I returned later that afternoon and sensed the change between Alistair and Wren almost as soon as I stepped back into the manor. The servants were chattier than usual and I had a bad feeling as I approached the man.

"Alistair…"

"No, Zevran. Not right now. Please." He shook his head and wouldn't meet my eyes. Something was very wrong. The young heir was rarely so polite and it rubbed me the wrong way, but I tried not to show it.

"Leave him. He is not himself." Morrigan uttered in passing. It was stranger still to see her almost look upset for the man. No one needed to catch me up by this point.

Wren actually...oh boy.

"What is on the agenda today, Warden?" First approach would be to act like nothing was out of the ordinary. I could do that.

"Finish up this board to give us some...hold here. Call it a feeling." How was she feeling?

"Of course, wherever you go, I will follow." Alistair remained in the manor. It was for the best. Couldn't have both Wardens traipsing around Denerim during such a dangerous time, now could we?

She was quiet after that, using the bandits we fought to help her work through what she had just done. It hadn't been easy for her but I saw her muttering to herself, likely saying what Wynne had been telling her and Alistair earlier. Repeating it to herself to make sense of it and try the "it's been fun" method that didn't exactly work with the kind of person either of them were.

Wren's feral close combat tactics were out of hand and we all noticed it when instead of just putting the man out of his misery with a quick shot to the head, she beat him to death with her crossbow. We were on our way to the Pearl when we were stopped at some steps.

"The Crows send their greetings once again." What a terrible time to hear that voice. I may have confided in our leader about Rinna and mentioned Talisen but I was hoping to not run into him here, of all places. I kept my face calm but felt a small part of me wishing Wren would just take him out in her own way of coping. The woman was covered in the blood of the bandit she'd slaughtered. Instead of acting and attacking, she just shifted towards me.

Right. I have to face this, if only a little. Turns out he wanted to see if I had really 'betrayed' the Crows as he'd been told. That and he probably wanted to be the one to kill me. Even though he claimed we could go back together, it sounded more like a ploy to get me alone so he didn't have to fight the others.

I'm not sure I knew any sentient people who would look upon Wren and think of fighting her. At least, not while she was covered in blood that clearly belonged to someone else.

"Over my dead body."

That made for some uncomfortable images. Too close to home, to Rinna.

"I'm not going to let that happen." I stepped up, knowing his next words would be an attempt to undermine or insult me.

"What?! You've gone soft!"

My next words were quiet and sincere. I didn't really want to kill him. I knew most of the Rinna situation had been done to survive and partly out of jealousy.

As I landed the killing blow, all I could do was repeat in my head that he should have stayed behind in Antiva.

"You were right, Warden, about the High Dragon. I am sorry to have involved you in this." Wren winced at my words but turned and trudged on.

There were assassins and ruffians at The Pearl along with someone else I had not been expecting. Safe to say, I was much happier to see her and smiled as she finished beating up some brutes. Isabela, a Rivaini woman who spoke as tactfully as she fought. Without saying whether or not I killed her husband, I lightly mentioned hearing she inherited his ship. It was clear from the healthy pigment in her skin her life was better now.

"Why am I not surprised you two know each other?" Oh, this should be good. I introduced them and watched as Isabela's eyes roved over her. Wren pressed her lips together the way she did when she didn't know how to respond to something.

"Charmed."

Of course, the next thing Wren does is compliment her fighting and listens to her philosophy on it. Then she excuses herself from us, saying we should catch up while she sees if they have private baths and a place where she can clean her armor. I thought it was odd she didn't have that set up at Eamon's, but it might have something to do with her wanting to not be around Alistair, Anora, or the idea of more politics. Like the Landsmeet Eamon called for.

"What or who is keeping you from sampling her?"

"I'd rather not think about that right now. Today has been ridiculously eventful." Why was I suddenly so tired?

"Apologies, my friend, but I need to be going. It was as lovely to see you as ever." I give a small bow, smile, and walk away to find Wren.

