Elin Surana, an elf, lived a simple life. Simple, however, didn't mean good in her case. She worked as a tinkerer, fixing cheap items for low pay. She lived in the Denerim alienage. Her husband was sickly, and she could see no good future for her tiny daughter, Neveni. No life awaited Neveni that was not afflicted with strife and poverty, she thought. Neveni would marry at fifteen like all elves did, and live the same painful life as her mother. The thought filled her with sadness and caused her to tear up; often Neveni would return home after a day playing with her friends and see her mother sobbing at the dinner table (a half-burnt wooden desk pilfered from the trash set out by the nobility, salvaged from a trash fire.) with a bottle of cheap wine, trying to work on one of her contraptions through her tears. She'd always ask, "Mother, what's wrong?". Elin could never look her in the eye as she answered.
Neveni was clever. At six years old, she'd taught herself to read, and had learned how to crawl through a hole in the wall and get out of the alienage to putter through the market district. (Her mother didn't like that she did it, and scolded her for it occasionally, but knew she'd never stop her.) She was very, very small- short even for an elf, and so thin a breeze could knock her over. She took after her father for the most part; she had fair, smooth skin, a foxlike face, and pumpkin-orange hair. Her slanted, coal-black eyes, though, were her mother's.
One afternoon, in late summer, Neveni returned home as always to find her mother sitting at the table, drinking and weeping as she was wont to do.
"Don't cry, mother," She said quietly.
Elin looked down. "I'm sorry, little one." She clamped her eyes shut to avoid more tears. Neveni shifted, watching the dust specks that were illuminated by the light coming through the tiny window of their run-down apartment. She brought the wine glass to her mother's lips, and her mother took a swig, then opened her eyes.
Neveni was not using her hands.
The glass was floating six or seven inches off the table, a deep blue glow illuminating the kitchen. Elin gasped sharply and pulled away as Neveni carefully set down the glass, again without her hands.
"Where in Thedas did you learn to do that?!" Elin squawked, and Neveni pictured her as a big, croaky bird, like the parrot that Cortalia the merchant kept at her fruit stand.
"It happens all the time, mummy. I use it to hold up my books when I read." Neveni said. Her mother stared blankly at her, her mind twisting in all directions. Her daughter, a mage? Impossible. If it were so, she'd have to lock Neveni away, lest the Chantry steal her away and take her to the Circle of Magi. The thought felt like a punch to the gut.
Then, Elin thought, what would become of her if she couldn't hide Neveni? What would become of the small, sweet girl who loved to read and liked to scamper around with her human and dwarven friends in the market district? She'd be taken to the tower, no doubt, and be educated in magic, and-
Elin froze. If Neveni lived in the tower, she'd get a proper education. She'd eat every night, she'd always have clothes to wear, and she'd be able to live away from the alienage and meet other children like her. She'd be away from home, sure, but she'd be safe.
A better life for her little girl. Tears welled up in her eyes once more, this time of relief and joy.
"I must tell your father about this. He has to know too." Elin sighed.
"Is he well enough?" Neveni chirped. "Do you want me to show him?"
"No, Neveni. Go and read your books. I can tell him."
It was because of that afternoon, on a humid autumn morning, a tiny, dark-eyed elf left the alienage for the first time in years to seek the help of the Chantry, of all things. Elin walked slowly up the Chantry steps, her arms crossed. She could feel the humans around her looking at her, not glaring per se, but looking. Her hand rested on the heavy door and pushed it open.
"Hello, miss. May I do something for you, or are you here to pray?" A human sister greeted her, and bowed respectfully.
"I was hoping to speak to someone privately, actually. It's about my young daughter. She's… showing signs." Elin's voice faltered as she spoke. Her hair, once deep black, was now greying at the sides from the stress of having a magical child. She knew, however, that it was the right thing to do to go to the Chantry.
The sister's eyes widened. "Come with me, ma'am." She took hold of Elin's wrist and led her through the crowd of brothers, sisters, and laypeople deep in prayer. She made her way to a door and knocked on it. "Revered Mother?"
An aging lady opened the door. "Good morning, Sister Karlina. What do you need?"
"This woman says that her daughter has been showing signs of magic."
"Oh, dear… how old is your girl, elf?" The older woman opened the door and ushered Elin in, shooing away the young sister.
"She's only six," Elin sighed, sitting down on one of the wooden chairs. "She doesn't… she doesn't even know what magic is. She just does it."
"Would it be alright if I came to see her? I need to see her perform magic before we take any definitive action."
The two of them took the short way back to the alienage, through the market district. They ducked into the alienage and made their way to the back wall, where Elin's apartment complex was. A cramped tenement, the two women could barely fit in the stairwell at the same time. Elin entered first and found her daughter, sitting on the floor next to a stack of books (they had no couch and few chairs) fiddling with a cloth doll she'd made herself. She was just clipping its ears into cute little points like hers as her mother stepped in.
"Neveni, this lady is from the Chantry. Could you show her how you hold your books?" Elin addressed her girl, then stepped back.
"I'd very much like to see it," said the Mother. "Your mother tells me you're very talented!"
Neveni giggled. "I've been getting better at it, I think!" She said. Then she picked up a book from the stack with her hands, resting it on her knees. The book slowly rose from the little elf's lap, giving off a dim blue light as it did so. Neveni's eyes closed, and she fluttered the pages around a bit until she found her favorite page, one with a drawing of a Mabari hound on it. "See? It's a puppy!"
The Revered Mother turned to Elin. "She's a mage," she started.
Neveni overheard. "I'm not a mage! I don't wear a robe, or have a wand."
Elin grumbled. "Quiet, girl. Go outside." Neveni obeyed, bored now that she'd finished with her doll. "What must I do, Mother?"
"I'll be returning to the Chantry now to gather my things. When I return I will need you to sign some release papers, and we can get her to the tower by Thursday."