Solona fell backwards onto the loveseat as she had so many times before, her apprentice robes riding up her legs as Anders leaned over her kissing her madly, one of his hands caressing her breasts underneath the cloth as the other drew her robes around her waist, revealing her complete lack of smallclothes. She began pulling his robes up, knowing that he too was not wearing any smallclothes and they only had a few moments before the templars arrived.

Anders vanished.

Solona had a few seconds to be surprised at her lover's disappearance into thin air before she underwent an extremely disorientating experience. Without ever changing, the world around her shifted. She felt it shifting but saw herself moving instead. When it was done she was sitting up with her robes firmly in place and her smallclothes on. Neira was sitting on the armrest of a sofa opposite to her. "Sorry if that was a bit disorientating but that is nothing I want to see. Ever"

Solona growled, recognizing that they were in the fade "I was having a nice dream" she snapped

"I noticed that, a nice, pleasant dream with the handsome Anders" Neira frowned "Wait, Anders, why were you dreaming about Anders?"

Solona shrugged "Because he's the best lover I've climbed into bed with recently?"

"You're not in love with him or anything?"

"No"

"Good"

"Good? I thought you liked Anders"

"I do but he's likely to get killed by the templars. He's had what, seven failed escape attempts now?" Neira went on without waiting for conformation "one of these days the templars are going to get tired of hauling him back to the circle and just chop his head off. He tries not to break any hearts but dying will do that just as effectively as making and breaking promises would"

"It's only been six so far and I'm not in love with him, so it doesn't matter"

"Good, if you're going to fall in love with someone, fall in love with some sweat, kind-hearted and safe person, like Alistair, or Leliana"

"Even I know that we don't chose who you fall in love with and besides, I'm not into girls and Alistair is so gone for Alice"

"Really?"

"Yea, the day before we got to Denerim he gave her a rose that he's been carrying since Lothering, said that it reminded him of how beautiful things grow no matter how bad things are, just like her"

"He said that?"

"Yup"

"And how'd she react?"

"Totally blown away, this is essentially her fantasy. I mean come on, a bastard prince, denied his birthright to protect his brother's claim to the throne, suddenly in line to become the next king and unite the country against an evil threat that threatens his kingdom. Add in the fact that he's this sweet, pure hero and it's something out a fucking fairy tale. The bards won't even have to embellish it for their ballads"

Neira chuckled "Yea, Elisa tells me that Alice was the good girl to her rascal"

"That's obvious. By the way how is Elisa?"

Neira adopted a dreamy look on her face "Good" was all she said

Solona's mouth dropped open in shock "You fucking hypocrite! You're lecturing me about high-risk affairs and here you are, melting when I so much as mention Elisa, who, will I remind you, decided to charge off into the middle of the darkspawn horde to go look for some idiot with a crown"

'That… That's different" Neira snapped "Elisa knew what she was doing, knew how to get in and out of there alive. She takes risks sure, but only ones that she thinks she'll survive. She's a peerless fighter and nearly impossible to kill. I don't have to worry about burying her, if anything, she has to worry about burying me"

Solona held up her hands, taken aback by the vehemence of Neira's reply "Ok, ok, back off, I didn't mean to piss you off like that, I was just surprised that you would let yourself fall for someone, let alone a human that close to the throne"

Neira smiled "Neither did I, but Elisa… She doesn't let you stick to any plans but her own"

"That's the fucking truth but enough, you getting all sappy is making me uncomfortable; how long before you get here, is everyone coming? The guards here are on the lookout for us so be careful, you might want to get disguises and be extra careful with Jowan, the templars will be looking for him as well"

Instantly Neira smile vanished, replaced by a sadness that she had obviously been trying to avoid. Upon seeing her face Solona felt her stomach plummet "No… Not Jowan"

"I'm sorry, 'lona, he didn't make it through the joining"

Tears were running down Solona's cheeks "Dammit, why Jowan? Why him? I thought the templars had killed him, thought he was gone forever. And then he came back, only to die on us again." She was sobbing now "They warned us about falling in love, warned us about intimacy, but they never told us that friends could be just as dangerous, that losing a friend could cut just as deep as losing a lover. Dammit, why didn't they warn us?"

She didn't notice that Neira had come over until she wrapped her arms around Solona "Because they understand that a life with no one in it is no life at all, because they understand that even if the templars make it too dangerous to fall in love we still need someone to laugh and cry with, and friends can do that for us."

"But how do we deal with losing them? How do we deal with losing someone who was like a brother to us?"

"By remembering that life goes on, that they wouldn't want us to die with them and by treasuring all the good memories we have of them. It doesn't make the pain go away but it makes it easier."

They talked for a while, remembering all their best memories of Jowan. The funny stories, the mischievous adventures, the quiet and not so quiet moments when he'd brought them out of a bad mood. The memories were tinged with sorrow now, tainted by the knowledge that they would never have another memory of Jowan but they were still pleasant to recall. After a while, as they recalled another memory of Jowan, Solona found that she was no longer crying, that the pain she felt at losing one of her best friends was no longer unbearable.

"You know, I'm surprised you had such good advice about dealing with loss; as practical as you are, you can be pretty emotional at times." They had just stopped reminiscing about Jowan and spent a minute or so in companionable silence. Solona was sprawled across the loveseat she had spent the majority of the dream in and Neira was leaning against one of the bookshelves.

