It was illumination unparalleled by the brightest stars in the heavens. The way the fires clung to the sides of the masonry, blackening the white stone and swirling up the flue. There was something hypnotic about the gentle blurs in color that shimmied along the logs. Each flicker of flame ebbed from the glowing tangerine to the dimmest of blues. His eyes glazed from intoxication of the fine wine that Neveren had offered him. He slurped it down as if the thirst of a thousand oceans couldn't quench it. He had become so familiar with the piss poor ales and beers that would become a noxious vomitus from over-consumption.

He slumped deeper in to the armchair. The soft turtledove sobs snuck in from under the door from the study. Each gasp for air was another dagger and reminder. It was another cry that he'd heard from her. There were so many instances of her tears falling that he couldn't catch under the circumstances that their master would force upon her. Her attempts at satisfaction for Danarius often came at her bloodshed. How her tears were a deep red from him. She tried to explain it to him, but the context of injury should have healed after the many times the healer would come. She frowned upon his conjecture; the constant admonition and abuse had always torn fresh wounds. The secretions coated in their hemoglobin made her pained passion all the more desolate.

He felt their eyes on him. He fought the desire to acknowledge them, which made their attempts more desperate. He glanced around the room at the fine customary trappings of a nobleman's estate. It was refreshing compared to the estate that he and Adria were to reside in. He smirked slightly, yet tried to hide it from the wardens and the loud mouthed uncle that still mumbled his sickly comments about Adria.

Neveren offered him the bottle after downing his fourth glass as if it were water. The booze was used as a temporary bandage to cover his uncertain lamentations about the woman in the next room. He sipped the wine and with an ever parched throat resigned himself to answering the questioning looks he was receiving.

"How in the Maker's name did you get here?" Neveren started before he could finish the final drops in the bottle.

He looked in to the dark tinted glass decanter and stared. Blurry inebriated visions of his reflection cut through the refracted transparent bottle in splashes of deep purple. He swayed the bottle to and fro and heard the gentle slosh of liquid in it. The sound was tempting and before he could down the rest, his head swiveled in the blonde's direction.

"It's a long story," he muttered with slurred speech.

"We have time," Neveren replied, taking her place in the chair next to him.

"It was Adria's doing. If it wasn't for her, we'd be back in Minrathous now," he started with a sickening grumble and ache in his stomach.


Alam, Seheron

"We need to get off this island," Adria scowled as they walked along the docks in the dead of night.

The many bars and burlesque houses were full to bursting. Doors and windows were thrown open to aerate the stench of sweaty men and vomit. Laughing and drunken revelry spilled out in to the humid eve. She turned back to him and stopped. He had been listening to the conversations that were coming from some dockworkers near an open window.

"Where do you suggest?" he questioned without looking at her.

"Home," she replied softly.

"Back to Minrathous? If you wanted to go there you should have gone with Danarius," he grumbled.

Thin fingers grabbed his arm and gently squeezed. His ability to circumvent her staring eyes was felled by the tender dip she gave to have him look down at her. The sweet nibbling on her lip and pained expression sucked the wind from his lungs. He brushed her thick bangs from her face and weakly smiled. He knew exactly what she was saying. He felt horrible for implying that that was what she had wanted.

"My home is with you," she murmured. "I want to go back to Lothering to say good-bye. I didn't have a choice in the way I left the first time. I want to leave that place my way this time and have the ability to never look back."

"We could do that, if that is what you wish," he stated, taking her arm in his. "After that, what then?"

"Whatever you want to do is fine. As long as I'm with you: I'm safe."

They continued walking. Peculiar glances met the pair as they strolled along the waterfront to a nearby ship where cargo was being loaded. The captain was speaking with a longshoreman and checking things on a paper. The smarmy man stopped reading when the former slaves approached and grinned. The look on his face was unsettling to the elf, but Adria looked down to the ground submissively. Fenris told her to stay there: he would deal with the man. His tone was cold and reminded him of Danarius. His hair stood on end at the comparison. Regardless, he walked authoritatively to the captain and explained their situation. He was a bounty hunter sent to collect runaway property. His patron, Danarius, would like her returned to him without delay and unharmed.

They spoke briefly about the expenditure of two more mouths to feed, but when he took out the ring that had aided Danarius in finding them, the man's mouth nearly dropped to the floor. Fenris said that by any means necessary they were to return to Qarinas. The magister would replace it upon their return.

The ship's master pulled one of his crew aside and whispered to him. The stout young man nodded and hurried off. For several minutes they stood in silence. He kept looking over his shoulder to Adria; who he'd harshly commanded to his side. She refused with a wild shake of her head and folded her arms in protest. He didn't know what to do; the suspect looks he was getting from the captain had feared him. Just as he was about to rush over to her and threaten to thrash her for disobeying him; the sailor returned and handed him a heavy chain and manacle set.

