Author's note - despite the popular misconception that Templars are celibate, the Dragon Age wiki states

"Templars are discouraged from marrying or raising children since it is impractical to live apart from ones' dependents. However, such unions are occasionally permitted, provided that the templar's spouse has his or her own means of support, for example, owning land or a title. A templar marrying another templar or a mage within the same Circle would be considered fraternization within the ranks and would seldom receive permission. "

Certainly it's clear in DA2 that Ser Wesley and Aveline were married. So I have tweaked this a little for my own use here. Also the wiki states about mages that

"Mages, because of their outsider status, are not bound to traditional social mores and consequently enjoy greater sexual freedom than most. They are discouraged from marrying and reproducing, as the offspring of mages are very likely to possess magical ability themselves. Dialogue between Wynne and Alistair hints at some form of birth control or abortion being readily available to mages, perhaps to discourage the propagation of magically gifted children."

So mages can marry, though it's clear that the Chantry doesn't often give permission.

Also a nod is given here to a very long and thoughtful Surana/Greagoir piece on the kink meme entitled Templar's Protection - a fascinating "what-if" that started a few ideas running. To the anonymous writer who composed it, thank you for that bit of inspiration.

And anyone wondering about this house in the hills, it's the one featured in the one-shot Gifts. They did get it in the end :)

Epilogue - House In The Hills - early summer.

The little house would hardly be recognisible now as its former winter incarnation. Many hands had carted stone, sawed logs, built fences and paths, limewashed walls. When Loghain had made the request of Anora that an attempt should be made to trace the original owner of the land, the Queen of Ferelden had dealt with the problem in characteristic direct fashion. The land had been surveyed and valued by an independent representative of the Merchants Guild, Anora had lodged that sum in a bank deposit and then officially transferred the land to her father's name. "In the highly unlikely event that any representative of the Salaric family ever comes forward to make a claim," she told Loghain, "they can have three choices. They can accept the full market value of the land in gold, or they can accept an equal acreage of land of the same quality elsewhere, or they can enforce their claim on that farmhold. If they do the last, we will make absolutely clear to them that if they succeed, the Crown will immediately put in a claim for thirty years of unpaid land taxes dating back to the end of the Orlesian occupation. Since that probably now comes to most of the value of the land, I suspect under the circumstances they will choose to be reasonable."

The farmhold had yet to be given a name. No name for it could be found on the Denerim records. Various suggestions had been put forward (the suggestions from Oghren had simply been dismissed out of hand and the ones from Zevran were dismissed after the reluctant elf was forced to translate them into the Kings Tongue). So they had just spoken of the place as the "house in the hills" and somehow the name had stuck.

The house itself now had solid walls, and a shingled roof to replace the old reed thatching long gone. Broken stone had been hauled from the ruins of Denerim once the track in the hills was dry enough to cope with the wagons, and a smaller cottage had been constructed adjacent to the house. Loghain had questioned the need for it. Anora had pointed out that given he and Muirnara were never likely to have the luxury of long time to spend there, a farm manager and his family would be necessary. He hadn't bothered to suggest the manager and family could just live in the main house. Anora clearly had taken over this project and since Muirnara had voiced no complaints, Loghain was willing to humour his daughter. He had however insisted on selecting his own farm manager and had given the job to Wirsion, the former Night Elf who had commanded the archers in the Alienage during the Battle of Denerim. Loghain had remembered that the man had been a farmhand many years ago and so understood the principles of caring for a smallholding. Wirsion had seemed amazed to be remembered and even more amazed to be offered the post but had gratefully accepted. Both the gratitude and the surprise had been another knife in Loghain's heart, and he accepted both as blows that he had earned. But the elf had cheerfully moved his family within the week (wife, widowed daughter and younger son) to the farmhold and had camped out in the barn without complaint while the rebuilding was going on. Wirsion's older son had remained in Denerim, he was one of the earliest recruits with the new mixed guard unit and from the reports Loghain occasionally heard from the boy's proud father he had Wirsion's talent for archery and was acquitting himself well.

