Before we left, I spoke to Bodahn. Gave him the two packs that had been planned for him and Sandal.

"Oh, thank you!" A gleeful smile as he accepted them.

"No problem. I owe you so much, from traveling with us during the Blight."

"No, you don't! If anything, we owe you! We sold so many things, found so much more, and sold those, too."

"Puh-lease." I waved off his words.

"So, will you be joining us, then?"

I hadn't planned on it originally, but... "Never say never" really did mean a lot, when it came to me.

"Yeah. I want to make sure everyone makes it back in one piece."

"Oh, er."

I glanced over toward the person trying to make their way through the people gearing up for the expedition.

"Excuse me." Breaking away, I headed toward him. "Is everything okay?"

"I'm glad you're still here." Holding out an envelope. "This letter came for you, and I was hoping I'd be able to catch you before you left."

Exchanging the mail for a gold coin, I murmured my thanks, ripping it open. It was from Zevran, saying he'd gotten my last letter, and that word had spread to Antiva in small pockets at the time of him writing it. Soon, it would be difficult to walk around without being recognized. A warning for me.

I sighed, already feeling the effects of how word travels. Feeling the eyes of people milling about on me.

The familiar gleam of recognition.

A deep voice tugged at my focus. "She keeps elven servants."

It was a response to something, maybe part of a conversation I'd missed the beginning of.

Without glancing up, I shook my head. "Not my servant, nor my slave, before you start down that line of thinking. I've hired him, fair and square. He can choose to quit whenever he wants. And I believe his wages are more than enough compensation for what I ask him to do."

"I have my freedom, ser." The eagerness in his voice, to defend me or himself, I wasn't sure. "I am able to help others in the Alienage, with the coin she pays me." It sounded like both, and that made me smile. I was also more than a little proud of him, that he wasn't just hording it.

I'd made a good choice, with him.

"Hard to argue with that, Broody." Varric laughed.

Fenris stared at the boy for a long moment, before grunting and turning away.

"All right, everybody!" Bartrand clapped his hands, demanding our attentions. "Let's head out!"

"Feynriel, write a response back, telling him Anders and I are in the Deep Roads, okay? And please check in on my place from time to time."

"Of course."

I'd already left behind a bag of coin on the coffee table for him, with a note that said it was his payment for the time I was gone.

Along with a book on the fundamentals of magic and how mages in the Circles learn to control theirs.

Call it a hunch. I knew he was hiding something, and if his nightmares were anything to go by, he might need some help. Along with someone who he could trust that wasn't part of the Alienage.

With that done, I fell in line with the rest of the party, and we made our way out of Kirkwall. Heading toward the Deep Roads.

...

Several Days Later

The Deep Roads...

Everything looked the same, yet it was hard not to admire each new statue that broke up the monotony. If for no other reason than to feel as if we were making any sort of progress.

I'd forgotten how everything looked the same. How time felt like it was at a standstill.

Ugh.

Bartrand called for a rest at some point during one of the long marches we were on, when another dwarf ran from farther ahead. Saying there'd been a collapse.

A glance at the maps proved there was another way, although it would be potentially more dangerous. No one had scouted that path because it was narrower.

Just as he was about to punch the messenger, I stepped forward.

"You've got two Grey Wardens here." A reminder.

He whirled on us. "That's right! Time to prove you're good business partners. Everyone else, set camp!"

"I hate the blighted Deep Roads..." Anders muttered, loud enough for even me to hear, and I was standing a good few feet away.

"No one forced you to come along." I rolled my eyes. "If it makes you feel better, I planned to go alone. I was just throwing it out there."

"Alone? There's so five other fighters here, you know."

I stepped away, melting into the shadows.

"Yeah, but can any of you do that?" The mage pointed out. It was good to know he was still on my side, even with his rough temperament lately. And the outcome of the Karl situation.

"Yeah, no. I don't think so." Marian said as I stealthed away.

I could see them talking amongst themselves, but I was already far enough, taking my first step into the side passage, that I couldn't hear what was being said.

A medium-sized group of darkspawn, a mix of mostly hurlock with a genlock or two.

When the last one shattered, my use of Winter's Grasp rendering them immobile, the little band of merry men entered the corridor.

"Andraste's ass." My fellow Warden exclaimed at the sight in front of them.

I still wasn't visible, my raised brow and the hand on my hip going unnoticed.

"How far ahead do you think she got?" Varric stroked his chin, looking around. Deep in thought.

Revealing myself where I stood, I waved. "Fancy seeing y'all here."

