Andraste's tits, there are so many stairs in this place. Who the fuck puts enough steps in a building that could kill a man? Maker!

"This way, brother," Elissa says, waving me down the hallway after her. We cut through someone's office, go out into a hallway with a hole in the wall.

I think that deserves some comment. "Uh...why's that not fixed?" I stop to point at it, enjoying the cool breeze as it wafts in. It tickles my hair and my stubble. I need to shave. Desperately. Like...before I see Leliana desperately. "You do know there are people out there capable of getting through there, right?"

"Yeah," Elissa says. "And if some fool makes the mistake of getting in that way, then I get to kill them." She shrugs before turning and continuing on down the hallway. I really don't like the version of my sister where she's willing to walk up to a guy and just...kill him. Happily, even. It's...unnerving. Sickening. I don't even have words to describe my sister when she's like this. Probably because it's not my sister. The same thing that happened to Anders is happening to her, but she swears left and right that she's in control. Or she has been. She was in Highever waiting for me. The only reason I'm here is because she came to show me. I hadn't even heard of this place until I set foot in Orzammar's territory. Our conversations on the way here went something like this:

"Where we going, sis?"

"To the Inquisition."

"And where's the Inquisition?"

"In the Frostbacks."

Every. Single. One of them.

Elissa throws open two massive doors and leads me into a large room with stained glass windows. Three people are standing around a table with a map, and that number quickly grows to four when Elissa joins them. I recognize Cullen, but not the other two.

"I take it your trip to Highever was successful?" the tanned woman asks.

"Absolutely," Elissa replies. She beckons me to her side as the doors swing shut behind me. "This is my brother, Aedan. He's the Warden-Constable of Ferelden."

"Hello," I say as pleasantly as I can manage. My tongue suddenly tastes like sand. My heart hammers like it belongs to a madman.

"You already know Cullen," Elissa says. He and I nod our acknowledgement, a brief, but friendly, greeting. "This is Josephine Montilyet, the Inquisition's lead ambassador."

"I understand you're the reason Leliana left Orlais so suddenly after the Blight?"

I clear my throat awkwardly. "Er...yes, my lady." She giggles and I instantly understand how they're friends.

My sister laughs and gestures to the elf. "And this is Arin of the Levallan clan, the Inquisitor and Herald of Andraste."

The way he grins...I get the feeling he's going to crack a dirty joke or say something to make my face redden even further. On different occasions, I might find it amusing, but they all know I'm here for Leli, and they all seem to be having entirely too much fun with this situation.

"Hello, Aedan," he says. He offers me a hand in an all too humanly manner, but I shake it anyway, putting on a friendly smile. "Gonna keep our Spymaster sane?"

Elissa scoffs. "Sane? He's half the reason she's nuts."

I snort and say, "And Elissa's the other half."

I look at my sister, one brow raised, arms folded across my chest, in a dare for her to say something else. She copies the pose, chin up in a challenge. We stare at each other for a good three minutes before I crack and start laughing. Elissa manages to hold it for another thirty seconds before she breaks down in giggles too. After a moment, the Inquisition's leaders begin laughing too, and before we know it, we all sound like children laughing at a bad joke.

"Is there a reason you're all-"

The sound of her voice kills all the laughter at once. We whip around as one, and for a half a second, I can't tell if she's mad, surprised, happy, or a mix of all three. Her mouth moves, but no sound comes out, and I want to laugh again, if only to slow my erratic heartbeat.

"Fish out of water?" Morrigan asks, weaving into the room from behind Leli. The witch's voice snaps her out of it long enough for her to shove Morrigan in an annoyed manner, the way she does with Elissa. Except...with my sister...it usually seems more...loving. When she pushes Morrigan, she actually seems upset and irritated.

"Shut up, witch," she snaps. Then she turns her attention to me. Her expression stays impassive and neutral as she walks up to the war table, and without so much as even sparing a glance in my direction, she steps between Elissa and Cullen. "Elissa?"

"Yes?"

"Would you care to explain to me how the hell a dead man is standing at the table?"

