Dragon Age and all the characters are own by BioWare... Jaya is owned by me~

The King's Rose
Chapter 1: After the Blight

Castle Cousland, Highever- 3 Months after Dragon Age: Origins

A woman was hacking away at training dummies in the courtyard, her light weight silverite armor glistening in the sun, almost a match for the silver eyes that were under the matching helmet. Two men watched her in amazement until one of the men strolled forward.

"Why not test your might against me, sister?" The man taunted, catching blades from the nearest servant, a grin on his face.

"Why in the world do you still taunt her, Fergus, knowing she'll have you on your arse faster that you can blink?" The other man watching chided.

Fergus Cousland, the Teryn of Highever, chuckled. He inherited the title after the entire Cousland family, minus him and his sister, were slain by Arl Rendon Howe in his thirst for power over a year ago. His brown hair matched his sibling, but he had the standard Cousland blue eyes, inherited from their father. "It'll take a lot to get me on this arse, Al." The statement got the man to bust out in a grin.

King Alistair Therin, or Alistair as he preferred to be called, was the king and clearly was born to lead, despite not knowing how more than three months ago. It took an encounter with his sister Goldanna and a few words from his betrothed to harden him into leading. His dark blonde hair often turned full blonde when in the right light. He rolled his eyes. "Gus, you do realize she killed not only a high dragon, but the archdemon?" He reminded. He was a former templar until he was recruited into the Grey Wardens, not six months ahead of his betrothed.

The woman sparring with the dummies stopped and took the helmet off, tucking it under her arm, running a hand through her brown locks. "Brother, how many times have I sent you to Wynne in the past few days?" She teased. Jaya Cousland was now known around Ferelden as the Hero of Ferelden, since she ended the Fifth Blight by slaying the archdemon after nearly a year of darkspawn attacking the lands. She was recruited into the Grey Wardens the very week of the Cousland Massacre. Along her travels, she met Wynne the enchanter mage, Leliana the bard, Zevran Arainai the former Antivan Crow, Shayle the dwarf-turned-golem, Sten the Qunari, Oghren the dwarven warrior and Morrigan the Wilds witch. The most important person she met currently was laughing at her brother; her betrothed and the love of her life.

"You got lucky those times." Fergus replied, raising an eyebrow and the dagger in his left hand.

Jaya just laughed and placed her helmet on the ground. "Fine, your arse is going to be bruised." She replied, taking a similar stance and watching for any movement from her opponent, who used a smoke ball to vanish. Her silver eyes darted around the visible area before her senses she gained from the Joining kicked in, allowing her to sidestep right before her brother's sword appeared right where her head was. Using her momentum, she pivoted on her toe, bringing her foot up to try and connect with the hand that held the sword.

Fergus anticipated that and used the free hand without the dagger to catch the foot before he also swept his foot under to unbalance her, seeing how well she could do now. The first few times he did this, she wound up in the dirt due to how inexperienced she was.

She quickly went to her hands, her foot now able to gain purchase on his chest and letting her tilt her ankle to slip out of his grip and kick off, hand-springing back, bringing out her dagger and sword, which was mimicked by her partner. Kicking off, she met each blow with her own, sparks flying off the blades each time, a few hits nicking both of them, though when they met again, she smirked and did the reverse of what she did to a Broodmother in the Deep Roads, using her rogue talent to disappear and brought out the hidden dagger, stopping short of his neck.

"Win again." She stated.

"Maker's breath, you are a demon." Fergus said, handing her her weapons. "Speaking of demons... You still alright here?" He asked.

"Well, not really. I still feel like a door's going to break open and there's going to be Howe's men waiting to kill me." Jaya admitted, sighing as the servants took her helmet and swords into the newly built armory off the sparring ring in the courtyard. She said the last part as they rejoined the king. "It's foolish, though. I personally killed Howe, so I shouldn't be worried about him still vying for Highever."

"Not foolish, my dear. Normal for someone that went through that and lived." Alistair replied, showing the concern he always had whenever she mention the bastard. He remembered how he sounded like a jerk when she mentioned it and he was whining about losing their mentor, Duncan, before they arrived in Lothering. After that, they grew closer to a point where she was open about what happened here so long ago. When she mentioned how much she and her family trusted him, Alistair wanted to bring Howe back to life just to kill him again for the hurt in her voice and in her eyes.

Jaya's eyes softened as she nodded. "That's true. I suppose one day I'll be able to actually stay inside longer than three hours." She grimaced at the memory of meeting her mother, Dairren, Iona and Lady Landra the day before Howe's attack during the night. Her mother told them that Jaya's mind of her own wouldn't give her more grandchildren. Now, because of the taint, that was even less likely, even if her mother was dead. "Or not. Maybe these nightmares will never go away." She said sadly, placing a hand on a pillar in the room where she had met with her father, Duncan and Howe that fateful day.

Fergus and Alistair both shared a look of worry before returning to watching her hurry out of the room, rushing to keep up with her. "Does it help that I cleaned the place of leftover men?" He asked.

Jaya smiled, the smile not quite reaching her eyes. "That's something. It's good to know there aren't anymore of that bastard's men anywhere near here or in Denerim. I made sure of that." She paused at a junction before walking down to the door and opening it. "Wow. I can't believe you cleaned here, Ferg. I never figured you to be cleaning." She joked half-heartily.

"Just give me enough ale and you'll be surprised at how I turn into Mother." He said, getting a bigger smile from his sister.

"Hmm. I should have you come to the palace and have some pints with Oghren then. I bet the servants would go insane trying to keep up with you." She replied, entering the armory where she had first got the family blade. The same blade now hung there with the dried blood of Howe still on it, along with Howe's hand that she had cut off before returning to rescuing the former Queen. "Fucking sick bastard." She muttered, glaring at the hand as if it were Howe himself before turning on her heels and leaving.

"Still proud of that trophy you brought back." Fergus teased, nodding in the direction of the hand.

"Figured you would be. I brought it back since carrying Howe's head in my pack would've been too suspicious." She replied as they met up with Wynne and Zevran. The two were often chosen by Jaya to go with her and Alistair on longer trips, such as this trip to Highever.

Wynne shook her head. "Again? This is the fourth time in three days I've dealt with healing the two of you." She chided, smiling softly and casting her healing spell on the siblings.

Zevran smirked. "I am surprised they have energy from what I saw. They were really going at it."

"You... You..." Fergus blinked before groaning. "I guess Shorty wasn't kidding: you are a true assassin."

Jaya sent a glare that had both the Crow and her betrothed slinking to hide behind Wynne before she elbowed him in the gut hard enough so that the other three wondered if it broke anything. "Stop that. Or I will call you the one name only Father called you." She threatened.

Fergus could only nod, since he was recovering from the elbow to the gut. "I think.. I'll.. turn.. in.." He wheezed, heading to the right at the junction, having moved most of the bedrooms to the opposite side of the castle from where they once had been.

Jaya smirked as Wynne and Zevran followed, Zevran not hiding the relief to get away, which got both of them to laugh. "I never thought I'd see Zev run from me like that." She noted, her eyes drifting in the direction of where she used to sleep as a kid and later as a young adult. Her mind came up with an idea and it involved her templar beside her, for she knew that perhaps it was time to face the thing that really tormented her.

So... I think I like starting off on cliff-hangers... Lemme know what you think. This is what I've been working on for a while... Since Dragon Age Inquistion came out and even before it was announced.
~~Skittles~~