Forbidden Temptation
The Story of the Mage, Helia, long before joining the Wardens
It all began in Kirkwall, in the Free Marches; Helia was only three years old at the time. Her father, Damion was always abusive to her mother, Revka and little Helia was upset to see it. On a cold winter morning, while Helia was playing in the snow as her mother and father started their same old argument. Damion struck Revka several times, but on this day he hit her so hard, it drew blood. Seeing this, Helia stood up and screamed
"No! No daddy, too far, TOO far!"
Repeating the words 'too far' as she threw snow at her father. She did not stop until she heard her month scream, to her surprise; her father was frozen into ice.
Days later, Helia was brought into a large building, she looked around in wonder, she'd never seen a building so big, there were many armored men standing around.
"Bren, this is the child we sent for? She looks…..young." Spoke the Night-Commander Greagoir as he eyed the small child curiously.
"Her parents said she was three, Night-Commander." Bren replied.
Greagoir shook his head in disbelief, "three? There must be some mistake, children here have never been no younger than 6 at the least."
He took a knee and looked at the small child, "Helia is it?" he asked her.
"Yes, where is my mommy?" she responded in her quiet, tiny voice.
"I will tell you, but first you must tell me how old you are." He spoke calmly to her.
"I am Free year old Gweagoir", she said, the way she pronounced it showed them the information was correct.
This was most astounding to Night-Commander Greagoir; no child has ever seemed to show signs of magic until at least the age of six. Surely they will not be able to teach her to control it so early. So all they can do is watch after her until she becomes old enough to understand. Greagoir feared telling her that she will never see her parents again, a child so young and not in control could do a lot of damage if upset. He couldn't keep from telling her forever though, she asked once again as he started to escort her to her room.
"Where is my mommy?" she asked ever so quietly.
Greagoir stopped and picked her up; he looked at her innocent little eyes and could barely say it.
"She is at home child." He said calmly as possible.
"But you said this was my home." She said.
"I know she is at her home, which is not here." He said, waiting for the next action.
Helia's little eyes welled up with tears, "but….whyyyyyy?" she cried out, the tears pouring down her cheeks.
Water started to come down from the ceiling, Greagoir had no choice, but to dispel her magic until she was calm. She fell asleep in his arms, so he carried her to what would be her new bed.
Helia would find her way to Greagoir's bed on most nights throughout her early years. Growing a father/daughter attachment to her, he allowed it until he deemed her too old for it. When she was 8, they agreed she would only do so when she had a nightmare. Even those were a bit frequent sometimes. She finally stopped permanently, though she never saw it as a problem. Greagoir was her new father in her eyes; he even got her a teddy bear to hold onto when she felt scared. As she started to mature however, she placed the bear into her storage chest to keep for sentimental value. By age 16, she was no longer the little girl that Greagoir had to chase through the halls at times. No longer a child who's hair when she first arrived was a dirty brown color; to her chin in length. It is now a more milk chocolate type of brown that cascades down to her middle back. That which was unknown because she always wore it up, even to bed sometimes.
Helia also made few friends because she is overly shy. When she wasn't working on spells, she would spend her waking time in the library; which made her forget to eat sometimes. Being only 5'2" and weighing 100 pounds, some teased her about being an elf. Having big eyes didn't help, though they were a very beautiful shade of blue mixed with an icy grey. One day she decided to wear her hair down, she hurried to the library before anyone may have noticed it was her. Searching through the long line of books, she spotted one just out of her reach.
"Do you need help miss?" Templar Cullen's voice came from behind her, startling her just a bit.
She turned and the reaction on his face was priceless, his eyes widened, pupils dilated; it confused her, but before she could ask, he spoke again
"Oh, Helia, I…..I didn't recognize you. Y….your hair, its….down." He stuttered just a bit as he spoke.
"Yes, does it look bad? I haven't worn it down since I was little." She tugged it as she spoke.
"No, it's not bad at all; I never knew it was so long." He said, blushing.
"No one knew really, I preferred it that way, but today I thought I would change a bit." She twirled her hair once more, and then stopped.
The two stood in awkward silence for a moment when a fellow mage, but the name of Musous interrupted.
"Helia, wow, your hair is long, why have you kept this from us?" he smiled charmingly as he spoke.
Though this made her blush, Helia always felt there was something off about this mage. She thanked him for the compliment, while forgetting all about the book she wanted because of Cullen. Cullen…..who she admires from afar, he is always so nice to her and so helpful. The first man she ever had feelings for and possibly will ever feel for.