Nathaniel was well enough to travel after a few days' recovery, so they agreed to leave the next morning and make their way to Vigil's Keep. Alistair had been kind enough to provide them with a cart and a pair of sturdy oxen to tow their belongings back home, which was fortuitous considering the sheer volume of get-well gifts that Elissa, Anders and Nathaniel had received. Erna had also been enjoying her newfound purchasing power and bought out half of the marketplace, so the cart was loaded to capacity even with most of the Wardens carrying their own packs and supplies.

The knock on the door came earlier than Elissa expected. Fastening the last buckle on her armor and making sure that Nathaniel was similarly covered, she called out for the person to enter. The door opened and Zevran stepped in.

"Are you ready, my dear? The other Wardens have arrived." Zevran looked Elissa and Nathaniel over before a wicked, lazy smile crept onto his face. "Unless you would prefer a last distraction before we leave." Nathaniel snorted behind her and she shared a grin with Zevran.

"Maybe some other time," Elissa laughed. Then, the uncontrollable impulse to hug Zevran came over her and she found herself across the room and her arms around her assassin friend, much to everyone's surprise. After a moment, she stepped back and gave the elf back his personal space.

He raised an eyebrow at her even as he smiled. "What was that about, Elissa? I am not complaining, mind you ..."

Elissa wasn't quite sure how to answer that, other than, "Thank you, Zev. For everything. If it hadn't been for you and Erlina with all of this, things might have dragged out for years and then ended badly."

Zevran laughed. "Ah, my dear, there is no need. It is good that I have had the chance to practice skills that go along quite well with assassinating, no? And besides, I wish to protect my home as much as the next person." He smiled at her again, this time his eyes speaking volumes. "It will be good to go home and know that we can perhaps have peace for a change."

At the word home, Elissa couldn't help but smile widely. "Yes, it will. Zev, can you let the others know we'll be right there? We have a little bit of packing left, but it'll be just a minute." Zevran nodded and exited the room, closing the door quietly behind him. Elissa turned to see Nathaniel watching her intently. The look on his face was curious, but not wary. He more looked like he was contemplating something and coming to a decision.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked softly as she walked over to him and took his hands in hers.

His face cleared as he looked down into her eyes. "I was just considering the past several weeks," he said quietly and he lifted a hand to stroke her cheek. "Things worked out far better than I expected." He leaned forward and kissed her softly before straightening. "Let's go."

-0-0-0-

To the Warden-Commander of Ferelden:

Greetings from the Circle of Magi. After much discussion, Knight-Commander Greagoir and I have decided to send you two potential recruits in hopes that you might find them suitable for your order. The first, Arthur Amell, has recently passed his harrowing and shows brilliant mastery of the prime elements. We discussed him when you last visited the Circle, as you may recall, and his test to transition to full mage was one of the quickest we have seen to date, surpassed only in ease by his older sister and Warden Anders. The young woman with him has been trained as a templar, but has not taken her final vows. Selena volunteered to accompany young Amell and also wishes to become a Grey Warden. We have already communicated with the Grand Cleric, who has agreed to release her to your ranks. She is independently-minded, which you made clear to me as preferential, and we believe she will do well with your order. If such should not be the case with either recruit, please do not hesitate to inform us and we will make arrangements for their safe passage back to the tower.

Also, I wanted to share some good news with you. Our mage Eleanor has birthed her child, a girl, and both mother and daughter came through the birthing splendidly. The babe has been taken in by the Chantry in Redcliffe, where Knight-Commander Greagoir frequently visits to look for Circle recruits. Eleanor wanted to express her gratitude to you for your assistance when she was out performing Circle-related duties. Greagoir and I share in her gratitude as well; thank you, friend. May the Maker watch over you and your men as you continue to ensure Ferelden's national security.

Sincerely,

First Enchanter Irving,

Circle of Magi in Ferelden

-0-0-0-

Elissa,

I'm glad to hear you made it safely back to Vigil's Keep, although to be fair I wasn't terribly concerned in the first place. After all, you make slaughtering thirty bandits at a time look easy. Still, it is good to know that you are safely home.

I have some good news – thanks to your friends' hard work, we believe we have identified and arrested the rest of Vaughan's conspirators. The group was small, thankfully, and we will be holding a trial on counts of treason and attempted murder for them shortly. With the evidence we have collected, I believe that we will have no problem settling the worst of the political upheaval that was left over from the civil war.

With the way that you continue to handle yourself in difficult circumstances, you have continued to impress the general populace. In particular, several members of my guard expressed an interest in joining the ranks of the Grey Wardens. I have sent my four best guards in the hopes that you feel these men would be suitable to join the order. If they are not quite Grey Warden material, perhaps your man Alec can use them as his knights. I understand that he is also recruiting good men. At any rate, feel free to place these men wherever you feel they would work best. They are at your disposal.

