(I don't own Dragon Age, Torchwood, or Bloodsong 13T's series (seriously, go read Bloodsong's stuff))

-Assan-

Surrounded by Crows is not how I planned on spending my day.

I figured maybe Zevran and I could spend the day at a nearby lake, clothes not included. Of course, we probably wouldn't have managed that either, what with the 'insurance' Zevran had gotten us, even if the Crows hadn't ruined our morning by announcing their presence by shooting my dog.

"Look how he glows, Assan," I mocked under my breath, "he does this thing with his fist, mi amor. We need these two, Assan. You should see them at work, Assan. By the Creators, Zev, the elf bloody GLOWS!"

I shoved a dagger so far into the chest of an assassin with my next shove that my fist followed the blade into the man's chest.

"Well, look at that, vhenan!" I glanced over at Zevran, who looked up with a huge grin and a wave as he heard me yell, "I do the fist thing too!"

My mabari, Barkspawn, let out a happy bark, but was quickly lunging back into the fray near the mage. He was quite taken with the mage that Zevran had brought along. Be it because the human may have saved his life or because she, too, had a mabari, was yet to be seen.

I pulled my hand (and the dagger) out of the man's chest, my vehnan's laugh echoing in my ears. I spotted our 'insurance' at work from the corner of my eye, the glowing elf swinging a sword bigger than he was with more ferocity than I had ever seen in anybody. One went after the female human that traveled with him (or did he travel with her? They had only just arrived before the Crows attacked). The mage let loose a mind blast attack that sent the Crow that had gone after her back towards the elf, and the glowing warrior relieved the assassin of his head.

The distraction cost me; a Crow leapt from the shadows, daggers digging into my back. I had whirled out of way enough to avoid a death blow, and my armor protected me enough, but I felt the daggers bite through. A fireball soared over my head and hit the man in the face before I felt the familiar feel of healing magic moving through me as soon as I had pulled the daggers out.

I shot the mage a nod of gratitude, pausing long enough to see her nod back, a smirk on her pretty little face before she lifted her arms and made fire rain from the sky with a firestorm attack. Her face twisted in concentration, and the balls of fire raining from the sky hit only the enemies attacking us.

I grinned and turned around on my heel, ripping a bloody mouth in the neck of a Crow who had made the mistake of coming into reach behind me.

The glowy elf stuck near his mage like glue, and so I lunged onto the back of a rather large human man who was going after Zev, digging my daggers into the man's back, spitting angrily as I stabbed at the parts not protected by armor.

"Damn knife-ear savage!" the man spat, twisting and slamming his back into the hard side of an unfortunately placed boulder. I felt the wind get knocked out of me but recaught it quickly without even falling off.

"You damn shems shouldn't have shot my dog!" I spat back; my arms pinned, I chomped my teeth down onto the back of his neck, distracting him long enough for Zevran to land the killing blow on the Qunari sized man.

Zevran waited long enough for me to pull myself to my feet before he leapt back into the fray. I paused to catch my breath, scanning the battlefield.

We were outnumbered.

I've faced worse odds.

We'd beaten down the numbers in a matter of minutes, each one of us panting and blood-covered by the end, but the mage proved quite capable in her healing magic, if not snappy after I had denied the magic until she'd healed Zev and her friend. Even so, she soon came back over.

"Now can I heal you or are you going to point me off towards the nearest bush for a cut leaf?"

I glanced up at the mage before giving the slightest of nods. She moved to my back, finishing up on the patch job she had done during battle on the work the backstab attack had done.

"Zevran said you two were capable," I nodded, a lot more happy about the insurance he had brought than when he had first presented the idea to me, "I am pleased to see his words barely hold a torch to the abilities you have shown."

The mage smirked and waved the compliment away with a shrug, "well, if we're finding ourselves playing compliment the teammate, then I've gotta say I'm quite impressed with how getting stabbed in the back only seemed to piss you off."

"Ha!" I beamed at the mage, "Vhenan, I think you've outdone yourself on the allies you have found! Ma serannas, human. I am Assan Mahariel, pleased to make the acquaintance of a mage as capable and as beautiful as yourself."

The glowy elf (well, not as glowy now that the battle was over, the brands in his skin having softened from the bright blue glow to simple light-colored scars) gave me a warning look, cleaning off his bloody blade with well practiced ease.

"Mahariel?" the human's eyes lit up, the light catching on the streak of red across the woman's nose, "as in.. Hero of Ferelden Mahariel?"

"The one and only," I grinned, "and you must be the Champion of Kirkwall, Marian Hawke, that my vhenan has told me so much about. He was quite impressed after meeting you. Spoke of you for days. Though... I do not envy you having had to duel the Arishok."

She laughed, a pretty noise I wouldn't be displeased to hear again, "yes, well, I don't envy you having fought the archdemon! Plus you're one of the few people Carver actually seems to have good things to say about! And that, I assure you, might even be a bigger achievement than killing the archdemon!"

