Before a star becomes a star, it's simply a bunch of random particles in a nebula.

Before Kallia Surana becomes the Kallia you all love from my story Stars, she was just another mageling at the Circle.

This is a companion piece for Stars, however stories are perfectly fine as standalone pieces. The intent of this is to show you what Kallia's life was before she was recruited to the Grey Wardens. As I've said before, Jowan wasn't always a blood mage and Kallia wasn't always a Grey Warden. At one point, they were just children.

This fic isn't going to be one continuous fic of her whole life, but will instead highlight the important parts. If you've read Stars then you probably have the basic gist of what some of those events are, but (as I'm sure you've noticed) I tend to tie everything together in less-than-obvious ways and put subtle references to things in my stories. Chekhov's Gun and all that.

Think of this as the Stars DLC.

Hehehe I'm snickering to myself at that reference. Not sure why it's so funny to me but it is.

You might not have to read Stars, but I definitely recommend you do! (Because, you know, its sorta my pride and joy ;] ) Certain chapters here are particularly related to a chapter in Stars and when that happens I'll try to make sure I mention it in the Author's Note at the top of that chapter. So you can feel free to skip around and read the bits and pieces as you please.

But (completelyobjectively) I think you should read it and I'm not the least bit bias, I promise! ;) Here's the link:

.net/s/5655515/1/Stars

I'll try to keep the Author's Note at the beginning of following chapters much shorter than this one, but since this is the first chapter it needed a bit of explanation.

You won't always know the exact age of the characters in these chapters for the simple fact that some of them don't know they're age.

Jowan has been at the Tower for as long as he can remember, so he doesn't know how old he is because, in the world I've created, mages don't care about age and so there was no one to keep track for him.

Cullen, on the other hand, grew up with people who docare about age. So he knows exactly how old he is and what his birthday is.

In this chapter, Kallia and Jowan are both about 5 years old so obviously the rating is fairly low. However the rating will be going up to T and probably M in later chapters.

.oO***Oo.

Kalus noticed the tiny elfling was having nightmares again and signed. This always happened when Darian told the children stories, his versions seemed to affect her worse than the other Templars though. Unsurprising, but that didn't make it any less upsetting. She was one of his, a child he brought to the Tower, and that was the closest thing he'd ever have to a daughter.

He held back a sigh as he watched her face barely distort in a flinch, even in her sleep she was careful what emotions shone through.

This was the best place for her to be, he knew that. Where she could learn in safety with her own kind, but still... Sometimes he found himself wishing that he could take them away from here. He was at that where he began to doubt that this was the life he wanted. It wasn't like he'd had much of a choice in the matter. He'd been abandoned on the Chantry's doorstep as a baby. They'd raised him and when he was old enough, sent him off to the Templars without so much as a by your leave.

And now, with so many innocent faces around him, he found himself wanting one of his own.

The elfling let out a strangled whimper and sat up straight in her bed. He quickly looked away as she looked around the room to see if she had disturbed anyone. She hadn't, most of these children slept as though they were under a sleeping spell.

Quietly as she could she stood on the edge of her bed and looked up at her bunkmate. The boy had taken her under his wing, of sorts, and Kalus found a measure of comfort in the fact that she had at least someone to take care of her. She was so tiny, she certainly needed it. Even standing on her mattress, her nose barely reached the bottom of the top bunk. She stood on her tiptoes and whispered, "Jowan."

She spoke quietly, but there was little sound in the room to stop her voice from carrying. "Jowan," she whispered a bit louder when he didn't respond. The boy let off a quiet moan, but still didn't wake. Using one hand to hold herself up, she stuck the other through the railings and tugged on his sleeve. "Jowan!" she called again, her voice taking on a panicked whisper.

He mumbled in his sleep but didn't waken. The little elf looked over to the ladder and then back to him several times before scrambling over to it and climbing up to his bunk. The movement of his bed woke him and he stared at her in confusion for several moments, obviously trying to figure out what was going on.

"I'm scared," she explained in a tiny voice and the confusion melted from his face. The boy lifted his blankets up and held him arms open to her and she quickly curled up into the safety his arms offered. He tucked the blanket in around her and began to hum a quiet lullaby. Her body relaxed and she was soon on her way back to the Fade. Kalus smiled at the two magelings, until he heard a conversation so quiet, he doubted anyone else heard it. Looking around, he could see none of the Templars had even been paying attention to the two children. Kalus pursed his lips and told himself he would have a talk with the two in the morning. They were children and didn't know the repercussions that little conversation could have.

"Love you, Jowan."

"Love you too, Kali."