Duran slammed his new greatsword into the shield of the warden that was testing him, knocking him off balance and allowing Natia to slip under his guard and place a dagger between his ribs. The warden stepped back and joined his comrades in the "dead" group, normally wardens were tested alone and they both had been but the Warden's Second, an old warrior who went by the nickname Scar, had suggested that they also be tried together; a choice that allowed them to show how well they worked together, alone they were able to hold their own against one or two of the wardens; together they had managed to take apart five, having just beaten the last of the group. The fight had taken awhile but the two fought well together and had managed to take them all down. As Duran moved to walk away a women spoke from behind him "One last test"

Duran turned to see a blond woman in medium armor carrying a bladed staff of some sort; she carried herself well and had two swords across her back in addition to the staff. She looked formidable but Duran was suspicious; after he and Natia beat five grey wardens they sent one girl? Seeing his look of incredulity and a similar, albeit more suspicious look on Natia's face she grinned "Wondering if it's a trap?" She asked and raised her weapon "Only one way to find out." Duran looked at Natia and she nodded: she would watch his back while he engaged the girl and look for an opportunity.

"Are you even a grey warden?" he asked as he assessed her, looking for a weak point in her stance and trying to figure out how she would use that weapon of hers.

"As of last night" she replied "I wouldn't get cocky however; you're a grey warden as of tomorrow night"

"Fair enough" Duran sheathed his greatsword and switched to the longsword and shield he was carrying; if she had any speed whatsoever, trying to take her out with a greatsword would be suicide. He noticed Natia had placed herself behind the girl. She nodded and he charged.

Much to his surprise however, instead of countering his attack like he thought she would, leaving her open to a blade in the back; the girl dodged his sword and ducked within range, she grabbed his sword arm and used his momentum to throw him into Natia, who had been sneaking up behind her. Duran quickly rolled off Natia and to his feet, allowing her to recover not a moment too soon; the girl's blade buried itself in the dirt where Natia's chest had been not a second after she had rolled away. Seeing the vulnerability Duran charged, drawing her attention while Natia went for her legs. Again the girl surprised him; instead of taking her weapon out of the ground she pressed it further in and stepped away, blocking Natia's attack and leaving her off balance. For all intents and purposes ignoring Duran she drew one of her swords and placed the tip on Natia's back before rolling away from his charge. As Duran turned to face her he saw that she was just in front of his shield. In an attempt to exploit the apparent mistake Duran lashed out with his shield, hoping to bash her; the girl quickly stepped out of the way and pressed her blade against the back of his shield, overbalancing him. As he attempted to recover Duran felt and edge of cold steel on the back of his neck "Yield" she said.

"I yield" Duran replied "By the stone, human you're not a fighter, you're death's personal herald"

The girl smiled "Aren't you glad I'm on your side then?" She sheathed her weapons and held out her hand

"I'll thank the ancestors everyday" Duran replied and took her hand "I'm Duran"

"I know, I'm Elisa"

"I'm Natia" his friend groaned from the floor "and I would like to know who the fuck taught you to fight like that."

"No one, everyone" Elisa walked over to Natia and helped her up before picking up her weapon – Duran didn't know what else to call it – and clipping it into a harness on her back "I've studied combat with a number of different teachers over the years and just developed my own fighting style" she explained "I eventually wound up designing Blood because I couldn't decide what weapon to use" she indicated the weapon she had clipped to her back "since then I've gone further and further away from traditional combat styles, or any real style at all really."

"It suits you well" Duran admitted "we took out five wardens and you took us out in less than two minutes"

"Don't feel bad, I did the same thing to seven wardens on my first day here" Elisa said "come on, I'll introduce you to the others"

oOo

Over the next day the three newest wardens and the recruits got to know each other and the other wardens better. Neira and Solona were both mages who had fled the circle after being accused of blood magic; this was no surprise to the dwarves as both looked the part, what was a surprise was the revelation that Elisa was a mage as well, a revelation that caused to Natia to thank every ancestor she knew that the girl was on their side. The three wardens in turn were horrified by Orzammar's treatment of the casteless and by Bhelen's betrayal of his brother. The time also gave Duran and Natia a chance to practice fighting mages and to have several rematches with Elisa, giving Duran a chance to practice the use of different two-handed and weapon and shield stances; both of which he had considerable training in; Natia used these opportunities to work on different sneak approaches and dirty tactics. Despite all this Elisa emerged victorious after all sparing matches.

