They had been running for some time, the elf leading the way through the winding streets of Denerim. Every time that Solona thought that they were quite lost they would suddenly emerge onto a familiar road and then be off of it just as quickly. Eventually the warning bells faded into the background and then couldn't be heard at all. The night became still and silent with only the occasional barking of dogs to disturb it.

They stopped in some nook between houses in the richer part of Denerim where the higher-class merchants and minor nobles resided. All of them were winded from the run, Aedan leaning his huge frame against the nearest wall, coddling the arm that had been hit at the docks and taking in deep breaths of air. Solona was less graceful about it, gasping desperately for breath as if she'd been under water for too long. Keran seemed to be a bit winded, his tongue lolling out as he panted, but overall seemed the most unaffected by the run, plopping down to lick his various wounds that had been acquired during the battle. One looked especially bad, a long cut over his ribs that had coated his fur in blood and shone black in the night.

The elf was arguably the worst off. She was trembling, coughing between gasps for air, a wheezy sort of sound in her lungs whenever she tried to breathe. She was fair and delicately built, like all elves and all of her appendages could be described as long and graceful, even though she was even shorter than Solona was. But she wasn't just thin and willowy, she looked starved. Severely so.

All of her bones were sticking out, like she hadn't had a decent meal in weeks. It was a wonder that she had been able to run for this long, let alone be able to lift a sword and kill people with it. Her face was perhaps quite beautiful once, but the starved look was very unbecoming of it. Her bright red hair was matted with either dirt or blood, or perhaps a bit of both, and her large green eyes seemed to take up most of the space on her hollow face. She was a sad sight indeed, made even more so by the splatter of blood on what had once been a white dress that was now stained with dirt and who only knew what else.

After the four spent a few moments catching their breath, the elf spoke, still coughing occasionally when she did. "I don't know what possessed you shems to take on those slavers, but… I thank ya for it. Woulda had to spend a week in the ship 'afore the slavers gathered enough to fill the hold and head off for the Imperium… I figure I spent my share of time in a cage enough for the rest of my life."

She gave them a grateful nod and then without another word she started to walk away. With her thanks said, she apparently was planning to go off and do bigger and better things, but got no more than a few steps when she suddenly collapsed on the ground.

Aedan stood against the wall looking extremely confused by the sudden turn of events, but Solona rushed forward, kneeling at the woman's side and checking to see if she was still alive. Her pulse fluttered weakly at her neck, the elf barely clinging to life. Drawing on her inner reserves of strength, Solona cast the healing spell that she'd recently learned, and felt the energy drain out of her. The elf breathed easier, but didn't wake.

Aedan came to her side looking down at the elf and then to Solona and back. "So? What do we do with her?"

"I guess we take her with us?" She knew that Aedan wanted to say no. The room that they shared was already tiny enough without adding another person to the mix, but what other option was there? "We can't send her to the Alienage, since it's still closed off to everyone including the other elves. And we can't just leave her here. She'll surely die if she doesn't get something to eat soon."

A heavy sigh came from Aedan and he put his hand to his face, thinking about the situation quickly. "You're right on both accounts. I guess we can see if that room across the hall is still open. Will you stay with her?"

After taking a moment to think, Solona nodded. "I think it would be best. I would feel guilty if she died in the night after getting her back to the inn."

Aedan nodded and knelt down, taking the elf woman's arm and sliding it over his shoulder. He groaned when he picked her up, pain lancing through his body from various wounds when he picked up the slight form of the elf woman. If she weren't bone skinny, then he would never have managed to lift her. As it was, dark blood splattered on the ground when he straightened again.

Solona gasped when she saw it, immediately rushing to his side, healing blue covering her hands. "Aedan! How bad did they get you?"

"It's not fatal." He replied through clenched teeth, his jaw set hard against the pain. "It just twinges."

Solona kept healing him until she couldn't bear to loose any more energy, her hands trembling when she finally let the blue glow fade. "I didn't get it all." Even her voice shook from using so much energy at once.

"It's alright, I can make it back like this." He adjusted the elf in his arms to better carry her. "You'll have to steer any guards away if they come around. I can't exactly explain her away as my elf servant if she's all covered in blood and unconscious like this."

The docks were deserted when they got back, which was a good thing because Solona was pretty sure that if she had to bend the will of any guards she would pass out right there on the street. Nobody was really awake save for a spattering of those too drunk to remember how to get home, so the two with their unconscious elf counterpart made it to the rooms without hindrance. Aedan set her down on the small bed in the room across the hall that he and Solona had taken up residence in. The mage stayed behind to make sure that the elf was in a stable condition before returning to the room with Aedan, walking in as he managed to get one of his shoulder pads off, hissing in pain as he did so.

