Hopefully this edit will improve my ill ramblings, lol.

Thanks again to all of my readers and commenters. I just adore you guys!


Part 11: Mages, Magic, and Mystery

The next morning Terrinz hovered around Velistara, and Alistair brooded. He didn't mean to, but he couldn't help the anger that kept surging through him. He wasn't even sure anymore what he was so angry about, but he knew that at least part of it was his unnatural and continual sexual response to her… and jealousy over Terrinz.

He was obsessed with her, if he had to be honest. He found her alluring in a way he'd never before experienced, even in his brief interest in Leliana.

So he walked along behind her, watching her as she listened attentively to Leliana's nonstop chatter. He wondered how she could stand it, but she seemed to listen with avid interest to the stories and songs that Leliana related.

When the bard ran out of steam, Velistara turned to Terrinz and began to ask him questions, which he answered with an eagerness that made Alistair's growing jealousy snort and plunge like a high strung horse. He listened as she asked him about his childhood and even his induction to the Gray Wardens, which Alistair interrupted as the man sounded prepared to explain the Joining!

He pulled Terrinz aside and reminded him that the last thing he should do, is to tell a crazy woman who believed herself to be a dragon, about the Joining!

Terrinz looked mutinous at first, but then his face calmed and he had the grace to look ashamed. "You're right, of course," he answered the accusation.

"He does not need to tell me. I sense it within you," Velistara said, walking up behind them.

Alistair glared at her. "Sense what?" he challenged.

"Corrupted blood of dragons and of Darkspawn," she replied simply. "You cannot hide it from me. Did you think I would not sense my own, or the taint of the twisted monsters that seek me?"

"Then why didn't you run away from the very start?" Alistair practically crowed, certain that he had cornered her on that one.

"I sense something else in you, as well," she told him easily. "Terrinz shares the taint with you, but not the other that I sense."

"Which is what?"

"That, I cannot tell you. Some things must be discovered in their own time, at their own pace," she explained, moving closer to the others to accept food that was being offered to her. "Besides, you would just think me crazy..."

As she walked away, Alistair glared at Terrinz.

"I didn't tell her!" He threw up his hands defensively and shrugged at Alistair.

"I don't like this," Alistair said. "Something isn't right. She shouldn't know that. And I'm getting the feeling that taking her to the mages is the wrong thing to do."

"They're the only ones that can contain her. And the Tower is the only place the Darkspawn won't sense her or be able to get to her," Terrinz said. "It's the logical thing to do."

"Yeah," Alistair agreed, looking over at the woman sitting on the ground beside Leliana. "But is it the right thing to do?"

Terrinz shrugged. "Won't know til we get there, I suppose. Why?"

"I'm not sure. I just find myself plagued by a nagging doubt." It was Alistair's time to shrug, uncertain.

They packed up and got going again, reaching the Tower late in the afternoon.

"Brought us an Apostate, have you?" asked the Templar at the entrance.

"Of sorts," Alistair responded. "I think we'll discuss it further with Irving and Gregoior, though, if you don't mind."

"Go on in, then," the Templar told him, giving Velistara a sweeping, direct look that made Alistair bristle.

"Alistair! What brings you this way?" Gregoior greeted him.

"We've brought you a very powerful mage. She isn't entirely right in the head, though, so it doesn't seem right to kill her as an Apostate..."

"If she's powerful and mad, then she must be dealt with. You know this, Alistair."

"I'm not convinced she's a danger to anyone—"

"All mages are dangerous, lad. But I'm not telling you anything you don't know, am I?"

"I'm not a mage, I'm a dragon," Velistara interrupted. "You should kill me before the Darkspawn reach me."

"A dragon, are you?" Gregoior asked her, looking her up and down. "You're an awful small dragon."

"I find myself unfortunately trapped in this form," Velistara told him. "But rest assured that if I did not come willingly to face my death, I would not be here."

"As powerful as I sense she is, it's almost believable," First Enchanter Irving said as he walked into the foyer from the Tower's interior. "I doubt that most of the mages together could kill her if she chose to resist. It would take our combined might, at minimum."

"You've done well, Alistair. You may go," Gregoior told him.

"I think we'll stay a while," Alistair said on impulse. "I would like to do a bit of research."

"Certainly your research can be done elsewhere?" Velistara interjected. "It seems an awful imposition for you to remain here. Or do you wish to see me dead before you go?"

Alistair shifted uncomfortably. "This is the best place for my research," he insisted stubbornly. "If it's no bother, Irving?"

"No, none at all, my boy. None at all. Take as long as you need."

Alistair executed a half-bow. "Thank you." He gave Velistara an angry glare as he strode past her and into the tower.