You probably don't want to read this at work...

-o-

As had become her habit, Anora made her way down to the dining room to have supper with her husband. When she arrived, she found that Alistair was not alone. He was sitting with an unkempt dwarf that she remembered vaguely from the campaign. Anora hesitated. He looked like he had not washed in days, but she realized he was an honored guest of the King, so she held out her hand to him and said, "Oghren, isn't it?"

"All my life!" the dwarf replied, grabbing her hand and shaking it roughly. Then he belched.

"Charmed, I'm sure," Anora said, as she recalled her jostled appendage.

Alistair looked pained as he looked from her to Oghren and back again. "I didn't know he was coming," he said, as if apologizing. "Maybe you should come back later."

"You don't want me to eat with you and your friend?" she asked. Anora's stomach growled insistently, and she was surprised to find she was rather annoyed by his rejection. She huffed. "Well, that's fine," she said, crossing her arms. "I suppose I can eat all by myself, then."

Her husband was helpless under such a hammering assault. His mouth worked but no sound came out, then he silently offered her a chair. Anora sat down, quite pleased with herself.

A servant entered and brought her a plate filled with carrots, lamb, and potatoes, covered in gravy. The servant had also brought a bottle of wine that he intended to offer her.

"Don't bother with that stuff," Oghren said. He covered Anora's wine glass with his hand to keep the servant from filling it, then lifted another bottle from underneath the table. "I brought my own."

"Oghren, I really don't think..." Alistair grimaced as he glanced from the dwarf to Anora.

Anora eyed the bottle suspiciously. It was unopened and appeared to be a gift. Manners dictated that she should sample it, but she had to consider the source, so she looked at Alistair and lowered her voice. "Is there something wrong with it?" she asked.

"Nothing's wrong with it," Oghren interjected, although Alistair looked unconvinced. "Nothing. Well, don't think there's anything wrong with it, anyway." The dwarf shrugged. "Warden gave it to me. Been saving it for just such an occasion."

"Nya had good taste," Alistair said.

Anora frowned at him. "Well, so do I," she said. "What's wrong?"

"Apparently nothing," Alistair said, as he sat back and spread his hands. "Have at it, then, by all means. Don't say I didn't warn you."

Anora remembered that Alistair was generally squeamish about alcohol and decided to ignore him. The servant retreated as Oghren filled her glass, snickering as the dark opalescent liquid pooled and lapped up the sides of the cup. When he had finished serving Anora, he held the bottle out to Alistair and wiggled it suggestively.

"What the heck," Alistair said. "Let's all be stupid together." He let Oghren pour him a glass as well.

Anora sniffed the beverage cautiously. It smelled rich and earthy, like crushed fall leaves. She took a sip: it was not bad at all. She took a larger pull, letting the liquid cover her tongue and savoring it before swallowing. Its warmth traveled down her throat and blossomed into a glowing fire of happiness in her stomach. Her eyes widened. She felt euphoric and strangely unfastened. This was not a beverage to be sipped, she decided spontaneously, so she lifted the glass and gulped it all down.

"Oh," she said, licking her lips. "That's good."

"You like it?" Oghren asked, grinning. He lifted the bottle and offered it to her. "Have as much as you want. I insist."

"Anora..." Alistair cautioned, but she had already poured and was already drinking.

She examined the bottle curiously as she downed her second glass. Wilhelm's Special Brew, it read. She did not know who this Wilhelm was, but clearly he was a genius and she thought she'd like to meet him. The empty glass glittered in her hands. Alistair and Oghren gaped at her as she poured herself another.

"Now there's a woman," Oghren said approvingly, as he grinned at Alistair.

"A woman I have never met before," Alistair said, watching her.

Anora picked up a napkin to wipe her mouth, then arranged it in her lap. When she lifted her head, her vision spun a little. She blinked. "What were you boys talking about?" she asked. "Before I arrived."

Oghren looked at her, his sunken eyes bleary, and said, "The kid and I were just relivin' some past glories. Did he ever tell ya about ol' Gaxkang?"

She met Alistair's eyes across the table and laughed. It came out louder than she expected, and she covered her mouth quickly. "Yes," she said, through the gaps of her fingers. "He did at that."

"What a poof!" Oghren bellowed, laughing so hard that he spit a little. "I'm not sure if he was a demon or a mage or what, but he definitely liked to polish another man's weapon, if ya know what I mean."

Alistair frowned. "I'm still not sure that I do..."

"We fought for ages, seemed like, and he changed shape a couple o' times," Oghren said. He lifted his goblet to his lips and drank deeply. "Then he shot some kinda purple magic at the kid over here, and landed him right on his bupkiss. Tossed him like a ragdoll. Leliana had ta step in and save him."

Anora snorted. "Alistair left that part out of his reckoning," she said, smiling over her glass, which was emptier than she remembered.

Alistair lifted his own glass, which for a moment seemed to glow. Anora rubbed her eyes; it wasn't glowing anymore. "Well, excuse me for taking liberties," he said, smiling into his cup. "I'm the hero of my own story, you know. I still got to keep his sword."

