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Chapter 13: Denerim

At camp between Ozammar and Redcliffe. Malcolm looks down at the beauty in his arms and he smiles, as he feels truly blessed. Leliana stirs, opens her eyes and looks at him. "Still awake?"

He shakes his head. "No. Just woke up a little bit ago and I looked at you, remembering that one night."

She smiles. "I knew I was good, but not that good that after weeks you still think about it."

He smiles and kisses her. "It was the best. It was my first time, but more importantly, it was our first as a couple." She giggles a little as he lays his head down and she hugs him as they both fall asleep, remembering that night.

When they entered the tent after the ambush, Malcolm and Leliana quickly strip out of their armor and into their small clothes before Malcolm pulls her to him and kisses deeply before she squeals too loud. Malcolm places one hand on the back of her neck as the other snakes down her back and grabs one of her butt cheeks. She squeals into his mouth, parting her teeth, and he throws his tongue into her mouth. Their tongues wrestle for dominance as he moves his other hand down to her other cheek and squeezes. Again, she squeals and all it does is make him more aroused as his erection grew, pressing up against her. She pulls her head back and smiles. "Well, it seems like someone's ready." She takes her arms off him and she goes for her panties, which have become soaked.

Malcolm looks down to help her and he sees how wet her womanhood is. "Well, I can say that you are excited."

After she removes her panties, and he attempts to undo her bra, Leliana touches the bulge showing from his underwear, which causes him to hiss a little. "That makes both of us." He undoes her bra and tosses it into the pile of armor. He looks at her exposed breasts and gasps at them. They are just the right size for him, not too big, not too small, just perfect, but to him, everything about her is perfect. His hands go up her waist and cups the underside of her breasts, causing her to moan. She then grabs his wrists and pushes them away a little before whispering to him, "I think you'll like a different view more." She lets go and lays on her back, legs spread as she bites her bottom lip and touches one of her breasts and her womanhood.

He groans as his erection grows more, threatening to pull the underwear down itself. "Damn, woman. Are you sure I haven't died and gone to the Maker's side? Because you are an angel, now and always."

She giggles and pulls her hand away from her womanhood and curls her finger at him. "Well, come here to be rewarded for your faith." He couldn't move any faster climbing on top of her as he grabs both breasts, causing her to moan slightly. He starts leaving light kisses on her collarbone and up to her neck before he starts kissing her mouth very deeply. Her hands slide from his back to his waistline and starts to pull his underwear off. He quickly stops fondling her breasts and grab her hands as he pulls his head away, with hesitation on his face. Leliana looks at him confused. "Mal? What's wrong? Didn't you want this?"

He brings her hands up and lightly kisses them. "I do, Leli. I swear on the pinch of the Sacred Ashes I collected, I do. But… it's not you, it's me. You see, not only will this be our first as a couple, it will be my first, period."

She nods her head and lightly grasps his face. "I think I get it. You're nervous about this level of commitment, especially since you're a Warden." He nods. "Well, if it helps, I'm nervous about it too. Only Marjolaine gave me releases, but looking back, she didn't care for me as a person. Not like you. So you will be my true first as well."

He smiles as his eyes water a little. "If you're not ready, I can wait. Just in case you aren't sure."

She smiles at his gentlemen behavior as she shakes her head. "No need to wait, mon chérie. I can't think of anyone else I would be with," she leans in and whispers, "for the rest of my life." She pulls her head back and they both smile before he clashes his lips with hers, as she reached down and removed the last piece of clothing between them. Now with them both fully exposed to each other, Leliana flips Malcolm around on his back and she hovers above him. They just stay like that, looking over each other before Leliana grabs his shaft and she places herself above it and looks down at Malcolm. She could see the hesitation in his eyes as he does a few deep breaths before nodding. She slowly lowers, making sure he enters her completely as they both moan. She stops when she reaches the end. "You… this… I don't… this feels…"

"Natural?" he finishes for her and she nods. "I feel the same… It's like we were destined for each other." She leans forwards and kisses his. "You ready to continue?" She nods as she raises herself up before slamming back down. She does this again, and again, and before long the two have a rhythm going as he bucks up to meet her as she slams down, she moans while he groans.

It doesn't take long before Leliana starts to pant out, "Mal… Mal… Je vais venir…"

He starts panting too. "Hold on, Leli… Hold on…"

They continue to moan and groan as they heard Morrigan say, "Will you tell them to keep it down?" They felt a very satisfying feeling as they both found their release. "Some of us are trying to sleep."

Leliana continues to ride him to make sure they both fully release as Malcolm says, almost out of breath, "I love you, mon chérie."

Leliana slumps down on him as he grabs some covers for them. "Je t'aime aussi, mon chérie." They bask in the afterglow very warm despite the cold mountains as they hold each other. "It felt… right." She presses her head against Malcolm's shoulder as he rubs her back.

