I kno this chapter is very late! but there were reasons, namely a very hastily planned road trip through the Glens of Antrim, and then a car accident, completely unrelated to the road trip, but still. So today not one but TWO chapters! The angst is continued in this one by the way, you have been warned...

Everything was quieter the next morning as they collected the horse from the stable; Elissa seemed to only tolerate her Mabari Drake for company never lifting her eyes far from the ground in front of her feet.

Ruari was quite as well though his silence seemed to be the brewing of a storm; Killian had noticed his jaw clenching and hands shaking while he gripped the reins of his horse. The knights Brian and Jarvis stayed together with the carriage having whispered conversation about Howe and what would happen when the King heard what he had done.

The silence haunted them for days as they continued towards Redcliffe, only short instructions where uttered as they made camp and pack up the next morning. Everyone was tense waiting for the tension to reach its breaking point. It happened on the third day as they came to stop early to make camp in a small clearing.

"We'll stop here for tonight." Elissa said as she brought her horse to a stop.

"It's still light, we're so close to Redcliffe we should try to cover as much distance as we can." Ruari said as Elissa and the other began to dismount.

"No, the nights are starting to get colder; we need the extra sunlight to collect enough fire wood to stop us from freezing in the night."

"We're four days away if we hurry we could make it in three." Ruari's voice had begun to rise as he walked towards Elissa, she continues to stare at her horse as she loosened it's bridle.

She sighed heavily and closed her eye before speaking. "What would be the point?"

Taken aback Ruari stared at her dumbfounded. "What?"

"What would be the point Ruari?" Elissa asked her voice raising; her left hand was clenched in to a fist while she threw her right out in a sweeping motion, her whole body seem to shake in rage.

Ruari seemed to recover from his shock, "We need to get a message to the King, tell him what Howe-"

"WHAT'S THE POINT?" Elissa cut him off with a shout. "IT WONT CHANGE ANYTHING, IT WONT FIX ANYTHING! THEY'LL STILL BE GONE, THEY STILL BE ALL DEAD, IT WONT BRING THEM BACK. SO SORRY IF I DON'T FEEL THE NEED TO RUSH TO REDCLIFFE SO I CAN TELL EVERYONE MY FAMILY IS DEAD."

Elissa turned away from them, grabbing her daggers before she turned towards the small wood "I'm going for a walk." She called behind her, whistling for Drake to follow.

They all stared after her frozen by the events; it wasn't until Ruari pulled his sword from his saddle and headed off in the position direction over the small road they had walked down.

The younger knight Brian moved as if to follow, but was stopped when Jarvis hand came down on to his shoulder holding him back.

"It would be best to let them sit by themselves for now; they both need to calm down before they have any company." He turned towards the others, "We'll set up camp for now, start up a fire, if they're not back by them we'll send someone to go bring them back."

They rest of them started to set up the camp and putting the horses to rest, Kallian only noticed that Shianni was gone when she turned to had finished helping Jarvis dismount the horse from the carriage.

"Where did Shinnai go?" she asked looking around the camp quickly to make sure she hadn't missed her.

"She asked to go collect some fire wood. Don't worry I gave her a dagger and told her not to go too far in to the forest. I also sent Brian out behind her in case there was trouble; I thought if I tried to send him with her she would have been offended." He said with a slight smile.

Kallian smiled back with a quite huff of laughter "Yes, she very headstrong, she would of complained about not being some weak woman that needed taken care of."

Jarvis laughed lightly "I know they type, my younger sister is the same."

Kallian smile faltered slightly, "Was she in Highever when…"

"Oh no she lives in West Hill, though I should probably see about getting a message to her soon, she'd kill me if she knew I was alive and hadn't bothered to try and tell her."

"Brain isn't back yet; you want to help me water the horse?" Jarvis asked, Soris, Meri and Valora we're setting up the bed rolls, she nodded as he shouted out to the others telling them they would be back soon.

They walked the horses to the river that followed a few yards away from the road. The soft light of the waning moon lit up the pathway as they stopped by the bank of the water, they sat and watched at the horse drank.

