Ch. 16: In Which Olivia Discovers a Phobia and there is a Landsmeet

At Fort Drakon, they took all of Olivia and Alistair's things- including the majority of their clothes- and dumped them in a chest while the two Wardens were thrown in a metal cage against the wall of a large empty room.

After the door of the cage had slammed shut and the soldiers who had put them in left, only a single guard remaining, Olivia began to feel anxious. All right, she admitted that was probably pretty normal in people who had just been arrested and locked up in a prison famed for never having had any escapes. As time wore on, however, the tiny seed of fear in Olivia's chest began to get bigger. Her vision swam. She felt like she couldn't breathe. Distantly, she could hear Alistair talking, sounding concerned, but she couldn't make out what he was saying.

It was snowing in the cage. Alistair's far-away voice sounded alarmed. The floor was frosting over, but the bars of the cage didn't seem affected. Olivia grabbed at them with her hands. She. needed. OUT. She felt a rush of inhuman strength. Somewhere it registered that she had just cast one of the arcane warrior spells. With a sudden wrench at the bars, she ripped the door of the cage clean off its hinges. It dropped to the frozen floor with a clang.

Olivia didn't actually remember much after that, just flashes of memory. Guards running and attacking or running and screaming, Alistair following along behind her looking frightened but not bothering to do any of the multitude of things he could do to stop her.

When she was next lucid, she found herself back in Arl Eamon's estate, Zevran sitting next to her and a thick woolen blanket over her shoulders while the rest of her companions stood around looking concerned. "What happened?" she mumbled, burrowing closer into Zevran's side. Her head hurt a lot.

"You had some kind of panic attack," said Alistair. "I was kind of scared for a while there. It's not like you were acting possessed or anything, but you were really, really focused on getting out of Fort Drakon. I don't think you heard anything I said and you just plowed through any of the guards who attacked you- threw them around with your bare hands. Then we met up with Zevran, Bethany, and Morrigan in the entry hall and you just sort of… collapsed on them."

Olivia shuddered. "Maker. I… I used magic in that state? Alistair, why didn't you stop me?"

"Well, it's not like you actually killed anyone," Alistair said reasonably. "Except for the inadvertent blizzard, which didn't do anything except snow on us, the only spells you seemed capable of thinking to cast in that state were the arcane warrior ones. I think you broke a few bones punching people, but only guards who were trying to stop us. As rampages go, it was pretty much the tamest one ever. No permanent harm done. Also, the authorities are so embarrassed about completely overlooking the fact that it was a mage they'd locked up and not taking precautions that they would rather just pretend it never happened, so we aren't going to get arrested again. They can't even set the Templars on you, because they don't realize you were using magic when you were actually attacking anyone- they just assumed that adrenalin was making you stronger. It's kind of hilarious."

Olivia spent the next day in bed, recovering mana and being treated for shock, despite the fact that by mid-afternoon, she was feeling much better and beginning to get bored with lying around, a fact which she loudly proclaimed to Zevran.

"You're still not allowed to leave bed," he told her. "I have no sway with the fair Wynne."

Olivia sighed. "So…" she said after a moment. "If I'm not allowed to get out of bed, does that mean you aren't allowed to join me?"

Zevran looked a bit uncomfortable. "No, but I… don't think that would be a good idea."

"Damn. This is because I'm laid up after creaming half of Denerim's guards and breaking out of Fort Drakon in the throes of a panic attack, isn't it."

He smiled. "Well, yes. But also…" Zevran went silent. "I'm an assassin."

"Yes, I noticed," pointed out Olivia dryly.

"It's just… assassins have to learn to forget about sentiment, take your pleasures where you can, when you can because expecting more is reckless and… I had thought that that's what was between us, but…"

"But it became more. Yeah." Said Olivia quietly.

"I don't know. I mean, how do you recognize something like that? I grew up with people who sold the illusion of love but taught me to make my heart cold for the kill. Everything I grew up knowing says that how I'm feeling is wrong, but I can't help it. For a while now I've just been… confused. Do you understand that?"

