He had died.

Everything around him was cloaked in hazy darkness. It was hard to think. He couldn't see anything but darkness, and there was a strange numb quality to his mind that prevented him from thinking. Free floating in that boundless void, there was only a single train of thought that wasn't perhaps so much of a thought as an undeniable fact inscribed on the fabric of his being: I must be dead.

But then the haze began to thin and warmth spread over his body. That's when he began to notice other things like how hard it was to breathe and what pain it caused him. Well, if he were in pain, he couldn't possibly be dead. That reassured him in a vaguely satisfying manner, though the harder it was to breathe the more he began to wake up, panic forcing him to rouse. Other senses began to awaken along with his conscious thinking mind. He was lying down and every joint ached with weariness. What had happened? The last thing he remembered was being in battle. Flashing steel, the screaming of the dying, the pain of wounds, the sting of sweat in his eyes and then…

"Fergus!" With a jolt, Aedan sat straight up in bed and his efforts were rewarded with a searing pain that took his breath away, spots swimming in front of his eyes and a deafening rushing sound in his ears that made him woozy and off-balance. Cool hands on his chest pushed him back down, and it was only after being able to master himself that he could look up and see who was taking care of him.

Solona hovered over him, her face pinched and obviously worn with dark smudges under her eyes. She looked like she hadn't slept in days, her clothes rumpled and hair equally disheveled. In short, she was a mess. All the same, he recognized the warm flow of her healing magic when she passed her hands over his chest once more, biting at her lip in worry. He couldn't help but to smile. "You're a beautiful sight."

Her face colored in a blush and she averted her eyes to keep from looking at Aedan's tired but amused expression. "I know you're kidding. Honestly, how can you joke at a time like this? You nearly died." She gestured at the thick wrap around his chest splotched with the coppery color of old dried blood and applied her healing magic there again.

He chose not to antagonize her further, realizing a little belatedly that she had probably been up for who knows how long tending to all of their wounded from the battle. She was the only mage that they had in their group and though most of the soldiers would know basic first aid, he severely doubted that any of them were proper medical material with only perhaps one or two around that were experienced enough to have noteworthy skills. "How are you doing?" He asked softly, searching her turned face carefully to make sure that she wasn't going to try and give him some half-truth about how she was all right.

"Tired." Solona replied with a long sigh, sitting back on the crate she'd taken as a seat next to Aedan's cot and rubbed her forehead. "Eight died in the initial assault. There were three more that I couldn't save and… well, there's another two I'm worried about. I'm not sure if they're going to make it." Heaving a great sigh, she pinned Aedan with a look, though he wasn't coherent enough to quit place the emotions swimming in her gaze. "And then you nearly got yourself killed. Broken arm, broken ribs, punctured lung… That man very nearly cut you in half, you know. Your armor saved you from being skewered beyond my ability to mend, but not by much. And we had to dig links from your chainmail out of your side before I could do anything. Your arm too." Gently she reached over to Aedan's side and held his broken arm in both hands, tightly bound in a makeshift splint and thick with strips of linen and gauze. She let him see the handiwork for a moment before setting the cast back at his side on the cot. "The armor did more harm than good when we tried to get it off. It'll heal, but there will be a scar, and I'm not skilled enough to outright heal a broken bone. Only keep it from getting infected. One of the other soldiers set your arm actually; I didn't even know how to do that. Either way, you can't be fighting for a while. Magic or not, you're very weak, and that arm will take a while to heal up properly."

Aedan took the death toll in stride, secretly impressed that they'd managed to get away with only loosing so little of their force against a much larger enemy. The recalling of his own wounds he took just as well, lifting his good hand to his side where he remembered the man with the broad sword swinging at him. His fingers brushed wrappings, and his side was wet, probably with blood. That would definitely account for how light-headed he felt, loosing that much blood. However, being declared an invalid, even if it was a temporary situation, didn't bode well with him. He was sure that Solona saw the look of displeasure on his face, because she frowned in return, obviously expecting him to argue the point. He probably would have, if he weren't so tired and there weren't a more important subject lingering in his head. "What about Fergus? Is he alright?"

Solona smiled gently, the sleeplessness disappearing for a few seconds and patted Aedan's good arm. "He's fine. He took some wounds in the battle, but most of them were easily tended to through normal means. He was mostly worried about you, and has been standing in for you the past few days."

