Chapter 30

"Maker's Breath, look at it all!"

Brother Genitivi chuckled quietly at Alistair's words. "What I would have given to see this hall in all its splendour, as it was meant to be. But still. Sweep away the ice and snow and traces of beauty remain."

The grand hall of the Temple of Andraste, though covered in many centuries worth of dust and ice, was still breathtaking. The towering stone columns held aloft the vaulted roof. Leliana had to crane her head back painfully to see the whole thing.

"Is your leg alright, Brother?" she asked as the others milled about, taking in the scene.

Genitivi chuckled again and removed his arm from around her shoulder. She'd basically carried him to the temple. "Yes, my dear, thank you for asking. All the weeks of scant food and torture were worth it, I think, now that I have seen this. Thank you again for letting me come and supporting me. Maker smile upon you."

They'd found Genitivi in a hidden room in the Chantry of Haven, where he lay with a broken leg. He'd been captured and tortured by the residents, who had also murdered the knights from Redcliffe sent to look for him. The residents of Haven were all sorts of unhinged, slaughtering and torturing innocent people like that. Alistair had mentioned them being blood mages and Leliana would not put it past them.

After Wynne had set his leg, Aedan had requested him to return to Denerim and heal up, but the man had wanted to visit the Temple. Not even the news of Weylon's death had been able to change his mind. So ignoring everyone's pragmatic outlook, Leliana had decided to bring him along to see the Temple. After all the hard work and torture, he deserved that much.

"You need to stay alert, Brother," Aedan said after walking up to Genitivi. "I doubt we've seen the last of these maniacs."

"True, but there aren't any here. And look," Genitivi pointed at the walls, "these carvings were created just after Andraste's death. They may reveal things about her life we may not yet know! I think I shall stay here and study the statues and carvings a while longer."

"It isn't safe," Leliana said immediately.

Aedan nodded his agreement. "Are you quite sure about this?"

Smiling, Genitivi shook his head. "I could never hope to keep up with you, what with my injuries. Go. Perhaps it was my destiny to lead you to the Urn. The rest, you must do yourselves."

"You've been a great help, Brother."

"Ah, it's my job," Genitivi answered as Aedan went ahead to tell the group of this development. He turned to Leliana and said, "All I ask is that you be careful, my dear. The Temple can be... perilous."

She smiled warmly at that. It filled her with fondness that this stranger, despite his own injuries, was more concerned for them than he was about himself. "Are you sure you'll be safe, Brother?"

"I'll be fine. I'm more concerned about not having anything to write on, honestly."

"I can help with that," Alistair said and pulled off his backpack. He'd been hovering near them until then. Soon, he produced a slim leather bound volume, an inkwell and a quill. "This is my journal. It's only half-full so feel free to pull out some pages from the back."

"Ah, thank you!" Genitivi took the items gratefully, beaming. "Thank you so much, my young friend! I don't know what to say!"

Alistair only grinned and left the man to his devices. Leliana gave him a once-over as she came up beside him. He frowned. "What? Why're you looking at me like that?"

"Nothing. I just never knew you had a journal."

"Well, I do. And I write in it every day."

"How interesting. What do you write about?"

"Just... stuff." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Y'know, I've been thinking..."

"Oh? What about?"

"Back when... back when we left Goldanna's..." Leliana looked at him. "You told me that I needed to look out for myself more than I do. I'm starting to think that you're right, honestly." He paused and took a deep breath. "I need to stop letting people make my decisions for me. I need to take a stand and think about myself for a change, or I'm never going to be happy."

Leliana raised her eyebrows. This is a change. "Well. Don't let me influence you, Alistair. If this is something you really want–"

"How can I not be, Leli?" he said, interrupting her. "Back in Haven, when everyone was telling Genitivi to go back and heal and come back later, I couldn't deny the sense in it. Going with us could've gotten him killed. While I felt bad for him, I didn't really see much sense in him coming with us. And yet." He shook his head. "And yet, you stood up to everyone for him. Said you'd protect him yourself if needs be. How can something like that not inspire people, Leli?"

She sincerely hoped that the semi-darkness hid her blush. "Oh. I–"

But whatever spirit had taken hold of Alistair wasn't done yet. He went on, "So from this point on, I'll be looking out for myself more. I should've done so a long time ago." He sighed again. "So I just wanted to thank you. Being with you... it's been the one bright spot out of everything that's happened."

Leliana's heart sang. She couldn't help it. There was only so much she could take! What with last night, and now this? This was just unfair!

"I–I– " she swallowed. Focus! She looked at him shyly. "Don't thank me, Alistair. Thank yourself."

He just nodded and said, "Let's go find ourselves this urn, shall we?"