Amy Dallon, Herald of Andraste

[Kylia Quilor]

Author's Note: According to the World of Thedas, Dorian supposedly knew about Felix having the Taint. But the World of Thedas also says Felix has been fighting the taint for like 3 years and the actual game really gives very different impressions of both. So I'm going with my own interpretations of it all.

The second scene of this chapter was not what I originally had planned. Sometimes characters write themselves. Katerina made one joke and then the whole damn scene unfolded from there, I stg.

Posting a day and change early because I feel like it, but the 'every other Sunday' general schedule remains as the general baseline.

---

"Excuse me?" Felix asked, sounding hesitant, unsure. Amy felt a strange sort of deja vu, back to her reaction when she'd touched Iron Bull the first time and been able to control her words.

Face flushing in embarrassment, Amy coughed, then, "You - you have Darkspawn Taint running through your entire body. That - that shit is vile and I - how hasn't it killed you yet?" He had so much more than the Ram had had, and yet - he seemed - it wasn't even advancing that quickly in his body. But it was - it hadn't reached his organs but -

Amy ignored the surprised/shocked exclamations from everyone else - including Dorian - about the revelation Felix had the Darkspawn Taint.

"My father's efforts have been successful at slowing down the progress of the taint," Felix explained.,

"You - why didn't you tell me, Felix?" Dorian's voice was raised in pitch a little, brow furrowed, sounding hurt, worried.

"Because I didn't want to worry you, or for you to spend every waking moment obsessing over a cure, like my father has." Felix answered softly.

"Of course a magister would have enough hubris to think they can cure the taint." Vivienne tutted. "There can be no cure. By all evidence, even what the Grey Wardens offer is but a stay of execution."

Still seems better than what's happening with him? Don't they get a few decades? Amy cursed Blackwall in her head again, for lying about being a Grey Warden and not giving her any way to find out how Wardens actually resisted the Darkspawn Taint. It was taking a serious toll on Felix's body - he likely didn't have much energy... pain throughout his body on a daily basis... Amy couldn't even guess what else it was doing to him - the fucking evil stuff was unreadable to her power, so it was hard to say.

Then again, maybe Felix didn't want to fight Darkspawn in the company of criminals. Or maybe Magister Alexius thought his son becoming a Warden was beneath his dignity. The magisters ruled Tevinter. So nobility, basically?

"So I keep telling him, but he will not stop trying. He's - he's tried almost everything short of blood magic, but I can feel it, killing me slowly."

"Felix..." Dorian said softly, reaching out, putting a hand on Felix's shoulder a moment, squeezing. "How long?" He asked after a moment, taking his hand back, visibly swallowing.

"I don't know... it's been eight months... most people would have died well before now, or become a ghoul... but I've lasted longer..." he exhaled, "A few more months, maybe? More, if father finds new ways to slow down its progress, but... I fear that blood magic will be the only recourse left to him soon and..."

"Wait - If your father is spending every waking moment trying to find a cure for you and slow down the progress of the taint, how does going after Amy fit into it?" Katerina demanded.

"Presumably the cult offered some sort of cure for Felix," Dorian stroked his chin elaborately. "It certainly makes more sense than Alexius suddenly developing a brand new sense of aggrieved revanchism."

"Then Alexius is a fool," Vivienne declared.

"My father is desperate. But even if the Venatori do have a cure, even if it could work... it can only be through blood magic of the darkest sort..." Felix swallowed. "It would have been found sooner, if it didn't. And it would be a cure bought by forcing the southern mages into submission to this cult." He shook his head. "I don't want to survive if that's the cost. If I am to die soon, I want it to be with my conscience clear, and with my last efforts being done to stop this folly of my father's from being completed." He looked down at the floor.

"Then we must find a way to deal with Alexius. You suggested you could get some of us into the castle, to attack him or be ready for him to ambush Amy if she goes in to continue negotiations?" Cassandra suggested.

"I think so. I'm not part of the Venatori, but the guards know my father would not take kindly to them disobeying me... but their loyalty is to the cult, over him. So how far I can push them... I don't know."

Amy tuned the others talking out as she tried to wrap her head around this. No amount of needing to save a loved one's life justified what Alexius was doing, right? Fine, he wanted to save his kid, but Amy would have no sympathy for someone who joined E88 just because they wanted Othala to save someone's life. And binding hundreds of innocent people into servitude? No.

No.

There were healing powers that were nearly as potent and versatile in their own way as Amy's - a guy named Scapegoat, on the west coast, could take people's injuries and illnesses onto himself, and inflict them back on others. He was kind of a rogue, and kind of not, since he inflicted what he gathered onto villains in fights, but he demanded money to take people's harms in the first place.

Victoria had once said she wondered if Amy would be able to heal Scapegoat if he say, took someone's broken bones or whatever, or if the power interaction wouldn't work. Amy, of course, hadn't given it much thought.

There were other healing powers that had some kind of cost - a striker in Brazil who could heal someone in exchange for the life of another - it was always one life for one life, apparently, so only the desperate or the already evil sought out his services.

No amount of desperation justified killing someone innocent to save the life of a loved one. A villain? Someone who deserved it? That -

To save Victoria?

But this is so much more. Amy forced herself to focus on the matter at hand, feeling her heart beating faster in her chest, her breathing starting to get a little shallow. She couldn't - she couldn't worry about other things right now. Couldn't think about who and what she really was, deep down.

Amy licked dry lips.

Alexius wanted to save his son, and was willing to try to kill her to do it. Rewarding him by healing Felix was... she shouldn't do that. And yet -

Felix is turning on his dad to do the right thing. Slave-owning noble from a slave-owning country, at least he's slightly less fucking awful. The Breach mattered more than anything else.

Amy had to guess that attacking a powerful mage on prepared ground was a bad idea, that a lot of people could get hurt. Even if they got Marius and his squad to join in and recruited willing help from the rebel mages...

Amy couldn't be everywhere. People would die before she could get to them - magic killed faster than a sword or a bow or an axe, in a lot of cases. Just fried to a crisp, frozen solid, thrown against the wall, neck broken...

If she healed Felix, would it get Alexius to leave?

Would it get Alexius to tell them more about the Venatori? Tell them if the Venatori were involved in the Breach?

Should she heal Felix, even if it meant giving Alexius what he wanted? You shouldn't help villains like that, but -

Amy swallowed, looking away, biting her lip. There was something else to consider.

The Darkspawn Taint.

It was fucking evil. The worst, most noxious, most vile thing she'd ever gotten a look at with her power. She'd never thought biology itself could be evil, but there was no better word for the Taint than that.

Did she want to let it win? Let it have biomass to convert, consume, change, become more of itself, without trying to stop it? It was one thing to ignore however much of it had to be underground in all the Darkspawn and... but Felix was right in front of her. Could she turn away from that?

Can I even save him though? He had so much more Taint in his system than the ram had. And so much less uncorrupted mass to work with. She could - she might be able to be more... cost effective about how much of his mass she actually used... she might be able to make white blood cells that could resist the Taint a little better, add a few previous seconds to each one's lifespan...

But it would still scour Felix's body of spare mass, and he didn't have a lot of it.

If - if we can convince him... it could take a few days... we'd need to forcefeed him as much calorie-dense food as we could as quickly as possible... Amy might be able to make his digestion turn the food into stuff she could use even faster...

Ideas flowed through her mind at how she could do it. She could... could she take other biomass and just... merge it into Felix to make it work? An animal? A plant? Use that to deal with the Taint, or - or replace -

Amy shook her head, pushing the thoughts aside. She - she could worry about that when she -

"...I don't want my father to die. If - if there's any way you can take him alive, please..." Felix started.

"Taking a mage as powerful as a magister captive is no easy feat, Felix," Cassandra cautioned. "With Dorian's help it may be easier than it could be, but-"

"I know," he cast his eyes down. "And I don't want you to be so focused on keeping him alive you fail to stop him but-"

"There's another option," Amy cut in, walking back towards Felix. "You're positive that the only reason your father is doing this is for a cure for you?"

"...It's the only thing that makes sense. But it doesn't make what he's doing okay."

"No, it fucking doesn't. Joining a racist cult and apparently fucking with the fabric of time is not okay." Amy blinked. "If he can time travel back to right after the Breach, why didn't he time travel back to eight months ago and stop you from -" She shook her head, "Not the point. Yeah, he wants to save you, but what he's doing is evil. But if that's the main thing he's here for, then there's another way to get him to stop."

"Amy..." Cassandra said softly. "Are you sure?"

"Do you have a better idea? I don't know how powerful magisters are, but they have to be dangerous, right? And he's got to have other mages and guards and apparently Redcliffe castle is really tough. People could die that way - the Inquisition's people, not a bunch of Tevinter cultist fucks I couldn't care less about."

"I'd protest your callous disregard for the lives of my countrymen, but the sorts of people that join cults like this are the sorts of people Tevinter could really do without, all things being equal." Dorian smirked and again, Amy really wanted to punch him.

He's too fond of hearing himself talk.

"What exactly are you saying? What other option?"

"It's better if I show you." Amy doubted Felix would believe her that she could expel the Darkspawn Taint from his body. Amy wasn't even sure if she could.

She was pretty sure, as long as she did it in stages, and had time and -

But she had to check.

"Give me your hand. I promise I won't - okay, it'll probably hurt, but it's not going to do anything permanent - well, no it will -" Amy reached over and took his hand in both of hers, holding tight, focusing in on his biology.

"Amy, dear, are you trying to imply your abilities can cure the Taint?" Vivienne shook her head, "Really, your abilities are versatile but the Taint is not an ordinary illness that can just be treated."

"I can't cure the Darkspawn Taint," Amy said firmly. "But I can expel it from the body."

"What? You can't be serious. That's - if magic could do that-"

"I'm not a mage, I don't do magic, and today was the first time I really used a staff in anger in a real fight," Amy said, her words coming distracted, absent-minded as she 'zoomed' in on one section of Felix's body. There were really only two places she could make the Darkspawn Taint leave Felix's body... his mouth or the other end. The former seemed the better option.

So she needed a section of his body from which she could get the Taint to his esophagus quickly, make him cough it up easily... call it a test case. See if her ideas about how to make white blood cells that worked better against the Taint, had those extra seconds were true...

There. A cluster of Taint gathered in his left shoulder... She seized control of the muscles there, spasming his tissues and 'squeezing' the taint towards his esophagus, ignoring the sounds of Felix gasping in pain and the way he twitched and lurched, almost pulling his hand from her grip.

"Someone hold him still!" Amy could have paralyzed him, but she was focusing on the Taint... it was trying to corrupt everything it touched, but as she modified white blood cells and made new ones... they were lasting precious extra seconds...

What if I kill them right before they're overcome and recycle them and then...

She punched a small hole in Felix's esophagus, tuning out any sounds he was making - someone was holding him in place or maybe he wasn't twitching or resisting or -

Amy closed her eyes, a large pellet of pure taint, surrounded by a coating of rapidly dying cells, and she forced it up his esophagus, closing the hole behind it. Felix gagged, coughed, hacked - like he was about to throw up, she could feel his body violently wracking with each choking reaction and then -

A glob of red-black... gunk flew out of his mouth, landing on the ground with a wet, squishy splat. Amy let go of Felix's hand, staggering back, taking a breath, feeling like she always did after a particularly complicated healing, head fogged, awareness of the rest of the world returning to her and -

She felt invigorated? She felt... excited. Eager to go back, grab Felix again and -

"The Taint. Someone burn it. Burn it! Now!" Amy said, realizing it was just sitting there, being evil and vile and smelling like rotting meat rolled in shit and then bathing in pure filth. "Get rid of it!" She raised her voice.

Dorian was the first one to act, and he pointed his staff at it, fire bursting from the tip and landing right on the pellet of Taint... the smell wasn't much improved by the fact it was burning, but at least it was going away.

"What did you... you - did you -" Felix started, "My shoulder it... and you..." He put his right hand on his left shoulder, "It..." he staggered a little, nearly falling, but Katerina - who had been the one to hold him in place - caught him before he fell. "It's still in me, the Taint... the pain of it -"

"I didn't get rid of all of it. There's too much in your body for me to get rid of all at once. I needed to see if I could get rid of even a bit, and how hard it would be.."

"How did you even do that?" Dorian demanded. "That wasn't magic, but - what exactly - and you..." he trailed off, and Amy assumed the guy wasn't used to being speechless. Amy looked over at Vivienne, curious at her reaction, but the dark-skinned woman was keeping her expression schooled with a careful neutrality. Too much practice hiding her reactions, probably.

"How long have you known you could do this?"

"For some time now," Cassandra answered Vivienne's question. "We encountered a ram on the Storm Coast that had fought and killed a hurlock, but got badly injured and infected by the Taint in the process. Amy took it upon herself to try and heal it."

"I wouldn't think you one to be so arrogant as to try to cure the taint," Vivienne mused, tone quiet, thoughtful, careful. "But then, you succeeded, so I suppose it wasn't actually arrogance, or at least not unfounded arrogance."

"I'm Panacea. I'd never encountered a living thing my power couldn't affect, a disease I can't heal. Then I ran into the Taint. It's - my power can't... it can't get any kind of purchase on it, or read on it. It's not like a demon, my power can feel it - with demons it's like I'm touching a stone for all I pick up - but it... it's Fade bullshit, and so I can't actually do anything to it. Organic and real and also magic at the same time, like the abomination that attacked me at the Crossroads..." It was strange that Amy could mention it now so easily. Strange, but nice. Better than breaking down over thinking about it in passing, at least...

It still ate at Amy though, that something could be so much like a real organic infection, if a super insanely aggressive one, and also completely impossible for her power to affect. It... it wasn't supposed to be possible, but magic was magic. Same with the elves working and functioning like humans even though they shouldn't and the abomination's weird frankenstein combination of real biology and impossible biology and Fade bullshit.

If it's organicish and works like something organic... my power should be able to work on it, damnit!

Dorian made a strange face at her explanation, a sort of... pursing of his lips or like he'd bitten into a very sour lemon or something. He... was bothered by what she was saying? What about it?