Aedan frowned at that, confused. Past few days? How long had he been unconscious for? The revelation that his brother was fine instantly lightened his heart though, and the mortal failings of his body were forgotten in the sweep of relief. He sighed, his side protesting the motion, but smiled still despite the pain. "Can I see him?"

Her smile became tinged with a hint of wariness, and Solona leaned back on her crate. "I can go get him. You're in no shape to be walking right now. Just sitting up like you did earlier tore open the wound on your side again." She flicked her gaze to the bandages wrapped tightly around his waist and lower ribs, the patch of crimson having stopped spreading after her quick bout of healing, but it was still much too large for her comfort.

Aedan took a moment to collect his thoughts and try to come up with a logical reason as to why he should be allowed to stand up and go find Fergus, but other than wanting to be on his feet again, he couldn't think of anything. The dark spots under Solona's eyes tempered his desire to protest further, knowing that if he got up and tore his wounds she would just further exhaust herself trying to patch him up. Poor thanks that would be. Finally he nodded, and Solona looked relieved. "I would like to see him."

Nodding, Solona made to stand and stopped half way from rising out of her chair, suddenly finding Aedan's right hand on her wrist.

"Thank you." He said simply, and then let her go.

Outside the rebel Highever soldiers had wound down for the night. Tents were pitched, a fire in the center of camp was greedily devouring anything that the men threw on it, and the smell of stew was thick in the air. Night had settled on the land in full, and those who were just coming back from patrols around their camp were shrugging off their armor gratefully, talking amongst themselves in low voices. Many of them bore blood-stained bandages on various body parts, for it seemed that no one in camp managed to get through completely unscathed. Solona had done her best, but she only had so much strength to keep healing and only so many lyrium potions on her person. Of her stock, only one was left, and she was determined to keep that for an emergency only. In this company, using blood magic to supplement her dwindling mana was entirely out of the question.

Some of the soldiers gave her a small greeting as she passed, and Solona returned them with a nod of her head. The tent that Fergus stayed in wasn't very far away so she didn't have to keep a cheery smile for very long as she traversed the distance. There were voices inside when she got to the slightly larger than average tent, and she immediately recognized one as Fergus, the other probably Brom, the burly man that Aedan had chosen as his second in command. Moving the flap of the tent aside, she poked her head in to see what was going on before clearing her throat as a means of announcing her presence.

The two men had been talking to each other over a table full of papers, and each looked up when they heard her, the conversation waning. Fergus motioned for Solona to come in, then picked up a piece of paper and studied it briefly. "We'll continue through the Bannorn, then." He said definitively, rolling up the paper, which turned out to be a map of Ferelden and handed it to Brom. "We'll make better time as long as we don't run into any more stragglers. The Highway is safer, but the longer we stay out here the worse things will be. Who knows when the survivors of that fight will get word back to Howe, and how long it will take him to respond? I'd rather weather the open country, civil war or no civil war."

Brom made a noise of understanding, tucked the map under his arm along with several other folded and rolled bits of paper then excused himself, bowing first to Fergus then nodding to Solona and disappeared out of the tent. Only when he was gone did Fergus heave a great big sigh, knocking his fist lightly on the thin wooden table and turned his attention to Solona. "I hope it's good news." His face was troubled, and with good reason. The first day after the two brothers had been reunited everyone was absolutely sure that Aedan was going to die. It seemed impossible that he would survive such terrible wounds, but one of the men had been trained as a field surgeon, and with a little magical assistance from Solona, they had saved him from the brink of death. After that it had been beyond the man's ability to influence the situation one way or the other, and it had been declared a matter best left in the hands of the Maker. Other men needed his attention desperately, and they had no choice but to let him go about his duties.

Yesterday had been a series of near misses, and even with Solona spending every ounce of extra energy she had on keeping Aedan alive, he was still off in a bad way. It was for these reasons that Fergus saw the mage woman's coming as something to be wary of. Every time she made an appearance, there seemed to be more bad news.

Solona smiled, knowing what was probably going through the elder Cousland's head and dipped her head slightly out of respect. "He's awake. Aedan was asking after you."

