Running. When had Anders' life not been framed in the context of running? Who was he running from? Where as he running to? How long would he have to rest before the running began again?
Because make no mistake, it always began again.
After Kirkwall, cast out by the man he had dared to love, he ran to Antiva, thinking to lose himself for a time while he spread his message and manifesto, but the vengeful prince had dogged his heels long before he made it even as far as Rialto.
He had been forced to flee in the night when Sebastian Vael and a squad of templars found the village where he had taken refuge.
From Antiva he stowed away on a ship bound for Llomeryn. He hoped the Rivainis' general disinterest in the Andrastian religion might offer him a chance for respite, even a temporary one.
But apathy toward religion did not translate to apathy toward the gold Sebastian offered for the capture of the apostate Anders. Alive.
The thought of being delivered alive to Sebastian chilled Anders more than the prospect of death ever could.
He fled again, turning his steps toward Tevinter.
The Imperium had not been his first choice, but desperation drove him north and east, away to warmer climes and exotic customs. He could keep running as long as he had to. He would spread the truth where he passed and he would see the world change or he would die.
He believed that until the day he found the first printed sheet nailed to a merchant's travel board in Marothius.
"By order of Sebastian Vael, Prince of Starkhaven…"
He read the standard denunciations – Anders the apostate was a traitor to the Grey Wardens, a murderer, a maleficar, and an abomination. He scoffed at the bad etching that looked little like the man he had been and nothing like him as he had become – thinner, older, with close-cropped hair and a full beard.
And then he stopped – stopped breathing, stopped scoffing, stopped everything to step outside of himself and weep.
The last part of the notice was a personal message from Sebastian Vael to him:
"The Chantry has given me your phylactery. I will always find you."