A/N: Back to Neria's POV.

I snapped back into my body. I felt more settled. My emotions no longer as jumbled. They were still raw and shifting, but not overwhelming.

My trip to the Fade must have taken place in seconds, as Cullen was still sitting next to me and I could see Minaeve walking away in my peripheral. We were in the Chantry; far above me were the curved wooden beams of the sanctuary. Cullen had his eyes closed and hands clasped as if in prayer. I realized he was reciting verses under his breath, so I took the opportunity to study him while he was still unaware of my consciousness. He was no longer the innocent boy I had been infatuated with; his face and body had lost its boyish roundness, having been molded into the angles of a man. He had a scar on his upper lip that hadn't been there before and his hair was not as wildly curly as it had once been. My heart ached for the time I had missed. I tried to move a hand to place it on his arm, but I was still weak and moaned as splinters of pain shot up my arm.

Cullen's eyes snapped open, "Neria?"

"Hello, Cullen," I croaked.

He turned and poured water from a jug into a cup. He placed a hand under my head to help me take a drink. I winced as my ribs burned.

"Thank you," I said, my voice still hoarse, but not as rough.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, his amber eyes filled with concern.

"Like a sack of dragon dung," I sighed. Cullen's lips twitched like he might smile.

"That's the Neria I know," he said.

"You mean the Neria that's not Tranquil?" I asked, arching a brow.

"Well that, but I meant more the flair for colorful words," he smirked, but it didn't meet his eyes. Instead they held awe and fear; he wanted to know what had happened, but he seemed almost afraid to ask.

I chuckled and instantly regretted it, "Ouch!" I inhaled sharply, "Don't make me laugh." He was using humor to make light of the situation, but I could tell he was both elated and terrified about the Rite having been broken. If I had to be honest with myself, so was I. I didn't fully understand what had happened or how it had happened. I merely saw the opportunity of restoration and leapt with abandon into the unknown. The process had nearly shattered what remained of me, but I would leap again without hesitation.

"Sorry," he apologized, "I tried to have Bethany come heal you, but...," he looked around the room and anger colored his features.

"I don't need attended to immediately," I urged, "What happened?"

"We honestly don't know. All we know is that the temple was obliterated along with everyone attending the Conclave. And since its destruction, demons have been pouring out of the hole in the sky it left behind," he stated, somberly, "and as it expands, smaller tears have formed, moving closer and closer to the village."

"All those people, dead?" I whispered in horror.

Cullen nodded, his face grim, "What happened to you? How did you break the Rite?" Finally bringing himself to ask the question burning in his eyes.

I debated telling him, wondering if he was still as distrustful of mages as he had become after Uldred. His actions since Minaeve and I had arrived in Haven told me he was trying to be better. As I looked into his gold-flecked eyes, I saw no distrust, only a genuine desire to know what had happened. I decided telling him would garner more respect from him in the long run.

"It...wasn't me," I explained, "I was hit by debris falling from the sky. I think...I think I might have died, or come close. I woke up in the Fade. A spirit came to me. It told me it was fading, but offered me what was left of its life force to keep me alive and rid me of the Rite."

Cullen's brows furrowed, "How is that possible? Tranquil should not be able to interact with spirits or demons, much less enter the Fade. Did it possess you?"

He was confused by my answer, but he didn't seem afraid or upset.

"I don't think it possessed me, but instead it sacrificed itself for me."

"We'll have to look into this. But that was very foolish, what if it was a demon?"

"Foolish?" I snarled, half-heartedly, "It was foolish of me to want to feel again? To want to be whole again?"

Cullen flinched at those words, closing his eyes briefly.

"I've studied demons and spirits - I know the difference," I added, less forcefully, "A demon wouldn't come within five feet of a Tranquil - it wouldn't be able to play on emotions. Besides, you're a templar, you'd sense if I was an abomination."

He considered this and seemed to relax a fraction.

Cullen studied my face, "Do you remember what happened to you before you were made Tranquil?"

I looked away from him. Purpose had said I would remember, but I knew I hadn't remembered everything yet. I feared for when I did.

"Some, but not everything," I nearly whispered.

"Neria -"

"-Commander!" a soldier came running, his eyes wild and his armor covered in black blood.