In addition to the rebuilding of house and byre, a lot of scrubland which had been infested with brambles, nettles and seedling trees had been roughly cleared and fenced; a sow and her litter of piglets had been turned out on it to clear the roots. They would be taken off it again in late autumn and the piglets sent for sale or slaughtered at home, but by then the work would be done and the land cleared and fertilised well enough to take a plow ready for spring planting. A further five acres of rough grazing had been fenced off for a horse paddock, which would be shared with a small flock of milk goats, the land here at present was too poor for cattle and cows were both very hard to come by and greatly overpriced in the wake of the Blight. And the small orchard near the house which amazingly still had a few living fruit trees had been scythed and the dead trees removed to make space for young saplings. Fergus had sent plum trees from Highever and they had carefully been planted - nobody was certain how well they would do in the heavier clay soils of the Denerim hills but the abundance of sloe plum and bullace in the surrounding woodland suggested they should have a decent chance with care.

And now there was a picnic taking place under the aged apple trees. Wynne, Leliana and Zevran sat or lay on blankets spread under the trees; Darrian, now a year old and a very active small boy was seated in the middle. He had ridden up to the farm that morning seated in front of Loghain on a folded blanket laid over the pommel of the bay stallion's saddle and with a belt securing him to his father's waist - from the first he had shown no fear of horses and had also shown a distinct preference for his father's company, any suggestion that he should ride with his nursemaid was met with protests and it was easier not to have the tantrum in the first place. He was at present relatively tired and subdued and had been bribed into good behaviour with the loan of Leliana's lute laid on the floor beside, which he was cheerfully plucking discords on with both hands. The half grown Nut lay beside him, one ear twitching each time a string twanged. Hazel was pretending to be asleep and not hearing any of it.

Zevran lazily leaned over to refill Wynne's wine cup. "So, my dearest Wynne, you still intend to take this trip to Tevinter? I cannot convince you that Antiva is a far better choice for a holiday?"

Wynne accepted the cup and shook her head. "I only talked about Tevinter because I was planning to take Shale there. But Shale refused anyway - she said even if there was a chance that some Tevinter mage could turn her back into a dwarf again she had no wish to revert to being small and squishy. Before Sten left for Seheron he offered her a place with the Qunari and she considered it, and then of course the offer came in from King Bhelen to join the Legion of the Dead in driving back spawn in the Deep Roads when the main assault starts this autumn. She decided that since there was no way she could kill every pigeon in Ferelden, killing Darkspawn was a worthy alternative career. So now she is gone, I will return to the Circle at least for a couple of months while Leliana is away, but we plan to meet in the autumn when the College of Magi meet in Cumberland - I will be going with my old friend Inez to that meeting and Leliana will join me there when she and Brother Genitivi have finished the first surveys at the Sanctum of the Ashes."

"Oh, is that what they are calling that temple now?"

Leliana laughed. "Well, it has a better ring to it than "that freezing temple above the village full of lunatics" which is what we used to call it."

"True. So, Leliana, you are returning to the Chantry?"

"Not exactly. I agreed to join the expedition because we know that we did not clear out all the tunnels there - before they start allowing pilgrimages there it would make sense to be sure that there are no baby dragons lurking there to eat the pilgrims? The Crown is allowing a detachment of the royal guard to assist with the clearing of the temple, and the Circle is sending some mages and templars too."

"Oh, are these to be the first of these new "bondings?"

"I think so." Leliana passed her empty wine cup to the elf. "There have only been eighteen pairs approved so far by the Chantry and the Circle. But there may be more under discussion that we do not know about."

Wynne looked slightly disapproving. "I cannot say that I think this is a good idea. But Her Majesty agreed it with both the First Enchanter and the Knight Commander, and somehow all three of them got it past the Grand Cleric, so time will now tell."

Leliana looked surprised. "I thought you would be approving? It is a chance after all for more freedom for the mages, even if it is carefully controlled freedom?"

Wynne sighed. "I don't know why I distrust the idea. In principle it seems reasonable enough - that a mage should be able to choose a templar that they trust enough to offer a public vow of obedience to, that the templar should have the right to accept or refuse but if they accept it they then take legal responsibility for the actions of that mage and vow to be the protector of that mage, and that the pair should then be able to work outside the Circle assigned to a Chantry somewhere. I can see how many safeguards were worked into it - that the mage has to be the one to choose both to go out from the Circle, and which templar they will go with; that the Templar has to have been in the Order for over ten years, the Mage has to be a full year past their Harrowing and preferably more...oh, a lot of thought went into this. I can see that. But you will not stop the public distrust of mages overnight just by letting them out with a "guardian" - the Circle exists to protect mages, not just control them."