Vivienne just raised an eyebrow before speaking, "I've heard many tales about your ability to heal since arriving in Haven, many of them quite fanciful, though even some of the fanciful ones appear to have been true - though I suspect your tears aren't capable of healing anything - but I've heard not even a whisper of any ability to deal with the Taint in any capacity."

My tears? What kind of - Fuck, were people going to try and make off with strands of her hair, or like, gather her dead skin flakes or whatever? Or worse, cut something off her? Didn't Catholics go all gaga for the body parts of saints or something? Was that a thing here in Thedas?

"It was decided that for the time being, it was best to keep Amy's ability to effectively cure someone of the Taint quiet,"

I can't cure the Darkspawn Taint! Amy bit her tongue to stop herself from arguing the point out loud. Cassandra wasn't even technically wrong that for all intents and purposes, if she expelled all the taint from someone, they'd be cured. They had it, then they didn't. For them, they were cured.

But the technicalities mattered, damnit!

"Why would you keep it a secret?" Vivienne shook her head, "If people knew that Amy could save someone from the taint, there would be little doubt in the minds of the masses and even many at court and in the Chantry that Amy truly is the Herald of Andraste and that she - and the Inquisition - operates with the Maker's blessing."

"Which is a really good argument for keeping it quiet. One of them, anyway," Amy cut in, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "I wasn't sent here by the Maker, I don't have his blessing, I'm nobody's Herald and I refuse to pretend I'm a prophet or whatever it is people think I am for a god I don't and won't worship."

"This is all fascinating," Dorian sounded like he meant it, "and I have many questions I'd like to ask you about all this Amy, but perhaps you could get back to saving Felix's life?"

Before Amy could explain the whole 'it might take a few days' and 'he needs to eat more' things, Felix shook his head.

"No, not yet," Felix took a breath and straightened up, letting his hands fall by his side. "I don't - my father didn't believe you when you said you weren't a mage. Maker, I didn't believe you until I felt whatever you did and it didn't feel like magic at all. He won't believe that a mage barely out of their apprenticeship - which is what he thinks you are - could do anything to the Taint."

"So do it in front of him, you mean," Katerina summarized. "Which brings us back to the fact that he wants to kill Amy and going to meet him is a trap and we need to get us all into the castle to protect her. And then she can grab you and make you hack up taint like you're a cat expelling a hairball."

"...thank you for that lovely mental image," Dorian grimaced. "Whatever we do, we should do it quickly. Alexius has had time to prepare Redcliffe Castle for whatever scheme he intends to put into effect, best not to give him even more."

"Before we start planning to storm the castle, there's something you should know, Felix." Amy said quickly before anyone else could talk and move the conversation too far on the planning. "Getting rid of all the Darkspawn Taint in your body takes time. I can't just touch you again and get it all done in one go, or even a few minutes or even an hour."

"How long would it take?"

"A few days, maybe?" Amy shrugged helplessly, "It really depends on - I was able to get rid of that bit from your shoulder easier than I did what the ram had, so maybe I'll get better with each practice, at least to a point? I had to alter your white blood cells to - those are the things that - fuck, I'm not explaining hundreds of years of discoveries about biology and the human anatomy to people that believe four humours govern everyone's health! I - when magic heals someone, it does Fade bullshit to produce new flesh out of nowhere. Seal up a wound with new skin. But I - my power uses the body to heal it. Turn fat into skin, blood into muscle. If someone doesn't have enough spare mass, there's only so much I can do at any given time." She started pacing, gesticulating, raising her voice.

"That's why I always tell the people to heal to eat a bit more, or a lot more, if I did some serious healing. Forcing the Taint out of your body uses up some of your mass, and you don't have a lot to spare because the Taint has done a number on you. It's fucking all over your system, Felix. If I tried to expel all of the Darkspawn Taint in you right now, I'd have to cannibalize some of your essential tissues - stuff that you need to live and function - and even if you survived it could cripple you. Eat a lot of food tonight. Beans, cheese, meat, stuff that's energy dense. I think I can make your body process food faster, which should speed things up too. It's going to leave you weak and tired and... like, thin as a goddamn rail, but you'll be alive and functional by the time I'm done if we take a few days."

Amy inhaled, "So when we get in front of your dad and we make sure I don't get killed, I can at least prove what I can do by getting rid of more of the Taint in you, but getting rid of all of it is going to take at least a few days." She finished talking, breathing heavily, closing her eyes, hands at her temples, rubbing at her head.
"Hundreds of years worth of discoveries?"

"At least?" Amy said in answer to Viviene's question. "I don't really know the history of science that well, I'm seventeen and I don't pay much attention in history, but I think we dropped the four humours thing four or five hundred years ago? Or something that's kind of like it, anyway. I - I'm not an actual doctor. I know more about biology and medicine than most people, sure, but only because my power lets me cheat and see it all in action! I wouldn't - I wouldn't even know where to begin on explaining the way the human immune system works to you people."

"Unless I'm much mistaken, I get the distinct impression you think we're all ignorant backwoods savages," Dorian crossed his arms over his chest.

Yes. Amy managed enough tact, somehow, to not say that out loud, but really,. Thedas was primitive and ignorant and - Amy had to use a fucking chamber pot back in Haven! A Chamberpot!

"I didn't - I wouldn't - I wouldn't say - I wouldn't call you guys that, it's just - I - Gah!" Amy threw up her hands, huffing.

"Is this what it feels like for southerners to be on the receiving end of Tevinter scorn? Dorian asked, lowering his arms and his voice, "Because I can't say I like the way it feels."

"Perhaps this discussion can be had another time," Cassandra spoke quickly, and Amy felt a bit of redness in her face, realizing that Cassandra probably thought Amy thought she was an ignorant backwoods savage too and -

I - it's not that simple, I just - Amy covered her face with her hands.

"If we must have Amy heal Felix in front of his father, then we need to make sure we are prepared for an ambush. Which brings us back to getting more of our people into the castle. Felix, Dorian - knowing what you know of Alexius, would he let Amy bring seven people in with her as guards? Or eight, counting you Dorian."

"Let's not count me as someone who comes in too publicly. I need to be there for this, and you'll need me there to help counter any of Alexius's magic, but if he realizes I'm in Redcliffe too early, he'll know something is up. Alexius would never believe I'm here to help the Venatori."

"So eight people - seven, plus Amy. Would he let them in?"

"Maybe? He brought at least forty Venatori with him. And he's a powerful mage. He might believe those odds are in his favor. Even with your reputation, Lady Pentaghast, they likely are."

"Lady Pentaghast is worth at least four, so forty to eleven really, not counting all the rest." Katerina suggested. "We've got a Qunari, he's got to be worth at least three. Then there's-"

"They get the point, Katerina," Cassandra interrupted tersely. Katerina snapped her jaw shut, and her face almost looked like it was tinging red a little.

"Right."

"He would likely assume some of you are dangerous enough to tilt the balance, but if he really wants Amy in the Castle, and she insists..."

"That poses a risk of provoking his suspicions," Vivienne cautioned. "If Alexius decides we might be onto him, then he might react early, before you can grab Felix and prove what you can do, Amy."

"So... don't bring everyone in?"

"I would suggest as much. I would limit it to myself, Cassandra and Katerina - he saw Katerina functioning as your bodyguard, and I would imagine our placement at the table next to you made him see us as the real leaders of this negotiation, given your age."

"If this was a real negotiation, I'd be happy to let you two take the lead," Amy muttered. "Seems like a plan, but... can you get everyone else inside, Felix?"

"I can try. Redcliffe Castle only has the one entrance - not even any servants entrances I could sneak you in through, far as I can tell. But I could probably -"

"There might be another solution," Cassandra held a hand up, then, "You are both familiar with the sorts of spells and wards Alexius would put up to detect intrusions, correct? Sensing them and countering them without drawing his attention?"

"The former, not the latter," Felix said quietly. "I'm afraid my skill at magic is minimal." the equanimity he said it with felt like it was forced. Amy could imagine that 'minimal' magical skill when you were a Tevinter noble was embarrassing and stuff. Real 'shame on your family name' shit.

Against her will, Amy felt a momentary pang of sympathy for Felix.

"And your skill in mathematics makes most magisters look like idiots who can't count past ten without taking off their shoes," Dorian said with a grin, patting Felix's shoulder lightly. "But I can counter Alexius's wards. What exactly is your plan?"

"Redcliffe castle has a secret passage into it from the lower town, known only to the Arls and their family. Leliana used it during the Fifth Blight alongside the Hero of Ferelden. Before we left Haven, she told me about it, including where to find it, and where it comes out into the castle. It's extremely unlikely Alexius has found it."

"He hasn't mentioned anything... so you'd bring your other four people in with Dorian through the passage? Ambush his Venatori before they can spring the trap?"

"Not just the other four. We have a squad of soldiers camped not far from Redcliffe." Cassandra said. Amy knew she was talking about Marius and his squad. "We can bring them all in. We'll still be outnumbered, but surprise is worth a great deal."

"So, Amy goes in with a few of you, draws his attention, tries to Alexius to monologue - if there's one thing the sorts of people attracted to groups like the Venatori like to do, it's talk, and perhaps he'll play to type before trying to do anything. He tries to kill Amy, and we intervene?"

"Maybe show up before he gets to the trying to kill me part?" Amy suggested. "Please?"

"We won't take chances with your life, Amy." Cassandra promised, moving to stand next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. Amy put her hand over Cassandra's for a moment, taking a deep breath.

"I know. I know. And... It's not like I didn't come to Redcliffe knowing meeting with Fiona could be a trap, and the tavern could have been a trap but I -" she cut herself off, licked dry lips and started again. "I - this feels more real? More dangerous? It's not a nebulous 'it could be a trap' or 'it's probably a trap' thing. It really is a trap."

And she had to somehow confront and maybe distract a powerful mage who thought joining the Tevinter 88 and plotting to kill her was a good idea. And... and then convince him she could do the impossible and save his son before he decided to try to kill her anyway.

No pressure.

---

"So you think we're all a bunch of ignorant savages, Amy?" Katerina asked, her voice flat, grim, arms folded in front of her.

They were in a room on the third floor of the tavern, one with two beds, since Cassandra wanted Katerina to stay close to Amy in case Alexius tried to sneak someone in to kill her in her sleep. It had been decided they would wait the night, and Felix would eat as much food as he could and then some in preparation for her getting rid of more Darkspawn taint tomorrow. Also the night was when they'd sneak Ser Marius and his squad over the walls of Redcliffe, and into a warehouse by the docks that wasn't currently in use.

Then, if Alexius hadn't invited Amy in for a meeting or at least scheduled one by noon tomorrow, the people set to go in in through the secret passage - accessible via a windmill in the town - with Dorian taking the lead to prevent Alexius's wards from alerting him would do so and Amy would approach the castle gates and demand entry, with Katerina, Cassandra and Vivienne by her side. If Alexius or his guards said no, Amy would threaten to leave Redcliffe entirely.

In theory, if Alexius wanted to kill her at the meeting or something (maybe steal the mark back from her? Was that even a thing? They still didn't even know if the Venatori were involved in the explosion at the Conclave, but it made sense) then he'd have to fold or risk losing the shot at her.

Sure, the Venatori could come after her another time, but if Alexius really was in this for a cure for Felix, then the price probably was Amy. So if they were even half right about what was going on, if he believed her threat, then he'd let her in.

If he didn't... well, they had Iron Bull, Varric, Sera, Solas, Ser Marius, Dorian and Nine of the Inquisition's soldiers to fight their way to the gates and let Amy in. Backup of a backup, but.

But all that was why she was here in this room at the tavern, the setting sun visible through half-closed window shutters.

Amy walked past Katerina and closed the shutters, turning back to look at the redhead. "I didn't say that. I don't -" she growled and pinched the bridge of her nose. "It's not that simple."

"That's not a no," Katerina glared at her.

"It's not a yes either!" Amy flopped down on one of the beds, cursing Dorian out for bringing it up. "I don't think you're like... stupid idiot cavemen people or like... I'm better than you because we have germ theory and cars and TVs and washing machines and all the rest back home, it's just -"

In the US at least, they had things like rights and hot and cold running water and computers and planes and electricity and knew that kings and nobles were stupid fuckings thing to have.

"Look, it's like - okay, if you somehow ended up on a different continent and were surrounded by a bunch of people who wore like, leaves as clothes and made spears by tying a sharp rock to a stick, you'd think they were primitive and ignorant too!"

"Depends," Katerina dropped her arms to her sides, her expression turning to a sly smirk. "How covering - or not - are the leaves the women wear?"

Amy flushed, sitting up in the bed and sputtering out a response: "What - what does that have to do with anything?" Not that she couldn't guess but what the hell?!

"I mean, if the leaves don't cover that much, I'll probably be too distracted to care about the stone spears, won't I?" Amy glared daggers at Katerina, watching the taller girl's smirk collapse into a fit of giggles.

"You're messing with me!" Amy grabbed the pillow off her bed and threw it at Katerina's face. She missed, the pillow hitting her in the chest. Katerina caught it before it hit the ground.

"Just a little bit," Katerina held up thumb and index finger, keeping them close together but not quite touching. She lightly tossed Amy's pillow back at her - it landed in Amy's lap - and then sat down on the other bed, facing Amy. "I am serious about being too distracted to care, if the leaves only cover the chest and the -"

"I got what you meant!" Amy interrupted before Katerina could finish. "You know that's not the point of what I was saying."

"Sure, but it's more fun. Wouldn't you be distracted if you were surrounded by a bunch of scantily-clad men?"

"No?" Amy blinked, staring at Katerina, shaking her head a little, "Weren't - we were just - why are we talking about this and not the whole - were you just pretending to care about the whole - accusing me of thinking that about you?"

"I'm not really thrilled about being compared to a bunch of people wearing leaves and making stone spears," Katerina shrugged, "But I've learned not to take most of what you say to heart, Amy. You're a bitch, but it's almost part of your charm. Anyway, like I said, this is more fun. And seriously, you're telling me a bunch of muscled barbarian men wearing nothing but a loin cloth or something wouldn't distract you at all?"

"I mean, it would be distracting, but not like that," Amy didn't even know why she was engaging with Katerina on this. I should just apologize for the ignorant savages thing and start reading something. She still had Tale of the Champion, but after leaving the Chantry (and requesting some more money from Cassandra - it's not that Amy wanted an actual wage for closing rifts but it would be useful to have some spending money on hand without asking for some since clearly the Inquisition didn't mind giving her money to buy a few things for herself?) Amy had stopped by the surly dwarf bookseller and bought two more books.