"Yes," said Olivia. "In the Circle… getting attached is… not something that ever ends well. Recently I've come to realize that I'm not in the Circle anymore and… maybe it can. But that's not something I would have ever expected."

Zevran nodded. "I need to know if there could be some sort of future for us, the possibility of… I don't know what, exactly."

"I hope so," said Olivia. "And I know that as long as we survive I'm going to do whatever I can to make sure that hope comes true."

Zevran smiled. "I… still have the earring. I'd like to give it to you. As a… token of affection. Will you take it?"

Olivia raised her eyebrows. "Are you proposing to me?"

"If that's what you want, definitely."

"Of course I'll take it."

Zevran smiled again, handing Olivia the earring. "Sorry for acting so strangely. I think I'll be better now. A lot better."

Olivia smirked. "I'm wearing Grey Warden colors at the wedding."

Zevran laughed. "We can have a cake shaped like a griffon."

"Wynne would like that. She's pretty fond of griffons."

Bethany and Alistair wandered in. Bethany snickered. "What?" asked Olivia.

"Nothing. Just… weddings." She dissolved into giggles. Alistair looked pretty amused, too. Olivia got the feeling that she was missing some kind of inside joke.

They had a few more days, which were spent running around doing errands- by which Olivia mean checking up on the people rescued from Howe's dungeon, talking to various people, and gathering allies. They also ended up having to kill Leliana's former girlfriend. It turned out that Leliana had been a spy. Well, at least that explained where she had learned to fight.

Then there was the Landsmeet.

Just outside the Landsmeet chamber, they were accosted by Ser Cauthrien, blocking the doorway holding her unsheathed sword. "I should have known it would come to this, Warden," said Cauthrien bitterly. "And you," she added, pointing at Alistair. "If you were even remotely worthy of being called Maric's son, you would already be in the Landsmeet, now wouldn't you." Now she was going to yell at them. Still, Olivia was kind of impressed. Cauthrien was more loyal to Loghain than his own daughter was. A spare thought that maybe Cauthrien was his daughter- she certainly looked more like him than Anora did- flashed through Olivia's mind. She dismissed it. Probably not. That sounded really far-fetched, even in her head. "You have torn this nation apart opposing the man who ensured you were born into freedom."

Olivia glared. She wanted to talk freedom? "Loghain ensured I was born into freedom? The only freedom I ever got born into was what my parents gave me by spending their lives on the run! They died for it! The only thing your Loghain ever did for me was sending Zevran and that was a murder attempt that went wrong! Don't talk to me about being born into freedom!"

Ser Cauthrien looked a bit taken aback at Olivia's explosion. She apparently hadn't realized that this was a sore point. "Er, well, anyway, I can't let you desecrate the Landsmeet like this," said Cauthrien. "The nobles will confirm Loghain as regent and we'll put all of this behind us. Once you troublemakers are gone."

"Oh, come on," said Oliviaa. "Can't you see how insane Loghain is?"

"I admit that…" Cauthrien looked uncertain. "He has been acting out of character of late. I didn't want to see…" Cauthrien knelt, sword pointing down on the ground. "Stop him. Before he does something that he would never have wanted were he in his right mind." Wow. Olivia… hadn't expected that.

They walked past the devastated Ser Cauthrien into the Landsmeet chamber, where Arl Eamon was standing in one of the raised galleries looking down on the room, giving a speech about how Loghain was ruining Ferelden and they shouldn't go along with him just because they were afraid of the Blight, only more eloquently. The gathered nobles seemed impressed, clapping uproariously.

"Nice speech," said Loghain, from where he was standing on the floor, doing a slow, sarcastic clap. "But you aren't fooling anyone. Everyone here can tell that you're putting an Orlesian puppet on the throne." The Olesians again? Olivia was getting tired of Loghain's paranoid delusions.

