Okay, just a heads up, I am going to skip through some time in this chapter, because to write the whole trip to Tevinter would take too long, and honestly… I don't have many ideas.

So, just wanted to let you know. Now, here we go with chapter three!

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It had been a few weeks since the group had set sail for Tevinter, and they were now almost to the docks of Qarinus. Azariah was on the upper deck looking out at the docks that were slowly coming into view through the mists.

"Finally, we're here." Fiona said as she walked up to stand next to her. "These have been the longest four weeks of my life."

"Mine, too." Azariah agreed, and then noticed what Fiona had changed into. Instead of her usual enchanter robe, she was wearing a red and white dress with a red cape and hood to go with it. "Where did you get that?"

"I've had this for a long time." Fiona answered, looking down at herself. "I'm amazed it still fits."

"It looks good on you." Azariah complimented.

"Thank you."

Dorian walked over to them and spoke up, "Excuse me, ladies, but would you two mind joining us down on the main deck? There's a few things I need to tell everyone before we dock."

"Oh, of course." Azariah answered for both of them, and they followed Dorian down to the main deck where everyone else already was. "What do you need to tell us?"

"I know that all of you are southerners." Dorian said, but Fenris cleared his throat, so he corrected, "Almost all of you, and I need to tell you that a lot of things are done differently in Tevinter."

"Yeah, we already know that. Thank you for pointing out the obvious." Fenris replied, sarcastically.

"Fine, here I was trying to help by giving you some useful advice, but since you already know everything, why should I?" Dorian asked, sarcastically also.

"No, Dorian! Wait!" Snow pleaded. "If you have any advice, please tell us. We need all the help we can get."

"I agree," Luna spoke, and then looked at her boyfriend. "Fenris can ease up on the sarcasm."

"I just don't understand why we're going to put our trust in a Tevinter mage."

"Because he may be our only hope in finding Alistair and Maric." Azariah pointed out.

"Exactly." Luna agreed, and warned him. "So, play nice, Fenris."

"Fine. I'll be… nice."

"Thank you, Luna." Dorian said, and then continued with where he left off. "Now, since things are so different here, you all need to listen to me and do as I say. Don't let your guards down, because you never know who you can really trust here. So just keep your mouths shut, your eyes open, and follow my lead."

"I hope you have a plan for actually finding Maric and Alistair." Fiona said.

"I do, actually. There's a tavern in Qarinus called The Blue Swan where the rich and powerful gather to swap gossip. If there's any place we can find a lead on where to find them, it's there."

"Excellent! I knew you'd have something for us, Dorian!" Snow said happily.

"Well, contrary to what some people believe," He said, gesturing towards Fenris. "Not all of we Tevinter mages are evil bastards."

Fenris just snorted in anger.

"Prepare to dock, men!" Isabela called out at the wheel of the ship as they pulled into the port, and the raiders around them quickly hauled up the sails and grabbed the ropes to secure the ship once it had docked.

Once the ship was docked, secured, and had a ramp put on to allow people off, Azariah walked over to it and Dorian walked up beside her, "Welcome to Qarinus."

Meanwhile, at Aurelian Titus's mansion, he was once again in the dungeon with Maric and Alistair and was doing something at an alchemy setup he had down there. For some reason, he had taken blood from both of them and was now trying to do something with it, but was very secretive about what. "Fasta vas!" He cursed as he shoved of the beakers off the table which broke them as they hit the floor. "There has to be a way!"

"Master!" One of his slaves called out as they entered the dungeon.

"What?!" He snarled.

"I apologize for the intrusion, but you need to see this." The slave handed Aurelian a bluish colored stone, and he took it before waving a hand over it, using his magic to open a viewing portal. He saw Azariah on the deck of the ship and Dorian walk up next to her, saying, "Welcome to Qarinus."

"They're here in Tevinter?!" He growled angrily.

