Chapter 28
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Kylia Quilor
I have two moods: Thirsty and Bitter
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Author's Note: There is a bit where we touch on the events of the book 'The Calling', and Fiona summarizes the events from her perspective. I will not actually explain the entire thing 'onscreen', just the parts that are relevant to the story itself. The wiki is available for the curious. I try to keep the exposition to stuff that is relevant in some form - relevant to the specific moment, relevant to future plot threads, or useful for exploring Amy's characterization/moral baggage/etc. So some things do sadly have to be cut.
"Cassandra - what... why did you get so angry at Varric back there?" Amy had - after a very quick check of Felix's biology and an order for him to eat more - rushed out of the room after Cassandra, the older woman leaving once everyone had had a moment to process Amy's theory. She hadn't even apologized to Varric for attacking him or assuming he'd lied.
"I mean, I get you thought he lied but - you were this close to ripping his head off!" Cassandra could get angry, but - when she'd gotten like that in the cell, when Amy had first woken up in Thedas, Cassandra had thought Amy was a mass murderer who had killed like, hundreds of people and the Divine.
She hadn't been accusing Varric of that. Just lying.
Lying about the guy who ended up being the one to blow up the Conclave, but...
"Because I thought the damned dwarf lied," Cassandra said, still walking quickly, finding stairs, leading upwards into a tower. "Because lying is what he does. He lies, he spins stories, he misrepresents the truth, and you're hanging off of his every word until it's too late." Amy had to strain to keep up with the taller woman, jogging to make pace with Cassandra's brisk walk. "The only thing I had ever known about Corypheus was that Varric said he was dead, that he was supposedly one of the seven Magisters who breached the Golden City. And then Alexius described him more or less exactly as Varric did. I made assumptions." They reached a landing on the stairs, and Amy followed Cassandra out onto a balcony that overlooked Redcliffe Castle's courtyard and the town down below in the distance.
"You nearly killed him!" Amy protested. "That's not just assumptions! If you'd slammed him any harder, I'd have to have healed broken bones."
"I know very well what it takes to kill someone, Amy." Cassandra disagreed, leaning forward, resting her arms on the edge of the balcony wall. "I was in no danger of doing that to Varric." She exhaled slowly, "Breaking a bone... perhaps."
"He wouldn't have deserved that either," Amy said. "I mean - I trust Varric as far as I can throw him, sure, rogues with a heart of gold are only a thing in books, but he didn't lie about Corypheus."
"Not about Corypheus, but the man is a liar at heart," Cassandra ground out. "And I at least had reason to believe he was a liar when I burst in." Cassandra flexed her fingers on the edge of the balcony's wall, opening and closing her hand and then she took a breath. "I still should not have done what I did to him, you are correct."
She hadn't done anything serious to Varric, but that was as much accident as anything else. Amy bit her lip, looking at Cassandra. It... didn't make Amy think much less of the woman, but - just a little? That she would react like that when she was angry? Cassandra hadn't been so physical with Amy when she was in that cell...
Maybe because I'm a kid? But like... she thought I was a mass murderer.
Was it just Varric?
"I...I haven't seen you that angry since you were accusing me of being the one behind the explosion at the Conclave, in that cell." Amy said softly. "I... I wasn't - it wasn't that seeing you like that scared me, since you weren't directing the anger at me or anything, but... I - it isn't right to do stuff like that to people who didn't actually do anything wrong."
Slamming an E88 thug against the wall - and not doing serious damage - was one thing. Victoria had done that a few times. The kind of serious life-threatening damage her sister had done six times on the other hand... that was her sister losing control of her anger.
Cassandra hadn't been that bad maybe, but - Cassandra was more than twice her age. More than twice Victoria's age. She should know better.
And - and Varric was an ally and he hadn't done anything wrong. But -
"No. It was not." Cassandra admitted.
"Why did it make you that angry though? It - a lie isn't worth that? Not that lie?" Amy was trying to understand Cassandra, her actions. There was more to it than just the specific lie, right?
There was always more to Victoria's anger at the criminals she beat up than just the specific crime. Amy knew her sister, knew how much the state of the Bay got to her, the fact that nothing was getting better, that nothing their family did, or that the Protectorate and Wards did ever really seemed to matter. And then Victoria wasn' event allowed to go up against most villainous capes.
Not that she'd let Carol and Aunt Sarah's rules really stop her if it came to that, but...
"If he had lied about Corypheus still being alive - knowing that such a threat existed, it - it could have - perhaps the Conclave's destruction could have been prevented. Or it could have saved time with our investigation afterwards." Cassandra didn't sound like she believed her own words.
"Were you guys even considering Tevinter? No one ever mentioned it? I mean, I never asked, but..."
"When in doubt, assuming a Tevinter Magister's conspiracy is always a safe bet," Cassandra explained. "The avenue was being investigated, but as far as I am aware, Leliana never picked up any connection between the destruction of the Temple and these... Venatori. I'm sure she's heard of them, but Tevinter is rife with secret societies and cults dedicated to the Old Gods and preaching a return to the Imperium of Old."
"But there was no proof connecting Tevinter anything to it?" Amy asked, moving to stand next to Cassandra. The balcony's outer wall came up to Cassandra's waist. Higher for Amy, but she could still lean against it, looking out at the village and the lake in the distance below.
"Not that I am aware of." Cassandra bit her lip, staying silent for a long moment, "I should not have done what I did. Varric... he has a unique ability to draw out my anger. But I should still not have done it."
"You shouldn't have," Amy agreed, then said it again more firmly. "You really shouldn't have. I - I don't like seeing you do that."
"I... I am sorry, Amy. Scaring you wasn't my intent."
"I wasn't scared! I just - I know you're a good person, but good people shouldn't do things like that." Amy inhaled slowly then, "My sister... she -" was she really going to tell people about this? Even if there was no chance it would get back to Carol or Aunt Sarah or the PRT... it was supposed to be a secret between her and Victoria. And maybe Dean, if Vicky had ever told him about it.
But... Amy licked her lips and started again. She needed to explain, needed Cassandra to understand what was thinking.
"My sister - when she patrols, catches criminals in the act... sometimes she's caught them after they flee from hurting people really, really badly. Killing kids or... rape," Amy started. "Sometimes - not often, not against how many she's caught - she - she lets her anger get the better of her. She loses control of herself and she hurts them way worse than they need to be to be caught. There are laws, back home, about - about hurting criminals. It's one thing to hurt them when they're fighting back, or to stop them from running away or hurting other people, but... you're supposed to do the minimum amount required, People can get in trouble for doing worse. And you're really not supposed to kill them unless you have no other choice."
"Six times," Amy said after a moment's pause, "Vicky did enough damage to them that they - a couple of them could have died, and the rest... it was too much. She'd have been punished. So she - she'd ask me to heal them, so there'd be no proof of what she did, when they were arrested."
"She's not a bad person! Vicky's a hero. She's good. The best person I know. She just - she loses control and gets angry. She's stopped over two hundred criminals, rescued people from burning buildings, gotten civilians out of the line of fire, taken them to me to heal them so they have a better chance of making it with no complications - she fights to save lives almost every day." Amy was speaking quickly, feeling like she had to make that clear. She didn't like what her sister did to those six criminals, didn't like that her sister asked her to help her cover it up.
New Wave was supposed to be about accountability, but Carol would - Carol would lecture and disapprove and she'd probably find some way to blame Amy for it in the first place, and then ground Vicky and Aunt Sarah would come up with some... stupid PR move, and force Vicky into remedial combat training, or make her work under PRT supervision for a while to earn brownie points with them or take her out of patrol rotation...
Vicky didn't deserve that kind of punishment. Or people looking at her like she was some sort of brutish thug. She already got too much of that bullshit on PHO when people called her Collateral Damage Barbie. Total lies. But because she was blonde and pretty everyone assumed Victoria was stupid and reckless and -
And that's assuming the PRT didn't just start demanding she be roped into the Wards entirely. Or leverage it for favors from New Wave. Or try to rope New Wave into the Protectorate or -
"But the point is, she shouldn't do it, and I hate that she does it, and that she has me heal those people to cover it up and - those bastards at least deserve to be hurt. I just... you shouldn't be so angry you do things like that." Amy exhaled slowly. "Not that I - I've never done anything like that to anyone, but I've felt angry enough to."
Hitting Skitter in the head had been different... if the blow had taken the bug bitch down or she'd surrendered and Amy had kept going... that would have been the same thing as what Vicky did.
"You helped your sister cover up breaking the law?" Cassandra sounded shocked and... upset with her? Or - bothered? Horrified?
Is she - is she going to - she's going to think I'm a criminal and she'll - oh god fuck, no... fuck...
Amy's stomach fell. "I - it's - Vicky doesn't - it's not - she doesn't deserve to be treated like a criminal herself for it! She's my sister and I'm not - I can't just let her - she saves lives, every day. She's a hero!" Amy was speaking quickly, desperate, trying to explain, heart pounding in her chest. "She's not a villain, or a criminal! I - she's good. And you're good too, Cassandra! I'm not - I'm not saying you're bad for getting angry at Varric and shoving him against the wall and - I just - I don't like it when Vicky loses control like that, because she shouldn't. And - I just - I didn't like seeing that with Varric. When you got that angry with me, in the cell... you thought I had killed hundreds of people and -"
"I should not have gotten as angry with you as I did." Cassandra said softly. "I wanted someone to blame, and you were convenient. It... it was not easy to resist the desire to do similar to you as I did to Varric, in that moment of anger."
Amy stiffened. She - she hadn't known that, but -
She doesn't want to do it now... she stopped wanting to do it pretty quickly, right? Once she believed Amy was innocent.
"But I did hold myself back from it. And I could have done it with Varric. You are correct. I should not have done that. But... you should not have helped your sister cover up breaking the law. Though I admit, I find it strange that there are such strict rules about harming criminals still at large, on your world. It would seem... cumbersome to demand the bare minimum of force in all cases. But if that is the law... you should not aid in its breaking."
"I know! I know! I -" Amy closed her eyes. "I know. I know I shouldn't. Each time, I tell myself this is the last time I cover for her. The last time I help her. She's done so much good, but she needs to learn to control her anger better! She needs to not throw dumpsters at them for God's sake!" Granted, it had only been the one time she'd done that, but still. Too much. Too far. And it was the most recent case...
"A dumpster?"
"Big, giant metal boxes we put trash in. They can weigh... a thousand pounds? A ton, even, sometimes? More. They're - they're really heavy. With the sixth guy... she threw one at him. Did serious damage. I told her it was the last time again and - I mean it every time, I do and you're right, I shouldn't do it, but she's my sister! She's the only person I have! I can't - I can't just turn my back!" Amy swallowed, throat feeling tight, trying to keep from feeling too nauseous, feeling a weight of judgement from Cassandra...
Cassandra put a hand on her shoulder gently, and Amy tried to force herself to take a deep breath, focusing on the weight of Cassandra's hand there, on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to-"
"There's nothing to apologize for. You're right. I shouldn't have done it, but I did. You shouldn't do what you did to cover up your sister's actions. But you did. None of us can claim perfection," Cassandra snorted, "Your opinion of your sister is very high, but even you have just admitted she has done things she shouldn't."
"Yeah..." Victoria was as close to perfect as a human could be, of course, but that was still... Amy managed to actually take a deep breath this time, and put her hand over Cassandra's on her shoulder, taking another deep breath. "Sorry." She said again.
"Again, you do not need to apologize." Slowly Cassandra extricated her hand from Amy's shoulder and looked back out off the balcony. She was silent a moment, and then. "I did not want to leave for Kirkwall, when Divine Justinia dispatched Leliana and myself there to retrieve Varric. I worried what leaving her side could do. But she said that his story - the true story, not the version in his book - could perhaps convince both sides at the Conclave that the escalation on both sides was at fault for Kirkwall. That the push and pull of mages and Templars extended back far enough that trying to lay blame was pointless."
The blame is the Chantry's then, isn't it? Amy bit back that response, not wanting to interrupt Cassandra. The blame was not on the mages who were caged up and who Knight-Commander Meredith wanted to murder. Not even a little.
"And we were to find Hawke, if we could." Cassandra added. "Justinia wanted the Champion of Kirkwall to lead the Inquisition, once the Conclave came to a decision, or failed to come to one at all."
"It would be nice if there could be someone here to make decisions, and I could just close rifts and purge Darkspawn Taint from people."
"Perhaps," Cassandra nodded softly. "But she is not here, and when you made a choice for the Inquisition, you did so decisively. I do not think it would have occurred to Hawke to approach both sides."
"I mean, I don't think she's really a fan of the Templars after... you know, everything."
"Not in the least. But in the months leading up to Meredith's attempt to purge the Gallows, Kiandra Hawke did try to keep things from boiling over, on both sides." Cassandra explained. "But she would have seen firsthand how hard it would be to try to get both sides to work together."
I thought she said she was trusting me to - Amy closed her eyes, trying to push down on that thought. Cassandra wasn't - she wasn't trying to -
"You managed to resolve matters here in Redcliffe far easier than could have been anticipated. And... I think it is likely that Grand Enchanter Fiona will not be in much position to refuse to work with the Templars, if we can convince them to work with the Inquisition." Cassandra added.
"It only went easier because we were lucky. Alexius being here kind of killed the need for negotiations, and his son had the Darkspawn Taint... if he'd just been a fanatic who worshipped Corypheus..."
"Perhaps," Cassandra admitted. "But we deal with the world as it exists, not the world it could have been." She set her jaw, "Or perhaps I should say - we should deal with the world as it exists."
"As I said, I did not want to leave the Divine's side to retrieve Varric, to find Hawke. Our search for Hawke proved fruitless, and Varric claimed he did not know where she was. Or how to get in contact with her."
