Emerald eyes are focused onto the figure of one Gereon Alexius, who is currently sitting at the table with the former Grand Enchanter - a downcast and ashame looking Fiona - standing beside him, peering back completely collected, making no move to approach as Arturia stands with her group at a secluded distance from him and the his underlings.
"If I were to cut him in half right now, could our plans be salvageable afterwards?" Arturia mentally asks the wisdom of her sword.
"What do you think, FOOL?!" There is hardly much argument against the Excalibur's refute.
The knight's tongue soundlessly clicks behind her teeth. "Damnation! Why must everything in my life these days have to have complication after complication?!"
"You talk as if that isn't your life summed up in three words," Arturia can just feel the high-brow scoff that echoes through her mind. The knight knows she'd attempt to strangle her own holy sword if it isn't for their current situation at hand.
She and her companions have form a huddle in a far corner of the Gull and Lantern, ushered to that section by Vivienne and Cassandra after a very awkward introduction with Alexius's surprising appearance. The women now stands between the Inquisition and the Tevinters, in a momentary private disclosure as they try to decipher the over all strange situation of this. What would Tevinter want with the mages? What would the mages even want to do with the Tevinters? Surely they could have comprehended the fall back their alliance would bring publicly?
Furthermore, how in the world has the Inquisition not heard of this Mage-Tevinter alliance before coming here? It should have been impossible to cover it up until today, even without anyone to spill in the details from within the Mages or Tevinters, surely there would have been evidence to note that there was even contact made between the two groups. Leliana will be incredulous that any of this has slipped under her nose.
The Iron Bull already - quite understandably really - has his axe out, ready to switch from defensive to offensive at a heart beat, "Fucking perfect, just what we needed: Vints! You sure not just cutting the heads of these snakes right here and right now is the right move, Boss?"
"I do not think it wise to start a fight here," Solas advises, hands folded calmly behind his back. Still, there's some tension in his shoulders that Arturia is keenly aware of, a tightening of muscles as if he himself is holding back from attacking as well, but just barely. There's something familiar and dangerous in Solas's eyes. So much so that a troubled Arturia looks away, and stares across the tavern at Alexius and the sickly looking man next to him.
"Pancakes...Arturia?" Varric leans forward a little, looking worried. "Are you ok? No, stupid question." He rephrases, "Are you going to try something that'd be classified as a dumbass idea?"
Arturia forced her shoulders to relax, closing her eyes and takes a deep breath. "It seems we should find out what he's doing here." She simply offers, how else could they comprehend this apart from theories and worried minds?
Best to keep themselves composed and not do anything dire, even if they most certainly want to. Arturia has read enough about the Tevinter Imperium to know that she wants to make any and all preparations for that group's eventual inclusion. After all, mages like their ilk would have some kind of interest in something like the Breach, but she would have hoped to be informed of their arrival here in Thedas first. Arturia has been blindsided many times over already in this new life, but she wouldn't have thought that, out of other scenarios, this would be how she would come face to face with this group for the first time. There are still many questions running in her mind, all bringing their discomforts that rattled her senses of warning.
Sera pokes her head near over the worried Arturia's shoulder, being close enough that her blonde hair brushes against the knight's, "Mmm...I don't know Turi. Tevinter folks aren't known to be too much the talkie-talk kind of guys. For all we know, they could be using this whole thing as some kind of trap!"
"Now that is something I don't doubt." Blackwall states from Arturia's side, non-too-subtly glaring at the group from the other side of the room, "But considering the fact that they have what we want, we better play whatever game they got going on for now. Doesn't mean we actually have to be blind about it though."
Agreeing with this sentiment, Arturia gets up, her group gathering in support at her back, and cautiously yet steadily approaches the awaiting Alexius.
The magister gestures for the knight to sit at his table, and Arturia simply does so, at a chair just a few feet from Alexius, keeping her sword holstered, but in sight by her hip.
"Felix, would you send a scribe, please?" Alexius requests from the young sickly man, and introduces him to the knight, "Pardon my manners, my son Felix, friend."
The sickly man now known as Felix takes a polite bow before taking his leave. Arturia turns back to the man across her, and addresses the elephant in the room, "You must have come a long way, considering you've come all the way from your home up in the north."
Alexius appraises her, hands folded on the table, and gives her a grim smile. "Indeed. But that's a story for another time, and the Inquisition is in need of certain aid right now, Herald of Andraste."
They both glance at her hand. Arturia clenches it, eyeing back at the magister. He certainly has the mannerism of one, it reminds her of the Tohsaka Master of Archer from the Holy Grail War, when she and Irisviel went to form an alliance. A calculative gaze, but has the stride of friendly formality. She knew to take it with a grain of salt, especially of anyone with more than a questionable history of the group he is representing, same as it goes for the Master of Archer, who would have been an inevitable enemy once the purpose of their alliance concluded.
