- Chapter 8: The Story -

Elissa woke up from her daytime rest when she heard a knock on her door.

"Uh—Yes?" she asked, still sleepy. She gathered her sheets to cover up her naked body and sat on the bed. She slept without any clothes on because she had forgotten her nightgown back in Highever – not that she wasn't accustomed to sleep like that; when she was travelling with her companions a while ago, she didn't even have a change of clothes, let alone a nightgown.

Alistair walked in. When he saw her like that, he blushed and quickly turned around to leave. "I'm sorry, I thought –"

Elissa smiled. "It's nothing you haven't seen before, Alistair."

Alistair stopped on his heel; he closed the door and turned around with a grin. "Well, okay then. I was about to go and talk to our guest. Care to join us?" He was wearing a sleeveless red shirt that showed his newest scar – which Elissa still didn't know how he got – dark brown leather pants, and boots.

Elissa yawned. "Well, obviously. You locked yourself in your room. I didn't even get the chance to ask everything I wanted to."

"Right." He stood there for a moment, with his arms crossed over his chest.

"So, are you going to leave? I need to get dressed."

"I thought you said it wasn't anything I haven't seen before." Alistair grinned again, staring at her from top to bottom.

Elissa rolled her eyes and sighed. "I didn't say that you needed to see it again. Go away. You sound like a pervert." She smiled a little. She was actually amused by Alistair's persistence on staying.

Alistair pouted. "Fine, fine. I'll just wait for you by the dining room." He opened the door and left, closing it behind him.

Elissa got up, letting the afternoon rays of sunshine that came in through the small window warm her bare skin. She was holding her pillow to put it back in place when the door behind her suddenly opened.

"Hey, I was thinking…" Alistair barged in, this time without knocking.

Without turning around, she threw her pillow right at Alistair's face, quickly covering herself up with the sheets again. "Alistair, what are you doing?!"

He laughed. "I just wanted to ask you—"

"Leave!"

Alistair lifted his hands up. "Alright, alright. Sorry I just barged in…" He turned around to leave again, but then he stopped and looked at her with a smile. "I see the years have been kind to you."

"Go away!" She couldn't avoid the smile forming on her face. Maker, he's such an idiot!

Alistair obliged this time and got out of the bedroom.

Elissa sat on her bed, sheets still covering her – just in case – and let out a muffled laughter. He did it on purpose; I know he did. She remembered those times he held her when he thought nobody was watching, and the kisses he stole from her every time they were left a bit behind in the party.

"I'm going to get my revenge, you know." Elissa had an angry look on her face when she got near Alistair, now fully clothed with a grey tunic, brown leather pants and thigh-high black leather boots. She was trying to hide a smile. Alistair, of course, picked it right up.

"I can't wait to see what mischievous plans you're boiling in that pretty head of yours," he replied with a grin.

They just stood there, at the dining room door, looking at each other and trying not to laugh – just like the old days. Alistair looked away and decided it was time to avoid any more awkward moments. "So, let's…?"

"Yes." Elissa couldn't help but let out a smile. "You still have to tell me what happened in there."

Alistair opened the door and let Elissa walk in first. "I'll tell you everything you want to know later, don't worry."

They both walked into the dining room to find the old man they had saved eating a bowl of hot soup. He was bald on the top of his head, which contrasted with the long grey hairs he had on its sides and his long beard, both falling to his shoulders. Elissa could tell he had once been a well-built man like Alistair. His blue eyes told a story of misery and suffering, maybe because of all those years he had been locked.

"We brought you out of that pit," Alistair said, approaching him. "Now it's time to talk." He and Elissa sat down in front of the strange man. Isabela and Varric were already there, leaning against the wall behind them. They had been waiting for the Royals, as they called Alistair and Elissa when they weren't near enough to hear it.

"Yes, of course." The old man put his spoon down and cleaned his mouth on his bare arm. "You want to know about King Maric? He was my cellmate."

The room fell in a dead silence. They all had thought that the strange man could know something about Maric, not that he had been so close to him.

The man proceeded. "Every day, the Crows took him away to ask questions. He didn't tell me what they wanted, and I never told him my crimes. You don't in that… place."

"Oh, this is pointless," Isabela stated. "If he does not know why he was there, why do we keep him here?"

Varric stepped in. "Let the man speak, Rivaini. His story didn't end there, did it, old man?"

