The inn was smelly and noisy, just as Claire remembered it from all those years ago. She'd been a few times since she'd followed Anders to Darktown, but her mind had been in such a fog, she didn't remember much about it. The clientele didn't look much different either and she had to resist running back to the clinic. She was still too sensitive from the demon, as it'd only been a few days since she'd fought it.

"Claire!" An arm draped around Claire's shoulders and she looked over to see the pirate captain, Isabela, grinning at her. "So you've finally decided to join the rest of us?"

"Yes." Claire said, trying not to move away from her. For some reason, having her arm around her like that was making her uncomfortable. "I need to start living more, instead of hiding."

"Good!" Isabela clapped Anders on the back as well. "No sense in hiding your pretty little wife away when there's fun to be had." She moved on ahead to Varric's room, where Claire could see Fenris, which meant Hawke was probably there as well. She couldn't remember any actual interaction with the elf past that first encounter, and the way he was eyeing her, she knew he still didn't trust her. Again, not that she could blame him, after everything he'd been through. She had a hard time trusting Hawke, waiting for him to turn her in to the Templars for being an apostate, even though he'd never made any sort of comment about it.

Claire sat down on the opposite side of the table from Fenris and Hawke, nodding a greeting to the two.

"Good to see you, Seer." Varric said. She gave him a timid smile and nodded.

"Good to be back." She said. "I'm sorry I've been such a lump this past year."

"No worries."

"We needed more players." Hawke said, giving her a smile that actually looked honest and not just cocky. "We can't have Varric cleaning us out all the time."

"Yeah, but no cheating, Seer." Varric winked at her, so she rolled her eyes in return.

"I think you'll find I'm not very good at the game, even if I knew how to cheat at it." Claire laughed. Anders took her hand and gave it a squeeze, and for the first time in a long time, she felt a warmth in her that she'd been missing. She was with friends, even if they didn't all get along or agree on anything. They were all stuck in Kirkwall together, dealing with the garbage that floated their way, and what better way to ease the drudgery than with a good game, food, and drink?

A few weeks later, after Claire had started smuggling mages out of the Gallows, Hawke came by to see Anders, looking like his usual cocky self.

"Is there something you need?" Anders asked.

"It's just a job, seems there's a troubled mage wrecking parts of Lowtown." Hawke said.

"I suppose I'll have to go, to ensure you don't kill this one as well."

"I'll go as well." Claire said. Hawke grinned and nodded.

"Very good! Let's go then." Perhaps she was just sensitive after the encounter with the demon, but there was definitely something off about Hawke like she'd thought before. He put on a smile and seemed to hide his pain with jokes, yet she could feel something smoldering beneath the surface. How long would Hawke be able to keep up his own charade before he snapped? Perhaps that was why he'd been so adamant at taking Claire slaver hunting that one time, because he had seen in her something he felt himself.

Lowtown was fairly quiet until they got closer to a small housing area where the mage was yelling at the people around her. Claire saw Hawke bristle as he looked at a certain door.

"What is it?" Claire asked.

"That's my uncle's house." Hawke said quietly. "Where I used to live with my mother and sister... Come on, let's take care of the mage." Claire nodded and ignored everything else, walking straight towards the mage.

"You're all complicit!" The mage was yelling, her eyes red and swollen from crying. "They torture us, and you all let them!"

"Has she done anything yet?" Claire asked someone standing nearby.

"No, or else we wouldn't be here. We're just waiting on the Templars." Claire nodded and went up to her, finding she was glad to be wearing just a simple dress instead of her more intimidating armor.

"Why don't you come with me, and we'll talk it over?" Claire asked quietly. The mage's eyes widened as she looked at Claire's scars and armor.

"You're one of them, aren't you!" She gasped. "Stay away from me! You won't have me!"

"It's all right, Claire won't hurt you." Anders said. "We're here to help, but there's nothing we can do to save you if you won't let us." Hawke brushed past Anders, his hand on his daggers. "Hawke, no, she's done nothing to harm anyone!"