It didn't seem to matter that I forgot to knock as Wren was still wearing clothes when I walked in. She was cleaning blood off of her armor almost lovingly. Though, I wouldn't put it past her.

My Warden glanced up at me, unfazed when she saw me.

"If you were expecting me to be naked, this must be a disappointing sight."

"There is hardly such a thing as a disappointing sight when you are in view, Wren." Unable to stop myself from repeating the line from the first time she asked me to join her for a hunt almost word for word.

"Did you come to help me clean my armor or were you hoping to offer to help me bathe?" Was that a joke? I think she just attempted to lighten the mood with a joke.

"Neither unless you wish it. My goal was only to make sure you had someone standing guard. I have been out of sorts since our run in with Talisen."

"I noticed. Usually, you aren't the type to walk in without knocking first. I am...sorry you had to face him like that, I know you and the man were once involved."

"I am not the only one. You forgot to lock the door behind you." Wren shrugged as my eyes traced the lightning scattered across her body.

"You've all seen me in my small clothes thanks to Haven. I doubt seeing me naked would be much different." How very wrong she was…

"Did you want to talk about what happened today, now that we are alone? I assume you went along with Eamon's idea to put Anora and Alistair on the throne." Wren paused in her meticulous scrubbing and her shoulders sagged.

"If I must, but you might as well take this time to clean the blood off your armor as well. Unless you're alright with it."

"I am used to it." So, she did her best to tell me about what happened but still managed to gloss over some things, like his reaction and what he said to her, though I am sure it was needlessly cruel. It wasn't just Morrigan who saw the unfairness and the absurdity of Wren being forced to be the leader of our band and make the hard choices when Alistair was considered senior Grey Warden and acted like he had while dealing with the possessed son of the Arl.

The point and politics of a Landsmeet had been explained to Wren by the Arl himself, but it still bothered her how this all went so against what she had hoped would have happened.

"I was truly hoping to be far away from human politics. Hunting and killing, I can do, but the idea of fighting another's battle and solving Ferelden's problems-Creators, the future of Ferelden is in my hands and I have to make sure their eventual King lives to see his coronation and be wed to that stupid noble shem."

"Is there anything the Arl said to perhaps prepare you for this Landsmeet?"

"I am probably going to have to duel Logaine. He said it was an option should the Landsmeet not fall to our favor." It didn't seem to bother her at all.

"I think I would enjoy watching that."

"There was the option for Alistair to fight him but...something tells me that Anora would then try to take the throne on her own and refuse to marry him since he ended her father's life. Not that I could blame her." Wren's words rang in my ears as I realized something.

"You have no blood family in your clan?"

"No. I don't really even have friends back in my clan, Zevran."

There was a face she expressed when she felt no one was paying any attention and I knew it well. Wren was still grieving for her Tamlen.

In my attempts to take her mind off of our mission for a while, I asked her for more precise details of her escape from Castle Drakon and she didn't disappoint. She got the guard close enough to knock him out and steal his clothes and then proceeded to impersonate one of their soldiers as a newbie before pickpocketing their passwords and escaping.

"It was amazing they didn't get suspicious as soon as they saw I was an elf."

"But there was no fighting after knocking the guard out?"

"None. It happened too easily and quickly, it was almost like a dream." So it was true. By this point, Wren's silver tongue and rogue skills made it so that she did little more than talk herself out of the tower. I let my gaze drop to the line on her bottom lip, but I shifted it away. This place was for relaxation and Wren could really use some.

"Were you wanting to bathe before we left for the alienage?" As far as I knew, most of us had already.

"I thought about it but wasn't sure if there would be time for more than a quick dip. Why? Did you want to bathe me?" Her head was down as she cleaned the last bit of grime from her leather cuirass, so I couldn't see how she'd intended it, but I was grinning. If all else failed, she could just kick me out.

"Only if you'll let me." I did want to but I didn't push women into uncomfortable situations. Consent was always required. Wren lifted her head from her work and seemed pensive. No nervousness.

"May I?" There. Her face went blank the way it did when she was met with a compliment.

"You may."

"I shall leave you to-Wait...what?"