One was, another Portia Plume novel, By the Light Of Ash's Fall, and the other was a romance novel Amy was pretty sure was gay? Oddly, it didn't have any sort of summary on the back, but the chantry sister and the female mage on the cover (she was pretty sure it was mage robes the other woman was wearing) were holding hands and facing each other, and it had been in pile of books the bookseller had told her were romance novels. The title was Bound by her Vows, Chained By Her Love, and Amy could only assume it was some sort of chantry sister-mage forbidden love story. She was almost amazed it wasn't like, banned by the Chantry, but maybe it was and it was one of those 'depends on if anyone cares' kinds of things.

But instead, she was letting Katerina steer the conversation into this absurd topic. Why?

"So... you like skinny men? Thoughtful, soft, nonviolent? All silk shirts and soft hands? Nice and docile so you can browbeat them into doing what you want?"

"God, no!" Amy protested, nearly shouting, then she lowered her voice to normal again. "I'm not - why would you - I don't want to browbeat someone I'm dating into -" That - that was like the opposite of what Amy wanted.

"You get angry and swear a lot when people don't do what you want. Wondered if you'd be like that in a relationship."

You know, it's almost weird the lesbian is just assuming I'm straight? "I curse at idiots for being idiots regardless of gender but like - if I'm - if I was - I wouldn't want to do that with someone I was - I wouldn't want to yell at someone I was trying to be in a relationship with," Not that a relationship was... well, ever going to happen for her, but "until they agreed with me."

It wasn't that she wanted Katerina to guess that she was gay, even if Amy wasn't sure why she was so insistent on staying in the closet, even though orientation was mostly a non-issue in Thedas, but... she was surprised Katerina was just... assuming heterosexuality.

"So you do want someone who fights back?" Katerina tapped her chin with a finger thoughtfully, "Or-"

"Maybe I don't want a relationship that's a battle? In any direction?!" Amy had had this same kind of conversation with Vicky at least a dozen times. Her sister would try to wheedle some answer out of her about what kind of guys Amy liked - offering suggestions, possibilities, working in a circle until giving up and pulling some guy out of Dean's contact list or wherever else she found her endless parade of shitty boys their age to bring on the double-dates.

Her conversations with Vicky like this were usually a lot more noncommittal though. Amy was never so expressive with her sister on this topic.

Probably because I'm too busy trying to hide from my sister that she's the one I want to go on a date with. Amy bit her lip and tried to push that thought away before the pit in her stomach it prompted opened too wide...

"No... no, you like romance novels and Portia Plume specifically. I mean, you liked Her Hidden Dedication too, yeah but even if you're crazy enough to like reading about the pining you're not interested in hopeless months of mutual pining in real life. You're not that insane." Amy felt damned with faint praise by the way Katerina emphasized the word 'that'.

"So... you probably want some guy - looks don't matter too much I'd bet, apart from 'not ugly' - but you want them to be... charming... not roguish, you're too judgey and prissy to fall for the rogue with a heart of gold, and those are overrated in real life anyway... but you want someone to come in, sweep you off your feat but also like... actually put in the work to woo you, win you over. And get lost in the romance and passion of it all."

No... Amy shook her head at Katerina, "No?" She scoffed, "Why - why do you are? Why are you asking? Are you going to try and set me up? I am not interested. I've dealt with that from Vicky enough for a whole lifetime."

"Family's always terrible at figuring out who you'll be happy with," Katerina said sagely, nodding. "And no, just asking because I'm curious, and again, it's a more fun topic than the whole 'ignorant savages' thing." Katerina paused, arching an eyebrow, "We could go back to that if you-"

"No, no, don't need to go back to that." Not when Amy had no idea what to say that wouldn't just make things worse. For a moment, Amy debated just shutting the whole conversation down. If she was adamant about not wanting to talk and then picked up a book, Katerina would almost certainly respect that and leave her alone.

But...

It had been kind of fun, to bitch to Josephine about all the guys Vicky had tried to set up her with? It had been... nice to get it all off her chest and say it to someone other than Vicky (and outright say that her sister was bad at picking guys for her. She'd never been able to say that to Victoria's face.) and to talk about it without her gross, perverted incestous crush looming over things quite as much.

So maybe it would be okay to keep on the conversation.

Three rants about three dates later, Amy found herself curious about Katerina's end of it.

"So, your parents tried to set you up with girls that didn't work for you?" Katerina had implied she'd 'come out' when she was fourteen, that comment about her cousin giving her a copy of 'Her Hidden Dedication' after catching her in the barn with her first kiss, and she'd left her village when she was fifteen to join the Templars so not a lot of time for setups.

"No, from when I was six, until I told my parents I was only interested in girls, my parents and my aunt and even a few of my older siblings all thought I was going to marry this boy from the farm next to ours. Simon. He was always following me around, always doing pretty much whatever I told him to do. People always thought he had it bad for me, and I'd marry him because of course the tall muscular girl who liked to fight would want to dictate to the short, shy, nice and compliant boy for the rest of their lives." Katerina scoffed.

"Simon stuck close because I didn't let anyone bully or tease him without a fist to the face, and I liked having someone to back me up when it came to telling the adults I hadn't started the fight." Katerina laughed. "I usually didn't, but..." she shook her head, a small smile on her face. "Anyway - even before I knew I liked girls, I was pretty sure the idea of being married to him sounded awful. Told my parents when I was eleven all the reasons why too."

Not the 'he's a boy thing', if it was eleven...

"You said you like girls with some fight to them, conviction, self-confidence, not being passive, that sort of thing. Doesn't sound like Simon was any of that."

"Nope, not really. Last I heard he's gotten a bit better, but he still likes to go along with what people want. Smart though - he got an apprenticeship in the Printer's Guild in Cumberland around the same time I joined the Templars, he's a journeyman now and making good money. But even after I told my parents and aunt that I'd be bored out of my mind being married to him, they kept saying we were perfect for each other and would totally be married." Katerina shook her head, "Even now, when they write about asking if I'm interested in anyone or in some sort of relationship, they still seem to think I'm going to go for someone nice and quiet and soft and all that. They have no idea what I want in a woman."

"I mean, at least when you were eleven, they didn't know you were a lesbian, so I guess then they were acting on bad information. But that excuse doesn't count now." Didn't sound even close to an endless parade of failed setups, but Amy could imagine three years of your parents insisting you'd totally marry a guy you told them you weren't into could get... annoying.

"Lesbian?"

Oh, right. "It's a word from Earth-Bet. Means a woman who is only interested in other women. I think we get the word from the name of an Island?" That sounded right. She was pretty sure it was called Lesbos, it was somewhere near Greece?

"An island with only girls who like girls? You have my interest. Something like eight or nine out of every ten women are only into men, is what they say, and that bears out in my experience. It's always disappointing to approach a pretty girl, flirt a bit, feel like you're hitting it off and then find out none of it matters because you don't have a dick between your legs."

"Sorry to disappoint, it's not an island full of actual lesbians." Amy furrowed her brow, "I think there was like, this poet who wrote a lot of poems about being a woman who loved women, like... two thousand years ago and she was from that island?"

It was hell that day in English Lit class we talked about her poems too. It had been stupid, but Amy had felt like she'd been on the verge of being outed every second that day, like somehow she'd say or do the wrong thing and everyone would know she was a lesbian.

"That's really disappointing." Katerina sighed. "What about your sister? What are some of the boys she tried to set you up with, and what sucked about them?"

Amy dove into listing the many failings of the guys Vicky tried to set her up with with gusto. She was halfway through ranting about the third guy, Katerina giggling at her description of his behavior when Katerina blinked, and held up a finger.

"Wait, question."

"Okay...?"

"Wouldn't your sister have tried to ask what kind of guy you liked? Why would she keep picking shitty options for you? Did she not listen when you told her?"

"She didn't listen when I told her I didn't want to do double dates."

"Just don't go?" Katerina laughed, "Was she physically dragging you to them? Picking you up, slinging you over her shoulder and flying you to them?"

Amy grimaced at the mental image, and the way that gross part of her actually liked the image. She took a breath, closing her eyes and stuffing it into a box, closing the lid, and throwing on a padlock... but the box creaked and split and was full to bursting and...

The point was, ignoring the thought entirely was hard.

"I - you try saying no to her. It's hard. She gets this kicked puppy expression when you do."

"Whereas you get all grumpy like a cat that hasn't had dinner when things don't go your way," Katerina chuckled.

"I am not!" Amy protested, feeling heat in her cheeks again.

"You absolutely are." Katerina giggled again. "Don't worry, it's part of your charm too. I know there are men that would love that sort of thing."

"I'm so thrilled to hear that," Amy said, dropping her head into her hands, speaking through them.

"So what kind of boys do you like, that your sister just can't pick for you?"

"I -" Amy started, "I like - I don't really have anything specific?"

"The way you were talking about those three boys your sister set you up with... there's a lot of things you don't like. I can't believe you haven't tried to work backwards from there." Katerina considered, "I mean, Andraste's ass, the way you were shooting down what I was saying earlier and then your bitching about these boys, do you even like men?"

Fuckfuckfuck. Amy looked away, stumbling over her words, feeling her heart beat faster as she realized the closet door was being wedged open with a fucking crowbar.

"Yeah - I'm just - I don't have a specific type of -"

"You don't, do you?" Katerina blinked, staring at her like she'd grown a third head. Without having a second. "Why the fuck didn't you say anything? We just wasted the whole conversation, I could have been asking about what kind of girls you liked?!"

"I don't - I don't - I-" Amy sputtered, then gave up, grabbing the pillow and screaming into it, the pit in her stomach widening and she -

Where's the chamber pot, I feel like I'm going to throw up... Amy looked around for that, licking her lips, feeling her stomach roiling, feeling her heart in her throat.

"Amy, what's wrong?" Katerina was standing up, hand on her shoulder. "Are you sick? Are you okay? What did I say? Am wrong - am I? What is-?" Katerina sounded utterly, completely confused by Amy's reaction to being outed, to someone figuring out she was gay and -

Of course she woukldn't get it, closets aren't a fucking thing in Thedas. They don't - they never - fuckfuckfuck why the fuck didn't I -

Amy pushed Katerina out of her way and rushed for the empty chamber pot, opening it, bending over and feeling and tasting bile fly out of her, landing in the pot. Thankfully, it was just a little, she wasn't throwing up her entire dinner, but her nerves still felt shot and her heart was still beating fast and her stomach still roiled and she dropped to the ground, hugging her knees to her chest.

"Amy, what... what just happened? Is there - did someone poison your dinner? I thought you said you couldn't be poisoned? I -" She took a breath, "I'm taking you to Solas, he's the closest thing we have to a doctor or healing expert that I trust right now-" Katerina moved towards her and Amy finally managed to say something.

"I'm not sick," Amy said, burying her face against her knees, muffling her words, but Katerina's footsteps stopped.

"You just threw up."

"That's not sick, that's - I - I - you just outed me, of course I'm going to feel sick dealing with that!" The last thing she needed was Katerina picking her up and carrying her to Solas and more people finding out she was gay! Because she'd probably explain what happened at some point, trying to figure out what was wrong with her and -

"Outed you? I - I have no idea what you're talking about!"

Amy laughed humorlessly. At herself, at the stupidity of the situation, at her own stupidity, at that it was Katerina figuring it out by accident that this - why -

Why she'd kept it secret even here even when she knew it was safe even when -

"No one back home knows I'm lesbian." Amy said, words still muffled. "And I didn't want anyone here to know either."

"...why?"

"I don't know why I didn't want anyone here to know, once I realized I wasn't going to be like... burned at the stake for being gay or anything." Amy said with another hollow laugh. "Years of habit, maybe?"

"Burn you at the stake? For liking girls? Is that - is that a thing they do on Earth-Bet? I mean, that sounds fucking insane, but you thought it for a reason? Or was it just you thinking we were-"

"It's not a thing on Earth-Bet anymore," okay, maybe it was in some parts of Africa or some other third world country but - "But when everyone back home was using swords and bows and lived in castles and had kings and shit, they did."

"...why?"

"Something something it was against the will of God."

"...the God that had a kid he let die painfully and kicked people out of paradise over a talking snake and a fruit tree?" Amy made an 'mhm' sound. "I think I've said this already, but Earth-Bet's idea of the Maker makes him sound like a fucking asshole."

"You'll get no argument from me," Amy swallowed. She inhaled slowly, blinking repeatedly before slowly looking up at Katerina, still hugging her knees.

"It's better now, at least - at least in my country... mostly. Men can even marry men and women can marry women."

"...really? No shit?" Amy nodded at Katerina's question and the redhead's eyes widened, "Can't say I hate the sound of that. I mean... I'm not a noble or anything so I just kind of figured if I found a girl I wanted to spend the rest of my life with we'd say some kind of vows privately, I know a few people that did that, but..." Katerina trailed off. "It would be nice to actually get married in a Chantry, if I could..." she trailed off. "But then... why did you keep it quiet back home? You said mostly so... some people still want to burn people at the stake for this?"

Katerina's confusion was evident and obvious in her words, her tone, her stance. She reminded Amy of one of the worst double-dates she'd been on with Vicky and Dean. They'd gone to a Japanese restaurant and the guy Vicky (or likely, Dean) had picked had looked at the menu - which had English descriptions and names for everything as well as the Japanese ones - like he was looking at some weird alien, and had no idea what to do. Same with the food when it arrived.

Less racist than that guy's confusion, but the same level of 'what the absolute fuck I have no idea what is going on'

"Is that why you didn't tell your sister, because-"

"No!" Amy said quickly. She wasn't going to let Katerina slander her sister like that. "Vicky's not a homophobe!" She blinked realizing Katerina wouldn't know that word either, but... she could probably guess from the context. "Not even close. I - that's not why I didn't tell her."

"Then why?"

Fortunately for Amy, she actually had an answer that wasn't 'because I'm a gross pervert romantically and sexually attracted to her sister'. She'd come up with an answer to give Vicky if her sister somehow figured out Amy was gay or if Amy eventually said it because she couldn't handle more double dates or something. An answer that was actually true, kind of, just not... the biggest reason.

