--Author's Notes: As you may imagine, I don't own Dragon Age: Origins or any of the characters used in the game. I will occasionally name NPCs or add random NPCs to the story, but that doesn't really count.

This is my first time writing a fanfic. Or at least, my first time writing one and then actually convincing myself to put it online somewhere. I've written some random stories in the past, nothing I'm particularly proud of. I appreciate reviews, just like pretty much any author. Of course, I'd like any review that's telling me that this is terrible to also give me ideas as to how to improve. (I'm not against reviews that say 'I like this!' or anything like that, though I would appreciate if you tell me anything in particular that you do like)

I apologize in advance if I mess up any characters from the game. If I clearly mess up a character's personality, speech patterns, or even if I say that two characters are related in a way that they're not, please let me know.

Also, things may have been edited poorly. I made a few changes after I initially wrote this (mainly changing my characters' ages), and so things may not be consistent throughout the whole chapter.

That said, I'm taking some liberties with things, like making up random stuff. But then, it would be pretty boring if I didn't, right? In the first little part of this intro-chapter-thing, you'll see what I mean.

The story is labeled as Cousland and Tabris, even though the main-main character is a human mage. You'll see why.--

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Medren Cousland, Age 10 - 8 years before the Blight

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I still remember. I'll always remember. Even after everything that has happened to me, I still remember the day she left, and why. It wasn't my fault, even though I always felt like it was. I knew then that it wasn't the last time we would meet, and I was certainly glad for it.

Medren Cousland sat in his bedroom in Highever's castle. At the foot of his bed slept the Mabari puppy, Keine, who he and his twin sister, Nerysse, had begun to raise. He was uncertain of what to think at that time, simply staring at the wall, waiting.

He wasn't sure how long it had been. How long it had been since the day he had been sitting in the library while his brother and sister were outside for one reason or another. There were many days like that, due to Medren's pasty white skin that burned very quickly and terribly when exposed to the sun. But that particular day was different.

Medren remembered sitting, reading a book about his family history. It was a book he had read before, but it just so happened to be the one that he pulled off the shelf that day. He wasn't allowed to read all of the books in the library, and he had felt as if he had read all of the ones available to him at that point. Including the dictionary.

He hadn't gotten very far when he felt something weird in his mind. To him, it felt as if Nerysse was hurt, or at least that something happened to her. He had run down the hallways, following intuition as to where she had to be. Right outside the front gate, that was where he had felt that she was.

And she had been there, collapsed, unconscious.

Medren remembered how his older brother, Fergus, expressed his concern because Nerysse had fainted for no reason. It couldn't have been from heat, because it was a particularly cool day. It wasn't exhaustion, because she had only been watching Fergus train with some of the soldiers. There had been no reason for her to faint, but she did.

Of course, Fergus had also been concerned about the fact that Medren was outside on a sunny day, and that he had somehow known that something was wrong with Nerysse.

When Nerysse hadn't woken up after a week had passed, a letter had been sent to the Circle of Magi, requesting healers to check on her condition. It was the day that they had arrived that Nerysse finally woke up. That was over a month since she had first entered that state.

And so, that day, the healers were looking to see what was wrong. Medren had chosen to keep himself away from the excitement. His parents were probably sitting in Nerysse's room, waiting for the mages to have an idea of what was wrong. Medren didn't want to know what was wrong, he just wanted to know that she was okay, that she would get better. So he sat in his bedroom, alone, except for the small, sleeping puppy who probably didn't understand anything of what was going on.

He wondered if the mages had been told about the fact that he just knew that something had happened to his twin. In fact, he hadn't been in the room when she woke up, but he had felt that something had changed with her condition, and so he had gone to check on her. And she had been awake. Apparently, she had felt a similar connection to him in the past, but hadn't said anything about it, mostly because nothing important had happened to him.

It was weird, and he knew that it would mean that the mages would have to take a look at him, too, if they found out about it. Unless that sort of thing was perfectly normal and he didn't know about it. Nothing that he had read hinted at such, and so he assumed that it was unusual.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. Because he had no reason to behave otherwise, Medren stood up, walked over to the door, and opened it.

