The King’s Sons – 9:30 Dragon, Recruit

He couldn’t drag his eyes away from the broken young man who sitting on the other side of the shattered remnants of the Circle library. Originally when they had found him trapped at the top of the Tower he’d thought him older, taller, a templar of some years. Now, seeing him sitting in the wreckage of the books without the plate of his Order, Jarriad could see all too clearly that he was nothing but a boy.

A broken boy attempting to realign the shattered fragments of his life.

Grimacing, he tried to turn away but couldn’t as he watched the young man lean down to pick up another book. As he carefully leafed through it, head bowed, before he set it aside, he knew exactly what he was going to do. It was a hard certainty because he’d been there before.

The King’s Sons – 9:30 Dragon, Goodbye

How she had let the letter sit in the desk for two days wasn’t a question Anora could rightly answer. She’d wanted to crack the seal as soon as Teagan has placed it in her hands, longing to hear her husband’s voice again even if it was only in her head. The letter had been passed to her during that first meeting, however, and she knew that reading it would make her useless for the rest of that day as well as the meetings they had planned later.

So she had waited ever impatiently, feeling like the hours in the days were mocking her as they dragged onward. Now, though, all of the important business was done for now and Anora sank gratefully into the great desk’s chair. Almost instantly, however, she was tense and sitting ramrod straight as her eyes fell automatically to the desk’s bottom drawer. It had been one of the first things Cailan had shared with her after they were wed – besides their marriage bed, of course.

The King’s Sons – 9:30 Dragon, Realization

The Southron Hills were an outright mess, half tainted by the Blight spreading out from Ostagar and the Korcari Wilds and half plagued by bandits and scattered refugees. Stupid bandits who apparently thought a well-armed trio were people they wanted to try and rob.

Tugging his sword out of the man’s gut with a disgusted noise as Bernard disappeared to make sure there weren’t any more bandits, Alistair looked over at Leliana as he asked, “Are all of these people addled in the head?”

The King’s Sons – 9:30 Dragon, Discussion

“You shouldn’t have ridden here alone, Bann Teagan,” commented Fergus from where he sat in the Cousland rooms, his left leg propped up in a chair with an obviously needed cane propped nearby. Other than his heavily wrapped wrist, the leg was the only remaining sign to show that the new Teyrn of Highever had been injured at Ostagar.

Smiling, Teagan sank into the chair placed opposite of Fergus’ and said, “I am wise enough to know better than that.” Glancing at Aedan who stood behind his brother and then towards the door, he asked, “The men at your door are trustworthy, yes?”

The King’s Sons – 9:30 Dragon, Plots

“I don’t trust you.”

The woman sitting across the fire from him inclined her head, as if he had merely commented on the weather. She then flicked her eyes up at him, bright blue staring at him behind stray locks of red hair, and replied, “And so you should not.”

Scowling at the affirmation, Bernard cut his eyes towards the young man sleeping to his right, her left. “And what of him?” he asked. “Do you want him to trust you?” He left the rest of the words he wanted to say unspoken, not wanting to speak of betrayal so soon after the one that had already been done.

The King’s Sons – 9:30 Dragon, Misconceptions

“We have to end the curse.”

“I am not arguing against such,” she said quietly in response to Alistair’s hotly spoken words. Glancing behind them to where the captain moved more slowly, favoring his wounded side where one of the werewolves had bitten him the day before, Leliana continued, “But it still stands that we should go ahead ourselves and leave him here to rest.”

Alistair scowled before growling, “I’m not leaving him.”

The King’s Sons – 9:30 Dragon, Coercion

Alistair could feel that something was wrong the moment they stepped foot into the Dalish camp. There was the presence of something sickly in the air, like it was a living thing itself that sought to drown all that opposed it. And it wasn’t just from the obviously sick elves that he could see lying on cots on the other side of the camp.

Something was obviously wrong.

The leader of the group that had found them barked out what sounded like an order in Dalish and they came to a halt. He turned then, fixing the two humans with a hard gaze, and said, “Don’t try anything, shemlen. We don’t take kindly to strangers.”

The King’s Sons – 9:30 Dragon, Pursuit

As he worked to saddle the horses, Bernard frowned as he tightened the girth of Alistair’s gelding. There had been a twinge between his shoulder blades for days that hadn’t gone away and he’d been taking the second watch instead of the first lately to try to figure out why. Now he was beginning to truly expect that they were being pursued by someone.

Looking over at where the younger man was scuffing up the spot where their fire had been, he bent to make sure the girth was tight while peering at a spot at the edge of their camp. He was no woodsman, of course, but even he could tell when ground had been disturbed and someone had trod right there at some point during the night.

The King’s Sons – 9:30 Dragon, Power

Straightening his tunic as he walked, Aedan smiled at the pair of guards standing by Cailan’s office door as he approached them. The older one, Odrick, inclined his head in return while the young, whose name continually escaped him, smiled back while he lifted a hand to knock at the closed door. It opened to reveal a familiar face twisted into stern lines that softened immediately upon seeing him.

“Young Cousland,” greeted Osanna, her voice warm. “Come in. Her Majesty has some news for you.”

“Oh?” queried Aedan as he entered the office. “Good news, I hope.”

The King’s Sons – 9:30 Dragon, Allies

“You can’t keep those men in Rainesfere! I forbid it!”

Natia lifted her eyes from sharpening one of her daggers to look at Jarriad across the hall. The elf was watching the door of Arl Eamon’s office just as unobtrusively as she was and shook his head at her as he noticed her watching him.

“Rainesfere is my bannorn, Eamon!” she heard Teagan snap harshly. “You can advise me on what to do with it but the matter stands that I am in charge. Should I choose to house these men for a time, then it’s on my head.”