So, here we are with chapter 2. By the way, in case no one notice last time, my Inquisitor was named after Mari from Geek Remix, because both she and Staci are amazing! Also their Let's Play of DA:I is the best I've seen, and everyone should see it. So yeah…here's chapter 2.

I don't own Dragon Age, the only characters I own are Lyna( though the name happens to be the same as in DA:O, so BioWare kinda owns that), and also Bethany's "friend" that gets mentioned in here.

*Quick sidenote* I may decide to add in more original characters as the story begins to come together (rather like this chapter), so when it happens, I will mention it beforehand.

Chapter 2: A Generous Amount of Explanations

"Hawke? As in…" Mari asked, her voice full of disbelief. Neither Mari nor Cullen had seen the Champion of Kirkwall since Adamant, and Hawke had not sent letters after her arrival at Weisshaupt with the Wardens.

"Yes, the Champion is my sister. And before you ask, I have heard from her recently. She apologizes for her…lack of communication, to say the least. She sends her regards, and politely requests a room for her and her wife in the next few days."

"So, that's a delicate way of saying if we don't comply, we can expect an angry Hawke in our faces, and her daggers to our throat." said Cullen with a chuckle. "Don't forget a flustered Merrill in our flowerbeds." added Mari. Mari had only met Merrill once before, at a dinner party in Kirkwall after Corypheus' defeat. Hawke's recent departure had only been the start of the problems for poor Merrill. That particular party had included a much burnt venison, and Merrill had been so overwhelmed by the number of uninvited guests, at the sight of the burnt meat, she had flung herself over the garden walls and into a bed of posies. It took both Varric and another woman who introduced herself later as Isabela to get Merrill out of the flowers before the night was over. Cullen had gotten quite drunk at that party, and had laughed the entire way back to Skyhold about the event.

Bethany smiled. Her face looked gaunt, and Mari got the feeling there was something very off with her. "Yes, that does sound like Merrill. When she reunited with Hawke…I saw something in her face that had not been there in years. They were so happy."

"So, you've obviously come here for a reason, Bethany. What's the matter?" asked Mari.

"Oh, yes." At that reminder, Bethany's face became troubled and her eyes clouded over. "There's no easy way to say this, but…the Circle Towers are gone."

"What?" Cullen and Mari's simultaneous reaction had them both step backwards in surprise, and had Mari step on Cullen's foot.

"Let me start from the beginning. I was walking on the main road to Orlais-"

"Why were you going to Orlais?" interrupted Mari. Cullen gave her a rather pointed look, but Bethany laughed.

"It's alright. I was going to see…my fiancée." At this, Bethany blushed. "His name is Johnathan De'Launcy. He is a minor noble in Orlais, and we were going to a dinner with his family a fortnight from then. His family also has magical background, and he was a recent initiate at one of the Circles in Orlais. I wasn't originally going to go see him, but with the new power that the mages are experiencing with Divine Victoria…well, I was able to take a, shall we say, small leave of absence from the Circle. Anyways, I was walking along when I had the strangest feeling. It was like…all the energy was being drained from my body. My staff's power orb went very cold, and I knew that something very powerful and very magical had just happened. So, I ran back into the town that I had just left, and began looking for mages to see if anyone had felt the same thing I did. But, I couldn't find anyone, and all of the townspeople looked at me as if I was a darkspawn. Everyone I asked said that there were no "magical-type" people in this town, and that I had better go to a healer or to the Chantry.
By some luck of the Maker, Johnathan was in town too. He had come to escort me back to Orlais, and had gotten to the same place I was by the dumbest of luck. But he had experienced the same feeling I had, right before leaving Orlais. The same thing happened there too: no one knew of any mages in the area and disproved the existence of a Circle altogether. So, we wondered at what to do, and so I wrote to Hawke and came here to Skyhold to see you."

Mari was silent. Entire Circles and their mages, just gone. It sounded impossible, yet a sinking feeling in her stomach told her that Bethany was telling the truth

"I'm sorry, Bethany. I…it's all just so hard to process."

"What I don't quite understand is how we here at Skyhold haven't been affected. The last I checked, we still had a few mages in our army, not to mention I just saw Dorian five minutes ago making purple flames with his hands." Cullen said as he ran his hands through his blonde hair.

"I suppose we'll figure that out." answered Mari. "Right now, I want scouts looking across Ferelden and Orlais for any evidence of existing mages or Circles. This is our top priority as of right now. Bethany, I would like to meet your fiancée and-"

Mari was interrupted by the banging of a door opening. It was Samuel, who went very pale again at the sight of Mari's surprised face.

"Sorry ma'am, er, Madam Inquisitor, my lady, but-"

"Do get to the point Samuel!"

"Right, um, I am here to announce that the Champion of Kirkwall has arrived. And…KingandQueengone."

In that instant, Mari went as white as Samuel. "Wh-wha-what did you say, Samuel?"

"King Alistair and Queen Elissa…they've disappeared."

Not another cliffhanger! But now things have gotten considerably more interesting. But I will tell you right now that you will be hearing from different character points of view next chapter (but I'm not going to tell you who! Hehehe….)