Malcolm smiles drunkenly. "I know… You and me… it just feels right and natural. You know, there was one other person who once caught my eye. She was Delilah Howe. My father once thought it would be best for both the Couslands and Howes if we married. We had a few tumbles in the hay, if you know what I mean, but we kept our small clothes on. I used to wonder if I was ready to take it to the next level with her, before the whole betrayal, but now…" he looks down at her, "now I'm glad I never did…" He kisses the top of her head. "Because the one thing of mine that I would not give you, is my tainted blood. In fact, if there was a way I could grow old and die with you, I would do it in a heartbeat. Tu es ma vie et mon tout, mon chérie." (you are my life and my everything)

She smiles at his accent as she kisses his neck. "Et vous ȇtes à moi assi, mon chérie. (and you are mine also) And thank you for telling me this." She goes semi limp as she falls asleep. He smiles and covers them both up before he too falls asleep.

Days later they arrive at Redcliffe Castle and see that Halia and her group haven't arrived yet, so they wait for more days. Almost a week passed before Halia's group arrived and both groups approach Eamon, who seems to have gathered more of his strength. "Are you ready to head to Denerim? If not, I can delay things as best as I can but not too long."

Malcolm looks at Halia, who nods, before looking at Eamon. "There's no point in delay this anymore. We are ready."

Eamon nods. "Excellent. I shall make the arrangements. Let us be off and may the Maker watch over us."

"Denerim is the heart and soul of Ferelden. It was the city of King Calenhad, the birthplace of Andraste. As stubborn as a mabari, and as good to have on your side. If we defeat Loghain here, the rest of the nation will follow us. By calling the Landsmeet, I've struck the first blow. The advantage, for the moment, in ours. He will have little choice but to show himself, to oppose us directly. He will strike back at us. The only question that remains is how soon?"

Malcolm, Alistair, and Eamon are talking as Halia notices three armed humans walking up to them. "Malcolm." He looks over at her, who motions her head towards the approaching group.

The three turn their hands towards the approaching group. Eamon walks a little to the front. "Loghain. This is… an honor, that the regent would find time to greet me personally."

Loghain doesn't look amused. "How could I not welcome a man so important as to call every lord and Ferelden away from his estates while a Blight claws at our land?"

Halia whispers under her breath, "Says the human who has divided it in the first place."

Eamon remains calm. "The Blight is why I'm here. With Cailan dead, Ferelden must have a king to lead it against the darkspawn."

"Ferelden has a strong leader: its queen. And I lead her armies."

Malcolm is mostly calm. "Considering Ostagar, perhaps we need a better general."

Loghain looks at him. "Ah, the Grey Warden recruit. I thought we might meet again. You have my sympathies on what happened to your order. It is unfortunate that they chose to turn against Ferelden."

Malcolm sneers. "I don't accept the sympathies of deserters and regicides."

"You should curb your tongue. This is my city, and no safe place to speak treason. For anyone." He looks at Eamon. "There is talk that your illness left you feeble, Eamon. Some worry that you may no longer be fit to advise Ferelden."

"'Illness?' Why not call your poison by its true name? Not everyone at the Landsmeet will cast aside their loyalties as easily as you and these… sycophants."

Loghain gives a little smirk. "How long you've been gone from court, Eamon! Don't you recognize Rendon How, Arl of Amaranthine…" he looks at Malcolm, who's eye twitches, "and Teyrn of Highever?"

Howe adds, "And current arl of Denerim, after Urien's unfortunate fate at Ostagar. Truly, it is an embarrassment of riches."

Malcolm clenches his fists. "I demand blood rights! This man murdered my family!"

Howe smiles at his actions. "You have no rights. Your family surrendered them when I revealed them to be traitors to the king."

Alistair and Leliana both move to hold Malcolm to keep him from straight up murdering Howe, but it seems like he was calm enough to not do anything. "You think you can slander my family to my face?! I will rip your head off with my bare hands!"

Then the woman spoke up. "You are either very bold or very stupid to threaten the teyrn before witnesses."

Loghain looks at her. "Enough Cauthrien, this is not the time or place." He looks at Eamon. "I had hoped to talk you down from this rash course, Eamon. Our people are frightened: Our king is dead. Our land is under siege. We must be united now, if we are to endure this crisis. Your own sister, Queen Rowan, fought tirelessly to see Ferelden restored. Would you see her work destroyed? You divide our nation and weaken our efforts against the Blight with your selfish ambitions to the throne."

Halia sneers. "He is the one that divided the nation? What efforts can defeat the Blight when you shems have outlawed the Wardens?"

Loghain looks at the Dalish Warden. "So, it seems like the Wardens have accepted a Dalish into their ranks. Cailan depended on the Grey Warden's prowess against the darkspawn, and look how well that ended, my dear. Let us speak of reality, rather in tall tales. Stories will not save us."

