Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Dragonage or anything else I may reference

Magic and the Inquisition

Chapter 9 City Problems

9:41 Dragon

Denerim

Finally, Nat had arrived. It was a relatively pleasant day, the skies were blue with nice white clouds rolling above him, the temperature wasn't too warm and birds were chirping merrily as they flew from rooftop to rooftop frolicking as much as they desired to. It was a nice surprise Nat first thought when he saw Denerim for the first time, the stone walls circled the entire city giving it a form of defence and Fort Drakon a large tower where the Archdemon had been killed a decade ago stood high and mightily looking down on everything else in the city with an intimidating aura. That pleasantness soon evaporated as he got closer and the reminder that he was in the medieval period became more prevalent.

Wafting out of the city and into the nearby countryside was the waft of piss, shit, mud and disease and likely death. On the way into the city, the creators of this stench couldn't be seen, but Nat assumed this was to give those traders and foreign dignitaries a clean walkway to reach the more affluent neighbourhoods. Upon reaching the front gates of the city, he was quickly told that he had to dismount his horse and leave it outside if he desired to carry on into the city. Not wanting to get into a fight and because he had magic to protect his horse from getting stolen, he obliged and walked in.

"Who is he, a Tevinter Magister" Resisting the urge to sigh, Nat ignored the people of the city as they whispered incessantly about him as they took in his unique clothing. The most noticeable one's who apparently had a problem with his outfit, were the guards as they took it upon themselves to follow his every action as he advanced to the market district of the city. Luckily, they didn't actually interrupt him as a stern gaze from the man who seemed to be in charge of the guards kept them in line and prevented a possible incident.

When he stepped into the market for the first time, Nat couldn't help but once again feel like he was home. Denerim market wasn't as tight and it held more stores than Diagon Alley ever did, but the environment was very similar. People rushed from stall to stall purchasing all that they needed whether it was food, clothing, alcohol, wool, candles and matches or all sorts of other things. The market was loud as people shouted or spoke raising the ambient noise of the place yet if he tried, he could eavesdrop on particular conversations.

All of them, however, was boring casual conversation that the usual person would have with one another. Things like children and how they were progressing or about a food harvest or about some toy they had bought, it was all rather dull and boring. Nat was about to stop eavesdropping when he heard a whisper. It was barely audible, if not for how close he was to this person and his while not superhuman, his better level of hearing, then he would not have caught the slightest whisper.

"Have you heard, one of the palace guards said that the King's been having nightmares." Subtly, Nat moved out of the way of other people who were passing by and leant against a wall out of sight of the talking peasants.

"So everyone gets them." The other peasant replied not really interested in the conversation.

"I'm not talking about normal nightmares you daft twat. Apparently, these are warden nightmares. According to one of the guards, the king is struggling to sleep and has even been known to scream at night. He also said that the King has been far more distracted ever since what happened at Haven like something's pressing against him constantly that he can't hide." That piece of info was certainly interesting to Nat. King Alistair had once been a Grey Warden before he had been put on the throne by the Hero of Ferelden. Nat wasn't an expert, but from the books he had read, it was stated that once one became a Grey Warden, they would forever always be a member of the grey gaining their powers and abilities' for eternity.

Alistair may be the king currently, but undoubtedly he was still a Grey Warden and had a connection to that order. With all the Grey Wardens seemingly disappeared at the exact same time, it was incredibly suspicious, especially as not even Leliana had a clue what was happening to them or where they had gone. On the other hand, if King Alistair a previous Grey Warden was having nightmares and acting strangely ever since the Conclave, then it could potentially help solve one of the mysteries. Of course, going by rumour would never be enough, they had a tendency to get skewed and something this vital to the Inquisition was far too delicate to risk on info gathered from anyone bar the king. If he wanted to learn more, then he would have to speak with the king himself.

It wouldn't be difficult, while Nat was concerned with how some of his magic in the case that Solas should discover what he can do, that was more around things like mind magic. In this case, any magic that he would cast to hide his presence would remain here in Denerim and would dissipate quite quickly, also it was far less noticeable then entering the mind of a person. The latter of which he wouldn't do on the king as not only for the possible reprimand that it would earn him should he be caught, the consequences of such an act on none other than the leader of a nation would not end well for him.

For now, though, he had to deliver this letter to this seamstress that Josephine wanted as well as pick up that flower for Leliana and finally also check out some of the shops that were in this market. Patting his jacket for confirmation, he brought up how much money he had. It wasn't much, and probably less than that Iron Bull would get, but it was still something he could use and in all honesty, he already had a few plans for what he desired to purchase when he felt comfortable.

One of the many items he desired to own, was an actual sabre. Not the sabre he could currently owned conjured out of nothing, that weapon was good and it acted perfectly fine as a weapon. However, after looking in the library, he was aware of several other metals that were used which were stronger than the steel he used when conjuring weapons, not to mention the higher quality blades had sections for runes of this world that could be used to enhance the weapons more than they already were. In contrast, because he had already conjured the sabre, it was less effective than a properly built one not to mention less flashy. He generally wasn't one for flashiness besides when called upon, but he couldn't help but think that if he was starting to be considered a higher ranking member in the inquisition, then he needed a weapon that would reflect that. Then again, would it be so difficult t create one on his own?.

He wasn't a blacksmith, but he did have magic. If back home he could quickly create entire houses by a few waves of his wand and command each part of a house where to go and what to do, then it was bound to be around the same difficulty with a weapon. In fact, after a few practise attempts, he could likely create a decent quality sword with very minimal effort. With the advantage of his magic and knowledge on modern technology and access to over thousands of books on his kindle on a whole variety of topics, then he was bound to find more effective blacksmith techniques that the dwarves could only dream off. Bringing his mind back to attention, he walked to one of the guardsmen who was patrolling the area.

"Excuse me could you tell me where I would find a seamstress named Amelia Wool" At the mention of the name, the guard grimaces before roughly pointing his thumb behind himself pointing to a slightly larger shack that was off in the distance away from the rest of the other market stalls. Then the man asked Nat a question

"What's a Tevinter doing here, aren't you all supposed to be fighting those Qunari brutes" It was good to know what he was believed to be on the first encounter Nat thought. He had never intended to give himself off as Tevinter, but it certainly did play to his advantage if he took the image of a person who was from that land. His clothing, any use of magic, strange accent and other odd features about him could instantly be explained away by simply stating that he was a person from Tevinter and the other's would likely give him no more trouble after that.

"I'm afraid not" Nat replied in a fake pleasant manner, catching the man asking questions off guard. "As you can tell I'm here to see the seamstress, I'm in need of some more clothing and the one I usually speak to has caught the plague." Paling at the very mention of that affliction, the man was seeming of the belief that Nat also carried a deadly virus on him which could or could not be true and quickly said farewell before getting away from him as fast as possible.

On his own, Nat made his way towards the house of the seamstress although not a second went past before he was caught up in his own thoughts again as he so often did. Unlike the last time, this topic was more serious than wanting to create a sword with magic, it actually concerned the safety of this world. That concern was him, however, he soon quashed it and returned back to the matter at hand. Quickly he pushed open the door to the seamstress and walked inside.

Internally, the building wasn't anything special. Like most medieval domestic construction, the house was only one floor high and made mostly with a mix of wood and white plaster. A few candles were scattered around the shop, however, the majority of the light emanated from the windows that had been left open to allow not only light in, but also to allow fresh air to come in and get rid of any smells in the area. Nat's attention was more caught on the clothing that had been left for a person to view and admire.

A great deal of different style's of dresses, breaches, shirts and boots were apparent to the eye and as was the multiple colours that they consisted off. It was rather obvious to Nat, that this place was not for the average peasant, but rather for people of nobility or traders who had a decent amount of money. Nat wasn't sure if he could afford anything in this store, as he gave a quick look at what he assumed to be a man's jacket. It was a dark red in colour with a bit of yellow on it other than that, he wouldn't know how to describe it, clothing wasn't his thing.

"Hello, what can I-" Stepping through the entrance way, the woman known as Amelia made herself a cheerful smile on her face dressed in a red form of flowing dress. The very moment her eyes locked onto this young stranger her face changed from a smiling one to satisfy customers to one of utter wonderment racing towards this strange child as fast as she could her eyes darting all over the boy. "Who designed this, and this?. Oh, I never would have imagined that you could put pouches on breaches. This stitching, I've never seen such immaculate stitching before, oh and this, is this leather? It's unlike anything I've seen before. Oh and your shirt."

Dancing around as fast as she could, Amelia constantly moved from area to area of Nat's body inspecting as intently as she could the strange clothing he wore all the while firing off questions at a rapid pace. She was definitely curious Nat would give her that, but she was getting too close to comfort, he went to raise his arm to stop her from touching, but she then zipped away to look at another piece of his outfit seemingly memorizing it. Then she lunged her hand towards his legs which he caught. Only it wasn't done as she then took a greater look at his jacket and began hammering more questions about why he had strange metal teeth on his outfit and how they worked or how much it had to cost. Then it was questioned about the Union Flag on his arms or about his boots.

"Come on you have to tell me, where are you from because you're not Tevinter. This is a casual outfit right" Amelia leaned up after taking the time to admire the flap that went over his lower zip area. Not wanting to get lost in a game of twenty questions, he pulled out the letter Josephine had given him and presented it to Amelia. Not caring in the slightest about a piece of flimsy paper the woman yanked the piece of paper from his hand and threw it over her shoulder and returned to peering as close as she could to the young mage. "The letter can wait I want to know who designed these clothes?"

"That letter is from Lady Josephine Montilyet Ambassador of the Inquisition. I suggest you read it." Staring into the woman's eyes through his glasses, he was forced to hide a sigh as the woman then focused on his head and tied to use his sunglasses as a type of mirror like a little child.

"This mask" Amelia gasped. "So simple yet so mysterious. I wonder what it's made from, glass no. Glass is too brittle and would smash if hit. If you're from the inquisition, then you must be that strange mage. The one who came from a strange place with other mages. Tell me everything you know about clothing." Amelia attempted to pin him down against the wall so Nat couldn't escape. At thirty-five the woman still had her looks and had very much kept her fiery passion and desire to know things about clothing. Desiring to get this over without the fuss Nat gave the bare minimum.

"It's black, yes its casual clothing and no this stuff was rather cheap to buy. Also no you cannot strip me down and steal my clothes and no you cannot sell me any clothes in exchange for my clothes or in general." Amelia tutted as she heard that.

