Aedan only listened with half his attention to the coronation ceremony, his gaze wandering without real purpose. He clapped when it was appropriate, but otherwise did very little to participate in the festivities. The Landsmeet hall had been first among the things to be repaired after the city had been scoured for darkspawn. The cobbles out front had been washed of blood and the bodies carted away to a pile of rotting or burnt dead outside the walls. Somehow, the inside of the Hall had remained almost completely intact. The defensive ring that he had led during the siege had allowed no darkspawn in to defile the Landsmeet Hall.

It was filled with the remaining surviving nobility, their retainers, and a spattering of soldiers that had survived the battle as well as a small ring of Alienage elves that looked incredibly out of place, but were standing their ground. Compared to the bustling meetings that normally happened in the Hall, this was a small gathering, and the toll that the Blight had taken was immediately apparent in the small representation of Ferelden's people.

After much pomp and circumstance Alistair had been formally crowned King and there was practically a riot in the Hall of celebration once the crown sat on his head. The newly crowned king Alistair gave a few speeches to his people, fidgeting under the heavy mantle of being a country's leader, but Fergus quietly commented that he was doing better than expected. Aedan agreed silently, but was in no mood to have a small chuckle at their new monarch's expense.

After skillfully avoiding a disaster during his first address as king, other awards for bravery and heroism in the trying times they had weathered were handed out. Aedan went forward to receive his for his noble service to Denerim, but largely only smiled because he had to and went back to join Fergus in the crowd as soon as he was able. Kallian and he managed to spare a look at each other and each gave a grim nod. Neither of them particularly felt like celebrating.

The last on the list of things to do was of course also the most exciting. Theron, newly heralded the Hero of Ferelden was still looking a bit shell shocked by the whole ordeal. When he stepped out on the balcony and was met with thunderous applause, Aedan had the feeling that the elf would happily face the Archdemon again rather than be the center of attention like this. What an awkward pair. A king that didn't want to be king, and a hero that didn't want to be a hero.

The parade afterwards was simply an extension of the prolonged march in which he had to pretend that he was overjoyed to be on parade. Of course he was happy that the Blight had ended and his brother had been formally declared Teyrn of Highever. How could he not be? But when they stood out on the balcony his brother had given him a knowing look and clapped him on the shoulder. Fergus knew exactly what he was going through, and it gave him enough resolve to get through the rest of the day. Once the parties were over, he would be heading south for Gwaren on a diplomatic mission, representing the arm of the king. With Anora in prison for lack of a better thing to do with her and with Gwaren out of a Teyrn, the South was in a desperate state. It was going to be his job to make sure that everyone got along and that the restoration of the south was on track.

It would be dangerous, and they were predicting that there would be no small amount of fighting in the wake of such a huge power void. Secretly he hoped that the prediction would come precisely true. He looked forward to lose himself in battle. It would keep him from dwelling on what he'd lost.

Finally, after a day of formal processions and posturing, hand shaking and gossip, elbow rubbing and congratulatory speeches, they were all finally released to their own corners of the world. Many were heading back to their own estates to prepare for the night of feasts and partying to further celebrate their victory over darkness. After all that Ferelden had been through, the few survivors of the horrible war and ravaging Blight felt that cutting loose and spending the wee hours of the morning drunk off sweet wines was a perfectly reasonable way to pass the time. Normally, Aedan would have agreed and participated in the merriment, but Solona's death had hit him harder than that ogre's charge and any sort of joy seemed wildly inappropriate when compared with the clawing sorrow in his heart.

Fergus didn't press him, knowing that his brother needed his silence and his space. He knew his brother would recover. After all, he was a Cousland too. But it would take time, and he was more than willing to give him that. The two brothers walked in silence back to the estate, ignoring for the most part the others that wandered the streets in various states of drunkenness.

From the shuffle of the crowd and the press of bodies, Kallian appeared, little more than a splash of red among the other colors of the street, but her quiet presence was welcomed amongst the two brothers. If anyone could understand Aedan, it was Kallian, and the two gravitated toward each other in their quiet shared sadness.

By the time that they reached the estate however, it had become clear to both Fergus and Kallian that Aedan was suffering from something besides heartbreak, and their suspicions were confirmed when he suddenly collapsed in the foyer, breathing hard and a cold sweat breaking out all over his body. Worried beyond measure, Fergus knelt beside his brother who was crouched on his hands and knees, visibly trembling with his eyes squeezed shut tightly. "Aedan, can you hear me?" He asked, voice pleading with his brother, quietly begging for him to hold on. "What's wrong?"

