Magic and the Inquistion

by Battleship Vytalia

Finding himself in a fucked up fantasy word, a wizard has to find a way to get back to his own universe. All that stands in his way, are demons, a mage-templar war, a great big fucking hole in the sky, a civil war in knockoff France, a female elf mage who finds him fascinating, and an ancient human mage who is in severe need of a makeover

4. Chapter 4 Early Foundations

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Dragonage or anything else I may reference

Magic and the Inquisition

Chapter 4 Early Foundations

9:41 Dragon

Haven

Crunching lightly beneath his feet, Nat paid no attention to the soft powdered snow instead preferring to navigate the maze of tents and buildings owned by the small inquisition. Since escorting Valeyna to the first meeting with Cassandra and Leliana, he had been "politely asked to leave" i.e kicked out while they introduced Valeyna to Josephine and Cullen. He didn't particularly mind though, Cullen was polite and soft-spoken, but the man being a Templar set him on edge.

Cullen attacking him or even being capable of hurting him was negligible. Even so, it was better to be safe than sorry. The man was still suspicious of him though, he witnessed how the man's eyes tracked his movements carefully silently thinking of counters and possible spells he may throw up all of which had been drilled into the man when he had been but a lowly recruit in training. By now, Cullen had already heard of his unnatural ability to avoid remaining in the sight of Templar's and was, therefore, keeping a closer eye on him than others because of that. Then again, Cullen seemed far kinder then the other Templar's giving him pitying looks, whether they were because he was a mage giving the man the perception that he was cursed to have such destructive power, or because his supposed entire family was dead, he didn't know. Ultimately, however, Cullen saw him as a child and seemed rather uncomfortable with him being part of the Inquisition due to his young age.

Cullen wasn't who he was on his mind, however. Rather Solas was the individual he was currently hoping to gain an audience with. Any plan of his in returning home required an in-depth understanding of the laws and mechanics of this worlds version of magic. Constructing a magical cross-dimensional gateway was not a simple undertaking, to do so was like saying that building a manned rocket ship to mars was a simple task. Before one could even commence planning on how to store so much oxygen and food for the human crew simply to survive such a journey, a person needed to know the advanced physics and mathematics alongside chemicals combined with vast resources. And all of that was for Earth in an entirely different universe, for him he had to work out such things twice maybe even thrice, one for this world, one for the Fade and one for Earth. It was only made worse by the fact that the Ancient elves coming to his universe was simply a fluke. The timing of the elves was far too early for the elves if they had desired to meet other civilisations and as for the place where they arrived, Egypt wasn't exactly lush green land from end to end. Even so, he had to at least attempt to return home.

As for how to succeed in this endeavour, Solas was possibly likely the first key in a very complex puzzle, but still ultimately a key. Not that he could simply go up towards the ancient elf inform him of his situation and ask for his assistance in recreating some experiment gone wrong. That was a stupid plan and give him the appearance of a lunatic or a madman, not to mention what could he offer to Solas for his help. If he ever desired to get help from Solas, then first he needed to become friendly with him, he had to try and get Solas to sympathise with him and perhaps even become false friends. If that were to occur, then if Solas didn't have any desire to give him some help, then perhaps by playing the friendship card, he may garner the support he may not have gained otherwise. Such a plan to build the friendship with the man would take time, but with his young age alongside the fact he as not going anywhere, time was most assuredly something he had in spades. So he began to place his plan into motion.

First, he had to strike up at least a friendly conversation with the old elven mage, discover a topic that they both found interesting and could bond over. Whatever topic he chose was one which couldn't be just pandering to the man, or listening to a person drone on about something that interested Solas yet not him, lest it appears that he held no care or gave any credit to the man's words. A conclusion on the best topics to discuss. If he was going to share conversations with Solas, he would prefer it to be about history, magic, culture, philosophy. All of these were subjects he had discussed with others before albeit mainly Ravenclaws, even so, that worked to his advantage ensuring that when he spoke with Solas that he was not some novice in the art of words or conversation not aware of what he meant.

Aside from those topics, he had noted that Solas had taken a slight interest but also slight disdain towards Valeyna's people, the Dalish. Having heard Solas when the elf had been curious enough to visit the library wondering what its contents were, he had witnessed the man speak in the Elvish tongue. With how old the man was, and how much attention he gave to Valeyna and her opinions on the old Elves briefly when they had marched up that mountain days previous, it likely meant that the man was protective of the past. In hopes of increasing his chances of gaining friendship with the man, perhaps if he showed a certain amount of attention, he may be able to convince Solas as to teach him the language. Well, that and the idea if being able to speak proper elvish sounded rather cool.

In front, the man his thoughts had focused on, stood still dressed in but a loose cotton shirt blowing occasionally in the wind. Solas looked bored standing in his small corner, or perhaps the man was not and like him enjoyed taking his time contemplating things in the privacy ones mind, far from the dangers of sounding foolish or having negative looks thrown your way for random thoughts. The cold wind rustled everything in sight giving those soldiers stationed at the bottom of this mountain a small shiver up their backs. This occurrence of seeing men and women so cold alerted him to more about the magic of this world and what it was utilised for. Under muggle standards, his own clothing would not be suitable for such weather, while dark and therefore able to soak up more heat, it was certainly not appropriate clothing for the environment. Despite this, however, he stayed perfectly fine not affected by the slightest.

His clothing like most of those who were magically raised had been enchanted against weather effects alongside being capable of regulating his temperature. Should it become too warm than his attire would soak up such heat and the contrary to be done if it became too cool? As a result, he never experienced hot or cold. Although there more than just general use to such charms, in a fight a rise in temperatures could possibly debilitate him. Added to the temperature regulation that would keep him safe whether, in a barren sandy desert or the South Pole, his clothing was also enchanted against fire, water, wind, stains, electricity, tear, slash as well as other general resistances had been placed upon it. Finally, there were the expanded pockets. Speaking of which, he still seemed to have his old stationery from Hogwarts on him that he had been meaning to take out.

On the opposite hand, while impressive and useful for common settings or hiking, such charms were not designed to guard him against magic. Should he find himself in a proper magical fight, then he would be best wearing his duelling robes. Only he had sent them away to be repaired before he had left on holiday; they had been severely abused in the duel that had sequentially brought him to this world. Not that it mattered, his customary clothing was more than a match for any muggle means they could throw at him. Something that would assist him in ensuring he did not get complacent relying on magical clothing to protect him allowing for his own well-honed skills to take the brunt of the work and effort. The mages of this world could stand still and twirl their staffs as much as they wished, as a duelist, he was far more physically fit than they were. Acrobatics alongside extensive movement were all routine when it came to fighting for him.

As he approached Solas, the Elf fastened his grey eyes onto his black glasses causing him to frown slightly. It was something he had gotten a lot of people. Eye movement was one of the best ways to read body language, and by hiding his, he hid a lot from other people.

"Good afternoon Solas I trust you're doing well"

"As well as can be expected given our current situation. Why? Is there anything you want to talk about in particular about?" Solas studied the young boy curiously, over the last few days, Nathanael had not conversed to anyone, alternatively preferring the company of books to people as he read all that he had missed out on while with his people. He did feel sorry for the boy though, to learn about the world was one thing, but to study it through books that were sanctioned by the Chantry, would lead to a rather narrow view of viewing the world.

"Thank you for being so considerate Solas, most people don't care to listen to people my age, they believe we are either fools or that we are not capable enough to understand the finer principles of things. But that aside, do you want a cup of tea?" Focusing his attention on the strange offered metal cup, Solas instantly recorded a few thoughts about the strange way cup. The cup was made from two parts, an exterior thin metal frame and a thicker black material he did not recognise. His attention focused on the drink.

"The tea is brown?"

"I put milk in it, no sugar unless you want some though" A very confused and odd face was given by Solas as he heard that comment, who in their right mind would put milk in their tea and worse to add it with sugar. He disliked the concoction in general, but the people this boy came from, to mix a herbal drink that should be used for curing headaches and stomach-aches seemed to not know or not care about the healing effects of the drink to add other things with it.

"I will decline but I appreciate the offer. Anyway, what did you wish to ask me?" Setting down the unaccepted drink down on the side, Nat brought his own to his lips gently and began to drink. Once he was finished, he spoke.

"Well for one, I was hoping you could give me a more accurate depiction of history. I remember you saying that you spent a long time in the Fade, walking through, it studying it, befriending the spirits, learning old secrets and witnessing old battles. Reading history is one thing, but books are often held back by bias and while you may have the same, seeing the same information in different lights gives a person new perspectives. And with new perspectives, come new solutions, new challenges, new opportunities and new ways to view the world ".

