Author's note: Hello to all my wonderful readers! Special thanks to those of you who put my story in their favorites or on alert, or took the time to review, you make me very happy! It's great to know so many people like my little tale!

Extra special thanks to my amazing beta. Epiphany sola Gratia! I'm so grateful for you!

When he woke up the next morning, she was already gone. He lingered in bed for a while, savouring the exquisite soreness of his body, nuzzling her pillow where traces of her scent could still be found. His growling stomach soon forced him to get up and wander the room in search of his scattered clothes.

She burst into the room just as he finished dressing. With a delighted laugh, she threw herself in his arms and kissed him passionately.

"Do you know what I did this morning?" she asked, smiling widely and almost bouncing with glee. Her excitement was contagious and Alistair found himself smiling back and following her bouncing movements without even knowing why.

"No, what?"

"I went to the tavern!"

Hm. Maybe he heard it wrong.

"Ah… really?"

"Yes!" she said, her excitement not abating one bit. "Do you know what I did there?"

"Huh… beat up some mercenaries? Have a drink for breakfast? Oh, did you punch someone in the face again? Oooh, was it Ignacio? Aw, don't tell me I missed it!"

"No, no and no! I talked to the nobles!"

Now he was truly at a lost.

"Ah… yay?"

"Damn straight, yay!" she said. "I talked to them and they talked to me as if I was a real person!"

His eyes narrowed.

"You are a real person."

"Oh, you know what I mean! As if they thought I was someone important, as if I wasn't an elf! They listened to me! Apparently I saved a lot of important people in Howe's dungeons and most of the nobles I talked to agreed to speak out against Loghain at the Landsmeet! They even spoke to me with respect!"

Conflicting emotions ran through him. He felt happy because she was, sorry that she thought being polite to her was such a big deal, hopeful for the promise against Loghain. The positive emotions finally won and he smiled at her again.

"So…"

"So I talked to Arl Eamon and he counted the votes. He said that with Anora's support we might be able to win this, Alistair!"

"Really?"

"There's more! I have something for you! Close your eyes," she said, walking towards the door. "No peeking!" she shouted from the hallway and he closed his eyes again hastily. How did she know?

"Extend your hands."

She put something heavy in his hands, something vaguely round and metallic.

"You got me a new shield?"

"Ah, no," she said, laughing. "I got you an old one. Open your eyes."

He did, looking down at the object in his hands. He suddenly felt almost dizzy, his knees buckling under him and he barely managed to stay upright as tears stung his eyes.

Duncan's shield. She found Duncan's shield.

He staggered backwards, luckily falling in a nearby chair. His hands ran lovingly over the soaring griffon painted on the rugged surface. He had Duncan's sword, now, but a sword was… impersonal, just a weapon. He remembered when Duncan specially commissioned the artisan for this particular shield, telling him what size he wanted it, how the griffin should be painted. This shield was really special to him.

"You said you didn't have anything of his, so I thought… I thought maybe you'd like this. I found it at the Warden's warehouse. Are you… is it… do you want to…" She took a deep breath, kneeling in front of him and putting her hands on his knees. "Was it okay? Did I show disrespect or something? Are you mad at me? You look… not happy."

"I can't believe you remembered," he whispered, unable to look away from the shield. "This… this is perfect. Thank you." He smiled down at her and she smiled back, clearly relieved.

She took his hands in hers. Her excitement was still visible, but there was now a hint of something else in her eyes. Apprehension? Fear? "There's something else… The alienage gates are open," she said at length, biting her lower lip.

His heart sank as he forced the smile to stay on his lips. Maker, what were they going to find there?

"What are we still doing here, then? Let me put on my armour and we're going in straight away!"

She nodded, letting go of his hands.

"I'll wait for you outside."

He went into his room to quickly put on his armour, ignoring Eamon's suspicious look, and exited through the kitchen to grab something quick to eat on the way. The walk to the alienage was mostly silent, Kallian clutching at his hand as if she was hanging on to her lifeline. It didn't take long before they started to hear shouting.

"Something's going on," Alistair said. "Do you hear this?"

"It's… it's Shianni. It's Shianni!"

