Convincing Alistair that Leliana was a good choice took some time but Elissa and I both insisted which made it impossible for him to refuse. Rafe just went along with whatever I said, which was disconcerting in that I wasn't used to the level of trust he showed me, not from a stranger anyhow. He just nodded and waited for us by the door, keeping an eye out for any more troops.

I purchased the supplies we needed and we left, heading over toward the chantry once we had convinced Leliana to help us free Sten. As we were walking through the doors I spotted a knight who looked vaguely familiar. I must have been staring because he looked up from the book he was reading and caught my gaze. I put my hand on Alistair's arm and when he looked at me I pointed to the knight. He had to be the one from Redcliffe because Alistair seemed to recognize him and started to walk over.

"Wait," I said as I stopped him. "Did you find the remains of a templar on your way in?" He looked over to Elissa who pulled out the locket. I smiled at Alistair and Elissa and pointed to the knight then motioned for Leliana to follow me.

Leliana and I made our way into the Revered Mother's study. I approached her and kneeled at her feet.

"Greetings Revered Mother," I said with my head bowed. Why the hell am I doing this, I asked myself as I held my position. I felt a cold hand on my head and rose to standing.

"Greeting child, I have to say it's been a long time since I've received a greeting such as that," the Revered Mother said as she smiled up at me from her chair. Her graying hair was pulled back tightly into a bun and her robes of gold and red were immaculate. I returned her smile. "Would you have a tithe for the chantry today?"

"I apologize, Revered Mother, for I have little enough gold for the quest I am on," I said sympathetically. The chantry in Lothering needed the coin but I knew what we were up against was far more important. She sighed.

"Yes, I understand. These are troubling times. What is it I can do for you?" I squared my shoulders.

"There is a Qunari caged outside of town, would you consider placing him in my custody?" I asked, trying to keep my voice level. This could go one of two ways, I thought, and if it weren't for bad luck…

"Revered Mother," Leliana piped up, "we are on a quest to stop the blight. His skills would prove very useful in the times to come. He has expressed a need to repent and we believe it is genuine." We both held our breath and waited. The Revered Mother sighed, shaking her head.

"You are sure, Leliana, that this is wise? If he was to kill again his future victims may count us as their murderers as well," she said as she looked me up and down. I stood straighter and squared my jaw. Her opinion was important to me, not that I knew why.

"Yes, I am sure. Her cause is just and her methods may not be conventional…" Leliana trailed off as she looked at me, and then smiled back at the Mother. "but I have faith that she and her peers will succeed." The Mother sighed.

"Alright, here is the key to his cage," she said as she handed me the key. "Regardless of his horrific crime I was not fond of the idea of leaving him there to meet his fate. Maybe my conscience and his can be cleared knowing he will fight to defend us all." I smiled my thanks, bowed and left the office. I let out a huge sigh of relief as we rounded the corner out of the Mother's sight and Leliana laughed.

"She is a kind and decent woman, but I am surprised that she relented so quickly. Perhaps what you did in there made a difference," she said as we approached Alistair and Elissa. I shrugged and nodded toward the door.

"Perhaps," I replied, "but that was not my intention."

"No, your intention was to show respect, that much was clear," she said thoughtfully. "But the amount of respect is what intrigues me. I have only seen that behavior from Templars, have you received training?" I smiled and shrugged.

"That is an excellent question," I mumbled as we walked out the chantry doors.

When we got back to camp, Sten and Leliana in tow, I made a point to corner Duncan alone. He seemed to know what I was going to say before I said it.

"I want to tell him," I said softly after I looked around to be sure we didn't have company. Duncan sighed heavily and squared his jaw, giving me a long, hard look.

"I would ask why but I don't think I need to," he said as he gave me a small smile. I shook my head looking at the ground.

