The Daughter of Tethras

Disclaimer: Don't own Dragon Age

A/N:

Chapter 14 (Who to Save)

The large gates of Redcliffe stood before them, gilded and heavy, and a guard stood in front with her arms crossed. "I know Cassandra would rather us go straight for the Templars and ignore the mages, but I don't feel right not at least talking to them."

Varric stepped up to her right and shrugged. "You have to go with your gut, Bianca. Always go with your gut." She looked at him, half questioning what he would do. She was almost tempted to ask, but she wanted to at least impress her father with making her own decisions-that way he might actually like her enough to want her around.

"My gut says to come here, but something just feels odd." There was a peculiar feeling in the air, a disconcerting one. She honestly didn't know whether to turn back or proceed. "That rift we just closed…was weird."

"Felt like my arrows were going a little slower than normal."

"What do you think?"

He closed his hands and slanted his eyes. She could see the tension in his muscles and watched his chest expand slowly. "I say we go on ahead, but carefully."

Solas came up behind them, clutching his staff with a tight grip. "I agree. There's a different magic at work here." Bianca braced herself and made the approach through the gates. They were met by one of their scouts, who reported that the mages did not expect them. "That is…peculiar."

Varric's teeth ground together and a low growl slipped between them. "I don't like this. I don't like this one bit." Throughout the walk towards the shed, she felt more and more like turning around to find the Templars, but a talk was only a talk, and she wasn't too thrilled with Seeker Lucius.

She paused before the Gull and Lantern, watching as Varric and Solas moved on ahead. They stopped a few paces before her and turned to face her. "Do you think we should go back?" A lump began to form in her throat, and a slight quivering was felt beneath her chest. "I'm kind of nervous."

Her father looked up to Solas, then back at her with a subtle smile. "It'll be alright, Bee." Her lips parted and her heart thumped into her ribs. The nickname came with a term of endearment that she'd not heard from him before. "We're right here, we won't let anything go wrong."

Her brow furrowed as the corners of her lips slid up. "Okay. Besides, it's just talks." The mages did offer their help in closing the breach, and while she didn't agree with their rebellion nor like all the blood that was shed because of it, she knew an olive branch when she saw one.

Lucius may not even allow the Templars to aid in closing the breach for good, but she still was leaning towards trying to convince him. They were the law of the land, like it or not, and they kept the order. Their tactics were terrible and they could do with some restructuring, but the mages were just as to blame no matter how innocent they claimed to be.

"Things like this make me grateful our kind can't use magic," she muttered. Varric laughed and Solas smirked. "How bad could magic get, though?" She hurried between the two and moved swiftly for the door.

Cassandra lagged behind them, still feeling under the weather. When Bull returned and they requested someone else join them, she insisted on coming. Bianca worried for her due to the woman's pale and sweaty complexion, but Cassandra did insist she was getting better.

"The heart of the rebel mages," Cassandra stated with a grunt, "I'm not sure I like it either, to be honest." Bianca feigned a smile as Cassandra pushed open the wooden door. "You can't help everybody, just keep that in mind. Not to mention, whoever helps us will probably affect how people see us in the long run…"

"Oh…"

Varric shot Cassandra a glare and then spoke with a softer tone. "Don't worry about pleasing anybody. Do what feels right."

The smell of alcohol and vomit was piercing and it stirred a familiar nauseating feeling in her gut. Her hand placed over her stomach and she closed her eyes, pushing through the bar the best that she could.

When they did reach Fiona, the woman reacted with surprise that they were there. When they brought up the visit, they were more startled to hear the woman hadn't been in Val Royeaux for some time. "Well, that is peculiar." Varric crossed his arms and swayed to the right. "We clearly saw you, but maybe I'm getting so old I need my eyes checked."

"You're not that old, Varric."

"I am old enough to be your father, Bee." Solas and Cassandra turned their gazes to him while Fiona's eyebrow rose. Bianca ignored the comment, though chuckling on the inside.

"Well anyway Fiona, we came here because you-or whoever we met at Val Royeaux-offered to lend the mages to close the breach."

