I own nothing of Dragon Age. Just Amilee.

Some of Purity Ring's music seems to have oddly vague parallels to the dynamic I imagine between Cole and any female he would romance. I've already recommended one song to nothelping, who writes The Inquisitor's Ghost and they featured it for one of their chapters.

This one is fitting due to where they end up in this chapter.

"She lost her voice down by the river, screaming for courage to take oceans under, she read your mind and called it a terror, misplacing her sleep to keep the world nearer..." -Flood on the Floor by Purity Ring

Amilee had to admit, she'd almost throttled Varric as much as Cassandra had when she found out her brother had shown up in Skyhold without warning. The dwarf's excuse after the fact was that he just wanted it to be a surprise, but both of them knew it was to protect Amilee from the brunt of Cassandra's ire.

That didn't stop the small mage from smacking the dwarf upside his head before tackling her brother with a huge hug.

"I take it you missed me, sister?" Garrett wheezed, hardly able to breath from the crushing force. He'd been in a quiet corner of the second floor of the tavern, drinking with Varric before Amilee's sudden appearance.

"You're damn right I did, Scruffy," she mumbled into his shoulder, the rough hair of his thick beard poking at her ear. "It's been months since you've replied to my letters. What gives?"

"I know," he murmured gravely, letting her sit in the chair beside him. "Varric felt it better you not know where I was. The Seeker had already hounded you for information at the start of all this. The less you knew, the better."

"Whatever," she grumbled, shooting a glare to the dwarf that promised retribution. "So I assume you're here to help with Corypheshit?"

"Ugh, were you just talking with Sera?" Varric groaned.

"I was just getting some info from her friends. She's alright when she's not calling Cole an 'it' or creepy. You know me, I'm easily amused."

"Yeah, when you aren't brooding about all the shit coming down on us." He leaned his arms on the table, gesturing with his tankard. "Which reminds me, since Garrett is here, we all need to have a little chat about what's going on in that noggin of yours."

"I'm sorry, what?" she deadpanned.

Garrett elaborated, "You used to be friendly with everyone, sis, no matter who they were or what was going on. But Varric tells me you've been keeping everyone distant since the Breach, even him. Do you mind telling us why?"

"I-" she started, caught off guard. "I thought you were gonna talk about why you're here."

"You already know why I'm here, just answer the question. The way you've been acting... it isn't like you. We're thinking something happened over these past few years that you haven't told us about."

Staring down at her hands in her lap, she paled. "N-nothing happened," she stuttered. "It's just this whole Guardian and Inquisition stuff is a lot to deal with."

"Bullshit!" Varric countered. "You've been in every fucked up mess Thedas has offered up for the past ten years, for Maker's sake! If that hasn't tripped you up, this certainly wouldn't."

"But I wasn't the one leading the battles then!"

Garrett's voice ground out in exasperation. "Between myself and the Warden, you've had plenty of off hand training on how to be a leader. Try again. This time, add Anders. Don't tell me you didn't come to Kirkwall to try and talk him out of what he did. Varric told me everything that demon spouted at you."

Shit! she thought, thinking back to the confrontation with Despair. She'd been outed by a freaking demon. At least it was only one secret she was hiding. Taking a few moments to gather herself, she begrudgingly recounted what had happened in Amaranthine and then later, before the Chantry exploded.

"Are you shitting me? That bastard had the gall to turn you down, not once, but twice? If I hadn't killed him already-"

"Hawke..." Varric pleaded, gesturing to a distraught Amilee.

She had started weeping, sniffling and rubbing her eyes and Garrett deflated at the sight of his sisters pain. "I'm sorry, Amilee. I just-"

"You're just being my brother. I know. It's alright, it's just- I've been afraid that if I open up again, I'll lose someone else and since I'm..."

"Since you're immortal, you'll have to deal with it either way," Garrett spoke gently. "I'd much rather have my sister surrounded by those who care for her when I'm no longer around then no one at all. You can make many friends that will help you cope with future losses, I promise. Just stop worrying about the things you can't control and be yourself."

