One hour prompt from BSN.

Traumatized

Anders rolled over in bed, pulling the blankets up further and grumbling. "What is that noise?" he muttered.

"Dunno," Maggie replied, still half asleep.

Grumbling, he put the pillow over his head. "What is wrong with them? Are we the only Wardens who sleep?" A high pitched howling sound was echoing through the Keep.

Maggie only responded by way of a snore. Sliding an arm around her waist, Anders replaced his pillow and attempted to get comfortable, vying for space with her and two large dogs. Pounce didn't seem to be curled up in his usual spot near the foot of the bed, though, so at least he had someplace to put his feet. Any attempt at more sleep was denied, since moments after he laid back down chaos erupted.

"Owww," Maggie shouted as a heavy weight dropped onto her. Both dogs jumped to their feet, barking and running across the bed, trampling their owners in the process, and Anders sat up, shocked.

"What?" he said, blinking in convusion.

"Anders," Maggie grumbled, eyes still closed. "I don't know what you're hoping for here, but sitting on my ankles really isn't doing it for me."

"Maggie, wake up," he said, still staring in confusion.

She sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Seriously, would you get off of my ankles? That can't be some strange new turn on for you, can it?"

"Maggie, open your damn eyes."

She did. "What?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Anders said, still sitting next to her where he had been all along. Both of them stared at the boy currently lounging across Maggie's ankles.

"Um… we didn't have a kid and forget, did we?"

"There's a few reasons I'm doubting that theory," Anders said. "Um… kid? Where did you come from?"

At the sound of Anders' voice the child crawled over to him, flopping across his lap. "Rrrrooowww?"

"Maggie, it's… sitting on me."

"So it is," she said, holding the blankets up still.

Anders stared at her. "Well help!" he demanded.

"I have no idea what you think I can do," she said. "I don't know any more about children than you do!"

"Well, you're a woman. Aren't you supposed to know about that sort of thing?"

"And we both know I'm the very model of domesticity," she muttered, rolling her eyes. "I'm just trying not to expose myself to a small child."

Anders took a peek under the blankets. "Oh, hello," he said, reaching over.

"Small child," Maggie reminded him.

"Right," he said. Grabbing his robes from the floor, Anders pulled them over his head and climbed out from under the boy. "Come on, kid," he muttered. The boy only rolled onto his back and said "meow?"

"Maker's breath, it's like trying to talk to Ser Pounce," he muttered, grabbing the boy under an arm and bringing him in the other room. A moment later Maggie joined him, now dressed, to see the boy crawling around on the floor while Anders stood, leaning against a wall and watching in confusion.

"We should, um, find out where he came from."

"Here's the thing," Anders said. "Our door? Still locked."

"Even the bolt?"

"Even the bolt," he confirmed.

She shook her head and ordered the dogs to sit. Both were circling the boy and growling. "Well, a naked child doesn't just… materialize from nowhere."

Anders chuckled, walking over and putting his arms around Maggie. "Look honey, the good fade spirits did send us a kid!"

"Can we ask them to take it back?" she snickered. "It was clearly sent to the wrong place. I mean, I don't even think we've been sleeping together long enough to have a kid that old, we can't actually have kids, and even if we could, he's an elf. "

"He does have green eyes like you, though," Anders said, laughing.

"Maker's breath, Fade spirits did not send us a child." She groaned. "Be serious. Where did he come from? And why is he naked?"

"I don't know!" Anders said. "I'm going to get him some clothes."

"From where?"

"Oghren?" Anders said, shrugging. He returned a moment later with a pair of pants and attempted to wrestle them onto the child. "Would you cooperate?" Anders demanded. The boy only kicked at him, hissing.

"I know I said I'm not exactly an expert on children, but is this, um, even remotely normal?" Maggie was watching with concern as Anders dodged the boy's fingers, which were attempting to claw at his face.

"No," Anders said. "I mean, I don't think so. It's like he thinks he's a cat," Anders muttered. "And a kid this age should be able to talk."

She sighed, sitting on the arm of a chair. "Speaking of, where is the cat?"

"No idea, but I found this," Anders said, standing up now that the boy was at least wearing pants. He continued to make howling noises, rolling around and attempting to push them off himself. "His collar."

"Broken?" Maggie said as Anders held up the brightly woven collar, bell tinkling. It was quite clearly ripped.

"So it seems."

As if on cue, an orange cat ran into the room and began darting frantically from Anders to Maggie. "There you are," she said.

"Um, Maggie," Anders said, looking at her. "Something isn't right here."

"You think?" she replied with a roll of her eyes.

"More than that," he said, sounding exasperated. "Do you remember my cat being a mage? Because I sure don't!"

Dropping to her knees, Maggie reached out for the cat, he jumped into her arms. "Right," she said, patting the cat on the head and setting him in a chair. "I'm going to get Ronan."

Anders sighed, watching the boy and the cat, shaking his head. Maggie returned a moment later, one of the younger Wardens following behind her. He had been a templar in his previous life, and still had the skills of his old job.
"Dispel any magic in this room," she said. "Actually, wait." Maggie disappeared into the bedroom, returning with a spare blanket, which she tossed over the cat. "Now do it."

She and Anders shuddered as Ronan called on his templar skills, skin crawling. The room briefly filled with white light. There was a strange popping sound and the boy was gone. A few seconds later a cat crawled out from inside the pants on the floor.

"What did you do?" Anders demanded, looking at the naked mage sitting on the chair under the blanket.

"Um… I was practicing shapeshifting…" Aedan began. "And then Pounce took off through your cat door, so I tried to turn myself back to normal."

Maggie sighed. "You tried to cast a spell to turn yourself from a cat to an elf instead of just trying to undo the cat spell, didn't you?"

"Maybe?" the young Warden said, blushing and holding the blanket around his waist. "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to."

"It's not me you've traumatized," she said.

"I'm fairly traumatized," Anders said, sounding annoyed. "You turned my cat into a child. And the child went and jumped on our bed!"

"I'm sorry!" Aedan repeated.

"Just go get dressed," Maggie said with a sigh. Aedan walked out, wrapped in a blanket, followed by a hysterically laughing Ronan.

"I just can't figure out why he ended up a kid."

"Because the spell didn't specify an age," she said. "And since Aedan isn't really a cat it just acted on the nearest thing that was. Ser Pounce is only five."

Anders sighed again, bending over to try and pick up the cat. Ser Pounce a Lot looked up at him and hissed, darting under a chair where he gazed warily at both of them. "Oh fantastic," he muttered. "He actually is traumatized. Well, this has ruined my entire day. I'm going to go find Oghren." Anders started to leave.

"Hey," Maggie called after him. "You forgot his pants!"

Anders turned back, grabbing them. "Not why I was looking for him, but might as well take care of that, too." As he disappeared down the hall Maggie could hear him shout "hey dwarf, let's drink to forget!"

Glancing back at the cat who offered another vicious hiss, she headed out of the room. "Wait for me," Maggie called, running down the hall.

The specific prompt for this was to write about Anders' reaction if his cat became a person.