"Oh, you imbecile. What have you done?"

I backed away from Morrigan, collapsing onto the bed with a groan.

"You went back for that girl, didn't you?" She hissed.

"I had to! I couldn't just leave her there, they were going to kill her!" I protested, running my hands through my hair.

"And now they are going to kill us." She slow-clapped, sarcastically. "Very well done."

"Well...I mean, not necessarily." I replied, avoiding her glare. "Nobody saw me. Well, a few people saw me. But I killed them. Most of them. I knocked the Revered Father out but he never saw my face. I was hooded. He thought I was the girl's father."

"So...perhaps they will think it was her father that freed her…" She said, hopefully.

"Nope, I killed him." I replied, with a grimace. "But the girl is long gone, maybe they'll think that she killed the men holding her, knocked Eirik out and then killed her father? No. She was very upset and helpless, like a tiny little mouse. They would never believe that she was capable of that."

"And we are the only strangers in town."

"And therefore the only people in town without motive." I reasoned, shrugging. "I mean why would strangers risk their lives to save some girl they didn't know?"

"Precisely." Morrigan said, sharply. "I agree that it does sound quite ridiculous."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, it wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done." I agreed, rubbing the back of my neck, thoughtfully.

"So what do you suggest we do now?" She asked, placing her hands on her hips. "Do we fetch the men and prepare for war? Or do we wait to be confronted?"

"I guess we could play dumb…"

"That should not be difficult for you."

"I handed you that one. You're better than that." I replied, dismissively, and she glowered at me. "Seriously, though. As far as they know, we've all been locked in our rooms this whole time. We had no reason to be anywhere near the Chantry."

"Except that Grayson pressed the bar wench to be taken to the Chantry earlier." She replied.

"Oh, shit, yeah. See, I told you those guys are bad at stealth." I frowned, trying to avoid the conclusion that had already formed in my mind, before swearing under my breath. "I'm going to have to bring Alistair and Grayson in on this now, aren't I?"

"I would go so far as to say you should have told them of your plan the moment you thought of it." She replied, coolly.

"That's great advice, Morrigan. I'll do that the next time it happens, in the past. I'll tell them the plan, earlier today." I snapped, sarcastically, rising to my feet and throwing my arms up in exasperation.

"If you will remember, I did urge you to tell them before." She replied, narrowing her eyes.

"Yes, I know." I conceded, with a sigh, kicking the bedpost in frustration. "Well, there's no avoiding it now."

I grabbed my lock-picking kit from the windowsill and moved to crouch by the door.

"No...wait." Morrigan said, suddenly. I turned to see her looking around, thoughtfully. "I have a better idea."

She told me her plan, and I rose from my crouch, chewing my lip in thought as I played it through in my mind.

"That could work." I agreed. "It gives us a fairly solid alibi...yes, that could definitely work. It's a better plan than mine, which was...no plan."

"Yes, you set a high bar." She snapped, but there was laughter in her eyes.

I dropped the lock-picking kit back into my pack and changed out of my armour, pulling on the new grey linen dress I had purchased in Redcliffe, before throwing an equally demure-looking dress at Morrigan.

"You should put this on." I said. "It'll help to paint the picture."

She didn't lift a hand to catch the garment, instead letting it fall to the ground at her feet. She glanced down at it with a look of disgust, before quirking an amused eyebrow at me.

"I would sooner die." She said, folding her arms in protest. I opened my mouth to argue, before remembering who I was talking to and shrugging.

"Yep. That tracks. I should've known better."

"Yes. You should have."

"Okay. Are you ready?"

We strode to the door as one and started pounding on it, calling for help.

Only moments passed when we heard the tell-tale banging of Alistair and Grayson attempting to kick down their own door, while Khan barked, urgently. A few moments later, the banging stopped, and we could hear movement in the hallway outside. I pressed myself against the door, listening intently, and almost fell on my face when it was wrenched open and an irritated Henrietta stood in the doorway, key in hand, flanked by Grayson and Alistair.

I studied her face - she was annoyed, but not furious. That was a good sign.

