The winds of the Frostback mountains whipped violently at the exposed faces of several young adventurers.
The troupe passed through a narrow valley, surrounded by mountains to their right, and to their left a steep drop off into a certain demise. The elevation was nearly as high as the tension amongst the group.
Leading the pack was a stout man in glistening steel plate armor. Behind the man was a lithe woman adorned in a cloak as black as midnight. Following the two lumbered a massive Qunari, dressed in his own steel plate armor and grimace. Behind the oxen man, sauntered a thin woman who could be taken for a statue with her crystalline features.
The party was bantering aimlessly as they traversed the tundra, with one goal in mind; to reach Orzammer. This was the final leg of their journey in more ways than one. A rag tag group of miscreants and maladjusted heroes they were, and successful ones at that. An alliance had already been formed with the Dalish elves of the Brecilian Forest, and the newly saved Mages of the Circle.
Arl Eamon of Redcliff regained more strength each day, and once an alliance could be formed with the Dwarves of Orzammar, all would be in motion for this group of heroes to retake Fereldan and defeat the hoard of Darkspawn that grew everyday.
Almost an entire year had gone by as these tasks were completed, and much had changed in the hearts and minds of those undertaking this journey. This included the heart of the party's leader; the stoic man taking the brunt of the storm's wintery typhoon.
Aedan Cousland had become unrecognizable to the boy that had left Highever behind, burning to the ground. When he'd left, a teary eyed child, he'd sworn to become the man his father knew he'd become. Instead, he'd become a bitter, vengeful force of nature, much akin the wind tearing into his exposed flesh and giving it a thrashing. His heart had hardened, his silver eyes sharpened to thinly veil the effervescent rage that licked at his soul during every waking moment.
There was nothing that could pull him from his mission to avenge his family and bring about an end to the madness that had overtaken his world. Well, almost nothing.
As of late, Aedan had caught himself smiling at the constant barrage of insults being hurled at his companions by the woman who stalked sullenly behind him. There had even been an occasion of a fit of laughter at the expense of his fellow Grey Warden, Alistair.
These moments of brevity unraveled the gnarled thorns that had grown deep in his heart, and allowed it to beat again. Now and then, he found her staring from afar, and he'd blush momentarily before pretending nothing had occurred.
Even rarer so, during the long nights where they both sat watch over the sleeping camp, he'd find himself yearning to go to her side of camp, yearning to talk to her, but being bereft at the thought of looking like a desperate fool. It was a woman's duty to seek the man out, not the other way around. If she'd truly felt that deep sense of want and need, she'd surely approach him.
But what did she want? What of Morrigan's wishes?
"I wish the Dwarven folk would have been more foolish and picked a less strategic settlement. Like Highever." Morrigan said, dripping with snark.
Aedan stopped mid stride and turned around to face Morrigan, spite thick in his Northern accent.
"Highever is the most secure hold in the North, you don't know what you're talking about." Without missing a beat, Morrigan responded.
"Is that why it fell?" She said, almost regretting her words enough to stop, but no such luck for Aedan.
Aedan's face turned red and he opened his mouth to speak, however as he did, he heard a loud crack, and looked up to the mountain they marched under. A massive chunk of ice and snow hurled towards the mage in front of him. Without wasting a moment, the man launched at the woman in front of him and threw his body on top of hers. It was a split moment later that his body erupted in indescribable pain as hundreds of pounds of snow, rock, ice and sleet pounded down on his steel clad back. Aedan let out a howl of pain as his body struggled to withstand the pressure and Morrigan underneath him, instinctively tried to cast a quick spell to relieve the pressure, and force the frozen earth off of the pair, but in the panic of the situation, she struggled to focus enough of her mana to aid them.
Aedan wobbled and winced as he felt himself become completely entrenched in snow, with Morrigan panicking beneath him.
Morrigan looked into Aedan's bright silver eyes, and saw feral panic reflecting in them. Just then she felt something wet on her stomach and looked down to see crimson liquid spilling onto her abdomen from above. Further inspection brought the horrifying revelation that Aedan was pierced through his armor by a large sharp edge of rock, and was now dribbling blood from his pale lips, and tears started to form in his bright, luminous eyes.