"It wasn't my advice, it was Elisa's"

Solona's lips twitched, not a smile, but close "Figures"

"Yea" Neira stared off at nothing in particular "I was more or less having your reaction to his death and Elisa sat down and had me tell her about him, listened to all my stories about him. She didn't offer any advice or tell me any similar stories, she just listened to me remember him and when I was done the sorrow wasn't crushing anymore." Neira stared into space for a while longer before drawing herself back into the present "Anyways, we're leaving Soldier's peak in a few days and should be at Denerim in about ten days; since it's just the five of us we'll be moving fast and light. Elisa just wants to finish looking into a few… things" Whatever Elisa was looking into clearly disturbed her. When Solona asked about it she replied "it's important, maybe even the difference between winning and losing this so it's worth it but… don't ask about it, trust me, the less you know the better"

Solona accepted this with a nod and Neira dissolved the dream with a wave of her hand.

oOo

Arl Wulfric of South Reach walked into the gnawed noble and looked around for a table when a serving girls approached him "Arl Wulfric?" she asked "Your private room is ready"

The Arl raised an eyebrow; he hadn't ordered a private room "You must be mistaken, I did not request a private room"

The serving girl frowned "One of your men came in here not half an hour ago, said you had an important meeting. Paid right away. He's waiting for you there now"

"What did this man of mine look like?"

"Tall, Blonde, short hair, wears chainmail and carries a shield and sword of high quality, very handsome. I must say I am disappointed that your other men don't look like him but oh well, one's enough for me anyway"

Wulfric was thoroughly confused now; none of his guards fit that description. One of the men he had with him leaned in and asked "what should we do sire?"

The Arl considered it for a moment then replied "We'll go, but be on your guard, it may be a trap" to the serving girl he said "take us to the private room"

The serving girl lead them to the room and Wulfric took the time to admire the view; the girl had a striking figure, if a slightly plump one with she had long, black hair and wore her dress in a way that showed off her curves. While he was certain that he had never met her before he couldn't shake the feeling that she somehow looked familiar…

He filled the information away for later when the girl opened a door to the private room "Right her m'lord" Inside he saw a young man who matched the serving girl's description; like the serving girl he looked strangely familiar despite Wulfric's certainty he had never met him. "Who are you?" he asked "Why do you want to speak with me?"

"I figured of all my father's friends, you would be the one most likely to listen to us" The voice came from behind him and Wulfric turned to see a young woman, clad in high-quality leather armor, stepping out of the padded dress that had concealed her identity more effectively then the wig she was wearing would have alone "Am I right or will we have to fight our way out of here?" asked Alice Cousland, daughter of Wulfric's good friend Bryce and alleged king killer.

"Please tell me we don't have to fight" joked Alistair "I haven't gotten to try the cheese yet"

oOo

As always, nightfall is accompanied by shadows, some still and some that move. Guards patrol the streets, grabbing the moving shadows to find pickpockets, burglars and other criminals. Some guards do this better than and some shadows are harder to see then other. Four shadows are virtually undetectable as they steal across the rooftops heading toward Brother Genitivi's house. Kallian, Leliana, Zevran and Natia would not be seen by any guard in their quest to verify the location of the house's owner. Wynne and Leliana had pretended to be peers of the good brother that afternoon and had been directed to a inn by Lake Calenhad by Weylon, Genitivi's assistant. However, Weylon had been acting suspiciously and Wynne thought she had detected magic; with Arl Eamon's life hanging in the balance, Alice had decided it was worth the risk of offending someone to ensure that they were heading in the right direction.

When they reached the house Natia slid into the shadows of the alley beside the house; she would signal them if a guard came by, ensuring that they would not be spotted leaving the house. They operated much as burglars would but then, that's would be what the guards would assume they were if they were caught. Kallian picked the lock and silently opened the door and then she, Zevran and Leliana slipped into the house.

Once inside they quickly found the body of the real Weylon along with some cleverly concealed notes pointing to a village on the Ferelden's mountain border, Haven. It appeared that Genitivi was aware that someone wanted the location of the urn kept secret and had taken pains to ensure that his notes were not easily destroyed; a foresight that had proven fortunate - Leliana had found traces of Genitivi's research notes in the fireplace, burned beyond saving. They marked down Haven's location on their map and quietly debated on what to do the imposter. Kallian wanted to interrogate him but Zevran and Leliana argued against it, the man was clearly a mage and a fanatic; even if he could give them information that they had not found in Genitivi's notes he would most likely scream for help, bringing the guards down on them, or attack them with magic, possibly injuring or killing them. Both had experience fighting fanatics and knew that there was no chance they would be able to get information from one and be able to trust it.

Weylon, or rather his imposter, had always been a light sleeper, a trait that had made him ideal for his current assignment. Most mistakes made in impersonation were made as the imposter was rousing themselves from sleep; light sleeping meant that there was less a chance for him to make some critical error. Also it caused him to wake at the slightest noise, like the slightest creaking of a door. He strained to hear if there was an intruder but found himself only able to hear the slightest noises. Readying a spell, he opened his bedroom door and peered into the dark, hoping to catch the intruders unawares. Within seconds he confirmed that someone had broken into his house; not by sight or sound however, but rather by feeling Kallian's blade on his neck milliseconds before she slit his throat.

A/N Sorry about taking so long to update, don't really have an excuse other then Dragonborn for skyrim and Citadel for ME3 came out and I've been caught up playing those (They're both awesome btw)

Anyways this chapter was mainly about what the gang is doing in Denerim - since they're gonna be there for a week I figured they'd do more than just find Haven's location. The next chapter will be more about character and plot development, while still staying with the guys in Denerim. That being said it may take a while (Again, I know, sorry) as the SC2 Heart of the Swarm expansion comes out on tuesday. However I'm not as big a fan of SC2 as I am of Skyrim and ME3, so that may help a bit

Thanks to Dipsy Doo and Melysande for their reviews

As always, thanks for reading and please review