Chapter 12- Magic and Mayhem

The ride back to haven was unpleasant for Istaril, they had no proper healer to see to Istaril's injuries and she was refusing to reveal her magic by healing herself, meaning that her right side was in a great deal of pain the entire time. So when the wooden buildings of Haven crept into sight she nearly groaned in relief, the thought that soon a healer would be attending to her injuries a welcome balm. The crowds of soldiers stared at the sight of the bandaged and unarmoured Istaril, mutters spinning through the ranks as they speculated what could have happened. Mithronar gently knelt to allow her off but before she could do much else Cassandra was at her side and very nearly frog marching her away with a firm grip on her uninjured elbow.

"Let the stable hands do their job for once Istaril, they know what they're doing" she commanded over Istaril's protests.

Varric trotted along behind them holding Istaril's pack and doffed weapons and armour. "She's right Feathers, you need to get that looked at soon, and your horse will be fine" he chastised.

She rolled her eyes "pair of bloody mother hens, the pair of you!" she accused as they ushered her over to the healers tent.

"What have we got?" the healer demanded in a brisk voice as Istaril was practically forced onto a stool before him, Cassandra looming over her like a rather maternal looking gargoyle.

"Broken clavicle, cracked ribs and a pulled muscle in the right shoulder." She reported evenly. "Hmmph" the mage sniffed reaching out towards her with glowing hands. She held still as he placed both hands on either shoulder and waited patiently for the healing to begin.

The magic felt hot and uncomfortable on her skin, itching and stinging like hot water on an abrasion. The feeling increased as it flooded into her system she felt the heat scald its way along her limbs with an itching pain in her blood, discomfort grew until it felt like her blood was being boiled in her body. She gave a gasp of pain before she coughed harshly and fell away from him, desperate to remove the scalding in her body.

She lay twitching and gasping on the cold snow as the feeling of razor blades running through her veins filled her senses. Dimly she could hear people shouting around her and she saw a pair of glowing hands approach her again.

"No!" she gasped jerking away from his hands violently. More hands appeared on her arms, pulling her upright and trying to hold her still but she jerked away again, her strength ripping her from their grip. She fell back to the ground and there was a harsh crack as her already weakened rib gave way.

She felt it move and a sharp stabbing sensation appeared in her chest as her world went black with pain. "Stop you're making it worse! Get out! You too Varric, I need to ask her what's wrong and you're not helping!"" Cassandra's voice came into focus as she struggled. The pain was growing worse as she fought with the magic that was attempting to transmute her blood back to an iron base and she dimly knew her thrashing was not helping the case.

"Istaril! Istaril!" Cassandra's voice grew louder "what's wrong?!" she demanded. Istaril tried to respond, she opened her mouth and tried to say something only to begin to cough weakly, the taste of copper was strong on her tongue and her lips felt wet. "Maker's breath" Cassandra breathed reaching out and trying to hold her thrashing form still.

"Cabin" she gasped, as the distorted image of the seeker swam above her.

"Right!" Cassandra agreed before grabbing the cloak from the bundle that Varric had dropped and drawing it over Istaril's face before bending down and picking her up. The pain became blinding as the motion jostled her broken bones and as Cassandra tried to hold her still to prevent her thrashing in pain. She felt the world explode into white stars of pain before she drifted into a haze.

Cassandra was panicking. There was no other word for what she was feeling. It had started so normally, take the injured person to the healer, injury is fixed and then she could talk more with the woman. Instead Istaril and suddenly flinched in pain and began writing and screaming as if she were being tortured.

The only thing she could think of was to get Istaril out of prying eyes and to try and help her heal herself. It was an insane leap of faith but she had to take it, and her instincts told her to let Istaril fix herself. She scowled as she dodged around a trio of mothers, ignoring their cries and bolting up the stairs that led to the second tier of the village, whatever the healer had done to her was obviously causing a great deal of pain.

If this was a plot or an assassination attempt then the Herald could be in danger, she made a mental note to interrogate the mage afterwards. To make matters worse she also suspected that Istaril's rib had punctured a lung since she was now coughing green blood, only the memory of Istaril's flogging kept her from being surprised. She sprinted as smoothly as she could to Istaril's cabin, Varric and now Leliana trailing behind her as she cradled the wanderer's shrouded form.

"Cassandra what's going on?" the Orlesian Bard demanded but Cassandra didn't reply. When she reached the wanderer's hut she tried to kick the door down but strangely the pine stood firm, only increasing her panic.

"Out of the way!" Leliana commanded, Cassandra complied doing her best to hold Istaril's struggling form still. The spymaster knelt in front of the door and twitched it open with a pair of picks. Cassandra was already moving before the door was fully open, she darted into the small space and laid Istaril on the bed.

"Istaril what do I do?!" she asked desperately, pulling back the now stained cloak.

"Makers breath" Leliana whispered at the sight of the thick emerald liquid.