Solas gave a slight smile of approval in return, although his eyes told that he had not been expecting such an answer. "Indeed, although I did not expect such a response from one such as yourself, normally such wisdom comes from one who had experienced a great deal". And there it was, the thing that Nat alongside most Ravenclaw's despised. Always they were treated as young an ignorant as if only through age and experience could a person become wise as if the passing of long periods of time could teach a person. For most, that was indeed valid, but others actually heeded the words and experiences from past generations, they learned and reflected on what had transpired to stop the same mistakes from being repeated. He knew Solas meant no offence and in his position, he would be the same, so very rarely did the young actually have proper wisdom.

"I agree and thank you for the compliment. Onto what I discussed earlier, I was hoping if it would be to you're convenience, that you would be willing teach me elven alongside educating me on the past" Solas quirked his eyebrow at that, it wasn't a common request, in fact, it was rather the opposite. He had offered to share knowledge with the Dalish before, only to have been ignored and derided. For a human to ask for knowledge from an elf was odd but also if not what he exactly desired a welcome change if only because somebody cared to hear the truth on things.

"May I inquire as to why you wish to learn the Elvish language and why to ask for my assistance instead of the Herald of Andraste, she has lived her entire life among the Dalish. In my experience, most humans do not care to learn from elves?"

"Knowledge is knowledge no matter where it comes from. You can despise a person or group as much as you wish, but not to learn such knowledge is foolish especially when it can be used against you. But more importantly, the more you know the more you can use. If a mage knows how a Templar blacks their abilities, then they can more appropriately defeat their oppressor. You, for example, are an expert on the Fade, ignoring the lessons you have learned could be costly in the long run. With the world at stake, mistakes are something this inquisition can ill afford. Well, that and the fact that in all honesty I'm just curious and like to learn things that take my interest, your language and the history of Thedas is one of them.

Solas smiled, a human wasn't exactly the type of person he had wished to teach the truth to. But it was nice to see a young mind willing to learn and explore new fronts, so often did they rush ahead believing that they knew best, so often did their recklessness get them into troubles and mistakes. Even if this child was the only one he could speak to, informing one person was better than informing none. And what could one young lone human mage do, he was not part of Tevinter and neither was he part of a circle instead coming from a different branch of people who learned their own style of magic? A group who were now all dead.

"Wise words to live by, an open mind will always receive more than one that has been barred. Where do you wish to start?"

"The language I believe would be best, I've heard that one can better understand a culture after hearing about it in their language." Solas nodded, languages often showed part of a groups culture, it made him wonder more about the boys people. For a small group of people to maintain their culture and remain unknown to the world, they must have developed advanced magic when it came to hiding objects or people.

The Dalish knew nothing about the culture they so deeply wished to persevere, it had been told and retold over thousands of years changing and shaping until virtually everything they thought was true was false. According to the boy, some group had kicked his people out of their homeland a very long time ago, yet going by this boy anyway, they retained far more wisdom then he would have expected and far more of their knowledge.

"Very well then, we shall begin with a basic greeting. Aneth ara." Solas doubted that the boy would be able to learn the language easily, nor would the boy stay interested in it for long. However, the Dalish knew very little of the language that in their small minds believed that they were the sole protectors and keepers off. Lavellan, he doubted would care to learn her language her culture from an outsider, already she had shown the same characteristics of the other Dalish. She was defensive when it came to her people and way of life so much so to threaten him on their quest to the mountain by implying the battles she had thought with humans who had tried to attack them. How Ironic would it be that a human would know more than the Dalish about old elven custom after his teaching?

"Aneth ara Solas". Briefly, Nat thought about responding in Latin, showcasing to the old elf that he was more than proficient in learning a new language. He already spoke a few if only for magical reasons, acquiring another would not be a challenge, especially when with little to do here, he could devote a large amount of time to his studies. Presently though, it was not a wise decision. Should he behave like a smartass, and show that he knew multiple languages, it might make Solas more reluctant to teach him. If Solas was unwilling to teach him, then it could hamper his ability to get home. More than likely if something were to happen and Solas did not know how to make an inter-dimensional portal or some other event than Nat understood he had to be able to understand Elvish in hopes of returning home.

He could have asked Valeyna in learning the language of her people, but he did not believe she would. She may wish to discuss her culture, but the language was nevertheless something far more precious. That did not mean that she hated humans, Valeyna was defensive in her actions, but had she hated humans as much as people believed the Dalish to do, then she would be glaring daggers at practically everyone. As was her history, clan Lavellan according to the reports he had subtly managed to eavesdrop on, reported that clan Lavellan were more Pro human than others trading with humans on a semi-regular basis. However, there had still been incidents where they had been forced to defend their clan from attackers.

"Very good, let's continue with a few more phases before we discuss history" Nodding in return, Nat spent the next several hours speaking to Solas about the elvish history and the elvish language. Most of which was to clear up some misconceptions and to make sure that he could, in fact, remember the few elvish phrases that he had been taught rather than forgetting them instantly. Not that he intended too, learning all that Solas had to offer him was very important in not only building up a trust between the man and himself but also for future ventures should events turn out poorly.

Hours Later

"There you are" Rushing up behind him, Nat came face to face with an exhausted-looking Valeyna. Bending down slightly, with her hands on her knees to help stabilise herself, it was obvious that the woman had been physically exhausting herself with practical work. Deciding to be kind to her, he summoned a cup of warm tea passing it over to the woman who promptly accepted it gratefully giving it a sip before leaning back on the stone wall.

"Been chopping trees down?" Looking down at him, Valeyna gave a slight friendly glare before setting her drink down to the side allowing her to watch the camp go about its business as the servants rushed around lighting candles and fires all over place to give the small camp light as the yellow sun got closer and closer to descending in the distance.

"No, I was talking to the others in camp about what our next step should be." Yawning while she stretched out her arms in hopes of trying to keep herself from falling asleep, Valeyna began to feel the stress of the day affect her more than it usually would when compared to what she would get up to with her clan. Noticing this, Nat made sure that the woman didn't panic, after all, she was in an unfamiliar place with different customs. Most likely, it would be a long time before she ever saw her clan again, and that was if she survived the whole ordeal of saving the world from demons.

"You should be taking things easy at least for today, your body is still recovering from stabilising the Breach. I would recommend getting an early night and waiting here at Haven until you're back at full power before you head anywhere. Wherever you lead us is going to be covered in demons, Templar's, Mages and a whole load of other trouble. Trust me when I say that as much as you want to get back into action now, you're going to crave these rare quiet nights that you get to yourself."

Frowning at the concern, Valeyna didn't want to be told that she couldn't handle something. She had already been told by Varrick that she should recover just to make sure that she didn't just keel over and die whilst they were in the middle of the fight. Varrick was just trying to be kind, but she wasn't some human Orlesian girl who stayed out of a fight and looked pretty. She was the first of clan Lavellan, she was supposed to take over the role of Keeper one day and keep her clan safe whilst also maintaining the legacy of the elves.

"Leliana says that we need to build up influence to even gain an audience with either the mages or Templars. It's just so unbelievable that with the Breach threatening everything that they won't even give the Inquisition an audience." Frustration was evident on the beautiful elves face, it was obvious to Nat having been taught how to read people as it was an essential skill for being a politician, that the woman didn't desire to be here. She was angry at what had happened, angry that she had been sent, angry that she was now been hailed as the Herald of Andraste and angry that she now had to lead a human religious group in a possible holy war. Valeyna had never been trained for this, she was never to take on this duty, then again whoever was.

"Can you blame them, as far as the rest of the world is concerned, a small group of people have decided to create an organisation that would give them large amounts of power on the orders of a dead woman with no evidence to the contrary. A group which seems to be capitalising on the death of a religious leader to grab power. However, despite the fancy title, the Inquisition has no power no allies, no force, nothing bar a group of misfits and rebels. Who would ever give a ragtag bunch of heretics and outlaws an audience, you have to prove that the Inquisition is powerful Valeyna, powerful enough that it cannot be ignored. Then and only then will people be willing to listen".

Sighing annoyingly, Valeyna flipped her hair back as she was informed that things wouldn't be as easy as she wanted them to be. Despite the kid actually saying the same things as Leliana and Josephine, Nat was actually kind enough to give her an explanation as to why they couldn't do things. Sometimes her constant questions made her feel stupid compared to the others, but it wasn't something she could really do about. Dalish culture was different to humans and the only humans she had interacted with, were merchants had traded with or worse when she had to defend her clan from attacking humans. In general, Dalish didn't do the whole creating alliances and grand scale politics as they simply couldn't do so without the land. Land which had been stolen from them by the Chantry, a Chantry that she was now a holy figure for.