"If she is a runaway slave, she will need to be put under confinement. I won't be having her trying to flee or cause a raucous on my ship," the captain warned.

The idea of chaining her up didn't sit well with him. The thought as a whole was something he never wanted to play a hand in. He couldn't believe that their escape would end up in her submission to him. It was her scariest nightmare come true. He hid them from her as he headed back.

"I have good news and bad news," he muttered, glancing quickly over his shoulder before resuming his attention on her. Her eyebrow perked with curiosity and awaited the information he had obtained. He cleared his throat nervously and continued. "Good news: I got us passage to Qarinus. I bartered passage with that bloody ring of Danarius'."

"And the bad news?" she asked.

It was at that point he pulled his hand out from behind his back exposing a chain and collar. She glared at the heavy manacle and matching chain before demanding he explain himself. The thought of having to see her wear that insipid harness ignited an instant hatred in him. She began to protest his idea when without warning she snatched it from him and closed the leash around her neck. He was baffled; instantly confused by the drastic measures she was allowing him to take. Her shaking hands fumbled with the lock, but the more she tried, the more she failed and in her frustration started to break down. He calmed her and closed it until the click from it securing could be heard. It was the most devastating sound he'd heard in months.

"I told him I was a bounty hunter and that you had gotten away from your master," he stammered enclosing her wrists in the shackles.

He looked up at her and this one scene could have been one that should have never been witnessed. There had only been three times since they'd known each other that she had been shackled like an animal. It was degrading and humiliating. And through it all, she feigned her familiar smile and looked away. It brought up horrible memories for her. He could see it in the way she kept dodging his glances.

"I understand," she said softly. She peered through her feathery bangs and shuddered.

"It won't be for long. Just until we get in to our quarters. Then I'll take it off," he assured her.


"We spent a week on that ship. I had confined her to quarters just so she wouldn't have to wear her leash. Several crewmen had bartered to spend a night with her and I refused. I wasn't going to allow her to be used like that under my care," Fenris said.

The dead silence that filled the room couldn't have been cut with a red hot knife. Even Adria's soft weeping had gone dead and as sobriety at the thought of having her as his slave for that week seemed an enticing idea, he never touched her. Not like that.

"We got out of the Imperium as fast as we could. We both knew that it would only be a matter of time before Danarius started his search of us again. With the ring out of our possession we thought it would give us the advantage we needed to put some distance between us and him," he continued.

"That was obviously a lie, I take it?" Nevern questioned. She began to pace in front of him as if she was interrogating him.

"It was. After we hit the mainland it seemed at every turn the slavers would be waiting," Fenris acknowledged. "Adria tried her best to fight them off when they managed to find us. It's still a mystery how they did. One we'll probably never figure out."

"So why do you deny her the ability to use her Maker given gifts?" Anders finally chimed in.

Fenris glared at him. He bit his tongue, knowing that the stupid mage was goading him.

"I never imposed a rule on her that she couldn't," he argued. "I'm not her master nor is she mine. You know full and well by now what happens when she does."

"Anders, just leave it for now," she snapped at the mage. "If you didn't want her to use her wily ways aboard ship, then why did you let her prostitute herself?"

"Have you ever really spoken with her? Her inclinations are her own. I found that out the hard way after Tantervale."


"I can't believe you'd do that!" Fenris yelled as they walked along a dirt path.

The sun had begun to set and the further south they headed, the temperature dipped lower at night. He gripped her tightly by the hand and led her along the winding trail. He couldn't stand to look at her. Not with what she had allowed to happen to herself. He was helpless to stop it and grateful in a sick sense that she had given in to such a loathsome deed. If she hadn't done it when she had they would have been out of time since they had already sent word to their master of their capture.

"We needed to get out of there. I didn't see you pleading your case all that well," she snapped back. She pulled her hand from his and stopped dead. "Besides he didn't seem all that interested in you anyways."

He spun around and got in her face. She stared in to him; refusing to back down from his threatening posture. The smug scowl on her face forced him to make a decision. He wanted to hit her for doing it. Making him watch what she had done right in front of him. Make him listen to her being trespassed upon with complete disregard for his feelings. He was angry at himself more than she but the more she stared up at him with deep sopped hair from their captor's blood sticking chunky locks to her face, he understood it wasn't her fault.

"I never wanted you to resort to that," he stuttered.

"I'm sorry. Alright? Is that what you want to hear? I screwed up again. Adria is the foolish girl who's good for only one thing," she shrieked with a harsh shove. He staggered back and went to reach out for her. "If I hadn't we'd be in Danarius' hands again. I gave you the chance to flee and you refused to on account of a stupid whore!"

