Niall noticed things. He wished he didn't - but he did. In fact, aside from magic, his uncanny ability to notice things was his most inconvenient gift. If someone was doing something they shouldn't, somehow Niall always ended up knowing about it. Was it any wonder he sympathised with the isolationists when every mage in this Maker-forsaken tower seemed determined to get up to no good.
Tonight, he just wanted an evening working on his latest research project. That's was all – just a quiet night with a book he'd been meaning to get to for a while. Unfortunately, as he approached the Dreaming section at the back of the library, he heard a whisper,
"Shush … careful…"
It was followed by a barely stifled moan. All Niall's hopes of an evening reading Adralla of Vyrantium's 'A Defense Against Dreamwalkers' evaporated when he saw two apprentices pushed up against the bookshelves, robes bunched up high, trying and failing to be quiet.
This was getting ridiculous. It was the third time in as many weeks that he'd come across this sort of thing. He had no one to blame but himself, he should have picked a less obscure area of research. Perhaps a something in elemental magic – that section of the library was always so busy and well-lit.
He could have cleared his throat loudly enough to alert them to his presence. They'd separate quickly, straightening their robes and scurrying off without making eye contact. He could do that – but he wouldn't. Instead, without lingering, Niall turned swiftly around and walked back in the opposite direction. He knew all too well how hard it was to find a moment's privacy in the tower. Sometimes intimacy was the only thing that made life in the tower bearable. He could get his book tomorrow.
As he left, pretending not to hear anything, Niall wondered whether Irving might have been a bit hasty in suggesting he might be ready to start tutoring apprentices. He smirked - teaching probably require more discipline than he had any right to be doling out.
-o0o-
He was clearing up the storerooms when he heard a strange noise. His eyes darted around trying to find the source of it and very much hoping it wasn't some ancient Tevinter artefact come to life to kill him. That really would be all he needed.
He heard it again, a little louder this time – it sounded like an animal of some kind.
There was a pile of dusty boxes stacked up beside him. Niall peered over them expecting to see a rat. He shuddered, down there, it was always a rat.
Instead, he saw a blond-haired mage crouched down over -
"Is that a cat?"
The other mage flinched, looking terrified for a second, before it registered that Niall wasn't a templar and the tension in his body relaxed slightly. He was stroking a small, black cat that looked just as nervous as the mage.
"I feed him sometimes, don't I Mr Purrson … Mr Lickers … No, that's awful," he looked up at Niall, "Okay, I haven't settled on a name – this little guy hasn't been around very long yet, have you?" He went back to fussing the cat and Niall just smiled.
"I'll leave you two to it then."
Niall carried on cleaning. There was no way he'd ever report anyone for a pet but especially not him – the moment he'd turned around Niall had recognised Anders – Kinloch Hold's most persistent escape artist was the last person who needed to get into anymore trouble.
-o0o-
He saw Godwin slip a vial of something into the hand of one of the templars as he passed her in the corridor. It was a split-second interaction that took place at exactly the moment Niall happened to glance up from his book and see it. Typical. It was one of the older templars, she'd been here as least as long as Niall himself had. It didn't take the biggest deductive leap to work out what was in that vial.
No wonder Godwin was always so twitchy if he was smuggling lyrium into the tower. Lyrium. Any mage with a brain or any sense of self-preservation knew that getting involved with lyrium smuggling was a very bad idea.
He brought his fingers to his temples of massaged them. He was going to have to tell Irving. But Godwin was a friend, sort of, at the very least an acquaintance. Plus, if reporting them meant the lyrium supply stopped coming it, that was going to put him on the wrong side of Maker knows how many Templars. The whole thing was going to be a huge headache.
Although, Niall thought back to his apprenticeship when he and Godwin had shared quarters for a while, he always had a nervous disposition. Maybe it wasn't what it looked like.
That moment of rationalisation was all he needed to talk himself out of going to Irving.
-o0o-
This time Niall had no one but himself to blame because he really was not supposed to be on the third floor, especially not at this time of night. He stopped dead when he saw a figure step out ahead of him and linger.
He assumed whoever it was had been paying that same kind of completely innocent nocturnal visit to a friend as he had. But just to be on the safe side, Niall held his back against the wall of the corridor and waited for whoever it was to leave. Two men uttered a muffled goodbye before one of them left in a haze of purple robes. From the back he couldn't be entirely sure but it looked like the apprentice was Jowan. He wouldn't usually have known an apprentice by name but when one casts stonefist so badly an entire section of the library is closed for a day while the Tranquil sweep up the gravel – they tend to be remembered.
Niall didn't need to get a look at the other man. He knew that voice all too well – Niall had just seen the apprentice leaving the personal quarters of Senior Enchanter Uldred. Shit.
Uldred was not well liked. Even Niall, who tried his best to stay out of Circle politics, knew that Uldred had an unpleasant reputation as a zealot. Irving was blind to it, of course. He seemed to think Uldred just happened to be able to root out blood mages where no one else could. Niall wasn't convinced. Uldred would point the finger at mages who had never so much as been caught summoning a wisp without permission. Templars would 'investigate' and behold, they'd find evidence of blood magic. No, there was something off about Uldred – and whatever he was doing with an apprentice in his room – it wouldn't be anything as mundane as sex.
But what could he do? Niall had no proof of anything sinister except his gut feeling. Plus, if he reported this to anyone he would also have to explain what he was doing up here. He couldn't explain that without also making trouble for himself and Torrin – which he really did not want to do.
No, for all he knew, Uldred was just tutoring a struggling apprentice. No need to mention anything. He waited until he was sure the coast was clear before heading back to his quarters, feeling uneasy.