I bought a new car! I was hoping my old car would last another year, but that just wasn't in the cards and I bought a new one! And it is sooo awesome, I've never had a new car before. New to me, yes. New new, no.

Anyway, reviews. Thanks to Raven Jadewolfe, avekay, alyssacousland, Alistair'sFan123, and Sasuke's Kanojo for reviewing this week.

Happy Holidays!

.oO***Oo.

Kallia turned to watch as the city guards closed the gate behind her companions and her. She was reminded, suddenly, of leaving the Tower. Denerim had been loud and crowded, distracting her from the comforting feeling of the fact that there were walls surrounding her. But as the gates of the city closed behind her she remembered the looks on Greagoir and Irving's faces as the doors of the Tower had been closed behind her then.

She hadn't felt this vulnerable and exposed since that day.

Mangy let off a ferocious growl and a bark and Kallia saw the confusion flit across her companions faces as they looked around to see what was upsetting him. The elf just smiled; she was the only one who understood his meaning. His promise that she would one day be an old, wrinkly elf… that he would to protect her to the end. She chuckled sadly as she reached down to scratch his ears and whispered, "I know you will."

She heard Alistair sigh loudly and turned to look at him but he was staring at the sky. She looked up, trying to see what he was seeing.

"It's going to rain sometime today," he told her. "We should get as far as we can then set up camp."

She nodded and they began walking. Kallia frowned as she looked around her, however. The trees which had all been green when they entered the city, were now all yellows, reds, and oranges. Though she trusted Alistair's sense of direction (he seemed to have an uncanny ability to know where everything was in Ferelden and what roads they needed to take to get there) surely he had to be going the wrong way? Was she the only one that noticed the road looked nothing like the one they had come on?

But it seemed she was the only one who noticed something was wrong.

Leliana was throwing a stick for Mangy on the path ahead of them. Zevran was trying to convince Morrigan to have sex with him (and apparently found the threat of being stabbed in the face a turn on), and Wynne had knitting needles in her hands and a thick strand of dark wool came out of a pouch at her waist. Kallia had to smile as this brought to mind the scene at the dinner table the night before.

Sten had sat holding the skein of dark wool while Wynne had wound it into a center-pull cake. Though his face held almost no expression, if you looked close enough you could see the tiniest smile on his face at the small furball that had continuously launched itself after the string. Everyone looked the other way later that night as Sten had laid out several of his coins on the bar to buy milk for the creature.

When they passed a small cave, they decided to take shelter and wait out the storm. It was fairly obvious that this cave was used often, there was a firepit set up in the center and a pile of wood off to the side. Just the same, Alistair checked the back of the cave for bears.

Kallia stood at the mouth of the cave, studying the landscape around her. "Is there a problem, Kali?" Leliana asked as she came to stand beside her.

"Alistair's sense of direction has never led us wrong before," she told the bard.

Amusement lit Leliana's eyes, "You think it is now?"

"This is not the road we came on."

"All roads in Ferelden eventually meet one of two and those meet up about a day's journey from Denierm. There is only one road, Kali, we cannot be going the wrong way."

"But it doesn't look the same," Kallia stamped her foot in frustration.

Leliana frowned, "Do you know nothing of how the world changes with the seasons?"

"The Tower itself has remained unchanged since before the Circle even existed. There are no seasons in the world of a Tower Mage," Kallia replied. Leliana opened her mouth to explain, but the sound of Wynne attempting to drive Alistair away from the cooking pot drew both women's attention and the topic was forgotten.

.oO***Oo.

"Grey Warden!"

Kallia and Alistair froze. It was typically not nice people that addressed them by that title. They turned to see a merchant making his way towards them; one hand waving to get their attention the other pulling his cart of goods. Kallia and Alistair exchanged a look and wordlessly decided to wait for him. Though most of the companions set themselves up in defensive positions so that when the merchant finally did catch up, he would be surrounded.

The merchant made no reaction to the actions of her companions, Kallia guessed he probably didn't even realize the potential repercussions of those actions. She was learning to recognize the way a fighter moves and she was fairly certain this man was no fighter.

"You are a difficult woman to find, Warden," the merchant panted when he finally caught up.

"That's usually a good thing when you've been declared a wanted traitor with a bounty on your head," Alistair quipped from her side.

That merchant laughed, "That's true."

"Why were you looking for me?" Kallia prompted.

"Well you see, Duncan was a friend of mine. Well before Ostagar, he made me a promise. One that would help the Wardens too."

"Why look for me?" Kallia wondered. "Alistair is the senior Grey Warden..."

Levi laughed. "While Duncan often spoke highly of Alistair, he was also quick to point out his aversion to leading. If you run in the right circles to know the two of you are alive, those same circles will let you know you're probably the one leading, Warden," he explained.

"I told you Warden Commander suited you better," Alistair nudged her side.

"Yes, I command all one of the Wardens that are left," Kallia rolled her eyes. "What do you need me to do, Levi?"

"I've mapped out the caves that are the entrance to the Soldier's Peak, but they say the place is haunted. No one's been there since since the Wardens were banished a hundred years ago, no one that's come back anyway. I'm a merchant, not a fighter. I need you to go in a clear Sophia's name. It won't get back our lands or our titles but it will restore out honor. What do you say, will you help?"