Perhaps this mirrors that scenario in more ways than one. In that case, she has some semblance of an upper hand here, if only by familiarity alone. Though what happened after allying with Tohsaka was also a definite surprise, she hopes what comes of this subverts that, although fathoming the possibility of it would be low.
"True enough. Though I must ask, why are you here in the first place?" Arturia doesn't want to spend longer talking to this man than she has to. No idle chat, just straight to the point and see what their purpose here is. Just the sight of him and his particular group makes her blood run uncomfortably hot.
"The mages asked for our help. It's a pity the way the south treats them. No better than slaves, really. Luckily, I heard of their plight and decided it was my duty to help."
It is worded so carefully that Arturia knows there is more meaning behind those words than one should be comfortable with. "Forgive me, but you and your yolk do not seem to be the type to come out of the goodness of your hearts," Arturia states plainly, her gaze keeping steady, though her tone narrowed hushly, "What do you gain from this?"
Alexius looks pleased with himself. "Nothing. Well, there is the matter of the indentured servitude. They'd be slaves otherwise, were I to bring them into Tevinter now."
Arturia raises an eyebrow at this. "Sounds like you have certain plans for them in the future?"
"I do, but again, we are here to discuss the present, are we not?" The older man adjusts his posture into a stiffer position, "I am not surprised you and your companions have come here for aid. Containing the Breach is not a feat that many could even attempt. There is no telling how many mages would be needed for such an endeavor...ambitious indeed."
The blond simply throws out a cool, blatant shrug, "Yes, indeed. Considering the fact that there's a massive tear across the sky itself, thinking small is the last thing one should be doing."
Felix returns then, holding the scribe as he approached his father's side. Arturia sees his approach in the corner of her eyes, keeping her attention keenly on Alexius, as the magister responds.
"There would have to be-"
Sudden stumbling interrupts the sentence, and Felix fell forward. Arturia stands up from her chair and catches the sickly man who would have toppled right onto her. Her group immediately reacts with vigilance and touched weapons.
"Felix!" Alexius cries out, his self-assured composure broken as he quickly rushes towards the sick man's side. Arturia briefly holds up a hand and shows the back of it to her group behind, sedating their composure. If she is being attacked, she would have felt it coming before the strike.
"I'm so sorry, my lady." She felt something pressed into her other gloved hand that instinctively, she tightens her hold of it, as she supported the sickly man to remain on his feet. He leans back with his father's aide, "Please forgive me."
"Are you alright?" Alexius asks worriedly, hand on the boy's back before looking back at Arturia, "Please excuse me, my friend. We must continue this discussion another time."
"It is no issue." Arturia responds, making sure to clench the item in her hand and casually close to her side, "Just make contact with the Inquisition to set up a proper date for talks."
Alexius nods gratefully, before taking his leave with Felix and the rest of the mages in the tavern. After their leave, Arturia's group sits down at the table with the knight. Varric motions for the waitress to bring them something strong to drink, and Arturia opens the note.
"He gave you that?" Iron Bull quietly asks as he subtly eyed their surroundings of any eaves-droppers, "Figured. That fall was too intentional. Although, him looking sick looked real enough."
Arturia doesn't respond as she reads the note, blinking rapidly.
"What? What does it say?" Cassandra asks eagerly. The knight shakes her head, and hands it Vivienne, who has taken up the seat next to her.
The dark skinned mage takes the small note diligently, and reads it aloud for them: "Meet me at the Chantry tonight at sundown. My father is not what he seems. Felix." She sets it down again, a coy smile on her dark lips. "It seems you have made a friend, Arturia."
"Question is, do we trust him?" Varric asks.
"Well...the note didn't specify we all couldn't come," Blackwall notes, stroking his beard in thought, "If it did, we could have assumed it's a trap set for her."
"And if they wanted us dead, they could have caught us by surprise here," Iron Bull gives, "Or maybe they didn't want the Mages to know that."
"Or for all that it could be, it may be a legitimate call for help," Cassandra says, looking to Arturia. "What do you think?"
Arturia takes a moment of thought, taking back the note and read it once more. "...It would have been a roundabout way of catching us all off guard for certain."
She regards her whole group with a decided gaze, "It was also too much of a spectacle all just to hand me this note personally. I know one thing for sure, I haven't been one to decline an invitation of a summoning as of yet."
The Inquisition group gather outside the Chantry's doors as the sun sinks over the horizon. Arturia has made sure they are all fully equipped and her Excalibur is already in her hand as they push open the doors and head inside.
First thing obviously noticed in the large room is the Rift glowing at the near end of the room.
Beyond that, the mage in the middle, who had just slayed a demon, and turns to them, his expression with a dark burly mustache brightening up.
"Took you long enough! Come on then, we haven't got all night. Help me with this, would you?"