He smiled. His story was about to begin. "The Crows didn't kill him. But a Witch of the Wilds freed him."

Alistair's eyes widened. Flemeth? Is that woman the source of every problem I have?

"Our fourth year together, six days into spring – I know because I counted falcons. Our cell got cold and the screaming from below stopped."

Alistair remembered all the screaming from the prisoners when he was in that prison. Terrifying screams of pain, pleads for help and maddened comments.

"Then something hissed. A powerful mage demanded the release of a certain prisoner – Maric. There were Crows all around her, but she didn't move. She didn't look at us. Some Crows came for King Maric, and he didn't fight them. I never saw your father or the witch again."

Alistair sighed, shocked at the whole story. What he thought would be a relatively easy plan to bring King Maric back was turning out to be a much bigger and dangerous one.

"Damn her," he muttered. Looking back at the old man, Alistair's word came out of his lips with a hint of venom. "We met Flemeth in the Korcari Wilds, and she started me on the path to becoming king…" Elissa nodded at his statement.

The old man looked confused. "Flemeth?" He had no idea who Alistair was talking about.

Varric walked up to Alistair and put his hands on the table. "We met her once, too. She played a friend of ours."

"But Flemeth isn't the only Witch of the Wilds." Isabela got closer too. "They're afraid of another fable in Antiva, or am I wrong?"

The old bearded man looked at Isabela from top to bottom, but she was used to that by now. "No, you're not. This was Yavana – the Beast of the Tellari Swamps."

Varric raised his hands to his hair. "Another witch?" he yelled. "Wonderful!"

The old man looked back at Alistair. "Before Maric and Yavana disappeared, he left a message for his son. He said he had to do it. He said he was sorry."

Alistair stormed out of the dining room. All eyes were focused on the now open door, wondering if he would come back.

After a few moments of silence, Isabela patted Elissa on the shoulder. "I think he might need a friend right now."

Elissa thought about it for a while. She wasn't sure Alistair would like to speak to anyone right now, but the worst case scenario would be him telling her to go away – considering what had already happened, it wouldn't be so bad. She got up and followed the tall man. He was standing still, leaned on the left boarder of the ship.

"He meant Cailan, you know," he said once she got near him. He knew it was her because he knew the sound of her light footsteps – he didn't know why, but they had a characteristic sound to him. He was holding his dagger. "His real son."

"Alistair…" She was now next to him.

"I grew up to be a Templar, not a king. My mother was a servant and Maric barely knew I existed."

"Cailan died, Alistair." Elissa put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it gently. "Someone had to be king."

"But it wasn't supposed to be me."

Elissa figured out why he was holding and staring at his dagger. Right next to the handle there was a small symbol – a crest, to be exact. The Theirin crest.

Elissa put her other hand on top of Alistair's, the one that was holding the dagger. "You're the rightful heir to the throne, and a wonderful king. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise."

He smiled in disbelief. "Most times I have no idea what I'm doing. That's what my whole life has been like – I'm a follower, not a leader." He looked straight into Elissa's green eyes. "If I had asked you to stay, I would never have had so many doubts about myself. You were the one who gave me confidence to take the throne."

"That's not true. You had it in yourself all along – and you still do. You just can't see it."

Alistair stabbed the wooden frame of the ship with his dagger. He sighed and looked at the sky, which was starting to darken. "I thought my father was a prisoner. If he escaped, I need to know if he's alive."

Elissa nodded, and with his confidence increased by that strong woman, he looked around, searching for the Captain. Isabela had just emerged from the dining room.

"Isabela!" He called. "Can you take me to the Tellari Swamps?"

She smiled. He was back on track. "For you? Anything – but just this once. I'll tell the crew to set course. It'll take a day, though."

"Thank you." He turned to Elissa with a smile. "Now, there were some questions you had…?"

"Yes. What—"

"Downstairs," he whispered.

Elissa closed the door behind her. Once again, they were reunited in Alistair's bedroom.

"Ask away," he said.

"What happened in there? In the prison, I mean."

"A High Dragon was inside, protecting the upper cells." He sat down on his bed. "I heroically managed to kill him, but it got to my arm with one of its huge teeth. I got the old man out and here we are." His face was serious.

Elissa leaned against the door. "Now the truth."

Alistair smiled. "Is that unbelievable? Because that's what happened."

