"Ow!"

"Pay attention, Henlin." Levyn scolded the young mage. The scroll of parchment he'd enchanted to smack his student unfurled. "Stop gazing at Researcher Minaeve like some trinket for you to win." He forced the mage to look forward, placing a temporary corporeal barrier between his table at the railing. It blocked his sight of Helisma and Minaeve's discussion across the library.

Henlin's ears drooped as his classmates giggled at him. He shrunk in his seat. "Yes, ser."

"Good." Levyn nodded. "Now turn to page three hundred and ninety-four of Ferelden Folklore and History," Levyn stepped up to the head of the cluster of seats and chairs. There was a silencing barrier around them to prevent disturbing the other library purveyors.

"The Dales? Ser?" Bryce questioned from the front table. He was his apprentice, assigned by Fiona. He wasn't one Levyn would have picked.

"Yes. As you'll note in the back of the class we have a few new students." Levyn called attention to the five elven children and ten human children, all non-mages. "We will be learning about the Dales today. More specifically about the Dalish and their culture." He stated. "And we have a guest-"

"Whats there to learn? It's just a bunch of knife-ears." Scoffed one of the non-mage human children. He wore much better clothing than the other children. Clearly a noble's son. "And you're all just mages. It's not like you'll ever see any of them."

Many of the elves in the group stiffened at the slur. Their ears perked up.

"What is your name, child?" Levyn leant against his staff, staring.

"Albert the Second."

"The second of what?" Levyn squinted with a smirk. The other students snickered. "Your family name?"

"Howe." The child grit his teeth.

"Ah… a Howe. Good." Levyn shifted. "As your father has likely decided that it is better for you to gain an education with the Inquisition, rather than send you off to the scullery to work, you will adhere to all seminar etiquette. You will raise your hand to speak and wait your turn until I call you. You will not speak out of turn. And you will not use such horrible language. Now apologize."

The elves were quiet. The elven mages especially so.

Albert said nothing, his scowl deepening the longer Levyn waited.

"No."

"Then leave." Levyn stated.

"What-"

"Apologize. Or leave."

Albert growled. "My father-"

"Your father is a shopkeeper and your grandfather was a treasonous lord who aided in the death of King Cailan." Levyn barked. "Now leave my seminar." The child was barely ten years old and already he was a brat. Levyn hoped his mother would straighten him out. He'd heard the positive stories about Delilah Howe from a friend. Sighing, he watched the student leave with a stomp.

"Now, if our new students would please come forward. You'll have to share books." Levyn had them come forward, chairs moved and tables turned to accommodate. He did note that elves sat with elves and humans with humans. Today was not the class to fix that, so he ignored it for now.

"Now, who would like to read on the Dales?" Bryce and Lyorah were the only ones to raise their hands. They were his best students and human. "Henlin, how about you read the first section and then Lyorah, if you will continue." He called.

Henlin's cheeks and ears reddened but he scooted closer to the book. "Man...many…" He cleared his throat and began again. "Many forget that when Holy Andraste called out to the oppressed peoples to rise up, it was the elves who answered her first. The humblest slaves of the Imperium became her vanguard, and when victory came, they were rewarded accordingly."

"Yes good. Lyorah?"

"They were given a land in what is now the south of Orlais, called the Dales. A great exodus of elves undertook the journey to their new home, crossing ocean, desert, and mountain. Their city, the first elven city since the fabled Arlathan, was called Halamshiral. A new era had begun for the elves. But the old era–"

"Stop." Levyn halted her. "Now who can tell me what was wrong with that paragraph." He stared at his students, catching their reactions. Some were confused, others worried. A few of them were pouring over the book to find the answer, muttering the paragraph over again. But no one could answer.

"Did I read it wrong ser?"

"No, you did well." Levyn stated. "What was wrong with the paragraph was the sentence: Their city, the first elven city since the fabled Arlathan. " Again he stared at his confused students, however some of the elven ones picked up on it. Henlin especially sat upright. He sent him a smile. "Arlathan was not a fable."

"What? But it says here in the book-"

"Bryce, I know Sister Petrine is a highly respected scholar of the Chantry, however she wrote that before evidence to the contrary was shown to her." He explained. "Not that many of the Chantry ever thought to look for evidence." He muttered under his breath. "There have been dozens of Tevinter scholars and Rivaini mages who have come across the ruins of Arlathan in the north. Ruins. If there are ruins, then it stands to reason that it isn't just a tale but an actuality. So please grab your quill and cross out the words the fabled ." He instructed. "Go on." He encouraged. The humans reluctantly did so but the elves did with gusto. "Now...there is much of history we do not know. And what we do know is written with particular biases. Specifically a Chantry one." He added. "You must be open to the fact that the Chantry can be wrong and is subject to censure and edits. That is why we have such things as the Dissonant Verses."

