They needed a day off, that much was certain, so when they came upon a peaceful meadow just on the edge of Lake Calenhad, Eriana insisted that they take a day off to rest. They had only traveled a day or so from the Circle Tower on their way to Denerim, but this lovely little meadow was too perfect, too serene to pass up. To Eriana's surprise, no one protested; after all, they hadn't had a true day off since leaving Orzammar, so it seemed a break was welcomed by all. After setting up camp, Morrigan transformed into a wolf and took off into the woods to 'commune with nature' Eriana assumed. Wynne began mending a pile of shirts that Alistair had given her, claiming that when he sewed the holes, they always puckered and fit wrong. Alistair managed to get Sten to talk about something, probably his sword, while the two of them worked with Ramoth on battle commands.

Ogren wandered over to the corner of the camp where the three rogues had deposited themselves. Zevran was sitting with three sets of blades surrounding him, meticulously polishing and sharpening each weapon in turn. Eriana was working to pick a series of locks on a strange looking box while Leliana was instructing her on the finer points of lock picking. Ogren plopped down and joined in on their conversation.

"I can't believe she had the audacity to suggest that I wasn't doing my duty as a Grey Warden," Eriana said furiously, putting the training box on the ground in front of her. "I mean first I had to listen to her stories about griffons and the Wardens standing as a barrier between humanity and the darkspawn, like I need a metaphor to clarify exactly what it is I do. But then, she starts laying into Zevran, saying he's evil and only has one thing on his mind."

Zevran glanced up from Eriana's daggers. "Ah, but I am so good at that one thing, why would I not think about it constantly?" he said causing the others to laugh. "And with you so near, what else could I possibly thing of?"

"Not helping, Zev," Eriana said with a roll of her eyes. "Then the old bat goes on to lecture me that my behavior is unbecoming of a Warden." Eriana lowered her voice to mimic Wynne's, "Being a Grey Warden is not a coat you cast aside at the end of the day; it should inform your every action." She shook her head angrily, "She's been with us, what two days, and she's already passing judgment on me, telling me that I'm a bad Warden because I choose to have a personal life. The nerve. It's as if she thinks screwing Zevran suddenly makes it impossible to kill darkspawn."

Zevran shook his head. "Screwing Zevran, huh? Perhaps I am not as good as I thought if you still think of it as merely screwing. Perhaps we should go rectify that," he said with a grin.

Leliana rolled her eyes. "I'm sure Wynne is just doing what she thinks is best. You met her at Ostagar, yes?" Eriana nodded. "Then she knows that you have not been a Warden long. She is a teacher; perhaps she sees it as her job to teach you what it means to be a Grey Warden."

"Like I don't know what it means. Who has been out there killing darkspawn for five months? Me. Who has had to deal with the nightmares and the…" Eriana stopped herself, afraid of revealing too much, "the other stuff, me. We Wardens may be tasked with a noble cause, but that doesn't make us all noble people. Duncan told me as much; they recruit all kinds of people into our ranks in order to defeat the darkspawn, whatever the cost. We are called on to stand in the shadows, to fight this evil through any means necessary. We are not called on to be paragons of virtue."

"Hump, a good thing too, you know paragons are all crazy, don't ya?" Ogren added, taking a swig from his flask.

Eriana sighed, "What does she expect of me? Does she expect me to forego everything that makes me happy, how is that going to make me a better Warden?" She picked up Leliana's box again, "Sorry to unload on you guys. She just made me so mad last night."

"Oh, so is that why you were so…"

"Zevran, I swear, if you finish that sentence, I will run you through with one of those swords," Eriana said, trying hard to maintain her composure.

"I don't even what to know," said Leliana.

"Well, I do. Angry sex is the best sex, right there elf?" said Ogren with a laugh.

"Um, not that I want to talk about your sex life, Ogren, or even think about it really, but Leliana tells me that you were busy while we were in the tower killing abominations." Eriana said, grinning as she looked up at the dwarf. "Something about an old girlfriend who worked in the tavern."

"He he, good ole Felsi. Yeah, Leliana helped coach me through it. I owe you for that one, girlie."

"Wait," Leliana said looking surprised, "that was a success? I thought we had failed for sure; she said you smelled like nug droppings, you called her a surly bronto."

Ogren smiled and leaned back against a tree, "Yeah, just like old times."

Eriana laughed, "Well, I'm glad you managed to occupy yourself while we were killing demons in the fade." She turned her attention back to the box in front of her. "Leliana, I swear, this last lock is absolutely impossible. There is no way to get this thing open."

Zevran chuckled while Leliana moved beside her. "No, look, you're doing it wrong." Taking the elf's wrist, Leliana carefully showed her how to rotate her hand just right to undo the complicated lock. "It is delicate, see. Do you feel the resistance just there? Now lift your hand gently and volia! Now you do it."

