Over the next two days, Elissa was dunked into freezing water an additional five times. Later, she would say that she would be glad to never come near a cold bath for the rest of her life. Between the raging fever, the lack of appetite, and the lack of sleep caused by incessant itchiness, Elissa was completely exhausted. During her few lucid moments, she noticed Nathaniel's exhaustion and worry was causing dark circles under his eyes.

Finally, on the third day, her fever seemed to break somewhat. She was still too warm, but the dangerously high temperatures her body had been producing seemed to pass. Elissa actually slept through the night, and when she awoke she was glad to discover that Nathaniel had stretched out beside her and was gently snoring, his arm flung over her waist. She smiled to herself and drifted back to sleep.

When she next regained consciousness, Nathaniel was just stepping out of his bath. She watched him silently towel off before he draped the cloth around his shoulders and started to dress. He was facing away from her and the view was quite nice.

She must have made a slightly disappointed noise as Nathaniel pulled his breeches over his hips, for he turned around with one eyebrow raised and a slight smile on his face. He looked much better, and Elissa was pleased to note that he must have slept all night as well. "You're awake, I see," he said simply. He crossed to the bed and sat on its edge so that he could place a hand on her forehead. His skin felt smooth and cool. "Better. The fever's not gone but it's much better."

Elissa smiled up at Nathaniel. "That explains why I was able to appreciate the view," she murmured. "You don't have to finish dressing yet, do you?" At this, Nathaniel chuckled.

"I should soon to start the day." He smoothed the backs of his fingers over Elissa's cheek before lifting his towel and drying his hair. "The bath water is still warm if you want to get cleaned up. I think Teagan was going to send in some servants to change the bedding."

He helped Elissa get up and into the tub once he had combed and braided his hair, then washed her hair as she cleaned herself off. He helped her dress in a simple shift and she sat in a chair while he went to collect some food and a servant to clean the room. They shared a simple meal together and talked.

"How is Anders?" Elissa hadn't been aware enough of her surroundings over the past couple of days to even remember that she had heard something about him being ill as well. "He got sick too, right? Is everyone else healthy?"

Nathaniel nodded. "Yes. Anders was the only other one of us who got sick. Apparently he kept just missing the outbreaks in the Circle Tower with his escapes." He looked at Elissa bemusedly. "He didn't become as ill as you did – his fever never got that bad." Elissa nodded, relieved. "He's a terrible patient, by the way – he won't stop complaining about being in bed. Erlina and Eric are about ready to throw him out of a window."

Elissa laughed. "So he's a much better healer than patient. You'd think he would have been better at this than me after having to deal with bad patients."

"You would think so," Nathaniel agreed, smiling at her. "But I suppose it's not all that surprising. He seems annoyed that his magic won't help him recover faster, since it's not an outright injury." He shook his head before changing the subject. "Do you feel up to some company?" Nathaniel asked as he poured Elissa a cup of tea.

Elissa looked up, surprised. "I don't mind, but I'm not exactly the picture of beauty right now." She ruefully indicated the pock marks on her face and neck. "Also, I must still be contagious."

Nathaniel grinned. "I think that's the point, actually. Once Teagan started telling all the nobles who invited you to their parties that you were in bed with the chicken pox, they all started asking if they could come by and bring their small children." He smirked at Elissa, whose mouth had dropped open in disbelief. "They would rather their children catch the pox now, when they're still small and it won't be as serious, and many of them expressed the feeling that it would be an honor to catch it from the Hero of Ferelden."

Elissa blinked. Then, she laughed. "Well, that's up to them; I don't see why not. Although if they give me another title for this, I'll have to hurt someone." Nathaniel smiled and they made plans to receive visitors.

-0-0-0-

Over the course of the next three days, Elissa saw a steady parade of nobles, small children, and other well-wishers come into her sick room. She actually got to the point where she was getting tired of holding babies and small children in her lap. It didn't help that she felt a twinge of regret at infecting them, although she kept reassuring herself that in the long run it would be good for them. The adults, overall, were quite sympathetic and friendly and she had never seen so many different arrangements of flowers. She thought she would smell like lavender and roses for the rest of her life from the fragrance that permeated her room. At least her room didn't reek like a sickroom normally would.

