They weren't just rumours. I had exchanged an uneasy look with Malcolm when we were told that Ostagar fell and that the Wardens had betrayed the king, leaving him to die at the surge of Darkspawn that had attacked the hold.

I had a feeling there was more to that, but I kept my thoughts to myself. For now, at least.

After that delivery, we quickly scurried home. If what they heard was true, they'd need to move soon. They only lived a few days from Ostagar and the Korcari Wilds.

So, we packed everything we could into the cart, including the children, Rosemary and Lily (the two other horses we had besides Holly) were saddled up for me and Maxine to use and we were off.

We didn't exactly have a path planned for where we will be going, but we'd just follow the road.

We traveled for a fortnight before we decided to settle in a forest near a town called Whales. Which is in all honesty, kinda funny since the town was probably smaller than a whale and I'm reasonably certain they didn't actually know what a whale was. Also, because of that place in England called Whales. Or was it Wales? I don't remember. I don't particularly care, either.

The point is, we took up residence in the forest. Which meant we actually had to build the house. So we (as in me and Malcolm) spent time chopping down trees and moving said trees to the clearing we'd choose and then cutting them down to workable pieces.

The house was about halfway done when the Wardens came. Not to the house directly, but rather Whales. I'd been in town at the time, with Amber and Maxwell (To give Maxine and Malcolm some alone time), selling some bear fur I'd gotten from a kill a few days past when I saw them.

"Sensei! Look!" The kids had taken to calling me that after they'd ask what the word for "Teacher" was in all the languages I knew. I still don't know why they chose the Japanese one, though. Actually, I think they told me once that it was because it sounded nice and was fun to say.

I followed Maxwell's pointing finger to see an odd group of people consisting of a female Dwarf, three humans (One male, two female), and a towering silver skinned man with white hair. I'm going to go out on a limb on that one and assume he's a Qunari because he looked about six inches taller than myself and as I had stated before, I was seven feet in height and thus not a small one. They also had a dog, you can't forget the dog. (A.N I totally forgot the dog)

I zeroed in on the symbols on the male humans chest and the Dwarf's and I nodded in understanding. "Ah. Grey Wardens then. I'd assumed they had all died in Ostagar. But I suppose these are a few lucky bastards."

"I wonder how they survived. Or if what everyones been saying is true." Maxwell mused, looking at the group. He nodded and I sighed deeply, rolling my eyes. "I'ma go ask." He decided, marching forward towards the oddball group even if all the other villagers moved out of the way.

Amber and I exchanged looks, "Boys." before giggling a little and quickly following after the other brat.

"So, did you guys betray the king? Because that's what everyones been saying, but Sensei says not to believe everything I hear, cause sometimes it's just a bunch of propaganda and horse shit." Maxwell's voice filtered through my ears as we approached, voice so obviously innocent it was fake.

I snorted, grinning, "Child, you need to quit being so damn blunt. You're gonna make someone choke one of these days." I paused, "At least around Maxine. They'd probably spit fire if you said something a little too blunt around 'em."

The Wardens stared at me in shock and bafflement, before the black haired human woman in a skimpy shirt spoke up, "Did you run afoul with Shifting Magic?"

I barked out a laugh and grinned again at her, "Ha! No. But you wouldn't be the first to ask me that. Quite a few passing Templars and Mages thought the same. I was born this way."

"But, seriously, what did happen? Something about the story that was spread always felt off to me." I did want to know.

The Dwarven woman stepped forward and explained that they (Alistair and Natia, was the blonde males and the Dwarven woman's name, respectively) had been sent to light a tower that would alert Loghain and his army to charge, but that the tower hadn't been clear as they had been told. That when they finally managed to light the tower, instead of facing the darkspawn as he should have, Loghain turned his armies around and left.

That honestly pissed me off. Loyalty is something I valued more than anything, and for someone to so callously discard that? Yeah, I'd love to rip out that bastards throat. I huffed, "What a fucking asshole."

I uploaded twice, cause I forgot to yesterday.