Another beautifully done chapter! I love the imagery of the trip to Weisshaupt Fortress with the bleakness of the land and of course the threat of the darkspawn. Loghain finding out about broodmothers was a nice touch. I had forgotten he wouldn't have known about that.

The morning after conversation was true to their characters as well. I must admit I loved how Loghain called out and let the other Wardens know he was present.

I'm so glad this trip is now pulling them back together instead of tearing them apart. I'm quite interested to hear what the First Warden has to say!

Toooo much to read? How can there EVER be too much of this? Damn, this was deliciously steamy. And heartfelt. I love the banter between Aurora and Loghain...it's utterly amazing. Brilliant chapter through and through. I am sorry for having been a quiet reviewer as of late, damn real life got in the way! XD

Yay for the morning after bit! Very well done.

I'm looking forward to the next chapters, I think that this section is going to be quite interesting.

Keep up the good work!

This was a brilliant chapter! Your descriptions were lush and vivid, and your characters just perfect.

Loghain and Aurora in their "Morning After" moment was just wonderfully done! Loghain's old man guilt is just so fitting, and the Warden is delightfully charming with her lines about telling him to be "the pretty one" and how she could order him not to worry. I don't quite have the sense that they're "in love" but I do get the feeling that they like each other very much and that the relationship will be good for them both. I especially like that Loghain owned up to the fact that he was sleeping with the Warden by calling out about his clothes during the Aurora/Flavius/Serge conversation.

Vidar is a brutally sexy beast. I echo Mara when I say, "such a pretty bastard." But a surprisingly considerate bastard. The scene where he has the arrow up to the Warden's neck and says that he'll kill her rather than let the darkspawn take her really just took my breath away. The entire journey to Weisshaupt did, actually, because you made the land seem so old and alien. I could feel the Wardens' fear about having the darkspawn all around them when they camped at night, and hearing their shrieking and crying. Very scary! Loghain's righteous anger at the Grey Warden and women conservation was well played. I suspect that women in Fereldan have no greater champion than Loghain Mac Tir, and no doubt he'll champion every Lady Grey Warden he sees, hmmm?

Weisshaupt was splendidly cold! You did a really great job of distinguishing it from Val Royeaux and Amaranthine. They're a really old, nepotic group. There's no sense of brotherhood at all. No wonder no one speaks out in Weisshaupt! I couldn't imagine living there, and it makes me sad to think that Andraste will leave Serge behind for it. Nice touch about the firecrystals in the stonework, btw.

When you introduced the twins, I thought I might like them, but no I really don't. I'm not really like any of the Grey Wardens. What did Warden Kettil do to Aurora, I wonder? You will have to tell me.

I really liked this chapter a lot! You wrote a very evocative journey to Weisshaupt. The weathered statue and the old stone roads and the blighted landscape really made the chapter come alive. I also loved the differences between Weisshaupt Grey Wardens and the Fereldan Wardens - who are just so so adorable! Great job!

Ooo! A drawing of Celene in her masquerade gown? Awesome! *is excite* Go Lady Winde!

Aww! We don't get to find out what they did to her? Damn! Still, though, Loghain's protectiveness of her is adorable beyond words X3

Oh yes, and you can imagine how much I was grinning throughout their last few nights bunking at Val Royeaux-they were going at it like rabbits! 3

What a gorgeously realized chapter! Your writing is so colorful and vivid, so extremely visual and cinematic. The eerie journey north was so clear to me, and the menacing presence of Vidar shadowed them throughout. Loghain's rage at the Wardens was well expressed and absolutely right. There is a profound lack of long-range thinking there. I particularly liked the contrast at Loghain's outrage and horror at the sheer numbers of darkspawn, and Vidar's complacent acceptance (after all, if there are no darkspawn, there's no reason for Wardens! Everything is just the way it ought to be)

And then Weisshaupt. Well, Riordan did warn her, after a fashion. He obviously didn't like it, either. The dark, oppressive nastiness, the inhuman repression, are all portrayed so well. And they are hypocrites. Loghain and Aurora can be even stronger together now, because they are truly of one mind. The Weisshaupt Wardens are horrible people, who obviously care nothing for anything or anyone else. It's an order with a profoundly rotten heart. And just what did the First Warden need to make himself feel safe? I'm with Loghain: Never again. They need to get out of there ASAP, and they should think seriously before they have any future dealings with Weisshaupt!

Hahaha: "I think that you should be the pretty one, and that I should be the thinking one" - Aurora has the most adorably badass lines :) Loghain never saw that one coming, and she's right: he needs to stop overthinking. The entire scene was sexy, funny and tender - it's actually my favourite intimate moment so far. Killer lines: "the only person who holds dominion over this bed is me," Loghain's old man guilt, wonderment and even shyness - all wonderful. Boo for Serge and Flavius interupting them! I could have read an entire "bedroom" chapter... Aurora's parting shot to Flavius: pmsl!

