Winter roared into Amaranthine with a vengeance. It was fortunate that the Wardens made it back to Vigil's Keep when they did because the snow that started falling the night that they returned didn't stop for the next four days, comply encasing the entire arling in a thick, impenetrable blanket of snow. According to Nathaniel, it was the worst snowstorm to hit the northern half of the country in over a century. The snow was so deep and the weather was so cold that the entire region essentially shut down while the citizens huddled in their homes, sheltering themselves against the bitter cold. On top of that, the cold made travel nearly impossible, so that no traders or messengers could move into or out of the entire province for a span of nearly two and a half weeks until the snow began to melt. They could have been in bad shape if the darkspawn attack had done more damage to region. However, the Wardens had taken care of the Mother's horde relatively quickly, keeping property damage to a minimum and leaving citizens of Amaranthine were well provisioned for the coming winter. As a result, very few people found themselves without food during the harsh winter months. On top of that, the frozen winter ground made it difficult for more darkspwan to tunnel up to the surface, so reports of darkspawn attacks were scarce as well, giving the Wardens a frigid, but well-needed break.

The downtime also gave the Wardens an opportunity to re-focus their training regimen. Brenden and Oghren both began giving lessons to the other Wardens who were trained as warriors, with Brenden teaching Templar techniques and Oghren teaching the berserker fighting style. As it turned out, Vigil's Keep was perfect for training of this kind because it had been built with massive underground halls that Eriana transformed from torture chambers into a training arena and an archery range. While the warriors slammed into each other with their shields and blunted swords, the rogues would divide up to work on their own skills. Most of Eriana's days were spent dueling with Garen or Sigrun while Nathaniel and Cybele, Garen's Dalish girlfriend, worked on archery. Nathaniel tried to convince Eriana to focus more on archery than on daggers, insisting that she would be able to command more efficiently from a distance, but Eriana refused to even touch a bow, much less practice with one.

"Look, Nate, I'll work on my archery again soon, but I hate all the bows that we have here."

"What's the problem with these?" he asked, gesturing to the shelves of bows that they had stored away in the armory.

"I just don't like them. We sent most of our Dalish-made weapons to Amaranthine when they started training elves to work with the city guard. These are all made by humans."

Nathaniel folded his arms across his chest and raised an eyebrow at her. "Is there something wrong with a man-made bow?"

"Not at all, they just don't work well for me, and I got really accustomed to using my old bow. It was small, light, easy to handle. It's just hard to make the transition to such a large, bulky weapon."

"So you're going to mourn the loss of your old bow forever? Come on Ana, you're a good archer; I've heard stories about how good you were during the blight. According to Denerim guard, you could rival me as the best archer in Ferelden. You're better than this; pick a new bow and adjust."

Eriana shook her head and picked up one of the bows and held it up in front of here. "See, this is what I'm talking about. They're all just too big for me; I can barely wrap my hands around any of them."

"That's what she said," muttered Oghren, causing Eriana to give him a sharp nudge.

Nathaniel rolled his eyes. "So you're telling me that there's not a single bow in our entire armory that you like. Come on, that bow of yours couldn't have been that special."

"It was, though. It was specially made for me by a Dalish craftsman. The one I had before that had to be altered so that I could use it." She gestured toward the rack of bows. "Those things are all made for men, not for elves and definitely not for elvish women. My hands are just too small to get a secure grip."

"That's what she said."

"Oghren!" Eriana snapped again, trying not to crack a grin as she turned back to Nathaniel. "I'll get a new bow when the Dalish pass through in the spring."

"Are you sure this is about the bow?" he whispered to her once Oghren excused himself to go see to his wife. "You once said that you switched to daggers because it made you feel closer to Zevran to fill the role he once held. Well, you have Garen and Sigrun to fill that role and do most of the close fighting now; you can step back and…"

"This has nothing to do with Zevran, Nathaniel, I promise," she snapped in frustration. "Contrary to what it looks like sometimes, I'm really not as masochistic as you might think." She looked up at him and held out her hand toward him, palm out. "Here, give me your hand." Nathaniel sighed and held out his hand toward her, and she stepped forward and placed her hand against his. He looked down at the difference between his massive hand and her tiny one. The tips of her fingers barely reached the bend in his knuckle.

