The idea behind this fic came to me after I found out that the DA writers had originally thought to merge Justice with Velanna and not with Anders. I'm also constantly inspired by all the great authors who have written great fics! :) This story will sometimes be AU and will sometimes follow the DA2 plot or story line. :D

I want to especially thank CouslandSpitFire and Eynla for their constant support and suggestions and for helping me with my stupid typos and grammar inconsistencies! :D

Disclaimer: Bioware owns everything; I just play with the characters! :D

Chapter 1

Excerpt from Anders's Journal:

1st of Firstfall, 9:31 Dragon

My gaze happened to fall on Velanna who is so attractive that – Alright, alright. I'll try to write WHY it was that I was looking at her so intently. She had been talking to Justice a lot lately and I could not imagine why Velanna, of all people, was so 'friendly' to him as half the time Justice was scolding her for something.

I tried avoiding Justice as much as I could. The idea of a Fade spirit suddenly possessing a corpse had really made me rather nervous ever since it had happened back in the Blackmarsh and I had stayed away from him as much as I could. We had talked briefly whenever the Warden-Commander took us somewhere, but every single time he had made me feel guilty. Of course I felt sorry for what mages went through! Of course it made me angry to see my people subjugated and abused! But I really prefer to focus on staying alive at all times, thankyouverymuch and I'm really not keen on fighting templars for the rest of my life if I can help it.

Things had been looking up these days. I had just returned from giving a lecture at the Circle of Magi. First Enchanter Irving had nearly had a heart attack when he had seen me. I don't think he thought I would ever be serious about anything to be honest.

While I was there, I discovered my good um…'friend' Karl Thekla had left for Kirkwall. I was a bit sorry to hear about this since we had had fun while he and I were both at the Circle in Ferelden. I decided to write to him, just to ask him how he was doing and then hurried to pack my belongings for the trip back to Vigil's Keep, securing Ser Pounce-a-lot in my backpack after assuring him that we would soon be back home and that everything would be alright.

When we got back to the Keep two weeks later, I discovered everything was not at all alright as I had thought. The first thing that did not sit well with me was the fact that the Warden-Commander was leaving and another Warden-Commander was coming in from Orlais to take her place. The day she got us all together and informed us was a lamentable day indeed.

"I'm sure King Alistair can manage without you," I said, slightly stunned by her announcement. "He has managed to do fine so far!"

"Anders, I am married to him. My place is really at court, by his side," Leila replied, a smile on her lovely face. "I just want to tell you all that you are welcome there if you ever decide to visit…"

"Ah, yes, the old ball and chain," I sighed. There was a sudden crash in the room and I closed my eyes, annoyed that Oghren would choose this moment to pass out.

"Return to your duties and get a good night's sleep. The new Warden-Commander will be arriving tomorrow," Leila said as she hurried to help Oghren up. "Nathaniel, could you help me with Oghren, please?"

Nathaniel nodded with a smile and even Justice stepped up to help carry Oghren back to his room. As for me, I couldn't shake the feeling that things would be VERY different from now on. I was unpleasantly surprised to see that this would be the case in the days to come.

The new Warden-Commander seemed like a nice person, even though he had a vacant stare and seemed to be lost in thought most of the time. I successfully managed to make him scowl at me only because I took Ser Pounce-a-lot everywhere. I didn't care much if it bothered the new Warden-Commander or not. If he didn't like cats, he was off my Satinalia gift list. When the time came to say goodbye to OUR Warden-Commander, I couldn't help but feel it was the beginning of the end of my time with the Wardens.

Once she was gone, the new Warden-Commander took us all underground to check that the doors to the Deep Roads were still tightly shut, while Voldrik Glavonak glared at him as he darkly muttered that Dwarven mechanisms lasted far longer than the Warden-Commander knew. The Warden-Commander, oblivious to all this, clapped his hands and ordered everyone back up to the surface happily. He stopped for a moment when I cooed at Ser Pounce-a-lot and frowned.

"I thought I told you to get rid of that cat, mage," he drawled crossly.

"I thought I told you I wouldn't," I replied cheekily.

His frown deepened and I smiled at him, even though I knew it would only make matters worse.

"This cat makes you too soft. We need strong battlemages to fight the darkspawn," he said as he shook his head.

I said nothing, but batted my eyelashes at him and blew him a kiss, which I knew would probably make him retreat quickly. I laughed when he did, overjoyed that I was not wrong and that I was finally free of him. I practically skipped to my room. Once there, I petted Ser Pounce-a-lot and settled down for the night.