Morrigan gasped and used this revelation to be the force that collected her into a state of focus. She shut her eyes tight, wrapped her arms around Aedan and let a blast of energy flow from her, releasing the pair from their would be snowy grave.
Sten and Leliana were blown into the air by an invisible force of energy, sending both toward a snowy ledge, and barreling toward certain doom. It was Sten, in his quick thinking, that wildly pulled out a hand axe used for close quarter combat, and jammed it with abandon into the snow with all his strength. To his surprise, it stuck, and as he held steady he reached out and grabbed the ankle of the red headed woman hurdling toward the edge and pulled with all his strength to keep her away from her own perilous journey into the wintery abyss.
Sten heard Leliana spit out what must have been an Orlesian curse word, before climbing to her feet and scrambling to Sten, helping him up to his keep. The young woman threw her arms around the aged Qunari and hugged him tightly.
"Thank you." She said solemnly before hearing something she thought she'd never witness; Morrigan screaming for aid.
The bard and the warrior rushed over to the pair before them, at the epicenter of the blast. As Sten and Leliana drew closer, they saw a sickly spew of red ichor seeping into the snow around Morrigan and the man that now lay atop her.
A large shard of rock stuck out of Aedan and appeared to be buried deep into his midsection.
Leliana gasped, and Sten spoke with urgency.
"What can we do?"
"Get him off of me to start, unless you can heal?" Morrigan spat angrily. Sten immediately came to their side and gently pulled Aedan off of Morrigan, revealing an unconscious face also covered in blood, but for now, he was still breathing.
Morrigan took a moment to breathe after being crushed by a man, that with his armor, was well over 200 pounds. Then, she looked to Leliana sternly.
"You must get to the rest of the group. They're a day behind us, you must make it to them and back in less then a day or he will die, undoubtedly." Morrigan said, wavering at the end.
"I thought you could heal?" Leliana said, bewildered.
Morrigan scowled at her and spoke frantically "I can heal, but I'm no healer. He needs Wynne." As she spoke, her chest tightened, resentful that she could not manage this on her own, and would have to rely on their companions to save Aedan's life.
"What should I do?" Sten said as Leliana nodded and began to take off, back the way they came.
"Carry him further up the mountain, leave a heavy trail so that mongrel can find us. Perhaps we can relieve someone of their camp, or find a cave." Morrigan said and Sten nodded and slid his arms under Aedan's prone form.
The trio made their way up the mountain, and shortly found themselves upon a split between the valley road, and a small trail up a steep path. Morrigan took the form of a raven and took flight along this path to scout ahead. The cold wind fought hard against her feathers, but she was determined to make this work.
Morrigan was relieved to find a small cave off this path, and even better, those who resided in it were long dead: a small family lay huddled together, frozen to death in an eternal sleep. She would have Sten remove them.
Returning to Sten and Aedan, Morrigan led the qunari up the mountain and to the cave. Once they made it inside, she took on making a fire as Sten removed the unlucky group that had used this cave prior to their arrival. Morrigan looked down on the slack features of Aedan and put a finger on his bloodied lips. He was still breathing, but shallowly.
Morrigan glanced around the cave to see if Sten was still outside of it, and when she confirmed this, she looked to Aedan with sadness painted on her features.
"Please live." She spoke softly in a moment of weakness.
And with that, she set about healing this man on the precipice of death.
Aedan awoke in his bed with a start to his dog, Argus, standing on his midsection, filling his body with pain as his 200 pound Mabari drooled all over his masters face.
With a groan, Aedan pushed him off and grumbled a good morning to his pet. As he adjusted to his settings, he found himself in a peculiar place. Aedan Cousland lay in his bed, at his ancestral family home of Highever.
"This is all wrong." Aedan said softly to himself. As Argus jumped off of him, he seemed to shatter into a thin mist and cease to exist in his room.
"Very wrong." Aedan followed up.
