Wintermarch 9:30 Dragon

There had been a long streak of bad harrowings in the two months since Anders' imprisonment, ending in the deaths of several mages and Brienne had been assigned to all of them, she noticed her patrols had all been taking place in the upper floors of the tower, she knew this was part of the Knight-Commander's plan to keep her as far away from the dungeons as possible, he obviously didn't know about what happened between her and Anders on the trip back to the tower, but he knew something was off. Brienne had heard rumours that she was becoming too soft, that she wasn't as good a Templar as she had been. All lies of course, she was a great Templar and always would be, only now she had seen things from a Mage's perspective and saw everything the circle was doing wrong, she couldn't help but want to right it. The Templar was hoping that a successful harrowing would come soon, all the failures had left the apprentices in distress, the frightened looks on their faces had put Brienne in a state of unease and many of them had sought her out specifically for advice or comfort. Whatever changes she had made to her demeanour, intentional or otherwise, had helped her gain the mages' respect. She didn't understand how her fellow Templars could think that was a bad thing. One afternoon she was doing her patrols in the library when Ser Cullen walked up to her, looking positively giddy. Brienne didn't think anything of it.

"Knight-Lieutenant" He began, "I…I um. I haven't been feeling very well."

Brienne raised an eyebrow, "You look fine to me. Have you spoken to a healer?"

"No, but I am feeling much too ill to take patrol today." He said, feigning a cough very badly.

"You are a dreadful liar, Ser Cullen." Brienne said with a sigh, "Please return to your post."

He thrust a Templar helm into her hands and she wrinkled her nose at it, she hated wearing those things, "Ser Brienne. I am feeling so under the weather that my patrol in the dungeons must be given to someone else."

Brienne blinked. The dungeons? Cullen was trying to help her get down to Anders, her breath caught in her throat and she locked eyes with him, "How much do you know?"

"As much as he was willing to tell me." He took the helm from her hands and placed it over her head, "You can talk to me anytime. We've both made very poor decisions, it's a good thing to bond over, Knight-Lieutenant."

She nodded firmly, a grin fixed on her lips under the helm. Cullen took over her position in the library and she headed down to the dungeons. She wished she could remove the stupid helm, she was against them. One easy way to terrify people was hide your face, how was she supposed to communicate with mages when she looked the same as any other Templar? Cullen had always adopted the same principle, Ser Hadley as well. Katherine wore her helm often, though that was mostly to keep other Templars from leering at her, she was an attractive woman and she felt it compromised her abilities when she was being harassed. Brienne had never had such problems, the men usually found her much too intimidating, or at the very least, much too boring.

When she reached the dungeon she grimaced at the cold and the smell. Something scurried past her feet and she yelped.

"Mr Wiggums." She muttered, watching the mouser saunter away, "you almost tripped me over, you stupid feline."

With a sigh she stepped towards the cell Anders would be in. Unlike the rest, it had a solid iron door so there were no bars to peer through, a small window was set into the door, but it was closed with a latch on her side. At the bottom of the door was a gap to slide food under so no one ever had to enter the cell. Brienne felt sick just looking at the prison before her, Anders had been in there for two months. Bright, funny Anders. Two months. Beside the door was a wooden stool, which was where she was supposed to sit and guard the cell, but she couldn't. With a shaky breath she brought forth her key ring, being Knight-Lieutenant meant she had access to restricted areas, and cells. When she heard the door unlock she pushed it open, cringing at the scraping noise it made. Sparse light was dribbling in through the barred window high in the air, too high for anyone to climb out of, dust particles danced in the air and fell to the floor, there was a bed against the far wall, which she was grateful to see, but Anders wasn't in it. He was balled up on the other side of the room, his head resting against the hard stone, golden locks hanging limply and robes covered in dirt. He was thinner than he used to be and his eyes didn't hold that bright, beautiful light they used to. Brienne couldn't move. She did this. This was her fault.

"Anders…" She forced out. A lump forming in her throat.

The mage turned to her, his lips curling up in a smile that didn't reach his eyes, "Has it been a year already? How time flies when you're having fun."

Brienne closed the door behind her and walked over to him, a thin stream of light passed across his face and her heart froze. He would hate her. She knew he would hate her. Still, she managed to pull the helm from her head and let it drop to the floor.

"It's me, Anders." She whispered, too afraid to meet his eyes, "Cullen snuck me in."

"Brienne." He growled, "Your position was worth more than me, was it?"

Her eyes met his, and they were smouldering. She couldn't fix this and she knew it, "I thought that if…I thought that if I could reach Knight-Commander I could change the rules. I thought I could fix the circle. I had to sacrifice you for the good of all in the future, I'm so sorry."

"You can't fix the circle, Brienne. The circle is corrupt, the circle is wrong."

"It's wrong now. But I can fix it, I know I can fix it." She pleaded, "I'm a good Templar, I'm a great Templar. Others will listen to me, others will follow me. Ill fix it, I can do it."

Anders stood from the ground and she remembered how tall he was, she remember how beautiful he was, "Brienne, you tried that already and Greagoir didn't listen."

"I know, but if I'm Knight-Commander they have to listen. If I work hard and I persevere I will be respected all over Thedas and they will have to listen."

He sighed and hung his head, Brienne resisted the urge to pull him into her arms, "They think we're dangerous, they're scared of us. People who are scared don't see reason."

"Then we'll have to stop them being scared."

"You need chantry support for that."

Brienne knew he was right, but she didn't want him to be. You could free mages, but they would still be hated and isolated, maybe even murdered. The chantry was spreading lies of fear and hatred, but even as Knight-Commander, she'd never have the support of the chantry behind her.
Anders looked up at her with a sad smile, "At least you're trying. Even if you weren't there in Greagoir's office, I still would be in here, regardless. You defended me and I guess…I guess that right now that is the best thing you could do."

"No, Anders." Brienne began, cautiously placing a hand on his shoulder, "I shouldn't have let them put you in here. You didn't deserve this, I just, I thought I could help. I would have defended you to my last breath but when Greagoir said I'd lose my rank…I…I knew I couldn't help anymore if I lost my rank, I wouldn't have any power. He would have promoted Eddard. Eddard!"

"I know. I can handle a year in here, Brienne." He whispered, reaching out a hand and tucking a loose hair behind her ear, "I was in here for ten months last time, it isn't much more of a stretch."

"What?!" Brienne exclaimed, "Ten months? They didn't even tell me you were being put in solitary last time! Have they…have they been doing this every time?"

Anders nodded, "They started at two months and added another two for each escape."

"I'm so sorry…I had no idea they…"

"The circle is wrong, Brienne." Anders reiterated, looking deep into her eyes.

"Yes." She whispered, "I'm beginning to see that now."