Prompt: I'm just an old woman

A/N: Will not make sense without the previous drabble.

The bulky shadow slipped from the forge at the edge of the town square, paused to glance around, and hurried into the night-filled streets.

Like so many nights before, Sky Adaar walked along the silent streets. She could still faintly smell the smoky sweet scent of the heather burning that had been taking place on the countryside surrounding the city. It was a pleasant exchange for the smells that usually assaulted her nose during the day: animals going to market, unwashed bodies, and the contents of chamber pots which missed the waste channels built into the streets for that purpose.

She paused outside the alienage of Starkhaven. The front gates were, as usual, guarded by two yawning city guardsmen, but Sky stayed well clear of them, hesitating in the shadows. Every night this week she'd come at least this far, but every other night she'd returned home, hoping instead for a solution that never presented itself.

A whimper emerged from the bundle slung against her chest. Sky froze, but the guardsmen were so sleep-deprived they didn't appear to have noticed anything. Her child's noise, however, reminded her of what was at stake. Slowly, she edged through the shadows until rounding the side of the alienage that held nothing but empty stalls waiting the next Market Day's business. Behind one such stall was a pale section of the fence. It had been recently repaired. Sky felt along the edges of the section and slid it out and over, like a pendulum, to reveal a gap.

The hole was a tight squeeze, having been meant for smaller, slender elf bodies and not tall ones with horns, but she managed. The massive trunk of a tree obscured the hole from the inside and she edged around it. The alienage wasn't as quiet as the city outside. Muffled cries, animals scavenging in a nearby alley, and the low rumble of voices from an illicit tavern echoed around the small space.

Sky moved quickly through the alienage. She'd only been there a few times: once to fix the axel of a wagon too big to move to her shop, and, more recently, to fix the hole in the fence with a special nail that allowed easy access to the outside.

The hovel she paused at was no different than the others, except for a spray of wilted flowers gasping for life in an inadequate patch of dirt under the window. Sky hesitated once more, then knocked.

The Hahren answered the door more quickly than she expected. The old elf's already wide eyes grew even bigger at the sight of Sky looming outside her door.

"What are you—? Never mind. Come in. Quickly."

The tips of Sky's horns brushed the ceiling as the old woman peered outside and closed the door behind her.

"What are you doing here this time of night?" the gray-haired elf woman asked, her bird-like features wreathed in confusion.

In answer, Sky opened her cloak, revealing her child clutched close to her chest, and then a bandage wrapped around her upper arm. The Hahren's eyes glanced at the bandage then back at Sky.

"I need help," the gray-skinned woman said.

#

"So, your child is a mage," said the Hahren, sipping on warm, bitter chicory tea. The child still slept in her mother's arms, bound against her chest by a length of cloth.

"I'm not scared of her," Sky said, her fingers touching the velvety nubs that would, in only a couple of years, grow into proper horns.

"I didn't say you were," the Hahren said mildly. "But she's hurt you."

Sky hesitated. "Yes. But not on purpose. She was very distressed afterwards, only..."

"She can't control it," finished the Hahren in a soft voice.

Sky didn't reply, only continued to stroke her sleeping child's hair.

"Why did you come here, to my house?" asked the Hahren.

Sky lifted her gaze. "You're an elf. Elves know of such things as magic. I thought..." She trailed off.

"My dear, I'm only an old woman with no skills other than the meager talents the Maker gave me."

Sky's hands stilled.

"The Circle isn't completely bad," the Hahren offered hesitantly. "Most of our children feel it is a privilege to escape these walls. A life at the Circle is in some ways better than a life as a city elf."

"No," Sky said, eyes bright and dagger sharp. "No Circle. No templars. No..." She swallowed what she was going to say. "I've seen what they've done to... to the mages that displease them. Those things with dead eyes..." Sky shuddered. "The templars would watch her always, suspicious of what she is. No... no Circle."

The Hahren cocked her head. "Just out of curiosity, how are mages treated among your own people?"

Sky stilled, her mouth trembling as her skin turned a sickly ashen gray. "You do not want to know," she whispered. "The Circle mages are free as birds compared to the saarebas."

"She needs trained, Sky," the Hahren said, after a pause. "She will certainly be discovered by a templar sooner or later."

Sky's arms folded around her child. "We will have to leave then. I will not give her up to the templars."

The Hahren hesitated, looking at the gray-skinned woman and was reminded of the service she had done them in fixing the wall so that the elves could have some limited freedom at night, and the fact that the horned woman also had pointed ears. Perhaps qunari and elves were cousins of a sort. To an elf, family was everything. The Hahren sighed, then scooted her chair a little closer, lowering her voice. "There... may be one other option."

Sky raised her eyes.

"My grandson is an apostate. He was trained by the Circle but escaped a few years ago. He's not had an easy life-what elf does?-but he's talented and wise and a good lad. And," she finished, setting down her cup, "he's coming to visit in a few days, sneaking in with a betrothal delegation from the alienage of Kirkwall. Perhaps he can advise you better than I can."

Sky nodded. "I would be grateful."

#

From her forge, open at the front, Sky was able to watch the small group of elves arrive in the city, escorted by a few guardsmen. She scanned the faces as she pumped the billows, but none of them stood out, except for a young woman with flowers braided into her hair. The prospective bride perhaps.

