[Author's Note: Sorry for the delay, this chapter gave me a lot of trouble for some reason. I hope you enjoy, dear readers!]

Chapter Nine:

Construction

"The school will be built as a main hall with two wings," Sarai explained to Varric. They sat together at the kitchen table in the farmhouse. The table itself was covered with sketches and blueprints, their corners held down with potatoes and mismatched candlesticks. "The north wing, on this side, will have sleeping quarters—shared rooms for the younger mages and private rooms upstairs for the teachers and older mages. The south wing will have a kitchen and pantry on the lower level, while the upper level will have classrooms." She gestured at her blueprints while she continued, "Here, in the main part of the building, there will be a dining hall and common spaces. The upper level will house the library."

"You missed your calling, Hawke, you should have been an architect."

Sarai brushed her brown hair out of her eyes with an easy smile. "It won't be a thing of beauty, but it will have everything we need."

"I went out yesterday to see the land with Roger. There are so many farmsteads out here that were destroyed by the Blight, the families killed, no one left to work the land or even claim it. The spot Roger found is only a half hour's walk from here, on the other side of that hill. You'll have plenty of space."

A few weeks had passed since Sarai conceived of the idea for the mage school. Varric had sent word to the dwarven builders. Roger had helped them to find a piece of land for the construction. Lenora helped Sarai to make lists of the materials they would need—from stone and wood for the building, to furniture and food once it was complete. Wynne and Anders had begun to track down rumors of mages, whether runaways from the Circle or children who had never been found by the Templars.

At that moment, Anders was sitting outside the farmhouse, sunning himself in the unseasonably warm spring weather. Approaching footsteps caused him to open his eyes and reach uneasily for his staff. He stood when he saw the newcomers were two dwarves, one brown-bearded, the other blonde. "Sarai," he called, "I think your builders are here."

"Name's Voldrik Glavonak, and this's my half-wit brother, Dworkin."

"Watch yourself, brother, or you'll find one of my explosives under your bed," the blonde dwarf, Dworkin, threatened. Then he looked more closely at Anders. "Hold on a second, don't I know you?"

Anders looked at the two dwarves in confusion. "No... Wait... I do know you! You were at Vigil's Keep!" He pointed at Voldrik as Sarai and Varric came into the sunshine. "You rebuilt the Keep to withstand the Darkspawn attack. And you—" now he turned back to Dworkin. "You're that mad dwarf with the explosives."

"Is this some kind of reunion, Anders?" Sarai asked with interest.

"Surprisingly, yes. I met these two when I was with the Wardens in Amaranthine."

"That's right," Voldrik agreed. "You're that ridiculous mage the Warden Commander recruited."

Anders drew himself up to his full height and glared down at the dwarf. "I wasn't ridiculous!" He cried. Behind him, Varric doubled over with laughter.

"Oh, this is too good. I can't wait to hear what you were like back then, Blondie." Varric said, still chuckling.

"So is it true, then," Voldrik asked, "Did you really make some kind of Void-sent deal with that walking corpse? What did he call himself—Justice, right?"

Suddenly, Anders stiffened. Sarai reached slowly for one of her blades. Seeing their defensive movements, Voldrik held up his hands. "Slow down, now, I didn't mean any trouble. It was just a rumor I heard after the defense of the Keep."

"Justice and I are one now," Anders said cautiously. "Most people who find out about it want me dead."

"Oh, is that it? Well, you don't have to worry about me!" Voldrik assured them, his brother nodding in agreement. "We couldn't care less, to be honest. Just making conversation, you understand."

Curious, Sarai asked, "It doesn't bother you that Anders hosts a Fade Spirit?"

"Why would it?" Dworkin responded. "We're dwarves. We're immune to magic. Doesn't much bother us what mages do."

"Well, that's a pleasant change of pace after Kirkwall," Sarai replied. "So, you're here to build our school for us?"

"That's right. I'm the best builder coin can buy," Voldrik said proudly. "You just have to hope my brother doesn't decide to blow up my handiwork."

"Come on in," Varric said, sweeping out a hand toward the door. "Hawke has already drawn up the plans for you."

~—~

As the days progressed and the plan for the mage school began to take shape, the little group set to their tasks. Roger and Dworkin discussed sources for stone for the construction and the best method for extracting it. Varric muttered to himself about workers and salaries while Lenora counted on her fingers and planned meals. Voldrik examined the plans with Sarai, making adjustments here and there.