"Fine, you win. We'll get you a new bow from the Dalish when they come through," he said, closing his hand around hers and pulling her to his side. She smiled as she rested her head against him. "But after that, no more excuses."

"No more excuses," she said, tilting her head to smile up at him.

A new training routine wasn't the only thing new to the keep that month. As the first snows of the season began to melt, the Wardens welcomed a new unofficial junior member. It was late in the evening, and Eriana and Nathaniel leaned against the wall, watching as amusement as Oghren paced back and forth in front of his door, grumbling nervously to himself as he glanced anxiously at the door to his room. Anders and Petra had kicked them all out over an hour ago when Felsi's labor pains became more frequent, and as more and more time passed, Oghren became more and more anxious.

"Oghren, you need to relax," Eriana finally said, an amused look on her face as she watched her friend fret over his wife. "She has the two best healers in Ferelden with her; she'll be fine."

Oghren growled but didn't cease in his pacing. "I know, but what if something goes wrong. I don't think I could…"

"Anders and Petra will take care of her, Oghren; and on top of that, we have the best midwife in the arling in there with her, too. Besides, she's a tough girl; hell, she's survived being married to you for this long. How hard can labor be?"

The dwarf stopped for a moment and glared at her before he started to laugh. "Yeah, she's a fighter; I just can't help but worry. Ancestor's balls," he grumbled once he stopped laughing. "Why did I promise her that I'd do this sober?"

"Because you wanted the first memory of your baby to be crystal clear in your memory, not hazy with drink."

Oghren groaned and ran a hand over the back of his neck. "This would have been easier with something to take the edge off though." He was about to say more when the door to his room opened, and Anders appeared, holding a small, tightly wrapped bundle in his arms.

"It's a boy," the mage said, holding the bundle out for Oghren to take.

"A boy?" he stuttered, looking down into the blanket in his arms. "I have a son." Oghren smiled as he traced the baby's face with his finger, tears welling up in the tough warrior's arms. From where she was standing, Eriana could see a tuft of bright red hair just peeking through the blanket's opening. "How is Felsi doin?" He asked, not taking his eyes from his son's face.

"She's great; pulled through like a champ. Petra is getting her cleaned up right now; you should be able to go see her in a few minutes."

Oghren sighed, visibly relieved at the news of his wife's well-being before turning his attention back to his son who was starting to whimper quietly in his arms. With a tenderness that Eriana had only seen in him a few times before, Oghren began whispering to the baby as he bounced him lightly. Eriana felt an arm snake around her waist as Nathaniel pulled her to his side.

"Are you doing okay?" he whispered into her ear, his warm breath tickling her neck. Eriana leaned back against him and nodded, never taking her eyes off the father and son before her. She was genuinely happy for her friend and wasn't about to do anything to take away one ounce of happiness from him. This was about Oghren, not about her. Nathaniel's lips brushed against her temple as he gave her another reassuring squeeze.

He knew her too well, knew that seeing the baby would likely reopen some wounds, stir up some feelings that had long since been buried. He also knew how hard the last two weeks had been for her. Ever since she had found that letter from Zevran, Eriana had been on the verge of a complete breakdown, but she refused to let anyone but her fellow rogue see it. During the day and in public, she was rock-solid. It was only once the doors to her room shut behind her and she found herself alone that she let herself feel the despair that had been eating away at her all day. She tried to make herself numb to dull the pain, but nothing could stop the ache that seemed to take permanent residence in her chest. On top of that, her reopened wounds seemed to trigger her nightmares again. Over the past few months, Eriana had managed to bring her nightmares under control for the most part, but now, she was waking up almost nightly again. Not even Ramoth's warm presence could ward off the dreams; all it did was make the dog more anxious. As a result, she had started using the newly discovered passageway between her and Nathaniel's rooms to slip into his room unseen each night.