None of the others looked like a mage. But that was a good thing, Sky reminded herself. If this apostate, this unshackled mage knew how to blend in, she would need that knowledge for her daughter.

Sky waited throughout the day as tense as leather pulled tight to wrap a sword's hilt, and, finally, just before she was about to close shop, an elf appeared at her forge.

"If you have time, Serah," the elf said, "the Hahren asks if you could come repair one of the fences near the school."

Sky nodded. "Let me get my tools." She walked into the small house that joined the smithy. Her daughter was playing on the floor with carved wooden soldiers. "Child, we are going to the alienage. Come."

Tool bag over her shoulder and child by the hand, Sky followed her elven guide to the alienage, this time through the main gate. The guardsmen watched but made no other comment. It wasn't unusual for her to enter the alienage to fix something.

The elf guided her to a small fenced off yard that actually had a patch of grass for the children to play on. It was a quiet spot, the children having been let out of school already, and Sky let her own little one plunk down on the greenery to resume play with her soldiers.

Sky examined the fence but could find no obvious breaks. A quiet step made her look up. An elf with a thatch of messy brown hair stood a few feet away, observing her child, then looking back at Sky. He was plain featured for an elf, and though elves more than the general populace tended to blend in anyway, he was so nondescript that he might have been a piece of furniture.

He smiled, transforming his face into something that was almost good-looking. "My grandmother said a qunari needed my advice on magic. I almost didn't believe her until now."

Sky stood. "I am not qunari. You would call me Tal-Vashoth, but my name is Sky."

"Apologies," he said, nodding. "My name is Bryon." He glanced at her child, who looked up, interested in the exchange. "This must be your mageling."

Sky's fingers clenched around her tool bag. "Yes."

Bryon cocked his head. "It's harder to tell with your kind, but how young is she? Magic typically doesn't appear until between 10 and 13 years in humans and elves."

"She was born seven years ago."

Bryon's eyebrows shot up. "And she is displaying magic already?"

"It started in winter. About six months ago."

He crouched at the child's side. "Hello there. What's your name?"

"Today it's Soldier," the little girl said, looking at him curiously, head cocked.

Bryon glanced up at Sky, who smiled fondly. "She will choose her own name when she is old enough. At the moment, she changes from day to day." She paused. "This morning she was Rainbow."

Bryon nodded, seeming to take it in stride after his initial surprise. "Well, Soldier, can you show me some ice? Like this?" He cupped his palm and a snowball formed from nothing.

The gray child's eyes widened. "Mama says I'm not 'posed to do that," she whispered.

"You may try this once," Sky said, glancing up to make sure they were still alone in the back alley.

The child nodded and frowned, concentrating. At first nothing happened, but droplets of water began to coalesce on the girl's hand. She stopped after a moment, pouting. "I can't do it today."

"It's alright. That's very good," Bryon said, and stood to his feet.

"The Hahren said you could advise me," Sky said in a low voice taking a step away from the girl happily playing with her soldiers again.

"My grandmother said you were against the Circle?" Bryon said, looking at her, searching her face.

Sky nodded.

Bryon hesitated. "I did not come here intending to do anything other than advise you, but…" He blew out a breath. "I will take her as an apprentice, if that will suit you."

Sky blinked. "You… would teach her."

"Yes. I have been Circle-trained. I know how to give her a good education—I may have become a teacher myself had I desired to remain in the Circle. But she will be free of the templars and I can teach her how to hide her magic."

Sky relaxed. "Thank you. I had hoped something like this would be possible." She paused at the discomfort on Bryon's face. "What is it?"

"I am an apostate. I cannot remain in one place for too long. If you truly wish me to take your daughter as an apprentice, I would leave in a couple of days, after the wedding. Your child would need to go with me." He paused, letting that sink in. "It wouldn't be forever. We would be able to return at least once a year, perhaps more. I would also be able to write from time to time, and so would she." He paused again. "Or she could stay here and join the Circle. The Starkhaven circle isn't incredibly bad, as far as Circles go. And she will be discovered, this year or next. The templars know the signs."

Sky crossed her arms over her chest. "Why are you offering to do this? I have been in the Free Marches long enough to know that bas rarely do something for nothing. What do you get out of this?"

"Fair enough." Bryon nodded. "I was telling the truth earlier: I enjoy teaching, and I haven't had much opportunity to do it. Also," he hesitated, "there was a child of my own once. He was born in the Circle and taken away from his mother and I before we even had time to name him. We were both powerless to stop it." He swallowed. "No child should be taken from their parents by the templars. If I can stop that from happening to your daughter, I would feel that I have at least begun to atone for letting my own be taken from me."

Silence fell between them.

"Mama, look, I did it!" The gray child bounced over, showing hands encased in ice.

Bryon sucked in a breath and clasped the child's hands in his. "Careful, little one, you could get frostbite from yourself," he said in a voice that seemed calm, but Sky could hear the tension underneath. The ice, however, melted at his touch, wisps of steam rising into the air.

Sky rested her hand on her daughter's head, feeling resignation settle into her bones. "In a few days?" she said, looking back at the elf mage.

"A few days," he repeated. "I can come by the smithy to pick her up the evening I depart."

"She will be ready."

-end-