We walked up to the armed man, who showed no sign of hostility towards us, or any of the others, and he looked up and smiled at us. "I do believe you are the two grooms." He turned towards us and bowed to us. "May I show my congratulations to you both."

Soris and I were shocked. No human EVER had bowed to us, let alone, show respect for us. We looked at each other in disbelief and then I cleared my throat, remembering why we were here. "We thank you for showing respect, Messare, but we, politely, ask you to leave the Alienage."

The man stood up to his full height, which was about half a foot taller than I, and smiled. "I promise you, I mean you, nor any of your kin, any harm."

"It's not our harm we're concerned about, Messare," Soris cut in before I got the chance. "It is yours we are concerned for." The look on the Rivani's face was confusion.

"Our people do not take kindly towards humans, ser," I told him, matter-of-factly. "Some humans, who have wandered into the Alienage have been beaten to death before. With all due respect for you, we would hate to see any harm come to you."

"I see," the man said. "Well, I'm actually here for a purpose. I've come to see your Elder Valendrian, on official business. He is expecting me."

Soris and I exchanged a quick glance to each other, and looked back at the man. "He should be getting prepared for the wedding. Check by the grand stand."

The man turned towards the stand and spotted Elder Valendrian. "Ah, and so there he is. Thank you, both, and once again, congratulations." He bowed to us again and walked past us towards the Elder.

Soris and I let out a huge sigh. Well, at least that was taken care of. My cousin looked at me and smiled. "Well, hopefully no more humans wander in today. I think I've had enough of them for now."

"Agreed," I replied. I kept my eye on the grand stand and watched the Rivani man and the Elder greet each other. It seems as if they knew each other, for they gave each other a hug. "Well, can I get rid of the Chantry sister when she comes to do the ceremony too?"

Soris pushed me, playfully, almost sending me off my feet. "You're not getting out of it. I will drag you onto that stand with me if I have to!"

I pushed him back and Soris came at me with a fist, punching me in the chest. It wasn't enough to knock the air out, but it was enough to have me throw one right back at me. He narrowly missed my fist and got behind me, grabbing my throwing arm and locking it behind my back. "Surrender, Cousin!"

I smirked at him. "Never!" As usual, I easily turned us around so that I was now trapping his arm behind his back and had him pushed up against the trunk of the Vhenadahl. Soris struggled, but, try as he might, he could never get out of my death grip.

It was at that moment that Shianni came back, all cleaned up from earlier. "All right, you two, break it up!" She pushed me off of Soris, who rolled his shoulder, trying to get feeling back into his arm. "Let's not kill each other just yet."

"Oh, but I was winning!" I exclaimed, pouting my lips. I saw one of her eyebrows lift and she pushed my face away.

"Don't give me that, I've grown immune to your puppy-dog looks."

That made the three of us laugh. It made me remember when we were just kids, playing in the streets again. We used to climb to, either, the top of the Vhenadahl or the roofs of houses, and I tried to convince them to jump the distance between houses, from one roof to the other. Even when I gave them the so-called puppy-dog look, Shianni would ignore it, and keep Soris from doing as I said. Usually, I would do it by myself, them either watching me with awe or horror, depending if I fell or not. The one time, when I was about 8 years, I fell from my jump and broke my leg and fractured my arm. The Elder thought that would make me stop my 'insanity,' but it only encouraged me to get better at it. Eventually I was not only jumping from rooftop to rooftop but climbing walls and hiding in shadows. I became quite the rouge, wanting to be just like my mother.

Mother...

She was a magnificent person. My hero. I would watch her practice with her daggers when I was little, and begged her to show me how to wield them. She eventually did show me some of her tricks, but never let me touch the daggers themselves. I only used wooden staves. After she died, father put her daggers away, hidden, or so he thought. I knew where all the good hiding places were and found the box they were kept in. The problem was was that I couldn't open it. There was a lock on the box, and father never let the key out of his sight, afraid that I would hurt myself if I got my hands on them. So, I learned how to pick locks. I would pick, and pick, and pick until I was able to open the box to reveal the shiny well kept daggers. At night, when father was asleep, I'd take the daggers out of their case and practice with them until the sun came up. I did that for 8 years before my father discovered me with them. That was when he decided to give me mothers daggers. Those were the best present anyone could have given me.

