Thanks SO much BlessedArrow, Apollo Wings, anesor, Morninglight and CouslandSpitFire for your awesome reviews! I'd also like to thank those of you following the story and those who have put it on your list of favorites! :D Ice cream for everyone who has! :D

A few things about this chapter: Velanna is even more insane AND Hawke and Anders draw closer. YES! It's not all about smexy, smut, ok? LOL!

Huge thanks to my WONDERFUL betas, Eynla and CouslandSpitFire! You two ladies ROCK! :D

My disclaimer: Bioware owns! I just play with the characters! :D

Chapter 8

The fight was brutal – there was no other word to describe it.

Anders had been in other terrible fights with dragons before, sure. But this one was huge: the dragon was huge…and had a huge number of dragonlings backing it up that appeared and attacked as well. Of course, they had three mages on their side – powerful magic was good – but Velanna hardly counted. She was flinging fireballs like they were flowers, not caring if they burned every single person in Anders's group. Anders soon lost count of the number of times he had to stop his offensive attack in order to heal Hawke's burns. And Varric's. And Bethany's. He was consuming a lot of lyrium potions and feverishly hoped that he had enough to last him the entire fight.

The dragonlings were sneaky, even though they weren't that hard to kill. The problem was that they continued to seemingly materialize out of nowhere – the room they were in was incredibly large and Anders couldn't see a way out from where he was standing. The fiends attacked repeatedly without warning and had a knack for suddenly appearing behind you when you least expected it.

Unpleasant, to say the least.

The first real relief he experienced was when Hawke finally ran up the huge mother dragon's back and sliced it below the neck. The blood gushed out everywhere, spattering all of them, but the dragon went down.

Andraste's tits! I'll have to get new robes now! And…boots!…Again!

There were about two dozen dragonlings left, thank the Maker! One minute the creatures were all moving to face the whole group. Then, after another one of Velanna's fireballs, the remaining dragonlings suddenly decided Velanna was a major threat and all of them turned and ran to her, viciously attacking at once.

She went down after killing another three.

Hawke did what Anders thought she would do…she ran off to help Velanna.

Anders groaned and sprinted after her, followed by Varric. Bethany had already reached a spot that was closer to Velanna and had flung her first offensive fireball at some of the dragonlings, which were almost instantly burned to a crisp.

Ha! I don't think Velanna will appreciate that there is a mage whose fireballs are more dangerous than hers!

He suddenly realized what he was thinking and burst out laughing as he finally reached the area where Bethany was standing. Bethany turned a puzzled look at him, but Anders shook his head and waved her off, still laughing as he used his staff on the creatures, a lightning bolt hitting the ones that were closer to Hawke.

Meanwhile, Hawke had literally cut her way to where Velanna's quiet form lay, and thanks to Bethany and Anders, most of the dragonlings were dying very quickly. Varric did a number with Bianca that had the rest of them slowing to a crawl, which Hawke made short work of as she became a blur, vanishing and reappearing to quickly and effectively slash as many as she could.

When there were only a few left, she actually laughed manically, which at the moment made Anders laugh again in spite of the seriousness of the situation. He quickly flung a powerful ice spell on the surviving creatures, making it easy for her to finish them off.

Velanna was still unconscious and Anders finally took a good look at her, noticing that she was not glowing blue any more. She looked very peaceful and harmless in fact, since she wasn't snarling at all. But Anders knew she would certainly snarl - and worse - when she came to, so he quickly grabbed Hawke's arm and pulled her away from the figure on the stone floor.

"Remember the insane Dalish elf I was telling you about?" he said in a rush, the words tumbling out. "That's her!"

"This is the elf you were referring to from the time when you were with the Wardens in Amaranthine?" Rhianna asked curiously and rather incredulously, Anders thought.

Anders could only nod at her words.

"Whatever she is, she needs to be healed," Hawke said firmly.

"I don't think you understand what I'm –"Anders began, his throat suddenly becoming dry when he realized that Rhianna would not change her mind.

Her violet eyes were now firmly and angrily fixed on his brown ones and they spoke volumes. Worse, Bethany was now kneeling in front of the delicate unconscious form on the floor, and she was already trying to heal Velanna. At the same time, Varric was saying something behind him that sounded like "I can't believe you won't heal her, Blondie!"

Anders turned his head to stare at Varric for a few moments. "Varric, this is NOT Merrill! She is nothing like her!"

A moan came from the unconscious form and Anders saw Hawke digging in her backpack for a health poultice. He shook his head and grabbed her arm again.

