A few hours later, Neria rouses me from sleep; it's time. Alistair ruffles my hair, Leliana assures me that the Maker is with them, Barkspawn whines plaintively at me. I farewell each of our companions, and then they're gone, off to join the rest of the troops marching towards Denerim.

Bann Teagan, who is under the impression that I'm Zevran's child, guides me back inside the castle, leading me downstairs to the cellars where his nephew, Connor, and the other children of Redcliffe have been moved. There aren't many of us, but most of them have grown up together and have very little interest in my presence. Fine by me; the fewer questions I have to answer, the better. Connor himself is sitting alone, staring into space. I wave at him, and he blinks at me, waves back, and goes back to staring at nothing. Alright then.

It's a slow couple of days. I can't even claim it's boring, because I'm too busy worrying about what's going on out there to be bored. The other kids eventually speak to me; mostly questions about my ears and what alienages are like- there aren't any other elven children in Redcliffe. The novelty of my being an elf wears off pretty quickly however, and the children go back to ignoring me. I'm relieved.

The next day, early in the evening, a woman comes down to the cellar to tell the women staying with us that it's safe to bring us upstairs, now; the darkspawn are fleeing away from Redcliffe, and something is happening with the sky if we want to see. Everyone hurries up the stairs and outside as fast as our legs can take us. The sky looks like it's covered in some kind of bright light, billowing in waves against an otherwise dark, cloudy sky.

"Does this mean the Blight is over?"

"Why else would the darkspawn be running away?"

"We'll have to wait for news, children; wait, and pray."

We're ushered back inside. Within a few hours, one by one, the children are collected by relatives to go back home after scouts confirm that the village is safe to return to. Half a dozen of us are left by the end of the day; myself, Connor, and a few others who have one or both parents fighting in Denerim.

A few days later, I'm woken in the middle of the night by a familiar face. "Morrigan!" I whisper-shout, throwing my arms around her. She smiles and puts a finger to her lips, and then gestures to my pack, indicating that I should get dressed. Right, time to go. I get dressed as fast as I can, and Morrigan takes my hand, leading me out of the castle. As soon as we step foot outside the castle, I start rattling off my questions.

"Is the Blight really over? Is everyone alright? Is Neria safe? Is Alistair safe? Did anyone get hurt? Is your baby ok? Can I touch your tummy?"

"SO many questions," Morrigan replies, walking at a brisk pace so I have to jog to keep up with her. "If you'll let me answer one before firing off more, I'll tell you. Yes, the Blight is ended, everyone is alright, and no one among our travelling companions was mortally injured. The Orlesian Warden did not survive the battle, I'm afraid, but your cousin WAS able to deal the archdemon the killing blow. She and Alistair both live. As for my… baby, is but a seed of grain in my belly at this stage, I doubt 'touching my tummy' would allow you to feel any sort of sentimental connection, if that's what you're looking for."

"Neria said your baby was going to stop whoever killed the archdemon from dying. Does that mean she would have died?"

"Indeed. When an Archdemon's body dies, its soul, that of a corrupted Old God, flees into the next available host to rise again. However, when a Grey Warden is the one to kill it, the soul is drawn into their body, killing the Warden in question. Neria did not die this way, due to a ritual I performed on the eve of battle. When the Old God's soul left the archdemon's body, it was drawn into the unborn child, instead."

I'm confused.

"Does that mean the baby will be an archdemon? Or an Old God?"

"It will be neither of those things. It will have its own soul, as well as the soul of an Old God, uncorrupted by the darkspawn taint."

"…Huh."

Nope, still don't understand. Morrigan sighed impatiently.

"Any other burning questions?"

"Neria said we were going to join Isabela, on her ship. Is that where we're going?"

"I will be entrusting you to Isabela's care on Neria's behalf, yes, but then I must go my own way."

"…Oh."

On our way to Isabela, I do think of more questions to ask Morrigan, and she answers them readily enough, although I can tell she's distracted. We eventually reach a point in the hills where you can see the sea, and I point it out to her. "That way is the Storm Coast, which is our destination," Morrigan says. "Isabela's ship is docked there."

