Lothering seemed quite small in the game, but I had not expected to write it so huge that it would take almost half a year to continue with the story. For that I am sorry! With summer here I'll hopefully be able to add a bit more to the story. I hope there are still a few who will actually get to read it but regardless it will be posted. As I mentioned (a few months back) a few of the supporting cast will join in, one in this chapter. I hope they fall in everyones favor.

Please read and review, thanks.


The streets were littered with refugees, even well off the main roads. They had wandered aimlessly for almost an hour before Tamlen finally had enough and asked a city guard for directions, and though he had been skeptical of their motives, armed as they were, he pointed the way. Supposedly the area in which the house they were looking for stood had long since become one of the more wealthy areas of town. As such the guards had been asked to keep beggars and refugees away from the streets there. This was done by having guard posts by all the ways in and out of the area.

"Halt" Commanded an officer clad in chainmail, with a very intricate badge on his left arm, the guard had just moved out of a small guard station at the side of the road. Alistair and the others stopped in their tracks.

"What business do you have in this part of town?"

"We are looking for a friend" Alistair answered, offering a smile to the somewhat grim looking officer.

"And who would that be?" His tone suggesting that he didn't believe a word of it.

"A mister Yellings, he lives on Miller Road"

"Yeah I know him, what business do you have with Yellings?" The officer placed a hand on his hilt, which by the sound of things, the group behind him did as well. Alistair kept calm though, he knew enough of Lothering to know that the guard might intimidate but not actually cause a stir.

"It is our business, now if we could be on our way..."

"Sorry, it is my job to keep the gutter away from this part of the city."

"Sir, do we look like beggars or thieves to you?"

"The way you are dressed you look like brigands and hired killers!"

Alistair kept himself from rolling his eyes. "Certainly hired killers would dress better, my socks have more holes than your chainmail has rings, but that is besides the point. We are here because mister Yellings is expecting us."

"Hmph, your kind usually stick to the warehouse district."

"My good man, we just need to speak to mister Yellings and then we will be out of here, we have no intention of starting anything."

The officer crooked an eyebrow, looking past Alistair to the elf and dwarf. "Is that so?"

"You can follow us if you like, we could use some directions as well, none of us have been here before."

"No, my duty is here..." The officer scratched his cheek. "Fine, the street you are looking for is the third to the left. The numbers are marked so you can easily find him."

"Thank you sir" Alistair gave him a curt nod and the group passed.

"Just don't linger, the locals will give me hell if they see your kind just walking about!" the officer called after them.

"Got it" Alistair yelled back. "No loitering in Lothering!"

"How come that there are so much chaos in most of the town and this district is almost barren?" asked Tamlen as they walked past the first line of old houses. Every one of the houses seemed to be well built and many had a small but very well kept garden in front of their houses.

Alistair agreed, it seemed unjust but there were more important things to do than complain about the injustices in the land.

The house lay where the officer had said. Compared to the other estates near by the house paled but it was still beautiful if compared to the other areas of town. They headed through a paved path amidst green grass and knocked on the front door. Alistair couldn't help but take in the beauty of it all. A few of the trees in the area were turning golden and several flowers were still in bloom.

"Yes?" An elderly man had opened the door without much sound.

"Are you mister Yellings?"

"No, sir, I am not. Are you guests of the Master as well?"

Alistair shared a glance with Duran. "We are, but do you have other visitors at the moment?"

The elder man frowned and made a face like he had swallowed something nasty. "We do, a young woman made her way here and refuses to leave."

"What?" Alistair could not imagine anyone just walking into a house and then refuse to leave, and even less that you could get away with it.

"Indeed sir, but please" The ma stepped aside and allowed the group to enter.

"I shall inform mister Yellings, please wait as I get him." Without waiting for reply the older man had turned through a door still moving without a sound.

"It sure is a nice place" Alistair commented, noting that even the waiting room was richly decorated.

Duran only grunted and Tamlen did not seem overly impressed. Perhaps human art meant little to them.

"Ah! Thank the Maker that you have gotten here, the... young woman" the fat little man could hardly contain his anger, but still, ever polite it would seem. "Refuses to leave before she has spoken to you lot"

"Who is it?" Alistair asked, curious.

"You don't know?" The little man rubbed the bridge of his nose. "She is a witch and says she has something of yours. She refused to tell me what."

"But what is her name?"

"You know my name, or have you already forgotten?" It was Morrigan.

"What are you doing here?" Alistair asked finding it hard to control his voice.

"You two know each other?" asked the dwarf though he was ignored by both parties.

"I come with the treaties, again. Your order does seem to loose them easily."

"Where did you...?"

"Mother took them from Ostagar just before the Darkspawn overran all the fortress. She knew their importance and it was easy as they still carried traces of the magic that protected them in the tower for so long."

Alistair eyed her skeptically. Surely she was not doing this out of the kindness of her heart. "Why?"

"Mother knows what the senior Gray Wardens will ask of you" she snatched a letter from Yellings' hands in a quick movement and opened it in a single rip, leaving the letter with Alistair to read.

