Chapter 11
~Recovering Tower~

Alistair

I woke the next morning feeling sore. I sat up and stretched; the wounds and bruises refusing to make me forget the fighting from yesterday. I threw off the covers and threw on a shirt. Walking into the hall I saw only a couple of Templars cleaning the blood. They didn't seem to notice me, so I walked down the hall. I eventually found Wynne, Irving, and Gergior talking to one another. Wynne acknowledged me with a smile.

"It is good to see you are awake." I smiled.

"Yup. I thought all of that was fun. Say, you think we can have a few of these mages turn into abominations and kill them?" Wynne chuckled at my joke but Gregior's face did not change from being emotionless. "Anyway, how is everyone?"

"Tired and still shaken," Irving says, "but I believe we shall all recover."

"That's good. If you wish I can help with whatever I can."

"Thank you. But for now you may rest from yesterday."

"I should get back to organizing my Templars. They will be helping the mages in getting back in order and preparing for the Blight. There may not be many, but you will have some." Gergior adds in. He bowed his head and turned on his heel to go wherever he needed to go.

"I would like to thank you for all that you've done for the Circle. We probably would not be here, had you not come." Irving says. I can tell there's a slight blush on my cheeks but I ignore it.

"Actually, it really wasn't me. It was Morriana. She was the one who wanted to come here then save the Circle." My head then snaps toward Wynne. "Wait, how is Morriana? Is she…" Wynne give me a small smile.

"She is fine, dear. All she needs right now is some rest and a few days' worth of healing. Her arm will need some time before she can use it in a fight, as will her leg. Her ribs, we were able to fix." I give a sigh of relief.

"That's good to hear."

"Now, perhaps breakfast will help a bit and then you may help as you can." I nodded and we both walked to the kitchen where a few people had cleaned up a bit. Wynne and I ate together and we talked a bit about what we had planned to do next.

"I wish to ask," she said, interrupting out nice little conversation. "Would any of you mind if I came along?" I shook my head.

"I think that'd be a great idea. I mean, you know a lot of spells and you can heal. I'll talk to Morriana about it when she wakes." I then notice her lips press into a thin line and I have this thought that it might be about Morriana. "What?" I ask.

"How much do you know about Morriana?" I scratch my head.

"Well, she's an elf, obviously, and she came from the Alienage. From what I had seen in her dream in the Fade she has two cousins and a father, though not sure about a mother. Other than that and her being a skilled fighter, along with a hidden sense of humor not a lot. Why?"

"Well…" she starts off, deciding what to say. "When I was healing her I noticed….cuts along her skin that must have been there before the fighting, given the time they have had to heal. And they are pretty recent." I am confused, though I think she must be trying to throw in that "hey there's this secret thing in there so try and find it" but I can't seem to.

"I don't remember her being hurt on the way here."

"No, that's…. that's not what I mean." She stops once again, trying to think of the right words. So this time, she just goes straight to it. "I think she might be cutting herself." I freeze in my spot. Why hadn't I noticed? And the way she was acting…. "I found cuts on her wrists and on her legs. All self-inflicted. And when I was healing her while she was unconscious it was if her body wanted to refuse the treatment. Like it didn't want to be healed. Like she doesn't want to be healed. I think something happened to her before she became a Gray Warden. I was wondering if you knew." I start thinking back to the Fade and her dream. She had said that there she could have a second chance. She said she mess up and she couldn't fix her mistakes. What had that meant?

"You think I should talk to her?"

"Not now. I can tell she is still hurting from whatever happened. Give her time and she will come out. She will talk when she is ready. For now," she stood up, "I will go check on her."

Morriana

I opened my eyes and my head slightly throbbed. Everything was coming back to me and I noticed I was now in a bed with fresh clothes on and my wounds were bandaged and healed. My leg felt stiff and uncomfortable and when I tried to move it pain shot through it. My arm was in a sling, draped across my stomach. I sat up, moving so no presser came onto my leg. I looked around the room I was in and realized it must have been an apprentice's room. I heard a bark and saw Orrick laying near the fireplace. He got up and walked to me, licking my face. I gently swung my legs over the bed and let the covers fall from me. When I stood I winced at the pain in my leg and I shook a bit from the battles and batters. I waited a moment until I was sure I could stand and not fall. I limped to the door and nearly jumped to the roof when Wynne was in front of me.

"Maker, don't do that." I said, to her and she chuckled.

"I'm sorry, dear. I was just coming to check on you. And what are you doing up?" She helped me back to the bed and did some weird magical scan on me to make sure I was okay. She numbed some of the pain and told me that she could not completely heal because of the way the bone needed to be sent. So we'd have to be stuck here for a couple of days. Great….

"I will go and get you something to eat. Just stay here and rest."