"That's where he got to then." Jarvis said as he looked pasted her bit further up the river bank. Kallian followed his eye to see Ruari sword propped up against a large boulder.

"Do you think we should see if he's alright?" Kallian asked.

"It might be a good idea to tell him to come back to camp" Jarvis sighed, "I'll bring the horse back , you can see if you can drag him back, he's probably more likely to come back with you, wouldn't want to walking on your own." Jarvis gave her a small smirk Kallian could feel a slightly blush spread on her cheeks.

"Ah.. okay, I'll.. I'll see you back at the camp then." She mumbled as she picked herself up, wrapping her cloak around her against the cold.

"What will I say? What if he still wants to be alone?" she took a deep breath as she got closer to the boulders hiding him for view. "Wise up Kallian, you can do this, just tell him to man up and come back to camp. You've handled worse situations."

"Ruari?" she called as she walked around the rocks, expecting to find him sitting by the river bank she stopped short when she saw his armour and clothes sitting on the ground and him in waist deep in the river water, looking at her wide eyed and red faced.

"O Maker! I'm sorry!" She said quickly cover her eyes with her hands and turning around, but not quick enough for her not to catch sight of the muscles the where sewing across his chest and arm, that had only been hinted at in his armour and clothes. "I'm so sorry, I just wanted to make sure you where okay and Jarvis said I should tell you to come back to camp, I didn't think you'd be bathing. Sorry."

"Kallian, it's fine, just- just wait there and I'll get dressed."

"Okay, sorry again."

"It's fine Kallian really." Ruari said, she could hear a smile in his voice as he spoke.

Kallian waited and listen to the splashing of water and the rustling of fabric as Ruari quickly dried and got dressed.

"It's safe now." Ruari said with a slight chuckle.

Kallian brought her hands down from her eyes; she could feel the heat from the blush on her face. She turned back around to look at him. His red hair was darker from the water; she could see small droplets fall down on to the neck of his shirt. His clothes were wet where he had failed to completely dry himself, making the cloth cling to his skin. His face had a matching blush as he pushed the wet hair away from his face.

"We should probably head back.." he said collecting his armour.

"Ah, okay." Kallian watch as he gathered everything, when he was finish they began to walk slowly back towards the camp. "I'm sorry about your friends."

Ruari's steps faltered slightly, he ran his hand threw his wet hair again, "Yeah, me too." His voice croaked as he spoke. Kallian could see his eye watering slightly as the edges of his eyes began to shine red.

"I just, I wasn't there to help them, I should have been but I wasn't."

"Do you think they might have lived if you where?" Kallian asked.

"I don't know," he sighed "I just wish I had been there to help, to do something. I feel like I failed the Teyrn, Fergus and Elissa, I was supposed to help keep her family safe and I wasn't there."

"If you had been there you would probably be dead as well, you wouldn't have been there to help Elissa escape from Denerim, and you wouldn't have been able to help Shianni or the rest of us." She shuddered at the thought of Shianni being left with the Arl son, and what Elissa and Ruari had stopped from happening.

"I…. I know, I want to do something anything that will make it right, that will make Howe pay for what his done, but Elissa is right it will not bring them back. It's just the only thing that I can think of doing, and she's so angry at me now."

"I don't think she's angry at anyone, I think she's just angry, she's probably thinking along the same lines as you, wishing she had been there, that she might have been able to make a difference." Ruari sighed and rubbed his hand along his face as he nodded. "You should speak to her, it's easier to deal with grief with someone who knew them.

He nodded again as they reached the out skirts of the camp, Kallian could see the soft glow of the fire as Brian added more fire wood, and spotted Shianni and Elissa walking out from amongst the trees Elissa giving Shianni her first smile in days before she walked towards them.

I KNO! I DONE IT! the cliche "interrupting someone bathing" but there was reasons! I wasn't sure about putting it in but I don't think the chapter would have worked without it. Next chapter... More angst... with a side of fluff ;)