"Of all the ones who survived, it had to be the one who knew nothing about his own people's clothing. What use are you anyway?." Waiting for a response, Amelia wanted to see how the kid would react to her insult only she couldn't see how he reacted because that damned mask prevented her from seeing his eyes. Still, he gave off so many ideas if only she could borrow his clothing for a few days and discover the secrets that his people had concocted in fashion.

"The type who doesn't waste money on trivial items such as clothes or shoes" Scorned didn't even explain the anger that she felt towards this boy for insulting Amelia. She glared angrily getting right in his face hoping to make him flinch.

"Trivial, Trivial". Amelia began her tirade shouting directly into the boys face. "I'll have you know that I am one of the most respected seamstresses in all of Ferelden. I studied at the University of Orlais, I have travelled to every single nation there is. I know how fashion is done and how it is important, vital even to a people. Yet you dare to call my work trivial. " Amelia turned a dark shade of red as she ranted off about different sets of colour combinations and stitches while Nat didn't even bother to listen. "There do you understand, why my work is important to the future of Ferelden."She exclaimed loudly.

"Sorry I wasn't listening, I had a banshee screaming down my face"

"Oh that is it" Leaning back, Amelia went to grab something, it was a stick used for the length of fabric. Her breath escaped her stomach and her back smashed against something hard all the while she was then forcefully rolled onto her stomach where her arms were held behind her back in a very painful manner and she felt a boot on the back of her neck.

"On behalf of the Inquisition, please read the letter. If you have any complaints about my service, please feel free to call up out customer helpline where they will give you swift and helpful instructions on how to chuck yourself off a cliff. Thank you for your time and we hope to see you using Inquisitions services again" With that stated Nat left the woman and headed outside back into the lovely Denerim market.

"Let me guess the bitch tried to attack you two" After only about ten steps, Nat was confronted by a different guard only this one was wearing purple over his chainmail. "Don't worry about it kid, that bitch is known for attacking anyone who doesn't know stuff about clothes. If it weren't for her patron, we would have locked her up by now." The man blinked before shaking his head extending his hand outwards as he did so. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Agent, I've heard good things about the Inquisition. I'm Sergeant Kylon, I patrol the Denerim market. Your spymaster sent a note saying that you would be arriving and it would be appreciated if I could keep you out of trouble whilst you're here." Nat shook the man's hand.

"A pleasure and thanks for not throwing me in jail. "The man laughed as he looked at the house.

"Don't worry about it, the woman's crazy but she is a talented seamstress. It's better if she works alone. Anyway Agent how can I assist you today". Grateful for the lack of bureaucratic crap he was going to have to endure while he was here, Nat reminded himself to thank Leliana when he returned to Haven.

"I'm fine mostly, although you wouldn't perhaps know where I could purchase a flower known as Andrastes Grace would you. It's for a friend." Kylon smiled seemingly relieved that for once after a long while he got a nice pleasant person to speak to him rather than some bastard who was screaming at him or some other bastard that he had to kill for going around threatening people. A nice quiet day giving directions was appreciated.

"No stalls sell's it, however, there are a few in the alienage if you want to go get one. Be warned, while the elves are generally passive there was an incident with Tevinter slavers during the Blight. They may mistake you as one.

"I appreciate the warning and the assistance, have a pleasant day" Kylon blinked somewhat in surprise at the way the agent said farewell to him. Most of the time, he was dealing with drunks or criminals or people yelling at him about something or other. Kylon smiled in return at the kid and returned the good-natured farewell and made a note to help the boy whilst he was in Denerim.

Alienage

As he walked into the alienage, Nat could instantly feel the difference in tone between the market and this place. Unlike the market which had a somewhat happy feeling to it, this place held a strong feeling of depression all around it. He brought a hand up to the collars of his leather jacket gently caressing the small metal badges that he had summoned and put in. If he was a member of the Inquisition and was henceforth doing jobs for them, then he had come to the conclusion that having some form of ID on him could work to his advantage. He had a few options to really chose from that he could think of to show that he was a member of such an organisation, the first was one of those giant badges that Leliana wore, then there was the option of adding the symbol of the Inquisition to his own clothing, then there was the final option of wearing something new that would denote his allegiance to the Inquisition. Briefly, he had pondered the idea of wearing some kind of armband but quickly squashed and pulverised that idea.

While the people of Thedas would not know the connotations of wearing an armband of a powerful military order, he did. That left instead, something like a scarf but he also didn't like that idea which was how he came to the idea of the two small badges of the Inquisition on his jackets collars. It was military in style, which was what the Inquisition was and since he apparently had some form of rank as evidenced by soldiers giving him the equivalent of a salute, then the small badges would likely make his jacket seem far smarter in appearance despite it only being causal.

Eyes flickering as always left to right, Nat kept his hand gripped to his conjured sabre. He was entering a dangerous area, he could just sense it. Advancing forwards into the alienage, all eyes seemed to follow his every movement taking in his appearance and trying to work out exactly who he was. A little further back, Nat eyes a set of sneaky looking elves, pickpockets most likely yet they didn't dare advance forwards. Looks of confusion were evident on a few of the elf children who saw him stopping what they were doing to look at the strange human child who wore funny clothing. Others however rushed away to find their parents. Then it started to happen, a yell and fearful look mixed in with anger from one of the older elves who seemingly believed he was from "that" nation.

"Tevinter" The man cried out loud a panic-stricken look scarring his face. "What is a Tevinter doing here". The man's eyes went down to the curved blade in its sheath and panicked some more. Elves were forbidden from owning any weapon whatsoever, a few of the elves desired to attack scared of this Magister and what he was going to do.

"Fuck off back to your own home you Tevinter scum, the Hero of Ferelden slaughtered you bastards years ago and we will do the same to you" If it was a rallying cry, it wasn't a very good one. A few elves cheered in what they believed to be defiance, the majority though were petrified of the powers of a mage and what it could do to them.

"Quiet" One hissed loudly looking at their fellow angry and petrified elves. "Do you want him to burn you alive" That shut up a few of the elves.

"I'm from the Inquisition, I was perhaps wondering if anyone could tell me where to find a flower known as Andraste's Grace. I was told I could find one here in the alienage." Bored and slightly irritated at the rumour's Nat announced the reason he was here and as he had expected from these people, they were taken by surprise not entirely believing his story. More rumours began to stir and accusations of that he was lying came to bear against him, but Nat didn't care. He was here to pick a flower as a present and that was it.

"Halt stranger" A red-haired woman stern of face likely only in her early thirties approached him. She didn't glare like the others did, yet her eyes did linger towards the sabre that was attached to his waist and then to the strange black clothing that he wore. "You dress in the same colours as the Tevinter Slavers did. Tell me your true purpose for coming here."

"The flower," Nat said. "All I want is a flower," Nat repeated again speaking gently so as not to try and raise the anger and possible outbreak of combat. "It's for a potion, one of my comrades in arms got hurt fighting a pride demon and the potions master needs Andraste's Grace to heal them. The alienage was the closest place that I could go." At the mention of the Inquisition, the woman's face went from stern and suspicious to one of a more amicable one although she definitely was not smiling at him like an old friend. Looking at his collar, the red-haired woman inspected the two badges that were placed into the strange material.

"These are certainly high quality, you couldn't have just created these." Muttering to herself, the woman nodded her head as she saw what she believed to be confirmation of the boy's identity. "I've heard good things about the Inquisition, we've had reports that you treat elves as equal and that they are free to fight. Is this true?" Subtly Nat glanced around at the group of collected elves, all of them were watching with fear, yet they seemed to treat this woman with a high degree of respect and trust, She was the leader of this group, the one entrusted with their safety and management, if she deemed that he was safe to talk to, the elves were bound to be far more courteous.

"That's true, and it's also true that the Herald is an elf-like yourself albeit she is Dalish. Personally, I don't fight alongside the other soldier's, as you can see I'm more of an errand boy, however, I have witnessed a number of humans who have treated elves with disrespect because of their race be discipline quite harshly by Commander Cullen. As I mentioned before, I'm only here for a flower known as Andraste's Grace, and a box to put it in. Would that be fine with you Miss..."

"Shianni." She declared proudly, she looked over at her people silently asking them whether they would allow this human to take a flower from their place or not. Not one of them said something, but she could determine the mood. "You may take your flower but do not trouble the people here. As for your box, you can purchase one at our store", She pointed towards one of the main ran down huts and sewers that made up the alienage. It was a far cry from the nice clean marketplace that he had come from.

"My thanks, I'll leave as soon as I am able." With a nod, Shianni turned away to go speak with some of the other elves leaving Nat to visit the store and get the box for the flower.

Flower now in a box, Nat quickly began to head towards the entrance of the alienage. Even with his magic allowing him to slaughter any attack that the elves could possibly throw against him, he did not like being in an area of the city where the houses were so clumped together hiding a great many possible attackers or onlookers. When people lived in terrible conditions and struggled to feed themselves day after day, thievery became a very real and genuine type of work simply to keep a person's family alive. Nat knew that while he did not appear to be rich at least compared to the nobles who visited the alienage, he was certainly richer than the elves were and was bound to be considered a target for one group or another.

"Psst Agent, psst over here" Hiding in a thin alley between two houses that looked like they were about to collapse at any moment, was an elf who was looking at him curiously. Now normally Nat wouldn't approach a person in such a place, it was bound to be a trap or some stupid attempt to sell him drugs. This time though out of sight he cast a presence revealing spell showing that there was nobody anywhere near enough for this to be an ambush. The elf was also not carrying any form of weapon leaving him defenceless. In fact, after testing all those he had felt with the presence detector charm with a weapon detector charm, there was nobody at all who had any weapons in the vicinity. Even so, he turned away so nobody could observe and conjured a dagger and hid it with magic. Should a fight actually break out, then he could engage anyone with a weapon more suited to narrow alleyways?

"Yes, what do you want?" Dear Merlin did Nat miss the liberty to use magic on whoever he wanted and read the minds of anyone he wanted to. Not only would it save time, but he could tell any danger much quicker than he already did. If it wasn't for how easy it was to detect, then he would have ended this conversation already.