"Glad to see you two are instant buddies," the glowing warrior growled, his voice deep -and man, I wouldn't be displeased to hear that voice again either!- "but have you both forgotten about why we've teamed up in the first place? Or that more could attack at any moment?"

"Crows?" I asked at the same time the woman sighed and said "Templars?"

Then we turned, giving each other a confused look as we echoed our words back at each other.

"Mi amor, meet the the ones we're protecting from the Kirkwall fallout," Zevran chirped with a grin, though I could tell from the too relaxed state he held that he was nervous, "ones we're protecting from the Kirkwall fallout, meet the ones you're protecting from the Crows."

"Oh," I suddenly felt a lot less happy, "of course. Yes. The Kirkwall incident is my fault, and I promise we'll do whatever we can to help."

"Your fault?"

"I recruited both Anders and Justice," I said, though not looking away as the mage met my gaze, "but this is not the time for this. The Crows know where we are. We need to leave. Talk will come later."

"Anders was an abomination," the glowing elf growled.

"Fenris," Hawke frowned at the elf, but he didn't take back his statement.

I heard the telltale scuff of a foot and turned, throwing a throwing knife with deadly accuracy. After seven years watching your back for assassins, you get quite good at taking care of them, and the shadows left the Crow as he dropped to the ground, his last breath a gurgle as he drowned in blood. I pulled the dagger from his neck as I passed, wiping it off on my Warden-Commander armor and putting it back in its holster, "there's more. We need to go. Zev, grab the move bag."

"Go?" the mage hesitated, "right now? The sun's not even up. And this place is in the middle of a forest! What about bears? Or-" she shuddered, a dark look crossing her face, "-or spiders. Giant, giant spiders, with their little click click click on their too many feet- ugh!"

"Bears: that's actually a good idea," I said, opening the door and peering into the darkness. The shadows didn't move, and I opened the door more, "if we're lucky, there's plenty of spiders and bears nearby. Spider and Da'len shouldn't be too far away. Maybe even a wolf pack is in the area if we're lucky."

"Oh, good, go- wait, what?"

"He talks to the animals," Zevran explained, "I don't know what he tells them, but I remember there was a particularly angry brown bear he summoned once. I don't think I'll ever forget the sight of that thing biting the archdemon in the ass... you know, before the thing smacked the bear off the tower."

"You speak spider?" Hawke looked at me, clearly horrified.

"What!? No!" I scowled, "Zevran, quite telling people I talk to spiders!"

"People think nothing of it when a Dalish is doing it."

"Fen'Harel em halam*," I rolled my eyes, "Zev, Dalish don't talk to animals."

"But you do frolic," Hawke said.

"We don't- okay, we do frolic," I said, casting a glare around the room, "and if I hear one word about it, I'll kick somebody's ass. And I DON'T talk to spiders!"

"He talks to wolves, too. And don't forget the bears."

"Zev!"

"Sorry, sorry," he laughed, holding his hands up in submission, not looking sorry at all.

"I don't talk to them, I just-" I growled, not much unlike Barkspawn does when angry, "we don't have time to argue!"

"He doesn't even sleep in the cabin. I'll wake up in the middle of the night and he'll be outside with his mabari, eating fireflies."

"I collect them!"

"I've seen you eat them!"

"Irrelevant!" I waved my hand before tensing and grabbing my daggers, "I sense darkspawn!"

Hawke and Fenris both stiffened considerably, but Zevran crossed his arms, not looking impressed.

"Don't listen to him unless he says his darkspawn senses are tingling," Zev warned them, "he always miraculously senses darkspawn whenever he's fed up with talking."

Fenris rolled his eyes and shoved past me with a shake of his head, "great, a second Hawke in the world."

"You must be overjoyed," Hawke grinned, hurrying forward to catch up as we left the cabin, "you'll have to teach me how to do that. He knew you were changing the topic and he still let you get away with it."

"He's just angry that I decided to travel along with him," I grinned at the mage, "he didn't want me getting mixed up with the Crows, but if I was cooped up in that damn keep for one more day, I swear I was going to fake my Calling just to get away from it. But here? Surrounded by the forest, right where I belong? Sometimes I can close my eyes and pretend I never left."

My grin fell.

"Had I known Anders would feel trapped at Vigil's Keep without me there, as trapped as I did, maybe even more, I would have never left."

Hawke patted me on the shoulder, and I felt moved by her attempt.

"He talked about you a lot, you know," she said, a sad smile on her face, "I think-"

The night lit up in blue as Fenris' tattoos lit up. Hawke and I both went from relaxed and harmless to the weapons the world had fastened us both into. Fenris and Zevran were forced back to back, but they were falling into each other's step rather quickly; I didn't get the chance to watch for Hawke and I were forced to do the same, separated from the two elves by a line of mercenaries. I caught a glimpse of a mage on the outskirts, all his concentration focused on a spell, eyes glancing over a book as he pulled his spell together; that didn't look good.

I moved to step towards the man, but an arrow made its way into my shoulder. I hissed the pain out through my teeth, turning and catching the swing of a warrior's blade on my long sword. The impact jarred my arm, but years of practice left me more than capable to shake it off and return the favor. He didn't shake off a sword through the face all that well.

