"I can't believe he's here" she thought as she ran her hands over his bare chest. She had never seen him undressed before, even after all the days of slogging through endless miles on the road and then in makeshift camps at night. He was slim underneath his robes, but still well built, although the mother hen in her decided that he was a bit on the thin side, and under her care maybe he would fill out a little. She knew he always put the needs of his patients before his own and many nights he probably only ate what the hanged man could offer for a meal, if one could call it that, chances were a person would be more likely to get a case of food poisoning there rather than a nourishing repast. At the very least it was never a good idea to inquire about what kind of meat was being served that night as it usually was a mix of anything and everything that had been found dead under the floorboards that morning. "He deserves better than that" she thought as she continued her study of him.

He was so very beautiful, she could get lost for hours staring into those gentle caramel brown eyes. "You are getting ahead in this race" Anders suddenly said with a laugh. "Here you have me nearly out of my small clothes and you have yet to be completely undressed, we shall have to remedy that and quickly" he teased with a mischievous smile on his lips. He set about removing her from her remaining clothes with abandon and soon she was naked before him. The look of tenderness in his eyes as he looked at her told her that this would be no one night stand. She had never been with anyone before, back in Ferelden she was more intent on Bethany's safety to be interested in the local boys, and then when they had to flee to Kirkwall, it seemed like she had lived in her armor almost constantly and never had the time to think about anything beyond surviving day to day, until her search for the deep road maps had led her to an apostate grey warden in darktown, and she had set eyes on Anders for the first time.

She was no child, she had listened to Isabella's tales of conquest many times before and she knew what to expect, but a small part of her was still nervous. Anders positioned himself above her, the trevinter chantry amulet she had given him, a lifetime ago it seemed now, swinging down and away from his neck to hang in the space between them. She felt the pain of him entering her, but it lasted only a moment as the blue aura of his healing surrounded her. "I love you" he whispered as his gentle strokes grew more demanding and then they were both borne away on a flood of emotions as he found his release in her. Everything for a moment was so bright, every emotion enhanced beyond anything she had ever experienced, his energy transferring from him to her and then back again engulfing them both in a blinding blue light. To her chagrin she found herself starting to cry. "I'm sorry; I should have prepared you for what it would be like to make love to a mage. "Now you know one of the many reasons mages should be freed from the watchful eye of the templars, to live a whole lifetime within the circle and never experience this would be worse than a slow death" he said to her as he tucked a strand of damp hair behind her ear. "I love you, know that whatever we encounter down this long dark road together, I will always love you" he whispered to her in the darkness as she fell asleep.