I'm aware that the Nalia-focused chapters felt a little light on characterization, especially when I did a better job with Daren and Mora.

The reason for that is because who she was in her Origin is going to be somewhat different than who she is from here on out. Hopefully that becomes a bit more obvious in this interlude!

The Grey Warden campsite was almost identical to the one they set up their first night out from Orzammar, as well as every night since. While the Grey Wardens were by no means similar in their personalities and habits, training and circumstance led to a rather bare camp. A single bedroll was laid out for each person, and they were all arranged close together around various campfires.

The only exception to this was Nalia. A small tent – belonging to Duncan as Warden Commander, even if he rarely used it – was set up off to the side, giving the young elven woman some privacy.

In unspoken agreement, no one complained about Nalia being the only one to get a tent. When Duncan had returned to the Warden compound back in Denerim, he had calmly explained to his group something of Nalia's circumstances.

"I have the utmost faith in Nalia's skills." Duncan had gathered everyone present in order to talk with them before they left. "However, having said that, trauma is never easily dealt with. I would please ask that all of you give her time, and please do not push her to divulge anything she is not comfortable discussing."

Avoiding the possibility of bringing up bad memories was rather easy, given that Nalia had retreated to her tent the moment it had been set up. The Wardens divided up the night watch, and then food was dished out.

Mora sat at one of the less populated campfires, eating her rations. They were better than she was used to, although based on how the Wardens seemed to treat the food, it was among the less appetizing of surfacer foods.

Then again, with her life, she doubted her concepts of 'good food' quite matched up with anyone who wasn't as poor as a slum rat. Daren, over on the other side of the camp, probably liked the food about as much as the Wardens did.

"Hey, good to see a familiar face!" Mora looked up at the new arrival. A human with short dark hair and lean features grinned at her, setting himself down beside her with his own food in hand. Mora vaguely recognized him as the other new recruit that Duncan had picked up in Denerim, some random pickpocket that the Commander had seen potential in.

"No idea who you are," she told the odd human, turning back to her food.

"Well, obviously," he responded cheekily. "Me, a human from Denerim, and you a dwarf from… well, wherever you're from. Some Dwarven city, I would assume." Mora shot him a deadpan look, wondering why the man was still talking at her. "But I know a common soul when I see one."

The man's grin seemed to darken for a moment. "After all, having to fight for every meal leaves its mark, yeah?"

Mora narrowed her eyes, but didn't respond.

Completely ignoring the fact that his conversation partner wasn't participating at all, the dark-haired man continued in his previous light-hearted tone. "I didn't expect to find another person with a similar background, so I had to come over and introduce myself. Daveth, at your service! And may I know your name, my good lady?"

"…Mora." She considered not giving her name at all, but given the fact that he'd already said at least five words for her every one, Mora doubted that the man would leave her alone if she ignored him.

In fact, it likely would encourage him.

"Mora. Well, I fear I'm more tired than I'd like tonight, but given the amount of time we have yet to travel, I look forward to sharing stories with you." Daveth had the audacity to wink at her after saying this.

"No thanks." She returned her attention to the remnants of her dinner. "None of my stories are exactly nice."

Even without looking up, Mora could tell that a shadow had passed over Daveth's face again. "No stories from the slums are free of an ugly side, not even the happier ones. But it doesn't mean they're not worth sharing."

The dwarven woman was compelled to look up again at Daveth's face. There was something in his eyes, nothing Mora could name, that made her realize that even if he hadn't grown up with the Carta, his life hadn't been much better than hers. Whatever pain and struggles she had gone through, he had lived a similar life.

"…Whatever. You wanna hear about how fucked up the Carta was, then might as well." Daveth flashed a grin at her. She replied with a scowl.

"Well then, I look forward to our talks – ah, it looks like the little elf girl's finally venturing out of the tent."

Mora looked over to see that the man was right. Nalia had just exited her tent, looking torn between determination and fear. The elven woman walked around with a rigid posture, but anytime someone moved at the corner of her gaze, Nalia would flinch and stumble. Not long after, however, she would return to her determined march.

It didn't take long for the woman to find who she was looking for, and in front of a small group of other Wardens, Nalia gingerly sat herself down in front of Duncan.

The man was surprised to see Nalia willingly venturing among the Wardens, given the higher number of men among them. "Is there something I can help you with, Nalia?"

Her voice wavered, showing her obvious discomfort among the group of mostly-male humans, but Nalia had no hesitation in speaking up. "You never truly answered why you came to the Alienage. I want to know why."

Duncan raised an eyebrow. Out of all the questions he had expected – perhaps about the status of elves among the Wardens, or just general queries about how the Wardens functioned – this topic had not even crossed his mind. "Is this truly so important?" He saw Nalia's eyes flash in anger, and held up a hand before she said anything. "I intend to answer, I assure you. I simply wish to understand why you wish to know."

Nalia wrapped her arms around herself, and her breathing tightened. From what Duncan could tell, she wasn't aware of her movements. "Shem don't come into the Alienage unless they want something. If Vaughan hadn't wanted-" and here, Nalia's voice broke slightly, stopping before she continued, "he never would have gotten anywhere near the Alienage. But you walked right in, not a care in the world. You didn't do anything to anyone. You knew Valendrian. And when… when it happened, you gave weapons to Soris and- and Nelaros." Nalia closed her eyes, and for a moment, she started shaking. Duncan almost reached out to her, almost told her that there was no need to think about it, but before he could, the woman's eyes were open and she was talking again.

