Notes: This is an extremely chatty chapter, because Cassandra shows up. This chapter also is the first crossover (so to speak) with Asunder, referencing and responding to a significant event from that.
Song: Falconer – "The Coronation."
Chapter 63: With the Powers You Now Hold
"The Siren's Kiss," Isabela said, walking proudly across the deck of her new ship, her friends following in her wake. Even Caitlyn stood behind her. She might be Viscountess of Kirkwall, but Isabela was the captain of this ship.
Presented with a bottle of fine whisky, the pirate queen poured a shot of it onto the deck. She grinned and then poured shots for everyone else to toast the acquisition and renaming of this ship. A figure that rather suspiciously resembled Isabela herself was being hoisted to the bow.
"More?" Isabela asked Anders, holding out the bottle as he finished his drink.
He shook his head.
"Oh, that's all that Ser Stick-in-the-Mud allows you to have. Pity."
Caitlyn smiled. "That's all I'm having, too. Jo Beth still needs nursing sometimes."
"Ah well. I'm just relieved to wear the hat of a captain again," Isabela said, going to the helm and giving it an admiring pat. "What about you? You got Castillon's other ship. What will she be named?"
Anders spoke up. "I was thinking about... perhaps Flame of Freedom."
Fenris rolled his eyes. Aveline, Varric, and Isabela smothered laughter.
"Got anything less corny than that, Blondie?" Varric said.
"I meant it to be in honor of Caitlyn, the fact that she has such an affinity for fire spells."
"That's sweet, but... no," Caitlyn said. "I have to agree with the others."
"What about The Broken Circle?"
Isabela grimaced. "Don't put the word 'broken' in your ship's name."
"Storm of Liberty?"
Varric groaned. "Maker, Blondie, stop before you hurt yourself."
Anders scowled. "I suppose I could just call it Vengeance."
They paused. Aveline and Fenris didn't appear to care for the name because of what it stood for, but it wasn't a bad name in and of itself. "That's good, actually," Caitlyn said. "Vengeance it is." She grinned at Isabela. "Just as menacing as Siren's Kiss."
Isabela raised a toast. "And... while I cannot make any long-term promises... for as long as I'm here in Kirkwall, you have the Siren's Kiss at your service, Hawke." She winked. "And do be careful with her. The Arishok wrecked me once. Hopefully the one who defeated him won't do it next."
A visitor whom Caitlyn and Anders had expected for a while finally arrived. A small, fast ship bearing the flag of the Seekers of Truth docked in Kirkwall harbor. Harbor authorities quickly informed Caitlyn that Seeker Cassandra Pentaghast, the Right Hand of the Rightful Divine, was there to speak privately.
"Someone send a dispatch to the Hanged Man... and the Tethras mansion... to let Varric know," Anders said with a wry smirk. "He wouldn't miss this."
Caitlyn took his arm. "Something tells me that the Seeker won't let him miss it."
"Do you think they've—" He broke off, grimacing faintly at the idea.
She didn't need clarification, however. Frowning in contemplation for a moment, Caitlyn shook her head. "I doubt it. Varric needs to break it off with Bianca Davri. I've never met her—and really, that in itself shows there's something wrong. I've been his closest friend for six years, and I've never met the woman he considers his lover. But I know enough about her. She's a spoiled brat, using him, demanding to keep everything she wants—her family's approval, her rich husband, and Varric too—while not giving back fairly to any of them, and he needs to realize it." She smirked. "You know, love, before you came to Kirkwall, I briefly fancied Varric myself."
Anders scowled. "I know. Merrill too. I was here when you fancied her."
She elbowed him, merely prompting him to unlink their arms so that he could wrap his tightly around her waist, pulling her close enough that his feather pauldrons tickled her shoulders. She smothered a chuckle at his possessiveness, but she didn't mind it. "Nothing happened, you know. We can't help having brief fancies in our minds, and almost as soon as I met you again, you were the one I wanted. But my point is that because Varric never had someone who sought his affections who was there, and single, unlike Bianca... he has never had a motivation to break up with her. He ought to. And I hope Cassandra motivates him to."