"Do you need help?" Solona asked, kneeling on the floor by the door where she'd hidden some things under a loose floorboard. She withdrew a small vial of blue liquid, a lyrium potion she'd liberated from the corpse of an apostate they'd killed earlier in the week and drank a bit of it. Immediately she felt her energy return to her in a warm soothing flood of energy.

Aedan struggled in silence for a little bit, having a tough time unbuckling everything on his own. "Yeah, my mail is catching on something. I think it was crunched in the fight."

Solona stood, studying the twisted metal on his side just below his ribs. She struggled with the leather for a little bit before she got it unhooked and Aedan sighed with relief when the metal chain links went limp around him. He mumbled thanks and finally managed to throw everything off in an unorganized pile on the floor.

Solona stood and waited for him to finish dressing down until he was in a loose shirt that kept the metal of his armor from rubbing directly on his skin and an unremarkable pair of pants. The white rough cotton shirt was stained with blood everywhere from nicks and cuts in his skin from a blade that had managed to slip through his armor. A spot on his left hip had plastered his shirt to his skin, the top hem of his pants dark and wet directly below the wound. Another spot on his arm that he'd been favoring was similarly damp and clingy. "Where else did they get you?"

Aedan pulled off his shirt gingerly, grimacing as he did so and took a look at the various bruises he'd acquired in the skirmish. "I think I broke a finger or two on my shield hand." Aedan replied in a quiet voice. He wanted to say more, she could tell, but it seemed that he hadn't figured out how to put it yet.

"You were hurt really bad this time." She said in a breath of a whisper, walking forward and concentrating her power on the profusely bleeding wound on his hip, seeing it seal up under the dim blue glow that encompassed her hands before moving on.

"So it seems." Aedan remained silent as Solona walked around him healing as she went, her brows furrowed in concentration while she worked. She paused for a long while at his injured arm, the pain receding the longer she worked at the wound. It was a mess of bruises and only half-healed from her earlier pass of magic in the alleway. If it weren't for his armor, he would probably only have a stump of his arm left. As it was, the metal seemed to have crunched inward and dug open the wound, tearing at the skin until it was in tatters. She had to pick out pieces of shirt that had lodged in his muscle, inciting a hiss of pain from Aedan every time. "This was a really dumb move, you know. We nearly died."

The mage remained silent, continuing to heal him with a glow of blue radiating from her hands, her fingers now covered in his blood.

"What did that mage do to you?" He asked, turning his face slightly so that he could see the concentrated expression Solona was sporting currently. "I saw you stop in the middle of everything. You looked like you were screaming."

"Blood magic." Solona replied quickly, the magic fading from her hands. She grabbed Aedan's wrist and examined his hand, causing him to try and draw it back when she touched his broken finger a bit harder than was necessary. "They cast a spell on me, that's all. We won, so what does it matter?" Again she drew on her energy to heal him, the broken finger mending itself under her care.

"I don't know if you would have made it if the elf didn't intervene." Aedan replied, feeling more than knowing that there was more to it than what Solona was providing with her clipped answers. "I don't know if I would have made it, for that matter."

Abruptly she dropped his hand, leveling a glare at the big warrior. "So? What do you want me to say? It's too late to change things now, and I'm not apologizing for doing what was right."

"That's not what I'm asking." She looked like she wanted to flee the room when he didn't back down, so he moved in front of the door, crossing his arms over his chest. If she wanted out, she'd have to listen to him first. "I want you to stop and think about this. You very nearly died. We were outclassed, and if not for a stroke of random luck, all three of us probably would have been dead. Freedom doesn't mean much if the first thing you do is try and get yourself killed."

"Why would living free be worth it if all I ever did was cower and hide from obstacles?" Solona asked, her temper starting to show. "I did the cowering and the hiding already. I've watched the abuses of the Templars all my life and done nothing about it! But now I've finally got the chance to make a difference, and you want me to ignore it?"

"Why does it seem like you're deliberately missing the point?" His voice echoed her exasperation, his own patience beginning to wear thin as Solona continued to speak. "You don't have to by a martyr to do what's right! If you want to do good, some real good, then you have to pick your battles! Flinging yourself against every impossible challenge won't make the world a better place. It'll just make you dead."

