A/N: Loosely inspired by "Dragon Age Party Banter- The Hero of Fereldan" by Harnette. Each chapter title of this fic will tell you from whose perspective it is being told from, and basically covers most, if not all, of "Act 2" of Dragon Age: Inquisition, meaning the stuff with the Wardens, Crestwood, The Western Approach, Adamant, The Fade and even the Winter Palace. This is basically a "What if" if Bioware hadn't had to work within certain restrictions for Hawke's Warden Ally.

Disclaimer: Dragon Age is the solely the property of Bioware and Electronic Arts, no profit is being made by me for this work.

Chapter One: Inquisitor Hector Adaar

Whatever expectations I had about what the Champion's Warden ally was like, they flew out the window when I finally met her. She'd known we were coming, had sensed us well before we had gotten to her cave, and was not only waiting for us, but lying in wait for us in the event our intentions were less than friendly. I'd no more than stepped through the door when suddenly a blade was poised at my throat. And not a staff blade either, but one for an actual sword. The tip was dug into my skin- if she or I had moved even slightly, I'd be dead.

As a Bas-Saarebas, there wasn't much that could intimidate me, a Qunari Knight-Enchanter, but Morgana Amell, the Hero of Fereldan, and cousin to Arthuria Hawke, Champion of Kirkwall, most certainly did.

"Peace, Cousin. Inquisitor Adaar is here to help," Hawke assured her greatly more suspicious and equally famous cousin. Said cousin then withdrew her sword, resheathing it. She looked far more comfortable weilding the sword while wearing dwarven made silverite plated chainmail armor than I would have expected.

Upon seeing the two of them side by side, I could compare them in a way that none before me ever could. It was one thing to know that the two of them were cousins, it was another thing to see it in person. After all, there were no records of the two of them ever having been in the same location at the same time, except for the Battle of Ostagar, and even then, they hadn't been anywhere near each other. So this was something very, very few had ever gotten the chance to do.

Both possessed dazzling sapphire eyes and jet black hair- likely Amell traits, all things considered. However, Hawke wore her hair short, in an almost boyish sort of way. Warden-Commander Amell's hair was much longer, braided and done up into two complicated buns.

While both wore armor, Hawke's was a heavier plated variant. Where Hawe's armor was dulled and lacking in luster, Amell's silverite armor seemed to gleam brightly. Even their weapons varied from one another. Hawke wielded a massive two handed sword, whereas Amell's sword as lighter and seemingly impossibly sharp with glowing golden runes etched into the blade. I was certain I'd never seen a blade it's equal anywhere.

Both of them were undeniably beautiful as well.

However, even the way they were beautiful was different, despite the similarity between their features. The Champion of Kirkwall had a certain country girl, tomboy charm about her, whereas the Hero of Fereldan seemed to carry herself more in a lady-like fashion. Of course, aside from being Warden-Commander of Fereldan, Morgana Amell was also the Arlessa of Amaranthine and Chancellor to the Queen of Fereldan. Given all that, I suppose there was little wonder why Queen Anora had been so willing to shelter the Rebel Mages at Redcliffe. Even their personalities, on first impression, were very different. Arthuria Hawke radiated honesty and could be snarky. Morgana Amell, on the other hand, was the type of person who radiated an aura of smug superiority, as if to say she was the smartest, most dangerous person in the room. Hawke was a would be protector, Amell was a predator through and through.

"Just keeping you all on your toes," the Warden-Commander of Fereldan replied flippantly.

"I have to admit, when Hawke told me who we were coming to meet, I expected someone more..."I stated, hesitating while trying to come up with a good descriptor.

"Magely?" Morgana offered with an amused, raised eyebrow.

I wore more armor than most mages, but that didn't mean I looked the part of a seasoned warrior. Not like she did at least. If it wasn't well known that Warden-Commander Amell had come from the Kinloch Hold Circle of Magi in Fereldan, I would have never have guessed that she was a mage. "Well... Yes."

"I am what the ancient elves of Arlathan would have called an Arcane Warrior," she explained.

"Truly?" Solas asked with great surprise and a small bit of skepticism. "A true Arcane Warrior and not a Knight-Enchanter?"

Morgana snorted at that. "You'd be surprised at the lost knowledge you can find in some of the more remote places of the world, even when you aren't looking for it."

"As interesting a conversation that may be, we have more pressing issues to discuss," I interjected, not wanting the two to get lost in a conversation about old magics. I might be a mage just like them, but I was always more interested in the practical applications of magic than magical theory itself. I had the vague impression that Warden-Commander Amell was a seemingly strange mix between me and Solas.

"Yes, your Darkspawn Magister and whatever designs he has on the rest of my Order," Morgana stated.

"Hawke mentioned you had discovered corruption amongst the Warden's ranks," I stated.

"That's... One way to put it," Morgana replied cryptically. "The highest echelons of my Order are merely being manipulated. Key personel amongst the lower ranks, however, are being controlled more directly."