"If you can read I am sure it will say that you are tasked to get allies here in Ferelden, right?" Morrigan allowed Alistair a moment to read, though impatience took her before Alistair was halfway through the letter.

"It will be much less painful to do so with these treaties if you use them right. Mother wants the blight ended as much as anyone and she is willing to help to that end."

"So she sends these treaties?" asked Tamlen.

"The treaties, and me. I will travel with you, learning what I can of the world while you do what you must."

"What?" cried Alistair almost choking on it.

"You need a mage on your team, and I am willing to help."

"Sounds like a deal lass!" exclaimed Duran. He was favored with a wry smile from the girl and a scowl from Alistair.

Alistair was about to voice his complaints even more loudly but was halted by Tamlen who put a hand on his shoulder, forcing Alistair's attention. "She has shown twice now that she holds no ill intent, and you saw how deftly she got us through the Wilds, even finding us in a city like this. If we are to find allies around Ferelden then her help will be most welcome."

"She is a practitioner, an apostate!" Before Alistair could continue he was silenced from an unexpected source.

"Quiet! Do you want the whole neighborhood to know I am harboring your kind? Now kindly take the young lady and the orders and leave!" The fat little man looked like he was close to having a heart attack.

"Alright, fine, we are leaving. This is not settled yet though!"

Morrigan moved past her with a grace few could have mustered and fewer still would have dared in any civil area. "I am sure it isn't little Templar, shall we?" She didn't move or stop to see if he followed though the dwarf was never far behind her.

The way back to the meeting point had been surprisingly uneventful. Alistair felt spent and had walked in silence next to Tamlen at the back of their little group, Duran taking the lead talking animated to Morrigan about Maker knows what.


Elissa was leaning against a wall near the spot where they intended to meet, slightly unsure of how the news would be taken. They had found a, and just that, a single room. They had managed to talk the manager into adding a bed more. All in all it was less than ideal though much better than having to sleep in the streets.

She looked around again, finding the scene little different from last time. Still no Alistair, still too many beggars, still chaos. She thought back to Lyra who was 'guarding the room' so to speak. Elissa couldn't help a sly smile. They had gotten to talk a bit, exchanging tales as it were. Elissa had talked to her about the supposed demon in Redcliff Castle, her own version this time, leaving out nothing. Lyra had not commented at first, only listening without judging or trying to make her hurry – which was nice. Elissa had decided then and there that she would tell Alistair as well, hopefully it would alleviate some of troubles.

In return Lyra had told a little tale of her own, how she had gone to see the mage in the dungeons. How she had picked his cell door. She had originally not intended to free him, but she had been so desperate for his council that she had agreed when he asked for his freedom in payment. Almost at the end of the tunnel she had started hallucinating again, but the mage had joined her in the sleep not long after. He had guided her, told her that the place she was trapped was of her own making, a tiny world created from the boundless fade. She had listened and slowly peeled the world apart until everything blacked out and she awoke in the arms of a soldier in Redcliff castle who told her that Alistair had saved her. Of cause Lyra had put two and two together, Alistair had most likely fallen over her in the darkness and knocked her out.

The whole story seemed strange to Elissa, but she did not voice anything. Lyra it seemed was glad to get it off her chest, though she had clearly not thought all the complications through. Elissa was starting to however. If the girl could manipulate her dreams then she was surely a mage, one without the supervision of the circle at that. An apostate.

Something at the corner of her eye caught her attention, sure enough it was Alistair and the others forcing their way through a horde of people. His call was lost to the noise all around them though but she could almost feel the presence of their little group, something akin to Ostargar, and Redcliff Castle now that she thought about it.

When the group came closer it became apparent that they had picked up a harlot, how exactly they would explain that should be rich.

Duran was the first to squeeze through. "Found an inn, did ya?" he asked giving room for the rest of the group joined the conversation.

"Yes, but there was only a single room. Lyra is staying there at the moment. We will have to use some of our bedrolls though, we only got two single beds in the room." She faded off, keeping an eye on the scantly clad female who seemed to be the elephant no one was willing to talk about.

Almost a full minute went by without anyone feeling the need to break the silence, the girl in question it seemed, enjoying show.

"She... ah, will be coming with us." Alistair finally said, looking quite resigned.

Elissa was not sure whether to yell or knock all three males silly, surely they had not been thinking with their brains for the last few hours. But if they could not see it then...

"I am not sure we require your," Elissa cleared her throat giving the girl a dismissive look. "services anymore. If you still need mone -"

"That is not why she is here! She is..." Alistair looked like he wanted nothing more than to sink into the ground, blushing a fierce red. "I'll explain when we get to the room!"

The trip back to the inn was one of the most humiliating Elissa had partaken in for as long as she could remember, with the possible exception of the party accompanying the birth of Oren, Fergus' son. Elissa shook her head trying to clear the memories. She had expected it to sting, but she must finally have started to let them go. The dead did not return.