"He deserves the truth," I said. "He has been pushed down and held back since birth, he deserves to feel some sort of pride in his heritage, know he came not from a letch and a servant but from love. How he has been brought up and what he has been made to believe is far from fair. If not me then can you please do it? He needs to know…" I met Duncan's eyes as I finished my thought, "he is so much more than what he has been told." He smiled and nodded.

"Tell him," he said softly, patted my shoulder and walked away. I took a deep breath and looked around for Alistair, finding him by the fire with a whetstone, working on some weapons. I walked over and sat down on the ground next to him, watching him work for a time. Then, looking up to his eyes, I realized he was looking back at me as he ran the stone along the edge of the long sword he held. I blushed and cleared my throat.

"Do you have a moment?" I asked as I tried to keep the color from my cheeks, "I have something I'd like to share with you." I smiled as he put the sword and stone aside, leaning his forearms on his thighs and clasping his hands between his knees.

"What did I do to deserve this?" he asked as his eyes twinkled mischievously. I realized I was flustered and had to get a grip, so I stood up and smoothed my breeches down my thighs.

"Nothing, I just wanted to share some information I had with you. Walk with me?" Alistair smiled and stood up. Wow he is tall! And wow, shoulders. Stop it, I thought to myself, deep breaths!

We walked down to the water, picking a secluded spot a bit upstream so we could talk. I didn't want anyone to interrupt or over hear. Not that I minded being alone with him, but I digress. I stood so close to the water's edge that the little waves lapped at the toes of my boots. Drawing strength from its calming sound I took a deep breath and turned to Alistair.

"OK, now you're scaring me," he said as he shifted on his feet nervously. That instantly put me at ease, reminding me who I was speaking to as I smiled and slapped his arm playfully.

"No, it's nothing bad. Nothing that I think is bad anyway. It's about your parents." I let that statement loose without thinking and he went stiff. I realized then how much the lies had affected him over the years and I instantly became angry. "Alistair, you have nothing to be defensive about or ashamed of. Others should be ashamed, for allowing you to believe the lies you've been fed your whole life." He gave an annoyed snort.

"Why bother lying, the truth is so much more believable," he said as he rubbed the back of his neck. I realized then that he did that to avoid eye contact without being obvious about it. I reached for him, cupping his chin and he immediately met my eyes. I smiled.

"Your mother was no serving girl, Alistair. She was a Warden."

I let go of his chin and waited. How would I react to news like that in his place? I asked myself as I held his gaze. He stared at me with those mesmerizing eyes and all I could think about was holding him, making his pain go away. I was so caught up that I couldn't see the expression on his face, nor did I realize I was holding my breath until I became light headed. I released it and gave myself a mental slap to snap out of it, examining the rest of his face. It was stoic. Not knowing what to do I continued with the story, pacing the edge of the water and avoiding his gaze so I could focus on the facts.

I told him about Rowan's death, how hard Maric took it and his self-destructive ways afterward. And then the Warden.

"I don't know much about her, can't even remember her name at the moment, but I do know she was a warden mage and…" my voice trailed off as I tried to gauge how he was reacting to all of this. Deciding it didn't really matter at this point, I dove in head first. "She was an elf."

"What?" he whispered as his face immediately changed from stoic to that of a deer in headlights. I straightened my shoulders and faced him.

"I know it's a lot to take in so I'll summarize it for you. You are not the son of a lecherous king and an innocent serving girl. You are the son of a proud and honorable king and a proud and honorable elven Grey Warden. You, Alistair," I whispered as I took his face in both my hands and looked deeply into those eyes, "have nothing to be ashamed of. You were born of love." His gaze was heavy and, feeling a bit exposed, I released his face and took a step back. He stood where he was, appearing to be shell shocked.

"I don't understand," he began as he looked at the ground, "everyone said…"

"As for their reasons, you'll have to ask them all individually. Duncan made a promise, of that much I am sure. A promise that he allowed me to break, by the way." I gave him a small smile as I looked toward the camp. "He may know more of her, I'm not sure, but at least you have him around to ask." I sighed and turned back to Alistair, "I'll leave you to your thoughts, but I want to say one more thing," I said as I gave him my best proud smile, "and this I know for a fact. You were loved by both your parents. More than you will ever know. That, in itself, is priceless."