Standing before him now was a somewhat elderly woman. He knew that she had come with the healers - he distinctly recognized her from the small group. He looked up at her hopefully, and asked, "is Nerysse going to be okay?"

"She will be fine, child," the woman replied, "your sister displays a great amount of magical potential. It appears that the cause of her illness was the fact that it had been suppressed for so long."

Medren blinked with surprise. Nerysse? A mage? In some ways, he knew it made sense. In others... well, he just didn't expect it.

"And considering the way that you and your sister have found yourselves to be connected to one another, I must check to see if you have magic as well."

"Of course," he told her quietly, "do what you need to."

He knew that the woman was doing something with magic, but he didn't feel a thing. Maybe he wasn't supposed to. He didn't know.

"You do not have the spark," she said, her voice sounding almost confused. She then muttered seemingly to herself, "and you seem oddly... resistant. As if your connection to the Fade is limited, and so magic cannot truly touch you..."

I'm... what? Medren thought, but did not voice his confusion. There was no reason for him to, since the mage was just as confused as him. "Will I be able to see Nerysse before she goes?" he asked.

"Yes. We will not begin our return to the tower until tomorrow morning, so there will be time for goodbyes."

"Thank you," he replied, unsure of what was considered to be proper behavior in that situation.

"I must go now, and tell the others of what I have learned. Be well, child," the woman told him, as the woman turned and began down the hallway. Medren simply stood there until she turned a corner. At that point, he turned back into the room and walked over to Keine, who was still asleep.

"Wake up, boy," Medren whispered to the puppy, "we have to go see Nerysse now. She's going to be leaving soon."

When Keine didn't wake up, Medren carefully picked him up instead. The Mabari puppy was small enough that Medren could carry him without a problem. At that point, Medren decided it was time to turn to find Nerysse, and probably the rest of his family as well. They would all be in Nerysse's room, right? His parents would probably be helping her pack her things for her upcoming journey. Fergus would probably be there for the same reason, too. Yes, that would be where everyone was. Medren hurried in that direction, bringing Keine with him.

"There you are, pup," Medren's father, Teyrn Bryce Cousland said once he had made his presence in Nerysse's room obvious. "What's the news with you? None of the mages have come to tell us the results."

"I don't have any magic," Medren replied honestly, "and she said something about it seeming as if I am immune to it, but I'm not sure. She was speaking quietly, so it was somewhat difficult to understand."

"That's... good news, I suppose," his father replied.

"I just wish that none of my children had magic," Teyrna Eleanor Cousland, Medren's mother, commented.

"Don't worry, mother," Nerysse said from her spot on the other side of the room, "I'll study hard, and do my best. I'll be sure to write; Miss Wynne told me that apprentices at the tower are allowed to send one letter every month, and when I become a full mage I'll be allowed more than that. Even though I won't be allowed to hold a title, I'll do my best to make you proud."

Eleanor sighed, and then smiled, "I know you will, Nerysse."

"We'll miss you," Fergus told her. "Try not to trip or faint too often, though. We don't need Medren starting to freak out every few hours."

"I'm sure it won't be that bad," Nerysse said with a smile, "It'll probably be me doing more of the freaking out. From what I understand, I tend to feel him a bit more often than he feels me. If that makes sense."

"Except that I don't trip and fall twice every hour," Medren teased.

"You hurt yourself more often than you may think!"

"Okay, okay, you win. But actually, the whole connection thing might work out to our advantage. Maybe we'll figure out how to talk through it."

"That would get complicated, I think. I won't be pursuing it, I can tell you that much."

"I might."

"You do that, then. Just don't go waking me up in the middle of the night."

"Don't you worry, I know you'll need your sleep."

Bryce and Eleanor simply shook their heads as the twins half-argued. Medren knew that they were just so used to hearing it that it was almost comical. Almost.

Medren looked at his sister and couldn't help but smile slightly. The two looked like they weren't related at all. Medren's hair was the darker than the hair of any person he'd ever seen, whereas Nerysse had bright red hair. Her eyes were a deep, sapphire blue color, and his were a bright amber that often appeared yellow or gold. Her skin naturally had color to it, and was tanned from her time in the sun, but his was still the horrible white that it was, and it always would be that color. It was so ridiculous how different their appearances were, and yet they were twins. Twins that had ended up being connected through some unexplainable mental bond.