Kallia hesitated. Technically, they really should focus on gathering allies for the Blight. Restoring the Peak could wait until the Blight was over. And they were on a time-sensitive mission, Eamon could begin to decline at any moment.

But on the other hand, it would be really nice to not have to worry about having somewhere to rebuild the Wardens at before she could begin recruiting people again. She didn't even think twice about the fact that she assumed she was the one that would be doing the rebuilding... If it really was just Alistair and her left, he'd made it abundantly clear that she would take command. As for Eamon… Well, it was her magic that was keeping his body from dieing without his spirit... she would know if he began to get worse.

"How far is it?" she asked and pulled out her map. He took it but arched an eyebrow at the child-like scribble Alistair had made for her.

"Why don't I give you a new map... I have an extra," he said slowly and handed her map back to her. After digging out a much nicer map (this one with city names, roads, rivers, and mountains marked on it) he pointed out their current location and the location of the Peak just to the north of them. "I'd say about two day's walk from here," he told her.

Kallia thought about it. She glanced over her companions. If she took the light-footed ones with her to the Peak and sent the other's on ahead to the Tower docks then her group would likely be able to catch up with them before they got there. She quickly catalogued her companion's advantages and disadvantages.

It was best to divide up their healers, Kallia herself was nowhere near as good as Wynne but she was good enough they could get by. Not to mention, as Alistair often pointed out, the other mage was much older and a constant fast pace would likely be harder on her… So Wynne would go on to the Lake. Sten was too slow, he would go on to the Lake. Leliana was fast so she'd go with Kallia. As was Zevran. If she was bringing Zevran that meant she had to bring Alistair or he would throw a fit.

So that put Sten, Wynne, and Morrigan in one group and Alistair, Zevran, and Leliana in the other. Sten, Wynne, and Morrigan weren't the best combination she could think of... Sten wasn't much of a team fighter, if they got into trouble he would do little to get the attention on himself if bad guys started attacking one of the mages.

Which meant she had to convince Mangy to go with them.

It was a workable plan, not one of her best by far but definitely not one of her worst either. Mangy grumped and whined, but in the end agreed to go with them so long as Alistair watched her extra carefully.

Levi indicated they had to follow the same road they were on for another few miles, so the whole party set off together. They'd only been walking for 15 minutes when Kallia watched Morrigan approach Alistair. She held back a groan. Now all she was going to hear about for the next three days was how mean Morrigan was.

"I have a wonder, Alistair, if you will indulge me."

"Like I have a choice," he gritted out.

"Well, Kallia brought up a good point, you know. You are the senior Grey Warden, are you not? I find it curious that you allow Kallia to lead while you follow," Morrigan's tone indicated she was quite pleased with herself.

"You find that curious, do you?" he sneered.

"In fact, you defer to a new recruit. I wonder if this is a policy of all Grey Wardens or a merely personal one."

Alistair sighed. "What do you want to hear? That I prefer to follow? I do. Besides, she seems to be doing a fine job. Why mess with a good thing?"

"You sound so defensive," she said with a delighted smile.

"Could you just go crawl in a bush somewhere and die? That'd be great, thanks," he sneered and crossed his arms. He slowed his walking, clearly intending to walk alongside Kallia and Levi. Morrigan did not allow this as she also slowed her walk. Just as she opened her mouth to make another crack at him, however, Alistair spoke instead. "I have an idea, let's talk about your mother."

Surprise registered on Morrigan's face for only an instant before the usual smirk was back in place, "But I would rather talk about your mother."

For an instant Kallia worried Morrigan knew what Alistair had told her before Redcliffe. She wasn't sure why the witch having this knowledge made her uncomfortable, but she found she was not happy with the thought of her knowing. Or anyone, really.

"Nothing to talk about," he answered offhandedly. "My mother was a scullery maid. Your mother is a scary witch who lives in the middle of a creepy forest... Much more interesting."

Kallia held her hand up to her mouth to hide a laugh at the pride he felt at having come up with that. Particularly since she'd found a note in his chicken scratch handwriting next to the fire with that very line written on it. Obviously he'd planned out what to say to Morrigan.

"To you, perhaps," the witch answered boredly. "Of course, you would find moss growing on a stone interesting."

"You know what's really interesting? Apostates. That's illegal you know," he smiled, quite pleased with himself. He didn't notice the slight furrowing of Kallia's brow. She had become so used to the twisted Veil that marked him a Templar, she'd almost forgotten he was one in anything but name. The thought had not occurred to her in weeks but the realization that he obviously still maintained some of the beliefs of a Templar was like a punch in the gut.

But Kallia shook her head to clear the thoughts from her mind. He was only saying that to get to Morrigan. He was her Templar and a few stupid comments said to Morrigan just to piss her off was not going to change that.

"Or we could not talk about your mother..." he let off a huff and made his way to Kallia's side instead, his arms crossed and a pout on his face. He was sulking.

She didn't have the opportunity to say anything to him, however, because at that moment Levi announced that this was where they parted. Kallia knelt and reminded Mangy to take care of Wynne and Morrigan but when the witch scoffed Kallia corrected herself, saying, "Ok then, just take care of Wynne, Morrigan can take care of herself."

It earned her a glare from the witch but the look on Alistair's face was well worth it.