Blood rushed to her face, again feeling like a rank apprentice being lectured by somebody who obviously thought they knew far better than she. "And what do you care if I die or not? Scared that your little bullying business will be less effective without your pet mage there to back you up?"

"Solona, don't. That's not what I-"

"Spare me." She hissed, rolling her eyes. "And move. I won't use my magic on you because we're friends, Aedan." It was a threat.

They stood chest-to-chest, mage versus warrior, and finally Aedan gave, though reluctantly, letting her pass with a cloud hanging over her head as she went. "I care if you die or not because we're friends." He let her go with that final jab, and Solona closed the door hard, feeling an overwhelming sense of guilt coupled with her anger as she put down for the night in the room across the hall, watching the elf that they'd rescued sleep peacefully unaware of their argument.

Keran came with her, nudging open the door with his nose and looking at her with his big intelligent eyes. Solona let him put his head in her hands and her hands glowed healing blue, the long ugly gashes that the dog had acquired from the fight sealing up before her eyes. "Sorry big guy, I wouldn't forget about you."

He whined once then waited for the mage to finish her job. She scratched him behind the ears when she was done, and then he left her alone to her thoughts with her back against the wall and a hollow feeling in her stomach.

-0-0-0-

Her head was throbbing when she woke up. Something was different. She was somewhere new. She was laying on something soft, not the cold hard dungeon floor she had started to become used to sleeping on. It didn't smell like death here either, but instead smelled of fish and the sea.

Slowly the elf woke, opening her eyes and feeling weak all over. Immediately she noticed a few things. One, that the constant burning where the chains had been placed around her ankles and wrists was gone. Two, there was light in this room, and the ceiling above her was made of wood, not stone. Thirdly, there was someone in there with her, a woman with brown and blonde hair that mumbled to herself, hands aglow with magic.

From across the hall Aedan heard a scream and woke from a dead sleep with his heart racing. Keran barked, the dog immediately getting on his feet and started pawing viciously at the door, eager to get out and fight. Aedan barely paused to grab his sword and wrenched the door open, expecting to see the hallway full of soldiers or Templars, but instead Keran began clawing at the door across the hall. Cold fear washed over him, and he yanked the door open to see that the elf was awake.

The redheaded woman had Solona in a chokehold, her arm squeezing against the mage's windpipe to keep her from uttering spells. How she managed to hold on while Solona struggled in her emaciated state, Aedan would never begin to fathom. The moment he entered the elf's vivid green eyes found his face, a look of desperation there.

"Don't move shem!" The elf called out, rising to her feet and still holding Solona captive. "I'll choke this woman to death if you get any closer. And call off your damned dog!"

Keran had been barking at her loudly, and would have gone and simply dragged the elf down by the ankles if the room wasn't so small. The elf was holding Solona so that the mage served as a shield, blocking any incoming attack unless the attacker was willing to hurt the mage in the process.

"Let her go, elf. We mean you no harm." Aedan grabbed a hold of Keran's collar, pulling the mabari back. He continued to growl, but didn't strain against his master's hand. "Don't you remember? We saved you from the slavers last night."

"And what'd you plan on doin' with me afterwards?" The elf shot back quickly, obviously not about to trust him, savior or no. "Turn me into the guards? Maybe you work for some other Tevinter shems and caught me for them instead. Not takin' that chance. Put down your weapon!"

When Aedan didn't immediately comply, the elf tightened her grip on Solona's neck, causing her to struggle harder. "I said put it down!"

He paused, looking to Solona's face for a hint as to what she expected him to do. Suddenly the mage gave off a powerful wave of force that almost knocked Aedan off his feet and even Keran retreated from. The elf let go of the mage's neck and fell backwards, allowing Solona to drop to her knees, gasping for breath and coughing hard.

Recovered, Keran bolted forward to attack the elf but was intercepted by Solona's outstretched hands. He snapped at the elf's ankles and she retreated into the corner of the room on top of the bed, looking frightened and severely disappointed with the outcome of her escape attempt. Aedan came forward as well, standing over Solona protectively. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, don't hurt her!" Slowly Solona got to her feet, still holding onto Keran's collar to keep the dog from leaping at the cornered elf. "I think she was a prisoner for some time before they took her to the slaver ships. She's just scared we'll send her back."

"By all the fool notions-" Angrily, Aedan sheathed his sword and showed the elf his empty hands. "Look, we saved you from those slavers at great personal risk. We weren't sent, we don't have an agenda, and we're certainly not handing you back over to them."