As Aedan removed the thick fur covers he'd been entwined in, he yelped as he saw a gaping wound in his midsection, writhing and oozing blood onto his bed covers. Right before his eyes, he saw this wound drift from his perception, until it was completely gone.
Aedan gulped and swung his legs off of his bed and onto the stone floor. There, he fell flat of his face, as though he legs had atrophied into nothingness.
As Aedan put his hands to the cobblestone beneath him, he notice it was now covered in blood, and he looked up to find himself staring into the silver eyes of his father, spilling blood all over the larder he lay dying in.
"It's not your time, pup." Bryce Cousland managed to say before reaching a hand to Aedan's cheek and cradling it. Aedan closed his eyes and let tears fall and when he opened them he was on a fiery battle field, next to Duncan. Duncan turned to him, pity heavy in hun amber eyes, and spoke firmly.
"It is not your time, Grey Warden." As he spoke, Aedan gasped as an arrow penetrated Duncan's chest. Aedan blinked and he was in his camp outside lake Calenhad.
Alistair was next to him, smiling and throwing back a swig of ale.
They sat in front of a roaring fire, crackling and blazing before them. Beside them was Sten, petting Argus with a slight smile on his lips. Across the fire, Leliana played a fat lute, as Zeveran and Wynne waltzed together, laughter rife in the air. Bodahn and Sandal swayed to the music in their own part of the camp, and beyond them, the blazing eyes of a fierce woman caught his. Aedan was compelled to rise to his feet and walk to the woman, entrenched in her stare. As she approached him, she rose to her feet and walked to him. The woman coiled her arms around his neck and whispered in his ear.
"Please live."
Aedan's vision went dark and he melted away from this existence.
Morrigan had left the shard of rock protruding from Aedan's core inside of him. Her healing was strong enough to stabilize him until a more powerful healer arrived, but it was never her strong suit. While other mages in the circle might have time to master the art of healing, Morrigan had been mastering the art of surviving. What need would she and her mother have had for healing of this nature? Normally, she would never be in this situation or care to help someone who was. Flemeth however, was more gifted in healing, as she was with just about everything, hence why she was able to save Aedan and Alistair from the temple of Ishal.
In the weeks following the tragedy that befell the Grey Warden's, Morrigan had stayed by her mothers side, assisting her with anything she needed to save the men's lives. Morrigan had been irritated at devoting weeks of her life to saving two men who meant nothing to her, but when she confronted her mother about it she was met with a simple "These two are far too valuable to let die." To which Morrigan protested anyway, and was met with Flemeth ignoring her and humming a simple tune.
Now, here she was desperately trying to use all of her fore knowledge to save the same man, and he'd given his life in a split second to save hers.
As Morrigan laid a pair of hands dripping with a glow of warm colors and air onto the side of Aedan Cousland, his bright silver eyes shot open.
Aedan looked around frantically until he made eye contact with Morrigan. He tried to speak but was too weak to form words.
"Hush now. There will be time for words later. Rest now." She said firmly, narrowing an eyebrow.
Aedan gulped and began to sweat and passed out once more.
"Sten?" Morrigan called out to her Qunari companion who'd been standing watch.
The man lumbered into the small cave, looked at Morrigan and nodded in acknowledgement.
"We need snow, we have to break his fever." Morrigan said hurriedly. With that, Sten turned tail and began gathering snow.
Sten returned and put Aedan's head in a pile of snow and then looked to Morrigan.
"It shouldn't be long now until the others arrive." Sten said with the most faint hint of reassurance to the near panicked woman before him.
"I can't-" Morrigan paused mid sentence and started over.
"We cannot lose him. We would have no chance to turn the tide against the darkspawn without a proper warden. We both know Alistair can't do it on his own. He can barely get his trousers on." Morrigan said, trying to disguise her desperation and fear with humor.
Sten looked to her and replied.
"If he is so important, than it was reckless for him to risk his life to save yours."
Rather than being hurt by this comment as most would typically be, Morrigan thought about it and glanced at Aedan's face. Why had he saved her? She had just been so cruel to him too, but he turned around and gave his life for hers.