His arms fell away as she stormed past him. The trees began to sway as a hard breeze came over the mountains and down in to the valley. Petrichor tainted wind heeded a heavy warning to him. A storm was coming and from the rapidness that the clouds traversed the skies it was going to be a long night trudging along in the darkness. He hurried after her around the bend and found her standing completely still in the middle of the road. He spun her around forcefully and grabbed her shoulders. Speckles of dried blood dotted her bare flesh. He rubbed them away with his thumb and locked eyes with her.

"You're not a whore." His gauntleted tips dug in to her shoulder blades and felt the first drops of rain begin to hit his head. "People will do things they don't want to for the survival of themselves or others. I can't take back what happened, regardless of how willing or not you were." Her head drooped to conceal the shame she'd been holding on to since they'd gotten away.

"I love you, Fenris. I'm tired of running all the time. From Danarius and these damn slavers all the way up to you."

"Me? Why would you run from me?" he questioned.

"All I see is you and what you deserve is far better than what I can give," she replied.

The water pouring over their heads ran red and spilled to the ground amongst the brown puddles around their feet. An icy wind hit her back and she jumped towards him. He chuckled to himself when she ran in to him and shivered. She was shrinking further as if she was going to burrow in to his torso for warmth. He lifted her chin with his finger at the sweet innocence she was emitting and kissed her gently. The chattering of teeth ended along with the freeze she'd put in place since Seheron.

"I will make it up to you," he murmured. "I owe you far more than you think."


"So she slept with a slaver to save your ass?" Neveren growled. "Unbelievable." She threw her hands up in anguish and finished off the last of her wine.

"She… did," he replied uncomfortably. He shifted in his seat and glanced at the warden. "She seduced them-"

"Wait," Anders interrupted. "Them?"

"She managed to get the key from the guard while she was-."

Neveren stopped him with a wave of her hand. She didn't need the details about what she had to do to get them free. From the look on her face, she was disgusted. Not at Adria, but at him for not doing a little sacrificing of his own for the sake of her. He didn't like it either, but had come to accept it.

"So are you still sleeping with her?" Anders questioned with piercing eyes.

"I don't think that's any of our business. From the way they react to each other I'm sure they have at least a few times," Neveren replied before Fenris could. He shrugged evasively at the topic and downed the last bit of warm wine. "So explain this magic thing to me."

"I bleed," Adria stated from behind them.

Fenris nearly jumped out of the chair at the sound of her voice. He turned and saw her leaning in the doorway of the study, swirling her glass of wine. She cocked her head and started toward the elf only to place herself at his feet. She rested her head on his knee and sighed.

"I know that, Adria," Anders spat angrily.

"So then why ask at all? If you knew the obvious then it was a stupid question. Here's the more obscure fact about this two fold deal," she paused for another sip of wine and set her head back down. Fenris combed her hair with his fingers and waited for her to continue. "Remember that little tidbit I gave you about Fenris' blood?" She didn't bother looking at the mage who had nodded without a word. "If he gets hurt; so do I. It's not an example I care to show you all, but that's that. Two slaves, polar opposites what happens to one the other gets. Now if…" She stuck her finger in the pink wine and sucked it dry. "I was to get hurt, nothing happens to him. The bleeding and agonizing pain is an after effect of the use of my own will. That doesn't mean I can't fight. It just makes it more difficult to."

"I see," Neveren murmured, deep in thought about Adria's admission. "We might be able to work around that at some point. Let me discuss it with Anders and Alistair and I'll see what we can do to help you."

Adria looked up at him with sleepy eyes and yawned. Fenris nodded in agreement and helped her to her feet. He hadn't slept in two days and the claws of exhaustion were tearing at him vigorously. Gamlen came in to the room and nervously told her to be careful and that he'd like to speak with her soon; even though words sounded forced with uncomfortable tones of mourning sewn through it. She nodded politely and headed for the door.

"Can I speak with you, Fenris, for a minute longer? In private, perhaps?" Neveren asked.

They looked at each other briefly only for her to nod that she'd be alright and see him at home. He didn't want her to walk the streets at night. It wasn't safe out there and she would be mildly defenseless against the thugs that would see her as an easy target.

"Just stay right here. I'll be right back," he assured her.

Neveren led him in to the study and quickly shut the door behind her.

"Do you know anything about her past?" she questioned without turning around.

"It's not something she's ever brought up," he replied with a shrug.

"You should speak to her about it some time. Gently, of course. It might help you understand why she takes failure and betrayal from the people she's come to trust so personally. Why she was willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of you," the warden growled. "I know that look in her eye when you turn away from her. That lost scared girl without a friend in the world but you. She's come to rely on you so much that if you ever hurt her: I will track you down and kill you myself."