"Because Brockton Bay is one of those places in my country where being openly lesbian is kind of dangerous. Especially when your family is already famous and the local homophobic racist shithead evil gang hates your family for showing them up a lot and already killed one member of it."

"You don't really strike me as the kind of person who would refuse to do something just because you're worried about getting killed, given what you've been up to in Thedas so far. So why are you afraid of these guys? Those Empire 88 guys? What kind of name is that even?"

"People's lives rest on me closing the Breach and closing the rifts. No one dies if I stay in the closet back home," Amy countered. "And if someone in Empire 88 killed me, my sister would go after them, with the fury of an angry god." Amy swallowed before going on, "Just... without the invulnerability of one."

"...you think your sister would get herself killed trying to avenge you." It wasn't phrased as a question.

"Yeah." Or worse, succeed. Her sister wasn't a murderer, she didn't have it in her to actually want to kill someone, not - not without it fucking her up. Vicky was a hero, all she wanted to do was be a hero, a beacon, a symbol of how people could make the city, the world even better. Lead by example and save lives, help people... and put the bastards who deserved it behind bars.

She didn't want to kill people.

Fear of getting killed by Empire 88 (and the consequences that would have for Vicky) was the second biggest reason she was staying in the closet back home. The third reason was... Amy had no idea how she'd even explain to Katerina the whole 'outreach events for queer teens' thing, and how Aunt Sarah would orient the entire Panacea Brand around it. Rainbow-themed caduceus bracelets, Panacea Pride Flags, her entry in that game Victoria told her about would probably be covered in rainbow sparkles and Aunt Sarah would be all about 'I love my gay niece' in interviews...

Amy had managed to avoid too many interviews, but she'd be thrust into the spotlight, answering questions about being gay, being a cape, a healer... she'd have homophobic shits protesting her healing,refusing to let her heal their kids because she might 'taint' them (and then they'd blame her when their kids died because she didn't heal them). She'd have to go to talks to LGBTQ clubs and give kids encouragement and fuck if she knew what other horrors Aunt Sarah would subject her to, the moment she found out Amy was a lesbian.

"So your solution was to be unhappy and let your sister force you to spend time with boys you could never be interested in?" Katerina sat down on the floor facing Amy. "You continue to be one of the most baffling people I have ever met, Amy. The mystery that is you grows more confusing." She smiled. "It's fun."

"I'm not telling you all this to entertain you!" Amy snapped.

"Maybe not, but you are a puzzle and I'm trying to figure you out." Katerina countered. "I was trying to lighten the mood. My apologies." She exhaled. "But really, why?"

"Because Vicky wouldn't take 'I don't want to date anyone' for an answer. She'd start looking for girls who might be interested. Talking them up, Wheedling. Saying 'oh, we can have the double date somewhere private', but..." but then Carol would find out and then Aunt Sarah would find out... "It's just simpler to stay in the closet, for now." Once, some part of Amy had held out hope that once she turned eighteen and could move out of the house, somehow, she could maybe find a way out from under everything. Get out of the Bay, maybe... go on a healing tour across the United States. Medical tourism and stuff brought people to the Bay for her to heal, but there were people all over that just couldn't come to her.

Victoria had always had visions of them going to college together, even sharing a dorm room (something that alternately sounded very enjoyable and like a living hell) but Amy knew college would never be in the cards for her. Her grades weren't good enough, and... what was the point? Even if she got a degree, there was no need, healing was going to be her job for life anyway.

Katerina shook her head, "Your sister must be the most persuasive girl in the world, for someone who can be as blindly stubborn as you can be when you care enough to just go along with her all the time."

"I don't go along with her all the time!" Amy protested.

Just... mostly.

Victoria used to urge Amy to experiment more with her power. Amy always refused, eventually Vicky had stopped... mostly. Vicky also wanted Amy to heal Mark's depression, to get a feel for healing brains in general... not knowing why, why Amy couldn't, wouldn't cross that line...

And the fact that I never explain why to her satisfaction only upsets her and...

"Doesn't sound like it, but I'll take your word for it," Katerina shrugged. "I don't get why you're so determined to keep it quiet here but... sure. If you want me to not tell anyone, I won't. No one will give a shit what you like. You like girls. Who cares?"

"Some people care, or women would be allowed to marry women. If the Maker doesn't hate liking your own Gender... why is it banned?" Sure, Thedas sounded impossibly progressive compared to Earth-Bet's history and even more than Earth-Bet today in a lot of ways, but if gay marriage wasn't a thing, there had to be some view it wasn't the same. The fact that the noblewoman and the knight in Her Hidden Dedication had to have a nudge-wink 'we're totally not fucking on the side' thing with the gay nobleman (who had the same arrangement with his lover) made that much clear. A relationship with your own gender was sort of looked down on.

Katerina opened her mouth, closed it after a moment and then... "No idea. Something to do with not being able to have children, maybe? I never really asked anyone." She frowned, "Maybe I'll ask one of the Chantry sisters when we get back to Haven. But... you want to keep it a secret, I'll keep it secret." Katerina leaned forward, "One last question though."

"No." Amy said bluntly. "Enough questions. Enough... baring my soul for today." Amy pressed her forehead against her knees. She let out a groan, the nausea in her stomach hardly settling at all.

"Come on, I promise it's nothing serious, nothing soul-baring," Katerina said, smiling.

"...is it some stupid joke at my expense?" Amy didn't look up.

"No."

"...If I don't like the question, I reserve the right to make everything you eat taste like old leather for a week," Amy muttered.

"Somehow, I doubt you would. Just - tell me this. How in the name of Andraste's presumably perfect tits can you enjoy the lovemaking scenes in a Portia Plume novel if you don't like men?" Katerina demanded. "I don't even get how women who like men can enjoy that overwrought nonsense."

"I didn't." Amy answered honestly, still not looking up. "Enjoy the lovemaking scene at the end of the Porta Plume book, I mean."

"But I'll bet you enjoyed the one in Her Hidden-" Amy could hear the smile in Katerina's voice and Amy cut her off, feeling heat in her cheeks.

"I'm not having this conversation. I'm done talking for the night." She didn't get up or look up, and after a long moment, Katerina let out a breath.

"Alright. Fair enough." She heard Katerina stand up and then, "Look, I don't get why you're so determined to keep this secret, but I won't tell anyone. And... I'm sorry for guessing it? I didn't - I didn't think it would..." she trailed off. "I'm sorry, okay?"

Amy licked her lips, eyes closed, her arms loosening around her knees a bit. She didn't want to accept the apology. Katerina had poked fun at her the whole first half the conversation and pried just to satisfy her curiosity and then outed her and poked and prodded and pried more and then... okay, so the question about Portia Plume's sex scene in Moonlight Over the Minanter River wasn't 'at her expense' but still. And then the question about Her Hidden Dedication and...

Katerina enjoyed getting a rise out of Amy, and Amy kept letting her.

But I could have ended the conversation all kinds of times earlier and she apologized and... I'm stuck with her and... she's usually tolerable and...

"Apology accepted," Amy finally said, still not looking up.

She'd have to get up eventually and lie down and... probably not read the new lesbian romance novel she'd picked up, not tonight, but...

Amy inhaled slowly.

She could sit here for a little longer at least.

---

The 'throne room' of Redcliffe Castle wasn't large enough to get lost in, but it definitely was larger than Amy's entire house back in the Bay. They were led in by Tavius and a blonde young man who looked perpetually constipated - Amy hoped he actually was and not just being anal retentive about Amy bringing Katerina as a bodyguard, which he'd briefly tried to protest about before Tavius had said Alexius had said it was okay.

Which means he thinks he has enough men to overwhelm Vivienne, Cassandra and Katerina.
Amy hadn't even had to threaten to leave to get Alexius to let her in, which Vivienne claimed meant that Alexius not only wanted to kill her (duh) but was already ready, or at least felt like he was.

Fortunately, they had backup coming.

Hopefully.

Amy could see Fiona, standing tensely, while there were at least eight of the guards with the white hoods and the horned masks that she could see, standing by the pillars leading up to what Amy wasn't sure technically counted as a throne. Redcliffe castle was the seat of an by 'Arl', which were apparently like... mid-ranked nobles in Ferelden? Were thrones only a King thing or could the big fancy chair of any nobleman count?

Not that the chair was that fancy. Made of wood with some iron bits decorating it all over. And spikes on the sides. It was big, the top of the back easily a foot and a half above Alexius's head as he sat there, lounging nonchalantly. Felix stood next to him, and Amy wondered why he was making his sick kid stand while sitting himself.

If he's so worried about his son, especially since he collapsed yesterday... Then again, Felix standing would make it easier for him to run up to her so Amy could prove what she could do, so...

"The representatives of the Inquisition - Seeker Cassandra Pentaghast, Madame De Fer, and Amy Dallon." The blonde man said, announcing everyone but Katerina as they walked up a small set of stairs to be on a raised level of the room. Alexius and Felix were on another raised section, such that even sitting, he was above her.

Noble bullshit. Always have to be above everyone else. Did that mean the King got to have the highest raised section in his palace?

"My friends," Alexius stood and said in that 'friendly' voice that set Amy on edge. "It is so good to see you again."

"You too," Amy said. Vivienne and Cassandra gave similar pleasantries, while Katerina said nothing - bodyguards being silent was a thing, probably. The white-hooded Venatori guards (that's what they had to be, right?) weren't talking after all.

"I am sure we can work out some arrangement that will be equitable to all parties. I was surprised to hear you were so eager to call for a meeting so early. Had you given me more time, I could have had a meal prepared for you."

With the added ingredient of poison? Amy almost wanted to see the look on his face when her power took whatever poison he came up with and stopped it from working.

Almost because there was a chance Amy was wrong that her power could just tank any poison, especially the kind of poison a magister could come up with. Some kind of magical bullshit that would turn her spleen inside out, or make her shit out her stomach.

"That is good to hear," Vivienne said. "I do apologize for Amy's insistence, but we are somewhat pressed for time, and Amy is not one for patience."

"No apologies necessary. You have much ahead of you, and a great challenge in the Breach. I understand entirely. Perhaps we can share a meal after the conclusion of our discussions, in celebration."

"Sounds reasonable," Amy said, side-eying Vivienne. Sure it was probably stalling and setting his guard at ease or whatever but still, did Vivienne have to say 'oh, she's just an impatient child!'? Or, imply it anyway. "But yes, there's a lot to do and the Breach is kind of a big deal, so better to move ahead now. I hope Felix is feeling better than yesterday?"

"He is indeed. Thank you for your consideration."

"Thank you, Lady Dallon," Felix nodded, taking a small step closer to her - still a good fifteen to twenty feet away from her, but was he going to try to like... close that a bit, inching forward every chance he got?

Alexius returned to his chair. "So, the Inquisition needs mages, and I have them. So what shall you offer in exchange for their services?"

"Are we mages to have no voice in our own Fate?!" Fiona demanded, a hint of genuine anger in her voice.

"Fiona, you would not have put your people into my care if you did not trust me to see to their well being. Their fate is not changed - ten years of service under my supervision. The question at hand now is if I will have your mages spend some of that time assisting the Inquisition in closing the Breach."

"One question, before we begin, Magister," Cassandra asked. Okay, now what? More stalling from Cassandra? She heard Katerina shift behind her, her boot sliding across the ground as she changed stances?

"Certainly."

"Where is the Arl of Redcliffe? This is his castle, and the mages were only here in Redcliffe to begin with at the invitation of King Alistair and the permission of Arl Teagan.":

"The Arl has left Redcliffe for the time being. There were... tensions in the last few days before your arrival, and it was decided that an incident would be unhelpful to all parties involved. The Arl left for elsewhere in his holdings, as I understand it."

"I see." Cassandra nodded, her words terse, stiff. Amy was pretty sure that meant Cassandra didn't believe the Arl leaving had been all that voluntary.

"So, the question at hand, my friend, is what does the Inquisition offer for the services of the mages under my banner?" Alexius asked again. "For that matter, how many mages do you require? Ten would require less than twenty, after all."

"No idea," Amy admitted. "The Fade expert we have says at least a hundred, ones that can really work together to channel their power the way we need it to." Amy inhaled and exhaled slowly, trying not to look around to see if more Venatori were showing up, or if the others had arrived yet from the tunnel. Probably not.

The tunnel came out in the dungeons, and then they had to get from the dungeons to the throne room and they needed to stall, keep this going.

I have to try and play nice with this guy and hope he doesn't decide to just go ahead and try to kill me. What was Alexius waiting for? The chance to villain monologue? Was he waiting for a handshake after a deal was struck?

If he wasn't wearing gloves I could stop him before he could do anything, if we shook hands...

"So maybe... a hundred and twenty? Hundred and thirty? Err on the side of caution?" Amy offered, trying to play it off like she'd been thinking.

Alexius nodded, eyes moving around quickly, unfocused, one hand half raised towards his chin, fingers twitching, looking like he was mentally calculating - pretending he was gauging how much those hundred and thirty mages were worth to him?

"A number that can be worked with. Continue with your offer."

"It's funny - we came here prepared to make a deal with Fiona. I spent the entire trip from Haven practicing the things I'd say to her, the things we'd offer. The use of the Inquisition's connections and favors in the nobility and the Chantry to propose a better version of the Circles, or something to replace them. Let the mages stay free. Get rid of all the fucking bullshit of locking mages in prisons, Tranquility, that sort of thing."

"The Inquisition would claim that much authority?" Fiona asked, shocked. "The Chantry would never-"

"I don't really care what the Chantry thinks?" Amy offered. Cassandra stiffened next to her, but Vivienne showed no visible reaction. Amy swallowed. I'm stalling, I'm stalling, just saying whatever comes to mine. "I don't follow the Maker, I'm not Andraste's Herald, and I think the Chantry kin-" She swallowed her words before she said 'kinda sucks' and corrected course, "kind of created this situation. But they also have no leader, and with the kind of support the Inquisition can marshall, and then that with all the good will the mages would get from helping close the Breach? Counts for something."

