This is an idea I have been toying with for a few weeks now. A touch of guilt and romance for the Warden and Alistair. In this story, Alistair never knew she was the last Cousland, and wasn't with her when she went to rescue Anora and kill Howe. I hope you enjoy. Comments and questions are always welcome. As always I can take no credit for the pure awesomeness of Dragon Age, but THANK YOU to those of you who can.

Typo is now fixed, thank you again to jubamischin, for pointing it out to me. I've now put Alistair's name in there now so it's more clear who it was, reading back over it it was very vague.

The rooms at Arl Eamon's estate seemed much smaller than they had when they had first arrived in Denerim. The air inside was stale, making her stomach churn uncomfortably. Howe was dead now. His blood still stained her hands and her family sword. It was over now; they could all rest at last; everyone but her.

She sat by the open window, staring down at the stains on her hands. She had scrubbed and scrubbed her hands but she could still see the blood all over them; her sister's blood, her nephew's, her father's, and now Howe's. It was finished now. Why wouldn't it go away? Why wouldn't it all just go away?

"Eli?" The door slowly creaked open. She saw the blond hair out of the corner of her eye, followed by an eye and half a nose. She didn't move. She didn't have the energy. The door creaked louder as it was pushed open and again as it was shut. The figure at the door stood still, watching.

"I've never seen you use that sword before." Alistair said as he came closer. The Cousland family sword lay on the bed where she had left it after she cleaned the traitor's blood off. "Is it new?" She shook her head.

"It was my father's, and his father before him. It should have gone to my brother and then to his son." Her voice was little more than a whisper.

"What happened to them?" He sat across from her at the window. Her dark eyes were red and puffy, not the way he was used to seeing them. She looked back down at her hands, rubbed raw from too much washing.

"They died; Murdered by a traitorous bastard while they slept."

"I'm…I'm sorry."

"I can still see their faces… I still hear all the screams. My mother screamed when we found my sister and nephew, and again when we found her friend dead. So many people were dead. My Nan, men I trained with, children I had seen running the halls. We were looking for my Father when we found the sword and shield. She told me to take them. Howe could never have them. He's all over them now. All over me. I can't get him off…."

"Howe? Rendon Howe?" She nodded. "Then you're the last of the Couslands?" She nodded again.

"I'm not a Cousland anymore. Wardens have no titles. I am no one. Just a murderer."

"What? Eli, you're not a murderer." His strong, calloused hand gently held her chin, lifting her face to meet his. "You've saved so many people."

"I killed them. Howe's men. I killed them all. They were people with families and I killed them. I killed Howe and it didn't bring anyone back! They are all still dead! I'm still alone." She cried. It pained him to see her like this.

"Elissa, listen to me. You're not alone." For the first time she looked into his blue eyes. "I'm here."

Very rough run through of the things I was seeing in my head. Any comments and suggestions you could give would be greatly appreciated. I'd like to give this another write through and make it much better and maybe longer.

Thank you for reading!

A.V.A