"Remind me again, Anders." Elissa said as she yanked her booted foot out of the deep mud that covered the bog they were trawling through. "Why are we here?"
Anders groaned at the question; a question that his companion had asked more than once. "The letter remember?"
"Oh." She huffed. "I shall need a long bath after this is done."
"Maker, stop complaining. I'm just as miserable as you."
They had been travelling by foot to Blackmarsh for days and the weather seemed determined to make the journey as awful as possible. It had rained for days, meaning they needed to find shelter wherever they could. Elissa had received a letter a few days prior from a Grey Warden, Vesta, asking for assistance in investigating a strange presence in a tiny village just north of Blackmarsh, bizarrely named Traveler's rest. Ander scoffed as he wondered why anyone would want to rest at a village built on muddy land that smelt like a sewerage. They had only met Vesta once when she briefly stopped at the Keep. Elissa had taken an instant dislike to her due the Antivan's behaviour towards her.
The pair stumbled across a small farmhouse and something about it them nervous. "Keep your guard up." Elissa told Anders, who nodded his acknowledgement.
Elissa stepped carefully towards the house, Anders following two steps behind. A shout of "Kill her!" caught their attention. A blinding pain tore through Elissa's thigh and she fell to the ground.
"Elissa!" Anders yelled as he tried to locate the enemies whilst trying to shield her.
A man rushed at woman rushed at him with his sights set on Elissa. Anders braced himself, but the attacker was felled by an arrow piercing the left eye.
"I'll cover you." The blonde elf barked as fired arrows at another attacker.
There was no time for Anders to argue, he just picked up Elissa and ran as quick as he could to the farm house. Just as he was about to kick the door open, it was flung opened so quickly the wood shook.
"Get in!"
Elissa could barely see anything the pain was so intense. She felt the hard wood of the table against her back as Anders laid her gently on it. She heard a voice she recognized instantly as Zevran telling them that their attackers had gone. Then there was a voice she hadn't expected.
"Nathaniel?" She groaned through haze of pain.
"Elissa, stay still. We need to remove the arrow." Anders reached into a pack and pull out some wrappings and a balm. "You two hold her down."
Nathaniel grabbed a wooden spoon and put the handle in her mouth. "Bite down, Ellie. It wont be long."
Both Zevran and Nathaniel held her tight as Anders got to work. He managed to break off the arrow head before he started to pull out the rest of it. He immediately worked to heal her before she lost too much blood, grateful the blood stopped quickly so he could wrap her leg to keep the wound protected.
"Well done, Elissa." Anders reassured her. "Can you move her to the bed?" He asked Nathaniel.
Just as Nathaniel was about to lift her up, Zevran stopped him. "I'll do it."
Nathaniel sensed some distrusted coming from Zevran. He wasn't sure why or if he even knew he was. Maybe it was because the elf had designs on Elissa. It was absolutely possible he wanted her; Elissa was a known beauty in Ferelden, and she had plenty of the noble boys competing for her affection.
It had been 2 days since Elissa and Anders had ended up at Nathaniel's home. A storm had rolled in not long after they had arrived and Anders didn't think it wise for Elissa to journey through it while her leg was healing. That hadn't pleased Elissa as she struggled to be around Nathaniel. They had been just a month from getting married when Rendon Howe attacked Highever. She knew Nathaniel blamed her for the downfall of the Howes but it was just their penance for nearly destroying the Couslands. While she wasn't mad at Nathaniel, she just couldn't look at his face and not feel the bile of anger rising in her throat. He looked like his father, unfortunately for him.
Nathaniel wanted to talk to her but he couldn't with the Elf and the Mage around. It was only when they both left to scout the area before travelling back to Virgil's Keep. She had been sat on a small porch for most of the morning, as she was waiting for her companions to return.
"Say what you want to say, Nathaniel." She sighed, not bothering to even look him, preferring to stare into the amber liquid of her tea.
"How's the leg?" He asked as he leant against a wooden beam.
"Sore, but getting better."