There were more voices at the entry way but Leliana leapt up and closed the door firmly looking at the Seeker who was now leaning over Istaril's mouth, trying to decipher what she needed. "..elf, third… right… glass…. Blue." She wheezed, her chest spasming again as it tried to draw in air. Cassandra spun around and saw the shelf opposite the bed had a collection of bottles and jars on it.

Sure enough third to the right was a tall glass flask filled with a dark blue liquid. She grabbed it and rushed back to the bed "what now?" she asked desperately.

"Three drops… mouth….. then… out" came the instructions. Cassandra pulled the stopped out of the bottle and carefully tilted three drops of the viscous liquid down Istaril's throat. The wanderer's body stilled "hanks… please… out… need…to heal." Istaril pleaded her eyes mere slits.

Cassandra was about to protest, to demand to know what was happening but she realised that she had no idea of what was wrong or how to fix it, but Istaril seemed to know.

"Alright how long?" she asked, feeling unsure.

"Three...days… don't come in" came the reply. Cassandra nodded, taking the instructions on faith before she grabbed the protesting Leliana and dragged her out shutting the door behind her and taking up a post beyond it.

"Cassandra what happened?" Leliana demanded, there were nods from the rest of the inner circle members who had gathered around the door, confusion on their faces.

"If she is injured surely a healer should attend her?" Solas pointed out curiously, Vivienne nodded looking slightly miffed to be agreeing with the grubby apostate.

Cassandra shook her head "that's what caused this" she said grimly. "Istaril is….special, her needs are not like ours, we would just end up getting in the way." She declared, though she sounded like she was trying to convince herself. "She said she would be fine in three days and she will be." Cassandra declared praying to the maker that she was right.

The others looked unconvinced, the newer members who were not familiar with Istaril's quirks looking at the others. Varric looked at Cassandra closely with narrowed eyes "what do you think happened to her?" he asked her quietly as the others disbanded, Cassandra noticed that Leliana lingered, her ears turned toward the pair.

Cassandra shook her head "I don't know Varric. One moment she was fine, waiting for the healer to begin, the next she was on the ground screaming in pain. What ever happened the healer caused it." Her voice was weary, the adrenaline of the moment draining from her system and the doubts began to creep in. Had she done the right thing?

"Fuck! Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck" Istaril thought to herself as she groped around on her belt, there! She fumbled open the linking book and vanished, reappearing on the stone floor of the balcony, it was raining,hard. "Perfect" she groused.

The heavy sheets of rain pounding down on her as the wind whipped past. She landed in a large pool of water that had not yet drained off to the sides, the cold water soaking her skin as she began to mutter in the ancient language, trying to repair her puncture lung. If she had, had the breath she would have screamed in pain as the bone pulled itself out and sealed back into place but the numbing potion she had taken was helping with it.

Now away from the rift in Haven she was able to begin purging the foreign magic from her body, flooding her system with her own to repair the damage by the unintentional blood transmutation. She had experience a lot of different forms of pain over her years but she could now say with certainty that she had found something worse that the cruciates curse. That took doing. Her body was shivering in exhaustion as she finished fixing her blood, the cold of the rain had permeated her too, soaking her clothes and hair, chilling her already weakened frame further. For an interminable amount of time she lay there, unable to get her body to respond as she drifted in and out of consciousness, light faded and darkness covered the villa.

Distantly she could hear the waves as the wind drove them against the shore below the house and the sound of the rain hitting the stone around her. She was freezing by the time she had gathered enough scraps of energy to move. With a herculean effort she rolled over and crawled into the house, unable to stand and literally hauling her body across the stone floor with her good arm. Water dripped from her sodden form as she dragged her body inside only to be whisked away by the enchantments she had built into the place, leaving no trace that the water had even entered the house.

One agonising climb up the stairs later she shed her clothes and bandages, ripping her shirt off to spare her clavicle and crawled naked under the thick comforter, asleep before her head hit the pillow. Her sleep was dreamless for once, though most probably from the exhaustion.

When she cracked her eye open the rain had stopped and the sun was rising but her body felt flushed and hot, too hot. She lay there unmoving, too tired to shift her covers to get comfortable and simply decided to examine her energy levels, trying to determine if she had enough in her to perform another healing to fix the original injuries.

Her body ached and her lungs felt like crap, but other than that she felt merely tired and hot. She yawned and began to mutter a healing spell, pulling energy from the gems in her hair that she kept as an emergency store, the bones and muscles returning to their original place, though the energy leaked out of her like a sieve as she tried to direct it. By the end she was healed but extremely weak, with little energy left in her body and her beads tapped out. With so little strength left it was no wonder her body began to shiver despite her heavy covers.

She sank deeper into the mattress, thinking groggily that after a quick nap she would return to Haven. That unfortunately was put on hold as the largest sneeze in her life took hold. Thanking her luck stars that she had just healed her ribs she lay back, feeling chilled despite the sweat that covered her form, she sniffed and realised what was happening.

