Hi everyone!
Here's the last chapter. I wanted to thank you so much for all your reviews and support during this story, it was something I wanted to write since I finished Inquisition and you inspired me to write more. So, thank you so much :)
I hope you will like this conclusive chapter...
Please let me know what you think

Leliana's POV

Enjoy

"Where are we going?"

It was afternoon when I woke up, finding myself in the most beautiful and comfortable place where I had ever slept. Cuddled in the arms of my lover as she ran her fingertips over my naked back placing soft kisses on my forehead and whispering sweet words that slowly brought me back from my slumber, making me blink several times before my eyes could adjust to the light, focusing on the figure beneath me.

Clear blue eyes, smooth olive skin and a sweet smile that I would have recognized among thousands was what made my heart swell inside of my chest with so much force to leave me breathless, wondering if I wasn't still dreaming. But when I felt the warmth of her hand on my cheek before she leaned down softly kissing my lips, I melted right away, breathing out through my nose as I sighed with relief and content in her mouth.

Our lips moved together and the soft touch brought back the storm of memories that started replaying in my mind, making me deepen the kiss, pressing my body against hers as I felt her arms around my naked waist, bringing me even closer.

Part of me was still trying to believe that all of this was really happening.

Reading that letter was what shattered my entire being, and that agonizing feeling of grief was still there, silently following me like my own shadow.

I would have done anything to just stay into her arms, running my fingertips on her skin and enjoying the warmth radiating from her body, something that I had missed for so much time I was afraid I was going to forget how it was. But apparently, my lover had something else in mind as she insisted to put some clothes on before leading me towards a mysterious destination, and if it wasn't for the smile on my her lips I would have been preoccupied.

And despite my best efforts, I was still preoccupied.

I was tempted to ask again where we were headed but just when I opened my mouth, my lover slowed down, opening one of the wooden doors in the main hall and leading us in the small garden.

I was surprised to realize that we were the only presence out there.

The chilly mountain air was deeply refreshing making my lungs burn a little when I inhaled, smelling the purfume of Crystal Grace mixed with a hint of resin coming from the plants around us, a smell that brought me back when I was in Lothering, in the cloister and where I used tospend the majority of the time in the garden.

We stopped just in front of the small stone gazebo, the one where I had occasion to see several times Josephine and the Inquisitor sharing sweet moments and kisses between a mission and the other, and where now I could see my lover standing right in front of me, holding my hands, smiling so sweetly at me that the whole scene looked like the one taken from my dreams, where I had her finally returning to me... Safe.

The wind blew gently on us shaking slightly the trees and the plants all around the garden and lifting some of the dry leaves lying on the ground.

I looked up, almost afraid to meet the gaze of my lover, knowing that the time for answers had arrived and suddenly, I didn't want to hear them.
Because there was a chance that what she was going to say was not what I wanted to hear, and the thought that something could break this peaceful moment, bringing back every fear and every stab of pain, was a thought that torn my soul apart.

I bit my lower lip in an attempt to keep it from tremble and swallow the tears I knew that there were starting to form in my eyes, making my throat feel constricted by an invisible hold, the same that was wrapped around my heart.

My lover waited for me to raise my gaze, but when she saw that I wasn't going to look past our holding hands, she brought one of hers to gently cup my cheek, urguing me to look up, and the simple touch helped me to find the strenght, guiding me to finally meet her face.

She was so beautiful.

The years had been kind to my lover, her tanned skin was smooth and glowing with the bright rays of the sun, making me shiver with delight as memories from last night came back to me, remebering how the heat emanating from her body kept me warm during or intimate moment.

The sun showed the mahogany in her short dark messy hair and I had to resist the overwhelming urge to run my fingers through it to keep from losing myself in its softness and lightness.

I was glad that I had occasion to take a deep breath, because when I finally had the courage to look into those clear pools, the air was suddenly stolen from my lungs as the pain and concern inside them made my hands tremble with fear of what might be and my heart to race with anguish.

Unable to control the emotions running thorugh me, I diverted my gaze from hers, but that was a mistake, because my eyes landed on the small but very deep and visible scar on her jaw, the one that she earned in that fateful day that finished the Blight ten years ago, and looking at it neutralized my attempt to control my emotions, pushing me deeper into the darkness I felt closing around me as I thought about that day.

The day she almost died.

Because that was the destiny of a Gray Warden.

And with that thought in mind, with the clear image of my lover stopping breathing in front of me on the stone ground of Fort Drakon, I looked at her, doing everything to push aside the fear and insecurities that threatened to suffocate me.

