Shadow and Rose

by Lady Norbert

A/N: New readers! And reviews! You just have no idea how much the reviews mean to me.

If you're wondering about the title of this chapter, the Spirit Ward is the token which Bann Alfstanna gives to the Warden once the Warden delivers the signet ring belonging to Alfstanna's brother. As to the matter of Cailan, Anora, and the Empress Celene, I'm going by what's been confirmed as canon.

Chapter Thirty-Two: Spirit Ward

Seven gold disks, each bearing a star sapphire, make up this necklace. The clasp bears the mark of the Formari. Shifting figures can be seen dimly in the depths of the gem stones.

I eventually carried Elissa back to her own room last night, where a rather impatient Toby was waiting to guard his mistress. Morrigan, perhaps in the spirit of the occasion, had no unpleasant words for me. And yes, I am specifically writing that in this journal because it's the first time that's ever happened.

Anyway, after breakfast this morning, my lady and I walked around Eamon's courtyard for a little while. It's not a very big courtyard; all we basically did was pace a wide loop around the central well. But it let us talk privately. She said she was feeling a little stronger this morning, so she wanted to tell me what happened in Fort Drakon. "I wasn't tortured," she said.

"Really?" I'd been worried about that, of course.

"Well, not the way you're thinking." Her face grew haunted. "They had something special for me - probably something Howe himself dreamed up before I killed him. I wouldn't be surprised. All they did was take my armor and throw me in a prison cell, but they chose a specific one. It was overlooking some of the torture devices."

"Oh, that sounds very scenic."

"You don't know the half of it, love. Some of the bodies of other prisoners were still on the rack... and I knew them." She shuddered. "Ser Gilmore - my father's most trusted captain, the one who taught me to swordfight when I was a girl. He was there. And Mother Mallol, our Chantry priestess. I knew they were dead, of course, I've known that for months... but I had no idea they'd been taken prisoner and brought to Denerim for torturing."

"Oh, my dearest... I'm so sorry." I felt like an ass, then, for having made the joke.

She gave herself a shake, and gripped my arm a little tighter. "There was an older man in the cell next to mine. We fell to talking, in hushed voices when the guards weren't nearby. He'd been in there a lot longer than I had been, and had the bruises to prove it. He never told me his name or why he was in there - I didn't quite feel right asking, to be honest. I think now that maybe he thought we'd be safer knowing as little about each other as possible. I told him my friends would come for me, and he didn't believe me... but then in came Zevran and Oghren, not two hours later." She smiled, though I could still see the flickers of pain in her lovely eyes.

"Did they tell you they were pretending to be performers?"

"Oh, yes. The famous Broma brothers from Antiva, they said - Oghren said he told the guards he was the pretty one." We both laughed. "They unlocked my door, and Zevran gave me that dress you saw me wearing last night, and he picked open the lock on the chest where they'd put my sword while I let my neighbor out of his cell. We gave him some dagger the boys had picked up along the way, and he thanked us and ran off... I do hope he was able to escape. Anyway, we made our way back to the entrance, and got back here as fast as possible." She looked up at me, smiling wanly. "I was so worried for you."

"I was pretty desolate without you, I don't mind saying." I leaned over to kiss her forehead.

A door opened from the kitchen, then, and Oghren stumbled out. "Hey, Princess, don't go wandering off without telling anyone, all right? Don't want a repeat of yesterday." He folded his arms and gave her a grumpy sort of look.

"I promise," she said mildly.

"Good." He relented just faintly. "Keep an eye on her, boy." And apparently this was all he'd wanted to say to us, because he turned right around and went back inside.

"Why exactly is Oghren calling you 'Princess'?" I asked.

Elissa rolled her eyes, smiling. "Usually he calls me 'Warden'," she clarified. "But when I was talking to him that night at the Spoiled Princess, he wanted to know - how did he put it? Where does something like me grow in a place like this? He was drunk, of course."

"Well, he was conscious, so that's to be expected."

She chuckled. "I told him that I come from Highever, in the north country. I don't know how I ended up explaining things to him, and between ourselves I'm even less certain how he remembered it. But I told him that Highever is considered a principality of Ferelden, on account of how powerful my family was when your ancestor Calenhad made his bid for the throne and the arrangements he made with them for their support of his claim. Then, of course, I had to explain what a principality is. It was rather late and most of you were already in bed, but I couldn't sleep, so I think I was honestly just trying to lull myself with the history lessons. He surprised me by asking if the one who governs a principality is a prince, and I said that if you want to speak with absolute precision, then yes. 'My father's title was Teyrn,' I said, 'which is highest in precedence in Ferelden next to the King and Queen. But in other countries, you're right; they would have called him a Prince.' And he just sort of snickered and, a minute later, he passed out cold. Felsi said I could leave him where he was, she'd take care of him."