For a moment Fergus seemed not to understand her words, then a smile broke out over his haggard features and he seemed to slump inward a little, as if a great weight had been taken off his shoulders. "Thank the Maker." He said with a sigh then straightened, looking more eager now. "How is he, then?"

"See for yourself." She replied, unable but to help smile. Fergus had been nothing but unhappy the past three days, so to see him loosened up was comforting. "He's very weak, but I doubt that he would be very pleased if I tried to keep you two apart."

"That sounds about right." Fergus confirmed with a hint of a smile, then blew out the candle hanging over the table and walked out of the tent, Solona following close behind. He walked with an even determined stride toward Aedan's tent, pausing only when he was directly outside of it, then turned to look at Solona. "You saved him." He said simply, meeting her eyes steadily. "I can't thank you enough for that. He's the only family I have left."

She couldn't find her voice to tell him that she would have done anything to save Aedan's life, and after a second of struggling to bring out the words she simply smiled and dipped her head, then quietly watched as Fergus went in. She almost walked in after him, her hand near the fabric of the tent, but paused and instead turned away. She had been with Aedan this entire time while Fergus had probably thought the younger man dead. The two brothers needed this reunion. Besides, she needed food and rest. Smiling to herself absently, she went over to the fire to see what was being served.

Inside the tent Fergus stood just on the threshold, looking Aedan over. He had his eyes closed at the moment, his skin unnaturally pale. Patches of red stood out strongly by his side where he knew that the deep sword wound was, some of it fresh. Those bandages would need changing soon to prevent an infection…

Taking a deep breath, Aedan opened his eyes and looked up, meeting Fergus' stare and grinned. "You look like you've seen a ghost." He managed through his dry throat, and instantly Fergus' attention was brought back to the present.

"I suppose I feel like I have." He replied with a weary grin, closing the distance between them and sat on the crate at Aedan's side. After a silent minute, he clapped his hand on Aedan's shoulder, giving him a rough pat. "Let's not make a habit of this, eh? I'll have to start pounding faces in if people keep trying to kill you."

That got a terse laugh out of Aedan, and he reached up to clasp Fergus just above his elbow. "Same to you! After Ostagar and that letter…" A look of pain flashed over Aedan's face briefly, and he squeezed Fergus' arm. "I should have looked harder for you." His voice dropped lower, nearly on the verge of cracking with restrained guilt. "I gave up after I heard about Ostagar. I should have looked…"

Fergus shook his head briefly, squeezing Aedan's shoulder back and then drawing his arm away so that he could lean his elbows against his knees. "I'm not sure you wouldn't have just been wasting your time, to be honest." Fergus replied with a shrug, his mood turning more sullen instantly. "I never made it to the battle at Ostagar. We were still scouting in the wilds when we were attacked by a party of darkspawn. Most of my men were killed. I woke up two weeks later in a Chasind hut, wounded and feverish. By the time I was able to sneak out of the wilds, things were already getting messy. I tried to get word to Highever. You can imagine what happened I suppose…"

Aedan nodded silently, his good fist clenching in silent anger. "I got the letter you sent to Oriana. Corbert got it from his granddaughter in Highever."

Fergus watched Aedan for a second, then raised his hand to brush back his hair in a messy sweep. "When I sent that, I hadn't gotten word of Highever yet. News in the south is slow, so it wasn't until days after I had seen the letter off that I realized it was a mistake. After escaping the Wilds, I went to Gwaren with the other refugees fleeing the Darkspawn, healed a little bit more from my encounter in the Wilds… Howe got the letter of course. He sent men after me pretending to be city guards with orders for my arrest. I knew by then what happened at Highever and had been getting ready to leave, so I fought them off and ran. At first I was just running away, but then I decided that I needed to go to Highever and see it for myself. Get revenge if I could. But those blasted assassins chased me all across the Bannorn. I was near the border of Amaranthine when I heard rumors that you were alive and recruiting in Denerim.

"I thought it was a trap at first, something to lure me out and make me a better target for those scoundrels but… I just thought that if there was a chance… any chance that you were still alive then I would take any risk to see you again. But those assassins were still on my tail, and I wasn't going to lead them straight to you." He picked at a scab on the back of his hand absently, his features pulled into a frown. "I didn't think that I'd run straight into the middle of the civil war. Those Amaranthians would have had me if you didn't come along when you did."

