Temene woke up with Alistair in attendance in her tent once again. "You really have to stop losing consciousness," he laughed, smiling as she awoke. "You always make me worry."
"How long have I been asleep?" she asked. It felt like she'd lived another lifetime. She'd seen the ancient training of the arcane warriors of old and now understood their power.
"Only for a day," he replied. "It is only late morning. Are you sure you are alright?"
She nodded and asked if the werewolves had made anymore contact.
"No, but I saw a white wolf pass near camp last night. Perhaps that is Witherfang," Alistair replied.
"This is all so strange," Temene held her head for a moment. "Zathrian said nothing about them being intelligent. They don't seem eager to attack us?"
"I don't know," Alistair shook his head.
Temene had slept in her clothes and climbed out of her tent with Alistair in tow. "Are you alright?" Wynne asked from the fire. "I looked you over but you only appeared to be dreaming heavily."
"It was, I think I met a spirit. Like the one you met, it taught me things. Had you ever heard of an Elven order known as arcane warriors?"
"I believe they died out shortly after the fall of the Dales. You think this spirit was one of them?" Wynne asked.
"I don't now. I might have to experiment with what I learned back at camp. The magic inside me, feels, different now."
Wynne looked slightly concerned but Temene assured her she was okay. They left camp intact but put up a protective barrier to keep it safe. They hoped to find Witherfang before day's end and return to camp, then head back to the Dalish encampment in the morning. They retraced their steps through where they had already explored and continued on. The corpses and spiders were still prevalent through the halls as they passed and a few of the werewolves tried prevent them from moving further inside.
The Wardens eventually found themselves in front of the same werewolves who wished to parley with them days earlier. They seemed slightly more reasonable and wished to discuss matters with their leader, the Lady of the Forest. They escorted the Wardens through the rest of the ruin and into the inner sanctum of the Lady's domain.
She revealed to them the entire truth of the werewolves' curse, which was laid upon a group of men who attacked Zathrian's family. His revenge had brought on hundreds of years of suffering for the werewolves. The Lady suspected that only Zathrian could cure the curse, not the heart of the wolf she was bound to.
"Will you return to the Dalish camp with us then, peacefully, so we can resolve this curse?" Temene asked.
"We will do no harm as long as we receive none," the Lady vowed.
The group returned towards the entrance of the ruins and found Zathrian alone, looking through their camp. He had gotten passed the protective barriers and was going through some of their things. "What are you doing?" Temene asked.
"You were taking such a long time, I was coming to check on you," he scoffed, seeing the werewolves and Lady in tow. "And you return with our sworn enemies!"
"They had spoken about the true nature of this curse. One that you have laid upon your own people because of vengeance," she chastised him.
"Those men deserve to suffer for eternity for what they did!" Zathrian yelled.
"But nothing so cruel can bring your family back, Keeper," Wynne said in a softening tone.
"It matters not. What's done is done! If you will not kill her, I will do it myself."
"You know that killing me will only cure your people and will not end the curse of my brethren," the Lady added.
"I care not for your brethren. They may worship you but they are no better than the darkspawn."
"You have made this curse, you yourself must end it. You are allowing your own people to suffer for grief of your family," Temene raised her voice.
"I will die before I end it," he shouted, sending a powerful bolt of energy at Temene.
She stumbled backwards, weakened, but felt a great defensive power come over her. It gave her the strength to ward off the power spells Zathrian unleashed upon them. She did her best to parry his spells and protect her companions. He finally collapsed, drained off all his magical energy. "Enough! I, I cannot defeat you," he sighed.
"I did not want to fight you Zathrian. But you must end this curse, free your people," Temene pleaded as she took a knee to rest.
"It will take all, all that I have to reverse it. But, at least, they will be free. They will fight at your side but you must defeat the Blight," he left out a heavy sighed.
"Thank you," the Lady added kindly.
Zathrian closed his eyes and concentrated all his efforts on the spell that had bound the Lady's spirit to the wolf. He fell over, drained of all life energy as the curse lifted from the werewolves, who appeared once again human. "He is dead," Wynne announced, kneeling over Zathrian's body.
"He has redeemed himself in death," the Lady bowed her head.
"You still remain?" Temene wondered.
"This forest is my home, I am bound to it even without the wolf to cling to. I will return to tending my children, the sylvans," she replied.
"And what of you?" Temene asked the humans.
"I don't know," one of them responded. "We've known nothing else for so long. I suppose we will head for a human settlement."
The humans stayed at the Wardens' camp for the night and left towards the north as the Wardens returned to the Dalish camp in the west. They did not speak about all that had transpired but told Lanaya that Zathrian had given his life willingly to end the curse. She seemed slightly overwhelmed to become the new Keeper but gave her word that the Dalish would aid them when the time came.
The Wardens rested for a few days with the Dalish, while making plans of where to go next. Winter was coming on strong and they would need to stock up on supplies before they attempted to make the trek through the Frostback Mountains. Alistair thought it best to make a low key stop near Denerim in order to gain the best supplies for their journey. He dispatched a letter for Eamon to contact them there with any news before they headed to Dwarven kingdom.