Morning

Warden Commander Juliette Cousland looked down upon the Keeps courtyard, watching the servants and merchants begin their day.

It was easier for Juliette to forget, in the early morning before the responsibilities of the day began, mindlessly watching the beginning bustle below. A year or so ago, her view would have been of her father's castle, the routine that of the Cousland family and their people.

Now, her view was of the clusters of warriors and mages that seemed to always fill her halls. Not that she minded the warriors or mages, no indeed; they had been woven into her very fiber during these months and months of struggle. But the heartache of the loss of her family, not to mention the loss of the man who had helped her through the worst of it, could sometimes not be dulled with their boast and swagger.

As the sun reached the peak of the mountain behind the keep, the light broke across the granite walls, highlighting the abuse they had endured during the siege.

It had been two months since The Mother had died. The Architect had not been heard from since, and things at Vigil's Keep were beginning to return to normal. Amaranthine was recovering as well, having been saved by the Commander and her Warden's. The last of the darkspawn seemed routed, not just in Amaranthine, but in Ferelden as well.

Juliette scanned the horizon. Fall was arriving with each new day, and the time to prepare for the hostile winters the land was known for, had come. Travel would soon become difficult in the area, and so she and Seneschal Veral had begun planning in earnest for the season. It was a dull business, but a welcome respite after the endless warring of the last year.

She looked down in the courtyard a last time, having resigned herself to start her day, when she noticed Nathaniel Howe watching her from below. Anders was approaching him from behind, and she waved good morning to them before turning to reenter her rooms.

"Morning, Nathaniel," Anders said, startling him. "Looks like the commander had on quite the lovely little outfit this morning, what do you think?" he asked, referring to Juliette's nightgown.

"I hadn't noticed." Nathaniel began walking toward the main hall, Anders staying on his heels.

"Though I do think that she should choose a better color," Anders continued. "Blue doesn't flatter her at all."

"It was cream, not blue," answered Nathaniel, realizing instantly he was caught.

"Thought you hadn't noticed?" Anders replied, laughing with delight.

"Shut up, mage," Nathaniel grumbled, and abruptly changed his direction from the hall toward the armory, leaving Anders to his glee.

Juliette entered the main hall about a half hour later and said her good mornings. She saw Anders talking to the newest kitchen girl and smiled to herself. Truly, the man could give Zevran a run for his money.

"Commander, good morning," said Varel, arriving at her side."You slept well, I trust?"

"Hello Varel, how are you this fine morning?" she replied as she reached the sideboard and began to fill a plate with sausages and breads.

"We have received our correspondence for the week," her seneschal said. "It included a letter from the king, addressed to you."

Her hand stilled over the plate she was loading, "Addressed to the Warden Commander, you mean."

"No ma'am I do not. It is addressed to Lady Juliette Cousland," Varel replied. "It has the kings private seal, not his secretary's," Varel finished.

"Oh? Huh," Juliette said, baffled by this information. Shaking her head, she asked, "Is there anything else?"

"The reports of the scouting parties as well as the newer trade manifests for Mistress Woolsley," he stated. "Nothing more, it was a rather small delivery."

Juliette reached the end of the sideboard and looked around for a place to sit. She saw Nathaniel just sitting down to eat, "Thank you Varel. If you will leave the letter on my desk I will get to it this morning. Please review the reports for anything." she ordered, and nodded as he bowed and departed for her office. Juliette located Nathaniel again and went to sit with him.

"Commander," Nathaniel said, looking up at her as she arrived. "How are you this morning?"

"Confused actually," Juliette answered, swinging her legs over the bench. "But I'll get over that. How are you?" she said, settling next to him and picking up a fork.

She smelled like lavender and other feminine things. Nathaniel tried hard not to notice, "Why are you confused?" he asked.

"Oh, you know," and she waved her hand nonchalantly, "things."

Nathaniel smiled at her. "Not really. What things?"

"Strange letter for me, that's all, it's nothing, really," she answered, clearly not wanting to discuss it. "I've been cooped up with Varel for almost a week, anything interesting going on?"

He filled her in on the various comings and goings, Oghren's latest drunken stupor and other small events.

"He actually SANG?' Juliette asked incredulously. "I don't think I've heard him sing before; though I have heard a few ditties," she laughed at the memory.

Nathaniel smiled at her and then excused himself from the table. "Forgive me Commander, but I'm meeting Delilah this afternoon," and he pulled his long legs from under the table.

"Nathaniel, you've known me my whole life, you could just call me Juliette," she teased.

"You're not just Juliette any longer, though, are you?" he said, though he seemed to consider her comment. "Perhaps when we are speaking in private, I will think about it. Good day, Commander."

"Please send her my regards," she requested. "I'm hoping to visit with her soon, myself."

Nathaniel bowed slightly and departed.

Juliette watched him depart, his tall and muscular form moving with grace. His father had been Arl Rendon Howe. Rendon Howe had been the nobleman who had ruled this land and lived in this keep. Lost to the crown, after Arl Howe was proven a traitor, the arling had been given to the Gray Warden's as their new headquarters in Ferelden. Nathaniel had grown up here, and there were times she wondered how this must make him feel, though she had never been brave enough to ask him.

Howe had been a friend of her father, Bryce Cousland, and he and his children frequent guests at her family home, Highever Castle, the seat of her father's teyrn. She had grown up playing with Nathaniel, Thomas and their sister Delilah, running the ramparts of both homes. Juliette could remember almost every visit; she had anticipated their company so greatly.

Thomas, and Juliette's older brother, Fergus, were of the same age while Nathaniel, as the younger boy, had followed them everywhere, desperate to be included. Delilah and Juliette had always stuck together, but it didn't mean they weren't right behind the boys.

If the boys pretended to be knights, or some other heroes, then the girls were recruited as damsels in distress; most of the time though, the simply played. For the children of two important men, whose education, marriages, and paths had already been chosen, it was wonderful.

But Arl Howe had not been the friend he had seemed.

When King Cailan had sent out the call for aid against The Blight, both Howe and her father had rallied to respond. Once her father's men had marched ahead with her older brother Howe revealed his treachery. Howe used the castles lack of soldiers to his advantage, and succeeded in killing her parents, nephew, and Fergus's wife in one horrific strike. All lay butchered, and with a promise to seek vengeance and justice for her family to her dying father, Juliette had fled with the Gray Warden Commander, Duncan, committing her life to the service of the ancient order.

She had been newly nineteen, naïve, and devastated.

Juliette had kept her promise to her father, and killed Howe with her own blade. She did not regret this, but she greatly missed the ease and friendship that had always been between her and Nathaniel, lost with so many other things since that treacherous night.

Frowning, she remembered their reunion after she had arrived at Vigil's Keep.