There was no great leader of the Dalish who communicated with all the clans, no great leader that when the Dalish were finally given a homeland, would instantly be put in charge. Rather the Dalish were simply small groups of wandering clans of elves. Human ways and customs were very strange at times, having to constantly jump through hoops just so they can organise meetings about having meetings to organise meetings about having proper meetings with people. If a Dalish wanted to talk with someone, then they simply did. Had she been trying to gain the attention of Dalish clans, then she could simply track them down and talk to them as easy as that, but she had to deal with humans.

"And how do you suggest I go about doing that?"

"Small actions at first, help a few people out here and there and they might be able to get you onto a path that will eventually get you a meeting with the ones in charge, or a person who can help you. As for how you'll have to figure that one out. I don't know what exactly these random acts will entail, but I seriously doubt it's going to be anything so mundane as gathering up sheep or returning anything. The Inquisition may be weak and lack influence at the moment, but it's not as bad as everyone says. Wherever you go, you will make a name for yourself, once word of your actions gets spread around, people will talk. If you can, also see if you can speak with anyone important. Even if you hate them and can't stand them, if just one noble opens the door into politics, then take it. You can abandon them later once you've got your feet wet and have found someone better, but you need to take every chance you're taken."

Curious, Valeyna turned towards the younger boy. " You seem to know a great deal about how all these things work, are you by any chance experienced in such things" Valeyna wasn't any political mastermind, but children didn't know these types of politics unless they were raised too. As the first and by extension next keeper of her clan, she had been raised to know more about their elvish history and about their clan. She wondered if Nat had been the same, for him to know so much about what they should do. Had he been raised as a new leader of their group.

"Part of my education was to look at things in-depth and figure out what way things might blow. Politics was taught to all children as a precautionary measure, the past civil war was not our first there had been many before. To ensure that in the event that the leaders of our group and all the others that would likely replace them were killed, all of us needed to know basic politics so that in the case that we were forced to take over, then we could carry on the way did before".

Valeyna nodded, she could understand that Nat wasn't any sort of noble as she had first expected, it was just a case of he knew what he knew to ensure that his clan could survive. Besides the keeper and the first, Dalish clans also had storytellers and their apprentices, craftsman and their apprentices, in the event that a master was killed the apprentice would take over and in the reverse he master would take on a new apprentice. Even then, most in the clan knew the basics of their history and could pass it on or knew basics in herb making for when they went hunting, they went experts but the little knowledge they did have, could prove invaluable.

"Thank you for your opinion, according to Leliana we should start in the Hinterlands near Redcliffe, the mage-Templar war has spread there and she thinks it's a good way to start getting some influence. What are your thoughts?"

Nat shrugged his shoulders not meeting the look from Valeyna as she looked at him waiting for an answer, currently he was enjoying the sight of the sun setting on the horizon. At home, he had been so busy learning and educating himself so he could get through education early as possible alongside learning other things especially when it came to duelling. Here though, things were different, it was far more relaxed than the hustle and bustle of city life as well as the constant pressure, here in Ferelden he could take the time to enjoy nature and the scenery. Had it not been for the woman at his side, then he would have already started to take pictures of this world as he waited for things to happen. As he did so, he answered the Heralds question.

Honestly, I don't really get whey you're coming to me for advice. I'm fourteen and you're like eight years older than me, for all the wise stuff that I seem to say, I really don't know what to do all I can is speculate, observe, analyse and theorise. Leliana and the others are the ones you really need to talk to, they know all of this stuff a lot better than I do. All I can do is offer fancy words and my combat ability, the rest has been placed on your shoulders I'm afraid. Though if you do want other options besides the long grind, then you could either burst down the gates of the mages or Templars guns blazing and take what you want by force, or you can find out who is the leader and steal something important to get an audience."

"Steal something important, like a person. And I'll have you know I'm twenty years old" Pouting at the boy thinking she was older than she actually was, the dalish elf focused on her friend's possible new strategies. Truthfully, Valeyna would never consider such an option, she could very likely see that if she attempts such an act, then she would get the exact opposite of what she desired, which made her even more curious about why the boy had even brought the idea up.

"That or you could always threaten to reveal their internet history". There was another thing Valeyna had noticed about Nat, he spoke of words that she had never heard off, first was the word oxygen which was another term for air and now he spoke of the internet and its history. Was the internet some type of strange magic, some strange weapon and just why would threatening to reveal someone's history with the internet work as a threat.

"What is this internet you speak off?" Looking inquisitively, Nat got off his feet now that the sun had disappeared leaving the sky dark leaving the dancing candle lights alongside the moon to be that things that allowed the majority human population of Haven to continue navigating around. Something that was showed the slower pace of humans as they avoided the guy ropes and other small objects compared to the elven servants who were easily dancing their way through the camp because of their superior vision.

"It's not important. Either way, whilst we're in our current weak state, we need to do our best to fly under the radar. But for now you need some sleep, if you can't I would suggest speaking to the apothecary for something to help. I wouldn't be surprised if you were suffering from nightmares, a few soldiers have already gone for nightmares" That surprised Valeyna, she had spoken to the apothecary earlier and he had mentioned that he was rather busy looking after the men in general, when he said it she thought in terms of physical injuries, not nightmares.

"Are the soldiers okay, are you okay?" Valeyna asked in a concerned tone.

"Most of them are fine, it's just the few that took part in the battle to get to the rift. A number of soldiers died and most of those here are volunteers and have never seen death before, some of them even lost friends. I'm not a psychiatrist so I have no idea if or when they'll recover, as for me though, nightmares aren't my thing. Now no more questions, get some sleep recover fully, the breach isn't going anywhere." Feeling bold and wanting to try and embarrass the kid due to his apparent concern trying to act like the adult, Valeyna flirted.

"And what are you going to do about it" Fluttering her eyelids, she was slightly disappointed when she got no reaction.

"Nothing, besides catch you when you collapse. You do feel it don't you?. Your eyes are heavy, your legs are sore and you're ever so desperately trying to prevent yourself from yawning. You can't hide it from me, I've had my fair share of sleepless nights to notice the signs. If you really are so desperate to head off to the Hinterlands tomorrow that's fine, but get sleep Valeyna, it will help you process things" Speaking slowly, Nat noticed that as he spoke, that subconsciously Valeyna yawned although she didn't really notice it. Other clues were also evident such as how she was blinking less, her head was also dipping a small amount and her movements were slightly sluggish, far from the fast and sharper movement that Valeyna had demonstrated when she first awoke hours ago.

Valeyna at first thought to argue, she was a grown a woman and didn't need a child telling her what to do. But yawning suddenly, she realised that she did feel tired and her feet were aching from all the running around that she had to do. She could also start to feel the beginning of a headache, all the information she had learned and the responsibilities placed upon her, perhaps having an early night wasn't a bad thing.

"What will you do?" Nat rolled his eyes at the question; honestly, it wasn't late for him in the slightest. He was used to getting very little sleep with all his training and researching that he did, for a normal human his age it could be rather damaging to the body due to sleep deprivation, but his magical blood enabled to get off with far less sleep. Looking at his watch, it wasn't six o'clock yet something that really indicated that Valeyna needed more time to recover from the past events. Normally he would go to sleep around midnight and wake up at four in the morning entirely refreshed. On the other hand, if he was recovering from some major injury, then he'd go to bed earlier and wake up later, but that wasn't now.

"I will be fine Valeyna, You're the one who needs rest, Especially if we head towards the Hinterlands tomorrow" Nodding graciously before giving a respectful goodbye, Valeyna covering her mouth as she yawned again headed back to her small hut to get some proper sleep leaving Nat alone on the wall observing the camp.

"She seems comfortable around you" Not turning his head, Nat had felt the redhead approach him, Leliana was attempting to be quiet like she normally did, something that was just part of her being the spymaster, he could sense her easily enough tough, perks of magical radar. As to why she was speaking to him, without peering into her mind with the use of mind magic, something he was unwilling to do, as mind magic was far easier to detect than other branches. Without knowing how easily Solas could detect magic or how far he could sense it, then he would simply guess less spook the old man. In this case, he had a feeling that Leliana might be here to ask him about his past in hopes of creating a profile around him.

"I'm a child as most people would say. Despite my skill, physically I don't look old enough to present a threat, as a result perhaps subconsciously she finds me the easiest to talk to. But I assume you wish to talk to me about something different Leliana, it's too early for you to be heading to sleep with your work". Leliana looked at the boy, it was so strange to see a person never reveal emotion on their face, nothing anyone said startled him and his body movement was incredibly calm even when faced with Templars.