"She's yelling at people."

"Shianni is always yelling at people. It's really her!"

She started running, her pace slowing as she finally looked upon the gathering. Something was wrong.

"What's going on?" she asked, making all heads turned in her direction. The red-haired girl who was probably Shianni shrieked, jumping in her arms.

"Cousin! It's really you!"

"I'm happy to see you too, Shianni," Kallian said, her voice still tense, hugging her cousin closely. "I don't see my father anywhere. Where is he?"

Shianni's smile faltered.

"Mm… maybe we should go somewhere we can sit before I tell you this…"

It was like going back in time. The more Shianni was talking, the more he could see all colour and life leave his lover's face. He hadn't seen this expression on her for a long time, but he recognized it immediately. It was the same expression she bore at Ostagar when they were storming the tower.

He knew exactly what she must have been thinking.

She marched up to the healers, asking them to let her pass. When they refused, she fixed her dead eyes on them, unsheathing her weapons.

"Let me pass or I kill you all," she said, her voice flat. It broke his heart to hear it. The healers refused again and she launched her attack.

Well, she had warned them.

Through the hospice, the apartments and the warehouse they ran, hacking and slashing their way through guards and mages. No sooner was the last enemy's body touching the ground that Kallian was already in the next room, charging new ones. There was an urgency in her steps, a frenzy in her attacks that had never been there before. It reminded him that it wasn't the same as before, in the tower. She wasn't trapped in some nightmarish memory. This time, the nightmare was rooted in reality. Once again, she was rushing to free someone she loved who was promised to a horrible fate, and once again she was probably too late.

He felt his heart sink when he saw her lips moving silently as she fought, knowing what she was saying under her breath. All of her efforts, all of her hard work and relentless training seemed to have been for nothing. She looked at him sometimes with crazed eyes, not even recognizing him, barely registering him as an ally before pressing on.

When they got to the last room and that Tevinter mage tried to make a deal with her, her whole face twisted with rage.

"He tried to negotiate with me," she had said about the man who had raped her cousin.

With a raucous, enraged cry, she charged the mage, swinging her weapons in a blurred frenzy. It was all Alistair and Zevran could do to keep the other guards off her back, while Wynne was throwing healing spell after healing spell her way.

Soon the mage was on his knees in front of her, trying to beg for his life once more. The maleficar actually proposed to kill all of the imprisoned elves to give her more strength through blood magic. Alistair felt part of her rage wash over him as she spat out vengeful, hateful words, his own anger boiling up as he raised his sword and swiftly cut off the mage's head.

She whirled on him, her eyes still crazed, her chest heaving, clutching at her weapons, and for a scary second he thought she was going to attack him. He had never seen her so deeply lost to the rage and bloodlust before. His gauntlets hit the floor and he instinctively reached out to her, pleading.

"Kalli… come on, come back…" he said, his voice low, carefully framing her face between his palms.

The anger in her eyes took on a desperate edge and she actually bared her teeth to snarl at him. Back in the days, talking to her got her out of her bloodlust for a while, but more drastic measures now seemed called for. Luckily, he had some at his disposition.

Without thinking, he crushed her lips against his, kissing her passionately. After a short hesitation on her part, he heard both her weapons clash on the ground and her hands were in his hair as she kissed him back with a vengeance, pushing her tongue into his mouth. She clung to him, one hand twisted in his hair as the other roamed up and down his back, and he cursed the armour that prevented him from feeling her touch. Her lips devoured his, her mouth gasping against his mouth as if he was the air she breathed. His hands gripped her, frantically running over her body, craving her warmth, searching for the soft feeling of bare skin. His whole body felt like it was on fire, his blood rushing in his ears as his mouth attacked hers relentlessly.

When she pulled back to look at him, her eyes blessedly normal, her lips red and swollen and her hair all tousled, it was the most perfect, beautiful thing he had ever seen.

"Thank you," she whispered, and all he could do was nod, still breathing hard.

"Kallian!" Zevran called out from beside the cages he was busy unlocking.

Kallian turned to look at him and her eyes widened.

