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A hand brushed her cheek. Without opening her eyes, she reached up to touch it. It felt calloused, warm, and touched her with a careful gentleness. She turned and smiled into it, she mumbled something unintelligible and hummed low. The hand stiffened and broke away.

The Inquisitor's eyes flew open, meeting Alistair's gaze. He was sitting on a barrel next to a cot where she was currently sleeping with a warm wool blanket folded over her.

"I didn't mean to wake you." Alistair whispered and briefly made eye contact, then averted his eyes to the floor. The Grey Warden's eyes were bloodshot. He wore a clean shirt and had a blanket draped over his shoulders.

"Alistair." She sat up and reached out to him pulling him into a tight hug. He lifted himself off of the barrel to lean forward into the embrace. "It's good to see you awake." Gwen whispered into his ear. He held her gently and breathed deeply. Her chest tightened and she didn't want to let go.

He grunted in pain. "As much as I'm enjoying this... it hurts like hell." Immediately she released him and their bodies parted, settling again into their respective spaces.

Raising her hands to her mouth in embarrassment, she cried out an apology. "I am so sorry! It's just that the last time I saw you, you were laying on the table, barely breathing."

"Well, I feel better now. At least in part." His voice was raspy and he looked awful, but he managed to smile at her. "It's good to see you too."

Varric appeared, clean and sober from the far side of the room. "Don't let me interrupt anything, please." He winked suggestively at Gwen. "I'm just on my way out."

The Inquisitor sat up straight and a red hue painted her face. She stood up quickly. "AsIshouldbetoo! There's a lot of wooork-!" Gwen squeaked at the last word and was met with a chill as she stood, looking down at her bare legs. "Andraste's flaming ass! Who took my leggings off?!"

"Ah. That would be Solas. You had an arrow graze your leg and he didn't want it to get infected." Varric grinned and stared appreciatively at Gwen. She wore an over-sized cotton shirt that hung just at the tops of her thighs, nearly revealing her smallclothes. She quickly grabbed the blanket from the cot to cover them.

"You couldn't have mentioned this before I stood revealing my state of undress?" She yelled.

Varric shrugged, grinning.

"I think I need to have a few words with Solas." She seethed and walked toward a pile of clothing on the long table where Alistair laid the night before.

Varric sauntered over to Alistair, whispering, "Boy, you really got an eye-full, eh?" He nudged him. Alistair's eyes were still fixed on the spot where Gwen's backside had stood minutes ago.

"Mmhm." The Warden hummed. Varric just laughed loudly.

"Could you two stop lollygagging and help me find some blasted pants!" Gwen raged then froze in place. Outside there was the sound of voices and movement.

"Dear Maker, I think they intend to come in here." Gwen looked at the men frantically.

With no luck finding clothes, she pulled the blanket tighter around her waist and walked to the door as Cassandra opened it. The Inquisitor's foot was placed firmly against it to stop it from opening more than a few inches.

"What the—" The Seeker cursed and peered through the crack in the door. "Oh. You're awake?" She said with surprise. "And Alistair?"

"He's awake too."

"Varric was supposed to come and get me immediately when you woke." Her tone was biting.

"It was only a few minutes ago, I'm sure he would have been on his way had he not stopped to ogle me."

Cassandra looked confused. "What are you saying, Inquisitor?"

Gwen spoke through gritted teeth, "I'm saying, Cassandra, that I am currently indecent."

"Oh." She turned and ushered away the men who followed behind her.

Gwen turned to the dwarf. "You. Out!"

"Hey! What about him?" Varric replied, pointing to Alistair.

The Inquisitor huffed. "He's injured and should not be moving about. Otherwise he'd be out too."

"Fine, fine. He was ogling too, just so you know!" Varric walked out the door as Cassandra walked in.

Gwen shot Alistair a quizzical look, but his eyebrows raised innocently and he shook his head.

As Cassandra entered the room, along with another woman, she spoke, "Alistair, turn around."

He stood slowly and obeyed her command. The Seeker brought a long robe and placed it across Gwen's shoulders. She slid her arms into their place and tied the sash around her waist.

"Thank you."

Cassandra called out. "She's decent again, Warden." Alistair turned and gingerly took a seat in the large wooden chair now facing the rest of the room. The pain on his face as he moved was unmistakable.