He had seen serious combat before he had joined up with Cassandra and the others, his movements were refined and sharp to the point. Could she see his eyes, then no doubt she would see them flickering about place to place, observing for enemies and taking in everything within his vision? Yet despite not being able to examine his eyes, the strange mask he wore told her about the child. Nathanael was concerned about people seeing his eye movements, most likely as they gave away a lot in body motion. If his eyes were to twitch when he lied, such as turning them away for a brief moment rather than keeping eye contact, then not being able to see his eyes helped to prevent a person from telling if he was lying to them

"Learned anything interesting Spymaster" Despite his polite tone, by referring to her as spymaster it meant that he had noticed what she was doing, something that was yet another tell. Had the boy been some kind of guard or guard in training before his group was racked with civil war, or was there something more to him. No, the way he stood was straighter than most common folk did. Nathanael was not incredibly high up in his old society like a noble, but neither was he a simple commoner equivalent

"It is a beautiful night is it not, it is a shame that such a wondrous sight is ruined by the breach" So she was taking this approach Nat realised. He wondered, was she personally trying to read him, because she could find nothing on him because he was far harder to read because he was close, perhaps because he used unused and unheard of magic, or mayhap due his strange people and terms. He did use strange phrases that others did not understand, perhaps she wished him to use those around her so she could teach her little birds what he meant.

"I don't know, the Breach has a certain dangerous and forbidden beauty to it. It's like a moth and flame, appealing at a distance but the closer you approach the more likely you are to die violently."

"It makes ask why the Maker allowed for such things to happen, is it a punishment, some test we must overcome. No evil can occur naturally, the Inquisition is most grateful for giving us a chance by sending us the Herald of Andraste". Despite Leliana soft tone, Nat could detect that the woman was both offering up some kind of prayer to her imaginary friend in the sky as well as trying to get him to infer that she wanted to know what he truly believed about the world.

"Why Valeyna though?. If your maker had truly sent her to you, why her, she is young and beautiful and powerful, but why choose one who does not believe in your god to fulfil his plan. Surely there are better candidates, ones with the connections needed to help solve this crisis, one who is some kind of great peacemaker between the Templars and Mages who with words alone can solve the problem".

Leliana did not frown, she had heard and witnessed the young boys utter lack of faith in a divine being. She wondered what it must be like, to have such conviction that the maker did not exist, but she did wonder how he had come to such a conclusion. Who else could have created the beauty that exists in the world, love, the birds that flew in the sky the gorgeous sight if the sun descending, shoes? If not for the maker, how did the world come to exist, how can a person not view the world and if not the maker, not believe that someone had granted them such a bounty?

Kneeling down with her hands crossed, Leliana did what Nat thought was praying or something similar, he didn't know nor care."The maker must be challenging us in our faith after so long being apart. He does truly love us and perhaps this is his way of showcasing the beauty that we have been granted by showcasing what we truly have by taking it away." Nat stayed silent as Leliana spoke more to herself. "Once I was believed to be chosen by the Maker to protect the land against great peril when the fifth blight began. I thought once it was over that the world would be safe, I never for a moment thought that the world would be thrown in such great peril again so soon". Turning to him, after standing up again she asked a question that was in her mind. "How do you see the world, why do you believe we were put on this earth if not to witness the beauty and glory that the maker has created?".

"You would not believe me, nor would I have the evidence with me to demonstrate my answers" Leliana smiled gently, even if the boy did not believe in the maker, perhaps the boy might have answers that could help her and others understand the chant of light better. So often did people strictly believe in what was taught that their utter refusal to hear other alternatives could prevent them from understanding the Chant better.

"Then why do you believe we are here, is there some kind of maker where you are from.?"

"I don't believe there is any reason for us to be here in the slightest. Life is nothing but a complete fluke; the chance of any world developing life is so astronomically slim, that it seems impossible. But with how vast the universe is, it does happen. It's all happenstance, no god or divine being creating the world, just billions of years of space dust forming to create planets and then billions more for the first microbe to exist and then eventually evolve into the life we see today. If a person requires to find meaning in their life, then they have to create meaning, nothing will give it to them. And isn't that all that life's about, chance, discovery"

Concern etched onto Lelianas face as she took in those words, the very idea of what he said was simultaneously enlightening and yet horrifying. To think that there was no plan for them, that nobody had a purpose, that all the good and suffering in the world was not created by a divine being but purely up to chance like the toss of a coin or a game of wicked chance made her feel something she had never felt before. It was horrible, like nothing she had ever done would ever matter, that none of all the trials and tribulations meant anything. That all those people who had been killed in the last blight by the darkspawn were not because the Maker had deemed them worthy to come to his side, but because they were there. And what did he mean by space dust and billions of years, what was a microbe and what was evolving? Nathanael was a strange person.

"I, I cannot imagine how you see the world in such a way. To see such beauty in the world and think that none of it was created to be enjoyed, that love is not the maker's greatest gift, that everything we undergo is not a way for the maker to test us. I feel sorry for you; the world must be such a sad place." Nat didn't feel offended by Lelianas statement, he knew what she was feeling, he felt the exact same thing every time he thought about the insignificance of human life, about what they were and in the end, that when the universe finally died, that there would be no one to remember.

"I do not despise those who believe in some higher being or purpose Leliana, it isn't a pleasant experience when one does not know why what happen's happen. What I hold a distaste for, is religion itself. Too many times had it shown what it will do if it disagrees with another who holds a difference of opinion. Valeyna and her people lost their second homeland purely because the Chantry could not accept that another set of people had a different viewpoint. People will always fight each other, it's the way the universe works, Survival of the Fittest. We hardly need religion for that."

"The maker declared that the world would be turned into a glorious place once the entire sung the Chant of Light. There would be no war, no poverty, children would not starve and that suffering will come to an end". Nat took a sip of his tea before breathing out slowly, he was going to try and take a different approach. He would not try to convert Leliana, while he despised religion and still thought that the idea of a man in the sky was far too simplistic, he did understand why people liked these things. The idea of gods in a time without proper knowledge was a way of explaining unknown things, it was almost logical in a sense. A person would look at something they did not understand and look at things they did.

They hadn't known how the sky worked all those millennia ago, but they could look around them and see that humans controlled so many important things of life from farming to fighting and politics. Therefore in those old uneducated minds, it was only logical that some sort of human was controlling the sky. But that didn't make sense either, normal humans couldn't control the weather, which meant it had to be special humans who manipulated the heavens above them to make it pour water, lash with wind or strike with bolts of thunder and lightning. If one kept going down that track, then it only made sense that gods were created.

"Leliana" Asking softly, he waited until he had her full undivided attention. "Do you believe that if a person has a different opinion to you on anything that they should be tortured, or killed, or be ostracised. Should I say that the colour blue is the best and most holy colour in the world and that if anyone disagrees with me, that I should have the right to kill that person simply because they disagree"? Leliana blinked at the odd question. It was a rather foolish concept a person should have their mind to chose the colour they liked, to be killed for thinking another thought was barbaric.

"No to kill someone over such a petty thing is to behave like children squabbling over a toy". Nat smiled inside, it was always an interesting experience thinking about philosophy. He found the more he thought about things, the strange and more unique things became.

"Exactly, that is how I and others like me see religion. Nothing but a bunch of people acting like small children over a colour, only whereas children may hit one another, religion will call for wars and the mass execution and destruction of others purely on a disparity of opinion. Religion is fine when it only affects yourself, but religion always affects others, the way you see people, the way you believe the world should be run, how you think events played out. If a religion believes that women are second-rate people and are not valuable or equal to men, then that will shape your views on women and how they should be treated. Or in another example, if your religion believed that it was wrong to consume a particular animal or not to eat animals at all, that is fine when it applies to yourself, but religion would say that all people should not eat that animal even when others may enjoy the taste."

Leliana went to reply only to stop as she considered the words spoken to her. Fighting over a colour was indeed petty and childish, just like fighting over a toy, as for a religion preventing a person from eating an animal it also sounded bad until she realised that Nat had not specified which animal. Did he mean chickens, pigs, cows or did he mean something more sinister like a dog? Such thoughts were fine at a basic level, but what about other more important matters, should a man be allowed to cheat on his wife, should the rights of others be more important than the individual. It was also so very confusing forcing her to think more and more about the one who had put her on this planet in the first place.

"I don't think I have ever thought about it in such a way before, the Maker is important to me, he is the one who gave my life new direction, the one who helped me recover after my past. It is so strange to think of the world in such a manner, I have found that the chant gave me direction and purpose, that it put my mind at ease." Leliana spoke softly, memories of her life from when she travelled with the Grey Warden to her time as a Bard before that and even when she had found herself at Lothering and then after the fifth blight becoming the left hand of the Divine. Then there was now, she may not be the one to lead the Inquisition and seal the breach preventing demons from escaping and saving countless lives, but she was here when it happened and was helping the Herald of Andraste accomplish the Maker's plans.

Nat chuckled as he heard that. "Don't worry about it Leliana, the human race if full of contradictories. I believe that religion is cruel and manipulative and should be abolished because of what it does and what it will do. Yet, on the other hand, I entirely support nation states and despise the idea of a single world government. I support nation-states even when millions have been slaughtered and brutally killed and tortured alongside countless utter horrific actions that have taken place in the name of two nations battling against one another."

