A/N
ok so this is my newest story and my first attempt at a Dragon Age:Origins one :D hope you like it

Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with Dragon Age - Bioware does - (but oh my god Alistair!) I just muck around with the characters and stuff

A mahooosive thankyou to my wonderful Beta Reader: LiGi check out her stuff too :)

Chapter 1: Lines and Circles

Shiarna's POV

Magic exists to serve mankind and never to rule over him.

All my life I have grown up around tonnes of people … everywhere, but this was no strange thing. I grew up in the Circle of Magi where we were all different – male, female, younger, older … and much, much older – but all equal; we are all mages. Well, except for the Tranquil but at least they were mages; oh and there were the Templars too. Everybody knew who everybody was but we weren't all friends, I mean come on there were a lot of us – you couldn't expect us to know everyone as well as we knew ourselves.

I spent most of my time with Jowan – a boy of a similar age to me – who had been brought to the Tower a year before I was. He was five at the time and was turned in to the Tower by his own mother who had begun to fear his abilities. Jowan was: overly pessimistic, a hopeless mage and rather annoying to be honest … but I trusted him – which says a lot as my trust is not easily won, even less so now. We used to spend countless nights trying to get him to grasp the simplest of spells after he had failed to do so with our mentor, usually to no avail as all we would do was cause more trouble. My only true friend was Naveen. She was human, a good eight years older than me and the most delightful girl you could ever meet. Naveen got me through my first years at the tower, teaching me how to tease the Templars when ever they threatened me – as they often did – and get past all the silly rumours that were spread by older children. Funnily enough, she was some form of relation to the current First Enchanter, Irving, and we often met with him, it was through these meetings that Irving got to know me and my abilities and soon after Naveen's Harrowing, took me up to be his apprentice. During your Harrowing you are tested by being sent into the Fade – I remember mine well – and Naveen's confidence got her through it easily allowing her to qualify as a Full Mage and move to the Mage's Quarters upstairs, away from me. We saw each other less and less often and then she was summoned to join the King's Army and we haven't met again since. I miss her immensely.

The Templars live in the Circle as well but are there for another reason – to police us mages and if any of us fell from our path they would … kill them before they could wreck more havoc and break loose and turn apostate – rouge. They are also there to make sure that we never leave the Tower. Our very home is our own prison. The Templars would tell scary stories to the new children and 'warn' them, to never try and escape. As us female mages get older we take it upon ourselves to tease the Templars as a way of revenge against the many sleepless nights we have endured thanks to their 'stories'. Just a lot of fun really. I, myself, got quite close to one particular Templar by the name of Cullen, who was probably the closest thing I had to a 'romantic attachment' with in the Circle. He was very sweet and would develop a stutter whenever I would talk to him, flirt with him or even touch him. Nothing ever really happened with poor Cullen though, because it would be ridiculous; I, a mage and he, a Templar.

In the Circle my life was set. I would be called to my Harrowing and become a full Mage, live to teach other apprentices or serve in the King's Army like Naveen. I was eighteen when I was called to my Harrowing and that day was far from normal. They said that I had gotten through it surprisingly quickly and had done exceptionally well but, honestly, when you awaken from it afterwards you don't feel any different. Irving summoned me to his study to congratulate me and to introduce me to Duncan, one of the infamous Grey Wardens. This fascinated me to no end and when I was asked to show Duncan to his room I leapt at the chance to question him about his work, oh how it must have irritated him.

There had been a rumour around the Tower that someone inside the Circle had been caught dealing with Blood Magic. This was forbidden. A Blood Mage could take control over another person and use their body to do their bidding, possibly using their blood as lyrium. It was against the Chantry and everything that we had been taught. At the time I didn't think much of the rumours but I suppose I know now, with hindsight, that I should not have been so blind.

For all my life, Jowan had been my best friend so when he asked me to help him with something I did not hesitate to do so. He had found out that the Circle did not intend on calling him for his Harrowing; instead they would make him Tranquil. He would be a lifeless, emotionally deprived shell, only the very husk of existence … I couldn't let this happen to him. Not now, not ever.

"What? Why would you say that? They would never do that to you, Jowan." I cried.

"They would … they think that I have been practicing … Blood Magic. It's probably because I have been sneaking around a lot recently, but I'm just going to see Lily, that's all." He sounded desperate to make me understand this.

"Well … is it true, Jowan? Are you practicing Blood Magic?"

"No! Of course not. But I have to get out of here … and destroy my phylactery so they cannot track me down. I just don't want to become Tranquil, Shi!"

"Why don't you just go and talk to Irving? Explain to him that it is not what they think."

Jowan said that he was sure that Irving would understand but it would get Lily – the new found love of his life who was an initiate from the Chantry – into trouble if he found out the truth. Therefore escape was the only option and the only way he could do that was break into the phylactery chamber and destroy his blood sample that they kept there. They kept blood samples of all mages – though once you went through your Harrowing then it would be sent to Denerim – so that if they turned apostate they could track them down.

I was still certain that this could be simply resolved so I gave them my word that I would not give away their secret and left them. I went to Irving to try and find out if it was true about Jowan.

"First Enchanter Irving?" I said at the door.

"Ah, Shiarna, please come in, child. Is there something you wanted?"

