I was trying to write another chapter to my Cullen story, when this little gem popped in there. It sure came easier than the other chapter is. Enjoy…

The First Sunrise

"I'm telling you the truth!" the pale girl of no more than fourteen years of age cried out. Her long dark brown hair did nothing to hide the fact that she was an elf, nor the fact that she was now pouting furiously at the insinuation her friend had made.

"But you're an elf!" the boy exclaimed. "How can you be an elf and never have seen the sun rise? Don't you people live outside?"

She huffed angrily. "Do I look like I live outside?" she said.

Anders shrugged. The Surana girl was never easy to joke with. She was friendly enough, but Elirezara didn't understand sarcasm. And she certainly didn't fully comprehend when someone was teasing. Of course he knew that she probably couldn't remember what a sunrise looked like. It wasn't as if the Tower let much light in – and if it did, it was only because a templar hadn't ensured that the extravagant velvet curtains were covering the poor excuses for windows that the thin slits in the walls were. And why, for that matter, would they even have those horrendous things covering the windows when so many of the apprentices ended up setting them on fire with an errant fireball anyway, he wondered. Speaking of errant fireballs, where did that elf get to? He had become lost to his own meandering thoughts, and she must have picked up the books that she'd been gathering at the library and stomped off. No surprise there.

The young apprentice hopped off of the bench he had been sitting on and scanned the room. He caught the tail end of her robes flittering behind her as she rounded the corner into the hall that led to her dorm room. He hurried after her, a slight bounce in his step as he followed. When he caught her in his sight, he picked up his pace a bit more.

"Eliiiiiiiiiii," he whined after her.

She stopped and spun angrily to face him. "I told you," she grumbled. "My name is Elirezara!" She spun back around and continued on her way.

Anders smirked. She always insisted on being called by her full name – no matter who said it and no matter what the occasion. She was very proud of it. It was the one thing that the templars let her keep when she was wrenched away from the alienage family she lived with. Or was it the Dalish tribe? He never knew…and she never let on if she did either. But Elirezara meant 'lightning in the green dusk' in some strange foreign elven language – one of the templars who brought her back to the Tower that day had told her that her mother was insistent that she keep her name. No memories of who or where she came from, except for the name. Anders felt bad for her in that regard; to be taken away from her family so young. He was two years younger than she was now when he was taken, so he could at least still remember her face. His mother's lovely face. But then, no one had bothered to find out what his name was before he was stolen away from his mother's grasp.

"Elirezaaaaraaaaa," he said, whining even more. She stopped and spun back round…again.

"Anders…why are you following me?" she said, quite annoyed with his presence.

He stood and stared at her for a few quiet moments. It wasn't exactly as if he really had a reason to give her. At sixteen, he'd seen more than his share of attractive young men and women in the Circle. And he wasn't particularly attracted to her. But there was just something about her he couldn't figure out – and perhaps it was this mysterious air about her that made him need to know more. She never fell for his charms. No one ever denied he was charming in that way.

"So, you follow me around…insult me…and then ignore me when I question you?" she said, exasperated. "I really need to find better friends around here." Without warning, she threw one of the smaller books in his direction. Had he still been deep in thought, it would have cracked him clean on the forehead. Luckily, he noticed her action and he ducked out of the way – the book whizzing past his ear. He had to admit; a twinge of guilt was overtaking him for treating her the way he did. He had heard the book thump as it hit the ground behind him. Having already lost sight of the elf…again…he turned around to retrieve the book. As he bent over to pick it up, he heard the titter of two apprentices approaching behind him.

"Now that is an arse I'd like to see more of," called one of the girls, a blonde-haired lass aptly named Marisol.

He groaned outwardly. "Now is not the time ladies," he grumbled.

The second girl, Olivia – if he remembered correctly – placed an exaggerated pout upon her face. "What's wrong, dear Anders?" she taunted. "Is a certain knife-eared apprentice spurning your advances again?"

He stood up and faced them, book in hand. "Shut it, girl!" he demanded. He clenched his hands tightly, angry that they insulted her so.

"Pssht!" Marisol replied. "I don't know what you see in that little whore anyway. She'd never be able to give you what you need. Not like either of us. Right Liv?" She put her arm around 'Liv', allowing her fingertips to fall lightly at the top of one of the girl's breasts. These two were known in the Tower for providing…entertainment to some of the mages who had already passed their Harrowing – despite the fact that they were only a year older than Anders. He suspected that they had probably entertained many of the men there…and women for that matter…likely together. And the templars never seemed to harass the two girls like they did with himself or even Elirezara – so they had probably been with several of them as well.

He shook his head angrily. "Just leave me alone," he said. He was a little unnerved by their antagonistic behaviour, but worried more that it was a reaction to the apparent reputation that he had been gaining in the Tower. He was by no means an innocent – in fact, at sixteen, he had already bedded several Harrowed mages, a number of apprentices and a new Enchanter who was more than surprised at just how talented he was. That last one was a bit of a shock to himself as well – he had pulled the 'extra tutoring' request on several other of the young Enchanters, and that's just what he got; extra homework. But bless the Maker, that last one was so naïve that he talked her into getting him out of his robes to practice healing spells, and if she didn't fall right upon him when he was standing in nothing but his smallclothes… That was a memory he'd keep dear for many years to come. He shook his head, this time to clear his thoughts and Marisol had already sauntered her way over to him.