"The Maker had a hand in brining us together again, I think." Aedan replied, looking up at the tent ceiling and laid his good hand over his bandage wrapped stomach. After a moment of quiet, he looked back over to Fergus, the barest hint of a smile on his face. "Now that we're together, we can bring that bastard down. Solona said that you took charge while I was unconscious."

Fergus nodded. "Aye, someone had to. I'm surprised to see a familiar face or two. I would have thought that Howe would have executed any loyalists."

"Perhaps he would have." Aedan replied with a shrug. "I wouldn't be surprised. He's certainly shown his heartless side. But they're for us, and that's what matters." He paused, looking at Fergus out of the corner of his eye. "I'm glad that you took over. Father always intended to pass on leadership to you."

Fergus didn't reply to that, instead studying the back of his hand with feigned interest. When he did look up though it was to change the topic, obviously discussing things that their father would have wanted being too painful a subject to broach just yet. "You've met some interesting people while I wasn't looking."

Aedan took the hint and smiled to himself. "You haven't even met the most interesting of them." At the curious look at Fergus shot him, Aedan allowed himself a private chuckle and retold the events that finally got him here, starting with meeting Solona at Redcliffe. He glossed over the parts where they were attacked by Templars and took to the Brecilian in order to hide, and if Fergus noticed the omission, he said nothing. Likewise he left out the encounter in the Fade with Solona's demon, deeming that that would be a conversation for another time, if that time were to come at all.

For his part, Fergus seemed keenly interested in Aedan's dealings with Kallian and the raid that had lead to finding the incriminating documents that would put Howe in league with the slavers. When Aedan told him about the Wardens, Fergus stopped him briefly to ask a few questions and recall some rumors on the road about the nature of the Wardens and their supposed involvement in Ostagar that had lead to ruin. Aedan confirmed that he'd heard those rumors as well and had even confronted the Wardens on the topic, but reassured Fergus that he was under the impression that the rumors were Loghain propaganda.

At the end of his tale Aedan let Fergus digest all of the information and take everything into account at his own pace. A lot had happened in the past few months and both of them had their stories to consider in the big scheme of things. Finally, Fergus leaned back on the crate, for the moment satisfied with the information Aedan had given him. "Interesting friends." He repeated with a nod to himself, then glanced at the flap of the tent. "Loyal, too, from what I've seen. The men were reluctant to take command from anyone else, even if it was just to leave the battle field and get as far away as we could before reinforcements arrived. The mage girl, Solona… she's very attached to you. Barely left your side the whole time you were out."

Again he felt that peculiar twist in his chest and searched Fergus' face for a hint of what he expected to hear. When his older brother gave nothing away, Aedan simply sighed. He was too tired to play politics, and didn't particularly want to anyway with Fergus. "We've been together since the beginning of all… this." He waved his hand weakly in the air, the gesture meaning to encompass everything; the war, the Blight, Ferelden… "I trust her with my life. I've trustedher with my life before, and I'm not dead yet. Mage or woman… it doesn't really matter. I can rely on her without reservation, and that's worth more than what I can say."

Fergus seemed satisfied with that answer and nodded in apparent approval, though his expression seemed sad for the briefest of moments. "Good, I'm glad that there's someone around here that can be trusted."

A small noise attracted their attention, and both looked over to see Solona standing there, looking tired and a bit sheepish with a bowl in her hand. "I'm sorry if I'm interrupting." She said, looking between the two.

Aedan got a whiff of the contents of the bowl and instantly his stomach growled loud enough for everyone to hear. "Oh blessed Andraste… soup has never smelled so good in my life."

Fergus chuckled and stood, patting Aedan on the shoulder. "We were done for now anyway. Get some rest. We're moving again in the morning." Aedan nodded and Fergus bid both a good night, leaving the tent and sparing Solona an approving nod as he left, disappearing outside.

Walking in, Solona set the bowl down on the recently unoccupied crate and moved behind Aedan in an effort to help him sit up without straining his wound too much. "I'm glad you're well enough to have talked so long. Fergus was worried that you might not recover. He put on a tough face, but I knew he was worried sick." She smiled to herself, recalling the way that he'd made several attempts to get into Aedan's tent, only to stop himself and walk away with his best business attitude he could muster. With some grumbling and pained gasps she managed to get Aedan sitting upright and after expending some of her preciously stored energy on his side, she sat and handed him the bowl of soup. "You haven't eaten in three days, so take it slow."