Nodding mutely, she curled herself back into his arms and he shushed her till her fitful tears stopped. "Now," Garrett began with a smile down at her. "Let's get down to this 'Corypheshit' business, shall we?"

Crestwood was very dark... and very wet. It was also infested with zombies. And had a very large, very unreachable rift in the middle of the lake. Basically, it was one giant 'what the fuck' waiting for the Inner Circle as they all traveled together to meet Scout Harding for her report on the area.

"It's good to see you safe guys," the freckled dwarf began with a deep frown. "We've got trouble ahead."

Herah nodded, "Well, that's why we brought everyone. If you're on edge, then it's safe to say it's big trouble."

Harding raised an eyebrow. "Big enough to increase my hazard pay?"

"Are things that bad?" Amilee queried.

Instead of responding, Harding walked over to the stone wall near the camp that overlooked the lake, letting the other follow. On the far side, they could see a swirling of green mist, akin to what a rift would emit. The only problem was, in was in the water.

"Shiiiit," Herah hissed.

"It sounds different. The water changes the song," Cole murmured absently behind them.

"Crestwood was the sight of a flood ten years ago, during the Blight." Harding continued grimly. "It's not the only rift in the area, but after it appeared, corpses started walking out of the lake. You'll have to fight through them to get the cave Ser Hawke's Grey Warden friend is hiding."

"Have any attacked the camp?" Blackwall asked worriedly.

"We've had a few shamblers. But most head towards the village below. I have no idea how you're going to get to that thing."

"You mean aside from wearing all your armor and wading in?" Dorian jeered.

Harding shrugged. "Unless someone in Crestwood knows."

Herah turned to Amilee, the urgency in her voice clear, "Your brother is going to have to wait till we can get to the bottom of that."

"Ha, literally," The Iron Bull joked.

Shaking her head at Bull's poor attempt at humor, Amilee turned back to Herah and replied, "No, I agree this is the immediate threat. My brother will understand. How should we do this then?"

Amilee and her group were tasked with clearing out the undead from the outskirts of town and keeping it that way while Saytie spoke to the townspeople. After she spoke with the mayor, they hightailed it to Cear Bronach to rid it of bandits and open the damn. Between Saytie and Amilee, they figured something was off with the whole flood story when they found the dam controls still intact but continued on to scout where the water had receded. Their suspicions were seated further when they found a strange note in the mayor's previous residence in Old Crestwood.

After a strange and albeit humorous encounter with a spirit of Command, or Pomposity according to Solas, Amilee's group, minus Cassandra, backtracked to the new Crestwood to find out just what the mayor was hiding. But of course, the man had fled before they even got there, leaving behind a damning confession that he was responsible for the flood.

Amilee searched the home quietly, muttering to herself that this was all a bad sign until she found the note. She read its contents silently and before even explaining why, she began tossing the furniture around in a fit of rage until Cole calmly stopped her.

"He drowned them!" she cried up at him as she clutched at his shirt. "All those people! Even the children... so many bodies," she wailed as she buried herself in his arms, unable to hold back the anguish.

In return, he held her tight and after a few moments, whispered softly, consolingly, "Breath on fire, pain flares in the chest, so much fear and flailing, why? But then its a dream and they slip away to sleep, alone but together. They are far away now, Amilee. They don't remember."

Varric came up to place a hand on her back, pulling her out of her fitful haze to glace down at his determined expression. "We'll get the sonofabitch, Doll. He can't have gone far, kay?"

Her breath stuttered as she gripped Cole tighter, breathing in his scent, letting the hum settle around her until her heartbeat slowed and she was able to pull herself back together, bit by bit.

"Thank you," she whispered, stepping away from the young man. "You're right, Varric. He's got nowhere to hide after this shit."

"That's right, Mama," The Iron Bull chuckled. "You'll get the smackdown on that asshole once we track him down."

"While watching our pintsize leader put a boot in the mayor's arse would be the icing on top of this bloody shitcake, I believe we still have a rift that needs closing," the Tevinter mage called from the door.

"Right, priorities," Amilee sighed. "What would I do without your invaluable guidance?"

