It really was a beautiful weapon. Elissa couldn't remember how old it was, but she knew it was old enough that it should be set aside as a momento, not something to carry into battle.

"Keep it," Aedan said.

He was persistent, and she felt...something. Holding their family sword had felt different in a good way. She thought her sword had felt like an extension of her arm, but this one... It felt like it was made for her. As impossible as it was, Elissa hadn't felt so good in a fight in her entire life. The blade was perfectly balanced, and the hilt, with some linen added, fit in her hands in a way she couldn't explain. It was, literally, as perfect a weapon as anyone could get.

"I shouldn't," Elissa said. "You're the oldest. It should be yours."

Aedan shook his head, saying, "I feel like I'd snap it in half. It's too light." He shrugged. "Or maybe you're too weak to carry a real sword?"

She elbowed him as he chuckled, but her eyes were running over the blade. There was a groove down the center of it, shooting to about the halfway point. Old runes glowed faintly, but what the enchantments did had been lost to time. Not even Aldous had known, and it seemed like that crusty old librarian had known everything.

"One of us should have it," Aedan insisted, again serious. "Wouldn't it be fitting to kill Howe with it?"

Elissa sighed. "I suppose."

"How fantastic of a story would it be? A Cousland carrying their family weapon into battle and smiting the Archdemon with it?"

She eyed him, trying her hardest to not laugh. "You don't want any glory for yourself? Suddenly I'm the one killing Howe and the Archdemon?"

He grinned. "I have to keep your spirits up somehow, don't I?"

"By lying?"

His grin only broadened, but before she could come up with something else to say, Alistair weaseled his way to their side, sitting solidly in front of them. He looked anxious, which wasn't necessarily something new, but he had never been so open in front of Elissa before. That had to mean she was doing something right.

"Can I talk to you?" he whispered.

Aedan and Elissa exchanged looks, but Aedan nodded. Alistair fidgeted with his hands for a moment, so Elissa took the silence as an opportunity to sheathe her new sword. Even the scabbard was well taken care of. It must've meant a lot to their father.

"So...you're...nobility," Alistair said.

After fleeing Denerim, Aedan had finally revealed their parentage, in a similar fashion to Alistair. Wynne seemed like the only one who was surprised about their background, save Alistair himself. He had looked hurt at first, spent the last few hours moping, but it seemed he must've gotten over it, as he was now talking to them about it.

"Last I checked, we're Grey Wardens now," Elissa said. "No claim to anything, unless that changed when I wasn't looking."

Alistair made a face at her, exasperated. "Do you think anyone here really cares about that?"

"Loghain probably does," Aedan said. "Most of the nobles probably do, come to think of it."

He ran his hands down his face. Was he trying to be serious? What in the Maker's name could be wrong now?

"Look, I...I know what Eamon's like," Alistair said. "Ferelden will need a new leader when the Blight is over. He'll try to push me to be king, but..."

"But you don't want that?" Elissa surmised.

He nodded. "No, Maker no. I'd be a terrible king. Sometimes I still have problems putting the right boot on." She had to bite her tongue to match Aedan's perfect expression. "I was thinking...or I had this idea. The Couslands are the only teyrns left in Ferelden aside from Loghain, but his house hasn't been around as long as yours has. Your family is the most powerful in Ferelden."

Was, Elissa thought bitterly. Aedan hadn't had the heart to tell them how exactly they'd become Wardens, and Elissa didn't want to force him to. Alistair, like everyone else, believed their family was still alive. Maker, lying their way through why they'd been attacked in Denerim had been a trip. Morrigan had obviously not bought it, and she doubted Zevran had, either. In fact, the only person Elissa thought had been convinced was, ironically, Alistair.

"Our family is gone, Alistair," Aedan whispered.

"What?"

Aedan shook his head. His fists clenched, and Elissa put a hand on his shoulder. "Before we became Wardens, Duncan...he had to get us out of Highever. Our father had sent our forces south ahead of him and Arl Howe, whose forces had been 'delayed," Elissa said. "He...attacked our castle during the night. Aedan and I are the only ones who survived."

"Oh." Alistair looked down at his hands, and then back up at them. "I'm sorry. I've been rather selfish, haven't I? Moping about Duncan. I hadn't once thought—"

"It's fine," Aedan interrupted. "I'd rather not talk about it now. We can't change what happened, anyway."

"Fair enough."

"Anyway?" Elissa urged.

