"Sebastian, I wish to speak to you."

"Of course, your Grace. Is there something in particular you would wish to talk about?"

The woman motioned him to follow her, inclining her head. "Not particularly, no, I have recently noticed, though, that you have been distracted in your duties. It has prompted my concern that something might have happened. Tell me… what is bothering you, my child?" The softness in her eyes was heart-warming, and Sebastian's respect and love for the Grand Cleric quietly demanded of him to tell the full truth of what had disrupted his routine. That, however, he could not do, and that brought about great guilt.

"It is nothing, your Grace. I have been thinking of what has come about those last months, of Starkheaven and the misery in this city." For a moment, it was quiet.

"Indeed, those are troubling thoughts." Grand Cleric Elthina allowed his lie to stand, more out of her respect for his privacy than out of unawareness on her part. "I am sure you will find peace in time, Sebastian, let your mind rest." Another pause ensued. "Tell me, that Hawke girl, Leandra Amell's daughter, is she a friend of yours?"

That question was what the archer had dreaded. Carefully, with all the delicacy of a diplomatic leader, he answered. "I… I could not say so. She is a… good woman, and she visits the Chantry often enough, I have talked with her on several occasions, and I have known her brother. He had helped me with something this summer, and he is an honest person. I am not especially close with the Hawke family, but I have had the opportunity to get to know them better than I expected in my short staying here." His performance was perfect, and the Grand Cleric smiled, more at ease.

"Very well then, this is all I wanted to talk about, you can return to your chores." She placed her hand lightly on his shoulder, urging him on. "Thank you, your Grace, I will." He let the warmth he felt in his heart trickle in his words.

Bethany did not come for the morning sermon that day, but he noticed her subtle presence later into the day, shortly before sunset. She didn't approach him, and it disturbed him far more than it should have. He made an effort to appear oblivious to her being there, but he was not confident in how well he pulled that off, he always had been incredibly aware of the mage, and sometimes it showed.

He didn't see her leave until the streets were dark and the halls were shrouded in an uneasy silence. Because of that, he was one of the last to retire to his chambers, and later, he would be the last to fall asleep. In the dim light of one lonely candle, he undressed for the night, but sleep would not come easily, he felt, and his eyes strayed towards his window. The night was dark and cool, with few stars above. Sebastian propped his body against the windowsill and from there watched for movement on the street with a critical, sharp gaze. He was hunting shadows, he scolded himself, but still, he stayed where he was. Of all the ways he expected his night to go, he never would have anticipated what would actually happen.

A flash of yellow, short-lived and blazing, shimmered and died hissing into an alley, but it was visible long enough for him to see it. It was a sign of disturbance, a warning, a taunt, but most importantly, it was magic. And he had been hunting for shadows, until that light tore the sky and there were no more darkness to hide them.

There was only one mage he could think of who walked the streets of Hightown then, and, in great haste, the prince strapped on his bow and snatched his arrows. His mind worked itself into a panic unlike anything he had experienced in years, and his heart pounded furiously in his ear, spurring him on in his mad dash. Bethany was out there, and if that was her magic, that could only need that something bad had happened, she would not have risked exposing herself carelessly. There was no time to put on armour, and he only hoped he would not need it.

Of course he would.

His steps resounded strangely when he ran, much to Sebastian's displeasure. The last thing he wanted to do was draw attention from the guards or the Templars. Especially not the Templars, he concluded, thinking back to Bethany's latest concerns; he shook his head to shake off the thought. Finding Bethany in the darkened city was hard enough without the added weight of fear on his mind. The courtyard was empty, expectedly, but the marketplace wasn't. Frowning, he made efforts to pay close attention to the shadows. The rumbling of feet and the rattle of armour hitting flesh announced him of the dangers he was in. Near the armour shop, a faint light still shone, and due to it he made out Bethany's worried face and the identity of her attackers. Guardsmen Pretenders, he should have known...

