Chapter 25 it is! I'm almost finished 26 as well. I'm hoping that I'll be able to smash out a few chapters as quickly as possible! I definitely need to finish this story!

Chapter 25:

Every Choice Has Consequences:

I smelt sodding terrible. Even Varkas wouldn't come near me. Stone, he even whined as soon as I entered the room and then curled up into the corner. I shed my amour as quickly as I could, reminding myself to find new armour before we left. Mine just was just not salvageable. I gratefully crawled into the warm bath that the maid had made for me.

I closed my eyes and a lone tear slipped out of my eye. I hated the choice I made. I hated that somebody had to die so horribly. But, I knew it was the only choice. We couldn't go to the Circle; it would have taken sodding too long. And stone, I couldn't kill a child. But I hated that Isolde had to die. That blood magic was the answer. My arm started throbbing and my eyes snapped open. I still needed to get it properly healed. I looked down at it and grimaced. It was sodding contorted, the bone obviously not aligned. And the large gash was infected, seeping blood and pus into my bath water.

"Sodding stupid arm," I grumbled as I quickly washed myself and changed into some clothes the maid had brought for me. Which, fit quite well. I wondered how they had dwarven sizes just laying around.

I left the room and hurridly made my way downstairs. I spotted a few of my companions, Wynne, Leliana and Alistair were all talking around the fire. I took a deep breath and approached them. "Wynne, are you able to heal my arm?" I asked. I could feel Alistair's eyes boring into me. He was angry. "Or did you want me to go find a different healer?"

Wynne smiled and rose to her feet. "Come, Kaela. I will heal it myself," she said softly. "I would not trust anybody else to heal you."

I smiled back at her, a wave of relief rushing over me. She seemed to be calmer than before. She led me over to a nearby table and gently placed my arm on it. "I'm sorry, Wynne." I murmured. "I truly am. I shouldn't have put you in the line of blood magic."

Wynne shook her head. "I do not appreciate blood magic; however, I understand why it was needed. We had no time to return to the Circle, and killing a child is not my style."

"Thank you. I… appreciate it. I wish it could have been different."

"As do I. But what happened, happened." Wynne smiled again and gently patted my head. "Do not worry, child. Hard choices must be made, however it will all be okay. I do warn you to brace yourself, however. Alistair is not taking this situation as well as I."

I glanced at Alistair. His entire body was tense and his hands were tightly clenched together. Leliana was gone, and it seemed as if he was waiting for Wynne to leave as well.

"I will leave you two. He needs to be able to understand," said Wynne. "Your arm will be okay; however, we must stay put for tomorrow."

I nodded and Wynne left the room, leaving me and Alistair alone in awkward silence. I could hear the maids still scuttling around, completing their duties for the day. Our companions seemed to have all retired to the dining hall for dinner.

"I wanted to talk about what happened earlier," said Alistair.

"What about it?" I asked.

"You let Lady Isolde sacrifice herself!" Alistair was furious, and his volume rose very quickly, "With blood magic! How could you do that?"

I winced at his volume and replied, as calmly as I could, "There was no other choice, Alistair. She chose to sacrifice herself to save more lives."

"There must have been another way!" yelled Alistair, almost as if he was ignoring me, "She was the Arl's wife! We could've gone to the Circle! You should've tried harder!" exclaimed Alistair angrily.

"It would've taken too long!?" I shrieked, just as angrily, "It would've taken at least a sodding week to get to the Circle, wait for them to get everything and then come back! Connor wouldn't be peaceful that long! We didn't have enough time for that. Plus, this was all Isolde's fault anyway... she was humiliated to admit she had a son with magic and she choose to let a sodding blood mage tutor her son! She offered to die for him, so why not let her?

"It wasn't right! There had to be some other way!"

"WHAT OTHER WAY!?" I screamed, "Would you have preferred us to kill the child! I mean, he's just a kid that's possessed, he doesn't mean anything!"

"That wasn't-"

"What you meant?" I interrupted, "Yes it was. So, what? You would've held him down while I cut off his head? Or would you have done the honours of ending his life yourself?" He looked shocked, but that was the reaction I wanted. I was to mad to care about what he was thinking right now. "Or, maybe we could've gotten his mother to kill him! That would've worked out great! They can always have other kids, can't they!?"

Alistair and I both fell silent, still glaring at each other. It was in those few seconds of complete silence that I realised that no one was around. They must've left as soon as they heard us yelling. Not that I blame them, all I could feel in the room was tension and anger.

"Look, Alistair," I said softly, creating one of those menacing tones I'd heard so much, "I didn't want the Arlessa to die, but I didn't want to kill an innocent child. Lady Isolde offered to sacrifice herself to save Connor; it was her choice, not mine." With that said I brushed past him and walked out of the room. I knew he was mad at me, but I knew I was mad at him. More death would've occurred if we had gone to the Circle; Isolde's sacrifice was necessary to save as many lives as possible. Why couldn't he understand that!?

oOo

I didn't emerge from my designated room at Redcliffe for a long time. I heard the others talking outside the door several times, as well as knocking occasionally, but I refused to go out there. I was intending to stay in the room, with Varkas… He wasn't going to yell at me... or tell me I made the right choice, or say anything actually. Mabari are the best friends a dwarf can have.