Without saying a word, he knelt beside the bleeding Velanna, and ran his hands over her; the golden glow emanating from his fingers growing in intensity as the open wounds magically stitched themselves together. Within minutes, he had successfully stopped the bleeding, and he poured out more healing magic into her to heal her burns. He noticed something else while he was working on her, too. There was something there – a force he did not quite understand.

Frowning when he was done, he stood up and faced Hawke. "Something is off about her. I can't quite understand what it is…"

"But you've healed her, right?" Hawke asked, clearly concerned.

"Yes. I've done what I could for her now, but she's lost a great deal of blood. In order for her to be completely healed, I'll have to watch over her and heal her repeatedly until she comes to. I suggest we set up camp here for the moment," Anders said, resigning himself to the fact that Velanna had successfully duped Hawke, Varric and Bethany. "After I've rested and eaten, my mana will regenerate completely and I'll be able to apply more healing magic so that she recuperates faster."

What Hawke did after he said those words totally surprised him, huge butterflies coming to life somewhere inside his stomach and his knees suddenly feeling weak. She stood on her toes and kissed his cheek, her violet eyes shining at him like twin stars.

Anders didn't think twice about what he did next. He swept her up into his arms and captured her lips in his.

She was so surprised at this that she froze, but after a few moments her lips parted softly and she kissed him back with such fervor and passion that he tightened his grip on her slightly. The kiss was everything he had imagined it to be and so much more. But then, without prior warning, she inexplicably broke away panting a little and hurriedly disentangled herself from his arms, her eyes wide with…was that fear? What the heck is she so afraid of?

"Why did you go and do that for?" she demanded, her eyes flashing angrily for a few moments. "Don't you understand what 'no' means?"

Without waiting for a reply from a stunned Anders, she quickly turned on her heel and walked away, only to throw her backpack to the ground and start setting up the tents without a backwards glance at any of them.

Anders felt slightly dismayed at her reaction, but could not utter a word. He just sighed and turned to reach for his backpack that was now lying on the stone floor behind him, his eyes momentarily falling on Varric who was staring at him with open annoyance.

"What the fuck are you so upset about?" he asked, slightly nettled.

"I lost! Thanks a lot, Blondie!" Varric sighed as he walked off towards Hawke to help her with the tents.

…

Anders never thought that he would ever find himself in the position he was in at the moment. During the long hours that dragged silently on, he sat beside Velanna, periodically pouring healing magic into her. She did not seem even close to opening her eyes, so he took a break, his eyes automatically looking for Hawke in the makeshift camp they had set up.

He saw that she was walking towards him with a bowl of food, soup most likely, and smiled as she handed the bowl over to him. He didn't say a word until the bowl was securely in his hands: he didn't want hot soup all over him if he said anything to upset her.

"I'm…um…sorry to have offended you," he murmured as he started on the soup, keeping his eyes on the bowl for the time being.

When Hawke didn't reply, he looked up to glance at her. She was sitting in front of him, staring down at Velanna.

"What's the story behind her?" she asked quietly, her eyes still on the unconscious Velanna. "I want to know the whole truth."

"The Warden-Commander took a group of us to the Wending Wood, a forest near Amaranthine, to figure out why merchant caravans using the road that cuts through it were attacked there. When we arrived, and after battling some bandits, we discovered that it was a woman," Anders gestured towards Velanna, "…um…it was she, who was responsible for the attacks. She attacked us, too, of course. We were human, you see. Well, everyone except for Sigrun, who's a dwarf." Anders finished his soup, his warm brown eyes fixed on Hawke.

"Was there another reason for her attacking everyone besides the fact that the Dalish generally hate humans?" Hawke asked.

"There was, actually," Anders nodded setting down the empty bowl in front of him. "There was a Dalish camp there, but most of them fled as the darkspawn entered the forest and lingered around. She thought that the humans had attacked the Dalish and had taken her sister. She was wrong. The darkspawn had planted some weapons at her camp to make her believe this. So, she attacked every single person she could, until the Warden-Commander showed her an Elven trinket she had found on one of the darkspawn. The Warden-Commander asked her if there was any underground place where the darkspawn could be hiding out and she replied there was an abandoned silverite mine not too far away. Then she asked to come with us. She wanted to help us because her sister was missing, and she was convinced the darkspawn had taken her. The Warden-Commander agreed and she joined our party. Personally, I thought the Warden-Commander was crazy when she let her join us."

"I hope you didn't tell the Warden-Commander that you thought she was crazy?" Hawke asked with a smile.

"Oh, no. The Warden-Commander would have laughed if I said that anyway. She's the Queen of Ferelden – she married King Alistair, who also is a Grey Warden," Anders grinned.

