One year after running into Sebastian at the party, Briar had to confront her fears. He had sent a letter to her, asking her to come to the Chantry. There had been some new information that turned up, apparently, and he had wanted her help. So she had shown up to the Chantry, uncomfortable and scared now that her brother wasn't there with her. Carver had been a comforting presence in the Chantry and the Gallows, even if he had lectured her about being in such places. But Varric was just as comforting a presence, cracking bad jokes and narrating her as she spoke to Sebastian. She suspected he had used that clever little mind of his to figure out the feelings that made her so uncomfortable, and was going to use that to his advantage later.

But before she knew it, she stood in a Hightown mansion with Sebastian, Fenris, and Isabela. Clutching her staff tightly, she ran from room to room, encountering different members of the Harimann family. Each one was acting strangely, and Sebastian got more and more distressed as they went along. Briar got more nervous as they approached their destination, the basement. What would he do if he saw her flinging bolts of electricity around during a battle? Would he knock her out and drag her to the Circle? Kill her outright? Call her out for the danger that she was?

She had to choose quickly when demons appeared in the room, lunging for her companions. Taking a deep breath, Briar spun her staff and began attacking the demons, arcs of electricity and ice sweeping across the battlefield from her staff. She kept away from Sebastian, not daring to look at him as they fought. But she could hear him grunting, the snap of an arrow being loosed from his bow. When all the demons had been felled, she cast a nervous glance in his direction. Even in the dim light of the basement, Sebastian's armor shone. He gingerly dabbed at a burn on his neck, grimacing.

Well, it was now or never. Stepping forward, Briar strapped her staff to her back again and cleared her throat. Sebastian looked at her, his bright blue eyes sharp. She flinched visibly, but still advanced towards him.

"Let me ease the pain," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. Her hands were shaking, and the fear that he was going to demand that she turn herself in was screaming at her.

But he nodded and tilted his head to the side to bare his neck to her. Letting out a relieved sigh, she stepped closer and rested one hand on the burn. Briar closed her eyes and let small wisps of her magic seep into the wound, effectively numbing and cooling it at the same time. When she was done, she made a hasty retreat and clasped her hands behind her back.

"There. I'll have to put a salve on it later to actually heal the burn, but it shouldn't hurt," she blurted, turning to the entrance to the passage. "Let's go, we're wasting time."

Briar didn't wait for anyone to respond, simply dashed into the passage and hoped that they would follow. The sound of boots hitting wooden stairs behind her comforted her and she stopped when she reached the bottom of the stairs, looking around. It was eerie, to say the very least, and she grimaced when she smelled something burning. Wonderful, more demons. There were always more demons. Letting out a long suffering sigh, she pulled her staff off of her back and ran forward, unleashing lightning and ice on the demons once again. Sebastian stood his ground next to her, whispering prayers under his breath as he shot demon after demon. The battle finally died down and she stopped by each one of her companions, closing any wounds and giving each of them health potions. Sebastian avoided meeting her eye, and dread surfaced in her again. The chances of him turning her in after this were very high, and no matter how warm his skin felt beneath her hands, she couldn't let him distract her from the danger he was.

They fought through two more waves of demons and Briar made sure to keep her distance from Sebastian, crushing any demons who threatened to hurt him from a distance. They encountered Lady Harimann and a desire demon, but she didn't let the damned thing spread its lies. She attacked as soon as she could, freezing both of them in place. The others quickly took care of them, and she took out the other waves of demons that came at them. When it was all over with, Briar leaned against the nearest wall, her body heavy with exhaustion. Someone took her arm and wrapped it around their shoulders, propping her up. She didn't open her eyes, simply let them lead her back up the stairs and into the Harimann estate. The scent of resin and incense overwhelmed her again and she leaned against Sebastian's warm body, letting him help her out of the house after a brief argument with the Harimann daughter.

Somewhere along the way, she felt his arm tighten around her waist and she opened her eyes, glancing up at him. His tan face looked ashen, and he kept his eyes off of her. Turning her gaze on the ground again, Briar slipped out of his grasp and stumbled slightly, shaking her head. Yes, she had overexerted herself in there, but that didn't mean she had to rely on someone to carry her home. Sebastian finally turned his gaze on her, raising his eyebrows in an incredulous look. Growling at the back of her throat, she waved off the look and made her way back towards her home.

"Go back to the Chantry and tell the Grand Cleric about what happened," she grumbled, not turning to face her companions. "Come by my estate later for healing, all of you."

A few hours later, Bodahn called up to tell her that she had a visitor. Briar set down the mug of tea she had been drinking and flipped closed her book, pushing away from her desk and walking out to the landing. Standing there, without his armor, was Sebastian. He looked incredibly uncomfortable, and she tensed up, sure that he was here to turn her in. Leaning against the banister, she whistled and waved at him when he looked up. Forcing a crooked grin on her face, she jerked her thumb towards her room.