Anora looked at Alistair. He smiled at her, a warm smile that made his eyelids crinkle, and she tilted her head to the side. It was possible he was prettier than Cailan, she thought. She tilted her head to the other side. No, she decided, he was exactly the same amount of pretty. She pursed her lips and kicked him under the table.

Alistair jumped, staring at her in bewilderment. She knew she was grinning foolishly and tried to make her face more normal, but failed utterly. He shook his head and turned to the dwarf. "What brings you to the castle, Oghren?" he asked. "Not that I'm not happy as ever to see you, but you didn't mention."

"Wanted to see you before I headed up to the Keep," he said. Alistair's eyes widened, and Oghren laughed. "Didn't I tell you? Guess I musta forgot. I'm gonna join yer little club. Should be interesting."

"Really." Alistair regarded him skeptically, his fork hovering in front of his face. "You want to be a Grey Warden." He let out a laugh. "I never would have guessed."

Anora noticed that Alistair was eating. She looked down at her food. She thought she should eat something, too, but the alcohol had been surprisingly filling. She picked at her lamb for a bit, and then moved her carrots around her plate before nibbling at them.

"Yep," Oghren answered. "Didn't really think about it when we were travelling together, since it wasn't an option, but life's been really dull since we stopped the Blight. Wanna get back in the action, and the Order's got some real bragging rights." He snorted. "Ladies go nuts over that little griffon."

Anora thought that was an awful lot of words all at once. She was having trouble following the whole conversation. She turned her attention back to her food and began to try to eat the lamb again. It was tough and very boring to chew. Ooh, potatoes.

"You know, it's a big sacrifice, joining the Order," Alistair warned. "It's part of the motto and everything. It's like, in peace, sacrifice, or no...I have that wrong. Death is sacrifice. Peace is..." He grinned impishly. "Peace is my favorite, it's all drinking games and midnight cheese runs."

Alistair began to laugh to himself, and Anora noticed his glass was almost empty, too. She pushed the bottle at him, and he topped it off, draining the rest of the liquor. He rubbed his forehead with his thumb as he sipped.

"But sacrifice...whoa boy." Alistair leaned over the table, resting on his elbow. "There's this giant cup and you have to drink darkspawn blood which sometimes..." His voice faltered, and he sat up quickly. "Wait, that's a secret, what am I doing? Anyway, it's super scary and you should be really sure about it."

"Oh, I am sure," Oghren said, and his voice became serious. "What it really comes down to is that I want to do something to honor Nya." The dwarf's eyes unfocused and Anora thought they might be sparkling a little. "I think she woulda been happy ta see me... heh, happy is the wrong word for Nya, but she'da been proud."

Alistair smiled. "I think that is very true, my stumpy friend."

Her husband's eyes were definitely sparkling, and Anora lost herself in them for a moment. She dropped her fork and gave up on her food.

"Why was she so sad all the time?" she asked.

Alistair and Oghren looked at each other. The dwarf made a motion with his hand, deferring to Alistair, and her husband turned to her.

"Nya was just really sensitive," he said. His eyes roamed upwards as he remembered her. "She didn't want to be a Warden. She was awesome at it, I mean she was this itty bitty elf but she could drop a giant ogre like he was a, uh... much smaller ogre." He shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut and then opening them wide again before continuing. "Where was I? Oh yeah. Nya hated doing what must be did... done. She cried for days after Zathrian." He sighed wistfully. Anora thought Alistair was really sensitive, too, and she gave him a warm smile. Alistair smiled back at her.

"Anyway..." he continued, after a moment. "One day this old friend of hers showed up, this elf kid named Tenten, no wait...Tambien? Tamlen?"

"Temchabs," Oghren supplied.

Alistair snapped his fingers. "Yes, him. And he was a ghoul." He spun his hand over his face and stuck out his tongue, but no one seemed to know what that meant, so he flapped his hands. "It's not important. What I mean is, she had to kill him, and that was... ugh. Yeah. Nya was afraid to be close to anyone after that." He frowned. "Sometimes she was really mean about it, too."

"Nya wasn't easy to like," Oghren agreed, grunting. "She wasn't easy anything." He grinned at Alistair, raising his bushy eyebrows lewdly. "Although Alistair sure wished she was, he he heh."

"Oghren!" Alistair glared at the dwarf. "My wife is right there."

"Pfft, it's not like it's some big secret," said Anora. She laughed and took another drink. The glass was empty again, and she placed it carefully down on the table. It teetered from side to side as it settled into place.

"Probably should be. Stones of my ancestors, but that was embarrassing to watch." Oghren laughed a little, and his eyes glazed over. "Even the elf left her alone eventually, but Ali..."

Anora waited for him to continue, but apparently that was the end of the story. Oghren's eyelids drifted shut, and his head sunk to the table. After a little while he began to snore. Anora looked at Alistair, her brow creased with concern.

Alistair shrugged. "That happens all the time with him."