Cullen's head jerked up, "What is it?"

"They found a survivor!"

"What?" he exclaimed.

"They fell out of the rift in the temple," the soldier panted, "there was a woman behind them. Some say it was Andraste herself!"

Cullen looked skeptical at this, but he stood, "I'm sorry, Neria. I must go. Please rest."

He gazed at me a moment longer, opening his mouth as if to speak. He thought better of it, and turned to leave. I watched his back until I couldn't see it anymore. I listened as the room began to buzz with what the soldier had revealed. Many people started praising Andraste and hushed anyone who said the survivor might be an accomplice to whatever happened at the temple.

"Neria!" Minaeve screeched, "Thank the Maker you're alright!"

"Thank you for being so brave," I said warmly.

Minaeve's cheeks pinked as she held a bottle of lyrium to my lips.

When I'd finished, Minaeve said, "I can't stay, they need all the help they can get with getting people to shelter. You have to tell me what happened when I get back."

I nodded, "I will. Go."

As the lyrium pumped through my veins, I felt my strength and mana replenish.

"Now, how about I tend to those ribs?" Bethany's kind voice asked as she approached my cot. Her blue eyes were soft as she looked at me.

"Hello, Bethany," I smiled.

Her dark brows furrowed, "You remember me?"

"My memories have come back."

Her eyes widened, "Did they...all come back?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

She looked nervous at answering, "I just…I was there in Kirkwall before Cullen sent you back. You didn't remember much before being sent back to Ferelden. Did any of that come back to you?"

"Some, but I can tell that I'm missing something."

Bethany's face paled, "If you remember something and need to talk about it, let me know." Without saying anything else, she reached forward and placed her hand over my ribs. Magic glowed and I winced as I felt a strange warmth and stinging.

"I'm sorry, just have to ascertain how badly they're broken before I start healing them," she continued to probe.

"Of course," I breathed through the pain.

"Not bad at all," she said once she'd finished probing, "You should be able to walk out of here soon after."

She placed both hands on my ribs, healing magic then flowed from her hands. I felt the warmth and stinging intensify.

After a few minutes, she drew her hands back, "All patched up. Now rest for an hour, and then you can go."

I nodded. She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say more, but was stopped as the Chantry doors banged open.

"More wounded, Bethany!" a recruit shouted over someone's screaming.

Bethany stood abruptly and ran as she muttered under her breath, "Void take these demons."

I tried to see what was happening, but my eyes grew heavy, and sleep took me once more.

I awoke with a start and realized it was because someone was gently shaking my shoulder. I opened my eyes to find Bethany's looking into my own. She had some blood flecked on her face, exhaustion lining her features, "I'm sorry, I need your cot. There are too many wounded."

I sat up, the pain in my ribs gone, though they were a little tender to the touch. "Do you need me to help?"

Bethany shook her head, "You're too weak still."

I climbed out of the cot and saw who was replacing me in it. He couldn't have been more than eighteen, yet he was missing an arm and had a gruesome cut down his face, marring what had been handsome features. He groaned in agony as the other recruits lowered him onto the cot. Bethany didn't waste another second with me as she began working on the boy. I ignored her advice and called forth healing magic, knitting the cut on his face together. It had just missed his eye, but had created a diagonal fissure through his lips, chin and upper throat. Slowly, the skin came back together, leaving only a faint scar that would be more endearing than frightening. Bethany began panting from the effort to stop the blood flowing from his arm; the muscles and sinew were a ragged mess, as if his arm had been torn off. I rushed over to her and began to mingle my magic with hers. Her strain eased, but I felt the limits of my mana approaching. Thankfully, what was left of the boy's arm knit together quickly with us both working on it. Bethany untied the tourniquet that had been placed to stem the blood flow; no blood seeped from where we had healed his arm.

"Thank you," Bethany breathed as she wiped the sweat from her brow, more blood smearing on her pretty face as she did so.

"You're welcome," I said as I handed her a clean cloth.

She wiped her face and continued to do so until it was clean.

"You need rest, Bethany," I urged.

"I am the only healer," she shook her head.

"There's no one else?" I asked.

"What mages survived ran in panic after the explosion," she explained.