Pausing slightly, Leliana couldn't help but wonder if there was some sort of deeper meaning behind his words. What else could there be besides kingdoms, the Qun had already demonstrated what it did to people. It twisted their minds turning away from the makers light as they were willingly stripped of their freedom. The Qun prevented anyone from having an individual thought, a person had to believe the exact same thing that the Qun believed, it didn't make people but slaves. Before she could ask, however, Nat carried on.

"In the end, to form our own opinions, we are the ones who shall ultimately decide what we think should be allowed for people to do, and what we think people should not. True freedom shall never exist we will forever live in hypocrisy. It's not all bad, the alternative is anarchy and that's far worse"

Gazing up at the twinkling burst of beautiful lights that danced across the black canvas otherwise known as stars, Leliana smiled once again. Nat's words were strange yet comforting, even more so when he did not believe in the Maker. She could not entirely understand how he could not see a higher being, but there was wisdom in those words. For now, she would continue to believe in the maker and that he guided the world in all its actions. Yet his words held some truth, and perhaps that might be the way to show the maker that the world has truly accepted his love. Not by subjugating people and forcing others to convert, but by showing understanding and love to all of the makers children for that after all was the Makers greatest gift, love itself.

"You do you what works for you Leliana and screw anyone else who thinks otherwise. Also, remember that in times of strife sacrifice is needed, you did the right thing by killing the traitor, more lives would have been lost had you spared your hand. Oh and look at the time, I wasn't expecting to get into a philosophical talk, normally I have a bit of preparation before those. Anyway, I'm going to go for a walk to clear my mind, It was nice talking to you, perhaps we could continue this talk at a later date. It's always interesting to debate things like this. Well bye" And with that, Nat jumped down from the wall that he had been sitting on dusted himself off and started heading towards the gates of Haven to undoubtedly contemplate the entire universe and other things leaving a smiling Leliana to herself as she also got up and headed towards her position.

Leliana had doubts at first about killing her old agent who had turned traitor, but Nathanael was right. How many innocent people would die because she did not have the strength to prevent it, she did not have the luxury to be nice, not with a war on her hands and not when the entire world was threatened by the fade itself.

Later

"Hey kid, what can I do for you" Inquisitive, Varrick wondered why the youngest member of the Inquisition had taken the time to stop right outside him. Nat, unlike the other main members of Valeyna's little group, seemed to move around a lot. That didn't mean that the rest of them stayed still in one place constantly, they did have to eat from time to time and shit and write stories and enjoy other pursuits. However, according to the Herald, he was the hardest to track down as he rarely stayed in one place for long, something that had changed ever since he had read through the entire library. That kid could read books faster than a fat noble could scoff cake.

"I was wondering if you had a moment to talk about Kirkwall and Hawke, I read your book in the library and found it rather informative" Varrick smirked at that, it was always good to hear when someone liked his books.

"Sure, I've got nothing else to do what do you want to know kid?" Before Nat spoke, he gently handed a cup of tea over to Varrick. Nat knew others would find it odd and strange that he always managed to have a hot brew with him at all times, but he liked to drink tea. Currently with lower temperatures' made even more apparent now that the sun had set, having a warm drink might do Varrick some good. Varrick graciously accepted the drink from the strange looking cup made of a thin metal and had steam rising from it. Tea wasn't really his thing, but having something so warm to heat up his freezing hands comforting.

"According to your tale, Hawke and you discovered red Lyrium when you visited the Deep Roads". Varrick nodded grimly as he remembered that little adventure and all the shit that had happened because of it. He had hoped never to see the stuff again, only his wish hadn't been granted as whoever had attacked the Conclave had used Red Lyrium.

"Yeah, that shit is evil, turned the Knight Commander Meredith insane and made statues come to life. Weird ass fucking stuff, I have a piece being checked out, nobody can study it for more than an hour and people have to take a week between shifts." Nat nodded as he remembered that part of the story, Varrick had written about it in extreme detail, something about an idol that had been sold to the Knight Commander and drove her up the fucking wall with time.

"I had the chance to study some normal Lyrium earlier, you need to tell your people to be far more careful Varrick, It's not natural" Varrick raised an eyebrow as he heard that a few mages had studied the small fragment but were struggling to come up with any sort of information and yet the kid could already tell there was something up with it. Then again he wasn't surprised, the kid had said that he was sensitive to magic and with coming from a different magical background, perhaps the kid knew different things.

"I could have told you that. Normal Lyrium only causes problems when you ingest it, but the red stuff, that shit messes with things just by being near it" Varrick spoke sarcastically, yet he didn't do so in a manner to offend the kid, it's just that he had heard lots of people tell him that Red Lyrium was odd.

"Its corrupted Varrick, it's like some sort of plague and disease that spreads about it. The Lyrium was normal once, but it got infected by an outside force, one which isn't quite sentient, but reeks of death and destruction. It actually makes me think of this darkspawn taint I've read about, something that makes sense as Lyrium doesn't feel like a rock to me. Not sentient and not microscopic, but the connection to magic makes it far easier to sense than other things. I can't be sure, not without encountering a darkspawn and sensing a connection between red lyrium and the blight, but if they are linked, then you might be exposing your agents to the blight itself"

Varrick's eyes widened, a look of horror and shock on his face and he turned pale. Staring at the kid, he didn't know if the kid was speaking the truth or not. He had also contacted the few people he knew to see if there was anyone who might know anything about the kid's strange group of mages, but so far nobody had anything on them. Something that was rather amazing, this group that the kid had once belonged too, really knew how to hide from people.

"Are you sure of that, if the red stuff is infected with the Blight than it changes far more than what we think about not just Red Lyrium, but also regular Lyrium as well." Nat had not stated it directly, however, the implication of the wizard's words was easy for Varrick to understand. The blight only infected living beings, insects, plants, trees, people, animals; if the kid's theory was correct and Red Lyrium was actually in fact blight corrupted Lyrium, then it meant that Lyium itself was alive. If that was the case, then it would change a whole lot of things, not just for the mages but also for Orzammar.

"It's nothing but a theory, for now. I need to make contact with a darkspawn to see if the thing corrupting the Lyrium is the same at the blight. There's a chance that the two infections could be different, but undoubtedly, Red Lyrium is corrupted with something. Whatever that corruption is, that's what's responsible for it being so active compared to normal Lyrium". Varrick frowned again as he heard that news, silently he made a note to himself to inform those studying the small fragment of the possible enlightened risk that was involved with studying the object as well as the new discovery.

"Well, that's good news". Varrick spoke sarcastically when he had first encountered Red Lyrium all those years ago, he had hoped that there would have been a way to make a profit on the stuff. That was before all the shit that it had caused, now he wished he and Hawke had never found that dam Thaig, things had only gone downhill since. "Kid do you have any way of definitely making sure that the Lyrium is tainted, my guys will want to know for certain".

Nat remained silent as he thought about what he knew. As a Ravenclaw and a Duellist, he knew far more about magic than most people did. Combat magic was his speciality, but he had graduated from Hogwarts with top grades, not the highest there ever was, but he was certainly no slouch. There was also the case, of the many magical books that he had transferred to his kindle that he could check and read on for any hints or clues. Alongside this, he also had knowledge of other non-combat magic that he had an interest in such as wards and a small amount of blood magic for things like magical contracts or blood wards but he seriously doubted they would come into play. The evidence he was thinking off was more in the muggle department like that of a biologist.

Potions might come into play, but he had never studied a corrupted dead body and corrupted lyrium, hell he hadn't even studied lyrium in-depth to anywhere near considered competent to look at its most likely far more complex and corrupted form. His muggle knowledge wasn't as limited as a person might have first thought, but the idea of studying something like this made him think of test tubes and taking swabs of blood and putting them under microscopes. It wasn't something he had ever done before in his life, people went to universities getting into ridiculous sums of debts and spending years of their life learning the basics to be able to understand blood types and all that stuff properly. All of which. were just the basics, he knew from his own duelling career that despite all the things you studied and lessons learned, it never prepared you for the real thing. Any testing he could do with a result that he would actually understand would simply be pinging both the taint in the dark spawn and the taint in the Lyrium with magic and determining if both felt the same like a Sonar. Ultimately any sort of blood or cellular test or whatever muggle's called it he could do would be worth nothing to him as he would not know what to look for or what was normal. More likely he would make mistakes, get something wrong and he certainly couldn't look it up online or on his Kindle as he had neither access to the internet not have books on complex human biology.