She was kind of cribbing from her plans for what to say in negotiations, which made it easier to keep her words together, keep from - her heart beat fast in her chest, her head feeling a little light... it was worse and better than Val Royueax. No crowd, but the stakes - the -

Stall. Stall.

"But none of that is relevant anymore, now is it, my friend? So what are you offering now, in these circumstances?"

"The same thing - the connections and resources with the Chantry and nobility in the South. Sure you're from Tevinter and from what everyone says, no one down south likes Tevinter, which I find hard to believe. Why would anyone hate you guys, you know, with all the slavery and the history of brutal imperialism and blood magic and oppressive rule by magisters." Amy couldn't stop herself, veering off script as her nerves got the best of her, and it was all she could do to keep talking, keep drawing Alexius's attention, "Magisters who join evil cults," Amy was talking faster now, legs twitching to start pacing.

Cassandra's hand flew to the hilt of her sword and Vivienne reached behind herself, towards her staff slung over her back.

"Evil cults? It would sound as though you're buying into the stories they tell of Tevinter in the South."

Really? You're going to say that, in that smug little- "Oh shut up you slimy little son of a bitch. I know about the Venatori, I know you're here to kill me, and I know your son is dying of the Darkspawn Taint and you think this evil cult you've joined can save him!" Amy locked eyes with Felix and jerked her head backwards, hoping he got the message.

"What did you hear all that?" Alexius demanded coldly, standing up. Felix seemed to brace himself and then - he ran towards her, well, moved quickly anyway.

"From your son," Amy said as Felix reached her before Alexius could stop him. Amy grabbed onto his hand, feeling the taint in his system. She started gathering a cluster of Darkspawn Taint into a ball, ready to force it through his esophagus and make him cough it up. "He told us everything. Him and Dorian. Time travel - because of course this insane world full of magical bullshit has time travel, an evil cult that's obsessed with me - and correct me if I'm wrong, but the Venatori are behind the Breach, aren't they?"

There were more than eight Venatori soldiers now, standing around them, weapons drawn for most, two - mages - with hand raised and probably magic poised... no one was attacking. Probably the fact that Felix was right next to her, and waiting for a signal.

"You - you walk into this castle with that stolen mark on your hand, a gift you don't even understand, and you think you can turn my son against me!?"

Stolen? How the hell did I steal this stupid thing?

"You being stupid enough to join the Venatori turned your son against you," Amy snapped. Stall. Stall. She needed to get Felix coughing - she started pushing the ball of Taint through Felix's body, using some of his mass, wincing mentally at how he still really didn't have a lot to spare... the large meal he'd eaten last night had given him more fat cells to work with, but hardly a that much given what she was doing to his body...

What I wouldn't give for IVs...

She altered the white blood cells as fast as she could.

"You're trying very hard to live down to every story told to young apprentices about the evils of the Tevinter Imperium, Magister," Vivienne noted, holding her staff now. Amy heard Katerina draw her sword, saw Cassandra with hers

"You have no idea what you're talking about, none of you!" Alexius snarled, "Let go of my son or I will have you killed where you stand."

"You really want me to do that?" Amy said, trying to channel Carol as Felix started coughing up the ball of Taint.

"Felix! What are you - Venatori! Stop her! The Elder One demands this girl's death!"

The Venatori attacked - Katerina intercepted three of them, and Vivienne threw up a barrier that stopped two bolts of fire from hitting Amy and Cassandra rammed her shield into another, but here were more and then -

Ice and fire flew out from the left of the 'throne room' and hit another Venatori, arrows - hit more, and a Venatori that was close, almost to her, staggered back, dropping his sword, gurgling, an arrow in his throat.

"Never killed a damn Tevinter before. I guess you magic shits all die the same anyway?" Sera's voice rang out, chuckling.

"If you're counting on your men in the lower wing, Alexius, you should know they're already dead."

"Dorian!" Alexius turned at the sound of the voice of the fancy prettyboy mage, who stepped between the pillars, flinging another bolt of fire at a Venatori, who fell back, screaming as he burned, beating at the flames licking his torso. "I - why are you -How!? How could you do this to me? To Felix!?" Felix was still coughing, almost ready to retch the ball of Taint up...

"He's doing it for Felix!" Amy shouted. "Look!" The Taint reached the top of his esophagus and he doubled over, hacking, coughing and the ball flew out of his mouth, landing a few feet away from him. Amy pointed to it. "Your son is dying of the Darkspawn Taint. Well now, he's got less of it in his body than he did this morning!" The Taint was just sitting there, smelling like it always did and not being burned?! Why wasn't someone burning it?! Why wasn't someone taking off and nuking it from orbit!?

FUCKING BURN IT!

"You - you claim to do what only the Elder One can do!" Alexius scoffed, "No mere apprentice can do that, whatever petty talents you have in the healing arts! Let go of my son!" Alexius snarled, and he gathered lightning in his hand, flinging it at Amy -

Amy's breath caught, the whole world seeming to go still - he hadn't even had to like... cast a spell or use a staff, he'd just... boom, lighting.

I guess magisters are powerful-

She had no idea how quickly it flew at her, everything at a crawl and then the lighting hit a forcefield bare inches from her face, crackling across it - a barrier spell, Dorian's staff glowing softly.

"If you're done living down to every villainous cliche everyone expects from our people, Alexius, then perhaps you could pay attention!" Dorian said. "Because that is Taint. The smell alone should make it clear, and that wasn't magic that she just did to him."

A few Venatori were still fighting, but as Dorian spoke, Amy saw Cassandra knock one's sword out of his hand and then kick him in the chest, knocking him to the ground. She heard another body hit the floor somewhere behind her.

"Father, please," Felix said, voice a little weak. He paused, took a breath and straightened upright. Amy was doing nothing more to the Taint in him, but she kept her hand on his, figuring it was an insurance policy...

He was willing to attack me but he can't like... go full fireball or something when I have his son's hand, right?

"Even if she can't save me, the price the Venatori demand would be too high. And she can. I can feel - I can less of the Taint in me." Felix said, quickly, urgently. "Faither, please-"

"Can someone fucking burn that ball of Darkspawn Taint already!" Amy interrupted, unable to help herself.

Alexius looked from his son, to the ball of Darkspawn Taint on the ground, to his son, to Amy. "What did you do? What did you do? How can you possibly do something like that?!" Alexius demanded, though his words seemed less disbelieving, maybe? "Only the Elder One can command the Blight itself."

"I can't command the Taint. That's the whole fucking problem. If I could, I could heal your son a lot faster." Amy said. The others were starting to form up behind her, around the room, moving behind Alexius too. He was surrounded.

Are there more Venatori in the castle? Reinforcements that might come? Would it be enough? Dorian had said they killed some on the way here so...

And fuck me, I'm just chill about people dying now, aren't I? Amy knew that wasn't true, that she was just - she was distracted and focusing and adrenaline was high and -

"I can command your son's body in a way magic can't, and I can make it force the Taint out, in small bits," Amy explained. "Because I'm not a mage, so I can do what this 'Elder One' can do, if he can even do it."

"The Elder One - his power cannot be doubted. Had you not interrupted him at the Temple, he would have become a god." Alexius's words sounded like the words of a fanatic, but his tone was... exhausted. Tired. "He promised to save Felix if I undid the mistake at the Temple..."

"The Breach was an attempt at Godhood? Are you - Alexius, this is exactly the sort of insanity we've always opposed, the sort of thing you always said Tevinter can never be associated with again!" Dorian scoffed, "No matter what forces beyond our understanding a magister meddles with, they can't become a god!"

Dorian said it like it was an endemic problem, something Tevinter dealt with a lot - magisters trying to become gods.

"...you speak as if this Elder One was present at the Conclave when it exploded, but also still lives," Cassandra demanded. "How? Amy was the only survivor."

"The Elder One cannot be slain. He - he has power like you cannot believe." Alexius dropped into the chair behind him. "Felix... everything I have done, I have done to save you."

"Father, if the price to save my life is blood magic or the servitude of hundreds of innocent southern mages, then I don't want to live. And Amy can save me... please, let her do that, let the southern mages go, and let us go home," Felix urged, stepping forward, pulling his hand free from Amy's grip.

Fuck. Fuck. Amy's breath caught. Would Alexius attack her now? He didn't - he didn't seem like he had any fight left in him.

"If the price for my life is you betraying every principle you've held, everything you've believed was wrong about our country, then I don't want to live," Felix added. "Please, Father. End this."

"The only thing that matters is that you live, Felix."

"Then let me save him." Amy growled, "And will somebody burn that ball of Taint!" Amy shouted that second part, gesturing to the ball of literal evil just sitting there on the floor like it was nothing.

"I..." Alexius slumped in the chair, shoulders sagging, "There is little I can do to stop the southern mages from doing as they will, given what you've done to the Venatori soldiers. But save my son, and promise to protect him from the wrath of the Elder One for my betrayal and failure, and I will free them from their oaths of indenture, and tell you all I know of the Elder One and the Venatori."

Amy blinked, staring at him, at his sudden about-face. Fine, that was the whole point, saving his son for the mages, but yeah... that seemed sudden. On the other hand - she looked around at the dead and dying Venatori. At least fifteen in the room, however many were killed on the way here... he probably didn't have many or any left. Not many options. He expects punishment for failure. I guess that's what you get for working for the Evil Cult, buddy! Villains murdering their own minions for failure was one of the classics - E88 did it, the ABB did it - Marquis was apparently infamous for it - sometimes his goons would just vanish quietly, others would be made an example of, publicly left out crucified on bone.

If this 'Elder One' - what kind of title was that anyway? - was behind the explosion that created the Breach, then the Inquisition would want to have all the information Alexius had on him.

"Healing your son will take a few days," Amy said, "What I do to expel the Darkspawn Taint from the body is taxing. If I expelled it all now, it would kill him." She inhaled, "But I can get rid of more now," She touched Felix's hand and immediately started gathering more Taint - she went for some low-hanging fruit, modifying more fat cells into improved white blood cells and sending them to start dragging, pushing, squeezing more Taint out of Felix's body. "As for protecting your son from reprisal..." she looked at Cassandra. Was she allowed to say yes? Cassandra nodded, and Amy swallowed, looking back at Alexius, "Tell the Inquisition what you know, and they'll protect him."

It stuck in her, to give this evil idiot everything he wanted, but...

It was a smaller ball of Taint she forced into Felix's esophagus and once again, he doubled over, coughing, gagging as he got it out, the evil foul-smelling shit landing on the ground with a wet plap near him this time.

"And will somebody burn the fucking balls of Darkspawn Taint already!"

 

[Foxfax]

To summarize:
"Hork!" * splat*
"FUCKING BURN THE EVIL FLESH BALLS, DAMMIT!"
XD

 

[Kylia Quilor]

Author's Note: A short chapter compared to most chapters lately, but conceptually it was a great spot to end the chapter, and it had some structural advantages.

---

Someone did end up burning the balls of Darkspawn Taint, and Amy checked on Felix's biology. She'd used up a lot of his fat cells... she'd rushed the process of getting the Taint out both times, to make a point. If she moved slower, she could...

The Taint spreads if I just put it somewhere, but if I gather more of it together, I can still get it out faster, right, and use fat to... Amy's mind raced with possibilities. She had more ideas to improve white blood cells to resist the Taint for even more seconds - not for long, no matter what she did, but every second of life counted if it allowed her to use less of Felix's own biomass.

Alexius, apparently sincere in his commitment to switching sides and throwing the Venatori under the bus, told them that there were more Venatori in the 'Upper Wing'. There was a brief discussion of having him order them to surrender their weapons, since they might not know until it was too late he had betrayed them, but it was decided that it was unlikely to work - telling the cultists to stand down in any form would probably be proof he'd betrayed the cult.

So Ser Trevelyan and his men - along with Iron Bull and Sera were sent to go deal with the Venatori. Bull was apparently feeling downright nostalgic about getting to kill 'damned Vints' again.

"I suppose it's hard to find a Qunari warrior that doesn't have experience fighting my people," Dorian mused, watching Iron Bull leave. Then he walked up to Alexius, "You're making the right choice, Alexius," he told his mentor softly. "But I think you should probably get rid of the amulet, so you aren't tempted to try to erase Amy here from time again, in an effort to win back this Elder One's favor after this failure."

"ERASE ME FROM TIME?!" Amy demanded, then she flushed as she realized she'd screeched the words out. "That - you can - you - what?!"

"In theory, it was a possible application of our research. Like with the time travel itself, we could never get it to work, but I would imagine it's been the Breach that allowed it to work, correct?" Alexius nodded slowly, mournfully, handing Dorian a cubic pendant on a silver chain. "Which would be why you couldn't just prevent things going wrong with whatever insane ritual this Elder One planned, or stop Felix from getting Tainted in the first place."

"Erase me from time." Amy said again. "That was your plan?"

"Mages. They can never just kill you." Varric muttered.

"Killing you wouldn't change the fact that whatever you did stole the Elder One's mark." Alexius explained. "But if you were never at the Conclave, if you never existed..." Alexius trailed off. "But I failed, and in failing, I have earned the Elder One's wrath."

"I'm not even from Thedas?! How could it - go back much further than whatever the fuck I did to mess with this Elder One's evil plot to become God," Amy couldn't even beginto imagine how she said that one with a straight face, "and I'm not on Thedas at all! I'm from another world you -" Amy cut herself off as...

Would the magic even work on Earth-Bet? What if it - what if it had happened and I just... never came to Thedas? What if it undid the Bakuda Bomb and I was home and I still had Vicky and -

Amy tried to force back on the longing, and the tantalizing, insane possibility that it would work. But... more likely it wouldn't. She had no idea how this shit worked. Maybe it would have done that, erased her from everything. What would happen then? Would Vicky have died in the mall? Would she have even been there? Her sister would have been reckless and gotten hurt sooner or later and -

On the other hand, not existing... it -

It wouldn't be dying. Amy didn't want to die. She just...

For the first time in years, Amy realized it wasn't as enticing to linger on the idea of just... not existing for a while. The idea was - it - she still almost liked it but - but not as much? She shook her head violently, trying to force herself to focus on the moment, on what the others were saying.

"What exactly do you plan to do with that?" Cassandra gestured to the amulet in Dorian's hands.

