Vigil's Keep – Throne Room, Amaranthine
"If there are no more pressing matters to discuss, then this meeting is adjourned."
As the moment at court was drawing to a conclusion, the nobility were last seen leaving the council chambers and departed to their respective lands in the arling of Amaranthine. Among the nobles, the reigning Warden-Commander of Ferelden and Amaranthine's arl, Aedan Cousland was the last to leave the throne room of Vigil's Keep. The distinguished hero of the Order and conqueror of the Fifth Blight, one would figure the world would be at his fingertips; but that's only but a partial aspect people assume most of the time. In truth, Aedan has been very busy as of late. And now with a family of his own, there hasn't been a moment of leisure time for the Warden; as much as he might want it for himself, however.
'Another day at court, another day of having to remind them we must be willing to make the hard decisions if we are to rebuild this land,' Aedan murmured. 'But someone must do it, lest we risk ruining Amaranthine and accomplish nothing.'
Pushing the front gates open, soldiers and workers greeted their lord before resuming to rebuilding the damaged fortress. During the darkspawn incursion into Amaranthine, the darkspawn faction led by The Mother inflicted significant damage to the fortress of Vigil's Keep while the Warden was busy defending the city. The decision almost cost him the fortress, but due to the latest additions and upgrades installed by the dwarven stonemason Voldrik Glavonak, Vigil's Keep withstood the onslaught and remains standing.
The city of Amaranthine is on its way to making a full recovery, as well. According to Garevel, Aedan's new seneschal and former Captain of the City Guard, reconstruction efforts in Amaranthine will be completed within the following month.
'So much has been devastated that day. Pray to the Maker that our children will not have to suffer the consequences of my actions should the worst ever happen.'
It wasn't an easy decision, choosing to spare the Architect's life in exchange for the sole promise of future cooperation between the Disciples and the Grey Wardens. Aedan remembered how his meeting with the First Warden and his advisors were, how they fiercely reprimanded him and believed what he did that day was a mistake that will only come back to haunt him and condemn all people of Thedas of something worse than a potential Sixth and/or Seventh Blight.
Still, since the First Warden was not very active in actually leading the Grey Wardens, the military authority actually laid in the hands of each regional Warden-Commander. As the Warden-Commander of Ferelden, it was Aedan's decision to make, not Weisshaupt's. And he swore to himself and others that if he had indeed made the wrong decision then he would accept whatever punishment.
Regardless, Aedan brushed his mind off the darkspawn incursion and simply focused on returning to his estate in Denerim, eager to return to his wife and young son.
'Not long, now,' Aedan dwelled pleasantly. He missed both Leliana and Adrian every much and thought about them every day, even while on duty.
While traveling through a nearby forest, Aedan's thoughts were broken when he heard rustling in the nearby bushes, prompting him to cautiously grab the hilt of his blade. Remaining motionless, Aedan scanned the nearby area for potential trouble. As he slowly took one step forward, more noises were heard. Closing his eyes and slowly exhaling, Aedan quickly steps to the left; just on time as an unnamed assailant lunged forth with his blade, missing his target. Aedan unsheathed his blade and made his move, only for his advance to be halted as another hooded figure ensnared him with a chain and dagger combination. As more assassins descended from the trees, Aedan found himself in quite a bit of sticky situation.
"Kill the Warden!" one of them shouted.
The assassin holding Aedan in place with chains grabbed the dagger and thrusted forward, aiming to stab the Hero of Ferelden from behind—managing one lucky strike on his right flank. It took some time and uncomfortable maneuvering but Aedan head-butted the assailant behind him, causing the assassin to stumble backwards and releasing his grip on the chains. Wounded and now free, Aedan charged at his attackers and was able to fell three of them, all while bearing additional slash marks in the process.
"Your reputation precedes you, Warden," one of the remaining assassins remarked in a thick, heavy accent.
"However…" said the lead assassin, "this doesn't mean this is over."
Aedan didn't bother to wait as he brandished the longsword Vigilance and tried to attack, only for the assailants to pull out smoke bombs and deploy them. Using the thick cover of smoke, they made their escape as Aedan covered his eyes and coughed in the confusion. Once the smoke cleared, they were gone. After observing his surroundings and recognizing that the threat had subsided, albeit only temporarily, Aedan placed his sword back into its sheath.
"Who were those men?" Aedan questioned as he began tending to his wounds. "And what… or who… could they possibly want after this?" It was then decided that he should warn both King Alistair and Queen Anora of the danger, just to be on the safe side in case if the people who attacked him chose to go after them as well.
He also decided to warn Leliana. After all, he couldn't risk his attackers going after his family, as well.
"Leli, please wait for me."
