NOTE: I own none of the intellectual properties associated with Dragon Age. They belong to the good folks at Bioware.
It's her tenth birthday. Her favorite present is the shortbow that her mother gives her. "This is the bow I learned on," her mother says. "If you like it and do well with it, we will get you a longbow to use." There are also books from her brother and her new sister-in-law, which are nice, and Father has arranged for archery lessons, something she has been asking for since she was eight. She idolizes her mother and wants to grow up to be just like her – beautiful, tough, and smart. Mother smiles with pride when she runs off to try out her new gift.
He is eagerly listening to Father tell him a story about the haunted marsh. "Everyone disappeared from there, just before the war," Father says. "Nobody ever found any of the villagers. All they know is that there was a fire in the mansion, and everyone was gone. They say that there are whispers and strange things there, and nobody has gone to live there since."
He goes to sleep, dreaming about going there when he grows up and finding out what caused the problem. He will be a hero and will make Father proud when he fixes it. He smiles in his sleep as he dreams about how glorious it will be.
His first wedding anniversary is today. To celebrate, he goes to Tapster's and has a drink. Then another drink. He tries to limit it to two, because he wants to get home and celebrate with his wife. He found a model pony that he just knows she will love. She always was an odd girl, but that's why he likes her. She's interesting. She nags him some about the drinking, but generally she lets him do his thing, just as he doesn't mind her staying up late to experiment with her smithing. She's a lot smarter than he is, after all, and even though he tries to understand what she's doing when she explains it, he only catches bits and pieces. He pays his tab and picks up the model, bringing it home in the hopes that she'll not be mad about the ale and they can celebrate. At the thought of that, he leers to himself and laughs under his breath.
After all these years of being treated like a normal boy, he forgets himself and shows off to the cute girl in the village, the one he would really like to have his first kiss with. When she sees him light the candle without any flint or steel, she screams and runs off. He chases after her, "Please! Wait! I won't hurt you!" only to find that her father and uncles have blocked the way. He is only fourteen, so it doesn't take long for them to subdue him and lock him in the Chantry's storeroom. It takes a couple of days, but the templars finally come and drag him off. They are also much larger and stronger than he, so his resistance only serves to wear him out. He tries to use his special tricks to free himself, but before he can finish summoning his power, he feels weak and empty. He looks up in despair, hoping to get one last look at the pretty girl he really likes, only to see that the entire village, including his parents, are staring at him with fear and hatred in their eyes.
It only takes two days to get to the big tower in the middle of the lake, where they lock him in and tell him that is where he will spend the rest of his life. He is shown a bed in a room full of other children, most of them far younger than he is, and is told that this is his new home. The same templars who dragged him here are now standing around the room, watching his every move.