If not for her warning, Aedan probably would have tried to inhale the soup as fast as he could. As it was, he tried to ignore the growling demands of his stomach and deliberately ate slow. Solona filled him in on the events of the past three days while he ate, from after he'd fallen unconscious and loaded him into the supply wagon as a means of transportation until today when they'd finally broken camp after putting a considerable distance between themselves and the battlefield. They were half a day from River Dane and heading south through the Bannorn and would try to cross the straights between Lake Calenhad and Lothering in an effort to avoid the front lines of the Darkspwan horde. Fergus had a better idea of where they were lurking than most, and wasn't at all intent on coming close to them if they didn't have to.

By the time she was done recounting the events of the past few days Aedan was done with his soup and she helped him to lay back down again. "We'll be moving again in the morning." She warned in a soft voice, making sure he was settled before taking his bowl. "Rest well. It's a few days yet to Redcliffe, more if we have to go through Lothering. It won't do if you have to appear before Arl Eamon half dead."

She smiled for him, and Aedan was grateful for the jest. "I'll keep that in mind." He replied feeling exceedingly tired now that hunger wasn't clawing him awake. Just as Solona got up, he opened his mouth to speak again. "I was afraid he wouldn't want to see me." Aedan admitted in a quiet and obviously tired voice. He wasn't sure why he was confiding this now. Perhaps it was the blood loss that was messing with his self-restraint.

Solona blinked at that, settling the bowl more firmly in her hands. "What do you mean?" She asked, resettling on the crate. "Are you talking about Fergus?"

"Yes…" He replied with a sighed, closing his eyes.

"Why? He was worried about you the whole time. He wanted to see you well again so badly."

After a pause that stretched so long that Solona had begun to expect that he'd fallen asleep, Aedan took a deep breath and turned to look at her. "I keep feeling like I've failed him, like he should blame me for what happened at Highever. His wife and child… mother and father… I was to be the one that was left in charge, to protect Highever… I couldn't even get through the one night."

Solona bit her lip briefly, the obvious pain in Aedan's heart that was seething just beneath the surface tugging on her heartstrings. "You can't think that of yourself." Aedan simply shot her a baleful look at that and she leaned forward, placing her hand over his good one lightly. The Aedan I know would do anything to protect the people that he cared about. I believe that on that night you did everything you could. I know that you would have done everything you could to protect your family and your home, and I think that Fergus knows that too. I think he's just happy that you're alive, that you made it out and he's not the only one left. Just like you."

Aedan stared at Solona for a second, then turned his hand palm up and squeezed Solona's fingers gently. "Thank you."

Seeing his weariness Solona quickly excused herself by blowing out the candle that hovered near his cot and left the tent. Once outside she heaved a small sigh and placed a hand to her chest where her heart fluttered uncontrollably. She hadn't meant to eaves drop on the two brothers, but once she'd heard her name she couldn't help but to listen in for a moment or two. Solona had always known that Aedan trusted her. In fact, he'd said as much to her face. But it was something else entirely to hear him speak so well of her character to his brother. Then trusting her again with one of his fears that he'd kept hidden for so long… That was just another level of trust that made her heart warm.

Feeling lighter than it had since she'd seen Aedan fall in battle, she headed back to the impromptu mess tent and handed the bowl over, then went to her own small one-man tent and turned in for the night, utterly exhausted.

IT'S FRIDAY, FRIDAY! THIS STORY UPDATES ON FRIDAAAAY~!

Really people? Really? You'd actually think that I would kill a main character half way through the story? I suppose it's telling of my writing style and how many emotional roller coasters I've put you and the characters through that nobody called me on my BS. I only got one death threat. Very sad.

In other news, I'll try and keep up on the chapter updates from now on. I've finished all the major quest lines in Skyrim, and I'm about half way through AC:Revelations, so the video games are slowly taking up less and less of my life. Luckily, I have a buffer chapter now, so WE SHALL SEE!

PS: I missed you all