Perhaps he knew her magic was invaluable, or perhaps he had grown attached to her. Morrigan knew which answer she preferred, but also knew it was most likely the latter. Morrigan looked upon Aedan's fevered face, and barely noticed Sten get up and return to his post.
Morrigan found her pale, cold nipped reddish fingers, delicately tracing Aedan's jawline. The man had sprouted a bushy beard since they headed into the mountains, and her fingers slid through it with ease. Morrigan's stomach churned thinking about the blood she had cleaned off of his face, and trying to get it out of his beard.
Next, a second hand ran through his thick brown curls and coiled them in between her fingers like fine jewelry. Fear weighed heavy in her heart that this would be the only intimacy the two would share in their time together.
In the time she'd known Aedan, he'd gone from a nearly incompetent boy, to a fierce warrior to be taken seriously. Aedan never failed to impress her with his actions, his prowess, his need for vengeance driving him to take whatever course of action was necessary. Aedan wasn't weak like Alistair or any of the other human males she'd met in her life, and that's what she admired about him. It was a physical strength that drew her in either, it was his determination and strength of spirit.
This was when she decided that when he recovered, she would give herself to him for a night, to see if he was truly worth her interest. But first, he'd have to survive.
Morrigan's ears picked up on the sound of many footprints and felt her heart stop. She heard Sten outside the cave and then a familiar voice that made her fingers gnarl into Aedan's thick wooly hair.
"So he threw himself under an avalanche for Morrigan? Better man than me." Alistair said baffled.
Then Morrigan heard a softer voice. "Move aside!" Rang out as Wynne descended upon him and took her place at Morrigan's side. The first thing Wynne noticed was the way Morrigan looked.
Morrigan was covered in Aedan's blood and seemed to be holding onto him for dear life by his hair. Wynne put a hand on Morrigan's arm and looked her in the eye's when she whipped her head at Wynne in irritation.
"Go wash up and rest. I'm going to make Alistair help me. You've done well. We will save him." Wynne said assuredly.
Morrigan looked down upon the man she'd been caring for and felt a wave of stress, worry, pain and empathy wash over her. This brought tears to the bright yellow eyes of the witch but she quickly wiped them away. She scowled at Alistair who was looking at her with a raised eyebrow.
"It's going to be ok, Wynne is-"
Alistair started before being cut off by Morrigan.
"Say nothing of this, or I will spill that princely blood of yours." She spat as she got to her feet and pushed past Alistair.
She heard him say "Charming." As she exited the cave. A white wall of snowy wind descended on Morrigan as she was met with a small red haired woman standing before her with what looked like a fresh set of robes.
"Let's get you out of those." The red haired woman said with an irritatingly optimistic tone of voice.
Morrigan groaned as she followed the red haired woman to a small turn off to the trail they'd been on where it led to a flat plateau overlooking the mountainous valley. There she found their camp being set up, complete with Argus, Zeveran, Sten, Bodahn and Sandal. Leliana led her to a makeshift tent for her that have a pale of boiled water and fresh blankets.
"I'll leave you to get cleaned up." Leliana said softly as she turned to leave. Just before she left ear shot, Leliana turned and spoke.
"You know, you're very lucky to have his attention. And you're very lucky he didn't die. Imagine if the last thing you said to him, was vicious mockery."
Morrigan looked at Leliana and formed her lips to speak, but no words came out. A shameful look was evident on her face. She finally managed to speak.
"I…Thank you for getting them so quick." Morrigan said softly before turning from Leliana, signaling she wanted to be alone.
Leliana smiled softly and left the woman to her devices.
Morrigan went about cleaning herself, and changing her clothing. When she was done, the exhaustion of being up for almost three straight days, and constantly using her healing magic for almost a full day set in. She found a comfortable spot in her tent and let herself sleep.
