Champion's Children

Leandra had grown up in a shack on the outskirts of a small village called Maraway, learning to use her power from the time she could walk, all the while bickering with her twin brother, under the watchful eyes of their loving but wary- Mother had grown up with twins, and knew well what could happen with them- mother and father.

She stared at the wall, muttering as she tried to learn a tricky new spell, while Mother watched from the doorway behind her, leaning against the doorframe.

"I remember Bethany doing that," she commented, and Father wrapped his arms around Mother as she continued speaking.

"She'd sit still for hours while Carver and I tried to pull her away to play. We gave up eventually and went to play alone, but inevitably we ended up arguing and Bethany or Mother would have to come out to separate us."

He laughed softly.

"Your childhood was so much more interesting than mine. I spent mine in the Tower, dreaming of freedom. Usually in isolation after I failed to achieve it, come think."

"You found it eventually." Leandra heard them kissing and gagged.

"Apparently she needs to be told that she wouldn't be here if we hadn't kissed," her mother said, sounding amused, fully aware that her daughter was listening to every word under the pretence of studying. The girl blushed.

"We did a few other things too," her father said with a roguish laugh.

"She doesn't need to know about that just yet," her mother retorted dryly. "Though the village gossips have probably taken time to inform her," she added. Leandra heard him sweep the small woman off her feet and her mother giggle.

"She'll find out in her own time. But you, my dear," he growled possessively into her mother's ear, "You are no innocent like her."

"Something I seem to recall you saw to," her mother replied, voice high and breathless. Her father laughed again and she heard his retreating footsteps and the door shut behind them.

"They're at it again, are they?" her brother Carver sighed, poking his head through the door.

"Yup," she replied.

They were eight years old, learning to control their magic, and life was good.

XX

They had heard, of course, about Aunt Bethany. Mother spoke of her a lot. Childhood stories mostly, occasionally regret about the fact she'd let the Circle take her, but they'd never met her, or any of the others Mother and Father talked about- Aveline, Varric, Fenris and Merrill.

Hiding from the Templars as they were, though the children didn't properly understand why, Mother and Father had always being wary around guests, despite the inordinate amount they had.

Father ran a clinic, healing people for free, and word got around about the apostate in the mountains who helped everyone.

"You keep saying you don't want to be found. Why do all the people keep coming to see Father?" Leandra asked one day while Mother was brushing her hair. She'd played hide and seek with the village children enough to know that one did not announce their hiding place if they wanted to stay hidden.

"Your father never was one to hide," Mother replied. "Even in Kirkwall, with the Templars hounding him all the time. If he were in the Gallows about to be hung and someone asked for his help he'd postpone his own execution to help them." Her tone was fond.

The girl had looked horrified at the thought of her father being hung, and Mother seemed to realise she'd made a mistake.

"Sorry, darling. I shouldn't have said that," she'd said.

So when someone knocked on the door, Carver was wary, pushing Leandra behind him.

Their parents arrived at the same moment, Mother with her daggers in her hands and Father with his staff in his.

"Take your sister out back, Carver," Father said quietly and the boy nodded as he protectively ushered Leandra to the door, holding his staff.

"Who is it?" Mother called.

"Let me in already, sis."

The wariness on Mother's face abruptly vanished to be replaced with extreme joy.

"Bethany!" she cried out as she sheathed her daggers and opened the door. Carver caught a glimpse of a black haired woman before Mother hugged her fiercely and blocked her from view.

"Leora," Aunt Bethany said, much quieter but with no less enthusiasm. "It's good to see you again. Anders, I trust you're well?"

"I am," Father replied and offered his hand. Aunt Bethany took it and shook it firmly.

"And who is this?"

Carver had stopped moving, seeing how his parents relaxed on seeing their visitor, but was still shielding his sister from view.

"This is my son, Carver," Mother introduced him. "Behind him is Leandra, his twin sister."

Aunt Bethany turned away hurriedly, and Carver was sure he'd seen tears in her eyes.

"I thought I told you to call a girl Bethany," she said, voice choked up.

"I thought I told you to get lost," Mother said, smiling and giving her the chance to dry her eyes.

"You did," Aunt Bethany acknowledged a moment later, turning around.

"You're a mage too," Leandra said, peering around her brother and noting the staff on her aunt's back.

"Duh," Carver said. "Mother told us that."

"Shut up," the girl said, pouting.

"Only when you stop being stupid," Carver said cheerfully.