There was a familiar glint of pain in the woman's eyes, it was yet another issue that just didn't sit right for her. "We are…" The grand enchanter folded her hands over each other before her waist and bowed her head. "In no position to help you, I'm afraid."

"What? Well…who would we even talk to?"

The door behind them moved and Bianca spun around with a start. "That would be me now." A man in a red cloak with devilish looking horns sweeping up from his cape moved towards them. Wrinkles framed his eyes and mouth, and two squiggly lines seemed embedded on his forehead. "I am Magister Alexius."

His wounded gaze fell on her and squinted. "I hope I did not startle you, Herald." She swallowed the lump in her throat and shook her head.

"Call me Bianca, and you didn't…" This was a Tevinter Magister. She knew very little about them, but just enough to know they weren't exactly on the good side of things.

Fiona raised her head and let out a sigh. "I have…agreed to an alliance with Tevinter, seeking their help." Varric cursed and promptly explained how wrong Fiona was to trust them. "I saw no other choice."

Alexius explained the situation, which sounded more like Fiona had just sold her people into slavery. Her chest grew tight as she thought of the abuse the mages would suffer at his hands, abuse that nobody deserved.

He went on to explain how he needed resources and might be unable to lend the mages that were needed, which furthered the unease within her. "It sounds like you want to control them." She closed her hands and narrowed her eyes. "To put them in servitude."

"A small price to pay."

Just then a taller man with a brown faded haircut stumbled into the room and crashed into her. Her muscles tensed and she grabbed him, clutching tight and nearly digging her claws into his back. "My son!" Alexius was quick to come to the man's aid, helping him away; but before she could reach them, Bianca felt a small piece of paper being slipped into her hand.

"I don't mean to trouble anyone," the man said as they staggered away. Bianca opened up her hand and peered down at the sheet of paper while Fiona and some of the mages took their leave.

"It says we're in danger and we need to go to the chantry."

Varric snorted and placed his crossbow on the holder on his back. "I don't like it, it's suspicious."

The note was clearly for her, but she shared her father's skepticism. "Well whatever it is, we may as well check…" If it was a trap, they would be able to figure something out.

Cassandra led the way to the Chantry while Varric and Solas walked just diagonal from her sides, forming a triangle around her. She felt oddly secure, despite how this would have normally annoyed the hell out of her if someone made a protective formation around her.

Perhaps it was due to Varric being her father. Even though she doubted he was aware of the connection, it was nice. It was also good to have Cassandra guarding her front. "Guys, I don't know if there's that much danger to us right now."

"Like I said before," Cassandra replied hastily, "We're in the capitol of the mage rebellion-the Tevinters kicked out the Arl and have taken the Mages under their control and influence…there's danger everywhere."

"Yeah, I really don't like the part about them controlling the mages." Mages or not, they were still people who were clearly going to be abused by a group of people that sounded like monsters in every description she ever heard of them. "Based on what I've heard, Tevinters make Lantos seem like a puppy."

Varric chuckled and the group stopped in front of the Chantry door. "Having seen Lantos, and having dealt with Tevinters first hand in the past, I'd say that comparison is an insult to both parties."

"You've dealt with them in the past?"

"Yes. A friend of ours, Fenris, was a slave to them. He was put through a lot of abuse growing up, and even had these glowing veins etched into his body." Bianca opened her mouth and felt a shuddering sensation shooting down her spine. "It doesn't feel good, I can tell you, being manipulated…controlled…forced to do things out of fear of what could happen."

She bit down on her lower lip, watching painstakingly as Solas placed his hand onto Varric's shoulder. The look in her father's eyes said he spoke from experience, but she didn't want to ask for fear of intruding. Still she knew exactly what he meant, since she was brought up that same way.

"Whether Marcus and Amelia, or Lantos and my clan…I know what you mean." She closed her eyes and took in a shaky breath as a visual of her clan and their horrendous abuse entered her mind.

Her forehead creased as she pictured them forming a dome around her, striking her and spitting at her until Dasher would order them to stop. "D-Dasher would always protect me. He tried to, anyway."