Aedan found himself awaking from her perilous crusade with death for a second time, however this time, things seemed much more tactile. Before opening his eyes to greet the world he was in, Aedan stretched out his fingers and grasped the warm furs he lay draped in. He allowed his finger tips to traverse onto his
abdomen where he was met by cotton bandages. Aedan pressed down and winced in pain, letting a soft groan escape his lips. When he heard a voice, he cracked open his groggy eyes.
"I don't know what you expected to happen, child." He heard an old voice say.
A smile came to Aedan's lips and he looked to his right, where the voice had come from.
"Wynne." Aedan said softly, regarding the elderly woman.
Wynne reached down and held Aedan's hand, giving him a warm smile that melted through to his icy heart, and gave it a little jump of life.
Aedan looked around at his surroundings and noticed he was not on the side of a mountain, nor in and cave he recollected being in briefly. He was in a quaint room, complete with a small fire place, dresser, and bath. Wynne noticed his curiosity and answered the questions he had before he had the chance to ask.
"This is an inn we found in a small mountain village. You've been unconscious for almost a fortnight." Wynne said gently.
Aedan's face was awash with surprise when he spoke.
"Where's everyone else?" He said, now attempting to sit up.
"Alistair led a small group to ambush a group of Logain's men on their way to Orzammar. Morrigan and Argus are camped outside the village, with Bodahn and Sandal. I'm sure they'll both want to see you." Wynne said kindly.
Aedan, now sitting up, looked to Wynne with severity.
"What happened? Is Morrigan okay? Was she hurt as well?" Aedan said, northern accent slipping out thicker than usual with his increasing state of worry.
"Relax, she is fine." Wynne said, getting up to make Aedan a glass of water.
"You saved her life, and then she saved yours. She is completely fine, if slightly grumpy at the circumstances of being cooped up. I think she'll find it in that cold heart of hers to forgive you though." Wynne said with a chuckle.
Aedan gratefully accepted water from Wynne, and as soon as he'd downed it he looked to Wynne, with determination in his wolf like silver eyes.
"Please take me to her." Aedan said confidently, slowly swinging his legs off the bed. Wynne wrapped her arms under the hulking man's arm pits and helped him too his feet, that's when Aedan noticed he was in his small clothes and blushed heavily.
"Oh, I meant to tell you, but unfortunately your armor was completely destroyed in the avalanche. Bodahn left this for you." Wynne said rushing to the dresser and pulling out a light set of leather armor.
Aedan looked at it with disappointment but took it from Wynne gratefully and began to dress.
"Best you go light for now anyway, and buy something stronger when you get to Orzammar." Wynne said.
"What of my shield?" Aedan said, remembering that he had been carrying the shield of Highever.
"Lost in the snow, I'm afraid, as well as your sword." Wynne said with a empathetic tone.
Aedan frowned deeply, and finished dressing himself. Wynne led him out of the inn and though the small town of Frostfall, until they found themselves in a small pine forest with a few tents set up in a snowy clearing. Working fastidiously at the fire was a black haired woman in a deep violent cloak, working hard to keep the fire alive, and cursing quietly under her breath. Next to her, was a large dog, that immediately smelled Aedan upon approach and bounded up to him, barking happily. Aedan smiled and reached down to pet the animal, and then looked up to meet the gaze of the woman before him. Wynne excused herself to go pay the tab at the inn, and left the two to their devices. She didn't quite approve of the boy's selection; but she'd never stand in the way of love.
Aedan slowly approached Morrigan and let a wry smile form on his lips.
"I save your life and I don't even get a kiss?" He said sarcastically with a newfound confidence that only a near death experience could bring.
Morrigan walked toward him with a steady pace, placed a hand to the back of Aedan's thick brown locks, and pulled his face to her own, were she engaged him in a deep passionate kiss. When the two broke apart she spoke.
"I have wanted you for quite some time, however I…" Morrigan trailed off and a small blush came to her cheeks. A smile formed on Aedan's lips as he placed a kiss onto Morrigan's forehead. Then he spoke.
"Any day could be our last, let's start living like it."
Morrigan smiled coyly and spoke.
"How should we start?" She said in almost a mocking tone.
"I have a few ideas." Aedan said, leaning in for another kiss.