"Come now, Anders," she said sultrily. "Why is it that Liv and I have never had the pleasure of making your acquaintance? When so many others have…frankly, I'm feeling a bit left out, aren't you?" She slowly dragged a finger across his chest, and looked at Olivia towards the end. The other girl circled Anders like a predator to prey; eyeing him up and down.

"Please don't tell me you're holding out on us now," Olivia whispered into his ear.

He stepped out of both of their reaches and glared at them. "I'm a new man, ladies. I have…oh, what's the word…standards," he retorted. He normally wouldn't have minded being with the two, together or apart, but they were tiring. And he just didn't have the time to put up with their petty nonsense. Besides…they outright insulted his friend.

"Marisol! Olivia!" shouted a voice from behind the three. "Don't you ladies have some place to be?"

The two girls jumped at the booming voice of Senior Enchanter Grammis. The man was terrifying. He taught every apprentice the introductory course on runes and glyphs – taking great pleasure at forcing every one of them into his specialty, a glyph of repulsion that sent them all crashing into a wall or each other. He cackled with glee as the tiny apprentices flew backwards from the glyph. Bit of a sadist, that one. The girls hurried off towards the direction he came from, and he approached Anders.

"And you, Master Anders," he said. "I suspect that you are probably missing a class right now?"

"Oh no, Senior Enchanter," he replied. "I've been studying in the library. And I'm just on the way to return a book to a friend." He held up the book that Elirezara had thrown at him to prove his point.

"Very well," Grammis said. "Off you go…"

Anders rushed down the corridor a bit until he was out of sight of the Senior Enchanter. He leaned against the wall, and looked down at the book in his hand. It was unremarkable; certainly not a book from the library. He wondered what it was – why she'd have thrown it at him. He flipped it open to no page in particular and his eyes fell upon a sketch. He wasn't sure what it was, but it looked recognizable. He turned to another page and found yet another sketch. He eyed the drawings carefully – did these belong to her? Was she the one who created them? They were very beautiful and very familiar. As he looked through more of them, he began to realize why they'd looked so familiar – they were images from the Fade. So strange and disjointed were the images…fields and forests…castles and fortresses…clouds in the sky…but no sun. There was never a sun.

Never a sunrise.

His thoughts flew back to her words… No Anders, I cannot recall ever having seen the sun rise on the horizon. What a horrible thing to not recall such beauty. Poor soul…and those horrible girls insulting her like that. He never even defended her. What a sot I am, he thought to himself. He had to make this up to her. He closed the book shut and stomped off in the direction of the girls' dormitory.

When he arrived at the door – which was shut – he promptly threw it open, causing one of the girls immediately to its right to scream.

"Get out of here!" the girl cried out, throwing a pillow at Anders' head.

"What is it with you girls throwing items at my head today?" he growled.

At the sound of his voice, Elirezara pulled the covers of her bed over her head in an attempt to hide from the approaching boy. He, however, was too determined to not reach her, and caught the movement out of the corner of his eye. Regardless, he knew where her bed was, and quickly made his way over to her.

As he reached the side of her bed, he could see her hands pull the cover down tighter over herself.

"Go away, Anders," she said. "I have nothing to say to you."

"Why yes Elirezara," he replied sarcastically. "I would love to have a seat." He flopped down on the bed next to her feet. She pulled the covers down slightly, peering out from under them with narrowed eyes.

"What…do you want?"

"You dropped this," he said, tossing her the book.

"I did not drop that," she replied. "I threw it at you."

"Well, you missed."

"Come to give me another opportunity then?" she said, pulling the cover off of the lower half of her face and sitting up straighter.

"No," he said. "Actually, I've come to apologize."

She raised an eyebrow. "Apologize? For your many years of tormenting me? You're finally owning up to it?"

He grimaced. He had tormented her for quite a long time. "Er…yes…actually, no. Look, I didn't mean to get on your case about the whole sunrise thing, okay?" he said. "I forget sometimes that you came here so young…and that you've practically never…been outside since coming here."

"No," she interrupted. "It's fine. It's my choice. The Enchanters have reminded me that there are opportunities to spend time outside, but I don't see the point. It's just a tease for someone like me."

"Someone like you?" he repeated. "What do you mean?"

"A mage," she hissed through gritted teeth. "You know…someone who will never leave this place. Why bother getting my hopes up by going outside of this wretched Tower."

It hit him deep in his stomach. No wonder she spent so much time in the library reading – she lived her life through the stories that others wrote. And through the beauty of the Fade in her dreams. For him, those would never be enough – the very reasons he had made his second escape attempt in the previous year. He could never stay in this place forever.

"I'm sorry, Eli…" he said, and noticing the glare beginning to form on her face, he continued, "…rezara."