"She's already on the edge..." Hawke said. "We cannot take that risk." Claire felt her heart go into her throat as she realized what she had to do. It was the only way, she couldn't let the woman die. She quickly stepped in front of the mage to guard her from Hawke.

"No, Hawke, I will not allow you to hurt her out of fear." Claire said.

"What do you know of these things?" Hawke snapped. "You haven't seen the things I have! You haven't had to deal with as many blood mages and abominations as I have!"

"She's none of those!" Claire cried.

"Stand aside." Hawke pulled out his daggers. Metal footsteps echoed off the houses as the Templars started marching towards them. Glaring at the rogue, Claire paralyzed him, grabbed the woman, looked apologetically at Anders, and ran as fast as she could away, dragging the mage with her.

"Where'd she go?" Hawke cried out, desperately looking around for them in the alley he'd watched them run down. The Templars were looking around the alley as well, finding nothing.

"Hawke, it's all right." Anders said softly. "Trust Claire to know what she's doing."

"You can't be serious right now." Hawke said. "Your wife just vanished! There's no way out of this alley!" Anders shrugged, feeling uncomfortable with the Templars right there.

"It's true, the footsteps end here at this barrel, but there's nothing under the barrel, and no way they could have made it onto the roof." A Templar said.

"She was your wife?" Another Templar looked at Anders.

"The one with the scar, not the woman you're after." Anders said, feeling Justice getting defensive. Hawke suddenly grew concerned as he looked at the healer, surprising Anders.

"I'm sorry, Anders." Hawke said. "We'll find your wife, and the mage will pay." Confused at what Hawke was saying, Anders could only nod. Was he really trying to protect Claire?

"Next time leave it to us." A Templar said. He sounded cross, as if he merely thought the two incompetent, and Claire a victim rather than perpetrator.

"There's nothing we can do now but go back to my clinic and wait..." Anders turned and started walking. Once they were out of range of the Templars, Hawke grabbed Anders, stopping him.

"What kind of game are you two playing?" Hawke hissed.

"You should know me better by now, that I do not play games." Anders growled. "Especially when it comes to mages."

"Mages can't just disappear!"

"Obviously they can." Anders pulled out of his grip and started walking again.

"She's not a normal mage, is she?" Hawke pressed. "There's something strange about her, and why does Varric keep calling her Seer?"

"I don't think you can understand, with how much you hate mages."

"I don't hate mages!" Hawke said, exasperated. "I'm just trying to keep order in this city, and it's very difficult when there are so many blood mages and abominations around every corner."

"Well you don't have to worry about Claire." Anders snapped.

"Why? What makes her so different?" Hawke asked. "What makes you so certain she won't resort to blood magic or a demon?"

"Because!" Anders turned to face Hawke, his eyes flashing blue in his frustration. "After everything she's been through and she's not been tempted once, there is nothing that would get her to join with a demon. She doesn't need more power... she just wants to live in peace and be left alone." He began walking again, wondering if he'd ever make it back to the clinic, or if he'd snap and attack the ever frustrating Hawke.

"I really don't want to lock all mages up..." Hawke murmured after a while. "I just... I don't know what to do. I can't just sit by and let the city fall to chaos."

"Yet you continue to support those who would oppress us."

"I... admit they have some questionable tactics, but..." Hawke sighed. "I just can't think of allowing every mage to be free. There must be something!"

"Mages deserve to be as free as any other." Anders said. "To be free to love who they want without fear, or to live as they want, to decide their own fate... in the Circle, mages can't even have children, we're stripped of the rights given to any other."

Hawke remained silent for the rest of the walk, and when Anders opened the door to the clinic, Claire was already there, waiting, with the mage she'd just saved.

"Hello, love." Claire said, frowning. "Hawke... I didn't expect you." Anders could tell she was nervous, and wondered if it was because she thought Hawke would want to kill her.

"It's all right, Claire." Anders said.

"What is going on here?" Hawke asked. "Why is she here?" He pointed his finger at the new mage.