Fighting with one arm did not make me any less deadlier. Clutching my dominant arm against my body and shoving the pain to the back of my mind, I showed them that I could tear them down just as easily with my off-hand.

I caught myself a moment of time and let loose a booming call that echoed off the trees. A roar answered and a moment later, a huge brown bear erupted from the undergrowth, taking down several mercenaries with a single swipe.

"You weren't kidding -duck!- about the bears," I ducked and Hawke slammed the weaponized end of her staff into the head of a mercenary who had just tried to slam his mace into mine.

"I never joke about bears," I said, returning the favor and taking out the Crow who had almost caught the mage on the end of a dagger, "usually I call up Spidey, but I thought Da'len would do better for a fight like this."

"Da'len? Spidey? You mentioned those names earlier."

"Spidey's an old friend," I shrugged before running a mercenary through with my sword, glad for having enough breath to hold a conversation due to the mage's skill at setting them on fire; it wasuch easier to cut people down when they were too busy running around on fire and screaming, "a poisonous spider that I met during the Blight. I feed him and he follows me around."

"And... Da'len?"

"Known him not as long, considering my last bear got thrown off a tower," I took another arrow, gritting my teeth with a grunt as I felt it bounce off the back of my armor. That was most definetly going to leave a bruise, but at least it hadn't broken through, "the bear."

"Isn't Da'len the word the Dalish use for their kids?"

I merely grinned, "he.. reminds me of a little elf I once knew. Hmm, is that darkspawn I'm sensing?"

"Okay, okay, you don't want to talk about it," she waved her hand, a row of sharp ice spikes shooting up from the ground and impaling a number of Crows and mercenaries, "I get it. You're like the elf form of a Qunari, except with a sense of humor and expressions. Wanna answer a question, my friend? No? Oh, thank you for the many straws you've thrown me!"

"You catch on quick."

"What can I say? I'm a fast learner," she grinned, but the grin fell quickly when an attempt at a fireball only resulted in a spluttering of sparks, "ah, hell."

"No lyrium?" I frowned, leaping to her side and picking off the ones she didn't take out with her staff, "no offense, mage, but I'm working with one arm over here! I was hoping to get an arm back!"

"You don't have lyrium either!"

"I am not a mage!"

A shrill yelp pierced the air and I whipped around, eyes widening as Barkspawn went down. From here, I couldn't even tell if my beloved hound was alive or dead. I owed Cousland more than that.

"Barkspawn!" I sprang forward, but a Crow lunged in response to noticing my distracted state, aiming for my throat, and I moved to dodge. I heard more than felt the next arrow hit me, this one piercing my armor, and I stumbled, my foot hitting something slippery and deciding it no longer wished to stand beneath me.

I slipped up. Literally. My feet hit a puddle of blood and I went down hard.

-Marian-

I lunged forward, using my staff to block the blow that would have killed the Dalish. Time had seemed to slow when the arrow had pierced the small elf's chest, but the Crows seemed to have taken notice as more and more struck out at us, with Fenris, Zevran and my mabari cut off and unable to help; I heard a cry of despair from across the field as Zevran took notice that Assan had fallen, and the look on his face left me begging the Maker that the Hero of Ferelden hadn't just fallen to the damned Crows.

Da'len, the damned beast, turned and retreated the moment he saw Assan go down. Never trust bears.

There was a flash of bright light, and I halted as it blinded me. The Crows and their hired hands retreated from the field, but it didn't leave me feeling relieved as I caught my breath. Zevran didn't even pause, racing to Assan's side as fast as his feet could take him; Fenris spat out a curse and raced over to my side, looking me over before, satisfied that I wasn't seriously hurt, shoved a lyrium potion into my hand.

I moved to help Assan, but Fenris grabbed my hand and jerked his head towards the mage across the field. He didn't look like he was cooking up a nice spell. The trees nearest to him shook like a tornado was blowing past, dirt and debris whipping around the mage in trails of bright light that hurt to look at.

My eyes darted to the mage, but caught on the lump of fur laying still on the ground not too far away. My eyes darted back and forth between the two before I darted for the Hero's mabari.

"Marian!" Fenris screamed, the yell followed by a growled out "damned Ferelden dog-lovers" as he chased after me.

"Help me move him!"

"That damned mage is-"

"Fenris!"

He shut up and helped. The mabari still lived, and he whined when Fenris scooped him up, but the moment we reached Assan and Zevran again, his head dropped with a weary sigh. I didn't have time to see if the dog was alive or not as I ripped off the lid of the potion and downed the lyrium, praying I hadn't just lost what time I may have had.

My mana surged and, as the rival mage unleashed his spell, I dropped to my knees and raised my hands, throwing everything I had into it with no time for specifics.

I wanted us to be safe; he wanted us to die. It was as simple as that. We wanted to stay; he wanted us gone.

Our magic clashed, and the very world itself seemed to scream as the skies ripped around us.

*Dread wolf take me