Warm, strong, clever fingers dug into the tense muscles in his shoulders then slowly worked their way to his neck. Sighing in relief, Alistair smiled a little as Lana lightly kissed his cheek as she continued to work out the knots. When she worked out a particularly bad cramp, he groaned in a mixture of relief and pain, "I think that's enough, love. Thank you though."

"You're quite welcome." For once she dropped a kiss on the top of his head, causing them both to smile a little. Figures that it would take him sitting for her to be able to do that. "So what's got you all knotted up like that?"

He sighed again, this time out of discontent, and tried not to tense up and undo all of Lana's work at relaxing him. "I got a letter from Orlais."

Alistair didn't have to turn to see the one silver brow arch up, he could feel her dry amusement without even trying. "A letter? I would've thought you'd gotten more than a few of them by now. If only from odious nobles trying to curry favor with the new ruler of the Dog-Lords of Ferelden. All in the misguided belief that they can somehow use you to regain a foothold in their 'recalcitrant province'."

Despite the harshness of her words, there was no rancor, only more of that dry amusement. He had to chuckle since he did indeed get more than one piece of correspondence with "offers" that were thinly disguised insults. Since he was still learning Orlesian, the eminently capable Giles did the translations for him, often using those letters as language lessons. More than once his secretary had varied from horrified anger to bitterly resigned amusement. Without saying anything else, Alistair handed over the two parts of the letter he'd gotten. Knowing her fluency in the language, he didn't include the interpretation made for him, wanting Lana to make up her mind about the letter on her own.

The king within him had wanted to show it to her before this since he still trusted her opinion above anyone else. The man didn't want to add any further burdens after the terrible news Wynne had delivered a few days before. Though watching her read through the papers thoughtfully, he regretted not talking to her about it before this. Which prompted another arched look in his direction over the document in her hands, but she didn't say anything, instead going back to her reading.

Since she was taking time to go through the letter, he finished off the last of the minor tasks he'd put off to the side. She finally finished, set the papers on the desk then drummed her fingers on the edge of it thoughtfully. "I know who wrote the cover letter, even if she didn't sign it."

It was his turn to arch a brow curiously, "You do?"

"Mmhmm. Celene."

"Er, the Celene that happens to be the Empress of Orlais."

"That would be the one."

He suddenly felt light headed. Not that he hadn't gotten official correspondence from the Empress, but never in her hand, always in the hand of a court scribe. Of course his responses were written the same way since he wasn't going to inflict his handwriting on anyone if he could help it. Particularly in such important matters. "How in the Maker's name do you know that?"

"Remember the letters we found with Marric's sword and shield?"

He nodded cautiously, in general he found it better that the less said about Marric around his lady the better. Not that he really wanted to discuss the man who sired and abandoned him, but Lana seemed to find the deceased king personally offensive. For some reason she blamed Marric for being the cause of the civil war that erupted when the Blight started. Since he had headaches enough as it was, he didn't want how she came about that reasoning after the first time he asked what was apparently a bad question. The eruption had been interesting, though at least it wasn't directed at him.

As offended as the thought of Marric might have been to Lana, it wasn't as offensive as the letter from Eamon to Cailan about setting aside Anora in favor of another noblewoman. A letter in which he described Lana as a "biddable girl". Trying to forget the verbal explosion from the first time she read that letter, he furrowed his brow as he tried to remember the other letters that were included. What was... Oh. Very slowly Alistair asked, "You still have them?"

In truth, he was more worried that she still had that letter from Eamon that pissed her off than the other potential political hazards that might be in those letters.

Well at least she was still amused, that knowing look in those sapphire eyes told him she had an idea of what he was concerned about. That was good, it meant he didn't have to actually ask her about it. A faint smile twitched her lips as she replied, "As it happens, I do still have them all."

Right, he would worry about Eamon's letter for later, at least the man hadn't started in on Alistair yet. Then again considering how he blew up at the Arl during Lana's long period of unconsciousness, it was likely that the man wouldn't bother the king for awhile. "So why do you think she sent the other letter?"

"There could be any number of reasons that she sent it, but it all boils down to one thing."

He eyed her and finished her comment, "She's out to cause trouble for someone."

Lana gave him a frighteningly sunny smile, "And here you thought you'd have problems being king and playing politics."

He grunted. Alistair figured out that a large portion of politics was one or more people out to cause trouble for others for their own gain. Only Lana had found that comment amusing during the meeting he voiced that sentiment. Once again he'd managed to horrify Giles, exasperate Teagan, and caused the treasurer to choke. He still hoped the choking was from trying not to laugh and didn't upset the man anymore than he already had with some of his ideas.

She continued a bit more seriously, "I know it involves Orlesian Wardens, but quite frankly they've been up to no good for some time."

"So much for Warden neutrality."

She made an annoyed sound, "That's a pretty line, but the truth is even Wardens are going to need to play politics regardless of any neutrality or not. And given what I've heard about Weisshaupt... well they play them far more than necessary. They're doing the same thing we are in Ferelden, only we're more honest about it."

"Honesty in politics, what a novel concept", he joked.

She dimpled at him, "It can be. That's why I've been able to disarm people with it. They're so busy trying to figure out what I'm lying about that I use the truth to trip them up. Of course I don't tell them everything, but I prefer honesty than outright lies. Well, unless they're demons, but I don't think that counts."

He just looked at her, not wanting to go anywhere near either of those comments.

She rested her head against his, "So any other emergencies?"

He mumbled, "Not really I suppose. What are you going to do about the information in the letters?"

"I'm going to wait and see what happens. Really, the letter was pretty vague about the details of whatever Plan these unknown Wardens and nobles are coming up with. And I don't trust any of them farther than I can throw them, including Caron. Though he seems to be the lesser of the evils there."

"Soooo why do you leave him in charge if you don't trust him? And I thought you sorta liked him."

"I do, but that doesn't mean I fully trust him. It's why I left Varel as Seneschal of Vigil's Keep rather than hauling him up here to deal with Denerim. I trust himto keep an eye on things. And I've almost got enough Ferelden recruits to send the lot packing. They just need a few more months of training before I feel they need any more supervision than normal." She absently rubbed at a scar on the back of her left hand, "We've been getting a glut of would be recruits. All those soldiers who served during the Blight one way or another, a handful of um, interesting associates I met during the Landsmeet, even a few more mages."