Elissa looked at him amused, but she said nothing. She truly wanted to know what had happened.

"Okay, fine, but this story isn't that glorious. That Qunari we found in the atrium found me, we battled, he cut my arm, I cut his head in two. I got the keys from his dead body, went to the cell, saved the old man. That's it."

Elissa nodded. "That one I believe."

"What about you?" He looked up at her. "I saw the pile of dead bodies."

"We just battled and won. No big deal for the Hero of Ferelden." Elissa laughed.

The look on Alistair's eyes suddenly changed. "Don't you miss it?"

"Miss what?" Elissa asked curiously.

He looked blankly at the wall in front of him. "Everything. Well, I mean, not everything – the Blight was an awful thing. But everything that came from that, you know? The adventure, the friendship…"

"The rejection, the betrayal?" Her face was serious.

"You know what I mean, Elissa." He got up and walked up to her. "I look back and despite of everything that went wrong, I was the happiest I've ever been." Because you were with me, he wanted to say, but he didn't want to push it; after all, she had just forgiven him. But he couldn't help himself; he knew that he still had feelings for her, and it was killing him being next to her just as friends after looking for her during all these years.

"Better times have passed since then, Alistair. At least for me."

Right. Her daughter. He nodded. "Yes, well, not all of us had the joy you had."

"You've had plenty of time to find a suitable wife, Alistair," she reminded him. Her words were different this time. She genuinely didn't mean to hurt him.

"Suitable is a very vague concept, my dear." He grinned and put a hand on the wall next to Elissa, leaning in. "It takes a lot of woman to put up with me."

"Ha! No news there!" She turned around and left him alone in his room, thinking about the only suitable woman for him.

It was not long when he heard a knock on his door.

"Yes?"

The door opened and Varric peeked in. "Interested in being entertained?"

Alistair smiled and stood up from his bed. He had been sitting there only for a few minutes, trapped once again in his own memories. "I hope you're not telling me you managed to bring some shady ladies in here."

Varric laughed. "Would that be so bad?"

Alistair blushed and ran a hand through his hair. "Uhh… Actually, yes."

"So the mighty king is afraid of intimacy!" Varric smiled, but suddenly it vanished, "Wait, unless you never—"

"What is this entertainment you speak of, then?" Alistair opened the door to leave, making Varric take two steps back and start walking up the stairs.

"We have a singer on board."

Alistair was confused but followed the dwarf. When he walked onto the deck, he found Isabela asking something of Elissa and she was denying whatever the request was.

"You promised!" Isabela kept saying.

"What good would it do?" Elissa asked.

Isabela was very expressive with her arms, as she kept moving them up and down between pleas. "We're bored. You could lighten all up with that pretty voice of yours!"

Elissa sighed. "Fine. One song."

Isabela clapped her hands happily. "Finally! Men, gather round!" she shouted, but their companions were already there. "Oh, you're already here! Even better!" Isabela was smiling brightly because it had been a long time since she had heard anyone sing for a crowd – even if that crowd consisted only of three crazy people.

"I didn't know you sing," Alistair told Elissa with a smile.

"There are many things you don't know about me, my king," Elissa teased, bowing as she addressed him. She looked away and took a deep breath. The words that flew out of her lips were from the first song she could think of. "The wind that stirs their shallow graves…"

She was interrupted by an annoyed Isabela. "Elissa, are you serious?"

She looked confusedly at the pirate. "What?"

"I thought this was about us getting to know you better since our lives depend on each other, and not about you reciting the damned Ballad of Ayesleigh! Sing us something of your own creation!"

Elissa blushed. "But I don't—"

"Yes, you do! Spill it out. We want to hear it."

The noblewoman nodded and looked at the sea. "It's… personal."

"Isn't that the whole point of this, Blaze?" asked Varric jokingly. "Okay, what if we take turns? Each one of us tells you something personal and then you get to sing to us with that lovely voice you have."

Elissa's faint smile told him she approved. "I'll go first then. My crossbow is named Bianca because of a long story involving a girl and a promise."

"Hey that's nothing new, Varric. No cheating!" Isabela observed.

"She didn't know that. And it is somewhat personal, and I just told it. You're next, Rivaini."

Isabela had an annoyed look on her face and she crossed her arms. "So what you're asking for is something that is personal, but you don't have to explain it."

