Alysia leaned back on her horse and took in the sight before her, the hills were tainted red from the sun that gleamed above it, the village bustled with merchants, some travelling, and some who were settled in the arling. Alysia wiped her sweaty forehead and sighed in relief, she was thankful to have finally made it after the long journey from Haven.

The ride up to Redcliffe wasn't as bad as she expected it to be; she managed to fight her way through the steep hills in the Hinterlands that had been filled with demons, bandits and worst of all, rifts. The rifts proved to be more difficult than the ones she had dealt with in Haven,she couldn't put her finger on it but they felt strange. To make matters worse her arm burned tremendously each time she sealed a rift, Solas believed that the mark on her hand was growing larger with each rift sealed. By the time she and her companions got off their horses, they all wordlessly agreed that they were too tired to attend any of the Inquisition's matters; they filed into the busy tavern desperate for a strong drink to relax their sore muscles. The tavern, aptly named the Gull and Lantern for its sign that depicts a gull and a lantern; was dimly lit and filled with heavy smoke from the pipes that the patrons were smoking. Alysia choked slightly at the smoke, not entirely out of unpleasantness, but largely because it was thickly sweet and somewhat nauseating.

She had picked her companions carefully, opting to bring the people that weren't entirely afraid of magic or rather more open-minded about the idea of mages joining the Inquisition. She couldn't bring Vivienne, despite her being a mage because she was insistent that mages should be kept in the circle, and Alysia was sure that she and Fiona would argue insistently, and she could not let that happen if there was an alliance to be made between the Inquisition and the mages. Sera was definitely out of the question, because she would most definitely offend and accuse a mage of blood-magic, Varric was entirely good fun to be with but he opted to stay in Haven for reasons unknown to her and Cassandra was busy helping Leliana and Mother Giselle on Chantry matters. Aurelia said she was far too lady-like to be in the wild, lies, that woman one of the best fighters she had ever seen in her life, she mused to herself.

She settled herself on a vacant table on the far corner of the tavern, Solas followed closely behind her, setting his staff on the corner of the wall behind him. He took a moment to inspect Alysia's marks while Bull and Blackwall both walked to the bar counter and ordered drinks for everyone. While Solas was examining her left palm, she tore the armour off her right arm, and inspected the dark blood that settled itself around a deep gash- it looked rather ghastly, it oozed with puss and angry looking blisters formed around it, threatening to pop. She gulped as she peeled the torn leather sleeve of her armour that stuck to her gash, feeling it sting intensely at the sudden exposure to open air.

"That bear got you good, Boss," Bull said, returning with their beverages.

"And whose fault was that?" Alysia asked, cocking her eyebrow. "Remind me to never ask you to play decoy. You're a horrible decoy Bull. Much to angry to be one," she said, laughing through the stings.

Solas leaned closer to her and held her arm gently with his hands, with a simple wave of his hand, a blast of cool air fell over skin, easing the burns. Alysia sighed in satisfaction as her skin no longer stung as much as it did, the blisters around her gash subsided immensely. "Solas, this is why I adore you," she said while grinning at him.

"You better not regret that," he said, his words hinted by something dark yet in jest.

His eyes crinkled at the edges as he smiled slightly at his aback, Alysia furrowed her brows; but she truly did adore his bashful smile. He was always so well-guarded, and sometimes he may be a little too pessimistic for her taste but she had grown rather fond of having him around, in and out of battle. Sometimes she couldn't help but stare at the pensive mage secretly, who would sit in a corner by himself, avoiding people in general. It was not that he disliked anyone; he was just rather content with being by himself, she would often catch him staring at her and her companions, amusement in his eyes, especially when they were bantering or acting foolish. Solas and her rarely agreed on some things but when they did, his eyes would crinkle at the edges and slight hint of mirth would show. His immense knowledge at things known and unknown to her was indispensable, he often gave her a new perspective to look at the world and she found that bit of him to be rather endearing.

"You're starting to sound like Cullen. Please don't," she finally said as she stretched her arms.