Anora nodded, and started to giggle. Alistair laughed also, although his laugh was much more masculine. His eyes met hers from across the table and she fell silent. He really was very handsome, she thought. Alistair seemed to be evaluating her, too, and Anora felt self conscious for a moment, but she noticed he was giving her a smoldering look, and she smiled again. Her heart fluttered in her chest, and she felt a blush kissing her cheeks. The silence waited for her with breathless anticipation. Anora suddenly remembered who Wilhelm was, and she cleared her throat.

"Um...I think the liquor was enchanted," she said.

"Oh." He flushed as he looked away from her. "Of course. That explains it."

Now that Anora knew what it was, it was hard to ignore how flustered she felt. Wilhelm, the unscrupulous mage from the rebellion, had been an infamous womanizer. She stood up quickly, and her napkin fell to the floor.

"Well, I'm tired," she said, although she clearly wasn't. "I'm going to bed."

Alistair frowned. "I don't, um...maybe I should walk you to your room?"

Anora chewed her lip and considered this for a moment. She thought this was possibly a very bad idea. Then she smiled. "Yes, thank you."

He rose somewhat shakily to his feet and started to walk out the door. As he passed by her, she grabbed his hand, and he smiled. His palm radiated heat. Anora leaned against his arm as he walked down the hall, past a staircase. She stopped, but he kept walking until he reached the end of her arm and stopped to look back at her, confused.

"I think we go this way," she suggested, jerking her head towards the staircase.

"Oh, right," he agreed. "This castle is so confusing!"

Stairs presented a particular challenge, she discovered. Her depth perception was not what it should be, and she held tight to Alistair's hand as they proceeded up them, tugging on him as she stumbled. Her foot slipped as she missed one of the landings, and she flailed and clutched his arm. It was a really nice arm, she thought, and she wrapped both her hands around it and squeezed. He shifted away from her with a cough.

"I think somebody installed a few extra steps," he said, as he leaned up against the wall to steady himself. He turned so that his shoulder blades rested against the stonework, took a deep breath, and narrowed his eyes. "That bastard."

Anora took a step towards him. "This is a really long walk," she said. She planted her hands on his chest and leaned up against him. Her skin tingled along the contact. "Maybe you should carry me."

Alistair swayed under her weight. "I don't really think I'm safe for that, dear," he said, with a nervous laugh. He reached out with his arm and pushed open a door. "And anyway, we've arrived."

"Huh." Looking around, Anora was surprised to discover they were no longer on the staircase, but she quickly accepted this change of location and rested her head on his shoulder. He smelled like cinnamon and sunshine, and she could hear his heartbeat pounding against her ear. His hand rested on her hip, and she felt hers racing as well. The open door yawned beside her. She looked through it curiously and asked, "Were you going to...?"

"Leave? Right now?" Alistair cleared his throat. "Yes, I think that's probably a good idea." He peeled her off his chest and kissed her lightly on the cheek. "Good night, Anora."

Anora sighed. "As you please," she said.

"Ugh, I hate when you say that!" Alistair said, throwing up his hands. Anora stepped back. "It sounds polite, but what it really means is 'I think you're dumb but I'm too prim to say it.'"

"Oh, and I suppose I should be a giant slobbering—"

"Wait," Alistair said, squinting. He dropped his hands. "What are we arguing about?"

"I have no idea."

Anora grabbed him by the shoulders and kissed him deeply. She pushed him back into the room, kicking the door shut behind her. He didn't seem to know what to do with his hands, so she grabbed them and positioned them on the waist of her dress and encouraged him to unlace it. He was taking too long, so she did it herself.

Alistair gave in to kissing her, sliding his hands into the gap in her garment to drag his fingers along her skin. Her blood warmed as he devoured her hungrily. He was really not such a bad kisser, she thought. She might have been too hard on him before. He was being pretty hard on her too, though. Anora laughed; oh, puns. She ran her hands over his arms, down his back, along the firm muscles of his chest.

He pulled away from her, taking a breath. "You're much friendlier than usual," he said, his eyes checking hers.

Anora huffed. "Please stop analyzing everything that I do."

"Me? You're the one who—"

"Shut up, Alistair." She pressed herself against him again and slid her hand inside his waistband, trending down. That shut him up, rather immediately, as his mouth dropped open and he shuddered. Anora wished that she had thought of that before. She closed her fingers around him and watched with some amusement as his eyes rolled back in his head, and she smiled wickedly.

He tried to come back to himself. "Anora, wait."

"No."

"Oh... okay...I just..." His fingers tightened on her waist. As her hand slid free, Alistair exhaled, but when she started unbuttoning his trousers, he recoiled and grabbed her hands. He took a deep breath and pushed her firmly away. "You're obviously not yourself," he said. "I don't want you to be angry with me tomorrow."

Anora was not herself. She was quite delightfully not herself, and she smiled ridiculously. "Oh, come on," she said, placing her hands on her hips. "I want you, all right? I want you, I want you, I want you." She rolled her eyes. "Can we please have sex now?"

Alistair blushed. "Well, when you put it like that," he said, and pulled her towards him.

-o-

Thanks to mutive and witchy bee, for betas, and thanks also to everyone who is reading this, I love you guys.