6
Snow blanketed what was once the first war zone our Warden had ever taken part of, though Alistair mentions they were only there to light a signal fire. Wren had been right about the Darkspawn littering the area but the only true threat had been the Ogre who felled Duncan. The idea of it had nearly made Wren wretch. Her senses were much more heightened than the other Warden's, but she said it may have had to do with the time she spent honing them when she thought she was going to be blind forever.
Now, Alistair held his father figure's blade as he wore the late king's armor. He was quiet again and Wren left him in thought while she read the Correspondence letter. The Joining chalice collected, just in case. Whatever she read must have been rough because she is sluggish when she nears Alistair and tugs him from the fire and into her tent.
"What do you think that was about?" Leliana inquired as she settled in by the fire for her watch. I shrugged, far from a mind reader.
"Whatever it was, seemed to put a lot of stress on our dear Warden. It is good she and Alistair have a way to relax. Wake me after your watch?"
"Alright." She nods.
They aren't seen again until the following morning. When everyone has collected by the fire, I see the papers in Alistair's hand.
"So, you're saying King Cailan was planning to divorce Anora and have a political marriage with Empress Celene in order to have a better chance at producing a male heir. Do you think Logaine knew?"
"I know nothing of human politics and whims but I have my doubts. Logaine would be very upset by this but I don't think he would let the King be slain in battle because of it. All I know is he hates Orlais and anything to do with the Orlesians."
"How did you know that?" This time Leliana beat him to the question.
"He voiced his distaste for us in Ostagar during preparations. He said Wardens the same way he said Orlesians." Wren shrugged.
"Why do you think he let this happen, though?" The sharp look on the elvhen warden's face held much suspicion. While it was true Alistair held respect for Wren's mental capabilities, it wasn't exactly kind to assume she was able to think like this "shemlen". Seeing how he clearly hadn't intended it to be an insult to her person, she replied.
"If I were Logaine and I wanted someone I preferred as next in line for the throne, then I would ensure removal of all possible opposition, namely other male heirs to the throne. Logaine is a master strategist who feels strongly threatened by Orlais even as they show an interest in peace. No matter the level they suggest. Even if Cailan and he were as close as you say, his hatred for Orlais completely overwhelmed that. He likely saw positive Ferelden and Orlesian ties and wanted them destroyed. So he egged Cailan on in a way that would seem like the worried family member. Alistair, do you remember how he told the King to let the pros handle the dirty work? That's how he coyly assured Cailan's presence on the battlefield against the darkspawn."
"So, then he already planned to have the battle of Ostagar be Cailan's last…"Alistair said, keeping up surprisingly well. Wren only nodded.
"Yes, then he scapegoats the Wardens after openly but lightly refusing to wait for Orlesian ones to increase the King's chances of success and survival. That would explain why he left after seeing the signal fire. It was his sign that current forces were being overwhelmed."
"Were Logaine's men in the Tower of Ishal too?" This time Leliana asked, her eyes alight. This was the kind of story people like her lived for.
"That would explain how he was able to slow us down and set us up as the ones who betrayed the King instead of him. Once he saw the signal fire, it would be the proof he needed that current forces were being overwhelmed. If we died after the signal fire was lit, then our death would be ruled deserved as no living person could defend our names. Since we live, we are alive as traitors...thanks to Logaine."
"So, there is Cailan out of the way. Next would be Arl Eamon. He had Jowan indebted to him and lined him up to be hired to help Isolde when she confided in him. I'm not entirely sure I know why that woman trusted him while being an Orlesian herself, but that explains how he got Jowan into the castle. We aren't even certain how long Eamon had been poisoned for or if Isolde told him her son was a mage. Considering how hard it is to hide a newly awakened mage, I wouldn't be surprised if he found out and just wound up with her at his mercy. There you go, Eamon set." Her turquoise eyes landed on me.
"Zevran, you mentioned a man being teamed up with Logaine. Arl Howe?"
"Yes, but I do not know who he would have been tied to."
"The Couslands…" Leliana filled in again.
"Do they have connections to the throne?" Wren's dove white brows knit together.
"That's right!" Alistair began, now remembering this unknown family.
"The Couslands are nobles in Highever, teryn and teryna. If they were wiped out by Arl Howe, then no one is left to take the throne from Anora."
"Then Arl Howe ends up in a position to gain because he's in good with the sharpest strategist in Ferelden...maybe Thedas." She sighed and made that usual pursed-lip face when she realized she was, in fact, able to line up the plan of action Logaine had likely taken.
"So, when you got all upset last night…" Alistair began.
"It was because I realized the possible level of human politics I was going to have to deal with once we finally deal with Logaine in Denerim. Once that hit, so did exhaustion."
"So, what's our plan now?" Oghren piped in after dousing the campfire.
"Well, Isolde had already sent men out in search of the Urn of Sacred Ashes, so she is rather capable to some degree…but we follow that lead and find Genetivi. Then we go and see Goldana and Marjolaine."
I wondered if I was the only one who noticed how reluctant she still was to speak with the humans here. The way she spoke suggested that she expected Goldana and Marjolaine to be of a similar caliber.
When she and Alistair trudged out of his sister's house, Wren's face suggested I wasn't wrong in my deduction.
"How is that shem related to you? She is more monstrous than some darkspawn we fight!" The elvhen woman took a deep breath or three and shook her head.
"Hey, Leliana, isn't Marjolaine's place like right over there?" She gestured towards a nearby building with her chin and Leliana nodded.
"I do not understand why she would send people after me now." The redhead huffed with narrowed eyes but Wren shrugged.
"Guess that could be one of the things you ask her."
There were a couple of large guards waiting for us. They were so tall, they could have been qunari. Wren stuck one of them with a poisoned arrow almost as soon as we entered the place. It was like she sensed they would be hostile. Her assumption was accurate as we dispatched the other guard with little difficulty. It was hard for someone who took up so much space to move around in such a small room. The Orlesian woman who greeted us afterward seemed much nicer than however Goldana had been. Wren's expression never changed from her annoyed one.
"Leliana, so lovely to see you again, my dear…" Only for Leliana to cut her off and tell her to skip the crap and get to the point but this woman was set on talking around the main point until she got to how she'd always kept an eye on her. She was clearly paranoid and I could just feel my Warden growing more and more impatient. The air around us grew even heavier when she tried to turn Wren against her.
"You are just as bad as any Ferelden shemlen. How come it seems like I just argued with a less polite version of you? Leliana is the one I have been traveling with and fighting with. Just because you were a part of her past, you assume you have to be part of her future? You think you are her reason for doing everything she does? What a load of shit." Her words make me smile a little. Most people passing by would not be able to tell she was so talkative until they angered her. Even her Logaine explanation was lined with exasperation. I liked this about her.
"Such violent friends you make, Leliana." Marjolaine almost seemed to have ignored Wren's outburst and now I noticed her mouth twitch now and then as the other spoke. The cagey dark-haired woman was either truly convinced Leliana would become her or she was still trying to pit the Warden against her.
"If I didn't trust Leliana with my life, we wouldn't even be here, right now," Wren replied coolly in response to her final attempt to sway her. Leliana wanted to smile, I knew. Voiced trust from a person like Wren evoked many a positive feeling.
"This is ridiculous. A person like this doesn't stop once she is obsessed." She loaded up her crossbow, giving Leliana plenty of time to either agree with her and begin the fight or disagree and shoo her away. My own hands fell to my daggers as I waited for the final decision.
A fight it is.