My sister sighs dramatically. "All right, you caught me. I'm a blood mage. I went to Weisshaupt in the middle of the night and found Aedan's corpse in perfect condition, brought him back with some spirit of whatever, and got back here all before you woke up."

"Can I hit you?"

"Do you want to be hit back?"

"If it'll get my life back to normal."

I clear my throat. "I'm real...?"

Her head whips around to me and her blank expression now turns so dark that I'm actually a little scared. She comes back around the table to my side, hands on her hips, eyebrows furrowed, and eyes narrowed to slits. Her eyes roam my face for a moment, and then, out of nowhere, she shoves me. Hard. Harder than she shoved Morrigan. "How could you do that to me?" Her voice is so low...so dangerously low...

I know an apology won't cover it. "I'm sorry, Leliana." Three years of nothing when my injuries only had me incapacitated for three months... I'm such an ass!

"Sorry?" She snorts. "You're sorry?" She marches up to me, and for a moment, I think I see tears in her eyes. "Do you have any idea what you did? Do you?!" I shake my head and open my mouth to reply, but she throws her arms around my neck and pulls herself into my arms, burying her face in my shoulder. I hesitate, feeling awkward and nervous, before I wrap my arms around her back. That only makes her hold me tighter, and I actually laugh, grinning at my sister. She returns the smirk.

Morrigan gags and the urge to strangle the witch becomes overwhelming. "Did you call this meeting so we would all be forced to sit through them, or was there an actual purpose?"

Arin shrugs. "It can wait until later, I think."

Morrigan groans in annoyance. "You are quickly becoming a rather irritating person to be around, Inquisitor."

"Like you're not," I snap. "Bitch witch."

"Foolish boy."

"Maker, I hate you," I say. "What dumbass let you walk through the gates?"

"Empress Celene's orders," Arin says. "Only way we were getting permission to enter Orlais with Agent troops."

"Dammit," I say. "So I can't kick her to the Fade?"

Morrigan gives an amused snort as she strolls past to the door. "No, and I, unfortunately, cannot blow you to bits for the hounds."

"Try it, witch. I dare you."

"You recall our conversation about Flemeth and I being hunted by Templars?" She raises a brow. "Remember, that is how terrifying I find you, Warden."

I tighten my grip on Leliana, shooting her back a glare while she retreats to whatever hole she crawled from. The rest of the Inquisition members trickle out after her, my sister being last, and she smiles in my direction as she closes the doors behind her. Leli remains frozen in place, face hidden in my shoulder, hugging my neck.

"I missed you?" She doesn't reply. "I'm sorry I didn't write?"

"Be quiet," she says, moving her arms from my neck to my chest. "I want to savor this a little longer."

I snort a quiet laugh, allowing a smile to tug the corner of my mouth up in the slightest before I press my lips to the top of her head. She lets out a little content sigh, the same noise she used to make when I'd do it before. The thought makes my smile widen. I really have missed her. I missed her so much it hurt some days.

"How have you been?" I ask softly, trying to cover up my accidental inhalation of a few strands of her hair.

She pulls back to look me in the eye, one red brow raised, eyes watery. "You did not just sniff my head."

"Er...sorry?" I wince as I try to stifle my laughter, but she fails, terribly, and hides her face again. "It really was an accident. I swear to the Maker it was." She says something, but it's muffled by my armor, so I say, "All right, fine. You caught me trying to breathe while I was hungry. And I'm sorry to say that your hair looks like this weird red wheat they had at Weisshaupt."

She whips back to look at me. "You're joking."

I crack a smirk. "Of course I'm joking. Red wheat? Pfft. I've seen enough red with the group of Red Templars we encountered on the way here."

"Do you have a problem with my hair color now?"

"Definitely. I've been trying to dye it black since we met." Her mouth moves, but she doesn't form any words. I can't tell if she's confused, amused, or speechless. It has to be all three. Sometomes my jokes don't even make sense to me. "Remember when you woke up with a pile of dirt by your head? My failed attempt at scrubbing it into your hair while you slept."