"You didn't believe him?"
"Contrary to what Varric may believe, I am not a gullible fool. I had hoped Varric could be convinced, but we ran out of time before we had to return to Haven... as it was, it was too late. If he had just told us, or - not spun his stories! I ask myself every night... if we had returned from Kirkwall faster. Made better time. Rode harder. Looked harder for Hawke... questioned Merrill more intently. Could the Divine's death have been prevented? Perhaps Corypheus would have been too powerful to defeat, but... perhaps I could have gotten her out of the Temple. Had she lived... the task of the Inquisition, of securing peace, would have been far easier. Had I been there, I -" Cassandra cut herself off, then, "Had I been there, perhaps Regalyan may not have died. Perhaps I could have prevented it."
"And maybe you'd have died!" Amy countered. "Everyone else did. We still don't know how I survived. Unless Alexius said how."
"He claims Corypheus only said your interruption disrupted the ritual," Cassandra explained. "Magical rituals can be quite delicate. It could be as simple as you jostling his arm or knocking over some implement or tool."
"And that translates to me surviving how?" Really? That's how his plan to become a god failed? Because I kicked over a candle or just... jostled his arm? It didn't sound very fitting to a real epic fantasy plot. But then... this wasn't a story. This was a chapter in the hell that was her life. And it wasn't the first time Amy had realized her life was a farce, sometimes.
Give the girl who doesn't want a fucking power the most nightmarish power possible! Make it so she can change people's brains! Except the one brain she would actually like to! One day. One day without her own Manton Limit.
Fuck. One hour. Less. Just... make it so she could stop being a gross, incestious freak. Change her own mind so she wouldn't hate healing so much. Make it so she could get by on less sleep, so she could save more lives...
Make the ugly plain Jane of New Wave the one that has the biggest following, the one everyone calls a miracle. Give her a power that makes her stand out, makes everyone's eyes on her.
A fucking farce.
"We do not know. Perhaps being close to the center of the blast preserved you. Perhaps something about your power somehow saved you. And... it is possible the Maker chose to preserve you. That Andraste did act to protect you, knowing we would need you, your abilities, your mark... your passion for what is right." Amy made a face at Cassandra's words, and Cassandra sighed. "I know you do not believe, Amy, but your survival was a miracle. It could not have happened outside of the Maker's sight."
"Remind me to send him a fruit basket," Amy muttered then she flushed. If it was anyone else, she would have left it at that, but, "I'm sorry. I - I know this... the whole... religion thing matters to you." Insulting Cassandra's beliefs was a bad idea. And a distraction. "I don't know how I survived... and unless Corypheus decides to give us an answer, I don't think we ever will."
"Likely not," Cassandra agreed quietly. She clenched her jaw a moment, relaxed, opened and closed her hands again. "As I said... we should deal with the world as it exists, not as it might have... but the question remains. If I had not let Varric waste so much of my time. If I had tried harder, moved faster. If I had found Hawke, or -" She exhaled. "And so, when there was a chance Varric had lied about Corypheus..." she shook her head. "I saved Divine Beatrix from more than one attempt on her life, not just the one everyone asks me about. And I did the same for Justinia. And when I was parted from her..."
"I should apologize to him," Cassandra changed topics midthought - well, not completely. Amy knew who she meant. "He will be insufferable about it."
"Can Varric get more insufferable?" He wasn't always bad to talk to - he had some funny stories and he was funny and... it was nice to be distracted from things talking to him, but he was still playing his 'rogue with a heart of gold' schtick. And he kept trying to get a rise out of her.
And it keeps fucking working.
"Yes." Cassandra said simply. "I am not convinced there is a limit to Varric's ability to be insufferable." She shook her head. "I should not have reacted so poorly, nor attacked him as I did. I will apologize. And... I can only try to not let myself be haunted by questions of what could have been. And neither should you, Amy."
Amy blinked. "What?"
"You are correct, that we got lucky, in a way, that Alexius was here, that he wanted to trap you, that he made negotiations unnecessary, and that saving his son is something you can do, and something that stopped him. But... we deal with the world we have. It speaks well, that you adapted. That you chose to take the risk of being bait to draw Alexius's attention. And... even if Alexius had not given up, you would not have let Felix die to the Taint anyway."
"Fuck no. I'm not letting that shit win," Amy said. "Nobody deserves to die to that stuff."
"Exactly. I do not know what will face us at Therinfal redoubt. If the Lord Seeker plans a trap there, or if he might turn on us later, or perhaps Cullen's fears are unfounded. I do not know how difficult the negotiations will be, especially given what we have promised to the mages, but... your success here, benefitted by fortune or not, gives me hope that your idea of approaching both sides might actually work." Cassandra concluded. "You have done well, Amy. Remember that."
"You are insane. I should have known better than to trust a member of the Seekers of Truth with my people's safety!" Fiona protested.
"If I agreed with Lord Seeker Lambert that forcing the mages into submission, I would have joined him when he broke with the Chantry" Cassandra explained, teeth clenched, arms crossed in front of her chest. "The Inquisition will honor its promise to your people."
"I would not trust your word, Seeker Pentaghast! You are no friend to the cause of mages!" Fiona accused.
"I would not call myself a friend to your cause, but I meant what I said when the Circles as they were failed, and that there can be no return to the way things were."
"And yet, you would have the Inquisition ally with those who would return us to our prisons, or worse, kill us all to wipe the slate clean! If you genuinely felt as you said, you would not have proposed this madness!" Fiona snapped. "It is obviously your suggestion, Seeker-"
"It wasn't Cassandra's idea!" Amy shouted from the doorway, walking in quickly. The two were arguing in the castle library, the day after the confrontation with Alexius, the day after learning about Corypheus. After her talk with Cassandra on the balcony she'd returned to getting Felix to eat as much as possible, waited for him to digest, and then purged more Taint. That would be the routine until he was done, really. And now, this morning, she'd just finished purging more
These last two times she'd gotten more Darkspawn Taint out of Felix than the first two, because she knew for sure he would be replenishing as fast as he could, and because she was getting better at modifying white blood cells to resist the corruption.
Better as in, they lasted for like, twelve seconds at a time, which was still an improvement. Every second they lasted was less of Felix's own mass that she had to turn into more white blood cells as they dragged and pushed the Taint out of his body.
And she might get it even more - fifteen seconds, maybe even twenty, with practice. Every time, she learned a little more about the Darkspawn Taint and how it worked, how it changed other life to be like it.
As nice as it would be, Amy didn't think she would ever be able to make white blood cells that would be Taint-Proof (and thus make it so someone could be immune to the Taint). The Darkspawn Taint was changing constantly, shifting, adapting. It had only the one constant, which was that it was a fucking nightmare virus that wanted to propagate itself endlessly.
Varric had told her that Amy might want to head to the library, because Fiona and Cassandra were arguing about the plan to go to the Templars. About her plan. She'd left Felix with Dorian and instructions to eat a very large, very hearty late breakfast, and hurried to the library.
"Going to the Templars wasn't Cassandra's idea," Amy said again, closing the door to the library behind her. What right did Fiona have to run around accusing Cassandra of wanting to put mages back in the Circles?! Cassandra had made it clear where she stood! Cassandra was good, damnit! Not some 'cage the mages' extremist.
No, that's Vivienne's job.
"It was mine. And it wasn't because I think the Circles are a good idea, or that the Templars aren't mostly jackasses."
"Then why? You have what you need to close the Breach, and there can be no peace with the Templars. What would they accept, other than our surrender, a return to what was before? A return to the same system that oppressed my people, slaughtered them at will and used Tranquility to tear their very beings from them. And then tried to hide the cure for Tranquility when it was discovered!"
"And if that's the only deal they'll take, then fuck them. I'll just leave and go back to Haven, close the Breach with just you guys and everyone can know the Templars chose spite over saving the world. Sounds like a win for you." Amy said flatly. "It's worth knowing when I came up with the plan to approach both you and the Templars for help, I had no idea either of you would say yes, or that Alexius would be here to... simplify things."
"If not a return to the Circles, what could you possibly offer the Templars?" Fiona asked, sounding calmer at least, like maybe she was actually willing to listen.
Amy took a breath and closed her eyes, organizing her thoughts, thinking back to the preparations she'd made for the negotiations with the Lord Seeker. She was going to not mention the 'steal the Templars out from under the Lord Seeker' plan since that was -
Less people knew it... probably a good thing.
"Glory, for the Lord Seeker, since that's what he seems to want. Validation that he matters, that he's the big hero. That the Templars are the guardians of Thedas and deserve the respect of the people. He'll get all of that by being part of closing the Breach. By allying with the Inquisition. And he'll get even more when the Inquisition - hopefully with the help of the mages too - takes down Corypheus." Cassandra had said she would tell Fiona about Corypheus after they left the balcony yesterday.
It honestly seemed like a good idea to get the people whose whole thing was disrupting magic to be on their side when the evil guy behind everything was an ancient wizard from a thousand years ago on an evil quest to become a god. "As for the rest... better access to lyrium. Reforms to the internal structure of the order. The chance to negotiate better terms with the Chantry and the governments of Thedas. Things like loosening the rules about letting Templars get married."
Amy scoffed, "It would be one thing if they just banned Templars from being married. Chantry clergy can't after all, so it would make sense. But to make it so they can get married if they get special approval is just silly. And stupid."
"Peace cannot be secured so easily," Fiona challenged.
"Why? Both sides were willing to sit down and talk before. You can't fight all of Thedas, and neither can they, and by the time the Conclave happened, you'd all pissed off a lot of people, right?" Fiona hesitated a moment, then nodded in response to Amy's question. "Right now, the Inquisition is who people are looking to..." she swallowed, taking a deep, slow breath.
And I'm the one they're all looking to. The entire fucking continent had their eyes on her and she hated it so much. If she had to be stuck here, couldn't she just heal people while... someone else had the mark? Someone else could be the Herald?
"So you both help us, we help you, we help them. Everyone gets what they want and they stop fighting." Amy started to pace, "That's the best case scenario for it. Failing that, at the very least, you're not fighting each other, which is probably the last thing Corypheus and the Venatori want. He blew up the Conclave, ending the peace talks. Alexius took advantage of your fear of the Templars to trick you into signing yourselves over to him. So fighting each other helps the bastard who killed the Divine."
She was making this part up as she went, but it made sense. It was the same basic logic as the Endbringer Truce. Don't fucking fight each other when there's bigger problems to deal with.
That's it.
"Don't think of this as peace, if you really think peace isn't so easy. Think of it as a 'truce'. Like what's going on in Orlais. They're probably arguing about what color the tablecloth is going to be at the negotiating table, but they're not fighting anymore. Deal with the Breach, deal with Corypheus, and then everyone can revisit the question of peace or not. Maybe you can all park yourselves in an empty valley somewhere and kill each other away from everyone else until one side wins." Amy pulled a hand down her face. "I don't suggest it, but if that's what you want to do, go for it. Just - after the Breach is closed. And after Corypheus is dealt with."
And after I'm back home. Once the Breach was closed... they wouldn't need her, right? They could... they could find a way home. She'd have some goodwill, the Inquisition could spend a bit getting every magical expert who might know something to look into the problem of how to open a portal back to Earth-Bet? Somehow?
Please?
"Truce," Fiona said slowly, trying out the word, as if testing it for flavor. "You paint an appealing picture, and I appreciate your honesty. And it is not as if my people have much choice. If we reject working with the Inquisition, our prospects for freedom plummet, and I still have little hope King Alistair will allow us to stay in Ferelden on our own. And nowhere else will be as welcoming as Ferelden was, originally." She looked away, exhaling slowly, a distant, distracted expression on her face for a long moment, before, "And... you are right. The rest of Thedas wants this war to be over. That is why I agreed to the talks in the first place. Turning down the chance to be part of the closing the Breach merely because the Inquisition allied with the Templars as well would do us no favors."
"It would not," Cassandra agreed.
"If I am to continue with sending many of people to Haven, and dispersing the rest to your other outposts and positions across the Hinterlands and elsewhere, then I will expect the Inquisition to ensure that the Templars do not harass them, assuming the Templars see reason."
"Yeah that seems fair." Amy admitted. She looked over at Cassandra.
"I would agree. I doubt any such efforts will be perfect, but we can ensure that any - on either side - who disturb the shared peace are punished, according to the severity of their actions."
Amy thought back to what Cullen had said to Katerina like... a month and a half ago, or more? About being punished for riling up Templars. "Flinging insults can be punished with filling latrine trenches, and we work up from there?"
Fiona smiled, "Acceptable terms, for the time being. I hope the Inquisition holds to them." Turned, started for the other door out of the library, then paused, turning back around. "I assume the Inquisition intends to contact the Grey Wardens about Corypheus. He is a Darkspawn, and you said he was in one of their prisons for a thousand years."
"The Wardens in Ferelden and Orlais seem to have largely vanished. Even Nevarra and the Free Marches seem more empty of them at this point. It is a mystery Leliana has devoted some time to solving, to no avail."
"You might want to send a letter directly to Weisshaupt." Fiona suggested. "I know for a fact Corypheus is not the only intelligent Darkspawn to have been active in this Age. He calls himself the Architect. I do not believe he is working with Corypheus, but the Wardens learned of him three decades ago, and with any luck, information about him might also hold true for Corypheus."
"...you're kidding me? Two?! Great. Another ancient unkillable evil wizard. Just what we needed." Amy muttered.
"There could be as many as seven, if Corypheus truly was one of the Magisters Sidereal," Fiona cautioned.
"Fun. But only one that we know is trying to do something actively, and another who is... around? Why do you think he's not working with Corypheus?"
