A/N: Hello! I have wanted to write this for a while and I have finally decided to do it. I am still getting the hang of things on here so be patient with me. Reviews good and bad are welcome. I love constructive criticism so lay it on me! Things might not stick directly with the storyline of the game but the basic outline is the same. I really hope you guys enjoy this, I love Cullen/Trevelyan pairing and we will get there eventually!
Disclaimer: I own nothing, it's all Bioware.
I smiled and spun around as I looked at the dress mother had bought me for my birthday in the mirror. Today was my eleventh birthday and I had been looking forward to this for months. My older brother Simon joined the guard when he turned eighteen so we hadn't seen much of him lately. He was coming to my birthday dinner tonight and I couldn't wait. When Simon left it was only my sister Sutton and I. Sutton was three years older than me and also a constant thorn in my side. She was beautiful just like mother, with long red hair and bright green eyes. The sons of the other nobles noticed her already and I think she would have received many marriage proposals if she hadn't already said she would join the Chantry as soon as she turned eighteen. I couldn't wait for that day. Sutton may have been beautiful on the outside but her inside was anything but. She was cruel and judgmental, it was hard to picture her as a soft spoken Chantry sister.
"Bretta! Darling hurry up!" Mother's voice called to me as she walked down the hallway.
"Coming!" I shouted back and I heard a sigh outside my door before it opened. Mother stood there with a disapproving look, but she was also smiling.
"Really, Bretta, must you shout? It's so unladylike." I rolled my eyes at her in the mirror and then turned to face her.
"You were just shouting!" I said excitedly and she laughed at me.
"Yes, but I am the mother now aren't I? So I can do whatever I want." I shook my head at her and twirled for her. "How does it look?" I asked as I spun.
Mother came forward to smooth my dark brown hair from my face. "You look beautiful, like a little lady." I blushed at her compliment. "Sutton is the beautiful one..." I said quietly as I looked at my feet.
Mother lifted my chin with her finger and smiled down at me. "Now you listen to me, dear girl. You are every bit as beautiful as your sister, but you need to know my sweet little Bee that outer beauty is fleeting" She pressed her hand to my heart. "It's the beauty of your heart that is lasting, you must never let that beautiful heart diminish, do you promise me?" She waited for my response and I nodded slowly.
Mother smiled at me and pinched my chin softly, making me giggle. "Now come, Simon just arrived and I know he cannot wait to ruin that pretty dress with his horseplay." She sighed in disapproval and I giggled again. My brother treated me more like a boy than a girl and it drove mother mad.
We turned to leave but then I remembered my favorite necklace, a locket with a tiny portrait of my entire family, even Sutton, in it. "Wait! My necklace!"
I rushed back over to the vanity where the necklace lay and I must have gotten tangled in my skirts because suddenly I was falling. I gasped and braced myself, waiting for the impact of my face to hit the floor but it never came. My eyes were shut tight and I opened them to see what had happened only to find the floor hovering a few inches in front of me, or rather I was hovering a few inches from the floor. I gasped again and then fell the last few inches. I sat up quickly and looked to mother who was looking at me with a horrified expression.
"Mother?" I said quietly.
I had heard about what happened to young boys and girls when they showed that they had the gift of magic. They were ripped away from their families, never to see them again, and then thrown into the Circle like prisoners. I didn't want to go to the Circle. What was happening? Why had this suddenly happened to me? I felt tears well up in my eyes.
Mother rushed over and knelt on the floor beside me. Her face was pale and her eyes were watery but she didn't cry.
"You listen to me, Bretta. You will tell no one of this, do you promise me?" I sniffled and she grabbed my shoulders and shook me. "Do you promise?" She said a little louder.
I nodded, "I promise" I sobbed into mother's shoulder. "They'll take me away." I cried. Mother hugged me tightly.
"No!" She said forcefully, "No one is going to take you anywhere, no one is going to find out about this. No one." She held me as I cried.
I was a mage, my life was never going to be the same.
Two weeks passed and no more magical abilities surfaced. I was careful not to try anything, but I could feel it now; the tingly feeling in the tips of my fingers. The magic hummed within me, but I was determined to ignore it. Mother hadn't mentioned it again and I wasn't going to either.
Simon's visit had been too short, his presence had taken my mind off of the life altering thing that had happened to me. I loved my brother, father traveled often so Simon had been the one to teach me how to ride a horse, how to shoot a bow. He was my best friend and I was sad when he had to leave again.