Arturia doesn't have time to process - none in her group did - as she immediately leaps onto the nearest demon, cutting one down before it can even sensed her presence. Her companions not far along in following her league as they also engage with the demons brought over from the Rift and onto the ever-time shifting battlefield. It is the same effects as before, time being shifted at random that accelerate or de-accelerates each of them.
In the ever growing chaos in the Redcliffe's Chantry, Arturia manages to slip right in the purview of the offending Rift and lifts her marked hand to sew it shut, draining it's demonic mystical element into her hand.
"Blasted, bloody, blighted abominations!" Excalibur curses as it too feels the tingling feeling of wrongness from connection with a Rift and its wielder is more or less inclined to agree. Honestly, she has grown to detest the very presence of Rifts. They have an annoying habit of popping up all over Thedas to throw demons at everyone in reach and Arturia is walking her feet raw trying to close them all. That in itself is enough to warrant contempt - but Rifts that could manipulate time just took it too far, in her humble opinion.
Thankfully, they are able to make short work of the Rift and the demons, and after Arturia healed the tear in reality, the man approaches them.
"Fascinating. How does that work, exactly?" The strange man in a white mage robe and partial steel plated armor asked, peering at Arturia's marked hand curiously.
"...Magic." Arturia deadpans.
Somewhere behind her, Cassandra groans, but the mage in front of the knight chuckles after a moment of unreadable staring.
"Who are you," The former Seeker demands as she moves over next to Arturia, sword and shield still at the ready as they regard the clearly Tevinter mage.
"Ah, getting ahead of myself again, I see," The Tevinter states with feign self-deprecation and bows. "Dorian of House Pavus, most recently of Minrathous. How do you do?"
"Watch yourself. The pretty ones are always the worst," Bull warns as if he's talking from experience, rolling his shoulders to untense himself.
"Suspicious friends you have here!"
"You're only paranoid if you're wrong," Arturia retorts, before gesturing towards the space the Rift previously occupied, "I am Arturia Pendragon. Do you mind explaining what all this is about?"
"Oh, that! Well, that's nothing, really," The one named Dorian assures, and nonchalantly adding, "Alexius has gone mad, nasty business, and now he's trying to kill you."
"Nothing I didn't already know," It has been a repetitive pattern of people trying to kill her, whether she was a knight, king, and now Herald. What else is there?
"Specifically, Alexius is using the Rifts to travel through time to kill you."
"Ah, there it is." There's always that little something on top of an already bizarre situation. At least it kept things interesting.
There was also a knowing familiarity to it, aside from the death part.
Dorian takes in the first impression of the whole group, and more specifically, Arturia Pendragon herself. As it turns out, most of the gossip about the Herald of Andraste's appearance is actually true. A young teenager who wielded an invisible blade with a male-like grace about her, with a petite figure dressed in graceful armor of blue and steel that had an aura of magic to it. Magically-constructed equipment? Oh this just keeps getting better! And its all rounded out by a stern, gem-beautiful green gaze that saw far beyond her age than it should allow, and a poise of a dignified warrior - a knight in every sense.
The others of her valiant group was just as visually interesting. A human woman of short dark hair wielding a bloody sword earned from demon kills, a strict gaze and posture about her that was similar to Arturia, but more curt and aged. She is the first to ask the obvious, a befuddled strain in her voice, "What do you mean using time? Is that even possible?"
She looks behind to the mages of their group, a pale elf that's without a single hair on his head, and a lovely dark-skinned mage with a horned headdress and the grace of a white viper. The female mage is quicker to answer in an crisp tone of voice, "Mages have been trying to perfect time manipulation for centuries, there hasn't been any evidence that it's even remotely possible-"
"Until recently." The pale elf cuts in. "The effects of the Rifts we've recently come across - they're remnants of time manipulation. And if it has not been something that was possible until now, then this would be the most crucial and dangerous stage."
Dorian quirks a smile, "Indeed. Glad to see there's an understanding to the severity of this. Magister Alexius was once my Mentor," he takes in the surprised looks in stride, "so my assistance should be valuable - as I'm sure you can imagine."
"We were expecting another. Instead, here you are," The blonde human girl states with analytical eyes, trying to comprehend the motive and mystery of the Tevinter mage before them. Something really unnecessary, considering he just bloody told them
"Felix, is who you are referring to," Dorian answers swiftly, "I'm sure he's on his way. He was to give you the note, then meet both of us and your small band of dashing warriors here after ditching his father."
"That was some method acting he did to convince his old man," The dwarf carrying a truly strange crossbow quips, a clever glint in his eyes and small grin, "unless it's the kind of lie a little based on the truth."
"Yes," Dorian admits with a nod, and casually informs as a fact he has learned to live with, "It probably helps that he has some lingering illness for months. Felix is an only child, and Alexius is being a mother hen, most likely. Probably why he's taking this long to come."
"And you? Aren't you with the Tevinters?" A man with a combed back black hair and thick beard stepped forward with a gravelling voice. Taking a protective stance near the young human girl leading all of them, eyes full of questions, suspicions, and maybe a semblance of a haunting.
