Chapter Four: Preparations

"You've been awfully quiet, Alistair," said Yvaine as they passed by a large tent with yellow and red stripes, "That seems contrary to what Duncan told me about you."

"Duncan told you about me?" asked Alistair, taken aback yet still flattered that his mentor had spoken to this young woman about him.

"Yes, he said we'd get along since we share a love of dry humor," said Yvaine, smiling at Alistair as they walked in stride together.

"Did he now?" said Alistair, an arrogant smirk on his lips, and a sense of pride filling his body as he glanced over at Yvaine, admiring how the sun reflected off her hair, seeming to give her a halo.

"Yes," said Yvaine, noticing the smirk and the change in his walk, "he also said that you have yet to learn the lesson of when to keep your mouth shut."

Alistair's smirk quickly dropped to a frown as his brow creased, Yvaine laughed and he blushed, giving her a small smile in response.

"If I do cross a line, my lady, just inform me. The last thing I want to do is offend you," replied Alistair, inclining his head in a small bow as they continued walking up the hill.

"Don't worry, Alistair, I enjoy hearing someone speak their mind," said Yvaine, "and none of that 'my lady' stuff, I'm simply Yvaine now."

"Forgive me, that one might take some getting used to," said Alistair sheepishly, "I was raised to respect those of nobility and that certain familiarity is not approved of."

"Well, I've been a terrible noble then," laughed Yvaine, "I hugged the King." She kicked a white rock ahead of her, trying to keep it within kicking distance each time.

Alistair raised an eyebrow as he watched her play her little game, "You? You hugged the King? Must've been very difficult, what with all of the armor and the fact his head is bigger than his body."

Yvaine scowled, "You sound like Howe, he didn't approve much of the King either."

"Well, it's rather difficult to approve of the King when it is common knowledge the Queen has been ruling the entire time," scoffed Alistair.

"It's Cailan who's here fighting for Ferelden, not Anora," retorted Yvaine, adjusting her belt. They continued their walk in silence for a few more minutes when Yvaine stopped in her tracks, Alistair almost missing her completely.

"Are you alright?" asked Alistair as he stepped back to where she was now standing.

"Yes," said Yvaine quietly, "I just wanted to apologize for my brashness earlier."

"Your brashness?" said Alistair before realizing what she meant, "Oh! You mean that moment when you put me in my place about Cailan and Anora right? Forget about it, I was the one who was out of line."

"No, I was," argued Yvaine, "I told you to speak with me honestly which you did, and I jumped on you for it, that was extremely rude on my part."

"Shall we agree to disagree?" laughed Alistair, resting his hand on her shoulder, a gesture that surprised both of them, "Seeing as how we're both too polite for our own good, we might have to say that often."

Yvaine laughed, "You're probably right, Alistair. Shall we continue to the tent then?"

"Now that I can wholeheartedly agree with," said Alistair, moving his hand from her shoulder reluctantly, and they began walking again.

A short time later they arrived close to the center of camp, they could see the Grey Warden's flag just above the tent when Yvaine felt a stone hit her leg, she looked around wildly for the source and saw a man sitting in a cage.

Yvaine walked over to the man, an angry look on her face, "Did you throw that at me?"

"I might've," said the man smugly, not making direct eye contact with Yvaine.

"Either you did or you didn't, which is it?" asked Yvaine darkly.

"Fine I did," sighed the man, dropping all pretenses, "Look, I'm sorry for the stone to the leg, but I needed to get your attention somehow without alerting all of the guards."

"There are nicer ways of getting someone's attention," said Alistair as he approached the man's cage, "Maybe next time you could try bird calls, perhaps waving, but throwing stones is a very bad idea."

Yvaine looked closer at the man, he was not wearing any clothes save for a soiled tunic, his legs and face were burned from prolonged sun exposure, and from where she was standing she could see the bones protruding from underneath his burned skin. She felt pity towards this poor man, no matter what he might have done, he did not deserve this cruel treatment by any means.

