Bare feet slapped across cold stone floor, sometimes interrupted by rugs that covered a good porion of the room.

Louise was restless. She knew that what she had just seen was not just a bad dream but grim and terrible fact. The darkspawn were here, in Halkegenia.

Where did they come from? How could they have already found an old God to corrupt? What on earth was going on?!

But none of these questions would be getting answered anytime soon. More importantly, what was she going to do about it?

Now this was a question that would have to be answered right away. Louise stopped pacing and exhaled a deep ragged breath.

In war, victory.

Was she going to just watch it all happen and do nothing? The mages here in Halkegenia, while not capable of using the full spectrum of magic, were still much more powerful and numerous than their counterparts in Thedas. Chances were, that they could repel the blight without too many casualties. Besides, she had fought her share. Wasn't she entitled to some peace and quiet? Hadn't she earned at least this much?

In peace, vigilance.

But what about the archdemon? Only a grey warden was capable of taking an archdemon to the grave and even that at the cost of their own life.

In death... Sacrifice.

Unbidden, the old grey warden motto fought its way to the fore of Louise's mind.

Her gaze travelled towards the window. A full moon was shining outside, casting eerie shadows across the courtyard below.

She had earned herself the right to peace? Watch as others fought and died in her stead? Had she really gotten this weak in the past two years, that she was willing to go this far?

No.

Louise Francoise was many things... but weak was not one of them. She had sworn an oath to protect others from the darkspawn until her dying breath. She had survived the joining ritual because she was willing to die to stop the horde in their tracks back in Ostagar. She had let the dying elven spirit teach her to become an Arcance Warrior so that others would not have to shield her with their bodies while she cast her spells in battle. Hide? Wait it out?

Never.

Louise's eyes narrowed dangerously and her panicked breathing evened out. She was once again in familiar territory. She was at war. And now it was time to plan.

What could she do? What was her next step going to be?

She knew for a fact that she could not do this alone. Back in Ferelden she had friends, allies that she could rely on. Even Morrigan, irritating and annoying as she could be, was there when the dies were cast. The blight was not an unknown, and there were still other grey wardens in Orlais, should Ferelden have fallen. Here?..

She was alone. She knew next to nothing about the joining ritual, other than the ingredients required for it. And she would not be getting her hands on the blood of an archdemon anytime soon. There were no ancient treaties to fall back on either. She would have to convince people that a blight was coming, build an army, and kill the archdemon herself. But then what?

She would be dead, and she knew that the darkspawn would not just up and vanish. They would retreat and search for a different old God to corrupt. It may take them years, decades or even longer. But they would return. And then there would be no one there to stop them, unless someone would be crazy enough to try and find the right way to create more grey wardens.

The situation was grim. But thinking in long term was probably the most important thing. Louise would have to write down everything she knew of the joining ritual and try to recreate it. It was the only logical way to go about this. She would need research material. And darkspawn blood. Luckily she had both here at the academy. The library was vast and she still had seven vials of the dark liquid stored in the trunk. She was more than glad that she had not thrown them away and not left them in the camp on her last day in Thedas, by accident though it may have been.

In order to continue using the facilities here at the academy she would obviously have to continue attending classes. It would limit the time she could spend on the research, but the pros outweighed the cons.

She would also have to get back in touch with the princess of Tristania, Henrietta. Gaining her favor, trust and by extension her power and army would be essential in order to stop this blight from reaching unmanageable proportions. If she was lucky, Henrietta would also have enough political pull to convince other nations to help out.

On the upside, there were neither dwarves nor qunari in Halkegenia, which meant that the darkspawn ranks would be missing the genlocks and ogres from their ranks. Then again, there were plenty of other creatures here that did not exist in Thedas. Who was to say that the darkspawn could not turn something else into a broodmother to produce even more horrifying creatures than those Louise had to face two years ago?

Either way, there was one more important task she would have to do.

Make sure she didn't die before slaying the archdemon. And that meant getting back into fighting form.

Back in Thedas she was unprepared and survived her first few battles by sheer dumb luck. As she had gained experience and prowess in battle, she had found herself in less and less sticky situations and more in control of the fight. Now, however, she had spent two years living a peaceful life, only occasionally going out to practice her spells and blade weaving. This would have to change as well.