Eriana concentrated on the box in front of her, carefully maneuvering her picks around the difficult lock. Much to her surprise and delight, the lock clicked open. She smiled and looked up at Leliana, "And voila!"

Zevran sighed, handing Eriana her daggers back, "You know, sometimes I think you women care nothing for your blades. Tisk, tisk, tisk, just look at these things," he said, holding up Leliana's weapons. "The neglect, the tarnish, it is a travesty of steel, my dear lady."

Leliana scoffed, but Eriana jumped in to her defense, "Not everyone is as experienced at, um, polishing their weapon, as you, Zevran." The group laughed as Zevran gave a little bow. Eriana looked down at her sword, "Wow, Zev, I take back everything I just said. These look brand new. How'd you do it?"

"As you said, I am the expert," he said with a chuckle. He tossed a vial of light green poison to her. "Plus that particular poison can be used to eat away the tarnish; just be careful not to cut yourself unless you want to spend the rest of the day seeing spots." Zevran stood up and stretched, "Well, my dear, if you have finished playing with your lock box, why don't we engage in some true training. A little stealth and stalk, perhaps?"

Eriana grinned. That sounded like a great idea; she hadn't had a true chance to work on her stealth skills in a while. She glanced at Leliana who shook her head. "You two have fun," said Leliana, "Stealth isn't exactly one of my strong points, as you well know. I prefer to hide in plain sight and blend in rather than slink through shadows."

"You can count me out too," added Ogren. "I'm not much for running and hiding in the woods like some fruity elf."

Zevran scowled over at the dwarf, "Such a shame. I am sure finding you in the woods would not be all that difficult; if the sound of your breathing and heavy armor didn't give you away, surely your smell would have. There are times I swear I could shoot you in the dark."

Ogren laughed, "Hey look at me; I'm an elf. Let's run and play in the pretty trees, tra la la la la."

"Enough, you two. Maker help me," said Eriana as she got up to get her dark cloak. "So, Zev; it's just you and me. So what are the stakes?"

Zevran thought for a moment, "First to disarm wins; loser is on armor duty for a week. I'll give you a two hundred count head start." Eriana grabbed her daggers, pulled on her dark cloak and disappeared onto the woods.

Alistair was sitting by the water's edge, petting Eriana's dog with Leliana walked over and sat down beside him. "Where's everyone else?"

Leliana sighed. "Well, Ogren passed out over there," she said waving her hand vaguely toward where they had been sitting. "Morrigan just got back with a brace of rabbits, and Zev and Ana are working on her stealth out in the woods somewhere."

Alistair sighed. He was still uncomfortable about the relationship between the two elves, and it wasn't because he was jealous (even though he was, very jealous). He simply didn't trust the elven assassin. Zevran was too shady, too devious, and he couldn't believe that Eriana had come to trust him so implicitly. It just didn't make any sense to him. Alistair glanced over at her pack where it rested beside her tent. Idly, he wondered if somewhere in that pack rested the rose that he had given her in a moment of transparency. As much as he hated it, he still cared a great deal for her, more than he was willing to admit even to himself. He hated to feelings of jealousy that ripped though him when he saw them laughing together, when he saw him touching her, even in an innocent way, and especially when he saw them disappear into her tent or saw him slinking away from it. The Antivan didn't deserve her; of that much, Alistair was certain. She deserved something better.

Leliana put her hand on Alistair's arm, "Alistair, I know this has been hard for you. Would you like to talk?"

"No, not really; I just hope she's okay, that she's not making a mistake trusting him," he said with a sigh and a glance back at the woods. "I hope she knows what she is doing."

At the moment, Eriana had no idea what she was going to do.

She had managed to remain hidden from Zevran's hawk-like eyes for about half an hour, but he managed to creep up behind her and pin her to the ground before she even realized he had found her. She looked up into his warm amber eyes and grinned, "It seems you have me at your mercy, Antivan, so what are you going to do with me."

Zevran looked down at her, desire clearly showing in his eyes. "Oh, I can think of a thing or two," he said with a coy look on his face. He took her wrists and pinned them above her head, "It seems that you are fully at my mercy, my Warden."

"I am yours," she said, arching her back so that her lips could meet his. She felt him release his hold on her wrists and lower himself onto her, his hands moving down her arms to settle on her waist as he moved against her. His lips hungrily searched out hers as his body began to grind against hers. Just as his left hand began to move down to her thigh, Eriana shifted her body weight, turning them both till she was perched on top of him, grinning like the devil, her dagger at his throat. Zevran blinked up at her, surprised. She leaned down and kissed the tip of his nose. "I believe the stakes said that you must disarm your opponent," she said as the knocked his daggers away from his side and removed the ones that he had hidden elsewhere on his person. "And I believe you failed to do just that. I win."

