"Tali, when you're quite finished, your father wants to see you in the main hall. Something about a visitor and wanting to see you before he goes. Savreen, darling, you too." Lady Eleanor's voice rings out, sharp and clear, even over the clang of metal. Muscles aching, Talvinder steps out of her shield stance to look up at the balcony above the training grounds, breaking her practice with her cousin. Sunlight catches on her mother's silvering hair and Tali squints before she waves her sword in acknowledgement.
"Is this the type of visitor for whom I should wash?" She reaches to the waterskin beside her; the words have scratched the skin in her throat as they left. The water is soothing, and she dumps some of it out onto her head, blistering hot as the black strands of her braided bun draw in the heat around her. Next to her, Savreen laughs, but then does the same.
"Every visitor is a visitor for whom you should wash, darling. Get to it. Oh, and don't forget, Lady Landra is coming to stay for a while. Come greet her when you're done." A rueful chuckle tumbles out of Tali's mouth—as if she expected her mother to say anything else. She catches Sav's eye, who, of course, looks perfect. Her onyx braid falls down her back, shining as much as a strand of silver. With one last swig of water, Tali pulls her shield straps from her arm and sheaths her sword, nodding grudgingly to Sav. She will wash for this visitor, but she would rather remain on the training ground.
"There you are, pups. I've been looking everywhere for you. I wanted to speak to you before we leave. Duncan, allow me to introduce my daughter, Talvinder Kaur, and my niece, Savreen Kaur. Pups, this is Duncan." Tali imagines she can still feel water dripping down her back beneath the clothes she has hastily thrown on, though it may be water from her hair. Or sweat. She's not sure, and she doesn't really care-especially if this is the type of 'visitor' that she has begun to expect. Either way, just as she steps into the great hall, her father makes sure that everyone sees her. Tali's eyes jump up to her father's face, backlit by the fire, light wreathed around his turban and in the edges of his beard, standing next to her uncle. He's smiling warmly at her, they both are, though there's something guarded in her father's expression, and when she looks to see who Duncan is, Talvinder understands.
"Are you a Grey Warden?" The words spill from her lips before she can stop them, excitement pooling in her chest. This is what she has wanted for ages—a chance to fight in a way her father and brother haven't, a chance to prove herself next to them. The stories of the Grey Wardens flit through her head, the ones she was raised on, and her mind goes a thousand miles ahead of her, where she's fighting an ugly horned archdemon—
"Yes child, I am."
"Yes pup, he's here to test Ser Gilmore for recruitment." Tali's images falter and then stop. Of course, she thinks. He calls her a child, and her father's voice is sharp and pointed in her ears. Talvinder is suddenly extra aware of her misfit body, of the muscles that set her apart from the other genteel women and the femininity that separates her from almost every other person on the training grounds. Humiliation burns down her spine and she turns her eyes down. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees another pair of boots.
"Greetings, Arl Howe, it is a pleasure to see you again," says Savreen, the model of poise, her voice carefully measured, despite the fact that Tali knows that she would never call seeing Arl Howe a 'pleasure' if it were up to her.
"Arl Howe, forgive me. My greetings to you. How was your journey?" Talvinder can practically feel her father's relief was over her as she turns her attention away from the warden.
"Of course, my lady. Greetings to you, as well. It was pleasant enough, though the bulk of my forces have been delayed. My own fault, really."
"I hope it is nothing serious?" Savreen offers up her concern, and Tali silently begs don't mention your son, don't mention your son, don't mention-
"Not at all, I simply failed to shore up the levies in time before the rainy season. I've left my son in charge, however, otherwise I might have brought him with me, to see you again Talvinder." There is a suggestion in his words, and Tali grimaces a smile, but before she can say anything, her father speaks.
"Well at any rate, we shall be ready to leave in the morning. Which is why I need to ask you, pup, to go find Fergus and tell him to make ready to leave without me. There is much still for me to prepare, and I cannot run about chasing down my errant offspring."