I needed to know.

I had to know.

And with a cracking voice I finally asked

"How?"

It was a whisper that slipped from my lips with so much hesitancy, conflicted between wanting to know and wishing to live in the unknown truth about how she was in front of me, alive, when I though that I had lost her forever.

I refused to leave my lover's eyes, transfixed by the light I saw in them, a light that despite the concern that covered her face, gave me something I thought I was never going to feel ever again.

Hope.

Her strong shoulders slumped and she exaled slowly through her nose, bowing her head down and clenching tightly the muscles of her jaw. She expected me to ask such question.

I waited. Long agonizing seconds passed. Filling the silence there was just the rustling of leaves caused by the wind and the sound of my beating heart echoing in my ears.

"I'm still trying to find an answer to that..." Her voice resigned as she answered without looking me in the eyes, fixing instead the dry leaves lying on the ground.

Her hands trembled slightly in mine and when she looked up at me tentatively, I saw the flash of hurt cross her features.

"I'm sorry, Leliana." It was barely a whisper and she couldn't help her voice from cracking when my name left her lips.

The sight broke further my already shattered heart.

She looked so hurt, so scared and lost and all I wanted was to take her in my arms and never let her go, but I was paralized. Unable to move or speak. Because I was afraid of what she meant with that apology.

I saw her swallow hard, desperately trying to control herself before she managed to speak a little louder, her voice still filled with emotion.

"I thought I was going to die. When I started to feel all the strenght being taken away from my body, I really thought it was the end. And the thought of not say farewell to you one last time, was unbearable."

I listened to her, shaking with that same old frightening feeling that made me unable to react. All I could do was stand there holding on her hands and cling to that hope I could still see shine behind all the sorrow and guilt in her clear blue eyes.

She exaled slowly, and when she spoke her voice was strong and steady.

"I didn't expect to wake up two days later, finding out that all my body needed, was to rest... As the cure ran through my veins."

She fixed her eyes with mine and what she said next was what released me from the invisible hold that was wrapped tightly around me, closing my throat with a fear I had no longer reason to feel, lifting my spirit above heavens with joy and an immense sense of relief.

"It worked, Leliana."

The small smiled that appeared on her lips was all I saw before I buried my head in her chest, sobbing with relief and gratefulness as I thanked the Maker and whomever had watched over my lover during this difficult mission, hearing my own voice shaking as I whispered sweet words against her neck in my native language.

Her arms came up to hold me tightly against her and when her delicate scent filled my nostrils I only sobbed harder.

She held me like if I was the most precious thing she ever had, running her fingers through my hair, whispering apologies and begging me to forgive her for causing me an unnecessary pain with that letter.

I looked up at her meeting her eyes filled with tears before I captured her lips with mine, silencing her from all the nonsense apologies and showing her all the love and gratefulness I was feeling with my kiss.

She didn't respond immediately, but when I felt her hands on my waist bringing me closer to her, the last layer of concern was lifted from my heart, and I melted into her arms.

We kissed holding into each other as if our lives depended on it. I don't know how much time passed, but at some point I felt the need to reinforce the meaning of the moment with something. I slowed down, cupping her face in my hands before placing one last tender kiss on her lower lip.

I closed my eyes, brushing our lips together for a few more seconds before I leaned back a little, enough to look into those glistening blue eyes filled with love and devotion.

"Thank you."

I wanted to thank her for returning to me like she had promised, for not leaving me alone in this world, for loving me like no one else ever did... And for showing it to me with every action, every touch and every breath.

She looked at me with an intensity that had the power to shake my very core.

"You mean everything to me, Leliana."

That was all it took.

A few words whispered with so much sentiment and my heart melt inside of my chest. I barely registered that I had leaned in taking her lips with mine in another passionate deep kiss, but when I felt my lover pushing me away gently, I wondered if I had done something wrong.

She gasped a little for air and before I could ask anything she said

"There is another thing I must do before." I looked at her, frowning slightly when I saw a sad smile appear on her lips.

"It's something I had promised to someone a long time ago. Something that gave me strenght during all these months and that I had promised to myself I would have done when I would have returned to you, my dear heart."

I saw her pulling something out from her leather trousers, holding it tightly in her hand before looking up at me. She was suddenly nervous, swallowing hard and breathing out shakily, but the smile on her lips and the light in her eyes was what made my already racing heart beat even faster with anticipation.

The wind blew on us and she took the occasion to take a deep refreshing breath before meeting my curious gaze once again.