The Seeker and her entourage of bodyguards entered the Keep, the guards staying in the outer Keep as Cassandra was admitted to a private office where Caitlyn, Anders, and their children greeted her.
"You look tired," Caitlyn noted after the initial pleasantries. Cassandra's eyes had circles around them, and she herself seemed weary and exhausted, not as she had appeared last year to lead the investigation of Meredith's red lyrium.
"I'm sorry," Cassandra said. "I meant to have our discussion tonight, but I'm not at my best, it is true."
"Tomorrow, then," Caitlyn agreed. "You are quite welcome to rest here. You don't have to go to the Chantry."
"Thank you, Your Grace. I will take you up on that, as my business here is with you, about the war."
Caitlyn nodded. She was undecided for a moment about whether to do this, but then abruptly took the plunge. "Varric is living in his family mansion now, as head of the family—"
"Thank you, Your Grace."
The words were sharp and abrupt. Caitlyn hoped that she hadn't presumed too much. She gazed furtively at the Seeker. Yes—there was a hint of a blush across her cheeks, and she did not appear angry, more embarrassed. Caitlyn felt smug. There's nothing wrong with it, she thought. You are not a priest.
Cassandra, however, wanted to change the subject. She abruptly drew something out of her pack. Caitlyn did not immediately recognize it. It was a stoppered apothecary-style jar full of red liquid. Red lyrium! she thought immediately, panic filling her. And they're using it undiluted now? Maker help us all! She clutched baby Jo Beth to her breast and wrapped an arm around Mal, who sat next to her, as if to shield him from it.
But Anders had leaped to another conclusion, and his was the correct one. "Is that my..." He broke off, his lips curling in anger.
Caitlyn suddenly understood.
Cassandra nodded, handing it to him. "Your phylactery."
He took it from her, grabbing it so tightly that Caitlyn worried he would smash the glass with his own hands and injure himself. His face was set in anger, and it was several moments before he was able to speak.
"All this time," he said slowly, seething with every word, "for three years, as my wife corresponded with Justinia, she's had this thing in her possession in Val Royeaux?" The betrayal and outrage that he felt were almost palpable.
Cassandra shook her head. "No, it wasn't there. It was in Nevarra. I am not sure if Most Holy even thought about it."
"And why in the everlasting bloody Void was it there?" he exploded even as Mal's eyes widened at his father's curse. "I've been a Grey Warden for over six years. I do know that that made no difference to the Templars in Ferelden, who tried to threaten Lady Cousland into giving me up to them. But I've also been married to Caitlyn for five of those years, and she's been a bloody head of state for nearly three! How dare the Seekers hold on to this?"
"In fact, it was sent to Nevarra after Her Grace became Viscountess," Cassandra said. "Before that, it was held in Denerim. Divine Justinia never had it in her possession. But... I will tell you this much. The phylacteries of very important mages are kept in special, secret places, away from the majority of them. Mages such as the Grand Enchanter, Court Mages to royalty and high nobles... and, yes, Warden-Commanders who are mages, I'm sorry to say."
"You have no authority over Grey Wardens." His voice was fierce. "You wonder why we are fighting this war? This is why. The worst of you lot accept no limits on your power over mages—"
"I am giving you your phylactery to do as you please with," Cassandra said sharply, interrupting him. "I recognize that it is an abuse of authority to hold them in certain cases. I did not make the decision to do so in your case, Lord Anders. It was most likely Lady Seeker Nicoline, or possibly Seeker Lambert, who is now Lord Seeker."
"Unfortunately."
"Agreed. He is the wrong person at the wrong time." She sighed heavily. "The Chantry never had a phylactery for Your Grace the Viscountess, of course, as you were always an apostate prior to your dispensation from your Grand Cleric. So those who felt that they needed to do this settled for Anders' phylactery. It was improper, illegal, and that is why I took it to give to you."
All the anger seemed to seep out of him at once, replaced with misery. He closed his eyes in weariness as he held the object.
Caitlyn sensed that the meeting had reached its natural end. She rose from her seat, followed by her family and Cassandra. "Thank you for bringing this, Seeker Pentaghast. It closes the book for good on a part of our lives that we're glad to put behind us." She ushered them out of the meeting room. "I'll see to it that you are shown to your room to rest."