Zevran handed Leliana her filled wine cup. "But Wynne, my dear, how can this ever change unless people see that mages do not have to be feared? At present there is more acceptance of mages in this land than there has ever been - people saw them fight with the armies that drove back the blight, saw them working as healers in the hospitals. I have heard complaints from some people who should know better that the vow of obedience is demeaning and makes the mage little more than the slave of their chosen templar." He snorted. "Fools. A wife vows obedience to her husband, a vassal vows obedience to his liege lord. This is a relationship that people can see and understand, and put into the context of what they already know. And it shows them something more important still, that a mage can give their word and keep it and that word can be trusted."

Leliana nodded. "I can imagine that a number of those bondings may yet end up as marriages in themselves. Templars are not vowed to chastity, and mages are not forbidden to marry, though the permission for such a marriage is given or withheld by the Chantry. As long as care is taken that there should be no children of the union, I see no reason why such a marriage should not be a blessed and desired culmination of such a partnership."

"Ever the romantic, my dear Leliana."

"No, she is right." Wynne had been nodding to the conversation. "I am an old woman, and change is something I deal with badly. But when my own pupil Petra took one of the first bondings...well, I know her to be a clever and level headed young woman. She would not have made such a decision lightly. And there seems to be a genuine strong affection between her and Ser Liam, he was her partner throughout the assault on Denerim. They both plan to go back with Revered Mother Lissala to West Hill, there is a need there for mages with knowledge of herbalism and healing and she also showed great skill with growing things when she studied with Inez." She smiled at Leliana. "It may yet be that you are right about a marriage there given time."

Zevran chuckled. "Do we know anyone else who has taken a bonding? How about that young mage Neria...are she and Ser Cullen also planning to continue with their partnership that began in the army?"

"No. She has indeed taken a bonding but it was not to Ser Cullen. When the Dalish refused the offer of a homeland..."

Leliana looked astonished. "They did what?"

"Well, the problem should have been foreseen. They said that with a fixed home the Chantry would never agree not to come among them, and they reserved the right as they always have to escort any templar who appears among them out of their camps at the wrong end of an ironbark bow..."

Zevran was now laughing openly. "Did the Chantry have collective apoplexy when the Dalish reply arrived?"

"I think Queen Anora found some way of smoothing things down. Anyway, they said they would accept one templar among them as a gesture of goodwill if a Dalish keeper took responsibility for his good behaviour..."

Zevran was now laughing so hard he had to put his winecup down and Darrian looked up wide eyed from his musical efforts to see what was happening. "I cannot imagine any way that Queen Anora can have possibly smoothed that offer over..."

Wynne smiled. "You underestimate our good Queen. She offered them the blind templar Ser Otto and persuaded him to accept Neria Surana as his bonding - her father was Dalish, her mother from the Denerim Alienage and she has known Ser Otto since she was a child. The Queen presented the whole thing to the Chantry as a breakthrough - the first time the Dalish had willingly accepted a Templar among them. While the Chantry were still purring about that, she sent the offer of Ser Otto and Neria Surana to the Dalish and pointed out they surely could not see a blind man as a threat, a templar who needed his mage as much as a guide for his feet as a guard for his conduct. It surprised them and made them look like they were the ones in the wrong. Dalish don't like feeling silly any more than anyone else. So Neria and Otto have gone to the Mahariel clan, and the first reports back from them have been extremely promising - the Dalish seem to like Ser Otto and they have welcomed Neria back as a lost daughter."

Leliana was shaking her head. "Your Queen Anora must have been an Orlesian noblewoman in another life. I have never known a woman who played the Great Game with such consummate skill."

"Better not let Loghain hear you say that," Zevran teased.

"Where is Loghain anyway?" Wynne was peering back towards the house.

"He's torturing Muirnara in the back paddock."

"Again? Wasn't the session this morning enough?"

"Apparently not."

