Inwardly Shepard cursed, following the blond head in front of her. After walking for the last few hours Alistair had deemed himself steady enough to march on without her help.

With a deep breath she turned her gaze back out to her surroundings, taking in the large moons currently lifting to fill the sky. She had landed on a planet that was living in the dark ages. Briefly she pressed her fingers to her eyes, fighting off the encroaching headache.

Alistair, was apparently the genuine article when it came to knights in shining armor. Normally, if someone had told her they had no idea what an Omni-tool was, Shepard would have called bullshit and introduced them to the choice end of her shotgun. But when Alistair had stared up at her, his brown eyes wide and genuinely frightened… she shook her head in annoyance. Well, she had believed him to say the least. How can this even be possible?she wondered. A planet so cut off from Earth after colonization to have reverted to swords and shields? Maybe it had once been one of those extremist colonies found in outlying systems? Shepard remembered clearly news stories of "purest" colonists setting off into the depths of space, determined to live as humans "should". She snorted incredulously. If fighting giant horned creatures with sticks was the trade off, these people should have picked a different spot.

"How far away are we, Alistair?" she asked. Since their little confrontation in the woods, he had been completely focused on pressing forward. He had taken to alternating between staring at her, muttering under his breath, and dodging and hacking through bushes in ever quickening strides. Shepard was pretty sure she'd caught the words "demon" and "apostate" quite a few times in his musings, and something about someone named Aiden taking his head off.

"Oh, um, not too far now." He halted next to her. "See that rise straight ahead?" he pointed through the trees to a small hill some distance away. "It's just behind there."

Shepard followed his gaze from where it had dipped to her hands, noting the way he shifted defensively when she turned to face him. Reaching up she clasped his shoulder, trying to bring out her "comforting commander voice" as Jack called it. "Listen, thank you for doing this." Shepard lowered her voice slightly. "I really am out of the loop here, and I know you have no reason to trust me."

"Yes well, as long as you keep your word about the whole, let's not attack people thing, no problem." He shrugged her hand off, abruptly grinning at her, "Aiden is always going on and on about how we need help defeating this Blight." Alistair lifted a hand ticking off on his fingers. "Let's see, he's recruited a murderous golem, a rude witch, a crazy qunari, an assassin who tried to kill us…" He regarded her in mock inquiry. "Compared to them, you seem like a normal walk in the park."

Shepard quirked an eyebrow at him, bemused.

"Not to say that I don't think you're interesting!" He quickly pointed out, gesturing his hands over her armor. "I mean! You say you're from space!" He waved his hands skyward. "What is even in space?" Shaking his head he met her gaze head on. "I just meant we have weirder people around. Not that you aren't strange with the whole flying thing!" He huffed, pulling his mouth closed. "Right." They stared at each other awkwardly, his face slowly reddening. "Anyway, let's press on, shall we? I think I'm quite tired of the sound of my own voice so you must be positively exhausted." Alistair spun around, quickly trudging through the tree line.

Shepard chuckled, shaking her head, bemused. Flying thing? Descriptive. "You said you needed help?"

Alistair tossed her a glance over his shoulder in confusion.

"You mentioned a Blight?" She caught his eye again, watching his eyebrow quirk in question. "Does that have something to do with those creatures we encountered?"

"Ah, yes, that." He stared up at the sky, raking a hand through his hair. "I think it's best to discuss that once we're nice and settled in at camp." He leaned forward, "You can explain the whole space thing, and I'll tell you every sordid detail about darkspawn you could ever hope to know!"

Shepard simply nodded and gestured for him to take the lead again.

The two of them moved quickly through the remainder of the forest. Finally cresting over the hill's peak. Below them stretched a dirt road, winding along the countryside. A single stone bridge branching across the valley beside it. Off to the side a plume of smoke rose into the air, concealed by a circle of trees.

With a swing of his arm Alistair gestured briefly at the road "The Imperial Highway, and that over there is camp."

Shepard tensed at the sight. "You know when you said Imperial Highway I was picturing something… a little more grand?" Mentally she quailed at the wood fences and stone infrastructure. Her chances of finding someone capable of repairing her omni-tool was diminishing before her eyes and she could feel her head pounding in response.

