Epilogue
Faydwer, The Great Wood of Greater Faydark, Norrath.
The smell of magic filled the air. If anyone happened to be at the grand spires at that moment. Crackling snap, a bolt ricocheted from one of the large stone pillars to the other that arched from out of the ground. A hum awakened the magic stones from their sleep, a glow within the center opened a large oval door, the lighting keyed open.
Ruroni stepped through with a child in each hand. Jowan and Anora through next, the guards of the former Queen and her handmaid, Erlina. Xellexes came through as the last of the guard followed. With a sudden snap, the portal disappeared from sight.
Gasps and murmurs are going about the guards who took in the sights of the new area they stood in. The trees reached sky-high, the canopy nearly blotting out the sky. Sunlight filtered through the branches, the sky impossibly blue. A surprised gasp alerted Xellexes. One of the fairy courts flew to them in greeting.
"You have brought guests?" The small fairy, with her tiny voice, asked of the Norrathians.
"Aye, can you help to carry the trunks?" Xellexes asked. Walking ahead, he led the group along the path to the Koada'dal city of Felwithe.
"With pleasure!" The small creature flew on delicate wings to the baggage and touched each one. They shrank in size, where only one guard needed to hold them all. Along the way, they met with a few who know of the Wizard and Bard. Greeting them warmly, as they went on with their travels. When they all, the Theodosians came to the impressive gates of Felwithe, audible gasps collectively heard from them.
"Is it not impressive?" Ruroni took the children closer to the Felguards that stood valiantly. "Hello, friends!"
"Afternoon, Lady Ruroni. Who are you here for?"
"To see my naneth. We brought guests who needed succor." The young bard announced with a bright smile nod. The tall Elven guards stepped to the side, allowing them through.
Coming to the Swiftleaf merchant estate, they were greeted at the grand doors with the same warm energy the Lady Deedolit had.
"My darling granddaughter and nephew. What brings you home? Is our Meleth not with you?" A striking woman with eyes the color of the blue sky that was above them. Deedolit's mother smiles at them, ushering them to come in. Paintings hung on the wall of the family, Deedolit favors her father, Olett, her grandmother, Jowan noticed.
"Aunt, no, we found Olett. No time to explain, we have but little time." Xellexes rushed. "Where are my father and uncle?"
"Always in such a rush. Come sit."
Jowan could see that the resemblance of the Swiftleaf women, indeed trickled from one to the next, the only differences, their hair, and eye colors. Ruroni went to gather snacks for the children. Xellexes had explained their reason for being home when they left months ago.
"Follow me." Without missing a beat, D'Auraline took the youngest amongst them to their joint room. She set Jowan up as well. Xellexes excused himself, taking Jowan to meet with the first of his teachers.
With Anora left, given the option to stay within the Swiftleaf estate, or travel across the globe to Qeynos to the manse that Deedo lived.
Speaking up, she would do what she felt was the most appropriate. "I wish to stay here to learn about my brother, Ikal'antulien."
"How is my grandson?" The woman smiled brightly.
Anora's head hung. Clearing her throat, she relayed what had happened to the Knight that was her elder brother.
There was no time for Ruroni and Xellexes to rest. No sooner than they had arrived, had their guest settled, the two over them were off once more. Ruroni was off in a flash off to Butcherblock Mountains, the city of Kaladim for the Dwarven masters. To Steamfont Mountains, the Gnome city of Ak'anon for their tinkering masters. When she returned, it was over to Kelethin, for their expert master woodworkers.
She ran hard, barely out of breath; she and her uncle swept themselves to the formerly lost continent of Kunark.
Southern Plains of Karana, Antonica.
Their quick travel made good time by three days, with Ruroni running her hardest. One last thing they needed, rather Xellexes needed, to gather lay south of their Qeynos home.
"Uncle, do we really have time for this?" the Bard complained with a grumble.
Xellexes summoned a bolt of lightning striking the pegasus, stunning it to heel with three strikes, "Yes, you and the others will."
"But I have my song." Pulling several long feathers from the brilliant white wings of the unconscious beast.
Xellexes rolled his eyes. "Girl, when you cannot always be there? I am certain your sisters will need these." Plucking several more feathers as well, "Now let's go. Anora is safe, so are the children. Now we may be off." As he cast, the sky grew dark. "Take my sleeve."
They vanished from the river's shore.
9:31 of the Dragon Age, Month 1 - The mid-month of Wintermarch.
Winter covered Ostagar in snow. As Deedolit and Alistair searched the desolate camps. they happened upon lingering Darkspawn, dispatching them quickly.
The guards that were with them stood in awe. Deedo waved both hands, freezing the hideous monstrosities in place. "Why is this one wearing armor?" Deedo asked aloud. As curious as it was, she had no time to ponder such a question. Her heart felt heavy.
