Adara pulled her lips to one side as she eyed a brilliant green gown with malachites and a scattering of seed pearls sewn around the neckline, attempting to justify bringing it with her. It felt too pretty to leave behind, but it was also wildly impractical to take. She remembered from their travels during the Blight just how quickly her pack could get cumbersome, and she was already taking the blue dress with the silver griffon embroidery. With a little frustrated grunt, she left the green dress hanging in the wardrobe.

Taking inventory of her possessions and divvying them up into things to take with her, things to sell, and things to have Nathaniel store away was almost relaxing in its mundanity. It was preferable to more worrisome questions, like where exactly she was going and what in the void she intended to do with herself.

Jowan's ridiculous decorative comb with the penis carvings went into a pouch of her bag along with several other sentimental trinkets, like the plain silver ring she had been given for surviving her Harrowing. The grimoire that Morrigan left her in the Dragonbone Wastes, with Alistair's rose pressed between the pages, was carefully wrapped in a silken blue scarf that Leliana had convinced her to purchase because it suited her complexion. The little bundle went into the bottom of the pack.

Adara didn't pack very much gold: it was heavy, and she could sell some treasure whenever she needed more. Maker knew she had collected enough small gemstones and expensive bits of jewelry during the Blight to sustain herself for years, if she was living extravagantly. Possibly her entire life if she was more conservative about it.

"Come in," she called when someone knocked at the door.

She had known it would be Carver. He looked ill at ease when he sidled into the room, as if not entirely sure he ought to be there. "Hi," he said, rubbing absently at the back of his neck. Reconciliation or no, it would take time for things between them to feel steady again.

He would dither about all day if she let him, so Adara put down the shirt she was folding and crossed the room to grab him by the collar and pull him down for a lingering kiss. His hands went to her waist, setting into the place above her hips that seemed made just for him, and he made a low sound in his chest that made Adara debate saving the rest of her packing for later. After a moment, she managed to pull herself away. "Hi yourself," she said. She gave him a small but genuine smile before returning to her well-organized piles of earthly possessions.

Carver trailed after her as if he intended to help but stopped short when he realized there wasn't anything helpful for him to do. Instead he sat awkwardly on the edge of the bed and watched her. "So… Stroud and I are heading out the day after tomorrow, now that things are well in hand," he said. "There's a ship heading back to Ostwick."

"So Stroud told me."

"I also, uh, I heard there's going to be a changing of the guard here soon. So to speak. Not an actual one. I mean, I know the guards change all the time, so actual ones are happening, I suppose, but I don't mean those. What I meant was—"

Adara couldn't hide her little smile at his stammering and decided to intervene before he got himself mired in a hopeless tangle of words. "I'm stepping down as Warden-Commander. Nathaniel's going to be in charge. He's better suited for the job, honestly, and I imagine he'll attract far fewer assassins."

"Are you staying here? Or are you going somewhere in particular?"

"No, I'm not staying. I think it'll be best if I lie low for a while." Adara frowned. "I'm not entirely sure where I'm going. I thought I might head towards Cumberland first. That's where my friend Wynne was last going. She has firsthand experience with… working with spirits. I could use her advice if I can find her."

Carver grimaced. "You okay? With all of… that." He indicated her head with a circular movement of his hand, though she didn't need it to understand his meaning.

She hesitated before nodding. "There've been some changes that will take getting used to, but nothing dangerous."

"I didn't ask if it was dangerous. I already know it's dangerous," he grumbled. "I'm worried about you."

Adara gently touched his cheek, her smile almost shy. "I know you are. I'm okay. I promise." It wasn't a lie. At least, she didn't think it was. Tenacity's feelings were entwined with Adara's now, and mostly all they felt was excitement at the prospect of leaving the burden of duty behind them.

Adara started to say, unprompted, that Tenacity seemed fond of Carver but thought better of it lest he wisely find that off-putting. The spirit was likely influenced by Adara's own feelings anyway.