"I apologize for disturbing you, I can see by the swords you carry you both must be on important business," said the man humbly, "be on your way then, I'll trouble you no more."

Alistair nodded, turning away from the man when he heard Yvaine ask, "What's your name?"

The man in the cage was surprised to say the very least by her civility, "Alexander, my lady, Alexander Voltarus."

"I'm Yvaine Cousland, a pleasure to meet you. Well, Alexander Voltarus, you obviously went through a lot of trouble to get my attention," said Yvaine, her face softening, "Is there something I can do to help you?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact there is," replied Alexander his tone light, "I'm terribly hungry, you see, haven't had a decent bite to eat since I was put in this Maker blasted contraption."

Yvaine balked, disgusted at the knowledge this man had gone probably days without eating a morsel, "Why not? I thought all prisoners were fed."

Alexander snorted, "I'm a deserter, and in a time of war I have committed the worst crime imaginable, so I am subjected to the most unbelievable of torture: starvation."

"Death by starvation?" repeated Alistair, "I've heard of that before, but not as something done for deserters, must be something Loghain cooked up to frighten soldiers into behaving."

Alexander laughed bitterly, "Wonderful, not only am I to be branded forever as a deserter, but I get to be an example to the rest of the army not to get on Loghain's bad side."

"At least there's a silver lining," said Alistair dejectedly.

"I think I have some food in my pack," said Yvaine, slinging her pack to the ground gently, reaching around to the front and pulling out chunks of bread she had saved from earlier that morning, "The pieces are a little on the stale side but here's a flagon of water to help wash them down."

"Oh, my lady," said Alexander happily as he graciously accepted the bread and water, "May the Maker rain blessings down on your pretty head for years to come."

Yvaine crossed her arms and bowed slightly to Alexander, something that surprised both him and Alistair, and she began walking once again towards the tent as if what she had done was completely normal. Alistair nodded to Alexander who's mouth was already full to bursting with the bread Yvaine had given him and he jogged to catch up with her, thinking that she was indeed a unique and special individual. While jogging to her position he thought of several questions to ask her on their journey this afternoon, one of which was why she had asked for Alexander's name in the first place when she could have just easily walked away. He joined up with her and quickly fell right back into stride beside her, he was so close to her now he could hear the gentle clinking of the chain mail in her skirt and the small metallic sounds of her sword's handle as it hit her shield.

"Do you know what we're going to be doing for preparations?" asked Yvaine as she looked around her again, her eyes resting on the mages that were arguing with the Chantry priests.

"I'm afraid I can't really tell you much," replied Alistair, choosing his words carefully, not wanting to give much away while at the same time being polite.

Yvaine sighed, giving him a small smile, "I should've known better than to ask, Duncan hasn't been able to answer any of my questions straight out, so it only makes sense that you can't either. I just like knowing what I'm up against, warrior's instinct I guess, mystery is more for a rouge fighter."

Alistair gently reached for her hand, not sure why he did but he felt compelled to touch her in some way, what he was not prepared for was coming face to face with her brown eyes again nearly losing all thought when they rested on his face, "I promise, Yvaine, I will protect you from any harm that might befall you."

Yvaine smiled, she could tell by his tone and the look on his face this was not a promise he was making lightly, "Thank you, Alistair." She lifted herself slightly on her toes and kissed his cheek so softly it was as if her lips had never touched his skin.

Alistair felt his breath catch in his throat, never had he felt such a tender touch on his skin and the effect was calming, taking away all of his anxiety and apprehension about the events that were to come in a matter of minutes. When he felt her lips leave his cheek he looked down at her and saw something in her eyes that had not been there before, there was the sadness he had seen earlier but now it was mingled with what he could only guess was reassurance. They held each other's gaze for what seemed like hours before Yvaine looked away first, and he saw her eyes become clouded by the sadness that had been there before, he secretly hoped that it had been him that had chased away the pain she must be feeling.