"The Dissonant Verses?" Henlin asked.

"Verses of the Chant of Light that have been banned. One in particular is the Canticle of Shartan, but I shan't teach that to you else some Chantry Sister will beseech the Maker. The Make will likely have smote me before I finished that lesson." Levyn smiled as he caught the glare of passing Sister. His elven students giggled, but the human ones turned to stare at the Chantry Sister. "Now then, back to the passage." They read through the passage on how the elves isolated themselves in the Dales, the rumors of them returning to worship their gods. Scandalous rumors involving sacrifices soon followed.

"And then came an attack by the elves on the defenseless village of Red Crossing." Bryce read outloud from the text. "The Chantry replied with the Exalted March of the Dales, and the era of the elven kingdom came to an end. Halamshiral was utterly destroyed, the elves driven out, scattered, left to survive on goodwill alone."

The group was silent now.

"Red Crossing… the catalyst that resulted in the Exalted March of the Dales." Levyn scratched at his beard. "Who can tell me what they know about Red Crossing."

"I heard the elf came in the dead of night to steal a girl." Bryce scoffed.

"Bryce, raise your hand please." Levyn scoded. "Where did you hear such a thing?"

"In the song. The Girl in Red Crossing."

"Will you sing it for us?" Levyn asked him.

"Uh…" Bryce stammered.

"No? Pity. Guess you will have to settle for my chicken croons." Levyn smirked and began singing much to the children's chagrin. They groaned and covered their ears, setting their books over their head all the while laughing and giggling. "Oh come now, I don't sound so bad…." He summoned an orb and sang into it, much to the awe and slight fear of the non-mage students. The mage ones however chuckled and giggled as it then mirrored his voice back at him. "Egad! I really do sound terrible." He dispelled the orb and waved at the students to settle down.

"Alright, back to Red Crossing. Now, that song was meant to make the real tale a bit more fanciful and less harrowing. We have a guest who can shed a bit more light to what truly happened at Red Crossing. Keeper Hawen." Levyn gestured to an elf, just within the sound barrier, standing next to another that Levyn knew by the name of Loranil.

"Keeper, thank you for coming here to speak."

"Ma serannas." Hawen nodded his head. "Thank you for inviting me. It is not often we are invited to speak of the Dalish's own side to historical events. It is an honor to be here." The Keeper stepped toward the head beside Levyn.

"Red Crossing was not an event of intent, but a misunderstanding." Hawen began.

The seminar ended with many of the elven children and a few of the human ones crowding around Hawen. Questions abound about what Dalish life was like. If they really use halla to pull Aravels, and what the vallaslin meant.

"Children, give the Keeper a moment."

"It's alright, Enchanter." Hawen smiled and sat with them to answer their questions.

The sound barrier had been lowered and the noise of the library now filtered in, which wasn't much.

"Enchanter?" An Orlesian-Jader dialect voice pulled him from his books.

"Mother Giselle, how can I help you?" Levyn looked at the doddering old woman. He held little respect for the Chantry for many reasons. But that was neither here nor there.

"I understand you have volunteered to educate our younger Inquisition population." Mother Giselle peered at him.

"That I have."

"Is it wise then to pull the Keeper from his duties for this when the texts could suffice?"

"Well, I believe the texts do not suffice, considering they were written by the Chantry." Levyn did not mince words.

"Yes by one of our foremost scholars. Sister Petrine studied the Dalish extensively. Enough to write volumes of text on them." Giselle slipped her hands between her sleeves.

"A cursory text yes, but we cannot dream to understand an entirely different culture on text alone." Levyn squinted. "Besides much of her text is outdated." Levyn gestured. "More about the past is learned with each day. How can we ever supplement that gap in knowledge if not through first hand experience?"

"I see." Mother Giselle narrowed her gaze. "Perhaps then, you should separate the two."

"Pardon?"

"Introduce the culture in one seminar and then at another time you can have their talk with your guest." Mother Giselle tried. "Allowing them to truly absorb the material over time and-"

"Well actually there is evidence to suggest they will retain the information best in the order they receive it-" He stopped at Mother Giselle's patient face. How she silenced herself so he could talk despite Levyn having interrupted. Levyn pressed his lips tight. What had his friend called it? It'd been almost a year since she'd explained it to him, Mansplaining, Jowan. You are so guilty of that all the time. "Nevermind, please ignore what I said. Carry on."

Mother Giselle paused, perturbed by his switch. "As I was saying, you can give your students time to parse through available resources and be better prepared for your guest."