"Because I was held captive by him once, thirty years ago. If not for Corypheus, I would assume he had never been a human... but if Corypheus was, then so was he, most likely. He spoke nothing of Tevinter, and his only interest in the Old Gods was killing the remaining ones where they stept, to prevent them from becoming Archdemons and leading new Blights."
Amy blinked. "That... almost sounds like a good thing? Is that - would that work? Aren't the Old Gods already the Archdemons?"
"That is the Chantry's teaching on the matter, but the Grey Wardens have discovered that it is not quite so simple. The Old Gods slumber deep beneath the earth, and the Darkspawn seek them out. When they find them, they infect them with the Taint, turning them into Archdemons and beginning a Blight." Fiona explained.
"You left the Wardens decades ago, and you were never one of high rank. How do you know this? I cannot imagine this is a secret they share widely, nor one they would like you to spread," Cassandra asked, eyes narrowed.
"I know because the Architect explained his plan, and the other Wardens who were part of our expedition when it was captured confirmed there was some truth to what he said. As to if it would work... I cannot say. But the Architect's other goal was madness, and the true danger of him. He claimed to want to secure permanent peace between mortals and Darkspawn by spreading the Taint to all thinking beings in Thedas, in a way that would turn all into a hybrid of human or elf or dwarf or even Qunari, and Darkspawn. His plan was stopped, and he fled into the Deep Roads... I was sent back to Weisshaupt to give a report, as one of the few survivors - the only one on that expedition that still lives, now - and to take part in the effort to track and deal with the Architect, before he could try again. Unfortunately, the magic he used to try to kill me, to turn me into some twisted hybrid of elf and darkspawn, when it was undone, made it impossible for me to serve as a Warden, despite efforts to correct it. I was unable to remain a Warden, and returned to the Circle. I do not know what became of the efforts to find or deal with the Architect since."
Unable to remain a Warden, and it couldn't be corrected... If Amy didn't know that Wardens drank Darkspawn blood, and if she didn't know that meant they had Taint in their systems, then she might not have been able to guess what Fiona meant. But... she did know those things...
She decided to try very hard not to think about the horrifying prospect of the Taint being spread to everyone on Thedas.
"In other words, you stopped having the Taint in your system and now you're what, immune to it?" This could be huge. "Because all Grey Wardens have the Darkspawn Taint, right?"
"You know?" Fiona eyed Cassandra, "I suppose it would make sense that the Seekers of Truth knew. It is a difficult secret to keep completely for centuries."
"The Seekers only ever guessed," Cassandra answered. "But when I told Amy the theory, she became quite certain it was true." Amy imagined Cassandra was covering for Leliana spilling the beans? She didn't know if it mattered, but she'd play along.
"I see. In answer to your question Amy, yes, the Architect's magic sped up a process that all Wardens go through known as the Calling - the Taint accelerates near the end, and consumes a Warden, turning them into more than a ghoul, but less than a Darkspawn. When we feel it beginning, a Grey Warden is to go to the Deep Roads, and take as many Darkspawn with them as they can. It usually takes a decade, sometimes as many as three."
"But in my case," Fiona continued, "the reversal of the Architect's magic removed all of the Taint from my body and every attempt to repeat the Joining failed. I did not die, but I was not a Warden. After several failures, I was sent back to the Circles. A Warden without the Taint cannot be a Warden."
"So... no Taint, no killing the Archdemon?" That was the thing Wardens were for, above and beyond everything else, right? "Does that mean we need a Warden to kill Corypheus for him to stay dead, land the killing blow instead of just... being there?"
"If this Larius truly was possessed by Corypheus after his 'death', then it may not be so simple," Fiona sighed, then, "If the Wardens found out I was telling you all this..." she shook her head.
"It is not information we intend to spread widely." Cassandra assured her. "But if it will aid us in dealing with Corypheus, then we must know."
Mostly what Amy wanted to know was if Fiona was immune to the Taint, and if so, how. And if Amy could replicate it. Was it all magical bullshit or like, actual antibodies or something similar? Was it anything she could put into effect for Felix? Even if it wouldn't make him or anyone else immune, maybe she could make white blood cells that resisted longer with whatever she picked up from Fiona?
Of course, she's an efl, and that could mean there's all kinds of bullshit going on there.
But the question of how to kill Corypheus for good was an important one...
"I know. Still, it is a difficult habit to break. There are good reasons the truth of the Joining is kept secret, let alone the rest." She paused for a moment, as if gathering her thoughts, then, "When an Archdemon is slain, its soul seeks the nearest Darkspawn, and in a matter of days, it will return to its prior form from that new body. But when a Grey Warden lands the killing blow, the Taint in their body tricks the Archdemon into trying to possess the Grey Warden"
"And that kills it? But it didn't kill Corypheus."
"A Darkspawn is a soulless entity without conscious will. A Grey Warden has a soul. Two souls in one body cannot stand, and it is the struggle between them that destroys both, killing the Warden who lands the killing blow on the Archdemon. In War, Victory. In Peace, Vigilance. In Death, Sacrifice."
Amy could hear the capital letters as she quoted what had to be a motto, official or otherwise. She swallowed, as she pondered what Fiona said. You have to be willing to die to kill an Archdemon. But... it ended a Blight. It seemed like a deal, really.
In Death, Sacrifice. Amy wasn't sure she believed the thing about souls and souls destroying each other. She didn't want to believe souls really were a thing in Thedas, in the sense of an afterlife being real. But whatever else, people believed they were real here in Thedas.
"Destroying both." Cassandra said softly, "You mean to say that the soul of a Grey Warden who kills an Archdemon does not pass to the Maker's side?"
"It is of course impossible to say with certainty," Fiona demurred, "But that has always been the Warden's understanding."
"Christ," Amy muttered. "Okay, then what does that mean for killing Corypheus? You said it's not so simple as having a Gray Warden land the killing blow."
"I doubt it is so simple," Fiona explained. "Whatever the nature of Corypheus's soul, it must be different from that of an Archdemon. If he did possess Larius after 'dying' rather than another Darkspawn that might have been present in the prison, and survived, then something about how his soul changed bodies was different than how an Archdemon's soul does. Though like an Archdemon, his soul appears to have twisted his new body into his previous form, from what I gather."
"So it would seem," Cassandra nodded.
"So... kill him without any Grey Wardens or Darkspawn nearby?"
"A reasonable theory, but dependent on what qualifies as 'nearby'." Cassandra paced a few steps as she went on: "There are no signs of Grey Wardens or Darkspawn were anywhere near the Conclave, before or after the explosion as far as I am aware. So the range cannot be short."
"There is no range limit on an Archdemon's rebirth. If it were known, it would be the preferred tactic for eliminating it, or at least known as an option." Fiona pointed out.
Amy nodded, "Kill all the Darkspawn for ten miles around and then kill the Archdemon. Assuming it would be that simple when you have a rampaging horde of nightmare monsters running around."
"Also true," Fiona nodded. "I am not a scholar of Darkspawn Lore, and the Grey Wardens have spent centuries studying Darkspawn, the Archdemons and the Taint. Weisshaupt holds copies of all discoveries, reports, and information learned about them. At times, it feels like there are as many archivists there working to study and preserve those records as there are soldiers. The headquarters of the Order is as much administrative as military now."
"I shall have Josephine send inquiries, but I wonder how helpful they will be. When the Seekers investigated reports of a magical disturbance at the site of Corypheus's present - not that we knew it was that - the Grey Wardens were already there, and they told us it had been a Darkspawn incursion, one that cost them an entire unit. They did not mention Corypheus, Larius, Janeka or even that Hawke had been there."
"The Wardens have long been a secretive order. I would prevail on any friends I had left in the Order to provide you help in learning what you need, but I am afraid all the friends I had in the Order are dead by now. Indeed, it is likely there are none left alive save for a small handful that were Wardens when I was one."
She got untainted three decades ago. Give it a year to find out she couldn't be re-Wardened... yeah, I guess that tracks.
"But with any luck, the fact that a Darkspawn like Corypheus is behind the Breach will convince them to lift that secrecy now." Fiona added with a sigh.
"Let's hope so. I'm getting really fucking tired of people in Thedas being unwilling to work together." Amy pulled a hand down her face. Her brain felt overstuffed, ready to burst. Everything she was learning was getting all jumbled up in there, and it would take a while to sort it all out, but she could focus on a few important things.
Well, just the one, really.
"So, you never actually said: Are you immune to the Taint?"
"I believe so, but I have little desire to test it by exposing myself to the Taint again. It could be that my immunity has worn off, or it could only apply to the Joining and not other means of being exposed..."
"Understandable," Amy could just get it out of her body if Fiona was actually infected, but she could hardly just ask the woman to volunteer for medical experimentation. She sighed and chewed on her lower lip, thinking for a moment, then, "If you give me your hand, maybe I can take a look at your biology - the underlying way your body works - and maybe I can figure out how you're immune. Maybe use that to make treating Felix go faster, easier. And then do the same for other people." She grimaced, "Probably not,since you're an elf and elven biology makes me want to tear my hair out, but it's worth trying."
"What do you mean, about elven biology?" Fiona asked, her voice cautious suddenly.
"It makes no damn sense!" Amy ranted, gesticulating, "Elves look so much like humans on the outside, but under the skin, different but in the most godawful weird way. All that would be fine, but despite being nothing like humans biologically, or even biochemically in the details, elven bodies function like human ones. You process the same foods in the same ways for the same effect, get sick from the same things in the same ways... it's madness!"
"Humans and elves should not get sick the same way?"
"No! Things that are that different shouldn't get sick in the same way! It would be like," Amy paused, then settled on a terrible analogy so she could avoid having to go into DNA and Adenine, Guanine et cetera. "A tree can't catch a plague from a human, and humans can't usually catch the kind of diseases that might afflict a tree. And even if a disease could be transferrable, it's going to have a different effect!"
"..but humans and elves are more similar than humans and trees," Fiona said as if it was obvious.
"Nope," Amy said flatly, "Only on the surface. In the details, not even close."
"That seems rather difficult to believe."
"Perhaps, but Amy's abilities give her unique insights into this matter." Cassandra cut in. "So I am inclined to believe her. Why would she lie about it?"
"You perhaps have something of a point," Fiona said slowly, eying Amy. After a moment, she extended her hand and Amy took it.
The first thing Amy noticed was the - expected - utter lack of any taint. On a quick pass, her biology looked pretty normal for an elven woman in what Amy assumed was her fifties. Looking closer, she picked up that Fiona had had a child at some point decades ago, but that was irrelevant. She examined the 'white blood cells' (not that elves had those but the things they did have functioned almost exactly the same way) and they looked normal for an elf, which suggested if there was anything physical to this, it would be antibody related. Probably.
Maybe.
She examined the elven equivalent of the biological systems that 'stored' information regarding antibodies. Unfortunately... Amy had nothing. What she was picking up showed that Fiona had the capacity to make antibodies that she hadn't seen in other elves, but if they applied to the Taint in any sense... she couldn't say. Grimacing, Amy pulled her hand back.
"Judging from your expression, that was not helpful?"
"Not really," Amy let out a frustrated sigh, one hand going into her hair and pulling out through it, shaking a few strands of hair that got caught up in her fingers off her hand. "If I could touch an active Gray Warden, preferably an elf and compare, I might be able to work out something useful." That or if she could expose Fiona to the Taint and see how her body fought back against it, but that wasn't going to happen.
I could maybe clone part of her antibody creation system - her Memory B cell equivalents and immunoglobulin equivalents and stuff? Amy closed her eyes and pushed that thought down. It was enticing, more enticing than ,most times she'd had the thought to do something with her powers she shouldn't. It was even harmless, in theory, but... how would she explain it, how would she get the cloned material out of Fiona, and - and-
It was a slippery slope. Once she justified doing that, what else might she justify to herself?
"The problem is that the Taint is as much magical Fade bullshit as actual physical biology, if not more. And I can't do anything with magical Fade bullshit."
Mages can't heal the Taint, but if I could combine what I do with a mage trying to cure it... There had to be records of attempts to treat and cure the Taint, magical and alchemical and just mundane medicine. Alexius had crafted those powders that slowed down the Darkspawn Taint in Felix, and he had to have done the research on previous attempts to heal it, so he knew what didn't work, if nothing else.
It was a start. She could ask Alexius. If he didn't have all the records and stuff on hand, he could probably have it sent from his fancy estate?
"Unfortunate, but unsurprising. That you are able to expel the Taint from those afflicted with it is an achievement in of itself."
"Yeah, but I'd rather get it done faster, or find a way to make more people immune... though I guess as long as there are Archdemons, can't make everyone immune." Which... was a horrifying reality, really. That vulnerability to a nightmare virus was essential for saving lives and stopping a horde made of said nightmare virus. Led by a demon-dragon-god-thing that was also super infected by said nightmare virus.
Isn't Thedas just grand!?
"Thanks for letting me look," Amy added as an after thought, stepping away, annoyed it had been so useless, but trying not to blame Fiona.
"Tell us the entire story of your encounter with this Architect," Cassandra said. "Even if they are not allies nor identical in means or motives, they are similar beings. Every detail could matter."
"Very well. Though, perhaps we could sit and send for a light meal?" Cassandra nodded and Fiona nodded back, "Thank you."
Once they were all sitting and a servant had been asked to get some food, Fiona began, "It was thirty years ago, so the details are not as vivid as they once were, though it is impossible to forget some parts of the tale, and I will do my best for the rest." Fiona paused, took a small breath and went on, "It started when the brother of the Warden-Commander of Orlais was supposedly captured by Darkspawn... he was, but it proved to be far more complicated than that..."
Another two days of purging Darkspawn Taint from Felix - she had gotten his white blood cells to last sixteen seconds against the Taint now - then getting him to eat a ton, then doing other things, then purging, then more eating and so forth, she had finally finished with him that afternoon. He was 'cured'. Entirely Taint free, as far as she could tell. As far as Alexius could tell too, when he examined his son with his magic.