"I think we've held up the Joining long enough, don't you?" whispered Yvaine as she turned her head towards the tent.

"Yeah, I guess we have," replied Alistair sadly and they resumed their walk, neither speaking the rest of the way.

When they arrived to camp at last, Yvaine was greeted by Gawain who eagerly jumped up and rested his paws on her shoulders, licking her face enthusiastically as she laughed and tried to push him down off of her shoulders. Alistair looked on with amusement, he had never seen a Mabari hound behave in this manner before and thought that Yvaine must have brought out something in the creature that was more friendly than fierce.

"Down, boy, down," laughed Yvaine, pushing him down while rubbing his head, "I get that you're happy to see me, but tone it down a bit, alright? There is company around."

Gawain cocked his head and whined, but he then barked happily and trotted back to Duncan's side.

"I'm glad to see you've returned," said Duncan, his eyes flitting to Alistair who was still looking at Yvaine, "and I see you've also found Alistair, I hope he didn't get you into too much trouble."

Alistair scowled at Duncan who merely ignored the look and continued speaking, "I would like to introduce the other two recruits, this is Daveth."

A tall man with dark hair stepped forward, his eyes scanning Yvaine before he spoke, "A pleasure to meet you, I look forward to following you into battle."

"And I you, Daveth," said Yvaine kindly, resisting the urge to slap him, his roaming eyes not having escaped her notice.

Alistair shot daggers at Daveth who quickly averted his gaze elsewhere when he saw Alistair's deadly glare.

"And this is—" started Duncan before Yvaine interrupted.

"Ser Jory!" exclaimed Yvaine rushing forward to the knight, and he to her, when they were within arms reach of each other she outstretched her right hand the same time he did and they grasped forearms.

"Maker's breath! Lady Cousland, I thought you were dead!" exclaimed Ser Jory, his grip tightening on her arm.

"So did I!" laughed Yvaine, glad to see a familiar face in this new environment, "I had no idea you were here, Father didn't mention you had already joined with the Grey Wardens."

"I'm just a recruit, my lady," sighed Ser Jory releasing her arm, "I was sent down here about a week and a half ago actually when Duncan first arrived in Highever, he sought me out after I won that tournament in the city."

"I remember," said Yvaine affectionately, jealousy rising in Alistair by the gentle way she spoke to the knight, "You were indeed a sight to behold that day, my father was quite proud of your performance."

"Please, my lady, you'll make me blush," said Ser Jory, obviously embarrassed by the praise she was showering on him.

Yvaine laughed, "We can't have that, now can we? Tell me, Ser Jory, how is Helena?"

Upon hearing that Ser Jory had a wife, Alistair allowed himself to relax, unsure of why he had been jealous of the knight in the first place.

"Great with child and anxious that I'm here," replied Ser Jory, "I'm selfishly hoping this war will be finished in time for me to make it back to see my new child be born."

"That is a worthy reason to see this war ended," conceded Yvaine and she turned to Duncan who nodded at her words.

"Indeed," said Duncan, "Now that we're all here, we can get preparations underway for the Joining. There are two tasks that you must complete before the sun sets tonight, the first is crucial and must be done quickly, you must collect three vials of darkspawn blood."

Yvaine resisted the urge to retch, she had seen blood before even having drawn it herself in battle, but there was something about the prospect of touching the blood of these unworldly creatures that was rather unappealing to her.

"Where must we go to complete this task?" asked Yvaine, and she could tell by the look on Duncan's face that the answer was not a pleasant one.

"You must venture out into the Korcari Wilds and find the darkspawn," replied Duncan sternly, ignoring the gasps from Ser Jory and Daveth, "I'm not going to lie, this task will not easily be completed, which is why Alistair will be accompanying you while you are out in the Wilds."

Yvaine turned to Alistair briefly and beamed before turning her attention back to Duncan, not seeing the blush creeping into his cheeks.

