CHAPTER 16

The next morning, Nathaniel found Elissa in the practice yard. She sensed him before he spoke and turned to him. "Good morning," she smiled at him, her mood considerably lighter than the evening before. "Did you sleep well?"

Nathaniel approached her. "I slept well enough." He lowered his voice, "How about you? How are you feeling today?"

"Apparently getting a good cry and a good sleep was just what I needed. I have a habit of holding my stresses in too long, and when I get overwhelmed ..." she shrugged. "You have something like last night. Thank you, by the way – what you said makes a lot of sense. I'm glad you were there for me." She chuckled. "I just hope I didn't ruin your shirt by crying all over it."

"It is no problem." Nathaniel neglected to mention that her rose-scented perfume had permeated said shirt, so his dreams involved flowers and green eyes and...no, better not go there. He didn't need another cold bath before breakfast. "You must have gone a long time before letting it out then."

Elissa nodded. "It's been years, probably. My mother told me once not to forget to let others take care of me sometimes, since I always want to solve everyone else's problems. I tend to forget that." She let out a sheepish grin.

When was the last time someone offered to take care of you? Shouldn't Alistair have done that for you when you were together? He looked at her calculatingly. There is still some grief there from yesterday, but it looks like she will be all right. He smiled at her then. "Any time you need to cry on a shirt, let me know. I have extras." The laugh and smile that followed was ample reward and reassurance that all would be well.

Just then, the keep's messenger arrived. "A message for you, My Lady," he said and handed her a scroll. Elissa broke open the seal and read it, her eyebrows raising.

"What is it?" Nathaniel asked.

"Another accident with one of the arling's nobles."

"Another? Isn't that the third one this month?"

Elissa nodded and sighed. "I think I know what this morning's meeting topic will be. Well, as you like to say, there's never a dull moment. Shall we go to breakfast?" She placed her bow on her back as Nathaniel nodded, and they walked together to the dining hall.

Anders snorted. "So, the nobles in the arling have suddenly become extremely clumsy?"

"Maybe this guy just couldn't hold his liquor," Oghren added, and then he snickered. "Maybe he thought it was a chamberpot and got lost."

Elissa raised an eyebrow at Oghren, "Perhaps. But three accidents in four weeks is particularly suspicious to me. Now, we have Ser Frederic whose house burnt to the ground with him inside, the assumption being that he knocked a lamp over and was too drunk to notice. Then there was Lady Ceana, who fell down the stairs in her home and broke her neck. Now, Bann Earnan has fallen into his well head-first?" She shook her head. "Something strange is going on here, and we're going to need to figure it out."

"There is something you should know, Commander." Garevel got Elissa's attention. "All of these people were fiercely loyal to Rendon Howe."

Elissa rubbed her forehead. "That's great. Just great. So, if this keeps up people are going to think that I'm ordering assassinations." She stood up. "We will need to investigate. Let's start with Earnan, since that was only yesterday. There will be more of a chance to find any clues if things are amiss."

"I would like to go," Erlina said. "I could see if anything looks odd." Good idea. If she keeps busy it will help her work through yesterday's events.

"Good idea, Erlina. Anders, I would like you to go too. You have the best chance of finding anything that would indicate a magic user would be there. Any hexes drawn in strange places, that sort of thing. Are you up for it?" Elissa looked at Anders, who nodded vigorously. "And Garevel, Oghren, I figure between you two you can get information from the other members of the estate. See if they saw or heard anything unusual, and see if anyone actually saw the Bann fall. Erlina, do your bard thing and watch their reactions to the questions." Erlina looked up at Elissa, shocked. Elissa smiled slyly. "I traveled with a bard for a year. I managed to pick up some tricks." Erlina just shook her head, bemused, as Elissa concluded the meeting. "You four go ahead and go to the estate. Let us know what you've learned after you've finished there. I think we might have to go to the city later to ask around, maybe try to find the Dark Wolf," a wry smile accompanied the statement, "and see what he knows about all this."