I felt a pang of sadness hit me as I walked back to camp, thinking of my own parents. Then I remembered things may have been different here and made a mental note to ask Caden about it later. As I approached camp I overheard Rafe telling tales about our adventures in Lothering. Embellishing, of course, but it gave the men something to pass the time so I let it go. Even went so far as to start listening myself. That was a mistake and a half.

Eventually everyone gathered around the fire for the evening meal, Rafe still deep into his story-telling mode and now making me the focus of it.

"It was priceless, you should have seen the look on that guy's face when Kora practically hissed at him 'You may leave with your lives but you will take a message to Loghain!'!" Rafe roared with laughter. With the extremely large group of Wardens along with Cailan, Solana and Leliana all cracking up simultaneously I thought I was going to die. At least Morrigan and Sten weren't interested or entertained by the story. Neither was anywhere near the fire, both content to eat alone and away from the rambunctious group. I wanted to melt into the log I was sitting on.

Trying desperately to hide my horrified face with my empty food bowl, I took a deep breath and stood up, attempting to make my way through everyone and away. No place in particular, just away. I dropped my bowl in the bucket and almost ran to the stream.

What the hell was I thinking? I thought as I reached the water's edge and tried to slow my breathing. I could have been killed or worse, gotten one of them killed. I sighed deeply and dropped my head into my hands, feeling the anxiety that I should have felt before that battle hit me hard. I knew the soldiers were in there, I knew there would be a fight, and yet I STILL just walked in there as if it was all a GAME! I let out a frustrated growl as I kicked a rock into the water. Haven't I gotten enough people killed for one life time, I thought. As I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration I dropped to my knees. I felt my shoulders start to shake when two heavy hands rested on them gently.

"Hey," I heard Alistair whisper as he knelt behind me then sat, pulling me to his chest, "don't do that, no." That was all it took, I felt the tears sliding down my cheeks. He held me tight as I proceeded to bawl my eyes out, turning to whimper into his chest and grasp his shirt in my fists. He just sat there holding me, stroking my hair gently and rocking side to side, like I was a frightened child. When I finally started to get a hold of myself I pulled my face back to look up at him. He softly brushed my tear-damp hair away from my face and cupped my cheek.

"You don't know," was all I could manage to croak out and then I turned my face toward to the ground. I felt him cup my chin and turn my face back up to his.

"You'd be surprised what I know," he said softly. I shook my head.

"You don't know about…" I trailed off and panicked.

As I scrambled to get my footing, I ran up the bank and rushed back to camp. I can't, I reprimanded myself, I can't and I won't. All I ever do is hurt people. Hurt them or get them killed. I will not hurt anyone ever again, I insisted. I then crawled into my tent, curled up into my bed roll and cried quietly. A hollow feeling took me, slowing the tears and making it easier to breathe. As I wiped my face dry I heard rustling outside my tent flap so I looked up.

"Kora."

Caden always knew what tone to take with me to invoke each emotion. This one was the guilt command. I shook my head and grunted.

"What did I do wrong now?" I asked, challenging him with a glare. I grabbed a scrap of linen and tied my hair back as Caden made his way into my tent and sat on the bed roll next to me. Resting his weight on one arm he sighed and looked me in the eye.

"What did you say to the man, Kora?" He asked, his eyes full of concern. "He thinks you're keeping some deep dark secret from everyone!" Shocked, I stared at my brother.