"I'll keep things quick, make sure no one hears us. " Paranoid, the man looked at the roof above double checking that there was nobody who might be trying to eavesdrop on their conversation. Once he was happy, he returned to the conversation. "I'm Faldor." The man introduced himself. "As far as I understand it, the Inquisition could do with some allies, spies if you want. I can give them to you, but you need to help me get into power." Going by the way the man was saying thing's, it became rather evident to Nat that this wouldn't be a simple assassination job rather it was bound to be part of some larger plan to get rid of the red-headed woman by some form of blackmail or anything like that.

"I'm interested, I assume if you get put in power, then you will send me all sorts of reports that the Inquisition can use". Faldor nodded seemingly glad that this young Agent of the Inquisition could understand his plot so quickly. "What are you trying to accomplish, some type of uprising or riot or just a simple strategy of denouncing her. Not to mention, why would I work with you when if I tell the woman, she could give me access to the same group of spies. The people do respect her." Faldor looked anxious, most likely Nat knew that if he did mention this type of betrayal, then Faldor and his likely accomplices would soon find themselves killed or something worse.

"Shianni will never give you what you want. She's just playing nice because she thinks you're a Tevinter mage. The truth is, she's been going nuts ever since she and her cousin were raped over a decade ago. After that, her cousin got sick and was taken to Tevinter by those slaver bastards and she was put in charge. Over the years she hoped to build the reputation of the elves and get more rights for them, but while the King does feel kind towards the elves, a lot of his lords don't; and if he was to do something like abolishing the alienages, he could start another civil war. Shianni's been going made, I've heard she's secretly been training some elves how to kill people so she can lead a revolt. If she does that, then the guards will be sent in and kill everyone."

It was rather clear what the problem was, it was practically the exact same thing with the mages and Templars. This Shianni wanted to lead a revolt in hopes of getting better rights for the elves, while it certainly wouldn't end discrimination, it would help the lives of the poor. It was a cause he sided with and he even agreed with the methods that she was going to take, he like other's preferred to allow time and negotiation to work problems out, but there was a point where peaceful actions were no longer viable.

Peaceful actions could work to a certain extent, but in an authoritarian regime where any type of peaceful action could be brutally punished, that left only violence as the solution. It was the same thing back home, he and many others would accept the democratic process as it was the way things were done and they had no desire for an authoritarian regime but even still, there were lines that if the government dared to cross, he saw no other reason than to use force to deal with the situation.

Personally, he could understand Faldors point on the matter, but he didn't agree with him. Equal rights were going to be several centuries away if he went by Earths timeframe on social issues. Therefore while it would keep the elves alive, they would forever be second-class citizens and easily allowed to be abused by others. In fact, Nat actually saw Faldor as a collaborator to those who would oppress him. That wasn't to say that the man wasn't wise, in fact out of the two options, Faldor was clearly the wise option as it meant that fewer people would be killed. There wasn't a chance in hell that the elves would be able to sustain the rebellion, they'd easily be cut down and it would force King Alistair to take a harsher approach towards the elves because of this rebellion. Whereas in contrast, no rebellion meant no deaths and life wouldn't get worse then it was. Even so, if he was part of the revolution he would be happy in the knowledge that if he was to die then it was better to die as a free man than as a slave. Plus in the chance that those who had tasted freedom be put into worse conditions once captured, those who were free would forever remember that taste of freedom and pass it onto their children who in time may start a new revolution. It was the right choice siding with Shianni, the elves even if they were going to lose and face harsher punishment would get a chance at freedom rather than staying in this city their entire lives. It was what he would choose, freedom, equality a chance to get back at the bastards who had done him wrong. So he made his decision.

"I accept. What do you want me to do?" Nat turned on his own position on the matter, betraying what he would do in the position of those elves and joined their enemy. Not for the fact that he hated the elves or that he wanted to save lives, but rather because of the larger picture. And it was the larger picture that had to be given priority.

The Divine was dead, crime, banditry and pirates had skyrocketed, Orlais was in the middle of a civil war, Mages and Templar's were trying to slaughter each other, The Grey Wardens had vanished, the King of Fereldan was apparently having serious nightmares, the Qun was eying up Thedas for another go, The Free Marches were also nearly at full-scale war as the Prince of Starkhaven had declared war on Kirkwall which could pull in alliances, Tevinter was very likely involved in some way with the death of the Divine alongside a renewed push into Seheron, general stability of the continent was breaking down over the known world. And most importantly, there was a giant as Fucking Glowing green Laser in the sky snapping it in two and threatening to swallow the whole world whilst other little holes between two entirely different dimensions were shitting out demons left right and centre. It was quite apparent already that the world was set ablaze and the bloody thing it needed was for someone to chuck bloody petrol on top of it with an elf rebellion. Something which would only make the demon problem worse as death had a tendency to rip holes in the veil faster than a fat kid with cake.

Yes, he agreed with freedom and what the revolutionaries wanted to achieve, but not right now. The Inquisition was likely going to have to stitch the world back together piece by piece. An elf rebellion didn't sound much on the surface, but it was a nightmare economically and politically. These elves didn't have money, something that the Inquisition desperately needed if it was going to operate. This money came from donations of all kinds, but a lot from nobility and this was because their land was probably safe besides the demons which could be dealt with. An elf rebellion, on the other hand, would mean nobles having to create armies to fight them and wars were expensive, very, very expensive and also left people paranoid. If nobles have to make armies they don't send money to the inquisition and without that money bye bye go world. And that was only on the economic front.

Politically, if there was a revolution than those who were backing the Inquisition would demand that the Inquisition use its power to help suppress the rebellion. This would be a disaster for the Inquisition itself as one of the main goals of the organisation was to create equality between the different races. There was also no chance of helping the rebellion because the elves had nothing to offer the Inquisition in return. Any help sent to the rebellion would be a smack in the face of the lord and ladies of Thedas which inevitably would lead to a lack of not only respect but also political power and verify likely be considered a terrorist organisation.

Even if it was the right thing to do, helping Shianni and her rebellion was a major mistake and one Nat was glad that he was given the responsibility rather than Valeyna. Valeyna was a bit naive, originally planning on just charging the entire Templar base on the premise that they were easily strong enough to cut their way through was one of her major flaws. He was already dreading what might happen when she met with the mysterious Madame De Fer when she reached Val Royeux, While he had never met her, going by reputation the woman was bound to be competent in the realm of politics; A realm that Valeyna was very uneducated and inexperienced in. If Valeyna were in the position he was in now, with the offer to increase the strength of the Inquisition in return for dealing with a well-respected woman of the alienage community and utterly crushing a possible elven revolution in the hopes of gaining a fairer and better form of life. Valeyna would choose the latter and probably hope that things would sort themselves out magically or perhaps tell the woman to hold her rebellion until the Breach situation was solved.

Faldor seeing that he had the alliance of the Inquisition drew Nat closer into the alley making sure yet again that he was not being listened to less his plan get discovered.

"Shianni, She's been smuggling weapons from one of the nobles barracks through mercenaries. There have been investigations, but she's managed to buy one of the guards investigating things. If you can get that guard caught breaking the law, then Shianni will have to go through less discreet means" Nat listened carefully to what the man was saying doing his absolute best to think of possible ways he could show of this guards supposed corruption to their contemporaries. His best chance would be to get the man caught in the middle of what he was doing with other guards near him.

"I'll need a name and the area he's located in" Faldor nodded leaning in closer, as he did so Nat very subtly brought the conjured dagger close to the man's stomach ready to punch through if necessary. Faldor revealed the name of this guard and where he operated to Nat whispering it in his ear his tone seemed more terrified as the realisation that he could be betrayed at any moment came to mind.

"Also one last thing". Nat spoke gently pulling back from the close position he had been with the man until he had enough space. Much to the elf's confusion, Nat brought out a piece of paper and then a small staff. Fear gripped Faldor even more, the others had been right, he was dealing with a mage not a normal agent of the Inquisition. As a small amount of fear took him, he watched as the small staff was brought to the pure white paper that had emerged from the mages pocket. Suddenly words emerged on the paper, pure black words wrote in common tongue. After a few brief seconds, the paper was finished and then promptly handed over to him.

"This is our agreement that in exchange for my help in making you the leader of the Alienage elves, you will give me reports and other important details." A strange type of quill made of an unknown material and metal head was handed over to Faldor dubiously he accepted it and looked at the paper he was asked to sign with trepidation.

"Why should I sign this.?" Faldor asked nervously his head blazing through all sorts of ways that this document could be used against him if discovered. Nat gave a false comforting smile.

"It's protection for yourself. If things go to shit and something like the alienage gets purged because of Shianni, then all I would have to do is show this document to any guard that you tried your hardest to prevent this and your life would be spared. Think of it as insurance" Faldor sighed relieved to hear that. With the purpose of the document explained, he happily signed the document. Before he handed it back, however, a small enthusiastic smiled appeared on his face.

"You Inquisition people certainly look after people, it will be brilliant to work with you" Handing his presumed lifeline back to the Inquisition agent, Falodr hissed. "Ow" Bringing his left hand up to his face, Faldor blinked as he saw pooling on the surface. Nat looked at the man noticing the cut on his hand. Shaking his head in a reassuring way, he explained the situation.

"It's a paper cut, happens sometimes. If you want I can heal it" Faldor refused instead opting to place the cut to his lips and start sucking. Seeing that the conversation was over, Nat left the man alone ensuring that he did not dawdle in this area for too long and headed back to the Market.

Denerim Market

"For the maker's sake, does everything have to go wrong today" Sergeant Kylon groaned loudly swinging his arms out in front of him in utter annoyance his face showing one of utter annoyance as one of the guards informed him of the current situation. He then started to pace back a few steps forward and back as his mind ran thought about the situation, with a sigh he stopped. "We can't do anything, at the moment we're already stretched too thin, if we send any more guards out then they'll just get slaughtered". Nodding the other guard walked off leaving Sergeant Kylon alone to stew uncomfortably as silently as he could while trying to keep a mask of calm on to not worry the citizens.

"Having trouble Sergeant" Whipping around instantly his hand on his sword ready to strike at the one who had somehow managed to sneak up behind him, Kylon was then faced with none other than the Inquisition agent. He rolled his eyes, he had to be going paranoid, he nearly just killed a kid.

