Fayne POV

The cold morning air that made Ferelden so refreshing woke Fayne up with a start. As she lay in her tent exhausted, she was able to reflect just how close she had come to death, and surprisingly how disappointed she was that she was still alive. This is ridiculous, Fayne thought, I am a Grey Warden now. However even the heavy burden of protecting all the people of Ferelden could not shake her of her hidden desire to just be free of all the hurt the filled her chest. At times Fayne thought that if she let the memories of her family's death come to the forefront of her mind she would simply shatter into a million pieces. It was like trying to breath in too thick air, the grief was slowly choking her off from the world.

In an attempt to find a more comfortable place on the ground, she rolled to her side and was abruptly assaulted with one of the most jarring pains she had ever experienced. The left side of her neck felt like it was on fire, and every time she tried to sit or move that arm she nearly cried out in pain. Pushing her self from the ground gingerly, Fayne managed to get up, pull on a pair of old breaches, and half close her shirt all the while resisting the urge to yell out. Couslands are strong, I am strong, she thought every time she felt the compelling urge to just lay down and cry. Mustering he strength yet again, Fayne pulled her tent flap open and slowly walked out of it, taking in the dusty pinks and deep blues that coloured the forest in the morning hours. She had hoped that Morrigan would be the one taking watch when she had immerged, but of course fate would have no pity and she was forced to endure the self-assured presence of Leric.

"I was not expecting you to be up yet Fayne." Said Leric as he continued to stare at the eleven assassin tied to the tree. It seemed keeping a watch for darkspawn was not the man's only reason for being out there. He seemed on edge and the object of his unease was the sleeping man.

A little thrill went through Fayne's body when she heard him say her name, and it was enough to still her jaded reply for a more courteous one that reflected her previous life as a noble.

"Good morning Leric." She walked past him, giving a nod in greeting. When her eyes meet his, she suddenly and vividly remembered how she had embraced him earlier in her naked fear. Remembering that strangely intimate act brought blood to her cheeks and she ducked her head so that he would not be aware of her blush.

As Fayne made her way to Morrigan's tent, Leric's arm shot out and took a hold of her left hand, tugging slightly. That tug though, was enough to halt Fayne's steps and cause her to let out a yelp in pain.

She batted his hand away and defensively grabbed her shoulder, "What was that for?" she whispered in fury, well aware that the rest of the camp was sleeping, including the assassin that sat not far from them.

Leric looked unimpressed by her display of anger and he stood up and pointed to her neck, "It is as I thought, your collar bone is broken." He stated like he was talking about the weather.

"How did you know, and better yet, was it completely necessary for you to grab my arm so roughly when you knew what was wrong with it?" Fayne didn't even see Leric look at her arm when she greeted him.

Leric turned and started pulling something from his bag, "I noticed the bruising on your shoulder when I pulled you from the water…I had my suspicions…and the way you carry yourself now, well you favour one side considerably." He turned back to her cloth in hand, "Come here and sit down." He pointed to the log that he was previously seated on.

"Actually the reason I came out here was to find Morrigan, she must be able to heal this." Said Fayne as she pointed to her shoulder.

"Well you awoke too late, she left sometime earlier saying that she had to go find herbs to make poultice" Leric's tone betrayed his lack of belief in the witch's statement.

Fayne looked at the crease of his brow and the slight down turn of his lips,"You don't trust her do you?" Fayne asked.

Leric looked at her for a moment and then responded, "Do you trust her?"

It was a good question, for Morrigan was like a puzzle that had the nasty ability to bite if you approached it wrong. She knew the mage had some sort of knowledge of her accursed ability, but what she would do about it still made Fayne pause when approaching the woman. Would she tell her other companions, or keep it a secrete.

"What I know for sure, Leric, is that I trust the woman far more than I would ever trust that elf over there." She pointed to the blond man against the tree as she sat down on the log facing away from Leric. It gave her the opportunity to study the assassin as she had done earlier when he was drowning her. She was positive now that he was the man from her vision, yet the situation in which the attack occurred was totally different then what she saw. Her dreams may be fuzzy and clouded at best, but she had never experienced one that didn't come to play in the same situation as depicted. The anomaly of the incorrect dream frightened her.

