Selene sighed, rubbed her eyes and put down her quill. She stretched in her seat and looked around the small, dimly lit room. Her brother, Carver, lay snoring on his bed. She shook her head and chucked, remembering that when they were children she had thrown random objects into his mouth until he would wake in surprise. A pang of regret assaulted her. They were far from children now, living in the Slums of Kirkwall, trying to get enough money together to fund an expedition into the Deep Roads. She had acquired many friends and companions over the time they had been here, yet she still felt alone.

She distanced herself from everyone, even her fellow Apostate, Anders.

Selene was scared, the expedition would be dangerous and Carver was so excited to go. They had only just started being civil to each other, but she knew if she took him and something happened…

Her mother stilled blamed her for Bethany's death, what would she do with another sibling's blood on her hands?

Her Uncle hacking and coughing as he made his way in from his late night escapades startled her from her thoughts.

"Third night in a row you've been up writing," he observed, "You'll get wrinkles with all that squinting."

"There is a lot to arrange," she replied, surprised at how tired she sounded, "What time is it?"

"About three hours before sunrise."

"Oh good, there's still time to go see Varric before he passes out."

Gamlen frowned,

"Your mother won't want you wandering the streets alone, even for that short distance."

"Fine," she sighed and shook Carver, "Come on Carver, we're going to the Hanged Man."

He sleepily swatted her away and pulled the blanket over his head.

"Merrill might be there…"

He snorted and threw the blanket off, "I'm up! I'm up!"

She supressed her laughter and rolled her eyes. Ever since they had met the young elf girl, her brother had been madly in love with her. Isabella called it puppy love, it was kind of pathetic and Merrill seemed totally oblivious. It was almost painful to watch sometimes.

As they entered the Hanged Man Selene was not surprised to find it raucous and rowdy, she was surprised to see Fenris though.

"You're out late, this isn't usually you're favourite place," she said sitting beside him.

"It's not, but Isabella insisted."

His tone was dry and he seemed bored.

"Oh?"

She was surprised he would let the woman talk him into anything.

"Besides, I thought I should attempt to save Merrill from her influence, abomination that she is."

She felt slightly hurt that his hatred for mages was still so strong after all the months she had known him but she decided to let it slide.

"And how is that going?"

He looked at her and raised his eyebrows, "You tell me."

Merrill's shrill laughter filled the air as he spoke, her cheeks were rosy and she had the goofy grin of a drunk plastered on her face.

"I see."

"Hawke! I'm glad you're here, can we talk?"

The familiar voice of her friend cut through the noise, she would have to ask him how he did that one day.

"You look like hell girl, been up all night again?"

"Carver just can't keep his mouth shut can he?" She sighed rubbing her eyes again.

"Eh don't be so hard on the lad, he's just worried about you."

"He won't be after I tell him he isn't coming with us."

Varric didn't seem all that surprised with her decision.

"To tell you the truth, I think it's for the best. I've been talking to Aveline and she said she'd keep an eye on him for you."

The mage stared into her cup as the dwarf poured her some honey mead.

"He'll get over it eventually. And maybe if you're not around he might take some initiative and actually do something, instead of using living in your shadow as an excuse for everything."

"I hope you're right. We were never really friends, and after giving him father's letters he seemed glad to know he was worth something in a mage family…"

Before she could finish speaking the sound of breaking glass, followed by raucous laughter stopped her.

"I'd better get Merrill home, before Isabella talks her into something I'll regret."

She chucked a fat parcel of papers onto the table.

"Here is our investment, tell your brother I expect to leave within the week."

OOooOOooOOooOO

"Are you alright Blondie? You look like you're about to birth a cactus."

Selene snorted at Varric's words, though Anders did seem to have a strange expression on his face.

"Let's just say the Deep Roads are not my favourite place in the world," He replied, grimacing slightly.

"You didn't have to come you know, I'm sure there will be many a Fereldan plotting Selene's death for taking their pet mage away."

Anders scowled at Fenris,

"You didn't have to come either, and yet here you are, at the request of a mage no less."

"I owe her," the elf growled back, "What have you ever done except bore us to death with your endless prattling about mages!"

Selene could feel a change in the air as Anders anger grew, it felt a lot like the time in the Chntry when-

"Stop it! The both of you!" she scolded, "We need our wits about us in this place, I'd rather not catch a Darkspawn arrow with my throat whilst you two squabble like children!"

The two men glared at each other for a few tense moments before Anders growled and walked away.

"Why did we bring those two again?" asked Varric.

The mage sighed. She thought it might be hard on Anders, he was a Grey Warden after all. It couldn't have been easy for him to come here, but she needed his skills. The fact that he could sense when the Darkspawn were near was an added bonus.

There was something strange about the old Thaig, they had not encountered any Darkspawn in a while and Selene felt uneasy. There was a ripple in the air and her sense of foreboding grew the deeper they explored. As they came upon a large, seemingly empty room she felt suddenly drained. She looked toward Anders and knew he too could feel it.

"Hey, look at this!" Varric's voice echoed around the room, causing her to start.

On an altar in the dead center of the room was the ugliest, most evil looking idol she had ever seen, she was repelled by the sight of it.

"Is that Lyrium?"

Before she could stop herself she had picked it up, her skin crawled and she shivered, shoving the thing at Varric.

"It's definitely magic, and not the good kind."

Anders sounded worried

"There's a good kind?" asked Fenris dryly, he seemed oblivious to their misgivings.

Varric's eyes gleamed at the possibility of more treasure as he handed the idol to his brother.

"we're going to explore more, see what else we can find."

"You do that," Bertrand smiled, Selene did not like the look on his face.

"The door!" she cried as the dwarf slammed it behind him.

"Bertrand! You would sell out your brother for a few coins?"

Bertrand's voice was muffled, but his intent was clear.

"Sorry Varric, but this Thaig is worth a fortune, and I'm not willing to split it three ways!"

"Bertrand? Bertrand!"

Selene hated to hear the panic in Varric's voice, she had never seen him like this before. They tried blasting the door with magic and prying it open but nothing seemed to work, at least the mages didn't feel drained anymore.

"I swear, if we find a way out of here I am going to hunt down that son of a bitch –sorry mother- and kill him!"

Selene felt his pain, she remembered the look on Carver's face when she had told him he would not be joining them. She hated the way he had looked at her, spit at her then stormed off. They had not spoken again before she left.

Varric sighed and turned around, "I guess all we can do is keep going and hope we find a way out."