"You wouldn't know the half of it." Seeing that the kid was actually willing to listen to his problems, Kylon allowed himself to the opportunity to try and let down some of the pressure he was feeling. "Ever since what happened at Haven, the entire city's been in a mess. The Chantry has been complaining loudly nonstop about the problem with mages and that the Templars had gone on a holy mission which requires sacrifices from the citizens of Denerim. Thugs have been terrorising the city demanding large payments for "protection" money, some of the brothels have been threatened by other groups demanding that all the whores be killed. The alienage has been suffering harsher punishments from the lord in charge and there are also thieves stealing weapons but nobody knows who. And that's just the beginning of things. Most of my boys are from noble families and if they even see a weapon in a criminals hand I have their rich fathers moaning at me and I then have to waste my time telling them that being a guard is actually dangerous. It's been nonstop chaos." Kylon cupped his hand over his face breathing into it as he hid his every growing frustration at the turn of events he was facing. Being a guardsman was tough, but it appeared that it was going to be just like it was during the fifth blight only he had no Grey Warden.

"Give me the names and more details and I'll handle it for you" Kylon blinked his hand shooting down as he stared at the fourteen-year-old child before him. Had the boy seriously just offered him help.

"I'm sorry, but you're a bit young to be dealing with this. Not to mention the Inquisition has far more to worry about than just some petty thugs and criminals." Despite Kylons rejection, Nat could easily tell that with the man's tone that he actually did want some help and most likely he was rejecting him to make it seem that if his superiors asked, then he could say that he had rejected the offer from a kid.

"It is of the utmost importance that Thedas remains safe in these times Sergeant Kylon. I can assure that with the Breach, more and more demons will take advantage to cross over the veil to cause chaos wherever they are able. To combat this threat, it is of vital importance that the Inquisition prevents or lessens the problems over the continent to prevent the demons and their allies from getting a foothold in this world and taking the lives of more importance."

"Very well then Agent, as I said before the name of the whole house is the Pearl. The smuggles meet at night at the docks and the guard base is near Fort Drakon. I wish you luck agent." While he didn't show it less one of the other guards overhear what he was saying to the Inquisition agent, Kylon was extremely happy that the kid was taking on these tasks and even more so by the little speech he had given considering the Inquisition. It was politics he realised, the kid was using the name of the Inquisition to push what he wanted to do in order to assist him. As a boy, Kylon knew under most circumstances that he would be under massive pressure from his superiors if they discovered what assistance he had given. Yet with the agent's declaration of the Inquisition, it essentially meant that the agent could deal with any situation under the guise of preventing chaos to stop demons from interfering with Denerim. With the loss of the Templar's, Denerim had no real way to defend against mages or demons so if his superiors deemed to prevent the Inquisition from helping, it would look very bad on them with the citizens.

"To you as well Sergeant" And like that, Nat left the sergeant to deal with his troubles of dealing with his apparent lacklustre guards while in the meantime Nat could grow and gain more influence. He wasn't helping the man out of the goodness of his heart, no he was doing it to build influence and power. Should he be capable of creating a strong relationship with the guards of Denerim, then he would be able to not only gain more information on Denerim itself. Perhaps reports of who came in and out through the docks and what exactly was traded, maybe what was happening military wise or even better information on royal proceedings. Also, a happy set of guards would perhaps ignore any other actions he did so long as they weren't criminal. And all of that was just to start off with, there were likely other advantages that he could gain if he was considered a friend of the guards.

The Pearl

Sex fumigated the air, the smells of all sorts of sexual liquids both male and female had been spilt here more time than Nat wanted to know and he wanted to know none of them. Compared to the other buildings he had walked past on the way to here, the Pearl was nicer than any of them well at least on the outside. Inside it was even more... Nat didn't exactly know how to describe it. Had he been in some type of place of nobles room then he would say refined elegant even, on the other hand, those were not the words he would use on a whore house. The oak beams and walls were given a scarlet appearance by the way the candles light burned onto them alongside seemingly making the rather risqué paintings on the wall move and almost come alive. One of these paintings that he quickly looked at and then turned away was of a woman with multiple men who had all taken the time to. Nat turned away not allowing his eyes to linger any more on these paintings. Only his ears were then subjected to the building.

"Ugh, ugh, oh yeah, deeper, faster"

Moans echoed from the place loud and clear for all to hear and imagine what people were up to in the establishment. Nat tried to block it out. Only he failed as there was a serious lack of any other background noise other than wails, pleasurable noises, screams and was that a slap. All kinds of noises he would associate with sex were present and one of the groups he was sure by the sound were right in the middle of it going by the constant quick sound of two soft things slapping against each other rapidly. A loud grunt emanated from a different area. Nat shook his head incredibly glad that his sunglasses protected his identity. Nat focused on the task, he needed to talk to the owner of this establishment and get out faster than the US could invade a country after the discovery of oil.

Only that wasn't easy to do. A soon as he had left the little lobby area he was met with a sight he had never wanted to see. Dressed in very little to nothing at all, men and women lounged casually all over the main waiting area. There was at least a member of every race in Thedas, humans, elves, dwarves and even a Qunari woman. He averted his eyes from them, in his mind allowing them decency. He didn't blush, however, while he was extremely uncomfortable in the area especially as the Qunari woman gave him a glance and then started to give him the "fuck me" eyes. A few of them he could feel their eyes on him most assumedly making some type of sexual activity in hopes of gaining his attention. He ignored them easily. In truth any action that they were trying to perform was not because they were actually interested, it was because they likely sensed that he had some money he could spend and they wanted that money from him and so likely tried to arouse him until he couldn't resist.

"Well, that's the first time I've seen that" Working at the counter of the brothel was a woman, who she was Nat didn't particularly care as he was only here for answers, but he had certainly caught her amused interest. "I've seen boys half your age staring at the tits of one of my girls unable to take them and I've also seen men ready to die of old age who can't keep their hands away from their cunts wanting to get one last fuck in. But I've never seen a boy enter this place and not even seem the least bit interested. Even the pure Templars devour my girls with their eyes every opportunity they get, their dicks hard with them desperately wanting to fuck someone and blow their seed. You just ignored them like they don't even matter." The woman leaned forward trying to peer into the sunglasses. "So tell me, boy, did you come here to insult my girls or to show off your pathetic self."

"Neither" Nat responded calmly not affected in the slightest by the woman's insult. "Sergeant Kylon asked me to help deal with these thugs you've been dealing with. And before you insult me, look at my collars" Narrowing her eyes, the woman doubted that Kylon would send some useless kid to her brothel to deal with the situation. Even so, she looked where the boy was pointing her eyes widening as she recognised the symbol that the metal badges on the boy's collars showcased.

"You're with the" Nat raised a finger to his lips quietly shushing the woman before then giving a gentle nod to continue. Understanding why this boy seemingly wanted silence, she quietened her voice and carried on talking. "Their brute thugs came bursting through the door several weeks ago demanding to use my employees for free. I refused and they pulled a knife, killed one of my best girls as recompense and threatened to kill the others if they didn't submit. Since then they've come in whenever they want and done the same thing. One of my boys was killed days later when he tried to go away, found impaled on a spike. I alerted Sergeant Kylon and he investigated, even sent some guards round and killed a few of the fuckers. The next day, the guards were hanging over the market square and no other guard has visited. Had their fucking balls yanked out from them" Despite the woman's explanation of previous event's, the information was practically useless other then the fact that it alerted the blonde haired wizard that these thugs were more brutal than others and also had some type of spy system if they knew who to target.

"Any idea where they head off to, who they are?" The woman shook her head. Nat nodded as he came up with a plan. "Would any of your employees be willing to work with me". What they would be doing exactly was left out, but he did have a plan.

"You'd have to ask them and pay them. If they're not working during their shift, then their losing pay." That wasn't much of a problem, Nat didn't have much money in the traditional sense, but he was a wizard and could easily duplicate any coins that he so desired. They'd be fakes of course, easily recognisable to a goblin if they saw them, but here in Denerim, he didn't think he'd have much of a problem so long as he kept to only small amounts. One of the worst possible things he could do was to flood Thedas with fake gold. The utter chaos and economic chaos it would unfurl would be horrendous especially since the medieval period was unused to modern terms of dealing with economics.

"Anyone, in particular, you'd recommend, one of the favourites." Subtly the woman directed her head towards a pair of elves who were keeling on the floor opposite one another a fake smile on their faces as they proceeded to lick –well he didn't have to explain it. Nat hid a groan, of all the places he had to visit and sort the problems off, it had to be a fucking whore house. He was never going to tell anyone let alone Valeyna about this, if that elf got word that he visited a whore house, he would never get an end to the jokes or constant questions of a sexual nature.

"I'll wait" And so he did, sitting on one of the chairs isolated from everybody else his head tilted low so nobody could see his face. Upon noticing what they hoped to be a potential customer free, a few of the whores approached him with a certain intent. Before they even got close, Nat gave a different kind of pulse of magic. Instead of the usual one acting like a radar, this one was used as a very subtle warning. As soon as the invisible energy stuck the whores, the individuals desiring money of him soon turned of their own volition not quite understanding why but knowing that the young kid didn't want to be disturbed. Unfortunately for him, the pair of elves that he wanted to speak with was then paid more by the fat merchant they had been playing with and were soon ushered into a private abode to carry on with their craft.

He waited patiently, cautiously and spent the majority of his time contemplating the possible future acts of the Inquisition until finally after about half an hour, the man waddled out of the hallways and back into the main lobby area a satisfied look on their face. Of course, Nat then had to wait even more time for the girls to come back out again after a wash so they could start working again. Finally, he approached.

"Yes, what do you want" Faking a smile at the potential new customer, the twins went back into a business mood. Gesturing back towards the hall, the twins followed well used to nervous first-timers who blushed from their head to toes.

"I desire your help in tracking down these thugs that have been frequenting this establishment." Their faces drained, and eyes dilated with fear. Whatever had been done to these girls, Nat knew that the girls were petrified of the possible consequences of what they were asking. Shaking their heads they said nothing instead rushing past him eager to return to their normal work so long as it took their minds off a more depressing matter. Not that it was a problem, he had gone for the two favourite, the others were likely desired by the others, in fact, the Qunari woman might have a better chance.

A loud slam broke the sound of moaning and was instead replaced with that of heavy shoes stepping quickly over a wooden floor alongside the sound of metal sliding against leather. Considering the type of place this was i.e., that there was no point in the slightest for weapons to be drawn, that left the conclusion as to what was occurring as easy to decipher leaving the wizard with a few options. He could go out and confront the thugs likely leading to some kind of confrontation where he killed a few of the thugs and got a place name and headed there. He could also act and pretend that he wanted to desperately join the guys and pretend he was poor. One of these choices could save the women from what was about to happen, but that was the point, could. If he dared confront them, then there was always the possibility that one of the thugs would simply kill one of the whores or make him kill one of the whores as some kind of initiation. Worse, if there was a spy for the thugs here, then should he intervene then the thug might report back to their commander and the brothel would be hit worse.