"Caden, I am!" I hissed. "And you know it! I understand that these people don't need to know my life's story, they just need the information in my head to get through the next year. Knowing what happened in the other realm or whatever you call it won't change anything. I don't REMEMBER!" I dropped my face into my hands and growled. I felt him move closer to me, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Stop it," he whispered, "like you said you don't remember. It probably wasn't your fault at all, if it was even real. Kora!" He said forcefully. I finally raised my head to meet his eyes. He smiled and sighed. "Sister, I love you more than anyone else in this REALM or any other. Don't do this, don't blame yourself for things that are not in your control. It's the past, it's over and there is no going back. Look at where you are now, where you are going, what you are doing..." He smiled at me, then I noticed a small tear form in the corner of his eye. "Mother would be so proud." My eyebrows lifted.

"What do you mean?" I asked. He'd never mentioned our family before so I was eager to hear anything he had to say.

"Mother was… amazing." He looked past me as if deep in thought. "She lead Ferelden's Navy, such as it is. She was the one who took out the Orlesian Navy. She commanded every ship in our fleet to abandon Ferelden then, a week later, once the Orlesians had made port and docked she ordered all vessels back and boxed them in, completely annihilated them where they sat." He sat back a bit and looked upward. "You were one clever commander, Mother." I smiled.

"Someone to be proud of," I said quietly. "How did she die?" Caden sighed sadly.

"I'm not sure, one day she just didn't get out of bed. Father said she wasn't feeling well and a few weeks later…" The tear that was threatening managed to escape, falling down his cheek. I wiped it away, cupping his cheek and feeling tears of my own sting the back of my eyes.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered. He shook his head.

"It was your loss too, Kora." He looked at me sympathetically.

"Kind of hard to feel it when I can't remember." I felt my shoulders slump and saw his hand reach for my nose, giving it a twitch.

"Your memories will return," he said with a smile. "Give it time. You always were the impatient one." I sighed, shaking my head.

"And you were the stubborn one." I smiled at him. "So, what to do about Alistair. Does he think I'm a desire demon?" I grinned mischievously. Caden laughed.

"Perhaps, you should probably clear that up with him." I shook my head profusely.

"What good would it do to tell him about the accident?" Caden grabbed my chin with his free hand.

"You don't think it would go a long way to making him TRUST you?" He pulled my face to his and looked dead into my eyes. I sighed.

"FINE! Fine, I'll tell him. But you are going to have the birds and bees talk with him, that is where I draw the line." I smirked as I got up and walked out of my tent, leaving Caden to drop backward onto the bedroll and sigh dramatically.

In the moonlight I could barely make out the shadow of someone sitting by the water, right where I knew I left Alistair. I'm such an ass, I thought as I carefully and quietly sat down beside him. He was resting his forearms on his knees, staring out over the water.

I slowly let my eyes make their way from his strong hands that had just brushed away my tears to his extremely sculpted arms that held me so tight not long ago. The memory of feeling them around me warmed my face as my eyes found their way to his chest then finally coming to rest on his warm brown eyes. OMG was that a HUGE mistake! I screamed inwardly as I took a deep breath to steady myself.

"You don't have to," Alistair stated simply and quietly as he stood. Not once looking directly at me, he continued, "I know you have your reasons and that is fine. Don't worry, I'm used to it." He said the last bit with a bit more frustration as he started back for the camp. It took me a second but I realized what happened and panicked. Fix it! I screamed at myself. Not caring who was in ear shot or what anyone thought of me I yelled after him.

"Alistair! You do NOT know what my reasons are and don't pretend you don't care," I demanded. I heard my voice quake slightly but I had to see this through, so I stood up and stormed after him, "so just so you are AWARE I am a complete and utter moron. If you want to feel sorry for anyone," I lowered my voice as I reached him, grabbing his arm and turning him around to face me, "feel sorry for me. I'm pathetic, a total idiot who can't do anything right.

"Example A," I said theatrically as I swung my arms outwardly toward the stream where the 'conversation' began, "I managed to turn a completely innocent and potentially beautiful moment into complete chaos. I am such an ass." The last part I said more to myself as I looked down at our feet. "I want to tell you about what happened, where I came from." I looked up into his eyes. "Will you hear me out?" He shrugged and smiled.

"I've got some free time, as long as it doesn't cut into my beauty sleep," he said with a smirk. I laughed and shook my head.