Alistair cleared his throat. "Uh...yes. What I was asking..." He rubbed the back of his neck. The longer this conversation went on, the more apprehensive he seemed to get. "Either of you would have more claim to the throne than I do. I'm a bastard. I'm a nobody, but—"

Elissa laughed. The idea of it was so absurd, so strange. Ferelden had always been ruled by a Theirin. The only time it wasn't, was when it was occupied by Orlais, and even then, the rebellion had been led by the family. No one had ever entertained the idea of a different family ascending to the throne. There had never been a reason to.

Until now, perhaps?

"No," Elissa said. "No, that's ridiculous."

"You'd rather leave it to Anora?" Alistair retorted. "Her father betrayed us at Ostagar!"

She started to argue, but Aedan cut her off. "We don't need to worry about this right now."

"We do," Alistair said.

"And what if Eamon doesn't survive?" Aedan said. His tone was sharp. "What if he doesn't wake up? Then what? This conversation will be a waste of all our time, and you can probably just pretend you never told anyone who your father is."

Alistair did have a point, though. The Theirins and the Couslands were two of the oldest and most powerful families in Ferelden. If anyone was to take the throne at the end of this, it would most likely come down to them, had they not been Grey Wardens.

"I think we should consider it," Elissa said.

"What?"

They said it in unison, which meant Alistair had either not expected their support at all, or that he had expected her to be his critic, and not Aedan.

"Elissa—"

"He's right," she said, more forcefully. "There is no proof Maric was his father, Aedan. All we'd have is his word, and Eamon's, and that's not much, but people know us. They know who we are. They know you, specifically. The Guerrins are a respected family and the Landsmeet will probably listen to Eamon, but you're the rightful teyrn of Highever. Eamon is an arl. Your title would carry more weight than his own. Your word would carry more weight than his."

"I don't want to be king," Aedan said.

"Neither do I," Alistair said, "but you would be better at it than me."

Aedan shook his head as he stood. "No, I... I need to think about this before I even consider it."

He whistled. Sam immediately hopped to his feet to follow his master out of camp and into the trees.

Alistair sighed, directed his gaze back to her. "I, uh...I am sorry. About your family, I mean."

She just nodded absentmindedly. "Thank you, Alistair." He gave her a half-hearted smile and made to follow Aedan's move to leave, but she added, "I'm sorry about Duncan. And the other Wardens."

She tried to return his smile, but everything felt so solemn now, so serious, and so grim. All Elissa could manage was a weak, lopsided grin.

"Thank you," Alistair muttered. He too left her sitting, alone now, but she was fine with that. She had a lot to think about. It would be good to think now, while Aedan was off with his own thoughts, and while Leliana couldn't distract her.

But then, she was doing it now, wasn't she? Every time Elissa even thought her name, everything else was pushed away. Nothing else was as important, as worrying, as Leliana was, and part of Elissa hated it. The other revelled in it. Leliana had lied to her, to all of them, and Elissa still found herself drawn to the bard. Her secret was one that could get them killed.

So was hers, though, wasn't it?

Everyone in this party was hiding something. Aedan and Alistair's secrets were out now. Alistair was a royal bastard. Aedan and her were disgraced nobles. Wynne was possessed or something; Elissa hadn't figured out yet. Everyone else, though, they were all mysteries to her.

Secrets were dangerous. They could get them killed. Hers and Aedan's almost did. Howe's men had happened upon Elissa by accident, but one had escaped, and most likely had told Howe and Loghain about her. Howe was an idiot, but Loghain was not.

They needed to put more ground between them and Denerim.

Elissa just shook her head, mostly at herself. What were they going to do? She hadn't ever really thought about it, but it was disgusting how easily Loghain turned the entire country against them. They, who were the only Grey Wardens left, in a country being ravaged by the Blight, had bigger targets on their backs than the Archdemon itself.

Elissa shuddered at the very thought. She had only dreamt of the thing once, but once was enough. Was it too much to hope that the dragon would just keel over and die on its own?

Eventually, Elissa got up. She didn't know what to do with herself, anyway, so might as well...do something. Aedan was off doing whatever it was he was doing, Leliana was off limits, and Sam had gone with Aedan, so she was, effectively, alone.

She could try practicing her magic, but that would probably be as fruitless as it had been before. She had no interest in frustrating herself at the moment.

But she should try, shouldn't she? Leliana wouldn't be where she was now if Elissa could've healed her. It would take a lot of strain off Wynne, who was now the self-appointed group healer. If only she could just...figure it out.

While she stood, she promised herself to try. Just once. If anything impressive happened, she would keep trying. And if it didn't, she would give up and find something else to do.

So she tried. She envisioned a small light hovering in her hand, a simple spell Wynne said most mages learned and mastered before anything else. Bright white, so bright it burned her eyes even though it wasn't real.