A stinging sensation brought her out of her thoughts and she hissed in pain, but a calloused hand quickly covered the area and she felt Leric's thumb gently rub over her skin in a circular way. Fayne closed her eyes and enjoyed the contact for a while until curiosity got the better of her "What are you doing," asked Fayne as she tilted her head back. Her worlds caused his hand to still and he grabbed her arm and slowly lifted it. The act was surprisingly gentle for a man of his strength and stature.

"I am putting on a salve that will numb the pain until the witch gets back, and now I am going to wrap your arm so that it heals properly" she could hear the exasperation enter his voice again.

Fayne sat through the rest of the process quietly, she had had almost enough of the elf, and it was only morning.

"What will you do with him?" asked Fayne when Leric bent down to move some of her hair off her shoulder. He absentmindedly played with her red strands while he looked at the other elf.

"I think... I think I will let him live." At Fayne's incredulous look he switched from thoughtful to defensive in less than a second. "He has uses does he not?"

After a moment Fayne decided that, much to her chagrin, Leric was right. She had made a mistake earlier by killing the qunari, she was not about to let another useful sword go to waste.

"Fine." She stood up slowly at turned to Leric, "But you do know he could turn on us at any second, betray us for his previous masters."

"He gave me his word that he would fight with us and not against us." he answered quickly, wiping his hands on his pants.

"And tell me Leric, just how much is the word of a man who was trained to lie and take lives for coin hmm?" Fayne was starting to get agitated. She wanted to kill the assassin as much as she wanted to use him.

"Stop being so ruled by emotion Shem, I thought you where raised by nobility." Leric stood and walked over to her adjusting the bandage on her shoulder. When he finished he rested the palm of his hand on the flat front of her chest, "Do not forget that he worked for Loghain, and he has information about the man." Leric's voice was still filled with authority, but it had lost its hurtful edge. In his deep green eyes, pity rested there and it made Fayne bristle. How dare he feel any sympathy for her, what did he know of her loss: the loss of family and the loss of self. But the pain in her shoulder, now down to a slight roar, stilled her tongue; she was just too tired to fight.

"Fine. Keep the bastard alive." She turned and stomped off towards Alistair's tent, it was time to find out how close they were to Redcliff. As she passed the sleeping assassin, she could have sworn she saw the man's mouth turn up into a slight smile.

Morrigan's POV

The old noble man's estate was simple to navigate, simple to slip into and out of. No one had even noticed the odd occurrence of a shiny black raven turning into a beautiful black haired woman in the courtyard. Morrigan shook her shoulders and let out a quiet laugh. "T'is too easy" she thought as she quickly snuck into the larder where the ingredients to the arl's food was kept.

It was important for her poison to make it to the arl, and only the arl, and the only way to do that was to taint the man's meat. With no smell and no taste the comatose-inducing liquid would be quick and efficient. Arl Eamon would not even know what hit him, and that was exactly what Morrigan wanted.

While traveling on the roads with the wardens, she had often "left to go hunting for herbs" when really she was making poison and spreading rumours throughout the ignorant town of Redcliff. She had to bight back another bought of laughter as she thought of how, in the form of an old ragged woman, she had spread the tail of Andrastate's sacred remains and all the miraculous things it could do. Morrigan made sure that people knew is secrets location was somewhere in the Frostback mountains. She didn't know if her story had any truth, for it had been a myth she heard long before she had taken her newest daughter's body, but she needed the wardens to go to the mountains.

Voices stilled her hand and made Morrigan look behind her. Quickly throwing the rest of the poison on the meat, she vanished the bottle and pulled up her hood. A small window in the corner of the larder, large enough for a bird was her only chance for escaping undetected.

The only thing the servants saw when they opened the larder door was a small purple and black sparrow fluttering through the window.