I apologize for the long time between chapters, while life is always crazy. I spent some time working on this part chapter as well as the next few one trying make them as good as or better than the previous chapters. I hope that I have reached my goal and that you enjoy this chapter.

Thank you for your continued support

Sweet Wench

At the start of the day Belyssa was confused but happy, she and Alistair talked in one of the stalls in Redcliffe's stables, they actually ended up falling asleep there too. All they did was talk mainly, with the occasional smooch session. Her confusion stemmed from what Alistair said, and how he acted. He told her he wanted to wait, not rush things between them. Yet that didn't stop him from kissing her senseless several times last night. The hardest part for her was how her body felt; her body felt like it was burning when he touched her.

She wasn't happy that he didn't want moves things forward; but, after what happened that night. She wasn't sure she was ready to force the issue again; she hasn't forgotten how embarrassed he looked that night. So just maybe he had a point that they needed to learn how to be a couple. The dynamic of their relationship now is very different from when they were children.

All she knows is that she has never wanted to be with a man before they way she wants to be with Alistair now. Sure Dairen made her more curious, but it is her attraction to Alistair that is making her behave so wantonly. Though right now all that is moot, considering how annoyed she is with Alistair at the moment.

"Honestly, how dare he talk to me that way." says Belyssa out loud to no one in particular.

"Well, he does have a point." Comments Elyssa

"How can you say that?" Belyssa asks

"Well the Fergus I grew up with no longer exists, thanks to all the time shifts by the Erebus. So if I could have him travelling with me like you do, I wouldn't be fighting with him."

"I am not the one who started this fight. He thinks just because Cailan gave him a letter with that night's event he can judge my actions. He wasn't there; he has no idea what it felt like to live through it. I understand he lost his wife and son, but I also lost a family."

"Have you said that to him?"

"You know I haven't. Every time he opens his mouth, I just want to punch it shut." This elicited a chuckle from Elyssa.

"I remember times like that with my Fergus. This isn't an ideal situation for you both, but at least you have each other. Who does Alistair have to help him mourn his losses?"

"He has me."

"Really, what have you done to make this trip back to Ostagar bearable for him?" Belyssa then realized how true Elyssa's words are, she stopped to turn and look at Alistair way in the back of the group drudging along. He looked miserable, worse than he did when his father died. Belyssa sighed and headed back to where he was.

Alistair was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn't notice Belyssa walking beside him until she grabbed his arm, at that point he look down at the hand on his arm and then up to see her smiling at him.

"So serious, what are you thinking about?"

"It is a little hard not to think about all the people that died at Ostagar."

"True enough."

"What has it been a month?"

"Try more like three."

"Really, it doesn't feel that long."

"Well, you do know that old adage about flying time and fun." says Belyssa. Alistair is pretty sure that she is quoting the phrase wrong but his mind as too many thoughts to really think about just now.

"Why are you back here?" Alistair then asks sounding irate.

"I wanted to check on you. I was worried."

"Really?" Belyssa steps in front of Alistair forcing him to stop and look at her. She places both of her hands on his face.

"Why would you question that? We have known each other since we were kids and you are my best friend. So like then, when you hurt it breaks my heart a little each time. Alistair, I love you."

"You have barely said a word to me since lunch and now-…Wait what did you just say?" Her words were finally sinking in. Belyssa smiled at him and repeated her last statement.

"I love you!" when Alistair tried to speak, Belyssa placed her finger on his lips. "I owe you an apology. (Belyssa paused for a moment to gather her thoughts) "I was upset with what you said earlier to Fergus and me not because I think you were wrong; but, because you are right. We should not be fighting at time like this; we should be helping each other. However, that is something he and I need to work out and right now I am just too angry at him to do that."

When Belyssa finally removed her finger from his lips all Alistair did was pull her closer to him and kiss her thoroughly so thoroughly that both were panting when he reluctantly and finally pulled away. Zevran had called out to them both, forcing them to stop and catch up to the rest of the group.

As they were headed over Fergus grumbled that his sister never forgave him as quickly as she does with Alistair; which caused Bethany to comment that Alistair is only a quarter of the jack-ass that Fergus is. This caused a few chuckles from the companions.