Wynne shook her head. "Those two...well, anyway. So that's Petra and Ser Liam, Neria and Ser Otto - the only other one I know of is Sabhya Amell who attended Muirnara after the death of the Archdemon. He has taken a bonding with Ser Bryant from Lothering - the man was badly injured during the evacuation of that village and has only recently been well enough to assume light duties. Fergus Cousland requested that Sabhya go to Highever as castle healer and Bryant has kin in Highever so that worked well all round."

Zevran had a sly smile on his face. "And that way the Knight Commander didn't have to worry about Sabhya bringing his Mabari back to the Circle Tower."

"Well, yes, that might have been a consideration there."

Leliana smiled. "So when do you go to Amaranthine? Kristoff and Oghren have been there at least a month now, have they not?"

"Muirnara says the Wardens and recruits will all leave at the end of this sevenday. Once we go back to Denerim tomorrow we will close up the Warden compound there and the servants will follow us to Vigil's Keep a week after we leave. Mistress Malia apparently wanted a week to clean the place from top to bottom before she left."

Leliana laughed openly at Zevran. "Why does that not surprise me?"

"Of course," Zevran added, "this is entirely dependent on whether our lovely Warden Commander is fit to ride a horse by the end of the week after Loghain finishes with her."

"You're a sadist, Loghain Mac Tir."

"Cursing me will get you nowhere, madam. If you actually listened to me instead..."

The roan mare Rose was trotting obediently around Loghain on the end of a long rope with Muirnara on her back. Muirnara had her stirrups crossed on the mare's neck in front of her and was grimly clinging to the saddle with one hand.

"If I have to do much more of this today I won't be able to walk, let alone ride."

"All you have to do is stop gripping with your knees, Muirnara. Let your legs hang down, let your back do the work. Stop fighting her. Move with her. Two good circles and we'll stop."

"You said that ten minutes ago."

"We still haven't had two good circles."

"And I maintain you are a sadist." Muirnara with a close to superhuman effort forced her knees down and away from the saddle.

"Better, madam. Much, much better." He eased the mare back down to a walk and gathered the long rein up in his hand. "That'll do. Slip down and I'll unsaddle her."

The slipping down was more of an undignified scramble, but she managed it without mishap and sat down on the grass, leaning back against the fence with a martyred sigh. Loghain slipped the saddle and bridle off and turned the mare loose, she wandered off towards the far end of the paddock. He sat down beside his wife. "A quarter hour of that every morning and we'd soon have you secure in the saddle again."

"A quarter hour of that every morning and I can tell you, Loghain, you'll be sleeping in a different bed."

He laughed. "Temper, temper. Maybe we'll settle for every other day instead. For now."

Muirnara gave a half smile. "Anyway, there's something I need to talk to you about. Avernus sent a letter to me, the courier arrived late last night. You need to read this too."

Loghain raised an eyebrow. "This doesn't sound like good news."

"Well - yes and no. You read it. You'll see."

She passed him a folded sheet of vellum, he gave her a searching look and then unfolded it. He read the words aloud.

My dear Warden Commander

I trust that this missive finds you well. The Keep remains peaceful and the Drydens continue to be quiet and thoughtful neighbours but some things they have told me on returning from trading trips have left me profoundly uneasy.

As you are well aware a Blight is followed by a period of Thaw when there will still be increased random encounters of Darkspawn on the surface. But on their most recent journey Levi Dryden met with a young Dwarf who was attached to one of the Legion units and had been sent by his Commander to bring word to the Wardens of atypical behaviour of Darkspawn in the Deep Roads. The Darkspawn are indeed returning to the Deep Roads but they are not displaying the random behaviour one would expect of the Spawn when the Archdemon's influence has gone. The withdrawal into the Deeps is almost described as orderly, and there is a general movement in one direction - to the east.

Loghain paused to curse the old mage's writing. "This vellum looks like a spider crawled into and out of an inkwell and then walked over the paper." He went on reading.

I am unable to give you any certainty as to the meaning of this. The dreams of the Archdemon no longer come to me, this is no Blight starting again. But Darkspawn do not think, do not act rationally, do not act as a unit, and yet somehow they are doing so. I showed you the Prophecy of the Architect when you came to Soldier's Peak, and you told me of your encounter with a rational Darkspawn, and I cannot help thinking the two are linked. If any further news comes to me, or I find any further references I will send them to you, my research takes less of my time than it did and I have more time for reading."