His brain stuttered, there were times she told him more than he really wanted to know about what she was up to with the Wardens. They would always be his Brothers and Sisters, but he really didn't want to know what they did before they joined the Order, especially the thieves and apostates. And it had to be apostates, because if she'd managed to talk the Chantry around to letting her have a few more mages she wouldn't have been able to hide her glee.

Despite whatever shady background any of the recruits had, Alistair trusted Marlana's judgment in who was accepted into the Order.

She dimpled at him again, and in the process managed to sidetrack him from more brooding, "Since we're done with any potential international issues, let's go to bed. You've been broody all day and that's supposed to be my job."

He huffed a laugh, "So I guess it's time for us to get some sleep."

Her smile turned sly, "Who said anything about sleep?"

Concern sobered him, but before he could give voice to it, she lightly placed the tips of her fingers on his lips, "I am all right, Alistair." She placed the other hand over her heart without removing her fingers from his mouth, "Only my heart was wounded and that will heal in time. And, ah, I'm taking precautions again -"

This time it was his turn to lay a finger on her lips, he lightly kissed her fingers then moved her hand from his mouth, but kept hold of it, "Shhh. I understand, my love."

He smiled as he got to his feet, let go of her hand and wrapped her up with his now free arm, "To bed then, but not necessarily to sleep."

The next morning dawned bright and sweet for a late summer day. The customary heat hadn't started yet and the winds blowing across the River Drakon didn't have the usual stench. It was looking to be a good day to clean house. She mentally snorted to herself as she strapped her new weapons to her back.

What was now her estate in Denerim was hardly a house, but the sentiment fit.

Realizing she didn't have to shrug her swords into place like she was used to made her pause. It felt like they had settled into place on their own. Granted, she knew they'd been made specifically for her, but still... There was a feeling of awareness of Vigilance and Sacrifice in a way she never had from Starfang even though there'd always been an energy to the blade that made it easy to wield.

But these were on a different scale altogether. Like most, she'd heard the cliche of a weapon feeling like an extension of its wielder, but had always put it down to bardic fancy. In these though, they did feel like a extension of her. Not just when using them, but even the act of carrying them. They felt like blood and bone. More than that, a part of mind and soul as well.

Not wanting to ruin the good mood she had from a beautiful day, she shrugged off the odd musings to head out where the rest of her party was waiting.

When she finally arrived at the private courtyard that she was using for her escort to gather, Lana stared at the small army that had gathered.

She fully expected Wynne to be there. The elderly mage had readily agreed to help with the cleansing. And Lana suspected it was for the mage to purge her own ghosts of the place. They'd had a long talk the night before while Lana waited for Alistair to pry himself out of his office. She hadn't realized just how devastating it'd been for the mage when Lana had slammed the door shut on her companions the day Anora betrayed her to Cauthrien.

Or how it had affected Ogren and Zevran as well. Which made her regret not being able to contact them to see if they wanted in on her latest mad idea. Zev was still off somewhere in Orlais, and Ogren was off on his own business, so trying to get in contact with either was impossible.

She could still regret the fact though.

That Shale wasn't there wasn't surprising. The golem had already headed off before dawn not wanting to be part of the spectacle that was going to occur that morning. Lana thought Shale had been exaggerating about the spectacle, except this time she'd been right.

Lana had fully expected Edwards and Tammrel. But not another half dozen of their fellow guard. Her two guards gave her near identical looks of pure innocence. Which only intensified under her slanted look.

Standing with Kendrick, Delindro, and Irminric was Alistair in full armor with sword and shield. He simply smiled at her consternation, but didn't say anything. Nor did he give off any clue about his actual intentions. Then again, since he was in his armor, that was all the clue she needed.

Of the four men, only Irminric had asked to join her when she was ready to purge the estate. She'd been expecting either Kendrick or Delindro, but not both. Which she supposed was foolish of her considering Kendrick's blunt lecture about the Wardens feeling protective of her.

For a brief moment, Lana idly considered giving up her self-imposed restrictions on how far she allowed herself to sense Wardens and darkspawn, so she could've been forewarned about Kendrick and Delindro being there. Then she gave that up, there were too many Wardens in Denerim now, feeling them all moving about drove her to distraction.

Of course she'd known Alistair was down there, but she thought he was going to see her off, not join the not-so-little excursion.

It was also foolish of her to expect Alistair to let her do this thing without trying to guard her back. After all, every other trip to that blasted estate had him going along with her. Which she made her want to stab something. No, not stab, bite something. Stabbing was far too impersonal.

There was a disappointed murmur at the back of her mind at the change of heart of stabbing something. Which was troubling because it wasn't her own thoughts. Nor was it from Alistair, whose grin faded slightly as he gave her a measuring look.

Trying not to scowl and feeling her good mood quickly fading, Marlana crossed her arms as she grumbled, "I seem to remember dealing with far worse situations with far fewer people. I don't need an army to clear out one dungeon."

Wynne smiled at her, "Well, my dear, you are going to be Queen in a couple of weeks. Besides being the big hero of the country. It's your own fault, if you didn't become such an important person, people wouldn't feel the need to keep you out of trouble."

The older woman's gentle teasing restored Lana's good mood and she laughed a little in response. Turning to Alistair she grumbled, "Since we have so many extra bodies, you've arranged transportation for them? There was a reason Shale went ahead, because we weren't going for a grand procession."

His expression turned a little sheepish, "Yes, dear."

She stared at him for a moment, then slanted her gaze around those gathered when she heard a few muffled snickers. Though he kept his expression blank, she could feel his amusement. He'd definitely spent way too much time around her brother. Fergus had used that exact phrase the same way with Oriana.

Right at that moment a clatter started up just outside of the entrance to the area distracting her from her potential brooding. Huffing and puffing, face as red as his beard, Ogren came charging into the courtyard, Oogie right behind him. Lana stared in shock as the dwarf barrelled to her, then barely skidded to a stop before running her over, "See, dog? I'm not at all late. Good to see ya, Lana."

