A/N just realized that unless you looked at the DA2 destiny trailer then you still don't know what Blood looks like. When I wrote this note out I thought the description would be important in this chapter and since I've already written this out I'll describe it to you now; Blood is about 1.5 meters in length (For all the Americans out there that's 4.9 feet), about a third of that is the blade and the rest is the staff portion, Elisa can hold the staff in different places depending on how close her opponents are. The blade is made up of a steel-looking metal and the staff is made of a dark brown, almost black, wood with various runes carved into it (these are what lit up when Neira touched it), at the end of the staff is a round, red globe, with a diameter of about 1.5 times the width of the staff itself. I won't go into how Elisa uses it because that completely differs depending on the situation.

"You'll teach me?"

The child stood alone in the fade terrified by her ignorance, what little she did know terrified her all the more.

"Yes child" replied the spirit, powerful, knowledgeable and completely apathic "I give you the knowledge to handle your gifts, and protect and conceal yourself from those who would do you harm. In return you will share with me your knowledge of the mortal realm, I will see through your eyes, feel, touch, smell and hear what you do; you will do this and I will finally know the nature of mortal creation."

"Then I accept" said the child, and the spirit reached out and touched her forehead.

oOo

The Darkspawn seemed to be rather fond of night raids. It was commonly assumed that this was because living in the deep road made them more accustomed to darkness but no one had ever confirmed if it was a simple instinct-based preference or if they were weaker in the sun. Whatever the reason Elisa found herself out of bed at two in the morning and facing an army of darkspawn along with the other grey wardens. "I know the three of you are not yet grey wardens" Said the Warden-Master at arms, who was in charge with the absence of both the Warden-Commander and his second. "But you have all shown considerable skill and we have need of anyone who can fight. Let this be a trial; should you survive today then you will be made Grey wardens tonight." He chuckled "I must say that very few have such a harrowing introduction into the wardens, best of luck to you."

"Is there anything we should know?" asked Elisa "Any particular darkspawn we should target?"

"The Archdemon commands the horde and he is not here, so no matter who you kill, the army will not crumble. However the more powerful the darkspawn, the greater the connection they have with the Archdemon. We call the most powerful generals; should you manage to kill a general the tactics of the army will suffer. But be warned: darkspawn generals are far more dangerous, you should not engage one alone; if you see one call out to the rest of us and we will attempt to aid you."

Elisa, Solona and Neira looked at each other. Neira shrugged "See a darkspawn, kill it. See a scary darkspawn, yell for help, then kill it; seems simple enough"

"Very good" Said the Master at arms "Solona and Neira, you will be at the back with the mages and archers. Elisa, you will be at the front with me and the other wardens."

The three separated, each to go to their separate places. Neira took a spot near the medic tents, along with one of the senior enchanters that had come from the towers, while Solona took spot next to the archers, preparing to add her volley of death to theirs. Elisa followed the Master at arms to the front and found herself next to Alistair. "Worried?" he asked.

"Not at all" she replied "I'm eager to start killing these creatures."

"Well you're more confident than me" Alistair replied

Then the battle horn sounded and the fight was on.

The first part of the battle went fairly well, the darkspawn were vicious but the king's army employed sound tactics and outnumbered the darkspawn, however the darkspawn's ferocity was felling many soldiers; knowing that the darkspawn stood to receive a great number of reinforcements as more poured out from the deep roads, it was clear that they would win this battle but unless the generals were killed soon, they would not win the next. As Elisa fought, dealing death to the darkspawn without mercy, a shout from the Master at arms drew her attention; he had found a general. Elisa immediately changed course, carving her way through the darkspawn to reach the general that the Master at arms had pointed out; the general was obvious to anyone who saw him; he excluded power unlike any of the other darkspawn and wielded a well-made dragonbone sword that emitted electricity from the blade in each hand.

