"Not keeping watch for me, exactly. I haven't been honest with you."

Elissa raised an eyebrow. "Do you care to elaborate?" She didn't like where this conversation was going, but maybe she'd finally learn the truth.

Eleanor looked down and clasped her hands together. Elissa could see that they were shaking. "The templars wouldn't be keeping watch for me, because they would be keeping watch over me instead." Eleanor refused to look up and meet Elissa's eyes.

"Over ...?" It took Elissa a moment to realize Eleanor was saying. Then suddenly, it all made sense – why Eleanor didn't know how to hunt or cook, why she had no money and yet had nice shoes, how she managed to know advanced spells and regulate her mana to last a long time, and why she got incredibly tired after walking long distances. "You're from the Circle," Elissa breathed. She got angry then. "Who is behind all this, and why?"

Eleanor cringed at the tone of Elissa's voice. "I'm … I'm sorry." Her trembling spread to her entire body. "We didn't know … I had no idea … Maker, you must hate me." She looked miserable and scared and incredibly alone.

Elissa took several deep breaths to try to calm herself before speaking again. "I don't hate you, but I am incredibly angry right now. You will tell me everything that you know so that when I go to the Circle I'll know what I need to do. Do. You. Understand?" She waited for Eleanor, who after a moment gave a brief nod. "Good. What in the Maker's name is going on?" She crossed her arms and waited for Eleanor to start.

"They … they told me to find you." Eleanor's voice was but a whisper. "I was supposed to join your group. I already told you that, I think." Elissa nodded once, curtly. "What I didn't tell you was that I was supposed to keep an eye on Anders and let them know if he ran away from the Wardens."

"So that they could hunt him?" Elissa failed to keep the bitterness out of her voice. "He's no longer the Chantry's concern. Maker's breath!" She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Excuse me. Continue, please."

Eleanor paused and nodded. "I … they didn't say what they would do if Anders had run away. I think that they would have tried to track him down, yes." She shuddered. "I was also supposed to report back if you had recruited any more apostates or maleficar."

"That figures. Who were you supposed to report to?" Elissa narrowed her eyes at Eleanor. "And why would they send a helpless pregnant woman to do this job?"

Eleanor cringed at Elissa's comment. "I … I was supposed to report directly to the Knight-Commander, but the First Enchanter knew about it too. I don't know if there was anybody else. And they … they didn't know I was pregnant. I didn't find out until after I'd left the tower." She took another deep breath. "They sent me … because Greagoir … because they trusted me."

Elissa raised an eyebrow. There was something that Eleanor wasn't telling her, even with the new information. She was determined to find out what it was. "Well, then, I guess we'll just drop you off at the tower when we go there tomorrow. You said you wanted to go home, and I have enough trouble without dealing with people I don't trust." She started to get up when Eleanor recoiled in horror.

"Please! Wait! Don't just … please." Eleanor's voice dropped off. "He doesn't know about … and I don't know what he'll do ..." Eleanor put her hand on her rapidly expanding belly. "I know the Chantry will take care of my baby. That's probably best. But I don't know what he'll do when he finds out. What they'll do to him. Or if he'll even want anything to do with me any more." She started to sob quietly.

Elissa turned to Eleanor and studied her face. "Who, Eleanor? Who is the father?"

Eleanor looked up at Elissa, her face swollen from tears and her expression one of desperation and loneliness. "Greagoir. The Knight-Commander."

-0-0-0-

Said Knight-Commander was currently engaged in a battle of wills with Elissa. He was glaring at her, his hands still clenched on her elbows. She, in turn, kept her arms crossed and kept her eyes glued to his, making sure that he understood she was not backing down for any reason.

After a good long minute of silent struggle, Irving intervened. "We may as well tell her, Greagoir," he said with a sigh. He sounded resigned. "She knows enough already that she might as well hear the rest." Elissa heard him walk back to his desk, pulling his chair in as he sat. "Come, old friend. Political deception is beneath you."

At these words, Greagoir closed his eyes and sighed a shuddering breath, then let go of Elissa's hands. He slumped into his chair in complete defeat. Elissa nodded and sat back in her seat as well. "Perhaps you should start at the beginning," Elissa said quietly. "I want to know what and who is after me." She grabbed two cookies off the long-forgotten tray and passed one to Greagoir, who accepted it with surprise, before biting into the other one.

Greagoir took a bite of his cookie and chewed it thoughtfully, watching Elissa with an assessing gaze. After swallowing, he nodded. "About six months ago, the Grand Cleric came here to visit," he started. "Her official purpose was to see how the cleanup of the Tower was coming along."

"From Uldred's rebellion?" Elissa asked. Greagoir nodded.

"Yes. It took a while, but we were finally done repairing the Veil and cleaning up the … mess." Elissa nodded to show she understood, and he continued. "She seemed pleased enough about that, so we thought everything was more or less back to normal. But then she asked to speak to me privately." Here he shifted in his seat, leaning forward. "She told us, then, about your unfortunate incident with Rylock."

