Ferelden:

One Step Forward, Ten Years Back

"Ow..." Bethana's whole body throbbed with dull but persistent pain as though she'd bruised the spirit within. Magic backlash? she thought, her muddled mind trying to make sense of it all. Did I over do it? Was I practicing without supervision? The templars are supposed to- But templars made her think of her templar- former templar- and the rest of her memories came fast on the heels of that trigger. Cullen. Corypheus. Solas.

Violet eyes fluttered open. She winced at the brightness of the sun- the very real sun that was so different from the gentle, hazy glow of the light in the fade-touched in-between world Solas had recreated. Hope took a stronger hold.

Did it work? Am I-? Where-when am I? Bethana squinted at her surroundings, a little dismayed to find herself alone in woods that she didn't immediately recognize. Her fingers flexed against the ground- all ten of them.

"Well, I have both hands at least," she said aloud. That was a relief. She'd gone back before Solas had been forced to cut off her lower arm to keep the mark from pulling her apart. She reached tentatively for the fade and breathed a little easier when she hit the Veil instead, though it seemed to respond a little more eagerly than she remembered it doing when she was younger. "But how much younger am I?" she asked.

She could have kept her thoughts to herself, but it was too quiet. There was the sound of rustling leaves and an occasional chirp from a bird, but was used to company. "I'm not marked, but I'm obviously not in the Circle either. Even after the war started I was usually with somebody." Her head ached and she pressed her hands over her eyes to block out the sun as she tried to force her sluggish mind to think. It was surprisingly difficult to do; her thoughts, her arms, and her whole body felt impossibly heavy.

"If this is before the conclave... can I stop that from happening? Should I? I could save a lot of people if I could figure out how to stop Corypheus. Of course I could also get myself killed or prompt Solas to try to end the world a lot sooner or..." There were so many ways for things to go wrong. She hadn't considered any of them before she'd activated that amulet. She wasn't sure that there was any risk that would have kept her from doing it anyways. If she'd really gone back and time and wasn't just living some sort of fade-fueled delusion, the others were all alive. Cullen was alive.

"None of which helps me with where and when I am now, of course," she muttered. Exhausted from the magic it had taken to create the amulet, let alone activate it, even the nagging sense of urgency she felt couldn't keep her awake for long. Bethana had only just begun trying to convince herself to stand before fatigue washed over her and sleep dragged her under.

The first wisps of a dream had barely taken hold when her attention was pulled away by two presences too strong, too clear to be products of her imagination. She knew she was dreaming in the Fade, and she wondered if she could... A gentle nudge of her magic made the dream shimmer and dissolve. Bethana was left standing in a faintly hazy replica of the woods where she'd fallen asleep, the two presences beside her- one so familiar her heart gave a leap.

"Cole!" she exclaimed. She hadn't touched him much over the course of their friendship. In the past she'd worried that the contact might make it more difficult for him, that he might hear or feel too much, and as she was usually tempted to take his hand when he was already nearly frantic she hadn't wanted to risk it. This time she couldn't help herself. She threw her arms around the young man- spirit- and had only a moment to wonder whether he was the Cole she knew before his arms came up to carefully return the embrace.

"You're here," she said, pulling back to get a better look at him. He was a bit too indistinct to be human, a bit too solid to be a spirit, but he smiled very slightly and nothing else mattered because she could see that he was the Cole she knew. "Did you follow me through the portal?" A sudden flare of worry her made her wince. "Did Solas?"

"Solas is... sleeping, still," Cole answered helpfully. She relaxed. "But I am not here, not where you are. I was in the fade again when time went backwards, but I felt you dreaming. I came to find you." He frowned just a little and looked down at himself. "I am not really Cole either, not yet, maybe not ever, but I remember being Cole."

He looked a little lost and it tugged on her heart like it always did, but she only smiled and said, "You are my friend, no matter what your name is. Would you rather I called you Compassion?"

"I... don't know. Cole- the boy, the mage- he is alive now. Again. I can hear him dreaming."