---

Nerysse Cousland, Age 14 - 4 years before the Blight

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I met a lot of people during my time as an apprentice. I'll never forget when I was given my first opportunity to get out of the tower and use the magic that I had been spending so much of my spare time perfecting. I also didn't realize how many of the people that I saw during that time would have an impact on my life a few years later.

"So, you get to go to Denerim and help out with affairs at the alienage there," Nerysse's friend, Jowan, said. His appearance reminded her of Medren, in some ways, due to his hair color, but otherwise, she couldn't really compare her brother with her friend.

"Yes, that's right. Miss Wynne said that things are especially bad around the time of the Landsmeet, and they need all the healers they can get. I happen to be skilled in the creation school, and I've already chosen it as my main focus. They want to give me some experience in the field, since the opportunity has shown itself," Nerysse replied.

"So when do you leave? Not now, I hope."

"Tomorrow, right after lunch, I think. Did you really think that we'd leave now, when the sun's already started to set? It would make no sense; we'd get nowhere."

"Well then, you get to sit around with the rest of us while everyone talks about the Harrowing that's happening today," Jowan told her with a sigh, "They're saying that there are some Templars-in-training attending this one. Not like I care."

"You wouldn't be mentioning it if you didn't care," Nerysse told him as she opened a book that was on the table.

"Okay, maybe it makes me a bit more uneasy than usual. I don't understand why they bring their trainees to Harrowings."

"Well, the templars have to learn somehow."

"Yes, but why Harrowings? I can't imagine there would be much to learn from."

"They're not well-trained enough to go hunting apostates, and there aren't necessarily apostates to hunt. And besides, think of the meaning of the word 'harrowing'. It's an adjective, that means extremely disturbing or distressing. That doesn't make the trial sound particularly safe, now does it? I'm sure that there's plenty for them to learn from."

Jowan looked at her with surprise. "Have you been reading a dictionary or something?"

"Yes, isn't that normal?"

"...No."

"My brother would do that all the time. When he didn't feel like reading any of the other books in the library back home, he would pull out the dictionary and start reading it. He wasn't allowed outside much, after all. He'd surprise mother and father often when he did that."

"And there you go again, talking about home."

"Sorry, Jowan."

It was hard to remember that Jowan didn't remember his family at all, that his spark of magic had been discovered at such a young age that he had been raised at the tower, or at least close enough to it. He was the same age as her, after all. But Nerysse wasn't like most of the other apprentices. Most of them had no idea who their parents were, or if they had any siblings... They were lucky if they knew a family name to call themselves by. Nerysse knew her family, and she was constantly in contact with them. Every month she sent out a letter to Medren, and he would always reply. He didn't know that she would be going to Denerim, though. No one in her family knew. In fact, she had learned about it the day after she sent her monthly letter.

They would be overjoyed when they saw her there. Assuming that they did, of course. It was going to be the time of the Landsmeet, after all, and if she asked nicely, she had a chance of being able to go to her family's estate in the city. It wasn't likely, since she and her main teachers would be spending most of their time helping the elves in the alienage.

Nerysse couldn't help but look up from the book that she had absently started reading when she heard what sounded like a small group of people marching through the hall. There were some of the Templars there, many of which she didn't recognize. They were probably the ones there for the Harrowing. She wondered which ones were the trainees; looking at them carefully, she noticed that some of them had armor with slightly less on it design-wise. They had to be the trainees.

She noted that one of them didn't look particularly pleased to be there. And there was something about him; something that looked vaguely familiar. Someone that Medren had seen, perhaps? The templar trainee certainly didn't look like anyone she knew.

---

Chisa Tabris, Age 20 - 2 years before the Blight

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He was the only decent nobleman I had ever met in my life at that point. And that was saying something, since I had seen a lot of noblemen, even by then. I didn't know why at the time, but he reminded me of my friend who I had seen starting just a couple years before, and had seen earlier that day. It was weird, I knew it, but still it bothered me. I didn't dare ask him, though. It had always been bad enough, that I had become so close to one of the human mages that came by every year. It didn't matter. I could respect him without my people knowing, and I had a friend that I didn't care what my people thought of me for having.