"You'll need the foundation to go this deep... Add a support pillar here... That window'll have to go..."

"I want it to look welcoming," Sarai insisted. "But it has to be defensible from outside threats, if it comes to that."

"When it comes to that," Anders added darkly.

"Say, what happened to you, mage?" Voldrik asked, looking up from the work. "You used to be a real joker, always dropping puns and one-liners. And trying to get into bed with that elf girl—"

"Elf girl?" Sarai asked, raising an eyebrow suspiciously.

"Hah!" Dworkin boomed from the other side of the farmhouse. "I remember that! By the ancestors, she wanted nothing to do with you."

A flush spread across Anders' face. "I would rather not talk about this."

Varric moved closer to the conversation. "Our resident moping expert, cracking jokes? Now that I would have liked to see."

Anders looked ready to get up and leave, but Sarai put a conciliatory hand on his arm. "You have to admit, it does sound pretty different from the Anders we know and love."

Anders turned to look fully into Sarai's eyes. "I know," he answered. "Sometimes I think Justice took away my sense of humor... and I took away his sense of restraint."

Sarai shivered slightly under his gaze. A palpable silence filled the room. They were all grateful when Lenora chose that moment to set a heavy platter of roasted meat on the table. "That's enough heavy talk for one day. It's time you all had some supper."

~—~

The mage school rose gradually out of the rolling Bannorn hills. The crew of laborers, most of them dwarves, slept in tents outside the farmhouse. Roger worked tirelessly in the fields and Lenora in the kitchen to keep them all fed.

Sarai was amazed by the generosity of the couple. She saw the hardship of their lives—between the Blight and the loss of their only child—yet they never hesitated to welcome another mouth to the table. They continued to refuse Varric's offers of coin. One day, a brand new plow was delivered to the farmhouse unexpectedly. No one could figure out where it came from or who had paid for it, but Sarai did not fail to notice the broad smile on Varric's face as he walked past. Still looking after his friends, she thought to herself.

Weeks passed, turning spring into early summer. The foundation and the first level of the school were completed. The dwarves added scaffolding and pulleys to raise the stone to the second level. Wynne divided her time between exploring the surrounding area, gathering medicinal herbs, and tracking down rumors of mages. One day, she came to Sarai and Anders as they observed the construction work.

"I've heard something. I think the two of you will want to look into it."

"Oh?" Sarai replied. "News?"

"Yes. I've been hearing rumors of a young mage somewhere in the area. His powers may have manifested several weeks ago, but I doubt the remaining Templars have received word of him. I managed to find out where his family is—they're about a day's journey from here, on the other side of Wheat's End."

Wheat's End was the name of the nearest village to the farmstead. Sarai did some quick thinking. "It's late now, but we could leave early tomorrow morning and get there before sunset. Do you want to come along, Wynne?"

"To be honest, I think my old bones would just slow you down. You and Anders should go, you can cover the distance more quickly."

"What do you think, Anders? Ready to meet your first student?"

Anders grimaced. "I'm no teacher, you know."

"You don't know that," Sarai responded as the two walked back to the farmhouse to prepare their gear. "You've never tried."

The next day, they set out before dawn. The journey was easy; they followed the dirt road that had led them to the farmhouse weeks before. When they passed through Wheat's End, a few of the residents gave them odd looks, but they encountered no trouble. It was late afternoon when they found the cottage Wynne had described.

"Hello?" Sarai called out. "Is anyone here?"

There was a flicker of movement inside the cottage before a man came out. "Who are you? What do you want with us? We're just simple folk, we don't want any trouble."

"You don't have anything to fear from us," Sarai began. "We're here about your son."

The man flinched visibly. "I—I don't know what you're talking about. My wife and I, we're childless."

"Sarai, I think you should let me handle this," Anders muttered. He took a step forward, loosing the staff from his back so it was even more visible. "We're not here to harm your son."

The man's eyes widened. "Are you a mage?"

"Yes, a mage and an apostate. We're here to help you, if we can."

"I don't know what you mean," the man replied, clearly still mistrustful. "We don't need any help."

"We know that your son is a mage," Anders said gently. "Have his powers started to manifest? It can be frightening. My own father beat me the first time I cast a spell."