"Burns." Aedan managed to choke out, his body shuddering again and he gasped for breath, reaching with one hand to the collar of his throat as if there were a rope tugging tight around his windpipe that he tried to pull away.

Fergus could hear his heart hammering in his ears, his breath hitched in his throat in that panicked second. Carefully, he reached out and put his hands under Aedan's chin, forcing him to lift his head and tilt it to the side slightly to get a better look at his neck. The damning mark was there. When Fergus saw it, he jerked his hands away as if he had been burned and Aedan's head dangled limply as it had before, trembling and breathing hard, completely unaware of his brother's reaction.

"Fergus? What-" Kallian started but could get no further as the elder Cousland turned his gaze on the redheaded elf.

"Taint."

The single word rang in the foyer like a death knell in the silence. Both Fergus and Kallian went several shades paler. Fergus had seen the Taint take his men after the ambush near Ostagar. He had seen the agonizing death that quickly followed the first appearance of the darkening veins in a man's neck, followed by bruise-like splotches on the skin. He sat next to his dying brother, reeling from the knowledge that he only had a few days at most to spend with the last family he had on earth before the disease took him.

Kallian gaped at Aedan, her hands trembling and her mind racing. He couldn't die. Ammy had died. She couldn't lose Basher too. In a whirl she suddenly turned from Aedan and bolted from the door, stopping before she opened it to look over her shoulder at Fergus. "You keep him alive!" She said sternly, meeting the older man's confused gaze. "Don't you dare let him die! I'm going for help."

Fergus wanted to tell her that there was no cure for the Taint, and that his brother was lost to them as surely as if someone had stuck a sword through his gut and they were simply watching him die a slow death. But she was gone, the little lithe elf girl darting out of the door before he could get a word in edgewise. The house staff by then had noticed the odd scene in the foyer and had come rushing to help carry the incapacitated Aedan back to his room where he could be tended with what little ability they had to ease his suffering.

•º•.•º•

Theron had been trying to escape all day.

Until now, it seemed like his life had been driven by a single purpose: Defeating the Blight. There had been no time for anything else. Everything he'd done for the past year was simply a means to an end in order to bring that end goal to fruition. Now, standing alive with that goal accomplished and surrounded by fair weather fans, he realized that he had never imagined himself actually being here. He realized that he had always assumed he would die in the attempt. He had slated himself for a warrior's fate along the way, whether it had been in the Deep Roads or facing the Archdemon. He would have died. He should have died. But he hadn't, and it was because of a city elf with a personality bigger than she had any right to have and a manipulative witch that had used that weakness against him.

Alistair was still hobnobbing with the other nobles, as was his duty as their new king, but Theron had abandoned him to that. He had no particular love of shemlen, even now after a year away from his secluded forest home and holding one particular shemlen as his best friend. The rest of the race simply had to prove itself to him before he would be comfortable with the masses.

Currently he had holed himself up in Eamon's library, his fingers trailing the backs of dusty tomes and searching for a title that seemed interesting. It had been a long time since he'd simply had some time to himself to relax and not worry what tragedy the next hour would bring. In his heart he knew that this was only the beginning of his responsibilities as a Warden, but in that quiet moment he could simply not care.

The sound of a door creaking open caught his attention. With a book in hand on the history of the Banns of Redcliffe, Theron rounded the corner of his row of books, expecting to see an exasperated Alistair coming to lecture him for being abandoned. Instead he came face to face with a distressed looking Kallian, her eyes rimmed red as if she had been crying and seemingly out of breath.

Immediately Theron grew worried, knowing that this had to be the prelude to some bad news that would end with him putting a sword in someone. "What's wrong, lethellan?" He set the book aside, the momentary peace forgotten.

"It's Aedan." She gasped raggedly, obviously trying to collect herself. "He's… he's got the Taint."

Theron stiffened at hearing that. The soldiers had been dealing with the Taint since the battle. Many had survived the siege of Denerim, but of those that did, a great portion had been consumed by the vile darkspawn affliction that poisoned the mind and body and led almost always to an excruciating death. He'd seen the Taint at work in Ostagar, and had seen the ghoul that Tamlen had become under its influence. "I'm sorry." He finally said after a moment of Kallian's eyes pleading with him for some resolution to the issue. "There's nothing I can do. The best thing for him now is a quick death."

Kallian underwent an immediate transformation from worried friend to a vengeful one, her shoulders visibly tensing. "What are you talkin' 'bout? You an' I both know that you've got a way around this. Make 'im a Warden."