The following day I received a letter from Karl. After I read it I decided I would never ever visit Kirkwall if I could help it. I felt sorry that Karl was there - the Circle in Kirkwall was a prison according to him. And I thought the Circle in Ferelden was bad! At least we had fun with each other in the dark corners there!

I smiled fondly at the memories as the Warden-Commander droned on and on about our duties. He sent Nate to do Maker knows what in Amaranthine and I was stuck with Oghren and his schleets, while Sigrun went off to train recruits that had arrived from Orlais with the Warden-Commander.

Things got worse a week later. We had just returned from gathering Darkspawn blood with two new Fereldan recruits when there was a disturbance at the doors and a regiment of templars walked in.

Well, not a regiment, but FIVE! And Maker knows one templar is enough!

"Warden-Commander," one of the templars said as he saluted the Orlesian pansy…um…Warden-Commander. "We came as quickly as we could."

Not liking this one bit.

"Please, stay close to the mages and make sure that everything is in order," the Warden-Commander said as I tried to lift my jaw from the floor.

"You're assigning templars to guard us?" I finally managed to say without shouting as I glanced at Velanna knowing her reaction wouldn't be pretty. She was bristling slightly and I noticed her eyes flashing blue, but thought it was my over-active imagination.

"Think nothing of it. Magic is dangerous, and must be controlled. You must not cast spells unless you are facing the Darkspawn," the Warden-Commander said firmly and then shrugged.

As soon as he had said those words, Velanna changed and I was struck dumb when her skin seemed to crack open and blue light filtered through the cracks. She slammed her staff on the floor and I decided to do something really smart for a change - something that I was really good at.

I ran.

Arriving breathless at my room, I flung my door open. Grabbing Ser Pounce-a-lot hurriedly, I put him in my pack along with whatever I could then slipped out rushing to get to the courtyard. I hid in the corridors along the way, and finally managed to get outside after what seemed like an eternity. As soon as I stepped into the courtyard I stumbled and nearly fell. The body of Kristoff was lying motionless on the ground. I didn't have time to figure out what that meant and raced to Amaranthine, without looking back. Once there, I ran into Nate. In a flash of inspiration I thought about Ser Pounce-a-lot and his love for Nathaniel Howe. I also knew Nate cared about the cat. I was looking at an uncertain future at the moment, and really didn't know where life would take me next. I could even – Maker forbid – end up dead and who would take care of Pounce? I also knew that Nate would take good care of him.

"Anders!"

"No time to explain," I wheezed as I tried to catch my breath. I grabbed Ser Pounce-a-lot from my pack and handed him over to a confused and slightly shocked Nathaniel. "Take care of him, will you? He hates ships…"

"But, where are you going?" Nate started to protest, as Pounce licked his face and purred. I petted him one last time, and Pounce stared at me with affection. And then – I can't explain how or why – I knew that Pounce would be alright.

"Never mind that! Just take care of my cat!" I yelled, already running to the docks.

I soon found myself surrounded by several large crates that hid me from Nate and I saw that one of the ships was ready to leave, so I ran up to it pausing on the deck for a moment to wheeze a little at the Captain who regarded me curiously.

"How much for safe passage to wherever it is you're going?" I finally asked as I remembered that I had a little over five silvers in my coin purse. I didn't want to dwindle on this, but my mind was already seeking a solution to the problem.

"We are going to Kirkwall in the Free Marshes. This trip will not be cheap," the man scowled.

I frowned and my hand automatically flew to my ear while I fingered the gold earring the Warden-Commander had given me six months ago. I quickly took it off and offered it to the Captain.

"Will this cover it?" I asked as he looked at the earring and then bit it to make sure it was real gold.

"I see you are wearing another one too. If you also give it to me, I'll give you the name of a contact of mine in Kirkwall that will help you once we arrive. I'll even send a note to her before we dock, so that she knows you will be meeting her," the captain said, eyeing my other earring greedily.

"Deal," I said as I handed him the other one, then walked to the other side of the ship, my heart still hammering in my chest as I looked at the sea while I gripped the rails tightly.

I didn't look back at what I had just done, nor think about it at all. The only thing that was keeping me from enjoying all this was the fact that I had had to give up my cat.