"'Errant offspring'? Remember who you're leaving in charge while you're gone!"
"In charge? You forget, Tali, that I'm sharing duties with you?" Sav teases lightly, and a wide grin breaks across Tali's face. Playfully she shoves her father's arm, forgetting for a moment that there is both a storied warrior and an Arl of the kingdom watching. Suddenly uncomfortable again, she steps back, standing straight and solemn. In a slightly hushed voice, she asks "Are you sure it's the right decision? Leaving me in charge?"
"Of course I am, pup. I trust you. And you've grown up well. Despite your mother's reluctance in allowing you to train, and mine in sending you to finishing school, you've become a skilled warrior and people-pleaser, both. You will do fine." His eyes are sparkling, dark above the curve of his nose, and Talvinder takes a deep breath, nods, and plasters her smile back across her face.
"Savreen." Bikram, Tali's uncle, calls to his daughter. "Sikander must leave with Fergus, if you could find him too. I must speak with Chadda before we go, so if you could meet us in our rooms when you've collected your brother, I would appreciate it." Softly, Sav smiles and inclines her head.
"Of course, father. My lords, I must take my leave as my father bids. Safe travels, all." Tali watches Sav as she turns on her heel and walks out, headed to the stables, where Sikander is most likely readying his horse for the long march. After the doors have closed behind her, Tali turns back to her uncles and the visitors.
"Well then, I suppose I too must obey my lord and father's commands so long as he is here to scold me for disobeying them! Uncle, my heart goes with you. Good sir Duncan, I look forward to speaking with you more—" her father snorts at this, but Tali ignores him "—and my lord Howe, I simply want to wish you luck." A strange look passes over Howe's features, one slightly shocked, or perhaps bemused. Tali thinks it may even be one of irony or humor, but then it is gone, and she cannot tell. The man is impassive and unreadable as ever.
"Why, thank you, my lady, though I assure you—it is quite unnecessary." As she leaves, Talvinder tries to shove the uneasiness down into her stomach. She has never disliked Howe as much as Sav, but she cannot shake the feeling. Something is wrong.
Finding Fergus is easy. He's in the bedchamber he shares with his wife, Oriana, saying goodbye to their son (Talvinder's favorite nephew, she says, though he is too young still to understand he is her only nephew).
"Do-do you need me to wait in the hall?" Tali says as Fergus cradles Oriana's face, forehead resting against hers. "Because I can absolutely wait. In fact, if I don't, dinner might be making a reappearance on the floor." Fergus laughs, kissing Oriana's nose as Tali feigns retching, loudly, behind them.
"Someday you'll fall in love, little sister, and then you'll understand. Leaving my pretty wife to be bothered by your terrible jokes all day is a pain to my heart in ways you can't even—"
"Papa said he's going to bring me back a sward!" Little hands are tugging at Tali's skirt, unsteady as Oren jumps up and down.
"That's sword, Oren. And yes, only if you're good and listen to your aunt and mother while I'm away." As Oren jumps again, Tali grabs the little boy, kneeling down and tickling his sides. Shrieks of laughter fill the room, drowning out the crackling of the fire.
"Oh he'll be good, all right, or else I shall tickle him mercilessly!"
"I'll be good! I promise I promise I promise!" He scampers away, breathless and grinning and still laughing ever so slightly, and hides behind his mother's skirts.
"See? He promises. Oh, and Fergus, I bring news and a message from Father. There's a Grey Warden—" Both Fergus and Oren speak at the same time, Oren much more excited.
"Is he looking to recruit?" Fergus asks, "Did he bring a griffin?" Oren shouts.
"Griffons are extinct, my love," Oriana says softly, fluffing the boy's dark hair with a smile. Her dark brown eyes meet Talvinder's, and she shakes her head bemusedly.
"No, Oren, no griffons here. He's come to test Ser Gilmore, actually." Although perhaps when you and Father leave, I can try my own hand at it.
