Thanks to lovely beta Seika for her help. You're awesome, lady. :)

Blizzard

The dining hall was buzzing with the voices of two dozen Templars, all talking excitedly about the one and only topic that everyone else in Ferelden was gossiping about.

"I heard he was a genius child, better than the First Enchanter from the moment he entered the Tower."

"Nonsense. He's just a knife-ear. I bet he's a cheat – most of the work was done by the others, but he got all the praise for himself."

"But he wouldn't be recruited if he wasn't strong."

"And I heard he was Irving's pet and only got recruited because of that. There were many other, more skilled and experienced mages, but he insisted that it must be the kid."

"I heard they were lovers."

"I heard he was lovers with Greagoir, and that was why he was so angry when the elf got away."

"Who was Greagoir's lover? Irving?"

"No, you fool. Greagoir and the Hero."

"Pffft. Greagoir and a lover? I bet the old guy's balls were blue so long they fell off decades ago…"

Delbert almost chuckled, but masked it by a cough. After all, he was Greagoir's second. It wouldn't do, to laugh at the Commander in front of these young fools. When they turned, he gave them a stern and reproving look, and they had enough decency to look embarrassed, for a moment. For a very short moment.

"Knight Captain! You were already in the Tower when the Hero came as an apprentice, weren't you? You knew him for years. Can you please tell us a bit about him?" asked Ser Willard, the youngest and the most foolish of them all… much like Delbert himself, when he was his age.

Delbert looked around. They were all so young, mere kids, assigned here after the Blight. He, Greagoir, Raymond and Auden were the only ones left from the old gang that was here before. Some were killed by Uldred… some joined the army during the Blight… some went crazy like Cullen. And he knew the other three would never tell the young ones anything. No need to fill their heads with useless gossip, that was Greagoir's policy. Delbert didn't agree, but couldn't afford to go against the Commander. But he wasn't here now, was he?

"I assure you, Airam Surana is not a cheat. And if I ever hear anyone call him or any other elf here a knife-ear, you may end with knife-ears yourself. Or no ears at all." He tried to look stern and threatening, but nobody cared.

"Yes, yes, we're sorry. But what was he like?" Willard asked impatiently. All other Templars in the dining room moved closer to listen. Delbert smirked. It wasn't so bad, to be in a centre of attention.

"What he was like? Very talented, yes. The most brilliant ever, no. That would be young McLam… the King's Chancellor, you know. But Surana… was the strangest one. He was eight when he arrived. I never had my post at the gate, you know, so I wasn't there, but Usher was my friend. He told me that the poor kid was unconscious when they brought him in, and all purple, like his hair. That's just what he said, you know, he said, 'I swear by the Maker, Delbert, I've never seen no one so full of bruises, he was purple from head to toe.'

"Those five who brought him were real brutes. If I could lay my hands on them… and let me warn you, lads. If I ever find out any of you hurt a child, I'll kill you. And I mean it. I'll take you to the roof and push you down.

"So you can imagine that little Airam didn't like us Templars much… he was scared shitless whenever he saw one of us. He'd look at us with those big purple eyes–you've never seen eyes like those, trust me–as if he expected us to bounce at him and eat him alive. During the first few weeks, he'd literally wet himself.

"Some of the guys thought it was funny, and they'd do little mean things, you know, like waiting behind the corner and then scare him. Until one day he got so scared of some Templar–and he wasn't even doing anything, he was one of the best guys I've met–but the kid got scared and hid in some closet and spent there the whole day, crying his eyes out, poor little darling. Greagoir and Irving got mad when they found out and that was the end of it.

"I was one of the very few he liked… as much as he could like a Templar, you know. That's because I was on his first lesson with the Bedbug… what was his real name… can't remember now. He died in the Denerim battle, and, well, I won't shed tears for him. That guy was one of the worst sleaze balls I've ever seen, always leering on the pretty girls. Mostly elven mages, but there were cases he had stupid remarks to some of our Templar girls…"

oOo

"And the Knight Commander tolerated it? Why didn't he had him turned into a Tranquil?"

Delbert frowned at him. "You'd everyone turn into a Tranquil, wouldn't you? Youngs these days, I'd never… Not that the Bedbug wouldn't deserve it… I think he must have had some noble behind him…" He shook his head. The young fools shut up again, while he focused back on that spectacular morning at the beginning of Cloudreach.

oOo

"So, our young Hero was assigned to the Elites, just one month after he arrived. He in fact missed his first lesson with Bedbug–that was the day he was hiding in that closet, I remember now. But that old jerk was always so full of himself, he took it personally. The other teachers all said that the kid was very clever, if a bit too shy and scared, but the more they praised him, the angrier he was. Greagoir called me that morning and asked me to go to that lesson specifically because of him, you know, because he also knew the Bedbug was an ass and cause some problem. He a clever guy, our Commander and don't let me hear you talk about him like you did before again. Understand?

