Back at our camp, I confront Neria in our tent.

"How could you let them execute Jowan?" I asked, tears already spilling over. "He was our friend. You even got into trouble to save him, before."

"I know," she whispers, drawing her knees up to her chest. "But you know what happened because of him, da'len. How many other people's friends died in Redcliffe because of him?"

She's right, but…

"And besides, the arl would not have let him go. He would have given him to the Circle, and… you know what they would have done to him there, right?" Neria wipes away tears of her own.

"…They would have made him Tranquil."

"Yes."

So having him executed was the last thing she could do for him. I sit down next to Neria, leaning my head against her arm. We sit like that for a little while, until Morrigan calls us for supper.

After we eat, I approach Alistair as he's cleaning his armour. I need answers. "Alistair?"

"Mmmm?"

"How come you can become king? Are you related to Arl Eamon?"

Alistair looks up at me, surprised. "You didn't know?"

"No. So why?"

He groans. "I hate having these conversations. Wait, uh, before I explain, do you… know how children, uh, come to be born?"

"Yeah. A husband and wife hug in bed together and wish for a baby, and if the Maker agrees that they should have one, it starts growing in the wife's belly."

"Uh, yeah! More or less. Thing is, they don't actually have to be married for a baby to, uh, start growing."

"Oh. So is that how you were born?"

"Yes! My father was King Marric, and my mother was one of his maids. But, even though a king's son is usually a prince, they only count if their mother was the king's wife, the queen. So I didn't really count. My uncle, Arl Eamon, raised me in Redcliffe until I was given to the templars to be trained as one of them."

"You're a templar?!" This is even more alarming than the kind-of-a-prince thing. I stay a step back.

Alistair panics. "Don't worry, don't worry! Your secret is safe with me. Anyway, I just did the training, I never actually became a full templar; Duncan recruited me to the Grey Wardens before I took my oath."

"Oh. Wait, if King Marric was your father, that would mean King Cailan was your brother."

"Half-brother, yes. I barely knew him, though. We only met once, before the Battle of Ostagar, and he didn't know who I really was."

"That's…sad."

Alistair looks at me quizzically. "…It is, I suppose, yeah. Anyway, that's why Arl Eamon and Bann Teagan want to make me Ferelden's next king; King Marric had no other children, legitimate or otherwise, besides Cailan, and Cailan didn't have any children himself."

"Oh. Well, I think you'll be a good king, Alistair."

"Well it's not decided for certain that I will be the king yet- that's sort of what the Landsmeet is for," Alistair flushes. "And I'm not so sure I even want to be king."

"Why not? Kings get to decide things. Like, you could make humans be nicer to elves."

Alistair chuckles. "I'm not sure it's that simple, but you make a good point. I'm glad for your vote of confidence, anyway."

"One more thing…"

"Yes?"

"Do we have to call you Prince Alistair now?"

"Please don't."

The next day, we set out towards Orzammar, which is a few days' travel away; the entrance to the underground city is in the north, in the Frostback mountains, much farther in than Haven, and we're currently in the south. The day itself is pretty uneventful (save for darkspawn encounters- that's a given, at this point), but that night everyone is spooked. Alistair and Neria both wake up at the same time, having dreamed that the Archdemon saw them, and then the camp is suddenly ambushed by Shrieks, which are these horrible shrieking darkspawn with long claws. I cast a barrier over myself as soon as Neria wakes me up, and she casts another one over my own just in case, before going to fight the Shrieks. One day, I'm going to figure out how to cast a barrier and keep it there without having to stay right behind it. From then on, we set four people on watch at a time, instead of two.

The next morning, we come across a merchant on the road, and he gives Neria a control rod for a golem, for free, except we have to go get the golem ourselves in the next town. I ask Leliana what a golem is, and she says she's never seen one herself but that they're mindless rock giants that the dwarves made centuries ago, and you can send them into battle like battering rams. Which could definitely be useful to us, so we stop at the next village. When we see a bunch of people fleeing down the road with darkspawn on their heels, Neria changes her mind about me coming with, and I have to stay back with Bodahn, Sandal and Sten.

They end up taking a while, so we set up camp on the side of the road and wait. A few hours later, they all come back with the golem, who's actually not mindless at all. In fact, she's very cranky. Her name is Shale, and she really hated that village, as well as the last man who had the control rod. Speaking of which, the control rod doesn't work anymore; apparently it used to be that whoever had possession of it could make Shale do whatever they wanted, but Shale doesn't feel its influence anymore. Which is a good thing, I think, because she obviously has a will of her own, so the control rod basically made her a slave. Somehow, she ended up unable to move for 30 years- 30 years!- but Neria spoke some magic words that let her move again.