"I just wanted to ask you: when will Jowan go through his Harrowing?"

"When he is ready." He answered simply.

"But he is ready now."

"I am sure you think so, child, and your concern for your friend shows your good heart." He chuckled.

"He worries that he will be made Tranquil. Is it true?" The question was innocent enough in my head, at least.

"I suppose that little initiate he has been running around with has told him this." Shit! Did I say too much? "Did you seriously think that I did not know?" He said when seeing the shock on my face. I just looked at him questioningly until he continued. "Yes, it is true that we think he should go through the Rite of Tranquillity. Greagoir has an eye witness who has seen Jowan practicing Blood Magic."

I could not believe my ears. They must have it wrong. Jowan had as good as promised me that it was not true.

"Greagoir would wish every Mage dead if he had the chance. Can he really be trusted, in this case?"

"Now, now let us not speak ill of my colleague. My dear child, if there is something troubling you then you know that you can always talk to me."

"I know, Irving, thank you. There is nothing that I need to tell you, I was just curious for my friend. I'll let you get back to your work." I hated lying to my mentor. But if he believed that Jowan was a Blood Mage then there was no hope for my friend and I wasn't going to stand be and watch him loose all his emotions. Not now.

I bowed to Irving and left his study, knowing that he knew I was keeping something from him, I felt terrible but I had to return to Jowan and Lily. I told them that I would help them get him out of here, whatever the consequences.

We used my position as mage to get hold of a Rod of Fire to break through the second great door but when we came to it we discovered that magic would not work on it. The first door had been opened by Lily using a password she had taken form a Templar to prime the door and then I would cast a simple spell to release mana onto it and open the door. It seemed simple enough to start but when we got stumped at the second door, Jowan was willing to give up right then, but Lily found a way round the back. It was at this point that I couldn't help but think that there was something odd about this initiate. It didn't take long for Jowan to find his own phial of blood and smash it on the ground so we left promptly … to be faced by the Knight-Commander Greagoir, his Templars and … Irving.

Greagoir's wrought iron glare was enough to scare anyone but to someone like Lily, who was already terrified of him, it almost made her dissolve on the spot.

"An initiate conspiring with a Blood Mage." He boomed. "And this one, newly a mage, and already flouting the rules of the Circle." I ignored Greagoir's words. It wasn't his reaction I was dreading.

"I'm disappointed in you, Shiarna. You could have tod me what you knew of this plan and you didn't." He shook his head and his simple words cut me so deep that all I could do was stare at the floor, head bowed. I had been so stupid. Of course they would have known what we had been planning and of course they would have known when someone broke in. Nothing went on in the Tower without Irving hearing of it.

It was when Greagoir turned on Lily that Jowan just seemed to … burst.

"No! I won't let you touch her!" He cried out in rage and stabbed his dagger into his hand; he released some sort of energy which whipped out everyone but Lily and me. The Templars clattered to the ground like puppets with their strings cut and the noise echoed around the stone hall.

I couldn't believe it. He had … lied. He was a Blood Mage. It was at this moment that I decided to never trust a man ever again.

Once over the shock of Jowan's outburst I ran to the First Enchanter and helped him up. He was not badly wounded, fortunately. When Greagoir got up, he turned to Lily with the most fury I had ever seen. I tried to defend her but she stopped me, saying that I had been a good friend but need not help her any further. I felt so guilty when she accepted her sentence to Aeonar – the Mage prison – even when she did not know what Jowan was. Neither of us knew. By this point I had begun to accept that I would be sentenced something similar. To death, maybe? Or … Tranquillity. They asked me whether I had taken anything from the repository which I denied – though I had taken the staff I was carrying – if they were sentencing me away then I wanted to keep the staff I had taken. A final act of spite towards Greagoir, in my final hours.

Just then, Duncan interrupted Greagoir and told us that he was not only recruiting for the King's Army but also for the Grey Wardens. He said he was interested in taking someone with him. He was interested in taking me.

"Irving spoke highly of Shiarna, and I would like her to join the Grey Warden ranks."

"Duncan, she has assisted a maleficar." Irving warned. My heart sank.

"She is a danger. To us all. I refuse to let her go unpunished!" Greagoir crossed his arms and he seemed certain he was right.

"I shall accept any consequences for my actions. I understand that what I did was wrong and I am truly sorry for it." I said, my eyes never left my feet, and were beginning to well with tears. There was a lump in my throat that refused to dull down so this was all that I could get out. At least it was what I needed to say. I could just about hear Greagoir mumble: "At least she knows her place. Perhaps not all lessons were lost on her."

"Don't be a fool. It would be a waste of your gift." Duncan's voice became stern. It was then that I realised that Duncan was not going to leave without me. Irving sighed, having realised the same thing.

"If the Grey Wardens wish to recruit someone then neither lord nor king can deny them." He sounded reluctant, but had given in. I now looked up to see his face of disapproval but then Duncan smiled.

"Come, your new life awaits."

He placed a hand on my shoulder and steered me away from my world. I looked back to see Irving, sad eyed, concern all over his face. I vowed to return and make up for my actions properly. I will always look back to feel guilt … and vengeance.

I had crossed a line. Consequently, I was out of the Circle.

Please please please review of you liked it - first try and all :)