She felt her muscles slowly relax, causing her to sigh with content. She reached out for her drink and took a long sip, letting its taste fill her tongue. The ale had a rather deep gold hue to it and had a slight taste of dusty malt and sweetness to it. It was pleasantly smooth and easy on her taste buds. She decided right then and there, that the people in Redcliffe really did know how to drink. If only they stocked this back in Haven, she thought to herself. The group drank their ale in silence, content with just relaxing their tired bodies around their companions.

As Alysia was about to walk over to the counter to grab herself another drink, a rather tall man wearing an expensive looking set of grey silk robes with a ridiculous amount of buckles on his armour, stood in front of her. "I'm sorry for interrupting your rather… lively day, but I would like if you could come with me for a second. I have to speak to you urgently," he whispered to her.

Alysia glanced at the man, curiosity growing. His skin was deeply tanned; hair arranged meticulously on his head, his dark green glowed underneath his hood as he grinned at her. She couldn't help but gasp slightly at his pearly with teeth and impeccably trimmed facial hair than fit in his perfectly angular face. He was gorgeous, much too gorgeous for her liking.

"Are you with the rebel mages?" she asked, wondering if Fiona had sent him on her behalf.

"Depends, if you agree to come with me," he said, his deep voice hushed with a hint of warning in his voice. Alysia studied him for a moment, contemplating if she should follow the beautiful man, who might or might not lead her into a trap. She chewed on her bottom lip and agreed, nodding her slowly at the man who beamed back at her. He seemed trustworthy enough, she thought. But if she were to die from the mistake of trusting him, at least it was at the hands of a beautiful man and not some ghastly looking demon. As she was walking to a dark corner with the man, she mouthed something to Bull who was coincidentally looking at her, he was puzzled—he wasn't sure if she was leaving on free will or if she was going to ease her muscles, in more ways than one.

He led her silently through a hidden passageway in the tavern, which led them to a underground passage way that was dimly lit with candles; his tall figure moved stealthily through the moss filled passage, Alysia trailed behind him cautiously, she prayed to the Maker that Bull understood what she said. She held he breath when she realized that he finally came to a stop near a ladder leading to another door. The man climbed up first and pushed open the small door, as he made it out of the passage, Alysia heard him greet another man.

"Well that turned out much easier than I thought," the man said, extending his hand to Alysia to help her out of the passageway. Alysia gripped his warm hand tightly and thanked him when her feet settled onto the concrete ground. He pulled his hood off his head and revealed an incredibly beautiful face. Alysia gaped at the man before him, as his beautiful bronze skin lit up under the Chantry's dimly lit candles.

"Oh come now, you can stare at me all you want after we've finished this mess you've found yourself in," he said, while shaking his head. Alysia noted how his perfectly smooth head of hair bounce wonderfully around his head and he shook. No one is this beautiful, she thought.

Most definitely a trap.

The other man who she had never met before held a similar complexion with the beautiful man, he was too very easy on the eyes, although he looked very ill.

"This is Felix," the beautiful man said, ushering Felix to her. "He is here to help us thwart his father's plan to kill you."

Before she could wrap her head around the man's word, Bull came bashing through the Chantry door, followed by Blackwall and Solas.

"I will kill you if you touch her," Bull hissed through his snarl.

"Took you long enough," Alysia exclaimed while turning to Bull who was frowning at the beautiful man. "You can never trust the pretty ones," he spat.

"Glad you also think I'm pretty," the man joked while smirking. "You wouldn't be the first," he continued while smiling at Felix. The man turned his attention back to Alysia who had her arms crossed, confused at the scene that was unfolding before her.

"Listen Herald, you are in grave danger. I know that you have no reason to trust us but we had to get you out of there," Felix said, worry in his eyes.

"Oh bother, someone is out to kill me again," Alysia joked while rolling her eyes. "And who do I owe my saving to besides Felix?"

"How rude of me. I am Dorian of house Pavus, recently of Minrathous," he bowed deeply, while narrowing his eyes at Bull who was still glancing at him in caution.