"I went there before the lesson, and joked with few of the older students–Bedbug always insisted on mixed classes, putting the little ones together with older kids–so I joke to them, you know, so they wouldn't be so scared.

"Little Airam came with the McLam kid–yes, the Chancellor one–hiding behind him, I think if he could, he'd crawl under McLam's robe, and he wanted to sit next to him, in the back. Now, McLam was a great lad, and other kids liked him too, so they were really nice and made space for his little friend, too… If Bedbug had any sense in that fat, swollen head of his, there wouldn't be any problem at all.

"But nooo, he had to be a pompous ass as always. I knew there would be trouble the moment he entered the classroom and looked at those kids down that fat, pimply nose of his, as if they were a bunch of cockroaches in his soup. I bet he was jealous. They were the Elites, those kids, the most talented in the Tower, and I'll eat my helm if they weren't ten times brighter than he was. And when he saw Airam–and you couldn't miss that kid, you know, with that purple hair of his and white skin, even a mole would recognize him from a mile–he immediately puffed up like an ugly toad and ordered him to sit in the front desk.

"At first all was good, because he talked to big ones, and then to everyone else, making them perform, cast spells–you know, the fancy ones, not the big destructive ice balls, of course. I think he wanted to embarrass little Airam, you know, to make him feel like he didn't really belong there, but the kid was unimpressed. His parents were apostates, you know. Those brutes that brought him in were supposed to capture them but they fought back and died. I always wondered how they could do that, I mean Suranas were supposed to be dangerous apostates, running wild for years, and these fives didn't look very bright… there must be something behind it, but I never managed to find out what. And I probably never will.

"So then, in the end, he turned to the little kid and tried to ridicule him in front of the class, thought he was very funny, you know, but nobody laughed. We all just glared at him, me and the kids both. Little Airam was so scared he shook like a leaf, but he tried to answer all the questions politely; but no matter what he said, Bedbug always twisted it to make the kid look stupid.

" 'I don't know what the First Enchanter was thinking, to put you into Elites so soon,' he said. 'I don't even ask if you know any spells, I don't expect a little savage that lived in a forest like a beast would know anything useful… but did you at least learn to summon energy, during the last month?'

"You should have seen how happy little Airam was! So sure he finally had an answer that would please Bedbug.

'No, ser. But my Dad taught me, ages ago, to summon it and to limit it, so I don't hurt the others,' he said.

"But of course, I immediately knew that was the worst answer he could do. Kids in the Tower don't learn–don't need to learn–to limit their power for quite some time, usually not before they start their individual studies with their mentors. That's why the work with little ones is always fun, without any danger, right? Well, all right, the Elites are always a special case, but even they don't usually need it for a first year or two.

"Naturally, the Bedbug thought that the poor kid was lying. He forced him to stand in front of the class and to summon all his energy, without any limits or restrictions. I protested against that, said that the kid shouldn't be tested around other kids, in case something happened. But the Bedbug insisted, laughed that such a little beast can't hurt anyone, that he takes the responsibility.

"When I saw he wouldn't give up on the idea, I went to the kid, who was really crying at that time, you know, he was afraid that he'd hurt someone and that then I would kill him. Poor little darling. I can say you know, even during all those years later, when he didn't have many friends and the others were forever teasing him because of his looks and his nightmares, he never hurt anyone. Well, all right, he did freeze a few fools, but they had it coming, you know, he never provoked any fight himself. And at that lesson, he was so tiny and vulnerable…

"So I wiped his tears and told him that I wouldn't kill him no matter what happened, and that I wouldn't let anyone else to hurt him, either, and that the Bedbug would take all responsibility, because he was a teacher–so if anything bad happened, I said, if anyone got hurt, it would be Bedbug's fault, not his, and it would be Bedbug who'd be punished. You may imagine that the old jerk wasn't happy with that. He was huffing behind my back, it was most annoying, I can tell you, I wanted to turn around and give him a right hook–you might not know it but I was sorta known for my right hook. Of course, I couldn't do that. You must never be impolite to enchanters and teachers in front of the kids. It would ruin the authority and soon the whole Tower would be in chaos… No matter how much they piss you off, always remain calm and polite. Remember that. So as I said, I tried to calm him down, though he wouldn't let me hug him.