Dorian takes this in an acknowledged sigh, "All right, let's say this once." He begins with emphasis, gesturing himself with his fingers against his own torso, "I'm a mage from Tevinter, but not a member of the Magisterium. So Mage, not Magister. I know southerners use the terms interchangeably, but that only makes you sound like barbarians - no offense, of course."
"Hmm..." One makes a deep sound of amusement, an handsomely bearded Qunari with an eye patch and strong physique. There is sharp intelligence in his seeing eye, assessing Dorian's whole person with intrigue and questioning and questionable interest.
"Are you the one who sent us that note in Felix's steed then?" The elf mage inquires, leaning on his staff with keen curiosity.
Dorian confirms with another nod, "I am. Someone had to warn you, after all."
"And it's nothing springy-trappy, spikes in the palm and offer a handshake kind of deal, yeah?" A female elf archer takes a curious peek around the Qunari's large form, sizing up the Tevinter mage.
Honestly, Dorian should feel flattered by all the attention given his way, and none of them has done too much except doubt his intention instead of hurtling insults or trinkets right away. The south is certainly a place full of character!
"Look, you must know there's danger," Dorian says, looking to the whole group before stopping to Arturia, "That should be obvious even without the note."
"You have our attention then. What can you tell us?" No fumbling about from the human girl at front, nor question of trust or immediate distrust. He has called their arrival and here they have come. This directness works well for Dorian.
"Let's start with Alexius claiming the allegiance of the Mage Rebels out from under you," Dorian begins, straightening himself up to give the situation the seriousness it warrants, "Tell me. How do you suppose that none of you have heard about the Tevinter allying with the Mage Rebellion? I know that none of you have known because no one else has. How do you think that is?"
Arturia frowns, a deep concentration or perhaps continuing question of the Tevinter mage's intention. Finally, she speaks, carefully and slowly like she's recounting a lost memory, "We were approached by Grand...who was the Grand Enchanter, Fiona, about interest in alliance with the Inquisition. However, when we arrived to Redcliffe - a destination she had given us freely, she remembered nothing of our meeting. Their alliance with the Tevinters was an even greater surprise. It was new information that came out of nowhere-"
"As if by magic, yes?" Dorian inserts, all demanding eyes were on him, "Which is exactly right. To reach Redcliffe before the Inquisition, Alexius distorted time itself. The Rift you close here, you saw how it twisted time around itself, sped some things up and slowed others down. Soon, there will be more like it, and they'll appear further and further away from Redcliff."
"Just as I theorized," The pale elf mage states grimly, looking to Arturia who regards him back, "With what we have seen. I don't believe he's lying, and even so, we shouldn't risk overlooking it."
"I hope you shouldn't," Dorian insists, a graveness in his usually suave tone, "The magic Alexius is using is wildly unstable, and it's unraveling the world."
"It's a lot to based from something that's not been entirely understood, let alone the possibility of it," The dark-skinned Orlesian has a deep thoughtful look that might be concern in her lowered gaze. It seems even despite her previous worded disbelief, it may be wiser to not disregard it entirely either, and like fellow mages, they all understood the gravity of what it means to finally achieve time magic.
"I know what I'm talking about. I helped develop this magic," another surprise comes from the group as Dorian reveals this facet, "When I was still his apprentice, it was pure theory. Alexius could never get it to work. Now, suddenly, this happened."
"If so, why haven't our memories been affected like Fiona and the other mages?" Arturia asks.
"It could be the effects haven't reached that far, beyond Redcliffe anyhow," Dorian offers his thoughts, "or a simpler way to put it, the ripple of the change hasn't reached all of us yet. Funny how that works, taking its own time before it can completely change everything."
"Why would Alexius go this far? This is all very extreme just to gain a large number of mages..." Arturia questions, her furrowed brows spoke her subdued frustration, still unable to comprehend the whole picture of whatever it was they were looking at.
"He didn't do it for them."
A familiar voice echoes the chamber. He along with his invited guests/potential allies turn to the approaching man of sickly features. Felix greets all of them with his late arrival coming from aside.
"Took you long enough," Dorian lightly jabs before adding seriously, "Is he getting suspicious?"
"No," Felix assures, referring to Alexius, "but I shouldn't have played the illness card. I thought he'd be fussing over me all day."
"Definitely not acting," Dorian hears the whisper from the Qunari passing it to Arturia, who gazes at Felix with a stoic lookover.
With that, Felix then turns to the Inquisition group fully, and went right for it with tired breaths, inputting his own set of information, "My father's joined a cult. Tevinter Supremacists. They call themselves "Venatori." And I can tell you one thing: whatever he's done for them, he's done it to get to you."
"Why make all these efforts just to get to me?" Arturia demands, incredibly puzzled, "They could have had their chance with me at that meeting."
