Shapeshifting
As Elaine shifted from shape to shape in the Fade, she began to understand a little of why Morrigan mocked those who feared magic. She assumed that she was using magic to transform herself from mouse to creepy spirit thing to golem to burning man, although she couldn't really understand how that was possible, and while it had been disconcerting at first, she was getting the hang of it. She was almost ashamed to admit that she liked it.
She looked down at her burning arm and flexed her flaming fingers. It didn't hurt, to her surprise. There was a tingling on her skin, and she felt warm, but not uncomfortable. It didn't' even feel unnatural. Most surprising to her was that it wasn't scary; it was fascinating and exhilarating to experience the world –even a world as alien as the Fade – in another form. Was this how all mages felt as they wielded their magic?
Whenever Elaine had thought about mages before, she had wondered why they used magic at all. They didn't have to, did they? Just because you were born with a magical talent didn't mean you had to use it. But, here, with these new abilities, Elaine realized her narrow-mindedness. In the Fade, magic wasn't something you could just turn on or off. It was everywhere, and it was necessary. And, if Morrigan had taught her anything, it was that magic could be controlled. For all her prickly conversation and stubbornness, Morrigan was an excellent and precise magic user. Elaine was no longer afraid (as she had been those first weeks) that the apostate would be suddenly possessed by a demon and turn on them all. And the experience of persuading her companions to leave their demon-induced dreams had only convinced Elaine further that mages were not any more susceptible to temptation than non-mages. They simply had more exposure to demons who tried to tempt them. And, of course, the consequences of giving in were dire.
Her first acquaintance with a real mage, and now her own experience in the Fade, had shaken her confidence in the Chantry's admonitions against magic. Previously, she had accepted Chantry teachings on the evils of magic blindly. But, here, she had to confront the idea that magic was not evil; it just was. Of course it could be used for evil purposes, but it wasn't evil by nature. The shapeshifting she was doing to navigate around the Fade wasn't evil; it was just useful. Mages were not inherently evil; they were just people. And yet they were locked away like criminals. For the first time, Elaine understood the wasted potential of the Circle. What golden opportunities had Fereldans missed because they were afraid?
And, yet, they were also right to be afraid. There was Connor. And now Uldred. It's not like the mages could just be set free to do as they pleased. Obviously, they needed some kind of supervision, but – Elaine's thoughts were cut short as she approached another pedestal. She would be at the center of this nightmare soon. And she realized that while she hadn't meant it when she had told Wynne she would "do her best" to save the mages in the Tower, she meant it now.
For the mages, then, she thought as she reached for the pedestal and readied herself for the coming fight.