"Really?!" she croaked at the ceiling before a wet cough wracked her frame. "Shit" she muttered sinking back into the pillows, just finished healing herself from a punctured lung and now she was sick because her body was too weak to fight off the effects of laying in the cold rain for however long she had. She growled and closed her eyes, what good was the power to heal wounds and create whatever she needed if she couldn't even cure herself of a common cold, though if it was any consolation no one seemed to know how to cure the common cold. Her eyelids drooped and she turned onto her side and drifted away again.

The air was filled with the smell of smoke, burnt flesh and hot metal, the sounds of war cries and death screams filled the air along with a deadly humming and the sharp sound of energy weapons. She frowned and pushed back a few tendrils of hair that had escaped their bonds and fallen onto her sweat soaked face. A blast of red light flew towards her and she moved, twisting the glowing turquoise blade before her to parry it back.

"Retreat!" she bellowed "the Temple is lost! Get the younglings and Padawans the hell out of here!" she dodged another blow and pivoted, bringing the other end of her weapon up. Snap Hiss another blade sprang forth and speared the black armoured form before her. More figures bearing red blades leapt off of the ship that had crashed through the front entry and she snarled. This had been her home for many years, she would not see it fall without a fight.

"Jeirda!" she cried pointing her fingers at a black robed intruder who flew backward with a cry and she pounced on him, driving her blade through his chest before leaping up and spinning her blade around, reflecting a bolt of red light back at its owner, falling back to earth and tucking into a roll to dodge the horizontal sweep of a red blade that would have halved her at the waist. A red blade descended on her and she parried it aside, rising up from her crouch and bringing the other end of her blade up and forward, landing a long diagonal slash on her opponents body which fell to the ground in two pieces.

A barrage of blaster fire sped towards her and she spun, her reflexes mimicking the foresight of a force wielder as she parried the blows, reflecting them back with deadly accuracy and downing their originators. Three more black armoured Sith challenged her and she fought back, twirling and leaping like a dancer, using walls, droids, soldiers and the Sith themselves as springboards, refusing to let them pin her down.

From a distance she looked like a turquoise and brown blur, her blows were accurate and she had a knack for throwing her opponents off balance by randomly deactivating and reactivating her blades so she flicked between a single blade and a double blade. As the last one fell she straightened and looked over to where she felt another Jedi life force flicker and die. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw Jedi Master Ven Zallow slid off of the Sith's Lightsaber as the monster turned toward her.

"Malgus" she snarled and his eyes narrowing in determination.

"Anomaly" his artificial voice wheezed at her loaded with malice. Her face grew hard and her emotions slid off her face as she brought her staff saber up into a crosswise defensive posture, waiting for him to make the first move. He stalked forward and she countered by sliding to turn the advance into a circle, matching his paces with smooth steps as she stared at him with a cool gaze.

"You will die" he rasped as he leapt at her, his crimson blade raised high to cleave her in two. She hiss out a breath of air as she flew to meet him, her dual bladed Lightsaber twirling around her like a maelstrom of chaos as she met his blade with hers in a flurry of sparks. Though she did not have the force she was able to pick up his actions by listening to his mind and reacted accordingly and her reflexes were faster than his by a smidge. She leapt and spun around him like an acrobat, chaining kicks and blasts of magic into her attacks, dodging his reciprocating blows or deflecting them, using her distinctive style of switching the number of blades she had activated to throw him off balance, but never quite managing to land a killing blow.

His attacks were heavy and swift, battering against her like waves as she deflected them away and his bursts of lightning caused her wards to drain as she tried to dodge or deflect them. He lunged and she leapt high, flipping over him as she stabbed down at him with her blade. She landed and spun, sweeping a horizontal blow at his back but he brought his saber up and over his shoulder to counter it before spinning round to face her again, his single poisonous yellow eye burning above the metal of his rebreather while the milky white of the eye that she had blinded stared into the middle distance with the same rage.

"Did I ever mention that I like your eyes this way?" she taunted as she dodged another powerful blow. "I must say that white is a lovely colour to match your skin tone" she added as she danced away from another lightning blast. She landed and tutted at him "You're slower than last time Mal" she taunted through her harsh breaths as she parried his latest flurry of blows "must be the rebreather, Satele really did a number on you on Alderan from what I hear" she ducked as he bellowed in rage and launched a series of overhand strikes.

She brought her right blade up and held of his onslaught, sheathing her other to protect her hilt. The force of his blows actually caused the floor beneath her to crack slightly as he drove her back, moments before her back touched a pillar, she brought her foot up and smashed it into the side of his face, crushing a portion of his rebreather before she bounced off the pillar and flipped over him and away. She landed a few meters away in a fighting crouch, sucking in heavy gasps for air, his last attack had done a number on her. He staggered and turned clutching at his mask, fumbling at some switches and apparently switching over to a redundant system.