"I've managed to stall enough time thanks to my act, to give all of you enough preparation time. That talk would have led to decide your next meeting with him anyhow. Somewhere that they can have you alone. They don't want to just kill you, but to have you," Felix explains, "They're obsessed with what you are and what you can do. Perhaps because you survived the Temple of Sacred Ashes?"
"Or also that invisible sword and general magical abilities that are unlike anything mages all around has ever seen before," Dorian pipes in, crossing his arms and leaning himself forward. "And the cherry on top of all that icing, you can close the Rifts. Maybe there's a connection? Or they see you as a threat? The worst that can happen is take you alive and make some very unpleasant experiments to understand what you are. Alexius seems more keen in ridding you entirely, either way, they will be after you."
"We don't know if the Venatori is responsible for everything that's happened. The Rifts, or the Breach in the sky," Felix adds on with profound graveness, "If they are, they're even worse than I thought, and we can't let them get away with it."
"If Alexius is your father," The warrior woman speaks up, skeptical eyes narrowed at Felix before shifting to Dorian, "And your mentor. Why are you both working against him?"
"For the same reason," Felix answers without missing a beat, "I love my father, and I love my country. But this? Cults? Time Magic that could destroy everything? What he's doing is madness. Please. For his own sake, you have to stop him."
Dorian's heart aches at the sound of Felix's plea, something he would have done the same while carrying the love for his mentor. He brings back his charming humor self, "It would also be nice if he didn't rip a hole in time. There's already a hole in the sky."
Getting Arturia's attention again, he states with resolve, "You know you're his target. Expecting the trap is the first step in turning it to your advantage. I can't stay in Redcliff. Alexius doesn't know that I'm here, and I want to keep it that way for now. But whenever you're ready to deal with him, I want to be there, I'll be in touch."
Dorian starts his exit towards another door, though as he walks for it, he stops and looked back, "Oh and Felix?" He waves at his best friend, "Try not to get yourself killed."
"There are worse things than dying, Dorian," Felix responds with a smile. It is a smile that was ready for whatever it takes to fix this. Dorian returns the expression and resumed his leave, withstanding the cold truth of those words he wished they weren't.
Well, that's that then. Dorian made his move, now it's up to the Inquisition to make there's. Quite an odd bunch all of them are. If their feats are as true as stories say they are, he just hope that whatever pieces of time there is, there was enough for them to put back together.
There maybe enough for him to get to know more about the valiant, mysterious young blonde warrior and her powers of unknown. She could use all the guidance she'll be needing. He just hopes she'll be level-headed enough to stop Alexius and whoever else is pulling the strings here.
A day and a half has passed since the Inquisition team met with Dorian and the other Tevinter mages. As the road to Haven is walked, there has been talk about trusting said confronting mage, however, they all came to an agreement: the timing of the Tevinter-Mage alliance is all too strange. There is also indisputable evidence of magic affecting an individual's movement through time, which led to his story of time itself being altered even more troublesome.
"We'll have to talk about all of this with Leliana and the others once we are at Haven." Cassandra says as she leads the group on their current travel.
Arturia nods in agreement, "If it's as bad as Dorian and Felix claims, then we'll be needing to act fast, before the magic of this time altercation would affect us all."
"I wouldn't be so quick to believe his words," Vivienne advises from the knight's right side. "Never mind that he is a Tevinter, though it would be normal to take caution of it, considering all the stories I've heard about them and their fallen empire. We also don't necessarily have all the evidence that immediately points to something as grand as that."
"It's a little baffling, to be sure," Varric chimes in with an hint of agreeing, "There's several stories about time travelling and "what-ifs" stories, but that's all in fiction. Still, you got to agree that the Mage Rebellion joining the Tevinters was just out of nowhere."
"I will say as much, that did take me by surprise," Vivienne relents to that, but keeps to her own caution, "Still, it's rather far reaching that a single man was able to uncover the secrets of time manipulation, an ability that has been discussed and to this day been debunked or theorized. What could one mage do so differently that centuries of work by several hundreds of other mages couldn't?"
"...Perhaps it wasn't just one mage, he may have had help?" Blackwall suddenly says as he follow the other from down back.
Solas, right beside the Grey Warden, frowns, grabbing his own pale chin in thought, "That seems most likely. This group, the Venatori, they could possibly have someone who may have gotten close to it. Or rather, current circumstances has provided curious and ambitious mages to prove the theory of time manipulation once and for all."
"The Rifts..." Cassandra says in dawning. "Are they testing Rifts to see if they could...actually disturb time itself?"
"It is possible, and we have seen the effects of it up close ourselves. All Rifts are a tear in the realities. It seems only recently and specifically in Redcliffe, which may be where it either started or is the main testing ground, that someone was able to obtain or manipulate an essence of that power to warp time, and we are seeing its after effects. It'll have to be a strong amount of magic though, either that, or someone has found a weak link in the Fade to make such influence. These are all just theories though, but the repercussion of it can certainly be dangerous."