"This is Margaret." Claire said, putting a hand on the mage's back so she wouldn't run off. "Her brother was made tranquil, well past his Harrowing, which is against Chantry law. Can you blame her for being upset? She hurt no one, she's not resorted to blood magic or demons. I'll take her far away from here so you won't have to worry anymore." Hawke was visibly upset, struggling with something internal as Margaret looked like she was about to faint from fear.

"There's really nothing I can do, is there?" Hawke said. "You have some strange ability, I won't even be able to touch you."

"Hawke, I wouldn't do it if she wasn't innocent." Claire said. "I have searched her heart, she's just deeply hurt and upset. Can you blame her? I will not let her go back to the Templars, I will not subject her to that again."

"I don't know you very well..." Hawke said slowly. "But you've never given me reason to distrust you. I just... this morning, I though you were just a normal mage, and now I find out you're... what are you?"

"I don't know!" Claire cried. "I used to think I was a somniari, a dreamer, but I don't even know anymore. I've never met anyone else like me... I shouldn't even have these powers, I just keep messing things up..."

"Love..." Anders walked over to her to hug her and she looked up at him with tears. "It's all right."

"Despite what you warned me about, I still went to investigate the Templars, and it cost so much... Anders... I feel like it's all my fault, everything that's happened. I thought I could stop it and I was wrong, and instead, you lost Karl, and me for a year, and you've been through so much..." She was sobbing so hard he had a hard time understanding her, so he just embraced her, holding her tightly.

"It's all right, there's nothing to blame yourself for." Anders said.

"But there is!" She cried, pushing him away. "There is! And... and I don't know how to explain why, and I'm afraid you'll be upset when you discover what I figured out... but you need to know." She looked worriedly at Hawke. "Hawke, please... please don't tell anyone."

"I... I won't." He said.

"When you see..." Claire suddenly disappeared.

"Maker, that's unnerving!" Hawke exclaimed. "What else can she do that she's so worried about? Never mind, you don't even know yet..."

"She's going to get my brother." Margaret finally spoke, her voice barely a whisper.

"Didn't she say he's tranquil?" Hawke asked. Anders' eyes widened with realization.

"Maker, no... Karl. She said... she said because of her I lost Karl. She can't possibly mean it."

"What? What do you mean?" Hawke didn't realize it, and Anders wasn't sure he wanted to vocalize it, especially if he was wrong. But how could he be wrong? And why did she think he'd be angry with her? Because she was insistent on going after the Templars? She'd thought she was doing something good, he couldn't blame her for that. It hurt, more than he'd expected, to realize he hadn't needed to kill his best friend. He leaned against a pillar, trying not to cry.

"Anders, what's going on here? Can someone explain it to me?"

"Claire will, when she gets back." Margaret said.

"Anders..." Hawke was suddenly beside him, his hand on his back, looking very concerned. "Please tell me what in the Maker's name is going on?"

"I can't." Anders said. "I don't know, but if it's what I suspect... if she's done... done that... if anyone could, she could. Cure tranquility..." Hawke stepped backwards in shock.

"You're joking."

"Why else would she go to get a tranquil?" Anders snapped. "Why else would she think I'd be angry because of Karl?"

"No... this is..." Hawke started pacing around, his hands to his head. "Yesterday she was just a normal mage, keeping to herself, doing nothing but staying here, now she's some sort of goddess that's stepped out of a storybook..."

"Hawke, please don't try to do anything to her." Anders knew what the rogue could do, and prayed the man's fears didn't make him react before thinking. "Please, just let her be."

"Can I even touch her?" Hawke asked. "You say that like I could do something to her... do you truly have so much faith in my abilities?" He laughed.

"She's not a goddess, Hawke." Anders said. "At least, I don't know if she is, and even if she is, she's a very young one who doesn't have a lot of experience, otherwise she wouldn't have gotten caught by the Templars in Amaranthine and tortured for a year..."

"I'm just trying to figure this all out." Hawke said. "How does someone like that even exist? It flies in the face of everything I've ever known."