"What's going on? Lauren? Are you alright?" Alistair brushed past Henrietta, taking my hands in his.

"I'm fine." I assured him, before fixing Henrietta with an indignant scowl. "You locked us in our rooms?"

"I told you. There's a curfew." She replied, haughtily.

"I see. I had no idea that the curfew meant we were expected to cross our legs all through the night."

"You have chamber pots." She sniffed, unapologetically.

"If this is how you run your inn, by locking your guests in their rooms without their consent, we shall take our business elsewhere." I said, following Morrigan's script.

"Let's...not be hasty." Grayson intervened, moving to stand between Henrietta and I and flashing her his best, winning smile. I could see the woman's face soften almost instantly, and rolled my eyes. No woman over a certain age could resist the Cousland charm. "I think my friend must be tired from our journey. Please forgive her outburst. Of course, we are very grateful to you for letting us stay here. Aren't we, Lauren?"

He threw me a significant look and I sighed, forcing a smile onto my face.

"Of course. I'm so sorry. I just...I heard some commotion outside and I was terribly frightened. When I discovered that the door was locked...oh, I don't know what I was thinking." I said, in my best impersonation of a clueless, helpless girl. "Please forgive my rudeness."

"Not to worry." Henrietta replied, with a matronly smile. She didn't even question my act, and I was all at once grateful and disgusted by the clear vein of misogyny that ran through this small town.

"What commotion?" Grayson asked, frowning.

"Well, I'm not sure. It sounded like people were shouting and running around outside." I said, innocently.

"That's nothing for you to worry about." Henrietta said, firmly. "We had another wolf attack, but you're safe as long as you stay inside."

"Oh, thank you, Henrietta." I gushed, and I could practically feel Alistair and Grayson's eyes burning into me, but I ignored them. "Well...I fear I am quite awake now, and I couldn't hope to fall back asleep."

"Yes, I agree." Morrigan said, in similar tones of faux anguish. "I feel terribly shaken."

Grayson and Alistair stared at us dumbfounded, and I discreetly stepped on Alistair's foot, throwing Grayson a look, silently pleading with him to get with the programme and just go with it.

He seemed to get the message and cleared his throat, gruffly, but Alistair was still gaping at Morrigan and I like we were human question marks.

"Henrietta, I hate to trouble you further, but…"

"Come on." She said, pleasantly. "I'm wide awake, myself. I think we could all use a cup of something hot and sweet to calm our nerves."

She turned her back, leading the way downstairs to the bar, and I rounded on Alistair just as Morrigan stepped beside Grayson, threading her arm through his and whispering fervently in his ear.

"Close your mouth." I hissed to Alistair under my breath as we walked. "This whole place is twisted. Morrigan and I snuck out and we got in some trouble, but if we establish that we were all here with Henrietta the whole time, they can't accuse us of being involved."

"Wait, you snuck out? Without me?" He whispered back, indignantly.

"Shhh. I'll tell you everything later. Right now, just play along. Follow my lead.." I pleaded, wincing as Grayson turned to flash me a furious look, and I guessed Morrigan had filled him in on enough that he wanted to strangle me.

"Oh, I don't like this." Alistair whispered, anxiously.

"Okay, I hear you. But also, shut your mouth hole." I whispered back. "If Henrietta catches us whispering, she's going to get suspicious."

We followed her downstairs and she set about lighting sconces around the room. Moonlight streamed in through the windows and we sat down at the table nearest the bar while Henrietta busied herself making the tea.

Grayson glared at me in hostile silence but I refused to feel intimidated. I knew I had messed up, but my intentions had been above board. He wasn't my father, he didn't get to ground me and send me to my room when he disapproved of my actions. I would talk to him when we had some privacy, but I wasn't going to sit there and be judged by him when I had no opportunity to defend myself. So I did the only rational thing I could do without raising suspicion from Henrietta. I slid down in my seat and discreetly kicked his shin under the table and returned his glare with one of my own.

Henrietta walked over to our table holding a tray and took a seat beside Grayson, before pouring the tea from a pot into five cups and handing them out to each of us. I couldn't exactly get Khan to test the tea, but since she was drinking from the same pot I figured it was safe enough.

