Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Age or any of its related characters. This is just for my own enjoyment and the potential enjoyment of other fans like me, and no monetary gain was expected or received.

Rating: T

Spoilers: May contain spoilers for Origins, Origins DLC, Awakening, and Dragon Age II, Dragon Age II DLC, Dragon Age Inquisition as well as the novels The Stolen Throne and The Calling.

Chapter Six

Zathrien was waiting for them in the main chamber of the ruins above. Neither Loghain nor the Warden was any too surprised to see him there.

"You return, my friends," he said. "Do you have the heart?"

"Not yet, no," Elilia said.

"Then why are you leaving?" Zathrien said, a dark cloud settling over his features.

"We came to find you," Elilia said. "Can't say we're surprised to find you here. We… know a little something more than we did when we set out. About where this curse comes from."

"It comes from Witherfang, like I told you."

"It comes from you," Elilia said. "You're the one who originated it. You're the one who can break it. For everyone, your people and the werewolves, too."

"What you should ask is, do they deserve to be saved from the curse that afflicts them? Did they tell you that they brought it upon themselves?" Zathrien said.

"Actually, they told us exactly what they did. They also told us that was generations ago. The werewolves who live here now are blameless. Your revenge is spent."

"My revenge will never be spent," Zathrien said. "Those men were monsters to begin with - my curse had nothing to do with making them so. And my revenge will never be complete until the last one lies dead and dust."

"It's your own people falling to this curse now, Zathrien," Loghain said. "Will you let that continue for your revenge?"

"Bring me the heart of Witherfang and they will be saved," Zathrien said.

"We can't let you save just the ones you choose and condemn all the rest of the world to this curse," Loghain said.

"Ha. I didn't expect the likes of you to understand, Loghain."

"I understand very well. It may be that no one understands the flavor of revenge better. But your revenge is consuming you and all that you hold dear. It's time for it to end, Zathrien. Before it destroys you and your people."

"Look, Zathrien, the Lady of the Forest just wants to talk with you. Will you do that much?" Elilia said. "Just talk to her."

"And what if it is not talk that they wish? What if this is a trap they are laying? Will you protect me?" Zathrien demanded.

"Of course we will," Elilia said. "But I really don't think that's what they want."

Zathrien straightened the collar of his robes. "Very well. I will go with you, if you will promise your protection, and I will listen to their 'talk,' though I see little point to it."

They led the way down to where the Lady and the werewolves awaited them. The reception was not a friendly one - when they saw Zathrien, the werewolves could barely restrain themselves. "Peace, my people," the Lady said. "We cannot expect him to give us his ear if we do not bring our message to him in peace."

"Rrrr, you are correct, My Lady," Swiftrunner said, standing down.

The Lady stepped forward. "I welcome you, Zathrien. Long have we wished for this meeting. Long have we sent our emissaries to entreat you."

"Well I am here now. I suggest you speak," Zathrien said, drawing himself up tall. "I don't promise that it will avail you anything."

The Lady nodded slowly. "You already know what we want. We want to be free. Free of this curse that binds us to the savagery of our bestial natures. Let us go at long, long last. Surely your revenge has spent itself."

"Never," Zathrien said.

"But why not?" the Lady said. "Is because of your everlasting anger, or is there another reason why you hesitate?"

"What do you mean?" Elilia said.

"As I told you, good Warden, the curse is bound to Zathrien's life, though it would not end with his death. However, it has kept him alive through all these many centuries. It will continue to keep him alive for as long as it is held. Zathrien's people believe he has rediscovered the immortality of his ancestors. In truth, it is blood magic that keeps him alive beyond his days," the Lady said.

"I suspected as much," Elilia said. "Zathrien, is there no extent to which you will not go for your revenge?"

"What would you have done if it was your son? If was your daughter?" Zathrien snapped.

"I'd probably do everything in my ability to get the bastards back," Loghain said. "But there comes a time when enough is too much, and I think perhaps we've reached that point, don't you? It's your own people suffering now, Zathrien. And I won't let anyone else suffer for your revenge, either. End this. Now."

"I don't think you have the power to make me, Loghain Mac Tir," Zathrien said, raising his staff.

Loghain drew his sword. "You have magic, Zathrien, but I've fought others of your kind and you don't frighten me."

"I will bring you to fear," Zathrien said, and brought the smaller trees to life with spirits inside them. The Lady of the Forest turned into Witherfang and tried to attack with her wolves but Zathrien cast a spell of mass paralysis upon them all.

"Hold your punches, try not to kill him!" Loghain said as he jumped into the fray.