Eamon speaks up before Halia could do anything. "I cannot forgive what you've done, Loghain. Perhaps the Maker can, but not I. Our people deserve a king of the Theirin bloodline. Alistair will be the one to lead us to victory in this Blight."

Alistair pipes up. "Oh, is that all I have to do? No pressure…"

Loghain was unamused. "The emperor of Orlais also thought I could not bring him down. Expect no more mercy than I showed him. There is nothing I would not do for my homeland." Halia scoffs at him as he and the other two turn around and walked out.

Eamon looks at the Wardens. "Well, that was… bracing. I didn't expect Loghain to show himself quite so soon."

Halia looks at him. "Why is he doing this?"

"Maker knows. Perhaps he's gone mad. I would have imagined pigs would fly before Loghain Mac Tir would turn against our king."

Leliana looks at Eamon. "Have you known Loghain long, my arl?"

Eamon looks at her, kinda surprised that she is asking him questions. "My sister married King Maric while he was still in exile. At that time, he and Loghain were inseparable. The wild prince who'd never seen the inside of a castle, and the farmer's son. When Loghain joined Maric's rebels, he was just a rawboned boy. But he got on one knee to swear that he would see Ferelden free or die trying."

Malcolm, who has finally calmed down enough, asks, "Now what?"

"We need eyes and ears in the city. Loghain has been here for months. The roots of all his schemes must begin here. The sooner we find them, the better we can turn them to our advantage. Go have a look around and see what you can turn up. Better yet, find the nobles who have arrived for the Landsmeet. Test the waters, see how many will support us. When you're ready to talk strategy, come upstairs to my sitting room. We can lay out our plans for the Landsmeet then." The four all bow at Eamon who bows back before walking off.

Leliana turns to Malcolm, and Alistair guesses what they are gonna talk about so he and Halia leave, joined at the hip. "Mal? You ok?"

He shakes his head as he moves to one of the benches and sits down with Leliana right beside him. "No. Damnit, I thought I was over it." He leans forward and rests his head on his hands. "Damnit, I thought that if I see him, I wouldn't think of murdering him on the spot, but apparently, I'm not that strong…"

Leliana leans over and holds him as best as she can with him wearing his Warden armor. "Don't think that. You kept yourself from killing him. When Zevran mentioned Howe's name you almost killed him on the spot. Face-to-face with him, you only threatened him. You have grown." She leans in and plants a kiss on his cheek. "Trust me, you may not see it, but I do."

He looks at her and smiles. "Thank you, Leli." He gives her a kiss.

A deep chuckle sounds near them, they look and see Oghren walking over. "So, uh… how 'bout a kiss for Oghren?" Malcolm looks at Leliana, who shrugs and walks over to the dwarf and gives him a kiss on his head. "Ah, come on. Give me a kiss like your pretty boy there gave you."

Both Malcolm and Leliana can't help but smile at him. "I'm sorry, but that kiss is only for my 'pretty boy'."

"Ah, well, I bet that elf hasn't gotten any kind of kiss from you."

"Zevran?"

"Yep. The pretty elf boy believes that he can get any woman in our group to sleep with him. Well, good luck I say."

She shakes her head. "Well, I'd like to say that he won't. From what I've seen Halia has become rather close to Alistair, Morrigan is likely to set him on fire, and Wynne… she might just smack him on the head. And other than Malcolm, you are the only one from the group that I gave some kind of kiss to."

"I guess I should consider myself lucky then. Well, I'm gonna go see what kind of booze they have here." He walks off, leaving both Malcolm and Leliana both smiling and shaking their heads.

Malcolm walks up to Leliana. "Well, I'm gonna go to the local tavern to test the waters of the Landsmeet." He cuddles her from behind and kisses her neck, before whispering seductively into her ear. "Unless, you can convince me to stay for what little sunlight we have left…"

She lightly moans. "I think I can come up with a very good reason or two. But, it might take a while… why don't we find your room so I can give a proper explanation of my reasons?

"Mmm… I like the sound of that… besides… I could use a good unwinding after what happened."

She smiles as she takes one of his hands and pulls him along as she finds their room and shut the door behind them.

Hey guys... sorry for the long break. During the summer time, I didn't have that writing spark in me, then college started and I didn't have time to sit down and write. Sorry if the quality of my writing has gone down any. And this is the first time I won't any kind of lemon, so bare with me. But now that I'm back at least for a while, I realize how close to the end of the game we are... I am gonna do the 'other campaign' stuff Golems of whatstheplace, and Witch Hunt, then end it with Awakening, and I might give some snippets of Malcolm's and Leliana's personal life in-between the stuff and after the end of Awakening. Thank you for your patience and unfortunately, I don't have my laptop back and I doubt I will get it back.