Zevran laughed, his hands resting on her thighs, "Oh, you saucy minx. I have been had, and I didn't even know it." He gave her thighs a quick pat, "I must say, my Ana, I am quite impressed. You have used my best tricks against me."

"What can I say," she said with a shrug, "I learned from the best."

"So now, I do believe I am at your mercy," Zevran said, running a hand gently up her leg. "What do you plan to do with me?"

"Well, you're the assassin, so you tell me. If you were me, what would you do if you found yourself straddling a target this handsome and this willing?" she asked, cocking her head to look down at him.

Zevran pulled her down and rolled back over on top of her. "I'm sure you can imagine," he said. "Shall I describe it to you while I do it?" he asked as he began to kiss her neck and shoulders.

Eriana sighed and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him close to her. She was about to whisper something in his ear, when a familiar feeling overwhelmed her, and she felt her entire body go rigid. Zevran froze immediately, "Darkspawn?" She nodded. "Where?"

Eriana looked up at him wide-eye, "Between us and the camp." Zevran swore. "There are about seven or eight of them."

"Can we sneak past them?"

Eriana shook her head, "They'll sense me. They're closer to us than to the camp," she said, her mind racing. "Nughumper! I don't have my bow or my pack." She glanced up at Zevran. "Do you have any health poultices or potions?"

Zevran checked his cloak, "Only two or three, and only two poisons."

"No acid or bombs?" Zevran shook his head. Eriana was quiet for a moment. Two rogues against eight darkspawn with no support and no room for error, even with their combined skill, this would be a close thing. If there was an emissary with the darkspawn, they were toast. "Look Zev, you can sneak past them and get to camp. They're headed this way; I think they've sensed me. You have to get help."

"I don't think so. I am not leaving you alone." Zevran's face was stern. "We'll just have to be extra careful, no?" Eriana nodded. "Just remember what we've worked on. Stun, trip, fight dirty, and find their weaknesses." Zevran grabbed her and pulled her into a passionate, desperate kiss. "We can do this, my Warden. Just focus." Eriana hoped he was right.

It was a close thing, definitely. Five genlocks, three hurlocks, and two shrieks stormed the two elves the moment they were within striking distance. Most of the darkspawn focused on Eriana, allowing Zevran to move stealthily around the flanks and take out the creatures quickly from behind. It wasn't the strategy either of them would have preferred, but it helped to dwindle the numbers quickly. But Eriana was taking damage, fast; so Zevran worked quickly to get the mass of monsters off of her. Unfortunately, he wasn't quite fast enough. There were just two darkspawn left, a shriek that had turned to attack Zevran, and a hurlock that was facing off against a blood-covered Eriana. Zevran managed to take out the shriek just in time to see the hurlock's sword pierce Eriana's armor just beneath her rib cage. She collapsed at the monster's feet seconds before Zevran removed its head. He ran to her side, relieved to find her still breathing, but just barely. Quickly he brought their two health potions to her lips, urging her to drink.

"Wynne, I need Wynne," she said, between desperate, shallow breaths. "I think it punctured a lung." Zevran nodded and gathered her up in his arms and began moving back toward the camp as quickly as possible. "When we get closer, use my whistle," she gasped out, "three short whistles mean trouble. Ramoth will come." Her breaths becoming more and more shallow and the world around her started to become fuzzy. The last thing she heard before everything went dark was Zevran's voice in her ear pleading, "Don't you dare leave me; hang on, Eriana."

Alistair sat beside the fire as Leliana began cooking dinner, the smells of rabbit and her Orlesian spices filling the air. He had enjoyed their day off, for the most part. About a half an hour ago, he had felt the weak presence of nearby darkspawn, but they had moved away before he could pinpoint anything. Now, he was beginning to grow concerned when he realized that Eriana had yet to return. He was considering forming a group to go after them when Ramoth suddenly perked up and started barking, looking anxiously between the woods and Alistair. "Morrigan," Alistair shouted, "go with Ramoth, something's wrong." Morrigan nodded, changing into a wolf and taking off into the woods with the dog. Alistair, Sten, and Ogren grabbed their weapons and took off after them into the woods. Alistair was chiding himself. He should have done more to stop her from getting so close to the Antivan; he should have been more forceful. A feeling of dread filled him as they moved through the underbrush as quickly as they could, moving toward Ramoth's howling. His templar senses felt Morrigan's magic as it filled the air.