"Darrian!"

I looked up to see Shianni waving her hand in front of my face. "You spaced out again."

"Sorry, I was thinking about mother," I said, shaking my head.

Shianni rolled her eyes. "Well, it's not the first time you've done that. Anyways, I said it's just about time to get to the grand stand. The Chantry Sister is here and ready to give the Maker's blessing to you guys."

My freedom was almost gone now. It was just minutes before I would be legally bound to Nesiara. If I was to run, now would be the time. I, unfortunately, never got that chance, for Shianni grabbed my hand and Soris' and lead us to the grand stand, where everyone in the Alienage was gathering. I looked at the crowd, who all were dressed in their best attire and everyone had a smile on their face. Everyone except for me. I looked ahead when my foot hit the first stair that led up to the stand and watched my footing before I fell flat on my face. Our fiancés were both there, waiting for us, nervous smiles on their faces. The Elder stood there with the Chantry sister, who held a copy of the Chant of Light in her hand, her ceremonial robes on. Even the armed man, the Rivaini, stood in the crowd, smiling at us.

Yup. My time to run away had come and gone. My life would soon be over.

Shianni let go of our hands, gave us both a smile and left to stand next to Nessiara's bridesmaid. The Elder directed us to stand back to back and facing our fiancés, holding their hands. I hesitated for a moment, before I reached out and took her hands in my shaking ones. This time I was certain that they were shaking from nerves.

"Welcome!" The Chantry sister greeted everyone. "One and all to this momentous occasion! Today we gather here, in the eyes of the Maker, to celebrate holy matrimony between Soris and Valora, and Darrian and Nesiara. Let us begin by -"

"Well, well, well," a familiar voice called out from the crowd. I looked over as a path was carved out and a familiar and unwelcome face appeared. Bann Vaughan walked up to the stand, his two lackeys behind him. They stormed up the steps and and glared at us.

The Chantry sister went to stand in their way. "Messare, please. This is a wedding. I ask you to please leave."

"Silence!" Vaughan yelled, and hit her across the face sending her down to the ground. That was when I let go of Nessiara's hand, who decided hiding behind me and Soris was probably for the best. "We are going to celebrate with our own little party."

He reached out to grab Shianni by the wrist and shook her violently. "I'm going to have a lot of fun with you, you little knife-eared bitch!"

"Let me go!" Shianni screamed and struggled, trying her hardest to get away from him, unsuccessfully. She spit in his face, and ended up with a fist in her face, and blood running down her nose.

That was the last straw. I stormed towards him, reaching for my dagger and gave him an angry look. "Let her go, you Bastard!" My hand trailed the handle of the dagger, ready to use it if necessary.

The Bann glared at me and threw Shianni towards one of the other men, who grabbed her and held her so she couldn't escape. "Well, the dashing hero, ready to stand between me and their virginity! What are you going to do? Cut me with your ears?" At that Vaughan laughed along with the other two men.

My hand wrapped around one of my daggers at my back and stood my ground. "No, but this might." I whipped my dagger around and cut the Bann across the face, cutting from one cheek bone, over his nose, to the other cheek bone. He gave a scream and his hand flew to his face, looking at the blood staining is fingers. I didn't think he could get any angrier until now, and the look he gave me could have shot fear through any other elf.

"You little Cur!" His hand curled up into a fist and he punched me in the gut. The blow pushed all air out of my lungs and I could not breath for a moment. But before I could react I saw his knee right before it hit me square in the nose and I fell over onto the ground, my dagger falling from my hand. I tired to reach for it, but my vision was starting to fail and I didn't notice, until it was too late, the foot of the Bann stand on my arm and kick it away with his other foot. I looked up to the blurry man above me and saw his foot come down on my face. The next thing I remember was screaming and darkness.