A/N: I know this chapter is short and dark, but it is a necessary step for the final few chapters of the story. Thank you for your continuing encouragement and support, it means the world to me.

The Space Between Stars

Loghain had finally fallen asleep and Leonie slipped quietly out of bed and padded into the other room, gathering her wrapper and a blanket on her way. A few moments later found her on the battlements staring at the night sky. There were so many stars spilling across the endless black and each one a wish according to Freya. Her heart stuttered at the thought of Freya. She missed her old friend and the best cook in all of Orlais.

Leonie's mind was filled with the people who had touched her life, who had helped shape her. Had she remembered to thank them? Had she shown them how much they had helped? Who would take care of Loghain if she died? Would he fall back into his bitter and acerbic ways? She tried to still the thoughts, to push them out of her head. She had promised to fight, to hang on to the belief that she would survive the ordeal. She wanted to believe in the happily ever after, even knowing it seemed impossible.

"Hello, little one. Shouldn't you be sleeping?" Travis asked, coming to place a steadying hand on her arm.

"Sleep seems an unsafe place at the moment," she replied honestly. The nightmares were there, waiting to take control of her, to pull her into the Deep Roads to answer the Calling that grew ever more intense in her blood.

Travis stared out at the vast night sky. "Our tribe believes that the spirit travels to the space between stars where time stretches out in every direction. The spirit is renewed there and returns to our world in a new form, taking with it all it has learned, becoming stronger and wiser. A spirit can't die, only the body is frail. The spirit is resilient."

Leonie stared up at the stars and then focused on the black emptiness between the stars. "It is a lovely thought, Travis. Do they – can they come back to their old life?" she asked hopefully.

Travis clucked softly, almost a chuckle. "Going back to their old life defeats the purpose of becoming stronger and wiser. We're all teachers, Lion. What we teach and how we teach is up to each person and their own experiences."

"I am not afraid of dying, I am afraid for Loghain and I – I would wish to spend more time with him."

Travis whistled softly and Leonie heard the beating of wings in the night sky. She strained in the dark to see the bird but couldn't. A low, sweet song sounded. The Whippoorwill. She found herself smiling at the memory of a night spent traveling on the road, when Loghain had first allowed himself to acknowledge his own feelings for her.

"You will take care of him, yes?"

"We'll all take care of each other, Lion. That's what we are meant to do, that's how we both teach and learn, by caring for others," Travis rebuked gently. "You forget that too easily.

"Now, look at the space between stars. Focus on it. Use it when the time comes," Travis instructed.

Leonie stared intently at the night sky, concentrating on the darkness that lay between myriad stars. "Use it how?" she asked finally, blinking. But Travis had departed as quietly as he had arrived.

Leonie made her way back to bed and rather than curl up against Loghain, she took him into her arms and let him rest there, his breath warm and comforting on her skin. He nestled into her, murmuring sleepy words of love and Leonie was finally able to sleep.


Leonie insisted that Loghain not tell the others what she was allowing Avernus to do. She didn't want the emotional outcry that telling them would create. She didn't want to have emotional farewells because it seemed too much like she was giving up, she claimed.

"Then you'd better wake up ready for their wrath at being left in the dark," Loghain told her sternly.

He was afraid. She seemed much calmer than she had the night before and as they entered the laboratory, he had the urge to grab her hand and run. Not that he was the running type and not that he knew precisely where they'd run to, but he had to wrestle with the urge. As if sensing it, Leonie leaned up and kissed him lightly, her hands gentle as they grasped his face. He leaned his forehead against hers, tried to borrow some of her strength and courage.

Travis appeared in the doorway and came to stand beside Jarren, who was busy following the instructions Avernus was issuing. Loghain almost balked when he saw the restraints.

"You don't want her to fall on the floor and hurt herself, do you?" Avernus asked with a grim smile.

Loghain's hand tightened on Leonie's arm as the mental pictures began to develop of her flailing or worse yet writhing in pain. He gritted his teeth. He wouldn't show his revulsion for the old ghoul or his terror for Leonie, not while she was standing strong, her resolve shining in her eyes. He would not allow himself to show his own fear.

When she was on the table, restrained and still strangely calm, Avernus bent down with a cloth covered piece of wood. "Bite down on this. I discovered that one can bite one's tongue off during the procedure."

Leonie paled and her eyes went searching for Loghain's. He came and rested his hand on hers. "I'm here, Leonie," he told her reassuringly but still he fought the urge to grab her and run. He couldn't stomach the thought of the pain she was feeling or the pain she was about to feel.

Travis came to stand beside Loghain. A wash of relief went through Loghain and he shot a grateful look at his friend. Leonie smiled and then nodded to Avernus that she was ready.

"Step away unless you want to be knocked back during the procedure," Avernus said with a crackling chuckle.

Loghain's disgust for the mage showed plainly on his face, he was sure. He didn't really give a damn. He would make sure if this didn't work that Avernus's unnaturally long life would cease. The thought was the only comfort he found in the situation.

Leonie nodded, trying to smile around the piece of wood in her mouth, and her eyes held a message to have faith. He found faith a tenuous, contrary thing at best but he nodded back, hoping he looked more reassuring than he felt.

Avernus whispered some last minute instructions to Jarren who nodded. The younger mage's face creased in concentration. Avernus made a small cut on Leonie's arm and then closed his eyes. They would use her own blood to fuel the procedure, much to Loghain's' disgust. Silence, thick with accusation, settled over the room. Loghain's impatience curled thickly in his blood, wrapped in anxiety. The longer they waited the more tempted he was to stop the entire thing.

The silence was broken when both mages began to chant in a language that was unfamiliar to Loghain. His heart pumped painfully within his chest as they prepared to send their magic into Leonie.