Just fighting her own shadow wouldn't do either. There was only so much one could learn and accomplish this way. She would need a sparring partner, preferably several to better imitate a real battlefield. But who? Louise knew that most of her classmates disregarded her as just another face they would see every day, present but not in any way connected to them or their affairs. The tall redhead had shown some interest initially, but as Louise wasn't interested in a rivalry which the other girl had tried to establish, the pinkette had done her best to keep her distance from her, with success.

She would also need a water mage to heal her, should she get injured during training and not be able to do it herself.

Louise stopped mid-thought. She knew just the person to go to. He was a pain in the neck do deal with, but him and his... acquaintance would fulfil her needs to a T. Now there was just the matter of getting the two to cooperate...

Guiche de Gramont was a self proclaimed ladies man. It was the beginning of his second year at the Tristain Academy of magic and one of the first years had caught his eye. Just as he was about to approach her and introduce himself, he was halted in his tracks by a small figure stepping in his path. The girl in front of him was almost one and a half heads shorter than him, had pink hair bound in a ponytail behind her head and wore a black robe, marking her as someone from his year. Ah, Louise de la Valliere, he remembered. The quiet girl from one of the most influential families in Tristania.

He had little interest in her, seeing as she was not really his type, but just ignoring her would be impolite, not to mention maybe even dangerous, depending on how serious a matter she wanted to talk about. Despite her pretty much non existing presence among their peers, Louise was still a Valliere and as such, wielded a good portion of power behind her name.

The cute first year would have to wait. There was plenty of time for that later.

Guiche plastered a polite smile on his face and gave his attention to the pink haired dwarf in front of him.

"Mademoiselle de la Valliere! A pleasure to see you on this fine day. What can I, Guiche of House Gramont do-"

"Spare me the formalities." She interrupted him. How rude...

"There is something I want you and your girlfriend to do." She continued. Girlfriend? Whom was she referring to? Ah, the lovely Montmorency, most likely.

"I realize that neither of you have a reason or obligation to help me, which is why I am willing to pay a generous amount to... bolster your spending money, if you will. I can also guarantee you that my proposition will in long term benefit the both of you." The small girl held out a small coin purse to him, which he subconsciously took. The weight was indeed remarkable, hinting at the handsome sum of money inside.

"Wha... Mademoiselle, before I agree to anything I would like to know more details about what you need our assistance with, not to mention I need to consult with the lovely lady Montmorency as well!" It was a tempting offer, Guiche had to admit. From the weight of the bag alone he could tell that the insides probably dwarfed his entire monthly allowance. More money, meant more to spend for pricy presents that girls seemed to be so fond of. But Louise giving it to him just like that probably meant that he could haggle out even more. Besides, the part about having to ask the blonde girl was true.

"I expected as much." The pinkette nodded with what appeared to be approval. "Please speak to Montmorency and find me in the library after classes. You can keep the money for now, and tell de Montmorency that should she agree, she will be getting just as much. When you show up, we can discuss the details of the agreement in private." She finished.

"Very well. Though I cannot guarantee our presence, I will try to make it." Guiche conceded. Louise nodded once again and briskly walked off, leaving Guiche alone again. Unfortunately the brown haired first year had already left his field of vision. Oh well. This sounded like easily made money, and as long as it was not illegal, the blonde boy saw no harm in humouring the pink haired girl. Besides, if this resulted in him getting a connection in the Valliere family, it would probably be even better than the bag of gold already in his hands.

Louise was pouring over a thick tome in the library for almost half an hour before the two blondes showed up. She was beginning to worry that she would have to look for help elsewhere. But her calculations were right after all, it seemed. Guiche was not from a wealthy family to begin with, by noble standards at least, and the House de Montmorency had lost much of its former wealth in the last years. Waving money in front of their noses was the right choice by the looks of it.

"Louise." Montmorency greeted her with a polite smile. It seemed Guiche had tipped her off about her dislike of lengthy titles and opening speeches.

"Montmorency, Guiche." Louise replied in kind with a nod of her head.

She pushed the tome aside and motioned for them to sit down across from her. They were in the section of the library close to the entrance, but luckily not many students frequented here to begin with, especially so after classes had just ended.

"Let us get down to business right away. But first I would like to confirm something. Guiche," She turned her gaze on the boy and with a little satisfaction noticed that he looked rather uncomfortable under her scrutiny. "Your runic name is the Bronze and your preferred fighting style involves summoning several mostly human sized golems to fight for you, correct?"

"Quite so, Mademoiselle." He nodded. She could see that her question threw him for a loop. He was probably expecting her to ask him something different.

