"Where in all the bloody, blazing Blights did you learn that? You're no Templar!" Anders' voice sounded from about five feet behind her and two feet to her left. She was very good at knowing where people were, a skill she'd honed under Zevran's tutelage. She hadn't missed Anders' surprised hiss when she hit the genlock emissary with a cleansing.
She turned to face him, appearing perfectly composed but with just a trace of sheepish in the tilt of her head. "Ummmm, actually that's when I learned it. During the Blight. Alistair trained as a Templar, you know, and I wanted to learn, and he'd already left the Chantry and joined the Wardens, so..." she trailed off at Anders' indignant look.
"You learned Templar skills from the King during the Blight," Anders said flatly.
"Yes?" She peered up at the mage through her lashes, knowing that he was Not Happy with her at the moment.
"And you didn't mention this before now because...?"
"I know how you feel about Templars. It's how most Circle mages feel, and I understand it, I do. It's just that Templar skills are very useful in dealing with emissaries, of course, so it only seemed wise to learn them," she explained. "What if Alistair had been knocked unconscious or was in the middle of fighting an ogre? It didn't seem...safe to always depend only on him."
Anders glared at her a moment more before relaxing his stance a bit. He shifted from one foot to the other, looked up at the ceiling, then tugged on his ponytail. He sighed sharply and shifted his hand from his ponytail to the back of his neck before lowering his eyes back to hers. "Alright, I understand. As long as you don't send a holy smite in my direction, I'm fine with what you know. I'll feel better, though, if you leave the emissaries to me."
She drew a quick breath and began, "But what if you're..."
"Knocked unconscious or in the middle of fighting an ogre?" he grinned. "Then do what you have to, and I'll do my best to stay out of your way."
"I promise," she said and moved over to him to slide her arms around his waist for a quick hug. She let him go and turned to move on down the corridor in front of them.
Anders stood surprised for a few seconds, then followed where she led.