"Looks like your luck is finally running out." Maric said from the cell with a smirk, but quickly stopped when Aurelian grabbed the vial containing Alistair's blood and used it and his magic to make Alistair cry out and writhe in pain. He did it just to show Maric what he could do to his son if he mouthed off again. "No, wait! I'm sorry, just please stop hurting him!" He cried pleadingly.

Aurelian did stop before turning back to his elven slave. "Tell everyone to pack up everything! We're leaving!"

"Leaving? Where are we going?"

"To Seheron! They won't dare follow us there! Now go!"

"Yes master!" The slave quickly left the room to go spread his master's orders.

"Now, while he's doing that, I am going to go deal with our new arrivals." Aurelian put the stone in his pocket as he walked up the stairs out of the dungeon with a purpose.

Back with everyone else, they made it to the Blue Swan, and Dorian turned to everyone. "Alright. I should probably go in there alone."

"Alone? Why?" Fiona asked.

"Because if you all come in with me, no one in there is likely to tell us what we need to know. You're just going to have to trust me on this."

"Fine."

"Good, wait here. I'll be out as soon as I learn what we need to know." With that, Dorian walked into the tavern.

After some time had passed, they were all still waiting as Dorian still hadn't come back out yet. "Dammit, we could've found Aurelian's location ourselves by now!" Azariah growled. "What the fuck is taking him so long?"

"Azariah, relax." Luna said comfortingly, trying to calm her down. "It's only been a half an hour, and discretion takes time."

"Yeah, and while we're wasting time, Alistair and Maric are out there, probably getting tortured!"

"Azariah, you've been under a lot of stress lately, and I get it, you're worried about Alistair, but you really need to relax."

"I'll relax when I know Alistair is safe!"

"I'll be back." Varric suddenly said. "I got to take a piss."

"Too much information, Varric…" Bethany mumbled.

Another minute or so passed before Dorian finally left and had a woman behind him. "Hi. Sorry it took me so long. It took a while to find someone who was willing to tell me anything." He motioned to the woman with him, "This is Maevaris Tilani*."

"Hi." She greeted to all of them and placed her arm on Dorian's shoulder. "Dorian and I are old friends, so I thought it only fair that I help him out. He tells me that you're all looking for Aurelian Titus?"

"Yes, do you know where he lives?" Fiona asked.

"I know where his mansion is, yes, but I feel I have to warn you… Aurelian is a dangerous man. People associated with him have a habit of being found face down in a ditch."

"I don't care." Azariah chimed in. "Where does he live?"

"In a mansion in the capital; it's an old place, but well taken care of."

"Take us there!"

"I can't, sorry."

"What?! Why not?!"

"Two reasons: one, it's all the way in Minrathous, which is across the Nocen Sea from here. Two: because if I take you there, you're going to try storming the place, and if you do that, you're going to be knee-deep in his friends. Not to mention, whoever you came here for will probably be dead long before you can reach them. No, you need to meet him on equal footing."

"And how do we do that?" Luna asked.

"As it so happens, I'm having a party at my mansion here in Qarinus, in a few days. All the most important people will be there, and I can get you in."

"A few days?!" Azariah cried.

"Yes, in a few days."

"I can't just wait around here for a few days! I need to rescue my husband now!"

"Your husband? So that's who you came here to find." Maevaris shook her head. "Well, look, I'm sorry, but I already told you why you can't just go and storm his mansion."

"She's right. Meeting him at the party would be the ideal place, since he can't outright murder you in public, even if you ask questions." Dorian added. "However… Tevinter parties are… delicate affairs. They can sometimes even make Orlesian parties look like child's play."

"So, what do we do?" Fiona asked.

Just then, Varric came back and saw who was there. "Maevaris?! Is that you?!"

"Varric!" She said happily and rushed over, both of them giving each other kisses on each cheek. "What are you doing here?"

"I came here with all of them because Hawke insisted."

"You two know each other?" Luna asked, astonished.

"Yes, this is Maevaris!" Varric said. "She was married to my cousin, Thorold."

"Was?" Fenris wondered.

"He died…" Maevaris said, sadly.