It was that time of the year, again. The time of the Landsmeet. One of the worst times of the year for the young women living in the elven alienage in Denerim.

Chisa had never faced the worst. She had always been good at hiding when the nobles came to ease their boredom with the women. She had never been taken. Ever. But she had seen the ones who were taken. She had seen them, when they returned, battered and beaten.

And every day, the mages came by. Only during the time of the Landsmeet, though, since they weren't allowed outside of the tower as much as they might have liked. They helped, at least. They healed the bruises that the women suffered from. From what Chisa understood, the mages had started coming because one of their healers had been from the alienage, and convinced those in charge of the Circle that they could go and help.

It was the third year that the girl with the bright red hair and eyes the same color as Chisa's had come with the mages from the circle. For some reason, Chisa had become good friends with the girl, Nerysse, she said her name was. It was somewhat unusual, and many of the other elves in the alienage silently questioned her. But Chisa didn't care; she had always been a bit of an outcast in the alienage outside of her cousins Soris and Shianni.

Nerysse and the other mages had come to check up on them earlier that day, but there had been nothing for them to do. Not yet. The younger generation of nobles hadn't made their move yet, they hadn't come to collect elves for entertainment. It would be that night. Chisa knew it, somewhere inside of her.

The night had come. Chisa stood in one of the alienage's many dark alleys. Some of the elves were in the streets of the alienage, talking. They stayed out far too late, especially during the Landsmeet! She understood the ones who were coming back from their jobs, and yet even so, they should have gone straight back to their homes.

Especially the women.

But that night, Chisa saw something she never saw normally. A human man stood at the entrance to the alienage that she was near. The strange thing was that he wasn't facing inwards. He was looking out.

Curiosity got the best of her, and so she left her alley. "Who are you, and why are you here?" She asked him quickly.

"Medren Cousland, and protecting you," he replied simply. She had never seen him before, or at least, she didn't think so. With his terribly white skin, it wouldn't have surprised her if he wasn't allowed to walk out in the sun for fear of burning.

"Cousland, huh? So that means you're a noble?"

"Yes."

"Noblemen tend to be frowned upon here."

"I'm sure it's more frowned upon for you to be standing around, talking to a nobleman."

"Well yes, that's true. But you're just standing there. And you said you were... protecting us?"

"Yes."

"Protecting us from what, exactly?"

"The other nobles, of course. They bother me. A lot. Whether it's commenting about how my sister is a mage, how I can't go outside during the day very easily, or some other thing, they bother me. And now they've taken to what's probably their fathers' old habits of kidnapping elves from the alienage and... well, I'm sure you know the rest."

"So you're doing this... because you just don't like the way the other nobles act?"

"You could say that."

"There tend to be a lot of them this time of year. Are you sure that you can take all of them? And that they'll come in through this entrance?"

"No, and yes. I do listen in on their conversations sometimes, and they're not smart enough to lie about which entrance they're going in through. Especially since they're not expecting me to be here. But I've been training. I don't know how many years they've been doing this, since some of them are a few years older than me. Even so, I don't like it, so I've been training to stop it."

"I... see..." Chisa replied. He was an odd one. He reminded her of Nerysse in some ways. And he even had a sister who was a mage. And yet... there was no way that those two could have been related; they looked nothing like each other. It had to just be a coincidence. And yet... didn't Nerysse say that she had been from a noble family before she had been a mage? But that could have been any noble family.

"You should go. Go hide in your house, or an alley if you're intent on watching me fight them. They'll be here soon, I think."

"I can help you. I know how to fight."

"No. It's better you don't. If I lose, and they know you're there, you'll be taken. So at the very least, hide yourself. You seem smart."

"Okay, but don't expect me to just sit back and do nothing."

"Only if things get bad for you. Otherwise, let me handle it."

"Fine, fine. Not my fault if you get yourself hurt."

Chisa shrugged, and disappeared back into the alley she had come from. However, she would have something to keep her busy for a little while.

Her father wouldn't be happy with her when she got home.