"What's this second task, Duncan?" asked Yvaine, leaning down to pet Gawain who had trotted over to stand beside her.

"Long ago, the Grey Wardens had a fortress in the Korcari Wilds, it was eventually abandoned and has not been touched in sometime," explained Duncan, "if memory serves me correctly, there were several important documents kept at the fortress even after it was forsaken. Your task is to go to the ruin and collect these documents and bring them back to me."

"What are these documents exactly, Duncan?" asked Yvaine.

"Ancient treaties," replied Duncan, "Ones that the Grey Wardens can use during a Blight, and with this horde as large as it is, I feel it is best to have these on hand just in case it turns out that this is a true Blight."

Yvaine looked at Duncan puzzled, "I thought you said this was a true Blight, Duncan, why change your stance on it now?"

Duncan cleared his throat nervously, "While I might believe this to be indeed a Blight, the King and Loghain do not see it as such, so it is best we tread lightly on the subject and not bring attention to our belief."

Yvaine nodded in understanding, and Duncan continued speaking, "Alright, now that you have your mission, I suggest you stock up on whatever poultices and kits you wish to bring with you. There is a tranquil mage selling supplies to the soldiers, I suggest seeing him if you require any necessary supplies."

"I think I might go and buy Gawain a few treats," said Yvaine, smiling down at the hound, "he doesn't seem to be feeling well."

"How can you tell that?" asked Daveth, "Your hound seems so cheerful."

"I can just tell," replied Yvaine simply, shrugging her shoulders.

"I'm afraid that would be my doing," said Duncan apologetically, "In order to prepare your hound for fighting darkspawn, I had to expose him to some of their blood, it was older and less potent than fresh but still able to begin building a resistance. The more darkspawn blood he is exposed to, the greater his resistance will be, right now though he should be fine against a few darkspawn."

Yvaine sighed, "Well, I guess it had to be done if I want him at my side in battle."

"I will dosage him again soon, so he will have to remain here at camp," said Duncan, "but until you leave he can follow you around if he wishes though he must be brought back to me when you are ready to depart."

"Understood," said Yvaine and she tapped her hand on her thigh a few times to get the hound's attention, "Come on, boy, lets get you a couple of treats to make you feel better."

Gawain bounded around on the ground a few times, barking happily before joining Yvaine's side and walking with her to the mage who was selling goods, sniffing the ground as if searching for something of interest. Yvaine smiled at her hound, even now she could recall the day her father had brought him and his brother to the castle, she had fallen in love with Gawain right away but Fergus had demanded he be given to him since he was the bigger of the two. She had protested of course, offering to duel Fergus for the pup and he had accepted her challenge with a smirk, obviously he had thought he would be the winner of the fight. She still could see the confused and embarrassed look in Fergus's eyes when she had knocked him on his arse after just a few quick strokes with her blade and a couple of hits with her shield. They had laughed afterwards, along with their father whom had been overseeing the bout, and Fergus handed her Gawain telling her she had earned him fair and square. Yvaine felt a tightness in her chest, remembering how things used to be was just another reminder of what Howe had taken from her and her family, his treachery now poisoning even the happiest of memories. Instead of dwelling on this, she thought of what it would be like to go venturing in the Korcari Wilds, what adventures were to be had, and what witty banter she and Alistair would come up with.

Alistair watched them leave, his stomach churning and he felt lightheaded, he wanted to warn her about what was to come but knew Duncan would tan his hide for revealing the events of the Joining to someone who might not live through the ritual.

"I can't believe she's here," he heard Ser Jory whisper to Daveth, "after all that's happened, I would've thought she'd have been in the Wilds by now looking for her brother."

"What do you mean, Ser Jory?" asked Alistair, rounding to the knight, who stopped speaking the moment Alistair looked at him.

"It's nothing, Alistair," stammered the knight as he fidgeted with his gloves.