Father would also be leaving soon, refugees fleeing the Blight had flooded Kirkwall and father was going there to help as best he could. Father was a stoic man, he wasn't very good at showing his emotions. I missed him when he would leave though, and when he would return I liked to sit with him in his study and read aloud. I knew he loved me too, he would smile at me when I had trouble pronouncing the bigger words and then glance over and help me out. He would laugh when I asked him about his adventures.
"Hardly adventures" he would say, "But I did meet a pirate captain once..." I loved hearing about his travels. I hadn't been out of the Free Marches at all. Mother said I was too young, and I hoped that one day she would let me go with father when he visited the foreign kingdoms.
We were all seated in the large parlor on the evening it happened. Sutton and I were both reading a book for our studies. Mother was writing in her journal, and father was responding to letters at the desk. It was quiet and I was very enveloped in my book when a crumpled piece of paper smacked me in the face. I glared from my spot on the lounge at Sutton, who sat staring at me with an evil grin on her pretty face. She stuck her tongue out at me and I huffed and turned back to my book. I knew she was going to throw another one. I heard the paper crumpling. Anger boiled inside of me and I stood just as she launched the paper, it was inches from my face and with a wave of my hand it burst into flames and then I flicked my wrist and it flew at Sutton's head. She screamed and dodged out of the way and I felt my eyes widen.
What had I done?
Mother was looking at me with a stunned expression and father as well. Sutton was cowering behind a column staring at me in fear. A gasp from the doorway caused us all to look, it was an elven servant carrying a tray of tea, she dropped it and it clamored loudly to the floor, and then she fled the room.
"No!" Mother shouted as she tried to follow after her. Father stood and grabbed her arm to stop her. "Let her go, Evelyn."
Mother looked to him horrified, "Charles! They'll take her away!"
Father glared at mother, "It's what must be done!"
Mother then looked to me and I wanted to cry but I was too shocked. I disliked Sutton, she was vain and disagreeable but she was still my sister, and I had nearly harmed her. I was a monster.
I fell back onto the lounge and looked at my hands. Mother rushed over to me and grabbed my face in her hands. She was crying and she looked at me with fear and sadness. "You listen to me, Bretta, you are my daughter. I will always love you, nothing is ever going to change that. Do you understand?" I nodded slowly, numb to everything.
"She's a witch!" Sutton shouted. We all looked to my sister who was no longer cowering behind the column and was instead staring at me in disgust. I couldn't blame her.
"She tried to kill me!" She shrieked. I thought of the Trevelyan motto then. Modest in temper, bold in deed. Modest is not what I would describe my sister's temper as.
"Sutton, that's enough." Mother said quietly but sternly.
"No! She's a bloody witch and you still love her better! I hope they come! I hope they lock her up like the monster she is!" her shouts were louder now and I flinched at her harsh words. Mother opened her mouth to respond but father beat her to it.
"Your mother said enough, young lady!" Father bellowed and we all looked at him in shock. My dear father, who never got excited over anything was shouting at my sister.
Sutton's mouth opened and closed in her shock. Father pointed his finger towards the door, "Go to your room... now." He said quieter now, but his tone said he was not to be trifled with. Sutton shot me one last murderous glare before she stormed from the room.
Mother openly sobbed now as she held me. "My baby, my dear girl" she said over and over again. I couldn't find it in me to cry. Sutton was right, I deserved to be locked away. I felt a strong hand on my shoulder and looked up at my father whose eyes were filled with sadness.
We sat there as mother cried until the Templars entered the room. "Ban and Lady Trevelyan, we have received a report that your youngest daughter, Bretta Trevelyan, has showed magical talents. Do you confirm or deny this claim?" The man stated coldly and I felt fear grab ahold of me.
Father looked to the man and nodded solemnly. "We confirm it."
The Templar nodded at the other two men behind me and they walked over to me and each grabbed me by an arm. Mother held tight to me as they tried to pull me away from her.
"Please! Let me say goodbye!" She sobbed as they drug me from the room.
"We must take the mage to the circle immediately, my lady." He said again, just as coldly.
"She's only a child! She is not a prisoner!" Mother shouted as she tried to follow after us. Father stopped her once again and I looked over my shoulder at my mother.
The last time I saw her, she was sobbing as she fell into my father's arms.
I turned my head away and walked with the Templars. Magic had plagued my life, and now my life as I knew it was over.
A/N: There it is! If you're here, thank you for starting this journey with me! I will try to upload as often as possible but I am not going to commit to a certain update time. I will upload as I write and edit. Which reminds me, I am the only person proof reading these so excuse any mistakes. I will do my best! I hope you liked the little introduction to Bretta, next chapter is a 10 year jump so get ready!