After that Mama gave him lessons every morning. She was very firm with him about what he was allowed to do and they never had lessons when they were staying in a town or a village - only on the road.
When Mama had the new baby, Anders stayed with her and helped her with some of his own blue light when he could feel she was hurting. The new baby was a boy, and Anders couldn't help but be happy about it - Maeve was fun sometimes, but it would be nice to have a boy around with them as well, even if he was eight years older than him.
He'd forgotten, of course, that babies didn't become little boys for a long time. He'd been very little when Maeve was born so couldn't remember - he'd thought that she came out talking and walking. When he found out that Jairo wouldn't be able to do either of those things for at least a year he was disappointed.
"Anders, you've seen babies," Mama said, laughing. "And how did you expect me to carry him around in my tummy if he was that big?"
He blushed. He hadn't really thought about it, he supposed.
Papa and Mama made him look after Maeve a bit more, once the new baby arrived. He didn't mind so much. Maeve could be a lot of fun now that she'd started to talk properly. They spent a lot of time playing chase. He tried to get her to play wardens and darkspawn, but she was too little to understand, and Papa scolded him when he caught Anders trying to explain to Maeve what a darkspawn was.
"You'll frighten her, Anders," he said.
He didn't say that was the point - you were supposed to be frightened of the darkspawn. But he supposed he shouldn't have told her that they were supposed to sometimes burst out of the ground without warning. She'd been scared to get off the wagon for a while after he told her that story.
Now he just chased her and pretended she was a darkspawn without telling her.
They were on their way to Denerim. Anders couldn't remember the last time they'd been there, although Papa said he'd been nearly three. When they got there he thought he might have remembered some of it, but it was so crowded and smelly and hot (it was the middle of summer) that even if he had remembered it he probably would have tried to forget it.
They stayed at an inn near the Alienage. Mama did a lot of work in the alienages whenever they visited the city. She said not many healers bothered to try to help the elves and it wasn't fair. Papa had arms and armour from Orzammar to trade with the market district traders. Anders knew they sold their things for much more money than Papa did and he always thought it was unfair, but Papa would smile at him. "I charge them more than the merchants at Orzammar charged me, Anders," he said. "It's fair, in its own way."
"But it's the same stuff!" Anders had objected. "Why would people pay more for it just because it's in a different place?"
Papa laughed. "How long did it take us to get here from Orzammar, Anders?" he asked.
"Huh," Anders said. "A very long time." It had felt like years.
"That's why people pay more here," Papa said. "They don't want to make the journey - they don't have time to make the journey. So they pay us to do it for them!"
"But the merchants in the city don't do the traveling," Anders said. "Why do they get to charge more than you?"
"Now that, my boy, is advanced economics, and something we can discuss when you're a bit older."
"But Papa..."
"I will explain, Anders," he said. "But I really have to get going, I have to meet some of those merchants today. And aren't you going to the alienage with Mama?"
He'd almost forgotten. Maeve and he would get to play with the elven children if they went to the alienage, and that was always fun. The elves always had better games than the humans. Humans always wanted to play with toys. Toys were, in Anders' opinion, boring. It was much more fun to play with whatever you found lying around in the grass. Or on the street. And there were always good things lying around in the alienages...
"We're not allowed to climb it," Vivian said, crossing her arms sternly and glaring at Anders. He pouted.
"But it's such a good tree!" he said. "Why aren't you allowed to climb it?"
"Mamae says it's dangerous," Vivian said. She was a little older than Anders, with blonde hair and he thought she might even be pretty if she ever bothered to smile. But she hadn't yet. Her brother, Marcus, was much more fun, even if he was a year younger than Anders. The fun had been stopped, though, when Vivian found them both halfway up the enormous tree planted in the middle of the alienage.
"Pff," Anders said. "Dangerous for you, maybe! Are you too delicate to climb a tree?"
"If you get Marcus hurt, Mamae won't let you play with us again."
"Awww, Viv!" Marcus wailed. "I've climbed it tons of times!"
"And I'm going to tell Mamae that, too. She'll keep you inside for a month!"
"You're a tattle tale!" Marcus shouted at her.
"You shouldn't be playing with a shem any way!"
Marcus drew in his breath in a gasp and Anders stopped what he was doing, sensing that something very bad had just been said, but not knowing exactly what it was. Vivian had gone a vivid shade of red, but her pointed chin was tipped up and her arms were folded even more tightly across her chest.
"This is Josie's son," Marcus said softly. "If Mamae found out you'd called him that, she wouldn't let you outside for a year!"
"I don't care who's son he is. He's still a shem."