"Maker forbid," I mumbled as I made my way back down to the water and sat. Feeling him sit next to me I began my tale.

By the time I had finished he was looking out at the water thoughtfully. I held my breath, mentally preparing myself for defense mode, worried that he may blame me just like everyone else had. That was one of my greatest fears, I realized just then. I didn't want Alistair to look at me differently, as a woman who made a stupid mistake and got a lot of people killed because of it. The same way I looked at Cailan, I thought angrily, I'll have to make it up to him somehow. When Alistair didn't respond right away I placed my hand on his arm gently.

"Are you… angry?" I asked timidly. He turned to face me with a look of confusion.

"Angry? Why would I be angry?" he asked. "I don't know that I would trust anyone, myself included, with that information. And yet here you are, pouring your heart out to me. How COULD I be angry?" He put his hand over mine and squeezed. I smiled, feeling a tear slide down my cheek. I rested my forehead on our hands, letting out one choked sob.

"I was so afraid you would hate me," I whispered as I raised my head to look at him. "You wouldn't have been the first to judge me on that alone, you know." He smiled and cupped my cheek with his free hand.

"Their loss," he whispered.

I stared into his eyes, not wanting to let this feeling of relief subside. Relief and…

"DARKSPAWN!" Someone yelled and my eyes flew to the direction of the camp. I felt Alistair tighten his grip on my hand and drag me across the clearing to his tent. He then grabbed his sword and shield.

"Stay behind me!" he hissed at me as he looked around anxiously for our attackers. Scanning the area I saw people pouring out of their tents grasping swords and daggers, fully armored and readying themselves for the fight. I ran to my tent on the other side of Caden's and grabbed my sword and shield. No way am I going to stand here and do nothing, I thought as my eyes continued to search for the invaders. Seeing nothing I moved to stand back to back with Alistair. After a few seconds I slowed my breathing and whispered over my shoulder.

"Feel anything?" I asked as my eyes darted here and there, looking for any movement at all in the shadows beyond. I felt Alistair shift, still tensed behind me.

"You shouldn't be out here," he said through gritted teeth, "you're not immune, Kora."

"HA! I grew up with Caden, dearest," I laughed as I watched Roman climb out of his tent fully armored and ready. "If I'm immune to him…" I heard him huff a small laugh and smiled to myself.

"Here!" I heard Jaden shout from my left. As Alistair charged toward the Hurlocks and Alpha in that direction I spotted a two Genlocks trying to flank him. Running straight at them I let out a war cry that startled them enough to give me time to run my sword clean across their necks. Looking around I spotted more pouring from some bushes off behind the fire. I ran and jumped over the fire, landing on one and shield bashing another, then swinging my sword around to slice the third in two.

The battle raged on, I could hear the crunching of bone, blood curdling screams and suddenly shouts of victory. As I turned toward their calls I saw a lone Alpha pulling himself off the ground. Seeing the rest of the group too far away to be of any help I readied myself.

"Hey ugly!" I shouted, getting the Alpha's attention. I smiled. "Yeah you, come get me you blighted bastard!" He growled then screamed, a sound I would never forget to my dying day, and charged at me. Securing my footing, I waited for my opening.

As he got near I saw his armor at the waist had been badly damaged, it appeared from a great sword. Way to go Roman, I thought as I spun around and swung my sword as hard as I could horizontally across his mid section. Unfortunately the chain mail was still intact so the creature was thrown back but resumed his attack on me. As it neared I kicked it in the gut to give me some room then ran my blade right through its chest. Grunting and spewing a dark liquid at my face, it fell to its knees and gurgled, finally keeling over dead.

I took a deep breath and wiped my mouth with the back of my left hand. Pulling it away I saw the dark liquid smeared across my gauntlet. Shit, I thought as I looked around, what am I supposed to do now?