"I'll go get Solas." The Seeker turned to leave, then looked back as if forgetting something.

"Oh. Inquisitor, this is Emilie." She pointed to the woman. "Hawke arrived hours ago with a small group of soldiers from the North Gate camp who volunteered to help us here. There are now fourteen of us."

"That's wonderful news."

"That's not the best news, though."

"No?"

"She is here to take you to the bath."

"Truly?" The Inquisitor gasped. Cassandra nodded. "Maker be praised. I am filthy." She laughed loudly and heard a similar eruption from behind her where the Warden sat.

"No dilly-dallying. I still haven't gotten one." The Seeker gave Gwen a firm look.

.

One of the towers of the keep had a stone tub in it which had a drain leading to the outer wall. It was brilliant design, Gwen thought as she flowed her arms through the water and let it move around her. The bathtub was enormous. There was room for two other people at least.

True to her word, Gwen took a relatively short bath. She made sure to scrub every inch of herself with the vanilla soap that Emilie had given her. Twice, she reheated the water with a fire ward cast onto the stone tub floor, allowing it to soothe her sore muscles.

Gwen finished and stepped into the outstretched towel that Emilie held up and sighed deeply and contentedly. While she dried herself off and started toweling her hair, the girl laid out some clothes for her.

Another woman came in with a full bucket of hot water. She drained the tub in minutes and began filling it again with the hot fresh water.

Emilie pointed at the garments. "Your other clothes are being washed, so I've brought you some new armor, though it's only the soldier issued set, Herald. Not what you're used to I'm sure."

"Please, Emilie. Call me Gwen." As soon as her hair was rid of the excess water, she handed the towel to the waiting soldier. She slipped on a fresh pair of smalls and her breast band and turned to face the woman, braiding her brown hair into a long plait as she spoke. "If these clothes are worn by my soldiers, then I'm proud to wear them as well."

The soldier smiled warmly and exited the room, bowing as she did.

Gwen was surprised at how comfortable the soldier garb actually was. It was loose, warm, and it was lightly padded to protect every inch of her body. The last thing she did before leaving the room was slip her own pendant of Andraste back under her shirt. In a moment of recollection, she scooped up Alistair's amulet which lay on the bed.

When she emerged from the bathing room, Alistair, who was next in line, stood to the side of the door and called out to her, mistaking her for one of her people by her garb.

"Soldier, just how long is her worship, going to take? It's been nearly an hour and there are other people who'd like to—Oops." Gwen turned to face him, grinning at his mistake.

She walked up to him and apologized. "I'm sorry. It just felt so good. They're filling it back up now." She paused, thinking. " In fact, I'll do you a favor."

She dropped her pack and rushed into the room again where there were two soldiers taking turns carrying hot water from the fire to the room.

"Just bring it in cold."

They pumped the water into buckets and brought it in cold. Within minutes, the bath was filled and Alistair came in to see what the commotion was about.

"Gwen, It's cold. You're not going to make me take a cold bath… are you?" He put his hand on his chin and lifted an eyebrow. "Is this because I was ogling you earlier?"

"No." She rolled her eyes, stifling a chuckle. "Just wait and watch."

Gwen walked over to the cold tub of water, rolled up her sleeve and put a hand into it. Once submerged she readied her magic, to which Alistair jolted back, surprised. She cast another larger fire ward spell onto the base of the stone tub and soon it was steaming hot.

Alistair rolled his eyes when he walked past her, taking his shirt off. "Show off." She caught a glimpse of his side and abdomen, which was still bruised purple, but there was also a yellowing which meant his body was healing itself.

Her fist tightened around the amulet she held and she called out to the Warden. "Wait a moment."

The man turned back around to her, confused. "What is it?"

Gwen trotted toward him and held out her hand, dropping the necklace into his when it hovered underneath hers. "I cleaned this for you when Solas was healing you. It was covered in blood."

"Thank you." A crease formed on his brow as he glanced down to the amulet in his hand. When the crease faded, he chuckled softly. "I'd hoped it was lying around here somewhere. I have a knack for losing it."

The Inquisitor laughed and took a few steps backwards. "I should let you bathe."

Lifting his eyes, he nodded a few times to her, stowing the amulet in his trouser pocket.

"Enjoy your bath." She called out as she shut the door behind her.