- THEDAS/FEW HOURS AFTER THE MEETING WITH THE ORLESIAN WARDENS -

After the meeting with the Orlesian Warden-Commander, Vardall spent the rest of the day commanding the reconstruction of Denerim together with Queen Anora, while Alistair dealt with other matters. The problem was that almost nothing was decided, because the newly appointed Chancellor and the Queen were constantly on each other's throats. Vardall wanted to focus the reconstruction efforts on the more poor parts of the city, mainly the Denerim Alienage, while Anora wanted full focus on Denerim's noble district and the Chantry.

"The nobles have enough gold to rebuild their homes themselves, but the poor no.." Vardall crosses his arms. "Most of these people are homeless and even starving. They need our total focus and attention."

"I understand your concerns, Warden..." Anora always had that strange aura around her. Even not looking like, she was the type who would do whatever it takes in order of fulfilling her objectives, including lying and deceiving. She truly was a politician and made sure to always act like one. "...but helping the nobles now will grant us more gold and support to help the rest of the population."

"I don't give a damn about that!" Vardall punches the table, scaring the architect who was with them in the room, together with some of his workers and some guards. Anora, who wasn't scared by that, remained calm. "We're focussing on the poor districts. No more talk."

Now Anora was a little angry with Vardall. She always wants to be the one in control of everything she does, but unfortunately to her that wasn't going to work with Vardall.

"Warden, I..." Anora tries to talk, angry being clear in her voice, but Vardall cuts her.

"This decision can't proceed without the approval of the King." He severely says. "Who do you think Alistair will support, you or me?"

Anora tries to answer, but the words don't exit her mouth. She sighs and talks, defeated: "Fine then. We'll focus on the poor first."

Vardall smiles arrogantly and looks to the main architect who was with them. "So it's decided. You and your men will focus on these following districts." He says, pointing into a map of the city the mentioned districts.

The architect notes everything in a journal. "It will be done, my Lord." He then respectfully bows his head, something Vardall didn't like.

"You... don't need to do that with me, okay?" Vardall calmly corrects the architect. "I'm not superior to anyone here."

"Oh... pardon me." The architect says.

The meeting continued for some more time, when it was over, it was already night outside the Royal Palace.

Leaving the meeting room, Vardall nervously walks around the palace until his destination, he still had one important thing to do before this day was over. Being saluted by some guards he meets on his way, Vardall finally arrives where he wanted, he opens a door and enters the bedroom he and Leliana were sharing for the last weeks. Once he enters, he immediately sees Leliana already was on the bed and she was reading a book.

Leliana looks at Vardall and smiles at him. "How was your day, my love?" Leliana asks with her characteristic Orlesian accent, one of the things Vardall loved the most.

He sits on her side and they share a quick kiss. "First of all, it was boring."

So Vardall explained Leliana everything that happened today, mainly the meeting he had with the Orlesian Warden-Commander, his nomination as Warden-Commander of Ferelden and Arl of Amaranthine, and let off steam about his second meeting, this time with Queen Anora.

Leliana paid attention to each of Vardall's words. "What are you gonna do as Warden-Commander?" She asks.

Vardall sighs. "The first of all will be to rebuild the order. I'm sure the orlesian wardens will help us, but I'll need to find volunteers inside Ferelden."

"That doesn't sound like something easy." Vardall told Leliana about all the sacrifices that involved becoming a Grey Warden. It wasn't a great honor as many think, and while she understands how the wardens are necessary, she can't imagine her becoming one of them. It also had the consequence of the Calling. She tries not to think about it, but is always on her mind that one day, she will lose Vardall to the Taint.

But this night wasn't time for sad thoughts, it was time for happy ones, as Vardall finally decides this is the time.

"You know..." He catches Leliana's attention. "As the next Arl from Amaranthine, I think I'll need a good Arlessa by my side. I think a certain red-haired Orlesian bard would be perfect."

Leliana was a little confused now, but she quickly understood what Vardall was trying to say. She looks at him, totally shocked and with her eyes open wide while Vardall was with a giant smile on his face.

"Vardall, you..." She didn't know what to say, so Vardall decided to take the initiative. He takes both Leliana's hands on his, holding them gently.

"Songbird... Leliana." He looks right into her blue eyes. "Would you like to marry me?"

If Leliana didn't know what to say before, now she was speechless. "I... I..." She stutters, before finally being able to talk. "Yes! I do!"