"And Montmorency, you have some skill with healing spells, right?"

"Yes. That is true, though I will admit that I have little actual experience in healing injuries, I'm afraid." She admitted after a pause.

"Excellent." Louise nodded again. "Now, what I want you two to do is help me train in combat. Do not bother asking why, you will find out sooner or later, I suspect. I want your Golems to attack me," She pointed at the boy, swinging her finger from him to the girl in one fluid motion.

"And you to heal me, should I sustain a wound during our exercises. It goes without saying that I want to train not just once, but preferably daily, for at least an hour each time. For each training session you assist me with, each of you will be paid the same amount as the bag of coins I gave Guiche earlier today." Louise paused to let that sink in. Luckily, she had spent next to nothing during her year at the academy, which left her with a sizable sum of money she could throw in their faces. It was also nice that her family apparently thought that since she grew up as a commoner she had to catch up on all the nice things one could do as a noble, significantly increasing her allowance.

The eyes of the pair across from Louise were as large as dinner plates by that point, surprised by both the unusual request as well as the staggering amount of gold offered to them.

Montmorency was the first to regain her bearings. And also the first to jump at the opportunity.

"Agreed." She declared without even bothering to ask Guiche.

She extended her hand to Louise, which the pinkette promptly grasped in a firm handshake. Both of them turned to regard Guiche, who seemed to come out of a trance at this moment.

"Uh... very well. The offer seems fair enough." He conceded. Louise could tell that he probably wanted to haggle, but decided against it, as the offered amount already trumped anything he had in mind.

The pink haired girl smiled, her eyes once again narrowing and staring sharply at the two youths before her.

"Good. Meet me tomorrow evening at six at the entrance to the great hall. I know a place we will not be disturbed at. This way we should be back in time for dinner." She waited for them to give their agreement, before speaking again.

"Now, if you don't mind, I would like to continue my studies. Alone." She clarified when they didn't seem to get the hint.

She realized that by noble standards she was outright rude, but she simply didn't have the luxury of time to be polite and amicable anymore. Every second she wasted may cost her dearly in the events to come.

The two left with pursed lips, offended, but not willing to call her out on it for fear of losing the deal she had offered.

Once again alone, Louise reclaimed the old tome and got back to reading. The basics of alchemy were a hard read, but she understood the vast majority of it after rereading it once or twice. She still had a long way to go before she could even hope to attempt to replicate the joining ritual, but she had to start somewhere. Determined, she pulled out a notebook and resumed her reading, scrawling onto the pages from time to time.

All too soon the evening of the next day came and in the dimming light Louise and her two companions found themselves making their way to the stables.

"On horseback we will need half an hour at most to get there." Louise explained. "It's a small flat place next to the hill north-east from the academy. There is a natural rock formation surrounding it, so it is unlikely that we will be seen. Even if we are seen, however, it wouldn't matter much. I am only trying to keep this under wraps so that we remain undisturbed during our sessions."

She was hauling a heavy looking backpack with her, along with a rather long object wrapped in cloth. Montmorency was eyeing it curiously but so far had refrained from asking any questions.

Once they reached the stables and Louise secured her load onto the horse, they were off.

A short time later they found themselves inside the circle of rocks the pink haired girl had told them about. They dismounted and Louise instructed the pair to put up torches or magical lights around them seeing as it was rapidly getting dark.

While they were at it, the grey warden started gearing up for the training to come.

Guiche was the first to notice it. While he was not an expert in terms of armor and weapons, he knew a good set when he saw one. He spent some time watching as Louise proceeded to strap on the various pieces of equipment onto herself, fastening the leather straps to make sure every part was in place and would not fall off, leaving her vulnerable. By the time Louise pulled out the two parts of the breastplate, Guiche was simply amazed.

That part alone should have weighed more than someone of Louise's bodily proportions should be able to wear, let alone lift up and carry around together with the other pieces in the backpack. Maybe it was tin? But making armor out of tin was nonsense.

The design of the set of armor was simple, but functional. The only engraving present on it was a bold crest on the breastplate, depicting two gryphons back to back to each other. The rest was a mix between plate mail, scale mail and studded leather.

By the time Louise pulled out the heavy looking boots, also covered in plate, Guiche was well beyond amazed at how she was even able to move around with so much weight on her. She didn't even appear to notice it!

Montmorency had finished illuminating the area in the meantime and had joined Guiche in the staring.

Finally Louise seemed finished, and after putting her helmet under her arm made her way towards the two onlookers.