Part of me is excited to go on a real ship; there were a lot of tales about pirates in the Circle library, and they were my favourites. But, the idea of leaving makes me nervous. I can't imagine what it looks like outside Ferelden, and I hate the idea of being far away from everything and everyone I know. Morrigan notices, probably because I've finally stopped talking, and squeezes my hand. "I know it may be frightening. But it is the best thing for you. Perhaps one day, you will return," she says, trying to find comforting words, I think.

But they're not comforting. How could I ever come back here, now that I'm an apostate? I've known this was the plan for days, but now realisation is setting in.

I can smell the docks before I see them; rotting fish, rotting wood, rotting rot. But the ships. Some of them are little more than oversized fishing boats, but some of them look exactly like the illustrations from the pirate tales.

"Morrigan, isn't it?" a woman's voice calls out. Isabela's already spotted us, sauntering over. "And Faellathi! Do you remember me, sweet thing?" She coos, booping me on the nose.

Yep, I remember.

"Stay here a moment," Morrigan instructs me, going to meet Isabela. She leans in and whisper's something in Isabela's ear, and the captain laughs. "I will protect her with my life, pirate's honour!" she assures her, saluting.

Morrigan beckons me forward. "Do as the captain tells you, and… be safe," she says, genuinely. Wow. I've never seen Morrigan look so…Neria-like. She cares about me. I gingerly put my arms around her middle. "We'll see each other again, I'm sure of it," I announce, and pat her stomach. "Bye, baby."

Morrigan pats my shoulder. "Farewell, my young friend," she says, and walks away. I watch her go, hoping she'll look back, but she doesn't. That's probably for the best; part of me wants to run after her and insist on travelling together, to wherever she's going.

Then Isabela claps me on the shoulder. "Come on, sweet thing. We'll be setting off, soon."

Isabela leads me onto the ship. "Welcome to the Siren's Call," she says, gesturing grandly. All around us, men are rushing back and forth, making preparations to set sail. "Your job will be to help out, wherever help's needed," she explains, guiding me down the stairs. "We'll figure out the specifics of that, later. As for your sleeping arrangements, most of the men sleep in that room over there, besides my first mate, whose quarters are in there, and these," she opens a door. "Are my captain's quarters. My office," she explains, indicating the room we're currently standing in, "And my bedroom," she points to the next room over.

"Technically, as the youngest, you're at the bottom of the pecking order, but we are the only females on this ship, and you don't take up a lot of room, so you'll be bunking with me; I have a cot set up in the bedroom," she gestures to the aforementioned bedroom. "Drop your things in there, and I'll show you around the rest of the place. Wait, no, I have something else I need to take care of first, and then I'll show you around. Also, and this is very important," she adds, her tone turning serious. "If any one of my men give you any trouble, any at all, you tell me about it. Understood?" I nod.

"Good! Then just, I don't know, wander about, I'll come and find you when I'm done." With that, Isabela—or, I should say, Captain Isabela, dashes off, leaving me to, as she said, wander about.

I climb back up the stairs to the main deck, and immediately head to the side of the ship. I have to do a bit of climbing to see over the side, and when I do, I can see the ocean stretching out all the way to the horizon. I climb back down and head to the other side, watching people rushing around at the docks that seem very far away from up here. Farther away still is the tree-line hiding the walking path back to the main road, back to the rest of Ferelden. I wonder what Neria's doing right now, and Alistair, Leliana, Zevran… all of our friends. Leliana said we were like a family. I glance behind me at the side of the ship facing the ocean.

I guess the people on this ship will be my family, now.

-The End- For Now-

A/N: Hello, if you've made it all the way here, thank you very much for reading! I'm still in the process of writing volume 2, hopefully it'll be ready to start uploading soon, so stay tuned for that. Thank you for all the kind comments so far, and may the Dread Wolf never find you x (unless you're into that idk)