Soris was waiting for me outside of our house, leaning against the wall, smirking at me. "It's about time you got out of bed."

I rolled my eyes at him and playfully punched his shoulder. "Like I had anything better to do."

"Hey, don't be like that. I know you've been thinking of running off to the Brecilian Forest to find the Dalish."

I turned my gaze and looked up to the sky. "I know not of what you speak of."

"Mhmm." I saw an eyebrow raise at me. It always did when I spoke sarcastically. "Well, before you get the chance to escape, let's go see how the preparations are coming along."

He put his arm around my shoulder, forcing me to move along with him. We walked down to the main square of the Alienage and watched the other elves as they set up the decorations. The grand stand was set up with sweet smelling white flowers weaved into the banister. The Vhenadahl had paper lanterns hung in its branches, and streamers stretched from the lanterns to the roofs of the apartments.

The smell of pies, pastries, meats and vegetables wafted to my nose as i breathed in. After the wedding there was to be a feast to feed the entire Alienage and more.

Family friends came and wished me and Soris good wishes and a couple friends of my mother's, Gathon and his wife Dilwyn, even gave me some coins for new a start. They told me of my mother, when she was called the "wild one." Soris joked that that's where I got it from.

But then I noticed there was a family packing up a small cart full of their few belongings. I took a closer look and saw the red headed girl was Nessa. I was a little confused then. Why would my friends family be leaving? Soris and I walked up to the cart as Nessa looked up. She ran over to us and took us into a group hug and held us tight.

"I'm so hapy for you two." She said, big smile on her face. I took a closer look at her and noticed her eyes were a bit red and puffy. Something was definitely wrong.

I pulled back from the embrace and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Nessa, what's wrong? Is your family leaving the Alienage?"

She froze for a moment, horror written over her face. A single tear fell from her eye. "The human who owns our apartment complex has desided to rent it out for storage. We can't afford the rates anymore. Father decided to take us to Ostagar to help out with the war."

"What?" Soris exclaimed. "That can't be! Were they leaving before the wedding?"
She nodded. "What's worse is that most of the soldiers are men who probably haven't seen a woman in months. I'm afraid of what they might-" She cut herself off with her sobbing and Soris wrapped his arms around her.

"Can't you stay here? Away from all that?" I asked her.

She shook her head. "Not unless my father believes that I have a future here."

At that moment I saw my father walking over and I dashed over to him. "Father, please, I must speak to you!"

At first look on my face, and then at Nessa, I could see he knew something was wrong. I explained to him her situation and he knew her fears would probably come true if she left. Being family friends of ours, he didn't want that anymore than us. So he walked over to her father and spoke with him. I had gone back to Nessa holding her and trying to calm her down. A few minute later my father walked back over to us with a smile on his face.

"Well, Nessa, how would you like to stay with me while your parents are at Ostagar?"

The look of shock took over all expression on her face. "With you? I mean, you convinced my father, Cyrion?" He nodded, and a huge smile took her face and she lept into his embrace. "Yes, yes, yes! Please! I'll do what ever I can to stay here!"

The three of us men laughed at her reaction. I was glad father was able to convince her father. "Well, then you'd better go over there and grab your things and wish your folks farewell," my father told her. She nodded her head and ran back to the cart.

My father and I met gazes and smiled at each other. "Thank you, father."

He nodded to me. "I'm going to find Elder Valendrian and see how the preparations are going." As he walked past me he placed his hand on my shoulder, a sign that everything would be alright.

I felt a nudge from Soris' elbow and I turned to where he was looking. Shianni and three other finely dressed elven women were walking towards them, but behind were three even more finely dressed human men. Humans in the Alienage was never a good thing, especially with looks like that.

One of them, the leader I presumed, grabbed one of the ladies following Shianni around the waist and with an evil smirk whispered something in her ear which made her struggle out of his arms in fear. "Ha! Grab a whore, gents! It is a party, right? Let's celebrate with these wenches!"

That struck a nerve in Shianni because she stood in front of the three other girls with an angry look and pointed a finger in the man's face. "Touch any of us again and I'll gut you like a pig!"

Oh no, Shianni... Don't do something stupid!

Well, he didn't like that one bit, but he kept that evil smirk on his face. "Spirit! I like that!"