Panting happily, Oogie came over and leaned against her, without thinking she began patting the top of his head. Even more surprising was the lack of stench rising from the dwarf. He still smelled faintly of alcohol, but not the miasma that threatened to knock out those around him.

Faintly, still not believing her senses, she said, "Ah, er, hello Ogren. Fancy meeting you here."

He beamed at her, "What is it you surfacers say? A little bird told me that yer gonna finally clean out that rotten pile of bricks." He paused and scratched at his chin thoughtfully, "Well, mebbe I shouldn't call 'er little, seeing that she ain't. Or a bird. Ancestors save me if she thinks I'm calling 'er a flying rodent."

Ogren looked around nervously, "Uhh, none of you are gonna repeat that, right?"

"Not even I'm that mean, Ogren", she grinned. "So how did you persuade Oogie to come along? He didn't seem interested in this little jaunt."

Dwarf and hound gave her identical sloppy grins, Ogren chortled, "Guys gotta have some secrets, Lana. Though I'll admit I was surprised he came along. Considering how popular he is with the ladies there. If our positions were reversed, I certainly wouldn't want ta give up such a cushy place."

With a haughty sniff, Oogie put his nose up in the air indignantly causing Ogren to grin. Then the grin vanished as rheumy, green eyes fixed her with a serious gaze and he lowered his voice for her to hear only, "Truth is, I told 'em where we're goin' and what yer plannin' ta do."

The hound made a quiet sound of agreement.

Lana was touched, but still... "Howe is dead. Cauthrien is off whipping the army into shape, Anora is off to Gwaren. And with Vaughn executed, there isn't anyone involved with the place that can hurt me."

Oogie laid his ears back as Ogren growled, "I may not 'ave been with you an' the others as long as some, but I've seen enough freaky shit with you durin' the Blight to know that things ain't that simple. An' yer just deludin' yerself if you think it's gonna be a simple cleanup duty. Even yer pike-twirler knows it, though he won't say nuthin'."

"Ogren..."

"Don't Ogren me, Lana. Nuthin' ever is simple with you, though most times it ain't yer fault. But one of the worst days of my life happened there. Ain't gonna let somethin' bad happen to you again."

That Ogren of all people was expressing the same concern about the place that everyone else had finally sank in. She just wished she knew what was causing that concern since none of them had been able to put a finger on it. Even some of her new apostate recruits had gone to look at the place as a favor. They'd come out pale and terrified, but couldn't say what the reason was.

Vigilance stirred.

Not physically, but in the back of her mind she felt its presence and it assured her that she would see what she would need to see. Sacrifice wordlessly assured her that any threat would be dealt with.

She kept the sudden fear to herself.

There'd always been a feeling of vague semi-awareness to Starfang, but not like this. Lana didn't feel any hostility towards her from either of the weapons. There was a faint hint of reproach, as if they had sensed some of her fear and were offended by it.

Alistair came strolling over, a picture of nonchalance, but she didn't need their bond to see the concern in his eyes. She shook her head slightly, notrightnow. He frowned slightly, then reluctantly nodded. Instead he casually draped an arm over Lana's shoulder, "So Ogren, where have you been?"

The flame-haired dwarf crossed his arms and actually studied them for a change. He grunted slightly, then suddenly grinned, "Been helpin' a friend of yers setting up her tavern. Well, more like her brewery, Felsi's been helping with the tavern portion."

Lana's mind went blank, she didn't know anyone setting up a tavern or a brewery. Or at least no one had mentioned it to her. While she was busy, she'd remember something like that. Alistair looked similarly baffled when she looked up at him questioningly.

"Har! I pulled one on you fer a change! You don't remember a girl named Kaitlyn or her mite of a brother Bevin?"

Those two she remembered. At the time she'd felt a mixture of annoyance and sympathy for the girl. The two were close in age, but clearly raised very differently. Lana had been raised to be responsible and to be a leader at an early age, while Kaitlyn had been all too dependent on her mother. There'd been flat out annoyance at Bevin for running off and worrying his sister for nothing. The last she'd seen of the two had been after the night her small band had saved Redcliffe from the last raid of undead, she'd sent them off with some coin to find their way to Denerim.

If she were going to be honest with herself...she'd forgotten about them. There'd been a lot of people she met, and helped, during the Blight, and as good of a memory as she had, she couldn't keep track of them all.

Brow creasing with thought, Alistair spoke for both of them, "They were the ones from Redcliffe, right? We chased down her brother while she was weeping and handwringing in the Chantry?"

Lana winced, "I thought you were more sympathetic than that."

"I was sort of sympathetic, it was Wynne who went all grandmotherly." He muttered, "If only they knew the real Wynne."

Seeing the dwarf and his lady looking at him in amusement, but not saying anything caused him to clear his throat and say in a normal volume,"Glad to know that the money you gave her wasn't wasted."

Ogren chortled again. "Nope, the girl's got a real talent with booze. In fact that honey whiskey I sent you is something she was experimentin' with. Since I know Lana's fondness fer sweets, I figured I'd try it on her."

"Thanks, I think. But it was good, I hope she makes more."

"She'll be happy ta know that the woman she named her tavern after approves. She might name it after ya too."

She didn't need anymore surprises. Alistair snickered at her expression before asking, "Do we want to know what it is?"

"Aw, it ain't so bad. She named it The Silver Rose."

That was touching, yet she felt uneasy about the honor, but she didn't want to dwell on it now. There was a disgusting pile of stonework that needed to be cleaned and she'd been delayed enough as it was. She gave Alistair a narrow eyed look, "I hope you've gotten the transportation ready?"

"Yep, the carriages are on their way."

The three friends chatted easily, or rather Ogren, in a rather unusually garrulous manner, excitedly spoke of The Silver Rose Brewery and its adjoining tavern. Glad to see at least one of her companions finding a seemingly happy life, Lana smiled and listened attentively.

She needed all the good cheer she could get before going into the pit again.

Before she started getting too anxious to get going, the carriages arrived and Alistair proved to have put thought into the situation since the two of them had their own private carriage. Just as they started to head out, Alistair looked at her thoughtfully, "All right, what's got you so spooked? I know it isn't the disgusting chore we're going to be dealing with shortly."

