Chapter Twenty-Seven: That Time Justice Nearly Killed a Mage

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age 2.

"Look, Anders, it's not that I don't trust you to lead us around blindly or anything – though there is that – but could you maybe tell us where we're going and why?" Carver requested politely.

Anders frowned. "Do you really need to know?"

"I would appreciate it," Carver confirmed.

Anders got that familiar look on his face that he always did whenever he was about to start ranting about the oppression of mages and the evilness of templars.

"Oh, now you've done it," Fenris said, groaning.

"Have you noticed how many Tranquil are in the Gallows courtyard lately?" Anders demanded.

"Forty-three as of yesterday morning," Emma answered promptly, not even needing to think about it.

"Well as of this morning it's forty-seven," Anders informed her. "And some of them passed their Harrowing making this most recent templar abuse actually illegal."

"And we're going to…what?" Isabela asked. "Have a protest or something? Are we going to get arrested?"

"I hope not," Varric said, shuddering. "Do you have any idea how expensive getting arrested is?"

"I would have thought that it's the getting un-arrested part that's the problem, not getting arrested in the first place," Isabela replied.

"That is true but what's the alternative?" Varric asked rhetorically. "Facing what passes for justice here in Kirkwall? No thanks."

"I'm not hearing this," Aveline said, covering her ears.

"Good to know," Varric said, giving her a strange look.

"Maybe you'd be able to hear better if your hands weren't over your ears," Merrill suggested. She frowned. "Of course, it's silly to suggest that since you probably can't hear my suggestion, either…"

"The Chantry are planning to have every mage in Kirkwall made Tranquil within the next three years," Anders informed them. "True story."

"Oh, it is not!" Carver snapped. "No one's ever said anything of the sort!"

"It is a disgraceful thing to lie like that just because you disgracefully hate mages," Anders said disdainfully.

Emma was frowning, though. "Are you sure, though? I mean, maybe it's just something that the higher-ups know about and someone like Carver, who is never even there, wouldn't have heard about it. I can't imagine Carver would be okay with that with Bethany in the Circle."

"I would kill every templar there myself before I let them make Bethany Tranquil," Carver said fiercely.

"It is in the early stages," Anders conceded. "And it's the brainchild of Ser Alrik."

"Alrik, Alrik…" Carver repeated to himself, trying to figure out where he recognized that name from. He snapped his fingers. "Oh, I know him! He's the guy that Meredith keeps having to yell at for being too extreme."

Everyone shuddered.

"Too extreme in the Kirkwall Chantry?" Isabela asked, her eyes wide. "Now I'm scared."

"She's probably just saying that as a cover," Anders said, not really listening. "Alrik's plan has an official-sounding name and everything! The 'Tranquil Solution.'"

"That sounds ominous," Merrill noted. "But also like it's talking about helping mages who are Tranquil not be Tranquil anymore."

"I assure you, that's not what it is," Anders told her curtly.

"I just don't understand why they wouldn't simply kill all of the mages instead of bothering to make them Tranquil," Fenris protested.

"That's illegal," Aveline pointed out.

Fenris rolled his eyes. "So is this. But while making a Harrowed mage Tranquil is always illegal, if they should provoke – or even stage – a rebellion and that'll bring down the Rite of Annulment on their heads."

"I say we go kill Ser Alrik," Emma suggested. "Even if this plan isn't real – sorry, Anders, but it must be said – then Alrik is still terrible. He thinks he's some kind of mad scientist or something."

"Oh, no," Carver corrected her. "He really is a mad scientist."

Anders smiled at Emma. "I am honored by your trust in me."

" 'And yet I will still probably betray that in the worst way at the first possible opportunity'," Carver muttered.

"HELP ME!"

"Let's go," Aveline said, suddenly looking far more invested in this.

They ran ahead and saw that, in the wilderness that was apparently right next to the Gallows, a terrified-looking girl was backing away from a smirking templar. Four faceless templars stood impassively by.

"Look, I don't care if you want your mommy to know that you're still alive and a mage or whatever," Alrik – for who else could it be? – scoffed. "You tried to run away and that means I'm going to rape you and then make you Tranquil and then probably rape you again. A lot."

Anders had been doing an admirable job of keeping Justice contained after that first flash of blue when they had heard the scream. After that, it was a lost cause, but everyone judged him far less harshly than they usually did.

When all of the templars were dead (and a lot more poured out of Maker-knew-where when the fighting started), Justice was still in control and the party watched him like they would a cornered animal.

"Anders?" Emma said hesitantly. "It's over now. You can calm down."

Justice had been very useful in the fight but seeing the way he could just rip through templars wasn't reassuring anyone at present.

"They will die!" Justice growled, waving his staff in a way that could take someone's head off if they were standing too close. "I will have every last templar for these abuses!"

