(Her Eternal Grimoire: Fortunately, you won't have to wait too long for updates. Welcome aboard. :)

Kaassie: Yep. The splitting-up thing was one of the reasons I started this story in the first place. So many interesting combinations. And don't feel bad about Meila ... only one extremely savvy reviewer picked up on it. She's been a very self-contained character so far, but when you start prying open a shell, sometimes things like that just pop out.

As to your complaints about how fast Leliana and Sten were introduced... yeah, I can see that. Honestly, the Lothering section was already so big and charactery that I felt bad stuffing any more in there. Hopefully, the future fleshing out of their relationships with the other characters will help satisfy previous shortcomings. Speaking of which...)

45. Girl Talk

"And that is how you properly dispatch a group of bandits," Marnan said, planting her bloodied axe in the ground as she caught her breath. "Not by talking them into walking to their own deaths."

"I really wish I had seen that," Leliana said with a grin. She wandered among the bodies strewn about the lakeside road, collecting her arrows.

Felicity, however, frowned over the bodies, even while Marnan felt a burst of healing go through her that eased her new bruises. "This isn't right," the mage said. "There shouldn't be bandits this close to the Tower. The Templars would never allow it."

Marnan cast a distracted glance out over the lake. In the distance, the Tower of Magi could be seen rising from the water. "It is a Blight. Perhaps they retreated to the Tower."

"The horde is nowhere near here, though." Felicity, too, cast a look at the distant spire. "Oh, I hope you're right. What else could possibly happen, to make them stop guarding the roads outside the Tower? They've always done so, if only to ensure escaped mages don't get far." Still, Marnan didn't miss the way the mage bit her lip.

"If something is amiss," Marnan told her, "then we will fix it. We must, to stop the Blight."

After a moment of hesitation, Felicity nodded. "Of… of course. You're right. If other factors present themselves, we will simply address each as it comes." The mage shook her head to clear it and started forward. The other two women fell in step beside her.

"So…" Leliana said, seemingly just to break the silence. The bard never really seemed to be comfortable with silences. Between her and Felicity, Marnan was coming to appreciate the practical silences of a good old-fashioned forced march through the Deep Roads. "…do Templars really do that? Go out of their way to keep mages from escaping?"

Felicity sighed. "It's really not so bad, provided you don't actually try to escape. There are a couple odd cases that make escaping practically into a hobby, but most of us—them, I suppose now—are fairly content just to go about business under the Templars' vigilant eyes."

"Ah, so you are used to being stared at by Templars?" Leliana said, a teasing smile stealing across her features. "Yet you blush so much when Alistair looks at you."

Sure enough, Felicity's dark features darkened further in a blush. "I-I do not! Do I? I mean, he doesn't look at me, does he? Well, of course he must look at me, I suppose, as he must look at everyone, not being blind. But he doesn't look at me especially… does he?"

Leliana laughed, and Marnan couldn't help an amused smile herself.

"Well," Leliana said, "you are very pretty. I don't see any reason why he wouldn't look at you."

"Oh, stop teasing me," Felicity huffed. "I'm a mage."

Marnan thought it diplomatic to point out, "You are also a fellow Grey Warden, and therefore a comrade-in-arms." She felt sorry for her companion, even though she really shouldn't be encouraging this. "I suspect that would carry much more weight, for one of his disposition."

"A pretty comrade-in-arms!" the bard laughed.

Felicity fidgeted with the sleeves of her robes. "Am I really that obvious? Oh dear, if I've revealed so much to you, he's surely noticed. I suspect the two of us will have to speak about it when we reconvene. One way or another, that conversation will prove to be utterly mortifying."

"I would not worry about it," Marnan said. "Alistair is… rather dim about certain things. I assure you, he has not noticed."

A burst of laughter escaped the mage before she got a hand over her mouth. "I don't know whether to find that rather accurate evaluation encouraging or depressing."

"What about you, Marnan?" Leliana asked, turning a bright smile to the dwarf. "Do you have any strapping young men waiting to sweep you off your feet back in Orzammar?"

Marnan chuckled. "I highly doubt it." What with everyone in Orzammar thinking she was dead.

"Oh, come. Certainly you must have some stories, yes? You never talk about your adventures!"

"The majority of my best 'adventures' have happened while on the surface, and Felicity has been present for most of those. If you wish, ask her."

Leliana gave Felicity a pleading look. The mage sighed. "Admittedly, Marnan, I wouldn't mind getting a bit of teasing material. It seems only equitable, after all."

"Well, when speaking on the subject of romance, you will find little material for me." After a pause of bearing their pleading looks, she admitted, "In truth, I never had much time for romance… my dalliances were always more related to mosswine and smashing things. I had my share of suitors, certainly, but each one that my father approved of, I did not… often for the very same reasons. The men I preferred—and, I suppose, occasionally fancied—would never have met my father's expectations."

Leliana's brows were furrowed. "But parental approval is not everything, yes?"

Marnan allowed herself a wry chuckle. "In my family, it most certainly was."

"I never knew you had such an overbearing father," Felicity said sympathetically.

"It was his right," Marnan said. "And it was not so bad as you topsiders think. Caste is an important part of Orzammar culture… and from a young age, I had a bit of a habit of ignoring that in favor of playing with the boys across caste lines. I never really grew out of it. In truth, it was… irresponsible of me."

"But I always thought you liked the Warrior Caste," Felicity said, confused. "Why would you have dallied in others when your own fits you so perfectly?"

Marnan stopped in her tracks, shocked by the words for more than one reason. Silently, she cursed the mage for being so simultaneously well-informed and ignorant.

Both humans stopped walking to look back at her with questioning expressions.

"Felicity," Marnan said, forcing herself to meet the mage's eyes, "I am not of the Warrior Caste."

Felicity's lips came together in a silent 'Oh,' and Marnan could almost see the intelligent woman putting pieces of the puzzle in place. 'If she wasn't born a Warrior, that means she must have dallied with the Warriors.' 'So her father didn't approve of her spending time with Warriors.' 'But what family wouldn't approve of one of the most prestigious castes in Orzammar?' 'Unless she comes from a caste that is even more prestigious.' 'There's only one above Warriors, right?'

There was a long moment of silence while Felicity didn't ask what caste Marnan was actually from. She didn't have to.

And the fact that Leliana didn't, either, was telling in a very different way.

It was dark by the time they got to the docks outside the Circle Tower, so they decided to check in for the night at the Spoiled Princess. By this time, even Marnan was beginning to get nervous about the lack of people about. Last time she'd been here, the place had been reasonably active… now, the dock community was an absolute ghost town.

Also, there was a Templar out on the docks, standing where the ferryman should have been. He did not look to be offering rides.