With things once again better with Belyssa, Alistair's thoughts were not so gloomy. His mind was still on Cailan and Duncan but Belyssa was there to help him handle his emotions. As they neared the area of the Wilds that led to Ostagar there was significant weather change to winter. The majority of the group had the necessary equipment except for Morrigan and Belyssa. Morrigan compensated by casting a resistance to cold spell, usually this spell is mainly used as a deterrent against creatures or other mages who have a propensity to cast cold spells. However, Morrigan rather snidely explained that her mother taught away to modify normal protection spells to protect against climate as well. So this left Belyssa without adequate armour protection, she didn't complain yet that did not stop both Alistair and Fergus from worrying about her.

After an adamant discussion with Belyssa, Alistair was able to get her to agree to wear a tunic and pants underneath her armour in an attempt to stay warm. Also Morrigan did cast her resistance to cold spell on her. The influence that Alistair had on Belyssa was not missed by her brother Fergus; he felt that old jealously he used to feel for Alistair when they first met all those years ago. They were about a half day away from Ostagar, but if they continued straight through they would have arrived in late evening hours giving any enemy nearby the advantage so Belyssa decided it would be best to camp for the night and continue on in the early morning. Though to keep their presence a secret they did not light a campfire. This made Alistair feel a little lost since most nights he liked to sit by the fire and think.

As Alistair was getting ready for sleep in his tent when in walks Belyssa, "I thought you might want some company?"

Feeling his heart beat a little faster he could only nod at her. Belyssa sensed his discomfort. "I am not trying to repeat Redcliffe, Alistair."

He gives her sly look. "Pity" He admits to himself that he really does love the way her face looks just then as she begins to blush.

"I thought that…" before she could finish her statement, Alistair pulls her down to him and kisses her, he pulled away from her before he got too carried away and says.

"You drive me crazy." He sees her confusion and tries to explain. "Bel, I would love to lick a lamppost in winter with you; but, I want it to be the right time, the right place. You deserve something special."

"And this is why I love you. Alistair, we are being called traitors by the crown, hunted down by our enemies and in the middle of war for our very survival against creatures that parents use to scare children into behaving. And somewhere in all that you want to find the right time and place? As long as it with you it will be perfect." Says Belyssa

"Way to make man feel good." Before Belyssa can something else he rushes on. "I understand what you are saying, Bel. I want to cherish every second with you and make that moment in our lives all the more special without having to worry about someone bursting through the tent trying to kill us. Because that would sort of kill the mood, at least it would for me."

"Have I told you just how strange you are?" says Belyssa laughing at his last statement.

"Yes and for the record you are not the only one to say that to me. Now let me hold you."

"As you wish, my prince." The companions outside the tent heard a loud squeal come from Alistair's tent, followed by Alistair laughing as he shouts.

"Hey, I bruise easily, woman!"

Ostagar…

Belyssa felt the air leave her lungs as she hit the ground from the hurlocks shield bash. Lucky for her, she moves quickly and rolls out of the reach of his weapon just before he swings it down. As she is backing away from him she throws a dagger at him, catching him in thigh, he cries out. She uses the time to stand back up and ready herself for their next bout.

This time she is more than ready for the hurlock charging at her, as he nears she side steps and slashes his other thigh severing the tendon and he goes down to his knees. At this point she decapitates him; Belyssa then takes stock of the rest of her companions. She notices Alistair has his hands full with some genlocks. She readies her bow and takes aim; to her annoyance Alistair keeps getting in her line of fire all of a sudden she has an idea.

Elyssa, can you tell Red to have Alistair move to his right. She waits a few seconds and then shouts to Elyssa. His other right! "Honestly!" she exclaims out loud to herself as she now takes her shot. She hits her target, brings the genlock down and then repeats the same shot with the other genlock. Seeing that his odds are better she heads back into the fray with her companions.

The odds now in their favor the fight did not take much longer. Alistair was wiping his blade and walks over to where Belyssa is standing looking down at the hurlock she killed. She can hear Zevran and Leilana going through the darkspawns things.

"Interesting way to communicate." says Alistair when he reaches Belyssa, she does not seem to hear him at first, so he touches her shoulder and repeats his statement. Belyssa gives him a grin.

