Disclaimer: The Dragon Age world doesn't belong to me.

Chapter 6 – Then, Love Came By

Judging by the milky light that crept inside through the seams of the tent, it must have been right before dawn when Kallian woke. Leliana had drawn closer during the night, seeking the warmth of bare skin. Kallian found her just so –with her cheek buried in Kallian's bare breast, her hand hidden under the folds of Kallian's undone doublet, with fingers laced around the breast band she'd seemingly removed quietly some time before.

There was this little game they used to play at times – mostly on weary nights, when they'd fallen asleep too tired for anything – one trying to remove the other's clothes without waking her. The one that had managed to remove or undo most layers of clothing won. The one who'd waken the other in doing so, lost. Of course Leliana would win most of the time. While they had both deft hands, the mastery clearly belonged to her. The memory of it made Kallian smile. Regardless of the disheartening state of things, Leliana was up to games, it seemed. Brave, brave knew better that allowing herself to be swayed by pain and dwell on hardship. The thought brought a surge of bitter-sweet tenderness that welled up in her chest – Kallian could play the game. After all, an earnest twinge had already crept to her fingers, and she started searching the sleeping one for a proper spot to start.

The hand hovered for one moment over the drawstring of Leliana's shirt, before finding a loose knot that could be pulled without much disruption. The slackened cloth barely revealed the line of the shoulder, in the place where the collarbone met the arm. She carefully parted the fabric from the skin, just so, that pulling it wouldn't tickle. Body heat wound up her fingertips, and, seeing it had been a while, Kallian barely harnessed the urge to taste the flesh she'd revealed. She slid her hand lower to the barely covered curve of one breast and breathed in the scent of wild honey that she knew so well. She exhaled briskly - which was all it took to startle Leliana in her sleep. Steely, lean fingers grasped the impudent hand and she darted up, saying with a barely stiffen laughter:

"You lose."

Seeing that games were done with before it began, and stealth was required no longer, Kallian squirmed and flexed her hand to finally grasp the much-sought-after prize, which she cupped eagerly, right before she found herself caught under Leliana's body, her mouth sealed with a vicious kiss. An unexpected wave of heat darted through her loins and she arched upwards, pressing harder against Leliana's thighs, already entangled with her own. They both breathed at the rasp move, half hungry and half asleep. Leliana took the invitation and lowered her hand.

Kallian welcomed the touch. She wasn't exactly ready and her body hadn't entirely woken yet, but that was of less importance. Leliana was too knowing not to recognize this kind of urge; it was hers too, it seemed, as she breathed sharply into Kallian's dry mouth. The need to cover the distance was demanding, and this coming together was soothing in its untamed way, pushing demons and shadows aside. They moved together hurriedly, as if to make up for all the time that had been lost.

Time didn't matter – only them, being back in one place, being reclaimed and claiming back the love, and all that had been lost to pain and fear. When she, in turn, took over Leliana's body, she took her time, building the tension bit by bit, carrying it high enough for them both to forget all else than the heat of their bodies and the rush of their blood, the searing light that struck Kallian underneath her closed eyelids with the abrupt strain of their entangled limbs and the impossible stretching of sinnews. They held each other tight long after it was over, waiting for their breaths to cool and their hearts to slow down. Leliana spoke, giving voice to the clear feeling that came with the overwhelming awareness of warm blood coursing their veins.

"Maker, we are both alive."

Neither of them really slept afterwards. Kallian snuggled in her lover's arms, and she let herself unwind and doze a little, reveling in the body heat and the smell of wild honey that filled their tent. It was new to her, this – unwinding – thing, and it felt good.

"I was prepared to lose you."

"No." Leliana's words startled her, and Kallian raised her head in protest.

"Yes. Not now – back on top of Fort Drakon."

Oh. Kallian had almost forgotten about that in the last couple of hours. It was like it had happened to somebody else, a couple of years before, and, regardless of the time she'd spent the month past thinking and fretting over it, it all seemed fine and smooth to her in the merry light of morning. She didn't feel like talking much about anything as unpleasant while she felt so wholesome. But Leliana wouldn't let it go that easily, it seemed.

"Kallian. Talk to me."

"I don't know what to say. I'm not all about duty and so. I simply couldn't bring myself to let Loghain do it, in the end."

"I think I understand – I mean, it is a hard choice to live with. So, I thought I would choose for you. But, I wondered, during this month – and I had quite the time to think it over – if it changed the way you felt about me. Then, I thought it must have, but that it didn't make any difference in the end. I was happy enough to know you alive."

Kallian reminisced the why's and how's of her qualms. As she tried to share them, she found herself in need to choose her words carefully. The thing that had troubled her the most, after all, had been Leliana's well-being – and Wynne's. Leliana had gotten the worst of it, yet. She certainly didn't need being frowned upon.

"I was relieved, back then, you know that. What happened after, well, that's an entirely different matter – Zevran rescued me from the Queen's camp, you know…"

"I know. Zev and Morrigan told me, last night."

