Lithoniel Mahariel sighed as she pushed Zevran's letter to the side of her desk. After a long trek from Denerim, an unexpected battle with a horde of darkspawn, meeting a mage who might be mad, and running into Oghren (who was definitely mad), the last thing she needed was a letter from her lover saying that he had pressing business in Antiva and wouldn't be able to help train recruits at Vigil's Keep.

Pfft. Pressing business. He was probably pressed against some Antivan whore right now.

Lith took a deep breath and tried to gather what calm remained. She would need it to deal with the other letters on her desk. There were farms in need of protecting, trade routes to be opened, and somebody's daughter was in need of rescuing. Of course, on top of all this there was the problem of the talking darkspawn. The Creators damned talking darkspawn.

Lith cradled her aching head in her hands and tried to think of which problem to handle first. She was so deep in thought that she nearly jumped out of her chair at the sound of a timid tap on the door.

"No need to be bashful, " she called from her desk, "unless your name is Zevrain Aranai. In which case you had better run far and fast"

"Nope, just your friendly neighborhood apostate," Anders said with a smirk as he walked through the door. "I happen to be very glad that I am not Zevran at this moment, though I wouldn't mind being able to say I've done some of the … things he's done," he concluded with a wink as he sat down in the chair across from her desk.

This one is definitely going to be a handful, Lith thought with a grimace.

"You know, scrunching your face up like that does absolutely nothing for your looks."

Lithoniel raised one delicately arched eyebrow and sighed "Is there a reason why you're here, Anders?"

"I like to think my existence is proof the Maker has an amazing sense of humor."

She dismissed him with a wave of her hand. "I have no time for idle banter. If you have nothing of consequence to say please leave me to my work."

Anders caught the hint and assumed as close to an "all business" posture as he could muster. "I actually came to ask for your help, but I see you already have a lot on your mind."

Lith was surprised to see genuine concern in his amber eyes, and was about to tell him everything that had been running through her mind when he knocked on the door. Then she remembered. Right. He's a healer of course he's concerned. And I'm his commander. No room for friendship here.

Instead, she got up from her chair (which was uncomfortable anyway) and came around to lean against her desk. She tried to loom over the new warden as best she could as an elf.

"That I do. And didn't I already rescue you today? You should feel lucky that I am such good friends with King Alistair that he was willing to back me up when I conscripted you right out of that Templar bitch's grasp."

"You have no idea," Anders sighed, "Rylock has dragged me back to to the tower countless times, just like a faithful Mabari bitch would to her master. I think she really enjoys it... enjoys seeing me suffer. That or she has a massive crush, and who could blame her? Still, she won't give up the hunt, and as long as the Templars have my phylactery on hand I will never truly be free."

Lith tilted her head to the side and pretended to carefully consider his request even though, as no believer in the Maker, she was more than willing to leap at this opportunity to cause the Templars a bit of trouble.

"That would be a problem. From what I've seen you might turn out to be the best healer I've met since Wynne. I can't have the Templars dragging you away."

"Hah! Wynne's got nothing on me. I could heal circles around that old biddy, and besides that I'm charming and handsome..." Anders trailed off as he caught The Look in his commander's eye and quickly changed his tone, "Right. I'm glad you're willing to help me even if it is for a practical reason," He lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper, "I have a contact in Amaranthine City. I was on my way to meet her when the Templars captured me. She had just found out where they are storing my phylactery. I'd like you to come with me to the city just to be on the safe side."

"Well then, I guess that simplifies my list a bit. I need to go to the city myself to follow a lead on the darkspawn. I also need to see if anyone knows where Kristoff might have gotten to. Hopefully we can find him because odds are he knows something about what is going on with these creatures. We'll head there first thing in the morning." Lithoniel suddenly noticed how very tired Anders looked. He looks at least twice as tired as I feel. What did the Templars do to him before I got here? A hand went involuntarily to the mage's shoulder "Get some rest, healer. You've had a long day and odds are it will be an even longer one tomorrow."

Anders rose reluctantly from his seat, curious to see what else might lie behind his commander's facade. "Til the morning then, Commander. And do get some rest yourself. Healer's orders."