"You know, you didn't have to come, so you could've avoided the nastiness."

He looked at her, "And you're avoiding the question."

She rubbed the bridge of her nose, "Vigilance and Sacrifice."

At the back of her mind, she felt a gentle questioning. He frowned a little, picking something up. Either from her or the blades, "Ah, what was that? And what about them?"

"That seems to be my swords. What else did you give Mikhail to make them?"

"That is kinda creepy." He thought it over her question and shrugged, "Just what I told you. The remains of Starfang, the slagged bits of the broadsword you used to kill the archdemon and some of the archdemon bone."

Now the weapons seemed to be waking up and attentive to the conversation, which was getting beyond creepy. She rubbed the bridge of her nose again, then the center of her forehead where she could feel a headache starting to form, "I vaguely remember Leliana telling tales about cursed weapons being warped from laying on ground tainted by the blood of an archdemon. Maybe this is the opposite considering what happened? "

He laughed a little uneasily, "Well, I did want a pair of legendary weapons for a legendary woman."

She scowled and the blades seemed amused, then withdrew back into themselves. Alistair stared at the sheathed weapons that were leaning against the bench she was seated on. "That is really creepy, but they seem to like you."

"Yes. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not."

He squinted at her, "I'm pretty sure it'd be a bad thing if they didn't like a person."

"True, but I never expected my weapons to start talking to me in my head!" She paused and said a bit more calmly, "Well, maybe not talk exactly. They send feelings, not words."

Alistair rubbed his hand over his mouth as he thought that over, "I'm sorry."

Lana stared at him in bafflement, "Whatever for?"

He nodded at the swords, "Them."

"Oh, Alistair. You don't need to be sorry. " She swayed with the movements of the carriage and reached out to pat his hand. "I'll learn to deal with them."

Her eyes narrowed at the sudden laughter in his eyes, "What?"

"Love, I think it's more like they'll have to learn to deal with you."

They were both laughing at the indignation coming from both weapons when they arrived at the estate. And were hard pressed to contain themselves when Edwards blithely commented to the guards who were eyeing the royal couple warily, "Don't mind them, boys. They're a little cracked from the Blight and all."

Quietly snickering to themselves, the two went into the estate, unable to ignore the horrified expressions on the guards' faces. And deliberately ignoring Kendrick's mock pitying head shake.

Shale was waiting for them in the Great Hall, brilliant, flame colored crystals set in her stony hide. She regarded them for a bit then shook her head, "I doubt I will ever understand flesh creatures. Especially you two. You're more cracked than the rest of them."

That did it. The golem sniffed in annoyance as the two leaned against each other as they laughed breathlessly at the fact the golem unknowingly used the same wording as Kendrick. It wasn't just the new guards that were eyeing them warily, it was everyone except Ogren and Oogie. The two had all the appearances of conspiring about something, which didn't surprise Lana at all. After all, the two of them were the reason Morrigan went through the camp in a rage. A rage caused by the fact all of her underthings were hanging from the branches of one of the trees in the area.

Of course no one could prove it, but they were the most likely source of the prank.

Her good mood restored, Lana went to the sealed door that went straight into the dungeon, rather than the one that had been the Arl's bedroom. Shale stomped up and looked at the door with thinly disguised disdain. "They call that a sealed door? Even the dwarves come up with better."

"That's cause we do do it better," Ogren grumbled as he studied the door while running his fingers over one of the braids in his beard. Curious, Lana asked, "What is it, Ogren?"

"This thing's been sealed up since you killed that Howe blighter, right?"

"Near as I can tell, Vaughn had it sealed up as soon as he could. Why?"

"Hrrr. Not gonna be pretty then. You thought the Deep Roads was bad..."

She sighed, "Just how bad?"

He scratched his chin, "Mind you, I'm no miner. But on some of my patrols in the past it wasn't too rare for us to come across a cave in that was sealed up pretty tight. Get 'nough water and heat..."

Lana waited for him patiently, there was some nervous shuffling among the gathered Wardens and guards. Ogren mumbled to himself a bit, "Ain't no delicate way of puttin' it. There might be soup down there."

"What do..." She trailed off as she thought about it, "Oh, that won't be good. Somewhat like wine turning to vinegar if stored the wrong way?"

"As bad as that is fer booze to go, I'm thinkin' it might be worse. 'Specially if those hot springs that feed the baths at the palace are near here. Don't rightly remember how cold it was down there, considerin' that we were more than a little busy when we were there."

Shale looked nauseated, if such a thing was possible for a being made of stone and lyrium, "So the disgusting flesh creatures have turned into even nastier dead flesh things?"

The silver haired woman gazed thoughtfully at the door, one hand cupped around her chin, the elbow of that hand resting in the palm of the other. Almost absently she said, "More like liquid, rotting flesh."

The golem visibly winced while someone else started quietly gagging. "How very charming, if you soft things weren't bad enough alive. I suspect it would probably be a bad thing for you to be standing right there if things are as awful as the sodden dwarf implies."

"So it's likely going to be as bad as that one trap of Caradin's?" She remembered the room full of poison gas and angry, mindless golems that woke up when someone went to turn the valves off.

"Hrrr", Ogren tugged at his beard again, "Worse. Though none of Shale's pissed off kin."

Worse. She really didn't want to think about that. That gas had been pretty vicious. "Alright, everyone except for Shale should go back into the Great Hall." As she walked away, she could hear Shale muttering about being the one left to clean up after the idiot humans, but she didn't say anything. She couldn't really blame her stony friend for that sentiment. Unfortunately, Shale was the best solution that she could come up with, since every mage that came into the place couldn't stand being there for long.

A sidelong glance at Wynne proved that even that formidable woman was having issues as well, judging by how pale she'd gotten. Even Lana's own "inner dragon" was stirring uneasily, but she couldn't say what it was.

Both Vigilance and Sacrifice were on alert.

She should've worked harder on talking Alistair into letting her level this place and start over again.

Instead of dwelling on things she couldn't change, Lana quietly made her way to Wynne, pitched her voice so only the other woman could hear her as she asked, "Are you alright Wynne?"

