I own nothing of Dragon Age. Just Amilee.

I'm sorry this chapter is so short. It's getting harder to write. My fault, since I've already finished Part Three but I have to get to that point so you guys can read it! Enjoy!

She was grounded.

At twenty-two years old, Amilee had been barred by her entire friend group from participating in any and all fighting and, on the threat of alienation. She was not allowed to leave the mansion save to accompany one of them to the markets or the Hanged man each day.

After her bloody stunt with Dupris, they were all in fear of her mental state. Before, she had been content to stay in the back of the formation, supporting the others while they did the brunt of work aka killing all but a few strays of the enemy. But with how she had treated Dupris at the end, they decided she needed a time out.

It felt ridiculous to her that they were reacting the way they were, but in light of the fact her brother had already lost his other two siblings, she could only guess that he was simply afraid of losing her too, either to the templars or to her power. In that, she could only be slightly annoyed by his concern.

The others thought she didn't know, but they blamed her new found bloodlust on her relationship with Anders. Whether he knew this or not, or even cared, she couldn't tell.

But she could admit now, she was unhappy. After three years, nothing had changed. They weren't progressing any further than what they had been when they'd begun, their 'honeymoon phase' long burnt out. And Anders had made no suggestion for them to find their own place and no offer of a ring either. With how preoccupied he'd become with whatever machinations he'd been conducting for the mages, clearly she'd been placed on the back burner. And it was bothering her.

But what could she do? At this point, she knew better than to ask for more...

All that was left was for the other shoe to drop.

"Enchantment!" Sandal cried.

"No, Leandra. Lee. An. Dra," came a familiar voice from downstairs. Amilee had come up to the landing at the top of the stairs to find Gamlen at the bottom. "Hey, sprout? Have you seen Leandra?"

"No. Not since this morning at breakfast. Why, what's wrong?"

"She didn't show up for our weekly visit. Is she ill? She is here, isn't she?"

Bodahn took that moment to chime in. "No, Gamlen. We haven't seen her all day."

"Where could she be?" Gamlen fretted.

"With her suitor, perhaps?"

"Suitor? Leandra never mentioned a suitor."

Confused, Bodahn pointed out a vase with white flowers. "Well, those lilies arrived for her this morning."

"What?" Amilee gasped, staring at the offending blossoms with fear. "Oh, no. Nonononono!"

She dashed back upstairs to throw on her cloak and ran back down again. "Where is Garrett?" she asked urgently as she inched for the door.

"What's going on?" Gamlen demanded, his brow wrinkled with worry.

"I'll let you know when I'm certain. I'm not gonna freak you out over what might turn out to be nothing Where's Garrett?"

"He'd gone to see little Merril," Bodahn informed her. "Something about that mirror you dislike so much. Eh, he did mention going to Sundermount..."

"Shit!" Amilee whispered, attempting not to show her panic. "Alright." She looked down at her dwarven friends. "You two stay here in case she returns. I'll get Aveline and confer with her to see if we can't get a message to Garrett and get the guards to keep an eye out. Gamlen?"

"I'll go back to Lowtown. She might have taken another way, I might have missed her."

Nodding, Amilee backed away."Good. I'll be back!"

With that, she fled out the door.

Getting to Aveline was no easy task. Most of the city guard didn't know her, and therefore expected her to tell them what was wrong instead of just leading her straight to the guard-captain through the barracks.

She ended up bumping into the woman by sheer accident when she backtracked to the main hall and quickly divulged the reason for her sudden appearance.

The red head, always ready to take on a case, immediately responded, "I'll have those on watch in Lowtown looking for her. In the meantime, I'll send a message to the patrols at Sundermount's base to track your brother down. You should get back home, in case she shows up there."

Adamantly, Amilee shook her head. "I can't just sit around for this. If Garrett isn't here, I have to look for her at least until he can get back. Don't worry, I'll get some of the others to help me."

"Stay out of trouble then," Aveline sighed, unwilling to argue. "And keep me updated."

"Thanks, Aveline."

Amilee then made her way to the Hanged Man, just in time for her to find Anders chatting with Varric about the recent absence of gang members at his doorstep.

"Amilee? What are you doing out and about?" the dwarf chided.

"Leandra is missing. She received a bouquet of white lilies this morning, and hasn't been seen since."

"Ohhhhh, shit!" Varric hissed, gathering up his things from the table.

"My sentiments exactly. Anders, can you help me look for her?"

"Of course, Ami. Varric?"

"Yeah, let me get Isabella and grab Bianca."

She waited anxiously as he did so, eager to find her adopted mother before something terrible happened. Little did she know, she was already too late.

Amilee stumbled back into the mansion, her face paled with a sheen of sickly sweat. Despair and horror clawed their way into her mind, searing against her denial of what she had witnessed, branding the memory of Leandra's state before she'd died in Garrett's arms not an hour before.

This world was twisted, so much darker than hers, that a man could take different parts of different women and sew them together as if he were making a living puppet, a crude and morbid vessel to alleviate his grief over the loss of his wife. Leandra had been alive, even though her head had been severed from her own body and attached to another. It was wrong, so wrong that she'd had to go through that.

It was beyond sick, beyond demented. There were no words to console her, no way to soften the blow to her family.

And Garrett... First his brother, Carver, had died as the family had fled from Lothering. Then Bethany had been taken, the templars gathering her up to be taken to the circle, barred from any contact from the outside world. And now Leandra was gone too, having passed in the worst way imaginable.

Her only thought, as she scrambled to the downstairs privy to retch and vomit, was that at least he still had her. She was all he had left beyond his friends. And Gamlen... although the man was barely an uncle at this point.

After burning the body, Garrett had pulled Amilee into a painful hug, so tight but she returned it with the same fervor, both of them helplessly overrun with greif.

As the others left Garrett with Isabella, Amilee fled to her room to hide.

Anders had followed silently, shifting her on the bed so his arms could hold her to him. He kissed her brow, whispering sweet nothings to her until finally she'd passed out from exhaustion.

Justice didn't know what to do beyond quietly stating, "At least that evil man is dead." He let her be then, fading away, knowing he had no ability to comfort her further.

She wandered the golden field listlessly.

Singing to release her emotions, her voice sounded broken and scratched from hours of crying. The wisps danced aimlessly around her, blissfully ignorant of her misery, as she finally crouched down low to hug her knees, attempting to ward off another bout of tears.

A slight hum began to rise just under her skin and she looked up to see a light golden visage hovering a few feet away from her, drawing close. A feeling of peace washed over her and she reached out instinctively to this spirit that somehow gave it to her, wrapping her arms around the ethereal being. It remained silent but changed it's shape slightly to return her embrace.

Moments passed before she sighed, her expression one of gratitude as she looked up at it's faceless form.

Her grief dissipating, she was able to think beyond her own woes and determine what she needed to do next, for herself and for those she cared for most. She couldn't hide from these things. Doing so wouldn't help her family, her friends, in this time of need.

"Beautiful spirit," she whispered, her depression eased enough that she could smile brightly. "I'll be alright now. Thank you for caring."

After a gentle caress with her hand on its arm, she pulled away from the spirit and stepped back, waving as the world went white around her.

If you know, shush! Don't spoil it! Reviews and favorites!