"Commander!" Anders had the grace to look embarrassed. "Uh. We, uh."

"We didn't want you to have all the fun!" Marian laughed, stepping over shards of darkspawn.

"Well, from what I can tell, there's a decent amount of darkspawn in these tunnels, so... You're welcome to fight with me."

"I can't believe I'm going to get to fight alongside the Hero of Ferelden." Carver murmured softly, staring at me.

"I'm not all that great."

"Says the girl who took down that archdemon all on her own." The dwarf spoke up again, throwing around fanciful tales.

"Please." I rolled my eyes. "It was a group effort. Don't believe everything you hear. I was out of commission for, like, a week afterward."

The deeper we went, the stranger it got.

Veins of lyrium, things I hadn't seen in previous underground trips, were scattered throughout the area.

Darkspawn emissaries... Kirkwall was lucky it hadn't been attacked from below during the Blight, considering how many of the creatures were under its city.

A humongous giant spider dropping from the ceiling, along with lots of smaller giant ones. Bleh.

And to top it all off, there was Sandal, his back to us. Scratching his butt.

Dead darkspawn littering the ground around him. An ogre, frozen solid, next to him.

"Not on the list of things I thought I'd see today." I laughed, calling out. "Hey, there, Sandal!"

"Hello." He greeted as he turned around.

"What happened?"

The dwarven boy held something out. A rune.

"Boom."

"And how did you do that?" A gesture toward the ogre.

His tone was matter-of-fact. "Not enchantment."

And then he walked off, back the way we'd come. Shrugging at the others, I continued the press forward.

That was Sandal, for you.

An enigma.

He was very close to being on the other side of the collapse, though. Just a few feet farther, and we found ourselves on the main road again.

Of course, there were golems.

"Look alive." I warned. "Those are usually triggered by the presence of someone or something, and they have a mean right hook. Also, there's a few darkspawn ahead."

They came out of the doorway just after I'd spoken.

"Hold on." Marian held up a hand, glancing toward her brother. "Garrett?"

Fire came to life between his hands, and he threw a fireball at the hurlocks. They went down pretty quickly, from that alone.

More came from behind us, and I let him take care of them.

Surprisingly, thankfully, the golems didn't activate.

Between the two of us, we cleared the path to the door of a thaig.

The one we were looking for, perhaps?

Yep!

Along with a dragon.

"It's a wonder they aren't extinct!" I exclaimed, shaking my head. Dodging to the side as it let out a gout of fire towards us.

A few arrows from the dwarf piercing its wings. Anders used an ice spell to keep it on the ground and in place. After that, it was as simple as Carver and Marian whacking it with their weapons.

A quick perusal of the room showed it was what we were looking for, and we retreated back to the camp. Told Bartrand the good news.

I mostly tuned them out on the way back through to the thaig, mostly wondering about a powerful energy I'd felt on the fringes of my senses in there. Kind of curious about it, but not wanting to ask if we could check it out. Also, not really wanting to break off on my own, only for them to come after me again.

When we arrived, he proceeded to tell us it was just a resting point. That we had to go farther, to find the one we were actually looking for. My eye twitched.

Another camp. More darkspawn. If we had to camp a third time, I was going to just gonna commandeer this whole thing and tell them no one was going any further until after we'd cleared the entire pathway. Because screw this.

Luckily, we our second time going to Varric's brother, we had the best news possible.

This was finally our thaig.

I watched, perched on the side of the dais, as Bartrand darted this way and that, inspecting every piece of treasure. Wondered idly if individual carts would begin the journey on their own or if they'd be waiting for all of them to be full first.

And then, the bastard locked us in, saying he didn't want to split the earnings.

Idiot.

"Idiot." I rolled my eyes, hopping down. "He's going to be in for it, when we get out of here."

"Are we busting our way out?" Anders tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I don't know earth magic."

Garrett raised a hand. "I do."

"I do, too, but no." A shake of my head. A grin. "We're going out through the back, so he's extra surprised."

"We don't know where it comes out, though."

I waved a rolled up piece of parchment in front of me, the grin growing.

"You nicked the map?" Marian's eyebrows shot up.

"Of course." Strolling over to the door that was blocking our exit out the back, I motioned toward Garrett. "You wanna do the honors? Nothing too loud or flashy. Don't want to tip them off."

Throughout the entire journey, Fenris hadn't said a word. He still didn't. He was good at that. Should've been a rogue.

The door led straight into the den of what looked like an earth elemental and its little minions. After several of them had fallen to us, the elemental revealed itself.

