Reunion

Redcliffe looked in dire states. Cobian had never seen its people look so lost before, carrying their dead to the beach where piles of bodies already lay. Lawrien was agitated, pacing as Leliana rushed over.

"They have been attacked by the undead," Leliana said. "Ciara and Alistair's group managed to fight them off last night and now they are in the castle to try and stop the source of all the undead summoning."

"When did they go?" Lawrien asked sharply.

Leliana grimaced. "Early this morning. It's been hours since they left."

Lawrien stared up at the castle with a hard look. "We're going up."

"The gates are still shut," Zevran said as he and Faren approached. "Faren thought we should go take a sneak peak."

"Then I'll break them down!" Lawrien snapped, then sighed, shaking her head. "Sorry, but right now I don't know where Ciara is. I don't know where Alistair is. I don't know where any of our new Wardens are, and if something has happened to my sister I will lose whatever patience I have left."

Cobian supposed that the fear and desperation in the village were starting to get to her. He jogged up to her side and nodded.

"Let's go to the castle."

Lawrien patted his shoulder and marched off, back up the cliff side. Morrigan frowned deeply, casting a look back over her shoulder at the bodies.

"A swarm of undead..." she muttered.

Epona sighed. "Either there was a tragedy here to bring so many undead back or a demon is involved. I'm leaning towards a demon. It's possibly why Lawrien is so concerned. It would have had to be a powerful demon to summon such a wave of undead."

"Yes, if it was like the undead we fought back in the ruins there wouldn't be this many of them," Morrigan said. "The others must either be fighting a powerful demon, or a powerful necromancer."

"Any thoughts on the type of demon?" Cobian asked.

"There are several that could have caused this to be fair," Morrigan said. "I would lean towards either a Pride or Desire demon though. They would be capable of doing this. If it is a Pride demon we're in for a very big fight."

The main surprise was when they arrived at the gates. They could hear fighting, and when Cobian peered through the bars he could see it was Narascha and Sten. Teagan stood next to a statue watching them, and he looked awfully nervous.

"Bann Teagan!" Cobian called.

Teagan met his gaze and gasped. "Pause the fight! I need through!"

Narascha and Sten did stop, and Narascha did open her mouth to comment, when she spotted them. Her brow furrowed, as did Sten's.

"We pausing?" Narascha asked.

"For now."

They were both covered in cuts and bruises, but it was Narascha's armour that caught Cobian's attention the most. It was brand new, with the Aeducan crest printed upon her gauntlets, right at the wrists. They weren't the most noticeable, but they had caught Cobian's attention because he knew that crest.

It belonged to Orzammar's royal family. Narascha. Of course! There was a Princess with the name Narascha. The royal children, Prince Trian, Princess Narascha, Prince Bhelen. Cobian frowned. How had he not thought of that earlier?

Well, probably a few reasons. His entire house was almost destroyed, then Ostagar, then Cailan died, then they went to the Dalish- Okay, yes, reasoning seemed sound. Cobian wasn't losing his knowledge then. Yes, adding more to it in fact. Lots of emotional responses-

Wait. Oh yeah, Teagan was rushing towards them. He looked relieved. Very relieved.

"Cobian, it is so good to see you!" Teagan breathed out in relief as he pulled the gates open. "I can't believe you're alive!"

Cobian startled when he was yanked into a hug. He awkwardly patted Teagan's back, unused to this level of affection from him. It must be an emotional response to all the stress. Teagan must be the type to use physical affection as emotional support.

"I feared the worst after what Howe did," Teagan growled as he pulled back, his eyes burning with fury. "Then I never heard anything about you or Fergus until the wanted poster of you and your friends was released to the public."

"I had to admit that I didn't think Uncle Loghain would put a bounty on us," Cobian admitted.

It was odd thinking of Uncle- Howe. There had been so much danger during Ostagar and in the forest with the Dalish elves and werewolves, so much danger in fact that Cobian hadn't really been able to think of his family at all.

He petted Calenhad to distract himself from the thoughts. He didn't want to think about Howe right now, and he especially didn't want to remember Highever and his family's fate. That would be a difficult spiral into his emotional depth, and Cobian didn't know how deep it would go.

"Court has been extremely tense recently," Teagan said softly. "I'll explain more later, but right now the situation here is bad. Your fellow Grey Wardens helped us as much as they could, but we're all at a bit of an impasse at the moment."

"That's putting it lightly," Narascha said as they approached her and Sten.

Cobian paused mid step when he saw the statue move too.

"What the...?" Faren gasped.

Zevran blinked. "That is not something you see everyday for sure."