The Master at arms was the first to reach him, Elisa close on his heels; the others not far behind. As he charged the general Elisa felt a spike of dread "Wait!" She called out, hoping to warn the Master at arms, but it was too late; as the Master at arms charged the general lifted one of his swords and spoke a single word, launching a bolt of lightning from the end of the blade. The Master at arms dodge to one side but as he was recovering the general moved forward and ran him through, he was dead before he hit the ground.

Elisa ran into the clearing surrounding the general; seeing the wardens close on her heels he raised his hand, circling them both with a ring of fire. The general swung his sword in a downward motion, sending a whip of lightning towards her; she rolled to one side and came to her feet as the general bore down on her. As he came straight towards her she dodge to one side, using Blood's length to attempt to slide under his left blade while staying away from his right; he spun as she reversed Blood, attempting to drive the blade into his left thigh while drawing a dagger to parry his right sword. He successfully parried her stab and she spun away, hurling her dagger towards his chest as she did so; he dodged it and they circled around each other until she found the corpse of the Master at arms at her feet.

The general raised his sword at her. Elisa grabbed the dead man's sword and charged; leaping to the left as the lightning headed toward her. Leaping up she used the sword to parry his left blade as she grabbed Blood just before the blade, arm extended, prepared to decapitate him; with impossible speed the general brought his right blade straight toward Elisa's stomach

Elisa cried out a single word.

And the blade passed straight through.

The general had little time to register his surprise that his blade had passed through his opponent as if she were not there as Elisa quickly removed his head from his shoulders. Elisa grinned, while a sure-fire way to expose herself if anyone saw it, the fade shroud ability was still an excellent last ditch resort. Snapping Blood into its harness on her back Elisa grabbed the swords the general had been using; they conducted magic as well as Blood did and were too powerful to be left out here for the darkspawn to use again. Turning to face the darkspawn as the ring of fire faded and the other wardens moved to back her up she grinned; the battle was won and these idiots didn't know it yet.

oOo

"So, what was your family like?" Kallian asked, sick of being stuck between Alice's melancholy and Theron's broodiness, a fate she'd suffered ever since their side-trip into the Brecilian forest that had resulted in them destroying a tainted mirror and picking up another recruit, a moody Dalish elf that seemed to hold considerable hatred towards humans. On the way to the forest Kallian had spoken with Duncan but since leaving the Dalish camp he had become troubled and less approachable than he had been before.

"Why do want to know?" Alice inquired, keeping a neutral, cautious tone clearly unsure of why Kallian wanted to know.

"Because they seem to be all you think about." Came the reply "And I want to get to know you better, after all well be fighting for our lives together once we reach Ostagar."

Alice sighed, a sound born of sadness, not irritation or annoyance Kallian noted "I know some people complain about their parents but to me my parents were the best I could have. My mother was a kind and loving women who was always ready with a kind word to whoever needed it, she always searched for the diplomatic solution to a problem but never let that cripple her if violence was necessary, she taught me and my sister how to judge people and their motives, understanding what they would do and why. My father was a good and fair man who loved both his family and his people equally, he always made sure we had what we needed but never had anything in excess, if we wanted something more, we had to earn it."

Alice spoke sadly of her memories, but seemed happy to share them with another "He taught me and my sister how to fight" She continued "He started with teaching us both how to use the traditional sword and shield but when I started to show more interest in knife fighting he started to search for a teacher, much to his frustration however, he was unable to find a weapon master who specialized in such fighting." Alice smiled slightly "eventually he was called to judge a man who'd taken out four of his guards trying to steal some food from his family and he gave the man a choice; he could be flogged or he could take a paid position to teach me knife fighting. By that point my sister, the weapon master that she was, had already mastered the level of sword and shield and two-handed play that anyone in the castle could teach her so she joined in to; she said that it wasn't until years later, when she'd finally gained notice by the truly great weapon masters of Thedas that she'd found a teacher as enthusiastic and focused as thief had been."

