"Have you found it yet?" Mahariel said coyly, bending over Anders as he flicked through another volume of some arcane lore. She'd offered him everything her contacts had been able to get their hands on - he even accepted the ones that had come from Tevinter, and she thought that he might find Delia's ritual there. But the way his face was screwed up over the text, it was obvious that his search was fruitless, and so she taunted him gently as she knelt down beside his cluttered little work area in the Throne Room.
He looked at her with lowered lids and lips pressed thin. He didn't need to answer.
"I'm sorry. That was mean."
Anders put his book down and his face relaxed. "No, it's not that. It's just… this is so frustrating. You were right, someone would have found it by now if it were easy. Or possible."
She stood and smoothed his hair gently. "You know that this is entirely your call, but -"
"You want me to talk to Delia again."
Mahariel looked at him in a way that was verging on pleading. "I don't think it would hurt."
"No one ever does."
"Oh, cut the crap, Anders, you have no high ground here. You nearly said so yourself. You don't have to do this, you know, but this was your choice. This was something you came to me with, and unless we somehow come up with our own College of Magi to research nothing but this problem day and night and an equally impressive supply of lyrium, I don't know that you're going to find another way. Delia found a way, and she was very candid with me about it. She wants me to be there if you choose to do this. She wants me to be there to put a stop to anything unplanned that might happen during the course of the ritual. Do you understand what that means? What she's prepared to do? For you? She'll die for you, Anders, if it comes to that. I'm sure it's not her prime objective, but she would rather die than succumb to the craving for power, than become an Abomination. But you mark my words, ser," and Mahariel pointed an accusing finger at him, "if you do decide to take her up on her offer, both you and I are going to do everything in our power to make sure that that doesn't happen. Do you understand me?"
She watched Anders swallow hard, suppressing the comebacks and sarcastic remarks he would have offered had Mahariel allowed him to get a word in edgewise. But she had not, and thus had made her point. All he said was, "I understand."
Mahariel nodded, satisfied. "Good," she said, and walked away. She had given him plenty to think about. Now she would give him time to decide, really decide, not just brush away the notion of the whole thing because of preconceived and, given his current conundrum, baseless biases. She went to her chambers to await his answer. A well-considered answer, she hoped, no matter what it was.