I'd been minding my own business in Varric's office at the Hanged Man one day, re-reading one of Brother Genitivi's books, when a mousey-haired human man flung the door open, and pointed a finger at me.

"You, you're Isabela's knife-ear girl, ain'tcha?" he blurted. I stared at him, not knowing whether I should dignify that with a response. I settled for a simple nod.

"Name's Harmon, second mate of the Eris. Listen, my captain says he's got good information on the trinket Isabela's looking for, heard she'll pay well for his trouble," he explained. "We're setting sail just before sunset, so if she wants to hear what he has to offer, come to the docks before then and we can make a deal."

Dammit. Isabela and our friends are off searching for that missing templar recruit again today, it's going to be a struggle to figure out where they are and catch up with them in only a few hours.

"Did your captain say where-?" I began to ask, but Harmon had already dashed off.

Damn it. Even if I did find Isabela, we'd have to search the whole area to find where the Eris is docked. Still, the sooner we can get that relic, the sooner we'll get a murderous slaver off our backs. Isabela had mentioned visiting the Blooming Rose in Hightown as part of their investigation, so that seemed like the best place to start. My friend Kick lived there and he saw everyone coming in and out, so hopefully he'd know something.

The Blooming Rose was particularly busy that day, so it took me a little while to locate Kick, a human boy around my age.

"Kick!"

"Fae! Long time no see!" Kick greeted from his perch on the banister.

"Have you seen Isabela? Or any of her friends," I called up to him.

"Today? Nah," he called back.

"What about yesterday? Isabela said they were here!"

"Yeah, I saw them yesterday! They left just after the templars!"

"Templars?! Why didn't you say so in the first place?"

"They arrested one of the girls! Not one of your girls, one of ours! Idunna! She must have been a mage!"

Our conversation was cut short, then, because Quintus, the bartender, appeared next to me.

"Kick!" He bellowed. "Your yapping is fit to drive me to distraction! And you, you're not one of our resident brats," he says, grabbing me by the back of my shirt and yanking me towards the entrance. "Out! And if I catch you two using the Rose for your weekly gossip again I'll take a switch to the both of youse," he barked as he shoved me out the door and slammed it closed behind me.

So much for the Blooming Rose's famous hospitality. I took a moment to digest the new information. Isabela and the others were looking for a missing templar, and they left the Rose right after templars came to arrest a mage in hiding. It could be related. It could also be a coincidence, but it was the best I had at the moment. Which meant my best bet for catching up with them would be at the Gallows. But I couldn't go to the Gallows, not on my own. All I'd have to do is look too suspicious and the templars would be onto me like a Mabari with a bone, and all elves looked suspicious to humans. I needed back-up, someone who was important enough that the templars wouldn't look twice at me, and wouldn't already be on the job with Isabela. Guard-Captain Aveline.

I left the Red Lantern district and headed through the Viscount's Way, all the way into the Viscount's Keep. Even the entrance hall was huge. I had to ask for directions twice; once to find my way to the guard barracks, and then a second time to locate the guard-captain's office. I knocked on her door, and waited, rocking back and forth nervously on my heels.

"Come in," she called, and the door swung open to reveal a very angry-looking guardsman who stormed wordlessly past me. I hovered in the doorway, not sure whether it was safe to approach. Aveline was busy scanning some papers at her desk. After a few moments, she looked up. "Faellathi? What are you doing here?" she frowned.

"Uh, hello, Guard-Captain. I was wondering if you could help me, with something."

"Is something wrong? Is someone in danger?" she asked, frown deepening.

"Uh, no, not exactly, I just… Would you come with me, to the Gallows? If you have time, that is, I know you're a busy person. It's just that I have to go there and it's not safe for me to go by myself… what with people around who make targets of elves, you know…" I finished quickly, hoping she bought my excuse. The guard-captain's expression softened.

"Of course. You had me worried, I thought perhaps one of our friends had got into some kind of trouble. You don't have to call me guard-captain either, I know you're a friend of Marian's. Just call me Aveline," she said generously, getting ready to leave.

"Thank you, Aveline. I'm looking for Isabela, actually, she's with Marian and the others. She might not be at the Gallows, but I need to find her quickly, and it's the only place I know she might be, right now."

"That's alright, we'll find her."

My plan worked; no one looked twice at us when we reached the Gallows area. Aveline looked at the templars passing by with an odd look on her face.

"My husband was a templar," she explained, when she noticed me looking at her.

"…I heard. I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thank you. It's been almost two years now, since he died, but sometimes…" she takes a deep breath. "It feels like yesterday."

When I thought back to how things were two years ago, it felt like a lifetime ago. But maybe the years felt shorter, when you were older. Or maybe it just felt like a long time ago because I was so far away from where I was then.

