Anders wasn't comfortable meeting others to talk about the love of his life, but they had noticed her strange behaviors and knowledge, and he figured it would be better if he told them than have them dig around themselves.
"So you've noticed it too, how she seems to know things she shouldn't?" Hawke said, looking at Varric, Dorian, and Solas. "Things that should be impossible to know?"
"I noticed it back in Kirkwall, but I tried to ignore it." Anders said. "The first time I tried to talk about it with her, she grew depressed and walled herself off. I'd rather not put her through that again if possible. But... I should let you know that her parents have spoken to me about her... special circumstances. She's a twin. She's not Claire, she's Victoria. Claire really did die at the hands of a man named Markus seventeen years ago." The others stared at Anders, trying to understand what he'd just said.
"She seems to believe she's Claire well enough." Hawke said.
"If she's not Claire, where has she been all these years?" Dorian asked.
"That is something that her parents have been trying to figure out since they discovered her still alive." Anders sighed. He had wanted to tell Claire first, but he had no idea how. "When Claire and Victoria were two, they were kidnapped, but through some strange ritual, one of the girls was... pulled into the Fade."
"So, the woman you've been living with for the past five years, who you've had a child with, spent Maker knows how long trapped in the Fade?" Varric asked.
"Surely that can't be possible." Dorian said. "But perhaps she was sent somewhere else."
"But how would that account for her uncanny knowledge?"
"It is possible that whatever happened to her in the Fade gave her an ability to read others." Solas mused.
"No, it's more than that." Hawke said. "She's flat out told the future, though I don't think she realized it at the time. Her accuracy was disturbing, and I never did tell her about the Divine marching on Kirkwall, but she quoted Leliana verbatim."
"She also knows more about me than she lets on." Anders said. "Things I've not told her. Her parents believe that wherever she was, she was still connected to Claire, and that's how she knows so much about her life here, and perhaps why she believes she is Claire."
"So she may not even know where she was?" Varric frowned. "If she doesn't even know who she is..."
"Perhaps I can help with that." Solas said. "Though it would require me to enter the Fade with her, and she does not trust me."
"Oh, she pick something up from you maybe?" Varric laughed. The elf glared at him.
"It's worth a shot, I suppose." Anders said.
"I will approach her about it later today." Solas said. "I'm certain she has her own questions she wants answered, perhaps a deal can be made."
"Glad to see someone else doesn't trust him either." Dorian said, settling down on the balcony overlooking the area Claire was.
"We won't be able to follow him into the Fade with her, though." Anders sighed. "I admit I'm a bit worried he might cause damage to her..." Solas came walking out, unaware he was being watched, and approached Claire, who was visibly uncomfortable around him.
"I know you don't trust me, but I was wondering if you might answer some questions." The elf said.
"That depends on the questions." Claire said.
"You know where you were for most of your life, don't you?" He asked. "I don't mean what you've told everyone, but where you truly were."
"Stay away from me, Fen'Harel." Claire snapped, stepping back. "You keep your secrets, I'll keep mine."
"Fen'Harel?" Dorian whispered. "The Dalish god?"
"You mean you'll keep both our secrets." Solas wasn't looking happy. "I knew you knew more than you were letting on, but how much do you really know?"
"I know enough..."
"And how do you know?" He asked, but she remained silent. "You know I can squeeze the answers from you. You have no power."
"I'm not a threat to you!" Claire cried, panicking. Anders wanted to jump down there and stop him, but Dorian shook his head.
"He wouldn't dare." Dorian growled.
"You know that, why would you threaten me?" Claire continued. "You're a dreamer, a somniari, you can do whatever you want in the Fade... it's practically your home, the one you created, the one you want to destroy, and I'm not going to stop you. I couldn't anyway. I just want to live my life with the people I love..."
"Your stolen life, you mean?" Solas snapped. "Tell me what you know about my involvement with the Fade."
"You... you created it, as a punishment... they killed Mythal, but she's not really dead." Claire was crying as she slid down the wall to the floor. "The world was whole, and you split it... and you want to undo your mistake. You consider us as tranquil..."
"How does she know all this?" Anders asked, trying to keep his voice down. "No one knows this! Do you know what this would do to the Chantry?"
"Do you know where you've been all these years?" Solas asked.
"I don't even know anymore." She cried. "Everything feels like a dream, a blur of emotions, of me running away from pain and more pain... and even when I've finally found a bit of happiness, something always comes to take it away. If you're going to kill me, just do it."
"I have no intention of hurting you." Solas said, kneeling down beside her. "Not... physically, anyway. I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around how you know all this information. Things I've never told anyone, things that have long been past... What other secrets do you hold?"
"I don't know everything... just bits and pieces." She said. "I read it all. Everything. It's all written down... in... in another world. The world I grew up in."
"So she does remember..." Dorian stared down at her in amazement.
"Can you tell me about this world?"
"I don't know why you want to know." She hiccuped. "It's nothing like this world. It hates magic. Magic does not exist there... it makes certain."
"Then how did you get back here?"
"Was I ever really from here?" She frowned. "That's what doesn't make sense. How can people know me, and know things about me, that I don't even know?"
"You had a twin sister." Solas said. "She was the one raised by mages who had kidnapped her in Tevinter, the one who was shunned for not having magic, who lost those parents at the age of twelve, and who was murdered by a man named Markus."