"If I were a Grey Warden, I'd have my eye on you, little sister. But, I suppose one can't have everything. Now, what was this message from Father?"
"He says that you and Sikander are to leave tonight, as planned, but without him. He and Howe will follow in the morning, as the Arl's troops have been delayed." Fergus nods, fiddling with the edge of his dastar. He tucks a few hairs under the turban's edge as though they were out of place, though Tali knows nothing was. Fergus swallows.
"I wish I was going with you," she says softly. She can tell when he's nervous. "But I'm sure everything will-will turn out all right. You'll see." Oriana takes Fergus' hand, and glances thankfully at her sister-in-law.
"She's right, my love. And the sooner you leave, the sooner you will return to us."
"Besides, my dear big brother, I'll need you to come back and rescue Highever from my leadership before long. I only know so many jokes, and I'm sure the people have heard them all. They'll be bored of me within the hour, and even our cousin won't be able to stop it." As Fergus barks out a short, sharp laugh, the door opens behind them, and Tali turns to see their mother and father entering the room.
"Wait, couldn't you have delivered the message yourself?"
"And miss having my family all in one room?" Birsingh claps a hand on Talvinder's shoulder, flashing her a warm smile. At the same time, Eleanor squeezes her daughter's hand and moves to stand near Fergus. "It will be a long few months, that is for certain. I was hoping, before we all retire, that we could pray Kirtan Sohila together one last time." Again, there it is, the deep and strange and sudden anxiety knowing in the pit of Tali's stomach. It's just a temporary goodbye, but she has a feeling that it won't be temporary, somehow. Her chest starts to squeeze, tight, painful, the air inside too hot or cold or both or neither, but definitely too sharp and—
"Pup, I know you're scared about being in charge." Birsingh's voice coils around her ears, into her mind, and Tali's heart slows.
"Father I—"
"My darling. You are a capable leader. You have grown into a woman of great valor and conscience."
"And a horribly un-funny girl!" Fergus adds, rather unhelpfully, but it jars Tali just enough out of the cloud of anxiety to stick her tongue out at him.
"Fergus! Some of her jokes are funny!" Oriana's hushed rebuke and sharp elbow to Fergus' ribs coax a smile from Tali, though Eleanor rolls her eyes and Birsingh sighs with exasperation.
"My point, pup, is that you have the skills to handle this. You are nearly a score in age, and in that time, you have become a formidable swordswoman and a kind person, someone who would make our ancestors proud." Softly, he reaches out to cup his daughter's cheek. "You will have Savreen to help you, and we will be back before you know it." Tali closes her eyes and breathes in deeply, nodding slightly. Her father's praise is not without meaning, and she tries to believe it. She tries to believe his confidence, both in her and in his own fate. "Now, you need to get to bed early. There is much to do tomorrow. Let us all pray together before you go. Fergus, would you like to start the first shabad?"
"Certainly, father." Tali lets the warmth of the fire and her family, together, wash over her as Fergus's voice, now calm and soft, wafts across the air. "One Universal Creator God, by the grace of the one true Guru…" The prayer, comforting in its familiarity, acts like a balm as it fills her mind. Perhaps it will all turn out fine, after all.
Talvinder is dreaming of a game of ball she played, long ago in the Denerim castle courtyard when a low growl startles her awake.
"Abarie? What is it girl?" For a minute, rubbing her eyes, Tali thinks she can hear someone approaching outside the door. It must be Savreen, unable to sleep, and so she stretches, yawns, and goes to open the door when Abarie growls again. The feeling of wrongness returns, and Tali freezes, feeling vulnerable in her nightshirt. She listens. There's a strangled scream from outside, and then the clanking of armor. Whipping around, she has just enough time to grab her sword before the door to her room flings open, and a terrified squire appears.
"They're in the castle! My lady—" A sudden thwip, and then an arrow is protruding from his chest, and he falls. Behind him are two soldiers. Two soldiers wearing Howe's sigil.