"How?" I inquire.

"Warden-Commander Clarel, as well as many others, are reacting to something all Grey Wardens across southern Thedas are feeling, The Calling," Morgana explained.

"And what is this... Calling...?" I ask.

Morgana laughed humorlessly. "It's how a Warden knows their time has come. The Joining is falsely called a cure for Darkspawn Taint... The Blight. In truth, it is little more than a delaying tactic. As Wardens, we take the Blight into ourselves, harnessing it, using it. Amongst other abilities, it grants us the ability to sense darkspawn. Conversely, they can also sense us. Eventually, as the Blight becomes stronger in our bodies and overtakes us, we can begin to... 'Hear' them more clearly, understand them in a sense. Not only in dreams, but even, sometimes, in our waking hours. That's when a Warden knows their end has come, their Calling. The Warden in question will then make their way to the Deep Roads, often through Orzammar, but not always, to take the fight to the darkspawn hordes until they fall in battle."

"Well, shit..." Varric mutters.

"So every Warden across Orlais and Fereldan is 'hearing' this calling and thinking they are going to die?" I ask, just to make sure I have the facts straight.

"Yes, not to put too fine of a point on it," Morgana confirms.

"Warden Blackwall, have you been experiencing this too?" I ask my Warden ally in concern. Morgana looks at Blackwall in surprise, as if noticing him for the first time.

"I do not fear The Calling," Blackwall says bravely. "It has no hold over me."

Morgana looked over my Warden companion speculatively. "Bravery or bravado, I wonder, Warden-Constable..."

"And you are certain this is the work of Corypheus?" I ask, just to make sure to cover all angles. It wasn't that I doubted her, I merely had a gut feeling that there was much she wasn't telling us.

"Without a doubt. In fact, that segues into what is no doubt your next bout of questions," Morgana replies.

"The ones being directly controlled," I state, remembering what she had said a bit ago.

Morgana nodded. "Corypheus has been using a combination of blood magic and his connection to The Blight to control Warden mages directly."

"You hadn't mentioned that!" Hawke said in an angrily accusing tone.

"Given all that we have been going through, I hadn't wanted to worry you needlessly until I had no choice. You remember the state you found me in," Morgana argued.

"What happened?" I demanded.

"To completely understand, you need a full explanation. After my cousin and her friends encountered Corypheus at the old Warden prison in the Vimmark Mountains, they undoubtedly had questions. A... Mutual acquaintance of ours approached me for the information. He was the only Grey Warden my cousin knew at the time."

"Blondie..." Varric sneered in disgust.

Ignoring the dwarven author, the Warden-Commander of Fereldan forged on. "I immediately launched an investigation into him. However, if there is one thing Wardens are good at other than ending Blights and killing darkspawn, it's keeping secrets. Most of the information I had at hand was near useless and Weisshaupt was stonewalling me- no doubt in retaliation for some of the more contentious policies I put in place for my Wardens of Vigil's Keep during The Thaw. A pity that you recruited the Templar Order for your Inquisition instead of the Rebel Mages. I would have loved to have had the opportunity to pick Grand Enchanter Fiona's brain on the matter."

Before I could inquire on that tangent, Morgana waved me off.

"With Weisshaupt being less than useless, I consulted with an independent contact," She further informed us. "Despite a genuine desire to help, he, unfortunately, wasn't any more helpful than my fellow Wardens were. By that time, my love was finally back from Orlais, so I sent him up to the Free Marches to see if we could find anything else. Unfortunately, the Qunari uprising complicated that quite nicely. A check of the Warden prison was another dead end. Alistair couldn't even find Warden Larius. I'd have went myself, but I found myself bogged down on all sides by either issues with the banns of my Arling, Anora wanting my input on a couple of issues and Irving attempting to bring me back into the fold of the Circle by attempting to name me his successor. I dodged that last one by getting my friend Alim to step up."

"So you you learned nothing about Corypheus?" I asked, dismayed.

"Not nothing, just nothing useful- at the time," Morgan replied sharply. "After that, our investigation into Corypheus was left as an ongoing, non-priority mission. It wasn't until years later after Warden-Constable Howe returned from the Free Marches that we finally got a break in the investigation. The First Warden had him looking into some strange occurances during the Fourth Blight, which combined with reports I'd gotten from the Chamberlain of the Grey, painted for me a very dire picture. Warden-Archivist Velanna, meanwhile, had found a promising lead of possibly curing The Calling, so I sent her, Warden Constable Howe and Senior Wardens Theirin and Kondrat to track it down while I went to Clarel to speak to her Warden-Commander to Warden-Commander. We got into several heated discussions, particularly over the company she was keeping- namely the Magister who was helping her with a potential solution to issue of The Calling, and things became violent. To the best of my knowledge Clarel hasn't a single clue was to what she's dealing with. The Magister, on the other hand, liked to gloat whenever he thought he had the upper hand and revealed how several Warden mages were not only bound to demons, but under the control of himself and his master, The Elder One, as he attempted to forcilbly do the same to me. Unfortunately for him, I am a woman of many talents."