"There's nothing quite like a good cup of elfroot brew to ease the mind." She smiled.

"This is elfroot?" I asked, curiously, taking a sip. It didn't have anything like the same effect that Flemeth's tea had, but I closed my eyes, savouring the warmth and allowing my shoulders to relax.

"So. Now that we all have a chance to talk. Where are you folks from?" She asked, politely. Grayson and I exchanged hesitant looks, and I smiled back at her.

"I'm from Starkhaven." I said, brightly. "I'm in Ferelden on business."

"I see. And the rest of you?"

"We're Fereldan." Grayson said, quickly. "Born and bred."

"And what brings you all to Haven?"

"Well, it's actually sort of a sensitive subject." I said, the elfroot going some way to clear my mind and help me think. "You see, we work for the King."

"Yes...the King…" Alistair frowned, and I shot him a sly smile.

"You remember...earlier...we asked you about the whereabouts of Brother Genitivi?" I said, carefully. She nodded, frowning. "Well, the thing is...we're here to return him to Denerim to stand trial. He's a wanted man. The reason we were so anxious to see him is because we're concerned that he may cause trouble here. But if he really is as ill as you say, then perhaps the problem will just take care of itself. If you know what I mean."

Grayson shifted uncomfortably, and Alistair cleared his throat. I fought the urge to roll my eyes at their complete inability to mask their feelings. I knew I had been right to rely on Morrigan earlier. If Henrietta was more perceptive, they might have blown the whole thing with body language alone.

"I think I do." She said, with an approving smile. "Well, I must say, that is a relief. The man has been nothing but trouble since he arrived. Poking his nose into things that weren't his concern." A note of bitterness crept into her voice and Morrigan and I exchanged knowing glances. "Before he...fell ill, that is. When you asked after him, I was worried that perhaps you were friends of his. It's good to know that you bear no love for him."

"No, no. None at all." I assured her. "It must be incredibly annoying. Having strangers come to town, disrupting the peace. You would think building your town halfway up a mountain would be enough to stop people from bothering you."

"Oh, we do get some trouble. But we look after this town, and its people. We take care of our own."

"Do you?" I asked, feeling my eyes harden involuntarily, as I thought of Meghan. Henrietta nodded and didn't seem to notice, and I averted my gaze, trying to regain control of my emotions.

She shook her head and laughed, quietly.

"Aye. That we do."

"Well, you don't have to worry about us. We're not here to cause any trouble. Grayson and Alistair can get your roof fixed up in the morning, and then we'll take Genitivi and leave." I said, smiling sweetly.

She sighed, shaking her head.

"Well, doesn't that just make a nice change?" She asked, with a bark of a laugh.

The atmosphere in the room had shifted, and I could feel that the men were starting to understand what we were dealing with. Grayson's mouth was a hard line, and his eyes were focused and alert, and Alistair had gone rigid beside me.

Sudden pounding on the door of the inn made us all jump, and we watched in trepidation as Henrietta rose from her seat to go and answer it. No sooner was the door unlocked than three men burst into the room, their eyes wild with fury. We were on our feet in an instant, and I was painfully aware that there wasn't a single weapon between us.

"Arden." Henrietta said, in a warning tone. "What's the meaning of this?"

"Murder, Hen." He replied, his eyes shifting from Grayson to Alistair and back again.

"Murder?" She asked, blinking in what appeared to be genuine shock. I guessed she hadn't stopped by the Chantry before returning to the inn. "Who?"

"Joseph, Rodrick, and Hubert. And someone attacked Father Eirik." He growled.

Henrietta raised her hands to her mouth, gasping in horror.

"Is he…?"

"He'll be alright. He didn't see who attacked him. The coward hit him from behind." He pointed an accusing finger at Grayson. "Funny, that it happened the first night your lodgers are in town."

Henrietta looked round at us, narrowing her eyes, before shaking her head.

"No, it wasn't them, Arden. They've been locked up in their rooms all night, and then they've been with me." She said, firmly. Arden didn't look convinced.

"You're sure?"

