So, MapleMaven thought I should explain this lyric. Aira pointed out she has her Harrowing and Jowan doesn't seem to have anything important to do as he is there when she woke up. Weekend, or just coinicidence? Also, I know 'Templars' shouldn't techically be capitalized. This was roughed out before I read Stolen Throne and the Calling. This is how I always imagined it being.

Part 1 Gray Warden

Harrowing

"Everybody's working for the weekend" – Working for the Weekend ~ Loverboy

I blinked awake the next morning with a feeling of foreboding and couldn't figure out why at first. Then it hit me, I was going to the Harrowing Chamber today. I wished I could just lie in bed for another half hour before stumbling blearily down to breakfast in the Great Hall and sit with Finn and Jowan and Anders.

I cut that thought off, Anders was already gone. It was a week precisely since he was released from solitary confinement last and he had come out with a new plan. Something even wilder than last time. Part of me wished he would stop trying to escape so our group could go about our business without being carefully watched by the Templars. Part of me wished he would be brought back so he could explain all the new things he experienced on this outing and still another part of me hoped this time Anders would get out for good.

I quickly dressed and made my way down into the Great Hall to eat. After standing in the line staring emptily at the food I figured I would just steal whatever Jowan got. I wasn't hungry enough to eat a whole meal by myself. I sat down and waited for him to show up.

The early risers were just clearing from the hall when my bed-headed friend made his appearance. He looked as though he hadn't got much sleep in the night. He probably helped Anders slip off. Jowan got himself a standard-issue bowl of porridge and an extra spoon when I waved at him from our usual seat.

"Not hungry?" he asked as he sat down next to me.

"Not really," I admitted. "Nervous."

Jowan shot me a quizzical glance. Suddenly, butterflies awoke in my stomach.

"Harrowing," I managed around the first mouthful of brown glop.

"When?"

"11 o'clock." I tried to calm myself down with a few deep breaths but that didn't seem to help.

"You don't have long then," he remarked. Forget note, i heard a whole symphony of jealousy in his voice.

"Your day will come soon enough." After all, he had arrived at the Tower years before me.

Jowan just picked a loose stitch in the cuff of his ugly blue robe.

"I'd better collect my stuff," I sighed. "I hope I see you later."

"Me too." Jowan nodded and looked back into his half-eaten breakfast. I sighed again at the expression of longing on his face.

I returned to my bunk and slowly, meticulously put the bedclothes in proper order. Then I grabbed my staff from the chest at the foot of the narrow bed. I tried to stifle my rising anxiety, but that didn't work either.

Outside, I found a Templar waiting to escort me to the Harrowing Chamber. I recognized him as Cullen. His haphazard, close-cropped blond curls almost under control. I looked at him carefully, knowing his was possibly the last face I would see before the Harrowing. His eyes were narrowed but not in loathing as most Templars were, they almost seemed…concerned?

"Let's be gone," he said stiffly.

I stared at him for a moment swearing I had seen…what? Emotions? Something that shocked me greatly, that was for certain. A glint of knowing something I didn't and the urge to let it out. The inability to admit something when all one wanted was to blurt it out. That was strange.

We started off down the hall to the staircase. Cullen stayed one step to my left, keeping me close to the wall. I suddenly felt tiny next to the bulk of the Templar's armour. We didn't pass anyone in the halls. All of the other mages were either in the Great Hall or the library by now.

Once I crossed the top of the stairs onto the landing of the Chamber, my butterflies went crazy. I crossed the landing to the heavy doors through which I would either become a full mage or a terrifying abomination. Possessed by a demon, I would try to kill everything in my path, and loose my life.

I shoved against the door and met the knight-commander of the Templars, Gregoir, a handful of his men, Irving and three other mages. The room smelled like lyrium and magic hummed in the air. Just below the familiar feel of mana was the brick wall of Templar anti-magic. I shuddered at the thought of what could possibly happen in here.

"Aira, come here child." Irving's beard never moved when he spoke which always disconcerted me a little.

I joined him. Inhale, exhale. Calm, I told myself.

"You must go into the Fade and slay a demon, to prove you are able to resist the temptation of their games." At the mention of the Fade, the dream world, goosebumps raised along my arms. Nerves with more than a hint of excitement coursed through my veins.

"Ready," I said, glad that my voice was close to even.

Irving led me to a large bowl of thick, blue liquid. He gestured for me to go ahead.

I reached into the bowl and heard the intake of breath as the mages strained. I smelled the smoky scent of magic filling the room. I felt as though the ground was sucking at my feet and my body crumpled to the floor.