"A golem!" Cobian beamed.

"We picked Shale up on the way," Narascha said.

"Better than our assassin that we picked up," Morrigan scoffed. "He tried to kill us."

"And capture Cobian alive," Zevran added cheerfully.

Teagan faltered. "Excuse me?"

Narascha blinked slowly. "Wait, just to be clear, the assassin who tried to assassinate most of you is now our companion?"

"Yeah, but he's fine," Lawrien said, her brow furrowing. "Why are you two fighting?"

"Disagreements," Narascha said.

Sten sighed. "It has been a complicated issue. I thought we would just kill the demon and be done with it, but the rest of them wish to save it instead. We are roaming around without a purpose, and I sought to correct that action."

Cobian couldn't help but share a look with the others. Ah, well he was glad that he wasn't the only one who looked concerned, because Cobian had no idea why they would be trying to save a demon.

"Save the demon?" Faren asked hesitantly.

"Yes, so I take it you know about the undead that have been attacking the village?" Narascha asked, gesturing them to follow her.

"Yes, and we know a demon is behind all these horrors," Leliana said. "We were ready to help you bring it down, but something has gone wrong?"

"The demon has possessed my nephew Connor," Teagan explained. "And Jowan believes we can save him-"

"Jowan?" Lawrien stopped, staring at him with wide eyes.

"That's not the only issue," Narascha said softly. "Ciara was hurt badly when she fought a Revenant. She lost a lot of blood."

Lawrien went stiff, then she bolted up the steps, past the knights who looked worried, about to step in her way. Thankfully Teagan waved them off. Lawrien might have thrown them across the courtyard, which had certainly seen better days.

"Is Ciara going to be okay?" Leliana asked quickly, casting looks at the doors Lawrien had run through.

"Torph stitched up her wound," Narascha offered.

"While that mage used blood magic to keep her from bleeding out," Sten growled, crossing his arms.

"If he hadn't Ciara would probably be dead right now!" Narascha snapped. "And if Ciara does die like that I would hate to see Lawrien's reaction."

It went without saying. It would not be pretty. Cobian didn't want to see that, he didn't want to see what would truly make Lawrien snap. She was a powerful mage. Very young, very emotional, and very powerful. Lawrien was strong, she was confident, and very understanding, but how stable was she when pushed too far exactly?

No, not even for his studies. Cobian would like that answer to remain blank in his pages of Lawrien Amell.

"Maybe you could tell us what happened here, my Lord?" Faren asked quietly, nervously eyeing Teagan.

"Yes, that would be handy," Epona grunted. "Considering we have no idea what has been going on and have only just gotten back from quite the ordeal as well."

Narascha tilted her head. "Yeah, I've never seen an elf wear armour before. Is that normal?"

"No," Epona sighed. "The armour is new, just like yours. As well as these damnable boots!" She tried yanking it off again, but it still didn't come off.

Narascha threw them a baffled look.

Morrigan groaned. "A lot has happened."

"I'm not even sure how to begin telling it," Leliana admitted, laughing softly.

"If the bard can't then whoa." Narascha whistled.

.::.

Lawrien's heart raced as she threw herself up the last of the steps and into the castle. She raced past hallways, searching for Ciara, for her emotions, for her amusement, anger, distress, pain, anything, but there was nothing. There was nothing and she couldn't feel Ciara and whoever did this would pay-

"Lawrien!"

She froze. Jowan. Jowan was here. Why was Jowan here? Where was Ciara? Why wasn't Ciara with him? She wouldn't let him out of her sight, not even for a second, because he was their brother and a blood mage and Ciara hated blood mages but she loved their brothers. Lawrien slowly turned around. Jowan had been sat by a doorway, Torph at his side. Torph nodded to the door.

"She's fine, boss," Torph reassured. "Blood boy and I saved her."

Lawrien approached the door, ignoring the pair for now. She could feel Alistair's despair and his hope. It was muffled, her ears felt cloudy, and Jowan was standing right beside her. He was full of fear, sadness, pain, and relief. Relief because Ciara was alive and Lawrien was here.

"Thank you, Torph," Lawrien said, managing to reach out and squeeze him into a hug. "Thank you."

"Hey now, don't get sappy on me," Torph said, but he felt happy, proud and embarrassed even as he hugged her back. She reluctantly pulled away from his arms when she felt Jowan's fear grow.

Lawrien wasn't sure if she should punch him or hug him. He abandoned them, he hit Ciara with his blood magic, he betrayed Lily. But he saved Ciara too. He stayed and saved Ciara. Jowan could have slipped away, could have ran, but he was still here.