"I locked the doors, myself. And the windows. And I have the only keys. They haven't left this inn tonight, I'm certain. I would stake my reputation on it." She said, crossing her arms, irritably.

Arden glared at her, breathing heavily, and I could practically see his mind warring with itself. On the one hand, Henrietta had just vouched for us, and given us an alibi. On the other hand, he was furious, and he wanted someone to pay for it. He had been so sure it was the strangers in town, and he was struggling to accept that this wasn't the case.

I mean, it was the case. But they couldn't prove anything. As he stood there, glaring at us, it suddenly occurred to me that this man wasn't at all interested in proof. I decided to take matters into my own hands, while I still could.

I stepped to the front of the group and caught his attention for the first time.

"I'm sorry to hear of your troubles, friend. But they are your troubles. We have committed no crime here." I said, in a strong voice. "It sounds like you may need to get your own house in order. We'll be gone by this time tomorrow, and you'll still have a killer in your midst."

He stared at me, his confusion evident, and I realised that until I spoke, he really had just seen Morrigan and I as wallpaper. And wallpaper doesn't usually speak.

He shook his head, sniffing loudly and wiping his face with the back of his hand, but his aggressive posture seemed to shrink, slightly. He turned from me to Henrietta, with a curt nod.

"Alright. If you're sure, Hen." He growled, before looking back at us. "You better keep yourselves right. We'll be watching you. Come on, boys."

Henrietta locked the door behind them, shaking her head in annoyance as she returned to the table.

"Don't mind them. We have good reason to be wary of outsiders. But it's true that we're not without our own problems here." She said as she sank back into her seat with a weary sigh. "Poor Elena."

"Who's Elena?" I asked, curiously.

"Gilbert's widow. Poor woman already lost her daughter...recently. I'm not sure how she'll cope, now that it's just her and the little one." She said, miserably. Somehow, I struggled to find the same sympathy for the woman who had offered her daughter up as a sacrifice. And Henrietta had just proven to me that she was involved. She didn't know that Meghan had escaped, and she was already talking about her like she was dead. I wanted to reach across the table and strangle her with my bare hands, but somehow that didn't seem like the most sensible course of action.

"Hmm. That is a shame." I said, quietly.

We finished our tea quickly and Henrietta showed us back to our rooms, but she promised to leave them unlocked this time.

Morrigan and I lay in the darkness, wide awake and silent, and after maybe an hour, the door creaked open and Grayson and Alistair snuck in. I sat up to greet them and Morrigan muttered under her breath and the candles in the room burst into life, casting everything in an eerie green glow.

"Have you lost your mind?" Grayson seethed, rounding on me.

"Jury's still out on that one. But I did what I did, and I don't regret it. We saved an innocent girl's life and figured out that the people in this town are part of a crazy cult. That's what I call a good result." I said, calmly. "I risked my life for that information. You're welcome."

"Lauren does have a point." Alistair said, loyally. Grayson shot him a furious look but said nothing, turning back to me.

"You didn't just risk your own life, you've risked the lives of everyone here."

"Oh, cry me a river, Cousland." I drawled, rolling my eyes. "Risking our lives is part of our job description."

"Not without cause." He insisted. "We die up here on this mountain and who's left to end the blight?"

"Oh, boy, if you're this scared of a few villagers, I don't think the Archdemon has much to worry about. Am I right?" I grinned at Morrigan. Her mouth twitched, but she fought a smile, looking back at Grayson.

"You're too reckless to lead." He said, with quiet anger.

"I never asked to lead." I replied.

"Then get back in line." He growled. I rose to my feet, slowly, narrowing my eyes at him. Morrigan and Alistair watched us with similar expressions of trepidation on their faces.

"Who do you think you're talking to?" I asked, with a humourless smile. "I'm a Grey Warden. Just like you. You don't outrank me, pal. If anyone, Alistair has seniority."

"Oh-kay. Let's all just take a breath." Alistair said, uncomfortably. "We're all friends here. Technically, Lauren's right. Neither of you is more qualified to lead than the other. In normal circumstances, neither of you would have to lead. But these aren't normal circumstances and this power struggle you have going on isn't helping anyone. You both bring value to the group...I don't see why you can't share some of that responsibility."