Hawke nodded with another smile. "I know that they were the ones who stopped the Blight. The Warden-Commander killed the Archdemon, didn't she?"

"Yes, she did. She dragged me along everywhere while she was in Amaranthine. You remind me of her, as a matter of fact," Anders chuckled.

"Really?" Hawke finally turned to look at him.

"Yes. She was also a rogue, like you. You fight almost the same way she does. Of course, she didn't have a death wish like you. Well, not one as pronounced as yours," he added thoughtfully.

"I do not have a death wish!" Rhianna protested.

"I beg to differ," Anders replied calmly with a grin. "I think you do. And a HUGE death wish as a matter of fact. But I digress," he said as he glanced over to Velanna who was still out cold. "The fact of the matter was that in the end, Velanna wished to become a Grey Warden and fight the darkspawn. We eventually did run into her sister. But her sister was ensnared by the Architect and looked like she was a half-ghoul to everyone, too. She had already been…tainted."

"The Architect?" Hawke asked interestedly.

"He was the first of the talking darkspawn. A powerful emissary, which is really a fancy word for 'darkspawn mage'. He led a faction of darkspawn. The Warden-Commander killed him and The Mother, who was the leader of another faction of darkspawn. These two factions were at war with each other after the Blight."

"I've never heard of darkspawn fighting each other," Hawke muttered with interest.

"We never had either," Anders smiled. "Unfortunately, the Architect's plan was a little shady, and so we never saw Velanna's sister again after the Warden-Commander killed the Architect. Velanna was angry at the Warden-Commander for some time, but they actually did manage to work out their differences. Then the Warden-Commander had to leave to return back to court, and the new Warden-Commander arrived from Orlais."

"An Orlesian Warden-Commander in Ferelden? I'm sure many resented that," Hawke commented, her eyes twinkling now.

"Oh, yes, I'm sure they did," Anders gave her a lopsided grin. "But the worse thing he could have done was to call for templars to watch over the mages in the Keep. Five templars as a matter of fact! Since Velanna and myself were the only mages around, well…you can imagine our reactions!"

"You attacked the Templars?" Hawke asked, her eyes widening slightly.

"Me? No! I happen to like living, thankyouverymuch!" Anders was quick to reply and Hawke chuckled at his response. He then grew serious, although his eyes were still twinkling. "Velanna, however, reacted very badly. Especially since the new Warden-Commander had just finished telling us that we could only cast magic while we were fighting and that magic was essentially a curse."

Anders shook his head and sighed.

"Ugh! So he was one of them!" Hawke said looking a bit annoyed.

Anders laughed. "If by 'one of them' you mean a twit, yes! He was! He was also an idiot, but I'm sure you've figured that one out on your own by now."

Hawke burst out laughing and Anders laughed along with her.

After a while, he continued to speak. "The new Warden-Commander also wanted me to get rid of my cat. I took him off my Satinalia gift list for that!"

"I thought Mr. Wiggums died?" Hawke asked with a chuckle.

"Oh, no! Not Mr. Wiggums. The Warden-Commander, um…the Queen of Ferelden Warden-Commander, gave me a cat in Amaranthine. I called him Ser Pounce-a-lot. The new Warden-Commander said he made me too soft," Anders frowned. "He was such a brave cat! He scratched a Genlock in the Deep Roads once and actually drew blood!"

"Did he die, too?"

"No. I had to…give him to a friend in Amaranthine, because I kind of left in a hurry," Anders said sadly, remembering his goodbye to Pounce.

"What do you mean, you kind of left in a hurry?" Hawke asked curiously.

"Well, the –"

At that moment, Velanna sighed and stirred – a smile on her lips as she opened her eyes. Anders froze and looked down at her and Rhianna did the same. Velanna's eyes widened when she saw them and she sat up, looking around for her staff, a totally confused expression on her face.

"Uh, oh!" Anders said, standing up quickly and pulling Hawke up, then pushing her behind him protectively.

Now why did I just do that?

Hawke started to protest, but Velanna suddenly adopted a defensive pose as she faced them both, her hands suddenly extending to the sky as she reached into the Veil. Anders and Hawke found themselves ensnared in roots that had sprouted from the ground, breaking through the stone floor. Velanna spied her staff, lying on the ground a short distance away and ran to it, grabbing it just as Bethany and Varric, who were sitting around the fire in front of the tents, stood up and ran towards them.

"Prepare to die!" she snarled at the four of them, pointing her staff at each one in turn.

"I told you she was crazy," Anders said to Hawke as he struggled to break through the roots. "No one ever listens!"

…