"Perhaps, I'd need a private entirely sealed laboratory on my own alongside a few other things. With that, I might be able to show you physical evidence rather than just saying that the Red Lyrium and Darkspawn feels different". Thank Merlin for magic, he could likely create a microscope and other things easy enough, it wasn't like he would be trying to make a car out of thin air. Had he been a muggle, then he wouldn't have been able to do anything, besides perhaps make a rudimentary microscope together, luckily with magic he didn't. As for a lab, he didn't want anything to escape, for all he knew, if he poked and prodded it with magic and other stuff, he might make things worse. But that still didn't excuse the fact he didn't have a clue and was only going to guess if he did have a look.

"A few other things like what exactly"

"Red Lyrium and fresh alive Darkspawn. Alongside a good amount of time to study it rather than hour-long sessions." Varrick grimaced as he heard the last thing, he had set up the current shifts to prevent anyone from going crazy, already he could hear the shit singing to him, the last thing he wanted was for the kid to be subjected to the same arduous thing especially at a young age.

"Not the best idea then. I'll take your advice anyway kid but the last thing I want is you to be anywhere near darkspawn or Red Lyrium. Demons are bad, but if you mess up around Darkspawn, then you only hope is to find a Grey Warden." Nat agreed, despite knowing that microscopes could see things closer, he certainly wasn't a scientist, something that would certainly most likely prevent anything useful from being discovered. He also hadn't ever used a microscope before, he'd only suggested the idea to Varrick in case the dwarf desperately needed evidence rather than a feeling that a mage got.

"That would be best, I'd rather not be in the presence of dark tainted monsters or lyrium. From what I've heard, neither are good for one's health" Laughing as he heard that, Varrick being curious about the kids to own connection to magic, decided that he would ask some questions while he was at it.

"So kid did your people know anything about Red Lyrium?."

"No, my people were incredibly isolationist, before now I don't even know about normal Lyrium or Darkspawn. In fact we didn't even know elves, dwarves or Qunari existed, the first two were considered fictional and the last nobody had a clue about" Shock was evident on Varricks face, he was aware of a few groups who hid themselves or tried to hide themselves for whatever reason, either they didn't like people much, or just petrified that some other group would hunt them down, but even then, they knew stuff about the outside world. For a kid to grow up in such a community to as believe that elves and dwarves were nothing but fiction was a real experience.

"Now that's a surprise, most groups at least know something about the world. Your little band of mages must have really been good at keeping things hidden." Varrick had no clue how accurate that was, Nat knew. For all the faults of the magical world, they were very good at keeping key things secret with the use of magic. Fidelus charms to hide a certain piece of information or item hidden within the very soul, wiping a person's memory, dominating a person's mind, using compulsion charms to subtly coerce a person what to do, not notice me charms and anti-muggle spells alongside wards. The wizarding world had created several advanced forms of magic to keep their existence hidden from the muggle world both for their sake and the muggles.

"My people were too concerned about revealing ourselves. However that didn't mean that the leadership wasn't aware of what was happening in the outside world, having learnt about this world, our leaders did the right thing. Disaster would have fallen upon us otherwise." Realistically, if the magical community from Earth had taken shelter in Thedas for whatever reason and had been revealed, the muggle's would have been the ones under serious threat. After being in this word for only a short time, if the Chantry and the rest of the world were to discover what he could do with magic, then he would be hunted down relentlessly. Should normal mages be capable of performing aparation or invisibility spells or any other host of spells that would make Templars useless, then the circles would have rebelled. Of course, that was under the illusion that he arrived earlier and the giant green hole in the sky wasn't threatening to gobble up the planet all the while mages and Templars fought each other. In other terms, had he arrived ten years earlier, the Chantry would have shit themselves.

"Fair enough, I can't see the Templars being too kind to a group of apostate mages who have kept themselves hidden for so long. Oh and on that kid, I wanted to tell you that I've sent word to my contacts, if I hear anything about any other survivors of your people, I'll let you know". Nat didn't know why Varrick would do such a thing, perhaps the man only wanted to be kind to him, perhaps there was a small business incentive or perhaps it was the dwarves way of trying to become his friend.

"Thank You, Varrick I appreciate it."

"Don't mention it kid, now is there anything else you wanted to talk about or just crazy red lyrium that makes everyone go nuts?"

"Your adventures with Hawke, I get the feeling from your writing that a few things were missed out. I was wondering if there were any stories about Hawke which haven't been noted in your books for whatever reason." It wasn't always obvious, but when reading Varricks book about Hawke, there was a certain point where there just seemed to be something missing. It wasn't obvious, however as a Ravenclaw and therefore taught how to read very closely between the lines, there was just this slight feeling that something hadn't been written down. Varrick also didn't do a good enough job of hiding that something was off, but Nat could see by the look n the dwarves face that he didn't want to reveal it just yet.

"Sure there are, there are so many little stories that Hawke got up to, did I ever tell you about the time that these members of the Coterie turned up at his estate one time." Varrick began telling the insignificant story, yet Nat was more focused on what Varrick wasn't telling. Something had happened with Hawke, something that might have been pretty major enough if Varrick hadn't put it down in his book for whatever reason. Considering that it was Varrick and Hawke who had first discovered Red Lyrium, perhaps whatever Varrick was hiding might be connected in some way s well.

There were only three ways that came to mind of learning what Varrick was hiding, the first was to use his own magic and look through the dwarves memories. Unfortunately, until he learned how powerful Solas was and what he could and couldn't detect, using something as flashy as mind magic was a risk he was not willing to take. Secondly, he could always talk to Cassandra and say that whatever Varrick was hiding might have some sort of connection to the Red Lyrium, although the woman didn't trust him.

Finally and the most realistically was to build up a trust with Varrick so that he may eventually tell the story possibly giving him clues.

"So Hawke simply shoved the cargo off the coast and into the ocean pissing both sides off". Varrick chuckled as he remembered the look on Bethany's face when she had watched her sister do that act, Merril had been funnier though, her little face was confused beyond all possible belief, she spent the next few weeks asking why Hawke had done what she did.

"Thanks for the tale Varrick, I'll pay you back later by teaching you pool or poker" Nat replied

"And what are those? Some type of card game"

"Half correct, Pokers a card game Pools a ball game with wooden sticks. Come to think of it I can teach you blackjack when I go over Poker, you might like it."Varrick nodded, there was little to do at Haven besides standing around in the cold, and learning a new card game could be a decent way to pass the time.

"Only if I get to teach you, Wicked Grace." Nat nodded, with his conversation now over, Nat gave a quick goodbye to the Dwarf before moving towards the next person he wished to speak to. His purpose for speaking to everyone at camp was mainly to try and boost his own reputation as well as develop some new skills. With an unknown period of time before he could return home if he ever could in the first place, gaining some extra skills now would be rather useful to fit in. And on that subject, Cullen seemed to have finally left his troops and was now heading towards the main building likely to coordinate with Leliana and Josephine. Taking his chance whilst he could, he approached.

"Commander Cullen, it's fine to meet you" Stopping in his tracks, Cullen turned to face the young teenager his eyes recognising him from before.

"Nathanael Tempest correct, I'm sorry we haven't had a proper chance to introduce myself. You can call me Cullen if you wish, is there something you wanted?" Cullen spoke gently as he took in the young mages appearance, it took him back all the way to when he had first severed in the Fereldan circle of Magi, young apprentices first learning to control their powers and the messes they would cause. It was a lot more peaceful then, but that was before the incident at the Fereldan circle and the utter devastation wrought at Kirkwall.

"I was wondering Cullen if you would be so willing to update me on some sword training. I do have some training under my belt, but considering the current environment we're in, restricting myself purely to magic is a grave error to make" Sincerely, Nat knew that if he was placed into a position that he had to clash swords with an opponent, then something had gone very fucking badly. Even taking away his ability to apparate in this world less raise considerable suspicion, he knew a great many ways to stop a person from hacking or slashing at his person. Yet in that case, or whether he was trying to blend in with others, the ability to be competent with a sword would be most precious.

"I wouldn't normally train a mage, but seeing our position, it's better to be safe than sorry. I might have some time later when I'm training the troops up, come to see me then and I'll get you round the basics." Cullen held nothing against the kid, had he still be part of the Templar order, then the last thing the order would want would be for mages to be trained in martial skills. The whole advantage Templars had against mages, was that they could use their powers to prevent magic taking place enabling them to close in on the mages and cut them down with swords. If a mage knew how to wield a blade than it made the job of fighting them far harder. "Is there anything else you wish to talk about?"

"Could you please get the Templar's to leave Solas, Valeyna and I alone, it sets us on edge and the last thing we need is an incident" Cullen frowned at that, he had already been asked on a few occasions by the Templars to do the exact opposite especially with the young teenager. He had been able to talk to them about leaving Solas and Valeyna alone as the former was their expert on the fade and the latter was the Herald of Andraste, but Nathanael was just a young mage. Okay if the rumours were to believed, he was a rather powerful young mage, easily able to kill pride demons single handily, but with his strange people and the possible unknown magic he wielded, he very much understood his former brother and sisters opinion on the matter.