Warm an emotion felt as Rowan guided in the direction they needed to take next. Encountering more Darkspawn, they collected a bloody set of armor that once was golden.
Alistair looked at the armor. "This was King Cailan's."
Deedo lifted her head, her God-son's armor stripped of him? Darkspawn was thought to be mindless, seeking any living thing to snuff it out. "Alistair, do you know anything about what was taking place here?"
With a shake of his head, he shrugged, "They sent us to the Tower of Ishal, under the order of the King."
Deedo understood. They ventured on finding a broken lockbox that contained several letters. Under the winter sky, Deedo read them each thoroughly. Finding that Loghain was indeed correct. The young king was forging an alliance, whilst leaving Anora.
Unable to puzzle what could have gone through the mind of her godson, she handed the letters over to Alistair for him to read. Deedo sighed, Loghain did what he needed, Cailan refused to hold the warning. She sensed something tickling the hairs on the back of her neck. "Spread out and search the other fell camps. Alistair, please come with me." Ordering the men with them to fan out.
Alistair followed close behind. Deedo was standing in a clearing, looking around. Her head lifted to the tower Alistair spoke of.
Faint, amongst the armor clatter well away from them, she could hear summoning. Deedo felt a wave of sadness. Rowan, guiding Deedo, nodded again. Walking forward, they stopped, something came charging.
The snow kicked up great gusts for them. Alistair blinked, unbelieving. The field held an echo. He witnessed it before, deep within Elven ruins. Reaching for a dagger on her hip, she cast it with a flick of her wrist.
"My Queen, if you please!" Deedo took off out of the way and around the Ogre.
"As you command my Lady!" Engaging the charging animated dead.
Deedo took from her belt pouch small silver throwing daggers, followed by a shot, a bolt of sparkling red energy lept from her fingers, obliterating a Darkspawn necromancer on their right, the blades piercing his eye and skull before he could scream out in pain. The twisted being dead on the spot.
The Oger came skidding to a stop at Deedo's feet; she covered her nose, and the smell was foul, worse than she remembered.
"Rest well my sister." Deedo plucked the dagger from the ground, placing it on her hip belt again. The form bowed her head, brown curls curtained her face, disappearing into the gem of the dagger.
Alistair knew that person, seen her portrait on the castle walls. He looked at the Elven woman.
"That is for my godson, and for Duncan." She whispered. Deedo walked forward, something glittering in the snow catching her eye.
She retrieved it, turned to the king with curiosity, and showed the dull blade to Alistair. He knew instantly whose dagger it was. "This was Duncan's"
"It's yours now." Deedo looked to her left, felt a pull. The spirit of the man took shape. He who watched over her son stood with a sad smile on his face. "I know, but I will mind him now. Will you join me?" With a nod, again pulling a dagger from her belt, the spirit faded into it.
Two of their guards came running over with a long chest, placing it before the King, "We found this, Your Majesty."
Alistair nodded for them to open it. When the lid lifted, inside was a blade that Deedo saw decades ago. She fell to her knees with a sob. Reaching for it, her delicate Elven fingers touched the scabbarded blade, pulling it from its resting place. She clung to it sobbing harder, "This was Maric's, it could have saved Cailan." gripping it tight in her hands.
Alistair hugged her shoulders, helping her to her feet. She pulled the hilt. Faintly, the blade glowed blue. "They are still about." She said.
Sheathing it once more, held it for Alistair to take. He gently took it from her hands, tying it to his belt. Gesturing them heading forwards, towards the tower.
Another guard bringing a dented silver chalice Alistair explained its purpose. Deedo nodded. They continued their walk. Wynne was surveying the once mage camp.
"All well?"
Wynne shook her head. "It was nothing of note. They plucked it clean." Most of the abandoned camps held nothing. The Darkspawn seemed to search. Things rummaged through.
Deedo looked ahead. Tingles ran up the elf's spine wildly, Rowan's energy was frantic. Making their way up an incline, they came to the bridge where she saw Olett with Cailan and Duncan.
Past that distant memory, up ahead, an effigy. On it, the naked body of the former King, Alistair saw, Deedo steeled her emotions. She swallowed hard. "Alistair?"
The young king trembled. He was furious, saddened, all at once. "They…. They left him here to rot." Wynne placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
Deedo stepped between them. Obscuring his line of sight, a cast of her spell, pushing off the ground towards her deceased God-son. "Oh, my light." She pulled the arrows gently from his body. She could smell the poison. Throwing them aside, removed her cloak wrapping the beautiful fabric around his limp body.