"That woman was crazy." Elissa raised an eyebrow. "She'd obviously been overdosing on lyrium for far too long. Just looking at her, you could tell that she wasn't in her right mind." Elissa sighed. "She tried to kill all of us, you know."

Greagoir winced. "Yes, that's what the Grand Cleric said. I don't think she sent Rylock after you, but it's possible. I wasn't privy to those orders, if there were any. At any rate, she was concerned by Anders' conscription and by the fact that you wouldn't hand him over, regardless of the templar involved."

"You mean she was put out by it," Elissa said archly. "You should know that Anders has been a fantastic Grey Warden. I wouldn't have conscripted him if he hadn't already shown he could handle it."

"Yes, well … the Grand Cleric's concern extended to maleficar and apostates as well. She said that she worried that the Grey Wardens would become an escape for those who were seeking to avoid Chantry justice, and she wanted a watch kept on the order in case of problems." Greagoir shifted uncomfortably then as Elissa growled. "She asked me to send someone who would report back to me. Someone I trusted. That person would tell me if you were recruiting people to spite the Chantry."

Elissa rubbed her forehead tiredly. "Do you really think I would recruit just anybody who came my way? What makes you think I'm that desperate or stupid?" They had no answer to that question. Elissa sighed. "What were you supposed to do with these reports, Greagoir?"

"Nothing, unless you had Wardens leaving once they had joined the order, or if you had someone go out of control." Greagoir sighed. "If you had lost control of your mages and apostates, I was to send a contingent of templars to," here he cleared his throat, "deal with the problem."

"So, assassins wearing templar armor." Elissa tried to keep her temper under control. "I assume that you neglected to tell her that I am perfectly capable of dealing with my own problems?" She kept her voice low as much as she could, which only made it sound more threatening. "How many abominations, blood mages, and demons do you think I've had to kill, apart from when I cleaned out the tower? How many possessed templars were here, Greagoir? Uldred was both possessed and a blood mage!" She stood up and rounded her chair, gripping its back. "How many have you dealt with, Greagoir? I've been on extended trips to the fade – twice – and defeated powerful demons in their own domain, and I'm not even a mage!" She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to try to calm herself. When she opened them again, both Greagoir and Irving were watching her intently. "I am not trying to be arrogant, gentlemen, but the amount of experience I have, by itself, beats 'experts' who have been imprisoned in a tall tower for most of their lives!" She sighed irritably and covered her eyes with her hands. "Do either of you know how much blood is on my hands? Do you know how much I have to answer to the Maker for already?" She laughed bitterly. "The worst part of the Grand Cleric's plan is that nearly all the templars you sent to find Eleanor and ambush her died. All those lives were lost for nothing. I couldn't save them because there were too many people fighting all at once, and your people, Fergus's men, and the Wardens were severely outnumbered. That blood is on your hands, Greagoir, and the Grand Cleric's. I refuse to take responsibility for those deaths."

She turned to Irving, then. "And I suppose you approved Eleanor's release?"

Irving nodded. "Her name came up as a candidate, and knowing she was a strong mage, and dutiful, I let her go."

Elissa sighed. She was getting a headache. "Yes, well … dutiful isn't the top priority for someone who has to follow me. Being able to stay alive is. The darkspawn and bandits and assassins don't care how dutiful someone is when they're hacking that person to pieces." At this, Greagoir shuddered involuntarily again.

"So, is there anything else I should know? Any exalted marches about to show up on my doorstep that I should be aware of?" Elissa looked to Greagoir, who shook his head, and then Irving, who just blinked at her. "So, what about Eleanor? What happens to her if I return her to you?"

"She's in good standing with the Circle," Irving said, his voice sounding tired and a little older than she expected. "I have no issue with her returning to full status and staying here." Elissa nodded then turned to Greagoir.

"What about you, Greagoir? What happens to her? Will she be able to return to her old life here and live in peace?" She crossed her arms in front of her again. "Are you willing to allow her to live the life of a mage, or will your affair with her cause her trouble?"

Greagoir closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. "That depends," he said. "Does anyone else know about my … about us?"

"Only the people in this room know about your relationship, unless you've told someone," Elissa said quietly. It's not really a lie. "I swear to you that I will never tell another living soul about it, regardless of what happens here."

Greagoir nodded and leaned forward, putting his head in his hands. "If anyone else found out, if word got to the Chantry ..." he shuddered. "They would probably brand her a maleficar and I'd be sent to Aeonar for life. The baby … the Chantry will take the baby and raise it as an orphan. We have no choice." He looked up at Elissa then, and she thought she saw a deep sadness in his eyes. "I don't want her to be hurt. I would never do anything to hurt her."

Looking at him, sitting there as he was, Elissa believed him.