"But that's my life..." She frowned. "I wasn't raised by mages, or in Tevinter, but I was a disappointment to the people who raised me, and they were murdered when I was twelve, but I managed to survive Markus, and I killed him."
"He was indeed murdered." Solas said. "Perhaps the world you were living in was a fabrication in the Fade, a dream mirroring reality."
"What about everything I've learned?" She asked. "How can the Fade know this?"
"Perhaps there are some secrets that are best left unknown." Solas said.
"I'm afraid of Anders finding out." She said. "Or anyone. How can anyone trust me when I'm such a mystery? When I can't even explain myself, when I know things I shouldn't? I know Anders suspects, but how can I just tell him I know practically everything about him? It would creep him out and I wouldn't be able to bear him looking at me like that..." She started crying again and Solas looked awkward.
"I could never look at her differently." Anders murmured. "She is my life. I don't care where she's from."
"Not even a little bit?" Dorian asked. "You don't want to know if your love has been living in a dream in the Fade?" What could he say? He did want to know, but it wouldn't change his feelings for her. He watched as Solas reached out and touched Claire on the head, and he felt the magic.
"It doesn't matter now." Anders said. "We can only wait."
Claire recognized the Fade instantly, surprising herself, and then noticed Solas was watching her with interest.
"It feels strangely comfortable in the Fade." She said.
"You've been here before." He said. "You have perhaps spent quite a bit of time here. Shall we see?" Begrudgingly, she nodded, and they were suddenly in her parent's house back in Long Beach.
"Your abilities as just what I imagined, but it's still strange to see." She said.
"This is the world you grew up in?" Solas asked, looking around.
"Just a tiny piece." She said. "It's huge. This was the house I lived in until I was twelve."
"We may be here a while."
"And I win again!" Dorian crowed, throwing his cards down. Anders grumbled and looked over the balcony again.
"They've been in there an awfully long time." Anders said.
"She'll be fine." Dorian said.
"Does it change anything to you that she's not the same person you knew as a child?" Anders asked. The Vint shrugged.
"Not really. Though I find it interesting that she knows me. Is it because she shared memories, or did she read about me as well?"
"To think, that someone out there has written everything down..." Anders frowned. "That she knows, more than I've ever told her, and she kept it secret out of fear of losing me."
"Would you have reacted well had she told you when you first met?"
"No, I suppose I wouldn't have, especially with Justice. He would have suspected her of some trickery, I'm sure."
"Oh, they're waking up." Dorian hid himself again and they watched in anticipation. Claire slowly stood up, holding her head as if in pain, while Solas was quicker.
"So we're agreed?" He asked.
"Yes..." Claire groaned. "Though I wasn't about to tell anyone about you anyway, I can't change what must happen. Things must happen for a reason..."
"And I will allow you to tell people yourself what we learned, though I am fascinated to find that world is real..." He shook his head in amazement. "I was certain you had been kept in some sort of sleep... but time magic, that didn't distort anything? To have seen a future like that..."
"You can't let it influence you." Claire said. "You have to forget it! You have to keep with your plan!"
"My dear, you may hold the future in your head, but you do not have years of understanding to go with it." He smiled and shook his head. "You have given me hope. How can I forget that?" She frowned and watched him in silence as he left. After she was certain he was gone, she crawled off into a dark corner and tucked herself away, crying.
"I need to go." Anders said.
"What are we supposed to do with this information?" Dorian asked, following. "You heard her, she doesn't want anyone to know, lest we change things, but things have already changed, just by virtue of her being here, and speaking to Solas, who I suppose is an ancient elven god..."
"The Chantry would consider that story heresy." Anders said. "That the Fade was one with us?"
"It would explain how the elves lost everything, come to think of it." Anders paused near the door.
"For everyone's sake, please keep this information to yourself. We don't know how others would react to it. It's bad enough what I'm about to do... but I need to be with her."
"Trust her, she won't abandon you." Dorian put a hand on Anders' shoulder. "She may not be the Claire I knew, but she had me fooled." Anders knew he was right, he was just worried about her initial reaction, and how he was going to present what he knew...
"Claire?" Claire looked up at Anders and wiped her eyes. Before she could get up, he sat down beside her, putting his arm around her shoulder. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"I don't even know where to start." She said.
"Then let me, and please hear me out." He gave her a squeeze. "Your parents recently informed me of some things about your past... I'm not sure how much you already know, or have guessed, but, you're a twin. Your sister died."
"Solas... he just told me." Claire leaned against him. "He said that I must have shared memories with her... that the life I claim to have lived was... not really my own." She started crying again. "I really am from Thedas, I wondered for so long... but I was taken from this world when I was two. I never knew..."
"Is that how you know more than you should?" He asked. She looked up at him sharply, panicking.
"W-what do you mean?"
"It's all right, I've known for a while now." He said. "Things you've said, things you've known that I've never told you, that I've never told anyone. Things that haven't yet happened... How much do you know about me? About the future?"
"Anders, please..." She was shaking, terrified. He took her hand in his and looked her in the eye.
"I love you. Nothing will change that, even if you know everything about me without my telling you. Even if you know the future."
"I do not deserve you." She said, so he kissed her, to make sure she knew. It would be a long road, but he would stay with her while she sorted through the new information, and perhaps they would finally be able to live in relative peace, together as a family.