"And then he started to summon the energy… those of you who are near the full mages when they're casting a strong spell know how it feels. The air tingles with power, and you can almost see the Veil cracking, and the ominous presence behind it, waiting to get out; of course, the mages know what they're doing… well, in most cases. But a full mage won't tear the Veil accidentally, remember that. If they do, it's always with some intent–and never a good one, believe me.

"Of course, Airam was just a little apprentice. He had no evil intent, he just did as he was ordered–summoned the energy without any limitations… and by the Maker, what a show that was. All the hairs on my body stood up, papers and quills were floating, and it still wasn't done. Bedbug was leaning on the wall, perhaps he was afraid, the round as he was, that he'd start floating as well. Up in the air and out of the window… what a pity he didn't.

"But Airam was panicking, he wasn't sure what to do and that meatball was completely helpless. If it wasn't for the young McLam, I don't know what would happened. He shouted on Airam to 'release it as a spell'.

" 'Don't worry, you won't hurt us! Think of your–think of Jowan, all right? Think of Jowan and cast a spell! Now!'

"The kid nodded and then became very quiet, very focused, you know, just like one of the full mages when they want to cast something big. I was half wondering if I shouldn't run to call for reinforcements, but I admit–I didn't want to miss it. I wanted to know what he'd do.

"A few seconds later, it started to snow. Slowly at first–nice big and fat snowflakes, and the Bedbug became braver again, sneering that was all that could be expected from a little savage… but believe me, he stopped soon enough, as it quickly turned into a blizzard, one you'd expect in Wintermarch somewhere in the Frostback Mountains, and you wouldn't want to be outside while it was going on.

"The wind was so strong and snow was so thick that for a good while I couldn't see anything. I could hear kids screaming, but I couldn't move at all. I heard people outside the classroom shouting and running and trying to open the door, but they couldn't.

Then it suddenly stopped. All was quiet… and white. From the blackboard, desks and chairs, quills and ink bottles, paper sheets, down to the smallest button on the robes of kids, everything was coated in ice. The door couldn't be open because of huge snowdrift in front of them. Even my armour was sparkling in the sunlight, and my boots were frozen to the ground. I was one huge snowman, I'm telling you. But I wasn't hurt. No one was. We were not really frozen, you know, only our clothes. Well, except for the Bedbug, but that's hardly surprising, right?

"Except for a of the few that knew the kid already–they cast some kind of shield, so they were not affected. Young McLam was one of them, his girlfriend, and few of his friends, and it was them who unfroze us… most of us, at least. They didn't have enough energy for everyone… the Bedbug, for example. But I think he didn't mind so much, and that he was glad to be left till the end, until the things calmed down a bit.

"Irving was very mad at him, you know, and after all kids were taken to the infirmary, he yelled at him quite a bit. And after he was done, Greagoir started. And I can tell you that he's a great guy, but you don't want to make him angry. He's a true master in yelling, our Commander-"

oOo

"You don't say," said a voice behind him–a voice just as cold as any blizzard. An angry voice... though there was a tiny little bit of amusement, perhaps.

Delbert got up and turned. He didn't try to find a stupid excuse or to apologize; that never worked with Greagoir. "Did you need anything Knight Commander?"

Greagoir brows shoot up. "A lunch would be nice, thank you."

"A lunch? ... Oh."

"Oh indeed."

The lunchbreak for the first shift was long over, and there was a long cue of Templars from the second behind Greagoir, trying to peek in to see what was going on, looking wistful and envious.

"I apologize, Knight Commander, it was my fault," said Willfred.

Greagoir waved his hand. "I don't want to hear it. You've chatted here long enough. Dismissed. You come with me, Knight Captain. I'll have lunch in my office and as I'd like if the men finished their lunch before the dinner starts, you'll have to join me."

"Not fair," grumbled one of the new arrivals quietly, "we want to hear about the Hero, too."

"Rejected," barked Greagoir. "And since you have so much free time, you can spend the afternoon cleaning the Templar halls. Including windows. No help from mages."

"Aren't you too strict on them?" Delbert asked, as they walked to the Greagoir's office.

"Quiet, you. By all justice, it should be you, cleaning those windows. The only reason you're not is that you reminded me of that wonderful day... to see the Bedbug frozen... how I wished I could do that, half of the time I had to talk to him. I almost liked that awful brat, because of it. It was the main reason I forgave him all the problems he caused and didn't turn him into a Tranquil, as he deserved."

"Say what you want, I know you liked him... as much as you're capable of something like that."

"I did not."

"Yes you did."

"Have you noticed how dirty are windows in this corridor?"

"All right, I get it. I'll shut up now."

"So you are wiser than you look..."