"But he remembered this?"

"Somehow! Ever since the next morning, he has occasionally called me Princess instead of Warden. Maybe it's because there are two Wardens but only one of me. I'm not sure."

"I wonder," I said. "I mean, he usually calls me 'boy', and you're certainly not that."

"You would know."

We had a pleasantly uneventful morning, but after lunch, Elissa wanted to go into town - specifically, to the Gnawed Noble Tavern. Eamon didn't seem to think there'd be any particular danger to me in that part of Denerim, so I went with her. As we walked, she explained that during the ladies' explorations of the Arl of Denerim's estate, she'd encountered a few other nobles who were being held there on odd pretexts. One was the son of Bann Sighard, of Dragon's Peak, who I'd heard from Eamon had gone mysteriously missing one night; she said she found him strapped to some wretched device. Another was Irminric, the brother of Bann Alfstanna of Waking Sea. Apparently, he was one of the templars who caught that runaway mage who poisoned Eamon, and Loghain's men took the mage from Irminric's custody and then threw him in prison - so he couldn't talk, I suppose. She said she also released an elf from the Alienage, who seemed to be starving, and some old soldier who the Chantry's been trying to find for a while; she already had Eamon send a messenger to the Chantry with the news of his whereabouts.

We found Bann Sighard first. He recognized Elissa as the daughter of Teyrn Cousland, offering his sympathies. He assured her that his son had made it back safely, thanks to her, and is under a doctor's care for his injuries. He said that not only will he give us his support at the Landsmeet, but he'll also pass the word to a few other nobles about Howe's activities.

Bann Alfstanna initially tried to wave us away when we approached her, but then she too recognized Elissa. Elissa told me that the Eremon family have been friends of the Couslands for at least a few generations. She handed over Irminric's ring, explaining where she had found him and that he was safe now, and would probably contact his sister himself soon. In return, Bann Alfstanna promised her support at the Landsmeet and gave Elissa a beautiful necklace of gold and sapphires. "Let it be a sign of the friendship between Highever and Waking Sea," she said, "and let me know when you decide to take back your family's lands."

There was another noble - I think his name was Wulf - who also recognized Elissa but didn't have much to say to her. Seems his sons have been killed in all the fighting between Loghain's men and the Bannorn, and he's a bit too bound up in his grief to pay attention to anything else. I guess I can't blame him. All in all, though, it was a profitable trip. Before we came back to Eamon's, we dropped in on Brother Genitivi since we were in the neighborhood. He's probably never going to walk quite right again, but he's looking much better than last time, and says he's had no troublesome visitors.

"I would hope not. I asked my friend Sergeant Kylon to keep an eye on you," Elissa admitted.

"Why am I not surprised?" I asked.

Elissa's just come from her private conference with Anora. She seemed a little troubled by some of what Anora said. "Oh, she was pleasant enough," she said, "and she appreciated the thought behind my gesture of giving her one of Cailan's braids. But it seems their marriage wasn't the idyll that they tried to present to the people. Cailan had... other women. He was discreet, but by no means faithful. And there was a lot of suspicion that, since he and Anora hadn't produced an heir during their five years of marriage, he was planning to set her aside to marry the Empress of Orlais."

"You're joking."

She shook her head. "I had another look at the documents he left for the Grey Wardens," she said. "The letters between himself and Empress Celene. It's not... quite spelled out, but if you read between the lines, there's definitely some merit to Anora's concerns. The most recent letter from the Empress basically indicates that she's accepted his offer."

"Wow." I had a hard time getting my head around that. But I trust Elissa's judgment and if she thinks that's what was going on, well... it's unsettling but it's also in the past.

"She also asked me to support her claim at the Landsmeet instead of yours," she added idly.

"To which I'm sure you agreed, eh?"

"I did consider it," she admitted, eyes twinkling. "If we let her keep the throne, I can have you all to myself and not have to share you with Ferelden."

"Mmm. Tempting."

"Of more immediate concern," she went on, more seriously, "is some intelligence Anora was able to provide about the Alienage. Apparently it's been closed off because of some plague that's affecting the residents, but they've opened it up again. She recommended that we look into the matter, because it seemed odd to her and the way she described it, it seems odd to me too."

I had to page back through this journal to be sure, but I actually predicted this. Back on one of our earliest visits to Denerim, I noticed the closed-off Alienage and I wrote that I suspected we would be the ones who eventually had to deal with it. Elissa's gone off to ask a few of the others to come with us, but I think I hear her voice so she must be ready to go.