The mage was quiet so long, Lana wondered if the woman had heard her when she finally replied in a strained voice, "I don't know, dear. There's something about this place...and I can't put my finger on it."

Knowing what the answer would be, Lana still offered, "If you want, you can go outside for a bit."

Wynne gave her a long measuring look, then smiled a little, "I'm afraid I'll have to decline your kind offer, Lana. I'm not going to let some nebulous dread scare me off. We have faced far worse together."

Despite the situation, Lana found herself smiling back faintly, "You're right, we have."

From the doorway of the hall leading to the dungeon came the grinding sound of stone on stone as Shale drove her hands into the edges of the sealed doorway. There was a grunt, then a loud crash of heavy stone falling to the floor. There was a faint, but ominous sloshing sound in the distance. And a very loud buzzing.

"Oh, now that's just wrong."

Before anyone could ask Shale what was happening, a wave of putrescent stench came wafting into the room. Riding on the effluvium was a thick cloud of black flies, their buzzing filling the air. Lana kept from vomiting through sheer force of will.

During the Blight she'd witnessed numerous battlefields. Some were recent, with fresh bloated bodies of humans, elves and dwarves mingled with darkspawn. And if she thought darkspawn smelled bad when alive, they were that much worse after cooking for days under the sun and were particularly bad during the summer. One of the worst had been after the bodies had been laying about for days after several rain storms. They'd had a chance to soak up even more moisture to cook with before breaking open to release their slowly rotting contents.

The skies had often been filled with various carrion feeders, but those gatherings held nothing compared to the swarm that started to flow into the massive chamber and at the ground were roaches and other crawly things with way too many legs.

She'd also traveled through the darkspawn riddled Deep Roads that were covered in not just the disgusting, fleshy growths that started to form wherever there were great numbers of the Tainted beasts, but particularly foul, slime-mold.

But what came up up and out of that dungeon...it was beyond anything else she'd experienced in her life. It was beyond any paltry word her mind could come up with.

It was a bad situation when the normal reek of vomit was pleasant in comparison.

A gout of flame from Shale's crystals dealt with the vermin with too many legs.

They could still hear the squeals of rats echoing up from the depths.

"Well then, wish me luck! I'm going down", Shale called out, sounding absurdly cheerful given the situation. Including the fact there was a faint echoing splash as the golem entered the passage down to the dungeon. Then again, it was rare for Shale to be able to just let loose like she was in the current situation.

Lana would have said something in response, but she was saving her breath so she wouldn't join the others in losing the contents of her stomach. She noticed that of all the others, only Alistair, Irminric and Wynne were the only ones who seemed to have some control over their nausea. That wasn't terribly surprisingly given their demonstration of strong willpower in the past.

However, it didn't mean she wasn't grateful for it since it allowed them to act. As Wynne formed a magical barrier against any further incursions, the two former templars started hauling people, who were unable to move from nausea, out into the open air of the courtyard. Lana helped those who needed a shoulder to lean on to move under their own power.

Once outside she gratefully sucked in lungfuls of fresh air. Normally the air of Denerim was redolent with garbage, human and animal waste, whatever noxious thing had been washed up from the river or ocean and was rotting on the shore. At that moment the air tasted as sweet as the most remote mountain meadow of Highever.

Fortunately, there was some quick thinking amongst the guards posted on the outside since there were numerous buckets and other vessels with fresh water. The buckets were used to wash off those covered in their own mess, while the rest wiped their faces with damp cloths before taking small, cautious sips of water to rinse their mouths.

The only one who wasn't fazed by the situation was Ogren, who in true to form, pulled out one of his ubiquitous flasks and offered a drink to help put some fire back into people. Despite her better judgement, Lana was reaching out to take a swig when an explosion could be heard from inside the keep. Thick, black, acrid smoke began to pour out of the nearest windows. Smelling the previous malodor as something even worse boggled her mind.

Lana had something more important to worry about than the worst possible stench in the world. Reacting in her typical fashion to trouble, Marlana raced into the keep with her blades drawn.

Somehow seeing clearly despite the pall cast by the smoke, she ran through the Great Hall into the hallway beyond and into the sloping passage. Not paying attention to the fact she wasn't carrying any source of light, either as mundane as a torch or as exotic as a glowstone, she charged down the way, adamantly ignoring what made the stone floor so very sticky or what might be dripping down the walls.

She paused to look around, and called out, "Shale? Are you okay?"

The massive golem came out of a side room, covered in blackened material, "Augh. I'm fine fine. Though I have some crispy bits that will need to be scraped off."

Feeling ridiculous at having her weapons out, she sheathed them, not paying attention to the faint luminescence being cast off by Vigilance. "What happened?"

"Well, there was...stuff floating about, and I guess either that was flammable, or there was gas built up after all." A shrug, "Maybe an old trap. Burned the nastiness off very nicely. Well, except for what got on me."

Thinking about the size of the place and the fact the air was clearing out a little too quickly made Lana suspicious. "That was fast."

"Hmm, you do have a point there."

A brief, cold breeze that blew across the nape of her neck made Lana shiver for a moment, in the back of her mind Sacrifice growled a warning. Yet there was nothing specific. Then the cold was gone and she realized just how oddly warm the place was for a series of stone rooms so far underground. She couldn't remember if it had been that warm before or not.

Sounds of booted feet came clattering down the passageway. Alistair was at the head of the small group consisting of the other three Wardens, Wynne and Ogren. Light glowed from the stone set atop Wynne's staff, providing enough light for them to see. A corner of Alistair's mouth quirked up slightly, though there was no humor in his warm, brown eyes, "The rest of them are staying put outside for the moment. They aren't exactly doing too well. And Oogie is probably the smartest of us. He made it abundantly clear that he wasn't coming down here. I'd forgotten how well he could convey his disgust."

He looked around the area and shuddered as she smiled faintly at her dog's antics, "Nice place you have, m'dear."

She couldn't quite keep the sulkiness out of her voice, "I said there was a reason why I wanted to raze the place."

"Yeah, well, it's a little late for it now. Not that Shale didn't try to help with that." The golem didn't say anything, she didn't need to, the smirk on her rocky visage said it all. Shaking his head a bit, Alistair handed her a small, earthenware pot, "To help deal with the stench, something Wynne whipped up just now. Smear a little under your nose."