I let out a sigh as I watched Varkas snore. It had fallen silent outside, meaning that everyone must've realised I wasn't coming out and decided to go to bed. I sat up on my makeshift bed on the floor. Despite the fact I had an actual bed here, I wasn't comfortable using it. I'd never used a bed before and it just felt... squishy. I slowly stood up, making sure I didn't wake Varkas and slipped out of the room. There was no one in sight, which meant my assumption was correct and everyone else had finally gone to bed. I frowned as my stomach grumbled. I was hungry. Everyone else ate dinner while Alistair and I fought, and I refused to go eat after the fight. I clasped my hands over my stomach and made my way down the staircase. Once I reached the bottom, I glanced around at my surroundings, clueless. I had no idea which way was the kitchen. My frown returned as I tried to choose a door to go through, finally settling on the one to my right. I eased open the door and let out a frustrated sigh as I saw a desk and several bookcases. I was about to close the door when something glinting in the moonlight caught my eye.

I walked into the room and towards the glinting object, which seemed to be sitting on a desk covered with paperwork, Arl Eamon's paperwork. I guessed this was his study. I gasped as I saw a golden locket sitting on the edge of the desk. It was absolutely beautiful! It looked as if it had been broken before, and mended. It also had Andraste's holy symbol on it. My head snapped up as a thought hit me. What if this is Alistair's mother's pendant? My grip on the locket tightened as I made my way out of the room, deciding to give it to him when I had the chance.

I closed the door to the room, and walked directly ahead, towards the door that was now in front of me. I heard someone on the stairs but didn't turn around; I needed food first.

"Kaela?"

His voice hit me like a block of ice. He was the one person I wasn't expecting, especially not after our fight. I turned around and said, "Hello, Alistair. What are you doing up so late?"

"I was going to ask you the same question."

He gaze was still harsh, but it seemed to be less ferocious from before. I shrugged and said, "I'm going to get some food. I missed dinner."

We fell back into the same awkward silence we had before, during our fight. I didn't know what was going through his head, but I sure as hell wished I did. I glanced down at my hand and suddenly remembered the locket still grasped tightly in my fingers. "Alistair... this is for you," I said, swiftly moving forward and holding out the locket.

He seemed genuinely surprised as he took the locket, all harshness fading from his eyes. "This... this is my mother's amulet. It has to be. But why isn't it broken? Where did you find it?"

"In the study," I replied softly, "Here in the castle."

"Oh, the Arl's study?"

"I guess so."

Alistair turned the amulet around in his hands and said, "Then he must have... found the amulet after I threw it at the wall. And he repaired it and kept it? I don't understand, why would he do that?"

I shrugged. "Maybe you mean more to him than you know."

Alistair looked directly into my eyes. All the anger had disappeared. It was like he had melted at the sight of the locket. "I... guess you could be right. We never really talked that much, and then the way I left..." Alistair sighed and looked down at the amulet, "Thank you. I meant it. I... thought I'd lost this to my own stupidity. I'll need to talk to him about this. If he recovers from his... when he recovers, that is. I wish I'd had this a long time ago."

I smiled as he continued fondling the amulet. I was glad he was happy again. "You're welcome," I replied softly.

"Did you remember me mentioning it? Wow. I'm more used to people not really listening when I go on about things," he looked up at me again with a smile on his face.

I tilted my head to the left and replied, "Sorry? Did you say something?"

Alistair shook his head. "You're a funny one."

We fell silent again and I smiled weakly before turning away. My appetite was gone; I wasn't really in the mood to eat anymore.

"I'm sorry," said Alistair. I turned back to face him in shock. "I shouldn't be second guessing you like this. I know you had no choice I just… all this death…"

"I truly wanted to save everyone, Alistair," I replied softly. "I don't want innocent people to keep dying. It's wrong. But… I had to make a choice.

"I know you did. I'm such an ass."

I shook my head. "You're not. You care for the Arl, and his family. I… I'm sorry, Alistair. I really am."

"Still… I should trust you. I know that you did your best."

"Thank you. I'm… glad that you think so."

"Did you want to eat dinner with me? I missed it as well…"

I looked away from him and shook my head. "I'm not really hungry anymore," I said. "I'm just going to go back to my room."

He looked a little dejected but didn't try to change my mind. I was thankful for that, being reminded about having to sacrifice Isolde just ruined my appetite. It wasn't a good choice. "We're spending the next two days here," I said as I passed him. "Enough time to recover before we head to Denerim."

"Denerim…" I heard him whisper as I made my way upstairs. His sister lived in Denerim, I'd almost forgotten. He wanted to see her. I needed to remember to suss her out when we got there.