"You'll pay for that Jedi scum" he growled at her, advancing menacingly, though with a noticeable limp.

"Told you last time Mal, the correct term is Sith Killer" she mocked before launching another attack. They continued to fight with all they had, battling back and forth across the entry hall of the temple, destroying the stone columns and anything that stood in their way.

She could feel her body weakening, her tailored version of Ataru was not meant to be used for such a long period of time and even with the elements of Niman she employed she knew that she could not win this round. She could feel her strength waning, this was not helped by the constant feeling of the minds of the Jedi faltering, their life forces dwindling.

"Get out of here!" she bellowed to her fellow Jedi as she fought harder, pushing her already straining muscles onward, pulling strength from the various gems in her hair as she attacked with renewed vigor trying to hold off the Darth to give the others a chance to obey her orders. The monster before her gave off waves of fury and a dark chuckle echoed his mental amusement as he attempted to spear her with his blade, the amusement disappeared as she grazed his side with her own blade that had reappeared and he renewed his attack with a snarl.

They battled like fiends, blows so fast they left after images in the eyes of witnesses, their strikes so swift that the very air hissed in displacement. She was sporting a long cut along her left arm, the fabric and flesh around it smoking from the heat of the saber and another on her left thigh, her robe was a lost cause as only a small amount of tattered brown fabric fluttered around the small of her back, the sleeves and hood long since sheared away and her chest plate was gouged from his blade. Her mind worked hard to compartmentalise the pain and she grit her teeth, pulling on her experience of fighting through pain to compensate.

That's not to say he was uninjured, a long slash ran the length of his face, marring his already blind eye and a deep, burning cut where she had almost stabbed him ran along his left side with his armour covered in glowing cuts from her twin blades and his cape in ribbons. Also, she noticed with a smirk that he was limping, the result of a twisted ankle she had inflicted on him. She smoothed her expression again as she launched a roundhouse kick, smashing into his face again and sending him stumbling away as she followed up with an overhand strike. He bounced back to his feet, deflected her blade and blasting her away into a pillar that cracked with the force of her hitting it.

She grunted in pain and staggered to her feet, shaking her head to clear the ringing only to bring up her blade just in time to deflect the streams of lightning pouring from his hands. This was her chance, she sprinted forward, launching a spinning attack with both legs and weapon as she tried to pull more energy from her gems, only to realise with a sinking feeling that she was tapped out.

"Master the younglings are out, we must pul... ahhhhhhh!" the voice of another Jedi echoed through the massive atrium over the clash of sabers and the echoing of blasters.

She checked and saw that the only Jedi left were her and three knights, she winced and drew on the last of her strength and pushed "óvinr bifask [blast away foes]" she bellowed and the Sith and their troops were blown back for just a moment. "Follow me, hurry!" she cried and the last three Jedi followed her from the burning temple and out into the open air.

Beyond the temple the magnificent spires and Skyscrapers of Coruscant burned with Imperial Star Destroyers looming in the sky like portents of doom, the sounds or orbital bombardments mingled with the screams of millions over the planet and the clatter of metal boots as the Sith stormed the capital. A small ship swooped low and she could feel the mind of the pilot wanting to aid them. She put on one last burst of speed and leapt upwards just as the bay doors opened.

She caught the Durasteel lip and swung herself up and in, leaning out to catch her fellow Jedi and haul them up. Sith streamed from the temple, blaster fire and lightning flew at the ship, but too late as the door closed and the ship peeled away, dodgeing shots from figter craft and ships as they ran for their lives.

"How many made it?" she asked as she sank down, her wounded leg finally giving out.

"Just under three hundred knights and most of the younglings Master. Your actions allowed us to escape, but the Empire now holds Coruscant." The pilot replied.

She closed her eyes and laid her head back, the beads in her hair making soft clicking sounds as the hit each other and the Durasteel plate of the hull, her once seveciable updo decorated with the braids had fallen, her hair now hanging around her face.

"They will begin orbital bombardments, the death toll will be catastrophic." She murmured, the adrenaline from her fight leaving her system.

"But the younglings are safe" one of the knights offered, "we must regroup at Tython, there we can gather strength and return to repel them" another agreed.

She turned her head to the side and pressed cheek against the cool bulkhead "yes that is the plan" she muttered.

"Master Wanderwing are you all right?" the third knight asked kneeling down at her side.

She chuckled weakly "leg and arm wound as well as exhaustion, not much else" she murmured, her eyes fluttering closed.

"Hold on Master, let me get some bacta pads" the second knight offered. She nodded and felt her body drift into sleep.

The blackness of the dream shifted.

"Are you sure Kathleen?" the grey haired woman asked her uncertainly.