He went to put his handle on a sword that wasn't there, leaning back slightly away from the determined gaze of Kallian, his expression gone neutral. "The Joining does not guarantee survival." Theron replied in a tone curiously devoid of inflection.

"Even if there's a chance." Her hard gaze broke somewhat, the desperate tone of a plea wriggling out of her hardened anger. "The Taint will kill him. But he could be a Warden. Theron, please."

He wanted to say no. Creators he wanted to say no. He knew that Aedan had a brother, someone that cared for him and a home to return to. Could he do the same to someone else what Duncan had done to him? Could he be that heartless? Kallian's desperate look finally broke him down and he sighed. "He may not want to be a Warden. If he doesn't, then I will not force the option on him."

Suddenly Kallian's arms were around his neck in a tight hug that was over as quickly as it had started. "Thank you." She muttered, her eyes full of hope. "Come on." Without another word she headed out of the Redcliffe estate, following the roads that would lead them straight back to the Highever compound. Inside the estate it was oddly hushed. He had been here when the manor was full of elves rescued from the slavers and soldiers patrolling the grounds. To have it empty of all but a few frantic maids was a little disquieting.

Kallian led him through the halls of the guest rooms on up to the second floor and only barely knocked on a closed door he recognized as Aedan's room before allowing herself to enter without waiting for a response. Inside Fergus was sitting in a chair next to the bed, his gaze haunted as he looked up at Kallian, though switched to surprise when he saw Theron in tow. Aedan was under a pile of covers being tended to by a maid, and appeared to be in a restless sleep. Theron approached the bed cautiously, looking at the warrior and spotted the thick veins on the side of his neck, darkened by the Taint. If he opened his eyes, a milky film would no doubt cover them. The affliction was spreading fast in the younger Cousland. It was a bit of a miracle that he had managed to hold on for this long without being attended at all, or even aware that he was Tainted.

"Kallian, Theron." Fergus said quietly, nodding to both. "Thank you for coming."

"I almost wish I hadn't." Theron muttered under his breath, causing Fergus to furrow his brow in confusion. Turning toward the older brother, Theron drew a breath and steadied himself. "Wake him. I have a proposal that the both of you should hear." At his glare, the maid excused herself from the room.

Fergus exchanged a look with Kallian, who nodded once. Aedan woke with some difficulty, the fever of the Taint obviously already having taken some affect on his ability to process reality like any other disease would. He winced when he tried to sit up to address those gathered around his bed, but could do very little without the help of his brother to sit him against the headboard.

Kallian's heart hurt to see him this way. She had known him for a long time, had seen him overcome so many obstacles and be hurt more times than was worth counting. For all the hardships they had seen over the past year however, he had always remained strong, dedicated. Now, he looked defeated, his quiet acceptance of his impending death obviously apparent. He didn't look like a man willing to fight against his fate.

"Theron." He greeted in a rough voice, clearing it momentarily and gave a cordial nod to the Warden. "Sorry I couldn't be at any of the ceremonies tonight. I'm ah, not really appropriate to be seen in public." Aedan's casual stab at humor only brought the mood down more, if that were at all possible.

The Warden seemed to brace himself again before speaking. "I'll cut to the chase. You are not long for this world. The Taint will consume you. If you don't die from it, you will become a creature not very unlike the darkspawn, and I will be forced to kill you if no one else will raise a blade to stop you." His gaze shifted to Fergus momentarily, the elder brother having gone slightly pale at hearing this, though did not look surprised in the least. Looking back at Aedan, he continued. "There is a way to avert this, but it comes with a heavy price. You can become a Warden. I too was inflicted by the Taint before becoming a Warden, and the Joining stopped my decent into becoming a ghoul. It will do the same for you, if you survive. Not all who partake of the Joining do. You could die as swiftly as if I had left you alone with the Taint. This is not a guaranteed cure. If you become a Warden, you will have a maximum of thirty years left to live, and will be at the mercy of the Order.

"You will have to cut all ties with your family, and your home. Becoming a Warden means giving up your life and dedicating it to the eradication of the darkspawn." He paused to let the information sink in, information that he sorely would have liked to know himself if he could do it all over again. "Knowing all this, would you attempt the Joining?"

Aedan stared for a long moment at Theron, all eyes on him. "Thirty seems a bit generous for a warrior neck-deep in darkspawn."

Theron shrugged in reply. "Some make it that long, miraculously."

Aedan nodded to that and looked at Fergus briefly. "And if I refuse? Would you kill me here?" He looked between his brother and the Warden. "Either of you?"