When Duncan and the other recruits arrived, the dwarves joined Alistair and the other recruits in the wilds to complete their task.

oOo

"We're almost there, recruits" Duncan informed the tired group as they headed into the last stretch on their journey to Ostagar. Chuckling at the chorus of "thank the Maker/Creators" (Creators being Theron's contribution) from the weary trio; Duncan had held a painfully fast pace in order for them to make it to Ostagar in time for the battle and even through none of them was a stranger to exhaustion, the mix of little sleep and fast walking had them all exhausted, Only George, Alice's mabari had any strength left.

Truthfully, however all three of them found themselves walking a little taller as they approached Ostagar; they walked faster and with more confidence. It was something about the legends of the grey wardens that they had all heard so much of as children; that now as they walked toward the army that had been gathered at the recommendation of the order they were to belong to; the order whose legends were some of the greatest in all of Thedas, that gave them pride and the strength to act like they had imagined heroes acting all those years ago as children.

At the same time however they felt silly and tried to squash the pride they felt; they haven't done anything, they weren't heroes.

Not yet anyways.

Incidentally they all found it quite difficult to squish undeserved feelings of pride when the king himself came to greet them. After exchanging pleasantries with Duncan he turned to each of the recruits in turn. After receiving a rude reply from Theron and a neutral one from Kallian he turned to face Alice; "You're Elisa's sister aren't you? I don't believe we've had the pleasure." He took her hand as she held it out to shake his "I promise that once this is done I will do everything in my power to liberate Highever and deal with that snake Howe"

"Thank you your majesty" Alice replied

"Now I have to go let Loghain regale me with tactics again and I'm sure you'll want to see your sister." Cailan said

"My Sister?" Alice gasped "But I thought Elisa was killed at Highever."

"No, she apparently managed to escape and made her way here, where she joined the grey wardens. She was inducted into the order two days ago and played a major role in the battle we had three days ago."

"Th-thank you for telling me, your majesty, I greatly appreciate it." Alice bowed at the king as he left.

Duncan turned to face her "I'm glad to see your sister has survived but we must still proceed with the joining ritual without delay. Thankfully however there is some time so you may rest and speak with your sister; she will most likely be at the warden's tent. You two" he turned to the other two "may explore the camp if you wish, when you are ready seek out Alistair, Elisa will be able to tell you where to find him."

Alice got directions to the tent and almost bolted for it, when she got there she saw Elisa talking and laughing with two girls, one human, and one elvish. She called out "Elisa!" before running into her sisters arms and bursting into tears. "There, there" her sister soothed "it's all right, I'm all right"

"I thought you were dead" cried Alice "How did you make it out alive?"

Elisa flashed her sister a grin that had always made Alice think that Elisa could get out of any situation in one piece; an assumption that had yet to be proven false. "An even mix of my incredible skill" She opened her hand and let the magic fill it "And magic"

Alice looked to the two girls beside them "So your secret's out?"

"This one, yeah; well to the grey wardens at least. I had a hard fight with a darkspawn general and had to use magic to survive; I killed the thing tho, and turned the tide of the battle." Elisa explained "by the way these are my fellow grey wardens; Solona and Neira, they were recruited and inducted at the same time I was." She added, indicating the human and elf, respectively.

"Pleased to meet you" Alice said and the two responded in kind. Wanting to forget the grief she had felt in believing that her sister was dead, Alice turned the topic to a more casual note and talked with the three wardens until it was time for her to go into the wilds with the others.

Reuniting with Kallian and Theron as well as being introduced to Alistair and the two dwarf recruits; the recruits went off into the wilds on the mission that would end with them becoming grey wardens or death.

A/N can't say i'm too happy with how this chapter turned out but it was necessary and I couldn't think of how to improve it.

Anyways Please R&R, thanks