Author's Note: I tried to catch all the mistakes but I also really wanted to get this out. Hopefully any errors you catch aren't enough to take you out of the story! :)

~Truth be Told~

Drea lay motionless on the bed, staring out into the darkness. From somewhere in the room, she heard the drawn out sigh of Arkon, letting her know he was there and also awake. Even without words, he always seemed to know when she was upset. Letting out a sigh of her own, she tried to focus on the sound of the gentle rain outside. The normally hypnotic sound was only a reminder that the wet ground could be a problem on their travel in the morning. Rolling over, as she had been doing all night, Drea buried her face into the pillow and tried desperately to get some sleep. But instead, unsurprisingly, the evening played over again in her mind.

"You are not going to brush me off – we are going to talk about this," Nate demanded.

"How about we talk about the fact that we're leaving to find Morrigan?" Drea countered.

"I saw the way you looked at her," he replied, refusing to be swayed from his point.

"I missed her. I'm glad she's alive," she answered defensively.

Nate's hands curled into fists as he took a step away from Drea. Forcing his hands open again, he tightly crossed his arms. "You are as in love with her now as you ever were," he stated flatly.

He remained calm, but she could see the hurt and anger in his eyes. Trying to side step the conversation was only going to make it worse, but she was at a loss. Her eyebrows furrowed deeply as she asked, "What do you want me to say, Nate?"

"So that's it then," he sighed, swallowing back his rage, "Even after I told you I didn't want to get involved if your heart was still with her. You still let me…" Words finally failed him and he shook his head bitterly. Dropping his arms to his side, he raised his chin as he strode past her to leave the room.

"No Nate, it's not like that," Drea grabbed his arm as he past.

Jerking his arm away, he spun around and with more anger finally breaking into his tone he asked, "Then tell me, what is it exactly?"

She had no answer. All her focus was on preparing to leave and she had given little thought to all the chaos she felt once Leliana reappeared. Part of her knew she was falling into her usual habit of ignoring everything in lieu of the next crisis. But part of her also grew frustrated that everyone seemed to think it was so easy to process so many things at once.

Her hesitant silence was more than Nate could handle. "That's what I thought," he fumed, "Let me know if you figure it out." The door slammed behind him. Stunned, Drea stared at the closed door, feeling the emptiness pressing in around her.

Feeling the warm breath on her neck, Drea knew Arkon was standing by the bed. Turning her head towards him, she sighed, "I know. This isn't working, is it?" Sadly, Arkon huffed in reply. With a weary smile, Drea reached over to scratch behind his ear as she relented, "Fine. Let's get up."

After quickly wrapping up in her robe and slipping on a light pair of shoes, Drea quietly escaped her empty room. Following closely behind her, the sound of Arkon's claws lightly tapping on the stone floor was the only sound from the pair. Guided by the hallway torches, they made their way past the other rooms and towards the kitchen. Pushing open the door, she was surprised to see the kitchen was already lit. Scanning the room, her eyes fell onto the fiery haired dwarf, sitting casually at the table. Raising his mug, he greeted her, "Fancy meeting you here, Commander."

Offering him a shrug, she moved past him to the pantry. After giving Arkon a bone that was left out for him, she continued on to pour herself a glass of wine. A large one. As Arkon trotted off to a corner of the room to work on his bone in peace, Drea settled in across from Oghren. "I thought you never drank before you went out on the open road?" Oghren asked lightly. Unimpressed, Drea wordlessly glared. "Hey, I'm not one to judge," he reminded her as he downed a mouthful of his ale.

"So…the Joining went well tonight. Four new Wardens," he tried again to make conversation. There had been five recruits. Drea remained quiet. Finally, Oghren asked, "Are you sure it's a good idea to leave them all with the kid?"

"Why," she asked sharply, "Do you have a problem with Anders?"

Seemingly oblivious to her agitation, Oghren shook his head, "Nah. Sparklefingers is alright. Just not sure it's a good idea to leave him, just him, with all the new Wardens."

Realizing what he was getting at, Drea answered, "The arling is safe; there hasn't been a sighting, much less an attack, in a long time. Now we have to start worrying about the rest of Ferelden. I sent the girls because the sooner they find the Architect, the better. And I need you to leave tomorrow so you can join King Alistair's men before they go on their patrol. The King's heart is in the right place with his plan to patrol along the West Road and Imperial Highway. But without a Grey Warden, we both know how effective that patrol would really be."

"I get it Commander," he huffed, interrupting her explanation, "But right now? Right when you're about to leave too?"

Drea was quiet for a moment as she swirled her wine around in her glass. It did seem odd to everyone for her to suddenly disburse all of her Wardens. "I didn't think I would get a lead on Morrigan so quickly," she admitted. "But I knew when I got back from the Wilds that I would have to leave again soon. I really don't know what to expect but…in case I don't make it back, I just want to have everything set into place."

"Huh," Oghren replied before taking another swig of his drink. "And …you really think it's a good idea to take uh…who you're taking."

