Half Full Chapter Seven
By Of Quirky Excellence aka LyriumGhost18
Maeve blinked a few times and stared Jowan in the face with disbelief. "What? How?" She asked after she got over the initial shock.
He sighed and looked to the ground. "I don't think you will like the answer to that. While the blood magic was...active...I, uh, may have read into Knight Commander Greagoir's thoughts, and gotten that information. I'm sorry, Maeve, it was the last time, I swear!" he winced as his voice got higher and she placed a hand on his shoulder, her expression serious, but not angry.
"Jowan, Alistair isn't going to like this..." She frowned as she could only speculate the former Templar's reaction to this news. Aeonar was rarely spoken of by apprentices, and when it was, those who spoke were usually the older, or the more menacing Templars, or very Maker-fearing mentors. Maeve had sometimes wondered if the Aeonar even existed, or if it was a fable made up by the Templars to scare mages into being 'manageable.' But after the events with Jowan, Fen'asha and Lily, there was no doubt in her mind Aeonar was real.
"I know." Jowan went pale.
"But I'm not about to tell him. That would be sinking to Surana's level. That rat." Maeve replied, her eyes narrowing at the mention of her rival.
"How will he not find out?" Jowan asked, looking into Maeve's sea blue eyes as his grey irises glimmered and his brow furrowed with worry. "I mean, I can tell you where it is, but-"
"Let's start with that." Maeve smiled reassuringly at him.
He sighed. "It's in the mountains, past Orzammar. It's a big, guarded fortress." he told her.
"I see. Well, we are headed to get activate the Dwarven treaty next, so we'll find it, and we'll go from there, all right?" She patted his shoulder and they both stood up.
"You mean you will help me get her out?" he asked, almost surprised that Maeve was willing to help.
The red haired mage nodded. "Of course, Jowan."
"Thank you...I just don't want her paying for all the mistakes I've made. They're my burden to carry, not hers."
Maeve nodded again. She said nothing of her true feelings for Jowan's former lover. She knew the Chantry Initiate would probably never forgive Jowan or his actions, and she wasn't entirely to blame either. After all, being raised in a Chantry, particularly one at a Circle Tower, didn't exactly breed love and understanding for mages who didn't follow the laws. But Lily's condemning of Jowan was still disheartening to Maeve and she couldn't imagine how her lover must have felt. As they returned to camp, where the others had been chatting amomgst themselves, Maeve whispered into Jowan's ear. "Let me handle this, love."
All eyes were on the two mages now, and they joined hands, fingers intertwining softly. "We are headed into the Frostbacks as of now, but we will also be making a side trip. We'll be going to Aeonar to rescue Lily, Jowan's former lover."
"That's a bad idea, Maeve. If the Chantry doesn't want Jowan dead or captured for being a blood mage, they'll have trouble ignoring the crime of breaking into Chantry property... That is just pushing your luck." Alistair said with a frown.
Leliana spoke up. "We could try to reason with the Chantry...maybe they'd let her go."
Jowan shook his head with a solemn expression, eyes drifting low, to the ground.
"If we approach them, Jowan will be at risk. I won't let them take him from me...again." Maeve said softly but with significant fierceness.
"'Tis all well and fine, but how do you know the location of this fabled prison? I highly doubt the Templars mark it on any map, nor would they tell just anyone where it is... especially those who've defied them in just about every way possible..." Morrigan said calmly.
Jowan went pale. "I already know where it is...or at least I know the general area."
Alistair stood up abruptly.
"That's a Chantry secret. Very dangerous for an apostate." he said fiercely. "Might I ask how you came to know this information."
Alistair stepped closer to Jowan with an angry expression on his face.
"Back off, Alistair." Maeve planted herself between the two men and placed a firm hand on Alistair's chest. He didn't come any closer but he didn't back down either.
"I said, back off." Maeve gave Alistair an icy glare and he finally stepped back. As the former Templar obeyed his fellow Grey Warden, Jowan stepped back as well.
"I've known since I escaped the Tower." he said, with a hint of shame in his tone.
"And just how did you manage that?" Alistair asked him suspiciously.
Wynne sighed loudly and then spoke up. "He probably used forbidden magics to read Greagoir's mind. He's the only Templar in Kinloch Hold who knows where the Aeonar is, and lets on that he does."
"I...I did," Jowan admitted, "and I'm sorry for it, but I didn't hurt anyone by learning where it is!"
Alistair huffed and spoke up again. "I told you so, Maeve. Once a blood mage, always a blood mage. He cannot be trusted."
"He used blood magic to protect Lily, and knock back the Templars. He must have read Greagoir's mind while the spell was active, or cast another in the commotion." Maeve replied.
"If I did cast another spell, it wasn't on purpose. I never got that far. Or that low, or whatever makes a blood mage powerful. I didn't even know what I was doing at first, then when Lily refused to go with me I wanted answers but I looked in the wrong place. Greagoir's thoughts. I read into his thoughts, I guess, because I got a vision of the outside of a big fortress; Aeonar, I guess, and of a place on a map near Orzammar in the mountains. Then I tried to wake Maeve, but I heard more Templars coming, and I panicked and ran away. I'm sorry." Jowan looked at Maeve, genuine regret in his features..
"I see. You are foolish enough, that I actually believe that might have happened to you." Alistair said, hinting that he didn't think the mage was lying, but refusing to raise his credibility too much.
"Thanks?" Jowan questioned with uncertainty.
"Yeah. I believe you. Get over it, mage."
Mage? Not blood mage? It was a step in the right direction at least.