The breath caught in Sarai's throat. It was yet another tragic detail Anders had never mentioned before. Maker, what he's been through... She wanted to reach out and take his hand, but she forced herself to remain still. She could see that Anders was trying to earn the man's trust.

The stranger's eyes shifted back and forth nervously. "What do you want with my boy?"

"We want to help him, teach him to control his gifts. Give him a chance at a normal life." Anders waited a moment, watching the man closely. "Please, let us come in so we can talk."

The man nodded wearily and led them into the cottage. It was clean, but small and sparse. There was a small stove next to a table with some chairs. A small bed was pushed up against one wall, while an open door revealed the other room in the cottage to have another, slightly larger, bed. Through the doorway, Sarai could see a young woman, no older than herself, sheltering a small boy. Her face was tired and twisted with fear.

"It's all right, Marie. Come on out." The man gestured to his wife. "This is Marie, and I'm Tam. Our boy is Peter."

The child peeked around his mother's skirts and smiled. Anders got down on one knee to look at the boy. "Peter, is it? You can call me Anders." He held out a hand as if to offer a handshake. Fearlessly, the boy shot forward, grabbing Anders' fingers in his little hands and twisting them in different directions. "Ow! What was that for?"

Sarai felt a tug at her heart. In that moment, she couldn't help but see Anders as a father. A surge of longing shot through her, so strong it brought tears to her eyes. She forced herself to look at the couple. "And I'm Sarai. I'm sorry if our coming here frightened you."

Marie nervously tugged at her hair. "What do you want from us, anyway? We only want to be left alone."

"Let them sit down," her husband said, "and we can talk about it."

Sarai moved over to the table and sat in one of the rough-hewn chairs. "We heard about your son. We came because—well. We're opening a school for mages." Though she was far from ineloquent, she suddenly found herself at a loss for words. How can I explain what I'm trying to do? How can I convince these people to trust me?

Once again, Anders stepped in to help her, ignoring Peter tugging at the hem of his coat. "Peter is a mage, I can sense that myself. We don't want any harm to come to him. But he'll need to learn to control his gifts. Otherwise he could burn down your house in a bad temper or fall prey to a demon in his sleep."

Marie began to weep, startling the visitors. "Maker, I knew this would happen. My poor Peter, my poor boy..."

Tam put an arm around his wife's shoulders. "There, there. It's better this way. Better they take him away than letting him get killed."

Sarai and Anders exchanged a look—hers concerned, his understanding. "This isn't the Circle Tower we're talking about," he told them. "Surely you've heard that the mages rebelled? There is no Tower any more."

"Like that matters to us," Tam replied harshly. "You're still here to take our boy away from us."

"It doesn't have to be like this," said Sarai desperately. "We're not taking him away from you."

"Then what are you doing?" Marie demanded.

"We—" Get your thoughts together, Sarai berated herself inwardly. She took a breath. "The Circle Tower would have taken your son away from you. He would have been protected, trained, but a prisoner, with the threat of being made Tranquil always hanging over him. That's not what we are here to do." Seeing a spark of hope in the eyes of the parents, she continued with greater confidence. "We are creating a place where mages can be trained and still go home to their families at the end of the day. That's what we're trying to offer you."

"It sounds too good to be true," murmured the mother.

"It is too good to be true," replied Tam. "You think we can just leave everything and go to your school? You think we have the coin for that? We barely have enough to eat as it is."

Sarai pondered the questions. "Can you work?"

"Of course we can. Not like we can rely on the generosity of others."

"Then come. We'll give Peter the training he needs, and you can work at the school. Cooking, cleaning, anything. You don't have to lose your son."

Marie and Tam looked at one another. "Where is this school?" Marie asked finally.

"Only a day's journey from here. We left there this morning."

"Do you think... do you think we should?" she whispered to her husband.

"I just don't know," he muttered.

The silence stretched on. Finally, the moment was shattered when Peter began to scale Ander's back, grabbing hold of his blonde ponytail to pull himself up. "Aah! What are you doing now?" Anders looked at Sarai in desperation. "I think he's already possessed. Help me!"

The parents stared, not sure whether Anders was joking or not. But Sarai threw back her head and laughed at the sight. "Don't mind him," she gasped. "He hasn't spent much time with children."

So Tam and Marie agreed to leave the life they knew and try for a chance at a better one, a future for their son. As Sarai fell asleep that night on the floor of the cottage, she thought to herself, So it begins. The Ferelden school for mages.

~—~