Anders frowned and stepped back from the tree. "What's a shem?" he asked. He felt a soft hand on his shoulder and turned to see a tall man behind him.
"A shem, young man, is what some elves call humans," he said. "Unfortunately humans often call elves things that are much, much worse."
"You look like my Papa!" Anders blurted out, then felt himself go bright red. Luckily the man didn't seem to mind. He was about the same age as Papa, Anders thought, and he had the dark hair and skin that Papa had. Marcus and Vivian had run off as soon as the stranger arrived and Anders was suddenly aware he was alone with him - something his mother had always warned him against.
"Do I?" the man said. "Well, that's interesting. Did I hear the little man here say you were Josie's son?"
"Joscelyn the healer is my Mama, yes ser. Who are you? I shouldn't be talking to strangers without Mama near."
"No, you shouldn't," the man said, although Anders noticed that he didn't answer the question. "Is your mother nearby? I've actually come to find her."
"She's tending Shianni's Mamae," Anders said. When he noticed the man's blank look, he pointed to one of the alienage huts. "She was hurt really badly by a human man. Mama is trying to fix her."
The man's expression darkened. "I see. I shall wait for her out here then."
"I can go and tell her you're looking for her if you like," Anders said, edging towards the hut. The man shook his head.
"I think you should stay outside as well, young man," he said. "If your mother is working, she won't want to be disturbed."
Anders shrugged and ran off to find Marcus and Vivian. Maybe Vivian would be less grumpy if he suggested they play near the bridge instead of climbing the tree.
When Mama came to find him later she looked tired and he thought she might have had to use the blue light again. She was with the man who looked like Papa, talking to him as she waved him over, with Jairo strapped to her in the sling and Maeve tugging at her skirts.
"I'm afraid not, Commander," she was saying. "I'm happy to do whatever I can for your people whenever I'm in Denerim, but what you ask... with a young family?"
"I understand," he said. "And to be honest it wasn't the main reason I came to find you. I wanted to let you know that... should your family show any signs, we would be happy to take them in."
Mama hugged Anders when he got to her and her face was grim. "I'm not sure if I should be glad or not that you offered," she said. "From what I've heard, it's a short, brutal life. I don't want that for my children."
"But if it's a choice between that or the circle..."
She sighed. "I'll think about it, Commander," she said. "But you'll excuse me if I don't rush to you straight away. You're not going to invoke the right of conscription, are you?"
He laughed. "No, Joscelyn. We are not so pressed for recruits that I would sunder your family. I prefer willing ones any way. But I would like you to know it's an option."
"It's good to know that, at least," she said. "Now, you said you had wounded at the warden compound?"
"Just some training accidents," the man said. "But if you could stop by I would appreciate it. All our healers are out patrolling at present and going to some of the Denerim doctors is tantamount to telling everyone in the city our secrets."
"I'll drop by later this afternoon," she said. "When Felix can take care of the children."
"How fared your charge here?"
Mama looked even more grim. "She'll live," she said. "But I wish I didn't have to attend the same problems every time I'm here. It's not right!"
The man sighed. "There is much wrong in the capital at present," he said. "But there are worse places in Thedas. For elves and humans alike."
"You have Maric's ear, don't you Commander? Surely you can help these people!"
"I assure you, Joscelyn, King Maric is more sympathetic to the plight of the elves than most people believe. But it's far harder to change minds than it is to change things."
Mama shrugged. "Well, Commander," she said. "I shall see you later this afternoon."
The man bowed with his arms crossed over his chest. Anders, who had been practically bursting with curiosity through the whole conversation, finally erupted with questions.
"Who was he Mama? Why did you call him Commander? What did he want us to do? Where are you going this afternoon?"
Mama laughed and ruffled his hair as they started walking back towards the inn. "Anders, slow down. I only have one mouth to answer you with."
"Who was he?"
"That was Duncan, Anders. He's the Commander of the Grey Wardens in Ferelden."
"You know Duncan? You know a Grey Warden? Why didn't you tell me Mama?"
"Well, know is too strong a word, darling. I have healed some of his men in the past. They get injured quite a bit, Grey Wardens."
"Do they have griffons mama? Can I come with you to see?"
She laughed as he peppered her with questions all the way back to the inn. Maeve was wide eyed and silent as they walked, as enraptured as Anders, but Mama didn't have much to add, aside from the fact that no, the Grey Wardens didn't have griffons any more and no Anders couldn't go with her to the Grey Warden compound that afternoon.
It was only once he was back at the inn with Papa that he remembered Vivian had called him a shem. He would have to ask Papa later what it meant.