Ah well - back to business for our Wardens. I have a feeling the winds from the sea driving darkspawn mad will prove significant. Something spread from the Anderfels themselves? Loghain and Aurora sharing a moment of homesickness was sweet, and reinforces the fact that they really do speak the same language, and want the same things. Hooray for Vidar McHottie accompanying them! I smiled at the comment about his scowl - he and Loghain should get on just fine.

The description of the vast, rippling, Blighted landscape was eerie and bleak - the "shapeless husk" of a statue is a beautiful image. The "Broodmother" conversation was all the more powerful for being resolutely unsentimental. The "four-legged darkspawn" is a disturbing image - Alien 3 gave me nightmares :) And yeah - why do the Warden's recruit women, and then send them into the Deep Roads? Hmmm...

Vidar is the son of the First Warden? Interesting. You've painted Weisshaupt beautifully: and I thought the Templars had it rough! It's so right: Grey Wardens are basically high-functioning darkspawn, and darkspawn are nothing if not group-oriented. They probably live longer that way too. Aurora's line about Loghain being bottom was a welcome antidote to all that grimness. I'll be cheering for her as she struggles to reform the Wardens - if anyone can, it'll be Lady Grey. I enjoyed the steely resignation of their parting, the description of the mage as smelling "like the air before a thunderstorm: earthy, sweet and rotten," and particuarly the last line. There's a nice irony in Loghain and Aurora finding their strength together even as the Wardens do.

As I have read up on the Grey Wardens and such, I have grown to not like them. Your chapter just added fuel to the fire. lol

Makes me glad there really aren't any Grey Wardens in the next game (discounting Anders).

that was really interesting! i liked the journey you described it very well!

Brilliant. You're probably tired of my saying that but it is. The playful sensuous opening was a wonderful way to transistion, just perfect. Loghain has indeed dreamed of her...I am reminded of the pillow biting. And still he won't believe his good fortune, or that he deserves it.

"Thinking too hard again." Oh ever anyone overthinks, it's Loghain.

I am still chuckling at this: "I think that you should be the pretty one, and that I should be the thinking one. " Yes, that will work. She is clever, your Lady Grey.

The entire interlude in Lady Grey's room the morning after was just wonderfully written and so much in keeping with their characters and their relationship. A tricky thing to accomplish but it came off perfectly.

The trip to Weisshaupt was harrowing and breathtaking as they come to the swathe of tainted lands and Vidar makes his promise to Aurora. Poor Loghain, he makes some very interesting an valid points about the Grey Wardens. Most poignant, to illustrate just how vile Broodmothers are, is Lady Grey's comment that she wouldn't wish it upon even Rendon Howe.

You captured the bitter, cold, gnarled Grey Wardens of Weisshaupt so well, I could imagine the large dormitories, the eyes watching them, the city like the compound in Orlais and yet without its color and comforts.

My eyes teared up, even though you'd shown me that bit before, when they brought Lady Grey back into the dorm and Loghain held her, saying, "No more. Never again." It was so heartfelt and heartbreaking at the same time.

The ending...Together, they were ready.

Together, they were strong.

Yes, absolutely. Together.

Awesome update! Grats on finishing the lsats and applications and YAY! More time to write!

Oh, Loghain, you have what you wanted...you've GOT the girl...yet you still try to find a way to push her away. I was glad Aurora was onto him though, telling him to be the pretty one while she was the thinker. *giggle*

So, Vidar and the Fereldens are forced to keep company on the looooooong trip to Weisshaput, eh? Certainly not an enjoyable trip for any of them. Methinks Loghain's protective streak will become very, very wide indeed as they travel together. Vidar, for all his saving of Aurora's life, had best be very careful around the Taciturn One. Why do I get the feeling we are not done seeing that little serpent yet?

"If ever again." You are evil. :P

"I would not wish this horror even on Rendon Howe." Mighty generous of the Warden. That's saying a LOT if she would not let Howe suffer such a fate (even if he could). Broodmothers are a nasty, horrible business and I'm glad Loghain sees that.

"Together, they were strong." Indeed. Maker help Weisshaupt and its duplicity. I think Weisshaupt will not be the same when the Fereldens are finished with them. I imagine Loghain is just about ready to tear the twins, and the First, apart with is bare hands over what they did to Aurora. It's one thing to take precautions, quite another to torture another Warden to deem them safe from any sort of corruption post archdemon. At least, that's what I'm getting from it...I could be wrong (and if I am, point me in the right direction!).

Awesome update!

Excellent!

Great use of your artistic license, I say! Thanks for the update!

Excellent! I love your story! 3