Legend (Dragon Age Origins)

Chapter 33: Faith

"Are you okay?" Zevran asked.

He was watching her intently, concern creasing his thick brows. Dru nodded, feeling suddenly very exposed. She had never been one to express such emotions in front of others. Anger and desire came naturally, but sadness and vulnerability did not.

Leliana seemed to sense this and was quick to change the subject. "Where's Alistair?"

Dru cast around. With the fog gone, they found themselves standing aimlessly in the great stone chamber. Multiple metal grates were built into the ground throughout the room, though it was too dark to sight whatever lay beneath. The back of the chamber opened into a large archway, and Dru spotted Alistair standing beneath it, speaking quietly with a tall dark-skinned man.

Duncan. It felt like a punch to the gut to see him again, looking for corporeal and alive.

"Maybe we should leave them be," Leliana suggested. She let out a loud sigh, Dru was already heading over before she was finished speaking. Zevran gave her a shrug before following.

"How could you tell me that?" Alistair's voice cracked as he tried to hold back tears. "I knew you were keeping me away from the fighting because of it. That's why you sent Dru and I to light that beacon. Was that all I ever was to you? Just a backup to keep around for His Highness?"

Duncan shook his head. "You know that isn't true, Alistair. You are speaking now out of grief and fear. That is why you were so quick to defer your leadership over to a woman who was your junior. It is time that you finally step up and become the leader you were born to be."

"I don't know if I'm capable. I've never been a leader before, that was always you. I'm not built for it, I don't know how to do it. I'm not King Maric."

Duncan's thick brows twisted upwards. It wasn't often such a soft expression crossed his weathered, battle-scarred face. "You don't need to be Maric. You only need to be King Alistair."

As Duncan's body dispersed into the chilly air, Alistair buried his face in his hands. Dru watched him with a stunned expression. There were only two thoughts running through her mind. One that insisted she leave him alone with his grief, and the other to confront him over what she'd heard. As usual, the more forceful desire won.

"What did he mean by King Alistair?"

Startled, Alistair turned around, quickly wiping away his tears. He took his time to reply as he looked over the trio. Dru raised her eyebrows and leaned forward, shaking her head with impatience.

"Remember when I told you that Arl Eamon raised me?" Alistair sucked in a deep breath. "The reason he did that was because... well..." He wrung his hands as he slowly spoke. "Because my father was King Maric. Which made Cailan... my half-brother, I suppose."

"Wait, what?" Leliana blurted. She had come over to join them and was staring at Alistair with bewilderment. "Why did you not mention this before?" Her shock had caused her accent to become considerably thicker.

"How? When would I say that?" Alistair put on a slight voice, "Ooh, by the way, King Maric had sex with a servant and she produced a bastard son―that's me!" He sighed. "I would have told you but it never really meant anything to me. I was inconvenient, a possible threat to Cailan's rule and so they kept me secret. Everyone who did know either resented me because of it or coddled me. Even Duncan treated me like I was too fragile to join in with any of the fighting."

He looked over at Dru, who had pressed her lips into a thin line in an effort to keep her thoughts from spilling out. She knew that if she spoke now, then she would say some things that she could not take back.