…

Anders closed his journal, congratulating himself once again on his writing style. It looked like he was writing a story – his life story – and anyone who read it would probably be delighted with his storytelling skills. Then he sighed as the memory of Velanna glowing blue came to his mind, wondering what that had been about. He shrugged it away as some kind of weird Dalish spell he had never seen before and stashed his journal away in his backpack. The ship had docked and it was time to start his new life in Kirkwall.

He quickly climbed up the stairs to the deck then made his way off the ship and into the crowds of people walking around the docks. He took a deep breath – his first breath of freedom – and ended up coughing and gagging slightly. The whole place smelled of fish and unwashed bodies. He looked at the piece of paper that the Captain had given him and thought about asking for directions, but quickly decided against that when he saw a templar heading his way. He made a mad dash into an alley and found himself face to face with a lovely woman who blinked back at him and giggled holding a hand to her mouth. He smiled inwardly and decided he would ask her for directions. If anything else happened after he flirted with her, then that was good too.

"Milady, I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking at where I was going," he said in a low voice, a twinkle in his brown eyes. "I'm a bit lost and needed to find my way to…" he glanced at the bit of paper he had in his hand, and then looked up smiling. "…to Lowtown - specifically to Lirene's Fereldan Imports?"

The woman smiled and he saw she had two missing front teeth. He was taken aback, but managed to conceal his surprise under what he hoped looked like a charming smile as he waited patiently for the directions that would take him to his destination. Even though she was lovely, the missing teeth made him nervous and he could not shake the image of a jealous husband wanting to kill him if he dared pursue the lovely lady in front of him. He decided it would be extremely unwise to make enemies so soon.

"You have to go up the stairs there!" She pointed behind her. "That will take you to Lowtown. I don't know where that place is, but it should be in the Lowtown market."

His smile deepened and he thanked her profusely by stooping down and planting a gentle kiss on the back of her hand. The woman dissolved into giggles and he made his leave with a smirk and a wink, heading towards the stairs immediately. He still had a smile on his face when he started to climb the steps, finally arriving to Lowtown a few moments later. He made a left turn, spying a stall of some kind against a wall and walked towards it, jumping slightly when a rat dashed over his boots. He frowned and made a mental note to get another cat as soon as possible.

He walked around stopping for a few moments to admire some staffs on sale at one of the stalls. He shook his head when the merchant asked him if there was anything he wanted and turned, finally catching sight of a metal door with the number 4 painted on it and looked down at the piece of paper in his hands to confirm it was the right place. Upon reaching the door he opened it and stepped inside. There were a lot of people crying and complaining in the small place and he quickly discovered they were all Fereldan refugees, who wanted a decent job and a roof over their heads. He made his way to a brunette who was standing behind a counter and smiled.

"My name is Anders. Captain Rickshaw sent me," Anders said with a grin. "He said you'd be able to help me?"

Lirene looked him over and didn't smile, and Anders felt his heart sinking, thinking she would turn him away. He didn't have a silver or copper on him and doubted that he would be able to find anywhere decent to sleep, let alone a good meal to quiet his now growling stomach.

She motioned him to follow and led him to a back room. Pointing at a wooden chair in front of a table she asked him to sit. "What is it that you can do? Captain Rickshaw said in his letter that you were a mage and a healer. Is this true?"

Anders nodded. "Yes...healing is my specialty, My Lady. Though I could dance for you too if you'd like…" he winked, a lopsided grin on his face.

"Maker have mercy - no thanks!" the lady exclaimed then gave him a small smile. "I'll have dinner on the table soon, and we'll eat. Then I'll call Darwin to take you to the place - an old abandoned warehouse in Darktown. It isn't pretty, but if you set up a clinic in it for Ferelden refugees, I won't take any coin from you and leave you alone. There aren't any templars around there and as soon as the people know what you are doing, they'll guard you well enough, I suppose. There's a back room there where you can sleep as well. What do you say?"

Anders smiled at her and his brown eyes twinkled. "I say yes to everything you've just said. But to tell you the truth, I can only think of dinner right now – I'm starving!"

…

Even though the warehouse was actually in the sewers, Anders thought it was lucky that he had a place to live in and he liked to heal people who needed it. He soon found out that the refugees were desperate and not only suffered from physical wounds because they would often just stop by to ask for advice or to tell him their problems. He listened to them and comforted them whenever he could. He took pride in his work and managed to bring a smile to their faces and hope to their hearts. After only three days, he was not only healing Fereldans, but Free Marchers as well.