The first time she did it, she was a bit worried how he would react. How would she explain herself without sounding completely pathetic? She needn't have worried, though; Nathaniel didn't say a word when she slipped into his room. Instead, he simply lifted the heavy blankets so she could climb into the bed beside him, wrapping an arm securely around her waist and pulling her against his chest. It had become a nightly ritual. In the small hours of the morning, Eriana would creep into the rogue's room and slip into bed beside him, finding solace and rest wrapped tightly in his arms.

Taking her eyes off the dwarf in front of her, Eriana glanced over her shoulder at the man who had quickly become her lifeline. He too was ignoring the father and son, keeping a careful eye on her instead. She smiled up at him, reassuringly, getting a soft smile from him in return. It's true, she often joked with him about it being a shame that he wasn't into elves, but deep down, she was glad for it. That meant that in times like this she wouldn't have to worry about things becoming uncomfortable between them like they often did between her and Anders or Alistair. She could rely on him completely and never have to worry about her actions being construed as something more, and she knew that he would never push for something more. Deep down, she knew that she was using him, but he had become such an essential part of her life that she couldn't bring herself to care.

"Do you wanna hold him?" Oghren said, brining Eriana out of her contemplations.

She smiled and nodded, taking the dwarven baby into her arms. He was much heavier than any baby she had ever held before, but of course, he was the first non-elven baby she had ever held. "So who am I holding?" she asked, looking down at him.

"We're gonna name him Dorgin."

"So not, Ana," she said, giving him a sad frown.

Oghren laughed and rolled his eyes. "I said I'd name it after you if it was a girl. What kind of dwarf would I be to name my son Ana? They'd never let him pick up an ax, much less fight anything stronger than a kitten."

Eriana laughed, "Well Dorgin is a strong name, and if his parents are any indication, then he'll be a strong boy. I'm happy for you, my friend."

"You'll be his godmother, right?"

"Godmother? Me?"

"Well, of course. Who else would I pick? Heck, he wouldn't even be here if it weren't for you. I would have never gotten back together with Felsi; I'd have probably never left Orzammar. Were it not for you, I'd be lying in a gutter somewhere still drinking myself into oblivion. The least I can do is make you godmother to my son. So you'll do it?"

"Of course, Oghren," she said, biting back tears as she looked down at her friend.

Anders poked his head out into the hall. "Okay, Oghren you can all come in and see Felsi now if you'd like. She's a bit tired, so I'd rather it if everyone else came back tomorrow if you don't mind."

"That's fine," Eriana said, handing the baby to the mage as Oghren slipped into the room to see his wife. "Give her out best and tell her she has a beautiful son." Anders nodded and disappeared back into the room with the baby.

Eriana sighed as she and Nathaniel made their way back toward their rooms. As soon as the door closed behind her, Eriana gave into the pain she had been holding back all day. Holding Oghren's son had been much harder than she had let on. Memories of her lost daughter flooded over her as she gave herself over completely to her private pain. She wasn't sure how long she sat in front of her fire, clutching her legs to her chest as tears streamed down her face remembering the way Asala felt in her arms. Sighing to herself, Eriana stripped off her clothes and pulled on one of Zevran's tunics, not caring that his unique scent still lingered in the fabric, not caring that she would regret it when she woke up smelling like him after spending the entire night dreaming of him. She needed comfort right now, and in the absence or real comfort, the memory of him would have to suffice.

The exhausted elf had just crawled into bed when she heard the door to the secret passage way creak open and turned around to see Nathaniel standing there. Looking up at him, she simply nodded. It was all she needed to do. Without saying a word, the rogue made his way over to the bed and slipped in beside her. This was perfect; this was exactly what she needed, the strong arms of her noble archer. With his comforting presence, she was able to drift off into a dreamless sleep.