Everyone was now making ready to leave Redcliffe. Most of the mages had left this morning - about a hundred would be going to Haven, the most combat capable of them, since they'd have the most experience channeling the kind of power needed to help close the Breach. The rest, including enough capable of guarding the elderly and the apprentices and the less combat capable, would be distributed to the various positions of the Inquisition, or the lands of nobles friendly to the Inquisition who were willing to host mages while more permanent solutions were worked out.
Apparently the Inquisition had an entire villa in the Hinterlands now, one that had been taken over by bandits, and had taken over a half-ruined fort as well, giving them plenty of places to house the Mages for now.
Alexis and Felix would be going back to Haven tomorrow when Amy and company left, accompanied by some mages and - importantly - soldiers of the Inquisition on rotation back to Haven from the Hinterlands, including a few former members of the Templars. Felix was going to stay protected - if he went back to Tevinter, he was at serious risk of the Venatori killing him in revenge for Alexius's betrayal. As for Alexius...
Well, no one had used the word prisoner - at least not around Amy - but from what Amy had picked up, that's basically what he was. House arrest maybe, rather than a cell, but he was a prisoner. Either because Cassandra wanted to make sure he was on hand if he had lied, or so he wasn't tempted to go back to the Venatori, or to pump him for more information (he'd shared what he did know about the Venatori, which was less than one might like: some names, and some general plans, including that Corypheus apparently had plans to raise an army of demons - a difficult prospect apparently, magically speaking - and that Corypheus planned to sabotage the peace talks in Orlais in some fashion) or something.
Or maybe he was being punished for what he did, but... politely, since he had helped them. Amy wasn't sure if there was actually a law against bending time, but the Chantry might have rules about 'dangerous magic'. Or it could be the 'attempting to effectively enslave the mage rebels and kicking the Arl of Redcliffe out of his castle' thing.
Alexius had gladly handed over his notes on his research into treating the Darkspawn Taint, including his recipe for the powders he had used to slow the Taint's growth in Felix. She had even had Felix take some while she was touching them to see them in action.
In effect, it seemed like they could actually damage part of the Taint, though it took the better part of two hours for Amy to see a real visible effect. The outer edges of the mass in Felix's body would actually sort of... dissolve, but it couldn't do more. Amy's best guess was either it wasn't powerful enough (and probably couldn't be without the powders hurting Felix - the dose made the poison and all) or that it targeted and damaged a specific part of the Darkspawn Taint in Felix's body.
Just because it was all one shifting, unreadable, untouchable mass to her biological 'senses' didn't mean the Darkspawn Taint might not have its own individual cells and 'parts'. Perhaps the powders damaged or even destroyed the specific parts of the Taint that could assimilate new mass, so it had to regrow those parts to continue to keep converting more of Felix's biomass into itself.,
The damage didn't last, but still.
Unfortunately, she couldn't recreate the effects of the powder herself and then try to expand on it. The physical side, maybe - it was made up of a number of dried and powdered herbs, including a rare strain of elfroot known as 'Gossamer Elfroot', as well as the powder of a mineral called Silverite. Apparently Silverite - not the most common metal - was supposedly good against poisons and according to Katerina, the stories said it could be used to make weapons that were more effective than normal steel against Darkspawn.
If she could touch live versions of all the herbs, she could probably recreate the chemical compounds of the powder herself. As it stood, she could maybe do that now, having seen it in Felix's bloodstream.
But she could recreate the magic Alexius worked over the powder after it's mixing, which seemed to be as important as the materials themselves. It had still given her ideas and the rest of Alexius's notes would hopefully give her more.
"I hear you've declared war on the Taint," Dorian's voice pulled Amy away from the notes Alexius had made on the effects of the progression of the Darkspawn Taint - and comparing Felix to previous records on previous victims. For eight months since infection, Felix had been doing great. Alexis's various flailing efforts had helped buy his son time.
"Where the hell did you hear that?" Declaring war on the Darkspawn Taint?! That was absolutely - that was - okay maybe that wasn't the worst interpretation of what she'd said about that stuff?
"A little bird told me you were heard telling that redheaded bodyguard of yours you were going to 'find a way to destroy that nightmarish shit everywhere, one way or the other.' The nightmarish shit being the Taint. Did I hear wrong?"
"No, that's what I said, and I guess... I guess that is a declaration of war. Let me guess," Amy reached for and took a sip from her coffee. She tried to limit herself to one cup a day to conserve her supply of beans - which was far from infinite - but this was her second of the day, needed for wading through all the dense notes and research written in Alexius's handwriting. "The little bird has a crossbow and too much chest hair?"
"Possibly," Dorian all but confirmed. "Speaking of your bodyguard, where is she? Aren't you worried some Venatori assassin will attack you while you're vulnerable?"
"Katerina's off over there in the shelves looking for something to read," Amy gestured to the left. "If anyone comes in trying to kill me, there's Arthur, over there." She gestured to a dimly lit corner of the library, and a short man wearing leather armor, twin daggers at his belt and a bow and arrow slung over his shoulder. Cassandra had decided that at least as long as they were in Redcliffe, Amy needed two guards on her at all times. Arthur was one of the men from Ser Marius's squad. He hadn't responded much to attempts to chat.
"I see. And I suppose if nothing else, you can threaten to smash your staff into their pretty face?"
Amy rolled her eyes, "I doubt any assassins sent by the Venatori would have faces as pretty as yours is."
"Well, that much is obvious," Dorian agreed cheerfully.
"I'm not going to apologize for saying that in the Chantry the other day." Amy had meant it now, and the handful of times she'd spoken to Dorian or heard him speaking to someone else - he and Ser Marius had flirted increasingly suggestively for several minutes at dinner last night - only reinforced how the man's entire smug vibe set her teeth on edge. Thank fuck he didn't have a Thinker power. "But," she added, tersely, "You did help with Alexius, so thank you." He had helped save her life so...
"Always good to be appreciated, though I get the distinct impression you don't like me." Dorian cocked an eyebrow, tone still playful.
"Don't take it too personally. She doesn't like most people." Katerina said, walking towards them, a book in hand. Dorian looked at the title and rolled his eyes.
"Throne of Blood and Slaves, really? I would think a Ferelden Arl wouldn't have a copy of such overwrought Orlesian propaganda."
"I think not liking Tevinter is the one thing Nevarra, Orlais and Ferelden all have in common," Katerina suggested. "What's your problem with this book?"
"Where do I even begin? While I'll be the first to admit too many of my countrymen resort to blood magic, the Imperial Chantry does not-"
"Did you want something or are you just here to hear yourself talk?" Amy interrupted. "If you're just here to talk about the book Katerina has, can you both do it somewhere else in the library so I can focus?"
"Well, I do quite like to hear myself talk," he lowered his voice and leaned in conspiratorily, "I always have such interesting things to say," then his grin vanished and his tone lost all mirth. "That said, I do actually have something I came to say. Or rather, ask." He gestured to the empty chair across from Amy, while Katerina moved to sit down next to Amy. "May I?"
"Yeah, sure."
Once seated, Dorian went on: "I'll be direct - I want to join your Inquisition." His voice was entirely earnest, no hint of joke or sarcasm.
Amy nearly choked on the lukewarm coffee she was halfway through swallowing. Coughing, Amy cleared her throat twice, seeing similar surprise on Katerina's face, then finally: "What?"
"Your Inquisition," Dorian repeated, "I want in." Still earnest.
"It's not my Inquisition! Why are you asking me? Talk to Cassandra? Why do you even want in? You're Tevinter and you guys have your own Chantry and the Inquisition is kind of part of or aligned with or whatever the one down here, right?"
"I'm telling you because you're the Herald of Andraste. It may not be your Inquisition formally, but I suspect that if you say I can join, then they'll let me in. What are they going to do, say no to the girl who can cure the Taint, close the rifts and is believed to be a messenger from the Maker all over the south? I'm not asking Cassandra Pentaghast because I think it's quite likely she'd just say no without hearing me out."
She might. Cassandra, by all evidence, didn't like people who liked wordplay and were in love with their own cleverness. Which was exactly how things should be anyway. Not to mention he was a mage from Tevinter and the whole religious aspect.
Dorian was also probably not wrong that if Amy asked, they'd let him in.
"Why?"
"Why should you allow me in? Apart from the fact that I'm immensely handsome and clever?" Dorian could move between serious and flippant and back again faster than Vicky could fly. "Apart from the fact that you saved my friend's life, I want to be part of helping to make right a mess my own people helped create."
"The Venatori." Dorian had made it clear he didn't agree with the cult, and Amy was pretty sure this wasn't an elaborate double-scheme to get a spy close to her. Helping erase her from time seemed like the better play anyway. Plus he hadn't lied in the Chantry... not that it meant she wanted him on her side just for that.
"The Venatori are a perfect example of everything wrong with my homeland. A deadly nostalgia for a vision of the Imperium that hasn't been real for a thousand years, a blithe insistence that anything can be resolved if we throw enough blood magic at the problem and a reckless disregard for the costs of the pursuit of power. They're so worried about returning to the glorious past they don't care if it destroys our soul - and countless lives to get there." Dorian explained in a grave tone.
"Hardly everything. There's the fact that your country does slavery." Amy muttered
"Ah yes, there is that." Dorian admitted. "If that's what you're worried about, I don't own any slaves. My family does, but -"
"That doesn't really make it any better. You probably had slaves waiting on hand and foot back home." Amy snapped. "I can't really say I'm thrilled at the idea of a pro-Slavery guy just hanging out and chilling with us."
"The slaves my family owned have always been treated well!" Dorian protested.
"And that makes it better? They're slaves. People aren't fucking property." Amy growled. "Where I come from, we fought a whole war to end slavery. Hundreds of thousands of people died."
"Hundreds of thousands? You can't expect me to believe that." Dorian countered, scoffing himself.
"How big is the biggest city in Tevinter?" Val Royeaux was a million or so.
"Minrathous has about two million or so," Dorian said after a moment.
"The biggest cities back home have six, seven, eight million people or more." Not that New York was that big during the Civil War, but the population of Europe at the same time had to be bigger than Europe's population in the middle ages. "Slavery is evil. Even if you and your family treat your slaves well, which I doubt the slaves would agree with, how do you think the kinds of people that join the Venatori treat their slaves?"
Dorian opened his mouth, closed it quickly. Said nothing for a moment.
"That is - there are slaves treated poorly, but is that really any worse than how some Orlesians will treat their serfs? How the elves in the alienages here in the south are treated?" Dorian countered. "And back home, slaves can be in honored, privileged positions. A man can sell himself into slavery to save his family from poverty."
"...are you seriously trying to defend slavery?" Amy stood up. "I should fucking give you-" she cut herself off and let out a frustrated growl. Her heart was beating fast in her chest, her face felt flushed. She snatched her coffee off the table and downed the rest of it in a series of quick gulps."
"For a moment there, I thought you were going to toss the contents of your cup at me..." Dorian said after a moment.
"I'd rather cut my hand off than waste coffee like that," Amy said, not exaggerating too much. "Slavery is evil. And for the record, serfs and the alienages are too, but slavery is worse. You don't fucking get that being considered property of people who can just decide to fucking kill you is worse?"
"The slaves my family-" Dorian started, but then he cut himself off. "I...I've never quite put it together like that, in my head," Dorian admitted, then went on in a softer voice. "I've never thought much about slavery at all, to be honest. It just is. It would be like thinking about the fact that I have two arms and two legs."
"I could fix that for you," Amy glared at him. She stepped away from the table, seething. That smug, arrogant little-
He's Tevinter. He knows the Venatori better than most. Probably can give Leliana and Josephine useful information for spies and diplomatic contacts and...
The part of Amy that had to get used to making constant compromises to deal with the fact that a giant hole in the sky pointed out all the ways Dorian could be useful.
He and Alexius worked out how to fucking travel through time. Sure, it only worked in the end because the Breach made it possible but that's more than anyone else did. Another part of her added. If Dorian could do that... Could Dorian do something else? Something else impossible?
I can't possibly be thinking of letting him into the Inquisition just because maybe he could help me go home! He's okay with slavery! Would she accept help from fucking Kaisar if it meant going home? No! What about the Nine?
Okay, no, he's not - he's not on the level of the fucking Slaughterhouse Nine, Amy, you're insane to even suggest that. She felt her breathing quicken, faster, shallower. Dorian wasn't even as bad as Kaisar, probably. But -
No, letting him into the Inquisition just because maybe he could help her go home... that wasn't...
But the Breach was a big deal. And that took priority. And even if Amy somehow just... went back home after closing the Breach like a magic snap (a girl can dream)... the Venatori and their ancient evil wizard boss were a thing. Dorian wanted to fight them.
It's like a goddamn Endbringer Truce that doesn't end because the Endbringer fight is stretching for months.
If Dorian wanted to fight the Venatori, fucking let him, right?
Amy turned around. "You want to kill Venatori?"
"...not in the sense that I'm thirsting for their blood, but since I doubt most of them will listen to reason... it isn't as if I'd mourn their deaths or regret being part of bringing them about," Dorian admitted.
"I shouldn't be doing this, but fine. I'll talk to Cassandra. You can go to Haven with Alexius and Felix and the last of the mages heading there, and talk to Leliana and Josephine. I'm sure they'll have something for you to do. Maybe... tell them what you know. Do you know the names of any Venatori?"
"...I'm not sure, though I can think of a number of people who might be members of the cult or silently backing it," Dorian admitted. "So I'm in?"
"You're in."
The Breach. It's about the Breach. It's all bigger than anything else. Even once the Breach was closed, someone powerful enough to rip a hole in reality and apparently did that before and brought the fucking Taint to the world...