"That works for me, as long as I don't have to explain myself afterwards," Elissa added. "I'll sing the song, but no questions about its contents will be asked. Agreed?"

Isabela nodded, and so did Varric and Alistair. "Okay then… Personal but not too revealing." She paused for a moment, thinking about whether she should tell them one of her stories about passionate love making or something more close to her. "My real name is not Isabela."

"What?!" Varric shouted in shock. "It's not?"

"No questions, Varric," she replied with a devious smile. She knew she had brought up confusion inside their heads, especially Varric's, but if she were to tell something about herself, it might as well be what no one was expecting. "Your turn, king."

Alistair thought for a while. Every personal thing he had he already told to Elissa over their time together. But there had been something that had happened awhile back he never told anyone, including Teagan. "Empress Celene of Orlais visited Denerim a while back…" he whispered.

Varric grinned. "That's hardly something personal, Prince."

"I'm not done yet!" He got closer to the group, who did the same. This was a huge secret, at least as far as Alistair was concerned. He lowered his voice and his words flew out of his lips slowly. "When we were alone, she suggested a marriage between us to unite both Ferelden and Orlais."

Elissa was shocked. "What was your answer?"

Alistair grinned. "No questions."

His three companions started protesting, as this was a huge deal not only involving their friend, but also the future of two different nations.

Alsitair put an end to the discussion when he raised his hand. "People, people, we had an agreement. If you behave, I'll tell you what I answered her. Eventually." The three of them pouted. "Now, Elissa, wouldn't you mind…?"

"That's not fair. My story is not as mind-blowing as yours!" Elissa was more relaxed because her companions trusted one another, but Alistair's story left her with a rapid heartbeat.

"If it is not, surely you'll compensate for it with your lovely voice," Isabella fluttered her eyelashes at her seductively.

Elissa laughed and threw her hands in the air in surrender. "Alright, alright…" She took a deep breath before placing her song in time. "This is the only song I have ever put to paper, usually when I sing I do it for myself and make the words along the tune. When I wrote it, I was lost. I found I was pregnant a few months ago and my… lover had left me not too long ago."

Varric lifted a brow. So she has a child. I'll have to remember to change my story when Prince here rejects her as queen, otherwise I'll pass from storyteller to simple liar.

Her eyes drifted to the ocean as she remembered all the pain she had gone through that time. She was alone in Highever, the father of her child had left her and the castle was being rebuilt. She looked down and softly started to sing.

"My lover's gone… His boots no longer at my door.

He left at dawn and as I slept I felt him go, returns no more.

I will not watch the ocean. My lover's gone…

No Fereldan ships will ever bring him home again.

My lover's gone – I know that kiss will be my last.

No more his song, the tune upon his lips has passed.

I sing alone as I watch the ocean. My lover's gone…"

Elissa kept her eyes closed throughout the whole song, not only because it made her singing easier, but she could hold back the tears like that. When she finally opened them up, a single tear escaped its prison and rolled down her cheek. She turned her face away so she wouldn't show her weakness to her companions and then hurried away from there, positioning herself on the other side of the ship, staring alone at the sea – just like in her song.

Isabela watched her run away and then turned to Alistair. "What have you done to that poor woman?"

He looked surprised at her statement. "Me? Why do you say that?"

"She just told us she was hurting because you left her! Besides, when were you going to mention you had a child? Or did she miscarry and that's why she started to cry?"

"Wha—Isabela, you're getting it all wrong." He leaned against the wooden wall behind him, signaling his companions to get closer. "That song was not about me."

Isabela was doubtful. "It is. She certainly didn't have anyone but you. She looks so inexperienced."

Alistair smiled. "You see, that's where you're wrong. Remember that little fight you two had the first day you both were in this ship?" Both Isabela and Varric nodded, but Alistair didn't really need an answer – Who could ever forget that? "When you said only an elf would lay with her?"

Isabela covered her mouth with her hands. "You're joking… Did she really sleep with an elf?"

Alistair nodded. "Zevran."

Varric's eyes widened. "Why in Thedas would she have sex with… that?"

Alistair shrugged and told the dwarf and the pirate why he and Elissa had broken up. "She was devastated. I saw it in her eyes. She was so angry at me… Anyway, I don't know if he took advantage of her condition or if she just wanted to forget about me or maybe even both. But the next morning, I was already out of my tent when I saw her leaving Zevran's. I couldn't blame her. We weren't together."