Nodding her thanks to the two, she did as instructed and sighed in relief as the herbal paste cut through the miasma. She hadn't realized that the awful stench was still bothering her until she used the paste. With the additional light from the wisps that Wynne started to conjure up as Lana capped the pot, she looked around while stashing it away. And really regretted all of the extra light.

The place had once been made of simple stone walls with wooden timbers for reinforcement in strategic locations. Aside from the slight dampness and mustiness such places acquired over time, the walls had been fairly clean. Except for the rooms that Howe had been using for his executions of course.

Now... Now the current condition made the blood and viscera splashed rooms seem positively sparkling and up to Nan's exacting standards of cleanliness. They were covered in a thick slime that was the greenish-purple of a bruise gone bad, mixed in a rusty-red that wasn't quite the color of dried blood and a virulent yellow. Then she realized that was on top of the thick, black sludge covering the walls.

Violently repressing a shudder and flat out refusing to see what the sticky mess was on the floor, Lana said, "Let's see what else is here, then we're going to need to find a way to sear down the walls and floor. Somehow I suspect that normal cleaning methods will be decidedly unhealthy. And I'm sure that Shale doesn't want to risk another explosion, even if it did take care of a good bit of, erm, debris."

"Oh, the horrors, " Shale said tartly, "I didn't know bones could float. It looked almost as bad as something Alistair cooked."

She had to bite down on her lower lip to keep from gagging, the others seemed to turn various shades of green. Ogren glowered, "Soddin' ancestors, Shale. I didn't really mean the soup comment earlier."

"Well, it was. An awful looking, thick liquid with bones and...stuff floating on top."

Rubbing her forehead, Lana repressed a sigh. Paste or not, she didn't want to get another deep breath of the place's atmosphere. And she didn't want anyone else starting to get sick either, "Enough, you two."

"Oh, very well," Shale huffed while Ogren just snorted.

They formed up on her as she cautiously began to explore a place that held a place of honor in her nightmares. The ones not involving the talking darkspawn, which mercifully didn't happen as often thanks to the wards set by Alistair and Wynne. There was something about the place that was making her uneasy, if that was possible. It wasn't just the "soup" residue, the oddly disintegrated bones lying about, or the occasional squeal of the rats that still scampered about.

Both her inner dragon and Sacrifice were growling almost continuously at nothing she could detect.

She ruthlessly squashed the dragon, if she couldn't keep control of herself, no matter how odd that part of her was, she was in sorry shape. Unfortunately, she couldn't squash Sacrifice, though it did stop distracting her.

Vigilance simply lived up to its name by remaining on watch.

During the slow, careful examination of each room, including the cells which contained the stuff of more nightmare material, Irminric reluctantly spoke up, "There is something about this place. At first I simply thought it had been from the time I spent imprisoned here, but..."

"Yes," Wynne agreed as she rubbed at a crease that ran down the middle of her brow, "There is something not right about this place. The Veil seems to be intact and there hasn't been any sign of demons. Yet, there is something off."

Alistair frowned, "It reminds me of the ruins we where we met the Lady of the Forest, but it doesn't seem to be any ghosts about."

"I don't see any of them flea-bitten weres," Ogren rumbled, looking around warily.

"Ghosts, like the boy we saw there or the woman that later attacked us. Not weres, that curse is over and done with," Lana replied absently, pausing at the entrance to the room she'd slaughtered Howe in. She ignored Ogren's shudder and comment about nughumping spirits. She didn't want to think about that particular mental image.

Vigilance stirred and tried to convey something to her, but didn't have the voice to say what was bothering it. Both weapons radiated frustration, causing Alistair to look at her sharply and even the other three Wardens to look about in confusion.

Since no one was giving her any constructive advice, Lana decided that it was time to face her own ghosts. Even if they were ones in her mind.

Seeing the walls bare of the clinging sludge and nastiness, even the floor bare of all but Howe's corpse was disturbing enough as it was. It was even worse to see that hacked apart body on the floor by itself, seemingly untouched from time since her killing blow. It seemed as if the rats and insects hadn't eaten any of the flesh, nor were there any maggots writing on or about what should have been a feast for the carrion feeders.

Delindro made a low whistle at the sight as he stopped in the doorway with everyone except Alistair. The king quietly walked up to his lady as she stood over her dead enemy's corpse. He gripped her shoulder and said grimly, "You didn't make him suffer enough."

At his words another cold breeze blew through the room and Vigilance keened a frustrated warning in her mind just before pain exploded through her. A long slice abruptly appeared on her left cheek. Stunned, she reached up to her face where blood was already dripping down in rivulets along her skin.

Afraid for her, Alistair drew his blade and shield, looking about for the source of attack so he could defend Marlana.

Pain flared again as another slice was taken out of her right cheek. This time the unseen attack broke her shock and she drew her swords. Drops of her blood fell on both weapons causing Sacrifice to give voice to an angry, metallic howl. A sound echoed by those outside of the room they were suddenly blocked from by an invisible force.

Vigilance flared to life with an eerie, ethereal light that echoed in Lana's eyes.

That light limned the form of Howe's very angry revenant. Like the brief time she'd seen her parents in the Fade, he appeared years younger and no sign of the terrible injuries he'd taken just before death. A nasty smile twisted his lips and he crouched with wickedly sharp looking ghostly daggers in his hands. "So you can see me after all. Good. Now you'll know for a fact who is going to be delivering a slow and painful death to you."

His face twisted even more as he looked at Alistair who was looking in the direction of Lana's gaze, but confused at what she was looking at. "How will your little boy-king deal at watching you die before him, powerless to save you?"

The familiar cold and dangerous calm, the one that had allowed her to make all of the difficult decisions she had to do during the Blight, fell upon her at that moment.

And something clicked between her and the two swords.

In that too mild tone that made Alistair's back go up, and their isolated companions to try to beat down the invisible barrier even more, she said, "You're an idiot, Howe."

Her comment caused gasps of shock from those outside, but Alistair looked around sharply, picking up some hint of the apparition's presence through their bond.

