Title: Inquisition

Disclaimer: BioWare owns all; I just play in their pond.

Related Twice Bitten Chapter: Seven – Magic and Mystery

POV: Jowan

Characters: Jowan, Aedan, and Alistair

Author's Notes: Just what did Aedan have in mind to discuss with Jowan in order to distract him from what Wynne was doing with his demon?

Reviews are always welcome!

Jowan couldn't decide what to think about the fact that he'd been left alone again. Huh. For that matter, he couldn't decide what to feel about it, either. Ever since his arrival at the Circle as a boy, he had always been most comfortable without others around, or at least without others paying him any attention. Alone meant no one was criticizing him. Alone meant no one was mocking him.

But here… The cold stone and the iron bars reminded him altogether too much of his trip through the basements of the circle, passing the cells they kept for mages who didn't – or couldn't – follow the rules. The bad ones. Like himself. He was only surprised that this was the first time he'd ever ended up locked away somewhere. Every time he thought he could take comfort in the absence of anyone around him, he was gripped with the knowledge that no one was around him in the near-pitch of the dungeons and a new panic rose in his chest at the idea that he might be forgotten.

Which was all he'd ever wanted, wasn't it? To be forgotten? But not like this.

He'd long since given up on hiding any of his weakness, as adept as others seemed to be at provoking it anyway. So when he heard approaching steps and saw the flickering torchlight spilling around the corner into the hall that contained his cell, he didn't bother trying to stem the tears of relief or the little mewling sounds that passed his lips for a moment, somehow managing to carry with them relief and gratitude and fear for whoever came near. Even knowing what a pathetic show he was making, he thought it better to get it over with now than try to bottle it and end up making a bigger fool of himself later.

And then he saw it was them, those two who had filled the space before him days before. What could they possibly want from me now? They already sent me back here. Thinking this brought up in him another wave of gratitude for allowing him to retreat and at the same time he felt the bitterness of having been rejected from any sort of company. Again. But those thoughts fled when the short one, who didn't quite manage to match his height even hunched as he was from the torture, passed a loaf of bread and a skin of water through the bars. Jowan couldn't remember the last time he'd been fed, but he did remember the mold that had grown on the bread he'd been given then. This loaf looked fresh.

The two men took up positions on either side of the cell, leaning against the wall and gesturing for him to get on with eating. He was a bit – all right, more than a bit – self-conscious about the way he bolted the food down, chasing it with almost all of the water he'd been given, but then he remembered he'd already resigned himself to looking piteous anyway. It was only after he'd finished that the short one fit the torch through a hook on the wall across the corridor, leaned back in the spot he'd taken, and spoke to him as if he hadn't just seen a meal devoured in a manner more beast than human.

"I'd be Aedan, then, and that'd be Alistair." The short one nodded at the blond one and fell silent, looking expectantly through the bars.

After a moment, the mage realized what they were waiting for. "Um… I-I'm Jowan." They had to know already, didn't they?

"Good! I'm in the way of being a sneaky bastard, Alistair was to be a Templar but decided it was for the birds, and you're a mage." Jowan flinched a bit – all right, more than a bit – at hearing what Alistair almost was, wondering why he'd be here, even if the blond man did let out a half laugh at hearing that description of his exit from the Order. Still, Aedan went on as if he wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary. "Now we all know each other, how about telling me what kind of mage you are? What kind of magic are you about?"

"You… you know I'm a blood mage. I used that to escape from the Circle with-with Lily, because she said they were going to make me T-Tranquil."

"Well, yes, but you're also a living mage, so you can't have used all your blood just for that. What else do you use? Have you used blood magic since you got away from the Circle?"

"Maker, no. I…" Jowan had to take a minute to get used to the rapid-fire pace of the questions being flung at him. The last time this had happened, he'd been strapped to a table with a much larger man standing beside him and doing hideous things that caused him no end of pain. "I-I-I mostly learned Elemental, but I… I was never very good at it. They never taught me more than basics and I can't control it. When I want it to work, it doesn't, and the simplest things turn out terribly. I… thought the blood magic would make me better at the rest of it, but it… didn't. So there wasn't any point to doing any more and it's not right anyway and I never should have."

Jowan was breathing heavily, almost resigned to the panic he knew was coming. He'd never handled it well when instructors at the Circle had questioned him about his abilities, but now the one called Aedan had moved to stand square in front of him and was looking at him. It was terrifying, like the man could see right into his head, but Jowan couldn't make himself look away.

And in spite of that, Aedan's tone stayed just as easy as it had been when he spoke. "And what of the torture, then? Isn't that the kind of thing that would make a mage reach for a demon? You've already got one, so why not bring it out and put an end to that kind of pain?"

"I-I couldn't. I mean I could, because just being allowed to do that would have given her what she wanted, but… I couldn't. It's not right." Jowan knew he was sweating now, as profusely as he had when he was afraid of what the torturer would reach for next.

"So once you realized you'd erred, you decided to stay away from the demons and the blood magic and you stuck to it, even in the face of unimaginable pain." Aedan stated this as fact; it wasn't a question. "And what do you want for yourself now?"

"I… you heard me say I poisoned the Arl. It doesn't matter who told me to do it. I have to be judged, I have to be sentenced. I have to d-"

"No," Alistair cut in, surprising Jowan with the force of the interruption. "You don't have to die to set things right. The Arl hasn't, and we'll be seeing he doesn't if we have anything to say about it."

"But the only other option is Tranquility and I can't… I can't…" Lost in panic now, Jowan stumbled against the bars and struggled just to draw breath.

"No." This from Aedan again. "There are other ways to balance the scales. Sit tight a minute, get yourself together."

The two men disappeared around the corner they'd come from, leaving Jowan with hints of a discussion taking place. He could hear voices, but not words, and then… it happened, as they came back to the cell, and he looked at them, shifting his eyes from one to the other with the plea naked on his face. "She's… she's gone. The demon. What did you… Why?"

It was Aedan who answered. "We met someone recently who thought you deserve better. But she should really tell you about that herself, when she's able. For now…" Jowan could only stare as Aedan reached into a pocket and brought out a roll of leather, from which he extracted two tiny metal… sticks, the mage supposed. And in almost no time at all, the bars to his cell swung open. "That lock was terrible. No wonder the other cells are empty. A body could probably pick one open with a strand of hair. Come on, then."

Jowan tried to step and ended up falling against Aedan. "I… I can't."

"Yes, you can." Shifting, Aedan pulled one of the mage's arms over his shoulders and bent at the knees a couple of times to test his hold on the man's weight. "We'll explain a few things on the way up then, yeah?"