Lawrien yanked him into her arms and squeezed him tight. Jowan let out a choked gasp, his pain, physical pain, echoed, but he melted into her arms, wrapping himself tight around her.

"Lawrien-" Jowan breathed out.

"You idiot." Lawrien squeezed him tighter. "Of course I still love you. You're my brother."

"I'm sorry for everything I put you all through..."

"You should be." Lawrien gave him one last squeeze then pulled away. "But you being here did help save Ciara, so that's a good start."

She reached for the door handle to Ciara's room, but Jowan did catch her wrist.

"Just..." Jowan grimaced. "Just don't get hyper in there or anything, okay?"

Lawrien rolled her eyes. "I'm not in a good enough mood to be hyper, Jowan." She tugged her wrist free and went inside.

The room was dark, lit only by a few candles. The curtains tightly closed. Alistair was seated in a chair beside the bed where Ciara lay, breathing evenly. Alistair looked up and winced when he met her gaze.

"Lawrien, I am so sorry-"

Lawrien raised a brow. "Why?"

Alistair faltered. "Well... Well Ciara was hurt and I-"

"If you have to make an apology for every injury we get as Grey Wardens then you'll never stop talking," Lawrien replied, sitting down at the edge of the bed.

"But I let her go off alone to scout out the situation," Alistair protested.

"Did you order her to?"

"No!"

"Did any of the others?"

"No..." Alistair shook his head. "But still-"

"Then she made the decision to do that herself," Lawrien said. "If she hadn't thought she could handle scouting the situation out she wouldn't have gone in, but she did, and yes, she got hurt. Ciara knew the risks though, all of us do, and any who don't shouldn't be travelling with or as Grey Wardens. So stop blaming yourself and blame whatever creepy demon is currently nagging in the back of my head."

She could feel a boy's fear, a demon's hunger, and it made her blink and shake her head as the pairs wants and fears coiled together, both sides struggling.

"The demon possessing Connor?"

Lawrien laughed sheepishly. "I guess things went just about as peaceful for you us as during our time with the Dalish then."

"What happened to you?" Alistair frowned.

"Werewolves."

Alistair choked. "Excuse me?"

"And Epona was dead."

"What?!"

"But not now. Long time ago."

Alistair stared blankly. "She was dead a long time ago, but not now?"

"Yeah. It was weird."

Alistair blinked a few times, tilted his head, then shook it. "Nope. I don't understand that."

Lawrien cackled. "We don't either, but she got weird armour that she can't get off, so it's been fun. Oh! We also bet up an assassin trying to assassinate us and made him join us."

"You- Wait- WHAT?!"

"You'll wake Ciara," Lawrien teased.

Alistair shook his head as he stood up. "I've got to ask the others so many questions. Why? What? How?"

Lawrien shrugged.

"None of this makes any sense. None at all. If it wasn't bad enough that there wasn't the Archdemon flying around now we have werewolves, and undead, and Epona apparently being dead but not dead, and she can also hear the Archdemon." Alistair marched straight for the door.

Lawrien glanced down at Ciara, and much to her disappointment Ciara hadn't moved an inch. There was nothing, just silence, and it ached to hear. It wasn't a peaceful quiet when someone slept either, their emotions soft, calm, at ease, this was Ciara unconscious, and not by choice.

"And Lawrien?" Alistair stopped just at the door, his hand holding the door handle.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you." Alistair smiled weakly. "I am upset that Ciara got so badly hurt, but I won't try to blame myself for it anymore."

Lawrien grinned. "Doesn't mean you can slack off taking the big hits for us in the future though."

Alistair rolled his eyes, laughing. "Of course not."

Alistair felt a bit lighter than before, but still heavy, worried and confused, very confused now. Lawrien probably didn't help with that, but at least it distracted him.

"I wish Myra was here," Lawrien said softly, eyeing Ciara's still form. "She'd have you up and ready and lecture you about looking after yourself. Sadly I can't help you heal, but I'll keep you company, Ciara. Jowan too. We're both here. That might raise your blood pressure a little bit too. I can only imagine what your reaction was to seeing him. I bet you tried to shut down all your emotions and put on a blank face." Lawrien wiped the emotions off her face and sat straight up. "Emotions are weakness. I must know all. I am smart, and stupid, because really you need to start processing stuff better-"

"You didn't keep up that face for very long."

A flicker of amusement and Lawrien beamed. Ciara's amusement. Ciara was amused. She was also awake. Lawrien gasped and pulled her into a careful hug.

"Hi."