"Are the templars helping to fight the demons, at least?" I dared hope.

"No."

"So we're facing this...alone?"

"Yes," Bethany replied, her voice grave.

"Andraste preserve us..." I breathed.

"Bethany!" Cullen's voice bellowed from outside the Chantry.

Bethany's head jerked up and she gasped as she took off running.

I followed closely behind, but had to stop at the Chantry door to catch my breath. I felt so weak. I too, gasped when I saw what Bethany had seen. Cullen was carrying someone in his arms. They were completely limp and hidden in blankets. Above them, the ragged opening in the sky cracked with sickly green light and groaned as it spread a little further; as it did so, the person Cullen was carrying screamed aloud as one of their hands lit up in the same sickly green. When the maw above quieted, so did they. Instantly, the crowd that had gathered around Cullen, Cassandra and Leliana were in an uproar.

"Murderer!"

"You should execute her now!"

"Filth!"

"Void take you!"

A few tried to yank her from Cullen's arms, but Cassandra drew her sword. Her thin lips parted as she bared her teeth.

"Enough!" she roared.

They stepped back, hatefully glaring at the person in Cullen's arms.

"Get inside," Bethany urged.

They closed the Chantry doors and locked them before lowering the person onto a cot. Bethany crouched and began unraveling the shredded clothes to find the person beneath. She gasped and looked up at me.

"What?" I asked and looked down.

Her face, identical to mine, was deathly pale; the white tree tattooed on it, the only difference between our faces, was nearly invisible. A sheen of sweat glistened over her fine features, my features. Her midnight hair, twisted in thick locks around her, almost touched the ground where it fell off the sides of the cot.

"Ellana?" I gasped.

I could not believe what I was seeing. I had closed that part of my past behind a locked door in my mind for so long, I forgot it existed. Yet, here it was. My twin sister. She was breathing rapidly, her breath coming out in white puffs, her nostrils flaring. Her clothing hung in shreds from her, though there were no visible injuries, besides the gory wound on her hand that had glowed. It pulsed a sickly green and seemed to be spreading along the veins in her arm. At the center of her palm, a ragged fissure had been opened that went all the way through her hand, full of glowing, green light. Dried blood was crusted on her long fingers.

"You know who this is? She caused the explosion," Cassandra barked at me. Her dark eyes held rage, her lips tight and brow furrowed. Her cropped hair, tanned face and armor were all caked with dark blood. I noticed her place a hand on her sword hilt.

"Who are you?" Josephine demanded, though gentler in tone.

"Aye, Neria. This woman is the one who caused the explosion and you clearly know her - are related to her." Cullen stated; hurt and confusion in his eyes.

Leliana simply studied the situation, her cold eyes calculating.

"How do you know she caused the explosion?" I probed, my heart beginning to beat nervously in my chest.

"Quiet. We will ask the questions," Cassandra growled, "Who is she? Who are you?"

I swallowed hard. I had chosen to bury this side of me, forgetting to ease the pain. I shut out the warmth of the past as a child: ma and da, our tent, the clan. I tried to stop the scar reopening of the day they turned their backs on me. I ignored the memories of traveling alone in dark woods, my sobbing in the belly of a ship I had stowed away on, running from hungry eyes that seemed to follow me everywhere I went. I had not acknowledged my true self in so long.

"I am Meira of the Dalish Lavellan clan. This is my twin sister, Ellana, First to the Keeper," I explained, my voice far calmer than my mind.

"Why did you hide your true identity?" Leliana asked from the corner.

"I did not hide my identity. I have not been Meira Lavellan in nearly twenty years. It was easier to let go of the past and move on this way."

"Or because you are party to what happened up at the temple. Why would Dalish elves even be in attendance? I do not remember any asking to attend," Cassandra mused.

"I had nothing to do with this. I cannot pretend to speak for the clan, as I am no longer a part of it, but I'm sure the Keeper thought it best to spy on the Conclave to see what humans would have in store for the future of Thedas. I can not imagine they would be behind any explosion," I argued, though why I was defending the clan, I did not know.

"Then explain this," Cassandra picked up Ellana's left hand. The crackling light emitted from the fissure in her palm again. Pulsing that sickly green, the same as the sky outside. It had an essence - magical or Fade-born I could not discern - that I had never felt before.