"Don't threaten me, mage," he snapped back.

"You have no idea how many times I've heard that," she scoffed with a wave of the hand. "Yet, they didn't see the error of their ways and were punished accordingly. If I even get the slightest hint she feels like she failed you because of your choices, that lingering pain I know you've noticed when she looks up at you isn't because of years of torture. It's because she watched her family die and played a part in their demise under duress. She feels like she failed them."

"I wouldn't hurt her," Fenris insisted, trying not to raise his voice so that Adria would overhear.

"I've just told you one of the biggest mysteries to her and you say nothing about it?"

"What do you want me to say, Neveren? Do you want me to rush out of here and probe her for information about something so traumatizing that she probably wishes to forget?"

"No, I'm sure she's envious of you that she wasn't given that option. For her sake, please Fenris, after tonight's talk I know you are the only one she can rely on. Anders and I won't always be here because of the Wardens and Gamlen only spends a couple months a year here," her voice grew softer as if begging him to heed her words with careful consideration.

"I don't need to be told the obvious. I do understand what you are telling me, but I've known her longer than either of you combined. She's strong, wild, and while that meek streak she has is also there, I know she can handle just about anything life throws at her."

The Warden opened the door with a frown but wouldn't let him pass. She stopped him short of breaking the threshold with a press to the chest.

"If you really think about her that way, then I hope there never comes a time when you are wrong," she said with a shake of her head. "If you betray her trust, you'll probably never get it back. If you really want to protect her from all the bad in the world and not whoring herself out because you won't provide for her then I have a task that'll prove your worth to both myself and her."

"What is it?"

"Speak to Harlan tomorrow about paying off her contract. Since you are her significant other it falls to you. It'll keep the Coterie out of her hair and you'll get a small payment but the majority of the work is going to pay it off," Neveren explained coldly.

"Understood."

With his acknowledgement she stepped aside and followed him to the foyer. What he saw made the stern warden break out in to insane chuckling. He thought it was heartwarming. Adria was curled up in the tiniest of balls on the bench. She almost seemed to disappear in to her gown, but when she whimpered softly in her all too familiar nightmares, he hurried to her side and soothed her till she was quiet. He didn't want to wake her up just to walk home and while his own body hungered for the same attention he glanced at his armor and back to the slumbering princess and scowled. Again he cursed Danarius for giving him such dangerous armor and wished that for just one second he could carry her home without inflicting unwanted injuries.

"Do you want me to get Anders or Alistair to help you carry her?" Neveren asked when she noticed his distress. "Or do you both want to stay here tonight? There's plenty of room for us and you two can share if that's what you want."

"Would Gamlen have a problem with it?" he queried, never taking his eyes off of his sleeping beauty.

"I don't think so," she said with a sigh. "There's a room at the top of the stairs on the left."

He had to give it a shot at least once to heft her tiny frame in to his cradling arms just to place her in bed and squirrel his way under the covers beside her. As deftly as his pokey armor would allow, he lifted her up and began to walk towards the stairs. He held his breath, savoring the moment and dreading the end as he walked up to the second floor. Neveren was waiting with the door open and as he walked in to the large room, she smiled and wished him a good evening before closing the door; leaving him alone with her.

He placed her on the bed and began to unlace the bindings of her gown. She stirred when he reached the top and he froze.

"Don't wake up, love. Don't wake up," he pleaded with nary a sound escaping him.

He slid her feet from her slippers and placed them beside the bed. When it was his turn to disrobe and settle in for the night he continued to watch her. The gentle rise and fall of her chest, the slow and even throb from her carotid arteries, even the soft whistle of her breath made him take pause and admire her like so many nights before. Fenris pulled the blankets up over him and just listened to her sleep. It was a beautiful nocturne composed by his affection. She was his cross to bear and he carried it with no remorse. He pressed his lips to hers and she recoiled abruptly as if he had startled her.

"I'm sorry. It's alright," he spoke in a hushed whisper.

"Am I ever going to keep you?" she whispered incoherently.

"Properly? Eventually. When I can provide for you your every waking desire," he replied.

"Oh," she breathed before sliding closer to him. "I love you."

His breath caught in his lungs at the gentleness of her somniliquy. Her effervescent smell managed to crush his stony heart and he broke down. In silence and at the point of near desperation he felt the dampness well up in his eyes. He rubbed his eye and saw the small droplet glistening in the waning moonlight. She had finally done it. She brought him to his knees just by being there. An overwhelming dread filled him till he could stand it no longer.

How am I ever going to provide for you properly when I can't even tell you how much I love you?