Gah! So many updates lately! Thank the lord for finally gracing me with the opportunity to update. And thanks to you guys who patiently awaited chapter four and everything else! All these updates are for you! And thank you for the reviews! I got three in one day! THREE! That's a first! Keep them coming please? If you do, I'll promise to quit with all the angsty stuff and throw in some happy, useless fluff that will end up leaving me in giggles. Guest reviewer: get an account! You'll know when this gets updated so you don't lose it lol. Zacharti: get an account too! For various reasons other than keeping track.

Okay, back to the original purpose of the ANs in this story. This chapter follows Aedan in Origins. It's based off the one conversation the Warden can have with Leliana when she mentions falling asleep on watch, but after the eyelash thing. I love that eyelash conversation lol.

As I straggle out of my tent, I yawn and stretch, rubbing the back of my head. My chest is healing nicely, Leliana isn't fuming anymore, and we should be meeting back up with my sister in a few weeks at Redcliffe. She's to gather the dwarves' treaty with help from Alistair, Zevran, Cyrus, Talith, and Morrigan after finding the Temple of Sacred Ashes (if it even exists). That leaves me with Wynne, Sten, Wolf, and Leliana to gain the elves' assistance, but they haven't been very...willing. They dropped us out here in the middle of a werewolf-infested forest and told us to kill some wolf named Witherfang. Not helpful if you ask me.

Leliana is already awake, sitting by the fire with a twig. She glances up at me for a moment before looking back down to poke the flames. I yawn again as I join her, plopping down on the forest floor with a sleepy groan. She smirks and I frown at her. "What?"

She shakes her head, shrugging. "Feeling better, I take it?"

"I guess. I can move my arm. I'll take that as a good sign." I cough into my elbow before reaching up to scratch my chest. I wince. Leliana raises an eyebrow instead of her usual fussing when I'm injured, so I get the feeling that she actually is still a little mad at me. I decide to take the subject off my wound. "Do we have any food left from supper?"

"I think Sten finished it on his shift," Leli replies. "I was looking for it before you came out. I couldn't find any."

I frown. "We may have to head back to the Dalish to restock."

"They won't be very impressed," she remarks.

I bark a sarcastic laugh. "I'm not here to impress them. I'm here so we can get their help defeating the Blight. If they want to believe I hate them on principle, let them. It won't be the first time someone assumed something about me and got it wrong."

Leli nods absentmindedly. "Did you see the size of that werewolf earlier? The black one with grey fringes?"

"You mean the one that tried to free us from Sten's glares?" She giggles and nods. "Yeah. I wish it had succeeded."

"I'm awake, Warden," he says from his tent.

"This is why I wish it had," I retort. "Eavesdropper."

The Qunari grunts. "Perhaps you should be more quiet then."

I snort and keep my mouth shut, deciding it's wiser to ignore him. Leli shares a look with me that can only be described as conspiratorial while she pulls off a grin, and I almost lose it right there. We both know what he meant, but I can't help chuckling at the face Leliana made. We stay silent until we're sure Sten has fallen asleep, and then for a little while after. He's one of those people who will wake up to any little noise the moment he hears it. I want to give him as much time as possible for him to be well and truly asleep before we start talking again. So in the meantime, I unwind the bandage on my hand and wrist. It has been used so many times that it's brown, so I don't bother saving it for cleaning. I toss the linen into the fire and rummage around in my pack for a clean one. Fighting with a wrist support isn't easy, and having to use one of the few bandages we have left to keep from breaking it is ridiculous. If we were on the road, I'd risk using a splint, but we're still in the Brecilian Forest with werewolves everywhere, and I'm right-handed. I need to be able to defend myself.

I look up from twiddling with my thumbs when I hear Leliana yawn. A smirk tugs at the corner of my mouth at the sight, but I don't tease her about always falling asleep while on watch. Her irritation with my injury is still obvious.

"You can go back to bed, you know," I whisper. "It's not like I can go to myself and rat you out."

"I'm fine," Leli retorts. Another yawn slips through her and she scowls.

"Just go back to sleep for another hour," I say. "I'll be perfectly fine by myself."

The hesitation is obvious. Her eyes widen for the briefest of moments and her mouth forms a small 'o', but after a moment of thought, she nods. "Let me get a blanket. I'm not leaving you out here alone. It's too dangerous."

At least she's not completely furious at me anymore.

I nod and shuffle around a little while she gets up and returns to the tent we share. A moment later, she returns with a thin blanket. At first, I think she's going to lay beneath it, but instead, she sprawls it out on the grass and pretty much flops over on it. I raise an eyebrow at the display, stifling a laugh.

