"Now this is weird," Krem commented as they made their way through the forest.

"Hmm? What is?" Rush asked as she looked around at all the… greenery around them. Never before had she seen anything like it - trees as tall as the highest building in Ostwick, rashvine growing everywhere, wild animals running around… the Emerald Graves were truly astounding. Especially for a woman that grew up sheltered in a private estate, then later locked up in a tower.

"You." At her half-affronted look, Krem chuckled and explained, "I expected you to keep your distance after our last chat, but here you are, keeping close as another warrior would. You really don't act like any mage I've ever met."

"Met many mages, have you?" Rush paused, lifted an eyebrow and crossed arms defensively over her chest.

"I come from Tevinter. I've seen plenty, trust me."

Rush looked away, blushing, "Oh. Sorry."

Krem just shrugged his shoulders with a grin, "Don't worry 'bout it. Is there any reason you keep so close?"

Rush went back to watching the beautiful forest surrounding them as she explained, "I'm a Knight-Enchanter. While I've never truly fought in a battle before I escaped the Circle, all my training had me act more like a warrior than a mage. It's… habit for me now, I guess."

"What's a Knight-Enchanter?" Stitches asked from a few steps behind them.

"Knight-Enchanters are mages too stupid to stay back in a fight," Rush grinned at him and was happy to hear him chuckle. "It's a style intended for mages who are determined to pretend they are harmless, or at least no more dangerous than 'any other chevalier'. Or for those who wish to gain the Chantry's favor, as I did when I was trying to get approval for my research. The way it is taught makes it mostly useless, except for a few choice bits here and there."

"That's not what I heard," Krem gave her a considering look while Grim grunted affirmatively from behind him. "I heard Knight-Enchanters are terrifying on the battlefield, feared by all."

Rush snorted. "All mages are terrifying. Knight-Enchanters are merely one of the very few types of mages allowed on the battlefield. Of course they'd be feared. As all other mages would. For many, it's also a type of self-defense, because, well… you know what they say about how any good battle strategy should go," she smiled at them bitterly, "Take out the casters first. And so they don't cast."

That seemed to close the topic for the entire group and they continued walking in silence. 'Good job, Evie', she thought to herself. Looked like her social skills were even more lacking than she thought, when she couldn't even keep a simple conversation going without descending into bitter remarks and complaints about Circle life and politics. How did she manage to gain so many favors and approval with these kinds of skills? Talking to the mercs was somehow much harder than charming a lonely old enchanter or a desperate, lyrium-addicted Templar into speaking up for her. Maybe because these people asked for honesty, instead of lies.

She was determined to do better. This was a great opportunity to get to know the Chargers, one she was determined not to waste.

Krem kept his word and got them a job with Bull's approval. They were to travel to the Emerald Graves together with Stitches and Grim and complete one of the lesser jobs the Chargers were hired to do - dealing with a couple bears that had settled too close to a noble's estate. Perfect job for a new team.

They traveled further east, into the thickest part of the forest. Rush couldn't help but wonder who built an estate this deep in the wilderness and for what purpose. Probably some 'love nest' for nobles who were determined to betray their spouses, as was their custom. It did not matter, though. They were paid to deal with problems, not for asking questions…

And here she started thinking like a mercenary already, she thought with a grin.

The team followed Krem down another winding path, intersected with pieces of ancient elvhen walls here and there, when they heard a piercing cry and terrible, inhuman roars. Krem held up a hand, then searched for the source. The team just passed a rocky outcropping, when the problem came into view.

Giant.

Huge, fat giant trying to hit a group of Dalish elves, who were desperately trying to protect their land-ships while also jumping away from the beasts' powerful hits.

Krem looked at his team. Seemed like he didn't want to make a choice whether to join this fight without their input. Grim and Stitches nodded to him almost without hesitation, then Krem looked at Rush.

This… if they joined in, this would be the biggest fight she's ever been in. She'd have to use her flashier spells - let others know about her powers, including the Dalish elves, who were complete strangers. But if they didn't help, these elves would be slaughtered. So, in the end, there was not much of a choice. Rush nodded to Krem and readied one dagger, leaving her other hand free to cast spells.

Krem gave her an approving grin and turned back to the fight.

The elves had several wounded already and one of their Aravels was pretty much a pile of splinters. If they were to help, they had to do it now. Krem signaled his team and charged the Giant with a taunting yell. The giant turned its misshapen head towards him. Rush barely managed to cover all her teammates with a barrier before Krem was too far ahead for it to reach him.

Grim jumped into the fight, strong and deadly, while Stitches stayed back and pulled out a bow. The elves wisely stepped back to do the same.

That left only Rush.

She took a deep breath and gathered her magic, quickly thinking of the best strategy to take that thing down. Lightning was out, she didn't want to hit the elves or her team by accident. Fire was out, too, no way will she cast that in a flammable forest. Frost… didn't look like it would hurt that thing; it probably wouldn't even slow the giant down. Also, too magically exhausting to fight with those spells without a staff… So that left her daggers.