The elf relaxed fractionally, but still kept a close eye on the two.

"We're not going to give you to the guard, either." Solona said calmly, releasing Keran when the dog calmed down and wasn't about to leap on her anymore. "After we helped you and the others escape from the slavers, you collapsed. We brought you back here. I was afraid that you'd die if you were left by yourself."

The elf snorted, disbelieving that Solona could be so kind-hearted. "Nobody just decides to up and save a group of elves fer no reason. What's your game? Why the lies?"

"Nobody except for maybe a mage." Solona held up her hand, the one with the signet ring bearing the heraldry of the Circle. That got the elf woman's attention mighty quick. "I've worked with many elves from the Alienage. In the Circle, we're all equals, all castoffs of society. Race or rank doesn't matter there."

"What about him?" The elf nodded toward Aedan, her gaze remaining intent on the man. "He don't seem like a Templar to me."

"I'm nobody that important." Aedan replied in a gruff voice. "Sword for hire."

"Ah." She looked him over briefly, and was apparently content with the explanation, so turned her attention back to Solona. "I guess that makes you the sort of mage that don't really like to pal around with Templars then, eh?"

Solona nodded. "Exactly."

"So I was rescued by a couple o' mercs and their dog?" Keran growled at the elf, to which she made a gesture of approval. "A very smart dog, at that. You guys low on members or somethin'? Lookin' fer new blood?"

"No, that's not-" Solona started, but was cut off by Aedan.

"Actually, we are in need of some help." He had that look on his face that said he was hatching a plan, so neither of the women interrupted him, though the elf looked like all of her suspicions had finally been justified. "But it's help with information, not labor. How much do you know of this city?"

She laughed, apparently very amused by the question. "Tell me mister sword-for-hire, how often do ya think it is that I get out o' this city?" When Aedan remained silent, the elf only grinned to herself. "Exactly. I could tell ya how to get from one side to t'other without getting' mugged even once. Where to put down if the guard is lookin' fer ya, and what times you best be avoidin' the patrols 'cuz they've got scum on duty. I know this city."

"Good. Then what do you know of the Arl's estate? Or the Chantry building?" The elf was silent, apparently trying to guess Aedan's game, then shrugged to herself, deciding that it didn't matter anyway.

"I don't know much 'bout the Chantry. Shems don't like it when an elf that ain't attached to one of 'em as a servant comes sniffin' around their holy ground. An' them boys in armor they got as guard dogs ain't nice when their holy mothers get upset. Sorry. The estate's a different story." She paused to collect her breath and thoughts, noting the slightly eager look on the warrior's face and how the mage appeared to be somewhat crestfallen by the news thus far. What a pair. Their game faces were terrible. "I broke in there once. Did a little treasure hunting, and spent lots of time in the dungeon for it. So, I know the place fairly well."

Solona seemed bewildered that the slight little elf woman was a thief, and didn't bother to hide it. "You broke into an Arl's home? Past the guards and the staff and who only knows what else?"

"Yup. Seemed pretty impressive at the time to me too." The elf's tone was completely deadpan, giving nothing away.

"Well, then maybe we'll have use of your skills after all." Aedan continued after Solona continued to stare at the elf, trying to gloss over the awkwardness that she had summoned. "But not until you're ready, and if you'd be willing to help."

The elf took a moment to examine the two, still under the impression that the two had to be getting at something. "Well, if you plan on doin' anythin' illegal, then count me in. I'm always up fer feather ruffling, especially when it comes to the nobility."

A pained smile crossed Aedan's face. "I'll keep that in mind. I'm Aedan, by the way. She's Solona, and the mabari is Keran."

"I'm Kallian. Lookin' forward to workin' with you."

A/N: I'm so excited that it's not even funny. The City Elf origin is by far my favorite one of all. Since DA:O has an achievement requiring a play through of all origins to complete, I of course had to be a perfectionist and try my hand at all of them. I played through City Elf as male the first time around, and was immediately curious to see how the story differed for a female. I fell in love with Kallian's story, and she was definitely my favorite Warden when it was all said and done. I realize of course that not-saved-by-Duncan City Elf has a lot of obstacles to survive in order to get out of Denerim alive at all. No worries, I've come up with a fairly solid plan that I hope will appease your curiosity and suspension of disbelief. Her story will be revealed gradually, so you'll have to wait and find out just how it is that I've managed to save her from being executed. Also, Kallian is a compulsive liar. Don't be fooled. Props to anybody that managed to guess who she was before the name reveal sentence.