Vardall's smile gets even bigger as he brings Leliana to a strong and passionate kiss, where they declare all their love for each other.

When their lips part, Vardall could see some tears of joy dropping from Leliana's eyes, he gently catches them.

"In this case, I don't think I'll need to buy you a ring." Vardall looks to Leliana's fingers, where she still was using the blue orlesian ring he gave to her months ago.

She laughs as she kisses Vardall again. Right tomorrow they would already start planning the ceremony and Leliana would happily accept the name Leliana Amell.

- TAMRIEL -

The bridge that connects the College with Winterhold was quite damaged and the snow upon it was making it even harder to cross, but Vardall ignored the dangers of that while he quickly followed the Dunmer Arch-Mage, wanting answers here and now.

("How this man knows about the Fade?") That was the question disturbing Vardall's mind while the big and heavy College gates opened in front of him, granting passage to everyone. The first thing Vardall noticed was the courtyard full of snow, and a statue right in the center of the place, in front of a tower. His friends also noticed that, but were more focused now on following Vardall. Whatever the Arch-Mage was talking about, it truly affected him, they all could see that.

Entering a building of the College, that was the Hall of the Elements, the Dunmer Arch-Mage suddenly stopped walking right in front of a door, making Vardall and the others do the same. Then he turned to face the heavily confused Dragonborn. "What I have to talk with you is to your ears only. Your friends will have to wait here."

"What?!" Arissa yelled. "Look, whatever you have to talk to Vardall, you have to talk to..."

"He's right." Vardall then turned to look at his friends. "I'll talk with him alone."

Everyone obviously became even confused with that. What was so important or secret they can't know about? "My Thane, you can't be serious about..."

"But I am!" Vardall's sudden shout scared not just Lydia, but as everyone else, less the Nerevarine. Different from his usual quite happy and smiley expression, Vardall now was more serious than ever, his eyes gazing severely upon his friends. "I will talk with him alone, no discussion. In the meantime, you all see if anyone from this place knows something about the Moth Priest."

That called the Arch-Mage's attention. "Moth Priest, eh? Well, Urag may be able to help you with that. He's in the Arcanaeum." He says, pointing to a door behind them.

Before anyone could ask any other thing, Vardall followed the Arch-Mage inside another door that they heard being locked after a few seconds.

Silence ruled while the group just looked at each other, all still confused and even a little scared from what happened.

"Well..." Arissa decides to break the silence. "What was that?"

"I don't know." Serana puts her hand under her chin. "But whatever the Arch-Mage had to talk with Vardall, certainly heavily affected him."

"That I can tell." Lydia talks while she shrugs. "I think I never saw Vardall so serious before. Angry, sad or focused? For sure. But never like that."

The Nerevarine crossed his arms, thinking for a few seconds. "That name the Arch-Mage told the Dragonborn. Fade..."

The Protector of Morrowind earned the attention of everyone now. "What does that mean?" Lucien asked.

"I don't know." The Nerecarine sigh. "But I remember hearing or reading something about that during my time on the old Morrowind Mages Guild."

"What does that mean?" Serana asks.

"I don't know." The reincarnated says. "I never gave too much focus on the guild, I was more focused on stopping Dagoth Ur."

"Remember what the Arch-Mage told Vardall: 'Your connection to the Fade is the strongest I ever felt'." Lucien says. "Whatever this word means, I'll guess he knows about it and that's why he changed so abruptly."

"Whatever it means, we have another objective." The Nerevarine moved until the door that goes to the Arcanaeum. "Come on. Let us see if we can find any information about the Moth Priest."

They all had questions, but the Nerevarine was right. They needed to search for information about the Moth Priest for him or her to read the Elder Scroll Serana has. So the questions for Vardall will have to wait a little more.

Once the Arch-Mage entered that door with Vardall, he locks the door just in case someone tries to enter and goes up some stairs. Vardall follows him and they both enter a type of bedroom. It was a big place, full of many and many bookshelves, an alchemy lab surrounded by the most diverse potions and the most diverse types of magical tools and items.

"Would you like something to drink?" The Arch-Mage goes to a table on his right. Upon the table lies a tea pot and some cups. that were in front of them.

Vardall, however, only wanted one thing. "What do you know about the Fade?" He asks, still serious.

The Arch-Mage looks back to him. "I know you want answers. But now, let's just sit down and have a civilized talk."