"I need archers," Drea answered stiffly.

"Oh right, right. But is there any chance that when you say you might not make it back, that you don't mean you might die?" Drea rose her eyebrow and kept her piercing stare on the dwarf as he finished his sentence. Unconcerned, he shrugged, "You got everything in place with the Wardens and with the arling. Someone like Natey boy could take over at this point."

Setting her glass on the table with a loud clink, Drea finally asked, "What are you implying."

Oghren chuckled loudly, "Oh nothing Commander. You know me; I'm not crafty enough to imply things!" Taking another deep drink from his mug, Drea suspiciously watched him for a bit longer before finally bringing her wine back up to her lips. As she silently enjoyed the warm feeling of the wine making its way down her throat, the only sound in the room was Arkon crunching at his bone.

Draining the last of the ale from his mug, Oghren slid down off the stool with surprising ease. Without hesitation, he strolled up to the large keg set in the corner and poured himself another glass. He poured the ale expertly, showing more proof he was an old pro when it came to anything of an alcoholic nature. As if anyone needed more proof. Coming back over to the table, he set the full glass down before hoisting himself back up on the stool. Once he was settled again, he sighed, "I really did care for Felsie you know."

Still guarded, her eyes narrowed slightly as she asked, "Then why did you leave?"

Staring into the fresh foam at the top of his mug, Oghren answered simply, "Because I'm a warrior." His words were eerily similar to what Drea had said in the past about herself. Hearing nothing from Drea, he glanced up and continued, "I wanted to be content playing house Commander, I did. But it caught up with me; I just couldn't be happy. We were fighting all the time and in the end I think she was just glad to see me go."

For a moment, Drea tried to think of something to say, still not sure if he was trying to set her up for another dig. Not giving her much time for her internal debate, Oghren carried on. "Ah, Felsie. Did you know I have a son?"

Drea's suspicions suddenly disappeared with his shocking statement, "What?"

"A son," Oghren repeated.

Incredulously, she breathed, "And you still left?"

"Oh climb down off your bronto Commander," Oghren gruffly replied, "I had no idea when I left, and neither did Felsie. She wrote me from Redcliff after I settled here. The icy wench was sure to tell me she didn't want me to come back though, just wanted me to know. Can't help feeling like I'm missing out on something." Oghren let out a long sigh as he shrugged his shoulders, "I was kind of thinking of stopping by there once the new Wardens were sent to relieve me on patrol."

Slowly, Drea nodded, "If you can convince her to move here, I will set you up in one of the houses at the Keep. There are a few just being used for storage."

"Ha," he laughed, "I'll try. But doubt she'll be interested." Tapping his fingers on table in front of him, he began to gesture as he spoke, "Sometimes, no matter what we think is right, who you are…your nature or whatever you want to call it…always wins out in the end. Your love for someone is stone but your nature is water. You might think stone is stronger but dwarves know better. You put stone under a waterfall and the water will erode it. Eventually it will be turned into something you don't even recognize anymore. Or, in the case of Branka, it's a whirpool that destroys everything in its path…"

At the mention of Branka, Oghren trailed off, falling quiet. Awkwardly, Drea waited for him to finish, but he seemed lost in thought. "So, what are you saying?" she pushed.

"Huh?" Oghren asked before realizing he stopped in mid sentence, "Oh. Well if the stone and water get along, you're set. Stone that holds a pool of water won't get destroyed." There was a slight slur starting to his words as he clumsily finished, "Commander, you're a noble's kid and now a noble in your own right. If you are anything like the nobles back home, this is in your blood. For better or worse."

"I thought we were talking about you and Felsie here," the defensiveness returned to Drea's tone, "What's your point."

Oghren paused long enough to down most of his ale. Wiping the foam from his moustache, he replied, "Just that you should think about who you are Commander. Think about it before you decide anything else. Ancestors know I didn't."

As he stared off, she could see the haunted look in his eye. Guilt was never something she thought he would be capable of. "I've never heard you talk like this before Oghren," Drea commented, steering slightly away from his point, "This is more the sort of thing I'd expect to hear from Wynne."

Pushing away the gloom, a large grin plastered across Oghren's face as he rose his glass to her words. "Well, there's a brief time where I drink myself sober again. I don't like it much, but at least it doesn't last long," his last words were cut off by a hiccup as if to accent the point.

"That's too bad. I'm kind of enjoying the insightful Oghren," Drea smiled.

"I'm inside what now?" Oghren asked as he plunked his empty glass onto the table. Waving dismissively, he added, "Nevermind. I'm going to go try and get some sleep. I gotta go before your nughumper of a dog tries to steal my pants again." Arkon stopped chewing long enough to look up in confusion.

Sliding off the stool, Oghren stumbled slightly as he headed towards the door. Before he left, he turned back to Drea, "Goodbye Commander. I really hope you're here when I come back."

The door quietly clicked shut as he closed it with surprising gentleness.