She pulled the other one out, let her magic flow into both the weapons and her muscles, strengthened her body… and charged.

Krem actually laughed between swings, "Yeah, 'Rush'. I can see that! It really fits you!"

Rush barely dodged the giant's swinging arm and yelled back, "Less chatting, more fighting!"

Both Krem and Grim roared approvingly and turned their full attention back to the fight.

Between the warriors, elves and Stitches shooting from a distance and a knight-enchanter in the thick of things, the giant was quickly weakening. Its legs were covered in deep cuts, torso and back in arrows and it looked barely able to keep standing. Its swings were getting less powerful, too. The elves, sensing victory, pressed harder, as did Krem.

It felt like Rush was the only one who saw the giant bending down for what it was. Her eyes widened in horror when she saw it tear a huge rock out of the ground and…

…aim at Krem.

When Krem finally realized what was happening, it was too late for him to run for cover. He looked around wildly, but the closest thing that could stop the boulder was a tree near the Aravels. Too far away to be of use. Krem briefly closed his eyes, then fixed the Giant with a defiant glare and landed another crushing blow into its leg.

The Giant readied for the throw. Grim desperately picked up the pace of his attacks, trying to bring it down, the elves started shooting much faster, but they all knew it will be too late.

In that moment, Rush materialized inside the Giant's leg, exploding it with a massive force and showered the whole team with blood and gore.

The Giant howled in agony, dropped the boulder and fell down on its remaining knee. Rush coughed up some blood that got inside her mouth and tried to stagger away. But before she could move into safe distance, the giant turned its full rage against her. Its arm lifted and it put all its remaining strength into one last hit.

Rush went flying head first into the boulder.

Not even her barrier could withstand that hit. She hit the rock hard and felt something… snap. Distantly, she heard Krem's enraged roar, joined by the elves' shouts, but she was too tired to lift her head to look at them. She stopped trying to stand back up, leaned against the strangely warm, moss-covered rock and then she knew no more.

-rushing-ahead-rushing-ahead-rushing-ahead-

"…waking up." Excited voices reached her ears as if from behind a veil of water. Everything was muddled and distant, as if she walked the fade.

Evelyn felt the hard, stiff mattress of her bed in the Enchanter's quarters under her, feeling as if she just came out of her Harrowing. Were those voices Templars, here to kill her if she failed or displeased them? But… she already failed, didn't she?

Or was that Rylan, here to finish her off?

"Come on, open your eyes," a kind voice she didn't recognize spoke to her. But then, that was not so surprising. She did not know many kind voices.

She did her best to obey. Her eyes, glued together from sleep, finally opened to see the red linen above her head. The sun was beating down on top of the Aravel she lay in, surrounded by the worried faces of the elves. The elves she saved. They saved. She and… her team.

Suddenly it all came back to her. The escape, hiding wherever she could, travelling the cities of Orlais in search of any well paid job, the Charger's happy smiles, The Iron Bull, Krem… Rush.

Her breath caught and she blinked her eyes furiously. She slowly turned her head to the side to see Krem sitting beside her, hands on his knees and watching her with… a proud smile?

"Nice to see you awake, your Knightliness," he grinned at her and she couldn't help but smile back. "Good job back there, with that Giant. I thought I was done for."

"You're welcome," she rasped with her dry throat and unsuccessfully tried to clear it. Krem leaned in and held a tankard full of fresh spring water to her lips. She gratefully took a couple sips. "What happened after…"

"After the giant hit you, we finished it off pretty quickly. In fact, we almost didn't have to do a thing. It was bleeding so hard that it would have died on its own soon enough, I reckon. We were more worried about you. You had some serious injuries."

"True, and we don't have any healers to care for you properly, I'm sorry to say," came the soft, apologetic voice of a young elven man standing just a couple steps away from them, near the entrance of the Aravel. "My name is Taven. I was travelling through the Emerald Graves with my clan-mates in search of Dalish history, without any great difficulties. Well, until the moment that giant decided to attack us. You and your team have probably saved our lives. We are ever so grateful for your help," he thanked Rush with an elegant little bow.

"Yeah, well, some payment would be better," Krem muttered under his breath quietly, unfortunately not quietly enough as Taven winced.

"I apologize, but we truly…" he started to say, but Krem just waved his hand to silence him.

"Don't worry 'bout it. So long as the Chief doesn't hear about this, we're fine."

Rush gathered her strength and pushed herself up until she was sitting on the small bedroll. "Does the Iron Bull disapprove of helping strangers?" She asked the lieutenant curiously.

Krem scratched the back of his neck, "No, no, nothing like that. He actually likes it when we help people. So long as we don't waste any of our own resources on jobs we won't get paid for. Because… you know, healing potions are kind of expensive."