Olivia crossed her arms. "You're seriously going on about Orlais when the Blight is about to destroy us? The darkspawn are the real problem here."

"She's got that right," said one of the nobles up in the gallery. "I've seen the refugees to prove it."

"The south is overrun!" Exclaimed a second noble. "Are you going to ignore the darkspawn just because you're afraid of Orlais?"

"But how will the Wardens fight the darkspawn? They planned to bring four legions from Orlais. Once we let them in, do we really expect them to just go home afterward?"

"Says the man who let Rendon Howe imprison and torture innocent Ferelden citizens." Said Olivia.

"Including my son!" shouted the father of the young nobleman they had rescued. "He was kidnapped in the middle of the night and now he's permanently disabled!"

"Howe was responsible for his own actions," said Loghain. "And the Maker will judge him for them. Seeing as you killed him in his own home rather than bringing the matter up with the seneschal."

"If we're talking about killing men in their own homes, maybe we should also mention how you sent a blood mage to poison Arl Eamon," Olivia shot back.

"Oh, please. If I wanted to kill someone, I would have sent my own men, not an apostate."

"Oh?" said the sister of the Templar they had found in Howe's dungeon. "According to my brother you imprisoned Templars and rescued an apostate from them. That doesn't sound like a coincidence to me."

A Chantry Mother up in the gallery looked very angry. "What?! You won't get away with that, count on it!"

"I will answer for any criminal activity later," said Loghain. "At the moment, I would like to know what the Warden has done with my daughter." Loghain turned to glare at Olivia. "You took my daughter- the queen- and killed her guards. Where is she? Did you kill her?"

"I believe," called Anora from the doorway, "that I can answer that." She came forward and began speaking to defend her father. Lovely.

"Funny," said Olivia. "Didn't he try to kill you?"

"Did he? Are you sure of that?" asked Anora, smirking slightly. That was a set-up. Of course. "I know my father. He'll do anything for this country. But I needed to know your mind, Warden. You could have proven to be an ally of Ferelden. It is too bad you didn't."

"Who says Anora can't rule this land?" asked Loghain. "Who says Alistair can? We know absolutely nothing about him. Anora has been queen for five years. She can lead us through this."

Logain followed that with a dramatic speech about how Ferelden could defeat the Blight. It didn't seem to work because literally all but one of the nobles voted to stand with the Wardens. Loghain and his men reached for their weapons. "Traitors!" Loghain went on a crazed rant about how Arl Eamon had gone soft, none of the people here had fought for Ferelden and they all deserved whatever they got. His men began to fill the chamber.

"Seriously?" asked Olivia. "How about we settle this honorably. Instead of with, you know, a military coup."

"Then let us end this," said Loghain. "I suppose we both knew it would come to this. When we first met at Ostegar, I never would have thought so, but Ostegar seems like it happened in another lifetime, to someone else." Well, he had that right, at least. "A man is made by the quality of his enemies. Maric told me that once. I wonder if that is more a compliment to you or I?" He sighed.

The Bann of Waking Sea stepped forward and laid out the terms of the duel- single combat until someone surrendered and everyone would go along with whoever won.

"Will you face me yourself or will you have a champion?" asked Loghain.

"I'll fight myself," said Olivia.

Loghain nodded. "It is you or me the men will follow. So let us fight for it. Prepare yourself."

Olivia and Loghain faced one another, drawing their swords, circling. Olivia cast an arcane warrior spell to strengthen herself and flung an ice spell at Loghain as he charged, slowing him down and giving her time to get out of the way of what would have been an overpowering attack. Their swords met and in several moves she had disarmed him, sending his weapon skidding across the floor.

Loghain knelt. "Enough. I underestimated you, Warden. I thought you were an immature fool like Cailan, wanting to play at war. I was wrong. There is strength in you I have not seen since Maric died. I yield."