It was worse than we thought. Turns out that the "plague" was really slavers from Tevinter. They set up shop, claiming to be a hospital of sorts, but in reality any elves who came in for treatment were locked in cages and sent away on slaving ships. Horrible. I don't even know how many elves have already been lost in this way, but we were able to interrupt the proceedings in time to save Valendrian, the elder of the Alienage, and several others. I very much wanted to laugh at one point, when the main slaver's assistant understood who Elissa was and said, "Oh, no! I've heard of you!" Oghren, who accompanied us as well as Wynne, didn't even try to hide his laughter. And then the slaver tried to buy his way out of things, insisting that he be allowed to take the slaves with him, but... well, I don't think I need to describe just how well that didn't go for him.

We did let him go, just to be clear. But he had to leave behind the elves he'd caged, the money he'd received, and evidence that - here's a surprise - Loghain was the one who arranged for him to come and set up the racket in the first place. It'll come in handy at the Landsmeet, to be sure, but honestly - selling off elves as slaves? That seems low even for him.

It was interesting to visit the Alienage, in a sad sort of way. Some of the buildings are so run down, and a lot of the elves just look sort of hopeless. If I do become king, I want to do something to make it a better place for them. They're citizens of Ferelden, after all, and they deserve better than what they've got.

On our way in, Elissa encountered Soris, whom she introduced as the elf she'd rescued from prison when she was helping Anora. He'd apparently recounted the story to his cousin Shianni, who was among the elves protesting outside of the fake hospital. She's a spunky thing. Once she realized Elissa was the human who had helped her kinsman, she warmed up considerably. She's definitely got a mouth on her, though, and I mean that as a compliment. She's a leader among her people.

As if all this wasn't fantastic enough, we bumped into a blind Templar, Ser Otto, who was trying to investigate some goings-on in the orphanage. Apparently, some months back, there was an incident with elves wreaking havoc at the Arl of Denerim's estate, which is how that elf Soris ended up in the dungeon. From what Elissa learned from Shianni, they had another cousin who was betrothed, but some young nobles broke up the wedding, kidnapped the women, and... well, best not think about that too much. What became of this cousin, I'm not quite sure, but it can't have been good. Anyway, the Alienage suffered some kind of purging as a result of all that, and the orphanage was hit very hard. None of the children survived, poor things. Worse, all the violence seems to have caused a few tears in the Veil, resulting in demons overrunning the empty building. We cleared them out, but Ser Otto didn't make it... poor man. He was one of the Templars who was really a credit to the order. I didn't know him long, but I liked him a lot and I think Elissa did too. Another death on her shoulders, as if she needs any more.

I would have devoted more details to this, but Maker, I'm exhausted. Tomorrow is the Landsmeet; Eamon says he believes the last of the nobles have arrived. I can't wait for this to be over. The waiting is terrible.

We've just finished breakfast, and I've come to my room to put on my armor. Eamon seems to think that it's best if Elissa and I go to the Landsmeet as if we were entering a battle. We probably are.

Before the pages help me with that, though, I wanted to write down the conversation I just had with Oghren. It's strange, but also kind of sweet, and I want to remember to tell it to Elissa later in case she doesn't already know. I mentioned it briefly when I wrote about our revel, but Oghren, like Zevran, enjoys watching women. The main difference between them is that if Elissa walks into Oghren's line of sight while he's doing that, he immediately turns his head. He did it again at breakfast and I decided to say something.

"Can I ask you something, Oghren?"

"You just did, but go ahead."

"Well, I just... I know you... enjoy looking. At the women in our party, I mean."

"So what's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, exactly. I just wondered - I've noticed that you don't look at Elissa the same way you look at, say, Morrigan."

He snorted. "Not exactly the best comparison you could make, boy. They're about as far apart as you can get."

"No argument, but that's not my point."

"I get what you're asking. You want to know why I don't have an interest in rutting your woman. Well, if you were wondering, it's not because of you. Least not all the way." He took another drink. "It's been a long time - a really long time - since anybody was to me what she is. I'm older than you think, boy. Dwarves live longer than you humans do; I reckon it's the Stone in our blood, keeps us strong. I'm about twice your age, believe it or not."

"Really? I wouldn't have guessed that."

"Truth is, I owe her a lot," he continued. "I was pretty much nothing in Orzammar, just a drunken disgrace. People laughed at me, sodding Oghren and his bloodlust, not man enough for a Paragon. The princess was the first person in forever to give me any kind of a chance; more than that, even, she helped me become better than I was. And don't you ever repeat this to anybody or I'll gut you... but I can't look at her that way. She's - I guess she's almost like my daughter." He drained his tankard. "Which also means that if you ever do her wrong, I will cut you in half, king or no king."

I put up my hands. "Understood. I think you'd be in good company, as far as that went."

"Probably." He belched. "Enough of this feelings garbage. Let's go find something to kill."