"Oh." Well, that made sense. This was a mercenary group, after all; profit was their main goal. But if they managed to help some poor souls on the way without any expense aside from a bit of their time… That sort of attitude was actually very kind, better than most mercs had and, if she was honest with herself, the main reason she wanted to join this particular mercenary company so much.

"We could help with that," Taven chimed in, when Rush fell silent. "We might not have any gold to pay you with, but we gathered some healing herbs while travelling the forest. We will gladly give these to you, for the help you've given us."

"Ah, err, thanks. I appreciate it." Krem nodded to Taven.

Taven smiled at them and stepped outside to give them some privacy.

Krem turned back to Rush, who pulled herself to sit with her back pressed to the wooden boards of the Aravel. Their eyes met, then Krem gave her a gentle smile; the gentlest she's seen on him yet. "Thanks for your help back there. You saved my life."

Rush blushed and responded with a small smile of her own. "You're welcome," she said simply. What else could she say to that?

His chuckle surprised her. "Well, I don't think this is what the Chief had in mind when he gave us the job, but it worked out fine, right?"

She just smiled and relaxed even more against the wooden planks.

"I have a couple questions, though," his suddenly piercing eyes were much less disconcerting than before. Maybe that's what Krem was usually like, she thought and refused to let her fears get the better of her. At her nod, Krem continued, "You said Knight-Enchanters are mostly harmless… but that exploding trick back there was pretty damn far from harmless. Care to explain?"

Rush grinned and corrected him, "I said that they pretended to be harmless, not that they were." Her smirk only grew under Krem's unimpressed stare. "And I also said that the way it is taught makes it useless, not that it is useless."

When she saw Krem take a breath to interrupt her, she tiredly tried to explain further, "Look, mages took a perfectly reasonable magical discipline and modified it so much it lost all sense of practicality. Today, it's not so much about fighting as a way to reassure the chevaliers that they are still better than the mages. To make them think 'look how hard these poor sheltered mages try to become warriors and still fail'. Being a Knight-Enchanter is more of a political statement than a fighting style.

"The original discipline was re-discovered by the Hero of Ferelden in some elven ruin during the Fifth Blight. It's a style of the ancient elves called Arcane Warriors." She smiled at the memory of time spent in the Circle library with her nose buried in a 'report' from the Hero herself; report that read more like an adventure tale of discovering ancient mysteries than the dry litanies the enchanters usually submitted.

"I had the pleasure of reading the original study, so I know what the style could be. Trust me, compared to what it is now, the style is laughable. Crafting Lazurite spirit blades to be able to join? More like a slapped on restriction so that only the really rich mages with support of Chantry and their noble families can afford it. The true beauty of the style lies somewhere else…"

Rush looked Krem right in the eyes and stated matter of factly, "An Arcane Warrior can wear any armor, grab and skillfully wield any weapon with almost no training, with inhuman speed, strength and precision, all the while expending only the barest minimum of their power."

Krem stared at her, "That's… impossible!"

Rush just smirked, "And this is precisely the reason why the Way of the Knight-Enchanter was developed. To make us… a little less 'impossible'."

When Krem just continued to stare, Rush sighed and looked past him outside of the aravel. "At least becoming a Knight-Enchanter had one advantage. The lazurite blade-hilt fetched me some good coin when I sold it after my escape."

Krem got over his shock and snorted. "Now I can't wait to train with you." At Rush's incredulous look, Krem only grinned, "I don't believe you can be a better warrior than me simply by waving your daggers around with no training. We'll have a nice little training session as soon as our job here is done. I'll prove to you that skill matters," He challenged her confidently.

Rush only laughed, "You're on! Just don't be sore when you lose." Then she spoiled the little challenge by yawning. Looked like she was still tired from the fight.

"We'll see who will bite the dust, Rush. Anyway," he continued with an evil grin, "should you win, the Chief will take it as a personal challenge. I can't wait to see you face against him."

At her wide-eyed look, Krem slapped his knee with a laugh and stood up. "Take some time to rest. Stitches did what he could, but you still need sleep. The bears can wait a day." He nodded to her and walked out, jumping down from the Aravel.

Rush just chuckled and laid back down.

The sun was still high in the sky, there was still work to be done, yet she felt she could simply lie down, rest and be safe. Was this what being in a team was like? Distantly, she heard Stitches shout something and the higher voices of the elves respond in kind. Krem's laughter followed soon after as did the smell of alcohol.

She fell asleep with a smile.

A/N: I love the Knight-Enchanter spirit blades. They are big and shiny and really powerful. That said... WHY THE FUCK CAN'T I FIGHT WITH ANYTHING ELSE?!

Seriously, that was the point of Arcane Warriors. You pick a style and suddenly, just like that, you're a skilled warrior. That was creepily awesome. These Knight-Enchanters? T_T

If this is what Solas feels when he meets the Dalish, I'm not surprised he's... cranky.

Hope you liked my mini explanation about why that travesty happened.