Lirene would drop off food for him once a day, and his patients' families – the ones that had a bit of coin – would often bring him homemade pies if they could. Anders did not take their coin for healing them, even though he needed the money. He could not bring himself to do so, as the people he generally healed were very poor. Sometimes he even shared his food with the less fortunate ones.

He also discovered everything that was going on in Kirkwall just by listening to their conversations. Soon, he managed to write his first letter to Karl and one of the boys he had healed ran to the Gallows and managed to deliver it without being seen by the templars. A few days later, he received a reply and it depressed him even more when he discovered that the templars in Kirkwall were more abusive than the ones in Ferelden had ever been. He wanted desperately to help his friend, but did not know how to manage that, and left well enough alone for the time being.

Merely a week after he had opened the clinic, he heard that a group of Grey Wardens had arrived to the city. He immediately panicked and thought about what he could do in case they were in Kirkwall looking for him. They were staying at an inn in Hightown, so he decided to see for himself what they were up to and locked his clinic one night taking the stairs that led him to Lowtown.

He hadn't been in Lowtown since he arrived, so in the darkness the streets looked pretty much the same to him. He tried to find the stairs that would take him to Hightown, but after wandering around for nearly half an hour he realized to his dismay that he was lost. At that moment, half a dozen men in masks appeared in front of them, holding up bows and aiming their arrows directly at him.

Anders froze for a moment, then chuckled, which made one of men slide closer to him.

"What's so funny, eh?" The bandit snarled.

"I haven't got a copper on me," Anders grinned.

"You've a staff that will fetch a pretty price, good robes and a nice pair of boots," the man replied and Anders's smile vanished.

"Really? My robes are falling to pieces, and one of my boots is held together with bandages. Also, I don't think you want to mess with a mage," Anders countered, as he reached into the Veil for an ice spell that would do the trick.

The man made a terrible mistake and turned to one of his companions to make fun of what Anders was saying. Anders grinned and cast a Cone of Cold on the three that were standing directly in front of him, freezing them solid, while he unsheathed his staff and immediately flung an electricity bolt on the others and smirked as they jerked around before also freezing them in place.

A figure suddenly appeared from the shadows and slashed at the men who were nearest to him, then disappeared from view, but not before Anders had a glimpse of golden jewelry and a flash of white. Soon all the men lay on the cobble-stoned ground dead at his feet and a woman with long shapely legs wearing a pair of leather boots and a white tunic that barely covered her panties stood defiantly in front of him flashing her daggers, a smile playing on her lips. A blue handkerchief held her dark hair back and he saw that she was pretty, but her breasts were absolutely fabulous.

"A vision of beauty or a desire demon coming to my rescue?" he flirted in dulcet tones, lowering his voice an octave.

"I see you think you're good at flirting," the woman said as she sheathed her daggers. "I don't have time for this right now. I'm supposed to meet someone at The Hanged Man and I'm already late as it is."

"The Hanged Man?" Anders asked curiously. "An inn or tavern, no doubt?"

"You're new around here, aren't you?" she gave him a smile and looked him up and down, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

"Hmmm. I don't know? Maybe?" Anders replied, his brow furrowing.

"You're Fereldan, aren't you? I can tell because of your accent. My name is Isabela," she added. "It was fun to save your life, but I'm already late…"

"Save my life?" Anders chuckled, and Isabela frowned. "I think I had everything under control."

She shrugged and walked away towards a door and Anders followed her, the sound of singing and shouting coming from the other side.

Isabela rolled her eyes and turned back to face him. "Don't tell me you're going to follow me around like a lost puppy now."

"Alright. I won't," Anders shot back at her. "How would you like to make some coin?"

She raised an eyebrow and her lips curved slightly upwards. "So you aren't such an idiot after all! Sorry, sweet thing, but like I said, I've other plans. Besides, I can tell you haven't got a copper on you, so no thanks."

"Oh, I don't have coin, that's true. But the people I want to…er…'pay a visit to' will probably have coin. Lots of it, I'm sure," Anders smiled ignoring the fact that he had just been called an idiot. He had been called worse things before so he just let it slide.

"You're sure? Are you trying to convince me or yourself?" Isabela chuckled. Then after a moment of silence she burst out laughing. "Now I remember! Were you ever at 'The Pearl' in Ferelden?"

"Oh! That's where I know you from! You were there that night I tried my electricity trick, right?"

"That was nice," Isabela smirked. "Alright. What are you up to, sweet thing? I'll help you out."

"Splendid," Anders retorted with a grin. "I can tell we're going to be the best of friends."

…