She snorts. "I woke up with a pile of dirt by my head quite a few times if I remember correctly. We slept outside a lot, you know."

"Yes, I'm going to forget all of those awkward times you woke up with your head in my lap," I say. My cheeks flush at the memory. I made the mistake of...'thinking' about her on watch duty during the Blight, and didn't pay much attention to it until she woke up and couldn't stop laughing. And I won't say that I didn't find it funny after the initial embarrassment faded. Honestly, it was probably the funniest thing to happen during the Blight. Except for the bitch-slapping thing I had going with Elissa and Cyrus. That was pretty funny, too.

Leli's eyes widen. "Maker, I forgot about that." She stares at me for a moment, unblinking, and her expression goes from mortified to very amused within the span of a half a second. She starts laughing so hard that she has to hold onto me for support. I couldn't care less what she is laughing about. Any excuse to hold her is good enough for me, even if it is at my expense. Besides, it was funny. It was hilarious, to be exact. All I can do is thank the Maker Zev wasn't around when that happened, or I never would've heard the end of it.

"Damn," I say. "I should've kept that to myself."

Her laughs die into a fit of giggles, and eventually, calm completely. We stand in a comfortable silence for quite some time when she starts. She pushes me away and and runs to one of the windows, opening it to lean out and check the position of the sun. When she leans back in to close it, she actually looks scared. I don't know why, but-

"I need to go," Leli says.

"Do you want me to go with you?" I ask. I can't deny that I'm a little more than hopeful she'll say yes, but I don't know why she would. She has important things to do for the Inquisition, and plenty of those things don't involve anything I'd be useful with.

"No." I nod, accepting that answer, and start to reply when she quickly adds, "But I'll be right back. You can wait in Josie's office for me."

My mind drifts back to that meeting not so long ago where she took a shot at Leli's sudden departure from Orlais for Kirkwall. I'm not even sure myself why she left that abruptly. I'd like to think it was because she missed me, but Leli made a point of avoiding us until Elissa got hurt. Some days I'm positive I have her figured out better than anyone else, but others she confounds me so easily I think she's a stranger.

I remember a conversation we had a while ago. After the Blight, when we were investigating the darkspawn incursion in the Hinterlands with Elissa. Morrigan had been there, and ever since setting eyes on the other, they hadn't been thrilled with the prospect of traveling together again.

"I know Morrigan used to like you."

The statement catches me off-guard and I jump, looking over at her. She's staring into the campfire, refusing to look up at me, hood and shadows completely concealing her face. "So what? I never liked her as far as I could throw her. And besides, she has Talith. They seem happy together. Or as happy as a bitch like her can be, anyway." I hesitate before asking, "What brought this on?"

"I was just thinking," she says.

"About what?"

"You and me. I was wondering why you chose me over her." She shrugs a shoulder and draws her knees up to her chest. "It's nothing. I won't question it, selfish as it sounds."

I want to laugh. She wonders why I love her? Still? I haven't told her enough times already? And here I was thinking I was smothering her. "Why would I like Morrigan instead of you?"

"Because you're a man. And men tend to like women with a mysterious air about them more than women like myself."

"And you don't think I spend my days wondering about you? Why you say what you say, or do what you do? I never liked people that sent off a...dark feeling. Yeah, Morrigan's mysterious and pretty to look at, but she sends off all the wrong feelings. You have your weird moments that make me stop to think about your intentions, but everyone does. And I think you're far more attractive than she is. And...you're more modest about...things."

She looks up, but all I can see are her eyes and eyebrows as she raises one. "Things?" It takes her a moment, but she gets it, and has to cover her mouth to stifle a laugh. "Oh. You mean that."

"What can I say? I don't like it when people check out my sister. Why would I like it if people were looking at my wife like that? I'm not one for sharing."

I don't realize I've moved until Leli's standing up on her toes to kiss my cheek. Then she walks off through another door and vanishes from view, leaving me here dumbstruck. I really don't have any brainpower with her around. I didn't even notice we left the war room to stand in this office until now. She really does have me wrapped around her finger.