"I am glad it worked. I think that can become very useful." They both share a laugh as they hear Elyssa and Red grumble at them. Belyssa look back down at the hurlock. "Alistair does part of this hurlocks armour look familiar to you. It does to me but I can't place it."

Alistair looked down at the armour the hurlock Belyssa was staring at. He then noticed what she was talking about his greaves didn't match the rest of his armour, it looked to well made. It probably scavenged it off of some poor sot that died at Ostagar, he thought. And yet the armour seemed too fancy for a peasant, unless it was for someone important. Then he remembered where he'd seen it. "Monsters!" he shouted, Belyssa looked up at him a startled at his shout.

He looked over at her and explained. "That belonged to Cailan."

She could see the hurt and outrage on his face and her heart went out to him. She was going to reach for his hand but instead bent down and began to take the armour off of the dead hurlock. He quickly joined her and together they quickly divested the hurlock of their king's armour. Belyssa noticed several dents and all the dirt on it.

"I will take them to Wade and have him make repairs and clean them." Alistair gave her a grateful look and that is when she noticed a tear falling down his cheek. Despite the blood and grime from their fighting Belyssa pulled him to her and gave him a kiss; before she could do anything else.

"Honestly don't you two ever stop?" she hears her brother say snidely. Belyssa moves so Fergus can't see Alistair's face.

"That creature was wearing our Kings armour. Have some respect, Fergus." Fergus looks at Cailan's armour then to his sister and before he could say anything else she continued.

"Just take it over to the others we will be there in a moment." When she looked back at Alistair he regained his composure, his face was set. However, when she looked at his eyes she could see his anguish.

"If I am going to make it through this let me embrace my anger." Belyssa gave him a quick nod and they went to rejoin the rest of their companions. Once they reached everyone else they found Cailan's chest; however since both Alistair and Belyssa could still sense a large number of darkspawn still at Ostagar they thought it would be prudent to wait before looking into the contents of the chest. While Belyssa showed her excitement that she was now able to sense the darkspawn better, Fergus was appalled that her eyes glowed. Since her natural eye color was such a deep blue their color was more intense. While in his opinion Alistair's eyes didn't look so off putting with their blue glow. Then again, he wasn't related to Alistair.

At this point they broke up into two groups to thoroughly search the upper section of Ostagar before heading towards the Tower of Ishal. Since there was only two official Grey Wardens, Alistair and Belyssa headed a group. Alistair sighed as watched Belyssa go off in the opposite direction.

"Really, Alistair don't you think you are taking this little crush on my sister a little too far?" asks Fergus. Belyssa didn't give Alistair a choice about having Fergus in his group.

"And here I thought we were beyond your petty jealously of me?" countered Alistair, which surprised Fergus.

"Point taken; but, that doesn't answer my question?"

"What difference does it make to you?" continued Alistair.

"She is still my little sister and I care that you are not trying to take advantage of her infatuation with you."

"So you only act like a jack ass to her face and pretend to care when she isn't around?" pressed Alistair.

"I never said I stopped caring for Bliss. It would be easier to deal with her betrayal if I didn't still care." Alistair was already angry from finding is his brother's armour on a darkspawn; Fergus's comment just fueled it further.

"Damn it, Fergus! Bel didn't betray you. She fought with everything she had against Howe's men!"

"Then how is it she was the only one to survive?"

"You think she betrayed your family?" asked Alistair while trying to control his temper.

Fergus noticed how angry Alistair was becoming. "No, I know how much she hated Arl Howe. It just seems that if she tried as hard as you said, why aren't my parents alive too?" Alistair rolls his eyes.

"Did you read the letter Cailan had me give you or did you just stare at it?" Alistair's patience was getting worn out.

"I read it. It all seems so fantastical at some points. What has she told you of that night?"

"Not much, she doesn't like to talk about it. She mentioned trying to stop you and Bryce from leaving."

Fergus nodded. "She tried and got into an argument with father about it. After that she gave me some healing potions, a map of the Korcari Wilds that should show me how to get to Lothering and a bag filled with something foul to keep small groups darkspawn off our trail. "Should anything go wrong", she said. It was as if she knew something was going to happen."

"It seems to me that she did try to do everything she could to save everyone and that you and Bryce discounted her claims."