She cared not the smell of death on her. She cradled his body once again, as she had done so long ago. " Hello ." A wavering smile, eyes blurred. She sniffled her final hello, moving his dirty curls from his face.
Alistair came to her side. The tears would not stop. She looked over her shoulder when Alistair cleared the lump caught in his throat, "He needs to go home, I cannot leave him here, we will clean him and set him to pyre home."
Wynne agreed and helped to wrap the corpse. Deedolit stood watching as they prepared the body for travel. On her right, she smiled softly. The spirit of Cailan Deedo's jaw clenched. "I am so very sorry I could not be here for you.'' Banishing a stray tear she thought was under control.
She felt a warm arm about her shoulders, a cheery voice in her ear, "You are always welcomed with me. You saved your brother and sister. Thank you." Another dagger from her hip, Cailan, faded joyfully.
Deedo felt her heart overfill with warmth. Rowan and her son joined her. There was yet one more she needed to find while they were here.
"Mother, are you well?" Alistair saw her staring off. Deedo looked at him, placing a hand on his cheek.
"I need you to take me to where you found Kal'an."
"Definitely. Guard, take him... head to Denerim."
Further into the Korcari Wilds, walking through what was possibly the halls of a once magnificent Elven city. Broken walls with incomplete archways still standing, overgrown. The place long since abandoned is now home to the Wilds creatures.
Alistair trudged through the Elven lady, feeling for what she needed. Helping Wynne through the swamp, Deedo quietly spoke of the swamp she first visited in her world.
"Our swaps are rife with creatures. Would you believe my world has anthropomorphic frogs? Some are not nice. A curse placed on their home, doomed to walk as undead."
Wynne was surprised. "Have you ever been to such a horrid place?"
Deedolit smiled. "I am too much of a coward. I am repulsed by even the smallest of them."
They shared a chuckle. Alistair stopped the remaining guard.
"My Lady. This is the spot."
Deedo left Wynne in the care of a young guard. Briskly walked ahead, Alistair behind her. "Here is where we found him."
"Hmm." Alistair pointed to a stump. Deedo stood before it, her brows drawing together. "Nothing."
She moved around the small area, and still nothing. "This is the very spot you found him?"
"Yes. We came upon him slumped, looking as if he were sleeping." Now Alistair was questioning himself. He looked around and this was indeed where they found him.
Evidence was still about. Arrows, the bodies that were in severe decay, imprinting were still there. He was sure of it.
Deedo believed him, though she felt nothing as she turned to face him, unsure if it should elate her so without evidence. "I do not sense him." The corners of her mouth twitched, and she covered her forming smile quickly.
With a voice in her ear, Deedolit stopped to listen. Alistair stood, awaiting her to continue.
"Mother, we are camping outside of Kirkwall. For now, we are waiting until all is clear. It's beautiful here. We scouted the area. No Sign of Olett. Cullen wants us to stick close to the city. Heart is unable to come back to Ferelden." Tenkou and Ruroni chated as they sat overlooking the sea.
"Thank you, darlings, be safe until we can get there." Interrupted Deedo with another voice.
"Mother, we are making good time, the Thedosians can hardly believe how fast we are moving, we lost Morrigan…"
"How did you lose her?"
"She just took off, left when we made camp a week ago. Sorry, mother."
"No need to apologize. Thank you, girls. I love you all. Be safe and well." The connection was closed. "I told you your sisters are busy. I still worry about Olett."
"I as well. Let us see Cailan home."
Highever, the abandoned castle of the murdered family of the Cousland's.
Opening the portal she stopped to rest on the banks behind the thin veil of Highever, Flemeth, felt something, several somethings almost too many to count, she was feeling what Olett could sense.
"You hardly need to consume anything. This body is glorious." The Wilds witch noted, stretching her shard was risky. It had been many months since she gave it to a boy, a Hawke. It was faint, but she felt it, over the sea within the Free Marches.
"Let's see what this body can do, shall I." Pulling into the mind of the worn girl, she found a spell suitable. Taking the form of a water creature, long and sleek, she plunged into the rough, chilled waters, and with great speed, power through cutting through the dark waters. So amazed she never knew the possibility of such power. Flemeth knew she made the right choice when she stretch to see a host. Never did she imagine the Elven blood from afar would be the one to sustain her life now.
Flemeth cackled. This body she chose as her host was strong indeed. She considered never needing another daughter again. Olett tried to fight from within, but she was too tired and she needed sleep, her mind needed to heal, not her body.
Flemeth can borrow her body. For now, Olett took this opportunity to rest; she slipped off, felt cold, dark, and empty. She felt the girl slip away within her recesses. "That's right, girl, you just sleep. I'll wake you when you are needed."
