Tabris POV

Kenai, Daya and I had been in the Hinterlands for over a week trying to survive. It wasn't hard; Kenai was Dalish so living off the land was as easy as talking for him. He was the youngest of our small group, him being 17 while Daya was 23 and I was 21, but that didn't stop us from appointing him the group leader. At least until we got out of the forest, then he said I could lead, neither him nor Daya were good at the whole 'human civilization' thing.

After being lost 90% of the time during our field trip in the forest after fleeing Ostager, we had finally found the Imperial Highway. We set off in the direction of Lothering, one of the only settlements Kenai and I know of, he thought we would probably make it there before dinner. We had been eating squirrels and other wildlife for the past few days and I was looking forward to some good ol' Fereldan stew with the delicious pieces of grey, boiled meat. The only good part of our adventure was that Kenai taught us how the Dalish trap and skin animals.

We just stepped off the Highway to go around a broken part when a dark Mabari hound ran out from the underbrush and barked at me.

Wait a minute… I remember him.

"Andrastes ass! This is the Mabari I helped at Ostagar; you know the one I had you find those flowers for?" I looked pointedly at Kenai while squatting down to pet the dog. "Hey boy, what're you doing here?" I only received a bark as an answer. "Wanna come with us?" He barked happily and wagged his tail. "I'll take that as a yes. Hmm, you're going to need a name aren't you, boy?" I thought for a few moments before I came up with the best name for him, I laughed as I said it. "How do you like Barkspawn?" I heard Daya chuckle and Kenai sigh. I stood up with my hands on my hips and my smile wide. "It's perfect. Welcome aboard our little gang of deserters."

We continued up the Imperial Highway until we saw Lothering, only one obstacle, which was taken care of fast. Those bandits didn't stand a chance, not against a jacked dwarf, two angry elves and a full grown Marbari war hound.

We went to the Chanters' board, hoping to get some money for real food. And to help, of course.

After killing the bandits by the creek, saving some dwarves, and handing in the bounty; we went to the tavern.

Sadly, Barkspawn had to stay outside. When we entered we came face to face with Loghain's men.

"Hey! You're the Grey Wardens that killed the King!" What? "You'll pay for what you've done!" I don't know what he was drinking before we got here but it must have been strong. I unsheathed my dagger the same time he bought out his mace. He's lucky the Chantry sister told us to stop or he would have lost more than his life, my dagger was inches away from castrating him.

"Please! No one has to die here! Let them go." She had a strange but smooth accent. Was she crazy? But, letting them live and having them run back to Loghain with their tails between their legs was a tempting idea.

"Alright. Guess what Fuckboy, you're free to go." He started to thank me and stand up, I wasn't done yet. I made it clear when my dagger was at his throat, halting his progress. "Take a message to Loghain. Tell him the Grey Wardens know what really happened and that we are coming to get revenge for our friends."

Daya spoke up after I finished, "You seem to have forgotten that we were in the battle too. Tell the nug-humper he won't get away with this, or we will find you, and send you back to your 'Maker' painfully."

"Make sure you thank the pretty lady that won you your life." They nearly tripped over each other to thank the woman after I threw my dagger past one mans ear, causing it to bleed. That wasn't even the best part, a server was walking slowly behind where the men were with a tray of ale. The dagger slipped through the handle of one cup and pinned it to the wall, spilling some ale but leaving most in the cup.

Holy shit. I didn't even mean to do that, but it was the coolest thing I've ever done! I hope everybody saw that, because I will probably never be able to do it again.

I casually walked over and grabbed the ale, pulling my dagger from the wall and flipped a silver coin to the waiter. That seemed to have done it, the men ran out of the tavern like a bat out of the Deep Roads, as Daya would say.

I chuckled and took a large sip of the ale before turning to the Sister. I noticed she had red hair like me; but a slightly lighter red, and the bluest eyes I've ever seen- bluer than Rosa's. She started talking before I could even open my mouth.

"Thank you for not killing them. You are Grey Wardens, No?" I nodded dumbly after a mental dispute on whether or not I should lie. "Good. That is why I'm coming with you."