Loghain paused again. "The Architect. You said over and over that you thought you had dreamed of him in the ten days you were unconscious, did you ever remember any of that dream?"

"No." Muirnara shook her head. "I've tried and tried, and it just slips away from me every time. Go on reading. The kick in the guts is in the last paragraph."

He looked at her for a moment and went back to the letter.

Which brings me to the other news I have. The flask that I enclose with this letter is the result of the research I have done. Because of the strictures you have laid upon me, there will be no more of this potion and what there is here is a dose for one person. But I have tested and tested again, and while this does not do what I had hoped which was to block the Calling completely, it has the odd effect of walling the greater part of the Taint into certain organs of the body and no others. I cannot be certain how exactly it does this, but there are two possible results to this. On a Warden who has Joined in his later years, as your husband has, it has always been known that the Calling may come much faster than the twenty five to thirty years that we normally are granted. By this localising of the Taint in the body an older Warden may indeed get the span that we are allotted, with the risk at the end of a much quickened Calling once the Taint gets too great for the body to bear. I believed initially that the potion would have no effect at all on a younger Warden, and then I realised that for a woman it potentially blocks the Taint from her womb. It would not give you extra years of life, Warden Commander, but it might permit you to bear a living child.

Whatever you decide, my good wishes, such as they are, are with you both.

Yours in service

Avernus

They stared at each other in silence. Muirnara took the small metal flask out of its leather pouch and laid it on the ground between them.

Loghain picked it up and weighed it in his hand. "I wonder how many lives ended for the sake of this tiny bottle. Because those lives are the only thing that is stopping me destroying this right now."

"Probably the reason he put it in a metal bottle. If it had been in glass, the urge to smash it would have been to great for me to withstand."

"I hear you."

They were both silent for a minute. Muirnara broke the silence. "I want you to drink it."

He looked at her and opened his mouth to speak, she shook her head. "There was no choice to make. I have a husband. I have a son. I will not sacrifice what I have for the sake of the ghost of a child that may never be. I want you at my side for all the years we are given, there is too much coming still for me to deal with alone again - the Architect, Flemeth, Morrigan, none of those stories have ended. You told me once all your worst mistakes were made when you thought that the weight of a nation was on your shoulders and your shoulders alone. Whatever comes now, we will deal with it. Together."

He still seemed hesitant, she unstoppered the phial and passed it to him. "For the sake of a nation that needs you still; for the sake of a son who will have his father beside him as he grows to manhood; for my sake, that we may have the years together that a Warden is given."

His eyes met hers and he formally saluted her with the bottle and drained it. "And there I was thinking that Darkspawn blood was the last poison I would have to swallow." He spat, trying to clear the taste from his mouth. "Do you think the others have finished all the wine?"

She managed a smile and took the letter and the bottle from him. "If they have, then I am sure Wirsion has something hidden away that we can beg off him."

Loghain walked away towards the house, and Muirnara moved to follow him, then stopped. At the edge of the woods, beyond the paddock, a gravid wolf bitch was sitting under a tree, as quietly as a pet dog. Her amber eyes met Muirnara's for one moment. A clear message passed between woman and wolf in that gaze.

I made you a promise. I do not know if I can keep it.

And an answer had passed between wolf and woman

You will do what you must, as you always have.

And then the wolf was gone, and only the shadows dappled the land where she had been.

The Hourglass was first turned on the 11th of March 2011 and the last grains of sand fell on the 23rd of November 2011. It has been a strange journey and a story that frequently led me to places I did not expect it to go! So many of you came on the journey with me - readers, reviewers, betas, I can't possibly name you all and I thank you for being my companions on the road! But the story isn't over (stories never are!) and the tale continues in the upcoming sequel Hour of Prophecy which I hope to have a prologue published for within the next week or so.

Special thanks, hugs and love go to the Evil Siblings - Gene Dark who wrote the first review and gave me the courage to tell the story, Shakespira and Enaid Aderyn who so often pushed the story in a new direction when the muse was having a bad day - and Josie Lange who was there from the first chapter to the last word. You guys mean more to me than you will ever know. This is your tale as much as it is mine.

"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." - T S Eliot