Aveline noticed Isabela and the others before I did. "Look, there they are," she announced triumphantly, pointing them out. They were speaking with two templars and a plainly-dressed woman.

"Let's wait until they've finished talking with those people, I don't want to interrupt," I said, moving closer despite myself. There was something familiar about one of the templars, if I could just get close enough to see his face… Oh, Maker. I wanted to kick myself for not recognising him immediately. It was Ser Cullen, the templar from Kinloch Hold who had a crush on Neria, and then said horrible things to her after she'd found him tortured and imprisoned during the Ferelden Circle Disaster. I didn't know whether he'd recognise me, but I wasn't going to take that risk. I ducked behind a column, to Aveline's confusion, and listened in.

"Mages have been systematically abused by the templars for a thousand years," Marian snapped at him.

"How can you say that after what you've seen?" Ser Cullen retorted. "Mages cannot be treated like people. They are not like you and me."

But we are people!

"Surely that's a little harsh," the other woman chastised.

"Mages are humans and elves, just like the rest of us," Marian added.

"They are weapons. They have the power to light a city on fire in a fit of pique," Ser Cullen insisted.

Merrill touched Marian's arm gently, and it seemed to calm her down. "There's fault on both sides," she said stiffly.

"Perhaps you're right," Ser Cullen mused. "Perhaps mages need better education as to why the Chantry functions as it does. Perhaps they would not go against the will of Andraste Herself. I will look into it. For now, Keran, unless it is proven you are free of demons, I must strip you of your commission immediately," he said, facing the other templar.

"No! You can't really think that! Keran's fine. He's safe!" The woman exclaimed.

"Please, ser," the templar pleaded. "I tried to resist. I never took anything they offered. I-I need this position or my sister can't eat. I've been training for five years!"

"We conducted tests on Keran," Marian interjected. "He's not possessed."

Ser Cullen regarded Marian with suspicion. "I hesitate to ask what methods you used that you are so certain. Still, you have done much for us by stopping these blood mages. I will heed your request. If he has shown no sign of demonic possession in ten years' time, Keran will become eligible for full knighthood," he nodded to Keran. The woman sighed in relief, shaking Marian's hand.

"Thank you, serrah. Again. But without a full knighthood, Keran's pay is so small… I do not know if I can reward you as you deserve—"

"I will handle that, miss," Ser Cullen offered. "You have done the Order a great service," he said to Marian. "We will not forget it."

I'm sure he would conveniently forget, if he knew what Marian was, or Merrill. Dread Wolf take him. When the templars and the woman had left, Aveline waved everyone over. "Faellathi's been looking for you, Isabela," she explained.

"Oh? What's up, duckling?" Isabela asked. I pointed in the direction of the docks. "Captain of the Eris said he's got information on the relic, but he's leaving before sunset, so you have to go quickly. I'll see you at home. Thanks for the help, Aveline," I said glumly, walking away quickly so that none of them could see the tears stinging my eyes.

Isabela found me under the covers a few hours later. "You weren't at dinner, so I brought dinner to you," she offered, and I heard the clack of a tray being set down. I didn't feel like talking, but I mumbled my thanks. The cot dipped as Isabela sat down beside me.

"Aveline said you both heard everything that vile man had to say," she said gently. I nodded.

"He's wrong, you know."

I emerged from under the covers, the cold evening draft hitting my tear-stained cheeks. "I know."

"Look at me, duckling. He's wrong."

"I know, but…"

"But nothing. You think being a mage is enough to make you a bad person, or less than a person? I've met many monsters; a couple of them were mages, it's true, but the vast majority of them weren't. They were terrible men, who did terrible things, just because they could. They had money, or power, or greed, or all of those things at once, more often than not. Even then, that didn't make them bad people. It was the choices they made that made them terrible. Hurting people who couldn't hurt them back, or sacrificing everything in order to keep their money, or their power, or, whatever. The point is, I know you, and you are nothing like any of those monsters."

"What if…I become like them? A bad mage? One day? What if a demon gets to me?"

"You won't, and no demon could. And you know why?"

I shake my head.

"Because you're smart, and you're stubborn as shit," she grinned, and I giggled. "You don't let anyone tell you what you can and can't do. Except for me, of course, because I'm in charge of looking out for you. So, are you good?"

"Yeah, I'm good."

"Good. Eat your dinner, and don't waste any more tears on stupid, small-minded men who don't deserve them."

"Thanks, Isabela."

"You're welcome, duckling."

"Did you find that captain? Did you learn anything about the relic?"

"I found him, alright, but it was another dead-end as far as information goes. We'll keep looking, it'll turn up."