"HEY!" I yelled, and stormed up to him. I could tell Soris was on my tail, but was not approving of my reaction. I wasn't quite sure why. I didn't care at that moment. "Leave the Alienage, now!"

The human looked at me with disbelief on his face. He probably never had an elf speak to him like that before, let alone two in one day. He quickly put his face back on and closed the gap between us, standing chest to chest with me. "Look at this, the two grooms come to welcome me personally. Do you have any idea who I am?"

At that moment there was a loud crash and the man fell where he stood, almost falling on top of me. I looked up and saw Shianni standing there, the broken neck of a bottle in her hand, a look of triumph on her face. Glass was shattered around the man's head, some pieces stuck either in his hair or in his skull.

One of the two men following the fallen one ran up to check on him. He was unconscious, but alive and, mostly, unharmed. "Are you insane? This is Bann Vaughan, the Arl of Denerim's son!"

I suddenly knew at that moment why Soris had disapproved. I looked to Shianni, who had dropped the broken bottle and hands shot to her face, concealing it. "Oh, Maker," she exclaimed.

"This will end up badly for you knife-ears!" the third man said as the two of them took the Bann between them and started for the entrance to the Alienage.

After they had left, the four women came up to us. Shianni shook her head. "I really messed up this time."

"Don't worry about it," Soris said with a smile. "He won't tell anyone he was taken down by an elven woman."

I knew he was just saying that to make her feel better, but we both knew otherwise. "I hope you're right," she replied, a sad smile on her face. She knew just as well as we did that the Bann would be back. When he'd be back, that was a mystery. "I'm going to get cleaned up," looking down at the stains of wine on her dress, "I'll be back before the wedding."

She walked away, leaving the three other women with us. Soris took it upon himself to speak first. "Are you ladies alright? No one's hurt?"

On of the ladies, one of the two that weren't assaulted, replied, quietly. "Just a little shaken, but we'll be fine." The other two women nodded their agreement.

I noticed a small exchange between this one and Soris, but I wasn't quite sure how the two of them knew each other. I had never seen any of the three women here in the Alienage. Soris noticed my confusion and responded to it quickly. "Darrian, is is my Fiancé, Valora. And this is Nesiara, your betrothed."

The third lady, a beautiful blonde woman smiled sweetly to me and bowed her head slightly to me, and I to her. I kept my face neutral, for I didn't want to insult anyone with my feelings on the whole ordeal, and I didn't want to fake happiness either. Soris took his bride's arm and smiled at me. "We'll leave you two alone now."

I watched as he left me alone with Nesiara. I was not happy about him leaving me like this, not one bit. The last thing I wanted was to be left alone with a woman who I was supposed to marry but had not wanted to. Thankfully, I didn't have to start up awkward conversation because she spoke first.
"Well, here we are," she started, pulling my attention back to her. "Are you nervous?"

I looked and studied her face for a moment. She was indeed beautiful and attractive... but not to me. Her hair was blonde; I liked red hair. Her face was long and thin looking; I preferred more of a rounded face. She was soft spoken, but not like Soris' bride. All in all, she was not my first choice, not that I had one. Either way, I gave her a small smile and responded. "Extremely. You?"

She gave a small shiver, and giggled. "I had butterflies all the way here."

"I can imagine." I felt those butterflies in my stomach as well at that moment.

A hand fell on my shoulder and I looked to see my cousin. "Common, let's leave these beautiful ladies to ready themselves."

I was thankful for the intermission he gave me, but I just knew that wouldn't last. The three ladies made small bows towards us and headed in the direction that Shianni had left earlier. I heaved a great big sigh after they had gone, and smiled to Soris. "Thank you cous'."

He gave a short laugh, "Don't thank me quite yet. We may have another problem. Look over by the Vhenadahl." I did turn to where he directed and noticed another human. This one wore, not finery, but armor and had a long sword and dagger strapped to his back. His skin was dark, Rivain looking, with dark hair and a full beard and mustache. His eyes, unlike most humans, had a kindness about them which us elves were unfamiliar with. Despite all this, there was something different about him. What it was I was not sure, but he probably would draw a lot of unwanted attention to himself if he didn't leave before the wedding.

"Let's show him out of here, shall we?" I asked Soris.

"Let's do this quickly and quietly then."