"That, my dear, is without a doubt," Vivienne concurs, sniffing in distaste, "I don't reject that some form of magic is at the works here, though all I am saying is that we don't immediately jump to conclusions, but all the same, we better cross it carefully."
To Arturia, although the concept of it all is incredible, she takes it as the truth. The King of Knights, once upon a time, wanted to go back in time and stop herself from pulling Caliburn from the stone. She would do so with the hope that her kingdom would be saved, that someone far better would take her place and rule, succeed where she has failed.
There was also her former Master, from what Irisviel told her of Kiritsugu, he could manipulate time of himself, though only for brief moments. From her experience and from a personal desire she had for the Grail, she did not disbelieve the possibility of time manipulation, that is why she saw that the Tevinter mage Dorian told the truth, even if he has yet to prove himself trustworthy. She finds it even more dangerous to disregard everything he said anyhow.
"Magic that can affect time...shits just keeps getting weirder," Iron Bull scowls with a grimace. Varric laughs lightly, patting the arm of the Qunari.
"Bah! This whole thing is givin' me a headache," Seras complains from her spot, hands on the back of her head. "Now even I can promise you lot that me and the other Jennys took notice of the Fiona person visiting where you and Turi were at, when Turi was kicking some sense into the Templars. Now this happened and it turns out Fiona was never there? Am I just losing it? And all this timey whimey blimey, ugh. I don't even get why mages want to do that, they should just leave that whole thing alone!"
"Mages are hoping to garner and prove with just how much power they could do," Madame de Fer claims with much self-assurance. "If fire and ice can be summoned at the palm of a hand, if a wound could be closed with a simple gesture, manipulate the cells to construct and heal the flesh at a faster pace, why not time itself? It was actually the ability to speed up the process of healing that brought up the theorized concept of time magic."
"And the potential catastrophe it could bring were it to actually be discovered would be unfathomable," Solas inputs pointedly. "Enemies who lost a war could change the outcome, and so transforming the land or the whole world because of it. History itself would be re-written. Of course, none of us would know, since any records of it or the "original timeline" so to speak, even now as we talk, could be wiped from existence."
"Stop that! You're seriously startin to botherin' me with that sort of thing!" Sera whines, scratching her head furiously.
"Yeah," Varric agrees, "lets keep the existential dread of our easily fragile existence another day, Chuckles."
"The whole thing certainly is... unnerving, and even hard to get it around your head," Blackwall voices, "Still, I could see the temptation of it. Say you want to change something in your life, maybe a mistake you made and regret, wouldn't you take it?"
A slight twitch of Arturia's finger as she walks onward without breaking her collected expression, not that anyone behind her would see it.
"Boooo. People should just deal with whatever muck up they did," Sera exclaims. "Lots of people do stupid things. You learn from it the hard way, because if you don't, then you'll just do it again. And then what? You just gonna time magic it all away again and again?"
"Yeah. At that point, people wouldn't be afraid of any consequences, or actually try for something, since they can just redo it all," Iron Bull invests in his own thoughts.
"It's the fear of the unknown, the personal struggle to overcome that can really make a person grow," Varric says whimsically, "Hell, every character I've ever written and people I've met is like that. Of course, if they could change something in their life to have it turn out differently, they'd probably jump on the chance."
"So you personally wouldn't change anything?" Blackwall asks, a thoughtful frown on him as he looked to the road.
Varric shrugs, "You live, you learn. I learn to treasure the good parts in my life, if everything I lived through had been easy going, it wouldn't have been an interesting life. I wouldn't even call it one. Plus, I wouldn't be here, and I hate to think that my dazzling wit and charms would be missed by someone like Seeker over here."
"Ugh," Cassandra merely scoffs in annoyance. "I can assure you, I would not miss them."
"Good to see you keeping it strong," The dwarf chuckles, Cassandra clearly withholding the urge to smack him in the head.
"For me, I'm sticking to the path I'm on, I wouldn't change a thing," Iron Bull states. "Whole point is that you can't go back. You just keep going with what you got."
"I'd say I'm quite comfortable with how I am living my life, I wouldn't see any point of changing anything either," Vivienne joins, though, perhaps a little thing here and there she wouldn't mind doing a bit differently, though only the small stuff. If she had such a power though, it'd be a waste not to use it. Perhaps she could have convinced Fiona to relent her ideas, or give discretion of her groups actions before they would even come to happen, though such a power requires immense calculations, and she knew better than to abuse it.
She then slyly side-eyes Solas and Cassandra, "And how about the two of you? Solas. Cassandra. Is there anything you would change if you could manipulate time?"
"Perhaps some," Solas answers vaguely. "Though, we are only speaking what ifs. It wouldn't do good, at least for me, to dive into that train of thought. I personally don't see any point to it."