Kallian should have been surprised to find out that this noble's daughter had been trained by a thief but realized she was not; Alice's movements and combat style was too similar to her own, or Duncan's for that matter. She realized with a jolt and focused at the man who'd saved both their lives, seeing how he had known to look in the city slums for the skill the grey wardens required made her wonder where he came from.

Kallian shook her head and filled that thought away, turning back to Alice she asked "What about your siblings? You mentioned having a sister, do you have any others?"

"I have my twin sister Elisa and my older brother Fergus." Alice replied "Fergus is a traditional older brother; loving, caring and protective, he got me and Elisa out of trouble on more than one occasion, he married the daughter of an Antivan trader Oriana and has- had a son" Grief mired Alice's face as she continued "Fergus was sent ahead to Ostagar with most of our men so he's still alive but his wife and child were murdered when Howe attacked Highever." Kallian felt an edge of the chill she had felt when facing Vaughan in Denerim – anyone who thoughtlessly slaughtered the helpless deserved far worse than death. A muttered curse besides them drew their attention to their attention to Theron.

"What is it?" asked Kallian

"Anyone who kills children deserves to buried up to their neck and left for the birds to peck out their eyes" came the reply.

"You were listening?" Kallian asked, surprised.

"You said it yourself city-bound, if we are to be fighting alongside one another then it is best to know who is watching our back."

"Fair enough" Alice said, nodding "anything else?"

"You mentioned your sister was a weapons master, what do you mean by that?"

A look of loss drew over Alice's face as she began to speak about Elisa "Elisa was possibly the single most talented arms master I have ever even heard off, as I said she started off with the sword and shield at ten like I did and took to it like a fish to water, she was learning quicker than anyone had even thought possible, before the year was up she was competent with a greatsword; the only thing that held her back was her small size prevented her from truly learning it. She began to immerse herself in weapon's play and battle tactic, fascinated by not only how to use weapons but when they are most effective; she strove to learn all she could, and not just about weapons either, she was always seeking out more knowledge about anything she could; culture, history, whatever she could learn. When she got older she began to travel, seeking out more knowledge about weapons all over Thedas and mastering all kinds of different forms of combat along the way. For the longest time she simply couldn't focus on a single weapon that she would use as her main until when she was 19 she finally gave up with traditional weapons and designed a weapon she called Blood; it's based off a weapon from the Anderfells, called the glaive, a normal glaive is a pole arm with a staff the length of a of a normal human's height and a blade the length of a short sword on the end. Elisa shortened the staff of Blood so it's only a meter long and lengthened the blade to half that. She had to make up her own fighting style for it but that only made her unpredictable; she was a weapon master with any other weapon, with Blood she was death incarnate."

"You said she was a weapon master, what happened to her?" Theron asked

"She stayed behind at Highever to hold the doorway into the inner keep but Howe had brought too many men, they managed to push her back and enter the keep. There were so many men, in a narrow passage way she stood a chance but they pushed her into the inner pathways, which are wide enough to allow ten men to walk shoulder-to shoulder, she was surrounded and killed."

"How do you know this?"

"One of the knights told me before he died of his wounds, he saw her get pushed back and half of Howe's surround her."

"But did you see the body?"

"No"

"Then if she is as half as good as you claim she is it is possible that she somehow managed to escape."

It was clear on her face that Alice had considered this possibility and refused to acknowledge it in fear of being wrong. "Why do you care?" She asked "Don't you hate humans? I mean you killed three of them back in the forest."

"I don't hate humans; I simply don't trust them to not harm my people." He said shortly before turning to Kallian "And what of you?" he asked, clearly changing the subject "What was your family like?"

The first barrier between the new allies broken, the three of them followed Duncan along the path to Ostagar and their shared fate as grey wardens.

oOo

"So, I'm curious; when were you going to tell the rest of us that you were a mage?" drawled Alistair as he approached Elisa several hours after the battle. After Elisa had killed the general the darkspawn had been unable to effectively counter the army's tactics, turning the battle into a several hour long mop up. Once the last of the darkspawn had been fled Alistair and the other grey wardens had pulled aside to form a conference and Elisa, Solona and Neira had gotten the chance to rest up before facing what came next.