His arms crossed as he leaned against the door frame. "Oh I'm certain you would do just fine without me. Just be incredibly bored and lackluster without my magnificent presence to entertain and handsome visage to look upon."

At this, Amilee snorted. "All I see is the word Trap on your forehead when I look at you, Dorian."

Varric and The Iron Bull laughed at her vague reference to Dorian's preference for men.

"You wound me, Guardian!" He brought his hand to his chest jokingly. "Do I not give you the attention you desire?"

She returned his mockingly pointed look. "I know better to expect desire from a man who dresses better than me. Point your wily ways at someone else, mister, I won't fall for you."

"Be still my aching heart," he quipped back.

"You would die if your heart stopped, Dorian," Cole stated with confusion.

"And that, my friends, is our cue to get back to the task at hand," the mage noted with an eye roll.

When Mayor Gregory Dedrick was brought before the Inquisition for judgment, Herah officially turned over the final decision to Amilee. She had been prepared for her consideration. Herah and the advisers had been informed of the effect the confession had had on her and felt that she was the most qualified, having witnessed first hand what had happen during the Blight and what they'd uncovered in Old Crestwood.

While she was still very angry with the man for his actions, knowing how slow a death was by Blight in comparison to drowning... It had been a merciful albeit selfish act. As such, she declared Gegory Dedrick exiled from Ferelden forever and sent the man on his way.

The Iron Bull confronted her in the main hall afterward.

"Why didn't you kill the guy?" he growled. "I was expecting a full on execution, maybe an added punch to the face with how you acted before. What changed?"

Staring up at the Qunari in surprise, Amilee replied, "One, I am the Guardian to the Inquisition. It'd be a little unnerving to our people if my first judgment call was a full on sword swing through the neck. Second, Cole described those people's deaths perfectly. When you're drowning, it is a brief bout of struggling before you fall asleep and die. Death by the Blight take hours and with how many children there were..." she shuddered from the memory putting her hand to her forehead. "I'm not condoning what the man did, which is why I still punished him. If the families of those who fell to the flood see fit to track and kill him, that's their choice. But for me, those people are just dead and gone. Adding one more body to the pile will not bring them back."

"I still think your call was soft."

"And you are entitled to that opinion. Do you want to spar instead of bitching?"

His eyebrows raised at the offer but he shook his head, laughing. "Nah, I'm good. Just making sure you got your head on straight."

She grabbed her chin and the back of her head, tilting it until her neck popped. "There, all better."

"Ah, you're fine," he grinned. "So I hear we're heading for the Western approach next, right?"

Amilee frowned, dreading the idea of setting foot in that despicable place again. "After we clear up a few things in the Exalted Plains we'll be meeting up with the Inquisitor, yes. We'll take the Chargers this time though, I'm sure they're itching to do more than the silly missions we've been running them on."

"Ugh, Krem and Skinner won't shut up about the stupid nobles they've been escorting. Rocky's been itching to blow up some Vints and Stitches is sitting on his thumbs because no one's getting a scratch. Grim and Dalish are the only one's who haven't complained, at least."

"Eh, Grim doesn't really count for words, but I'm sure Dalish wouldn't mind unleashing her 'bow' on some better targets."

The Iron Bull laughed once more, "Yeah. Oh, I wanted to ask. You aren't... involved with anyone right now are you?"

Her expression went blank. "Come again?"

"Are you in a relationship with anyone?" he enunciated.

"Umm... no?"

"Well alright then."

She gave him a narrowed stare. "Whyyy?"

"No reason."

"Bullshit."

"Ugh, really?" he groused.

"Well, don't dodge the question."

"Don't worry about it, Mama. I can see now isn't the time," he smiled as he looked past her.

Josephine approached Amilee in that moment to let her know her request for her balcony had been approved and before she turned around again, the Qunari had disappeared.

Just. Wonderful.

Uh oh. Bull has plans. Thats never a good sign. :3

Am I at least keeping spot on with the characters? Do let me know if one says something that doesn't seem like them.

Reviews and Favs please!