Chapter 22

Fergus and Leliana stood outside the Denerim Chantry gripping each other's hands as the warmth of the sun washed over them. It was done; he was married to the woman that he loved. It had actually taken five days for the two of them to find away to sneak out of the Palace undetected, but they had finally managed to give the royal guards the slip. He squeezed her hand and smiled down at her, "So Teryna Leliana Cousland I believe this calls for a celebration."

"I would prefer a private celebration, my Lord," Leliana cooed.

Fergus smiled, "Oh that goes without saying, my Love, but first I believe we should celebrate with a few friends. I notified my friend, Arl Bryland, of our intentions to get married today and he insisted that we come to his Denerim Estate this evening for dinner."

"I always liked Bryland. He is a wise and kind man. He has always been an ally to Alistair and great supporter of him at the Landsmeets. His wife seems a bit snooty, but I think I can handle one night with the woman just as long as you promise to make the night a short one. I have plans for you, Husband," she purred.

They made their way to the Arl's estate and spent a delightful evening with Bryland and his wife; who was extremely charming to both of them. After several bottles of wine they made their way back to the Palace and were headed for their bed chamber when a messenger ran up to them. "Teryn Cousland, I have an urgent message for you from Warden Comander Darrian."

Fergus took the message while Leliana rummaged through her bag for a couple pieces of silver to tip the boy. Fergus tore the sealed letter open.

Your Grace,

I urgently need to speak with you as soon as possible. I am at the Denerim Warden Compound. No matter what time it is please send a messenger when you receive this and I will come to the Palace immediately.

Sincerely,

Commander Darrian

Fergus felt the blood drain from his face. Why was Darrian back in Denerim without Alistair? Why hadn't Alistair returned? Leliana took the letter from Fergus and quickly scanned the note.

"Let's not waste time with a messenger. Let's head to the Compound now," Leliana exclaimed.

They both rushed out the door; this time followed closely by four of the royal guards. Twenty minutes later they rushed through the gates at the Compound and were greeted by Zevran. "Aaah, my dear Leliana, we have been waiting for you."

"What is going on Zev? Darrian's note sounded so cryptic," Leliana huffed as she tried to catch her breath.

Zevran had a solemn look on his face as he replied, "Darrian is waiting for you in his study. I believe he needs to be the one to explain what has happened." The silently followed Zevran to through the compound; Zev knocked once and then entered.

Darrian was seated in front of the fireplace and rose when he heard the door open. "Your Grace, thank you for coming so quickly," Darrian said.

"Your note made it sound urgent and dire," Fergus replied.

Darrian looked at Fergus inquisitively. "It is. Did you not receive the message I sent you seven days ago?" Darrian asked.

Fergus shook his head. "Hmmm, that is very interesting and will require further investigation," Darrian surmised as he gestured toward the chairs by the fire. "Please have a seat."

Once they were all seated Darrian told them that Alistair and Anders had been killed while defending several traveling merchants from darkspawn. Leliana burst into tears at the news and Fergus immediately rested his hand on top of hers as he tried to comfort her. His head was reeling from the news that had just been given him.

"I don't understand," Leliana sobbed. "Alistair is…was an excellent warrior. One of the best and Anders was one of the strongest mages I have ever seen. I have seen them take on dozens of darkspawn and walk away with barely a scratch."

Zev slid onto the arm of her chair and put his arm around her, "Mi gioiello di Tesoro, even the best warrior can be defeated. It had been several years since Alistair was fighting darkspawn on a daily basis and he just…he had an off day."

"I am sorry that you didn't receive my message, Fergus. As acting Regent the responsibility of planning the funeral for Alistair will fall on you. I am here to assist you with the planning of his memorial service. He was a Grey Warden and his fellow brother and sisters will want to honor him," Darrian said.

"Of course, I appreciate all the help you can give," Fergus replied gravely.

"After the memorial service you will need to call a Landsmeet to discuss the next heir to the throne. You need to be aware that before he left Alistair had a will drawn up in which he declared that if he were to perish without an heir that you were to become his successor. I, along with Arl Bryland witnessed Alistair sign and date the document. It is safely concealed here in a vault. Arl Bryland will present it to the nobles at the Landsmeet."

Fergus was rocked by this latest piece of information. He had no desire to be king. He was perfectly content being the Teryn of Highever. "I can't be king," Fergus murmured as he tried to comprehend all of the information.