"They're kind of all dead," Emma pointed out. "Well, everyone but…" Wisely, she shut up.

Justice stalked towards the girl.

"Get away from me, demon!" the girl shrieked. "Carver! Carver, help!"

"Just…stay calm," Carver advised, his eyes not leaving Justice.

"I am not a demon!" Justice growled. "Are you one of them that you would call me thus?"

"Is he seriously asking if she's a templar?" Varric asked, frowning. "That's…not good. Anders, she's a mage! She's the one you're trying to protect!"

"She is theirs. I can feel their hold on her," Justice said stubbornly.

Emma took a deep breath and then went to stand in front of the girl. "That's because she's trapped in the Circle. Remember? She was trying to leave it and then Alrik came. Don't do this, Anders. Don't strike down an innocent mage just because she's afraid."

Justice's face was impassive as he whirled his staff again and it looked like he really as going to attack Emma to get to the girl. Just before Justice could do so, however, there was another burst of magic that knocked him backwards. When he stood, it was Anders again.

The girl, still shaking, ran off.

"I'll see that she's alright," Carver said before running after her with one last, worried glance at Emma and Anders.

"Maker, no…" Anders said, staring at his own hands in horror. "If you weren't here…"

"But I was, Anders," Emma pointed out seriously, tilting his face up to look at her. "I was and nothing happened."

"I…I have to get out of here," Anders decided. With that he fled and Emma ran after him.

"So…I guess we're done for the day," Varric deduced.

Merrill sighed and shook her head. "And everyone acts like blood magic is the problem."

"Probably because blood magic often leads to demon possessions like this one," Varric offered.

When Emma returned home later that night, Carver was waiting for her on her bed.

"Haven't you ever heard of knocking?" she asked tiredly.

"As it happens, I did knock," Carver said mildly. "But you weren't here."

Emma shrugged. "Fair enough."

"I see that you're still alive," Carver noted.

Emma sighed and sat down on the bed beside her brother. "Of course I am. I just went off to calm my boyfriend down, not anything particularly dangerous."

"It might not be if he weren't possessed," Carver said gently.

Emma rolled her eyes. "Not this again."

"He almost killed Ella," Carver reminded her.

"I…I know," Emma admitted. "But that's not him, it's Justice."

"Even so," Carver said, willing to let her have that one, "if Justice attacks you then will it really matter?"

"I can handle Justice," Emma said firmly.

"Maybe you can," Carver agreed. "And I have to agree with Anders in that, from what I've seen, he's not one to stab you when you aren't paying attention or something. If he comes after you then you'll know it. But if it comes down to it, could you kill him?"

"It wouldn't come to that," Emma insisted.

"That's not a yes," Carver pointed out.

"It's not a no, either," Emma countered.

"I thought I was worried about you before," Carver said, smiling sadly. "But now I know that Justice can confuse the mages he tries to protect for templars just because they don't automatically fell down in benediction and I really know what it means to be worried."

"It's not that bad," Emma insisted, not quite looking at him. "She's still alive."

"It was a very close thing," Carver told her.

"I know what I'm doing," Emma said stubbornly.

Carver sighed. "Just…just be careful, okay?"

"I will," Emma promised.

He looked around. Ser Pounce-a-lot was sleeping by the fire. "Where is Anders, anyway?"

"Uncle Gamlen set up one of the guest bedrooms for him," Emma replied. "Apparently he's still punishing himself or something. So…Ella, was it? She knew your name earlier. Who is she? And where did she go?"

"I sent her home but she knows that she can't stay there. She's a friend of Bethany's," Carver informed her. "Bethany's kind of her mentor, actually. I saw the letter that she wrote you, she did mention Ella. Bethany's kind of a legend in the Gallows, you know."

"Oh," Emma said, trying to sound casual.

Carver nodded. "All those years on the run with no possession or blood magic. And then there's the fact that she killed, what, fifty demons during her Harrowing before Meredith sent Orsino into the Fade to tell her to stop showing off and hurry up."

Emma almost smiled at that. "That sounds like Bethany."

"You really should go see her, you know," Carver said delicately.

Emma stared up at the ceiling and didn't say a word.

It turned out that Alrik really was the only one who thought that the 'Tranquil Solution' was a good idea and Meredith was getting so annoyed by his constant requests to change her mind that she was threatening to fire him if he wouldn't leave her alone.

Anders just felt so bad about the whole situation that, for once, everyone tactfully decided not to bring it up again. He knew the truth now so why rub it in?

"You!" a random dwarf said as they walked past him. "This is all your fault!"

"Out of curiosity, doe he actually mean that or is he just drunk and blaming whoever happens to walk by for his problems?" Isabela asked.

