Beyond Vigil's Walls

Elly was walking the perimeter of the keep, noting what damage still needed to be repaired, when Anders stumbled across her. "Oh, hello there," he greeted her nervously. "Don't suppose you're feeling any better? I can get out of your way…"

She made a gesture of peace. "No, I'm sorry about before, at the cove. That poor girl… But I should've had better control."

When no threat was presented, Anders relaxed. He waved off her apology. "Oh well, you're only human." She looked at him. "Er, elven. You know what I mean." He quickly moved on. "So what are you doing out here? Relaxing walk?"

"As if we don't do enough walking," Elly grimaced. "You'd think stopping the Blight would at least earn you a horse."

"Ah, but then we'd all have to trail along behind you and try to avoid stepping in the piles. No good, really."

Her lips twitched at the image. "I suppose not. You didn't say what you were doing out here."

"Ah, well… Me, I don't care to be stuck behind walls. Out here, I actually feel free."

"You must've really hated it at the Tower," Elly said quietly.

Anders looked at her like she'd sprouted horns. "You even have to ask? You know what it's like there. Aren't you glad you got out?"

Elly shook her head, her voice softening even as his raised in volume. "It's not the same for me, Anders. The Circle…the library…it was safety."

"Oh, right." Sarcasm twisted his voice. "Because mages are big scary monsters about to kill everyone first chance they get."

"No," Elly sighed. "I didn't mean for everyone else, I meant I felt safe. You've… I take it you've never been to the alienage in Denerim?"

His anger faded into puzzlement. "Well, no. It didn't exactly seem like a good place to hide."

"Being treated like a dangerous person beats being treated like you're not a person at all. Like you're dirt, and just as likely to get stepped on." Images of the alienage during her childhood and her later return rose unbidden to mind. "It's not the same for everyone, but for me, the mages were more of a family than my actual family was."

Anders mulled over her words. "I suppose…I can see your point. But the templars don't treat us like people. They act like we're already abominations and need to be kicked into submission."

"Not all of them," Elly said under her breath. Raising her voice, she continued, "Anders, I don't believe it's the templars that are the problem." The human mage stiffened in anger, but she grabbed his robe before he could turn away. "Wait, hear me out. Alistair told me what it's like for them. The Chantry indoctrinates young children. They keep the templars under control by addicting them to a substance only the Chantry can supply." She spread her arms helplessly. "Some might enjoy what they do, and that's wrong." Elly tugged on his robe until he met her eyes. "But others simply have no choice."

Anders was quiet for a long time. "Well I don't see how that makes things any better. How does one change something like that?"

"I haven't the faintest idea. And before you go making any plans to topple the Chantry, we should probably deal with the darkspawn."

"Oh, alright." Anders shrugged off his pensive mood. "Or we could just enjoy the evening! Open sky, moderate weather, not a templar in sight…" His face fell as he squinted at an approaching figure. "Well, except for that one. Andraste's knicker-weasels!"

The two mages turned to watch the newcomer's approach. "See, even without the customary bucket helmet, you can spot a templar by the way they walk all stiff like that, on account of the giant stick up-"

"I get the picture," Elly cut in. "This is probably a waste of breath, but since you are both Grey Wardens now, maybe you could try to get along?"

"Not likely," Anders scoffed. He looked ready to say more on the subject, but Cullen had reached them.

The former templar's armor was loosened to accommodate bandages. His color was back, but he was breathing hard from walking partway around the keep in the heavy plate.

Elly flung up her arms in exasperation. "Maker's breath, Cullen, you should be resting."

Cullen grunted in disagreement. He had that dour templar expression of his at full strength. "I don't think you two should be left alone to compare notes. An apostate, and a mage who" he took a moment to choose his words, "has done questionable things."

Elly's eyebrows climbed at his word choice. Questionable? He hadn't describe it so mildly before. Questionable was an improvement.

"Drat! You've foiled our evil plan to take over Fereldan!" Before Anders could wax into a villainous monologue, Elly elbowed him in the stomach.

She clicked her tongue disapprovingly. "You're just increasing your recovery time, straining yourself like this."

"Once you've sent to Amaranthine for some templars to watch over the mages here, I'll be able to rest," Cullen assured her.

"As if one isn't bad enough," Anders grumbled.

"I hardly think we need templars here," Elly objected. "The Grey Wardens supervise themselves."

Cullen sighed. "Sometimes you hardly think things through at all. With a mage in command, you have no superior to supervise you."

Elly flinched, but didn't back down. Somehow he always managed to bring out her temper. "Well I've managed without one so far, haven't I? Do you see me sacrificing livestock and eating small children?"

"Yeah, forget the small children," Anders put in. "Large children have more meat on their bones."

"Alistair was around before," Cullen pointed out, ignoring Anders completely. "He's not a real templar, but he had the training. Now who's to stop you if you lose control?"

"Oghren could. He is a dwarf after all." Elly thought about the rest of the keep's residents. "And I'm sure-"

Cullen brushed that aside. "You couldn't trust that drunk to find his pants, let alone kill an abomination!"

"Oh?" As her anger ramped up, Elly retained just enough control to prevent herself from casting at him. Her mouth took free rein and ran. "Well at least he stuck around!"