-0-

The second moth of winter was much more eventful than the first. Early on in the month, a violent fever swept through the entire arling. In only a hand full of days, the entire city of Amaranthine was filled with the sick and dying. In the first day of the month, there were five deaths; by the end of the week, fifty more had joined them. There were whispers of the plague returning, so Eriana sent her mages into the seat to assuage the fears of her people a bit. Having lived through the plague several times, Eriana was quite sure that wasn't the problem. The plague was a nasty disease that caused gruesome boils and simmered during the hot months of summer. This illness was different, with a high fever and chills, uncontrolled coughing, and extreme fatigue. It seemed particularly potent with the elderly and very young. In fact, forty of the fifty deaths had come from those two groups; five of the others were pregnant women. Anders and Petra called it the Sweats. Whatever it was, it had the entire arling panicking as all around them, more and more people began to fall ill.

While Petra and Anders were in the city, the second massive snowstorm of the season hit the region, trapping the Warden mages in the city. Of course, this was when the fever decided to make its way to Vigil's Keep. Oghren and Felsi, who had moved into a small cabin on the property, shut themselves away to keep Dorgin from being exposed. The rest of the Wardens were left to the mercy of the Sweats. Nathaniel was the first to come down with it, which made sense as he was usually the Warden to run messages to and from Amaranthine. Eriana was the only one brave enough to nurse Nathaniel back to health.

"Ana, you don't need to do this; you're going to get sick of you stay in here with me," he protested the first day she entered his room, a tray of food in hand.

"Please," she said with a smile, "I made it through three plagues as a child; a little touch of fever isn't going to get me." The young elf perched set the tray down and made her way over to her fellow rogue's bed, helping him to sit up a bid and putting a few pillows behind him to prop him up. "Now, I brought you some soup, and you need to eat it all if you're going to get your strength up."

Nathaniel grumbled and complied, but eventually acquiesced, allowing her to spend several days tending to his every need. Of course, it wasn't more than three days after the rogue was back on his feet that Eriana found herself confined to the bed, cursing Andraste, the Maker, and Nathaniel as her fever raged, and for some reason, the illness affected her more severely than anyone else. By the end of the second day, there was talk of sending for her father and cousins. Nathaniel, however refused to even entertain the notion that the fever might get her. Instead, he insisted that Niko accompany him to Amaranthine to get Anders. Fortunately the made it back to the keep in time, cold and exhausted, but one healing mage in tow. Several days later when they told the story to Eriana, she was both touched and impressed that the two men went through that kind of effort for her. Apparently, Niko, who was a particularly talented elemental mage, used three vials of lyrium burning a path through the snow. She didn't say anything at the time, but in her mind, the elf was contemplating the military benefits of having someone who could melt snow, especially in a country where it snows in some parts all year long. She would bear that in mind the next time she went to recruit mages.

-0-

The rest of the winter passed quickly for Eriana. Slowly, her nightmares began to become less and less frequent, which meant she was spending fewer and fewer nights with Nathaniel. Her Wardens had become a solid unit, and Eriana was interested to see how they would work together when they faced darkspawn again in the spring. There were definite places for improvement, but that could be fixed with new acquisitions Brendon would make in the spring. All told, things looked good on the Warden front. Unfortunately, that wasn't the only front Eriana had to deal with. She had to deal with domestic issues as well.

That's why, as the cold months of winter slowly drew to a close, Eriana and her advisors began to plan for her first council meeting. Every year just before planting season, all the banns and free holders in the arling would come together to discuss issues and concerns that had come up over the winter. Theoretically, it gave the Arl a chance to meet with his vassals before representing them at the Landsmeet that took place a few months later. However, according to Nathaniel, the only thing his father ever did at these meetings was inform people that they were being taxed more heavily. Eriana intended to do things differently.