"Wait," I stopped her. "Is everyone else alright?"

"Well enough. It will take time to heal what had happened. But your companions seem okay. More worried about you, actually."

"Well I'm okay."

"I can see that." She turned and then handed me a cut of tea. "Drink this. It will help." I nodded and waited for her to leave the room before I started drinking it. It was sweet and by the time I finished I was ready to sleep for a week. However Wynne came back with food then left. I ate quickly then laid down on the bed, pulled the covers up, and fell into a deep sleep.

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It was probably about a few hours later when I woke again. I sat up and my leg didn't hurt as much this time. I felt better than I did and less groggy. Orrick was now lying at the end of my bed but his head lifted when I saw I woke. I stepped out of bed and walked to the door. Well...limped, more like. I limped out of the room with Orrick trotting behind me and saw, through whatever windows there were that it had to be about sunset. There were few Templars in the halls as I went on. I saw some mages helping clean. I stopped by one girl, perhaps about twenty with brown-red hair. She was rubbing a wet towel on the wall to whip off the blood off the wall. I sat down next to her, awkwardly since I was trying not to put pressure on my leg and my hound laid behind me.

"Hello." She said brightly to me. I nodded my greeting. "I had heard about your battle from your friends. I couldn't believe you all did that. It was amazing." I felt my cheeks become a bit warm.

"Thanks. Although, getting hurt and nearly dying wasn't a part of the plan." She chuckled.

"I don't think it would ever be." I slightly smiled. She laughed again. I talked to her a bit about the Tower and what it was like before all this happened. She then told me that the mages were going to be helping in the war against the blight, despite there being only a few of them. I stood up a bit later and told her I should go find something to eat. She nodded and went back to work. I came into the kitchen and saw Leliana there with a plate of a few sandwiches. She smiled when she saw me.

"You are awake!" she said happily. "That's great!" I huffed a laugh. I limped over and sat down at a table next to her. She handed me one of the sandwiches she had made. Orrick sat down next to me, waiting for me to hand him some of the food.

"Yeah, but Wynne said I can't use my arm or my leg for a few days."

"Yes, but at least those few days we are here we can help with helping the mages."

"Say, where's Morrigan?"

"Oh she is staying at the inn across the lake. She said she didn't like being around all these Templars." I nodded. She was silent for a moment then spoke again. "Can I braid your hair?" she asked with a big smile. I looked at her as I ate my sandwich.

"Sure." I turned my back to her and allowed her to toy with my hair. It made me miss the times when Shianni would braid my hair. At the thought of Shianni my face fell and I suddenly didn't feel like eating anymore. I set my half eaten sandwich on the table and sighed. "Leliana, what do you do when you feel like you made a mistake and you just don't know how to fix it?" she hummed.

"That depends. What kind of mistake are you talking about?" I thought for a moment, thinking of how I could explain what I meant without giving away my secret.

"Well… I had this friend who felt like she mess things up at home."

"Can you explain?"

"…Well, her… sister was taken and when she tried to rescue her, along with her brother, they found her but… the man who took her…" I trailed off but Leliana's "oh" told me she knew what I meant. "So then she killed him. When they got out the man's guards wanted to arrest them for murder. Another friend was able to help her but was unable to do so for her brother. He ended up arrested and she felt it was all her fault. Like she didn't try hard enough to do anything."

"Oh, I see now. Well, what she could do is rescue her brother from jail and, as for her sister she could be there for her and let her know that as well. I'm sure she did all she could and that what happened was back luck."

"But…what if she can't do any of that."

"Then that is something she must figure out on her own." She finished the braid and tied it with a light green ribbon. "How long have you known this friend?" I was not expecting that question so I thought of the only answer I knew.

"A very long time." It wasn't like I could say anything else. She hummed.

"Well I hope this friend of yours finds her way." I moved around and put my arms on the table.

"Yeah," I mumbled. "Me too." I finished off my sandwich and gave my crust to Orrick. "Thanks for braiding my hair. You should do that more often." He face suddenly lite up like the sun itself decided to shine on her face.

"I would love that so much." There was a pause before she spoke again. "Do you think you should be getting some more rest?" I shrugged.

"I'm not exactly all tired yet."

"Well how about a story?" I lifted an eyebrow but let her. She told me one of the old stories of Flemeth and I was very intrigued by it. I never really heard many stories of Flemeth at the Alienage but I wish I had. Leliana had been right to suggest the story because I felt tired once she finished. I yawned and she picked up the now empty plate, Orrick now finishing off the last sandwich. "Get some rest. I'll clean up." I was about to protest but then realized that there wasn't much I could do with my leg and arm. So Orrick and I were walking/limping back to my room. Once in I laid down on the bed, Orrick jumped up and rested beside me and I sighed. I stroked his fur until I finally fell asleep.