Author's Note: Moments is a collection of scenes from the lives of various characters from An Uneasy Alliance that do not fit smoothly into the main story, but I feel should be recorded somewhere as they are either important, adorable, emotional, or simply moving in some way. (It's also a great way for me to combat writer's block, or simply procrastinate, heehee)

Each 'chapter' is an independent piece that will have a short summary to explain briefly what it's about and where in the timeline of the fic it belongs. Technically Moments can be read without reading An Uneasy Alliance, and AUA can certainly be read without this, but it is recommended you do read both, as they are supplements to each other and the two of them together more fully enhance the experience of the story.

Blood Magic... Hope

"Are there, infinitely varying with each individual, inbred forces of Good and Evil in all of us, deep down below the reach of mortal encouragement and mortal repression - hidden Good and hidden Evil, both alike at the mercy of the liberating opportunity and the sufficient temptation?"

-Wilkie Collins, No Name

Summary: Back in the Circle Tower, Jowan discovers he does, in fact, have a talent. Takes place before the events in An Uneasy Alliance and Dragon Age: Origins.

Blood dripped from the small cut on his finger, and as he let a few words flow from his lips he could feel the power radiating from it. The words were easy to remember, easy to say, unlike his other attempts at magic which were always a struggle. Somehow, for some reason, when he spoke to his blood, it was like it sang for him, and he could do nothing wrong. It was a new feeling for him, to do something right.

With a small flicking movement the blood splattered onto the rat that he had distracted with a piece of bread in front of him, and as he murmured a few more words, the beady-eyed creature jerked, letting out a small squeal. His forehead creased and he felt his own body weakening slightly as his power poured out his finger and into the blood he dripped on the animal.

After a few more spasms, the rat stood perfectly still, eyes strangely blank and bread forgotten. The mage apprentice thought of a command in his mind, and the creature obeyed, doing a spin in place. He smiled, and thought another command, watching proudly as the rat ran in a circle around him before stopping and sitting up on its haunches.

He… he could actually do it! For once he managed to do a spell correctly, and on the first try, no less! He felt a rush of giddiness and pride he had never felt before – all of his training in the Circle had always felt like a frustrating repetition of failures and reprimands. He wasn't like his friend, who seemed to be good at everything she tried, no; he wasn't a good mage at all. Or, at least, he hadn't been a good mage until now...

He smiled down at the rat, who was still standing on its haunches and staring blankly at nothing, its free will completely gone. "Thank you, little friend," he murmured, giving the creature a soft pat on the head before he consciously willed the creature free from his enchantment. But the rat didn't scamper off unharmed as he had expected. With an agonized squeal, the creature twisted this way and that, and blood began seeping from its ears, its mouth, its eyes, and as he watched in horror the animal gave one last pained jerk before it fell to the ground, dead.

Jowan stared down at the rat in horror. He hadn't wanted to kill the thing; he had merely wanted to try this new magic he had stumbled across… He felt a rush of guilt for the poor animal, but it was quickly lost as he heard footsteps outside the small supply closet he was crouching in. With a mental curse at his lack of attentiveness, he stood and pulled a handkerchief from a pocket, frantically wiping the blood from his hand and the floor before he wiped it from the rat as best he could and pushed it underneath a shelf. Hopefully whoever came across it would think it had died of natural causes.

As he stuffed his handkerchief back into his pocket, Jowan opened the door to the supply closet and nearly had a heart attack when he saw Knight-Commander Greagoir standing outside the door, his cold gray eyes now fixed on the mage apprentice.

"Apprentice Jowan." Greagoir's voice was as cold as his eyes, and firmer besides.

Jowan swallowed, trying not to look guilty, "Knight-Commander," he greeted with a feeble nod, standing up straighter and hoping the shrewd man didn't see the sweat on his brow and the nervousness in his eyes.

Greagoir stared at him silently for a moment before his eyes shifted to the closed door behind Jowan. "What could you possibly have to do in a supply closet, Apprentice?" he asked, suspicion rife in his voice.

The seventeen year-old tried to shrug nonchalantly, but it ended up looking like a sort of cringe, "Senior Enchanter Leorah asked me to fetch her some spider poison, they ran out downstairs," he lied with an ease that surprised him, "She says they've been getting numerous lately."

The Knight-Commander frowned at him, then waved a hand, "Begone, then," he grunted, and Jowan nodded again before scampering down the hall. He didn't see Greagoir watching his retreating back with narrowed eyes, and he didn't see the older man step towards the supply closet with distrust filling his gaze.

. . . . .

"Oh, shut up, Jowan, you'll be just fine," Tori rolled her eyes at him, lightly slapping his arm and grinning when he frowned at her.

"It's not funny," he whined, rubbing his arm where she'd hit him. It hadn't hurt him, but he liked to complain whenever she got physical with him, it was a habit that still remained from when they were children. "This exam is really important,; Jarvey said that if you don't pass they make you Tranquil!"

Toriana sighed and shook her head, "Jowan, Jarvey will tell you anything if he thinks it'll make you fret like this. You know how much of an ass he is."

Jowan couldn't keep the wry smile from his face at hearing his friend insult Jarvey – who was always taking advantage of Jowan's gullibility, and he didn't like him one bit. "Yeah, you're right," he admitted, shuffling through the pile of books they had gathered on their study table in the library. His good mood soon left, however, and he frowned at the books, "But still, this is serious. First Enchanter Irving told us how important it was that we practice and study hard for this. You know I'm useless when it comes to this stuff... what if I fail? What does that mean for me?"