"It's not that I believe that, with me dead, Anora wouldn't have gone after you, and I'm not the kind to be ungrateful when they get out of a dire situation alive. Still, I feel a bit off – like I cheated fate, or something."

"I didn't expect to live past that battle either," Leliana said gently, stroking Kallian's hair. Kallian sighed, and let her brow rest on her naked shoulder. Then she spoke softly, almost like an afterthought.

"I don't even want to think how you found out about this, seeing it's a well-guarded Warden secret and such."

"I didn't. Loghain came to me, that night at Redcliffe, before leaving with the army. He told me that a Warden was to slay the Archdemon and die in doing so, and that you'd offered. He asked me to stop you if I could – if the odds came between him and you. He said he wanted to redeem himself, and that you were too young to die. He seemed sincere. I agreed to it."

"That was all?"

"That was all."

"You – didn't hesitate?" Kallian frowned.

"No. I was impressed with the fact that he'd confided in me – an Orlesian – and the news he brought were kind of, well, unsettling. I agreed right away."

It made sense. That night, while Morrigan had come to offer her "loop in the hole", Loghain must have gone to Leliana's room. After refusing Morrigan, and thus sending her away, Kallian had sneaked to her lover's room, to spend one more night together – in a bed. She'd thought it very likely to be the last of those, and had been quite distraught. They had talked a bit, and Leliana'd said something that hadn't made much sense then, but seemed to be clearer in the aftermath. "I'm sure we'll find a way," she'd said.

"Has it never occurred you that, maybe, Loghain played us?"

"What? How?"

"I have wondered – how did Anora know to come after you and Wynne? It was as if she knew you would put a dagger poisoned with deathroot in my ribs to stop me from giving the final blow. That Wynne – almost died – again and was once more resurrected by that spirit, this time for all the world to see, was just the cream on the cake."

"I didn't think about it that way. Do you think that Anora would have agreed with her own father sacrificing himself?"

"Maybe he didn't tell her that part."

"Really, can you see Loghain capable of such a thing?"

"Yes. Very much so. Actually, I would rather doubt more his sudden lack of hate of both Orlesians and Grey Wardens. And I would definitely see him die to leave Anora rule over a Ferelden free of Blight, and Wardens, and clear his name in doing so."

"Then again, who would conceive such a far-fetched scheme over their own death?"

"Loghain loathed being a Warden and was burdened by guilt. He was also a soldier and didn't price anyone's life overly much. Maybe he did favor me, but it may also have been his way of gaining our trust."

"I don't know. I think he cared for you." There was a note of reproach in Leliana's lowered tone. Kallian gave up the argument.

"Maybe you're right. We'll never know now, either way."

The sun was high up when Kallian and Leliana emerged from their tent. Zevran and Morrigan were already up and about, busying themselves over breakfast. Morrigan had prepared an herb concoction of which both Kallian and Leliana received a steaming mug that the witch shoved in their hands while offering her purest scoff:

"For keeping your stamina high."

They both laughed.

Zevran seemed however to be less merciful. He abided for all of them to finish eating their cheese and dried fruit breakfast before saying anything remotely lecherous, but, as Kallian wiped the few stubborn crumbs that clung to the corner of her mouth, there was no stopping him. His in-depth hints over swollen lips and luxuriant display of knowledge over shrubs and bushes of all kinds and climates rendered even Leliana, who'd kept up with him for a while, wordless, so that, when he finally promised that there would be no more 'beating about the bush' from his part, she nudged him in the ribs so hard that it made him choke on his stamina draught. Served him well, Kallian thought, bent over by a fit of laughter.

They decided to take the day off and do some hunting. They hadn't much food left and it was a fine enough day in this side of land fairly untouched by blight. Downstream lay a meadow likely to be packed with game big and small, as the stream fell into a small pond and then widened in a ford of sorts, that made for a perfect watering hole. Although it was not a hunter's way to take down animals that came to quench their thirst right by the stream, further in the forest it was all fair game. Kallian strung her bow with satisfaction – there had been a month since she'd so much as touched the Spear-Thrower, and she'd barely realized that she missed the long war bow, which might not have been the best suited weapon for hunting, but which snugly fit in her hands, nevertheless.

Zevran was to watch the camp. Leliana had decided to go gather some firewood, with Con at her side, but then Morrigan had unexpectedly offered to second her. That meant that Con was going hunting, and he was as eager as his mistress – his happy bark stood for it.

