Hello hello!

I realize I have taken much longer to update than promised… I could list any number of reasons or excuses but they change nothing and you may come to hate me for whining. Most people who know me have said much the same… I am a bit of a complainer upon occasion.

I will say that I have been writing… part of the problem is that it isn't exactly in order and sometimes I have a bit of a problem getting from point E to (somewhere around) point L or so. It is just that some scenes and plot points beg, almost literally… or kind of in a writing sort of way, to be written and I just cannot return to where I paused until I get it down.

I beg your forgiveness and hope you enjoy the update… I hope to post the next part quickly.

::Disclaimer:: Seriously… I wish. Sometimes anyway.

::AtW::

Twin Age: Chapter 7

Allia walked slightly behind her sister as they made their way to Denerim. She resisted rubbing her hand over the constant ache in her chest; the pain had faded, was manageable, but still reminded her of what was gone, what was lost, and, she finally realized, what was never really hers to begin with. She put a little more effort into keeping their connection thin; part of her worried that they were damaging their relationship to the point of no return.

She pushed those thoughts from her mind, wrapping herself in the empty knowledge that she was right. Ariella would realize it sooner or later; it was really only a matter of time.

***After her… session… with Teagan, Allia had rushed to her room to change, hoping to make it without anyone seeing her. Ariella was there, as soaked as she but with a lot more… well, mud. Allia had taken one look at her twin and burst out laughing, the lingering weight on her mind dissipating in her mirth; everything would be okay.

They shared, through their link, the events of the last hour or so as guard carried in a large bathing tub and filled it with steaming water; the one thing they had missed most since leaving the tower, aside from the obvious, was a warm bath. True they could possibly be able to heat a body of water, as they could call fire, but somehow they both thought it might harm and living creatures in a lake or river or stream. By the time their stories were finished their identical features wore identical blushes and looks of confusion.

I am glad Teagan was able to comfort you. Ariella insisted as she stripped out of her soiled clothing behind the screen.

Thank you for letting me have… time. I would apologize for causing you discomfort, as feelings are hard to buffer; but it seems the rain and Alistair distracted you from it very well.

Ariella scowled. I honestly did not know… I would never have thought that Alistair had come to see me as a romantic prospect. I am not sure what to do about it.

Allia's brow furrowed as well, unsure how she felt about her sister having a suitor. I think you should tell him you are not interested… it would only be a matter of time before he decided that we are some sort of evil being; he was raised by the Chantry after all.

The dark haired mage fought off the surge of anger; Allia had never been one to judge so harshly. Or so she told herself. Alistair was with us as we fought our way through the tower. If he were going to decide that all mages were nothing more than abominations in disguise, I am sure it would not have manifested in the presentation of a rose and a kiss.

The only reason he is not guarding the mages in the tower or hunting apostates or maleficarum is through Duncan's intervention.

It is possible Alistair would have found another way to avoid becoming a Templar. It is not something he seems to regret; not all those who are given to the Chantry are able to just walk away, especially not when they were given a child to raise, feed, clothe, and shelter. Serving the Chantry in adulthood would only be the proper way to repay such kindness.

Allia's thoughts whorled around in her mind, frustration fueling them. Why would she not just listen. It is a belief they had instilled and reinforced. He may not think he believes it, he may even convince himself that you are somehow different. But it will not last. Eventually, he will attempt to crush you with the weight of it.

Ariella could not believe it. How in Thedas could she actually believe that what is true for one person will be true for all others of similar upbringing or circumstance. Alistair is not Cullen. He deserves to be judges by his own merits and failings. So far, I would have to say that he is a kind and decent man with his own mind.

Fine! Allia practically spat through their link, the anger flavoring the resonance. Put him on some sort of pedestal; believe him of not being one to make rash or false judgments of others due to his upbringing. Lie to yourself every time he speaks of Morrigan with such disdain; because it is so very obvious that he took the time to judge her by her merits. I just wanted to caution you, to let you see me as an example, for you to learn from my mistakes.

Tears streamed down their cheeks, unseen by the other.

Allia please…

No. Believe what you will, do what you will. I will have none of it; I have no need for consorting with fools. ***

There had not been a word uttered between them since; not in any form. Allia ignored any twinges of remorse. She was not in the wrong. She just wished her twin would stop being so stubborn… there was no purpose if acting in such a way. No person should be able to cause such a rift. She disregarded the niggling feeling in the back of her mind that the rift was begun and sustained by them both.

How they had come to such a misunderstanding, a miscommunication, while being so closely tied was a mystery to them both. Maintaining the distance between them had quickly become a labor of pride.

Allia and Ariella stopped, having scanned the road and noted an elfroot; the knowing was instantaneous. The group stopped as well, a few glancing at Ariella curiously; she still marveled at her being the leader of this interesting collection of abilities, affinities, and personalities. She whose main interpersonal contact would have nothing to do with her…

She had not tried to talk with her since that afternoon, and she would not be the first to initiate this conversation. The dark haired mage had done everything she could think of to comfort her twin in her time of need; had been her strength, her voice, anything her sister had needed of her she had been. In that last fateful conversation, Ariella had even pleaded for understanding. She would not ask again for something she felt she should have had in the first place.

She turned her attention to the group, her gaze meeting each person's in turn as she spoke. "There is an ambush ahead.

"A lady will beg help of us and lead us into a trap lead by assassins. It will be… difficult. Lilianna, I would like you to take some time to prepare some poisons and traps that we can lay; Timing will be tricky and once the traps are set I want you to go into archery mode. We will need to utilize a balance of long and close distance fighting.

"Wynne, you and Allia will have to alternate between healing and attacking… please keep appraised of our warriors' health. Use our lyrium and health potions as needed, we have plenty and the others may not have time to use some for themselves.

"Morrigan and I will be on the offensive as we have a few powerful long-range spells that would be to our advantage.

"Alistair, Sten, and Ginn, I trust that you will be able to play to your strengths and do what you do best. We only need one alive for questioning." The twins knew the one who lived would be joining their group… Ariella did not think that providing the entire group with that information would be helpful for their mindset and would lead to questions she was either unwilling or unable to answer.

Her eyes skimmed quickly over her twin, as the party nodded their assent. "Any suggestions you may have are always welcome." No one moved to speak. "Then we will wait for Lilianna to assemble the traps and poisons. I will signal when it is time to lay them." Lilianna smiled and rummaged through her pack for the necessary supplies.

Ariella looked to Alistair. "I need to speak with you privately; Warden business." She said and walked a little away from the group, trusting the male Warden to follow.

Wynne watched the pair with interest before turning her attention to the light haired elf who seemed to be watching Lilianna work. She knew Allia was very well read, both of the twins were, but was sure the elf had had limited information on traps and poisons in the tower. The Templars did not want more dangerous information in the mage's hands… not when they considered the mages a danger in and of themselves.

"Should you not be with them? You are a Warden, are you not?" Morrigan asked, perhaps a bit more bluntly than she would have were she speaking with Ariella. She was not sure where this other mage stood in the grand scheme of things and she did not believe that twins were so very much the same that her slowly growing… relationship with the other applied to Allia as well.

Allia flushed and arched an eyebrow. This was the beginning. She had promised herself that she would not hide behind her sister; she would not allow her shy disposition to run her life. Still… it was so very hard to force the words out… "I… already know what she would like to tell him." She met the apostate's golden gaze. "It does not take two to say." She returned her attention to the rouge, hoping she had not missed too much of the process and secretly proud of herself. It would be slow going, but she was strong in her own right. Right?

Morrigan kept her own council, it was one of the things she did best really. She knew she had been dismissed and really could not bring herself to care. Her question had been answered in more ways than one. The twins were more different than they were alike. If she had asked Ariella the same question, in the same manner, the tower mage would have been much nicer about it and more thorough in her answer.

This other sister, Morrigan thought to herself as she moved to where Sten was standing, stoic as always, is very efficient and feels that she has no use for one such as me. Maybe Allia felt that Morrigan had her own agenda which could be detrimental to the other's goals. Morrigan mused on it as she teased and flirted with the Qunari warrior. This had become a favored past-time of hers, attempting to break through his calm demeanor… it garnered mixed results.

::AtW::

Ariella lead Alistar only as far from the group as to allow them to go unheard. She glanced back, expecting a few curious gazes and found a couple; namely Wynne and Morrigan. Sten was watching as well, but it was hard to tell whether it was for curiousities' sake… it probably was; though he kept much to himself, the mage strongly suspected that he was more intrigued than he would ever admit to anyone.

Ariella felt a surge of pride when she noticed Allia speaking with the group… her first instinct had her widening the link to let her twin know. She stopped herself abruptly. Though it pained her considerably, the distance and distrust, maybe it was for the best. Maybe it was needed to let them both come into their own; become two individuals instead of two halves of a whole.

"Problem?" Alistair asked, his eyebrow cocked as he studied her face. He did seem to enjoy making good use of those eyebrows.

"No… not really." She answered belatedly, bringing her mind back to what she wished to discuss. The knowing. Yes.

"I am sure you have noticed that my sister and I seem to act with complete surety upon occasion… as though we know something about the outcome before it comes to pass." His other eyebrow joined its fellow high on his forehead as he nodded slightly. "The truth of the matter is… we do. Know something."

She raised her hand to ward off any questions he was sure to ask, making her explanation much more confusing than it needed to be. He wondered if she knew what he was going to ask.

"Ever since the night of our Joining, Allia and I have had flashes of insight; bits of seemingly instinctual knowledge that has become much more specific as we gain in skill, knowledge, and power. I am not sure if the quality of the knowing is at all linked to our powerbase itself, although it is a solid theory, it could just as well be that our knowing is somehow influenced by the darkspawn blood we ingested; it could be that the specifics of the knowing are tied to the strength of the darkspawn blood, its taint, within our bodied.

These are both just theories… I am not sure if the why of it all matters overmuch, as it does not seems to be something that we can control. We cannot chose what we know, how much we know, and quite honestly it rarely seems to give us much notice; Just enough to let us plan for something very much imminent." She paused to take a deep breath, slightly surprised that she was able to rush so much out without pause. Alistair opened his mouth, an action that was met with a warding hand once again; his eyebrows furrowed… was he not going to be allowed to speak at all through this? Really?

"I am telling you this because, as a fellow Warden, you have a right to know as well. There will be some things I cannot or will not reveal to the rest of the group as I do not want to have to explain every inkling or defend a course of action based on information I have no other information on… that and I fear it would undermine the collective opinion they may have of us or come to rely on this ability more than it warrents." He opened his mouth again, pausing a little to see if she was going to shush him again; he was very pleased that he would get a turn to talk.

"I had suspected," He began. He hadn't, not really, having just figured she was just more observant than the rest of them or something. He never claimed to be the sharpest sword in the armory, just the wittiest and best looking. "That you knew more than me and you have never given me cause to doubt your decisions." His hand itched to cup her cheek, tuck that one errant midnight black lock of hair back behind the slightly pointed tip of her ear… he was sure it would not be a currently welcomed gesture.

"I would not want you to now… so there is a bit more that I know that I did not share with the others…" She hesitated. "One of the assassins will join our cause and our party."

The male Warden blinked. Once, twice… a third time. "Huh?" Very eloquent, that.

"The one that survives will ask his life be spared in exchange for his joining and aiding our cause."

"You did say assassin? As in, someone who was given money to kill us? You know, the mercenary type, who always work for the highest bidder… and you would let them join us?"

Her eyes, which had warmed at his support quickly turned cold. "Yes. I would, I will." She moved as though to rejoin the other before pausing. "Alistair… for someone who seems to have such an open and accepting heart, you are extremely closed minded and judgmental." Her eyes met his, no emotion was betrayed in the gaze yet he could feel the disappointment. "Hatred and predjudices, either believed to be founded or no, always fester into something much, much, worse. I would hate to see that in you, who can shine brighter than anyone I have ever met." With that she walked away, stray bit of hair twisting in the wind.

He didn't think he was being too unreasonable really. Although he could kick himself for telling her she had never given him cause to question her judgment before turning around and questioning it; not one of his smarter moments really.

He just couldn't understand the way she seemed to believe in everyone. He seriously doubted it was a reflection of how she was raised, nothing he had dragged out of her indicated she and her sister had had much interaction with people growing up. Not to mention the power structure of the Circle Tower and the new attitudes of the Templars therein… left a lot to be desired for a place that raised children. Even if those children were mages.

He had asked Morrigan on the way back to Redcliff what she had thought of the Tower. She had responded curtly, although with a hint of dark amusement, that is was overrun with abominations, demons, and Templars ready to kill a mage on sight; it was just as she had imagined. He hadn't had much to say to that… it was true enough.

Alistair wondered why it was he was so uneasy with the upcoming new addition. He realized then, in that single moment of understanding that so rarely graced him, that it was because he worried that she was too trusting of other peoples' motives and too forgiving of their past crimes. Like Sten having killed an entire family for reasons he had never disclosed. Morrigan, he was sure, was guilty of many similar acts as Flemeth's daughter and a maleficar in her own right. He had a feeling that Lilliana was hiding a secret or two of her own, her skills with a lock-pick and dual handed daggers were not things a person picked up as a lay-sister of the Chantry; not to mention she was Orlesian, but that would make him every bit as short-sighted as she now thought him to be.

Maybe she was right, as he thought about it some more; maybe he was a bit too quick to judge. No harm had come to their group through the other's joining with their cause. Everyone has their secrets after all… was he any different really? Being the bastard son of a deceased king, something he had hidden until it seemed that the secret could be exposed… badly.

Still, he could see no harm in being cautious. He pondered on the irony of that concept, of the whole of it really. Maker works in mysterious ways and all that… or He just has a very odd sense of humor.

::AtW::

I know it was a little shorter than normal; I felt that it would be best to get what I had out without further delay.

I have found myself wishing for a Qunari to English dictionary recently. Or at least a transcript of everything Sten has every said… I am sure he used a few curse words and it would just be wrong to make words up.

So… review if it would please you, and return again if it would do the same.