they make it to Ostagar

Finally, after Duncan stated that they needed to be in Ostagar as quick as possible and thankfully after a night of rest; albeit a rather unsettling rest as the images of what Howe had done to his family's castle and especially the residents of Castle Cousland, the thought of what Howe's men had done to Oren and Oriana still sickened him, he needed to inform Fergus of his failure of a promise. The night of rest, unsettling as it may be still did the young man some good as a restless sleep was better than no sleep at all which while being unable to get the regular amount of sleep as he normally did allowed him and Dane to keep up at Duncan brisk speed to which they headed towards Ostagar.

The only place outside of Castle Cousland he had ever been was Denerim and even then he accompanied his father by way of horses, but he was to become a Grey Warden and as a result Aedan knew that he would be unable to rely entirely on horses to get him to where he needed to go.

As the Grey Warden and Grey Warden recruit approached Ostagar they were greeted with a young man in finely forged and very expensive looking golden armour, the man if Aedan were to guess was roughly around judging by the looks just slightly older than Aedan himself was though not by much.

"Ho there, Duncan"

"King Cailan?" Duncan said, surprised before briefly bowing respectfully "I wasn't expecting a...." the Grey Warden trailed off, clearly both he and Aedan hadn't expected to be visited by the King of Fereldan the exact moment they had arrived at Ostagar.

"A royal welcome?" Cailan joked "I was beginning to think you'd miss all the fun"

"Yes, well after what myself and Aedan here went through, fun isn't exactly the first thing on my mind" Duncan said, morosely.

"No need to worry, we've won plenty of battle's before this, and tonights shall be no different. There have been no sightings of an archdemon yet" Cailain smiled. "I guess those hopes I have of a fabled prince standing against a tainted god won't come to pass"

"I didn't realise things were going so well" Aedan spoke "maybe it isn't a Blight after all"

"Ah, Aedan Cousland" Cailain exclaimed as he noticed the young man a few year's younger than himself "tell me, how are your parent's? it feels like an age since I last saw them at the Landsmeet"

"My parent's are dead!" Aedan snapped before he regained his composure and bowed respectfully as Duncan did "your majesty" the young noble said, apologetically, he just snapped at the King, his King. He needed to act professionally, he knew that his mother and father would've berated him for his brief outburst.

"Dead?" Cailain said, shocked "when? how?"

"Arl Howe has shown himself a traitor, your majesty" Duncan informed "he has overtaken Castle Cousland and his men have been murdering anyone they could get their hand's on. Had we not escaped then he would've killed us and told you any story he wished"

"I...can scarcely believe it" Calian frowned "how could he think he could get away with such treachery"

"It was my fault" Aedan growled "I should've seen his betrayal coming sooner, and prepared for it. Howe was always far too ambitious for his own good. I never liked him in the slightest"

"It's not your fault" King Cailan stated "you survived, and after we beat the darkspawn here I will turn my army north and see that Arl Howe faces justice"

"And what would that be?" Aedan asked.

"He will hang" Cailan said staunchly "I know it will not bring your parent's back but a man as traitorous as Arl Howe does not deserve to live"

"As long as I'm the one who pulls the lever" Aedan said thankfully "then that will suffice" he paused "even if I did have a more gruesome death in mind for him" Aedan quickly added "where is my brother? where is Fergus? I need to tell him of what happened!"

"I'm sorry, but he and his men are scouting in the wild's" Cailain informed "you likely won't be able to see him until the battle is over"

Aedan sighed "that's not exactly what I wanted to hear in all honesty, your majesty"

"The best suggestion I have is that you vent your grief against the darkspawn for now" Cailain suggested. "but I'm sorry to cut this meeting short but I must be off to my tent" Cailain rolled his eye's "Loghain waits eagerly to bore me with his strategies" Cailain turned back the way he came from "farewell, Grey Wardens"

"What the king said is true" Duncan said "they've won several battles against the darkspawn here"

"He didn't exactly seem to take the darkspawn too seriously" Aedan noticed.

"True" Duncan said, clearly annoyed at the young king's youthful overconfidence "King Cailan is an eager young man but it seems he's taking the Blight to be more of a fairy tale he wants to live in than an actual threat and despite the victories so far the darkspawn horde grows larger with each passing day. By now, they look to outnumber us" Duncan sighed "I know there is an archdemon behind this, but I cannot ask the king to act accordingly solely on my feeling"

"Why?" Aedan asked, confused "you're a Grey Warden and he seems to regard you rather highly"

"Yet not enough to wait for reinforcements from the Grey Wardens from Orlais" Duncan sighed "he believes our legend alone makes him invulnerable"

"He's right to not to wait for those reinforcements" Aedan said staunchly "the last time Orlesian's entered Fereldan they tried to conquer us! and failed miserably" he added with a laugh.

Duncan couldn't help but groan "I know our two nation's have little love for each other but the fact is that our numbers in Fereldan are too few. We do not have enough Grey Wardens here in Fereldan for a chance at a victory. We must do what we can and look to Teyrn Loghain for support to make up the difference"

"Hmm, that's not bad" Aedan nodded "Loghain is a fine hero. We don't need the Orlesian's if we have one of the men who kicked those cheese-eating coward's running back to their mother's skirt's with their tail's between their leg's"

"To that end we must proceed with the Joining ritual without delay" Duncan replied.

"Joining ritual?" Aedan asked, perplexed.

"It's a secret ritual that all recruits must go through" Duncan informed "the ritual is brief but preparation will be required"

"Fair enough" Aedan shrugged "anything else I should do?"

"There are two other recruits who have been here waiting for our arrival; Daveth and Ser Jory" Duncan suggested "you don't have to find them as you'll meet them soon enough when the Joining is underway. Feel free to explore the camp as you wish, all I ask is you do not leave until I give the word to" Aedan scratched Dane behind the ear as the mabari ever loyal stay next to his master side. "There is another Warden by the name of Alistair. When you are finished familiarising yourself with the camp report to him and he will summon the other recruits"

"Very well" Aedan nodded.

"Your hound needs to stay with me for the time being" Duncan stated "the task's you are required to do you need to do with the other recruits only"

Aedan wasn't exactly happy about leaving Dane behind but he supposed he had to for the time being.