It had been two day since the mages and Templars had arrived, Connor was now fine, though the healer had not been able to cure whatever the mage Jowan had done to the Arl, the healers poured over books and tombs trying to find a way to cure.
Alistair as well still hadn't fully recovered, his fever had broke in the night but he had not managed to waken up yet. One of the mages Wynne had explained that the lack of rest and the amount of lyrium he had to consume to keep Connors possession at bay had took an extreme toll on his body. And what he was now going through now was a type of with drawl that was associated with lyrium.
"Why isn't he awake yet?" Elissa asked as Wynne checked on him for the second time that day.
"He's had quite a shock to his system I'm afraid dear, but don't fret he'll waken when his fully rested." She replied kindly.
Elissa sighed heavily. Alistair wasn't to wake until the following morning, Elissa had walked into the room to find amber eye's looking up to her. "G'morning Lady Cousland" he greeted, voice rough from disuse.
"At this stage, I think you could call me Elissa, I have seen you throw up a few times by now." She said with a smirked.
Alistair groaned, throwing his arms over his face in an attempt to hide. "Maker, I'll never be able to live this down." Elissa could not help but laugh, "And now you laugh at my misery? How will there ever been epic ode's written about me if it gets out that I threw up in front of a lady?"
"I'm sure when their writing the stories they leave out all of the unsavoury parts."
"Hmm I'm sure, you never hear about the awful food, wet socks or all the looting." He agrees, "Maker there's a lot of looting."
"I do wonder how you carry it all?"
"Pockets of course, we sew extra pockets in to our armour and trousers, first thing they teach you in Warden school, how to sew." They both stared at each other, waiting to see who was going to crack first. Alistair felt triumph when he saw the grin break out on Elissa's face before they both begun to laugh.
"I'm happy you're feeling better." Came a voice at the door Killian said as she strolled in.
"Much better now, has there been any sign of the others returning?" Elissa queried.
"I'm afraid not, but it hopefully won't be long now, that other mage Dylan was in pretty bad shape though, might take him awhile to recover."
"Who?" Alistair asked.
"Oh that's right, you haven't been updated about the circle." Killian then retold the story or what had happened since they had left Redcliff, she had retold the many times by now, so the words fell off her tongue easily enough as she recounted events.
"Maker, I can't believe all that happened, I'm glad there was no need for the Right, what you all did was incredible." Alistair praised.
"Do you know what your play will be now?" Elissa asked.
"Well, as soon as I am able to stand I will have to go down and find out about gaining the mages support for the Wardens, then when everyone else had returned we can figure out which treaty we'll go after next."
"Are you sure you're feeling well enough?" Elissa questioned. "Maybe we Wynne could check you again."
"I'm fine; honestly I'll get ready and meet you both down stairs in a while."
After further assurance that he would not collapse and die from leaving the bed, Killian and Elissa left. One of the few remaining servants had brought up fresh water. Stripping off his sleeping garments, the cloth stuck uncomfortably to his skin thanks to the fever sweat, he shivered slightly as the cold air meet his damn skin. he quickly clean himself as best as he could before attempting to tackle his hair, it had begun to grow out, he hadn't got it cut since he left for Ostagar, the ends had begun to curl slightly at his ears. He quickly rubbed the bar or soap over his hair before leaning over and rising it off with what was left in the jug.
Alistair felt a wave of dizziness over come him as he straightened up, taking a deep breath he sat down at the edge of the bed waiting for it to pass. "guess I'm not as fine as I thought I was" there was too much to do, too much to find out for him to waste another day in bed. Finding clean clothes took longer than he thought, by the time he was wearing his full armour he could hear the bells of the Chantry chime Terce.
He stepped out into the corridor, he can't remember the halls every being so quite, no servants, guards or knights walking with purpose to fulfil some task, just empty hall ways filled with damaged rugs and stains someone had made a valiant effort to remove. A large mirror had been propped up on one of the Orlesian credenza's, looking into it as he pasted, he noticed the large crack that stretched through the middle of the glass, catching sight of himself; he winced, his stubble had grew out, and the dark circles under his eyes made him look a lot rougher than he felt.
"Not the time to be worrying about your pretty face Alistair, work to do and all."