"I don't have to be graceful around you," Leli says defensively.

I laugh that time. She always knows what I'm thinking. Sometimes she takes it to the point where I end up teasing her about possibly being a mage. "No, you don't. I like you the way you are," I admit once I finally stop chuckling at the indignant look she's giving me. "You don't have to impress me." She flashes a smile before rolling over. Yeah, still mad. I shrug to myself, rubbing the back of my neck. Most nights when I tell her to go back to sleep, I tell her to sleep beside me. I usually spend that time watching. Yes, I actually keep watch. Just...not where I'm supposed to. I wind up staring at Leliana more than I'm willing to admit. But tonight, I'd rather not offer and annoy her further. And I have a plan. She can't be too close or I'll wake her up.

A day before we separated from Elissa and her party, Leliana had told me about her mother and how she was from Denerim. The conversation led to how she thought it was ridiculous that she remembered the lady her mother worked for more. I told her it wasn't as silly as she thought, and then she told me about the flowers her mother always smelled like. If I felt a littler braver, I might've told Leliana that she smells like those flowers too, but I kept that to myself, opting to find the flower, Andraste's Grace, instead. I know them well enough. My mother used to grow them in the gardens and braid them into Elissa's hair when we were little. I also know that they only grow in this part of Ferelden unless introduced to a new area, so I had to be patient and wait to track one of the little things down.

I stretch my legs out and lean back on my hands, staring at the sky as I count in intervals of one-hundred ten times. Once I've convinced myself that Leli is fully asleep, I get to my feet and creep past her as quietly as I can, headed for Wynne's tent.

"Wynne?" I whisper.

"Are you ready?" the mage asks, appearing from within her tent. When I nod, she makes her way over to the fire and sits. "How long do you suppose you'll be gone, Warden?"

I shrug. "Hopefully only a half hour or so. I've only got an hour after all, right?" She nods back before ushering me off. I head back to my tent and reach in for my sword, and then jog into the brush, ducking a low-hanging vine. I strap on my sword after slowing to a walk a few hundred feet out of camp. Now that I am away from the crackling sounds of the fire, I can hear the forest. Without the light the fire gives, I am almost entirely blind. If it wasn't for spending hours of my life on watch duty, I'd get lost within seconds. Staying up for three hours a night to keep an eye out for intruders helps you adjust to seeing in the dark.

I roll my wrist, flexing my hand while I walk. I keep my eyes peeled for the white flower, searching every nook and cranny visible to me. I make my way to the river we used for bathing earlier where I am sure Andraste's Grace will be. I use the sounds of running water more than anything. I may be able to see, but my vision still isn't great. I can barely see three feet in front of my face.

Somehow, I manage to stumble my way to the riverbank. I sit on the pebble-covered shoreline to take in my irrational sense of victory from getting here. I feel like a kid again when I realize I feel the way I do because I 'beat the forest'. I chuckle to myself, rubbing my forehead, and inhale deeply. I wonder how Elissa's doing...I'd say she's probably doing better than we are and probably feeling a lot better than us, but after I admitted how I felt to Leliana, I've felt like a grinning idiot every waking minute of my life. And when she admitted to loving me back...I don't have words to describe that feeling. Getting the weight of that off my chest made me feel ridiculously amazing, but...nothing has ever felt as great as Leliana telling me she loves me too.

I find myself grinning again as I push up to my feet. I brush my slightly muddy hands off on my cotton trousers before setting towards the brush. Somewhere back there will be that flower. Or, at least, it had better be. If I marched out here to return unsuccessfully, I'll smack my head off a tree. Good thing there are plenty around.

As I hop over a fallen tree, I see what I'm looking for. A white flower with a redish-orange center. I take my dagger from its scabbard and cut the flower at the base of the stem. I run the prickly plant through my hand, inspecting its petals. Satisfied with it, I shove my dagger away and get to my feet. For a moment, I just stare at the thing, and then I bring it up to my nose experimentally. I inhale the scent and nod to myself. Yeah, Leliana smells like that. A weird part of me wants to keep the flower because between the same smell, and the same shade of red, it reminds me of her.

And then I want to hit myself for being sappy.

I clamber back over the tree and to the river, briefly stopping to wash out the small cuts on my hand. Damn thorns. Just as prickly as she is. That time I hit my forehead. I feel like a moron as I splash to the other side. I jog up the muddy incline and use a slanted tree to pull my body over the rise. It's a short walk to the camp, but I know I'm pushing my half hour deadline. I put the flower in my mouth as carefully as I can before beginning to unstrap my sword and its belt. As I pass my tent, I toss the weapon inside.