At first, Leliana tells me, the words didn't work, so they investigated the recently abandoned village and found a mage's laboratory where a few of the villagers were hiding, including the son of Shale's former master, who knew the right magic words. Turns out, she killed her former master, who was also the owner of the laboratory, but Shale told me later the things he did, and to be honest, he kind of deserved it.

Anyway, the son had a daughter of his own now, and she'd been taken hostage by a demon the former master had trapped himself, long ago. Neria pretended to make a deal with the demon, freeing her from the trap in return for the girl, but she knew the demon would possess the girl entirely when it was free, so she killed it as soon as the trap was undone.

As thanks for saving his daughter, Neria received the right words to reanimate Shale, and here we are. Shale isn't just made of stone, either; she has very pretty elemental crystals set in her skin. The master put them there, but Shale said it didn't hurt; she is made of stone after all. I have a million questions to ask her, and she's very grumpy about it, but I don't think she actually minds that much. After travelling with both Morrigan and Sten for this long, I've learned to notice when their patience is wearing thin and it's time to back off for a bit.

Our next encounter is with a group of bounty hunters looking to cash in on the bounty set by Loghain against Grey Wardens, but they're no match for our group. Then, we reach the Pass, which is the market square set up outside the Great Doors to Orzammar. We resupply on provisions here, and Bodahn happily sets up his wagon to sell wares in the meantime, because surface dwarves aren't allowed into Orzammar, ever. We also get a new lead on Sten's missing sword; the merchant Neria thought would have it swears he sold the sword to a dwarf in Redcliffe, and Neria promises Sten we'll take a quick detour back there after our business in Orzammar has finished.

We head up the stairs to the Doors to speak with the dwarven guardsmen, but they're already preoccupied with a small group of humans, led by one particularly loud man.

"Veata!" One of the guardsmen snaps at them. "This land is held in trust for the sovereign dwarven kings. I cannot allow entry at this time!"

The human man sneers. "King Loghain demands the allegiance of the deshyr, or lords, or whatever you call them in your Assembly! I am his appointed messenger!"

King Loghain, now, is it?

"I don't care if you're the king's wiper," the guardsman retorts. "Orzammar will have none but its own until our throne is settled."

Neria takes the opportunity to make our presence known. "Sorry to interrupt. We have urgent business with your king," she intercepts.

"Who doesn't?" The other man scoffs. "If I can't get in, no one should."

The guardsman sighs. "Right now, Orzammar has no king. Endrin Aeducan returned to the Stone not three weeks ago, sick over the loss of his sons. The Assembly has gone through a dozen votes without agreeing on a successor. If it is not over soon, we risk a civil war," he admits.

"I am a Grey Warden. This treaty obliges Orzammar to aid me," she says, handing the scroll to the guardsman.

The other man is outraged. "The Wardens killed King Cailan and nearly doomed Ferelden! They're sworn enemies of King Loghain!" he snarls.

The guardsman pays him no mind, inspecting the scroll. "Well, that is the royal seal. That means only the Assembly is authorised to address it. Grey Warden, you and yours may pass," he says, handing the scroll back to Neria.

"Thank you," Neria says gratefully, as the other man sputters beside us.

"You're letting in a foreign traitor?! He glares at us. "In the name of King Loghain, I demand that you execute this… stain on the honour of Ferelden!"

"Loghain is the traitor who killed King Cailan at Ostagar!" Neria finally snaps, patience exhausted.

The man is livid at this point. "What? L-lies and slander! King Loghain will not suffer this! I will not suffer it! I'm his messenger!" he rages, drawing his sword.

The guardsman has had enough as well. "Kill each other as you will, but keep your sodding fight off my doorstep," he drawls.

There's no time to do so, however, because the man and his companions are already attacking. Neria is well and truly riled up at this point, and with all of us present, save Bodahn and Sandal (and me, because I'm promptly picked up and deposited on the rocks on the other side of the staircase by Alistair), the skirmish doesn't last long.

"You've done me a service," the guardsman says, when it's over. "That fool, Imrek, has been barking at me for a week. Are all humans so touched? You are free to enter Orzammar, Grey Warden, though I don't know what help you will find."

"Thank you, guardsman."

The guards yank some kind of mechanism, and the Great Doors open, allowing us through. Onwards, to Orzammar.