Much of what comes next is blurred. When Tali begins to breathe again, the soldiers are dead before her, her sword coated with their blood. Shaking, she pulls on pants and her training armor, slinging her shield around her shoulders. She has to find Mother, and Savreen, and Father and Uncle and Aunt and—Abarie growls yet again and darts into the hall. Talvinder follows to see two more soldiers at the door to her parents' room, and as she approaches, sword high, the door opens behind them, and her mother comes out, bow in hand and quiver slung at her side. The soldiers fall quickly, and suddenly the only noise in the hall is Abarie's panting.
"Mother, what's happening? Are you all right?"
"I was about to ask you the same thing, my dear. Have you seen your father?"
"No, I've been asleep."
"He went back to meet with Howe and Bikram again, just to make sure everything was set for the morning. He never came back up to bed."
"What about aunt Chadda? Savreen? Did Fergus and Sikander leave?"
"Yes, the boys left for Ostagar several hours ago. I haven't seen Chadda and Savreen, or Bikram. We need to find them!"
"We need to check on Oren and Oriana, mother." The edges of everything around Tali become too sharp, her mouth dry as she looks towards the door across the hall, where her sister and nephew should be sleeping. The sudden realization that the room has been silent this whole time stirs dread in her.
"Maker's breath, you don't think Howe would—" As if steered by another, Talvinder walks to the door. It isn't latched. She pushes it open.
"No! My poor Oren!" As Eleanor falls to her knees, Tali is glued in place. Oren's tanned skin is dull and grey, angry welts and bruising ringing his neck and a dark black pool of blood leaking from his stomach. And Oriana, with deep cuts across her fingers and a single, gaping gash from ear to ear, seems to be wearing a deep red smock. Her family. This is her family. And they are being slaughtered. Tali reaches down to her mother's shoulder, trying to pull her away, but instead she stumbles, unsteady, and tips back against the wall as a sob rises in her throat.
"Talvinder! Aunt Eleanor! We're so glad we've found you. We've been looking every—by the Maker." Savreen and Chadda rush up to the door, followed by Sav's mabari, Sher, only to stop dead in their tracks when they see the carnage spread out in front of them.
"Howe's not even taking prisoners. He means to kill us all." Eleanor's voice is ragged as she meets Chadda's eyes.
"We can't let him, sister." As Tali's aunt helps her mother to her feet, she joins Sav in the doorway. She can't look in her brother's room any more.
"Tali, we fought our way to you, but it's bad. I haven't seen our fathers, or Ser Gilmore. We managed to get the family swords from the vault, but we need to get to the great hall. We have to find them."
"The Grey Warden? Is he here? What's happened to him?"
"I don't know. I haven't seen him either. Just a lot of Howe's men."
"You're right. There's no time to waste." Savreen and Talvinder turn to see their mothers embracing, Chadda comforting Eleanor.
"Aunt Eleanor, Mother, we have to move. The longer we wait here, the harder it will be to get to Father and Uncle Birsingh."
"You're right, darling." Eleanor's voice scares Tali with its coldness, its numbness, and she takes her mother's hand to lead her out through the castle. After several ambushes, their group arrives at the Great Hall, opening the doors only to see another pitched fight. Frantically, Savreen unsheathes her sword as she spots Gilmore in the throng, rushing into the fray. Out of the corner of her eye, Talvinder sees an enemy mage building up to cast, sparks of lightning weaving around her fingers. She knows she has to stop the mage before the spell arcs to the group of fighters, before the lightning chain is cast. With a thought and a few leaping steps, Tali stands in front of the mage. A bash from her shield knocks the mage out of her cast, and then the swing of Tali's sword is stopped by the staff. Tali's blood rushes in her ears as they exchange blows, the sounds of the battle falling away except for the whacks of metal on magically strengthened wood, the occasional sharp bursts of electricity that crackle past her.
With one wet thud, Tali's sword connects with the bend of the mage's neck, right where it meets her shoulder. Tali looks away quickly, before she can see anything more, and sees that most of the fight has died down behind her.