"I'm the idiot? You're the one who came to me again." He lunged at her with inhuman speed. In return, Marlana seemed to blur as she unleashed her own unnatural speed. Until then, the only one who'd ever seen just how fast she truly was had been Alistair. "LIttle fool, you're in a place where I have all the power and you... You have only what I grant. Which is nothing."

She blocked each attack again and again, while her lips may have curved up, there was no warmth or humor in the expression. If anything, it was just a touch other, as if she weren't entirely human herself at that moment. "Yes, you are the idiot. Because what I can see, I can affect."

In the silence of her mind she asked Vigilance if it could extend its sight to the others.

*Yes*, said Vigilance as the light filled the room revealing Howe for all to see. And the barrier that kept everyone else out. Wynne called upon her magic to take it down, instead it reflected her power back at her, knocking her unconscious. Shale raised one fist then stopped the motion when she saw the flames were curving away from the barrier and was in danger of roasting her fleshy companions. Irminric attempted to dispel any magical auras in the area, but abruptly fell on his ass in the muck on the floor when that too backfired on him.

Howe just laughed, an awful hollow sound that was still full of malice. "I'd hoped I'd teach that old bitch a lesson. That I got that fool templar that Logan insisted on keeping alive is a nice bonus. After I'm done with you two, I'll deal with the rest."

She didn't say anything as she continued to deflect his attacks while considering the situation. Somehow, Marlana had a feeling that trying to beat down Howe's ghost wasn't going to work.

*Channel your power through us*, said Sacrifice in her mind.

*What power?*, she replied in the same way, confused as to what the blade could be referring to.

Vigilance spoke in a surprisingly sweet, crystalline tenor, a decided contrast to harsh tones of Sacrifice, *The power you've had since a child. What made you what yo uare.*

*But... I'm not a mage."

*No*, Sacrifice said impatiently, *You are more.*

*It is what has let you survive what should have killed you. Let you do what you needed to.*

As her body continued to fight automatically, Vigilance and Sacrifice, blades forged from the bone of a dead god and the remnants of the weapon that channeled the power from the sacrifice of made by said god and his killer-redeemer, showed their bearer the true nature of the strange silvery substance that had made her what she was. And what still allowed her to continue to reshape her nature as she needed. Sickened, she hesitated for a moment, almost allowing Howe to land another strike, except Vigilance blocked the blow.

How did one reconcile the fact that one hadn't been entire human for years?

*No*, Vigilance said with infinite patience in stark contrast to Sacrifice's annoyance at what it considered to be her thickheadedness. *It didn't make you, it didn't strip you of your humanity. It made you more. It allowed you to be fully yourself. Ever choice you made, large or small, shaped you. Even now you have control over who, and what, you are.*

Her body whirled, blades flashing silently as resumed her defense against the increasingly angry shade. And slowly maneuvered her opponent to give Alistair a chance to strike, even if until now his blade and shield had proven ineffective. Even distracted as she was, she knew that look of utter concentration in his expression. She was going to give him as much time as she could to let him gather up that formidable strength of will that he possessed. Even if he'd never been considered a full templar.

Marlana's mind whirled in turmoil, afraid of what further changes she'd go through if she took this step. Through the bond she shared with her not-quite-templar, she felt his love and support. No matter what he thought about the dark shadows of his heart, Alistair always would be the keeper of her heart and the brighter half of her soul. And what she needed to remain as human as she could be.

With that support she realized that if she denied this part, she denied herself, denied what she had with, not just Alistair, but those who were just outside this room, and the others who had scattered to the winds. Vigilance showed her that they'd all known there'd been something off about her from the beginning, but not that they didn't care, they didn't let it affect how they saw her.

So with a deep mental breath, she accepted what had lain dormant in her blood, bone and flesh until that awful night of blood and fire that happened because of the creature before her. She realized that her time in the Fade had led to a surface acceptance, now she accepted everything. The strange blades that were a gift of love, the power that they said she had and more importantly, she accept Marlana Cousland the woman.

The strange substance quickened at her acknowledgement and the two swords flared with the power.

In that flash of light she went from purely defending herself to outright assault as she began to lash out at Howe the way she did four short months before.

At that same moment a concentrated beam of brilliant white light speared down on the ghost, driving it to knees as Alistair unleashed the power of his will.

Vigilance stabbed down, pinning the writhing ghost to the floor.

He howled, "No! This isn't fair!"

Ignoring his comment, she said in that too calm voice, "Rendon Howe, I condemn you to the Abyss. May you wander its cold depths for eternity, never to know the light of the Maker or the warmth of Andraste's love again."

Sacrifice screamed out its furious joy as Marlana slammed it down into the apparition. Silver laced scarlet and cerulean flames poured out of the weapons into the spirit. For a brief time he screamed out his agony, and while it was brief, it seemed endless. Once the fire consumed the spirit it spread out instead of vanishing. It passed through those present, leaving them untouched, but it did destroy the body of the now banished revenant. And with the body the flames consumed every bit of foulness and corruption in the keep.

Once the flames vanished, Alistair grabbed Lana before she could collapse, pale and shaking from what had just happened. With his support she sheathed the blades then leaned against his solid support. Kendrick went to check on Wynne and Irminric, but the later waved him off with, "Just my pride and my rear that's hurt."

Wynne leaned against the now clean wall and sighed, "I'm too old for this kind of nonsense, but I'll be fine." She turned too shrewd eyes on Lana, "But you, young lady, have a lot to explain how you managed to do that."

Feeling her weapons silent consent, she said, "Well, what else do you expect from swords made of archdemon bone, the broadsword I killed said archdemon with and what was left of Starfang."

Ogren grunted, "Figures you'd end up with somethin' like that. Just as well none of them nancy-boy guards of yers were here. I don't think they'd've handled this too well."

Lana started to protest, thinking of Edwards and Tammrel, but Alistair interrupted, "I'm afraid I have to agree, love. Edwards and Tammrel are fine, but the others...I trust them to guard you life, but I can't trust them to not gossip."

"What? You don't want Marlana scaring off anymore people?" Shale asked sarcastically. There were a faint smiles, and she continued on, "This isn't as bad as some of the other things we've seen her do, but I don't think their little, fleshy brains could handle seeing her in action."