"Fergus, you are the logical choice to succeed Alistair. You are second only to Alistair. The Landsmeet will not have an issue with crowning you as the King of Ferelden," Darrian replied.

"No, you don't understand. I can't be king because I have recently married Leliana. The nobles will never accept her as their queen because she is a commoner and an Orlesian Bard," Fergus declared.

"Mi dolce, congratulations! This is wonderful news," Zev whispered as he squeezed Leliana's shoulder.

"Thanks, Zev, but with everything that has recently happened it may not be so wonderful anymore," Leliana murmured back.

Darrian smiled at Leliana as he addressed Fergus, "Your Grace, you are still what is best for Ferelden. You are the only Teryn in all of Ferelden if they don't accept you as their king it will divide the nation and cause civil war."

"I understand the politics of this, Darrian," Fergus said with sigh of frustration as he stood up and paced the room. "But what you and all of Ferelden need to understand is that I am not going to give her up. I love her! I have lost too much in this lifetime and I refuse to lose one more person that I love."

"Well, then you are going to have to convince the nobles that you are what is best for Ferelden even if your wife is a commoner. Leliana was an Orlesian Bard, but her mother was from Ferelden. She is a Fereldian. It is also well known that before Calenhad the Great became the first king of Ferelden that he was married to a commoner and that once he became King his wife became Princess Consort – use that information to your advantage as you persuade the nobles of the Landsmeet. Also, you are the sitting Regent of Ferelden, you have a declaration from Alistair declaring you his successor. You will have my support on this and I can think of at least five other Arls and Banns that will support you. You will only need three other nobles to stand behind you and you will have the majority of the Landsmeet," Darrian proclaimed.

Fergus smiled, "For a city elf you have become very adept at Ferelden politics, my friend."

Darrian laughed, "All those lessons that Eamon gave Alistair something must have sunk in. We need to send out an immediate decree announcing Alistair's death. I am sure rumors are already beginning to circulate. Once all the nobles begin to arrive for the memorial service we must begin rallying support."

"Speaking of Eamon, will he support us?" Leliana asked.

"Alistair had concerns about Eamon which is why had the declaration drawn up declaring you his successor. When I gave this news to Eamon he seemed defeated and resigned to accepting you as the next heir to the throne. However, the news of Leliana being your wife may give him the ammunition he needs to try to stop you from taking the throne. We need to keep your marriage as quiet as possible. I don't want Eamon to find out about it until it's too late for him gather support," Darrian surmised.

Fergus nodded. "I agree, but the nobles that we are going to try and secure as an ally need to know the truth. It will be a shock to them and they will need time to digest all the information before they head into the Landsmeet."

"I agree," Darrian replied.

xxXxx

After they had returned to Alex's apartment Anders collapsed onto the bed in the spare room completely exhausted. Alistair made his way down to Alex's room, but he had only been able to sleep for a couple of hours. His mind was restless and filled with anxiety as he worried about Alex. He desperately wanted to go visit her, but she had warned them that they should only visit the hospital at night. He felt his stomach growl and made his way to the kitchen. He opened up the larder door and stared at all the different items on the shelves. There was cans of pasta by a chef named Boyardee, a cans of fish named Star-kist and some soup. However, after inspecting the cans he couldn't for the life of him figure out how to open them. He would have to ask Anders about that later. He decided on a chocolate pastry called a Pop Tart. The tart wasn't bad, but it definitely didn't fill him up. He remembered that on the way to the hospital yesterday he saw a large merchant's store that might sell food. His stomach growled again…he really hoped it did.

He quickly showered, got dressed and headed for the store. Several blocks later he saw a sign that read Vons Market. He entered the store and was flabbergasted at the mass size of this food store. How could one place hold so much food? How did they sell it all before it became rotten? He stood there in awe as several patrons pushed past him as they muttered that he needed to move out of the way. He watched as the customers grabbed these strange carts and walked through the store placing their items in it. So he too grabbed a cart and began to make his way through the store when the scent of fresh baked bread hit his nostrils. He changed directions and made his way over to bakery. There were so many different types of breads to choice from that Alistair had a hard time making a selection so he chose four different types. He knew that between his appetite and Anders the bread would not go to waste. He also selected dozens of cookies, strudels and these delicious looking things called donuts. He finally made his way out of the bakery when he noticed a large stand in the middle of the room; he had to rub his eyes to make sure it wasn't a hallucination. There displayed on the stand were hundreds of different varieties of cheeses – he had died and gone to the Golden City. Even more incredible was the number of free samples that they offered. Alistair tasted at least a dozen cheeses before he selected six different types. He loved this world.