"My ladies, I'm so relieved to see that you're alive," says Ser Gilmore, who briefly places a hand on Sav's shoulder, gazing at her earnestly, before he seems to recall what's going on and steps back, shaking his hand as though burned and placing it back on his sword hilt. "Your fathers were here, but they left seeking you. They mentioned the servants' entry, in the larder."
"You saw Bikram?" Chadda's voice is anxious, but even. "How is he? Is he with Birsingh?"
"When I saw them last, the Teyrns seemed well enough, though my lord Birsingh received a glancing blow from an assassin's blade. Duncan, the Grey Warden, went with them."
"We must go after them. To the larder, quickly." Punctuating her words, Eleanor takes a forceful step forward, towards the door on the far side of the Great Hall.
"No! Ser Gilmore, we cannot leave you behind. Let us stay and fight!" Tali can hear affection in her cousin's voice, affection and fear and desperation. With wide eyes, Sav stares into Gilmore's face, though he cannot meet her gaze. Her long braid falls from behind her back over her shoulder as she turns to everyone else. "Please! We cannot abandon him! Any of them!"
"My lady Savreen, it will not be long before the hall is overrun. The doors will not last. You must go."
"No, no! I can't-we cannot lose any more people. Any more friends. Please." The break in her voice causes Gilmore to squeeze his eyes shut.
"You have to leave. Please…Sav." To Tali's eyes, it seems like the tension of Savreen's nickname hangs in the air between the pair, her cousin's eyes pricking with suppressed tears as Gilmore squares his shoulders. "You must go. They are coming for the door. It has been an honor to serve the house of the Couslands, my ladies. Now leave!"
Taking his cue, Tali grabs Sav's hand and drags her to the door. They run in a full tilt sprint to the larder, but when they open the door, something is very, very wrong.
"Father?"
"Bikram!"
"Oh, Birsingh, what's happened to you?"
"No, no no no Father—"
The brother Teyrns are huddled on the floor in front of the four women. An impossibly large pool of blood has spread out from a gash in Bikram's side, and he gasps for air as he presses his hands into the wound. Next to him, Tali's father leans against a barrel of grain. A small slice on his hand has gone a rancid grey-green while sweat shines across his forehead, his eyes almost closed as he breathes shallowly. As Savreen and Chadda rush to Bikram, and her mother hurries to her father, Tali drops to her knees in the doorway. She knows she's seeing the effects of soulrot poison. She knows that only a mage can slow its spread long enough for an antidote to be prepared. She knows that there are no mages here. She knows that, kneeling there in the doorway to the larder, watching her mother frantically grip her father's hands, she is watching him die.
"No," she whispers, her body numb, "no, it can't end like this."
"This isn't the end, my lady." The sudden appearance of Duncan startles all of the others, but Tali can only stare glumly at her family as her aunt speaks.
"Duncan? You are the Grey Warden then? If Ser Gilmore spoke truthfully, then we must thank you for bringing our husbands this far."
"I fear your thanks may be premature. The arl's men are closing in. They have breached the Great Hall and will find us here soon."
"Then go," Bikram grunts out, "use the servants' entrance. Get out."
"Father, come on, stand up. You're coming with us."
"No, little Sav. I don't think I will survive the standing."
"No, no you don't mean that. You'll be fine. We just have to—"
"My daughter. I will only slow you down. Think of your brother. Your cousin. Someone must reach them. Duncan, you can lead them out safely?" As Tali watches Sav's face go stony, watches Chadda lean in to rest her forehead against Bikram's, she finally stands and moves slowly to her own father. His breaths come out quick and ragged, and he struggles to keep his eyes open as Tali comes into his line of sight.
"There you are…pup…I've been waiting…for you." As she reaches her hands out to her father, she sees that they're trembling. A strange ringing is drowning almost everything else out.
"My lords, I regret the need to ask this, but I came here seeking recruits and the Blight demands I leave with them."