That was just as big as the Breach, wasn't it?
At least once it was closed, she wouldn't be as necessary, right?
She wouldn't be as necessary.
She wouldn't.
Talk to the Templars. Close the Breach. Go home.
I will get home.
Right?
"Cassandra - what... why did you get so angry at Varric back there?" Amy had - after a very quick check of Felix's biology and an order for him to eat more - rushed out of the room after Cassandra, the older woman leaving once everyone had had a moment to process Amy's theory. She hadn't even apologized to Varric for attacking him or assuming he'd lied.
"I mean, I get you thought he lied but - you were this close to ripping his head off!" Cassandra could get angry, but - when she'd gotten like that in the cell, when Amy had first woken up in Thedas, Cassandra had thought Amy was a mass murderer who had killed like, hundreds of people and the Divine.
She hadn't been accusing Varric of that. Just lying.
Lying about the guy who ended up being the one to blow up the Conclave, but...
"Because I thought the damned dwarf lied," Cassandra said, still walking quickly, finding stairs, leading upwards into a tower. "Because lying is what he does. He lies, he spins stories, he misrepresents the truth, and you're hanging off of his every word until it's too late." Amy had to strain to keep up with the taller woman, jogging to make pace with Cassandra's brisk walk. "The only thing I had ever known about Corypheus was that Varric said he was dead, that he was supposedly one of the seven Magisters who breached the Golden City. And then Alexius described him more or less exactly as Varric did. I made assumptions." They reached a landing on the stairs, and Amy followed Cassandra out onto a balcony that overlooked Redcliffe Castle's courtyard and the town down below in the distance.
"You nearly killed him!" Amy protested. "That's not just assumptions! If you'd slammed him any harder, I'd have to have healed broken bones."
"I know very well what it takes to kill someone, Amy." Cassandra disagreed, leaning forward, resting her arms on the edge of the balcony wall. "I was in no danger of doing that to Varric." She exhaled slowly, "Breaking a bone... perhaps."
"He wouldn't have deserved that either," Amy said. "I mean - I trust Varric as far as I can throw him, sure, rogues with a heart of gold are only a thing in books, but he didn't lie about Corypheus."
"Not about Corypheus, but the man is a liar at heart," Cassandra ground out. "And I at least had reason to believe he was a liar when I burst in." Cassandra flexed her fingers on the edge of the balcony's wall, opening and closing her hand and then she took a breath. "I still should not have done what I did to him, you are correct."
She hadn't done anything serious to Varric, but that was as much accident as anything else. Amy bit her lip, looking at Cassandra. It... didn't make Amy think much less of the woman, but - just a little? That she would react like that when she was angry? Cassandra hadn't been so physical with Amy when she was in that cell...
Maybe because I'm a kid? But like... she thought I was a mass murderer.
Was it just Varric?
"I...I haven't seen you that angry since you were accusing me of being the one behind the explosion at the Conclave, in that cell." Amy said softly. "I... I wasn't - it wasn't that seeing you like that scared me, since you weren't directing the anger at me or anything, but... I - it isn't right to do stuff like that to people who didn't actually do anything wrong."
Slamming an E88 thug against the wall - and not doing serious damage - was one thing. Victoria had done that a few times. The kind of serious life-threatening damage her sister had done six times on the other hand... that was her sister losing control of her anger.
Cassandra hadn't been that bad maybe, but - Cassandra was more than twice her age. More than twice Victoria's age. She should know better.
And - and Varric was an ally and he hadn't done anything wrong. But -
"No. It was not." Cassandra admitted.
"Why did it make you that angry though? It - a lie isn't worth that? Not that lie?" Amy was trying to understand Cassandra, her actions. There was more to it than just the specific lie, right?
There was always more to Victoria's anger at the criminals she beat up than just the specific crime. Amy knew her sister, knew how much the state of the Bay got to her, the fact that nothing was getting better, that nothing their family did, or that the Protectorate and Wards did ever really seemed to matter. And then Victoria wasn' event allowed to go up against most villainous capes.
Not that she'd let Carol and Aunt Sarah's rules really stop her if it came to that, but...
"If he had lied about Corypheus still being alive - knowing that such a threat existed, it - it could have - perhaps the Conclave's destruction could have been prevented. Or it could have saved time with our investigation afterwards." Cassandra didn't sound like she believed her own words.
"Were you guys even considering Tevinter? No one ever mentioned it? I mean, I never asked, but..."
"When in doubt, assuming a Tevinter Magister's conspiracy is always a safe bet," Cassandra explained. "The avenue was being investigated, but as far as I am aware, Leliana never picked up any connection between the destruction of the Temple and these... Venatori. I'm sure she's heard of them, but Tevinter is rife with secret societies and cults dedicated to the Old Gods and preaching a return to the Imperium of Old."
"But there was no proof connecting Tevinter anything to it?" Amy asked, moving to stand next to Cassandra. The balcony's outer wall came up to Cassandra's waist. Higher for Amy, but she could still lean against it, looking out at the village and the lake in the distance below.
"Not that I am aware of." Cassandra bit her lip, staying silent for a long moment, "I should not have done what I did. Varric... he has a unique ability to draw out my anger. But I should still not have done it."
"You shouldn't have," Amy agreed, then said it again more firmly. "You really shouldn't have. I - I don't like seeing you do that."
"I... I am sorry, Amy. Scaring you wasn't my intent."
"I wasn't scared! I just - I know you're a good person, but good people shouldn't do things like that." Amy inhaled slowly then, "My sister... she -" was she really going to tell people about this? Even if there was no chance it would get back to Carol or Aunt Sarah or the PRT... it was supposed to be a secret between her and Victoria. And maybe Dean, if Vicky had ever told him about it.
But... Amy licked her lips and started again. She needed to explain, needed Cassandra to understand what was thinking.
"My sister - when she patrols, catches criminals in the act... sometimes she's caught them after they flee from hurting people really, really badly. Killing kids or... rape," Amy started. "Sometimes - not often, not against how many she's caught - she - she lets her anger get the better of her. She loses control of herself and she hurts them way worse than they need to be to be caught. There are laws, back home, about - about hurting criminals. It's one thing to hurt them when they're fighting back, or to stop them from running away or hurting other people, but... you're supposed to do the minimum amount required, People can get in trouble for doing worse. And you're really not supposed to kill them unless you have no other choice."
"Six times," Amy said after a moment's pause, "Vicky did enough damage to them that they - a couple of them could have died, and the rest... it was too much. She'd have been punished. So she - she'd ask me to heal them, so there'd be no proof of what she did, when they were arrested."
"She's not a bad person! Vicky's a hero. She's good. The best person I know. She just - she loses control and gets angry. She's stopped over two hundred criminals, rescued people from burning buildings, gotten civilians out of the line of fire, taken them to me to heal them so they have a better chance of making it with no complications - she fights to save lives almost every day." Amy was speaking quickly, feeling like she had to make that clear. She didn't like what her sister did to those six criminals, didn't like that her sister asked her to help her cover it up.
New Wave was supposed to be about accountability, but Carol would - Carol would lecture and disapprove and she'd probably find some way to blame Amy for it in the first place, and then ground Vicky and Aunt Sarah would come up with some... stupid PR move, and force Vicky into remedial combat training, or make her work under PRT supervision for a while to earn brownie points with them or take her out of patrol rotation...
Vicky didn't deserve that kind of punishment. Or people looking at her like she was some sort of brutish thug. She already got too much of that bullshit on PHO when people called her Collateral Damage Barbie. Total lies. But because she was blonde and pretty everyone assumed Victoria was stupid and reckless and -
And that's assuming the PRT didn't just start demanding she be roped into the Wards entirely. Or leverage it for favors from New Wave. Or try to rope New Wave into the Protectorate or -
"But the point is, she shouldn't do it, and I hate that she does it, and that she has me heal those people to cover it up and - those bastards at least deserve to be hurt. I just... you shouldn't be so angry you do things like that." Amy exhaled slowly. "Not that I - I've never done anything like that to anyone, but I've felt angry enough to."
Hitting Skitter in the head had been different... if the blow had taken the bug bitch down or she'd surrendered and Amy had kept going... that would have been the same thing as what Vicky did.
"You helped your sister cover up breaking the law?" Cassandra sounded shocked and... upset with her? Or - bothered? Horrified?
Is she - is she going to - she's going to think I'm a criminal and she'll - oh god fuck, no... fuck...
Amy's stomach fell. "I - it's - Vicky doesn't - it's not - she doesn't deserve to be treated like a criminal herself for it! She's my sister and I'm not - I can't just let her - she saves lives, every day. She's a hero!" Amy was speaking quickly, desperate, trying to explain, heart pounding in her chest. "She's not a villain, or a criminal! I - she's good. And you're good too, Cassandra! I'm not - I'm not saying you're bad for getting angry at Varric and shoving him against the wall and - I just - I don't like it when Vicky loses control like that, because she shouldn't. And - I just - I didn't like seeing that with Varric. When you got that angry with me, in the cell... you thought I had killed hundreds of people and -"
"I should not have gotten as angry with you as I did." Cassandra said softly. "I wanted someone to blame, and you were convenient. It... it was not easy to resist the desire to do similar to you as I did to Varric, in that moment of anger."
Amy stiffened. She - she hadn't known that, but -
She doesn't want to do it now... she stopped wanting to do it pretty quickly, right? Once she believed Amy was innocent.
"But I did hold myself back from it. And I could have done it with Varric. You are correct. I should not have done that. But... you should not have helped your sister cover up breaking the law. Though I admit, I find it strange that there are such strict rules about harming criminals still at large, on your world. It would seem... cumbersome to demand the bare minimum of force in all cases. But if that is the law... you should not aid in its breaking."
"I know! I know! I -" Amy closed her eyes. "I know. I know I shouldn't. Each time, I tell myself this is the last time I cover for her. The last time I help her. She's done so much good, but she needs to learn to control her anger better! She needs to not throw dumpsters at them for God's sake!" Granted, it had only been the one time she'd done that, but still. Too much. Too far. And it was the most recent case...
"A dumpster?"
"Big, giant metal boxes we put trash in. They can weigh... a thousand pounds? A ton, even, sometimes? More. They're - they're really heavy. With the sixth guy... she threw one at him. Did serious damage. I told her it was the last time again and - I mean it every time, I do and you're right, I shouldn't do it, but she's my sister! She's the only person I have! I can't - I can't just turn my back!" Amy swallowed, throat feeling tight, trying to keep from feeling too nauseous, feeling a weight of judgement from Cassandra...
Cassandra put a hand on her shoulder gently, and Amy tried to force herself to take a deep breath, focusing on the weight of Cassandra's hand there, on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to-"
"There's nothing to apologize for. You're right. I shouldn't have done it, but I did. You shouldn't do what you did to cover up your sister's actions. But you did. None of us can claim perfection," Cassandra snorted, "Your opinion of your sister is very high, but even you have just admitted she has done things she shouldn't."
"Yeah..." Victoria was as close to perfect as a human could be, of course, but that was still... Amy managed to actually take a deep breath this time, and put her hand over Cassandra's on her shoulder, taking another deep breath. "Sorry." She said again.
"Again, you do not need to apologize." Slowly Cassandra extricated her hand from Amy's shoulder and looked back out off the balcony. She was silent a moment, and then. "I did not want to leave for Kirkwall, when Divine Justinia dispatched Leliana and myself there to retrieve Varric. I worried what leaving her side could do. But she said that his story - the true story, not the version in his book - could perhaps convince both sides at the Conclave that the escalation on both sides was at fault for Kirkwall. That the push and pull of mages and Templars extended back far enough that trying to lay blame was pointless."
The blame is the Chantry's then, isn't it? Amy bit back that response, not wanting to interrupt Cassandra. The blame was not on the mages who were caged up and who Knight-Commander Meredith wanted to murder. Not even a little.
"And we were to find Hawke, if we could." Cassandra added. "Justinia wanted the Champion of Kirkwall to lead the Inquisition, once the Conclave came to a decision, or failed to come to one at all."
"It would be nice if there could be someone here to make decisions, and I could just close rifts and purge Darkspawn Taint from people."
"Perhaps," Cassandra nodded softly. "But she is not here, and when you made a choice for the Inquisition, you did so decisively. I do not think it would have occurred to Hawke to approach both sides."
"I mean, I don't think she's really a fan of the Templars after... you know, everything."
"Not in the least. But in the months leading up to Meredith's attempt to purge the Gallows, Kiandra Hawke did try to keep things from boiling over, on both sides." Cassandra explained. "But she would have seen firsthand how hard it would be to try to get both sides to work together."
I thought she said she was trusting me to - Amy closed her eyes, trying to push down on that thought. Cassandra wasn't - she wasn't trying to -
"You managed to resolve matters here in Redcliffe far easier than could have been anticipated. And... I think it is likely that Grand Enchanter Fiona will not be in much position to refuse to work with the Templars, if we can convince them to work with the Inquisition." Cassandra added.
"It only went easier because we were lucky. Alexius being here kind of killed the need for negotiations, and his son had the Darkspawn Taint... if he'd just been a fanatic who worshipped Corypheus..."
"Perhaps," Cassandra admitted. "But we deal with the world as it exists, not the world it could have been." She set her jaw, "Or perhaps I should say - we should deal with the world as it exists."
"As I said, I did not want to leave the Divine's side to retrieve Varric, to find Hawke. Our search for Hawke proved fruitless, and Varric claimed he did not know where she was. Or how to get in contact with her."
"You didn't believe him?"