Elissa turned to go, but just then a soldier came into the room. "Commander," he said, "there are soldiers on the road. It looks like Redcliffe, ser."

"Redcliffe? More soldiers? Interesting," Elissa mused. She followed the soldier out of the room, as did the other Wardens and Garevel to meet their visitors. They formed a greeting party at the gate and waited just a few minutes for the soldiers to come into sight. The head of the arriving party was led by a tall man, dark auburn hair matched nearly perfectly by dragonscale armor. Behind him were a number of heavily armored knights in matching chevalier-style plate.

When Elissa saw the man in front with the red hair, she smiled widely and called out, "Teagan! Is that you?"

"One and the same, my dear Elissa," the man replied as he strode directly up to the Warden Commander. "It is a pleasure to see you well after all this time." He studied Elissa's face intently, and seemingly satisfied, he smiled broadly and his voice deepened just ever so slightly. "You look lovelier every time I see you."

Elissa laughed. "Flatterer." She then introduced the Wardens and Garevel one at a time. While awaiting his introduction, Nathaniel placed the man. Teagan Guerrin. Brother to Chancellor Guerrin, and just become Arl of Redcliffe. He was Cailan's uncle. Sometimes the training to be a noble came in handy.

Anders whistled under his breath and muttered in Nathaniel's ear, bringing him back to reality. "How does he do that? I'd kill to be that smooth!" Nathaniel looked to see what Anders was talking about, and for the first and possibly last time in his life, he looked to see Erlina blushing when being introduced to a man. Then he studied the man himself.

Teagan was handsome, he had to admit. His demeanor was gentle, yet extremely confident. The man had to be about forty, but he had the sort of looks that improved with age rather than diminshed. He was incredibly charismatic; everyone who he was introduced to seemed to immediately like him. He spoke directly to everyone and did not make a fuss about his being the highest ranked person there, and seemed to be sincerely interested in everyone he met. He even got on well with Oghren. This man has got to be immensely popular.

When Nathaniel was introduced, he bowed with his arms crossed in front of him, "Greetings, Arl Teagan. It is a pleasure to meet you." To his surprise, Teagan walked over to him and offered a handshake.

"It is excellent to meet you, Ser Nathaniel. Please, call me Teagan. I had heard about Fergus' incredible rescue. Well done." Nathaniel blinked and shook Teagan's hand.

"Thank you. Please, just call me Nathaniel." Well, that was much easier than I expected. He dropped Teagan's hand and watched as Teagan nodded to him with a smile, then turned back to Elissa.

"I hate to just drop in on you like this," Teagan began apologetically, "but we had decided to take a detour on our way to Denerim and thought we might visit you, since you are almost on the way. You don't mind, I hope?"

Elissa laughed. "Of course I don't! It's always good to have friends visit. You and your men are more than welcome to stay for as long as you wish. You're on your way to the engagement ball then?"

Teagan nodded. "Yes. Will you be going as well?"

Elissa shook her head. "No," she said pleasantly. "We have too much to do here to leave for a party and my presence there would only take away from the attention Alfstanna and Alistair should be receiving. I don't want to disrupt their day. I had to promise I wouldn't miss their wedding," and here she rolled her eyes in amusement, "but for now, I'm off the hook." She smiled.

She really is fine with it, isn't she? I am glad for her. Apparently Teagan thought so too, because his smile brightened further and he offered his arm to Elissa. "Please, I would love to catch up with you before we move on then. What have you been up to?" as they turned to walk toward the keep.

Nathaniel watched the pair walk arm in arm, talking animatedly, and suddenly he felt ill. They look good together, don't they? And it's obvious that they're fond of each other. He forced himself to focus on Anders' face in front of him. "We're going to head out, look around like the Commander asked," Anders stated. "We'll see you soon." Nathaniel nodded, barely noticing his comrades' departure. He decided that today was a very good day to catch up on his reading and decided to head back to his room.