Beside the cheese stand was something called a deli – where you could order different types of meats sliced in order to make a meal called a sandwich. The lady behind the counter, who gave Alistair a very strange look when he inquired about how to properly assemble a sandwich, was very helpful. She offered him several samples to try.

Red meat was very scarce in Ferelden and even as king it was not always available. So when she offered him a sample of the roast beef he thought it was the most scrumptious thing he had ever put in his mouth and he proceeded to order five pounds of it. He also ordered five pounds of the fresh baked ham. The deli worker suggested that he also purchase some mustard and something called mayo. He found the mustard, but couldn't find the item called mayo. However, he did find something called mayonnaise and the label said that it was good on sandwiches.

His cart was starting to get full and he decided that it was time to pay for the items he had. He headed to the area where he saw people purchasing their items earlier. He wasn't sure exactly what to do so he watched as another customer placed all of the items from her cart onto a shelf near where the merchant that was collecting the money.

Alistair found a merchant that was open and began to place his items on the shelf. Alistair jumped back and cried out when the shelf began to move and carry the items toward the merchant. The cashier gave him an odd slightly irritated look. Alistair laughed nervously, "I wasn't expecting it to move. It startled me."

The girl raised her eye brow, but never said a word. Alistair watched as she scanned each of his items across some type of odd looking mirror and a price would appear on the screen in front of him. He watched as the total at the bottom began to climb higher and higher. He didn't completely understand exactly how their currency worked, but he understood the basic concept. He had counted his paper money before he left the apartment. He had four of the 50 marked bills, five of the 20 marked bills and six of the 10 marked bills. The bill summary now read 310.00. He glanced anxiously back at the last few items that remained on the shelf and prayed he had enough money. The cashier rang up the five pounds of roast beef and the price that appeared was 45.00. By the Maker, that was some expensive meat.

Alistair laughed again uneasily as he spoke, "I'm sorry, but I don't think I brought enough money with me to pay for those last few items."

The girl gave him an annoyed look and grabbed the last two boxes of cookies off the shelf and placed them in a bin as she mumbled, "Your total is 355.00."

Alistair handed her all of the money that he had on him and she gave him back another piece of paper money marked with a 5. Alistair pocketed the money and gathered all of his bags and headed home. Thank the Maker it wasn't a far walk – at least by Ferelden standards. He was home in less than ten minutes. He quickly put the food away and began to make himself a sandwich.

He sat down on the sofa, turned on the TV and sank his teeth into his first sandwich. Anders had thought that Popsicles were heaven on stick wait till he tasted this. This was the best thing Alistair had ever put in his mouth; it was flavorful. The meat, cheese and bread blended so well together and the mayonnaise made a tasty addition.

As he ate his sandwich he turned his attention toward the TV. It was time for him to educate himself to the ways of this world. As he flipped through the channels the titles for each show scrolled across the top. One channel had, 'America's Next Top Model'. The girls in the show were pretty, but how could anyone listen to all the bickering and fighting without getting a headache.

Next channel - 'Destroyed in Seconds'. This show was pretty interesting. It showed a lot of this world's modern devices beginning destroyed by accidents. Even in a world as advanced as this one, things are still not indestructible.

The next channel had a movie on it and the title was 'Pride and Prejudice'. Alistair heard Matt say this was Alex's favorite book. If it was her favorite then he was sure that it was on her bookshelf, but he didn't have the time to read it. Maybe this movie could give him an idea what it was about. As Alistair watched the movie he realized that the environment in which the story took place was not much different from Ferelden and he was drawn into the story because of its familiarity. He found comfort in the movies familiar surroundings that until this moment he didn't realize he missed. As the movie about love and values unfolded Alistair was pulled in to the story about Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy's tale of love and misunderstanding.

When the first advertisement was shown Alistair was shocked out of his romantic reverie as a group of very large gerbils sang "You can go with this or you can go with that". What the hell, singing gerbils! And the size of them – holy Andraste's knickers, he hoped they didn't run into any of those at night.