"All clear!" I heard Marcus shout as he, Brock and Sten made their way back through the woods to the fire, sheathing their swords. Everyone else slowly gathered around as we did a head count. No losses on our side. Yet.

Backing away from the group slowly, I snuck away to the water. Stripping off my armor as fast as I could down to my breast band and panties, I waded into the water up to my chest and sat, submerging my head completely. Scrubbing my face violently with my palms under the water, I was in a panic. I can't get sick, I can't get sick, I thought as I came up for air then went back under. I scrubbed my face, my ears, my neck and my hair until I couldn't hold my breath anymore. Then, chest heaving, I moved to stand in waist deep water and started scrubbing my shoulders, my arms, my chest, my stomach; every inch of skin I could reach. When my skin was rubbed raw I sighed and dropped my arms to my sides, still standing in the waist deep water. I heard someone clear their throat from behind me so I spun around, covering my already covered breasts instinctively with both arms.

"Please, we had our diapers changed together," Caden smirked as he sat down on the grass. I sighed with relief and lowered my arms, shaking my head.

"I have breasts now, dear brother," I replied smartly as I made my way out of the water to gather my clothes. "Things are a bit different." I scooped up my shirt and held it up by the shoulders in front of me, checking it over for any signs of the dark liquid I was so afraid of. Spotting some around the collar, I took it to the water and started scrubbing it out. I heard Caden sigh.

"You took a big chance fighting those things, Kora." He said that with one measure of warning and one of pride. My back still to him, I shook my head and smiled.

"No way in hell was I going to stand there and let you take all the glory," I stated very matter-of-factly as I lifted the shirt up, admiring my handiwork. "Besides, isn't that potion that Morrigan cooked up supposed to help protect us?" I asked. Flemeth had given her the recipe before they left her hut so Morrigan wouldn't get sick. He grunted agreement and I turned to him. "Hey, any way you can tell if this shirt is still tainted?" I stood, walking toward him with the garment in my hand, still just in my small clothes.

Then I heard some brush move nearby and our heads snapped to its direction.

"Um… hi." I waved as Jaden came into view. He casually leaned up against a nearby tree and smirked. I crossed my arms and glared at him. "If you don't mind, I'm kinda not dressed. Beat it!" I snapped and he walked back toward camp, but not before he looked me over from head to toe. He made me feel uneasy and Caden growled in his direction.

"I have never liked that man," he grumbled as he stood to take my shirt from me, watching to be sure Jaden left. Looking it over he nodded approval and helped me slip it over my head. "If he comes anywhere near you, Kora…"

"Oh dear brother," I smiled as I patted his chest reassuringly. I grabbed my breeches and, after getting Caden's approval, slipped them on, "you are not the only one in this camp who is protective of me. Fear not." I winked and sat cross legged on the ground. Using a stick to toss my dirty gauntlet towards the water I grabbed the other, going over every bit inch by inch. He laughed and grabbed my chest plate, taking it to the water to clean it off.

"I know," he smiled as he glanced at me, "and that I don't mind."

"So glad you approve," I smirked.

After we finished cleaning my armor I strapped it on and we walked back to camp. Walking next to Caden I realized how much of a difference there was in height between us. I was 5'6", average for a woman, but he was 6'2", a bit tall for a man. I grinned up at him and he must have caught my look out of the corner of his eye, quirking his eyebrow in question.

"I was just thinking that you'll know it's raining WELL before I will," I smiled as I directed my eyes forward. I felt a gentle shove in my shoulder and we both laughed softly.

When we got back to camp Caden gave me a quick kiss on the top of my head and made for his tent. Everyone else was asleep except Bran and Morrigan who were on watch, and Alistair and Duncan who were sitting by the fire. I smiled as I watched the two Wardens, trying to gauge what their conversation was about. Deciding it seemed a bit intense, probably about Alistair's parentage, I went inside my tent to try and get some sleep. Yes, in my armor, I was feeling a bit paranoid. Besides, it will be an early morning, anything to save time.

It was going to be a long march to Redcliffe.