"Not that this isn't fascinating, but can we get back to the main issue?" Azariah asked, then looked back at Dorian. "Now, what do we do?"

"Do what I told you before: keep your mouths shut, your eyes open, and follow my lead."

That evening, Azariah was in one of the guest bedrooms of the Tilani family mansion; Maevaris had offered to let them all stay there while they waited for the night of the party. She was sitting at the desk in the room and writing in her journal when there was a gentle knock on the door. "Who is it?"

"It's me, Azariah," Fiona's voice said through the door. "May I come in?"

"Yes, come in." Azariah answered, and Fiona did just that. "Is something wrong?"

"Well, I… actually wanted to ask you the same question." Fiona sat down at the edge of the bed, facing Azariah. "I wanted to make sure that you're holding up alright. You've been temperamental lately, and I understand that it's because of your concern for Alistair, but I'm also worried about you. So, please…" Fiona said, genuinely. "If you need to talk, then talk to me."

Azariah sighed. "You're right, I'm sorry. I appreciate that you're concerned about me, but really… what is there to say? Alistair, and maybe even Maric, are out there somewhere and all we can do now is sit and wait?"

"I don't like it, either, but what other choice do we have?"

Azariah just sighed before turning back to Fiona. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Where are you from, originally?"

"Orlais."

"I got that from the accent. Where in Orlais?"

"Montsimmard, it's a city on the outskirts of the Dales, not very far from the shore of Lake Celestine."

"Do you miss it?"

"No."

"Really? No ties worth mentioning?"

"No." She said again, and then added, "My mother died when I was very young, and my father did his best to raise me on his own; after he died, I left. I was there when I was in the circle, but I never went into the city."

"I'm guessing you were raised in the alienage?"

"Do you really think they'd allow elves in cities to live anywhere else?"

"Right, of course." Azariah sighed and shook her head, "It's just sad how some people treat elves. Some of my best friends have been elves. Why should the shape of your ears determine how or where you get to live?"

"I don't know, but I'm glad to see that you're not prejudiced against my kind."

"I've always held fast to the belief that it doesn't matter who or what you are. If you're nice to me, I'll be nice to you, simple as that."

Fiona smiled at her kindly. "Which is why I'm glad that Alistair married you."

"And I'm glad I got to marry him." Azariah replied with a smile of her own. She started writing in her journal again before stopping and speaking up again, "So, let me ask you something else…" Fiona looked at her expectantly, waiting for the question. "Do you love Maric?"

"I do."

"Then why did you leave him?"

Fiona let out a long sigh, and then answered, "Many reasons."

"Such as?"

"I'm an elven mage, for one…"

"Why does that matter? Does being an elven mage really weigh on you that much?"

"No, not as much as it used to, but that's not what I meant. Do you really believe the people of Ferelden would have accepted their king taking an elven mage as a mistress? Plus, the fact that Alistair was born also complicated matters."

"So, what? Don't tell me you saw Alistair as an inconvenience…"

"No!" Fiona said, and shook her head, "That came out wrong! What I mean is that Maric and I agreed that we both wanted Alistair to have a normal life, so if I had stayed and we'd raised him together, he would have had anything but a normal life." She sighed and added sadly, "What a load of good that did in the end, it seems… since he ended up having anything but a normal life anyway…"

Azariah looked at Fiona regrettably, and there was silence in the room for a moment or two before she spoke up. "Well… maybe this is all happening for a reason. Maybe this is a chance for you to start over, not just with Alistair, but with Maric, too. If…" She stopped and corrected herself, "When we find them, we'll free them, and then we'll all head back to Ferelden together. From there…" She shrugged. "Who can say? But this could be nothing more than a fresh start… for all of us."

"You really think so?"

"Yeah." She answered. "I have to believe that this is not the end… but a new beginning."

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*Maevaris Tilani – She's a Dragon Age character from the comic books, but she is also mentioned – and has a small war table operation – in Inquisition.

Hey! I was going to make this chapter longer, but then I thought that this would be a good place to leave it until the next chapter! See you all then!