Fergus hesitated, but Theron nodded readily. "If you asked it, I could do no less. It is my job to eradicate the darkspawn and all of their traces. You now fit into that category."

The younger Cousland seemed satisfied by that answer, a peaceful look settling over his features. Before he could speak however, Fergus interrupted. "Don't throw your life away, brother." He said sternly, drawing the gaze of everyone in the room, including a befuddled looking Aedan. "If there is a chance, even a small one, that you can survive this, then it is your duty to do your lineage proud. Giving up is not the Cousland way. You are an heir to the honor that our family name bears."

The brothers looked at each other for a long time, then Aedan finally relented with a sigh, wincing as some pain of the Taint coursed through him and was silent a moment longer as the bout passed. "I might never come back to Highever again."

"You won't if you let this take you." Fergus replied with a certain hardness to his tone that hadn't been present earlier. "Death is final. Whatever pain you're feeling now, choosing death is not the option. I survived, you can too."

Aedan's expression flashed guilt for a moment at hearing his brother's words. Finally he looked to Theron, his expression that of someone resigned to some inescapable duty. "I will attempt the Joining."

Theron nodded tersely. "First, you must stay alive long enough for us to perform it. I'll go get Alistair, and when we return, you'll get your chance to join us in the Grey." His mission done, Theron gave both of the brothers a nod and excused himself, Kallian hesitating briefly before following after the Warden.

He cut a path out of the house, not getting lost even once and exited through the front door, remaining silent the entire time. It was Kallian that finally broke the silence. "Thank you for doing that, Theron." She said quietly, walking along at his side, matching his determined pace. "I know you didn't want to."

An inelegant snort left him at that comment. There were a few things he hadn't wanted to do, but had done anyway on account of Kallian. "You don't know the half of it." He muttered to himself, causing the girl at his side to stare at him curiously. "Just do not thank me. Being a Warden is not as glorious as the legends would make it out to be. The Blight may be over, but our duty never ends, and the choices we must make do not get easier with the passage of time. This may save him in the short term, but being a Warden is more suffering than dealing with bad dreams and darkspawn."

Kallian was silent for a moment in response, following Theron quietly without complaint. "Do you hate it that much?"

He spared her a sideways glance out of the corner of her eye. "At first, yes. Now? I am not so sure. I resent that being a Warden took me from my clan, my family, but it also gave me the opportunity to give them something back. The Dalish have a home now. We have not had one of those in a long time."

"Basher needs to keep fighting." Kallian said suddenly, her mind wandering away from the subject at hand. "I don't think he could go back to being a noble. Not really. Not after… well…" She shrugged helplessly. "I think he'd do better as a Warden. I just wish… that he didn't have to be, you know?"

Theron nodded in understanding. After all he'd seen and done, he knew that he could never go back to being a simple Dalish hunter, ignorant of the ways of the world and existing in relative peace. Battle was in his blood now, and it was as inescapable as the Taint that he bore. "What of you, lethellan? You have been fighting as well. Could you go back to the Alienage?"

She blinked in surprise at the question. "It's my home. My family's there. Besides, there's always gonna be a fight. The shem don't give up on us just because they're runnin' on hard times."

He was silent a moment before proceeding. "If you ever become restless with that life, you will be welcome anywhere the Wardens are. You've proven to be a valuable friend." Theron looked over just in time to see Kallian abruptly turn her gaze away, her cheeks dusting with a hint of pink. He stopped walking entirely and Kallian took a few steps beyond him, finally meeting his gaze with curiosity. "After we leave Denerim, I want to see you again, Kallian."

Her blush darkened and for once she was rendered speechless. "I uh, I can come visit every once an' a while. Yeah."

Theron's smile was gentle, the smile of a Dalish boy that hadn't had his life ripped away from him, a smile that came from some time before everything had been tossed in the air and left to fall where it would. "Thank you, lethellan." With the promise extracted, he started walking again, Kallian in tow with a rapidly receding blush.

They found Alistair surrounded by nobles, looking like he was barely holding on to the conversation at hand and mastering it the best that he could. When he spotted Theron walking in the door, he abruptly broke away from the crowd with a hastily muttered excuse.

"And where have you been all night?" He hissed when he was within earshot, looking on the border of livid, though there was a hint of his trademark whine in his voice. "I can only talk about how we got through Denerim and up to the Archdemon so many times before I start going crazy."

"Well then consider yourself saved." Theron replied neutrally, crossing his arms over his chest. "We have a candidate for a Warden recruit." At Alistair's perplexed look, Theron nodded toward the door and they left the party with all of its prying ears and eyes out into the relative privacy of the street. "Aedan Cousland has been afflicted with the Taint. I offered to let him join the Wardens, and he agreed."