Vardall was losing his patience. He wanted answers here and now, not one second later. But the last time he has chosen to follow his feelings instead of his judgment, he was betrayed by the woman he loved the most. He then closes his eyes and breathes deeply for some seconds, calming himself. He does his best to change his aggressive posture to one more casual and open his fists.

The Arch-Mage sees that as a good signal, so he returns his attention to the table again. "Lucky for us, I still have some tea." He takes the tea pot and drops its liquid inside two cups. Taking the cups, he gives one to Vardall while puts another upon another table, one that looks like his personal work table. Behind it, existed a very beautiful garden with several and different plants. He also goes to a bookshelf and takes one, specific book and also puts it upon the table.

He sits on a chair behind the table and makes a signal for Vardall to sit on a chair that was in front of him. He sighs, but still with the cup on his hand, leaves his greatsword on a safe place and sits on the chair.

"Very well." The Arch-Mage then drinks a little of his tea. Now, like in all the other moments, he passes a sensation of respect and authority, but not like a tyrant king or something. "I would like to start with presentations first. I am Savos Aren, the Arch-Mage of the College of Winterhold." He says. "I already know you are the Dragonborn, but I would like to know your real name, please."

Vardall still was a little hesitant. Looking down to his cup full of tea, he could only see his reflection upon the liquid.

"Vardall." He finally speaks. "My name is Vardall Amell."

Savos nods and drinks a little of his tea. "Very well, Vardall Amell." He puts his cup upon the table and crosses his hands. "So, you want to know how I have knowledge of the Fade's existence."

Vardall quickly nods. "Yes, I do!"

"Very well." He then takes that book, opens it on a certain page and delivers it to Vardall. "The truth here, Vardall... do you really think you're the first from Thedas to come to Tamriel?"

Vardall's eyes opened wide once again as he looked, shocked, at Savos. "You..." He almost wasn't able to talk. "You also know about Thedas?" The last words he spoke also called his attention. "And... how exactly I'm not the first from Thedas to come to Tamriel?"

Savos nods. "Allow me to explain. 631 years ago, still at the beginning of the Third Era, the Mages Guild from Cyrodiil had contact with a strange elven mage. Her name was Kallian, and besides being slightly different from any other elf from Tamriel, her magical skills were somehow different from theirs, as it was felt by those of the guild who had more power and experience."

"Was she from Thedas?" Vardall asks and Savos confirms. "Yes. After some time and after the guild earned her trust, Kallian told them all she knew about Thedas and the Fade. Her revelations intrigued most of the mages who listened."

"How did she end up here?"

Savos drinks a little nor of his tea. "According to her, she managed to activate and cross something called 'Eluvian'. I think you know what it is."

Vardall nods. "Yes, I do. It was crossing one that I ended here." That raises some serious questions in Vardall's mind about how the Eluvians were connected to Tamriel, but he doubts Savos would have that answer.

He thinks for a few more seconds. "What happened to Kallian?"

"She tried to return to Thedas." Savos says. "Some of the Mages from the guild offered to study a way to help her in that, which she accepted. But year after year and many failed tries, she finally gave up, accepting that Tamriel was her new home. She spent her last years together with the Mages Guild, even becoming an Arch-Mage at a certain point."

What Savos told Vardall had him thinking a little. Kallian tried for years, but never was able to return to Thedas. Even though he had suffered and caused a lot of suffering in that place, Thedas still was his home, and maybe never being able to see there again made him a little sad. Not to mention several people he deeply cares for still are there.

Vardall sighs. "But..." He still had questions. "Besides Kallian and me, others from Thedas already came to Tamriel?"

The Arch-Mage nods while drinking more tea. "Yes, more three in fact. 401 years after Kallian's arrival, another elven mage arrived as well. And 79 years ago, not one, but two elven siblings also arrived in Tamriel. I already was the Arch-Mage at the time when I found them. All of them arrived using an Eluvian."

"And now I'm the fourth one and the only human." Vardall says while analyzing the book Savos gave to him. Only now he noticed it contains detailed descriptions about Thedas and the Fade.

He doesn't move his head, only his eyes as he looks to Savos. "What's the history of this book?"

"Kallian wrote it." Savos says. "She did right after becoming Arch-Mage. This is the last existing copy from the original book. All the others were destroyed during the Mages Guild dissolution."

"Why?" Vardall asks, curious.

"The existence of Thedas and the Fade always was considered one of the biggest secrets from the Guild. They didn't trust the other mage organizations enough to share it, so if they ceased to exist, they would take this secret with them. Fortunately, one mage managed to save this single copy, and later he would become one of the College's Arch-Mage." Savos says. "He made sure to teach this to the next Arch-Mage. Since that, it has become a tradition to every new Arch-Mage, to learn and protect this knowledge..."