"Aha… what?" she looked doubtful and shy when she continued.

"The Maker told me so. I had a dream, a vision. He told me to go with you. You will need my help fighting the Blight." I stared at her for a few moments before chugging the last bit of ale and letting my sarcastic side out. I usually used sarcasm to get out of difficult situations; it was my backup plan that never failed.

"The Maker's on my side? Welcome aboard then!" I threw my arms in the air, releasing the tankard and causing it to go flying across the tavern. I didn't really know why I said she could come but I suppose it's better than saying no and potentially feeling the wraith of the Maker. The sister's face lit up immediately.

"Are you drunk already? Why would we bring her with us?" Kenai spoke up for the first time since we entered Lothering.

"We will need help if we are to stop Loghain. Not to mention a Blight." Shit. How are we supposed to stop a Blight? There were only three Grey Wardens that we know of. "Has anyone come from Ostagar in the past week or so?" The sister looked thoughtful before answering.

"Yes. I believe there were a few stragglers that came from the south, I believe they were Ash Warriors. But other than that, I don't know. OH! My friends found one of their cousins on the battle field! Her name is Zoey, she was in the Kings army. They got here together a few days ago as well." Wait Zoey?

"Is her name Zoey Amell?" I needed to know if our sister was alive.

"Yes that is her name! Did you know her?" Hell yeah I did.

"She's a Grey Warden like us, we thought she died." At that the sister became slightly suspicious.

"She never mentioned being a Grey Warden. She doesn't even have any weapons." I knew that was a test. She knew she was in the army and that she didn't have weapons, she must know she's a mage. I rolled my eyes at her trying to protect our little friend; well Zoey was taller than me, but only barely. She was a short human. In fact, this woman was a short human too.

"That's because she doesn't need weapons, and you know why." The sister's eyes lit up when I passed her test. Wait, I should stop calling her sister. I need her name if she will be traveling with us. "What's your name anyways?"

"Oh, where are my manners, you may call me Leliana." She added a curtsy at the end, fancy. Well I suppose it's my turn.

"And you can call me Kaylee. This is Daya and Kenai." They each nodded a greeting as I introduced them. "Now take us to Zoey." The sister, Leliana, nodded and motioned for us to follow. Barkspawn followed us out.

We left in the direction of the row of houses and as we were walking I scanned the town. I saw a tall woman that I recognized as Astrid Hawke from Ostagar. Now that I can see her face better, I noted that she couldn't have been that much older than me. She smiled at Leliana and gave us a nod from her spot leaning on the fence.

"That's Astrid Hawke, the oldest of Zoey's cousins." We would have stopped to talk but we were in a hurry. I looked at Astrid again and saw her eyes were focused on something near the bridge. I followed her eyes and saw a scantily clad woman with black hair in a bun and yellow eyes much like my own. Oh! I remember her, Morgan or Megan or something, she was in the wilds and took us to her mother to get the treaties. She had her arms crossed and seemed to be glaring in the direction of a house. Eh, not my problem.

A mabari ran from behind the house and Barkspawn ran towards it. Wait... that mabari is familiar, it has a harness and shield on it's back. I gasped when it clicked that that dog must be Rosa's dog Duke.

I continued to follow Leliana but she had stopped. I looked in front of us and only saw long dark brown hair and a piece of a blue skirt run behind the building Megan was glaring at. Leliana looked back at me confused and pointed at the house. "I just saw her run behind that house. I will go change into my traveling clothes and say my farewells, I will see you again in about an hour." Oh yeah, she coming with us. Leliana walked away and we jogged towards the house. I was getting my hopes up, that never ends well.

"Holy shit," I whispered as my crew came around the corner to see not only one, but three of the Wardens we thought were dead. "Small world, Eh?" I said that much louder and the three of them turned towards me.

"Well, slap my ass and call me a nug, you guys are alive!" Daya walked towards them with her arms open, arms that were soon full of a jumping Zoey. Even Kenai smiled. Wait, he smiled? I had to do a double take, he had a nice smile. He walked forward and took Alistair's arm in his own, must have been a man thing. I walked up to Rosa and gave her a tight hug.