"Wait a minute," Varric interrupted him. "How can you be sure that child is Zevran's and isn't yours? I mean, if you two were together for over a year, I assume you also slept with her."

That 'also' in Varric's sentence made Alistair's heart skip a bit – knowing that the woman he loved the most had given herself to another man only hit him hard when he heard it aloud. He pulled himself together and explained to Varric why he couldn't be Eleanor's father. "As you know, we are both Grey Wardens. I cannot explain to you why, but there's a particular thing in each of us that makes it nearly impossible to have children – and that's assuming only one parent is a Warden. If both parents are Grey Wardens, that impossibility increases. A lot."

"And what makes you think the father is Zevran and not someone else?" Isabela asked him, curious about what they had to make it impossible to breed with each other.

"Because of the girl's age. It can be possible that her father is indeed someone else, but the timeline is correct with this Zevran thing." Alistair sighed. "Of course, I haven't asked her, and I doubt she would just tell me. She avoided the question once, and even the girl doesn't know who her father is."

"Poor child. But you can't blame Elissa for not telling her. I mean, her father is an assassin."

"I agree with you on that, Rivaini."

Alistair ran a hand through his hair. "I guess I should go and check on her… Or should I just leave her alone?"

Isabela laid a hand on Alistair's broad shoulder. "She didn't have a friend by her the time she wrote that song. I think she would appreciate one now that she's sung it."

Elissa heard footsteps behind her, footsteps she knew too well. "Do you know why I didn't let you know where I was for all those years?" She had her arms resting on the wooden edge of the ship, trying to calm her mind and heart – a task proving to be too hard at the moment.

"I've always wondered," Alistair replied in a husky voice. He knew her next words would be for him alone, so he looked around to see if no one would be there to eavesdrop.

She smiled faintly at the waves below her. He looked closely at her to find her eyes puffy and her nose red. She had been crying silently.

"I kept myself away from you because I knew that when you came to see me you would ask me to go back to Denerim to be your Commander, or to be part of the court, or some other crazy situation like this one you've put us all into." She laughed a bit unwillingly, and then she proceeded. "And I would just follow you blindly. Look at me, I'm here and I didn't even hesitate. You have some kind of hold over me, even though we're not together and I haven't seen you in years. It's dangerous." She turned to face him. Alistair was feeling guilty and she could see it in his eyes.

Elissa let another tear roll down her flawless skin, but she didn't lose her composure. "I left my daughter behind."

Alistair wiped that tear from her face and tried to comfort her. "She's in good hands."

"I know," she replied, resting her face in his calloused, strong hand. "But they're not my hands." She looked back up at him. "What will happen to her should something happen to me?"

Alistair let go and held both her hands in his. He tried to assure her, to rest her worried heart. "Nothing will happen to you, Elissa. I won't allow it."

"She only has Fergus…"

It could be a bad timing, but how would he ever try to address the subject again? "Where's her father?"

Elissa smiled and looked back at the sea. "On a suicidal mission, that's where he is." She couldn't hold back anymore. Thinking about her daughter, with her mother and father nowhere to be found by her, reminding of the time she lost her own parents, made her legs tremble and she fell to the floor on her knees, covering her face while she sobbed intensely. She didn't care who could be watching her. She had to let it out.

Alistair quickly got down on his knees and held her against him. He gently caressed her hair and she let herself fall to his chest, with her hands still covering her face.

"You'll be back soon enough to see her, my love."

Those last words escaped unwillingly from his lips, but neither of them cared that much; Elissa because she was buried in her own grief, and Alistair because he wasn't worried about hiding the truth in such a moment of weakness.

Author's note: This was my favorite chapter to write, so far. I hope you liked to read it as much as I enjoyed writing it! If you did, please leave a review! If you didn't, leave it anyway so I can know what you didn't like :)

Elissa's song is actually Dido's "My Lover's Gone", as I am terrible at writing lyrics. I just figured that beautiful song did have the rhythm and message Elissa wanted to let out, so if you have no idea what I'm talking about, go check it out!

Regarding the falcons as a way to count time, I have no idea how the old man did that - I took that line directly off the comics.

Once again, a big thank you to sarahannmarie123 for taking a few moments to read my story, correct it and let me know how I can improve it :)