"To the case of any other from Thedas arrives in Tamriel." Vardall says, what Savos confirms. "When you used one of your spells in Winterhold, I immediately felt that. Another mage from Thedas in Tamriel after such a short time concerned me a little."

"Why? Because of the demons of the Fade or what?" Vardall asks.

Savos kept his expression as stoic as possible. "More or less. It concerned me mainly because I know what happens when a Thedas mage is possessed by a demon, but also because we still know very little about your home. Until today, I have my own theories about it: Is Thedas an unknown continent of Nirn and the Fade a plain of Oblivion? Or perhaps, it may be even more." The Arch-Mage then finishes to drink his tea.

Vardall sighs and drinks his whole tea in just one gulp. The sweet taste on his mouth and lips doing only a little to calm him down. He got the answers he wanted so much, but even that satisfied him a little, he still didn't know what to do. But then, an idea came into his mind. It was not one that pleased him, but it was one it was needed now.

He looks back to the Dunmer Arch-Mage again. "Could you... call my friends up here, please?"

"Why?" Savos raises an eyebrow.

"After all that happened, I know they seriously want answers. They deserve it, at least some for now." When it comes to his past, Vardall always would make the stoic type, creating an armor all around himself and doing his best to run away from what he did. Now it is the time to let that armor down, at least for a while.

Savos quickly understood what Vardall was talking about. "They don't know you are from Thedas, correct?"

'No.' He confirms. "The only one who knew this is now..." Still hurts him a little to think about Sofia. "And even she didn't knew everything."

Savos is able to see his internal conflict, as he already passed though that a long time ago. He then gets up from his chair and walks until the door of his quarters. Vardall looks at him, confused.

"I'll warn your friends you wish to speak with them" Savos says. "Wait here." Then he leaves the room, leaving Vardall alone. His only company now being his own thoughts.

While Vardall was talking with the Arch-Mage, the others went to the Arcanaeum, in search of any information related to the Moth Priest.

The Arcanaeum must be the biggest library any of them has ever seen, less Lucien, who already had been many times in the Imperial Library. Serana, on the other hand, was impressed by the great amount of books they had here, much more than the library from Castle Volkihar. She wanted to spend some time here, but they had more important things to do.

They talked with the orc librarian, Urag gro-Shub, and discovered that the Moth Priest indeed passed through the College, but that he left a few days back to Dragon Bridge, a town near Solitude. They now had the information, but still had to wait for Vardall.

But the way he was acting, those strange conversations he had with the Arch-Mage. That all raised some serious questions in each one of them. What Vardall was hiding from them? They're friends, he can tell them anything.

Preparing to leave the Arcanaeum and try to talk with Vardall, the group was surprised when they saw the Arch-Mage in front of them, near the exit door.

"What are you doing here?" Lucien asked. "Where is Vardall?"

Savos Aren kept a stoic expression as always while looking at them. "Your friend wished to speak with all of you." He says. "He is waiting. Let's go."

Everyone was now more confused, but also a sort of hopeful that what Vardall had to speak to them, it was the answers they now want. Following Savos outside the Arcanaeum, they entered the door of the Arch-Mage's Quarters, apprehensive while going up some stairs.

Arriving there, they all can see Vardall sitting in a chair, heavily thoughtful, he didn't even notice them for a moment.

"Vardall." Serana's voice gets him out of his thoughts.

They all walk until him, but before any other word could be uttered, Vardall pointed with his hand to other chairs next to him.

"Sit down, all of you."

They all looked at each other, still confused.

"Is..." Serana tries to ask Vardall, but it's again interrupted.

"I know all of you want answers." He sighs. "I was hoping to hide this for more time, until I was truly ready, but... Just let's get this over with. It's time for all of you to know who I really am."

They all could see Vardall didn't want to really do this, but he would anyway. Silence filled their surroundings while, still a little hesitant, each one of them sat on a chair ready to hear what Vardall had to say, less the Nerevarine, who crossed his arms and chose to remain standing.

Sighing again, Vardall finally starts talking. "I... am not from Tamriel."

The next 2 chapters will totally focus on Dragon Age, as they will be flashbacks.

And the reason why the Eluvians also are connected to Tamriel will be explained later, still during the events from the Dawnguard DLC.