Alistair burst into a small clearing where he saw Morrigan kneeling over Eriana's unconscious body. Next to them stood Zevran, covered in her blood. It was obvious that she had put up a struggle. It was too much for Alistair to process. In three quick strides, he crossed the clearing to Zevran and punched the elf in the face, knocking him to the ground. He glanced over at Ogren, "Tie him up." Eriana was wrong about the elf, he had tried to hurt her, and only by Andraste's grace had she been able to signal for Ramoth. Ogren looked up at him, confused. "Didn't you hear me, I said tie him up. And get him back to camp; I'll deal with him later."

Alistair walked over to Morrigan's side, "Is she going to be okay?"

Morrigan shrugged. "Tis too soon to tell. I have stopped the bleeding for now, but she is greatly injured. This is beyond my skill to cure. You need to get her to Wynne."

Alistair didn't need to be told twice. Gently, he gathered the petite woman into his arms and carried her carefully but quickly back to the camp. Morrigan transformed again and ran ahead to inform Wynne and Leliana while Sten and Ogren took care of the murderous, well, attempted murderous, elf. Alistair glanced back at the assassin. He was strangely quiet and deathly pale, but his eyes never left the woman in Alistair's arms. "Yea, buddy, you failed," Alistair thought, glumly to himself, "and now you will get what is coming to you. She'll let me do what we should have done months ago." Alistair wanted nothing more than to turn around and run the elf through, but that would have to wait. Eriana came first.

By the time the men made it back to camp with the unconscious Warden, Morrigan and Wynne were ready. Alistair felt Wynne's magic the moment they stepped out of the woods, and immediately Eriana's breathing began to improve, her face regain its color. He gently laid her down in the tent and left the two mages and the bard to tend to her. He had an assassin to deal with.

Something cold and wet was pressed against her face. Her armor was gone and there were bandages bound tightly around her waist. She could also hear someone whispering her name. "Zevran," Eriana whispered, unable to quite process what was going on. A woman's voice tried to hush her. Eriana struggled to open her eyes. Slowly the world came into focus around her; Maker, it hurt to breathe. "Lil, where is Zev?"

Leliana knelt down beside her, "You poor dear, did he do this to you?"

"What? No, darkspawn." Eriana managed to say between labored breaths.

Wynne appeared above her, "Don't strain yourself. You have a punctured lung, so you need to breathe gently." Wynne looked over at Leliana, "Go get Alistair."

"Alistair, no, Zevran. Please." Eriana begged, struggling to breathe, "Where is he?"

"You have to stay calm right now; Zevran is fine. When Alistair found you, he assumed, well we all kind of assumed…you would admit, he did look guilty."

"What (gasp) are you talking (gasp) about?"

"Here dear, drink this. It will help you sleep," Wynne said, holding a cup do her mouth.

Eriana pushed it away, "No. Zevran first."

The women looked at each other for a moment until Morrigan finally spoke up, "Alistair has him tied up; he seems to believe that twas he who did this to you."

"Sodding nughumper," Eriana said as she struggled to her feet. "Don't you…touch me," she said to the women who tried to hold her down. Pushing past them, she stumbled across the camp to where Alistair was standing beside her bound and bruised Antivan. Alistair caught her arm as she started to collapse at his feet. "Are you crazy?" she asked him between breaths. "Let him go…darkspawn attack…Zev saved me."

Ogren released him immediately. "He, what'd I tell ya. I knew he couldn't hurt her."

As soon as he was free, Eriana found being carried back to the tent in Zevran's arms. Alistair was beside her, trying to say something, but none of it was very clear to her. "Alistair…later," she managed to say before the world went fuzzy again.

Eriana awoke to the smells of leather and spices and the feel of strong arms gently cradling her. Smiling to herself, she turned and snuggled against Zevran's warm and comfortable chest. "You're awake, my Warden."

"Yeah, not for long; I'm far too comfortable to stay awake for very long," she said, smiling up into warm honey eyes. Zevran was looking at her with such affection and care that she almost thought she was back in the fade. Ever so gently, he kissed her forehead and stroked her hair.

When he spoke, his words were whispered, almost pained, "I thought I had lost you; that they had come too late."

"What can I say," she said, breathing shallowly, "It takes more than a few darkspawn to get rid of me. Thank you, Zev." She looked up at him for a moment before her heavy eye lids pulled her back into the fade.

Zevran rested his cheek against her head, a great feeling of relief rushing through him; she was still with him. He remained there the rest of the night, sleeping peacefully with his Grey Warden in his arms, and the next time they stopped to make camp, he didn't even bother pitching his own tent.

Whew, so that one was a long one. I really didn't want to break it up into two short chapters. Hope you enjoy it. Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing and reading, I so appreciate it. And thanks to everyone who has added an alert. It is much appreciated. Let me know what you think!