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Meanwhile, back in Denerim…
Events at the Cousland Estate were going by rather smoothly. For Leliana, every day was a brand new day as she doted on her son with such loving affection. As she sat in the guest wing, Leliana spent most of the evening blowing air onto Adrian's bare stomach, causing the infant to burst into a fit of laughter—unable to contain himself from his mother's tickle torture.
"Who's my big baby?" she cooed. "That's right! You are!"
Little Adrian continued his fit of laughing as he wiggled around. It was a rather fun moment for the two, a mother-son bond that Leliana herself found herself amazed at. Maker's breath, Leliana loved her son than she could ever imagine. Whatever he wanted, she got for him. Whenever he cried, she provided comfort. And nothing was going to come between a mother and her offspring.
As the boy was calming down to catch a breath, Leliana continued to keep her eyes on him. "Oh my," she proclaimed feigning exhaustion. "You're quite the playful little thing, no?"
Adrian giggled as he reached up with both arms, beckoning his mother to pick him up. It is a request Leliana always granted willingly. She reached down and lifted her son into her arms as she bounced him around a little bit, enjoying the sounds Adrian made. They soon made their way out of the room and headed for the main hall, where she would take the occasional stroll in the downtown Denerim marketplace. It was one of her hobbies since she moved into the estate with her husband almost a year ago, and local businesses have always tried to attract the family's attention into buying one of their items but most of the time they were waived off as Lord and Lady Cousland have always wanted more time for themselves than unnecessarily wasting it.
Leliana had spent the last fifteen minutes browsing one of the merchant's goods, and often made remarks about what she perceived as flawed in comparison to her native Orlais.
"Eugh, dead people jewelry!" was one of the words Leliana would occasionally blurt out if certain jewels failed to meet her expectations, or "You clearly haven't been to Orlais, no?" would be another. This sometimes brought out the merchant's ire, but Leliana would outwit them before walking away—pretending to be a bored, unsatisfied customer in search of something else.
"Some things never change, do they?" a voice called to her.
Leliana turned and noticed Alistair waiving her over. She was sometimes allowed to attend certain Privy Council meetings with her husband since their old friend assumed the Fereldan throne alongside Queen Anora before her pregnancy was first announced. In her words, it was "…alright," to say the least. Alistair had surprised many by learning the arts of governance, proving himself to be an effective and popular king. But even then the former Grey Warden would always be himself to his friends instead of just the King of Ferelden whenever possible.
"Only on occasions, Alistair," Leliana replied. "The rest is just unavoidable."
"That's a bit of an overstatement, don't you think?" Alistair asked innocently as he approached the Orlesian bard and looked down at Adrian. "Hey, buddy. Forgot to say 'hello' to your favorite Uncle Alistair?"
Adrian merely put on a pouting face, as if he intended to make fun of Alistair.
"Hey!" Alistair protested. Leliana, on the other hand, started laughing.
"No matter how hard you try, Alistair, my little gift from the Maker learned how to play it better."
"Oh, Maker," Alistair replied playfully. "This is your influence isn't it, Leliana?"
Leliana placed one hand to her hip, feigning innocence. "Your Majesty, I have no idea what you're talking about."
The two traded playful banter for the next thirty minutes on the way to the royal palace. Upon its conclusion, Leliana and Alistair made it to the palace gates.
"And then Aedan looked at me and said 'The next time you bring in Bann Ceorlic and he starts acting like a raving lunatic again, I'm going to hit you; king or no king' and walked away."
Leliana chuckled. "That does sound like him."
"Yes," Alistair agreed. "Anyway… How are things going between you two nowadays? I mean, you have a kid and all-"
Leliana merely took a glance at Alistair; silencing him into thinking he may have overstepped his bounds. She sighed.
"Things haven't always been easy and we always see each other whenever we can, but that doesn't mean that our feelings changed. I understand that he pushes himself too hard for our sake, and I know that he wants the best for us. But as long as we have each other, then it's more than enough. More than most would say."
"Of course, Leliana, I didn't mean to offend," Alistair apologized.
Leliana shook her head. "No, it's alright. I know that you meant well, Alistair. We're doing better than you could imagine. And the two of us are expecting him to return home soon."
"Well, if you do see him…" Alistair paused, choosing his next words carefully. "I'll be giving him some time off from his duties at court. Eamon will take over for a while. The three of you deserve some time to yourselves, after all."
Leliana nodded. "Of course; I think both Adrian and I would like that."
Alistair and Leliana both exchanged pleasantries as they both made their way to their respective assigned housing. The king returned to the palace, and the bard made her way home to the estate.
But little did they know that they were being stalked…
A/N: What could possibly be in store for Aedan and Leliana? Find out next time in the next chapter. Also be sure to keep flooding the inbox and reviews with opinions and suggestions. Thanks for tuning in, and I'll see you guys later!