"I'll talk to them when I have the opportunity. You have to understand that with your background, their very cautious, as far as they see things, you're the enemy" Smiling at the boy in hopes of reassuring him, Cullen didn't get a smile or anything in return although coming from the boys perspective, he could see why. Young mages around his age would normally start to get their rebellious thoughts around this age having being cooped up in a circle for so long. With the Templars as their guardians and ultimately as the ones who prevented their freedom, a resentment was given their way. In Nat's case, it was likely worse as he saw them as a group of people who wanted to take him away and lock him up.

"Thank you Cullen, the last thing I want at the moment is some type of conflict. There are ever so slightly bigger things that require our attention" Directing his attention to the sky, Cullen locked his gaze onto the entrance of the fade his eyes sharpening and his hand grasping the hilt of his sword tightly. It was an old reaction born as his time as a Templar, but seeing that thing up there made him feel like he could be attacked at any moment.

"Thank you. It's almost funny you know, despite the threat that the Breach possesses, it also simplifies a lot for you Templars" Confused Cullen wondered what the teenager was on about.

"I'm not sure I know what you're talking about"

"Normally you Templars had to worry about an abomination sneaking into a mage and hiding among you, now with the breach, you don't have to worry about abominations as much. All you have to do is simply kill every demon in sight." Despite the seriousness of the situation, Cullen couldn't help but laugh slightly as he heard the sarcastic tone. The teenager was certainly right, the amount of time he would have to stay up long hours looking for every nook and cranny for mages who were hiding what they were up to was now gone. As were the elaborate plots that abominations made when one did sneak through, if a demon wanted into Thedas all they had to do was jump through one of the multiple new rifts that formed; something far easier than trying to forcibly take over a mage's body.

"I suppose it is although now my nights have me filling in far more paperwork." Smiling as he found the time to rest, Cullen was glad of this small chance to talk with the mage, it felt like he was unwinding slightly from everything. "You would not believe how much paperwork there is, it seems there's a report for every soldier every weapon every person who uses one where they all are, all other types of supplies the blacksmiths we use and the armour and metals and all the other fortifications that need to be created. By the Maker, it's a nightmare".

"Think on the bright side Cullen, you get your own private tent and as leader of the Inquisitions armies, it's going to be a lot easier to find someone to share it with." Taking another sip of his infinite tea courtesy of magic, Nat was witnessed to the event as Cullen slightly sputtered having heard that. The man didn't go anything like a full blush, but the man was certainly not expecting this subtle comment Deciding to tease the man to amuse himself, Nat carried on.

"Have you seen the way that some of the sisters look at you, those eyes aren't ones of holy duty, those eyes are the ones which follow your posterior everywhere you walk licking their lips when you're not looking". Cullen's eyes widened as he looked around him taking careful note of the few Chantry sisters who were looking in his direction. "I'd be careful Cullen, one day you're going to find yourself tied to the bed blindfolded and at the mercy of some very horny woman"

Cullens face was a myriad of emotions, first there was the bright red blush on his cheeks as he heard that something that only grew ever brighter as in his mind he saw a few bashful looks on some of the sisters and servants; then there was the look of utter shock then after a small amount of time he managed to regain his composure although not fully. Nat didn't laugh, but he had found the sight of a flustering Templar an interesting sight to watch. He filed that little piece of blackmail away for later, just in case he needed something to use against the man.

"That... that would not be appropriate and women have never expressed an interest before. Why would they do so now?" Cullen had generally been confused since working for the Inquisition as to why so many women had been giving him odd looks and glances. He thought he had been imagining it first, but then came the light touching of servants and full on grabbing as they dropped items. With it now revealed to him, he felt mortified once again as he realised what they had actually been up to. Maker he realised, that explained all those pinches his bottom had received.

"Don't ask me, I'm the last one to speak to for relationship advice. All I did was notice that they liked you, it's up to you to work out the rest. Oh, and FYI, I wouldn't suggest speaking to Leliana about this, knowing her she'll simply strip you naked throw you outside and leave you to those hungry wolves." Cullen went to object only to pale in horror as he realised that sounded exactly something like Leliana would do. The Spy Master would also very likely watch the entire scene with a very large grin on her face. Cullen shivered, that woman was terrified him to his core.

"Uh well yes, I have a meeting to get to with Cassandra on tomorrows training regime. I have to go" Speeding off towards the large building, Nat refocused his glasses covered gaze over to his right where above he felt Leliana who while in her tent doing work, seemed to have remained still during the conversation. Poor Cullen, that sod was fucked the moment Leliana got bored. Good job she didn't have his magic, the last thing he would want to see would be a nude Cullen wrapped around a flagpole.

Unfortunately, his day was not yet done as he still had the Lady Ambassador to talk to. If he wanted to survive in this world, having power was a useful tool to possess and utilise almost as much as magic. At present, the best way to do that was to gain influence in the Inquisition, and the best way to do that was to make friends with those in charge so that he may help direct its actions. Valeyna was very much the leader even if the others hand realised it yet, but that didn't mean that he wasn't going to try and gain all the power he could whilst he was here.

Josephine office

"Come in" looking up from her desk, Josephine turned her attention towards the person who had just been knocking on her door. It was none other than the mysterious mage child who had joined the inquisition as well the representative of. Did anyone actually know what he was supposed to represent, so far he just seemed to be a random teenager that was on speaking terms with the Herald of Andraste. The same couldn't be said of Lady Lavellan's other companions, Cassandra was the leader of the Seekers, Varrick had multiple contacts in the Merchant's guild and Solas was the Inquisitions expert on the fade. In contrast, Nathanael, as he called himself was just a young teenager who had lost his people and was now hanging out in the Inquisition doing something or other.

"Lady Montilyet a pleasure to meet you, I was wondering if I may have a moment of your time to introduce myself. With our current predicament, I see it in my best interest to get along with my fellow members of the Inquisition. To that matter, I simply desire to get to know you" Walking up to the woman that the table was working on, subtly Nat looked out the corner of his eyes reading rapidly the contents of every letter and every word that had been written. Names were remembered, diplomatic acts could be referenced later and the wealth and power of each family were categorised. When it came to politics there was an awful lot to remember, far more so when it came to Orlais and their dreaded game.

Magical politics were rather simple in comparison, you're family was entirely safe from danger so long as you didn't commit a crime. People could threaten or bribe voters, but it was nowhere near as bad from the impression that the Orlesian game gave off. Far less murder, subterfuge and all that. In fact, his family never really played the equivalent back home. The Tempest family before Weasley took over, was neutral and voted on an individual level rather than on some sort of political party scale. They also didn't try to up their position like others, they were rather happy just being a minor non-consequential house that required no special privilege. The extreme sort of politics was favoured mostly by Slytherins. Orlesians would hate British magical politics as it was rather simple and boring. If your family had a vote, then when a matter came up you voted nothing more nothing less. After all most families were only minor ones and unlike the stereotypical view, most magical noble families actually worked for a living and couldn't afford to lounge away all day thinking up diabolical schemes.

"It is nice to meet you too Mr Tempest, since we will be working together, you can call me Josephine" Smiling at the boy as he stood on the other side of the table, Josephine could finally understand what some of the others meant by the slightly strange and creepiness the teenager presented with those black things over his eyes. Besides the strange things on his face, she also looked at the very oddly designed clothing he wore among his people.

They were certainly fare more connected to commoner clothing than nobility, they were also reflective more of Ferelden apparel than Orlais or Antiva. There were just so many pouches, there were pouches on the back of his pants, pouches on the side of his pants, pouches inside pouches and other less pronounced pouches, there were also pouches hidden within that strange jacket hidden by strange metal teeth.

Whoever the boy's people had been, one thing was certain to Josephine, his people were obsessed with pouches. Then there was also the case of material, the pants he wore looked so thin, and the strange jacket was made of a material that she had never seen before, it was so glossy. Not to mention that strange black jacket he had also held those weird symbols on both shoulders, she had to wonder, were they a symbol of his family of his people. Not to mention why did he only seem to wear black, was it a symbol of mourning the dead or were his people like Tevinter, the boy's clothing alone posed so many questions.

"My apologies, I was observing your clothing. It's not like anything I have seen before; can I ask what the symbol on your shoulders are for?"

"It's the flag of my people, like the flag of Fereldan or Orlais". Josephine looked at the flag closer, it was so unique compared to the flags of the nations of Thedas. Orlais had the symbol of their signature mask, Fereldan was known for its two Mabari hounds, Tevinter had its two snakes on a green background while Nevarra had its skull. But this flag had no animal or person or weapon or item on it, rather there were just multiple red crosses inlaid with white on the site laid on top of a blue background. For some reason, she couldn't help but think that despite its simplicity, that it also worked rather well and if it were to be spotted on a ship, easily recognisable.

