Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Age or any of its related characters. This is just for my own enjoyment and the potential enjoyment of other fans like me, and no monetary gain was expected or received.

Rating: T+

Spoilers: May contain spoilers for Origins, Awakening, Origins DL content, and Dragon Age II as well as the novels The Stolen Throne and The Calling.

Chapter Eighty-Four: Sunrise

It was a few minutes to sunrise. Maric still stood at the ship's rail all by himself, but now he was looking up, out across the water toward the horizon. Cautiously, Loghain approached.

"Sun will be up shortly," he said, and gingerly took his place at the rail beside his friend.

"Do the others…do they know? Anything?" Maric said. He didn't have to explain the non sequitor.

"No. I kept that promise."

"Good. I'd prefer they and all the rest of the world continue to think I spent the last seventeen years in prison, and nothing else."

"Are you ever going to tell me how you did end up in gaol?"

"Someday, perhaps. Not now."

"You were there a long time. I heard rumors…I dismissed them. I'm sorry."

"You came for me in the end. That's all that matters."

"At your son's urging. Alistair would not let it be."

Maric was silent for a time, looking out over the water. The far eastern horizon began to lighten gradually. Loghain was content, for the time being, simply to watch the sun rise. He could feel the unspoken accusations hanging in the air between them, and wondered when the axe would fall.

Bands of pink, orange, gold, and various shades of blue streaked the edge of the sky and the water alike. The bright yellow disk of the sun peeked shyly over the ocean.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Maric said. "I never really appreciated just how beautiful a sunrise is, before. And how sweet the ocean breeze smells."

"You're free now."

"I'm starting to believe it." Maric clasped his hands together on the rail. "It is real, isn't it? I'm not just dreaming again?"

"You're not dreaming. It's real."

"You know, I wasn't surprised to hear your voice, tonight. I hear it a lot. Not just in my dreams. I guess I needed someone to talk to all these years."

"I'm sorry you couldn't dream up a better conversationalist."

"I tried to. Many, many times. It's strange, but after awhile I couldn't remember voices. Not Cailan's, not Anora's. I don't know how many times I tried to imagine a woman - any woman. I couldn't hear their voices. But I could always hear yours. Especially when I didn't want to."

"Sorry. Guess I leave an impression."

"More like an impact crater."

Silence spooled out between them again, until finally Maric said, "Cailan died in battle?"

"Yes. Fighting darkspawn. It was a Blight."

"So the witch was right."

"Not right. She said you wouldn't live to see it, didn't she? Yet here you are, alive."

"I wasn't alive, not for all the years I was imprisoned. And I certainly didn't see it. And this Blight…took my son."

"I'm sorry."

Maric was silent for a few slow breaths. "I expect you tried to tell him something important, and he, in his infinite wisdom, disregarded you."

"I don't know. I don't know what happened, any more. I just know the results."

"What you did…was it necessary?"

"I thought it was at the time I did it. Now…I'm not so sure. I made…a lot of mistakes. I can't even separate them in my mind any longer."

"Mistakes? You? I don't believe it."

"I was afraid."

"Of the darkspawn?"

"Of Orlais. I didn't see the threat the darkspawn represented until it was almost too late. If it hadn't been for Elilia, Ferelden would have fallen. It would have fallen, and it would have been my fault. She stopped me from destroying everything I've ever fought to save. She saved me."

"By loving you."

"By fighting me. By defeating me. By salvaging what was left of me."

"She beat you?" Maric asked.

"In single combat."

"She's a remarkable woman."

"You don't know the half of it."

The sun was now well up, and it was bright enough for the two of them to look each other over.

"You could use a good all-over shave and a bath, Maric," Loghain said.

"You're telling me. There's creatures living in this beard." Maric peered closely at him. "Maker's ass, Loghain, what happened to your eyes?"

"It's a long…and fairly unbelievable…story."

"Coming from you? I'd believe it."

"Another time."

Maric chuckled. "Always."

"Maric. I know I have no right, after what I've done, to offer you advice, but…talk to Alistair. He's a father now, and looking for a father of his own. You've still got a son. Reach out and claim him."

"I would like to. I don't know how."

"He's a good man. Just talk to him. He put a great deal on the line to come to your rescue."

Maric's silence read to Loghain as stubbornness, and he sighed.

"I will try," Maric said at long last. "Tell me about my grandchildren."

Loghain's lips curved in an involuntary smile. "Prince Duncan and Princess Anora," he said. "Duncan is…Maker, eleven years old already, almost twelve. A fine, strong lad with a good head and a good heart. Baby Anora is four, and quite the little tyrant. They are wonderful children."

"I can't wait to meet them. What about your child? How old is Harvest?"

"One year old."

"You waited a long time to start having children."

"We only just married two years ago. Before that, I spent some years in Orlais."

"You lived in Orlais?" Maric asked, agog. "How on earth did that work out?"

"They're currently embroiled in a peasant rebellion I helped to foment."

Maric laughed and slapped his thigh. "That sounds about right. Was that your purpose in Orlais? I can't see you moving there even to cause trouble for them."

"No. I was ordered there. By the First Warden."

"The First - you mean the Grey Wardens? What right did they have to command you anywhere?"

"Every right in the world. I was one of them."

"You joined the Grey Wardens?" Maric asked.

"It was my sentence, after Elilia defeated me."

"So you're a Warden. With an impending Calling."

"No. I'm not Tainted any longer. Don't ask me how that came to pass, for I do not know."

"Well, however it happened I'm glad of it. That Calling looked to me a raw deal, in the extreme."

"Elilia was also a Warden. So was Alistair."

"Was? Did they get mysteriously cured, too?"

"Not exactly. There is, it seems, a cure for blight sickness. It's hard to come by, but they knew where it was to be found."

"Well I'm happy."

Loghain turned around and leaned back against the rail. "If you're not going to pitch me overboard, what say we give you that shave before your infestation transfers to the rest of us?"

"I haven't decided yet whether I will or I won't."

"Take your time. It'll be a good solid month before we're back on dry land."