"Much as I'm loathe to undo years of research and work, under the circumstances, destroying it seems to be the best option," Dorian admitted. "It's dangerous, and it's the cause of the time-altering rifts opening up. And as long as the amulet exists, someone might be tempted to use it."

"As I understand it, you worked with Alexius in the first place to make this magic, did you not think it would be dangerous in the first place?" Solas asked curiously, leaning on his staff.

"Dangerous yes, this dangerous, no." Dorian admitted. "Mostly we worked on it to see if it was even possible. All the theory and underlying principles said it should work, and yet, we never could manage it. Finding out the only thing we needed was a massive tear in reality is... almost a letdown, really." Dorian sighed. "Destroying this safely will take some time."

"Would assistance make that go faster?" Cassandra asked. "The sooner that is destroyed, the better."

"I'd drink to that if I had anything handy," Katerina agreed.

"Seconded," Amy muttered.

"I'm not sure. When we made this amulet in the first place, we didn't spend a lot of time on figuring out how to destroy it safely." Dorian sighed. "Rather reckless of us in hindsight."

"Quite a bit more than reckless, dear,": Vivienne observed, "But nothing more than I would expect from a Tevinter. Unrestricted, mad, dangerous experimentation is but the least of your people's barbarisms."

"Ah yes, insulting my homeland. And Orlais is far better, caging their mages and murdering someone because they put too much salt in the soup," Dorian quipped back. "Perhaps we can save this discussion for another time?"

"That would be a good idea," Cassandra agreed quickly.

"As for help - I'm happy to find out if assistance would make destroying this safely go faster. Before I start on that, however, there's more I'd like to know about this Elder One, Alexius."

"As would I, but there is still much to do, and a few things that should be done first." Cassandra turned to Fiona. "Your mages are now free from their bondage to Alexius and Tevinter. Would they still follow you, after what you did?"

"My people agreed with me that the choice we made was the only one that presented at the time. We were desperate, and returning to Circles or laying down and dying were not options." Fiona was defiant, but then she inhaled and looked down, "It was not the right choice, but it was the only choice."

"Right, and Alexius here decided his only choice was joining the evil cult." Amy snapped. "There's always a choice, and the better choice is to not sign on with the evil slave-owning empire. Desperation isn't a goddamn excuse." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'm healing Felix, so you're free. You should probably tell your people they don't have ten years of working for Tevinter ahead of them. We still need your help with the Breach, so don't go far since we need to talk about all that."

"Were you sincere when you told Alexius what you originally came here to negotiate? The terms you had in mind - the resources of the Inquisition, bent towards securing support for our freedom?" Fiona asked. Amy started to nod, but Vivienne, being Vivienne, had to chime in.

"Those plans were drawn up before we knew what you'd done. Letting Alexius drive the Arl out of his own castle, and swearing yourselves to him - when word of this spreads, it will destroy the sympathy too many in the south feel for your mad cause, Fiona."

"And when the mages help close the fucking Breach, that will probably improve their sympathy," Amy ground out. "You don't fucking speak for me, Vivienne. Or the Inquisition."

"You've seen what they will do when they're left to their own devices without supervision, Amy,": Vivienne said calmly.

"That they did something stupid like this doesn't change that the Circles are fucked up, Harrowings are insane and inflicting Tranquility on people who don't ask for it is evil," Amy snapped. She wasn't sure how she felt about people choosing it either, but that was - slightly less evil, at least? Maybe not evil? "What they did was wrong and stupid, but forcing them back into the Circles is even more wrong and evil." Maybe if the rebel mages had done something for Tevinter - oppressed anyone, put down rebelling slaves or like done blood magic or anything, then Vivienne would have a point, that the rebel mages have proven they couldn't be trusted.

"Let us hope, Amy, that the cost of realizing your naivete does not prove to be too high." Vivienne said primly, Amy rolled her eyes and looked away from Vivienne, turning back to Fiona. She always has to have the last word, doesn't she?

"So," Amy said to Fiona, "Yes, that's the offer. Help close the Breach and the Inquisition tries to get everyone - or enough people anyway - to support mages being free from the circles, or as close as you can get. I can't make promises it will take, but," Amy inhaled and thought back to all the preparations she'd made for the negotiations, "Right now, the Chantry is leaderless, and Thedas is all -" she gestured expansively, "A mess. So now's the time to renegotiate terms." This was more familiar ground.

"You paint an attractive offer," Fiona said softly. "And the entire Inquisition agrees with this?" She looked from Vivienne to Cassandra, "And will keep its word after the Breach is closed?"

"The Circles as they existed failed," Cassandra said after a moment. "Returning things to as they were cannot be done, nor should it be done. And we need your people's help to close the Breach. We will keep our word."

"Even as Right Hand of the Divine, your reputation was always honorable, Seeker Pentaghast," Fiona admitted. She looked back at Amy, "You offer the best deal we are likely to get. I will tell my people. I have little doubt they will accept. It will take a few days for us all to make ready for the trip to Haven, especially given the children and the elderly."

They had children they were protecting. Amy had known that - apprentices and stuff - but being reminded... It made Fiona's fear for her people and her willingness to take any way out available like... slightly less bad, but -

It was still so fucking stupid. And still wrong! And -

The Templars weren't even close to Redcliffe to attack it. (Yet. Best to make sure that didn't happen, once they were done here).

"You have like... four hundred and some mages here, right?" Amy asked, trying to remember what she'd heard. FIona nodded. "Do we - does Haven even have room for all of them?" Amy asked Cassandra. "The village was packed and new homes - log cabins - were being built as quickly as possible, Amy knew, but a lot of people were still in tents. Fur-lined tents and with really warm bedrolls and stuff, so at least people weren't freezing to death but - Haven was cold up in the mountains, and even if it wasn't as cold as it could be during the day - it could get very cold at night.

Thanks to Amy's abilities, and the fact that alchemists could make good medicines for a medieval shithole world, there hadn't been any major outbreaks of disease with people packed in together in the cold, but sticking four hundred more people, including a bunch of kids and old people into the village? That would have an impact.

And - and like, I'm not going to be there all the time, and hopefully once the Breach is closed we can find a way to get me back home and - It was better to just not do that, right?

"More structures to house people are being built as quickly as possible but... no, I don't think we will have enough housing. Distributing some of your people to the outposts and positions across the Hinterlands under the Inquisition's protection might be the best option."

"And Haven's really cold at night and packing people in tight leads to illness, especially among children and old people." Amy added.

"You make a fair point. And the trip up the mountains to Haven would take a toll on many of my people. But we must leave Redcliffe. I..." she hesitated, swallowing, then, "I doubt King Alistair will allow us to stay here. He might even try to remove us from Ferelden entirely, given..." she trailed off and gestured to Alexius, who was still slumped in the 'throne' and staring blankly at nothing.

"If the King wants you out of Ferelden, he can wait." Amy muttered. "Isn't a King supposed to protect their people? Where the fuck was he when there were bandits and extremists running around the Hinterlands attacking refugees? There's a reason the Inquisition has soldiers stationed all over the place, right? So fuck him, he can wait."

"Amy..." Cassandra started, and Amy shook her head.

"I don't care. I don't give a shit about a King's tender sensibilities." Amy countered. "I have no bandwidth to give a shit about a King that is apparently too busy doing nothing to do anything about shit here in the Hinterlands."

"Ferelden is still recovering from the Fifth Blight." Fiona said, defending Alistair apparently. "The Kingdom has few soldiers and fewer funds to raise more."

"Excuses, excuses," Amy rolled her eyes.

"It is unlikely that the King and Queen will be happy about what happened here, but I believe Josephine Montilyet and Leliana can prevail upon him to not expel you from Ferelden entirely as long as you leave Redcliffe and stay under our auspices until the Breach is closed. As for the logistics of securing your people in Haven or elsewhere, we can discuss that tomorrow."

"Very well. I shall take my leave and discuss with my people." She nodded to Amy and Cassandra, and departed, very pointedly not looking at Vivienne - who did the same to her.

Amy let out a breath. Dorian had been about to ask Alexius questions about the Elder One and the Venatori before Fiona had spoken up, and Cassandra probably wanted to know about that too, and... Amy couldn't help but be curious but she also had other things to deal with.

"I get there's a lot of stuff going on, but I have a lot of work I need to do to get Felix completely free of the taint. So you all can ask Alexius questions about the Venatori," she took in a breath, "but I need to get Felix to the kitchen and start him eating as much as possible."

---

Amy had already had the thought that having Fugly Bob's - or any fast food really - handy would make Amy's life much easier when it came to healing people in Thedas. In the long run, probably not worth all the other health problems if full scale fast food caught on, but... still.

Failing fast food...

"What I wouldn't give for a blender and some protein powder. Or maybe a pile of protein bars." She muttered under her breath as she walked through the well stocked larder of Redcliffe castle. Wheels of cheese, encased in wax, smoked and dried and salted meats, preserves and jams and hard dried bread, beer (lots of beer), pickled vegetables and more.

After an explanation to Alexius about why she needed Felix to eat a lot, Cassandra let Amy go to see to that, with Katerina and Varric in tow, along with Felix of course.

"What are those?"

"Food from back home," Amy answered Varric absently, picking up a jar of weird looking vegetables in what Amy figured was brine. The glass was thick and opaque, making it even harder to tell what kind of vegetable it actually was - long, thin and purple? "Well, a blender is a tool for preparing food." If she needed to get someone a lot of calories fast and didn't have fast food or a bunch of IVs handy, milkshakes and smoothies were a pretty good option. And if need be, sticking a funnel down their throat.

"Good food?" Katerina asked. "Like those fries you asked Lady Montilyet to have made?" Amy had told Kateirna about them, and apparently Flissa, the owner of Haven's tavern and sort of the Inquisition's head chef, sort of, had made them a few more times for sale in the tavern and some people had liked them. Including Katerina.

"Not really," Amy shook her head. She'd protein shakes and protein bars as a thing to eat when she needed to rush to the hospital, and they did the job, but the taste was never good. "But they have the advantage of being nutrient dense. We need to get as many calories into Felix as possible as fast as possible to replenish the fat in his body that I use up to get rid of the taint."

"I don't think Felix has any fat on his body." Varric suggested.

"Calories?" Felix asked at the same time.

"Everyone has a bit of fat, at least, unless they're literally starving." Amy explained. "Calories are... they're basically a measure of how much energy food gives you. The body uses the energy to - you know - live and also to do things. That's why you're gonna be hungrier after doing a lot of physical activity and stuff. The body stores excess calories you don't need as fat." Amy was oversimplifying, but that was the basics, and that's all Felix needed. "Which can make you fat and also why eating less and exercising makes you not fat if you are."

"So the plan is for me to eat foods that have more of these calories? I may not be familiar with the term, but it's not as if I don't know what food would make someone fat if they ate too much of it."

"It's not just calories, but the most calories the fastest. Sure, we could just have you chow down on a whole wheel of cheese a day, and - you might as well grab one of those, Katerina because it'll be good for him to eat a good chunk of that - but if we want to pack as much into you as possible, we want stuff that won't make you feel full, but will have a lot of calories. Sugary foods. Sugar if you have it here, honey... do you guys have maple syrup or anything like that handy?"

"Maple syrup?"

"It's a very sweet thing you make from the sap of the maple tree. Don't know how. It's tasty on pancakes," Amy shook her head, "Not the point." She grabbed a jar of what appeared to be blackberry jam. Not her favorite, but there was a lot of it, so it would do. Then she grabbed a jar of honey. "Grab those sausages," she pointed to a whole string of smoked sausages. If those were fried up in oil, that would help too.

And... well, french fries were a great way to eat a lot of calories easily. If only Flissa was here to do it.

Katerina grabbed a wheel of cheese - it had to be at least ten pounds - and the sausages, and then they all heard out of the larder and into the kitchen. Some of the castle's servants had fled when Alexius took over, most just going into the town, refusing to work for a Magister, though some had left with the Arl. The rest had stayed, even if they weren't happy about cooking and cleaning for Alexius and his Venatori.

Felix, at least, had apparently been nice and polite and never tried to order people around much, so the kitchen staff were less angry with him than everyone else, and when Amy had let them know that the Venatori were dead or imprisoned and Alexius had surrendered and the mages would be leaving Redcliffe soon, they were thrilled.

She'd half-expected the head chef, a tall, barrel-chested man, to hug her given how pleased he'd been, but thankfully he had not. The staff were also happy to help the Herald of Andraste, so she was pretty sure no one was going to poison Felix's food.

She'd be touching him as he ate to make sure. Plus, she wanted to monitor him carefully even when she wasn't expelling the Taint from him. She was worried it would... react to what she was doing, grow faster, somehow overwhelm Felix all at once, if she didn't keep an eye on it. Probably stupid - and she wanted to see if she could get an idea of how the powders Alexius had developed worked to slow the progression of the Darkspawn Taint down in the meantime - but she wasn't going to take chances.

Leaving aside how Alexius would react if his son suddenly died, Amy was not going to let the Darkspawn Taint win. That evil shit was going to lose.

I'm fucking Panacea, and even if I can't actually cure you like I would anything else, I will save people from you, you disgusting vile shit. She hated the Taint on so many levels, and it offended her that she couldn't cure it. She was Panacea, the miracle healer. She could affect literally any biology, as far as she could tell and yet, somehow, this fucking nightmare shit was immune.

Fuck that.

So she asked the kitchen people to slice up and fry up the sausages, explained the basic idea of french fries to see if they could at least make something that would work, and got a few more things, including bread, plates and utensils. Beer was brought out as well for the others. Water for her.

It had calories, so she wasn't going to stop Felix from drinking any if he wanted.

"Most of this food is for Felix, but since we did kind of skip lunch," Amy had just had some dried fruit and nuts as a snack , "to come to the Castle, we should eat too."

"Thank the Maker, I was hoping you'd say that." Katerina grinned.

Amy sliced off a thick slice of the bread - baked this morning - and spread some of the thick blackberry jam on the piece, then spooned some honey onto the bread, and handed it to Felix. "Eat." she told him, putting a hand on the back of his neck. "I'm going to keep an eye on you and make sure nothing goes wrong."

Katerina started to break the wax around the cheese and Varric was spreading some jam on a slice of bread for himself.

