled through the sky above. Dark grey clouds loomed and the smells of rain carried on the zephyr. Plants swayed as the winds bent them toward her. She looked around for signs of Fenris. A small trail of blood followed her, before long it too was washed away by the falling rain. She called to him, her voice growing hoarse. She found him a few kilometers later on an outcropping of rocks. His back was to her. As she began to descend on him her leg gave out on her. She leaned against a tree for stability and waited for her strength to return.

He could hear her shouting his name in the distance. She was swearing in Arcanum at him every time he refused to entreat her. He was too busy, too crestfallen to go to her. He held his hand up and watched the blood on his gauntlet be washed away from the rain. He reeked of it. It had seeped in to his armor and stained his hair in hints of orange. He didn't want her to see that side of him. The coldness that he could exhibit at the drop of a word. She wouldn't understand. She couldn't. Everything was lost when Danarius came calling.

"Fenris," Adria said winded from her walk. He jumped off the rock and started away from her. He couldn't face her knowing what he did. "Hold up. Where are you going?"

"Away from you," he snarled bitterly.

"From me? Why?"

"Isn't what happened proof enough that I'm a monster capable of terrible things? I'm not meant to be in the presence of such a soul. Why bother feeling anything when the cost is far too great?"

"What are you so afraid of Fenris? Is what we have not worth fighting for?" she yelled over the harshness of the rain.

"It's not fear! And if the risk of losing you seems too great, then no it's not worth fighting. There's nothing more that I want than to know you're safe," he answered broken hearted.

"Don't you dare tell me it's not worth fighting for! I was willing to die for you! Maker, I lied for you! I've done everything I possibly could to show you that!"

"It was a mistake," he muttered.

He heard her footsteps stop. It was the first time in a long time that she was dumbstruck in to silence. He looked over his shoulder and saw the face of a wounded woman.

"You don't believe that," she grumbled. "I've sacrificed everything I am for you."

"I know. I didn't deserve it then and I don't deserve it now."

He noticed her limp as she came towards him. She went to touch him and he pulled away. He shook his head and continued walking.

"What do you see when you look at me, Fenris?" she asked almost inaudibly.

He cringed at the question. The thought of looking at her pained him.

"There's nothing I want more," he muttered to himself. She limped closer to him and leaned against him. "I would fight for you until my last breath if I had to."

"Then it is worth trying, isn't it?"

He gave a solemn nod and put his arm around her. Her trembling muscles gave way as she slid down him. He crouched at her side and shook her. She was a shade of white that glowed in the dimming light. He saw the tear in her gown and lifted it to see the protruding steel sticking out just under her flesh. She came to with a start and grabbed his arm in a panic.

"I have to get it out before infection sets in," he stated.

"I know. It's in the bone," she winced as she pulled her leg up. She cried out as she tried to pull the broken blade from her thigh. She flashed in and out, puking several times before giving up. It was too painful to watch her pull back red fingertips.

"I can do it," he uttered.

"You mean…" she whispered.

He nodded sadly and laid her in the leaves.

"There's a healing potion in my pouch. If I lose consciousness, use that. I won't be able to heal myself."

Her eyes rolled in her head as she faded out. He held his breath and evoked the powers from his lyrium to pierce her flesh. He was as delicate as he could not to tear her open further. When his fingers closed around the sharp metal he pulled it out and threw it aside. He ripped her gown and fashioned a bandage for her thigh. It soon overflowed with water and deep red. He tore the pouch from her belt and dumped it on to the ground. He scattered them in a hurry to find the ampule of elixir.

He held her head up and pulling the cork away with his teeth he forced her to drink the red fluid. She moaned in pain, but was coming to. He smiled and held her close to his chest. He hefted her up to his arms and began to look for a place to take cover from the storm.

The outcropping had a small cave that we could nestle in till the storm passes.

He began to trudge through puddles and mud. Adria's weight bogged him down and in the dark he could have been walking in circles if it wasn't for the sudden flash of lightning pointing the way to the refuge from the deluge of water. He hoped that nothing resided there and that she would be healed before the rains passed.

They ducked in to cover as the storm turned from rain to ice. He sat her down along the wall and curled around her. If she wasn't ready to go, he'd wait it out till she was. He wasn't going to leave her again, not now. Not ever.