"It's damn good to see you Elissa, how're you holding up?" I whispered it so only she could hear. I saw the red eyes, I knew she was crying. She pulled away smiling though, that was a good thing.

"I'm better now that I know it isn't just Alistair and I." she gave my hand a squeeze. I just realized that she almost lost everyone again and my face fell. I saw it happen the first time, then not a week later, it happened again. She must have seen the look on my face because she grabbed my shoulders. "Hey, don't." I nodded and turned to our group.

"Wow. Today got a lot better really fast." Everyone nodded. "Now, to get down to business, we need a plan of action-" Wait a minute, Rosa and Alistair were on top of a tower, and that tower was full of darkspawn. How the hell did they get off it?

Apparently Kenai was thinking the same thing, "Hold on… You two were on top of a tower that became overrun by darkspawn." He stated slowly, his Dalish accent rolling the syllables. We all looked directly at Rosa and Alistair. The two Wardens we were interrogating swallowed and glanced at each other. "How did you get off?" They managed to look guilty, and that made me even more curious.

Rosa spoke first, "Well… we… um, we almost died and… do you remember the women from the wilds? Morrigan and her mother?" That was her name. We nodded, how could we have forgotten? "Well, her mother is Flemeth, the witch of the wilds….." Kenai looked extremely alarmed at that,

"Asha'bellanar? She is a very dangerous witch; tell me you did not make a deal with her?" Rosa and Alistair shared a worried glance. Alistair continued the story.

"Well, we didn't exactly make a deal with her, she just flew to the top of the tower and picked up our bodies and healed us. Then she told us to take Morrigan when we left and to stop the blight, by ourselves. No pressure." That's the name, Morrigan.

Kenai had an unreadable expression so I ignored him. We have to get this show on the road. "Amazing, you should write a book. Now that that's cleared up, we have a nation depending on us. And people think we killed the King." That earned me two loud 'WHAT?'s from my two favorite Wardens. "Well it's not like I started the rumor. Loghain did. Now, we need to do things around here and find Leliana." I sighed that last part. It wasn't like I hated her, I just would prefer if she would take her craziness and stay far away from my friends.

"You know Leliana?" Zoey's face reminded me of that little boy we passed: Confused and innocent.

"Yep. She's coming with us." I said as I turned away and walked back around the house. When Zoey tried to ask more questions I told her to ask Leliana when we found her.

I walked back to the bridge, not letting the relief that overcame me when I saw the other Wardens overwhelm me. I played it off as being a casual relief but I am so damn thankful they survived.

We almost had to stop a blight with three new recruits, we would have really let down Fereldan. I let out a deep breath. Thank the Maker Rosa and Alistair survived, if anyone could rally an army it would be the Cousland girl. As a side note, Kenai and I should talk to her about that. She may still not want the group to know about her heritage, but I would like to call her Elissa again.

I waited by the bridge for Leliana to come back from the Chantry. I watched our group follow Zoey back to the house that must belong to her aunt. I waited for a few more minutes before I felt a tap on my shoulder. Instinct almost made me break their nose, but self-control forced me to turn around before I did anything rash.

When I turned around I saw a woman in leather armour, damn did she fill out that armour well. I looked her up and down before my gaze settled on her head of red hair. Woah, if I knew Leliana had curves like that under her chantry robes I would have… I shook that thought from my head. Leliana smiled sweetly at me.

"Come on, let's go find Zoey." I followed her to the Hawke residence. It was a quaint little cottage near the edge of the town.

By the time we got inside, the woman who I assumed was the Hawke mother, was shuffling around the large group of armoured warriors. Leliana followed her in to the kitchen, leaving me to sit in the empty chair Rosa was saving for me. Now would be a good time to decide our next course of action.

Authors Note:

So now they're all together again! This chapter isn't that long either, I wrote a 9000+ doc for my beta and I considered just dropping it onto you guys but I decided to split it up by POV. There's going to be two more around this length when they're in Lothering.

Kenai's accent is the same Welsh/Swansea accent that Merril has.