Chapter 6- "Brief Relief"

(Future)

"You can stay." Anders sighs.

He didn't want to let me, he hated lying to the others. I actually bet Justice is yelling at him mentally right now. He should turn me away, he should demand an answer for my ridiculousness, and he doesn't. He truly must be a healer.

"Thank you."

He scoffs a little at my gratitude.

Anders had sunken back into the chair at the desk, his face in his hands while his elbows were propped up on his knees. It was a position I knew well. A signature of mine almost, strange that he would choose that one. I almost had a childish urge to sit up and try it, just so I could fall into the familiar perspective.

I stared at him for a long time. This was the first time I think me and Anders have been alone. Like alone, alone. And silent too. I could hear every little drop hit the roof above.

Their was no awkwardness to it though. I felt strangely rested and relaxed, for the first time in a week, mind you, it was almost like his presence did it to me. The clinic had instantly warmed after he arrived (not just due to the fire he lit). I think I understood now why he refused Varric every time that batty dwarf offered him a bed in The Hanging Man; Anders belonged here.

It was hard to imagine him in the confinements of the circle as I have once known it.

"Do you remember it?" I ask, softly, barely daring to speak. My curiosity overthrew my constant will not to. "The circle, I mean."

His fingers shift slightly so his eyes peer through them at me. I give him a lopsided, hopefully, apologetic smile. "Yes." He says. I can tell he was being cautious at to what I was asking.

"How.. do you recall it?"

"I can't say I know what you mean."

I sigh, moving a hand in a sign of exasperation. "You know."

He sits up now, dropping his hands down and his forearms laying against his inner thighs. "I don't. How do you recall it?"

I gnaw on my lips for a moment. "Tall. Really, really tall. I remember sitting at the windows, looking down, and it was so high up.. the world so far down. I used to think leaving would be impossible." I raised my eyes to the ceiling. "I also recall it as.. very suffocating, with all the Templars, or those armored statues making you think someone was watching you, and yet.. I also felt never alone."

"Hmm." He hums, considerably. I stare at his eyes. They give away nothing. I was waiting for him to laugh at me, but he never did.

"I remember it differently." He says, somberly. His finger tapped against the side of his cheek, those brown eyes would not meet mine as he spoke. "I was a pig back then. I thought the tower was a trap, filled with a lot of tail. Girls just itching for adventure at every corner, it was a free for all for someone like me." He gives a startling laugh. "But I'm not like that anymore, Justice has shown me my selfishness there."

"You and him, close, aren't you?" I mumble, from the side of my mouth. I still didn't like that he was tainted like that, with a spirit. But hey? He was a Grey Warden too, maybe he just enjoyed being poisoned.

Anders' glare told me all he thought of my statement.

For a long while after that, with me picking at my finger nails and him running his hand over the drying fur of his cloak, there was nothing but the pitter patter of rain. I waited for him to say something, to be angry, sad.. anything.. but he was so speechless I felt this agonized me more than anything he could have said.

I imagined what it would be like if Fenris were with me. I expect he would be standing closer, his hands curled into fists and me, as tense as a board, unable to look away from his eyes. I would laugh nervously, trying to wave away my stupidity, my thoughtlessness of making him worry. "So, nice weather we're having." I would convey and he would fight the twitch of his lip, while yelling, "How can you talk of the weather right now!"

The shudder running down my spine was not because of the harshness I imagined in his tone, but the fear I felt creeping into it. He would be scared for me, as all of my friends are. Poor, lost Caela- they would think.

I wished I could deny it.

A/N: Really short I know, I'm sorry but this is all that needs to be said for the future right now, the next few chapters will most likely be all the present going into her early life as a citizen of Kirkwall. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, however minimal length it has, and thanks for reading. Sorry for typos. Review! (The second I get the first review, I literally start writing the next chapter, so if you want a fast update, reviewing would help!) -Taryn(: