A/N: Please review!

)O(

It's times like these that she wants very much to turn him into a toad.

They are fighting again. They are always fighting, it seems. But this time it is serious. They aren't just arguing like children over which one of them should lead the group on some odd job or another. No, because this time Carver wants to join the templars. And he had to have known just how deeply that sort of blatant betrayal stings. It is betrayal in his sister's eyes, because she is a mage and it isn't something she asked for but he is asking for this.

Anders said often enough that someday everyone in Kirkwall would have to choose a side. The truth of that is becoming more and more evident each day. She doesn't get a choice - she never has - but he does. And he is choosing to stand against her when the time comes. That hurt more than anything.

Carver's namesake certainly would not have approved.

Still, she hadn't meant to say it. She hadn't really meant it at all. It just doesn't make sense how he can be so nice, defending her when no one else will, and then do something like this.

"Maker, Carver, I swear sometimes I wish the Void would open up right here and swallow you!" That is pretty bad, sure, but not nearly as bad as what she is about to say. "I wish that ogre had killed you instead of Bethany!"

"Yeah, well so do I!"

"What?" she asks, stunned. There's no way she could have heard him correctly. But then he says it again, and she knows. "Are you insane?"

. . .

"What?" Mother stared at him, wide-eyed, like he was speaking onsense.

"I'm joining the army." Carver repeated firmly. He'd practiced this a dozen times before.

"Are you insane?" Bethany chimed in, standing up suddenly and marching over to him. She was about a head shorter than he was, but still rather terrifying, even without magic. "You can't!"

"And why not?" he asked, folding his arms.

"Because...you...you'll get yourself killed!" she wailed. "It's always the ones with something to prove who get blown up first."

"The darkspawn don't blow people up." Carver argued.

"You don't know that."

"I think it's a marvelous idea." Marian's quiet voice somehow put an end to all the fighting. Everyone turned to look at her. At first Carver thought she was being sarcastic, and was about to respond when she elaborated. "He deserves a chance to do something remarkable, and what better way than serving in the king's army? We should be proud of him."

A long silence took over in which Leandra continued to sulk, because he always would be her little boy and she worried for his safety.

"If you die, Brother," Bethany added. "I will find you and animate your corpse."

Carver smiled. That seemed fair.

. . .

"I could never compete with you, you know." he sighs. "Oh yes, Bethany and I were twins but this...this magic thing...it was something I could never be apart of. I could never fully understand. And Father just loved his gifted little girls so much. Sure, I was his only son but I was nothing special, not like you."

"You were jealous?" Marian is shocked, and that's putting it mildly. She has never seen this side of him before.

"I can never be a mage, but I can be a templar." Carver says. "I've never fit in anywhere. Maybe in the Order I'll finally have a home, a place where I belong, a family that appreciates me."

She shakes her head, refusing to believe he'd actually go through with it. "You really are insane."

Carver must know how much this will hurt Mother. It would be like losing one of her children all over again. But if he goes through with it anyway, all she can do is hope his first act won't be to lock her up in the Gallows as punishment for a lifetime of overshadowing him and such unintentional emotional torment. Plus that one time when she accidentally set his hair on fire.

"Then I hope you find whatever screwed up sense of validation you're seeking, Carver."

It takes every ounce of self-control she has not to zap him as he walks away.

"Bethany, if you can hear me," Marian whispers once he is out of earshot. "I'll make our brother pay for being such an idiot."