So, we're done with it! Finally those two get to take a giant step into their future. I for one am glad, it was about time for Anders to lighten up a bit. I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one who felt that way! I would have gotten around to this chapter earlier, but I've been mucking about with the toolset making morphs. Fun times, I tell you, fun times! If I keep going there won't be a single character that looks the same. Hahaha!
My thanks to all my lurkers and to all of you that have taken the time to favorite and review including: Lady Seraphina, RewindedMiracle, Farenheit-451, EmbersOfAmber, fleagirl125, pepper1988 and WingedButterfly. It does my muse good to have such awesome readers! Also a special thank you to my Utah girls VioletTheirin and Erynnar. I heart you ladies a little too much I think.
As always most of this belongs to Bioware.
Alandra grimaced as she caught her reflection in the glass door of the cabinet he was pushing back against the wall.
"You seriously think that I'd make something like that up?" Anders asked swiping at the sweat from his brow. "Varric was the resident teller of tall tales if I recall and I was too busy dodging a noose in the Gallows to take lessons, unfortunately."
"I'm not saying that at all...it just seems a little..." She started, but he piped up.
"Dodgy?" He snorted as he walked toward her. "It was terrifying...remind me to avoid getting on your bad side. I don't want to be on the receiving end of the blood magic fist of doom. Ever."
She groaned as he flashed her one of those sorely missed mischievous grins and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. He did talk less when he was an abomination, she thought with a mental smirk.
"That still doesn't explain these markings," she huffed as her fingers grazed her chin, "honestly, now that I've had a good look at them they remind me of something. I just can't seem to put my finger on what it is though."
She didn't miss the shadow that crossed his face after she mentioned it and that made her thing more than ever that his frequent humorous deflections about what had happened were hiding something that disturbed him deeply. She narrowed her eyes on him and he quickly resumed lugging furniture.
"You recognize it, don't you," she asked once they finally had Magickal Mysteries back in order, "that's why you keep avoiding it. Why you don't want to talk about it without making it some sort of joke."
"In a way." He replied with a heavy sigh. She looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to continue, but he remained silent. She growled in frustration and turned to head for the door. She was wrenching it open before he spoke.
"Think back...it hasn't been so long since you saw something very similar. Only we didn't discuss it often and it was a different color."
Absently her fingers drifted back to her chin as she thought. The revelation struck her like a sword pommel to the gut. "Lyrium burns..." She whispered as she turned to face him, "like the ones Fenris had. But those were forced on him by Danarius as far as we know. I doubt that this happens on your average blood magic trip into the fade."
"The rite we performed yesterday was anything but average," Angelus said as he hobbled out of the back room, "now either close my door or get out...it's getting drafty in here."
Alandra smirked as she closed the door but it was quickly wiped away when he dropped a large tome onto the table with a thud. The elderly mage looked as ragged as he had the night before which told her that he hadn't slept a wink.
"The last time Angelus brought out a tome of that size was after my second escape from the Tower. I think he made me copy half of the book before he let me go." Anders whispered to her conspiratorially.
The elder man grunted. "I'm old, not deaf. And judging by your penmanship in that crackpot manifesto of yours that was the last time you picked up a quill. Twit."
A slight blush crept across the younger mage's cheeks as he observed the smug look on Angelus' face. "You have a copy of my manifesto," he stammered, "how in all of Thedas did you come across that?" His eyes swung to Alandra and she knew she had the word guilty written all over her face. She stifled a giggle at the look of horror he now wore. "Oh Andraste's flaming sword!"
"What? There were no less than eleven copies strewn throughout the estate," she managed in a casual tone, "did you think that I would leave them all behind?" He crossed his arms over his chest and wrinkled his nose at her in reply.
Angelus shook his head. "Now if we could, more pressing matters are at hand." With a shaky hand he opened the large volume to a page he had previously marked and turned the book toward them. "This is another Tevinter text that I recovered some time ago...I had almost forgotten that it was in my possession. After you took your leave last night I began to research what could have made the markings that appeared on her after the ritual was performed." He motioned toward Alandra's bare arm.
"I must admit, I was at a bit of a loss at first. The ritual and it's after effects are described quite clearly in this text and there is no mention of these markings showing up. I went over all of the elements of the ritual...the lyrium, salt, the blood from both parties...the incantation. Everything was accounted for."
Anders' fingertips slid across the page of the book as he read through it's contents. Alandra looked up from the text when she was finished reading to find the elder mage's bright blue eyes boring into her.
"There was an element that we didn't account for," he continued once Anders pushed the tome back toward him, "and I believe it was that element that was the cause..."
"The taint in my blood," Anders replied quietly, "The darkspawn taint is the unknown element."
Angelus nodded. "That was my conclusion, but I believe it goes deeper than that. Darkspawn blood would not have caused the same reaction. Yes, your blood is tainted but it's not pure. It has been altered magically through the ingestion of the blood, lyrium and the blood of an Archdemon."
Alandra's brow furrowed as her eyes shifted between the two men. "Wait...what are you talking about? An Archdemon's blood? Lyrium?"