Alistair seemed to consider that for a few moments, then finally sighed. "Well, I suppose that you could use another helping hand. I'm not going to be able to be Warden-y, thanks to you." The mild accusation was offset slightly by Alistair's easy smile. "So, I'll go get the papers, and you get Wynne?"

"Yes. We'll meet up at the Cousland estate. Kallian," Theron looked at her again, his expression fallen to the one that he had used for the grand majority of the Blight: All business. "The specifics of the Joining can't be shared with non-Wardens. You might as well head back to the estate."

The core of Kallian that was essentially made of stubborn tenacity wanted to argue against that, but by Theron's expression she knew that she would be getting nowhere. "Fine." She mumbled and was proud of herself for not sounding completely petulant. "I'll head back to the estate. I'll… see you, I guess." Scuffing her toe against the cobblestones, Kallian turned and left to go join Fergus in his vigil over Aedan.

When she got back to the room, the younger man's condition had obviously worsened. He was still propped up against the headboard, but his eyes were closed and he seemed to be struggling to draw ragged breaths, a cold sweat having broken out. The vein on the side of his neck had grown darker; the branches of the Taint having visibly spread to the smaller veins under his chin and the first of the bruise-like blotches had appeared just over his collar. Fergus was beside himself in quiet worry, and her opening the door startled him enough to make him jump.

"They're coming." She said to his unasked question, closing the door behind herself and walking over to sit on the edge of Aedan's bed. "I don't know how long out, but they're both coming."

"If there is a more grim way… to be honored with the presence of the Hero of Ferelden and the King… then I don't know it." Aedan said with a distant chuckle, keeping his eyes closed as if asleep. The rest of the wait was spent in tense silence as they waited for the Wardens to appear and could only helplessly watch as Aedan fell further into the clutches of the Taint. When they finally did arrive, Alistair holding a goblet of some sort and both looking grim, their first words were to dismiss both Kallian and Fergus from the room.

"The goings on of the Joining are not for outsiders." Theron said tersely when the two looked to argue, though shot Kallian an apologetic look. "Please, just wait outside."

When they finally were out of the way and the door closed behind them, Alistair let loose a sigh. "Usually, we make you go out and kill your own darkspawn for this sort of thing, but given the Blight and all." He shrugged. "We thought we might skip it. Just this once."

Aedan smiled weakly. "Not sure if I could kill one of my life depended on it." He replied and with something of a struggle got his legs over the side of the bed and managed to stand on wobbly legs. "Let's get this over with, then."

The two Wardens glanced at each other silently and Alistair took a step forward, holding the goblet in both hands. In the dim light of the room, the liquid inside looked black. From behind him, Theron took a brief breath then began speaking with all the solemnity of a funeral. "Join us, brothers and sisters. Join us in the shadows where we stand vigilant. Join us as we carry the duty that cannot be forsworn. And should you perish, know that your sacrifice will not be forgotten. And that one day we shall join you."

Alistair handed over the goblet and Aedan paused a moment, looking at the shallow pool of black liquid at the bottom, then tipped his head back and swallowed a mouthful of it. His first reaction was to spit it back out, but it was already down his throat, burning through his chest and joining the throbbing pain that had consumed him ever since his collapse in the foyer. Without being aware of it Alistair had taken the goblet and stepped back, the two Wardens watching quietly as he struggled against the Taint in his body, the old and the new, collapsing to the ground on his knees and holding his throat, gasping for breath that wouldn't enter his lungs.

In a matter of seconds, he fell to the floor completely unconscious. Alistair knelt, checking for a pulse and looked over his shoulder at Theron. "Well, looks like you've got a new recruit, Commander."

The Dale wasn't sure if he should be pleased or not, and settled for a grim nod instead.

The hardest part about ending this story was choosing which ending I wanted. I had so many written out, at least three possibilities for each of the main characters, and they all had separate epilogues. In the end, this is the route I chose. The next couple of chapters will be extended epilogues with snippets of everyone's fate after the events of the Blight, Awakening, and even a little bit leading up to DA2. I'm going to leave myself a little room for a sequel, just in case I get the urge to continue with a little more AU and playing with the possibilities of DA3. Thanks everyone for sticking it out this far. I've really appreciated all the support, and I've loved working with these characters and seeing others grow to like them too. It's bittersweet publishing these last chapters, and I'm sad to see everyone go, but excited that at last their story is finished. See you soon!