"Ah, I'm sorry about what happened to your people. If you ever wish to talk about things, then you can speak to me about it. Although I must ask, what is with all those strange pouches on your clothing and that strange metal on your jacket". Inwardly, Nat sighed. It appeared that for the next few hours he was going to be discussing clothing with a woman, dear Merlin how had he fallen to such lows.

"My people's clothing was designed for all sorts of purpose, it just depended on the job you did. However, whatever you were, everybody had pockets on our clothing because they were used to store things in". As an example to the woman, slipping his hand into his internal jacket pocket which surprised Josephine even more as there were hidden pockets on the inside of the jacket, he brought out his wallet and opened it up revealing a few coins and his debit card. "The advantages with pockets is that when you have items you want to keep from getting wet or dirty or if you just want to carry them, all you have to do is put them in a pocket rather than keeping them in your hands. In fact generally, most people consider having to carry things with your hands as cumbersome. All so it helps prevent a person from stealing your gold. Another great thing is, that when its cold you can just put your hands in them and keep them warm. In your case, with all the work you do, you'd most likely use it to carry pen and paper"

Hearing that, Josephine's eyes lit up with realisation as she recognised just how useful this pockets could be, cold breezes regularly made it into her room with how often that large door at the entrance was. Even when that was not the case, these pockets that his people had created sounded like something that would go down very well with the Ferelden commoners as they preferred practical clothing over anything stylish. But the mention of the last two things got her confused.

"What is a pen?" Nat placed his hand back into one of his many pockets, this time though he brought out a strange thin thing, a small pocket-sized book. At Nathanael's insistence, she opened up the small book only to blink repeatedly as she saw the paper within. It was white, the paper was white not the cream that the paper she was used to, but pure bright white untouched un tainted just a white piece of paper. "Where did your people get such fine paper" Josephine did not lie when she called the paper fine, it had a strange texture to it, but what was more impressive was the impossible straight clear cut side that the paper had. There weren't any bumps or creases, just pure white perfectly sliced paper.

"We made it. Now a pen which is this little thing in my hand is similar to a quill or your brush only the ink is inside the pen". Intrigued, Josephine extended her arm out and accepted the strange thing called a pen. It was black like everything else the boy seemed to own, she couldn't recognise the material it was made of, it was incredibly smooth but it certainly wasn't painted wood and neither did it feel like pottery. Before she could ask what the material was called, Nat brought out another pen and promptly pressed the end forcing the end of the pen out of its small plastic case. "Now you have to use a little more force with a pen, but it's far less messy"

Demonstrating the use of the pen, Josephine looked intrigued, the tip of the pen then hit the paper and then began to deposit the ink that was inside. Once Nat was done, he clicked the end of the pen retreating the writing bit back inside and putting it in his pocket.

"May I" Gesturing towards the paper book that was on the table and the pen. Nat nodded in agreement. Following the steps that had been given to her, Josephine clicked the end of the pen giving it a close look before bringing the end to the paper. Taking the advice given to her, she pressed down lightly and started to move, much to her delight, the ink deposited itself onto the paper.

"It is different to a brush, it requires more force and it is far less messy, the number of times I have accidentally gotten ink on my dress. Do you suppose I can keep it? This pen, I would very much appreciate it and we can also save money on ink" Upon hearing her request, Nat reached inside one of his jacket pockets and pulled out a number of pens. The reason for this was that there that besides the normal anti-weather enchantments, there was also small-scale duplication charm for small items, something which got incredibly useful with how often one could misplace a pen.

"Sure take a hundred to start off with, and if you need any more come to me and ask" Shock was prevalent on the lady ambassadors face as she watched the child just pull these strange pens out of nowhere so easily. His people, whoever they were had been very strange, all these pockets and creative things such as pens and white paper. "Oh you can have this as well, I have a few spare" Much more to Josephine surprise, she was witnessed as a thick book far too large for one of his outside pockets was brought out and placed in the table in front of her. Before she could ask, the book was opened revealing the beautiful white paper that had, in this case, had black lines perfectly horizontal. "In fact, since we're part of the Inquisition, why not have some normal paper as well alongside some coloured pens. No, wait how about I just give you an entire stationary set"

Minutes later, Jospehine's desk had all sorts of strange new stationary that had been deposited on her desk. There were pens, rubbers, rulers, highlighters and all other sorts of things she had never come across but were quickly described to her. Best of all though, was something that Nat had called a calculator, having been showed how it worked, she learned that his people had managed to make a device which could do complex mathematical sums in a heartbeat. The device could multiply, take away, subtract and divide, it was truly an amazing product which would seriously help her with not only her business as the ambassador of the Inquisition, but also reduce the time doing sums. Finally, with a small happy glint in her eye, and a very confused face on where in the makers name the boy had managed to hide so many things in these mysterious pockets, she gave a very warm smile.

"Thank you these will be very useful with my job. Just one thing is there any chance that you might have a small cupboard in there, with so many things I think I will need one "The stack of items on her desk was massive, but also somewhat exciting. The idea that she may be the first one ever to use such basic yet revolutionary witting tools was almost like giving a new toy to a child, she couldn't wait to get started.

"I'm afraid not, but I do hope you like the stationary, its all yours, you never need to give it back, even the calculator." Josephine gave off a warm smile as she glanced all the items that had just been bequeathed to her. Some she could see an immediate use for, the white paper was far neater than the darker brown paper that she was sued to and the pens were also far easier to use. The notepads could also prove useful and she was sure she could find a use for the ruler, however as had been made poignant, the calculator was certainly the gift she prized most of all.

It was such a simple device and had a simple purpose, but it would revolutionise her work. The amount of time that was required at times to add up all the sums individually or divide a certain amount was really time-consuming especially as she had to repeat the process less she make a grand mistake and pay too much or too little. This little device though was a device sent by the maker himself, she could significantly cut down on her work time and so long as she pressed the buttons in the right order, there would never be a mistake made. She was very grateful for this device and she also couldn't help but wonder if Leliana would wish to see it, her friend would likely find this thing interesting.

"Thank you, I promise that I will make good use of it when I have time. Now all I need to do is speak to the local carpenter and see if he can have something made. Is there anything I can do for you in return Mr Tempest?"

"Actually there is, from what I've gathered there is a good chance that the Inquisition may interact with the nobility of Fereldan and Orlais in the future. While I doubt that I would be the one to meet with them when one factor's in my age, in the case that something were to happen, do you suppose you would inform me of the proper mannerisms and actions that I would have to learn? I'd rather not embarrass myself in front of the nobility, it could be rather degrading for the Inquisition"

Having interacted with Orlesian nobility, Josephine knew exactly what he meant and was one of the few concerns bugging her in the back of her mind when it came to the Herald of Andraste. Valeyna was Dalish and therefore did not know the customs of Orlais. If the Inquisition was ever to interact with the Orlesian nobility in order to gain support, the Herald would most certainly have to attend, but if she was not aware of how Orlais worked and especially the game, it could be disastrous. Perhaps she could solve that problem later down the line, but if Mr Tempest wanted to make sure he was prepared for any possible meeting, it could only be to their favour to ensure that he could act the part.

"Very well, I will prepare some lessons for you when you return from the Hinterlands. Now I do not desire to be rude, however, I must go back to my previous business. If you could perhaps assist me with this stationary" A small pained smile was on the Antivan woman, she did like the gifts bestowed upon her, but she did have business to get back to and she had not expected for such a long conversation.

Immediately upon hearing her words, her dark eyes widened as all of the stationary lifted itself off the table and then promptly to fly in a neat elegant line to the opposing wall stacking themselves with unbeaten precision. Only a few things hadn't been moved and those were a few pens alongside her calculator which was sat proudly on her desk. With the stationary now transported, Nat gave a polite goodbye to the woman and left the Lady Ambassador to her work.

As the hours passed and moonlight danced on the floor illuminating all in its path, Nat watched silently as the camp mostly remained silent. Soldiers slept in their tents while the tavern was relatively quiet, the only lights visible were those of flaming origin. Reflecting back on the conversations he had shared with the most important members with the inquisition bar Cassandra who he couldn't see much of a point talking to, he had hoped he had moved forward with his plan.

Gaining influence and building the friendship of those in the inquisition was paramount. Should he find the people and magic to return home, then being able to call upon the inquisition for a favour or two would be highly useful. If not and he was stuck here which as much as he hated the idea, was far more likely the result of his travel here, then being on the good side of a powerful organisation such as the Inquisition was again useful.

Hopefully, he had taken the first few steps to his goal, but the future will tell whether or not his actions had any merit. For now, he would think about things, tomorrow he would be leaving for the Hinterlands.