"Sure." I said, quickly, still locked in a silent staring battle with Grayson. "And I know a bit fucking more about what's happening here than you do. I took initiative, and while you were all tucked up in bed, I was out there, finding shit out, and saving lives. If you have a problem with that-"

"I do."

"Then that's your problem." I snapped. "What do you think? You think it was going to be as simple as telling them we want to see Genitivi and they let us walk out of here with him?"

He hesitated, frowning.

"Yeah, that's right. They might not have attacked us on sight, but they were still going to. That fake Weylon you killed in Denerim? Where do you expect he came from?" I asked, cocking my head to the side, pretending to think. "Hmm...I wonder. Where was Genitivi investigating that got him into trouble...who would want to send someone to pretend to be his assistant and warn people not to follow in his footsteps?"

"Haven." Grayson mumbled, with a reluctant sigh. He collapsed onto my bed, rubbing his temples.

"If you'd like, we could all pay a visit to the general store tomorrow, and I can show you where they've stashed the bodies of some of Redcliffe's knights." I said. "Or do you believe me yet?"

"But wait, I thought we stopped the knights from coming here?" Alistair said, frowning in confusion.

"We stopped more of the knights from coming here. Some of them had already followed Genitivi's breadcrumbs, but they were murdered before they could report back to Redcliffe." I explained, looking from Alistair to Grayson. "We've already had this conversation, Grayson. I told you if you had a problem with the way I do things to come to me as a friend. There is always method in my madness, but this time, the madness isn't mine. This whole place is bonker-balls nutso-insane. That's the technical term."

"You're right." He said, reluctantly. "We did talk about this. But I didn't expect you to go sneaking off without even telling us you had a plan. You could have shared your concerns with us. We would have helped. Can we at least agree not to keep secrets? Especially when they put us all at risk?"

"Yeah, fine, I...may have dropped the ball there. But I wanted proof. And Morrigan's better at sneaking than you are." He scowled at me and I shrugged. "I'm sorry, it's just true. She helped me tonight by turning into a freakin' wolf. And it was awesome. You couldn't have done that. I stand by my decision. And speaking of wolves, I owe you one for this amulet." I winked at Alistair.

"What...wait, what happened with the amulet?" He asked, screwing his face up. "No, does it actually work?"

"It's not important. Tell you later." I said, turning back to Grayson. "What's important is that we all agree: Haven is a Hellscape and the people are murderous lunatics who will probably try to kill us before we leave. Now, we need Brother Genitivi. Despite what Henrietta said, I doubt the Revered Father will just hand him over to us. We're probably looking at a fight now, either way. Ideally, they'll wait at least another day before turning on us, and by then Sten will be back with our rock-monster. But this is us, and luck's never on our side, so we should be prepared to fight sooner, as an army of four."

"Can't anything just be easy?" Alistair exclaimed in exasperation. "Seriously! Why does everything we do have to be ten times harder than we expect it to be? Oh, here are some treaties, let's go and get the mages. Oh, what? The tower's been overrun with abominations? Let's go and get help from Arl Eamon. Oh, what? The town's been overrun by the undead and the Arl is sick and we need Andraste's ashes to save him? Okay, let's go and get the ashes. Oh, what? The scholar we need is being held hostage by a crazy cult leader and we have to fight an entire village and then a High Dragon probably? I mean...what next? We go to Orzammar and it's been overrun by giant rabid nugs?"

"Right." I said, slowly, patting him on the arm. "Well, while Alistair works through his nervous breakdown, I think the rest of us should get some sleep. We need to be prepared for a fight at any moment. None of us will be safe as long as we're here. I suggest sleeping in shifts. Just in case those men from earlier get any bright ideas about slitting our throats in our sleep."

"I'll take the first shift." Grayson said, standing up and slapping me on the back. "Do you and I need to talk about this, or…?"

I shrugged.

"I'm good. I would rather wrestle a bear than have another long, drawn-out heart-to-heart. Can we do the short version?" I asked, hopefully.