She and Con trekked far past the meadow to lose their scent against the wind. In the month past, Kallian had not had either the time or the inclination to peruse the landscape, and she was taking in the beauty of an un-blighted Fereldan forest for the first time in months. There was much that she wasn't used to be surrounded by anymore – like the moss and liken growing only on the right side of the trees, the shadowed one. The patches of green grass that grew in sun-stricken spots and the new buds spouting with fresh sap were a sight for sore eyes, the merry birds rising high through the leaves of ancient trees that were starting to unfold were chirping merrily, like the sky had never been blemished by a shade larger than that of a hawk, and the clear sky of Bloomingtide was harboring a heart-warming, glaring golden sun. Although she did have quite a choice of dark subjects to direct her musings to, Kallian was giving all of them pause while she enjoyed the plain beauty of the landscape. She took her time roving through the forest with the knowledge that she would sooner or later cross paths with some kind of game, and, truly, soon enough she stumbled upon a fresh trail that went against the wind. She found herself a good spot to wait, coveted underneath some shrubs, padded with fine small grass that invited one to lay down for a nap; then, she sent Con on the trail.

Kallian seated herself on the grass, the Spear-Thrower resting lazily on her knees. She relished in the peace of the place, abiding her time until Con was to send deer her way. Hunting was one pleasure of life that she hadn't been able to indulge in, lately. Hunting gave one time to think, to sort things out while waiting for the prey to show, under the benefit of sharpened attention. And sorting things out was something that Kallian needed badly.

It was complicated, the way relief mingled with pain. They had found Leliana, but finding her in such a state ached with a pain so dull that Kallian alomost didn't dare think about. Still, she had been right, Leliana; they were both alive, and that was no small miracle on behalf of the Maker. It was not becoming to disregard His gift. They would get through; they would make the best of it, together.

The only thing that Kallian had to make best of at the moment, however, was the one shot that she had on the young buck that Con had faithfully harnessed her way. Between her Darkspawn war bow and the teachings of Andruil, the elvhan goddess of the hunt, she knew what she had to do, and she enjoyed it. The Maker and the most reverent musings from before had nothing to do with it. She nocked an arrow and drew quietly, expecting the deer to enter her range, which it did, in a hammer of hooves pushed to the wildest gallop, almost passing her by. Knowing of the power of the bow, she aimed for the neck. She breathed once for each hit of the hooves, once, twice, then, with the next breath she released. The arrow flew true. Andruil would have approved of it, the way the arrow parted the head from the body and put an end to the beast's charge.

Kallian gathered the prey on her shoulders. It was warm still. The meat of the deer would keep the party fed for at least two or three days, and she smiled as she gained pace, Con barking happily while he tangled through and around her feet. Him receiving the head of the beast, to toy with or swallow full as he pleased, had probably nothing to do with it. Nor had the lengthy stride Kallian put up had anything to do with the shrubbery full of fresh, untarnished woodland strawberries that she spotted while randomly running through the forest before, where she hoped to pick a few on her way back.

Yet, Kallian wasn't the only one with an interest in strawberries, it seemed, as she spotted a huge brown bear groaning with pleasure while munching through the shrubbery. Too bad, poor beast. It could have waited a few hours more, before tearing the small miracle of nature down utterly, couldn't it? Kallian begun her incantation in haste, entirely absorbed with averting the beast from doing more damage. It was her shrubbery, she'd found it first, and she was determined to have some of those fruits. Unspoiled, if messire bear willed it. Truly, messire bear did, as it soon left its munching and groaning to join at Kallian's side. A Ranger was a friend in need, and when a Ranger called one could not but heed their calling. Truly, messire bear. This was the way things worked. Kallian smirked at her own power.

Not many of the wild strawberries were spoiled. She plucked quite a few, tossing them in her discarded helmet. Those that had been chewed upon she handed to the fazed bear.

"Now, messire, aren't they tastier without all the leaves and sprouts?"

The bear seemed to agree with that, as it fed quietly from the fruits in her palm. Its gaze was entirely tame as it watched her rummage through the leaves in search of more strawberries.

The helmet filled, Kallian rose and took up her burden once more. She released the great bear almost as an afterthought. It collapsed from the exertion of having its will controlled so, but Kallian didn't worry much; she knew the bear would be fine after a few hours' sleep. She patted the beast's head, gently whispering "There, messire bear, when you'll wake up you'll have all the strawberries for yourself. I left some of the juiciest ones especially for you."

When she and Con got back in camp it was late in the afternoon. Zevran, who was tending to the fire and stirring the embers with a stick, looked positively sullen. Leliana and Morrigan were not back yet.

"Ah, there you are, beautiful. I was beginning to think that I was under a punishment of sorts, being left here like a faithful wife waiting by the fire for her three favorite husbands to come home with the food of the day."

Kallian laughed.

"Well, if you feel so much like a good wife to-day, perhaps you wish to mend the meat and cook as well? While I gather some fire-wood," she added quickly, at the sight of sheer unhappiness that Zevran's face oozed, "as it is quite obvious that the ladies have been up to something else, seeing that they're not back yet."

"Yes, Warden." He seemed appeased, as he took the slain deer and set to the stream. Zevran being Zevran, though, he couldn't let it pass without adding, "if you find yourself in need of a bath, later on, and nobody else shows in due time to scrub your back, I'll be down there."