Chapter 26

Eventually, they managed to drag themselves from the bed and went in search of Bann Teagan. They found the main hall empty, except for Ser Perth and a couple of Knights. "I was told to take you to Arl Eamon's bedchamber when you had recovered," Perth said as soon as he spotted them. They followed him to a spacious room, where Bann Teagan, Lady Isolde, and the companions stood around a bed. As Emma drew closer, she got her first look at the Arl; his shallow breathing and grey skin suggested he had a front-row seat to see Death's next tour. Emma felt guilty for messing around in the bed, but damn, she'd needed the connection with Aedan as much as he had with her.

She jumped and drew her gaze from the sick man when Isolde clasped one of her hands. "I can never thank you for saving my boy. Connor is free of the demon and remembers nothing of that time. You have my eternal gratitude." She lifted tear-filled eyes to take in all the companions. "That goes for all of you." She gave a final squeeze to Emma's hand before returning to her husband's bedside.

Teagan spoke to them of the Urn of Sacred Ashes and how it could cure the Arl. Aedan accepted the mission and they left the room to have a wander around the large castle. Emma steered Aedan towards the Arl's study to ensure they collected the amulet that belonged to Alistair's mother. Once they'd explored the castle, they returned to camp, much to Emma's delight as she lovingly pictured her bedroll, with herself curled up asleep on it.

Alistair drew Aedan and Emma aside as soon as camp was set up and thanked them for finding a way to save both Connor and Isolde. Normally, she would leave Aedan to do the rounds and have private chats with the other companions, but on this occasion she stayed, wanting to see Alistair's face when he got his mother's amulet back. Alistair's eyes widened and glistened with tears as he reverently took it from Aedan's outstretched hand. Alistair's thumb ran over one of the many cracks that crisscrossed the amulet. "I can't believe it, I thought this was lost to me forever."

Emma saw that the amulet was made of silver and depicted Andraste's flame. As Alistair moved it to get a better look, the light from the fire caught the edge of the metal and Emma was almost certain she saw a small carving of the initial 'F' before Alistair placed it around his neck. She smiled; that tiny, inconspicuous letter had to stand for Fiona, Alistair's real mother. Aedan took a moment to explain where he found the amulet and Alistair agreed he should talk to the Arl once he was better.

As night fell, they gathered around the fire, eating and talking. Zevran told the tale of his first kill causing no small amount of laughter. Even Morrigan managed a curl of the lips; perhaps receiving the grimoire found at the Circle tower had put her in a good mood. Leliana was busy plaiting Emma's hair while Alistair told stories of life with the Grey Wardens. Bodahn had managed to get his hands on some decent ale and it was flowing freely.

This led to Leliana singing a rather bawdy tavern song. Emma was shocked to hear the bard sing anything other than a ballad, however, after learning the words, Emma joined in the chorus along with everyone else. The evening ended after Emma nearly knocked herself out while trying to show the two other mages how to twirl a staff. The mages in Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age: Inquisition made it look easy, so she thought she'd be able to emulate the style. However, trying to wield a large, heavy staff while under the influence turned out to be one of her less than brilliant ideas.

They all finally stumbled to bed in the early hours of the morning. Just as Emma started to undress she remembered she'd left her pack by the fire and she needed to clean her teeth. She stumbled out of the tent and after circling the fire eventually found her bag and bent to pick it up. The ground rushed up to meet her and she tumbled ass over tit, giggling all the way. She finally staggered to her feet and took a moment to get her bearings, blinking a few times to clear the blurriness from her eyes. Blimey, they needed to start putting their names on the tents, because they all looked the same. She could make out the shape of a man's head in one of the tents and headed in that direction.

Pulling back the flap she stepped inside and froze at the sight of Zevran, naked and smiling. "Ah the lovely Emma, and here I thought it was just a Grey Warden thing."
Emma blinked and finally remembered to speak. "It is, well not all the Grey Wardens, obviously, just one... and why am I still standing here?" She turned on her heel and quickly left the tent, Zevran's deep chuckle following her. She took a minute to allow the chilly wind to cool her heated cheeks before finally finding the correct tent.

She cautiously peeked inside and satisfied that Aedan was the inhabitant, she walked in, then remembered she was going to clean her teeth and walked back out again. As she followed the teeth-cleaning routine, her head started to throb. She reached up and rubbed the lump on her skull, damn staff; now she had an idea of how those wolves had felt. The pain took a turn for the worse, settling behind her eyes and Emma winced. It seemed hitting herself on the head mixed with a rather large amount of alcohol was going to result in one hell of a hangover.

She got back in the tent and found Aedan already half asleep, she crawled in next to him, laying her head on his chest, hearing the comforting beat of his heart against her ear as he draped his arm over her hip. Emma lay there for a while, sleep eluding her as the pain in her head intensified. That's it. She would never drink again! She tried to focus on Aedan's heartbeat rather than the throbbing in her skull and was really wishing for a couple of paracetamol when exhaustion finally caught up with her and she fell into a dreamless sleep.

-x-

Emma finished packing the last of her things onto Bodahn's cart with a friendly reminder not to sell their stuff. He chuckled and reassured her that their equipment was always kept separate if he did any trading. "I hear you're all off to search for the Urn of Sacred Ashes?"
"Yeah, we're going to..." Emma trailed off as she came up against a brick wall. She knew they had to visit Brother Genitivi in Denerim because of the note they'd found on Ser Henric, but she should know more - much more.
"You've gone white as a sheet, are you feeling all right?" Bodahn asked.
Realising she'd stopped in the middle of a sentence, Emma gave the dwarf a small smile. "I'm fine, a bit of a hangover is all."
He chuckled warmly. "I told you that ale was strong."

Her smile was distracted as she walked away, heading towards a hill that overlooked the village of Redcliffe. Emma sat on a tree stump, noting the smooth surface worn down by the many people who had sat there before her. She couldn't blame them, the peaceful location was a perfect place to think. She tried to appreciate the large grey clouds scudding lazily across the sky, but her brain kept returning to one question: What the hell had happened to her memories?