"Once the Warden-Commander showed up or just before the ritual" Elisa answered "I wanted as much time to prove myself before giving the wardens a reason for not accepting me" she grinned wirily "also I'm so used to hiding it that I needed time before revealing who I was to a bunch of people I did not know."

"Well in that case I gotta say that there are easier to impress us; I think at this point they'd take you if you were a maleficar who'd just murdered the queen." Alistair joked

"Well it's good to know that my skills are valued." Quipped Elisa "Come on, I'm going to go find the others"

"Ok, just out a curiosity, who knew?"

"My sister, parents, the court mage who taught me the basics. Neira guessed on the way here and Solona noticed something about Blood's nature that gave me away. Other than that no one, I was very good at hiding, even from those who are trained to spot mages without them casting a spell."

"Ok, one last thing; why are did you decide to pick up those swords that the general was using?"

Elisa drew the twin blades from the crossing sheathes that she had placed them in across her back, under Blood's harness "Silence and Loss? They conduct magic as well Blood does and they're too powerful to be left in the hands of the darkspawn, besides I like them"

Alistair raised his eyebrows "You named them Silence and Loss? Cheery"

"These blades are as old as the darkspawn and have the power to show for it. These swords were named long before either of us was alive; I'm only repeating what they told me."

Alistair nodded and headed over to one of the other grey wardens, apparently to inquire about the Master at arms' funeral arrangements

Elisa waved at Neira as she approached "So, I hear the wardens know your secret" Neira grinned "Or think they do" she added jokingly "Little do they know what dark secrets you really hide."

"Look who's talking" Elisa shot back laughing "It's a good thing the wardens are so open minded, even the Dalish would have been hesitant to take you."

"At least they would have thought about it; you they would have shot on sight"

"Nah, they would have tried to but I'd have shown them the errors of their ways and they would have been building a shrine in my honour before they day was out."

"Only if you used blood magic"

The two continued their lighthearted banter as they walked through the camp, trying to keep their minds off the worry that the warden's secretiveness about the ritual had given them.

Later that night they stood beside Solona as Alistair spoke the words: "Join us brothers and sisters. Join us as we stand vigilant against the blight. Join us and know that if you should fall, one day we to will join you." One by one they drank from the cup, taking the taint into their bodies; one by one the taint drove them into unconscious, where they dreamed of the Archdemon's cry, rallying the darkspawn. And one by one they woke, helped to their feet by their new brothers and sisters in arms.

From this moment forth, they were grey wardens.

A/N And with this chapter we mark the first of what will be many times my characters decide to run off and do something quite different from what I'd wanted them to do; I'd originally meant for the battle to be a small skirmish that prevented Elisa, Neira and Solona from sitting on their asses for the next two days before Duran and Natia got to Ostagar and for them to have some darkspawn stories to share with those two when they got here. Instead it turned into a major battle that included the revelation that Elisa is a mage and a serious fight scene that I had originally intended to have as a reason that Elisa was unable to save Cailan and Duncan. So I'll have to come up with something else for that. Oh well I'll deal.

Also, you may have noticed that neither Daveth nor Ser Jory have appeared, the reason for this is I'm trying to limit the amount of wardens that Ferelden has to less than twenty (they've only had about twenty years to rebuild and they've lost a few along the way) and I had no way to recruit them without adding more wardens, something I didn't want to do. As a result neither of them was recruited in this story.

Thirdly, going back to the "My characters doing things I didn't plan for" thing I realized that I never gave the Master at arms a name and feel bad about it because he had a far bigger part than I had intended. So I've decided that his name is... Bruce macCom. There, I don't feel so guilty now.

Anyways as always please R&R, constructive criticism is always welcome, thanks