"Him? What about us?" Shianni asked as she knocked an arrow and danced away from the sweeping branches of a sylvan.

"Just hit him and hit him good," Loghain said. "Keep yourself out of his way!"

The battle was difficult with the trees to contend with and trying to keep Zathrien alive, but even with his powerful magic, tempered by many centuries' practice, Zathrien was outmatched and overwhelmed. Finally he dropped his staff and fell to his knees.

"No! No no, no more! I cannot defeat you," Zathrien said. The Lady of the Forest, released from the spell that held her and the werewolves, walked up to them. "Perhaps it is as you say, Spirit. Perhaps I have lived… too long, stewing in my hatred. Perhaps it is time for all of it to end. Are you prepared for that, Spirit? You know that your life will end as well as mine."

"Zatrien, you created me. And in this life I have learned of many wonderful things - joy, love, comradeship. Yet of all things, what I desire most is an end."

"You shame me, Spirit. This has gone on too long," Zathrien said. He stood up and took a knife from his belt. "I will break the curse."

The Lady said her goodbyes to her people. Zathrien gave her that time. Then he sliced the palm of his hand and let the blood flow. A brilliant light rose up around him, and then he and the Lady both slumped to the ground. The Lady disappeared entirely. Zathrien lay dead. The werewolves were no more. They stood instead as humans, naked as the day and stunned.

"It worked! It worked! Brothers and sisters, we are free!" the one once known as Swiftrunner cried. He looked at his human hands and his naked body with his eerily pale eyes, eyes not too different from Loghain's eerily pale eyes. "But what do we do now? We cannot walk among humans as we are. We will have to steal clothing from somewhere before we can try and find a place for ourselves."

"We should have some extra, but that's back at our encampment, which is at the Dalish camp," Loghain said. "You might not want to go there yourselves. There may be bad blood remaining after your attack. They don't know the whole story with Zathrien's initial curse on your ancestors and… might side with him anyway. If you'll stay put, we can bring some back here. Then you can follow us on to Gwaren, which is the kind of town where people who have lived all their lives as wild wolves can probably fit in fairly well. You can stay at the Keep until you find work and housing for yourselves, like the rest of the refugees there."

"Do you really think we could make real lives for ourselves in this Gwaren?" Swiftrunner asked.

"If you work hard, apply yourselves, you've got as good a chance as anyone. Gwareners are a strange lot. They won't look down on you any more than they will on anyone from 'Away.' Less so, perhaps. They'll understand you better. You're native Brecilianers."

"We are already forever in your debt, humans… brothers and sisters," Swiftrunner said. "There is nothing we can ever do to repay you."

"Repayment isn't necessary. We did what was right." Elilia said.

"You wanted us to fight the darkspawn with you," Swiftrunner said. "We might not be as effective now, but we can still fight."

"You've never fought with weapons before, Swiftrunner. Perhaps it's best if you just take the time to set your lives straight now that you've entered this new phase of them. It's going to take some time," Loghain said. "We'd better get back to the elves and set things straight with them."

"We should take Zathrien's body back to them," Elilia said.

"And just how do we explain the beating he took?" Loghain said. "I think we should leave him here and give them some song and dance. Perhaps he conveniently vanished, like the Lady."

"Don't you think they'll find him?" Elilia said.

"Not if the forest keeps them out of the ruins like it tried to keep us out."

"So we just leave him here to rot? That doesn't seem right," Alistair said.

"You'd rather face the mess we'll create when we tell the elves we beat their beloved immortal Keeper into submission?" Loghain said. "I think that will be a good way to lose their cooperation, treaty or no, and we may not even get out of here alive."

"I think he's right," Elilia said. "We'll have to trust the forest to keep the secret for us."

They returned to the camp, and Zathrien's First, a mage named Lanaya, met them. She already knew, or suspected at the least, that Zathrien was dead. She said that she could sense it when it happened. Elilia spun a smooth tale about how Zathrien died a hero, in a ritual to save all the afflicted, and turned to dust after the long years of unnatural existence. She was an excellent liar, Loghain had to admit it, and he admired that about her even as he knew to be watchful of it.

"I am the Keeper of this clan, now," Lanaya said. "We will join you in your fight against the Darkspawn. We will send emissaries to the other clans that should be in this nation. I cannot promise that all will join, but we will be as persuasive as possible, Wardens. Thank you for saving our people."

The Warden party returned to their things and their horses and made ready to leave. "Let's get the were-people what clothing we can get them and bring them to Gwaren as quickly as possible," Loghain said. "I can't be done with this forest fast enough. I feel like I've spent years here."