She felt a hand on her shoulder and opened her eyes to see Varric looking at her, full of compassion. "I am sorry you went through what you did." She smiled sadly as he took a deep breath. "If I had my way, you would never have gone through that mess. If I can, and I will, I promise you will not have to deal with that ever again."

Tears welled up in her eyes and she started to say something, stopping herself just before she called him her father. "I…" Her hands began to tremble and her heart was racing like wildfire. "I think…" She turned away and quickly wiped away the tears on her cheek. "We should get going."

Once inside they found yet another rift and a tall man with a strange hairdo and curly moustache trying to fend off the demons. Her heart stopped as the mage obliterated one demon and gasped at them. "Oh you made it! Now if you would, hurry up and seal this please…"

They made quick work of the demons and Bianca hurried to close the rift, groaning with disgust as she felt the energy flowing through her body. She hated the mark on her hand and prayed she could be rid of it one day as she had not yet accustomed to it yet.

"Ah it's about time." The man walked up to them and Bianca stepped back when she heard Varric say something about the man potentially being Teventer. "Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Dorian Pavus, of House Pavus."

Varric took a step forward, keeping his crossbow out and pointed towards the ground. He cast a suspicious eye on Dorian, grunting when the man cracked a joke about a family resemblance between he and Bianca.

"I'm going to say this once, I am of Tevinter, and Alexius's former apprentice. I helped to develop the magic that he is using…time magic." Bianca's eyes opened wider and Solas scoffed.

"Truly an amazing accomplishment, if anyone could ever accomplish such a thing."

"Well he has. You saw how the rifts are affected, did you not?" Dorian glanced at Bianca and furrowed his brow. "I called you here because Alexius is obsessed with you." She moved her hand towards the bottom of her throat.

Varric uttered a grown, turning his lips into a snarl. "Obsessed how exactly?" Dorian's eyebrow rose and he quickly scratched at the back of his neck. He then lowered his hand and pointed to Bianca's.

"Nothing so creepy as it is an obsession with the mark on your hand." She looked down at her open palm, shuddering at the gaping scar for a moment before pulling on her glove to cover it up.

"Just what I need," she muttered, "More unwanted attention because of this stupid thing. I hate it."

"I look at it as a gift." She narrowed her eyes and placed her hands around her waist. A growl vibrated from her throat and Dorian took a step back. "Touch subject I'm sure, but either way, I called you here because Alexius intends to use this time magic…but I don't trust it."

As he started to explain the matter, Alexius's son, Felix, entered the room looking much better than he had before. They proceeded to explain in more detail what was happening, details too farfetched to believe and too grisly to imagine.

He ended it off saying that he didn't trust the alliance Fiona made and wanted the Inquisition's help in stopping Alexius's crazed plan.

There was so much information that plagued her mind and rendered her silent until they could return to Haven. Even discussing the matters with the war council, she couldn't get the feelings of disgust and nausea to leave her enough to even consider whether the Templars or Mages would be better politically for the Inquisition.

Cullen wanted to go to the Templars while Leliana suggested they render aid from the Mages. It all led to one giant headache which made Bianca depart to her room.

Varric knocked on her door and entered slowly, leaving his hand on the knob. "Hey." Bianca was seated on the bed with her back against the wall and her forearms over her stomach. She looked off to the left and her eyes turned downcast. "You okay, Bee?"

"'Bee'? Why Bee?" A smile twisted on her face and she looked out the side of her eyes as Varric approached the edge of the bed. "Not that I'm complaining, I like the nickname."

"Short for Bianca." He sat on the edge and his hands folded over his knees. Varric looked to the window of the room and breathed in deep. "How are you feeling? I know Cassandra said things got a bit heated in the war room."

"Things got overheated." She ran her hands through her hair, pulling it back and holding it in the position of a ponytail. Her hair wasn't long enough for one, though she thought about growing it out. The back of her neck was coated in so much sweat that her hair was sticking like glue. "Can I be honest? I don't care so much about the political ramifications…I don't know who to help."

"It is a tough choice."

"Lucius actually requested an audience with us, and then Alexius apparently sent a letter in stating he wants to meet me. Alone…" Varric's brow furrowed and she hugged her stomach tighter. "I don't want to go alone."

