She didn't know how long she had slept, or if she had slept at all, when the shemlen woman came again. The crying had left her weary and broken, and with a pounding in her head that didn't go away no matter how much she stuck her fingers in her ears.

She tried to sit up eagerly, and barely managed a small smile. Maybe if she looked agreeable, the shem wouldn't hurt her? Maybe she would give her some more food and water?

Sadly, the woman held no food, and only looked at her for a little while, with an expression she couldn't quite read. Maybe she was wary because of how the little elf had screamed earlier. She had heard that sometimes the shems weren't bad to elves out of cruelty; sometimes they were just scared of their power.

Maybe the shem wouldn't hurt her once she knew the elf didn't mean any harm.

"Hello," the elf said warily. The shem looked surprised, even shocked at the way the elf spoke to her. Once she got over the initial blow, she regained her composure.

"Hello, elf. You speak the king's tongue?" The shem's voice was surprisingly warm and sing-song, but quiet and calm. Tendrils of fiery red hair peeked out of her purple hood, and her eyes were a brilliant blue, like the robes of her Keeper. On closer inspection, the shemlen's eyes had a worldly-wise quality to them, like someone who was used to suffering and who nothing could shock. The girl didn't know why, but she trusted her. She seemed kind.

"The king's tongue? I speak elvhen and another language, I don't know what it is. Are you going to kill me?"

"That will make things easier. Do you have a name, child? I feel as though simply calling you 'elf' isn't appropriate. You are a person, after all, no?"

"My name is Maria." Maria thought for a moment, and realized that the shem had avoided her question about her fate. She decided to repeat it. "Are you going to kill me?"

"No, Maria. I am not going to kill you, lovely."

"Oh. Why am I here?"

The shem crinkled her nose. She looked worried, and spoke with a lot of hesitation and doubt in her voice.

"You are here… Because a woman wants to speak to you. She doesn't want to hurt you either, but she will ask a lot of questions. It's her job to find out things, Maria. A bad thing has happened."

"What happened?"

"Do you want some water?"

"Yes, please. What happened?"

The woman sighed. "I can't tell you that. I'm sure that Cassandra will."

"Can I get out of here?"

"I should think so, eventually. I'm going to get your water, alright?"

"Wait! What's your name?"

"Me, I am Leliana."

"L-Leli.."

Leliana smiled sadly, and managed a chuckle. "Leli will do,"

And then she was gone, leaving Maria all alone in her dingy cell. She was becoming more and more aware of her bleak surroundings, and every fibre of her being cried out to go home. Even if Mamae wasn't there, and never would be, Keeper was there, if she had gotten back. And so were her friends.

And whatever had happened, it must have been awful. Innocent elves weren't kept in places like this for no reason, in the Marches anyway. Maybe things in Ferelden were different. But what had happened, anyway?

CRASH. The door opened with a bellow. Leliana stood in the doorway, with a shorter and stockier woman behind her. Another shem. What was going on?

The short one ran up to her cell door and stuck a long blade through the bars.

"Tell me why we shouldn't kill you now," she spat, her hazel eyes slanted with fevered anger. "The conclave is destroyed, everyone who attended is dead. Except for you." She said the last word like a curse, as if the very idea of Maria's existence was offensive to her.

In shock, Maria only screwed up her face and recoiled in reply. The woman reached through and grabbed her left hand, pulling her on her stomach towards the bars of the cell. Twisting her hand around and showing her the glowing mark, she intoned forcefully, "Explain. This."

"I can't!"

"What do you mean you can't?!"

"I don't know what that is, or how it got there!"

Cassandra frowned, obviously disbelieving the girl. "You're lying!"

Finally, Leliana stepped in and gently put her hand on Cassandra's shoulder. "We need her, Cassandra."

"Please, just… Let me go," Maria mumbled. "I don't know what you're talking about, and I want to go home."

Leliana sat down on the floor, despite the broken rat corpses and questionable slime. She put a pitying hand on Maria's shoulder, and squeezed softly. "Do you remember what happened, lovely? How this began?"

Maria thought hard. She did remember something, a few things, even though most of it was mixed up and hazy. Reality was difficult to grasp, especially since all of this so far felt like a nightmare that she would wake up from soon enough. The longer she stayed, the less likely it seemed. What did she remember?

"I remember running. Things were chasing me, and…" she thought hard, thinking of the ghostly figure she saw seconds before she fell. "A woman?"

"A woman?" Leliana's eyes widened.

Maria nodded. "She… reached out to me, but then…" she lost her train of thought, and couldn't remember anything no matter how hard she tried. She sighed in resignation, silently telling the women she was done.

"Go to the forward camp, Leliana. I will take her to the rift."

Cassandra unlocked the door, and pulled the elf to her feet, too quickly. Maria fell back down onto the dirty floor in seconds. She could have sworn she crushed a few hundred maggots. She clambered back to her feet and tried to meet Cassandra's gaze. Cassandra made a disgusted noise and opened the door.

Chaos was everywhere she looked, but the first thing she noticed was the sky. Up, through the fog, flecks of pulsating emerald green swam across it, like an oozing wound. And Maria couldn't help but wonder if this was the thing they were holding her for. It couldn't be. Could it? The two women had spoke of something horrific, and mentioned deaths, too. Had Maria killed someone? Many people?

"We call it the Breach," Cassandra informed her, almost in reply to her thoughts. "It's a massive rift into the world of demons that grows larger with each passing hour. It's not the only such rift. Just the largest." She stared off into the distance, reluctant to look at her charge.

"All were caused by the explosion at the conclave."

"An explosion can do that?" Maria was bewildered.

"This one did."

Suddenly, the sky above them began to convulse. The greens swirled faster and faster, and they spread out more. It sounded like thunder, and then Maria was on the ground. The pain was back, unbearable this time. Green fire ran in her veins from her hands and up to her shoulder, going straight to her heart. Her vision was green, the sky was green, everything was green. She bit back the urge to scream as her whole body spasmed. Is this what dying felt like? Is that what Mamae felt in her final hours?

Slowly, the pain began to wear off, and Cassandra helped her to her feet. "When the breach grows, your mark expands. And it is killing you." She said all of this so matter-of-factly, as if the life-and-death situation meant nothing to her. It probably didn't. If Mamae's stories were true.

"Your mark - it may be the key to stopping this, Maria. But we don't have much time."