"Sure. I'm annoyed with you." He frowned.

"I'm annoyed with you for being annoyed with me." I replied. "And I'm sorry for the thing."

"I am also sorry for my thing."

"Apology accepted."

"Likewise. I love you."

"Love you too."

Alistair climbed into bed on one side of me, and Morrigan lay on my other side. I wondered briefly if I would be able to sleep with all the excitement, but exhaustion won out and I slept soundly until Alistair gently shook me awake to take my watch. The sky was already light outside, and I knew that he had probably taken more than his fair share of the watch to let me sleep. I smiled affectionately at him as he made himself comfortable, and planted a light kiss on his forehead.

I settled into a corner of the room and pulled my diary out of my pack. I tapped my pen thoughtfully on the blank page, looking around the room for inspiration as I tried to sort through my thoughts. I flipped through the last few pages and Cullen's letters slipped out onto the floor. I picked them up, frowning down at the latest one. I had written to him before leaving Redcliffe, but I had no idea when I would hear back from him. I didn't even know how long it would take my raven to reach Kirkwall. I thought I remembered Varic saying the voyage from Gwaren took two weeks by boat, but I had no idea how to convert that into flight time.

I wondered how things in Kirkwall looked right now. Hawke would be there already, working through his first year of indentured servitude to Meeran or Athenril. Aveline would probably already be working with the guard. Hawke wouldn't have met Varic yet. Or Isabela...I wondered where she was, and if she had got her hands on the Tome of Koslun yet. Fenris was probably still Danarius' pet. Merrill would be with her clan, Anders was...somewhere. He might even still be at the Circle, though I'd seen no sign of him when we were there. Sebastian's family would still be alive...I guessed I could have written to him, warned them of the danger. But how would I even get a raven to a prince? I couldn't even remember the name of the family responsible. And besides, I'd learned my lesson. No trying to save dead kings.

I had always sided with the mages whenever I played the second game. I knew that, technically, Cullen was the enemy in that scenario. He'd come around eventually. In about ten years, give or take. And I would have to let him find his own way. I couldn't risk getting involved, in case I broke the world.

I flipped back to the blank page and sighed, closing my diary. My brain was too busy, I didn't think I even had a single sentence in me.

I spent the rest of my watch staring at Alistair's sleeping face, memorising every detail. He looked younger in his sleep. He looked so peaceful that I didn't have the heart to wake him. So instead, when the time came, I reached over him and slapped Grayson on the forehead.

"Get up, sleepyhead." I grinned, mischievously. "I'm super bored. Let's never sleep in shifts again."

"I thought it was a good idea. We survived the night." He replied, rubbing his forehead.

"But at what cost?" I replied. "I've never been this bored in my life. And I took three years of Home Economics because my stupid school made it mandatory."

"Well, look on the bright side. You have an exciting morning ahead of you. Do you want to help Alistair fix the roof or do you want to join me in the cellar to kill some rats?"

"I thought you guys were supposed to do all of the work because you have those dumb penises." I said, wrinkling my nose in confusion.

"That's not going to fly, DuVal." He grinned. "You're helping. What do you want to do? Fix the roof or kill the rats? Your choice."

"Ugh." I groaned, irritably. "Who's to say? Fixing roofs, killing rats. It's an impossible choice. Maybe I should flip a coin. I'll just have to hope that when I flip the coin it somehow explodes and kills me so I don't have to help either of you with your dumb jobs."

"I love waking up to the sound of Lauren ranting in the morning." Alistair muttered, with a sleepy smile. "That sounded sarcastic. It wasn't."

"I know, babe." I assured him. "Alright. Get up. Let's get this over with."

"What's your choice? Rats or roof?" Grayson grinned, jumping out of bed.

"I hate rats." I said, screwing my nose up. "Wait, what's the other thing again?"

"Fixing the roof with me." Alistair said, brightly.

"Ugh, I hate fixing stuff." I groaned.

"Well, what do you hate less?" Grayson asked, rolling his eyes. I chewed my lip, thinking about it.