"I'm not stupid!"

"They remind me of you and Carver. It was the two of you who ought to have been twins," Aunt Bethany laughed, watching.

The two children stopped bickering and looked up, Carver responding to the sound of his name.

"Not you, your namesake," Aunt Bethany said to him.

"They go at it all the time too," Father said dryly. "Was she really that bad as a child?"

"Worse than she is now," Bethany assured him. He did a double take in mock horror.

"No!"

"Oh, yes," Mother said with a roguish grin. "Terrible, I was. Fought over everything."

"So no different to now then," Father said. Mother hit him and he laughed.

They might argue a lot- Carver was sure that their parents bickered worse than they did- but both children knew that in the event of trouble they stood firm together.

"I pursued you for three years, Anders," Mother had once said to Father after an argument while the twins eavesdropped past their bedtime. "I stood with you through the destruction of the Chantry, and being on the run. I won't let a small thing like this separate us."

"I don't deserve you," he had said.

"You keep saying that," she had replied, sounding amused, and Carver knew she was quirking a single eyebrow. It was her habit. He heard them kissing and gagged.

"And you need to go to bed," she'd added, raising her voice and addressing their children directly. There was a squeak and a scurry of small feet as Leandra ran back to their room, Carver not far behind her.

"Such a good idea," their father had said, scooping his wife in his arms and kissing her passionately. Not long later the twins heard Father walking past their door.

Now Mother spoke up.

"Yes, I'm the only one here who isn't," she said, smiling. "Magic is more trouble than its worth." She grinned at her husband, who opened his mouth to retort.

"Heard from Aveline lately?" Aunt Bethany asked; changing the subject before the pair of them could start bickering too. She was a twin, and knew what a pair who regularly bickered looked like.

"No," Father said. "Not for a few years. Haven't heard any rumours either, which must mean that they've kept out of sight." The children stayed quiet, eager to listen in and aware they'd probably be sent away if caught.

"I heard a rumour that an elf is hunting slavers," Aunt Bethany said. The three of them grinned. "Brutally. It's said that he stabs them right through the chest." Mother was shaking with suppressed laughter while Father just shook his head.

Leandra looked at Carver, confused. He shook his head, looking just as puzzled.

"Reckon Merril threw herself on her own blade?" Mother asked. "Hypothetically speaking, of course."

"More like fell prey to the demons she summoned," Bethany snorted. The twins gasped. Demons were forbidden! This seemed to bring them back to the attention of the adults.

"This conversation can wait until these two are in bed," Mother said. "And they won't hear us- or eavesdrop," she added.

The pair groaned.

"When did you turn responsible, hmm?" Aunt Bethany asked, grinning.

"I became a parent," Mother retorted. "I see you aren't carting around kids."

"I'm much too busy for that!" the smaller woman replied. "Besides, you're doing the child rearing for both of us. Double the trouble."

"Should have known I was carrying twins," Mother sighed. "When I started getting too big to fight."

"I hear that happens in normal pregnancy too, sis," Aunt Bethany said snidely.

"Speaking from experience?" Mother asked sweetly.

"Girls," Father said warningly.

Both sisters hit him.

"Ow," he complained. "That was supposed to stop hurting."

"Never," Mother promised, with a warm smile.

The twins ran in and tugged at Aunt Bethany's arms, getting bored of the adult talk.

"Aunt Bethany! Come on, I want to show you my room!" Carver exclaimed.

"Mine first!" Leandra insisted. "Maybe I'll show her the hole in the bedhead where you nail my braid while I sleep."

Aunt Bethany and Mother burst out laughing in perfect unison as Bethany was dragged away by the twins.

XX

Aunt Bethany stayed a week before leaving. She was charmed by their little family and promised to visit again, but, alas, she had to leave, she explained to the children's doleful faces.

Mother embraced her sister tightly before she left.

"Stay safe, sister," she said.

"You too," Aunt Bethany said with a warm smile. "Take good care of the little tykes."

"We've managed for eight years now. I'm sure we'll be fine," Mother assured her.

"It's been good to see you again," Father said seriously. "Stay free." Aunt Bethany grinned.

"The Templars have been too busy trying to contain open war to bother hunting lil old me," she laughed. "I never did congratulate you, Anders. Our mass exodus was a bit rushed for that."

Father's smile was strained.

"Oh, and sis? I heard a rumour that you returned to Ferelden with the rogue Grey Warden to steal the throne from under King Alastair," their aunt added, winking. "That you reckon it'll look good in your living room."