"Tevinters. Be cautious around them," Blackwall said, hand on the hilt of his sword.

"So why was I in grave danger again?" Alysia asked.

"Because I know of people who want you dead," Felix and Dorian said unisonly.

"Why?" Solas asked, his eyes narrowing at the both of them.

"My former mentor, Master Alexius is involved in some kind of cult, they are called the Venatori, and they are invested in acquiring you," Dorian said.

"Who are these Venatori? And what do they want from me?" Alysia asked warily.

"I'm not entirely sure how he—Felix's father, ended up siding with the Venatori but one thing I am sure of is that he intends to take down the Inquisition. Your presence has caused him great distress and he will try to kill you one way or another,"Dorians face grew grave at the thought.

"He has learnt some form of dark magic, a magic so evil that he will manage to acquire the rebel mages right from under you," Felix said, his face growing wan.

"What do you mean?"

"Have you not noticed how time seems to pass by oddly around here? For example when you sealed the rifts in the area, did you not notice how different they were? I have cause to believe that Alexius had something to do with that. It seems that he knows how to distort time, he's going to alter the very fabric of time to keep you away from recruiting the mages."

"I've never heard of such magic that could alter time," Alysia said, her face growing concerned.

"And it sounds fascinating if it were true, but most certainly dangerous," Solas said, narrowing his eyes at the thought.

"The magic that Alexius is using is most definitely unstable and it will shake the very core of this world. He really is trying his hardest to get you killed if distorting time was the only option he could think of," Dorian said, shaking his head at the thought.

"Perfect. Now I feel bad for not taking the time to thwart his plan," Alysia said, smirking. She let out a steady breath from her mouth, her mind working at figuring out a plan to not get herself killed. She wasn't the least bit surprised that there was someone out for her again; her entire time at the Inquisition had been downfall after downfall, why should seeking the mages out to seal the Breach be any different.

Dorian smirked back at her. "You could probably send him a 'thank you for trying to kill me ' card once you have foiled his plans. But for now I suggest trying to figure out why he wants you dead."

Alysia let out a hearty laugh at the mage, startling her companions. She was starting to like this obscenely gorgeous mage, with an extremely sassy mouth to boot.

"So what do we do now, Boss?" Bull asked while gripping his war hammer tightly.

"We scheme of course. I can't possibly let them harm a gorgeous white haired maiden, such as yourself," Dorian said as he winked at Alysia who rolled her eyes at his charm.

She giggled at the man, who was ushering her out of the Chantry. She truly liked this man. "Why Dorian, glad you also think I'm gorgeous. You wouldn't be the first."

Nightingale,

So the plan to get the mages went awry. Who would've guessed (I'm being sarcastic if you couldn't tell).
In the process of figuring it out we met a wonderful man from Tevinter.
I think I'm smitten.
We're thinking up of a plan to thwart Alexius' plan in killing me.
Will write soon.

Alysia.

Once Alysia had prepared going over the plans again with Dorian and Felix, she set out to find Alexius. Bull, and Blackwall couldn't find themselves to agree with Dorian because they found him to be a little sketchy, but most of all he seemed too confident in the plan, as if nothing could go wrong. Alysia quickly wrote a missive to Leliana, detailing the plan to the spymaster in case anything went wrong. She wasn't particularly fond of the idea of waltzing up to the madman with Solas and offer herself gladly to his blade, but she could not find any other alternative. She didn't have the time to wait for more information to flood in about the Venatori for her to carefully plan her fake surrender, and by the time more information did come in, she was afraid that Alexius would already have a rebel mage army behind him to carry out his already crazy plan to overthrow the Inquisition.

Nightingale,

I'm going to offer myself up to Alexius and the Venatori.
It might or might not work.

Will report back soon.
Hopefully.

Regards,
Aly.

P/S If I do die in this plan, tell Cullen that I don't regret trying.

I've inserted another letter with this for my sister.