Elissa looked at Irving. "Is this something you would agree to? Will you keep this secret?"

Irving looked at her, then at Greagoir. He smiled at the Knight-Commander, a look of affection creeping onto his wizened face. "I will," he said simply.

Elissa let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. Good. That was better than I thought it would be. "All right. That's settled then."

Greagoir looked at Elissa then, hope creeping into his words. "When can I see her?"

"Soon," Elissa replied. "We still need to talk about the Grand Cleric." She sighed. "I don't want you two sending anyone else after me. I certainly don't need her to send another Rylock after me, either. I presume this means that we need to some up with something that will make her happy. Any ideas?"

The three of them fell silent as they thought. Irving looked up after a moment. "You said that most of the templars were killed on the road when they were attacked. How many survivors did you have?"

Of course! Elissa laughed out loud. "It's funny that you should mention that, Irving." She smiled, her face serene for the first time since the older men had entered the study. Both Greagoir and Irving looked at her, surprise written on their faces. "There were two - Ser Taylor and Ser Bryant. In fact, Ser Bryant is still with me." She looked at Greagoir. "Did the Grand Cleric say that she wanted you to send a mage?"

"No. In fact, were it not for … circumstances … unique to templars," and here Greagoir hesitated, but Elissa waved him off.

"I know about the lyrium, Greagoir. I was planning on asking if I could purchase some from you for Ser Bryant anyway."

" … Oh." Greagoir narrowed his eyes as he looked at her before continuing. "Anyway, if it wasn't for the lyrium problem, sending a templar would have been my first choice."

"Then that's settled. I know what we can do." Elissa looked at Greagoir. "I happen to like Ser Bryant quite a lot, and was hoping he would want to continue to travel with us anyway. Assuming he's agreeable to the suggestion, you can tell the Grand Cleric that you have a templar situated with the Grey Wardens. I will not, however, allow him or anyone else to babysit and constantly report on me. And we'll need to provide him with a regular supply of lyrium so that he doesn't go through withdrawal. I can procure my own if necessary, but if he's going to be officially sanctioned by the Chantry, I think we can manage to take care of that little detail above board. That is my offer, gentlemen." Elissa crossed her arms again and silently dared Greagoir and Irving to argue with her.

Irving leaned forward and cleared his throat. "This sounds like an excellent compromise, Greagoir," he said gently to his friend. Greagoir leaned back in his chair and mulled everything over for a minute. He sat forward again and met Elissa's eyes.

"I think it may just work," he murmured to himself, then spoke a bit louder. "I cannot guarantee that the Grand Cleric will agree to being kept uninformed, but otherwise, it seems like a solid plan. That it's a templar who travels with you may reduce her objections, however."

"I trust you to make her agree to it," Elissa replied seriously. "I am only going along with this as far as I already have. Ser Bryant is a good man, and I would hate to send him away, but I am perfectly willing to do so if it gives me reassurance that I won't be spied on." She smiled a little then. "Besides, it's not like you won't know if something goes horribly wrong and demons start running amok out of the gates of Vigil's Keep." At this, both Greagoir and Irving snorted.

Greagoir stood and offered Elissa his hand. "Very well, then. Shall we shake on it?"

Elissa smiled. Then she directed her next question to the corner. "What do you think, Nathaniel? Does it sound like a fair compromise to you?"

Greagoir and Irving both started and paled. Irving turned around and Greagoir, already facing that way, stared as the shadow in the corner stated, "Indeed it does, Elissa."

Greagoir looked at Elissa with a thunderous expression on his face before marching to the corner of the room, but before he got there, Nathaniel removed himself from the shadows, revealing not only himself but Eleanor. At the sight of the young woman, Greagoir stopped dead in his tracks and just stared.

"I am truly sorry to have deceived you like this," Elissa started, "but I wanted to make sure you'd speak openly to me. I also wanted a witness to what we said in case of future problems. This is Nathaniel, my second-in-command, and he has my complete trust and confidence. He will not divulge any of the details from this meeting to anyone, at any time." Nathaniel nodded to Irving, who gaped at him, and then to Greagoir, who no longer noticed his presence. Greagoir had folded Eleanor into his arms and had her head tucked under her chin, and was whispering something to her.

"Is there anyone else in the room we should know about?" Irving looked at Elissa with one eyebrow raised and a trace of amusement on his face.

Elissa smiled. "No, nobody else is in the room." Irving nodded, then looked over at Greagoir and Eleanor. He looked pointedly at Elissa and Nathaniel, then over to the door. The two Wardens nodded and Irving showed them out, closing the door behind him as he joined them in the hallway. The three of them walked to the other side of the wide hallway which remained otherwise unoccupied.

"That meeting went well, I should think," Irving said conversationally. His eyes sparkled as he looked at Elissa. "Did you say that you wanted to recruit here tomorrow? What are you looking for in your recruits?"