Kathleen nodded "its part of what I was sent here to do Satele. Seal me in cryo with a timer and as many redundancies as you can, I will not be needed for another three thousand years or so. Also by putting me here on Tython no one will know where I am." She smiled at her old friend.

"I will miss you" she admitted to the pale eyed Grandmaster who gave a small smile, her face was now embellished with a layer of fine wrinkles and her hair was no longer the luscious black it had once been. Despite the signs of age her eyes still burned with power and her form still held strength and calm she had been renowned for.

"I will miss you too" the Jedi admitted before pulling her into a rough hug "you may not be able to wield the force but you are a true Jedi Kathleen. No one has served the order more faithfully that you, save maybe the hero of Tython and you helped with that."

Kathleen chuckled and hugged her friend hard. "Been a wild ride huh Satele?" she asked and the elderly Jedi nodded "just think it was forty five years ago that the pair of us met on the station above Korriban when this all began" she added with a smile.

Satele grinned and pulled away "I remember, you appeared in a blaze of the force and the first words out of your mouth were "can I use the bathroom?"" Satele laughed and Kathleen joined in.

"Well can you blame me? I had just spent a year in a spectral form with only brief moments of solidity, you tend to get a full bladder when you do that." Kathleen laughed and shook her head. "It's been crazy hasn't it?" she asked and the grandmaster nodded.

"Forty five years and you haven't aged a day, sometimes I really envy you, then I remember your burden and all I can do is thank the force I got to meet you." the Grandmaster reminisced.

Kathleen smiled, "and you still won't tell me where you got that top" she pouted.

Satele grinned "and I never will" she replied.

Kathleen turned to the cryo capsule, running her hand over it before turning to look back at her friend whom she regarded as a sister after all these years. "I think it's time" she said seriously.

Satele nodded and left to go call the other members of the council. Kathleen turned to look at the white and silver tube that she would be frozen in for the next three thousand years and sighed, pulling off her robes, folding them neatly in a pile and pulling on the skin-tight white suit that would protect her from the chemicals the pod used, gently placing the long and elegantly engraved silver cylinder of her dual bladed lightsaber onto of the pile.

The door slid open and a small gathering of people and two droids entered. She smiled sadly and walked through the gathering, embracing them and accepting their well wishes and farewells.

She smiled at Gareth-Tal the hero of Tython and Kira Carsen who stood next to him, hugging them both and whispering them a congratulations on their wedding in their ears which caused them both to stare at her in astonishment and hugged the smuggler Amirian Veth tightly as the captain of the blue star gave Kathleen a watery smile.

Once she finished each of them bowed to her. "Thank you for all you have done and all you will do, your contributions will be given prominent place in the Archives of the Jedi. May the force be with you always Jedi Master Kathleen Wanderwing" Satele said formally before holding out a closed fist.

Each of the assembly did the same, or in the astro mech's case opened a compartment and extended a little grasper. Kathleen looked at them in confusion before they opened their hands and revealed that each held a single bead. They were made of Tythonian silver, one of the few metals that could withstand a lightsaber blade, and engraved with beautiful and unique designs.

"Our last gift to you" Satele said with a smile.

Kathleen had tears in her eyes and smiled, bowing low "I am honoured, thank you for giving me a home and a purpose all these years. You are all like family to me, despite the law of non-attachment" she said sincerely before turning and taking a seat on a chair "I would be honoured if you made the braid Satele" she added quietly.

Satele strode forward and began to add a braid to her hair, one that was a complex Brentali pattern, adding the beads as they were presented to her. Eleven from each member of the council she had sat on for so long, nine more from the friends she had made both among the order and without, finally capping the end with a heavy silver clasp engraved with the symbol of the Jedi order and her rank as a Master.

Once she was done she flicked the long and rather heavy braid forward to show Kathleen who took it in her fingers and ran her fingers along the pattern, memorizing how it had been done to seal it in her memory forever. She turned back to them and bowed low again. "I thank you all for this, and pray that the force and the Powers-That-Be smile on you all."

She smiled, embracing them all one last time and walked to the cryo pod, opening it with a hiss and walked into its cool embrace before turning to look back at the entire crowd and made a decision as the door closed. "My true name before all this began was…" whatever she had said to them was overlaid with mental static as her subconscious mind blanked out the last part of the memory, the door sealed and she looked at them all through the thick clear covering and smiled before closing her eyes and knew no more.

Istaril cracked an eye open and coughed. Her whole body ached and her throat felt like sandpaper. It was sunset and she dully realised that if she didn't haul her sorry ass back to Haven she would have even more uncomfortable questions to answer. She slid uncomfortably from the warmth of her bed and leaned down to grab her belt and boots. Still coughing and sneezing as she shuffled down the stairs, leaning heavily on the wall as she went.