There were several issues that needed to be addressed with her nobles, the most important of which was what to do with the city of Amaranthine. The infrastructure of city had been heavily damaged during the attack, so most of the money coming into the city through tariffs and taxes was allocated toward rebuilding efforts. On top of that, the city suddenly found itself without a bann as Bann Esmerelle lost ownership of the region when...well, when Eriana killed her. She had no family to speak of; not that that mattered. Eriana wouldn't have allowed her family to maintain control of the territory after what had transpired between them anyway, but now she had a rather difficult decision to make. Who was she to appoint to replace Esmerelle? Since the attacks, Eriana had been overseeing things on the business end, but rebuilding the city was a huge responsibility. Eriana wasn't sure she could juggle running the entire arling, the Wardens, and the city. Her advisors, though, had other ideas. Garevel, Saul, and Nathaniel all seemed to think that for the time being, Eriana needed to remain in control of the city.

"Look, Ana," Nathaniel said. "On the practical side of things, we don't have enough nobles in Amaranthine to assign someone to Amaranthine. Many of our banns will already be juggling extra property anyway to cover the losses of everyone involved in the conspiracy and those killed by darkspawn. We have five farms where everyone from the landowner to the workers were completely knocked out. It's going to take a lot of work to make sure all the land is worked this year, and that needs to be our priority, making sure all the land is tended."

"Who would you assign to the post anyway?" Garevel asked as he leaned against the wall beside her desk. "I didn't think any of your vassals had gained your trust yet."

"They haven't, but…"

"Just remember how much trouble Esmerelle gave you, and that was just when she was trying to kill you. She had no intention of sabotaging the arling because she probably intended to run it once you were gone. Imagine if she was trying to work against you politically and financially. We need the funds from Amaranthine to help make repairs on the Keep as well as other projects across the arling. Putting the wrong person in the city could make that rather difficult. Keeping the city under your control will ensure the entire arling's secure financial security."

"I know," Eriana said with a sigh. "But won't the nobles be against it, you know, giving me so much power. Surely they'll rebel against that. I mean, they barely accept me as it is; they may see me keeping Amaranthine as a ploy for more power."

The three men were quiet for a moment as they considered her argument. Finally Saul spoke up. "It's all in how you present it, my Lady. From what I can tell through going over her books, Amaranthine was the most profitable district in the entire arling, but no one but Esmerelle knew that. She did a good job in keeping her money hidden, even from Howe." Saul leaned forward, elbows resting on the desk. "The people here don't think Amaranthine doesn't turn a huge profit. If you show them just how much it's going to take to rebuild the city and fortify it, I'm not sure anyone would want it."

Saul leaned back for a moment. "In fact, you need to bring up the other repairs that need to be made across the arling. Explain to your nobles that in order to repair all the damage, rebuild the army, and improve the infrastructure, you will either need the money from the traders or you will need to levy a higher tax. Then you present them with proposition of the Wardens maintaining control of the city for a few years, just until the arling is back on its feet. After that, you'll appoint a new bann, one that has earned your trust and respect over the years, someone who you can trust."

Nathaniel nodded. "That's not a bad idea. If the nobles don't think they'll make any money off the city, they won't want it; it's too much of a burden."

Eriana glanced up at Garevel, "You know these people. Do you think this will work?"

Garevel nodded, "Plus, it will give you a chance to see if anyone is actively opposed to you. It might ferret out some enemies that you didn't know about."

"Okay, we'll do it. Saul, I'll need you to get the numbers ready for me. These noble types listen to their purses; we need to convince them that this is a sound financial decision all around. We'll also need to figure out how we're parceling out the abandoned farm land. We're close enough to Denerim that we can make a lot of money selling produce down there, so every bit of farmable land need to be used this year."

"We'll make a list of the available land," Garevel said glancing over at Saul who nodded in return.

Eriana sighed in relief, feeling a little better about the meeting that would be happening in three weeks. It felt like all the pieces of her work and her life were finally starting to come together.

Little did she know that there were already plans in motion that would shatter her world once again.

-0-

Real life has been insanely busy, so I apologize for the delay. I already have most of the next chapter written, so I hope it isn't too long before I get to update again. This is a bit of a transitional chapter, so it's shorter than usual. Hope you all enjoy; let me know what you think.