"Contrary to what Varric may believe, I am not a gullible fool. I had hoped Varric could be convinced, but we ran out of time before we had to return to Haven... as it was, it was too late. If he had just told us, or - not spun his stories! I ask myself every night... if we had returned from Kirkwall faster. Made better time. Rode harder. Looked harder for Hawke... questioned Merrill more intently. Could the Divine's death have been prevented? Perhaps Corypheus would have been too powerful to defeat, but... perhaps I could have gotten her out of the Temple. Had she lived... the task of the Inquisition, of securing peace, would have been far easier. Had I been there, I -" Cassandra cut herself off, then, "Had I been there, perhaps Regalyan may not have died. Perhaps I could have prevented it."
"And maybe you'd have died!" Amy countered. "Everyone else did. We still don't know how I survived. Unless Alexius said how."
"He claims Corypheus only said your interruption disrupted the ritual," Cassandra explained. "Magical rituals can be quite delicate. It could be as simple as you jostling his arm or knocking over some implement or tool."
"And that translates to me surviving how?" Really? That's how his plan to become a god failed? Because I kicked over a candle or just... jostled his arm? It didn't sound very fitting to a real epic fantasy plot. But then... this wasn't a story. This was a chapter in the hell that was her life. And it wasn't the first time Amy had realized her life was a farce, sometimes.
Give the girl who doesn't want a fucking power the most nightmarish power possible! Make it so she can change people's brains! Except the one brain she would actually like to! One day. One day without her own Manton Limit.
Fuck. One hour. Less. Just... make it so she could stop being a gross, incestious freak. Change her own mind so she wouldn't hate healing so much. Make it so she could get by on less sleep, so she could save more lives...
Make the ugly plain Jane of New Wave the one that has the biggest following, the one everyone calls a miracle. Give her a power that makes her stand out, makes everyone's eyes on her.
A fucking farce.
"We do not know. Perhaps being close to the center of the blast preserved you. Perhaps something about your power somehow saved you. And... it is possible the Maker chose to preserve you. That Andraste did act to protect you, knowing we would need you, your abilities, your mark... your passion for what is right." Amy made a face at Cassandra's words, and Cassandra sighed. "I know you do not believe, Amy, but your survival was a miracle. It could not have happened outside of the Maker's sight."
"Remind me to send him a fruit basket," Amy muttered then she flushed. If it was anyone else, she would have left it at that, but, "I'm sorry. I - I know this... the whole... religion thing matters to you." Insulting Cassandra's beliefs was a bad idea. And a distraction. "I don't know how I survived... and unless Corypheus decides to give us an answer, I don't think we ever will."
"Likely not," Cassandra agreed quietly. She clenched her jaw a moment, relaxed, opened and closed her hands again. "As I said... we should deal with the world as it exists, not as it might have... but the question remains. If I had not let Varric waste so much of my time. If I had tried harder, moved faster. If I had found Hawke, or -" She exhaled. "And so, when there was a chance Varric had lied about Corypheus..." she shook her head. "I saved Divine Beatrix from more than one attempt on her life, not just the one everyone asks me about. And I did the same for Justinia. And when I was parted from her..."
"I should apologize to him," Cassandra changed topics midthought - well, not completely. Amy knew who she meant. "He will be insufferable about it."
"Can Varric get more insufferable?" He wasn't always bad to talk to - he had some funny stories and he was funny and... it was nice to be distracted from things talking to him, but he was still playing his 'rogue with a heart of gold' schtick. And he kept trying to get a rise out of her.
And it keeps fucking working.
"Yes." Cassandra said simply. "I am not convinced there is a limit to Varric's ability to be insufferable." She shook her head. "I should not have reacted so poorly, nor attacked him as I did. I will apologize. And... I can only try to not let myself be haunted by questions of what could have been. And neither should you, Amy."
Amy blinked. "What?"
"You are correct, that we got lucky, in a way, that Alexius was here, that he wanted to trap you, that he made negotiations unnecessary, and that saving his son is something you can do, and something that stopped him. But... we deal with the world we have. It speaks well, that you adapted. That you chose to take the risk of being bait to draw Alexius's attention. And... even if Alexius had not given up, you would not have let Felix die to the Taint anyway."
"Fuck no. I'm not letting that shit win," Amy said. "Nobody deserves to die to that stuff."
"Exactly. I do not know what will face us at Therinfal redoubt. If the Lord Seeker plans a trap there, or if he might turn on us later, or perhaps Cullen's fears are unfounded. I do not know how difficult the negotiations will be, especially given what we have promised to the mages, but... your success here, benefitted by fortune or not, gives me hope that your idea of approaching both sides might actually work." Cassandra concluded. "You have done well, Amy. Remember that."
"You are insane. I should have known better than to trust a member of the Seekers of Truth with my people's safety!" Fiona protested.
"If I agreed with Lord Seeker Lambert that forcing the mages into submission, I would have joined him when he broke with the Chantry" Cassandra explained, teeth clenched, arms crossed in front of her chest. "The Inquisition will honor its promise to your people."
"I would not trust your word, Seeker Pentaghast! You are no friend to the cause of mages!" Fiona accused.
"I would not call myself a friend to your cause, but I meant what I said when the Circles as they were failed, and that there can be no return to the way things were."
"And yet, you would have the Inquisition ally with those who would return us to our prisons, or worse, kill us all to wipe the slate clean! If you genuinely felt as you said, you would not have proposed this madness!" Fiona snapped. "It is obviously your suggestion, Seeker-"
"It wasn't Cassandra's idea!" Amy shouted from the doorway, walking in quickly. The two were arguing in the castle library, the day after the confrontation with Alexius, the day after learning about Corypheus. After her talk with Cassandra on the balcony she'd returned to getting Felix to eat as much as possible, waited for him to digest, and then purged more Taint. That would be the routine until he was done, really. And now, this morning, she'd just finished purging more
These last two times she'd gotten more Darkspawn Taint out of Felix than the first two, because she knew for sure he would be replenishing as fast as he could, and because she was getting better at modifying white blood cells to resist the corruption.
Better as in, they lasted for like, twelve seconds at a time, which was still an improvement. Every second they lasted was less of Felix's own mass that she had to turn into more white blood cells as they dragged and pushed the Taint out of his body.
And she might get it even more - fifteen seconds, maybe even twenty, with practice. Every time, she learned a little more about the Darkspawn Taint and how it worked, how it changed other life to be like it.
As nice as it would be, Amy didn't think she would ever be able to make white blood cells that would be Taint-Proof (and thus make it so someone could be immune to the Taint). The Darkspawn Taint was changing constantly, shifting, adapting. It had only the one constant, which was that it was a fucking nightmare virus that wanted to propagate itself endlessly.
Varric had told her that Amy might want to head to the library, because Fiona and Cassandra were arguing about the plan to go to the Templars. About her plan. She'd left Felix with Dorian and instructions to eat a very large, very hearty late breakfast, and hurried to the library.
"Going to the Templars wasn't Cassandra's idea," Amy said again, closing the door to the library behind her. What right did Fiona have to run around accusing Cassandra of wanting to put mages back in the Circles?! Cassandra had made it clear where she stood! Cassandra was good, damnit! Not some 'cage the mages' extremist.
No, that's Vivienne's job.
"It was mine. And it wasn't because I think the Circles are a good idea, or that the Templars aren't mostly jackasses."
"Then why? You have what you need to close the Breach, and there can be no peace with the Templars. What would they accept, other than our surrender, a return to what was before? A return to the same system that oppressed my people, slaughtered them at will and used Tranquility to tear their very beings from them. And then tried to hide the cure for Tranquility when it was discovered!"
"And if that's the only deal they'll take, then fuck them. I'll just leave and go back to Haven, close the Breach with just you guys and everyone can know the Templars chose spite over saving the world. Sounds like a win for you." Amy said flatly. "It's worth knowing when I came up with the plan to approach both you and the Templars for help, I had no idea either of you would say yes, or that Alexius would be here to... simplify things."
"If not a return to the Circles, what could you possibly offer the Templars?" Fiona asked, sounding calmer at least, like maybe she was actually willing to listen.
Amy took a breath and closed her eyes, organizing her thoughts, thinking back to the preparations she'd made for the negotiations with the Lord Seeker. She was going to not mention the 'steal the Templars out from under the Lord Seeker' plan since that was -
Less people knew it... probably a good thing.
"Glory, for the Lord Seeker, since that's what he seems to want. Validation that he matters, that he's the big hero. That the Templars are the guardians of Thedas and deserve the respect of the people. He'll get all of that by being part of closing the Breach. By allying with the Inquisition. And he'll get even more when the Inquisition - hopefully with the help of the mages too - takes down Corypheus." Cassandra had said she would tell Fiona about Corypheus after they left the balcony yesterday.
It honestly seemed like a good idea to get the people whose whole thing was disrupting magic to be on their side when the evil guy behind everything was an ancient wizard from a thousand years ago on an evil quest to become a god. "As for the rest... better access to lyrium. Reforms to the internal structure of the order. The chance to negotiate better terms with the Chantry and the governments of Thedas. Things like loosening the rules about letting Templars get married."
Amy scoffed, "It would be one thing if they just banned Templars from being married. Chantry clergy can't after all, so it would make sense. But to make it so they can get married if they get special approval is just silly. And stupid."
"Peace cannot be secured so easily," Fiona challenged.
"Why? Both sides were willing to sit down and talk before. You can't fight all of Thedas, and neither can they, and by the time the Conclave happened, you'd all pissed off a lot of people, right?" Fiona hesitated a moment, then nodded in response to Amy's question. "Right now, the Inquisition is who people are looking to..." she swallowed, taking a deep, slow breath.
And I'm the one they're all looking to. The entire fucking continent had their eyes on her and she hated it so much. If she had to be stuck here, couldn't she just heal people while... someone else had the mark? Someone else could be the Herald?
"So you both help us, we help you, we help them. Everyone gets what they want and they stop fighting." Amy started to pace, "That's the best case scenario for it. Failing that, at the very least, you're not fighting each other, which is probably the last thing Corypheus and the Venatori want. He blew up the Conclave, ending the peace talks. Alexius took advantage of your fear of the Templars to trick you into signing yourselves over to him. So fighting each other helps the bastard who killed the Divine."
She was making this part up as she went, but it made sense. It was the same basic logic as the Endbringer Truce. Don't fucking fight each other when there's bigger problems to deal with.
That's it.
"Don't think of this as peace, if you really think peace isn't so easy. Think of it as a 'truce'. Like what's going on in Orlais. They're probably arguing about what color the tablecloth is going to be at the negotiating table, but they're not fighting anymore. Deal with the Breach, deal with Corypheus, and then everyone can revisit the question of peace or not. Maybe you can all park yourselves in an empty valley somewhere and kill each other away from everyone else until one side wins." Amy pulled a hand down her face. "I don't suggest it, but if that's what you want to do, go for it. Just - after the Breach is closed. And after Corypheus is dealt with."
And after I'm back home. Once the Breach was closed... they wouldn't need her, right? They could... they could find a way home. She'd have some goodwill, the Inquisition could spend a bit getting every magical expert who might know something to look into the problem of how to open a portal back to Earth-Bet? Somehow?
Please?
"Truce," Fiona said slowly, trying out the word, as if testing it for flavor. "You paint an appealing picture, and I appreciate your honesty. And it is not as if my people have much choice. If we reject working with the Inquisition, our prospects for freedom plummet, and I still have little hope King Alistair will allow us to stay in Ferelden on our own. And nowhere else will be as welcoming as Ferelden was, originally." She looked away, exhaling slowly, a distant, distracted expression on her face for a long moment, before, "And... you are right. The rest of Thedas wants this war to be over. That is why I agreed to the talks in the first place. Turning down the chance to be part of the closing the Breach merely because the Inquisition allied with the Templars as well would do us no favors."
"It would not," Cassandra agreed.
"If I am to continue with sending many of people to Haven, and dispersing the rest to your other outposts and positions across the Hinterlands and elsewhere, then I will expect the Inquisition to ensure that the Templars do not harass them, assuming the Templars see reason."
"Yeah that seems fair." Amy admitted. She looked over at Cassandra.
"I would agree. I doubt any such efforts will be perfect, but we can ensure that any - on either side - who disturb the shared peace are punished, according to the severity of their actions."
Amy thought back to what Cullen had said to Katerina like... a month and a half ago, or more? About being punished for riling up Templars. "Flinging insults can be punished with filling latrine trenches, and we work up from there?"
Fiona smiled, "Acceptable terms, for the time being. I hope the Inquisition holds to them." Turned, started for the other door out of the library, then paused, turning back around. "I assume the Inquisition intends to contact the Grey Wardens about Corypheus. He is a Darkspawn, and you said he was in one of their prisons for a thousand years."
"The Wardens in Ferelden and Orlais seem to have largely vanished. Even Nevarra and the Free Marches seem more empty of them at this point. It is a mystery Leliana has devoted some time to solving, to no avail."
"You might want to send a letter directly to Weisshaupt." Fiona suggested. "I know for a fact Corypheus is not the only intelligent Darkspawn to have been active in this Age. He calls himself the Architect. I do not believe he is working with Corypheus, but the Wardens learned of him three decades ago, and with any luck, information about him might also hold true for Corypheus."
"...you're kidding me? Two?! Great. Another ancient unkillable evil wizard. Just what we needed." Amy muttered.
"There could be as many as seven, if Corypheus truly was one of the Magisters Sidereal," Fiona cautioned.
"Fun. But only one that we know is trying to do something actively, and another who is... around? Why do you think he's not working with Corypheus?"
"Because I was held captive by him once, thirty years ago. If not for Corypheus, I would assume he had never been a human... but if Corypheus was, then so was he, most likely. He spoke nothing of Tevinter, and his only interest in the Old Gods was killing the remaining ones where they stept, to prevent them from becoming Archdemons and leading new Blights."
Amy blinked. "That... almost sounds like a good thing? Is that - would that work? Aren't the Old Gods already the Archdemons?"