The Orlesian mage catches onto that obvious deflection quite well.
Cassandra stares down at the ground, and Arturia can already guess what her answer will be. "There may be some. It would be to save a life that I couldn't before, and I'm ashamed to say that there have been several. I know that the temptation of it would be strong, even for what may come of it. I don't think I'd be strong enough to reject that chance."
"We're all human, one way or another, we'd all would have wished for something to have gone better in our lives," Blackwall commends before looking to Arturia, "And how about you, Herald? Was there something you would have want to change?"
Cassandra posture stiffens.
Varric's expression dims, his face becoming solemn.
Solas resumed looking ahead, though his eyes wandered over to Arturia.
Vivienne, Iron Bull, Sera, and Blackwall notices the sudden shift in the air about them, Vivienne and Seras having the faintest idea while Iron Bull and Blackwall did not. Arturia takes a moment in response, not looking back.
"...Once, I did." She states neutrally and somberly, looking up to the sky. "I wanted to change something. I had firmly believed it would have been for the better..."
The army of dead all around the hill she stood alone upon. The Holy Grail long out of reach, pulling itself away from her grasp. That wish to go back, to save her kingdom, her home, her people.
"...It was only a fleeting dream though."
After another half a day of travelling, the group finally arrives back at Haven. Arturia advises everyone to take as much rest as they can, but to be ready and prepared at a moment's notice. With that, she and Cassandra retreats to the main building, where a meeting is called in, and all the advisors gathered.
Arturia and Cassandra informs them of everything that they discovered: the time effects of the Rifts opening in Redcliffe, the information granted by both the student and son of the magister. The severity of this situation was too great to take lightly or even consider a fallacy. It is then that Arturia is informed of a letter having reached Haven before her groups arrival, a letter sent by Alexius, apologizing for the abrupt end of their first meeting, and wishes to continue it soon.
"If all of this is true, then we need to charge into Redcliffe and overtake Alexius!" Cassandra demands with passion.
"We don't have enough manpower to take the castle," Cullen argues back, "And if powerful dangerous magic is at the works here, then maybe we should give up on allying with the Mages and just go with the Templars. It's not too late."
"But we may end up pushing Alexius to do something drastic. We can take him by surprise," Leliana interjects as she walks around the map set on the table.
"Redcliffe castle is one of the most defensible fortress in Ferelden, it has repelled thousands of assaults," the commander shakes his head, "No. I won't allow it. It's far too dangerous."
"Redcliffe is in the hands of a magister, this cannot be allowed to stand," Cassandra points out, fist clenched at her side.
"I'll have to side with the commander," Josephine cuts in, the feather pen twiddling in an almost nervous clutch between her fingers. "Even if we could assault the keep, it would be for naught. An Orlesian Inquisition marching into Ferelden will provoke a war, and sending Arturia there alone as Alexius requested, it's obviously a trap!"
"And if we don't even try to meet with Alexius, we'll lose the mages, and leave a foreign hostile power on our doorstep," Leliana counters.
"Which is why we should abandon this nonsense and go to the Templars. They can help us against whatever magic they have waiting for us," Cullen presses back.
Josephine dejectedly shakes her head to Cassandra and Leliana, "Our hands are tied."
"The magister-"
"Has outplayed us," Cullen cuts through Cassandra's beginning sentence, seeing no point in arguing with what is the reality of the situation.
Arturia listens in to the tense discussion in deep thought, and after their brief silence, resignation from Cullen and Josephine, and the stubborn insistance of Cassandra with Leliana's mind that seeks for a path they can cross over this conundrum, the knight chooses to speak up, "Perhaps not entirely."
At her gain of their attention, Arturia steps closer to the war table, "Alexius does not know that we know his intentions. We shouldn't also be quick to lose the potential alliance with the Mages. From what I have understood about Fiona, she cares too deeply for her people to endanger any of them, that the world and this reality would be under threat by Alexius's magic. They could be unknowing pawns in his grand scheme. They would not support what Alexius is doing."
"-so if we reveal the truth to them, they could turn on Alexius," Leliana comprehends.
Arturia nods and adds, "Felix - Alexius's son who told us everything his father had been planning, he will be there should we decide to meet with Alexius in person, as well another potential ally who can vouch for us. I firmly believe that the ex-Grand Enchanter will be present as well, since she represents her mage group. We can expose the magister in front of Fiona."
"But there will still be several Tevinter soldiers there guarding inside and out of the castle," Cullen reminds, "There's no doubt that Alexius will force you to meet with him alone, or as few people as possible. Even if you can get Fiona on your side, you'll be outnumbered."
"I have seen what Arturia can do, commander. She won't be easy to defeat," Cassandra brought up.
"There's also that unique magic resistance Arturia has," Leliana brings support, turning to Cullen, "She can stand a chance against a few of their Tevinter mages."
"There will still be too many. The odds can still be too grand," Josephine states slowly. "Powerful as Arturia is, she is not invincible."
