Disclaimer: Bioware owns all, except what I most humbly create. While, at times, I will take verbatim from the game, I mostly use the events of the Dragon Age games, expansions and universe as a loose structure around which to construct my re-imagined tale. If you are looking for a strict canon piece, I have no desire to offend, and so I warn you upfront!

When reading this tale, I hope you can easily imagine it being told by the very best of storytellers in Varric (from DA:2). In my version of events, Varric meets "The Hero" (my Elissa Cousland) in Kirkwall during the time period of DA:2. I mention this only so that readers can understand his connection along the way, and so I don't have to mention and rehash it again and again as I make my way through the tale.

A/N: Just a little more, I promise! :) Here's hoping you're enjoying the winding down!

Thanks to my readers, reviewers and followers and to my wondrous Lady Beta, artemiskat.

Happy Reading!

-Frayed One


Chapter Fifty-Two: The Shadow Grows

Elissa wrote every couple of days, just as she'd said she would – but as one month turned into two, and then two turned into three, Alistair began to give up hope that he would ever see her again. She'd returned from Par Vollen to find a missive from Oghren awaiting her at the docks, and so instead of coming back to Denerim she'd rerouted her journey there – picking up Swiftrunner from his well timed visit to his people at Soldier's Peak along the way.

Her letters were always entertaining and full of the lengthy tales of her adventures. Alistair would have simply been excited to read about them - though envious to have missed them, had it not been so obvious that she was avoiding the mention of anything personal in her telling of the tales. He was reading her latest volume – quite an accurate term for she was exceptionally wordy – when he returned to the Royal Suite that night, stumbling into the room in the half light of the nearly burnt out bedside candle and grumbling over the bite of apple he'd taken when he couldn't make out the words anymore as he flopped back onto the bed.

"I can save you the trouble of lighting a fresh candle and just tell you the rest, if you'd like." came a voice from behind him, followed by the breathy rumble of laughter when he jumped back up off the bed tossing the parchment and the apple in his surprise.

Elissa smiled up at him from her comfortable spot on their bed, lying back on her elbows with her feet crossed at the ankles. She'd taken off her armor and put on one of her nightgowns, the thin green silk clinging to her skin. Aside from a couple of new tattoos, she looked exactly the same as she had when she left months before. Were it not for the insistent call of her blood to his own, he would have believed he was dreaming.

"You're here…" Alistair said, sitting down on the side of the bed – uncertain how to proceed.

"I told you I'd come back." Elissa replied, tilting her head and sending her hair drifting down over her shoulder.

"You told me a lot of things." he replied, swallowing hard when she pulled herself up and one of the straps of her nightgown fell off her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Alistair. I know I've been gone a long time… but, I'm back now… for good, if you want me to be." She waited patiently for him to invite any contact between them, knowing he had every right to be hesitant and not wanting to pressure him.

"Of course I want you to be!" Alistair said, reaching out for her then and pulling her toward him. "I was never the one who wanted you to leave."

"I know." Elissa answered, returning his kiss just as passionately – pulling away only to work at the buttons that fastened his clothing. "But I thank you for letting me go."

They spent the rest of the night healing old wounds – with words and without them – sending an exceptionally flustered Eamon running out of the room when he walked in to find them using the desk in a way it was not intended and collapsing in a fit of laughter then sleep soon after.


The next several weeks were absolute bliss. Alistair was so thrilled to have Elissa back, wearing his ring and sharing his bed in more than just a sleeping capacity, that he didn't notice the changes within her until it was almost too late.

"Elissa, Eamon wants to know where you've been all morning." Alistair called out, bumping noisily into the sparring room where she'd been headed when he left her after breakfast. "What excuse shall I give him this time?"

She lay collapsed on the floor in the middle of the room, a pool of something thick and black on the ground in front of her – a long string dripping from her mouth as she vomited more of it up. Alistair rushed forward, stopping when she turned to look at him – the black tendrils of taint running up the pale skin of her neck.

"S-stay back…" Elissa panted, clutching at her abdomen as another violent spasm wracked her body.

"Elissa… that's tainted blood, you should not be vomiting that up…" he insisted, starting to creep toward her again.

"You don't think I know that!" she screamed, rolling over onto her back and crying out. "S-something is wrong… very wrong… I keep having these sensations, these desires... I tried to fight, but I can't... go, go and get Zevran. T-tell him to bring something that will knock me out."

"What? Elissa you need to see a healer…" Alistair replied, shaking off her suggestion as though she'd lost her mind.

"Go now! I can't control it much longer and I'll hurt you if you don't go…" Elissa pleaded, her eyes both terrified and terrifying as she looked at him – fighting to control whatever was happening inside her. She screamed out in pain again, and Alistair took off running to track down the assassin.


They kept her sedated for several days, long enough for Swiftrunner to travel to The Peak and return with Avernus, the only mage Alistair trusted to understand what might be happening to her. Alistair allowed him unlimited access to Elissa, under threat of a slow tortuous death should he do anything beyond what was required to offer any help or at least an explanation of what was going on.

When he surfaced a few hours later, it was with an explanation that no one wanted to hear. Whatever had pulsed out of the Archdemon with its death, had activated more of the concoction within Elissa's blood – unlocking new abilities, but also advancing the progress of the taint inside her body far beyond what anyone so young in the Warden ranks should be capable of carrying.

The mage developed a potion that would help to combat the acceleration, and left instructions on how to make more should they need it – anxious to return to The Peak where he could access his full lab and continue to work on a more permanent solution to their dilemma.

Alistair sent him back with Swiftrunner, heading in to speak with Elissa and offer what encouragement he could manage.

"Well, on the plus side, you still look gorgeous." Alistair quipped, smiling at her as he came to sit at her side.

"It's not funny, Alistair." Elissa muttered, crossing her arms over her chest and frowning at him. "I nearly killed you."

"No you didn't." he replied, shaking his head and reaching out to take her hand.

"But I wanted to… kill you, fuck you, maybe both if you'd stayed long enough…" she explained, looking as though she wanted to cry. "It was all I could feel… it burned, and I tried to ignore it but I could feel it scrabbling there in the back of my mind, trying to take over. Waiting for me to get too tired to fight it off."

"You should have said something." Alistair said, his voice mildly chastising. "Avernus said some of his… experimentees… had experienced something similar and that it took some time to build. You've known about this for a while - it would be impossible not to."

"I thought I could control it… and I didn't want you to worry…" Elissa explained, leaning over to lie against his lap and enjoying the feel of his fingers in her hair. "How are we going to manage this now, Alistair? How can you have a monster for a Queen?"

"We will figure it out, Elissa. I promise… we will make it through this, the same way we've made it through everything else." he assured her, hoping that he was right this time.