She pressed her hand to the return book and shivered as she arrived in her cabin, realising that she was still naked as the day she was born and the cabin was freezing. She dumped her belt on her desk and shuffled over to the bed, scratching idly at the long scar on her left thigh. She slid under her covers and shivered at how cold they were before turning over, ignoring the feeling of the beads in her hair pushing uncomfortably against her skull and sinking back into sleep.

Cassandra stared at the door of Istaril's cabin in trepidation. It was the morning of the third day and she couldn't take it anymore. She heard footsteps behind her and held in a wince.

"Why won't you tell me anything Cassandra?" Leliana's accented voice asked her quietly. "We've worked together for almost ten years. I trust you with my life and I thought you did too. So why now won't you tell me what happened with Istaril?"

Cassandra turned to face the spymaster with a calm expression. "That's not fair Leliana and you know it. I swore I would not tell and you know I never go back on my word. Also I can't because they are not my secrets to tell. That and I'm sure you wouldn't believe me." She paused looking into her friends eyes before an idea struck "Come in with me and let's see if she will tell you." She offered, trying to give a middle ground.

Leliana blinked, then nodded, walking over to join her at the door. Cassandra pushed the heavy pine door open and led the way inside. A rattling cough met their ears as they entered and a voice mumbled "close the door, you're letting in a draft." Another wet hack followed the statement and the pair walked quickly over to the bed.

Istaril did not look good. Her face was flushed and her eyes were glassy, staring at them but not really seeing them. "For the first time since I left Plumtree in Tennessee it's the first time I've been warm." She added, a weak giggle following the statement.

"Istaril?" Cassandra asked in concern kneeling down to Istaril's level, reached her hand out and feeling her forehead.

"Maker you're burning up!" she exclaimed pulling back her hand and looking at the woman in shock.

"uhh huuh" Istaril hummed in agreement.

"I'll get the healers" Leliana offered, stalking outside imperiously. Cassandra walked quickly over to the fireplace and began to kindle a blaze in the cold hearth, trying to warm the freezing room.

In the bed Istaril hummed softly to herself "yo ho ho and a bottle of rum, drink up me hearties yo ho" she rasped tossing uncomfortably and Cassandra frowned heavily in worry as a deep, bone jarring cough wracked Istaril's frame.

"One ring to rule them all…one ring to find them… one ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them" she mused, her rasping voice filled with menace and Cassandra shivered. She stood quickly and moved back over to Istaril's side and pulled her blankets higher around her bare shoulders, looking back toward the door anxious for Leliana to return with Adan.

Her attention was dragged back to the wanderer when her hand snapped out and fastened itself around the Seeker's wrist and she looked down into a pair of desperate blue silver eyes. "You'll look after him right?" she asked anxiously and Cassandra frowned, trying to pull her arm from the voce like grip. "Please promise me Maria that you'll look after him." She pleaded "don't let Altair go back to the way he was. Don't let the apple taint him." Cassandra stared into the pale silvery blue eyes and swallowed hard at the desperation in them.

"I promise" she said finally and Istaril's grip slackened.

"Good…good" she mumbled, her lids fluttering closed. There were footsteps at the door and Leliana hurried back in with Adan the healer at her heels. Her mind was reeling but she let herself be ushered out and she sat down in the snow pondering what had just happened.

Leliana looked down at the woman in the bed. She felt like she was missing something vital about this woman, something that would let all the pieces fall into place but what those pieces were eluded her. Istaril mumbled something unintelligible as she shifted and Leliana leaned in closer, wiping down Istaril's sweat soaked face with a damp cloth.

Istaril's eyes fluttered beneath her lids, the whites flashing briefly in the gloom of the cabin as her head twitched and turned to the side. The beads that still sat in her sweat soaked hair made soft clicking sounds as the struck against each other and the braids looked ratty from being left unattended.

Leliana considered herself somewhat of an expert in braids, maker knew she had seen and woven many in her life time, but some of the ones that adorned Istaril's hair were works of art, complex and intricate, even in their current state of disarray. Also what stuck her was just how many of them there were, in fact there seemed to be more braids than loose hair.

She reached out and touched one that was filled with over a dozen round silver beads the size of her pinkie nail and engraved with strange and elaborate signs. At the bottom was a heavy silver cap that was decorated with a symbol and a line of text.

Curious she picked up the braid and brought it closer, staring intently at the ornaments. Each bead was uniform in size and the quality of the metal and engravings was astonishing. Whoever had crafted these beads had been a master at their craft she decided laying the braid down and pulling her hand back. Istaril turned her head back to look at Leliana and her eyes opened blearily.

"Alanna?" she asked in a weak voice, nearly a whisper.

In a flash Leliana made a choice "yes, I'm here, how are you feeling?" she asked, accepting the name.

Istaril blinked heavily and licked her lips "when did you get here? I though Jon had you tied up near the Gallan border?" she stared at Leliana as much as she was able to, her eyes sliding off her as she struggled to focus.

