"Nicely done, Jillan." Bethany smiled at the tiny thing and delighted in the elf girl's giggle.

Six of the newest apprentices had gathered around one of the Gallows' smallest metal tables, specially cut down for little legs and stubby arms. She'd gathered six little bowls and had filled them each with a heaping handful of shavings. The little elf girl had gotten the hang of controlling heat far better than her classmates. Still, all of them had potential, even the slow Quinn, who'd only managed the smallest spark before the shavings had extinguished it without even a faint hint of smoldering.

"Mistress Bethany?" Quinn really was a darling, even if he hesitated in unleashing his power. Just like Ella when she first came here.

"What is it?"

"I have to tell you in private," he whispered, his cheeks brilliant red.

He held his hand out, even as his eyes refused to meet hers. She let him lead her around the corner.

"Are you mad at me?"

"Why would you think such a thing?"

"I'm…" She swore his cheeks would burst into flame. "I'm scared."

"What scares you?" She crouched down next to him and touched his cheek. "There's nothing to be frightened of here."

"I can't…"

"Can't what, honey?"

"Light a fire," he whispered and clenched his eyes shut.

"Why not? You have just as much talent as every other mage here."

"They all want to kill us." His voice dropped to nothing. "They wait everywhere with their swords, just like when they found me."

"The Templars, Quinn? They're here to protect us."

"I heard you were an ap… apost-ate, Mistress. Did they hurt you?"

"No. They brought me here and put me through a test. I passed, and they've been… kind ever since." That wasn't entirely true, but he was too young to understand that just yet.

"They caught me when I set a dog on fire, Mistress," he said, his blue eyes suddenly liquid. "It bit me, and it hurt me so bad. The lady whose dog it was- she told them about me. She didn't even give me a bandage!"

"Are you worried about what will happen if you use your power?"

He nodded and wiped his eyes.

"Aww, you poor thing!" She wrapped her arms around him. "You know why the wood is in that bowl?"

He shook his head and his unruly hair brushed her cheek.

"Does pottery burn?"

"It doesn't?"

"It's safe to use your power here. The table's metal, and takes more than a small flame to melt it. Even if you set a dog on fire…"

"I killed it, Mistress."

"It takes a lot more to melt metal than to broil a dog. I bet that mean old dog tasted good after you cooked him!"

The boy sniffed and choked on the peal of laughter that escaped him. "He was burned."

"Even better! I like my dog charred to a crisp."

He stared at her, his liquid eyes wide. "But… you're a Ferelden!"

She grinned and wiped away a tear that escaped his lids. "Yes, we love our dogs. Preferably lean and well-done."

"Nuh-unh! Mistress, you can't eat… Oh!" He smiled and a giggle followed not far behind. "You're silly!"

"Silly? Well, maybe a little. Remember, you're safe here, and I'm going to teach you everything you need to know to use your power properly. Magic's only dangerous if you don't know how to control it."

She smiled as she imagined Fenris' moue at her last words. And I bet Lyssie would be laughing with me if she saw it, even if she secretly agreed with him.

"I shouldn't be scared?"

"There are plenty of things in Thedas to be scared of, honey. A bowl of wood chips isn't one of them."

Lucas' flames burned brilliantly when she returned and several of the other children looked on as it crackled in his dish. Anitra focused with all her might on her own bowl, her eyes narrowed. She was a sweet thing otherwise, but her competitive streak was either going to lead to trouble or drive her half mad. Today it was the latter.

"Burn! Burn, drat you!" The girl scrunched up her forehead, though brow-scrunching did nothing to strengthen a flame. She'd learn eventually.

"Are you ready, Quinn?" Bethany asked.

The back of his little blond head nodded as he settled back into his chair.

"Just let it free. We're all safe here."

Another tiny nod, and the head bowed a little lower over the bowl. A puff of smoke, and a sizeable ember flared bright as the chips caught his spark. She could almost feel the tremor as he let the power flow through him. Soon, the chips crackled and blazed bright, and she felt the faintest ripple of heat as she stood behind him.

"There," he said, his voice full of wonder. "I did it, Mistress! I did it!"

"You did! All of you did very well today," she said. "You'll be proper enchanters yet!"

"Thank you, Miss-triss," the children sang with that oh-so-annoying formality the First Enchanter had taught them. If she'd had a choice, she'd have had them call her "Bethany."

Ella waited for her outside her quarters as always, though this time the girl launched right at her instead of twitching timidly as she usually did.

"You never told me how your visit went. What did Fenris say? He was so kind when I thanked him."

"Only because you were safely locked away."

"He seems nice, Bethany, and not at all like you described him."

"Maybe… I'm being unfair, aren't I? He's different now. More reasonable. When I knew him years ago, he was a bitter, broken thing who never stopped talking about how horrible magic was all the time, nonstop. I don't think he had anything else to talk about."

"Was he scared of you?"

"You know, I never really thought about it." She took a deep breath. "Maybe he was. Maybe whatever that beast was who enslaved him made him scared of mages. Lyssie might have been right… No, she was. He's a good man underneath it all."

"That's a change," Ella said and giggled. "He's more handsome than I remembered. And, Bethany, that voice!"

"Are you jealous of Lyssie? Ella, really?"

The girl snorted. "If only some of the mages here were half as pleasing to the eye…"

Not that we'd ever have a chance to see what might happen. She fought back the wave of loneliness she constantly suppressed once she left the children. She'd never have any of her own, and would never train them as Father had taught her.

"No, fortunately they're not. You don't really think he's attractive, do you?"

"Bethany, you don't?"

"Elves just look, well, different. A man shouldn't be thinner than I am."

"You're not a very good liar, Bethany."

"What? They do, and they shouldn't!"

"Dinner's ready," Ella said, her smile uncharacteristically wicked.

As Bethany snuggled beneath the covers hours later, full bellied and strangely content, she mused over Ella's crush on the elf. The voice was something when it wasn't full of hatred, she supposed, though his apparent scrawniness and odd markings made him look like a half-starved tiger. Oh, Ella! If only you'd seen some of the lads in Lothering… She snickered and burrowed deeper into her blankets' warm embrace. I just wish my bed in Lothering had been as comfortable, let alone that mat thing in Gamlen's hut. She was halfway to dreaming when she thought she heard a muffled male voice.

"…shee wa-ay-k?"

"Who?" she asked, though she couldn't think the words properly.

"Flames! She's awake!"

She squinted in the strong light beam she only vaguely recognized as coming from the door. Two nightmares of sculpted silver, flashing more blinding spikes into her eyes, hovered over her, and two sets of armor clattered in counterpoint as the helmets closed in. Templars! Oh, Maker! She opened her mouth, but a metal hand clamped her jaw shut. The scales scraped against her lips, and she half-wondered if she bled. Worse was the chill that traveled down deep into her gut as another hand grabbed her wrists.

"Calm yourself, Mistress Bethany," one said. "You're coming with us."

"Did I…" But it came out as grunts beneath the frigid glove.

"You're taking too long!" A female voice from the hallway, familiar, but as Bethany struggled against her bonds, she couldn't place it. "Will you knock her out already?"

"But he said not to hurt her!"

"Do I have to do everything myself?"

Yes, she recognized that voice, but the spattering of liquid that soaked her face her and took her down into blackness kept her from finishing the thought.

Gr…