"If it was nothing then you'd have already told me," said Alistair testily, "now what did you mean, Ser Jory?"

Ser Jory hesitated before answering right away, "I'm surprised she hadn't said something to you before now, I mean the story's been traveling around the camp since before she arrived. Now, I'm not sure of the details, but it appears that Arl Howe attacked Cousland Castle while staying there as a guest. His knights attacked the family including the Teryn's grandson and daughter-in-law, it was thought the only survivor was the Teryn's oldest son Fergus since he had arrived here before the attack, I'm glad to see that last part wasn't true. Apparently it was Duncan who rescued her, she was forced to leave her mother and father behind at her family home, and traveled here."

"She's one tough woman, she is," said Daveth admirably.

Alistair wanted to be sick, but he managed to stave it off enough to continue the conversation, "Has her brother been found yet?"

Ser Jory shook his head, "As far as I know he hasn't been located yet, but the King personally issued a small troop to go and find him, they left a few hours ago."

"Excuse me, I have to go speak to Duncan about a few last minute details," said Alistair, again fighting the rising nausea in his throat and he ran off in search of Duncan who seemed to have left after Yvaine had. He found Duncan sitting behind the tent, his head in his hands, Alistair was shocked at the sight and knew something must have been troubling him a great deal for him to be displaying such distress.

Duncan looked up when he heard Alistair's footsteps, "Alistair, is there something I can help you with?"

"Are you alright?" asked Alistair forgetting for a moment his anger.

Duncan sighed heavily, "I'm as well as I can be, given the circumstances, I've been wanting to speak with you actually."

"With me? Whatever for?" asked Alistair baffled by his mentor's statement.

"I saw the way you looked at Yvaine a few minutes ago," said Duncan sternly, "You know this might not go the way you want it to, Alistair, so I cannot stress enough to you to keep your personal feelings in check at least for now."

Alistair felt a rush of anger hit him, "I'm perfectly aware of that, Duncan, and believe me when I say I am being quite reserved around Yvaine. No proposals of marriage yet, nor have I sung of her beauty like the bards."

Duncan chuckled warmly, "I believe you, Alistair, and I want to see her succeed just as much as you do especially after all she has been through these last few days."

"So it's all true?" whispered Alistair, "Her family was murdered, save her brother, and you rescued her from that fate?"

"Yes," said Duncan sadly, "I was there that night, and watched a girl transform into a mature young woman in a matter of seconds, a sight I hope to never see again to be perfectly honest. She's a strong woman, not as seasoned a warrior as you, but she has potential and a natural ability I have not seen in any soldier save for you."

Alistair relaxed at Duncan's words, he knew taking her here immediately after the attack had not been easy for Duncan, "Do you think she'll survive?"

Duncan was quiet for a few moments, carefully contemplating his answer, "Yes, I do, but I can always be wrong so do not take my word as fact, Alistair. Now, it is time you and the rest were off, there is much to be done and not a lot of time left."

"Of course, Duncan," said Alistair his voice stern as he turned back to the group, all three were now talking amongst each other, Ser Jory was helping Yvaine transfer a few items into a smaller pack. He watched her with great interest, the way her hair refused to cooperate with her as several long strands were blown around in the wind, how her eyes sparkled in the sunlight, what intrigued him the most was the easy way she laughed despite all that had transpired. If he had been in that situation, he doubted that even his cynical attitude and jokes could have gotten him through it, Maker knows he had struggled enough with Arl Eamon taking him to the Chantry. He looked at her again and felt his heart ache, she was the strongest woman he had ever met and tonight he might lose her altogether without ever having really known her. Alistair shook his head, mentally chastising himself for being pessimistic yet again, he instead remembered Duncan's words and the belief that Yvaine might survive. That thought would get him through these next few crucial hours, and perhaps he could take this opportunity to get to know Yvaine a little better, to have at least a few memories to hold onto should the worst happen.