Ciara softened against her, and her arms weakly wrapped around her. "Hello, Lawrien."

They remained in silence for a long time. Lawrien simply enjoyed having her sister back, awake and alive. She listened to Ciara's heartbeat, nice and steady, and couldn't help but smile.

"It sounds like we've both have had eventful times," Ciara mused. "How much do you know about our situation here?"

Lawrien grimaced. "A little, but I wanted to see you were alive first before I heard much more."

Ciara smiled fondly. "The others must have told you I was alive."

"Yeah, but still, you'd do the same thing."

"A fair point," Ciara conceded. "I am also curious to see what you think of the possessed boy."

Lawrien frowned. "Jowan thinks we can save him."

"I might have been falling unconscious by that point," Ciara admitted. "I hope Jowan is right, but I fear there will be a terrible price to pay."

"I guess it depends on the cost." Lawrien shrugged lightly. "How young is he?"

"He looks round about nine or ten," Ciara said.

Lawrien grimaced. "We saw the bodies coming in. They're all piled up on the seaside, ready to be sent on boats and burned. I know it was bad, Ciara, and while I won't forgive myself for having to kill a kid, I will do it to protect everyone else."

Ciara sighed. "Don't take that burden upon yourself alone."

"So you would do it instead?" Lawrien scoffed. "I know you'd try spare me, but I guess you're a little bit too hurt to right now to do much but rest."

Ciara grimaced, and Lawrien could hear her thoughts racing, that's how hard Ciara was thinking, but she sat back against the pillows and sighed instead. "Hear everyone out first at the very least," Ciara insisted.

Lawrien frowned, and curled an arm around her knees. "I will, but we both know there are going to be a lot of conflicting ideas here, and there is only one thing I can think of that Jowan can offer up that would be of any use to us here."

Ciara's brow furrowed, and Lawrien could feel her anger, her disgust, but also a thin trail of hope. "Blood magic. It might save the boy, but what would we be sacrificing in return? We both know this isn't a normal possession."

"Yeah, a mage will have to go into the Fade to save the child," Lawrien said. "He's really scared, Ciara."

"You can feel him?" Ciara tilted her head, curious and concerned.

"Muffled, everything here is muffled, but he's the worst." Lawrien shook her head. "There are so many emotions running here, so much negativity, and it's hard to think, but I can feel him, and through all this he's been feeling scared."

His fear was nagging at the back of her mind, the demon's hunger, the anger, the terror. All the distress and anger of everyone around. Redcliffe and its people were in agony. A hand touched hers, squeezing weakly, and Ciara felt full of concern.

"Is it overwhelming?"

Lawrien thought about it for a second, then shook her head. It wasn't like Ostagar. It wasn't like everyone's lives snapping out like a fire on a candle being snuffed out. It was all just foggy right now.

"No, just foggy," Lawrien admitted. "Besides, I've got you here, and you're alive, even if you look rubbish."

Ciara chuckled. "Thanks."

Lawrien laughed. "Yeah, next time dodge. Myra isn't here to heal us."

"Our sister would have a heart attack at the amount of injures we've both had," Ciara said. "Her and Anders."

"Yeah, they'd want to strangle us by now." Lawrien grinned. "Especially you."

Ciara winced. "Well at least I haven't burned my wound shut before."

Lawrien laughed sheepishly. "Don't tell them about that?"

"Not a word."

It wasn't one of their better moments, Lawrien had to admit, and it wasn't one she cared to relive anytime soon. Never get drunk with a group of qunari mercenaries, their dwarf companion and their elven companion and get into a fight in a tavern. It was why Duncan had to pay a lot of money to get it rebuilt. It had been a wreck, and all because Lawrien had played 'catch the dagger' with the elf and dwarf while drunk.

She wasn't exactly good at that while sober, never mind drunk. It had lodged deep into her leg and the other mage in the mercenaries had been out cold from drinking too much. So Lawrien had the bright idea to burn it shut.

Lawrien had set the tavern on fire while doing so.

Never again.

"I'll go see what I can do here," Lawrien said, but paused when Ciara began climbing out of bed carefully, grabbing the nightgown laying by end of the bed.

Ciara wanted to know what would happen to the boy. Lawrien frowned, even as Ciara ignored her, carefully pulling the nightgown on over a set of pyjamas Lawrien didn't recognise. They looked really fancy, and a little big on Ciara.

"You should rest," Lawrien said.

"We both know that is highly unlikely to happen," Ciara pointed out. "I'll rest after we've come to a decision."

Lawrien sighed. "Let's hope our choices are good ones then."