Nat knew he had kept his voice down so nobody would have heard what he spoke off, and his badges of being part of the inquisition were in a place that they weren't so obvious. As such he should still be able to give off the appearance as some kind of Tevinter visiting Fereldan's whore house. Either of these options might help to save the women from the inevitable action that was about to be taken against them. But there was another option, the far more logical one in his mind that cared not for the emotional well being of these women and would instead allow them to be subjected to such harsh treatment. Besides confronting them, he could simply not take action. If that was the case, all he had to do was remember the face for a few of the thugs and leave like it was nobody's business and then the next day simply cast a point me charm that may take him to their base.

Problems arose from that as well. He couldn't exactly imagine that his and the reputation of the Inquisition would be held as high should rumours be allowed to leave that he had willingly stood by and allowed men and women to be raped. There was also the other solution, he could instead still confront them and use legimency on these thugs to discover everything he desired to know and then kill them. After which he could then erase the memories of everyone present so they did not know that he was a mage.

That final option sounded the greatest one on paper and it even got Nat thinking on whether his actions on not using Legimency up to date were correct or not. He was worried about Solas, that was the only reason he didn't use it. Not because of moral grounds or any other mage, just Solas. While being able to read the mind of others was possible with blood magic, it was still blood magic which was easy to detect. As for his fears about Solas detecting any mind magic he may perform, it was because it was easy to detect when it was being used. But that was only by people who could detect magic like him and others back home. Otherwise detecting magic was not a common skill in the slightest, it required years of training and very few Aurors could even do it. He was only capable of doing so because of the training he had received ever since he was a child. Not that it mattered presently.

So far Nat knew he possessed no evidence either way if Solas was able to sense his type of magic. Without a doubt the man could detect magic, he had spoken on many occasions when in the hinterlands about how the veil had felt strange in some form or other. Valeyna had been quick to agree, and so had he, even if he had been lying. It was ridiculously difficult for him to detect the veil something that had proven one of his theories. He had no connection to the Fade in the slightest. Other mages could easily feel it and pull forth their power from it, but he, on the other hand, was only able to sense the veil when he felt a rift. His best analogy would be like peering through glass. Most of the time you didn't even know there was glass as it was so clear that it looked real, yet once the first crack was seen it became noticeable but once it was sealed, once again he could not detect the veil.

Why this was he wasn't entirely too sure, but he was certain that going in a world where there weren't two different dimensions had shattered his ability to sense them here. It was like being colour blind to a brand new colour he had never been introduced to before.

For this reason, he couldn't help but wonder if Solas was secretly having as such a hard time as he was when it came to determining his own magic. Because it was so foreign, perhaps Solas could sense when he cast a spell yet was not able to know what it was almost as if he was speaking an entirely different language. Of course, should he use it on the man or if Solas did regularly check people he came into contact with, then while he may not be able to determine what had been used on the individuals, he may know that it affected the mind? In which case, time would be the enemy. Should Nat use more legimency, than Solas would have more time to study his magic and start to decipher it spell by spell until he could instantly tell what was coming at him?

Of course, it was still all a theory. His mind turned back to the situation brewing in the lobby area the other side of the wall he was leaning on. Should he use legimency? The likelihood of Solas every waltzing into a whore house were slim at best significantly reducing the chance of the man ever detecting what had magic had been used. Not to mention, while magic did leave traces, it didn't last for long unless it was exceptionally powerful. Any legimency he did use would have no trace left by the time Solas would arrive at the whore house anyway. On the other hand, this was a several-thousand-year-old powerful mage who had most likely educated himself on all kinds of magic before the fall of Arlathan. He still didn't know who Solas was, or what he could do and being cautious around Solas was the best Nat could do until her determined more about what the man was capable off.

Finally, was it even worth breaking his caution for a set of whores?

Rape was evil he'd agree with that, but personally, did he believe that these whores were more important to him than his own magic and life. No. Did he even care what happened to these women, no it was the same answer? These women were strangers and quite frankly he couldn't care less if they were killed or raped even still, he could think of certain advantages that would come from them should he help them. Other than perhaps gaining their good will, he may in the future be able to use them as agents. With his decision made, he left his position of hiding behind the wall and stepped into the main lobby of the whore house.

"Now get on your knees bitch, good now suck my cock" Obeying the orders of one of the thugs, the elf's who had only recently finished with a client got to work servicing their new one.

Gurk

With horror struck eyes, the thug collapsed to the ground gripping his chest as he saw a spear thrust through it. None of the thug's companions had the ability to even comprehend what had even happened as they two were promptly dealt with in the same way. The magic was too fast for them to even see leaving all but one answered kebabs with the final bound tightly by metal chains that were wrappedyoung around their body like a python threatening to kill them via suffocation. Their face turning a quick shade of dark blue the last thug felt his whole body shiver as he saw the strangely dressed Tevinter approach him the eyes shrouded by some strange Orlesian mask.

"Take me to your base, or I will make you suffer in ways that you cannot possibly imagine" Shivers like spiders ran up the young man's spine. The tone of the boy was calm emotionless, he would have imagined that such a thing would not be intimidating in the slightest. He was wrong. The way this boy spoke, it wasn't human like he was some kind of monster. He breathed in desperate for another breath of fresh air only to then feel the chains wrap even closer to him, he suffocated his brain losing oxygen and his vision blurring to the point that he could not even identify the boy only a black blob. As his body began to shut down, he felt something sharp below him, if it had been possible his eyes would have widened with shock as he felt that sharp piece of metal start to dig into his crotch. "I'd start singing if I was you little bird. Otherwise, the guards are going to have the mystery on their hands as they discover your body parts all over the city. Perhaps the children can put them to use, make toys out of your bones and little drums out of your skin. You would enjoy that right, I mean you were so willing to do something similar to these girls so fair is fair."

"Ah- a-" The thug struggled to breath the chains wrapping around so tightly now, that he swear that with any more pressure his bones would snap. As for his voice, the thug struggled so much that he couldn't be understood. "Shhh" He was so weak the thug couldn't even move his arms and his vision was turning entirely black.

"I couldn't quite hear you" Nat gave the thug a bored expression. "Did you were going to show me"

"Shhh" The thug repeated the last vestiges of his life leaving his soon to be corpse unless he was given back the vital lifeblood of humanity. Just as his last supply left him, his bones about snap into twigs, the chains vanished. Air rushed back into the thug's mouth as collapsed onto the floor fighting as much as he could to take up the air. Then a hard boot pressed his head into the wooden floor smashing it hard enough that some blood splashed out.

"You are going to apologise to these good people" Nat's voice rang out above him, roughly he gripped the thug's throat yanking it up to see the still scared looks on the faces of the men and women that he and his companions had just shown earlier. "You are going to stay here on your stomach like the pathetic little creature that you are and beg for their forgiveness." Fear seeped through the thug's body, with the sudden surprise now over, he could view upon the lifeless sacks of meat blood and bone that his companions had been. Not a single thought of rebellion coursed through him, should he even try to resist then he would be killed the same way. Instead, he simply bowed his head in subservience to the mage who was continuing to crush his head against the floor.

"Yes, master" The thug begged all fight lost from him. Nat looked up at the men and women who had been accosted just moments before. Without even saying a word, the whores knew what to do walking forward towards the man with hatred in the eyes. Petrified out of his mind the thug apologised nonstop as he was continuously attacked with punches, scratches kicks and other forms of attack as the whores worked off the stress in vengeance. Only when the man had been beaten up to an inch of his life did Nat stop the torment picking him up from the floor by the scruff of his hair healing his body just enough so that he could be usable and walked out.

Back alley warehouse

Bodies slammed onto the floor the heads of their previous owners still flying as the decapitated corpses body-slammed onto the floor spurting their own blood like a water fountain that had the plumbing burst. If one was to look, they would see an entire line of dead corpses all of whom had been slain in such a cold efficient manner. If that person looking had been trained in forensics, then they would have seen that despite the amount of bloodshed and bodies, then they would know that not a single fight had taken place and all those dead hadn't even been aware of what just happened.

"Amateurs" Not even bothering to place his wand back in its wrist holster, with another flick of the wand, the corpses of the now dead men and women who had been guarding this ran shack warehouse were soon stolen of everything they had owned on their corpses as it flew through the air and shrunk at the same time before landing in one of the many jacket pockets the wizard had. With that done he had one final task last to do before he attacked the home of these thugs once and for all.

Turning on his heel, he walked slowly in full sight of the thug who had not only led him here but also told him about the location of every other base. It had been a rather easy thing to get out of the coward when he threatened to cut off his family jewels. It had actually been a somewhat amusing sight to see the man collapse to his knees tears streaming out of his eyes as he begged time and time again spouting that he had only been a poor orphan boy that wanted to help his sister and that he had no intention of ever getting caught up in this mess. Oh, how he had begged and begged for his life stating that he had only accompanied the others to the whore house as part of his job and that he had no intention of doing anything to the woman.

The Thug had pleaded and pleaded to be let go so that he could take his sister away from Denerim and have a decent life. The reward the man was given for the information he had given was no reward. Nat had lied when he said that he wouldn't cut the man's jewels off if he was told information. He'd still done it only he had shown mercy, he did it in a quick singular blow rather than taking the time to it slice by slice. Nat cared not for the whores, but the man was with the same group that had planned to rape the men and women of the rose. Therefore by the Law of the United Kingdom, the man was guilty by association and would also receive the same punishment that was given to the others.

"Please, as you can see I didn't lie. Please my sister I beg you sir my sister needs me if she doesn't she'll die or have to become a whore. I just wanted to keep her safe after our parents died of plague. Please sir, I beg you without me she can't live on her own, she'll be raped tortured. Please, Please, By the Maker please sir have mercy. Show me mercy for my sister I beg you. She's young, about eight years old, lives under a bridge by the market to keep her safe from the others. Please sir by all the mercy of Andraste and the Maker I beg for another chance to do right by her so she does not have to suffer" By now the thugs face had been pure red from crying his voice gone hoarse from begging and his body also seemingly having gone weak and into degradation buy the sheer worry that they possessed for their sisters fate.

