When I Look at You (a Dragon Age fanfiction)

Decision

They waited in the antechamber while the Landsmeet deliberated. Una and Loghain paced on opposite ends of the room. Anora stood silently, watching them all with a little smile playing around her mouth. Alistair crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, looking down at his feet. Una couldn't see his expression in that position.

Eamon stood next to Alistair, talking to him in a low voice. Una hoped he was saying encouraging things; this had been a stressful enough experience for Alistair already without Eamon adding pressure that Alistair wasn't prepared for.

The time dragged interminably, broken by the occasional raised voice from inside the Landsmeet chamber. Una and Loghain's heads both snapped up every time they could hear so much as a word, but Una, at least, could never tell what was actually being said. She tried to tell herself that the Landsmeet couldn't possibly go with Loghain—wasn't there ample evidence that Loghain and Anora, in any combination, hadn't done right by Ferelden in her time of need? But every time she had herself half convinced, she would think about Alistair's dubious parentage, Eamon's sudden claim to have proof of it, Loghain's reputation, Anora as the grieving widow of the legitimate king, and convince herself just as thoroughly that she and Alistair couldn't win.

At last, the doors opened and Bann Alfstanna came out, looking harried and exhausted. She refused to make eye contact with anyone. "You may all enter now. The Landsmeet is ready to deliver its judgment."

There were a number of looks between the candidates and their supporters, and a bit of jockeying to see who would enter first. Una finally held Alistair back, letting everyone else precede them, and they walked in last, arm in arm, in a deliberately unhurried pace.

When Loghain and Anora, Alistair and Una all stood in front of her, with Arl Eamon hovering as close as he could, Bann Alfstanna spoke. "As you might imagine, this was not an easy decision. Teyrn Loghain is a hero, responsible for driving the Orlesians from our borders, and Anora is the sitting queen, widow of Maric's only acknowledged son. On the other hand, I think there is little doubt that Alistair here carries Theirin blood—it might as well be stamped on his face. And the Couslands are one of our oldest families. Bryce Cousland came very near being named King of Ferelden when Maric went missing, after all. The two of you do intend to rule together, yes?" Alfstanna asked.

Una nodded, but didn't interrupt, and was pleased to see that Alistair nodded as well. Not that she had really thought he would go back on their agreement, but ... under the pressure of the Landsmeet, many strange things had happened before, according to the stories her parents had told her.

"So you see our dilemma."

Loghain began to speak, but checked himself at a look from Anora.

Alfstanna sighed heavily. "It would have been the Landsmeet's first choice that you all learn to work together; the collected ability and experience standing in front of me should always have been used on Ferelden's behalf, and instead you have all wasted time and energy and resources fighting against one another."

Una didn't bother to protest that Loghain had forced her back, and Alistair's, against the wall. Because Alfstanna was right; it had been a waste.

"Nevertheless," Alfstanna continued, "a decision had to be made, and the Landsmeet has chosen to place its trust in the future rather than in the past: Alistair will be crowned our king."

Anora went white to the lips, her anger all the more obvious, at least to Una, for its silence.

Loghain stepped forward, his hand going to the hilt of his sword. "No! No, you people cannot do this! Do you know what I have given to this country, what I have sacrificed, and you will now give away the land that I sweated for, the land I preserved for you, to these ... Orlesian pretenders?"

Una met him, putting her hand over his as it gripped the sword's hilt. "My family has been Fereldan since before yours ever thought of forming a bloodline," she hissed at him. "Call me Orlesian again and I'll kill you."

He yanked his hand off the sword and away from hers, glaring at her. "I will stand down," he said to Alfstanna, "if she bests me in single combat."

Alfstanna looked between the two of them. "Both of you step back immediately." She waited until they did so, then said, "There will be no blood shed; the two of you have been responsible for enough of it already. While it might have been better had you simply taken each other's lives from the start, the fact is that the die has been cast and you have come out on the bottom, Loghain. You are fortunate that you are not stripped of your Teyrnir—yet," she said, as Alistair made a noise of protest. "Should the King choose to bring charges of treason against you, that could still happen."

Loghain's lip curled at the word "king." "I recognize no such person."

"It isn't up to you." Alfstanna turned to Una. "When would you like to have the coronation?"

"As soon as—" Una caught herself. These were no longer her decisions; she was going to have to learn to defer to Alistair, to bolster his confidence. "What do you think?"

Alistair raised his eyebrows. This was real, then, was it? He was in charge; he was to be the King of Ferelden, a title that he had never once in all his life associated with himself. But it was done now, and he had no choice but to be the best king he could be. The people he had met on his travels deserved no less. He cleared his throat. "I agree with my fellow Grey Warden, as soon as possible. We'll need to muster our forces and determine the location of the darkspawn. We don't want the Blight to go on any longer than necessary."

He was startled when the Landsmeet cheered him. All but Loghain and Anora, of course, both of whom were glaring at him. Well, he hadn't created their troubles, had he? It seemed to him they had made their own beds; he hoped they liked them.

"As for the Teyrn of Gwaren and the former Queen of Ferelden, they will be imprisoned—separately, with no contact with one another—until such time as the Blight has been defeated and there is time to deal with their treason against the Crown."

"I am the Crown!" Anora protested. "I've committed no treason."

"Allowing your father to do what he did?" Una snapped. "Tell the elves that that isn't treason, see if they believe you."

Guards took Loghain and Anora away, Anora protesting and Loghain glaring sullenly. Alistair had a sudden vicious wish that he had been able to fight the older man in single combat; he would have liked to have cut his head off, painting the Landsmeet red with traitor's blood. But Alfstanna was right; this was better.

Standing next to him, Alfstanna cleared her throat, looking cautiously at Una and then at Alistair. "There is also the matter of the Teyrnir of Highever. Given what was allowed to happen to the Couslands, nothing further will be said about any allegations—"

"I should hope not," Una said hotly.

Alfstanna's face reddened, and there was a lot of uncomfortable foot-shuffling amongst the rest of the Landsmeet. "We are more than willing to confirm you as Teyrna today, my lady."

Una's mouth pinched and she pressed her lips together to keep from crying. Her mother was Teyrna. And if not her mother, then Fergus's wife. He was going to need one if—when—he came back. "I would prefer to wait, with the Landsmeet's permission. My brother's body has never been found, and while perhaps it is foolish to cling to hope ... I would rather do so until the Blight has been defeated." She half-expected to be chastised for her naivete, but the assembled Landsmeet murmured in approval. Many of them had known and liked Fergus, and it sounded as though they, too, hoped he would return alive somehow.

"Very well," Alfstanna said. "The Landsmeet is adjourned until tomorrow, when we will reconvene to crown our new king."

Cheers erupted in the chamber, relief that a decision had been made, and Alistair reached for Una's hand, clinging to it tightly. He would never have come this far without her; he would never be able to perform the tasks before him without her.