Before she could start talking however, she found Guiche poking at her breastplate. While safely protected by the steel, it was still the place where her admittedly small breasts were located. Louise developed a slight tick in her left eye, and by the looks of it Montmorency was less than pleased with his actions as well.

"And what pray tell are you doing?" The pinkette asked in a deceptively sweet voice.

"It really is steel." Guiche muttered under his breath, oblivious to the glares directed at him. Montmorency coughed into her fist and glared harder. The boy seemed to get the hint and backed off.

"Now." Louise began. "Summon three of your golems for starters. Blunted weapons, swords and maces only for now. I want you to start directing them slowly, speeding up as I tell you to. Montmorency, stay a safe distance away please."

Guiche nodded and followed the other blonde until they were on the outer perimeter of the circle of stones. He then hesitantly pulled out a rose, which simultaneously doubled as his wand. Louise put on her helmet.

While small in size, she was now a somewhat intimidating form to behold. The helmet hid the rest of her face from view and only through the narrow slit one could see her eyes, narrowed and determined.

Guiche swung the rose and three petals floated to the ground. When they touched down, three bronze golems emerged in their place. Their sleek form and stylized armor spoke of the effort he had put into designing them.

Louise unsheathed her weapon.

The Spellweaver was a powerful weapon by itself, allowing its user to cast spells trough it much like a wand would. It didn't allow some of the more powerful spells to be cast this way though. Another downside was its size. A tall warrior could wield the sword with one hand, but for someone of Louise's complexion, the sword turned into a two-handed weapon and that in turn made casting spells mid-fight even more difficult than it already was. Which was why Louise was trying to look into the wandswords that were popular among the mageknights of Tristania. So far she had little success.

As instructed, Guiche's golems were starting out slow. Louise had little trouble dancing around their clumsy attacks, even when they came at her at the same time.

After five minutes of dodging blow after blow, she told Guiche to speed things up. Immediately the dodging became harder and the armored girl found herself forced to parry more and more attacks with her blade.

Regardless, she ordered Guiche to up his game again. This went well for all of a minute until one of the animated armors got behind her, delivering a heavy blow with its mace straight to Louise's head.

When the pink haired girl opened her eyes again, she found herself staring at the dark sky with two panicking blonds at her side.

"...thought she was going to dodge it! She saw everything else i threw at her until now, how was I supposed to know she was at her limit?!"

"You should have stopped it from moving when you saw the mace almost reach her!"

"Shut up, please." Louise groaned. That blow was nowhere near as fast or even well executed as the ones she dodged with ease back in Ferelden. This frustrated her even more than the splitting headache she was experiencing at this very moment.

"You're awake!" Montmorency sounded sincerely relieved.

"Yes." Louise could now feel that her head was actually resting on the female blonde's lap while the freckled girl was casting some sort of healing spell on her scalp. With another groan the grey warden lifted herself up into a sitting position and tried to establish what kind of damage had been done to her.

Her hair was clean and not bloodied, which meant that the helmet did its job well enough.

"Montmorency, do not bother berating Guiche for this. It wasn't his mistake, it was mine. Also, I knew something like this was bound to happen, which is why I brought you along. This is what I wanted, nothing more and nothing less. Sometimes you can only learn something by having it beaten into you. I will not let this happen again." Louise stood up and looked around.

"How long was I unconscious?"

"Only about five minutes, mademoiselle." Guiche replied. "And allow me to apologize to you. While injuries are to be expected when training for combat, it was still not my intention to hurt you." He actually looked sincere when he said that.

Louise nodded.

"Apology accepted, if it is that important to you. Now. Let's continue. Where did you two put my helmet?" She looked around, but couldn't locate said item in the immediate vicinity.

"Continue?! Are you out of your mind?!" Montmorency sounded rather put off by the idea, Louise noted.

"I am not. We still have more than half an hour left before we need to head back and I intend to make full use of every remaining minute." Louise actually grinned a little. Their faces looked a little like those she would expect to find on a fish.

Guiche was the first to regain his composure and also the first to be infected by her grin.

"Mademoiselle, you are just full of surprises." He joked.

"You don't even know the half of it." Louise replied in kind.

Her helmet was found soon after and the training resumed.

They would have questions for her. Questions she was not ready to answer yet. And she still had a long way to go before regaining her skill in battle. But it was a good first step.

As long as she was moving forward, Louise decided that she would be fine.