"It would have been our anniversary today." He rued. He believed that they could have been happy together. They had known each other for a long time and shared interests. "You could have been carrying our child."
"Well, your father decided against it." She said, no emotion in her words. She learned not to get emotional about it. There was little point, she couldn't change anything.
"You killed my father!" He spat.
Elissa shot up, ignoring the pain in her leg, and squared up to the taller Nathaniel. She wasn't scared, nothing did scare her anymore. "He murdered my family. Children including my nephew. A child you played with many times."
"How do you know that?"
"Because he confessed!" She screamed. "He gloated about making my mother kiss his boots as my father lay dying. Your father got what he deserved. Dying in a dungeon like the pathetic, snivelling coward he was."
Nathaniel saw red and struck Elissa around the face so hard that the a red welt appeared on her face within seconds. "Elissa..I." Nathaniel immediately regretted his actions, struggling to grasp that he did to Elissa what his father often did to his mother.
"Well done, Nathaniel. Just like dear old dad would do it."
"Elissa, forgive me." He begged.
"I'll forgive you when the pain of my family's death goes away." Elissa felt a bloom of relief when she saw Anders and Zevran walking back up the trail. "Can we leave yet?"
Zevran noticed a bright red mark on her face, the shape of two fingers marring her smooth skin. "What happened to your face?" He asked, casting a suspicious glare at Nathaniel.
"I slipped." Elissa lied. "Nathaniel stopped me from hurting my leg even more."
Zevran wasn't convinced but he dropped it. "There's no sign of the crows anywhere, but I'll escort you back to Virgil's Keep."
"Thanks, Zev."
Alistair hated the parties. Nobles from all over Thedas came to meet the new King of Ferelden, some hoping to throw their daughters in his direction in a feeble attempt as making some political connections or just trying to increase their standing. It annoyed him immensely when they tried to whore out their daughters to gain favour, as if he wanted a mistress to meet the needs that the Queen wouldn't.
There was only one woman he wanted.
Ever since Elissa left Denerim, he felt as if he lost a limb. He didn't feel complete, like she took parts of him when she left, or rather when he told her to leave. He had been so angry at her decision to spare Loghain at Landsmeet that reacted without thinking and now he was left to regret it. He could only rely on his memories now. How she smiled, laughed, the flowery scent that followed in her wake. He missed everything about her.
He had slipped into the library to get some peace and quiet. It was last place he and Elissa shared an intimate moment so he often retreated to the library when he needed space. They had both ended up there after the Archdemon was defeated. She cried as he did, sharing one last kiss before Alistair told her that could never forgive her for sparing Loghain.
Only, that wasn't true.
He desperately wanted her to return to Denerim, back to him and back in his arms. He would forgive her and forget, and make her his Queen. Unfortunately, that wasn't possible. He had a Queen. He didn't want that Queen, but he felt pressured into it.
Alistair suppressed a groan when the door to the library opened. Soon anxiety was replaced by relief when Teagan opened the door, closing it behind him. He felt like Teagan was the only one he could truly trust out of all the people that surrounded him.
"Hiding out, are we?" Teagan chuckled as he sat down next to Alistair.
"I'm sick of all those women throwing themselves at me. I see their fathers pushing them in my direction." Alistair poured them both a drink, and he downed his in one go.
"What's bothering you, Alistair?" Teagan copied Alistair, draining his goblet quickly.
"I miss her, Teagan." He said sadly, ruminating over what could have been. "I wish she loved me."
"I'm sure she did, Alistair." Teagan did his best to reassure his adopted nephew. "Elissa wasn't a fool. She would have had her reasons."
"I wanted her to be my Queen." Alistair poured another drink, briefly contemplating just drinking straight from the bottle. "Can you do me a favour, Teagan?"
"I would do anything for you, you know that."
"Will you keep in touch with her?" He asked. "Just so I know that she's ok."
"She did write to me recently. She seemed ok, but missing her brother." Teagan gestured to the bottle. "For now, lets just get drunk and pass out."
Alistair chuckled. "That sounds like a good idea."
