Elissa huddled deeper under her cloak. She had brushed the snow from the rock she sat on, but it was impossible to find a comfortable position for her shivering legs. Impossible, too to sleep, or to do anything but fret.

Oh Sten – I'm so sorry.

His huge heart had been beating when she and Wynne had found him, but it had been so slow. His teeth had been stained with blood, frozen in a rictus of rage.

The others had gone hunting, leaving her with Sten and Wynne.

Now Wynne worked to save him, spells flared and sputtered beyond the canvas of the tent. "I will do my best child." Wynne had said. "But the Quanari are different than us, and harder to heal. Still, do not loose hope."

Do not loose hope, Elissa thought. Do not loose hope --- though his breath had ceased, though his violet eyes were blank, though his teeth were bloody as those of a cart-struck dog.

Removing the Darkspawn arrow had been easy enough. More easy, in fact, than dragging him home through the snow. The boiling water and the iron probes had not wakened him.

Sten the brave. …

Elissa knuckled the dirty tears from her face.

Light flared and faded again and again, and finally the tent flap opened.

"I've done what I can for tonight." Wynne looked utterly spent. "He breathes now, and I hope he will sleep easily and begin to heal.

"I need to sleep too." Wynne gave the wry smile that was peculiarly her own. "I am not as young as I once was. The others should be back by noon. Stay with him, come get me if anything changes. Keep him warm, that is the most important."

Inside the tent Sten lay on a pile of furs and blankets. Elissa crept to his side. He was breathing at least, though with a strange shallow rasp. Elissa realized she had never seen the Quanari at rest before. His eyes were closed and his huge hands rested slightly curled. Wynne had cut the clothing and

armor from him. Elissa could see the odd gray gold of his arms and chest.

She pulled another fur over him, and one for herself, and settled down to watch..

When the sound came, Elissa could not tell how much time had passed. She only knew, to her shame that at some point, her thoughts had become meaningless wandering daydreams.

Maker, have I been asleep?

His eyes were open.

"Kadan," His voice was a rasp. "So cold..." He coughed, and it was a jagged sound that hurt to hear. Elissa put out her hand to steady him, to support his chest, and she gasped at the fever of his skin. Her arms slid around him, and he cringed into her heat.

"You have saved me Kadan, once at Lothering, gave me back Asala, my life. Maybe fail now " She could feel him drifting. "But stay, I'm so cold."

"I'm here, right here Sten."

So morning found her; she stroked back his braids, loose of their restraining thong, she touched his fevered face and hands, and nuzzled his extraordinary eyes. He sighed under her touch, and allowed her to find the soft parts of him, over the hard underneath.

"Sten, we need you. Please don't leave us – me."

"Yours to command, Kadan."

Wynne, unseen at the tent flap, set down a pot of willow-bark tea, and walked back to her own cold bed, smiling.