"Oh," she said. "I hadn't considered..." Her thoughts raced. There were so many people they might be able to save, not just the ones at the Conclave. And there were so many ways they could mess things up. Bethana took a deep breath and chose to focus on the hope rather than the fear. She'd had enough of fear. "Do you think we can save him? If we can find him before he has to use magic to defend himself, he won't be arrested. They'll never have reason to put him in a cell." Let alone leave him to starve to death.

"I can find him," Cole- Compassion said, sounding more hopeful himself. "I can stop the bad day, stop them from hurting him. I can save his mother and sister. It hasn't happened yet."

"He'll still be a mage you know," she said gently as possible consequences darted through her mind. "He'll need training."

Cole looked puzzled a moment then frowned at her. "You want me to let the Circle have him. I want to protect him."

"He needs to learn control," she had to insist. "If he hasn't hurt anyone, if he turns himself in willingly they won't lock him up. If he doesn't learn he could hurt somebody else or himself. You could take him to Rhys. He'd teach him, wouldn't he? He'd help keep the boy safe. You can see your friend again."

Longing and uncertainty warred in Cole's expression, and all at once Bethana realized that she'd erased more than she'd really intended to. Rhys wouldn't know him. Cullen wouldn't know her. None of their friends would recognize either of them; they'd have to start all over.

An echo of the grief she'd felt upon losing them welled up inside, but she reminded herself fiercely that starting over wasn't the end of the world. So long as they were alive they could become friends again. She'd scour the world to find them all again if necessary, and she'd wait as long as she had to for Cullen to come around to the idea of liking a mage. They'd make new memories. Things might not ever be the same, but that didn't mean they couldn't be good.

"I'm sure if we'd been able to ask him Rhys would want the chance to get to know you again," she said. Cole's gaze lifted to meet hers. "I'd want that chance in his shoes."

Bethana waited a minute, but when no reply was forthcoming her gaze turned towards the second presence to give him time to think. "I'm sorry, but I'm not sure I know who you are," she said to the patient golden spirit that somehow provoked a quiet sense of respect with just its presence.

"I am called Faith," the spirit said. "We had not met before the Veil tore, but I have been friend to your kind."

"She was keeping Rhys' Evangeline alive," Cole explained quietly.

"Before that I joined with another: Wynne. I will need to find again soon. Her circle is under attack," Faith said with a calm sort of certainty.

"Blood mages. Demons. Surprise and fear and pain and the templars fall back. Others are caught. Trapped. Hurt," Cole murmured fretfully.

Bethana flinched then stared at them both. The name Wynne sounded somehow familiar. Where had she heard that? "Wait- Blood magic. Is that- Are you talking about Cullen's circle? The one on Lake Calenhad? That's happening now?"

Faith nodded, then her attention turned elsewhere. "Wynne will fall soon. I have to go."

If Feredan's Circle was falling then they'd been dropped right into the middle of the Fifth Blight, and the events that would torment Cullen for the rest of his life were occurring as they spoke.

"Where?" she demanded. "Maybe I can help." She wasn't sure how much she could do against an entire tower of demons and abominations, but it was for Cullen. "I have to try."

Faith studied her long enough to begin to make Bethana self-conscious before nodding in apparent approval. "There," she stated, pointing southwest. Then the spirit wavered and disappeared; there were faint sounds of distant fighting in the air before that faded as well.

Bethana turned back to Cole- Compassion, guilt turning her tone apologetic. "I want to help you with the boy, with Cole, but..."

"But you want to help Cullen too," he finished for her without an ounce of judgement or disappointment in his tone. "I will save the boy. I will... I will think about taking him to Rhys. You should help Cullen. Maybe you can take away some of his nightmares. Maybe he won't frown so much."

"Thank you," Bethana said with great relief and a surge of affection that she hoped the kind spirit could feel. She pressed against the Veil and felt herself beginning to wake. She glanced back. "See you when I dream?" They still had a great deal to figure out between Solas and Corypheus and apparently the Blight on top of it all, but she would be unable to focus on any of that until they'd saved those who weighed heaviest on their hearts.

Compassion nodded even as he faded away. "I will speak to you later," he said with a glimmer of humor, using the words she'd said to him so often.

He was already gone, but Bethana answered anyway, her mouth pulled up into a fond smile that lingered even as she woke.

"How do you know?"