Reading his bow, he took a fighting stance with the ease of a practiced warrior and fixed his target. There were six men surrounding the mage, shallowguard troops. The first one was easy to dispatch, unsuspecting of the prince at his back his neck was an easy target. The other five were not so easy to handle.

"Get him!"

It was all the warning he got, before he was faced with the blades of angered warriors.

They were a bit clumsy, much to Sebastian's relief, but not completely inexperienced. Still, with quick footwork and precise jumps, he managed to get to Bethany's side unscathed. The woman seemed astounded to see him, and her magic faltered for a moment. It did not passed the men's notice, for they drew near even more menacingly.

"Can you still fight?" He shouted over the ensuring battle cries. Steadily, he prepared to rain hell over their enemies. "Bethany!" She still wasn't moving.

"Right!" Gathering energy, her hands shone bright green and she moved her staff into a wide circle that narrowly avoided hitting his head. Knitting his brow, Sebastian realised fighting this close together would be tricky. Mages need their space to cast. "I'll hold them, shot them down!"

Realising what she wanted to do, the archer nodded, he pulled the string taut and steadied his breathing.

"Glyph of Paralysis!"

The men glowed green as well, caught unprepared by the trap, and Sebastian realised a Hail of Arrows over their vulnerable selves. They groaned and grimaced in pain, but they could do little else. "Maker preserve their stupid, stupid souls." The prince muttered under his breath, and wasted no time in finishing off the ones left standing. Bethany was quiet, but ended the fight with a fireball directed at the leader of the group, who stood no chance against it.

In the aftershock of the fight, they could do little but try to regain their bearing. It wasn't really the fight that wearied out Sebastian as much as all the running he did to get to Bethany, but the woman was evidently unwell. He was only somewhat surprised when she collapsed where she stood.

Sebastian was on his knees before her in a matter of seconds, mindless of the cobblestone digging in his flesh, unbothered by the coldness of the pavement. He was fighting with himself if to lean her against himself, when she fell into his arms on her own, and for a moment he allowed himself to enjoy the feel of her flesh, strangely grateful for his thin shirt and the soft fabric of her dress. But that was only a moment, then he remembered where he was and who he was. He pushed her away, not as gently as he would have liked, and carefully examined her for injuries, taking the liberty to keep his grasp on her forearms and study her face in the blackness of the night. She was wide-eyed and fatigued, but perfectly unconcern of her position. "I'm sorry…that cost me a lot of mana…" It was all she said, like it explained everything, and then the real fight was over, and she surrounded to her exhaustion, to sleep.

It did strange things to him to know she trusted him to keep her safe, enough to allow herself to fall asleep like that.

Shaking himself again, he spend some time what he should do with the fact that he had a unconscious apostate on his hands, and found there was little he could do. Sebastian couldn't let her out on the street, passed out like she was, but on the other hand neither could he take her to the Chantry –bringing a woman into his chambers in the dead of night would be questionable enough, but Bethany was a mage in hiding on top of being female. He could not take her home either, more than the fact that carrying her all the way to Lowtown was not something he thought himself capable of, even with his constitution, he had only an obscure idea as to where she lived.

Bethany sighed in her sleep, her head against his shoulder, a wonderfully smoothing sound, and he did the same. He himself had started to feel the lack of sleep.

He would take her to Aveline, he decided, since the woman was sure to know what to do, and she was certainly trust-worthy.

Tentatively, Sebastian tried to wake Bethany enough to be able to walk her to the barracks in The Keep, urging her on with soft-spoken words. She groaned, a sound that was not appreciated by his sanity, and he reluctantly gave up. He resigned himself with the fact that it would be a long time before he would know her safe with the Captain of the Guards and started walking, the mage draped onto his back.

In the back of his mind, there was still a something that kept nudging at him.

If he had been able to notice the traces of Bethany's magic even from the Chantry… who else had?

I'm terribly sorry for the late update, but school is a horrible, horrible experience, and I was deprived of my free time. If you think everything is moving a bit too slowly, I understand you, and I can assure you I'll try not to linger too much on useless things from now on. A.