"I assume you were successful?" Wynne asks, a white eyebrow raised. I grin like an idiot and nod. Wynne smiles as she gets up. "You remind me of Alistair sometimes, Aedan. You are both...overly sweet."

"I don't blush," I retort.

She chuckles. "No, of course not, dear boy."

I scowl at her back as she returns to her tent. I told Morrigan I thought her mother was a nutty old bat, but Wynne is proving to be the definition of it. I sit on the ground stiffly, glaring at Wynne's tent while I get comfortable.

Placing the flower on the side opposite of Leliana, I almost wake her up, but decide against it. Wynne has...Zevran tendencies. Sneaky old woman. Some days I hate her while others I love her like a mother. This is one of those days I wish Morrigan were here to set her on fire. Morrigan wouldn't object. So I flop over on my back, folding my arms beneath my head. I glance down to make sure the flower is fine before looking up at the sky. We found a relatively clear spot to make camp earlier, affording those who want to the ability to look at the stars. I know Leli loves to; she'll spend our entire watch shift pointing out various constellations to me. I never liked learning about stuff like that when I was some third son to a powerful family. She makes it interesting. Well, that's what I tell myself. That has nothing to do with it. It's just the fact that all we can really talk about without our conversations leading to the Blight are things it can't touch, and stars are one of the few. If I have to live through that nightmare everyday, I'd rather not talk about it with someone who knows already.

I glance at Wynne's tent again before I roll onto my side. I reach out to Leliana to wake her, but she yelps and starts awake on her own.

"Maker, Aedan! Don't do that!" she hisses.

"Don't...what?" I ask, confused. She swats my hand away from her shoulder as she sits up, kicking the thin blanket off her.

"Don't scare me," she mumbles halfheartedly. "I nearly pulled a knife on you."

I raise a brow. "Do I want to know where this knife is concealed?"

She starts to shoot me a look, but stops herself. "I do not know, actually. Maybe. But you'll just have to wait for us to be done here."

I groan and fall onto my back. "Fine. Be that way." She laughs a little, shaking her head. Then I remember why I woke her up, or at least attempted to, in the first place. "So...I found something."

Leliana scoots closer to me. "And that would be a brain, perhaps? Something useful to us?"

I snort out a laugh. "That was great. Thanks for wounding me." She flashes a grin in my direction. "Anyway, while you were sleeping, I had Wynne take my place so I could go out and find this." I grab the thorny piece of-

Handing Leliana the flower, I watch her for a reaction, but she looks more confused than anything else. She stares at it for a moment before flicking her gaze up to mine, brows creased together. "You...got me a flower?"

"You seem like the frilly sort," I tease. "Talking about shoes and whatnot." I shudder. "Don't you know that fashion hurts me? I'm a Fereldan man. I'm all about practicality, love. I have no idea what you mean when you talk about shoes."

The flower is momentarily forgotten when Leli laughs. "Oh I know. The way you try to talk your way out of it is sweet though."

"You're an evil woman," I grumble. "And you win that round."

"Of course I do," Leliana replies. She looks down at the flower in her hand, frown returning, as she thumbs the petals. "You aren't the kind of man to just get me a flower for no reason."

"You sure?" I ask. "If you don't smell the damn thing, I will be."

She shoots me a look. "Some sensitivity wouldn't hurt you."

I smack my face and sigh. "Leli, please, just smell the damn flower before you yell at me. I was trying to be nice."

I get another glare as a response, but she brings the flower up to smell it anyway. Her brows knit together and she frowns. She blinks several times, trying to place it, when her eyes widen. "This is the same flower my mother used to-" She cuts herself off and looks up at me. "You remembered?"

"Um...yeah," I say, slightly confused. "I care about you. Why wouldn't I remember?"

Her face lights up. "It's just...never mind. Thank you so much." Leliana smiles hugely, causing my heart to beat a little faster than usual and my mind to go blank, but I have enough sense to return the gesture. "This means a lot to me, Aedan. More than you could probably understand."

I shrug a shoulder and look away, saying, "I understand. If I had something to remember my father by, it would mean the world to me." I feel a hand on my shoulder, but refrain from looking at her. I'll never understand how she or my sister move so silently as easily as they do. I stare into the fire for a while when she settles down beside me. Leliana rests her head on my shoulder and hugs my arm to her body, uncharacteristically quiet. "But I have you. I wouldn't trade you for anything."

She hums to herself. "I forgive you."

"For what?"

"For worrying me the way you did," she says. "For getting hurt."

I pull my arm away to wrap it around her. The forest is cold and unforgiving; I'd take her over a blanket any day of the week. "If getting you flowers will solve all of our fights, my life will be a while lot easier."

She laughs. "If only it were so."

If only.