The adults who came to visit Elissa ran the gamut of Ferelden culture. Shianni from the Alienage came to see her frequently, as did several of the elves, and she was especially helpful in making Elissa comfortable. ("We have a run of the chicken pox every year or two," she'd said, "so we've had a lot of chances to figure out what helps.") Bann Ferrenly and Bann Gilmore came to see Elissa, as did Bann Sighard and even Alfstanna. Arl Wulff made a brief appearance, but didn't stay long. Elissa was surprised to see him at all, let alone be witness to his gruff sympathy. Many commoners came to visit as well, and the Wardens tried to ensure she saw as many of them as she did nobles, per Elissa's request. The Wardens who were not ill would keep watch in her room to avoid having any successful attempts on her life occur, but fortunately they were not needed.

Throughout all the visitations, two people were noticeably absent. Elissa had seen neither Alistair or Fergus since the day of the meeting in the palace. She tried not to dwell on it, but their apparent lack of interest in her well-being depressed her all the same. She reasoned with herself that she had told them to distance themselves from her publicly if they felt that they couldn't live with her decision, and that it was better that they not pretend if they didn't want to be near her, but it was small consolation. The other Wardens, Teagan and Shianni kept her busy between visitors so that she wasn't left alone too much.

The fourth morning, Elissa's friends all assembled in her room, arranging themselves on chairs and cushions borrowed from other rooms. Nathaniel sat next to Elissa at the head of the bed, and Anders, who was feeling much better, stretched his legs out at the foot of the bed. Teagan was sitting in a chair he had moved close to the bed. He handed Nathaniel a note.

"This arrived for you today via messenger," he explained as Nathaniel looked at him curiously.

"It's from Delilah." Nathaniel wasted no time opening up the letter and read it to himself. He grinned as he folded it up and put it in his pocket. "Things are generally going well at the keep, but Samuel had the chicken pox. He started showing symptoms the day after we left."

"That answers that particular question," Elissa sighed as she leaned her head back. "I spent most of the day before we left taking care of the baby for her."

Anders chuckled. "And because he'd been fussy, Delilah asked me to take a look at him and make sure he hadn't accidentally injured himself crawling around." He grinned at Elissa. "I guess my diagnosis was correct and he wasn't injured." He absentmindedly started to scratch at his stomach, frowning at Erlina as she grabbed his hand and pulled it away from his robes. "All right, all right. But it itches," he whined.

"You'll get scars!" Erlina's eyes narrowed at Anders. "And then you'll complain about how you've marred your skin!" This was clearly a conversation that they had followed numerous times. Anders started to answer, but then realized he had an audience, so he fell silent and grumbled to himself. Erlina threw her hands in the air. "You make me crazy!" At this, Anders grinned and leered at Erlina. Before he could answer, though, Ragnar and Erna came into the room, wrapped packages in hand.

Ragnar approached Elissa first and handed her a small parcel. "Get well present," he muttered, looking down at his feet. Was he blushing? He looks nervous. She looked down at the package; it had been wrapped in brightly colored fabric and tied with a gilt ribbon. The box was small, maybe a few inches square at most.

"Thank you," Elissa said as she looked up at Ragnar. "Was this from both of you?"

"Ragnar picked it out," Erna supplied. She was practically bouncing from excitement as she stood there waiting for Elissa to open the gift. Elissa looked back to Ragnar, who nodded, then carefully unwrapped the present.

"Oh," she breathed. "It's beautiful!" A golden chain was in the box; attached to it was a small pendant also made of gold. The pendant depicted an exquisitely detailed bow and quiver. It even had a set of arrows sticking out of the quiver, each arrowhead engraved into the gold. Elissa had never seen its like. She picked it up out of the box. "This is wonderful. I love it!" Ragnar relaxed, no longer looking nervous, although his blush intensified. He smiled a little as everyone oohed and ahhed over the beautiful and delicate piece of jewelry before Elissa asked Nathaniel to fasten the clasp of the necklace for her. Elissa smiled at Ragnar and he looked down, shuffling his feet, but the smile stayed on his face.

There was a larger wrapped box; this one Ragnar gave it to Anders. "You got one too." Anders became visibly excited and started to unwrap the gift quickly.

"For me? You shouldn't have!" Elissa glanced at Ragnar and wondered about the intent look on his face. She raised an eyebrow at Erna, who had covered her mouth. Her eyes were sparkling though and she had an incredibly mischievous look on her face. She looked like she was trying to avoid laughing out loud. She looked back at Anders just as he finished getting the cloth off the package and lifted the lid.