"First blood magic and now demons, it could be that this is how Corypheus plans to gain the demon army Envy boasted of," Solas observed.

"Maker's balls..." Blackwall cursed. "This... I can't... Blood magic, demons... How could the Wardens..."

"Anything to fight the Blight, as you should well know, Warden-Constable Blackwall," Morgana pointed out scoldingly. "Without Wardens, Blights can't be ended and there are two Old Gods- potential Archdemons- left. Clarel figures that a concentrated push into the Deep Roads will allow us to slay them before they awaken- therefore ending the last two Blights before they start."

"Some lines are not meant to be crossed," Hawke snapped. "Nothing involving blood magic or demons ever ends well."

"Tell me Cousin, since being back in Fereldan, have you visited your home village?" Morgana asked her cousin. "I have, both before and after The Blight hit it. When people speak of Blights, it's always about how the Wardens faced insurrmountable odds to overcome the monsterous Archdemon and it's evil minion darkspawn- sometimes on the backs of griffons. Little is said about the affect Blights have on the land and it's various flora and fauna. And as bad as Lothering is, it has nothing on the Anderfels, which has to be the most miserable place in all of Thedas. There is nothing more terrible in this world than The Blight, except, perhaps, for Red Lyrium."

"That aside," I interject before the argument could get anymore heated. "You have to know, no matter the justification, how bad this looks for the Wardens."

"Then I suppose this would be a bad time to mention the contingents of Wardens both Clarel and I had at Justinia's Conclave," Morgana added.

I sighed. That really wasn't wanted what I wanted to hear. "Are you saying that the Wardens, for sure, had a hand in the Divine's death?"

"Even I can't say that for sure, though it wouldn't surprise me," Morgana said with a surprising amount of compassion. "As you well know, Inquistor, Justinia's Conclave was about more than mages and templars. Everyone: Noble Houses with close ties to the Chantry, the Dalish, various Carta clans and mercenary companies- including Tal Vashoth ones like your own- sent people there. I wouldn't have been surprised there were Qunari- true Qunari in attendance as well. Is it truly shocking that the Grey Wardens would send some of our own people there? Especially given the fact that we were sheltering mages and templars who didn't want any part of the Mage/Templar War. Some Warden chapters even went as far as to involk the Rite of Conscription on mages to protect them from Templars. I can at least vouch for the person I sent- Sigrun was there more to keep an eye on Clarel's people than keep track of how the talks were going- though she was there to do that as well. Given that your Inquistion hasn't stumbled upon her by now, and the fact that she hasn't found a way to contact me or made her way to any of our set fallback locations, I can only surmise that she died at the Conclave like so many others."

"Fallback locations?" I ask curiously.

Morgana began to look smug and entirely too pleased with herself. "One of the many arguments between Clarel and I, was that I wouldn't send for any of my people to aid her in her efforts to try to deal with The Mass Calling. In the event of me having 'an accident', I sent the Fereldan Wardens to remote outposts I had established so that Clarel or one of her lackies wouldn't try to get them caught up in this madness with the Elder One without my direct say so. They are only to reveal themselves upon receiving word from myself, Alistair, Nathaniel, Queen Anora or Ser Alec, the acting Arl of Amaranthine."

"And except for the Queen of Fereldan, none of them have anything to do with the Inquisition, and even she only really supports us by allowing us to operate in her kingdom," I observed. Still, there was an opportunity here, and I wasn't one to not take advantage of it. "Would you be willing to ally your Wardens with the Inquistion?"

"Once the Elder One's control over the Wardens is broken, you'll gain me and my Wardens for the duration of the conflict with Corypheus. Until then, you're stuck with just me." She replied with a smirk.

"Help me, help you," I insisted.

"Inquisitor, I'm not just the Hero of Fereldan, I'm the woman who stopped a fucking Blight- something that has generally lasted for more than a decade, minimum- with only two other Wardens and a small group of friends in a year- one, single, solitary, fucking year. Between your army, your spies, your own collection of friends- along me and my cousin, The Champion of Fucking Kirkwall, arguably the two most bad-ass people in all of Thedas who are not you, and there is NOTHING anyone could throw at us that could even slow us down, let alone stop us. I also have to point out, that The Elder One and his Venatori minions don't need the demons to control Wardens, so I'd like to avoid losing more Wardens and Inquisition soldiers than we absolutely have to," Morgana boasted.

"I need to write that down before I forget it..." Varric mumbled.

"We'll do things your way, for now," I reply. I'd have liked to have Fereldan's Grey Wardens on hand for the coming conflict, but I could see her reasoning for not committing them to the cause just yet. The two of us clasped arms, like warrior comrades-in-arms, her grip surprisingly firm. "Let me be the first to welcome you to the Inquisition, Warden-Commander."

"The honor is mine, Lord Inquisitor," Morgana replied with a grin.