"You and that blighter Varric Tethras," the dwarf continues to grumble.

"Okay, that one is probably me," Varric remarked. "What did we supposedly do to you? And are you sure you're not talking about my brother?"

"Of course not!" the dwarf said, offended. "If I meant him t hen I would have said him. My name is Yevhen and I'm a member in good standing of the Dwarves Merchant Guild. Not that that matters to people like you."

"People like you?" Emma repeated, insulted. "You mean non-dwarves? I find that racist."

Yevhen rolled his eyes. "Oh, brilliant, a human crying racism."

"What do you want?" Aveline asked him before a fight could break out.

"My fully-grown adult sons heard tales of your glory and treasure and ignored all the inconvenient parts like people dying and being trapped underground facing ancient demons and they had no choice but to rush off to the Deep Roads to get themselves killed," Yevhen explained.

"I'm really not seeing how this is even slightly our fault," Fenris said, annoyed.

"Or why you're not looking for them yourself," Merrill added. "They are your children."

"I can't go into the Deep Roads! That's like signing my own death warrant!" Yevhen exploded.

"Well, I don't really care about your stupid sons and they're stupid problems brought on by their own stupidity so…" Emma said, turning to go.

"You have to go find them!" Yevhen shrieked.

"I'm on it," Carver assured him.

"Really?" Emma asked, surprised. "You're that dead-set on going to the Deep Roads?"

Carver snorted. "Hardly. I'll just tell the templars that there's an escaped mage down there and that those dwarves might know something."

"That's being dishonest, Carver," Aveline said disapprovingly.

"It was that or wait for the guards to notice," Carver said unrepentantly. "I'm choosing the option that I feel would get us results this century."

The templars found all three dwarves alive in short order although they did not consider it a victory since they never did find that mage and Carver kept half of the reward money. But then, templars really weren't ever a happy lot so it was not such a big deal.

"Look, I don't think I'm being unreasonable here," Aveline said one day in her office. "I just want you to give guardsman Donnic this secret gift and not tell anyone who it's from and for you to not ask me any questions because it's none of your business. Just because I hate you doesn't mean that this is at all strange."

"I don't know, I kind of think it might be," Emma said, reluctantly accepting the package that had been shoved into her hands.

"Now will you do it or not?" Aveline demanded.

"Maybe," Emma said. "But if he's here and just down the hall then why can't you do it?"

"I just can't," Aveline said, turning red.

"And why do you always call him 'Guardsman Donnic'? It's really weird and makes me think you have a thing for him and are for some reason trying to cover it up by pretending to feel more formality than you really do," Emma told her.

"Just go!" Aveline cried out. "Why did I ever ask you?"

"Because no one else likes you any better than I do?" Emma suggested.

"Out!" Aveline shouted.

Shrugging, Emma made her way to the other side of the guard area. Unfortunately, while there were several guards, she had no idea who this 'Donnic' was.

"Excuse me, is anyone here named 'Donnic'?" she asked loudly.

A very boring man stepped forward. "That would be me. Why?"

"Here," Emma said, handing him the package from Aveline.

"For me?" Donnic asked, surprised. He accepted the package and opened it. "A copper relief of what appears to be…marigolds. And look, it even helpfully says 'marigolds.' Why would you give me this, Serrah Hawke?"

Emma made a face. "Wow, what a lame present."

"Not that I disagree but if you don't like it, why would you give it to me? Do you not like me and are trying to re-gift something?" Donnic asked. "Or are you in love with me or something? Because I'm not sure we've ever spoken outside of that time we met and you made fun of me for getting beaten up."

"Oh, no, not me!" Emma asked, looking horrified. "I have a boyfriend I'm happy with and you, I definitely don't like. Aveline is probably in love with you but she evidently fails at courting. If you like her, let her know. If you don't, also let her know. If you don't do either of these, I foresee a lot of marigolds in your future."

"Emma!" Aveline cried out, scandalized, from the other room. "You weren't supposed to tell him that!"

"I…I'm sure we both have things to do," Donnic said, looking suspicious and not at all convinced that Emma didn't inexplicably have a thing for him. "Of various importance, I'm sure."

With that, he walked away leaving Emma standing there fuming.

"What a complete and utter jerk!" she cried out. "He and Aveline might actually be perfect for each other after all! Honestly, just because I don't actually have a job doesn't mean that his time is more valuable than mine! How many people has he killed lately? Or, um, saved or whatever."

"I think he was actually talking about your time being more important," one of the other guards offered.

"Can't hear you, too busy being far more important than Guardsman sodding Donnic," Emma declared dramatically as she strode from the room, completely indifferent as to whether or not Aveline and Donnic ended up together. Or, mostly indifferent. "I suppose at least it's not another templar this time…"

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