And furthermore, her companions would be under effective fire, Arturia's acute defense against magic is something her allies do not have. She would rather make sure there is few casualties on her side as possible. Arturia's eyes narrows as her emerald gaze landed upon Redcliffe circled on the map, "Couldn't we send in troops through a hidden path? Isn't there one leading into that fortress of some kind?"
"Wait. There is," Leliana's eyes sparked with realization and inspiration. "A secret passage as an escape route for a family. The downside is that it is too narrow to send in our troops, but our agents can get through it easily. We can even have some of the recruits you've been working closely with go through there." She refers to Arturia's other companions, a benefit for certain.
"Too risky," Cullen, however, disagrees with the idea, "That place will likely have a detection trap and guards. Those agents and recruits, however few in numbers, will be discovered well before we reach the magister."
"Then a distraction is in order," Leliana suggests, looking back to Arturia, who understands perfectly the underlinging message of that look.
"Well. I have said this before," The knight starts lightly, "I was never one to reject the call of a summoning."
Whether it would be to a party, a potential assassination, or the call of a Master in a war for a wish, Arturia had always been willing to answer. It was polite that way.
"And we would have the advantage of knowing," Cassandra says in anticipation. "The agents can take down Alexius's men, and we'll have him without enough arms to combat against all of us."
"The odds will be against him," Josephine adds as her expression brightens to an intrigue over the idea.
Cullen also looks close to be convinced, looking down at the map as well, "Focus their attention away, while we take out the Tevinters. It's risky but it could work. Still, I firmly believe that some form of security is awaiting at that secret passage. We'll need to somehow look out for it. If Alexius discovers any intruders, our plan will fall apart, and Arturia will be in a dangerous position."
It is then that the door to their war room suddenly swings open. Arturia's head snaps to it, as a calm familiar looking man waltz in with all the confidence and poise that she may dare say is impressive, if the gall of the burly mustached man's entry didn't already know it.
"Fortunately, you'll have help," One Dorian Pavus proclaims in full grand standing as he struts right into the room.
An Inqustion scout nearly tumbled by the door as he hushly sputters out, clearly having tried to stop the mage from entering, "This man says he has information about the magister and his methods, commander."
Cassandra blinks with a look of surprise at the Tevinter mage's arrival, "You followed us here?"
"Of course. All harmless, I promise you," Dorian assured, bowing his head and gesturing arm over his waist in greeting, "Excuse my intrusion. Dorian, at your service."
"This is the man who told us everything about Alexius," Cassandra informed the other advisers, all eyes on the newly arrived man.
"The Tevinter mage, if I heard correctly..." Cullen's eyes shifts to Arturia's, who nods calmly.
"He's told us much. If not for him or his friend Felix, we may have never known what's been going on," The knight vouches for the Tevinter mage, looking to Dorian. "While there is much to be known about him still, I can honestly say that I trust him and his word enough - that he would risk himself this much by coming here, just to make sure that we wouldn't carelessly walk right into a trap."
"I'm honored to hear that, and I can happily say that your trust will not be unfounded," the Tevinter mage politely expresses, and turns to the other advisers. "Your spies will never get past Alexius' magic detection without my help, so if you're going after him, I'm coming along."
It is a hard throw for certain. There was some skeptics about the man that more than a few advisors personally felt, but at the approving vouch of Arturia, and considering that they really would have not known otherwise without this man's intel, perhaps they can owe him the benefit of the doubt.
"For now, though, I believe we should postpone meeting Alexius right away," Josephine states, bringing out and placing some written letters on the table. "We can delay it to a date of Alexius' choice, and will be discussed between letters. In the meantime, commander, perhaps we should take up on your previous idea."
She listens off with a small wave of her clutched feather pen hand, "We'll have to switch up our schedules around. We'll keep Alexius' interest in mind, and all the while, we'll be making contact with the Templars."
"We managed to pull enough strings to have our meeting with the Templars happen," She walks towards the table and points to one location, and declared with an unwavering tone.
"I believe it's safe to say that this matter should be treated with discretion and caution, because now, our next focus will be Therinfal Redoubt."
An approving nod from Cullen as he looked over to Arturia and smiles in console, "I know you just got back, but there'll be plenty of other times to have some rest."
Arturia shakes her head gently, "In this case, I don't know if we even have time. The very thing our own worst enemy."
She regards the people in the room once more, and adds with closed eyes, "And besides, there's no rest for the wicked, so neither shall I."
Yo! Been awhile hasn't it? So we've finally arrived in the closing sections of Inquisition's first act. Given how long it took to update this story given real life circumstances, we'll be speeding up things and events so that this story can ACTUALLY be told in a reasonable timeframe.
See you guys next time, where we recruit the Templars into the Inquisition! Let's hope I can actually surprise all you readers...
Please share your thoughts and review the story! Thank you!