"It's fine, Anders," she said. "I accept my fate."

He peered at her brown eyes – they appeared more hollow than normal. He put his hand softly on the cover that rested on top of her knee.

"I just want you to know that I'm still your friend. In fact, I don't think I have too many of those really."

She gave him a half smile. "Thank you Anders."

He nodded and jumped to his feet. "I've got some stuff to do," he said, "but I'll see you later okay?"

"Okay. Bye Anders."

"Bye," he said, and he hurried back to the boys' dormitory. He had some things to check on before he could set the plan into motion that he was considering. It was going to be great! He'd make it up to her…then she'd really know that he was her friend.

Anders awoke abruptly as he'd hoped, very early in the morning. He sat up in his bunk, wiping his eyes and trying to adjust to the absence of light in the room. When he could make out the faint outlines of the other beds surrounding him, he slid quietly out of his bed and tiptoed to the bathing area at the end of the dormitory room. He hurried to the last stall in the room, and pulled back a large chest that was against the wall. He smiled as the action revealed the hole in the wall that led to the girls' dormitory. He pushed the chest on the other side of the wall, peeked through the hole to ensure that no one was in the bathing area on the other side, and when he felt confident that he was alone, he crossed through the hole in the wall.

Silently he crept through the maze of beds and furniture of the dorm and approached Elirezara's bed. He kneeled at the side of it and could see her small outline under the covers.

"Psst!" he whispered. "Elirezara…wake up!"

She did not move. So he poked her.

"Elirezara!"

She stirred, mumbling something incoherently.

"Hey…wake up…" he whispered hoarsely. Her eyes cracked open and she squinted, trying to determine the source of the annoyance. As she wiped her eyes, her vision cleared and she saw Anders at the side of her bed.

"Anders," she whispered, though not angrily as he suspected. "What are you doing in here? You're going to get in trouble."

"Get up," he said. "I'll tell you when we get where we're going."

"Are you sure?" she said sleepily. "Aren't there templars everywhere right now?"

"Only at the main exit," he said. "Trust me!"

She hesitated, but considering his two almost successful escape attempts, thought that he must know what he was doing. At least enough to know where the templars were. After all, he always succeeded in escaping the Tower…he just wasn't very good at staying escaped.

"Okay," she grumbled. "But if we get caught, I'm blaming you."

"Wouldn't have it any other way," he said, smiling in the darkness.

He took her hand and led her back through the dorm to the main door. He opened it slowly and peered out into the darkened corridor. He breathed deeply when he saw no one was there, and pulled her out into the hall. They quietly hurried through the maze of rooms and hallways, up to the second floor and into a small room that she had never noticed before.

"What is this room?" she asked.

He paused, not wanting to get into details about why he knew of the existence of this small room – or why there was a bedroll on the ground next to a series of shelves.

"Storage room, or something," he said, quickly recovering. "I uh, was asked to retrieve some supplies from here one day. Anyway, I just wanted to show you something."

"Show me something?" she said skeptically. "I can barely see anything. Wait, Anders. You're not going to do something…bad, are you?"

He chuckled. "No, I'm not going to do something bad." She could see him fidgeting with the curtains hanging on the wall. Suddenly they crashed off of their hangers and fell on top of him. She rushed over to where she could make out his outline, pulling the heavy curtains off of him and moving the rod that had come off of the wall to the side.

"Are you okay?" she asked, very concerned that the rod had smacked him unconscious in the darkness.

"I…I'm okay," he said. "Just a little startled. Here…help me up." He reached out a hand and she found it, pulling him back to his feet.

"Okay, so now that you've made enough racket to wake up everyone on the second floor, what are we doing here?" she asked.

She felt his hand on her back, pushing her towards what appeared to be a small window. She looked out into the darkness.

"Anders, what…?" she asked, turning to face him.

"Shh," he interrupted. "You'll see…just wait." He put his hands on her shoulders and focused her to look back out the window. Within a few moments, the sky's composition began to change before their eyes. The whole expanse began to lighten, a golden hue beginning to appear at the horizon. The colours of the sky changed as the time passed; yellows and oranges and pinks. And finally, the sun appeared – peeking its first wonderful rays of the day over Lake Calenhad.

She stood speechless for a long time, simply watching and taking in every glorious moment before her. Anders stood behind her, hands still on her shoulders, smiling widely at her reaction. When the sun had risen far enough into the sky, she turned to face him, the look of awe still plastered to her face.

"Anders…that was…more beautiful than I could have ever imagined."

He smiled at her. "I wanted to make sure that you experienced that," he said. "I wanted you to have some hope, Eli. I mean…Elirezara."

"It's okay…I…I really don't mind if you call me Eli," she said sheepishly. "I…thank you Anders."

"Any time," he said.

She threw her arms open wide, and then – shocking him completely – wrapped her small body around him in a warm embrace. His arms dangled at his sides for a moment, until he found his breath and returned the embrace. He held her – his friend – for as long as she needed him to. He vowed that he would never let her down again – would always be there to stand up for her – would always be there to share moments like this.