Chapter 40
~Thankful Return~

Morriana

I breathe a hefty sigh of relief as my feet step onto the solid stone of Orzammar. I hear Oghren groan as he rolls his shoulders.

"Back to the sodding city," I heard him grumble. It is my understanding that he does not like being here. I am not too certain why, perhaps Baranka being gone and such. I reach to Oghren's shoulder to stop him, allowing Zevran, Shale, and Sten to move ahead.

"Oghren, listen." He turns to me, his tires eyes giving me his attention. "I can see you aren't too happy here."

"Damn right I'm not." He mutters with his gruff voice while folding his arms.

"I want to offer you something."

"Is it ale? Could use some ale." I chuckle and shake my head.

"No. A place among us. You fight well and I think we could use you." He stares at me a moment, almost confused.

"Wait. You're bloody serious? Me? Join you?" I shrug.

"Why not. You already have. You're not bad and I think you'd make quite the addition to our group."

"You sure about that." He unfolds his arms, amused.

"Well, we have a thief, and assassin, a golem, a murderous qunari, a swamp witch, a Circle mage—"

"Alright, alright I get it. I go well with a group of misfits." His eyes suddenly shine with solemn awareness. "Thanks warden. You're right. Now that Branka is gone, I'm all but dishonored and banned from . . . everywhere. A second chance might be nice." He smiles at me and I clap his shoulder.

"Good to have you. Now, let's get back to the others."

As we meet up with the rest of our group and begin our track through Orzammar, my only focus now is whether or not a new king has been chosen. Also, if Alistair is okay too, of course. As I walk through the streets I noticed it is more cluttered with dwarfs bustling about. As I pass by two gossipy ones, I hear mention of an Aeducan once again claiming the Throne. Chill fall down my spine as I wonder which one. There is the possibility that the people rejected Duran, and kept Bhelen. Should that be it, there we would no doubt be in trouble. Or it could have gone the good way and they accepted Duran once again. But I'm me, so I'm leaning more towards Bhelen. I freeze as I hear a bark behind me turn to see Orrick with Leliana in tow coming towards us.

"Maker!" she cried, feigning defeat. "You weren't supposed to see me." I shrug in humor. I then get down to a knee so Orrick can happily pounce on me. I giggle uncontrollably as he licks my face.

"Sorry. I'll try harder next time." She giggled and throws an arm around my shoulders as we begin walking again, and I can vaguely hear Shale mutter something about "fleshy human females" and Zevrans' intrigued voice at her action.

"We were wondering when you would return. Especially Alistair. He's quite a nervous fellow." I sigh a happy one, knowing my Alistair.

"That he is. But seeing that you guys are safe, I take it the crowning went well?" We stopped near a ledge overlooking the lava below and Lelianna recounted to us the events that took place, in her amazing story telling voice, and by the time she finished I felt an overwhelming sense of pride.

"So, at this point, we have just been waiting for your return. And since you have now arrived we can leave soon, yes?" I can hear in her voice she wishes to leave—we all do. I nod to her and she smiles warmly. "Wonderful. I will continue my shopping then. I believe you will be heading to the Palace now, since everyone else is there?" I laugh and nod. Leliana runs off and we head toward the Palace, baths and food in mind.

###

Walking through the Palace doors, we were not stopped by the guards but instead greeted by them. I guess they don't get a lot of humans and elves down here to confuse them. Upon asking around I found out which rooms were still empty and sent my exhausted companions there. I, on the other hand, had Orrick lead me to where Alistair was. The door to him room was open so I slowly crept in, sending a "be quiet" signal to Orrick. He was standing over the bed, messing with our supplies and clothes.

"Alistair!" I cry out, like some sort of excited child, as I leap onto his back.

"Maker's breath!" he shouts in surprise, probably not expecting my loud return. Still, he laughs all the same I release my hold and he turns to face me, capturing my lips with his own. He smells so lovely, of soap, smoke, and stone. I'm sure I smell absolutely horrible but he says nothing nor gives any indication. Instead, he holds me close and kisses me with passion. "I missed you." He tells me, resting his head against mine. I giggle, kissing him once again.

"And I you. Hated spending longer in the Deep Roads than needed." I move away to shed my armor and Alistair closes the door. My once decent looking armor now looks horrid and I inwardly cringe at the sight of it. Maker, I need to be rid of this filth. I cannot wait to wash my armor. I sniff my shirt, which causes me to scrunch my nose. And my clothes. And my body.

"Did Shale find what he . . . what she was looking for? Maker I cannot get over that." He shakes his head and I laugh.

"I think so. She hasn't really said anything about it but she seems to have a new peace about her. More so than when she cleans the blood and gore off of her crystals." The last of my armor falls and I turn to him, placing my hands on his shoulders. "And what about you? How are you feeling." He smiles and places his hands to my hip, kissing me as he does so.

"I'm better now that you back, safe." I lift an eyebrow to show that's not what I meant. "I honestly feel fine, Mori. It takes more than a few broken ribs to bring me down." He tries to kiss me but I start laughing.

"But it did bring you down. You passed out. Twice." He quickly shushes me, shaking his head.

"Nope. That never happened. Are you seeing things again?" I step back, feigning offense.

"Since when was I seeing things before?!" I place my hand to my hips in "anger." He sighs at me like one would a child.

"Oh Mori. No longer able to tell." I swipe at his arm, causing him to grab it like it actually hurt. "See? And now you have anger issues. By Andraste, woman." I try to maintain my angered look, but the more I look at him the more I just start to laugh. Finally the dam breaks and I burst out laughing. He joins in the laughter then pulls me into a hug. I calm in his embrace, feeling his love and peace wash over me. Maker I needed this. We stayed like this and I wasn't even caring how long. I simply held onto him, letting his scent fill me and his arms hold me.

Eventually he released his hold and placed his hands to my arms, giving me a quick kiss.

"Alright love, time for you to take a bath. I'm sorry, but you don't smell the best right now." I laugh as I slap him arm.

"Oh I know. I see you finally smell better." I move towards the bath in the room. Even the bathroom was a pentacle of luxury. Alistair told me of their systems and technology of bathing and pluming. There had been some in the tavern we'd resided in before our quest through the Deep Roads, but here . . . my amazement in this is strong. Having more knowledge of it, Alistair drew me a bath, adding in soaps with names in the dwarven language that he claimed to be wonderful.

And truly it was.

###

Alistair

We stayed up for quite a while in the night, simply talking as laid next to each other on our shared bed. Our conversations varied, changing from one subject to another. One moment we would be talking about our homes, the next of the Blight, then funny stories, then learning to write, then of our companions, then religion, and so on. We hardly stayed one subject too long before switching but we found ourselves coming back to the same subjects every now and then when one of us had something to say about it.

Halfway through a tale of my time in the Templars Mori fell fast asleep, face in my chest, head on my arm, and one hand clutching my tunic.

And I could not help but to smile and think about how wonderful it felt to be with her.