"Perhaps when she comes back, you can ask her." Margaret sat down on a box, her head in her hands, while she waited, and Anders started sorting his potions again while Hawke paced the room.

Claire was terrified about what she was going to do, and tried not to think about what would happen when she got back to Anders. If she thought about that, she'd never go back. She'd found Margaret's brother, Trevor, and he was as she'd said, tranquil and selling wares in the Gallows. Sneaking in behind him, invisible by the Fade, was easy, but she didn't particularly want any eyes on him when she took him herself, so she waited for an opening. Once no one was watching, she grabbed him and pulled him into the Fade, and his eyes shot open.

"Who are you?" He gasped. "What did you do?" He looked around him, panicking.

"I can make this permanent if you like." She said. "Or let you revert..."

"No!" He wiped his eyes, but the tears kept coming. "Being tranquil is the worst thing ever, please, I'd rather be dead!"

"No worries, I won't let you die. Close your eyes." Wisps were always around, and she called one over to touch the mage's mind. It wasn't certain at first, then possessed the mage for a split second before flitting away, unhappy with the experience. She prayed it hadn't done anything to the wisp. "That should do it. Would you like to see your sister now? She's been worried about you."

"Thank you so much, I can't even begin to show my gratitude!" Trevor grabbed her in a quick hug. "Please, yes, take me to my sister." She took his hand and teleported him to the Clinic, where he instantly ran for Margaret, hugging her tightly while they both laughed and cried.

"So it's true." Anders looked upset and Claire felt like disappearing.

"Anders, I'm so sorry..." Damn the tears, she was tired of crying. He put his arms around her, staring into her eyes and shook his head.

"No, you have nothing to feel guilty for." He said. "You've warned me enough times, and apparently some things are just meant to be. You failed at changing anything, didn't you?" She buried her head into his shoulder, feeling the love for him more than ever and needing that comfort. "It took me a while to come to terms with it... I know I was too hard on you in the past, feeling envy at your powers and anger at you doing nothing, but I realize how wrong I was. I'll be content to be a spirit healer here in Darktown."

"I can't believe you did it." Hawke said. "What are you?"

"I'm just... me!" Claire turned to face Hawke. "None of this happened the way I expected, it was all just... you weren't supposed to find out. Please, you can't tell anyone! They'll kill me, they'll start killing more mages instead of just making them tranquil, you can't tell anyone!" Anders' grip on her tightened as he tried to calm her down.

"I trust Hawke." Anders said. "As much as he sides with the Templars, he's smart enough to know the chaos that would come if what you can do got out."

"I'm trying to wrap my head around it." Hawke said. "But I swear, I will tell no one. Just... promise me you won't help any truly dangerous mages? Please? I have enough work to deal with here... I don't need more."

"Of course, I'll make sure to examine them first." She said. "I'm not so blinded as to think all mages are perfect, I've met my fair share of corrupted ones as well. Mortals are all the same, corruptible, whether they be mage or Templar, elf or human, dwarf or Qunari."

"And you, are you mortal?"

"I've nothing to say otherwise." She said. "I feel mortal enough."

"Does Varric know?" Hawke asked.

"He..." Claire frowned. "No, I've not told him about this..."

"Then why does he call you Seer?"

"Please don't ask that." She cringed. She didn't need him of all people to know what she knew, he'd be sure to blame her for everything. "He gave me that nickname when I met him on my way to Tevinter around eleven years ago because... I acted like I knew what was going to happen when I got to Tevinter. He tried to warn me and I didn't listen."

"I get the impression you don't listen a lot." Hawke suddenly laughed. "Am I going to regret this, since I'm sure you're not going to listen to me either?"

Claire sighed and shook her head. "You're one to talk, you don't listen either." She said. He gave a halfhearted shrug and smiled.

"That's because I don't trust anyone else." He said. "But... I'll give you this one. I pray you haven't made a mistake in this, and perhaps I'll see you at the Hanged Man tonight?"

"I suppose I'll have to." Claire said.