The next advertisement the word's "Victoria's Secret asks…What is sexy?" Then images of some of the most beautiful women Alistair had ever seen flickered across the screen, but he hardly even paid attention as the memory of Alex flashed through his mind and he smiled.

Alex placed her hands on Alistair's hips as she gently pushed them so that they swayed in time with the music she cooed, "Sexy…could be a person, a place, a situation, a song, anything that turns you. Get your sexy on is anything that makes you personally feel sexy…makes you feel good about yourself."

Alex hands remained on his hips and she moved in closer as her hips began to sway in time with his; without thinking his placed his hands on her hips, the feel of her curves as they rocked back and forth under his hands caused electricity to course through him.

Alistair asked her asked, "What do you find sexy?"

She continued to smile up at him as she thought about her response and then she whispered, "You."

Even now the memory made Alistair's heart skip a beat and his stomach flip. She was the most incredible woman he had ever known and refused to lose her. "Anders!" He yelled, "It's time to get up."

A few minutes later Anders stumbles down the hall, "Bloody hell, man, did you have to yell? A nice soft 'it's time to get up Anders' would have sufficed."

"I'm not your chamber maid, Anders. I won't be gently shaking you awake and giving you a belly rub," Alistair retorted.

Anders pouted, "Even if I ask nicely?"

Alistair ignored the question as he said, "It's almost nine o'clock. You need to get ready so we can head back to the hospital. I made you sandwich. Go eat so we can get ready to leave."

"You made me a what?" Anders inquired.

Alistair launched into the wonders of the local food store and delicacies of the local cuisine. Anders made his way back from the kitchen with his sandwich in hand. He took a bite and Alistair thought he saw the man's eyes roll into the back of his head. "By the Maker, this is the most scrumptious thing I have ever put in my mouth."

"Those were my thoughts exactly," Alistair replied.

Alistair patiently waited while Anders took his time as he savored every morsel of his sandwich. He went back out to the kitchen and walked out with half a donut stuffed into his mouth. "Sweet Andraste, did you try these? It's the most decadent thing I have ever tasted. To hell with Popsicles I want more of these."

An hour later the two of them made their way back to the hospital. When they were less than a block away Anders cast a concealment spell over the two of them. They followed an elderly couple through the sliding doors into the Emergency Room waiting area. As they passed by the dozens of sick people Alistair felt the veil to the Fade slid open as Anders quietly cast healing spells at the individuals in the room. The reactions of each individual as the warmth of the spells hit them was quite funny, but Alistair's patience was waning as he grew tired of Anders games. "Don't wear yourself out," Alistair grunted.

"Don't worry Alistair. These are all minor healing spells. Nothing that will drain me," Anders replied.

They slowly made their way to the elevator. Alistair pushed the button and when the door slid open they both cautiously eased their way into the box; still leery of the mechanical contraption. They got off on Alex's floor and made their way down to her room. Alistair sat down in the same chair that he had occupied last night, took her hand in his and gently kissed it.

First, Anders examined her again from head to toe and smiled, "She is doing well. All of her organs are strong and stable. I can begin repairing the damage to her head."

Anders spent the next several hours casting spells and drinking lyrium as he worked on the damage that had been done to head. He took only a few breaks to regain his strength before he would go back to work on her. Alistair had grown tired from the lack of sleep and rested his head on the bed against her thigh. Just before dawn he felt her leg twitch and her fingers squeeze his hand. He looked up at her and saw that her eyes were still closed, but they were moving rapidly behind her eye lids.

He looked up at Anders and the mage smiled, "It won't be long Alistair."

Alistair held tightly to Alex's hand as Anders continued to work. A few moments later a moan escaped her throat and her eyes flickered open. A huge smile spread across Alistair's face as he watched her eyes adjust to her environment. She rubbed at her eyes as she looked at Alistair, then at Anders and then back at Alistair.

Alistair brushed a stray hair out of her face as his hand brushed the side of her cheek, "How are you feeling, Love?" He asked.

She looked at him again and then at Anders as she softly said, "Who are you?"

Okay so we have reached a point in our story were the plot could take two different paths. I have story outlines for both options. I think both could be really good and I am torn between which direction to go so I thought I would poll my readers and see what you think. Do you want our group to remain in our world or would you like to see them returned to Ferelden? Can't wait to hear your thoughts.