Author's note - And this is the final chapter of Late Watch, it turns out Zevran's work wasn't quite done. Set immediately after Chapter 38 of The Hourglass, and answers the question "Why wasn't Alistair in that chapter at all?"

Night had fallen on the Warden compound. Zevran supposed there was really no very good reason for him to be keeping this vigil - there were guards on the gates that let out to the Market District, and the wedding party had seen Loghain and Muirnara in through those gates, to the accompaniment of a lot of ribald humour and shouted bits of advice that he was sure Loghain was in no need of. Then most of them had gone away to find the remainder of the wine - just because the bride and groom had made their exit was no reason to end a perfectly good celebration.

But there was something in him that felt the pair of them were owed this. With what was to come in the morning, they surely could have one night without fear, and he had set himself to keep guard over the end of the corridor that led to the Warden Commander's rooms. Anyone on Thedas with a problem now could just wait. They weren't going to get down that corridor.

But of all the possible people to deflect from heading down that corridor...well, the Crown Prince of Ferelden was the last one that Zevran had expected to see.

"Alistair, my friend, what on earth do you think you are doing?"

Alistair paused and looked at Zevran. "I was...I don't know." Although the man was carrying a wineskin he did not appear to be drunk. And Zevran had seen enough drunks in his time. Alistair just appeared very tired, and very sad.

"Sit down, my friend." The elf indicated the seat on the bench beside him.

Alistair sat, obediently, resting the wineskin between their feet.

"Now tell me - why were you going down there?"

"Because I'm a fool."

Zevran chuckled softly. "Admitting it is the first step away from foolishness and towards wisdom, my friend. But disturbing that pair on their wedding night would have been foolish indeed."

"I know. I doubt I would have got as far as the bedroom door. I don't know what I wanted to say to them. Maybe I was even going to apologise. I don't..." He looked at Zevran for the first time and there was a plea in his hazel eyes - pleading for what? "I don't know anything any more."

"And admitting that you do not know is the second step. My friend, you are becoming a wise man tonight."

That got a laugh, even if it was a rather bitter one. "I only wish it was true, Zevran." He gestured towards the corridor. "She was right, you know, when she finished things between us before the Landsmeet. It could never have worked. She's too decent, she would never have been the second woman in a token marriage. And she could never play the political games Anora plays, she looks at the world too straight. I knew that. I accepted that, even before the Landsmeet. And then, however much I was hurt, however much I felt she betrayed Duncan by sparing Loghain, I betrayed her far worse by first lashing out at her and then running away from my duty as a Warden. If we're tallying up betrayals tonight, I doubt Loghain would think I had the moral high ground on anything. And he'd be right."

Zevran smiled. "My friend, I long ago stopped believing the moral high ground exists in most questions, and I think that Loghain would agree with me. You may have run away - but you came back. You came to Denerim before we got here, and I know what you did here, Fergus Cousland talked to me a lot about the defence of the Docks when the darkspawn came. Without you, and those who fought beside you, there would be many hundreds more children without mothers, women grieving for lost children, men mourning their wives. Thousands made it onto those boats and out of the city, because of what you did. Do not tell me that counts for nothing."

"I know." He buried his face in his hands. "It wasn't enough though. None of it can ever be enough."

"For tonight, my friend, it is enough." Zevran claimed the wineskin, took a gulp from it. "Tomorrow they both face another ordeal - if the elves are greater fools than we think, she might be a widow by the end of it. Do not begrudge them their joy in each other tonight."

"I don't, Zev. Honestly, I don't." Alistair shook his head. "I was by Anora in the Chantry today, I saw how he looks at her, and how she looks at him. I went away immediately after the service, I didn't want to be the one casting a shadow on things. But Anora told me tonight about the elves. It seems so unfair, after everything we did for them. Everything she did for them. How can they possibly punish Loghain and not hurt her very deeply now? No matter what they do to him?"

"Alistair, you were brought up in the Chantry. This quote from the Chant of Light should not be new to you, my friend. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Have a little faith that Hahren Valendrian is not a complete fool, and let it go." He changed the subject. "And so when will your own nuptuals be?"

"Anora says in about three months time. Time to finish rebuilding, sort out any repercussions from the Landsmeet at the end of this week, arrange a coronation - apparently that normally happens before the wedding." He took back the wine and seemed about to drink from it, then paused. "Zevran, can I ask you a favour?"

The elf looked surprised. "Certainly. What is it?"

Alistair was blushing now, it made him look far more like the boy Zevran remembered. "Anora and I won't be sharing a bed till the wedding. And you know that I...well, that I didn't know a lot before Muirnara, and if I'm honest, I still don't know a lot now..."

Zevran had a smile on his face. "And?"

Alistair squared his shoulders. "Can we take the rest of this wine somewhere - and can you tell me all the things you kept trying to tell me back in the travelling days, when I invariably ran away halfway through the conversation? I may blush, but I promise you I won't run."

"Of course." Zevran came to his feet and offered Alistair a hand to help him up. "Nothing learned is ever wasted my friend. We will go to the main hall, it will be deserted now, we will raise a cup of wine to the two of them and wish them joy and long life, and I will have great pleasure in answering anything I can."

Alistair took one last look at the corridor and stood up. "Lead on."

As they disappeared, the candles on the walls flickered in a draught as a door opened and closed, and then all was quiet.