"Now that you've got the mages on side, and... faster than it might have taken, you don't really need to go to the Templars at all, Amy," Katerina suggested. "We can just go back to Haven and -"

"Are you trying to get out of our bet by convincing Amy not to go meet the Templars?" Varric accused with a chuckle, before taking a bite of his bread and jam.

"What?! No," Katerina shook her head, "Fuck, Varric, I'll give you the win and the ten silvers if you help me convince Amy not to go to Therinfall-"

"It doesn't matter if Varric tried, I'm not changing my mind," Amy spread some jam on another piece of bread for herself. It was easier said than done to do one handed - no hand on the plate to stabilize it - since she was keeping one hand on Felix.

"Here, let me," Katerina reached over the table and pried the knife out of Amy's hand pulling Amy's plate towards herself, ignoring Amy's protests. "You have what you need to close the Breach. Just leave the Templars to rot in their hole."

Amy felt Felix swallow a large mouthful of food and then take a breath, preparing to say something.

"Less talking, more eating," Amy interrupted before he could say anything, using her free hand to snatch her plate back now that Katerina had spread the jam. She took a bite from the bread - even more than blackberry jam usually was in her experience, this stuff was tart. But it was food, she was hungry, and she should eat while she could.

"I think I can eat and-"

"Abupupup," Amy interrupted again. "The more you eat and the faster you eat the faster I can get the Darkspawn Taint out of you and the less likely there's some unexpected complication that does serious harm or kills you."

"That's - that's possible?"

"I have no fucking clue, the Taint is almost entirely a mystery to me, it's evil nightmare shit, I half expect it to burst out of your chest and try and eat my face," Amy muttered. "So eat." Felix hesitated, and Amy rolled her eyes. "It's probably not going to, and if it did, I'd probably - probably - be able to save you. Maybe." It would depend on if his heart exploded when the Darkspawn Taint burst out of his chest and how fast she could get to him and...

"And you said I wasn't allowed to try and make you feel better, PanPan,"

"Shut up Varric," Amy muttered again without heat, and then, "Anyway, if we could be sure the Templars would stay in their hole and rot there, I'd think about it," she admitted. The concern about the Lord Seeker lashing out if he lost his chance at glory was the biggest reason Amy wanted to get the Templars onboard. The injustice of their treatment when it came to Lyrium and the addiction to it was definitely a reason too, and... there was the fact that Cassandra wanted a peace to be forged, and she had given Amy her trust, asked Amy to prove that she could do it, given Amy a chance...

Amy wasn't going to fail Cassandra. She wasn't. She was going to -

"Stay in their hole? What do you mean?" Felix asked before Amy could repeat the 'no talk, eat' instructions.

"The Lord Seeker is crazy and thinks he's the main character of a story." Amy answered, sighing. "I mean it - no talk, just eat. Have a few spoonfuls of the honey straight." She instructed.

"I think the kid can be trusted to eat a lot of food without you giving him instructions," Varric said with a chuckle. Felix was older than Katerina - mid twenties if she guessed right without checking closer - but that was still a kid to Varric apparently.

"Again, most food possible as fast as possible is the idea here. We don't want Felix to feel full too fast." She rolled her eyes, "Anyway, the problem with Lord Seeker "I am the Hero of This Story and You Are All Bit Players " Lucius is that if we don't give him a chance to save the day by helping with the Breach, he'll probably attack us at Haven now that we've brought on the mages."

"And so your solution is to walk into an obvious trap, invite the crazy bastard to come to Haven with all his Templars and then hope that maybe you and Commander Cullen and Lady Montilyet can convince enough Templars see reason. Great plan, Amy."

"I dunno," Varric shrugged, "I've met a few reasonable Templars."

"But not that many. Because there's only been a small handful of reasonable Templars to ever exist." Katerina popped a small piece of cheese into her mouth and washed it down with a sip of beer.

"I can't say. For some reason most Templars don't seem to like me."

"I can't imagine why they wouldn't like you, Varric." Amy muttered.

"Eh, I think they just don't have much sense of humor. How did you manage to escape that horrible fate, Red?" Varric asked Katerina, finishing his own piece of bread and jam after asking.

"I never took Lyrium. Pretty sure that's what makes most Templars so fucking dour and personality-less," Katerina offered with a grin.

That... kind of tracks, I think, with what I've heard, Amy considered

"There's a theory. Hey, kid," he gestured at Felix. Amy let out an exasperated sigh and dropped her head into one hand, "The Templars in Tevinter - they don't take Lyrium. Do they have a sense of humor?"

They have Templars in Tevinter? At almost the same time she had the thought, Katerina had an outburst saying the exact same thing.

"Yes. We were once part of the same Chantry as you here in the south," Felix said, sounding as if he was reminding her of something he felt like she should know. Maybe a little exasperated. "Templars were part of the Chantry well before we split."

"Yeah, but I mean, I assumed you got rid of them. Your Circles are just schools for magic, not prisons. I can't imagine a magister taking orders from a Templar about what magic they can and cannot do."

"Circles in Tevinter are the most prestigious academies for mages, not just 'schools'," Felix corrected. "And...you're not wrong about magisters not taking orders from Templars. It is the other way around - officially they investigate and prosecute abuse of magic - demon summoning, abominations... in practice, they're tools the members of the Magisterium use against one another or to make sure lesser mages without political connections toe the line. Only the truly egregious abuses that can't be hidden will be punished. One of the many things my father always tried to push back against before I was Tainted." Felix exhaled slowly, clearly upset, looking at the partially eaten piece of cheese on his plate. It was a large piece.

That's kind of the opposite of surprising. Based on what she knew about Tevinter - evil, slave-owning, mages running the place - she wouldn't have expected them to let the magic police actually police them, and using them as corrupt cops to attack each other or like, keep the lesser mages down made perfect sense. Don't let outsiders into their clubhouse.

The Tevinter and Empire 88 comparisons continue. If there was one thing E88 loved almost as much as dealing drugs, running protection rackets and brutalizing minorities, it was cracking down on other gangs. More than one minor gang had arisen over the years with cape at the head, tried to claim territory and Empire 88 would fall on them sometimes before the PRT or BBPD even heard about them.

And as for backstabbing and treachery... well, whatever the official statement from Kaisar about Allfather's death - and he had put out one, a recording released onto a friendly news station and everything - Carol and Uncle Neil had always believed that Kaisar had killed his own father to take over the gang. Iron Rain had been out of the picture for a few years, and then Allfather...

Amy believed it. Why wouldn't a Nazi piece of shit commit patricide for power?

"As for their sense of humor -" Before he could finish, one of the doors to the little room adjacent to the kitchen they were in burst open, crashing against the wall next to it and Cassandra's voice rang out, harsh, loud, furious.

"Varric, you lying little shit!" Amy turned in her chair to see Cassandra storming across the room, the fury in her eyes and voice, something Amy hadn't seen from Cassandra since the day she'd woken up in that cell.

"What are you talking about?" Varric barely had time to put his beer down before Cassandra had pulled him from his chair and shoved him against the wall, hands on the collar of his leather jacket. "What are you blaming me for this time?!"

"You told me he was dead!" She ground him against the wall a bit, getting in his face. What the - what is she pissed about? What's going on? Seeing Cassandra like this against an ally - she didn't really trust Varric much and she could totally see him lying but -

She was talking to Alexius about the Venatori. He must have said something about someone Varric said was dead? Who could make her so angry? Why is she -

"I've said a lot of people are dead, who are you talking about this time?!" Varric wasn't trying to escape Cassandra's grip - probably because he couldn't - but he was matching her volume, yelling back at her.

"Lady Pentaghast!" "Cassandra!" Amy and Katerina both said at the same time. Amy stood, no idea what was going on, no idea what to do, but she couldn't just stand here and -

At the very least Cassandra had to explain what she was angry about, not just yell? Heart pounding in her chest, she moved to Cassandra's side.

"Cassandra - what - what are you doing?"

"I don't think slamming him against the wall is the way to get answers from him, Lady Pentaghast," Katerina offered.

"Did you know?!" Cassandra demanded, apparently ignoring them both.

"Cassandra, stop!" Amy grabbed at Cassandra's shoulder, but there wasn't much she could actually do to pull the other woman away from Varric without using her power on her and she - she wasn't going to do that. She looked at Katerina, pleading with her to do something with her eyes, hoping Katerina got the message.

Would she even - Katerina had a near hero-worship for Cassandra, enormous respect for her, would she get in the way? She'd let stuff happen before and this wasn't the same but-

"Lady Pentaghast, forgive me, but you should let him go," Katerina said firmly, pushing her way between them, prying Cassandra's left hand off of his collar - Cassandra let go with her right and stepped back, turning away, fuming, breathing heavily.

Varric didn't fall into a heap once Cassandra let him go, but he might have stumbled if Katerina hadn't caught him and helped him stay up.

"Did you know, Varric?" Cassandra demanded again, not lowering her voice.

"Know what, Seeker?" Varric demanded, glaring at her.

"The Venatori's Elder One! It is Corypheus!"

"Corypheus? No. No. He's dead. He's dead." Varric insisted. Amy blinked.

Was that - is that fear? Is Varric afraid of this - Amy didn't recognize the name, and Katerina and Felix didn't either, from the looks of them.

"So you claimed," Cassandra growled. "And yet, he is the one who leads the Venatori, who promised Alexius a cure for Felix."

"He was dead," Varric insisted firmly, flatly, "I've killed a lot of people in my life," - words that should have made Amy do or say or... something, but she doubted Varric was actually a murderer. Just killing people in fights, probably to defend himself most of the time.

I - this - how am I becoming so okay with killing? Amy pushed down on her nausea - if she let it rise up too much she'd throw up again and that was the last thing she needed to have happen if she wanted Felix to eat more...

"I know dead. He had no pulse, no breath, he was covered in stab wounds, charred to a crisp and filled with bolts from Bianca. Hawke kicked the body's head a few times! Maker's breath, we even tried to loot his corpse, not that he had anything to take. He was dead!"

"Who the Fuck is Corypheus?" Amy said the name slowly, trying to make sure she got it right. Of all the names she'd run into in Thedas so far, it was one of the few that really sounded like a true 'Fantasy' name. The jumble of random syllables she'd come to expect from mid-grade fantasy novels. "I'm going to assume he's not in your book," Katerina not recognizing the name pretty much solidified that.

"If I'd put Corypheus in the book nobody would believe me." Varric shook his head, "Andraste's ass, I lived through it all and I still barely believe it happened. Until you showed up and we got a massive hole in the sky, I thought it was the craziest shit I'd ever have to deal with." He looked back at Cassandra, "He's dead, Seeker," Varric repeated. "Just because some power hungry magister with delusions of godhood is using the name doesn't mean I lied."

"A tall Darkspawn capable of coherent speech, possessed of powerful magic and who claims to be one of the Magisters who breached the Golden City?" Cassandra hissed. "Lyrium embedded in his face, just as you described him."

"Shit." Varric said simply, dropping into his chair, staring ahead. "He was dead, Seeker. I - are you sure Alexius wasn't lying?"

"How would he know of him to lie? I did not even tell Leliana about the story you told me. I cannot imagine Hawke or your other companions spread the tale much. Corypheus lives, Varric. You did not kill him, and now the Divine is dead at his hands! All the dead at the Conclave are his fault. And you did lied about killing him!"

"I thought he was dead! Again, his body was charred to a crisp and full of holes! We nearly died taking him down, we wanted to make damn sure he was dead." Varric shook his head. "If he survived somehow - I don't know it, but... shit."

Magisters who breached the Golden City. The whole - the guys who brought the Blights and shit? One of them is alive? A Darkspawn? And - he's -

"You didn't fight one of the Magisters Sidereal. You didn't - there's no way one of them is running around Thedas leaving a Tevinter cult," Katerina said, giggling, "That's impossible."

"If he wasn't one of them, he did a damn good impression of one, and he'd been in that Grey Warden prison for long enough to one." Varric countered. "Maybe he's just crazy, but he sure believes he went into the Fade and went to the Golden City, and he had enough power to nearly kill Hawke, Merril, Bethany and me."

"Can you fill me on on - Okay, how - okay, so I remember the whole 'Magisters brought the Taint from the Fade' thing and I hate that it feels believable given a look at the Taint, but who - how - when did you fight some ancient evil super wizard from a thousand years ago?! And - you killed him, but he's alive now and -" Amy blinked. "Well, wait, if he's the one who was doing some kind of sacrifice with Divine Justinia, then he was at the Conclave, but alive enough after to go to Alexius and make the deal - undo me doing whatever the fuck I did - then he survived the explosion that killed everyone but me. So..." Amy exhaled slowly. "Some kind of unkillable supervillain?"

Great. Just what Thedas needed.

"Maybe. Or maybe we just need a bigger explosion." Varric muttered. "Or a ring and a volcano."

"Fun-ny," Amy growled. She really fucking hoped it wasn't that. Or maybe she did. That would be simple. "Let's get back to how you and Hawke fought this ancient super wizard bastard and Jesus Christ this is my fucking life now. How is this my life?!"

"It's a long story. But I'll try and trim it down," Varric sighed. "Sit down," he gestured to the chairs. "You as well, Seeker."

"I'll remain standing." Cassandra said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Suit yourself." Varric sighed. "Okay, I don't think you've gotten to this in my book, Amy, but suffice to say, the Deep Roads Expedition was a massive success, but Bethany was left in Kirkwall and ended up being found out and forced into the Circle in Kirkwall. She actually did pretty well there, and Hawke was able to use the funds from selling all the loot we found to buyback her grandparents' mansion, secure her old family titles back - some of them - and basically never have to worry about money again, for the most part, unless all her investments tanked at once."

"She had a mostly quiet few years - quiet for Hawke anyway, which meant the occasional assassination attempt, doing the occasional mercenary work just to break up the monotony, and of course, making eyes at Merrill because she couldn't just tell Daisy how she felt about her. While all this was happening, one faction of the Carta suddenly got very persistent about trying to capture her. A few attempts in a row, all failed, and they even snuck people into the Circle to try and do the same for Bethany."

Katerina laughed, "Someone tried to break into the - Andraste's ass, how stupid were they?"