Nat didn't care, not in the slightest. Without breaking his step, he drew the sabre hilted at his side and brought it to his side not yet in a position to strike. He glanced at the tears the man held, they were genuine this man only sought to protect one he cared about willingly taking on hardship to assist one he cared about purely out of love so that others could hopefully live a better life. Even if that meant that in the future the girl would come to despise him for what he had done. It was admirable, something that Nat could very much understand. All the same, he brought his sabre up, the thug having lost all hope said only a single word as the blade swept through the air slashing towards his neck. The thug clenched his eyes.

A tiny whisper of air struck against the thug's neck and it was over.

"Open your eyes" Nat commanded. Reluctantly less his fate be sealed the thug followed that order and saw what had happened. The blade was so close to his neck yet it did not touch it, he could not feel the cold metal of the sword against his skin and he felt no pain but still, the blade was so close to his neck that had it moved anything at all, then it would slice his head off. A confused look blossomed on the thugs face at the same time he couldn't help but desire greatly to crush down the dreaded feeling of hope that was enveloping his hear. Terrified he gazed into that black mask only to see his own face gaze back at him as if he was staring into his own soul.

"Why?" He asked, there wasn't a chance that the boy would have missed, the blade was so close to his skin that it should have been an easy job of decapitating him.

"I will give you one chance." Nat's tone as ever was calm and emotionless, yet also giving odd an edge harder and sharper than any blade digging directly into the thugs entire being like if he had indeed allowed that blade in his hand to carry on. "You will join the Inquisition and work for me personally. You will be one of my soldiers, training and be taking my orders. You will do as I tell you, use the weapons I demand you use and follow every instruction I give to the letter. Should you refuse or fail your life is forfeit. In return, I will see to it that your sister shall also join whether as a runner or scribe or as a servant, your sister will be looked after and protected. What do you say"

The thug looked up an unfathomable amount of expressions on his face as he heard that news. He was being allowed to live?. It was unimaginable, the guards would have executed him for sure. Not to mention had this kid just offered him a job, as in he could get away from Denerim and the crime to a place he could do something good and keep his sister away from the crime here. Also, had he just stated that his sister would also get a job. His face elated, the sheer weight of the fear and panic that had been crashing down on him for so long seemingly vanishing as he looked at this boy. He was being offered everything he had ever wanted, if he joined the Inquisition then he would be trained to be a soldier and would fight the evils of the world and his sister would not only be safe but would be given a job to support herself in case anything ever happened to him as he so often feared. If she could get a job as a servant, then she would never be a whore or tossed out onto the streets if she did a good job. As for serving a boy like him and being trained however this boy wanted, then why not. This boy was offering him all the dreams he had ever had to take away the burden of the life he had before. Why wouldn't he accept?

"Thank the Maker and Andraste" The sabre was brought away from his neck and placed back in its sheath. "Yes I do, thank you, sir, thank you. You are a kind and wonderful and truly great person, I owe not only my life but also that of my sisters, I can't thank you enough for this chance." Unexpectedly for the thug, the boy who had threatened to take his life mere moments before offered him a hand, tentatively he accepted and soon found himself brought up.

"I have business in the city, for now, take your sister and get some beds at a tavern." As he spoke, Nat pulled out his wallet and took out some coins. Most had been looted from their former owners the thug's previous compatriots. Placing them in the thug's hand, Nat made sure that there would be enough coins for all possible needs. He didn't know how long he would be in Denerim, but it was faster to let this thug pay for it then having to go out of his way in purchasing a room. "Don't worry about trying to find me, I'll know where you are." Seeing the relieved and joyful expression on the thugs face, Nat leaned in closely invading the man's personal space forcing him to walk backwards until his back hit a wall and had nowhere to escape. "Also should you even think about running away or betraying me, I'll capture both you and your sister alive and force you to watch day after day as men use her for their own pleasure. Understand" Nodding vigorously, the thug with permission from his new employer rushed away to tell his sister the good news. Finally, they would have a chance for a better life, he could already see her smiling face.

In contrast, Nat said nothing instead choosing to head back in the direction of the warehouse his wand still clutched in his hand and his sabre in his pocket. Kindness was not the reason why he had spared the young man, he cared not for him nor his sister, instead, he had done so to build up power. Day after day the Inquisition was flooded with new soldiers who wanted to fight and were trained by Cullen and the others in typical medieval tactics. These soldiers would be the grunts doing whatever Leliana or Cullen commanded them to do so. They weren't the flashiest of people and regularly got sidelined for people like himself, Valeyna and Leliana, but they were still a useful asset; which was why he wanted his own set of soldiers who would be personally loyal to him.

If he was stuck here and went with his plan of creating a business in the future, then he would need guards, soldiers to protect what he desired. If he created a useful machine that others would want to copy, then they could guard such areas or in contrast, if he needed certain supplies secured because bandits were attacking, he could then send them. But more importantly for the present, once the soldiers were trained up, he could then send them on personal missions to secure information or deal with annoying enemies. Very importantly though, if he should become enemies with somebody powerful then these soldiers would be his small army ready to defend his interests. However, these soldiers would also benefit the inquisition with the type of training he intended to put them through.

He had no interest in creating a small medieval attack force, to make it effective would require a lot of armour and years of extensive training that he was never going to get from anybody he recruited. Rather what he desired was a modern force to work under him. When he meant modern though, he didn't mean 21st century modern but more around, 19th century modern, muskets, cannon, rifles, gunpowder. Those would be the weapons he would train the soldiers under him with and how to fight and decimate enemy combatants with them.

Getting ahold of such weapons would be incredibly easy. Just like how he could create a sword without ever being a blacksmith by essentially using his magic like a machine would, so each individual process to make a weapon was still undertaken only magic was the muscle used rather than the hands and feet; creating weapons of the 19th century would also be easy. For the most case, firearms of the early 19th century were very simple, they were a metal tube with a few holes in them at certain points inlaid onto a wooden stock with a few other metal pieces added on.

Getting the specifics on the weapon was easy considering that he had not only trained with Napoleonic weapons as was the Tempest family tradition but also because he knew he had books on the subject on his kindle and distinctly remembered seeing diagrams of it. Gunpowder was the same, he had books on the subject which could be used as a reference. Of course, he'd prefer something a bit more modern than that, while the Qunari had only been seen using cannons as firearms, it was a prelude to what was going to come and he'd prefer to have something more advanced than a flintlock. However that would have to wait, if he did in time decide to swap all weapons from muskets and rifles to something of the Victorian age, then he'd prefer something which would not require so many parts. Not to mention ammunition, muskets and the equivalent rifles fired a ball of metal, something that was easy to either summon or just produce normally. On the other hand, if he instead went for something like the Martini-Henry rifle, then the process became far harder. As for something like a Lee Enfield rifle, then was completely out of scope unless he had a lot more experience with magical forging.

Considering the history of Earth, firearms would take some time to be adopted, but once they were it would scare the shit out of Templars and knights. This was another reason for his desire to equip his soldiers with firearms, the heavy armour that knights and templar's wore allowed them to dominate the battle against nearly all opponents, but against bullets they were useless. And when they started to commission bullet resistant armour, they would see the costs of armour skyrocket allowing only a very few select number of rich people to wear it.

Pushing his thoughts on the weapons aside, he allowed himself a few more minutes before entering the building to reflect on his actions with the thug. He had lied to the thug that he would sell his sister as a prostitute, in fact, while he would never have said it, he had already come to the conclusion that if he had of killed the thug, that he would have taken the sister to Haven and get her a job. He may not have cared for the thug, but the thug had been generous and the sister didn't deserve the fate that would have awaited her. As for the thug himself, the thug got lucky. Nat had originally planned on executing the thug but decided against it for his own goals.

He got a new soldier who with the opportunities given to him, would hopefully become loyal and grateful to him. Nat certainly didn't trust mercenaries in contrast, the thug knew that if he stepped out of line that his sister would not only be punished but would also lose her job. Which Nat wouldn't do, but he still had to make sure that he didn't come across as too weak to anyone who might view the thug as an example of his state of mind. Should he act all friendly towards the man, others would take it that he was a person to be pushed around and wasn't a strict person. On the other side, he would gain far more respect from others if they were under the belief that the thug was under a very tight watch and that he had something precious to him that could be attacked or taken away. Not that the thug would be a problem, the thug was too naive not even bothering to lie so when he stated that he was excited to become a member of the Inquisition, he was serious. There wasn't a chance the kid would jeopardise his dream of becoming a soldier when it had just been handed to him on a platter. The kid was also naive, he'd been an offer that others in his position would have believed too good to be true. Of course, it wasn't, Nat very much indeed intended to ensure that his soldier's sister got a job and could take care of herself, but that didn't mean that he wasn't going to use the two of them to his own advantage.

Warehouse

Back to the matter at hand, he infiltrated the main building that this gang of thugs was using to further the operation and got to work. Over the next twenty minutes, had anyone been in the vicinity of this warehouse, then they would have heard a chorus of explosions, loud thumps and yelling. After that, however, they would have heard nothing and instead would have likely begun to smell the warehouse as the corpses of quite a few dead men and women decorated the floor of the warehouse helpfully painting the walls of the dilapidated structure with a new coat of red paint.

"All right you lobotomised shitlark, you are going to tell me everything I want to know. If you refuse to so, then I will dress you in a pink tutu and make you dance like a ballerina in front of every single noble in Ferelden before then feeding you to the crocodiles. Just like with the thug he had hired earlier, Nat found his boot on the back of some assholes head pressing it down to the floor with the intention of fracturing it. The man under him was the previous head of this group of thugs, although previous was the world because, against his magic, the thugs hadn't stood a fucking chance before they had their limbs transformed into bleeding stumps.

"Go to the void you Vint magister shit bag" Nat rolled his eyes at the response the man was giving him.

"Real imaginative" Nat quipped. He was getting rather tired of listening to the nasal tone this guy had to his voice and he'd already looted the contents of this warehouse discovering some very important information about a certain guard he was looking in to. "I'm terribly sorry" Nat spoke with an obvious mock kindness raising his foot of the man's skull enough so he could raise it and see what was about to come. "I forgot that you wouldn't have any idea about what I'm talking about. here let me show you what a saltwater crocodile looks like" With a flick of his wrist, the head thug paled so quickly, that it was almost as if the entirety of his blood had just evacuated his body as he stared at what was ahead of him.