Unaware of her thoughts, Alistair gave her a knowing nod. "Quite the pretentious name right? But it was named after the Tevinter Imperium who built it, not so much for the quality of the dirt they used." He gave her a brief lopsided smile before nudging her towards the trees across the road.

Shepard staggered, the encroaching darkness mixing with the black spots now dancing across her vision. With a gentle tug he guided her through the remaining forest towards the circle of smoke and light, stopping occasionally to move around certain areas. At her inquisitive look he flushed slightly. "We set up traps around the perimeter of the camp at night. Gives us a nice bit of extra security." He grinned, "I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've managed to set the damn things off when making my way in the dark. It's horribly embarrassing having people come running to find you trapped, swinging under a tree in your small clothes."

"You seem to end up in traps a lot, don't you Alistair?" A new voice called out. Shepard whipped around, biotics flaring across her skin. She stepped defensively in front of Alistair lighting the surrounding area in a ripple of blue.

Alistair quickly reached out, snagging the collar of her armor in a firm grip. "Whoa there!" he rumbled. She turned to stare up at him questioningly, adrenaline making her sway alarmingly. "Aiden, maybe it would be best if you came and introduced yourself to the lady instead of lurking in the bushes."

With a huff a man slowly made his way around the trees in front of them, holding a bow aimed directly for her head. He regarded her quietly with icy blue eyes, his dark hair blending in with the shadows of the night. His finely tooled armor stretched across his broad shoulders, highlighting the quiver and daggers strapped to his back. It was styled the same as Alistair's. Silver plates intersecting the blue and white striped material of his tunic, a griffon etched across his breastplate. "Made a friend Alistair? She puts on quite the light show, doesn't she?"

Shepard shook off Alistair's grip on her armor, dampening the buzz of the eezo nodes in her skin.

Next to her he chuckled nervously, "You have no idea." With a cough he drew himself to his full height. "Aiden, this is Shepard. She helped me out of a tight spot back in the forest, flew in and plucked me from harm's way, quite literally." He smiled down at her.

Aiden straightened from his defensive position, lowering his bow. "You had us worried, running off into the forest with all those darkspawn on your tail." He turned to stare at Shepard. "I've never seen armor such as yours milady." He moved closer, his hand fingering the arrow notched in his bow. "Or that insignia." He gestured to the N7 badge on her breastplate. "Mercenary's mark?"

"Military." She turned and regarded him cautiously. Unlike Alistair with his warm smile and inviting chatter, this Aiden was far more suspicious. His eyes were devoid of any of Alistair's warmth, blank and empty like a husks. Shepard quickly shook her head, clearing the image from her mind, nearly reeling as her head throbbed in response.

"Military?" He raised his bow again. "Loghain's kind?"

Alistair was between the two of them in a flash, pushing Shepard behind him. "Not Loghain's, Aiden. In fact, I don't really think she's from around here at all, but I believe she can help us. And we can't really turn down allies at the moment, can we?" Contemplatively he gave the other man a cautious smile. "I wasn't kidding when I said she saved me."

Aiden's face twisted in an untrusting grimace, the weapon in his hand shaking. Shepard subtly reached up and looped her hand around Alistair's belt, prepared to fling him out of line of fire. Her shields could take a hit far more than his unprotected head, and she'd seen eyes like Aidens before. On Eden Prime, on Mindoir… a survivor with nothing to lose and she had no idea what was the status of the friendship situation she had just entered.

He stared Alistair down, fingers curling around the shaft of his notched arrow. Abruptly he straightened. "Fine, she can come." With that Aidan holstered his weapon, slinging the bow over his shoulder, and trudging into the trees he'd come from.

Alistair released his breath slowly, body relaxing beneath his armor. "Well, that actually went better than I expected." He turned to smile at her hesitantly.

Shepard stared up at him aghast, comparing Alistair's insignia to the mans. "Is he your commanding officer?" Silently she unclenched her fingers from their death grip against his waist.

"Ah, that's kind of complicated."

"Complicated?"

He scratched the back of his head nervously. "Very." He started forward after Aiden, "Come Shepard, we have passed his approval for now. I promise I'll explain everything as soon as we get settled."