Another day, another insane blood mage rooted out. It was enough to make Hawke miss running from the darkspawn and needing to be saved by a dragon. Just once she'd like to find an apostate who wouldn't turn into a demon and further convince everyone that all mages were evil. Still, the knight-captain seemed like a reasonable enough man for a templar, so when things like this needed to be reported he was the one she reported to.
"Bloody templars…" Hawke muttered, shifting uncomfortably. She loathed being anywhere near the circle. "I swear, if I could find a way to make the Gallows float off into the Amaranthine Sea, I would."
"That'd require quite a bit of magic, though, wouldn't it?" Merrill asked, puppy dog eyes wide as usual. "I can't imagine you could, even if you had all the other mages to help you. And I'm not sure they'd want to –"
"She's joking, Daisy," Varric gently interrupted.
"Oh. Well, that does make a bit more sense," Merrill said sheepishly.
Hawke sighed and searched the courtyard until her eyes fell on Cullen. Just the man she'd been looking for. "Cullen," she began, "I need to talk to you about –"
"Anders?" the man asked, disbelievingly looking behind her and to her fourth companion.
"Cullen," the mage replied, and Hawke finally realized why Anders had been so complacent about going to the Gallows when she mentioned Knight-Captain Cullen.
"You're in Kirkwall? Are the Wardens here?"
Anders shrugged, looking half-amused. "Not... exactly. Unless you count me as 'the wardens'. How did you know I'm a Grey Warden?" Hawke couldn't help but notice his use of the present tense towards Cullen - not a bad way to avoid the circle, even if he didn't consider himself a Warden anymore.
"Templars talk. Apparently you had the honor of being the first recruited through the Rite of Conscription after the Blight. I didn't think Wardens were sent alone?"
"They're not," Anders replied. "I may be acting as a... free agent."
Cullen raised an eyebrow. "So... in addition to escaping the circle, you decided to leave the Wardens, too?"
"You should have met the Orlesian Commander who took over after Solona left," said Anders, crossing his arms. "Real piece of work, even gave away my cat. So I came here."
"Amell left the Wardens?" He asked, not hiding his surprise well, and Varric and Hawke exchanged glances. There was a story behind that tone, and Varric was quite determined to get to the bottom of it.
"I don't know where she is now, if that's what you're thinking," Anders responded, one eyebrow raised. "And it's not like you're one to talk. She went crazy looking for you after Greagoir sent you away, you know."
"She did?" he asked, although none of them were quite sure if his question was hopeful or reluctant.
"Maker, it was all she talked about. 'Oh, I hope Cullen is all right. I feel so guilty –'"
Cullen cleared his throat, looking thoroughly discomfited at the thought. "Perhaps we could continue this conversation at another point in time," he managed, giving Anders a pointed look. The apostate smirked at him.
"Right," Hawke interrupted, a little put-out that her companion had gotten to speak so much more than she did; she was always the one to steer conversations. "Getting back to the important bit about the blood mages…"