"Come on up," she called down to him. "I have all of my healing supplies in my room."

Briar could have sworn that Sebastian's face reddened, but it was probably just the lighting. Turning from the banister, she walked into her room and pulled out her supplies, motioning for Sebastian to sit down when he came in. He obeyed, and she gingerly pressed her fingers against the burn on his neck. A low hiss of pain escaped from him and she yanked her hand away.

"Sorry. Forgot that the numbing would have worn off by now. Do you have any other wounds?" Briar asked as she turned to pick up a jar of salve.

"A few, yes." He didn't elaborate, and she sighed.

"Where are the other wounds?" Turning back around, she dipped her fingers in the salve and tipped his head back, smoothing the thick green balm across his neck. Sebastian let out a pleased little hum as her magic threaded in with the salve, healing the burn.

"Chest and back," Sebastian answered, opening his eyes. Their eyes locked for a second and Briar felt her cheeks heat up. Quickly looking away, she cleared her throat and put away the salve, wiping her fingers on her skirt.

"Take your shirt off." The order simply slipped out, and it wasn't until she saw the look of utter shock on Sebastian's face that she realized how that demand could have been taken. Briar's face turned a nice deep shade of red and she threw her hands up. "So that I can heal the wounds! I can't really get to them through your shirt, after all."

Shifting awkwardly, Sebastian unzipped his coat and shrugged it off. As he reached for the hem of his shirt, she turned away and pulled out a few more jars and some bandages, trying to calm herself. When she turned back around, she nearly dropped what she had picked up. Briar had suspected that he was muscular, since pulling back a bow string took enormous strength. But he was incredibly well built, not as bulky as Carver, but still muscular. Gashes stretched down his back, and she winced slightly. They looked incredibly painful, and it was a wonder that he hadn't been showing signs of how much they hurt.

Briar cleared her throat to announce her presence behind him and gently ran her fingers over the gashes. She heard him suck in a breath and let tendrils of magic escape from her, numbing the pain slightly. Mumbling an apology, she dipped her fingers into an antiseptic and smeared it over the wounds. Sebastian tensed up, and she placed both of her hands on his back, shaking her head.

"If you tense up, I can't heal you properly," she scolded. "Relax. I'm not going to hurt you."

To her surprise, Sebastian relaxed and she finished cleaning the wounds on his back. Closing her eyes, she pressed her palms against his back and focused. A soft glow enveloped her hands and the gashes closed until they were only angry red lines.

"You're a mage." The statement was abrupt, and it made her stiffen up. "An apostate."

"Is that a problem?" Briar moved around to face him, crossing her arms over her chest. Maker, did he have a nice chest. It was lightly covered with reddish hair, and well-toned too. He just had a few bruises on his ribs, but she refused to touch them. Not until he answered her.

"You should be in the Circle," Sebastian stated, giving her an icy stare right back. "It's safer for mages there."

A bitter laugh escaped from Briar and she shook her head. Hearing things like this was starting to get old. She got it from Fenris all the time, from Aveline every once in a while, and from Carver in his letters. But to get it from Sebastian as well? This was the final straw.

"Safe? Do you know what happens to mages in the Circle?" She spat this out at him, shaking in rage. "If I turned myself in, I could be beaten and raped by Templars. And that's if I'm lucky. More than likely, they'd make me Tranquil or kill me for the Templars I've fought and fled from here. So don't lecture me."

Sebastian frowned at her, his brows furrowing. No, she wasn't going to be distracted by how incredibly handsome he was this time. She turned away from him, packing away her things.

"So if you have a problem with the way I live, leave." It was a bit harsh, but she didn't want to set him ablaze in a fit of rage.

"Hawke." Sebastian's voice was quiet, and much closer than she had realized. Turning, she nearly smacked right into his chest. He stood right in front of her, looking down at her with a very strange look in his eyes. "I did not intend to offend you. I don't know how the Kirkwall Circle works, and I should not have assumed anything. So I'm sorry."

That had not been what she was expecting. Staring up at him with an expression somewhere between shock and relief, Briar struggled to come up with an answer. Something witty, that would show him she wasn't at all surprised by this sudden kindness. He really was awfully close to her, wasn't he? She swallowed a lump that had formed in her throat and ducked around him, pointing to his ribs.

"You should be more worried about those bruises than offending me, Sebastian," she said, letting out a nervous little laugh and shrugging. "I hear that kind of stuff all the time, anyways. Now come here and let me finish my job, why don't you?"

It was only after Sebastian left that Briar realized she easily could have kissed him. She never had been good with these kinds of things.