"I have no idea what that is or how it got there. I have never felt magic like that before," I pleaded. I felt as the ground trembled, no doubt due to the hole in the sky growing again. As it did, that sickly green shining through the skin on Ellana's arm pulsed along her veins, growing up her arm. Ellana screamed, her unconscious form arching involuntarily before she slumped onto the cot again. Instinctively, I rushed for her, only to find Cassandra blocking my path with her sword.

"She needs to be healed. Whatever that...thing is, it's killing her. That much I can discern," I bit out as I turned on Cassandra, my anger rising.

"Bethany will see to her. In the meantime, you will be imprisoned," Cassandra said, her dark eyes narrowing.

"What? But I had nothing to do with this! I came here with Minaeve. I have been Tranquil for the last two years. I didn't even know my sister would be here!" I argued, my emotions starting to rise and jumble again.

"We can no longer believe you. Until your sister awakens, you will be confined," she retorted.

Ellana screamed again as her hand lit up, Bethany dropped her hand that she'd been studying and jumped back. The world outside groaned loudly. Banging sounded on the Chantry doors, the crowd outside was trying to get in. Cassandra drew her sword and growled as she stalked to the door. It flew open the moment she approached it and two men slipped inside. They had daggers in their hands and madness in their eyes. They rushed at us, fixed on Ellana as they raised their daggers. I lifted my hand and froze them in place, fear for my sister spiking my mana. Cullen looked at me and nodded thanks - perhaps all trust was not lost. Cassandra was screaming at the people outside.

"We need to move her somewhere safe," Bethany urged.

"One of the cells downstairs? They're only accessible by a key which Cassandra has," Cullen suggested.

"Maker have mercy on anyone who tries to steal from Cassandra," Josephine said.

"Let's move her," Bethany ordered as Ellana slumped back against the cot, the light in her hand dulling.

Cassandra had returned, her face dark with rage from the people outside and me as she glared daggers at me. Cullen picked Ellana up and carried her to the door next to the room where Josephine, Minaeve and I worked. Cassandra grabbed me before unlocking it and walked us through, dragging me down the stone steps into musty darkness. At the bottom, a long hallway stretched. Bethany magically lit the braziers over our heads, which cast a warm glow on the wet stones. We reached a heavy wooden door that Cassandra unlocked with an ominous click.

"Andraste's holy small clothes, Seeker, did you forget about me? What in the Maker's name is going on up there?" a gravelly voice griped.

"Silence, dwarf," Cassandra barked.

A dirty looking dwarf approached the bars of a cell. He glanced at me, a strawberry-blond brow arching, but he looked quickly away.

"I'll get you some food in a minute, Varric," Bethany said gently.

"Focus on the elf, healer," Cassandra growled.

Bethany gave her an icy glare, but turned her attention to Ellana. She summoned healing magic and tried to heal the wound on her hand, but to no avail.

"I'm going to need some time," she sighed.

Cassandra suddenly grabbed me by the arms, twisting them behind my back as she shoved me towards a cell. I began to panic and struggled.

"Please don't put me in there, please!"

A panic I didn't understand gripped me. My heart pounding, ghost pain in my throat and wrists erupted along my skin. I felt vulnerable, helpless, powerless. I felt as if someone were atop me, choking me, cutting into my flesh as they forced themselves on me. I tried to writhe out of Cassandra's grip as the feelings - memories - grew more intense the closer to the cell I got. She only tightened her grip and dragged me towards the cell. I panicked harder. My emotions slammed together in my head and I lost my grip again. My mana sang in my veins, surging and surging.

"Cassandra, look out!" Cullen shouted, reaching out as the stirring peaked.

My mana pushed from me, a wall of ice spikes burst into existence around me. I turned, my eyes wide. Cullen locked his eyes on me - fear and concern within them. Cassandra yanked herself from his grip, her dark eyes impossibly more furious.

"I - I'm sorry, I don't know - I've never...what was that?" I stammered, breathing heavy.

My emotions went haywire again and I started screaming. I lost sight of what was happening around me, only seeing the silhouette of memories I did not want to remember playing out in my mind's eye.

I felt a crack against my skull before everything went black.

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