A few days after meeting Dorian, their plan finally set into motion. From what little information Dorian found out about Alexius' plan, most of them had been correct. Alexius approached Alysia and Solas who was sitting idly in the tavern, waiting for him in secret; Alexius arranged the meeting to be held inside the Redcliffe castle, where Alexius had set himself up after extruding the previous Arl out. Alysia could only imagine what power this man had if he managed to kick Arl Eamon out of his own home without having the King of Fereldan say anything about it. Once she was in the castle, Dorian would sneak into the castle with her companions through the unused servant passage, and when Alexius does make a move, they would catch him off guard and attack him before he could even touch her.

Alysia revised the plan in her head, knowing that it wasn't an entirely sound plan at all but she had to go on with whatever plan she saw fit. She could only imagine the arguments that would errupt in the war room once Leliana shares her missive with the other advisors; she shuddered at the thought of Cullen glowering at her letter in anger. She knew that the risks were not small, and she could most probably die if Dorian does not get to her on time, but this was a risk she was willing to take, she could not sit by idly while hundreds upon hundreds of rebel mages get tricked into a plan they had no power over, or worse as a Venatori slave. She was sure that Alexius' plan would not sit well with Grand Enchanter Fiona.

Barely ten minutes into this plan, Dorian was already arguing with Bull and Blackwall; neither of them wanted to be the first to walk through the dark and narrow passageway. Slightly irritated, Dorian a lit up a small fire on the palm of his hand and walked through the mold-infested passageway, it reeked of deceased corpses and dust, his nose crinkled at the smell.

Dorian felt his right hand graze something wet, or rather mushy. The mage reeled at the sensation, in his attempt to rid of whatever it is he touched on, he accidently stood on Bull's boot. Dorian gulped when he realized that the rather large man was now glowering at him.

Bull stared at Dorian, annoyed at the man who could barely walk through a passageway without fussing about like a child. He entirely did not like the mage one bit, firstly the mage was wearing way too much clothes into battle, all one needed was a good set of armour on their legs and they would be battle ready. Secondly, he always held a smug grin on his face, one he would gladly like to wipe off his face with his war hammer—Dorian of house Pavus, my ass. The thought of him only made him intensely hate being squashed in a miserable pathway with the mage.

Blackwall did not care for Bull and Dorian's hatred, he knew that the Qunari and Tevinter had always been at odds with each other for centuries, and as a Grey Warden, he always found himself to be on the neutral side. The people of Tevinter were taught to hate the Qunari, they regarded them as savage beasts whose only purpose in life were to destroy everything their eyes set upon, and the Qunari were taught that everyone in Tevinter were immoral mages that enjoyed slavery, but most of all sacrificing them in their magic rituals—blood magic was not uncommon to their people. Blackwell knew that both sides had created lies to spread more hate amongst each other, he shook his head at the thought of how petty some people could be. As he continued pressing on in the dark passageway, he smiled at the thought of Dorian and Bull brawling, wondering who would win the fight first, his bet was on Bull. He secretly hoped that Bull would punch the smug bastard back to whatever hole it is he came from.

He truly wasn't neutral in the least.

Dorian glanced quickly at Bull whose ridiculously large body was filling up the narrow passageway; he chuckled quietly at how stupid he looked. Iron Bull—what a stupid name. Dorian let out a sigh of relief when he saw the light at the end of the tunnel growing brighter with each step. Dorian's eyes adjusted to the sudden light; the room was lit by torches leading up to a rather large throne which sat a conceited looking man, Alexius. To which Dorian rolled his eyes at; the man looked simply absurd sitting on a throne that clearly did not belong to him. He saw Alysia and Solas walking into the throne room from the corner of his eyes; Alexius was now ushering them into the room while whispering something to Alysia, as much as he tried to listen to their conversation he could not catch a word of what they were saying. Dorian glanced at Bull who was narrowing his eyes at Alexius; he hoped dearly that he would not be at the mercy of that frightful creature war hammer if his plan went wrong.

Hope was all he had.