"That is the Chantry's teaching on the matter, but the Grey Wardens have discovered that it is not quite so simple. The Old Gods slumber deep beneath the earth, and the Darkspawn seek them out. When they find them, they infect them with the Taint, turning them into Archdemons and beginning a Blight." Fiona explained.
"You left the Wardens decades ago, and you were never one of high rank. How do you know this? I cannot imagine this is a secret they share widely, nor one they would like you to spread," Cassandra asked, eyes narrowed.
"I know because the Architect explained his plan, and the other Wardens who were part of our expedition when it was captured confirmed there was some truth to what he said. As to if it would work... I cannot say. But the Architect's other goal was madness, and the true danger of him. He claimed to want to secure permanent peace between mortals and Darkspawn by spreading the Taint to all thinking beings in Thedas, in a way that would turn all into a hybrid of human or elf or dwarf or even Qunari, and Darkspawn. His plan was stopped, and he fled into the Deep Roads... I was sent back to Weisshaupt to give a report, as one of the few survivors - the only one on that expedition that still lives, now - and to take part in the effort to track and deal with the Architect, before he could try again. Unfortunately, the magic he used to try to kill me, to turn me into some twisted hybrid of elf and darkspawn, when it was undone, made it impossible for me to serve as a Warden, despite efforts to correct it. I was unable to remain a Warden, and returned to the Circle. I do not know what became of the efforts to find or deal with the Architect since."
Unable to remain a Warden, and it couldn't be corrected... If Amy didn't know that Wardens drank Darkspawn blood, and if she didn't know that meant they had Taint in their systems, then she might not have been able to guess what Fiona meant. But... she did know those things...
She decided to try very hard not to think about the horrifying prospect of the Taint being spread to everyone on Thedas.
"In other words, you stopped having the Taint in your system and now you're what, immune to it?" This could be huge. "Because all Grey Wardens have the Darkspawn Taint, right?"
"You know?" Fiona eyed Cassandra, "I suppose it would make sense that the Seekers of Truth knew. It is a difficult secret to keep completely for centuries."
"The Seekers only ever guessed," Cassandra answered. "But when I told Amy the theory, she became quite certain it was true." Amy imagined Cassandra was covering for Leliana spilling the beans? She didn't know if it mattered, but she'd play along.
"I see. In answer to your question Amy, yes, the Architect's magic sped up a process that all Wardens go through known as the Calling - the Taint accelerates near the end, and consumes a Warden, turning them into more than a ghoul, but less than a Darkspawn. When we feel it beginning, a Grey Warden is to go to the Deep Roads, and take as many Darkspawn with them as they can. It usually takes a decade, sometimes as many as three."
"But in my case," Fiona continued, "the reversal of the Architect's magic removed all of the Taint from my body and every attempt to repeat the Joining failed. I did not die, but I was not a Warden. After several failures, I was sent back to the Circles. A Warden without the Taint cannot be a Warden."
"So... no Taint, no killing the Archdemon?" That was the thing Wardens were for, above and beyond everything else, right? "Does that mean we need a Warden to kill Corypheus for him to stay dead, land the killing blow instead of just... being there?"
"If this Larius truly was possessed by Corypheus after his 'death', then it may not be so simple," Fiona sighed, then, "If the Wardens found out I was telling you all this..." she shook her head.
"It is not information we intend to spread widely." Cassandra assured her. "But if it will aid us in dealing with Corypheus, then we must know."
Mostly what Amy wanted to know was if Fiona was immune to the Taint, and if so, how. And if Amy could replicate it. Was it all magical bullshit or like, actual antibodies or something similar? Was it anything she could put into effect for Felix? Even if it wouldn't make him or anyone else immune, maybe she could make white blood cells that resisted longer with whatever she picked up from Fiona?
Of course, she's an efl, and that could mean there's all kinds of bullshit going on there.
But the question of how to kill Corypheus for good was an important one...
"I know. Still, it is a difficult habit to break. There are good reasons the truth of the Joining is kept secret, let alone the rest." She paused for a moment, as if gathering her thoughts, then, "When an Archdemon is slain, its soul seeks the nearest Darkspawn, and in a matter of days, it will return to its prior form from that new body. But when a Grey Warden lands the killing blow, the Taint in their body tricks the Archdemon into trying to possess the Grey Warden"
"And that kills it? But it didn't kill Corypheus."
"A Darkspawn is a soulless entity without conscious will. A Grey Warden has a soul. Two souls in one body cannot stand, and it is the struggle between them that destroys both, killing the Warden who lands the killing blow on the Archdemon. In War, Victory. In Peace, Vigilance. In Death, Sacrifice."
Amy could hear the capital letters as she quoted what had to be a motto, official or otherwise. She swallowed, as she pondered what Fiona said. You have to be willing to die to kill an Archdemon. But... it ended a Blight. It seemed like a deal, really.
In Death, Sacrifice. Amy wasn't sure she believed the thing about souls and souls destroying each other. She didn't want to believe souls really were a thing in Thedas, in the sense of an afterlife being real. But whatever else, people believed they were real here in Thedas.
"Destroying both." Cassandra said softly, "You mean to say that the soul of a Grey Warden who kills an Archdemon does not pass to the Maker's side?"
"It is of course impossible to say with certainty," Fiona demurred, "But that has always been the Warden's understanding."
"Christ," Amy muttered. "Okay, then what does that mean for killing Corypheus? You said it's not so simple as having a Gray Warden land the killing blow."
"I doubt it is so simple," Fiona explained. "Whatever the nature of Corypheus's soul, it must be different from that of an Archdemon. If he did possess Larius after 'dying' rather than another Darkspawn that might have been present in the prison, and survived, then something about how his soul changed bodies was different than how an Archdemon's soul does. Though like an Archdemon, his soul appears to have twisted his new body into his previous form, from what I gather."
"So it would seem," Cassandra nodded.
"So... kill him without any Grey Wardens or Darkspawn nearby?"
"A reasonable theory, but dependent on what qualifies as 'nearby'." Cassandra paced a few steps as she went on: "There are no signs of Grey Wardens or Darkspawn were anywhere near the Conclave, before or after the explosion as far as I am aware. So the range cannot be short."
"There is no range limit on an Archdemon's rebirth. If it were known, it would be the preferred tactic for eliminating it, or at least known as an option." Fiona pointed out.
Amy nodded, "Kill all the Darkspawn for ten miles around and then kill the Archdemon. Assuming it would be that simple when you have a rampaging horde of nightmare monsters running around."
"Also true," Fiona nodded. "I am not a scholar of Darkspawn Lore, and the Grey Wardens have spent centuries studying Darkspawn, the Archdemons and the Taint. Weisshaupt holds copies of all discoveries, reports, and information learned about them. At times, it feels like there are as many archivists there working to study and preserve those records as there are soldiers. The headquarters of the Order is as much administrative as military now."
"I shall have Josephine send inquiries, but I wonder how helpful they will be. When the Seekers investigated reports of a magical disturbance at the site of Corypheus's present - not that we knew it was that - the Grey Wardens were already there, and they told us it had been a Darkspawn incursion, one that cost them an entire unit. They did not mention Corypheus, Larius, Janeka or even that Hawke had been there."
"The Wardens have long been a secretive order. I would prevail on any friends I had left in the Order to provide you help in learning what you need, but I am afraid all the friends I had in the Order are dead by now. Indeed, it is likely there are none left alive save for a small handful that were Wardens when I was one."
She got untainted three decades ago. Give it a year to find out she couldn't be re-Wardened... yeah, I guess that tracks.
"But with any luck, the fact that a Darkspawn like Corypheus is behind the Breach will convince them to lift that secrecy now." Fiona added with a sigh.
"Let's hope so. I'm getting really fucking tired of people in Thedas being unwilling to work together." Amy pulled a hand down her face. Her brain felt overstuffed, ready to burst. Everything she was learning was getting all jumbled up in there, and it would take a while to sort it all out, but she could focus on a few important things.
Well, just the one, really.
"So, you never actually said: Are you immune to the Taint?"
"I believe so, but I have little desire to test it by exposing myself to the Taint again. It could be that my immunity has worn off, or it could only apply to the Joining and not other means of being exposed..."
"Understandable," Amy could just get it out of her body if Fiona was actually infected, but she could hardly just ask the woman to volunteer for medical experimentation. She sighed and chewed on her lower lip, thinking for a moment, then, "If you give me your hand, maybe I can take a look at your biology - the underlying way your body works - and maybe I can figure out how you're immune. Maybe use that to make treating Felix go faster, easier. And then do the same for other people." She grimaced, "Probably not,since you're an elf and elven biology makes me want to tear my hair out, but it's worth trying."
"What do you mean, about elven biology?" Fiona asked, her voice cautious suddenly.
"It makes no damn sense!" Amy ranted, gesticulating, "Elves look so much like humans on the outside, but under the skin, different but in the most godawful weird way. All that would be fine, but despite being nothing like humans biologically, or even biochemically in the details, elven bodies function like human ones. You process the same foods in the same ways for the same effect, get sick from the same things in the same ways... it's madness!"
"Humans and elves should not get sick the same way?"
"No! Things that are that different shouldn't get sick in the same way! It would be like," Amy paused, then settled on a terrible analogy so she could avoid having to go into DNA and Adenine, Guanine et cetera. "A tree can't catch a plague from a human, and humans can't usually catch the kind of diseases that might afflict a tree. And even if a disease could be transferrable, it's going to have a different effect!"
"..but humans and elves are more similar than humans and trees," Fiona said as if it was obvious.
"Nope," Amy said flatly, "Only on the surface. In the details, not even close."
"That seems rather difficult to believe."
"Perhaps, but Amy's abilities give her unique insights into this matter." Cassandra cut in. "So I am inclined to believe her. Why would she lie about it?"
"You perhaps have something of a point," Fiona said slowly, eying Amy. After a moment, she extended her hand and Amy took it.
The first thing Amy noticed was the - expected - utter lack of any taint. On a quick pass, her biology looked pretty normal for an elven woman in what Amy assumed was her fifties. Looking closer, she picked up that Fiona had had a child at some point decades ago, but that was irrelevant. She examined the 'white blood cells' (not that elves had those but the things they did have functioned almost exactly the same way) and they looked normal for an elf, which suggested if there was anything physical to this, it would be antibody related. Probably.
Maybe.
She examined the elven equivalent of the biological systems that 'stored' information regarding antibodies. Unfortunately... Amy had nothing. What she was picking up showed that Fiona had the capacity to make antibodies that she hadn't seen in other elves, but if they applied to the Taint in any sense... she couldn't say. Grimacing, Amy pulled her hand back.
"Judging from your expression, that was not helpful?"
"Not really," Amy let out a frustrated sigh, one hand going into her hair and pulling out through it, shaking a few strands of hair that got caught up in her fingers off her hand. "If I could touch an active Gray Warden, preferably an elf and compare, I might be able to work out something useful." That or if she could expose Fiona to the Taint and see how her body fought back against it, but that wasn't going to happen.
I could maybe clone part of her antibody creation system - her Memory B cell equivalents and immunoglobulin equivalents and stuff? Amy closed her eyes and pushed that thought down. It was enticing, more enticing than ,most times she'd had the thought to do something with her powers she shouldn't. It was even harmless, in theory, but... how would she explain it, how would she get the cloned material out of Fiona, and - and-
It was a slippery slope. Once she justified doing that, what else might she justify to herself?
"The problem is that the Taint is as much magical Fade bullshit as actual physical biology, if not more. And I can't do anything with magical Fade bullshit."
Mages can't heal the Taint, but if I could combine what I do with a mage trying to cure it... There had to be records of attempts to treat and cure the Taint, magical and alchemical and just mundane medicine. Alexius had crafted those powders that slowed down the Darkspawn Taint in Felix, and he had to have done the research on previous attempts to heal it, so he knew what didn't work, if nothing else.
It was a start. She could ask Alexius. If he didn't have all the records and stuff on hand, he could probably have it sent from his fancy estate?
"Unfortunate, but unsurprising. That you are able to expel the Taint from those afflicted with it is an achievement in of itself."
"Yeah, but I'd rather get it done faster, or find a way to make more people immune... though I guess as long as there are Archdemons, can't make everyone immune." Which... was a horrifying reality, really. That vulnerability to a nightmare virus was essential for saving lives and stopping a horde made of said nightmare virus. Led by a demon-dragon-god-thing that was also super infected by said nightmare virus.
Isn't Thedas just grand!?
"Thanks for letting me look," Amy added as an after thought, stepping away, annoyed it had been so useless, but trying not to blame Fiona.
"Tell us the entire story of your encounter with this Architect," Cassandra said. "Even if they are not allies nor identical in means or motives, they are similar beings. Every detail could matter."
"Very well. Though, perhaps we could sit and send for a light meal?" Cassandra nodded and Fiona nodded back, "Thank you."
Once they were all sitting and a servant had been asked to get some food, Fiona began, "It was thirty years ago, so the details are not as vivid as they once were, though it is impossible to forget some parts of the tale, and I will do my best for the rest." Fiona paused, took a small breath and went on, "It started when the brother of the Warden-Commander of Orlais was supposedly captured by Darkspawn... he was, but it proved to be far more complicated than that..."
Another two days of purging Darkspawn Taint from Felix - she had gotten his white blood cells to last sixteen seconds against the Taint now - then getting him to eat a ton, then doing other things, then purging, then more eating and so forth, she had finally finished with him that afternoon. He was 'cured'. Entirely Taint free, as far as she could tell. As far as Alexius could tell too, when he examined his son with his magic.