"The process of becoming a Grey Warden is a lot more complicated than just throwing on some armor, drinking some tainted blood and swearing an oath, child..." The elder mage said as his eyes drifted over to Anders, "but I suppose that this would not be information that you are aware of. I have worked with the Wardens in the past preparing their ritual. It isn't something that the Order or the mages that assist in the preparations generally talk about. We mages that have had the honor of working with the Wardens are sworn to secrecy." His eyes lingered on Anders as he grimaced. "Would you care to continue, Grey Warden?"
Anders' voice was steady but his expression betrayed him in that it showed a hint of sadness. "The joining is kept a secret out of necessity. The price that one pays to become a warden is a steep one to say the least and if the answers were freely given the order would suffer for it."
"I don't understand," she said as she watched him worry his bottom lip with his teeth, "why are you telling me this? What does it have to do with me? I am no Grey Warden. They are not my secrets to hold."
Angelus sighed heavily. "On the contrary, the ritual we performed tied you two together in ways that you can't even begin to comprehend. You understood the concept that you would be joined in such a way that if one of you died that the other would as well, but it goes deeper than that. You are everything that he was and vice versa. While you were no healer, he was. You were a mage who concentrated on force magic, but he did not. Now you will find that you are as good at healing as he and he is as good at force magic as you."
"So because you were a Grey Warden, so am I." she said shaking her head as she understood the scope of what they had done.
"Precisely." Angelus said as he stood with the help of his staff. "But I have the feeling that you, young lady, are something more." He motioned for her to stand as he hobbled around the table to the small open space in the shop. She wasn't sure what he was going on about, but she humored him and followed.
Once they stood facing each other he motioned for Anders as well. "I want you to cast a healing spell on me, Alandra."
She snorted in response. "Just like that then? You should know that healing was never my strong point. I deal in destruction and throwing things around like rag dolls."
"Just do it and stop yapping." The old mage grumbled.
She sighed and rolled her eyes, but found herself tapping into her mana anyway. Instinctively her hands came out before her and a shimmering blue light bathed the man before she even had the chance to think on it. "What in the Black City..."
"Anders, it will be the same for you...but if you perform a force spell in my shop I swear that I will have both of your hides," He said quickly narrowing his eyes on the younger man, "You will be able to perform her force and elemental magic just as easy as if you were her."
Alandra cut her eyes to her beloved. "That should be interesting."
"However, if I am correct you came out of this with just a bit more." Angelus said as he motioned toward her.
"What do you mean by that?"
At that second he conjured a fireball and hurled it in Anders direction. Her markings flared to life, glowing bright red and the fireball dissipated with a wave of her hand before it reached it's target. Her eyes widened as she whirled on the elder man.
"What in Andraste's name do you think you're..." Her voice trailed off when she saw the look on his face. Despite looking tired he now had a certain twinkle in his eyes that wasn't there before. That had been exactly what he was getting at...she was more.
"Your eyes...they were just like when we were in the fade!" Anders exclaimed. "And your markings were glowing just as Fenris' lyrium burns did when he tapped into their power." He sounded like he was in awe but terrified at the same time.
Her brows furrowed as she attempted to process it all. Was she still herself or was she some unofficial Grey Warden super-mage. The thought of being anything other than what she was used to bothered her a great deal. Finally she shook her head. "But you haven't seen this before Anders. You didn't turn into something else when you became a Grey Warden..."
The old man hobbled forward and grabbed her shoulder. "I don't think you understand still. The ritual we performed yesterday was very powerful, very old blood magic. The power generated from it was greater than any power that you've ever beheld in your short lifetime. I believe that the power of the spell and the mixing of the blood is what caused this. It...infused you."
This time it was Anders who spoke up. "Infused her?"
"Yes," the elder mage replied simply, "I believe that she had an untapped source of magic in her before, one that the ritual brought out. I think that she had this power all along but she was unaware of it. It was buried so deep inside that she never tapped into it before!"
"The Amell family line is full of mages, some powerful but mostly average in skill. I don't see how I could have something like this hidden from me when no other family member ever exhibited this sort of thing." She said to him as she shrugged his hand off of her shoulder and retreated back to the table.
"Yes, this is true. The Amell line has been full of exceptional mages...but how far have you looked into your father's line?" He said as he followed her back to the table and settled into a chair. "He wasn't the only mage in the Hawke line...of this you can be certain. Perhaps that is where you will find your answers."
"My father is dead. He died before we even had to worry about the blight in Ferelden. He was an apostate who moved us around and kept us out of the Templar's sight. He was a good man, but hardly an overly exceptional mage." She said as she narrowed her eyes on him.
The old man just smirked. "Malcom was more than an overly exceptional mage...much more than you ever realized." Without saying another word he got up from the chair and hobbled toward his back room without casting them another glance.
She stared after him with her mouth agape but didn't move to go after him. Apparently, Angelus had known something about her father that he had not bothered to share with her when he was teaching her about her powers and how to hide them. Malcom Hawke had been a good father, but had been like an unsolvable riddle all of her life...now perhaps it was time to dig through that mystery.
She was deep in thought when she heard Anders clear his throat. "I need air. The incense in this place is really strong. Care to join me?" He asked as he offered her his arm. She nodded in reply and took it, letting him lead her out into the fresh air. Perhaps that's what she needed to clear her head.