"I see." Levyn looked at the students peppering Hawen with questions. "Yes that may have been better." Thank you, Mother Giselle."

"Keeper Hawen! So good to see you!" Came the the boisterous Inquisitor.

The children hushed in awe at the Inquisitor in their presence.

"Ah, Inquisitor."

"Please, call me Ellana." She smiled bright at the children. "I see you are teaching Dalish history?"

"Yes, Enchanter Levyn invited me through Loranil. Quite an unusual request." Hawen smiled. "Ma serannas, again Enchanter."

"Oh nonsense, thank you. Truly. It was short noticed and I know you have your duties and the protection of your clan to consider."

"Yes, but the Inquisition's forces do well to protect our Clan, all thanks to the Inquisitor." Hawen beamed at Lavellan. "If you'll excuse me though, I think some of the children still have questions."

"Of course." Lavellan walked across to stand beside Levyn.

Levyn's gaze was drawn toward her left hand, where he knew the anchor was situated.

"This was a wonderful idea! Had I known, I could have come and given insight about my own clan." She clapped Levyn on the shoulder with her right hand. Whether it was a conscious effort, Levyn didn't know.

"Ah, but you're always so busy."

"Never too busy to teach about my people. Especially to the young ones." She watched Hawen for a moment. "I didn't think a shem would ever come up with this idea."

"Well to be honest, a year ago...I wouldn't have come up with it either." Levyn admitted.

"It's because I'm Dalish and the Inquisitor, isn't it?" Ellana asked with a sly smile.

"Well, there is that, Inquisitor. But a friend of mine. She died in Haven… she opened my eyes about quite a number of injustices. Not just to the elves, but the dwarves, and the qunari. My own troubles as a mage paled in comparison. It adds a bit of perspective. So thank you, for giving mages a chance, when the Chantry wouldn't have done the same to the Dalish."

"Your friend… I'm sorry to hear she passed." Ellana frowned. "I could have done so much-"

"No. Don't blame yourself. She's the one who convinced me to join the rebel mages, to not add to the chaos. But when the Inquisition showed up...she joined. She believed in it, wholly. I didn't want her to join at first." Levyn frowned. "But she was adamant that the Inquisition would stop the chaos and save Thedas. I just needed to have faith."

"Your friends sounds like she inspired you."

"She did." Levyn sighed.

After that, the Inquisitor excused herself. She wished to speak with Keeper Hawen. Something about accompanying him on while heading to Emprise du Lion. Levyn wasn't privy to it. Instead he set about righting the chairs and tables and collecting the books.

His back cracked as he hefted them, grumbling. He was almost thirty-five and already aches and pains were showing up. Lift with your legs, not your back, Jowan. You really need to improve your core. "Yes yes." He mumbled to himself, shaking Cosette's advice away.

He set the books down on the return table next to Banon who shrewdly looked up from his cataloguing, ready with an admonishment right until he saw who it was. "Ah, Levyn. Thank you for returning the books."

"Do keep them to the side. Tomorrow's lesson will use the same books." Levyn sighed.

"Just teaching history then?" Banon eyed the Ferelden Folklore tomes.

"For now yes. I extended the lessons to all children of Skyhold so I'm only covering the basics for now." Levyn shrugged.

"Including elven history?" Banon looked pointedly at the cluster of elven mages who were now pouring over all books they could find about the Dalish.

"It would do well to learn about the Dalish. And for the human children to learn of the elves. Don't you think?"

"It might very well get them killed." Banon muttered. "I don't trust the Dalish, everything I've heard about them...sending out mages just because they had too many."

"From what I understand, that is only in rare cases. And every clan is different. You cannot lump them all together." Levyn frowned.

"Hmph. Tell that to Minaeve." Banon turned back to his cataloguing.

Levyn sighed. It was quite tiring advocating for this. Ever since he'd been granted permission to supplement the courses with a curriculum meant to improve human and elf relations, he's met kick back on all sides. Humans, elves. Mages and nonmages. Dalish and non-dalish. It was difficult to keep up but...it felt worth it. Improving understanding between them all would surely improve their lives. It had to. They hadn't tried it before, what was there to lose if they tried?

Ten years ago...he wouldn't have dreamed of being an Instructor. But ten years ago he'd been terrified he'd be made tranquil. Which led to some rather ill-conceived plan to escape, he lost the love of his life, and was on the run. Was hired to masquerade as a tutor for an Arl's son in order to poison the Arl. Thankfully, Amell spared him. He'd never known Amell, but only knew him in passing in the circle. Not enough to be his friend.