He had never seen one before in his life, but a primal fear coursed through the leader of this thug groups veins as he saw some type of large scaly monster with a big mouth filled to the brim with large sharp teeth and evil looking eyes. Slowly the thing that the attacker had called a crocodile locked its yellow slitted eyes on him and then moved forward.

Tic Toc

Tic Toc

Tic Toc

Suddenly out of nowhere as the thug struggled in vain to break free of the chains binding his arms behind his back tied to the floor, the sound of a continuous ticking sound emerge matching perfectly with every single step that the large beast took. A look of utter distraught was the man's expression as he fought and fought and fought the chains his lips and tongue flapping continuously as he prayed to the maker and Andraste or for the wizard to stop this torture.

"What do you want to know" Screaming at the top of his voice, the head thug was treated to the wonderful sight of staring down the gullet of a crocodile all its teeth bared read to lath into his naked frame. Bringing his head up to try and stare at his captor, much to the thug's shock, he could only watch incredulously as this Tevinter child watched a few metres away by a large fashionable table and started drinking some type of hot drink all the while lounging back without a care in the world.

"Would you like some tea?" Nat asked politely pouring himself a cup all the while he then began to take out a pack of biscuits and began dunking them all with a straight emotionless face. "Oh I'm terribly sorry, I didn't mean you, I meant the crocodile. It's not exactly healthy for them, but tea is such a wonderful drink that I think a crocodile wouldn't mind." Had the kid gone out of his fucking mind the thug wondered. Unfortunately, his attention was soon diverted back to the crocodile who was getting closer and closer to him.

Tic Toc

Tic Toc

Tic Toc

"You're a fucking cock sucking buggering loving whore's bastard just like those other Vint cunts." Hopelessly showing defiance, the leader of this group of thugs spat on the ground yet despite this, the man was petrified his eyes pleading for everything not to be killed or in the very least not to become some animals lunch. Nat, on the other hand, didn't even bother to even flicker his eyes in the man's directions instead just crossing his legs and started reading a book all the while the creature approached ever closer.

"I'm afraid you're a little bit off the mark there old chap. Not that it really matters, I was sent here to clear up any loose ends. You see my boss got rumours that you were causing too much chaos, being to inconspicuous with your attacks." Glaring with as much hatred as he could muster, the leader of the thug seemingly attempted to burn a hole through the book the kid was reading.

"Inconspicuous. You backwards magic loving whore. It was your boss who specifically wanted the chaos to be created so that you Venatori cunts could move in without hassle and set up a base. And it was also you fuckers who promised us a place in this shit pile of a country once that fool king was dead. I'll bury you for this, I'll escape and then I'll capture you. Once I do I'll rip your balls off and shove them down your throat while I feed you to a set of pigs. And when I do, I'll take your mother and mistress and any other women you care about and rape them to the point that they can't live without my cock making them my slaves. And you'll be forced to watch day in and day out. How do you like that you shit" Spitting once more the thug laid out all the insults he could with as much bard as he could alongside threatening everything he could entirely ignoring the ticking sound. Finally, after a while, Nat put his book down and gave him a friendly smile that shot untold horrors down the thug's spine as the ticking became so loud that it was almost deafening.

"Thank you for your cooperation, it's been most helpful. " Nat stood up vanished the table and chair and then turned around no longer facing the man instead starting a slow walk towards the way he had come in. "On behalf of the Inquisition, I do hope that you enjoy the rest of your day sir"

Tic Toc

Tic Toc

TIC TOC

The next day

Market

"Sergeant, I've dealt with both the thugs and the smugglers. It turned out that they were the same group" If Kylon said he was surprised by the speedy actions of the Inquisition agent, he would be severely understating it. When he had allowed the agent to handle the situation, he had been expecting it to require several days of work. Instead, the kid had left yesterday and had now bright and early was informing him that both groups of highly dangerous criminals had been dispatched. It was hard to believe, he'd have to send some of his better guards to confirm the story, yet he didn't think that the Agent was lying to him. Rather he desperately hoped that the kid has in fact dealt with two of the major headaches he had been dealing with.

"Really, you handled it? That was faster than I had expected, but then again you're part of the Inquisition. Very well, here's a reward for your hard efforts" Out of his pocket Kylon handed over a bag with fifteen gold coins in total, gratefully Nat accepted the pouch and placed the coins into his own wallet before then handing the pouch back to the man who could use it better than he ever could. "Is there anything else?" Kylon was soon met by a letter, accepting it, the man read through it. As he did so, his eyes widened in anger and shock, when he was finished he folded the letter up and placed it in his pocket. "You did well bringing me this, the commander's been going nuts over who's been stealing weapons. With this, we can bring this problem to an end". Kylon hesitated after he said this, his relief turned to worry as he thought about the actions that would be needed to deal with the guard who had been stealing weapons.

"Is there something wrong sergeant" Kylon shook his head slowly he began to focus his attention squarely onto the one who had overnight apparently managed to wipe out not only his smuggler problem but also his thug problem.

"It isn't my place to ask Agent, but with the work you did last night, I don't suppose you could assist me and the rest of the boys in taking down the traitor. In return, I can offer you another reward and I would personally be grateful. In fact, with the work that you've done, I'm sure that the Inquisition would like to know what's going on in the city. Yes, you help me and the boys, and you'll know everything that happens in this city."

"It would be my pleasure sergeant, tell me when and where you plan on striking the individual" Kylon began pacing his mind going through the most subtle way of dealing with this traitor in the capital. They weren't the highest ranking guard, but they were well connected and he couldn't just storm in without some form of proof meaning that they had to get them when they were in the middle of a large stealing operation. Thankfully for him, the piece of paper that the Inquisition agent had found did indeed have a time of where to meet.

"Half an hour before midnight tonight, meet me and the lads outside the Rose. Once you arrive we'll head to the rendezvous point." Relaxing now that he had a plan thought up, Kylon nodded to himself already picturing the route in his hand and how the operation would go down. Of course, he now had to decide which men he was going to take with him. The guard in question was liked by others so Kylon knew he had to get the more loyal guards on his side if he desired to take this individual in for questioning.

"I'll be there sergeant until then have a good day"

"And to you as well Agent" With a slight bow of his head to the kid, Kylon got back to work. Even if the smugglers and thugs had been dealt with by the agent, he still had a job to do.

Denerim Palace

"By Andraste, I never thought that woman was going to shut up." Rubbing his eyes tiredly, King Alistar Therin of Fereldan made his way into his study and promptly collapsed onto the first chair he saw. Feeling his body ache from all the boredom he had endured, the man looked around the room when he finally found the strength to do so and sighed. "And I'm talking to myself, they do say that speaking to oneself is a sign of madness. That must be it. I really do wish at times I hadn't taken the job and let Anora rule the kingdom, but no I had to be a hero and take my rightful place as heir." Groaning, Alistair managed to pull himself up on the chair so that he was sitting somewhat straight albeit with his hand unbuttoning his embroidered brown and gold shirt revealing a part of his still muscled chess, the man was certainly not in an appearance to be seen by others.

"King Alistair" Whipping his head around left and right, Alistair searched rigorously for the source of the voice that had just spoken. Only there was nobody there.

"Great and now the walls are talking to me. Hello Mr Wall, I would very much appreciate it if you didn't inform anyone of that incident a few days ago, you know with the bananas I think they're called. Yeah, I'd appreciate that." Silently Alistair begged for the walls not to speak back again, if they did, then he was bound to be carted off somewhere preferably back with the wardens not that it would be exactly possible seeing as they had all gotten up and left all of a sudden.

"You're not speaking to the wall, I'm a member of the Inquisition and I was wondering if you would be willing to answer some questions". Whoever was talking to him Alistair knew had to be well trained, if they were able to somehow able to stay out of his sight and make their voice echo around him, then they had to be trained exceptionally well. Alistair smiled as he came to the conclusion as to who was likely the one behind this interrogation.

"Sure I can answer some questions. First, that new cook we got is terrible, seems to burn everything they touch. I won't have to worry about an Orlesian invasion, the moment they try they'll drop dead of food poisoning. Then we could invade them, make all the Orlesian's own a marbari hound and laugh at their faces when they have to take care of it". If Alistair could see the one who was speaking to him, then he could tell that they hadn't found that joke too funny I fact, he was certain he could feel eyes rolling.

"I'll keep things brief then King Alistair. Rumours in the market say you're going mad, hearing voices, screaming, nightmares." Alistair's face hardened. "What I'm here to ask you, is since the conclave explosion, have you been feeling anything because of your connection to the Blight" It was rather ominously said Alistair thought. His interrogator hadn't stated that he had been a grey warden, yet was almost implying that he was some type of disease that was allowed to wander around with other people.

"And why are you so curious about the blight, asking for tips on how to become a grey warden. I'll tell you, the nightmares are annoying and so are the long walks over mountains just to fight Darkspawn" Seeing that the owner of the voice had not decided to reveal itself and also because they hadn't taken any sort of move to attack his person, Alistair decided not to call his guards. Whoever this person was, more than likely worked for Leliana and if she was the one who had sent him, then there was no ill intent.

"No" The reply was short. "However every single warden in southern Thedas has disappeared overnight. When I heard the news that the king was suffering, I wanted to know that if your connection to the blight could possibly explain why they had all gone. With very few books on the Grey Wardens, in general, let alone knowledge of how they operate, it was decided that you were the only chance of learning anything useful in our search." Shock and understanding gripped Alistair, if this agent of the Inquisition was telling him that every single Grey Warden had also felt it, then there was no chance it could be fake, rather the opposite. He nodded instantly understanding why Leliana would want to speak with him, if all the wardens had felt it at the exact time and now there was a hole in the sky threatening demon invasion, then the lack of wardens were very suspicious.

"Right Leliana sent you which means the situation is way worse. Just great. Anyway, yeah ever since the conclave went boom and doomed the peace talks, I've been feeling the blight constantly pulling at me, affecting me in a way that I've never felt before. It's the calling, I'm sure of it. All Wardens go through it at some point or other, but it's usually thirty years after initiation, the only reason I didn't go is that I don't have an heir to take over not that there have been attempts. I tried to contact the wardens myself, see if they knew anything about what was happening but like your Inquisition, nobody could be found. If you're saying that the other wardens have vanished, then that is what they must be feeling too, the call of the blight demanding us to make one final sacrifice."