"Father!" she yelled, throwing herself into the arms of an older man just getting out of one of the cages.

Father and daughter talked privately, their heads close together, and then Kallian turned to him and beckoned him closer.

"Father, I want you to meet someone…"

Kallian's father turned a suspicious, almost hostile gaze on him, and Alistair realized with a pang that the man had been there the whole time. He silently thanked the Maker for full-on heavy plate armours.

"It's such a pleasure to meet you, sir," he stammered, awkwardly extending his hand. The older elf arched his eyebrows in surprise, eyeing his hand with some wariness before taking it in his.

Kallian was weeping, clutching at his other hand.

"I made it, Alistair. I wasn't too late. I wasn't too late!"

Shianni was ecstatic.

"Cousin, you're amazing! We should celebrate! You're staying for dinner, right? I'll weasel a bottle from Alarith and we'll catch up!"

Kallian smiled tiredly, rubbing a hand over her face.

"I need to go wash up, but I'll be back." She hesitated before asking in a small voice: "Can I bring a guest?"

"Oh, now that's interesting!" Shianni said, eyeing Zevran who threw her a seductive smile. "Something you want to tell me?"

"Yes, actually, although you're looking at the wrong eye-candy… Shianni, you're drooling a little…"

"What? Am not!"

"This is Alistair," Kallian said softly, taking his arm. He cleared his throat nervously.

"Hi… hum… pleasure to meet you. You know, officially because… we've met… before… over there. Hum. Yes, it's a pleasure."

Yup… He still got it. Very smooth…

Shianni looked at him warily, crossing her arms.

"He's a shem," she finally said, her voice scornful. "A weird one at that."

Ah, yes. A popular first impression among the young ladies from Denerim's alienage...

"He's more than just a shem, Shianni. He's my… he's my…" She bit her lower lip, searching for an appropriate word. She looked up at him and her expression softened visibly.

"He's my everything," she said softly.

He felt his heart melt and swallowed back the lump that was forming in his throat. What could he say to that?

"And we'll bring the wine," Kallian added. "I bet Arl Eamon has a cellar in his estate somewhere… My house, at sunset?"

"I'll be there," Shianni said. "I'll go tell your father you just invited people over for supper."

She walked away with a wink and a small smile, leaving Kallian's eyes wide and mouth slightly agape.

"Wow, for a second it was like I still lived here…"

"How are you feeling?" Alistair asked, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

"I feel… relieved. Free." She exhaled deeply.

"Come on," Alistair said gently, taking her arm under his. "Let's go take a bath and then steal the arl's wine."

Kallian perked up at that, throwing him a sly little smile that made his heart jump, filling him with hope that the bathing part of the plan was going to be really interesting…

That night was one of the best nights of his life. Kallian's family accepted him with cautious wariness at first, but they warmed up to him as the night went by and the wine flowed. He was regaled with some very nice cooking as well as some juicy and embarrassing tales of Kallian's childhood. More than once he found himself bent over in laughter, wiping tears from his eyes as Kallian threatened the storyteller with horrible promises of bodily harm that only made them all laugh harder.

After one glass of wine too many, he joined in and told some embarrassing moments of Kallian's life since they became travelling companions. His audience was hanging on his words, laughing and clapping, and all was going well until he glanced at Kallian and saw the little smirk on her lips. He knew then he was in big trouble.

"Did I tell you guys about that time when Alistair…"

That was the beginning of another series of stories that had everyone crying with laughter, but it was Alistair's turn to hide his face in his hands in shame. Supper went by too quickly as Alistair revelled in the overwhelming, warm feeling of being among family, even if it was not his own… yet.

After all the food had disappeared from the table, Kallian and her cousins retreated in the kitchen with the dirty dishes, the two girls whispering gossip as Soris rolled his eyes behind them. Alistair was left alone at the table with Cyrion, who was eyeing him attentively, leaning back in his chair.

"You're a good man, Alistair," he finally conceded. "A nice man. You make her happier than I have ever seen her."

Alistair took a deep breath, standing up to take another seat closer to the older man.

"I can't tell you how glad I am to hear you say that, sir. You see, I have something important I need to ask of you…"