"Alistair please…" Mayana ran up the stairs of the estate trying to keep up with Alistair as he rushed away from her. "I don't want this to ruin our friendship! Please talk to me!"
"Ruin our friendship?" he came to stop in the hallway leading to his room.
Mayana backed away from him as he hurried toward her, his nose crinkled in anger; her back hit the hard stone of the tall wall knocking the breath out of her.
"Were you thinking of me when you made him a Warden?"
"Alistair…" Mayana could feel the water quickly gathering in her eyes.
Alistair growled as he punched the wall behind Mayana causing her to flinch and turn her face away from his. She could feel his breath on her cheek, the sound of his heart beating in her ears. "Why would you do that? Why would you betray Duncan… betray me?"
Mayana closed her eyes as she turned back to face him. "I didn't betray anyone." She whispered as she slowly opened her eyes, she could see the hurt and the anger that filled the golden ones staring back at her. The betrayal he felt… caused by her. She closed her eyes again as his forehead came to rest on hers, she no longer had the strength to hold back the tears as they spilled onto her cheeks leaving hot trails behind them. She kissed back when his lips meet hers, she didn't want him to leave he had been the only friend she had had when she left her clan. Her arms wrapped around his neck pulling him closer to her as he deepened their kiss, crushing her against the cool metal of his armor.
"I can't." Alistair breathed as he let go of her and pulled the arms away that clung to him. "You made your choice and I made mine."
"I don't want to do this without you." Mayana sobbed grabbing his hands into her own and pulling them to her chest, she rested her chin atop of his hands and closed her eyes.
Alistair brushed the tear that slid down her cheek catching it with his thumb before it reached her chin. "I cannot stand by your side as long as Loghain is a Warden."
"But you are still a Grey Warden Alistair you cannot just stop being a Warden because of him."
Alistair sighed and closed his eyes as the anger in his chest began to build again.
Mayana gently kissed his hand trying to calm as she looked up at him with water filled blue eyes. She loved him, it was not the love she felt for Zevran but it was close enough that she didn't want to see him this way… the way he had been when she had walked out of Flemeth's hut to see him sitting by the murky water heartbroken. He had tried to hide his tears then but had failed, she could clearly see the salted wet paths they had left behind but now… now he was a different person, stronger, and he hide his emotions from her something she wished he would not do… not now.
He took her face in his hands brushing away the tears that fell from her sad eyes. "I wish you luck in your upcoming journey, in your… battle, may the maker watch over you and keep you safe."
She closed her eyes as he softly kissed her before releasing her face and turning to walk away. Mayana reached and grabbed his hand as he walked away slowly letting his fingers slip from her grip. "Goodbye Alistair." She whispered as she watched him walk away from her.
Zevran slowly opened the door to Mayana's room squinting his eyes as the breeze from the hallway rushed past him into the room blowing out the dim flame that was clinging to life on the melted candle next to Mayana's bed. He quietly made his way to her bed where she lay wrapped in the heavy blankets that lay across the bed, her pillow damp with the tears she cried for her lost friend and fellow Warden.
"Zevran?" Mayana whispered reaching for his hand; she wrapped her fingers around his pulling him onto the bed with her. He carefully climbed into the large bed with her, Mayana quickly crawling into his arms and burying her face into his neck. This is what she needed, this is what she wanted he had been there after she had seen what had happened to Tamlen, there when she felt like her world was crumbling to piece around her and now he was there again telling her that she was doing the right thing. An assassin… no a Crow… a Crow of all people was the one she turned to when she just needed someone to tell her everything would turn out okay that what she was doing what she was fighting for was all worth. A Crow who months earlier had tried to kill her and instead had stolen her heart, he was all she wanted.
Zevran slowly pulled his arm out from under Mayana and pulled her up the bed till her head rested on the pillow above her; he pulled the large blankets across her and kissed the light tattoo that covered her forehead.
"Stay… please." Mayana grabbed the collar of his shirt as he went to leave. "I want you too."
Zevran smiled slowly pulling her hand from his shirt. "I wasn't going anywhere my Grey Warden." He whispered pulling the blankets aside and climbing into the bed.
Mayana hurried across the bed and back into his arm burying her face into his chest, breathing in the smell of leather that covered his skin as she closed her eyes. It wasn't long before sleep quickly claimed her pulling her into the fade where her dreams gave her no relief.