At first Lana wondered why they were so accepting about the situation, despite Vigilance's revelation earlier, until Ogren piped up, "Yep, 'tween her headbuttin' an ogre in his dangly bits then shutting up a werewolf by hanging off its muzzle, nothing much surprises me anymore."

She scrunched up her nose at the memory of both of those situations and had to ruefully admit that maybe the berserker had a point. Delindro shook his head slightly, "After the stories I heard on the way here, I'll admit that what I was told was real wasn't a surprise. Banishing an angry ghost in such a way seems fitting."

Not wanting to have anyone get in on her about this latest escapade, Lana wearily said, "I think we're should finish our inspection and get out of here."

Mindful of the various minor injuries and general exhaustion, they made quick work of the place, but not before they found another surprise. But this one was far more pleasant than an angry ghost out for revenge.

Staring at the small hidden chamber full of treasure, Lana shook her head in bafflement, "I could have sworn that we searched for hidden rooms like this when we went through."

Ogren rolled his eyes, "We were kinda busy. I seem to remember a whole lotta pissed off guards."

"Well, I suppose you have a point there."

Kendrick spotted a large, leather bound book and went over to it while Lana still looked bemused. Leafing through it he said, "It seems that Howe was keeping records of where this came from. You'll have to go through it in detail, but it looks like this was from the royal treasury as well as what he was siphoning out of Denerim." He paused at another random entry and abruptly closed the book, "I'm sorry, Marlana, some of it is from Highever."

A small part of her mind was amused that he called her by name rather than Commander, at that moment she needed all the good humor she could scrounge up, "Fergus and I did wonder. We'll keep the place under better guard until I can figure out how to divide this up to its rightful owners." She stifled a yawn, it seemed wrong to be so tired so early in the day, except it'd been far more eventful than it should have been. "Let's get out of here, I'm sure I'm not the only one who's tired and feels disgusting."

Shale scoffed at being tired, but she did admit that she could really use a good scrubbing down. Everyone agreed they wanted to get out of the place. Fortunately, it didn't take very long to return to the outside, assign guards and get into the carriages to go back to the palace.

Lana was thankful that it seemed like what had happened at the estate didn't gather attention from the rest of the city.

Once they were on their way, and no chance of anyone overhearing them, Alistair said thoughtfully, "Now we just need to get you your scales and wings."

"Excuse me?", she asked incredulously.

"You know, for your 'inner dragon'. Vigilance and Sacrifice are obviously your claws and fangs. And apparently your frie."

The blades radiated their approval. He grinned back, eyes full of sly amusement, "Hm, the scales are easy enough, just need to give Master Wade incentive to get the work done quickly,"

Lana shook her head, but knew better than to try to deflect him, and grateful for his easy humor, "I'm afraid to know what you had in mind for wings."

"Well, that'll take some doing, though maybe one of your pet mages of the Shadow Circle might come up with something. After all, one of them wants to breed enhanced warhorses along the lines of the mabari."

Now she just stared at him, horror of the thought robbing her of all speech. Alistair laughed wickedly at her expression.

She grumbled, "You're lucky that I love you."

Suddenly serious, he nodded, "I am. And I'm glad I was with you today."

"I am too. You...kept me centered."

"What really happened, Lana? I felt some sort of turmoil and I think I heard your swords actually speaking to you..."

She pinched the bridge of her nose, before slowly explaining what she'd gone through and what she'd learned about herself. He listened with his usual patience and didn't seem at all surprised. He leaned into the back of the bench, "Why are you giving me that look? How many times have we told you that we knew you weren't normal? Especially me? The truth is, ever since you told me about that incident with that strange stuff I'd always wondered if there'd been more to what it did than changing your hair and eye colors."

He looked at the swords a little warily, "Though I'll admit that they actually talk to you now is a little creepy." He frowned, "Though I don't understand how I heard them also if they're talking to just you. No one else seemed to hear them."

*Ours*, Sacrifice said possessively.

Both humans boggled at the sword. Vigilance elaborated, *You are hers, she is ours, as we are hers. So you are ours as well.

"Right then, I'm just going to think about something a little less disturbing", Alistair commented looking a little wild eyed. Lana dropped her head in her hands and tried not to whimper. "Now that you've rather decisively dealt with Howe's remains, do you think anyone else is going to go after you for killing him? He's had children, right?"

Relieved to discuss something a bit more normal, Lana straightened up and nodded, "Three. I know that Delilah isn't a threat. She sent word that she was very grateful that I ended her father's evil. From what I've been told she'd happily married to a merchant in Amaranthine City."

Alistair blinked at her, "Wow, I never expected that from one his children."

"With Delilah, I'm not. We were close enough in age to be somewhat friendly, but her father kept distance between us." She gave him a crooked grin, "Apparently he thought I was a bad influence on his daughter."

He laughed, "You? A bad influence? Never! Though to be serious, I think your bad influence needs to spread out more, we could use more people like that."

She shook her head again.

"Hm, so what about the other two?"

"Word is that Tomas died in Highever. Apparently he did take after his father a bit much, only he didn't have his father's skill and got gutted when he accosted the wrong woman. Her extended family took...exception if you will."

"I can well imagine", he muttered.

"Finally there's Nathaniel, who is the eldest. No one has heard from him in...damn, almost eight years now."

"What happened to him?"

She sighed, "Howe didn't think Nate was growing up to be a proper man and banished him off to the Free Marches to grow up or something. I don't know if he's even alive. Not even his sister has heard from him."

"Maker's breath."

"If I'm going to be worried about anyone, it'll be whatever plot Esmerelle comes up with."

"Hmm, the name is familiar, but I can't place it."

"She's the Bann of Amaranthine City. She and Howe were pretty close. How close, I'm not sure and probably don't want to know. She'll probably try to do some sort of dirty political trick if anything."

"Well, I guess that's that then." He looked out of the carriage window, "Well, it's only late morning now. And for once my schedule is clear. So what do you say we take a long soak in a hot bath and have something to eat? Then goof off for the rest of the day?"

She grinned, "Sounds good, as long as the food doesn't involve soup."

Even the swords shuddered at the thought.