Preface: This one was written before any of the DA2 DLC came out (including the Mage Pack codices) and so is not exactly in canon. I'd write Malcolm differently now, but it was still fun.

Zoo Station

He smirks, looking up at the viscount's keep, which tonight is hosting a huge masquerade ball for all the nobles. No one's allowed in without an invitation, true...if they come in through the front doors. And while armored bodyguards are all very well, it's amazing how few of them ever think to look up. Astonishing, really, how they overlook the opportunities available to those who aren't weighed down with half a ton of metal. It's a wonder they're able to catch any apostates at all...

Still, he'd better be cautious, inasmuch as he's ever cautious. Getting away from Templars who are expecting magic rather than more mundane methods is surprisingly easy if you can keep your head, but these fellows aren't looking for apostates, just ordinary gate-crashers. Which for once is what he is.

Well, not an ordinary gate-crasher...he's not an ordinary anything. And quite smug about it, thank you very much.

Quietly, he moves to the edge of the roof. This is the closest building he could find to the keep; it's still farther than he'd like, but good things are worth a little risk...and he has planned this very carefully. In just another moment, the guard will come around the corner...yes, there he is, walking by...turning the other corner...

Malcolm whispers under his breath and gestures, and the guard falls over, slipping on a small but well-placed amount of grease that hadn't been on the ground a moment beforehand. The clatter of armor crashing to the ground, combined with an impressive amount of invective, nicely covers the sound of Malcolm placing a long ladder between his roof and the roof of the gardener's shed. The Templar still hasn't sorted himself out by the time Malcolm has scurried across. Malcolm brings the ladder with him; he's examined this shed in the past, and it contains a number of ladders already, and he can leave this one with the rest and it will attract no notice. While he's doing that, he retrieves and changes into the costume he hid there days before, after pulling it out of the paper he used to keep it clean and protected from the dirt that accumulates in sheds. When he exits, he looks like any other partygoer, in a colorful silk tunic and trews and a domino mask. Part one completed, perfectly.

Part two: the rendevous. He loves that word. Orlesians have all the best language.

She's waiting exactly where they planned, wearing a surprisingly uncomplicated gown; compared to the frothy confections being worn by the other guests, it stands out in its simplicity. The bird mask, on the other hand, is a wonder of feathers and glitter. Again, all part of the plan. Though he briefly forgets the plan as she pulls off her mask and smiles hugely for him, eyes shining with delight and anticipation. Gallantly, he bows and kisses her fingers. She curtseys, and he bends to kiss her fingers again, perhaps a little more fervently this time-

When he's rapped on the knuckles by a fan, held by the third member of their conspiracy: Leandra's friend Marian, who is grinning as broadly as Leandra but has a raised eyebrow: this is not the time. Ah well. He'll be able to kiss Leandra's fingers as much as he wants after tonight, not to mention all the rest of her...Marian is wearing a rather more substantial costume that makes her resemble a bear, albeit a surprisingly attractive bear. Her choice of costume had solicited some comments from the gossips as well, but Marian delights in being eccentric and a reputation for being unwomanly won't bother her in the least. And the bulk of her costume is largely an illusion, hiding certain things they'll need to pull this off.

Marian and Leandra duck into an alcove in the gardens. Nothing unusual about that, many friends and couples are doing exactly the same thing in order to have more private conversations - or in the case of some of the couples, "conversations" - than they can have in the stifling ballroom. Marian and Leandra, however, use their few moments out of sight to effect a costume change, as quickly as they can. They're both trying hard not to laugh. Neither is succeeding. Ah well, that just adds to the illusion that they're friends exchanging gossip about the latest inappropriate love affairs amongst the nobility...

Which, of course, is true.

When they emerge, Marian is wearing Leandra's costume, whereas Leandra is wearing an entirely new outfit, one that vaguely suggests a tree-rat. It's a simple costume as well, just a brown dress and mask with cowl; it had to be simple, or else Marian wouldn't have been able to wear it under her original costume and thus smuggle it in. Marian's own original costume will be well hidden in the bushes, and if later when she retrieves it it's covered with a certain amount of leaves and dirt, well, it won't be the first time Marian has disappeared during a party only to emerge later looking like she's been rolled in the grass...Leandra and Marian exchange one last, fierce embrace with parting words, and Malcolm clasps her hand tightly, letting his eyes say his thanks. Marian flashes them a grin and all three return to the ballroom.

Now comes the fun part, the beautifully simple part. Now that Leandra's in her new costume, they mingle with the other masqueraders for a while, dance one or two of the dances surrounded by a cacophany of other "animals", and then stroll out. As simple as that. They walk through the ballroom and out the front door, because while the guards are immensely cautious about who they allow in, people who are leaving at once cease to be important.

The party inside will go on for hours, he knows. Marian will spend most of the rest of the evening imitating Leandra and leading that poor Orlesian boy along. He won't be able to tell it isn't really his fiancee; he and Leandra barely know each other. Leandra's parents will beam with approval from a distance and not interrupt, grateful that their stubborn daughter is at last behaving herself. Towards the end of the party Marian will replace her original costume - not removing the Leandra-dress, which is uncomplicated enough that it can be worn underneath without being discovered - and "Leandra" will effectively disappear into thin air, hours after her actual disappearance. The only bit of actual evidence they will have left behind will be Leandra's mask, which Marian cannot smuggle out but will leave somewhere innocuous, ideally with other abandoned masks. Few people at a masquerade keep their masks on for the entire evening, and they tend to pile up by the evening's end. No one will have noticed either Leandra or Marian approach the front door, which will help protect Marian from being blamed for her part in the elopement; her parents put up with a great deal from their only child, but even they have limits. Even if anyone does manage to put all the pieces together and guess how the disappearance was managed, it will take hours or perhaps days to accomplish.

And by that time, they'll be long gone.

Malcolm grins at his beloved, who laughs back up at him, eyes flashing as she squeezes his hand.

Life with her is going to be his last, best adventure. And he can't wait for it to victory. Or else all this is meaningless.