"We had hoped it would not come to this. But I hear your words." Out of the corner of her eye, Tali sees her uncle shift and grimace as he speaks. "I know—we know—that you cannot promise they will not come to harm. But please. Do not let the House of Cousland die here."
"Are you talking about me and Tali?" Savreen's tone is, to Tali's ears, surprisingly calm. Infuriatingly calm. The ringing is just so loud. How can Sav be calm?
"I am, my lady."
"What happens if Sikander and Fergus—if something has happened to them? We have the Cousland name to think of."
"We head directly to Ostagar. We should be able to reach them both there."
"Very well. I will join the Wardens." Birsingh manages to open his eyes a little wider, meeting Tali's shell-shocked gaze.
"I will too," she hears herself say. Her father smiles, and a lump is growing in Tali's throat. She will carry his body out of here if she must, but she cannot say goodbye. Not here, not like this.
"Pup…it is time…for you to leave me."
"No."
"Listen…to me. You and your cousin…must make sure that justice…is visited on Howe."
"I'm not going. There's got to be another way. We can fight. Sav, mother—"
"For once in your life pup!" The sudden forcefulness of her father's voice startles her, and Tali falls backwards onto her rear. "Listen to me. This may…be your last chance. I love you."
"Go, my darling girl. I will stay behind. You will get farther if I can slow them down." Her mother's hand is soft on Tali's shoulder, but all she can do is stare, uncomprehending of the suggestion.
"I will stay too." Chadda's voice. "I will kill all who walk through that door, to buy you all time. We love you both. So much."
"No, mother, aunt, father—no you can't." The weight of a boulder is suddenly on Tali's chest. If only the ringing would stop, she could think, and maybe that damned trembling in her fingers would cease—
"You must go. It is time." Duncan grips Tali under the arms and hoists her to her feet like a ragdoll, and it flips a switch in her. If the ringing won't stop, then she will just have to scream loud enough that she's heard over it.
"You cannot make me! I won't leave, no, no I won't!" Savreen steps in front of Talvinder and grabs her face, but Tali yanks herself away, moving her hand to draw her sword. "I will not go! You will have to drag me!"
"Very well." And with that, Duncan's hands close around Tali's waist and he lifts her, shrieking and squirming, over his shoulder. Abarie growls, but does little else, stopped from attacking by a stern look from Savreen, who then gives her parents swift kisses on their cheeks before whispering her final goodbye to them both. As Tali claws at Duncan's armor, kicking, sobbing, she sees her father's body slump, her mother knocking an arrow on her bow.
"Talvinder. My daughter. You have all our hearts. We live on in you, now." Her mother's words barely register in her ears, and then Duncan is moving beneath Tali, following Sav and Sher into the secret tunnel.
"No! No! Put me down! We can still save them! I can still—Please! I can't leave them!" I love them. Don't make me go.
"Be quiet, my lady. We must be quiet. Please stop kicking." Breathing in to scream again, twisting against the Grey Warden carrying her, trying desperately to get back to her family, Tali hears the first shout. Howe's men have found them. Finally struck dumb by the sounds of screams, clamors, and sounds of pain behind them all, she falls still, tears streaming down her face. Abarie pads along softly behind the group, and Tali tries to focus on her. The hound is oddly quiet, her eyes intelligent and sorrowful. Abarie knows what's happened. What still might be happening behind them.
As the sounds fade behind them, as they move further away from the sounds of her family dying, she starts to wonder. How could Arl Howe do this? She had spoken to him only a few hours ago. She had wished him luck in the battle. He had thanked her, had dined with her father, her uncle. He had been her family's friend. And now, by his hand, her family lay dying - maybe already dead - behind her, her father, her mother, her aunt, her uncle, and her sister and law, and her little nephew - and all of them were growing farther away with every step she took.