"It doesn't explain how she knew something was amiss." Alistair made no other comment. After another pause Fergus finally conceded. "Maybe she did try."

"So why don't you stop taking out your guilt on her and help her to understand she did the best she could."

"Just because you are enjoying my sister's embrace each night, doesn't mean you can be snide, Alistair."

Now Alistair got in Fergus' face. "I love her! And that is the only reason you are still standing right now." He then felt company around the corner and turned to fight the oncoming darkspawn.

With the fight with darkspawn in their area now over Alistair was thinking about what he said to Fergus, "I love her". That was first time he said it out loud and he was aware that he had yet to say to her. He was surprised though that she had yet to voice an opinion about that fact. His thoughts were interrupted by his hound as she knocked him down into the snow.

"Duble!" he said as he hit the ground.

"Papa, play." Alistair thought that was an odd request from his hound. She knew the danger they faced here in Ostagar.

"I can't play now, we have darkspawn to kill." He responded, he chose to speak out loud so the rest of the group would understand the conversation. He stood up and started to walk to the bridge leading to the Tower of Ishal, he knew Belyssa must on the other side by now, he didn't feel any taint where he was. Once again Duble moved to stop him going forward; this time she started jumping up in front of where he tried to walk.

"Duble, stop it. We don't have time for that now." He said becoming annoyed at his hound.

"You can't cross yet."

"Why can't I cross?" asked Alistair in angry tone; which causes Duble to whine. At this point Belyssa comes into view.

"Alistair, don't yell at her. She was only doing what I asked."

"Why?"

Before Belyssa could reply he noticed Shale and that she had something no someone in her arms.

"By the Maker!" Exclaimed Alistair as he realized Shale was carrying was his brother.

"I was hoping to have him moved to where the chest is before you saw him." explains Belyssa

"Why?" Before Belyssa could answer, Leilana did.

"Please trust us when I say you don't want to know." That only sparked his curiosity, but the look in Belyssa eyes when she would finally meet his told a different story.

"Alright, I will not press the issue." So everyone walked back to what was the royal encampment and watched Shale lay Cailan down on the snow, Belyssa then covered his body with a blanket.

"I am sorry my King, but we must deal with threat here at Ostagar first. Once that is complete we will put you to rest." she then turned to everyone else. "Can you give us a moment alone?" She wasn't really asking for their permission as so much as dismissing them. Everyone left, but Fergus he lingered a moment longer, he met his sister's eyes but said nothing. He looked over at Alistair but Belyssa stepped in front of him blocking his view. Fergus just nodded at her and then took his leave.

Once Fergus left them she wrapped her arms around Alistair and held him. She felt his body begin to shake and then tightened her grip on him and whispered. "I am so sorry, my love." Alistair's mind was racing, with memories of his brother, finding his armour on some of the darkspawn, and then he began to wonder what those creatures did to his brother that they would now wear is armour. Then he heard Belyssa whispers in his ear and began to calm down and slowly his body stopped shaking he lifted his head as she loosened her grip on him. Before she let go entirely, he kissed her. When he was done he rested his head against hers.

"Thank you." She gave him another quick kiss and wiped is face clean of his tears, blood and dirt. She then took his hand in hers and together they went to join the rest of their companions. Alistair realized in that moment he didn't think he could love her more than he did right now. They were not that far from everyone else when he stopped walking. Belyssa looked back him when she realized he wasn't moving, she touched his face with her other hand.

"Do you need more time?" she asks him.

"I love you." Not really hearing what he said Belyssa continues to talk to him.

"Take all the time you need."

"I love you." repeats Alistair. Belyssa shakes her head at him like she is trying to translate a foreign language.

"What did you say?"

"I said that I love you." Belyssa takes a step closer to him, looking into his eyes. Alistair lets out a laugh. "Really Bel, it didn't take me three tries before I heard you."

"Oh, Alistair." once again they kissed, this time Morrigan intrudes.

"I think I am going to be sick."

As they pull apart again, Alistair says. "Two birds with one stone, I could get use to this." Belyssa just rolls her eyes at his comment and finally turns her attention back to her companions. In addition to Morrigan being annoyed she notices that Fergus and Wynne are frowning.