"You don't have to, and you're not going to." He looked at her an reached over, patting her on the knee. "What does your gut tell you as far as helping either one? You don't have to do it for political reasons if you don't want to."

She let go of her hair and leaned forward, swaying her hands into the air. "I agree with the Templars. I think both sides are getting far too violent, but I think the mages are rebelling without concern for who gets hurt."

He pressed his lips together and started to nod. "Both sides are, actually. The Templars are trying to act to protect citizens from the rebel mages, but lately, it seems like they're going insane as well…but they didn't blow up a chantry and kill a bunch of uninvolved innocents."

She jerked her head back, widening her eyes. "What?"

"A mage by the name of Anders, back in Kirkwall, started this whole rebellion by blowing up a chantry and killing a bunch of esteemed people." His eyes and nose scrunched a bit and his shoulders dropped like the slopes of a mountain. "It was terrible. Everybody went crazy. Thane had to decide the same thing, help Meredith or help Orsino…"

"And he went with the Templars, right?"

"That decision wasn't easy. He didn't agree with Meredith, didn't like her, but she had been driven insane by red lyrium and was controlling the Templars…she was a threat to them, and Thane decided to save the Templars."

"What about the mages?" She crossed her legs and leaned forward, pushing her hands on the blanket. Varric rubbed the back of his head and closed his eyes.

"They claim oppression drives them to use blood magic. Blood magic sacrifices the living and gives them immense power. They claim to be backed into a corner." He tensed and shook his head. "I don't care how oppressed you think you are, if you're willing to turn yourself into some kind of monster by killing a bunch of people just to make your point, then you've crossed a very dangerous line…" He dropped his hand and his eyes opened partially. "In the end, it was best for the safety of not only the Templars, but the innocent civilians in Kirkwall, to put both Meredith and Orsino down like rabid dogs."

"I don't like blood magic-or magic in general-it frightens me." Her legs bent upwards and she wrapped her arms around her legs to pull her knees into her chest. "Mages don't scare me so much as magic itself. I don't like it, I don't like the things it does to people."

"So would you want to help the Templars?"

Her eyes darted out and her head shook from side to side. "You said I should go with my gut. I…I feel like those people don't deserve to be abused by Alexius, and I feel like they're going to. Dorian has something planned, a way to save them from the abuse. I want to save them…"

Varric smiled at her and a glint of pride glistened in his eyes. "So, it's a personal decision for you?"

"Yeah. I really want to get help from the Templars because I think they're the best thing keeping people safe in the long run, but I can't stand by and let someone get abused. I just can't."

"I agree." Varric leaned back and his shoulders touched to the wall behind him. "Maybe Lucius can be reasoned with afterwards, maybe not. Whatever you decide to do, you have my support, but I agree that helping to keep people out of abusive situations may be the path best taken."

"So it's settled." She had her doubts, but now that she spoke to Varric she felt a bit more confident. There was a terror in her stomach that was difficult to swallow, as though something could go horribly wrong, but she couldn't let that stop her. "I want to help the mages because I think they're in more need of rescue."

Lucius seemed like he'd gone insane anyway, but the Templars weren't being abused as much as she was sure the Tevinters would abuse the mages. Not to mention, under their control, the rebel mages might just break out even worse and everything would go to hell.

"I'll let everyone know." He stood from the bed, flashing one last smile. "Until then, do get some rest." She watched him depart. Her heart sank as he stopped and took one last look at her before walking out.

Bianca lowered her head, placing her chin on her knees and speaking aloud in a whisper tone. "Thanks, Dad." She closed her eyes, causing the tears in her eyelids to splash out. "Why is it so hard to tell him? Maybe it's better that I don't…I won't be hurt or left behind because he rejects me."

So she's siding with the mages, you know what happens, it will probably be a very hellish thing for her. Rather she's not "siding" with them, but she wants to keep them from being abused and controlled by the Tevinter people. What are your thoughts through this chapter? Do you think they're just incredibly oblivious? Do you think after the thing with the mages, after the thing with Corypheus (He is about to appear in about two chapters) that they will start to realize it's time to talk? What could Varric be holding back on?