Tori's brows knitted as she looked at her best friend beside her. "Jowan, listen," she put a hand on his arm and turned him to face her, her expression serious. "You are not useless, and if I hear you say it one more time I'll set your hair on fire. Don't laugh," she said quickly, holding a finger in the air when she saw he was starting to grin again, "I'm serious. If you're really this worried about the exam, then we'll pull an all-nighter tonight, and tomorrow night if you want, and I'll help you out."

As Jowan stared down into those large brown eyes, regarding him with gravity and compassion, he felt a rush of affection for the girl who had been his best friend ever since they had come to the Tower. "Tori, thank you!" He smiled brightly at her and pulled her into a bear hug before he felt a glint of mischievousness and used his magic to form a small ball of ice, dropping it down the back of her robes. Tori squealed and squirmed out of his grasp, trying to scowl at him but ruining her attempt at a menacing look by laughing as she clawed at the back of her robe, trying to get the ice out.

Once she had rescued herself, she dropped back into her chair and lifted her nose at the madly grinning boy beside her, giving him an icy look and looking rather strikingly like an incensed noblewoman, "Apprentice Jowan, you are lucky I am not a violent person, or I would be making a roast out of you this instant."

Jowan's eyes widened and his grin disappeared, "You wouldn't really, Tori..."

After a moment she laughed, the mask of coldness gone, unable to stay mad at her friend for more than a few moments. Jowan looked relieved as he chuckled with her, "Don't do that," he whined, his smile ruining his pleading look, "You'll give me a heart-attack one of these days, you will."

Tori shrugged and grinned, "Nothing you won't deserve," she teased as she grabbed the top book on the pile and opened it in front of them. She dropped the smile and turned serious, "Alright, we need to get started. You've read The Annals of Magic, right?" At his blank look, she sighed, rubbing a hand over her face, "I don't know why I bothered to ask," she muttered.

This was going to be a long night.

. . . . .

"Don't fear the fire, Jowan! You have nothing to fear but fear itself!"

Jowan scowled at Tori across the room as she repeated the mantra of one of the Enchanters. "Don't fear the fire, you have nothing to fear but fear itself," he mimicked her under his breath in a high-pitched voice, making a face in her direction that she couldn't see from the distance.

"And stop mocking me!" she reprimanded, as if she could read minds, but it was more that she knew her friend well enough to guess when he was making faces at her.

He didn't answer except to stick his tongue out at her. "Are we going to try again or not?" he called out.

Tori waved her hands in a complex pattern in front of her, and Jowan could feel the magic building in her small body, even from this distance. Sweat was building on his forehead, but he tried to swallow his anxiety and calm his mind, thinking only of the shield he was going to put up. He tried to focus on the weave of magic that would create the shield, the currents and eddies that would block the fire from reaching him, but the knowledge slipped away and he found his mind blank.

His friend's hands were engulfed in flame now, only seconds from throwing the ball at him, and he swore. He was sick of being singed by flames, of seeing the disappointment in Tori's eyes – as much as she tried to hide it, he could still see it – he was sick of being a screwup, a failure.

Without thinking, he put one finger in his mouth and bit down until he felt a prick of pain and the metallic tang of blood on his tongue. He didn't know what he was doing, but when he saw the ball of fire leave Tori's hands and come straight for him, he didn't think, only held his hand out and the strange, foreign words fell from his lips as if they had been planted there.

A strange red-white glow engulfed him, and he gasped as he felt his body weakening even as his magic grew stronger, far stronger than it had ever been before. The Arcane Shield he had struggled for the last half an hour to erect was now glowing about him, as strongly as any shield Tori had ever cast, a Fade-reminiscent purple that was run through with faint swirls of red. The fire engulfed the shield for a moment, warming the air around him, but Jowan remained untouched, unharmed, and as the flames melted away he let his shield drop, closing his connection to the Fade and stumbling to his knees as his strength left him.

Toriana ran to his side, a concerned look on her face, "Are you alright?" she asked, putting an arm under his to help him to his feet.

Jowan quickly hid his slowly bleeding hand in the sleeve of his robes and nodded with a weak smile, "Yeah, I'm fine. Guess I'm just getting tired from all this practice."

Tori frowned and guilt clouded her features, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to push you so hard, I just thought..." She trailed off, then suddenly she clapped a hand on her friend's shoulder, a proud grin lighting up her features. "But you did it, Jowan! That shield was perfect!"

He could feel a grin mirroring her own pulling his lips up, and the rush of pride he felt to hear her praising him was... exhilarating. "Thirtieth time's the charm," he joked, and the two shared an amicable chuckle.

"Come on, let's go get some dinner, I'd say you've more than earned it," Tori smiled and started leading him out of the training room, her arm looped through his. When they went through the door Jowan glanced at the helmeted Templar standing just inside, but he could see no indication that the man had noticed what sort of magic he had just used, and since Jowan hadn't been run through with a sword yet, he figured he'd gotten away with it.

As the two inseparable friends made their way towards the dining hall arm-in-arm, Tori chatting excitedly away about the newest book Irving had lent her (which Jowan thought sounded horrendously boring), he couldn't keep a sigh of relief from escaping. He had done it, he had put up a proper shield, and all it had taken was just a little bit of blood...

He would have to be careful with this new-found talent. If anyone were to catch him using blood magic, he would be dead.

But if he was careful enough, maybe, just maybe, he could one day be as good of a mage as Tori was...