This man was a complete nutcase, but Olivia had to admit, she almost respected him. Well, the him from before he went crazy, at least. "You know that you'll have to die for everything you've done."

"Wait!" Riordan, the Orlesian Grey Warden, strode up. Olivia wondered when he had gotten there. "There is another option. He could go through the Joining and become a Grey Warden. There are some pretty compelling reasons for having as many of those around as possible when the archdemon is slain."

"What?" exclaimed Alistair. "Absolutely not!"

"Yeah, I'm going to have to agree with Alistair, here," said Olivia.

"No!" Wailed Anora. "You can't do this! My father may have been wrong, but he's still a hero!"

Loghain looked at her. "Anora. It's over."

"Stop treating me like a little kid! You're about to die!"

"Children never grow up in their parent's eyes, Anora.." He looked at Olivia. "Just make it quick, Warden. I can face the Maker, knowing Ferelden is in your hands."

Olivia nodded and raised her sword, bringing it down upon Loghain's neck. Anora looked too horrified to even react.

"So it is decided," said Arl Eamon. "Alistair will take his father's throne."

"Wait, what?" asked Alistair. "No it's not! We never decided that! When was that decided?"

"Months ago, when you agreed to go along with this?" suggested Olivia.

"Ha!" said Anora. "You all heard that. Obviously, he's abdicating in my favor."

"I really don't think I should be the one to decide this," said Arl Eamon. "You pick, Warden."

Now everyone was looking at Olivia. She sighed. "Alistair, can I talk to you for a moment, first?" She pulled him aside quickly. "I know you're reluctant to do the whole becoming king thing, so I'm going to ask you right now: what do you want me to choose?"

Alistair looked determined. "Make me king. Anora can't be trusted."

"You realize that this is going to effectively end your relationship with Bethany, right?"

"No it won't. We eloped last week."

All right, Olivia had noticed that they were sappily in love with each other, but she had not expected that. "…What?"

Alistair shrugged. "Well, it's not like anyone can do anything about it now. Which was the point."

Olivia barely restrained herself from pinching the bridge of her nose. Maybe she should have expected this, after all. Maker, Bethany had always been a lot like Aunt Leandra. It figured that she would elope too. "Okay. But I'm leaving it to you to explain to people." Olivia turned to look at the gathered nobles.

"Well?" Asked Arl Eamon. "Who'd you pick."

"Alistair will become the king," said Olivia. "And Bethany will be the Queen."

Eamon sighed. "I realize they're in a relationship, but I don't think people will go for…"

"Apparently they're married. You can't just un-marry people, so everyone'll just have to live with it. At least we're technically still nobility in Kirkwall," she added in an attempt to make him feel better.

Eamon didn't look happy, but everyone else just looked mostly uninterested. Eamon gave up and sighed. "Anyway, Anora, you lost the vote. Swear fealty to the king and give up all claims to the throne for yourself and your heirs."

"You think I'm going to swear that?" asked Anora. "Do you even know me?

Eamon groaned. "We can't continue in a state of civil war. If she won't do that then she's a threat to all of us."

"What do you want me to do?" asked Alistair. "Ugh. I guess we can lock her up for now. Maybe find somewhere to send her. Later."

Anora looked guilty. "You aren't going to kill me? I was going to kill you. Now I feel like a horrible person."

"Very well then," said Eamon, seeming relieved that something had been decided. He called the guards, who came forward and escorted Anora away. "So," prompted Eamon to Alistair, "Do you have anything to say to the Landsmeet, Your Highness?"

"Oh… yeah," said Alistair after a moment. "Right… um…" he began an awkward speech.

"Just skip to the part about the Blight already," hissed Olivia behind him.

Alistair's expression hardened. "Everyone! Get ready to fight! It's going to take all of us to survive this Blight." He seemed much more comfortable focusing on the darkspawn problem. "But we will defeat it!" Pretty much everyone cheered. Huh. When Alistair wasn't being self-conscious and nervous, he was actually a pretty good public speaker.