It was quiet for a little bit afterwards, the person who was interrogating Alistair obviously taking the time to consider his words and therefore what had to be done with such knowledge. On the other hand, Alistair made sure to speak to his uncle the moment he was able. If all the Grey Wardens were experiencing the calling at the exact same time, then something major was going. Unfortunately for the kid, he could only think of one scenario that would be this bad. There had to be another blight coming.

"Thank you, King Alistair, for this information, I am sorry to have bothered you" Alistair shook his head collapsing back even further into his seat pinching his forehead. A dark look emanated from the man as flashbacks to a decade previous ravaged his mind made even worse as he felt the call of the Darkspawn.

"Inquisition, person," Alistair called out not quite sure if the intruder had already managed to escape yet. "Tell Leliana that she'll have my full support. With demons coming over to have tea parties, and the Orlesians fighting over which ones looks prettiest covered head to toe in gold, the world has a few problems. If there's another blight, however, then we are going to need to stand together especially if the Grey Wardens are experiencing the calling. I'll do my best to raise some troops in preparation, but I'm afraid that you lot will have to do the majority of the work. Still, it will be good to talk to Leliana again, she always was quite funny with her innocence at times." Alistair smiled at the memories of travelling with the red-headed woman; if there was a blight coming, then his kingdom had to be prepared to stand against the tide of darkness. Then he shivered, his mind racing back to that time he had been cast into the fade with the Hero of Fereldan when they visited the Circle of Magi. If only a few demos and managed to do that, then he could only wonder what they could do with the veil torn.

"She will be glad to hear it, King Alistair. In the meantime, you should know that Darkspawn has been attacking people around the Storm coast. Until then King Alistair, I bid you good fortunes with the days to come" And like that, King Alistair knew that whoever this mysterious agent of the Inquisition was, they had vanished leaving the room entirely and was now going to leave the palace sneaking past his soldiers to do so.

With him gone, Alistair swore loudly. Everything at this moment in time was a fucking shambles. Not only was the continent in complete and utter chaos, but the divine was dead, the Wardens were now experiencing the calling which was a likely prelude to another blight, demons were invading, Darkspawn attacks were on the rise, the mages and Templars were all gone content to kill each other and if Gaspard won the Orlesian civil war, then the man would march on Fereldan . Was there not a single ally that Fereldan could call upon.

The treaties he and his friend had used were for the Wardens, something that he wasn't and he doubted that this he had called upon a decade ago would be willing to fight once again. The Chantry also couldn't be relied upon as they had squarely taken the side of the Orleisans during the occupation, neither could the Free Marches be counted upon and every other nation were either enemy, couldn't be trusted or didn't have a strong bond with Ferelden. That left only one group that he could ask for assistance, he'd have to rely upon Leliana and her Inquisition.

With a sigh, he leaned forward and picked up his quill and began to write.

The Rose

"Okay men we'll wait here until our backup arrives" Speaking to his men soft, Kylons years of experience in his work showed as he naturally went to speak with a louder tone in the day to a quiet but still audible one in the dark. His men didn't debate though, rather taking the time to lean against the wall as they got ready for the supposed back up that their commander had managed to get them. "Maker it's cold" Hugging his arms to his chest, Kylon watched in an uninterested manner as his breath leaving his lips changing colour becoming visible for all those around to view. He rubbed his hands together desperate in hopes of warming his fingers up through the gloves he was wearing.

Before he could carry on complaining, a rush of pure warm coursed through his entire body like he had just stepped inside a building with a nice cosy fire. A sigh of relief coming from one of his men alerted Kylon that he was not the only one who had felt this sudden strange sensation. Not that he'd complain.

"Do you need it any warmer" Switching his eyes from the dark alley to the dark blue sky, Kylon glimpsed on the individual agent that had offered to solve some of the problems he had been dealing with. In the boy's hand was a small staff confirming that he was a mage. Under most circumstances he would be afraid, the power that mages wielded were powerful and utterly terrifying. However, he was certainly glad to have a mage on his side if there was to be a fight.

"No, but thank you. All right, lads, we have a traitor to catch" With no other words said, Kylon proceeded to lead the group of guards and the inquisition member through winding back alleys, slippery bridges and unknown passageways until finally, they arrived at their destination. Without a single word having to be said all the guards showed their professionalism by taking up positions all around the meeting point ready to charge in and deal with the attackers should they attempt anything. In the meantime, they watched from a safe distance.

Out of one the many old ran down deserted buildings, came a hooded figure followed by several others all armed to the teeth. From their stance, Kylon could easily determine that they were not ones accustomed to holding weapons yet alone knowing other tactics. A few of the cloaked figures made a token effort to look around the area, but it was of a rather poor quality and most people so long as they were quiet and wore dark enough apparel could easily hide from these fools.

Unfortunately for Kylon, the hoods that this group of mysterious people were wearing didn't really help much in identifying who exactly was purchasing the stolen weapons. It could have been a man or woman or an elf or human, the figures were too tall to be dwarves and vice versa to be Qunari. Even so, the individuals were light on their feet indicating that they were used to moving around on an often basis making them agiler then one might think.

In terms of weaponry, the figures were decently armed, but not to the state of a guardsman, swords and bows were the main weapons with the occasional dagger and axe. One, however, was dressed in armour which appeared strange at first, no armour had been stolen from the armoury, it was far too obvious and heavy to escape with. Then again, Kylon had no idea who they were dealing with.

Eventually, after a small amount of waiting, their contact arrived pulling a rather large cart of what appeared to be hay for horses. Most likely though, the hay hid the weapons and due to just how large the bushel was, it was likely that if anyone did try to inspect it, that they might miss any shipment of weapons. Some talking began to start, it was too quiet for the guardsman to hear.

"This isn't good unless we know the identities we can't-" Almost if on cue, a powerful gust of freezing icy wind swept through the alleyway and struck the bargaining individuals. No physical harm had been done to the mysterious people, however, the powerful gust had knocked them back and hit and ripped the hoods off their heads revealing who they were. Kylon's eyes widened on seeing the individual who was in charge of purchasing the weapons.

"It was none other than Shianni, the leader of the alienage elves. He didn't often visit the alienage, but Kylon had always remembered the elf woman as a strong woman willing to defend her people. She had shown that strength when she had led the elves to defend the alienage during the battle of Denerim. Then he remembered the rumours, talk about some type of elf rebellion inspired by the mages. He had cast it off as fantasy, but it seemed to be quite the opposite.

Sighing in a defeated manner, Kylon prepared his sword. If there was going to be a fight, then Shianni would have to be captured alive rather than dead. The moment she was skilled she would become a martyr and could very likely kick off the very rebellion he was hoping to prevent. As for the guard, he didn't care, they had been lazy and weren't exactly good at their job. He wouldn't miss the man once he was cut down like the traitor he was.

Kylon waited for a few more moments, enabling his men to get into more advantageous positions. There was bound to be a fight, and he would prefer not for his men to get killed, then again he had the agent of the Inquisition with him. An agent who after checking what the boy had said, had very much indeed handle the problems he had struggled with. Kylon could still remember the gory sight; it was like he had travelled back in time to when the Darkspawn had attacked Denerim a decade ago.

"I'm ready to go when you are sergeant" With a quiet whisper from the agent, Kylon nodded his weapons and then advanced doing his best to remain as silent as he could. It went well for a while, the movements of not only him but his other guards allowed them to get close and for the few archers they had to line up their targets. With one final look towards the agent, for confirmation, he charged forward rushing the unsuspecting group catching them by surprise.

"Run" Yelling at the top of her lungs, Shianni went to dash away from the scene of the crime. However, it was too late as heavy metal chains coiled around her body knocking her to the ground taking her out of the fight. From her position unable to move, the red-headed woman could only watch in horror as her fellow elves were cut down one by one in quick succession. It was over so quickly, at first she thought they may stand a chance but those thoughts were smashed harshly as her eyes saw the glowing fast moving lights of magic crash into one of her friend's body and blow an entire chunk out of it. After only a minute or two, the entire fight was over every single one of them bar her dead.

Tears streamed down her eyes as the faces of beloved friends that had once been abused by an evil human lord and had escaped were not red with their own blood. Finally, her eyes narrowed glaring hatefully at the mage who had done such a horrendous act. It was a fucking Tevinter slaver scum, that bastard was responsible for killing not only her friends but would likely take the other elves into slavery. It had all been for nothing.

"Shianni, why did you do this" Stepping in front of her, Shianni with her mouth gagged stared up at Seargent Kylon. He was a sad man his eyes showing a betrayed look by her actions. "I sought to help you, and you planned on murdering innocent civilians" Kylons response was an even angrier glare telling him just how little this elf thought about his precious feelings.

As far as she was concerned, the man had done nothing for her or her people, all he had done was carry on with his safe human job while she and the other elves were kept in the alienage to suffer day after day. What did it matter to her if one human died, after all the things their race had done to her people, it was the least that their filth deserved. It was only a shame that her entire plan had failed. With no answer given not that she would have been able to thanks to a silencing charm from the wizard, Kylon drew his blade once more and brought it up staring into the eyes of the elf.

Gazing deeply into the eyes of a woman who had once saved his life, Kylon wondered how it had come to this. The world had gone insane, friends were turning against friends in this brand new age. Even so, he had a job to do. Had it not been for her goal of revolution, then she would have been left alive, but the actions she had performed had only one punishment. Then he hesitated.

Tired of this Nat dealt the deed himself drawing his sabre and thrusting it into the woman's throat in one single moved before then sheathing it. Then without a care, he placed his blade back where it belonged and turned to face Kylon who with closed eyes was breathing slowly as he dealt with the death of somebody who had likely been close to him at one point or another. At the same time the guards started to look around for some method of disposing of the bodies, soon enough they found an empty cart and began hoisting them up.

"Sergeant, it's been a pleasure working with you, I hope to do it again someday. Also congratulations on your promotion, something this good can't go unrewarded. If however in the future you get bored of here, the Inquisition could always use some highly skilled and talented men. Come to Haven if you desire" Not saying another word Nat departed the group, he just had a few things to handle and then he had to head back to Haven himself. He'd been gone longer than he initially planned and got caught up in more stuff than he thought off, but it was certainly worthwhile.

Leliana would be pleased when he arrived back, in the time that he had been gone he had recruited two members to the inquisition, got a whole bunch of spies, increased the reputation of the Inquisition, learned the name of their enemy, discovered the probable cause of why all the Wardens are gone and gained the support of the of Fereldan. As for him, he had his first man to train. He could smell the gunpowder already.