She feels like she's suffocating as Duncan carries her. She's acutely aware of the weight of the shield slung across her back, with her family's coat of arms embossed brightly onto its face. Her Cousland sword burns against her leg where it hangs, sheathed, from her belt. The pain in her chest grows worse and worse, and she remembers how confident her father had been when they prayed, how he had been so much surer of her than she was in herself.
Finally confident in Tali's stillness, Duncan sets her down in front of him and then hisses a warning out to her.
"You have to keep moving. If Howe's men catch us in here, we'll be dead." Suddenly righted, her feet unsteady beneath her, she wonders: Was it only an hour ago she woke to find her brother's family slaughtered? Was it only an hour ago that Arl Howe's soldiers - the men supposed to be on their side, to march in the morning with her own father and uncle—had killed the servant in front of the door to her room, while she was still groggy with sleep? Was it only an hour ago they had tried to kill her?
She remembers now what was blurry in the moment, remembers the way the first slashed the air with his dagger, aiming to catch her chest and blitz her before she knew what was happening. She remembers how, after she dodged back, he came at her again, and the blade caught her nightshirt and seared into her shoulder before she could twist away. Her shoulder hasn't hurt since, or maybe she just hasn't noticed it. She presses fingers to the skin and they come away flaked with blood, some dried and some fresh. Why can't she feel it?
Back in her room, the nighttable had crashed into her back - or maybe she had collided with it, it wasn't clear - and she struggled to untangle her sword and its sheath from her belt, not daring to take her eyes off of the man about to barrel towards her once more. It blurred, it was so nightmarishly hectic—he lunged, the sword wouldn't leave the sheath—she brought the hilt smashing into the side of his face, with what she was certain could only have been luck. The blunt pommel left a sharp indent in his skin, just next to his brow, and he stumbled, dazed. Terrified, shaking, Talvinder had finally yanked the sword out of its sheath, pulled it back for a swing and—
The cool night air pulls her from her reverie, brushing loose hair across her face as they come abruptly to the end of the tunnel. They are beyond the walls of the keep, emerging from an outcropping in one of the vassal's fields. She is stunned, and for a moment, stops dead in her tracks behind Savreen and Sher. Duncan slams into her, but Abarie avoids her, and she is nearly knocked off her feet.
"Teyrna Cousland - " He grabs her by the elbow, keeping her from falling as Sav turns around, but his words are a slap.
"I am not the Teyrna. I am the Teyrn's daughter. Sav, tell him." And my father is still alive, she thinks. He must be.
"Teyrna Cousland," Duncan continues, more firmly. There is—not coldness, surely?—but something hard in his voice. "We must continue on. If we are to reach Ostagar ahead of Howe and his men, we cannot stop." Now he softens. "Not even to grieve. There will be time for that later. Now I must get you and your cousin safely to the other Wardens." Talvinder stares blankly at him for a moment. But for the moment, she has screamed herself hoarse and cried her eyes dry.
"How will we get there?" Savreen is, once again, calm as she speaks.
"I left my horse at the inn in the village."
"You walked to the keep?"
"I find it useful to anticipate the worst."
"But there's three of us now."
"I have enough coin and enough influence to get another."
"Then we -" Savreen stops speaking, and Tali wonders why until it hits her. An acrid smell slithers through the air. Smoke. In the darkness, both of them turn. They glance upwards, where the stars are obscured by a plume of smoke. Their eyes follow the smoke back to its source, dreading what she knows she will see.
Their home is lit against the night sky by the fires that burn it. There is no hope for Tali's mother or her father now, no hope for her aunt and uncle. Abarie whines next to her, nuzzles her nose into Talvinder's gloved palm. Sher stands close to Sav, who presses a hand to her mouth. For a moment, the group of stands there, watching. Then, acting like her heart isn't shattering, shrivelling, and dying all at once, Talvinder turns away from the place that has been her whole world for so long. For her whole life.
"Then we ride for Ostagar," Tali says, finishing Sav's sentence, "and we don't look back." In the dark, as they return to the inn and Duncan's horse and their escape, she cries.