"I arrived earlier, the told me you were ill" Leliana offered, trying to find some way of prolonging the conversation. Istaril frowned as blinked slowly, her lids almost refusing to open, settling instead at half-mast. "What's the last thing you remember?" Leliana offered and Istaril's brow crinkled in confusion.

"Riding, me'n Raoul were coming back… from ….somewhere. And then Darklight reared… then nothing." She muttered, her eyes closing rapidly. "Glad you're here Alanna, it's nice to have a sister who cares this time." She slurred before her face went slack and she drifted back into unconsciousness.

Leliana nearly cursed but sighed instead before grabbing the cloth and dabbing at Istaril's green flushed skin again…. Wait. Her mind stuttered as she stared at the sick woman's fever flushed skin in shock. Just a few moments ago her skin had looked red, but now that she had caught it, it looked so obvious. Istaril was flushed a deep emerald as her internal temperature raged, thinking back she remembered the blood that had been smeared on the inside of Istaril's cloak when Casandra had brought Istaril to her cabin and further back to the fight with Cassandra when the shield bash had caused her nose to bleed.

She jumped to her feet and began looking around the room for the cloak, there. It lay in a corner, bundled up where it had fallen. She strode over to it and picked it up, shaking out the silvery grey fabric and staring at the dried olive coloured stains that adorned the inside. She looked between the cloak and the still form at the bed, then turned smartly on her heel and stalked out the door and began to hunt Cassandra.

She found the Seeker hacking at a dummy at the training fields. Without waiting she grabbed the fighter's arm and dragged her away to a tent. Once inside she threw down the cloak, showing the stains and looked up at the Seekers amber eyes. "Explain Cassandra." she said in a low and dangerous voice.

Cassandra rubbed the bridge of her nose. ""I don't know what you want" she said tiredly, looking up at the red head wearily.

"Why is she green?" Leliana demanded, her eyes narrowing.

Cassandra sighed "I don't know, it is something I found out recently, though I don't know why anyone else hasn't noticed, how did you?"

Leliana paused frowning as she pondered. "I caught a glimpse of the blood from before, and then I just suddenly saw it..." She paused realising how strange that sounded and frowned more heavily.

"My suggestion is to speak with Istaril" Cassandra admitted, "there is literally no precedent with how to deal with her" she added shrugging before giving the spymaster a comforting hand on the shoulder. "Just speak with her Leliana. She is here to help." She said before leaving the tent and the shaken spymaster.

Leliana sat in the tent for another few moments before she bent down and picked up the cloak and left the tent, returning to the cabin and stared at the woman who whimpered and twitched, lost in dreams that did not appear to be pleasant. She closed the door before she settled down in the room's only chair, putting the kettle over the fire and resigning herself to a wait.

Around sunset Istaril's fever broke and a half hour later that her eyes opened, no longer glassy but still dull with exhaustion. Leliana watched her from where she sat next to the fire, nursing a cup of tea and a stack of reports. She was unsure why she had remained here for so long, even going so far as to shoo the Herald and his companions away. Something told her that she needed to speak with Istaril first. Now watching as the Wanderer carefully awoke she wondered.

"You finally rejoin the living" she said dryly, taking another sip, drawing Istaril's eyes to her. "You gave us all a rather large scare" she added watching Istaril over the rim of her mug, watching as Istaril cast her eyes around the room, taking in the locations of various objects and the lack of anyone else in the room.

"It wasn't my intention" she rasped, wincing at the feeling of her swollen throat protesting its use. Leliana stood and poured some water into the simple clay cup Istaril kept for this purpose and gently handed it to Istaril, all the time watching her closely.

Hands shaking Istaril sipped carefully from the cup, her eyes never leaving Leliana. "So I assume something has changed drastically to cause you such turmoil." Istaril murmured, considering the spymaster who had not stopped staring at her with piercing blue eyes.

"What are you?" she demanded in a cool voice.

Istaril sighed and closed her eyes, leaning back into her pillow "you know Cassandra asked the same thing, and I'll tell you the same I told her. I don't know." She opened her eyes and turned to look at Leliana once more. "But I feel that words are cheap to you, it is deeds and actions that speak to you, no?" Leliana merely nodded once, her intense gaze never wavering.

Istaril huffed in what could be called a laugh. "What can I do that will give you a satisfactory answer Lady Nightingale?" she asked somberly, the humor leaving her face and only the blank mask remaining.

Leliana shrugged "I don't know. I know nothing of you, you have no past, and it's as if you didn't exist before the Herald found you." She glared a little at the last point but Istaril remained unmoved, watching her with steady eyes, waiting for the Spymaster to reach a decision. "I don't know how to categorize you, you fit no known pattern and though your actions indicate you want to help I still know nothing about you. How can I do my job as a spymaster and ignore the massive hole in information that is you?" she demanded, her voice colder than the wind outside.