"I had lived in the Circle for most of my life, locked up in a tower because people thought that my kind was dangerous, and they made me think that too, for a long time. But then Duncan came at the Tower asking me to join the Gray Wardens, giving to me the chance to use my magic to do something good, giving me a noble purpose and I couldn't decline such offer. I didn't know what I was facing. I didn't know that a curse was going to run in my veins and condemn me to a short life made of sacrifices and vigilance."

She looked at me cupping my cheek with her free hand as I found myself leaning in the touch before she continued.

"But there was no condemnation. Because it brought me to meet a wonderful creature. A creature made of art and music and stories. And when she asked, I was more than happy to accept her in the group, but it was only after, that I found myself desperately wanting to be accepted to her."

My lower lip trembled as I listened to the tale of our first encounter, remembering it like it was the previous day.

"You made me feel accepted for the first time in my life, Leliana." Her voice held so much love and gratefulness that I could feel tears starting to well up in my eyes.

"You made me feel a normal person despite the magic in my blood. You made me feel important for leading the group towards a dangerous mission. But most of all, you taught me so much, Leliana. Because none of what we have accomplished would had been possible if you wouldn't have taught me the essence of life."

She paused an instant but I already knew what she was going to say next, forming a lump in my throat and making my heart beats faster.

"Love."

I tried to take some air into my lungs but I couldn't breathe.

"And that is why I had to wait so long to do this."

If I couldn't breathe a second before, when I saw her opening her fist and holding up a small circular shining object, I felt the last ounce of air being forced out from my lungs.
And when she kneeled down in front of me, a shaky gasp was the only thing I could manage to intake as my hand flew to cover my mouth and tears started running over my cheeks.

"I love you, Leliana. I wanted to ask this to you a long time ago, but first I wanted to be sure to guarantee to you a future without insecurities, without preoccupation of leaving you in this world because of the Calling."

Her eyes were glistening with tears and she did everything in her power to keep them at bay, but the emotion in her voice was what touched my heart and soul like nothing else.

"I may no longer be a Gray Warden. But I would love nothing more than to be yours, forever."

I was starting to shake incontrollably, completely unable to control my own reactions, and what she asked next, was what had me sob into my hands with pure joy.

"Will you marry me?"

The vulnerability in her voice, the timid smile and the slight tremor in her hand as she held up the white gold band was what shattered me completely and somehow, deep inside me I found the last once of strenght that made me bend and take her lips in the most breathtaking passionate kiss, filled with love and promises for a future together.

I cupped her cheeks urging her to stand as she wrapped her arms tightly around me.

It was perfect.

I've dreamt about the day when we would be reunited, but this was beyond any immagination beyond any kind of happiness I had ever felt in my whole life.

And since words, that were my loyal friends, in that moment failed me, all I could do was keep kissing her, only whispering a shaky "yes" at every occasion I had between a kiss and another.

We separated reluctantly when air became necessary resting our foreheads together for a few seconds, breathing into each other before I leaned back, looking at my lover's flushed face covered with tears but emanating love and happiness from every pore.

"I love you."

A heartbeat passed and then I kissed her softly, pulling away just enough to whisper against her lips.

"I'm yours."

At that she took my hand in her, affectionately running her thumb over my knuckles and smiling brightly at me.

"May I?"

I nodded unable to control the grin that appeared over my face and gasping with incredulity when I realized to whom that simply decorated white gold ring belonged.

I looked up at her, eyes wide with surprise and glistening with new tears.

"H-how?"

She smiled sadly at me before saying "The day we went to visit Dorothea in that cloister in Valance. I wanted to ask her the permission to do this."

I trembled with a combination of emotions as I remembered Justinia meeting my lover for the first time. And knowing that my lover wanted to meet her so she could have the benediction to marry me, was a thought that warmed my heart beyond compare.

"She gave me the ring that day, making me promise that I would have find a way to stay at your side for as long as possible and that I would have took care of you, for the rest of our lives."

Thick tears ran over my cheeks falling on our joined hands in a combination of love and loss, but when my lover cupped my face in her hand and I saw the reflection of pure adoration in her eyes and the comfort offered by her touch that made me feel safe in her arms like no other place ever had the power to, I smiled, thinking about the future that no longer scared me.

And with that thought in mind I held up my hand for her to slid that very familiar ring on my finger, sealing, with that simple gesture a promise made a long time ago, a promise that broke both of us during the years but that finally had her in my arms and me in hers.

The only place I ever belonged.

Shielded by her flame.

The End

Thanks for reading everyone, I hope you enjoyed it :)