In a day they would be on the outskirts of Kirkwall, and in possession of what Hawke brought to the ruined Alter as she instructed.
Deep she hid in her mind, unknowing of what to do.
Olett sits, feeling a warm present, wrapping her in a cocoon of light, warmth, and love. A soft calling. It is a male. She stands to follow the direction of where the voice calls to her. Trees, tall and magnificent all around her, then a path of marble stone, a brick here and there until it forms a walkway leading to an opulently carved gazebo. At the center was a man with long dark hair, hands behind his back as he looked on the land before him. His voice calling, but she saw no movement from his body.
"Jowan?" she questioned.
The man's head turned, an eyebrow raised. "No. That is not my name. I am-"
Stopping him with a bow of her head. "I know who you are. You are Ser Kal'an Swiftleaf." Olett curtsied low.
A chuckle greeted her. Olett stood coming to stand next to the famed Knight. "Did I amuse you?"
"Not in the slightest. My name proceeds me. A seat?" He gestures to the stone bench for them to sit.
"Am I dead?" Olett had to ask. She knows that people who visit in the fade are people who have to be long from the world.
"No." He seemed to think for a moment, considering his words. "They asked me to seek you out to keep you safe."
"Who?" Olett's eyebrows drew together. Who would Alistair? Jowan? Or possibly Cullen. Had he heard of her predicament?
"The ones far from here. Outside."
Olett could sense that the man with her was no threat. No demon trying to lure her. His manner of speaking was very familiar. This caused her to stifle her laugh.
"Did I amuse you?" An eyebrow raised in curiosity.
Olett smiled. "Yes, you remind me of your father, Ser Loghain."
A shake of his raven head. "Who do you refer?"
"Your sire. You are jesting with me, he had told me much after your death."
Again a polite shake of his head, Kal'an dismissed what the young girl was saying. "Forgive me, for I know not anyone named Loghain." He pondered for a moment, facing her fully. "I am dead?"
"You are. I saw you with my own eyes. Arrows of poison pierced your body."
"Curious." Again, like Loghain, spoke little. Taking a breath, he cleared his throat.
Olett took the chance to look around. It was sirene. Waterfalls poured into a large lake, flowers of bold, beautiful color, the warm sun in the middle of a lush forest. "This place, where are we?"
"Our minds. What you know, with what I know." Standing, he walked to the middle of the gazebo. "Question. What do you know of Lady Swiftleaf?"
Olett's face lit up. This was something she could go on for hours about never tiering. "She is the Savior of Ferelden, gotten King Maric back on the throne. Freeing Ferelden from Orlaisian rule."
Kal'an nodded. She was correct, with one flaw in her words. "Indeed." His gravelly tone even. "I know her as our mother. We have siblings, and family."
"What?"
"Come, let me show you." Leading the way. A path appeared before them as they strolled. "Maybe you can tell me of Loghain." Olett closed her eyes once more. Her mind was at peace.
Flemeth hid away in the city of Kirkwall, awaiting the return of the Hawke that carried her shard.
9:3? of the Dragon Age, Somewhere deep within the Orlais Empire.
Maric awoke from his deprived sleep. He was captive, long lost the number of days since his imprisonment. The ring she gave him kept him safe, with his belongings all stripped from him. Maric connection fades, Deedo can no longer feel him. He has no way to send a message out. So he waits. "If by chance a woman with the hair the color of moonlight comes seeking me, she will have with her two boys, let them know I was here. And who has taken me." Maric bows his head to pray once again.
They came to the place it all began. Putting to rest those left behind; in search of the newest Hero of Ferelden. The people that Maric left behind were now in the care of the woman he assumed lost. Maric hoped she would return one day. She never made it back. He went in search, to find a way to her, also to help the Wardens. Returned to Denerim with a son. Commissioned a painting hidden for years, and left many letters. Along with the former Queen. Close they were to find the way to each other for good. Deedolit had come back, and she and her lover's son guarded her claim.
Beguiler D'Edolit Meleth Swiftleaf of Felwithe is the isolated mother of the Grey Warden known as Deedolett Surana–The Hero of Ferelden, Champion of Redcliffe, now Warden-Commander of Ferelden, and Arlessa of Amaranthine. To be exact, her mother is going to be the Acting Arlessa of Amaranthine in her stead, overseeing the new Grey Warden recruits. As their temporary commander.
We have come to the conclusion of EverAge Origins. There are many more adventures that await. Amaranthine is gaining a Commander. Haven is going to be rebuilding. Kirkwall will have a monumental visit from a Hawke. The Swiftleaf family will do what they can to bring the Hero of Ferelden home! Join me next time as we uncover the enchanting tale of EverAge: Awakenings, Exodus to Kirkwall.