"Anyway, if I can't find Wynne, maybe I'll go to Rivain. I've heard a little bit about their seers. Maybe what they do isn't so different from Tenacity and me." She shrugged. "Plus there will always be darkspawn to fight somewhere. I could go to Weisshaupt and find out if they're doing anything useful with all the damn Disciples we've been catching for them. It's not like I can actually stop being a Grey Warden."

Carver gave a shrug of his own. "I knew a guy who kinda did."

"You what?"

He waved a hand dismissively. "Nevermind. It's not important."

Adara could sense that she wasn't going to get anything else out of him on that point, so she didn't try. "Anyway, I have a lot of options," she finished.

They fell silent again. Adara continued to pack, while Carver picked up a small silverite dagger with a dragonbone hilt and idly tried to balance it on his finger. "You're welcome to come with us back to the Marches," he eventually said, his tone overly casual. "While you're figuring things out."

Adara could feel the heat rising in her cheeks. "I… I kind of thought I might do that, actually. If you wouldn't—if you don't think anyone would mind. It's not like I'm in a hurry."

He gave her a broad grin, and she could tell that he was fighting to keep it from taking over his whole face. "Good! I mean, good. That's good. Stroud will be happy to have you along."

"Just Stroud?" she asked teasingly with raised eyebrows.

Carver gave an exaggerated shrug, hands spread wide with his palms up. "I mean, it's not like I care. I try to stay focused on the job, y'know?"

Adara laughed. "Oh, that's right! I forgot about your commitment to professionalism." One corner of her mouth twitched up into a lopsided smirk. "I was going to ask if I could bunk with you, but I suppose I can ask Stroud instead. That mustache of his is awfully impressive."

"And here I thought you hated mustaches."

"Maybe I've gotten hopelessly curious. It isn't my fault that Stroud's is so seductive."

Carver chuckled and reached over to encircle her waist with one arm and pull her to him. "Alright, you win."

"Mmm, too late. I've chosen the mustache."

He brushed her hair away from her neck and kissed the skin he exposed, teeth scraping just a touch too hard to be entirely playful. "I'll just have to change your mind, then," he murmured. She shivered as his hands began to roam, nudging his chin up so she could pull his mouth to hers and give him kisses that were filled with all the promises she didn't know how to voice.

Adara climbed into his lap and let her legs fall on either side of him, thoughts of packing her bags forgotten for the time being. The realization that this was only the beginning of a new chapter, and that she could do whatever the hell she wanted with it, made her giddy. She hadn't realized how heavily her burdens had pressed down on her shoulders until they were lifted, her heart lifting with them. There were some chains that could never be broken—like the taint in her blood that in some ways made her more dead than not—but for now they felt lighter than she ever thought possible.

Wrapped safely in Carver's arms, Adara kissed him slowly and deeply. Previously there was always an undercurrent of desperation in her kisses, a looming fear that he would be taken from her like everything else. Now she was content to savor him. Her time in this life might be limited but she was finished being told what to do with it. It was hers.

Just like he was.

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Two days later, a merchant ship set sail from Amaranthine's harbor bound for the Free Marches. It was unremarkable save for who it carried, bearing Adara Surana away from the kingdom that had declared her a Hero as quickly as the wind could fill her sails.

Adara's heart pounded in her chest as she watched Amaranthine's coastline grow distant, both excited and terrified to be going further than she ever thought her leash could extend. It was probably too much to hope for that she could entirely leave behind the legends of the Hero of Ferelden, the ones that turned her into something both larger than life and separate from it. From the physical tower in which she had grown up to the pedestal created by the Blight and by sheer dumb luck, Adara was tired of living a separate life.

When Ferelden's shores were too far away to see any longer, she turned her back to them. Now she would only look ahead.

THE END.

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That's the end! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for reading it! I really appreciate everyone who has read this! Adara and Carver's story will continue, and if I stick to my outlines it'll probably get a whole lot worse before it gets better but that's Thedas for you, isn't it?