"If you hadn't been there, my fate would likely have been sealed. And I won't attribute that to luck, or fate, or anything of the kind." Her arms fell to her sides, and Duncan suddenly saw a hardened woman, with no sign of the traumatized girl that he could so easily make out not seconds beforehand.

"I want to know what reason was behind it. I want to know why I'm still here."

The other Wardens there were dead silent, and if Duncan couldn't see them out of the corner of his eye, he would likely have forgotten they were there. In fact, he was positive that Nalia had.

Taking a moment to organize his thoughts, Duncan spoke.

"You are right. I did have a reason for being in the Alienage, although the reason may surprise you. But before I tell you, I want to make clear that the events that occurred were in no way what I expected nor what I desired." The Warden Commander waited to continue until Nalia gave him a slow nod, her confusion and suspicion displayed clearly on her face.

"With that being said, my original intention of visiting the Alienage… was to recruit you."

He watched her closely for her reaction. Duncan was worried that Nalia might take it the wrong way, believe that he took advantage of the situation to conscript her into the Grey Wardens.

And she wouldn't be entirely wrong in that case, either. While the circumstances were far from what he would've considered ideal, when the decision was at hand, he chose to recruit only Nalia, to save only her from the guards. Had Soris not willingly gone and hid, if both Nalia and Soris had been found and put under arrest by the guard, it would have been only Nalia that he would have saved.

"…my mother." Duncan was shaken from his thoughts at the quiet words from the elven woman in front of him. "My mother mentioned once that she knew a Grey Warden. That she was considered."

"And both of those things are true," Duncan confirmed. "In fact, I was the one to both meet and consider your mother for recruitment." Despite himself, the man gave a small smile as he thought back to memories of the other elven woman. "Your mother, Adaia, was a highly skilled fighter. I witnessed her take down a man that tried to mug her in mere seconds, disarming him and then utterly demolishing him with his own weapon. She left him sobbing in an alleyway, while she walked away with both his weapon and all of the money he had stolen that day."

Nalia was quiet in front of him, and she seemed to be listening intently so Duncan continued. "It wasn't long before I thought to recruit her into our ranks. The Order of the Grey in Ferelden was, and still is, much smaller than I would like. However, the day that I went to recruit her was the day of her wedding to your father."

"Just like me," Nalia whispered, brow creasing in thought. Duncan gave her a moment, but she didn't speak up. Once again, he continued.

"There was no Blight, and so I saw no reason to take her away from what looked to be a happy life with a loving husband. However, I did my best to keep up with the major events of her life, and heard that she had a child. Now that you are older, I thought that your mother might have passed down her skills. When I met you, I could immediately tell that she had."

"She did. And then she died."

"Yes." Duncan shut his eyes. Even now, some time after her death and even longer since he had truly interacted with the woman, there was still a feeling of loss. "Your mother was a great woman. And from what I have seen, so are you."

Nalia looked up at Duncan, and whatever emotion was in her eyes, he could not make it out. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but no words came out, and she closed it. The woman stood up, and turned to walk away.

One of the Wardens nearby shifted, a simple adjustment of his legs, likely just to become more comfortable. But it drew Nalia's attention, surprised her with the sudden movement, and she froze.

Eyes widened, breathing became unnaturally quick, and Nalia just stared at the man who had moved. Too late, Duncan realized: the man had the same color hair as Vaughan, both of them gingers.

The Warden Commander almost moved in between the two himself, but stopped before he could. He motioned to one of the female Wardens sitting in the group, Vera, who thankfully understood immediately and stood.

Vera moved in front of Nalia, reaching out a hand to grasp the elf's shoulders. "Hey, you're safe now. Everything's okay. You're not there anymore."

Nalia snapped her eyes shut and crumpled to the ground, hands flying up to her head. Her breaths finally slowed down, returning to a more controlled pace as Nalia came back to herself. Vera reached her hand out once Nalia seemed calm again, and the elven woman shakily grabbed it.

Once she was upright again, Nalia took a moment to balance herself, and then quickly made her way back to the tent she was using, staring straight ahead with unusual focus.

Duncan sighed, and looked at his Wardens, especially the man who had triggered Nalia's panic.

"Gregor, it may be prudent for you to keep your distance from Nalia." The man nodded, albeit slightly hesitantly. Duncan gave a wry grin. "I don't mean for you to go out of your way to stay as far away as possible, but simply to keep in mind what happened just now." The next nod was immediate.

While his Wardens returned to their discussions, Duncan's gaze made its way to the tent where he knew Nalia was.

He hoped that she was able to overcome her trauma. Even if it hadn't seemed like it, Duncan knew she was already part of the way there. And the inner strength that he saw in Nalia wouldn't allow her to stop fighting, no matter what.

There we go. Turned out longer than I thought it would, but I'm not complaining.

Tried to do my best to throw in some of the info about Duncan, his past attempt at recruiting Adaia, and his thoughts about how things went down in Denerim. Given how the story focus wasn't as good during the City Elf origin, hopefully this makes up for it, and you have a better idea of how I'm going to write Nalia in the future.