Everyone was now making ready to leave Redcliffe. Most of the mages had left this morning - about a hundred would be going to Haven, the most combat capable of them, since they'd have the most experience channeling the kind of power needed to help close the Breach. The rest, including enough capable of guarding the elderly and the apprentices and the less combat capable, would be distributed to the various positions of the Inquisition, or the lands of nobles friendly to the Inquisition who were willing to host mages while more permanent solutions were worked out.
Apparently the Inquisition had an entire villa in the Hinterlands now, one that had been taken over by bandits, and had taken over a half-ruined fort as well, giving them plenty of places to house the Mages for now.
Alexis and Felix would be going back to Haven tomorrow when Amy and company left, accompanied by some mages and - importantly - soldiers of the Inquisition on rotation back to Haven from the Hinterlands, including a few former members of the Templars. Felix was going to stay protected - if he went back to Tevinter, he was at serious risk of the Venatori killing him in revenge for Alexius's betrayal. As for Alexius...
Well, no one had used the word prisoner - at least not around Amy - but from what Amy had picked up, that's basically what he was. House arrest maybe, rather than a cell, but he was a prisoner. Either because Cassandra wanted to make sure he was on hand if he had lied, or so he wasn't tempted to go back to the Venatori, or to pump him for more information (he'd shared what he did know about the Venatori, which was less than one might like: some names, and some general plans, including that Corypheus apparently had plans to raise an army of demons - a difficult prospect apparently, magically speaking - and that Corypheus planned to sabotage the peace talks in Orlais in some fashion) or something.
Or maybe he was being punished for what he did, but... politely, since he had helped them. Amy wasn't sure if there was actually a law against bending time, but the Chantry might have rules about 'dangerous magic'. Or it could be the 'attempting to effectively enslave the mage rebels and kicking the Arl of Redcliffe out of his castle' thing.
Alexius had gladly handed over his notes on his research into treating the Darkspawn Taint, including his recipe for the powders he had used to slow the Taint's growth in Felix. She had even had Felix take some while she was touching them to see them in action.
In effect, it seemed like they could actually damage part of the Taint, though it took the better part of two hours for Amy to see a real visible effect. The outer edges of the mass in Felix's body would actually sort of... dissolve, but it couldn't do more. Amy's best guess was either it wasn't powerful enough (and probably couldn't be without the powders hurting Felix - the dose made the poison and all) or that it targeted and damaged a specific part of the Darkspawn Taint in Felix's body.
Just because it was all one shifting, unreadable, untouchable mass to her biological 'senses' didn't mean the Darkspawn Taint might not have its own individual cells and 'parts'. Perhaps the powders damaged or even destroyed the specific parts of the Taint that could assimilate new mass, so it had to regrow those parts to continue to keep converting more of Felix's biomass into itself.,
The damage didn't last, but still.
Unfortunately, she couldn't recreate the effects of the powder herself and then try to expand on it. The physical side, maybe - it was made up of a number of dried and powdered herbs, including a rare strain of elfroot known as 'Gossamer Elfroot', as well as the powder of a mineral called Silverite. Apparently Silverite - not the most common metal - was supposedly good against poisons and according to Katerina, the stories said it could be used to make weapons that were more effective than normal steel against Darkspawn.
If she could touch live versions of all the herbs, she could probably recreate the chemical compounds of the powder herself. As it stood, she could maybe do that now, having seen it in Felix's bloodstream.
But she could recreate the magic Alexius worked over the powder after it's mixing, which seemed to be as important as the materials themselves. It had still given her ideas and the rest of Alexius's notes would hopefully give her more.
"I hear you've declared war on the Taint," Dorian's voice pulled Amy away from the notes Alexius had made on the effects of the progression of the Darkspawn Taint - and comparing Felix to previous records on previous victims. For eight months since infection, Felix had been doing great. Alexis's various flailing efforts had helped buy his son time.
"Where the hell did you hear that?" Declaring war on the Darkspawn Taint?! That was absolutely - that was - okay maybe that wasn't the worst interpretation of what she'd said about that stuff?
"A little bird told me you were heard telling that redheaded bodyguard of yours you were going to 'find a way to destroy that nightmarish shit everywhere, one way or the other.' The nightmarish shit being the Taint. Did I hear wrong?"
"No, that's what I said, and I guess... I guess that is a declaration of war. Let me guess," Amy reached for and took a sip from her coffee. She tried to limit herself to one cup a day to conserve her supply of beans - which was far from infinite - but this was her second of the day, needed for wading through all the dense notes and research written in Alexius's handwriting. "The little bird has a crossbow and too much chest hair?"
"Possibly," Dorian all but confirmed. "Speaking of your bodyguard, where is she? Aren't you worried some Venatori assassin will attack you while you're vulnerable?"
"Katerina's off over there in the shelves looking for something to read," Amy gestured to the left. "If anyone comes in trying to kill me, there's Arthur, over there." She gestured to a dimly lit corner of the library, and a short man wearing leather armor, twin daggers at his belt and a bow and arrow slung over his shoulder. Cassandra had decided that at least as long as they were in Redcliffe, Amy needed two guards on her at all times. Arthur was one of the men from Ser Marius's squad. He hadn't responded much to attempts to chat.
"I see. And I suppose if nothing else, you can threaten to smash your staff into their pretty face?"
Amy rolled her eyes, "I doubt any assassins sent by the Venatori would have faces as pretty as yours is."
"Well, that much is obvious," Dorian agreed cheerfully.
"I'm not going to apologize for saying that in the Chantry the other day." Amy had meant it now, and the handful of times she'd spoken to Dorian or heard him speaking to someone else - he and Ser Marius had flirted increasingly suggestively for several minutes at dinner last night - only reinforced how the man's entire smug vibe set her teeth on edge. Thank fuck he didn't have a Thinker power. "But," she added, tersely, "You did help with Alexius, so thank you." He had helped save her life so...
"Always good to be appreciated, though I get the distinct impression you don't like me." Dorian cocked an eyebrow, tone still playful.
"Don't take it too personally. She doesn't like most people." Katerina said, walking towards them, a book in hand. Dorian looked at the title and rolled his eyes.
"Throne of Blood and Slaves, really? I would think a Ferelden Arl wouldn't have a copy of such overwrought Orlesian propaganda."
"I think not liking Tevinter is the one thing Nevarra, Orlais and Ferelden all have in common," Katerina suggested. "What's your problem with this book?"
"Where do I even begin? While I'll be the first to admit too many of my countrymen resort to blood magic, the Imperial Chantry does not-"
"Did you want something or are you just here to hear yourself talk?" Amy interrupted. "If you're just here to talk about the book Katerina has, can you both do it somewhere else in the library so I can focus?"
"Well, I do quite like to hear myself talk," he lowered his voice and leaned in conspiratorily, "I always have such interesting things to say," then his grin vanished and his tone lost all mirth. "That said, I do actually have something I came to say. Or rather, ask." He gestured to the empty chair across from Amy, while Katerina moved to sit down next to Amy. "May I?"
"Yeah, sure."
Once seated, Dorian went on: "I'll be direct - I want to join your Inquisition." His voice was entirely earnest, no hint of joke or sarcasm.
Amy nearly choked on the lukewarm coffee she was halfway through swallowing. Coughing, Amy cleared her throat twice, seeing similar surprise on Katerina's face, then finally: "What?"
"Your Inquisition," Dorian repeated, "I want in." Still earnest.
"It's not my Inquisition! Why are you asking me? Talk to Cassandra? Why do you even want in? You're Tevinter and you guys have your own Chantry and the Inquisition is kind of part of or aligned with or whatever the one down here, right?"
"I'm telling you because you're the Herald of Andraste. It may not be your Inquisition formally, but I suspect that if you say I can join, then they'll let me in. What are they going to do, say no to the girl who can cure the Taint, close the rifts and is believed to be a messenger from the Maker all over the south? I'm not asking Cassandra Pentaghast because I think it's quite likely she'd just say no without hearing me out."
She might. Cassandra, by all evidence, didn't like people who liked wordplay and were in love with their own cleverness. Which was exactly how things should be anyway. Not to mention he was a mage from Tevinter and the whole religious aspect.
Dorian was also probably not wrong that if Amy asked, they'd let him in.
"Why?"
"Why should you allow me in? Apart from the fact that I'm immensely handsome and clever?" Dorian could move between serious and flippant and back again faster than Vicky could fly. "Apart from the fact that you saved my friend's life, I want to be part of helping to make right a mess my own people helped create."
"The Venatori." Dorian had made it clear he didn't agree with the cult, and Amy was pretty sure this wasn't an elaborate double-scheme to get a spy close to her. Helping erase her from time seemed like the better play anyway. Plus he hadn't lied in the Chantry... not that it meant she wanted him on her side just for that.
"The Venatori are a perfect example of everything wrong with my homeland. A deadly nostalgia for a vision of the Imperium that hasn't been real for a thousand years, a blithe insistence that anything can be resolved if we throw enough blood magic at the problem and a reckless disregard for the costs of the pursuit of power. They're so worried about returning to the glorious past they don't care if it destroys our soul - and countless lives to get there." Dorian explained in a grave tone.
"Hardly everything. There's the fact that your country does slavery." Amy muttered
"Ah yes, there is that." Dorian admitted. "If that's what you're worried about, I don't own any slaves. My family does, but -"
"That doesn't really make it any better. You probably had slaves waiting on hand and foot back home." Amy snapped. "I can't really say I'm thrilled at the idea of a pro-Slavery guy just hanging out and chilling with us."
"The slaves my family owned have always been treated well!" Dorian protested.
"And that makes it better? They're slaves. People aren't fucking property." Amy growled. "Where I come from, we fought a whole war to end slavery. Hundreds of thousands of people died."
"Hundreds of thousands? You can't expect me to believe that." Dorian countered, scoffing himself.
"How big is the biggest city in Tevinter?" Val Royeaux was a million or so.
"Minrathous has about two million or so," Dorian said after a moment.
"The biggest cities back home have six, seven, eight million people or more." Not that New York was that big during the Civil War, but the population of Europe at the same time had to be bigger than Europe's population in the middle ages. "Slavery is evil. Even if you and your family treat your slaves well, which I doubt the slaves would agree with, how do you think the kinds of people that join the Venatori treat their slaves?"
Dorian opened his mouth, closed it quickly. Said nothing for a moment.
"That is - there are slaves treated poorly, but is that really any worse than how some Orlesians will treat their serfs? How the elves in the alienages here in the south are treated?" Dorian countered. "And back home, slaves can be in honored, privileged positions. A man can sell himself into slavery to save his family from poverty."
"...are you seriously trying to defend slavery?" Amy stood up. "I should fucking give you-" she cut herself off and let out a frustrated growl. Her heart was beating fast in her chest, her face felt flushed. She snatched her coffee off the table and downed the rest of it in a series of quick gulps."
"For a moment there, I thought you were going to toss the contents of your cup at me..." Dorian said after a moment.
"I'd rather cut my hand off than waste coffee like that," Amy said, not exaggerating too much. "Slavery is evil. And for the record, serfs and the alienages are too, but slavery is worse. You don't fucking get that being considered property of people who can just decide to fucking kill you is worse?"
"The slaves my family-" Dorian started, but then he cut himself off. "I...I've never quite put it together like that, in my head," Dorian admitted, then went on in a softer voice. "I've never thought much about slavery at all, to be honest. It just is. It would be like thinking about the fact that I have two arms and two legs."
"I could fix that for you," Amy glared at him. She stepped away from the table, seething. That smug, arrogant little-
He's Tevinter. He knows the Venatori better than most. Probably can give Leliana and Josephine useful information for spies and diplomatic contacts and...
The part of Amy that had to get used to making constant compromises to deal with the fact that a giant hole in the sky pointed out all the ways Dorian could be useful.
He and Alexius worked out how to fucking travel through time. Sure, it only worked in the end because the Breach made it possible but that's more than anyone else did. Another part of her added. If Dorian could do that... Could Dorian do something else? Something else impossible?
I can't possibly be thinking of letting him into the Inquisition just because maybe he could help me go home! He's okay with slavery! Would she accept help from fucking Kaisar if it meant going home? No! What about the Nine?
Okay, no, he's not - he's not on the level of the fucking Slaughterhouse Nine, Amy, you're insane to even suggest that. She felt her breathing quicken, faster, shallower. Dorian wasn't even as bad as Kaisar, probably. But -
No, letting him into the Inquisition just because maybe he could help her go home... that wasn't...
But the Breach was a big deal. And that took priority. And even if Amy somehow just... went back home after closing the Breach like a magic snap (a girl can dream)... the Venatori and their ancient evil wizard boss were a thing. Dorian wanted to fight them.
It's like a goddamn Endbringer Truce that doesn't end because the Endbringer fight is stretching for months.
If Dorian wanted to fight the Venatori, fucking let him, right?
Amy turned around. "You want to kill Venatori?"
"...not in the sense that I'm thirsting for their blood, but since I doubt most of them will listen to reason... it isn't as if I'd mourn their deaths or regret being part of bringing them about," Dorian admitted.
"I shouldn't be doing this, but fine. I'll talk to Cassandra. You can go to Haven with Alexius and Felix and the last of the mages heading there, and talk to Leliana and Josephine. I'm sure they'll have something for you to do. Maybe... tell them what you know. Do you know the names of any Venatori?"
"...I'm not sure, though I can think of a number of people who might be members of the cult or silently backing it," Dorian admitted. "So I'm in?"
"You're in."
The Breach. It's about the Breach. It's all bigger than anything else. Even once the Breach was closed, someone powerful enough to rip a hole in reality and apparently did that before and brought the fucking Taint to the world...
That was just as big as the Breach, wasn't it?
At least once it was closed, she wouldn't be as necessary, right?
She wouldn't be as necessary.
She wouldn't.
Talk to the Templars. Close the Breach. Go home.
I will get home.
Right?