Istaril coughed harshly, the water sloshing over the rim of her cup as she clutched it tightly. "Yet you traveled with Morrigan, an apostate who you knew nothing about and even though she made no secret of her attitude towards your chantry and your beliefs. How am I different?" Istaril asked after the cough had subsided, her voice a harsh croak like a ravens.

"I was younger then, naïve, and the stakes are much higher now." Leliana answered frostily, her eyes sharpening and the shadow of her hood deepening as she tilted her head forward.

"I see. I shall await your decision on my trustworthiness then. Just know that there are some things that should remain in the past." Istaril replied tiredly leaning her head back onto her pillow and closing her eyes. Speaking towards the celling she added "I would appreciate it if you kept my blood to yourself, the feeling of being burned at the stake is not a very comfortable sensation and I would not like a repeat performance." Leliana looked up at her sharply, but Istaril appeared to have drifted off to sleep once again.

She stood, knocking back her chair in the process and strode to the bed. "What do you mean!" she demanded, grabbing Istaril's shoulders. "What do you mean!" she cried almost shaking the dozing woman. An eye cracked open and she stumbled back and fell to the ground in shock as a vertical pupil that formed before her eyes stared at her.

"Ask me again after you ask yourself, Are you ready to experience the same pain as your prophetess?" Istaril mumbled and closed her eye again, falling into a light doze again.

Leliana stared at the woman before her in fear and uncertainty. A knock at the door shattered the stunned silence and she looked over at it as it opened to reveal Cassandra. The seeker took a look at the Spymaster and rushed over to the downed woman. "Leliana what happened?" she asked frantically looking her friend over for wounds.

Leliana stared at Cassandra like she had never seen her before, then her eyes tracked back to the sleeping Istaril. "What is she?" she demanded in a whisper, her eyes focusing on the slightly glowing woman.

"You can see her clearly now too?" Cassandra asked following her friends gaze to the still form. "Like a veil has been lifted and you can see her clearly" Leliana nodded.

"To me the veil was always flickering, I saw things I wrote off as coincidence or a trick of the light. What is she?" Leliana acknowledge before repeating her question, turning to look at the Seeker who knelt next to her.

"I don't know Leliana. All I know is that she was sent here by the maker to help us." Leliana looked from the seeker to the wanderer "she asked me if I was ready to feel the pain Andraste felt… what did she mean by that?" she asked her brow crinkling in confusion as she slowly pulled herself back together.

"She was burned at the stake" Cassandra replied in a dead voice. Like she was trying to forget something.

Leliana turned to Cassandra in shock "but…how?" she demanded.

"How was she burned or how is she still alive?" Cassandra asked seriously, her dark eyes like obsidian blades.

"How is she still alive?" Leliana asked uncertainly.

"She died and then returned to help others. It is her purpose, she was created to help." Cassandra replied turning her gaze back to Istaril "she has no choice but to help. That's what she told me. We are fortunate enough that the maker decided to send her to us to help."

Leliana stared at Cassandra "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! If she is chosen then why doesn't she just close the breach? If she was sent by the maker then why does she not fix everything?" She demanded, tears beginning to well up in her eyes, the strain of the last few weeks beginning to take their visible toll on her.

"Because it's not my story…. It's yours." Istaril whispered, her eyes still closed. "I am only here to help, not to fix. Certain things need to happen, the divine's death, the mark on Enarel's hand, the forming of the inquisition. It all needs to happen. You don't need me here, I'm simply back up. Extraneous, always the spare." She continued, shifting slightly and her eyelids fluttering. "Going to sleep now." She muttered and her breathing deepened.

The two women stared at each other as her words struck them. "Oh Maker…" Leliana whispered her eyes wide, whilst Cassandra turned white. They looked at each other, uncertainty in both their eyes before they turned back to Istaril who had a slightly worried expression on her sleeping face.

"What do we do?" Leliana asked and Cassandra shook her head.

"We tell no one, I have a deal with her that she will tell me more. You can help me. But we can't let anyone know that she was sent to help us, it would cause a panic and drive the chantry even further into the belief that we are heretics…Let her stay as she is." The two of them nodded and stood, dusting off their pants as they looked at Istaril's sleeping face which was now etched with an expression of such profound sadness that it made them tear up a little as the watched her.

With an unspoken agreement they left, walking out into the dark night to find their own beds.

A/N- Maker's breath this story has some odd moments. I was repeatedly told that Istaril was to OP so I did this. Hope that is a decent sized Achilles heel for you lot. I would also like to inform everyone reading this that yes I know that pretty much everyone save Dorian is OOC. Yes Leliana would probably be more aggressive, so would Cassandra. but I would just like to say that I have almost no control over this story. I sit down and plan things out and draw up timelines and do my research. Then the moment I sit down to write, the characters go off script and do whatever the hell they want too. If you still enjoy this then let me know. If not then you don't have to read any more.

Cheers all! Mystborn!