Deep inside her, there was a stirring. It was so rare a feeling, so fleeting, that she hardly even recognized it. She could count on her hand the number of times she'd felt that before.

But just as quickly as it came, it was gone.

"A staff might improve your situation," Wynne commented.

Elissa spun on her heel, spooked. "No, I'm not even going to entertain that."

One white eyebrow raised in question. "And why not? It would help channel your power." Elissa laughed, shook her head, and before she could speak, Wynne asked, "Are you afraid of being a mage?" Elissa's eyes narrowed as she stopped laughing. "It's nothing to be ashamed of."

"I'm not ashamed of anything, thank you," Elissa retorted. It was her turn to cut someone off. "How's Leliana? Is she awake?"

Wynne frowned, but thankfully, didn't press the matter further. "Yes and no. She's resting now, but it was her own decision, not mine."

"Can I see her?"

Anything to get away from the old bat. Please say yes.

Wynne's nod was all Elissa needed to dismiss herself. Three quick strides, and she was across camp, ducking into her tent.

Leliana groaned in annoyance. "Wynne, I—"

"It's me," Elissa said quickly.

Leliana looked over her shoulder, and then slowly, rolled to face her. She scowled, probably from straining herself with quick movements. "Thank the Maker. I know she's trying to help, but..."

"Overbearing?" Elissa asked.

Leliana didn't say anything, so Elissa assumed she was correct. The bard had her eyes closed now and was breathing deep, but she was still shifting around in an attempt to get comfortable.

There wasn't much room. It was awkward trying to sit without also sitting on Leliana, but somehow she managed it.

"How are you feeling?" Elissa asked.

"Terrible," Leliana grumbled. "Wynne forced me to drink some potion. It tasted like ass and my stomach hurts on top of my head."

Elissa arched an eyebrow and whistled in amazement. "You know those words? Can sisters say them, or is that an insult to the Maker?"

One blue eye opened itself, regarding Elissa heavily, and she just grinned. Leliana closed her eye just as quickly. For a half a second, Elissa thought she offended her and wanted to apologize, but Leliana said, "You're an ass." She was sure if she wasn't tired, she would've rolled her eyes.

"Well...yeah."

Silence overtook them. Leliana didn't move or speak, just laid there peacefully, and Elissa busied herself looking elsewhere. She felt awkward in that situation; she wanted to spend time with her, against her better judgement or not, but didn't want to be caught wanting that, by Leliana or anybody else. Leliana would win if Elissa gave in, and she was determined to not lose. Whatever she was losing at, however, was lost on her. Was she trying to prove a point? Or was she just being stubborn?

"Wynne said you saved me," Leliana mumbled.

Elissa was caught off-guard. She thought Leliana might've fallen asleep. It would've been the perfect excuse to flee another awkward situation. "Uh, no, I didn't. I didn't do anything."

"She said you stopped the bleeding."

"It..." Elissa looked down at her hands as soon as Leliana reopened her eyes. "There wasn't a lot of blood. It wasn't that bad."

"Head wounds bleed a lot."

"Okay, maybe you ruined my favorite pair of pants."

Leliana huffed, and there it was. The eye roll. Elissa had been waiting for it. Whenever she said something sarcastic or stupid, Leliana would just roll her eyes and go with it. And if it had been anyone else, Elissa probably would've hit them. Eye rolling had been her thing to do, but when Leliana did it, it was funny, and how can she be offended when it's funny?

"Thank you, Elissa."

That was twice now she'd been seriously thanked in one day. Twice! She never did anything that warranted gratitude. She actively avoided putting herself in those situations, but both Alistair and Leliana had thanked her in the last half hour.

"I owed you."

"For what?"

"Back when the darkspawn ambushed us. When Aedan was wounded? You saved me. I owed you."

Leliana sighed. "That was weeks ago."

"Well... I still owed you."

"Please stop saying that."

"I owed you."

Leliana rolled back over, quicker this time, and Elissa chuckled. "You're more annoying than Wynne."

"I see our positions have been reversed, then?"

She was quiet for a minute. "No."

Elissa grinned triumphantly and got up on her knees. "I'll let you rest."

Before she could excuse herself, though, one of Leliana's hands shot out and locked around her wrist. Elissa almost jumped again. "Don't go."

Leliana looked as surprised as Elissa when the words left her mouth.

"I...I've been having bad dreams," Leliana stammered. "Will you stay?" She paused, and then added, "Please?"

"Well, when you put it that way, how can I refuse?"

Internally, Elissa was screaming.