The children had free time now, so he took this moment to head toward the sole comfiest seat in the library. It was by the stairs on the second floor, tucked away into an alcove. There was always a stack of books around it. Most days it was empty, but on some days there was an occupant.

Levyn stopped short to see the Tevinter in his seat. He was one of the Inquisitor's inner circle. "I see you're in your spot."

"As I am most days." Dorian peered over his book at the man.

"Except of course…" Levyn trailed off.

"When I'm off traveling the countryside…" Dorian sighed.

"Slaughtering people at the Inquisitor's side." Levyn finished. "Decidedly more entertaining."

"More entertaining than teaching the young magical minds of the future? Perish the thought." Dorian smirked, shutting his book. "Have you come to pick at my own mind again, Levyn?"

"A bit if you don't mind." Levyn smiled. He'd rather enjoyed this, even if initially he had approached Dorian under the directions of Cosette.

"Nonsense. I do enjoy these chats. So many curious ideas you have. Gravity affecting time, Marvelous."

"Dorian Pavus. If you meet him in Redcliffe, he's the one you'll want to talk to about portals and time rifts. You'll want to stroke his ego. Oh I should warn you, he's an insatiable flirt." Cosette whispered to him the night before he left her with the Inquisition's caravan. He wanted her to come with him, to Redcliffe to join the rebel mages. She would do better there but she insisted the Inquisition was where she wanted to go.

"What would we even discuss? I barely have half a formula." Levyn grumbled as she curled up against his chest. They had only gotten to share a tent by her playing off as his lover.

Not that he minded having a pretty woman in his arm, but he didn't see her like that. His heart would always belong to Lily. Cosette was more of a responsibility. His burden to send back home. It was his fault she'd been ripped from her world.

"Believe me that's all you'll need. He's the brightest mind of Tevinter. He's practically invented time travel with his mentor. If anyone is going to figure it out, it's him." Cosette muttered with a yawn. "Remember...to mention the stuff about relativity to him, and the models of time travel, paradoxes and..."

"Sleep, I've got it all written down."

"Sorry, just… so excited. I thought the Inquisition wouldn't form until the Breach." She sighed.

"Well, that shows that even you don't know everything." He teased.

"Duh. If I knew everything, that'd be-" She interrupted herself with a yawn. "That'd be pretty boring."

At the end of the day, like many mages, Levyn returned to his quarters. They weren't just his, he shared them with about six other mages. The cots had been stacked to create bunks, allowing for a table and chairs in the room to allow them to have their meals there, have guests, or even play card games. He was not the first one in.

"Care for a pint and game?" Basro asked. Basro wasn't a mage. He was however a dwarf studying under the Arcanist, Dagna. Basro found it more conducive to his studies to be around mages, if only because they had the best ale.

"Is it honeyed?" Levyn smirked. He slid the book he would be reading for the night unto his pillow, stopping upon seeing a slip of parchment on his bed.

"Aye it's honeyed and spiced. Got a favor from requisitions." Basro poured a mug out.

"Did anyone come in here?" Levyn asked as he pulled the parchment open to reveal only three words. They know. Run.

"No. Not since I got here, why?" Basro asked, sipping at his mug. "Levyn?"

"Uh...I uh." Levyn eyed the words. "I just remembered, I promised Banon, I'd meet him at the Herald's Rest for a pint." Levyn lied as he stuffed his meager possessions into his side bag. He didn't have much. He didn't need much either. He knew how to hunt, how to stay warm, and how to hide.

"Ah, pity." Basro mumbled. "Well, no use drinking alone, Mind if I join?"

"Yes I mind. It's a private matter." Levyn muttered. "Don't wait up for me." He stepped out of the room, the slip of parchment heavy in his palm as he ducked down the corridor and around a corner. Not a few seconds later the sound of metallic booted feet of Templars rang down from the other end.

He'd barely had a head start.

NOTES: Cosette was in Thedas long enough to develop a very close friendship with Jowan. Close enough they felt comfortable sleeping in eachother's arms. But not sexually. Jowan will always love Lily.

Anyway, I've got this idea of a series of oneshots of Jowan and Cosette's adventures. It's not important to this story so I didn't really develop it. You can get a sense for how close they are in this chapter. So I likely won't write their adventures because it would just be all fluff. No conflict or overarching plot.

REVIEWS:

coduss: Ehhh...you might be surprised how easily Cullen can justify that sort of treatment.

Tsukikageshi: Fiona will be. But Cullen can easily justify that treatment.

person: Thanks! Yeah Nano is nuts. Hopefully I can get more chapters out before it kills me totally. Good luck!

Judy: Thank you!

Thanks for reading and reviewing guys!