"Varric," Mother and father said at the same time, both trying- and failing- not to laugh.

"He also said that he was 'making good' on his promise. Said you'd know what he meant."

Father groaned. Mother laughed.

"Never expected any less of him," she said cheerfully.

"In any case," Aunt Bethany said, looking up at the sun, "I really do need to get going. It's been nice seeing you."

"You too, sister," Mother said, watching her leave until she was out of sight.

XX

Life continued as normal, except that the children now asked for Aunt Bethany.

"I don't know where she is," Mother explained patiently for the hundredth time while cooking dinner one night. Her cooking had improved no end- Anders stopped needing to treat himself for food poisoning now. "She'll visit when she can but we can't send her a letter asking her to come back."

The twins groaned.

"Why not?" Leandra whined.

"Honey, if a letter can find her, so can the Templars," Mother said. "I won't take that chance."

"What if the Templars do find her? What's the worst that could happen?" Leandra asked, impatiently.

Mother went pale but didn't reply. Father appeared in the doorway, took one look at his wife and went to her side. Leandra knew somehow that she had caused Mother pain.

"Anders… did you hear…"

"Yes," he said. "Don't worry, sweetheart. They won't find her, or us."

"If they find you…" Carver pulled his sister out of the kitchen quietly but they still heard what she said next. "They'll kill you! The thought of you hanging in the Gallows…" she tried to suppress a sob with little success.

"I'd drown us in blood before I let that happen," their father promised. Their mother laughed shakily.

"I suppose we've already done the flowers."

XX

That night they received a strong talking to about Templars.

"Your magic is a gift," Father said, "But the Templars see it as a curse and would lock you away for it."

"Away from you and Mother?" Leandra asked, horrified.

"And from each other," Father said gravely.

"You're a mage," Carver said. "Would they lock you away too?" After a moment's hesitation, he nodded. Better to let them think that he'd just be locked away.

"You wouldn't see me again," he said, carefully.

"I don't want that to happen!" Leandra exclaimed, bursting into tears. "I'd miss you!"

"I'd miss you too, baby," he said, hugging his daughter tightly.

"What would happen to Mother if they found us?" Carver asked quietly. "She's no mage."

"I don't know, Carver," Father said. "She'd be punished for hiding you and your sister. And me." She'd die protecting us, he thought. But he wouldn't tell them that.

"She would be punished for protecting her family?"

"She'd be punished for harbouring apostates, her family or not," he corrected.

"Apostates?" Leandra asked, screwing her nose up in confusion.

"Mages outside the Circle," Mother said, entering the room.

"What's the Circle?"

"Templars lock mages they catch in towers for the rest of their lives. Aunt Bethany used to be in the Circle of Magi."

"You gave her up?" Leandra asked in horror.

"No!" Mother exclaimed. "I'd no more give her up than I'd give you up. The Templars took her and I couldn't stop them."

"Templars are bad people," Carver said gravely.

"Yes, honey, they are," Mother said.

XX

That night, Leora and Anders talked about moving on for the first time in many years.

Sitting up in bed, both unable to sleep with their shared worries pressing on their minds, Anders was the first to break the silence.

"Maybe it's time to move on," he said. In the flickering candlelight, she stared at him for a long moment.

"I don't want to move them," she said. "I want them to have normal childhoods."

"I know, love," he said. "I do too. But until the Templar order is abolished and the Circle destroyed for good, they can't live normal lives."

"When I was a child, I resented magic," she sighed. "We were always moving, always running, from one town, one farm, to the next. Just because my sister was a mage. I never had any friends. I am not putting my children through that."

"The Templars will catch up with us eventually," he said. "Or the Chantry. And my crime will be considered yours."

"I'd hang in your place," she said fiercely. "In a heartbeat I would hang in your place."

"They'd never accept that," he argued. "Besides, I said once that I would die for mage freedom. I still would."

"Our children need someone who can teach them magic. I can't do that. If it comes down to it, you take them and run."

"They need a mother." Knowing neither of them were going to back down, she stared at him for a long moment, grasping for his hand silently.

"Promise me you'll never let the Circle take them," she said.

"Only if you make the same promise," he said.

"I promise, love."

"So do I."

She lay down and stared at the roof. He wrapped an arm around her waist.

"Don't worry about it, love. They'll be fine. I'll be fine," he assured her.

"I do hope you're right. I couldn't live without you."