Someone gives an amused snort and I look for the source. The Antivan woman Elissa introduced as Josephine. "I see you are thoroughly entranced, Ser Aedan."

I blink rapidly to clear my mind if any stray thoughts. "You don't have to call me that. You can just call me Aedan." She makes an affirmative humming noise. "And what's that supposed to mean, anyway?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just that I saw your expression a moment ago."

"So? That's my wife. I can't look at her now?"

She just laughs, head still down as she scribbles something on her desk. "You can sit if you'd like. Leliana will be back in a minute or two."

I take the indicated seat gratefully. My feet are killing me, and I didn't even realize it until sitting was offered. For a moment, the only sound is that of her quill scratching on paper, and that of my fingers tapping on my knees anxiously. "Do you know where she went?"

"The same place she goes everyday at noon," Josephine replies.

"Ah," I say. "Another player of the Game, I see."

"Yes, but that has nothing to do with it," she says. "I just do not wish to give away the surprise."

"Surprise?"

"Unless Elissa told you already, yes, there's a surprise," she says. She scratches something else down before looking up at me and folding her hands over her desk. Her eyes narrow as she searches my face, and I'm suddenly uncomfortable. I never like being stared at that...roughly, let alone by an Antivan. I squirm under her stare, finding the books and stacks of papers on her desk suddenly interesting. She can't be older than me, but the look I'm getting right now is motherly almost, and I don't like it. "No, I don't think she did. Excellent. A surprise for both of you, then."

"For me and my sister?"

"No." She sighs, exasperated. "I don't see how Leliana could fall for a man as thick as yourself."

"It hasn't exactly been a good day for me," I admit. "I nearly fell off a snow drift this morning." She and I share a laugh at the thought. "So...I take it the surprise for Leliana was me?"

"It was," Josephine says. "I'm not sure what you've heard about the Inquisition in Weisshaupt, but-"

She's cut off by the sound of the door opening. I twist to look for Leli, smiling when I see her, but she's looking behind herself, holding a hand back for someone. I frown. Who would she do that for? My frown quickly grows to jealousy. It happens in about a second.

And then I see the little boy as he enters the office, and how his face lights up when he looks at Josephine.

"Lunch!" he says excitedly, dropping Leli's hand to bound across the room. He hops up on the ambassador's lap fearlessly, grinning from ear to ear, eyes wide with anticipation. "Flower!" He hands the Antivan woman a small white daisy, which, much to his delight, she puts in her hair. I look back to Leli, about ready to ask what's going on, when I see a similar flower in her hair too, right above her ear.

"Thank you," Josephine says. "It's very pretty."

My eyes drift back to the boy as he runs to Leli again, holding his arms up impatiently. His hair is the same shade of red as hers, cut far shorter, and he's up to the middle of her thigh. She picks him up anyway, smiling brighter than I've ever seen anyone smile at anything.

"How was your morning?"

"Bad. Dori shows me books."

Leliana laughs, and while she carries him over to the other chair, my head whips around to Josephine. Her smirk broadens at my wide eyes and confused look. "Well, you have to learn to read sometime."

"Boring, Momma!"

And my heart lurches. I feel sick, terrified, that she found someone else while she thought I was dead, but then I realize this boy is too old to belong to another man. He looks to be somewhere around three, maybe four, and it clicks. That last night together...Maker. Why didn't she tell me?! I would've come back!

"Aren't you going to say hello?" Her voice snaps me out of my thoughts and I lift my eyes to hers. I don't expect what I see. Vulnerability, fear. Her voice does t betray those feelings; it is steady and calm like it always is.

He glances at me, but shakes his head and looks away, burying his face in her shoulder.

"He's shy," Leli says. "Cameron, say hello."

"Uh-huh."

"Why not?"

"Scared."

She laughs. "I think Aedan is the last person you have to be afraid of, sweetheart."

Reluctantly, the toddler turns to face me. His eyes meet mine, and the color registers instantly. They're blue, but not the sky blue of Leliana's. They're the same bright, vibrant color I see when I talk to my sister, or when I look in a mirror.

Right then and there, that's when I swear to myself to never let him get hurt.