The first bolts hit her and arced along her skin. Her body jerked and arched, her eyes wide and wild with the shock of it. He tried to remember to breathe, to whisper words of encouragement to her but his tongue seemed to be stuck to the roof of his mouth. He wanted to reach out and strangle the old mage.

Magic, electricity and fear danced in the air around them as another jolt sent Leonie's body into spasms. Her eyes rolled back in her head until Loghain saw only the whites of them and for the first time in his life, he felt his stomach heaving at the sight of her body twisting against the restraints. He opened his mouth to halt the procedure but Travis laid a restraining hand on his arm.

Another jolt so strong Leonie nearly broke the bonds that held her as the electricity crept along her skin and then with a long sighing breath, she fell still. The piece of wood made a sickening thud as it hit the floor.

Loghain couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't do anything and then he was there, untying the restraints and gathering her into his arms. "Do something!" he thundered at Avernus who, pale and exhausted, shook his head.

"I warned her it was dangerous," the old mage said, querulous and cantankerous.

Loghain held her, rocking her, his head screaming. Her eyes were wide and sightless, she was limp and unresponsive. A knife stabbed into his gut and twisted. He heard the sound of someone crying out in a voice that was raw and ragged with unspeakable grief. His voice, echoing in the sudden silence, demanding she return to him but her body was lifeless in his arms.

She was gone.


Leonie felt the first spell slice into her. She could feel her blood dancing in her veins, singing in outrage, burning in anger. She could feel each drop of blood in her body, rising up as one to protest. In all her fighting, in all her entire life, she had never experienced pain of that magnitude.

The second jolt caused the blood to howl, an exquisite bloom of pain that blossomed until it enveloped her entire being with hot red agony. Voices, a thousand strong at least, called to her, promising an end to the pain. She twisted, trying to escape them, trying to escape the pain but she could not.

The third jolt wracked her with pain as every muscle jumped and snapped. Her mind was shrieking and begging for mercy. Her blood let out a long gasping plea and just when she was sure she would go mad from the pain, everything ceased...

She looked down at Loghain, holding her and crying out. She wanted to tell him it was alright, that the terrible beauty of the song had stopped, that the pain had stopped, but she couldn't. She looked above her and saw countless stars swimming in the inky night sky. She was being pulled to the darkness and she didn't fight it. A peace grew within her, a boundless ecstasy, a blissful feeling that brought an incandescent joy to her. She floated, drifting for hours, for days, reveling in the absolute silence that engulfed her. Her thoughts were soft memories.

They were waiting. As many stars as were in the sky so too were those who waited for her. They reached out and received her lovingly, their hideous faces softened by their happiness at her arrival and she understood and tried not to be afraid.

"Hear us, leader. Feel our betrayal," one spoke, his lipless mouth bent and twisted in pain. Hideously beautiful, grotesquely macabre, piteous creatures.

"How are you betrayed? Tell me that I may correct it," she pleaded, feeling their anguish as her own, feeling their betrayal as her own.

"They said they would come back for us. They said our sacrifice would not be forgotten. In war, victory. In peace, vigilance. In death, sacrifice. They lied."

"You are Grey Wardens? All of you?" she asked, shocked, the first fissures forming in her serenity.

A mirthless laugh, swelling among the thousands that gathered in the darkness, in the space between stars, reverberating through the darkness to fall into the emptiness.

"We are the Dark Stewards, those that were created to fight for mankind. A weapon that would defeat Tevinter's blood mages. An experiment. They betrayed us and now we fight them, we awaken the ancient gods to fight our betrayers, to destroy them for destroying us.

"Our song. Our rage. Retribution. Revenge. Priditio. Ultionis. Cruor. Man is damned."

"I am not your leader, I am not a savior. I do not know how to help you."

"Your blood sings to us, guides us. You will bring about peace."

"No, I cannot. I am no more."

"They told us to listen for the blood that sings to us and there would lay our salvation. Our cure. You are a messenger. Your blood sings, as only a few others have before you. You are the savior."

"No, I am not, it was an accident of birth, nothing more," she whispered, grief trying to pull away her peace.

"He who came before you tried to help. He created hope. When he died, you became that hope. Use his work. Find the truth."

She was drifting again and their voices became distant and soft against the growing sound of stars singing in the ocean of night. A light, golden white in the depth of the impenetrable darkness, beckoned her and she found herself floating toward it, welcoming its presence. As she neared it, she saw in it a woman she recognized.

"Nemishia?"

"I am Cerida, Lion. I am in the space between stars, healing. As are you it would seem."

She shook her head, marveling at the beauty of the darkness, the beauty of the golden light before her. She had no desire to leave. She was still trying to understand what she had learned about the darkspawn. And the peace, the serenity, the absence of any pain or grief was a mantle she wore and did not want to relinquish.

"Listen! Do you hear that? My brethren are singing in the darkness," Cerida said softly, her face glowing in the dark. Her smile grew.

"I must go now, little one. Fare thee well," Cerida whispered and the light dimmed and she was once again alone in the space between stars.

Something was pulling at her, distracting her from her pursuit of peace. A voice, a voice she recognized and loved. Her smile faltered...

She gasped, her body shuddering as it screamed for breath. Great gulping breaths as her heart raced. Her eyes closed against the brightness of the room. She opened them again and found herself staring into Loghain's disbelieving eyes.

"Where am I?" she croaked, struggling against the restraints until she realized they were Loghain's arms.

"Home, little one, where else?" Travis asked with a smile.

Leonie reached up and caressed Loghain's cheek. "Do not frown so, Loghain," she whispered.

"If you ever do that again, I'll throttle you," he growled, pulling her so close that she found it difficult to breathe again.

Her smile crept out and she closed her eyes, falling into a deep and restful sleep.