Lastly, I know it has only been a few weeks since I have seen you last, but I have exciting news! It seems hard to believe, but we just found out that Alfstanna is already expecting our first child. I plan to announce the news to the nobles soon, but I wanted to let you know first since we both are grateful to you for everything you have done to ensure our safety and happiness. When the child is born, both of us would be thrilled if you agreed to be its godmother.

I know that you don't get to Denerim often, but we look forward to seeing you when you think you can drag yourself away from running Amaranthine. Take care, Elissa, and may the Maker bless you.

Sincerely,

Alistair

-0-0-0-

Warden-Commander:

I wish to thank you for the warning your elven friend sent me regarding my business. As you well know, in my line of work it is important to keep my reputation impeccable and to deliver as well as I promise. Your warning regarding the imposters selling inferior product and trying to pass it off as mine helped me to deal with my competition so that I believe we will have no future issues.

I also wanted to inform you that my men encountered some stray pests in the region. We have eliminated these and so the region should now be vermin-free. Since you have performed a great service to us to ensure our continued spotless reputation, we offer this pest control in return for your service to us. We will continue to monitor the area to ensure that the pests do not return. Thank you again, Warden.

Sincerely,

Ignacio

-0-0-0-

Elissa cracked an eye open to see that light was filtering into the room through the window, as she had suspected. She groaned and closed her eyes, only to find herself dragged backward into a hard chest and a firm hand placed on her abdomen to keep her in place.

"Morning," she mumbled as she tried to ignore the press of Nathaniel's hips against her behind. She tried not to smile as she felt him nuzzle behind her ear and failed spectacularly. She heard him chuckle softly as she felt him switch from nuzzling to kissing, making her sigh in contentment.

"How are you this morning, love?" His voice was low and teasing. "You can't tell me you're tired after last night?" His hand started to caress her abdomen, then her hip, before moving upward and settling on her breast to play there. "We must have gotten an entire hour of sleep just now."

Elissa laughed quietly. "That much? We must have been tired." She smiled and examined the ring on her left hand. It was just as gorgeous in the morning light as it had been the previous evening, when he had given it to her. She rolled over to face him and put her hand on his waist as she leaned forward to kiss him, briefly silencing both of them except for the sound of approval she heard deep in his throat. She tilted her head back to watch his face as he lifted her hand, only to place a kiss on her palm and then on the finger wearing the new ring.

"Soon, I get to officially keep you." His smile, so warm and relaxed, made his entire face light up and caused her to smile right back at him. "Will I get to call you Mrs. Howe?"

This brought another laugh from Elissa. "You can if you wish, although don't I have enough titles already?" Elissa grinned as Nathaniel rolled his eyes. "That reminds me – when we were at Bann Ferrenly's party and he was listing off all those silly titles, what did Anders say that caused you to kick him under the table?"

It was Nathaniel's turn to laugh now. "Anders was muttering that Bann Ferrenly had forgotten to mention that you were the 'Champion of Redcliffe' too, and then he said something about how Irving and Greagoir forgot to give you a title." Elissa rolled her eyes, then, and Nathaniel chuckled at her reaction.

"I think I owe you a boon, good ser, for service beyond the call of duty." She smiled as Nathaniel's eyes turned calculating and his mouth formed a wicked smile. He rolled so that he had her pinned to the bed and cradled her head between his hands.

"A boon, you say? Can I collect now?" He didn't wait for an answer, preferring instead to capture her lips with his and make her forget her name, her duties, and everything else that didn't matter at the time. He claimed her, body and soul, and made everything and everyone else in the world go away, save for one solitary thought.

This is home.

FIN

-0-0-0-

A/N: I was actually kind of sad to finish this piece. I had a lot of fun writing it and you helped keep it fun with your reactions. Thank you, everyone, for reading and reviewing and lurking and generally encouraging me to keep writing! You folks totally, completely, utterly rock and without you, this would be a MUCH harder process. You guys kick some serious ass!

I have a request, if you will: On my profile here on , I have a poll. I have a few ideas for what I want to write next as a multi-chapter fic, and if you have any particular preference from the ideas I have posted there, please feel free to vote so I have some idea what you all would like to see. Alternately, for those of you who leave reviews, I'd be happy to see your thoughts there!

To recap, the basic story subjects are: a) Fergus' process of grieving over his lost family and dealing with Elissa and Nathaniel's relationship, b) Ragnar and Erna, going through their process of learning how to live outside of Dust Town and on the surface, c) a new recruit for the Wardens and having him/her adjust to this crazy group, d) one of the characters already present in this universe who I haven't dwelt on prior to this (Oghren, Anders, etc), or e) something completely not-this-universe, if you're tired about reading Choices stuff.

I will likely come back to visit with Nathaniel again in the future, just because I enjoy his character more than is probably healthy, but right now I've written a LOT of him and need to take a different perspective for a bit.

Thank you, one and all, for all of your kind words and reviews and for generally sticking out this story, which is the longest I've ever written. You make it fun for me to keep going!