"Incredibly," Varric answered deadpan. "I was able to track down where the people behind the attacks were - this old fort in the Vinmark Mountains - and the Templars actually gave Bethany permission to go with Hawke and find out what was going on." Amy saw Katerina open her mouth and Varric shrugged, "I know, I can't believe it. It was before Meredith went especially crazy, so things were tough, but not as bad as they got. Hawke being a rich noble meant Bethany had some extra protections and could even visit her family from time to time, or vice-versa, but permission to travel days outside the city? I did not expect that."

"What's unusual about the Carta trying to kill Hawke? Hadn't she pissed them off more than once?"

"Sure, but these attacks were sloppier than usual, and all the dwarves involved fought to the death. And they kept trying and went after Sunshine. Carta usually leaves the Circles alone - smuggling Lyrium in for the Templars is too much of their business for them to risk it.:" Varric explained. "So we went to the fort, but there was no reason for the Carta to be there. No good smuggling routes, in the middle of damned nowhere, not good safehouse material... the attacks were coming from there, but the rest of the Carta had no damn idea what was going on there. Carta is always spying on itself, so they should have had something."

"You're building up to something." Amy sighed, "Do we need the drama?"

"I'm a storyteller, Amy. If you want the boring two-minute version, ask Cassandra." Varric shook his head. "Hawke, Merrill, Bethany and I went in, and got attacked pretty constantly from the moment we went in. The Carta were... fanatical. And apparently after Hawke and Bethany because they were the children of Malcolm Hawke."

Amy blinked. "This was about their dad?" Amy blinked, trying to remember what little Tale of the Champion actually ever mentioned about the man. He had died before the Fifth Blight, he was a mage but he'd also taught Hawke and Bethany's twin Carver how to fight with regular weapons, because he'd been good at swords and spells. He'd been a mercenary before meeting Hawke's mother and she'd run off with him. "Some old enemy from his mercenary days?"

"That's what Hawke figured at first, but no. They mentioned that someone named 'Corypheus' wanted their blood." Varric snorted after a moment, "Hawke made a joke about it - 'With a name like Corypheus, he's bound to go mwa-ha-ha at any moment'. But jokes aside, we had no idea who that was, so we kept going. We should have just killed the Carta in the fort and left, but instead, we followed them underground, to figure out what was going on. Like idiots."

Well, anyone who has delusions of godhood definitely would go mwa-ha-ha, and yeah, that name does have villain vibes, I have to admit. Since apparently this Corypheus was the goddamn Dark Lord of the insane story that was her life now... Hawke was coming off as downright prescient.

"Turns out, the old fort was the top of a massive prison, built by the Gray Wardens back before Andraste launched her Exalted March. And by following the Carta in, we'd locked ourselves in there with them. Only way out was to break all the locks... which was what the Carta wanted anyway. Turns out, the Grey Wardens had forced Malcolm Hawke to use his own blood to renew some ancient magical wards on the place, because the blood of their own mages wouldn't work. Which was why they wanted Hawke's blood - the blood of his children could undo the wards."

"I can guess why..." Amy could only assume the thing that separated the Grey Warden's blood from normal people's blood was the Darkspawn Taint. If Corypheus was a Darkspawn who was a prisoner, non-Tainted blood being the thing to help keep him imprisoned kind of made sense? As much of any of this did anyway.

Felix was here, listening - still eating at least - and Katerina didn't know about the Grey Wardens and the Taint either, and they were kind of supposed to keep that all under wraps, so... she didn't say more.

"Does this have anything to do with that conversation you had with Leliana about Blackwall I wasn't allowed to hear most of?" Katerina asked, and Amy blinked. Right. She had been there for the start of that...

"Yes." Cassandra said quickly. "And do not discuss it further."

"A whole bunch of fighting Darkspawn who had wandered in from the Deep Roads - called by Corypheus's presence, we later figured out - later, and we ran into a half-mad Grey Warden, named Larius. He wanted Hawke to open Corypheus's prison so she could kill him for good, to put an end to Corypheus's whispers in his mind - he was trying to get free. It was also the only way we could get out, and the only way we could get him to stop sending people to try and capture her and Bethany for their blood."

"So you unlocked the prison of the ancient evil." Katerina snorted, "Varric, you're a writer, you had to know that wasn't going to end well."

"Didn't exactly have a lot of choice - rot in the prison with the Darkspawn, or open the locks and kill the guy behind it all. It was just a Darkspawn. We killed plenty of those during our trip to the Deep Roads." Varric countered.

"And now the Divine is dead, and Thedas is in Chaos, and there is a Breach in the Veil." Cassandra growled. "By releasing Corypheus, you may have doomed us all."

She's not wrong. Was all of this Varric's fault? Well, Hawke's fault?

Well, I mean, the Carta were going after her anyway, and Bethany... they might have nabbed her eventually, right? And -

It wasn't all their fault. The Mages and Templars were doing their shit anyway and Hawke saved a bunch of lives there apparently and she killed Knight-Commander Meredith who Cullen thought had been as crazy as Lord Seeker Lucius was now by the end, so...

Fuck.

"I'll be the first agree it wasn't a great plan, and if Corypheus really is the leader of the Venatori, then it didn't fucking work, but would you have just stayed and rotted there forever if you didn't know the prisoner apparently can't be killed?!"

Amy blinked.

Victoria probably wouldn't have volunteered to stay locked in a cell with a bunch of nightmare monsters either under those circumstances. She would have agreed if she knew, but...

"So, Hawke used her blood to open the locks one by one, technically not her doing any blood magic herself, for the record, and deeper and deeper into the damn place we went. We found some old records that said the Grey Wardens had found that even after they killed the Archdemon of the First Blight, there were thinking Darkspawn who could lead portions of the Horde - they trapped the most powerful one, Corypheus in this cell." Varric exhaled slowly.

"Given what I'm about to tell you, I always figured they trapped him to use him. If he really is still alive, and survived the explosion of the Temple of Sacred Ashes... maybe they imprisoned him because they couldn't kill him." Varric paused, took a drink of his beer, and then continued. "Finally, we got all the way to the final part of the prison, and ran into another Grey Warden - Janeka. She was a mage, and she didn't act as crazy as Larius, but... it turned out she was the one who had gotten the Carta into this, had sent the Carta after Hawke in the first place, because she wanted to wake Corypheus and use him to put an end to the Blights forever."

Amy blinked again. "Seriously?" She thought back to Victoria telling her stories about the people who had tried to Master the Endbringers, back when they were new. She supposed if people were stupid enough to try that... She looked at Cassandra. "You weren't kidding when you said the Grey Wardens are obsessed with ending the Blights if they were stupid enough to try that." Amy was a stranger to Thedas. She didn't really understand magic. And she'd never experienced a Blight or fought Darkspawn, but she'd gotten an intimate look at how fucking horrible the Darkspawn Taint was.

And no matter how horrible it was, she knew it was just a fucking stupid idea to try to use the ancient sealed evil 'for good'. It was like Boromir saying that they could use the ring against Sauron, and everyone else pointing out that wouldn't work, because duh.

"She was also stupid enough to try and kill Hawke when Hawke decided that her plan was a very, very bad idea. It didn't end well for her." Varric explained. "Larius claimed that Corypheus had spoken in her mind, whispered or planted ideas. I don't know if it was that coherent... because Corypheus didn't really seem to understand what he was or where he was when Hawke finally opened the last seal."

Varric took another sip of his beer, swallowed, took a breath. "Corypheus woke up and came out of the sarcophagus he'd been locked in and yeah, like Cassandra said - tall gangly bastard, claws for hands, Lyrium embedded in his face. But... he didn't know where he was." Varric paused, thinking, "He said something like 'Be this some dream I wake from? Am I in dwarven lands? Why seem their roads so empty?' He was confused, demanded to be brought to the temple of Dumat, thought we were acolytes, demanded we kneel."

"Dumat was one of the Old Gods of Tevinter," Cassandra supplied, and Amy nodded. The ones who went into the Golden City were the high priests, right?

Smiling, Varric went on, "Hawke, being Hawke, cracked a joke," he pitched his voice a little, making an attempt at what Amy assumed was Hawke's voice. Probably not a very good impression, but, " 'You're a darkspawn. Daaaarkspawn. Ravaging the Deep Roads, spreading the Taint... does this ring a bell?' Then Corypheus started calling for Dumat to give him answers, said they sought some sort of 'golden light' and the power of the gods themselves... and that the light was black and corrupt. He said 'the city' was supposed to be Golden. I've read the Chant of Light. Hawke had, Bethany had... we all knew what that sounded like."

"Turning the Golden City Black with their sin... the Second Sin," Katerina murmured. "But - that -" she opened and closed her mouth several times. "That - even - One of the Magisters Sidereal? Still alive? After so long? That - that doesn't seem... it's impossible! It has to be!"

"Why?" Amy shrugged. "It makes about as much sense as all the rest of the insane crap we've dealt with." Amy started ticking things off, "I got sent here thanks to a tinkertech bomb, a world where the elves and dwarves of fantasy stories are real, magic is a thing and no one has powers. There's a massive fucking hole in the fabric of reality in the sky. Demons are running rampant. I somehow survived the explosion that created that hole, I have this mark on my hand because I interrupted some kind of ritual to sacrifice Divine Justinia, a Tevinter Magister used goddamn time travel to get here and set a trap for me... ancient sealed evil in a box being behind everything seems totally plausible." Amy covered her face with her hands.

I hate every word I just said so much.

"Because -" Katerina went silent, gabbing wordlessly and then, "Well..." she exhaled slowly. "Maker... because I don't want to believe it's real." She finally said softly. "I don't want to believe one of the Magisters Sidereal, who sacrificed hundreds of slaves and brought the Blights to Thedas could be walking the world now. And I... I don't want to have to fight him if he comes for Amy personally." Katerina shook her head slowly. "I will if I have to, to keep Amy alive but..." Katerina looked over at Amy. "Go ahead, call me a coward," she accused.

Oh come on, I wouldn't - I said she was a moral coward, not a... too scared to face the bad guys in a fight kind of coward! Clenching her jaw a moment, Amy relaxed and exhaled slowly. "No... I think not wanting to have to fight the ancient evil wizard who unleashed the nightmare virus on the world is understandable."

"We'll all be better off if the leader of the Venatori turns out to be just using the name and running some insane con job," Varric shook his head. "But... it makes too much sense. The echos, we saw at the ruins of the Temple... the memories of the final moments before it all exploded. That didn't sound like Corypheus, but... the shape of him - remember? Tall, misshappen, clawlike hands...Andraste's ass, I don't want to believe it, but... it's possible, and that's a fact that scares me shitless."

"But you did beat him, at least." Katerina said.

"Nearly died in the process, but yeah. Like I said, no pulse, no breath, he was dead. And Larius seemed... more coherent. Said he couldn't hear Corypheus's whispers in his head anymore. He said he'd tell the Wardens about Janeka, about Corypheus being finally dead... Everything seemed resolved. It seemed."

"And so you went back to Kirkwall, and assumed none of it mattered." Cassandra finished.

"You did too when I told you the story while you were busy holding me at knife point, Seeker!" Varric protested. "If you thought there was any reason to think he'd survived, why didn't you say anything!"

"You were the one who was there, who saw it all, and it never even occurred to you!" Cassandra shouted. She started to lunge at Varric again, but before she could reach him, she stopped herself, hands outstretched, fingers half-bent and she exhaled, dropping her hands by her side and turning away. "I suppose you told the truth. And I would not have believed it possible he could have survived what you did in that fight."

Amy furrowed her brow, thinking.

Intelligent Darkspawn. Can't be killed. Larius suddenly coherent. Damnit, Amy needed to talk to a Grey Warden. Archdemons were reborn unless killed by a Grey Warden. So Darkspawn - or at least, the leaders of them, which the intelligent Darkspawn Corypheus had been one of were, had the ability to cheat dying under the right circumstances. How a Grey Warden landing the killing blow mattered was an open question, but...

"This Larius. He was just mad because of Corypheus's whispers in his head?" Amy asked slowly. "Nothing else?"

"That's what he said." Varric answered. "But Janeka did call him 'half-darkspawn already'. Said that his insistence Corypheus needed to be killed was because of that, because the Taint in him didn't want her to end the Blights by using Corypheus." He cleared his throat. "Where are you going with that?"

The whole thing where Wardens go into the Deep Roads and go down fighting? Amy didn't doubt for a second that the Darkspawn Taint should be present in a Grey Warden's body. But if Wardens all eventually had it go too far, and left to go down fighting, then that meant Larius was probably experiencing that? The Taint could turn people into ghouls, consumed by it, mindless. She'd asked about the term after Felix had mentioned it in the Redcliffe Chantry yesterday. Apparently they would be so far gone to fight alongside Darkspawn and Darkspawn recognized them as one of them, and didn't attack them.

"I have a theory." Amy pinched the bridge of her nose. "Back home, there was this villain. The Butcher. He was just a standard villain - he could make you feel pain pretty much at will, if you were in range. Like, crippling pain. He formed a gang of psychos, freaks and monsters - the Teeth. Complete with wearing the bones and skin of people they killed, supposedly." The Teeth in Brockton Bay were before her time and Thank God for that.

She swallowed.

"Run of the mill villain. But one day, one of his minions kills him, takes over. Calls himself Butcher II. Starts claiming he can hear the voice of the first one in his head." Amy exhaled. "Nobody believed him about that, but he did have the pain blast power of the first guy, in addition to his own, but then a while later, a hero accidentally killed Butcher II in a fight. Got the pain blast, got II's power - I don't remember what it was. He went insane within days - the voices of Butchers I and II. He returned to the Teeth, got killed, and suddenly there was a Butcher IV with the powers of the last 3. There's been 14 Butchers so far. Each one kills the last, gets all the powers... and all the voices. Absolutely insane freakshows, murdering, raping, stealing... some of the Teeth eat people, they say. The point is -"

"What if... Corypheus possessed Larius after he 'died'?"

As Amy finished, there was a silence in the room that finally made Amy understand the 'you could have heard a pin drop' proverb. It wasn't even just silence. It was a stillness.

"Well. Shit." Varric finally said, breaking the silence.

 

[thebasedfella]

Absolutely Perfect Cliffhanger