The look on Anders' face … Elissa wasn't quite sure how to describe it. It was more a series of emotions – first he had a look of shock, then dismay, then resignation. He put the lid of the box down and cleared his throat. "Uh," he said, "thanks."

"What's in the box, Sparkle Fingers?" Oghren's curiosity was piqued by Anders' strange behavior. He leaned forward, as did most of the people in the room, to try to see what it was that Ragnar had gotten for the mage.

Anders sighed, then reached into the box. He lifted out something that was pink. And frilly. And it shimmered.

Erna couldn't hold back any more; she started giggling. Once she started, Oghren started laughing too, guffawing loudly and slapping his knee. Everyone in turn started laughing, which caused Ragnar to look incredibly pleased with himself. Eventually, even Anders joined in the laughter, shaking his head.

"I suppose I have to try this on now, yes?" He said, raising his eyebrow to look at his practical joke gift.

"It is only the polite thing to do, my friend," Zevran chuckled. "I am sure that pink is just your color."

"Erna altered it to fit," Ragnar supplied helpfully. This only caused everyone to laugh louder. Anders noticed that Elissa was laughing along with everyone else for the first time in several days, and he grinned.

"Well, THEN!" With a flourish, Anders got up and went to the changing screen in the room. As he did so, Erlina whispered something to Shianni and the two of them quietly left the room. Elissa wondered what they were up to.

It only took a moment for Anders to emerge from behind the screen, and when he did, Oghren actually fell on the floor from laughter. "It's … It's …" Oghren couldn't complete a sentence. He was gasping and holding his sides, and every time he looked over at Anders he'd be set off again. "PINK!" He finally shouted.

The outfit in question could loosely be called a dress. It was sleeveless, but thankfully had shoulder straps to keep it up. It had row upon row of frills and ran down to Anders' knees and it was made from a material that was an awful shade of pink that was certainly nothing ever seen in nature. It was low-cut in a deep V in the front, showing off Anders' chest hair and still-healing pock marks. Every time Anders moved, the material made a stiff 'swish' sound.

Anders turned around in front of all assembled, grinning at the cheers and catcalls the group was producing for his little show. Nathaniel even had to laugh a little, even as he shook his head and rubbed at his temples with his fingers. When Anders had finished turning around, he bowed to his audience then stood up. He looked over his shoulder. "Does this make my butt look big?" Erlina and Shianni returned just then, carrying Anders' staff that was now decorated with many different, large, brightly-colored flowers and presented it to him. He mounted the staff on his back and thanked each of the ladies with a kiss on the back of her hand.

"Oh, that's very nice." Teagan was laughing too as he stood. He walked over to Anders and bowed to him. He was the picture of perfect noble-trained gentility. "Might I have the honor of a dance?" He grinned at Anders, who chuckled and half-attempted a curtsey.

"Why certainly!" He held his hands up to lead. Unfortunately, so did Teagan. The inevitable argument ensued.

"I believe I should lead, friend. You are wearing the dress."

"I should lead because I'm wearing the dress!"

"Don't you think that would look … awkward?" At this, Eric had to look away as he snickered. Anders just looked at Teagan with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm not good enough to follow. I'll lead."

"As you wish, then." Anders put his hands up to lead, and Teagan placed one hand on Anders' shoulder and the other into the offered palm, and they started dancing, Anders awkwardly leading and Teagan following as best he could. They occasionally tripped and Anders muttered curses as they practiced.

By now, everyone was giggling and laughing. Elissa thought her lungs were going to burst, and Oghren was begging for mercy, claiming he was going to have an accident if they kept it up. Zevran got up, his eyes twinkling, and asked to cut in. As Teagan handed over his dance partner and Anders prepared to lead again, the door opened.

"Nobody answered when I knocked, so I ..." Alistair's voice dropped off as he surveyed the scene in front of him. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped open, causing a new fit of laughter amongst the assembled group and a red face for Anders. "Uh, am I interrupting anything?" The laughter doubled and Alistair looked at Elissa, a question on his face. She nodded slightly, granting him permission to enter, and he stepped into the room. Then he got a wicked look in his eye, and grinned at Elissa before turning to Anders. "So, do you know the remigold?"

Nobody else understood why, at that point, Elissa suddenly doubled over in laughter, her head landing on Nathaniel's knee as she helplessly giggled.