"Enough. You have proven your mettle. I would not see these creatures harmed without need."

"It talks...?" Anders looked at a loss.

I was more concerned about the pull from the... red lyrium? It had the same crawling feel as anything with the taint. A faint song coming from it, similar to the archdemon's.

"It's not like we weren't defending ourselves." Carver spat out.

"They will not assault you further, not without my permission."

What did it want? Whatever it was, I had a bad feeling, and my gut was always right.

Snapping my fingers, I froze it solid.

"Wha-"

"It's clearly a demon, guys. C'mon." Rolling my eyes, I hit it with the hilt of Vigil. It shattered to a million pieces. "Who knows what it would've wanted, but I can guess that it wouldn't be anything good."

An abomination took its place, sending us flying backward with a wave of energy.

"What an asshole!" I shouted, getting to my feet. Watched everyone else do the same.

Garrett threw a fireball, and Anders hit it with a few bolts of lightning. It went down easy enough.

"You did attack it."

"Are you on its side, now?" I mock glared, crossing my arms. "Should've left you at home, if that's the case."

He and I shared a laugh, the rest of them shaking their heads at us.

"Maker's breath, these tunnels go on forever!" Marian groaned, when the doorway behind the thing led to yet another tunnel.

We trudged onward, until finally coming to another, more intricate door. As soon as Carver, picking up the rear, passed through, it sealed behind us.

Something moved in front of us, rocks whooshing toward each other.

That stupid elemental was back, bigger than before. And glowing red, instead of blue, this time.

Guess I'd made it mad.

For all its effort and anger toward us, toward me, it only weathered a few good hits.

"Wow." Varric had walked farther into the room, letting out a low whistle. "Look at what it was guarding."

Several chests, all open and spilling jewels and gold coins, were tucked away into a corner.

"We've got even more to add to our wealth." Marian smiled, picking up a couple of necklaces and letting them slide back into the chest.

"Oh, look!" Varric held up the map, pointing at the large corridor ahead of us. "We're on track!"

Something...

I pulled the Warden aside, murmuring softly. "Anders. Do you feel that?"

He concentrated for a moment, nodding slowly. "What... What is that?"

My eyes surveyed the people gathered with us. "One of them..." Gaze drawn to one person in particular. "has the taint."

"No..."

I made my way over to him. "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure." A confused glance.

"What're your thoughts on the Grey Wardens?"

Confusion became admiration. "Your order is full of great warriors. Everyone speaks very highly of them."

"What if you had to be one?" I asked softly.

He froze, eyes searching mine. "...What?"

"During one of the fights, did you get blood in your mouth or in a wound?"

"I... Maybe?"

"Guys." I called for everyone to stop. "We don't have a whole lot of time, here."

"What? But we have supplies for another few days, for each of us." Varric frowned.

"Carver has the taint."

"No!" Marian screamed, shaking her head. Stumbling back a few steps.

Garrett's expression tightened.

"You saw Bethany dying, but you didn't see this?!"

"I saw Bethany refusing to partake of the Joining, and that killed her. There's no way I could've known it would've transferred over to him, instead. Not without being on the lookout for it."

The elder mage twin wrapped an arm around his sister, shushing her gently. "It's not her fault, Mare."

"I wouldn't mind being a Warden."

"The sooner we do this, the better." I motioned for him and Anders to follow me. "We'll be back."

"Whoa. You're going to do it... here?" The other Warden blanched. "Are you sure we don't have time?"

"I can sense other Wardens nearby, but... During the time we've been talking you've," I looked up at the younger Hawke. "gotten worse. It's growing quickly."

He wavered, stumbling over his own feet, even though he wasn't moving.

"Sit down." I wanted to make it as easy as possible for him.

Grasping my necklace, I unclasped it and broke the magic seal on the pendant. It wasn't a lot, but it already had the archdemon and darkspawn blood mixed.

Anders did the same, holding his out, too. Giving a grateful smile, I took it. Poured one after the other down his throat.

He immediately fell unconscious, and we breathed a sigh of relief.

I went around the corner, to the others, motioning. "He'll live, but he's out cold for now."

We "stumbled" upon Stroud, with Anders and I leading the charge. I'd explained that he'd have to go with them, to be taught what it means to be a Grey Warden, and because, simply, there were so few of us.

Neither of them had liked that bit of information, but with Garrett comforting Marian and saying he would be the one to tell their mother, we left Carver with the exploration team of Wardens.