Cullen, finger already raised to emphasize his next point, froze at the unexpected change of subject. "What does that have to do with-?" He slowly lowered his finger and cleared his throat awkwardly. "All the new Wardens came to Amaranthine."

"I'm so glad you realize you're a Warden now," Elly bit out. "Perhaps you'd like to start acting like one?"

"As opposed to a templar, you mean?" He looked every inch one right then. "Maybe you've forgotten, but I didn't choose to become a Warden."

"Actually, what I remember is you volunteering on several occasions before that. Besides, who does actually choose to become a Warden?" Before he could reply she quickly amended, "Besides Oghren."

In the following silence, a muffled snickering reminded the mage and templar of their audience. "Don't mind me." Anders didn't even try to hide his amusement. "You two just go ahead. Get it off your chests."

"What is so funny?" Cullen growled.

"Oh nothing, really. It's just I can't see it."

"See what?" Elly asked, struggling to regain her composure.

"You two. I mean, really? What happened? Did you just happen to be arguing while naked and oops?"

Elly covered her face with her hands. Why, she wondered, does everyone who travels with me make a game out of tormenting me? She knew the trick was to not appear bothered by it, but hadn't yet worked out how to control her expression. Her voice came out muffled by her hands. "I think you should drop it."

But Anders wasn't one to stop when he'd just gotten started. "I could see maybe if you were both wearing robes, but he doesn't wear robes, and you wear those pants under yours. Don't know why. It's so free and easy without them, and then you could show a little leg…"

Anders had poked the bear one too many times. At this latest jab, Cullen finally turned towards the human mage. "And why are you looking at her legs, apostate?" His mask had slipped now more than it had during the course of their argument. But he didn't look angry; he just looked deadly.

"Oh, that can't be good." Elly made a grab for Cullen's arm before he could close the gap to Anders. She hung on when he tried to shake her off, tilting her head and mouthing the words 'Shut Up!' at Anders.

Cullen finally stopped and turned his sharp glare on her instead. "Well," Elly began, scrambling for something approaching calm. She shifted her weight away to get just a bit farther from that glare. "I think Anders was just leaving."

The other mage took the hint for once, wisely deciding it was time to continue his walk. The words "bloody templars" still carried back to them once he'd reached a safe range. Elly carefully released Cullen's arm and did her best to look non-threatening.

When the razor sharpness began to fade back to his regular stone façade, Elly slumped in relief. "Cullen, I'm sorry," she whispered, meaning it for more than what had just happened.

His face softened a little. Not enough to give much away, but it felt like a minor triumph all the same. "It's not as though I meant to abandon you after…" He didn't seem able to finish the sentence. "You had plenty of people around to deal with…things."

"I know, and it's not as if I didn't… I mean, I know why you were angry. I shouldn't have said that." Caught somewhere between bitterness and shame, she forged on ahead as if to see how much worse she could make herself feel. "Are you and that Rosie…?"

"Are we what?" Once again completely taken aback by the sudden change in topic, Cullen struggled to keep up. "Rosie? That woman in the infirmary?"

Elly rashly continued down the road to misery. "I'm sure you've noticed her. Wavy golden hair, sky blue eyes, gorgeous, completely smitten with you. And, oh yeah, human."

Cullen stumbled on, now on uncertain ground. "She's very kind to all her patients."

"Kind? Dear Maker, she dotes on you!" Elly's fists clenched. She waved them about to emphasize her points. "She gushes about you! She stood there, explaining how you're such a bloody hero, staring at you like she just couldn't get enough!"

"Um." Cullen coughed, at a loss for words. "Well it's not like… I mean, she just…" He trailed off awkwardly and gave her a helpless shrug.

"Not like what?" Her clenched fists had somehow gone from pumping air to striking his breastplate. The result of flesh meeting metal was less than satisfying for the flesh. Worst of all, he simply stood there looking infuriatingly confused.

Unthinking, she tried to stomp on his foot. He was wearing plate boots. The boots came out ahead in the encounter. "Andraste's ass!" she cried, hopping as she tried to clutch at the abused foot.

Cullen couldn't have looked more surprised if she'd turned into a flying pig. Eventually he grabbed a shoulder to steady her. "Er, are you alright?"

"Am I alright?" Elly teetered again as she tried to snap her glare from the throbbing foot up to his face. "Did you just ask if I'm-"

"Shh, okay." His hands settled around her shoulders to keep her steady. "Look, it's…" He finally gave up on decorum and distance and pulled her closer, whispering, "It's just you, Elly. Only you."

She abruptly sagged, letting him support some of her weight. She leaned in to let the chill metal of his breastplate cool her flushed face. They stayed like that, at ease, for a moment. Then Elly couldn't resist poking at one more wound. "Cullen?" she asked quietly, too cowardly to study his face. "Have you forgiven me? For the archdemon."

Cullen lightly slipped a gauntleted finger beneath her chin, raising it until their eyes met. "Can you promise me that you'll never do something like that again?"

It was almost a relief when her eyes started to water; it blurred his face so she didn't have to see it when she answered. "No." The words tumbled out against her wishes. "No, you know I can't. We do what we must."

He could've argued that she hadn't done what she needed to but what she wanted to. He could've pressed her on the matter. Instead he gently pulled away and walked back to the keep, leaving her off balance in more than one way.