"Alistair." I decided. "I guess I hate Alistair less than I hate anyone or anything. So I'll help him fix the roof."

"Awww. That's the sweetest thing you've ever said to me." Alistair said, swinging his legs out of bed and pulling me in for a kiss. "I love you."

"How is she still so grumpy in the morning when she's been awake for hours?" Grayson asked, mostly to himself as he made his way to the door.

"The morning's dumb." I insisted. "I hate it."

"You think everything's dumb." He called over his shoulder as he left the room.

"You're dumb." I muttered under my breath.

"You're beautiful." Alistair grinned, kissing me again.

"You're not dumb." I told him. "You're the only not-dumb thing about the dumb morning. Nope, I've said dumb too many times, it's lost all meaning."

"Oh, no." He said, sympathetically. "Do you want to try it again?"

"No, that's okay." I said, with a grateful half-smile. "Come on. Let's go fix the dumb roof. Hey, it's got its meaning back!"

"Could you please wait until after I've left to do that?" Morrigan groaned, as Alistair and I kissed. We promptly ignored her. Once she was gone, I pulled back, quirking an eyebrow at him.

"It looks like we have the room." I purred, seductively. He groaned, pulling me in for another kiss, and I struggled with his tunic, lifting it over his head and diving on top of him. The door opened and I threw the tunic over my shoulder at whoever had tried to enter, and heard Grayson yelp and close the door again. Alistair broke the kiss, panting, as he looked past me to the door.

"I don't think this is really the best time, love." He said, reluctantly. I growled, pulling my dress over my head and his eyes fell from my face to my breasts. "Never mind, that was…"

"Dumb?" I suggested, with a wicked smile.

"So dumb." He agreed, pulling me in and capturing my lips with his.

We may have got started on the roof later than we would have otherwise, but I wouldn't have been nearly as efficient. I even whistled a jaunty tune as we worked. I realised that the only difference between a bad morning and a good morning was Alistair. If he kept this up, he might make a morning person out of me yet.

AN: Thank you to my beta, Kira Tamarion, for general and consistent awesomeness.

Thank you guys for reading, and for your reviews, you're all good people.

Reviews are optional but appreciated. Like when you give Alistair a gift and he's all "Is that for me? Really? Wow, I'm...wow!" So cute, right? That's like me with reviews. I'm cute too probably.

Chimera Spyke: Yeah, I felt like I could wring out some more tension if I had the townspeople act a bit less obvious. The fact that they had Genitivi there for long enough to send a fake Weylon and to send assassins to The Spoiled Princess sort of gave me the idea to have them be a bit smarter about dealing with visitors than they were in the game. I'm glad you liked it!

Never33: Apologise to your fiance for me haha. The Falkor/not Falkor dream was based on an actual dream I'd had the night before. and I haven't seen Neverending Story in about 18 years so I don't know where it came from but I'm glad it gave you a chuckle! Sten, Zevran and Leliana will be back soon but they had a bit of an "unexpected" hold-up in Honnleath. I'm just excited to write for Shale, I love her so much.

NotRevan: Hey! Thanks for your reviews, I'm glad you're all caught up. Welcome to the weekly journey haha. As for how the next DA is going to play out, I think the Inquisitor will be in it in much the same way that Hawke was in Inquisition, but I doubt they'll be a playable character. It would be nice to see The Warden, The Champion and The Inquisitor all come together but I had hoped for a Warden cameo in Inquisition and it didn't come and I was so sad. But it was still nice to see Alistair. I think the next game might be set in Tevinter, given that we've seen a lot of the rest of Thedas. I don't know, but it is fun to speculate!

It would be fun to see Lauren say fuck it and just start changing things left, right and centre. But for all her attitude, she's more interested in the greater good than she lets on. There will be some major changes, but we probably won't see her becoming the empress of Orlais anytime soon lol.

Guest $&: Thank you for the info! I dropped her a message. I love There And Back Again and everyone should read it because she's a fantastic writer.

Midnight Alley: Yeah, I felt like my girls didn't have enough time together, I want to build on their relationship more and more. I think it could make for an interesting friendship.