Cassandra was soon taken to a guest bedroom. While the Keep staff handled that, Caitlyn and Anders hurried into their own private quarters, which were warded by magic—something they trusted utterly. He was clutching the blood-filled bottle as his visage grew increasingly miserable and distraught.
"So that's a phylactery," Mal said once they were alone. He looked up at his father with wide, sorrowful eyes. "That's a lot of blood. It must have hurt and made you very tired, Father. I'm so sorry."
The baby let out a complaining whimper. It seemed even she sensed her family's dour mood. Caitlyn hushed her, pulling her close and rocking her gently in her arms.
Anders set the object on a table and pulled his son close. Tears formed in the corners of his eyes and trickled down his cheeks. He was glad that Mal had never seen one, that when he had briefly been in Meredith's custody on First Day Eve, her Templars hadn't done this to him—even though the reason they hadn't was too awful to contemplate. But he had recognized this bottle from the start, and it had brought back terrible memories.
It was not actually the first one they had made, when he was taken to the Circle at twelve. They had believed that one damaged, since they had been unable to track him for the six months that he had lived with Caitlyn's family, so when they had recaptured him, they'd emptied it and created a new one in the same bottle. This was that second one. He recalled being locked up, torn from the family he had wanted to be part of, separated from the person he loved and the child they had created together. It was mere days after losing the one true mentor he'd ever had, Malcolm Hawke, by his own hand as an act of mercy to spare the man from Blight sickness. He had been miserable, and the Templar who had cut him to make this replacement phylactery had made the knife especially painful, after his long escape.
Malcolm Hawke died trying to help me destroy my first phylactery, Anders thought, holding his son and his mentor's namesake close, staring at it until he couldn't anymore. The one created with this very bottle. This is the one they made after I was torn from my love and my family. This thing is the reason I could not escape again from the Circle in time to be there for her during her first pregnancy or see my son be born. It is why I wasn't there as they escaped Lothering. I'll never know if I could have saved her sister, but this damn thing is why I didn't even get to try.
He felt a warm body pressing against him. Opening his eyes, he turned around to face Caitlyn, who looked just as sorrowful and angry as he did. She knew what this meant to him.
Anders released Mal. Glowering, he grabbed the phylactery and flung it with all his might on the stone floor. Glass shattered, blood spattered and pooled, and the tracking and preservation spell—a spell, he thought angrily, a spell cast by a mage, probably the First Enchanter, going along with this abuse of his own kind—zoomed over him in a magical field as it disappeared forever.
Anders released a sob as he pulled his family close again. He breathed heavily. It's done, he thought. I'll burn off the remains, but it is destroyed now, and they will never, ever have a hold over me again.
That night, Caitlyn wanted to express her love for him, to comfort him and make him... not forget, because she knew that was impossible, but understand and accept that they were free and that the Templars could not ever keep track of him again. She knew what it meant to him to have a passionate, devoted, loving relationship. It was part of being free. To this day, she remembered something he had told her in Lothering, when they first became a couple.
"When I was in the Circle, love was only a game. I have never known a mage who dared to fall in love... until I met your family. And this is the rule I most cherish breaking."
"You are free, darling," she murmured to him that night as they got ready. "You're free, I am free, our children will be free, and so will the rest of our people." She pressed a kiss against his cheek. "They do not have your blood anymore. The last chain is broken."
Anders moaned, letting her take care of him tonight. It was what he needed.
They were both passionate and imaginative, and their love life reflected that. Sometimes they would pretend to be gritty revolutionary mage soldiers, hiding and hunted, coupling desperately because they never knew if it would be the last time. That, Caitlyn thought, was what their lives likely would be if they had never had children. She would not have been as motivated to become Viscountess if not for Mal.
Alternatively, if they were feeling naughtier, Anders had a fantasy about being an Avvar or Chasind barbarian, carrying her off, and she indulged that when he desired it. That was something he'd considered before—just before—they had met. Those nights ended with a lot of mutual laughing embarrassment, once reality asserted itself again, but Caitlyn still enjoyed it. There was his long-standing Templars-and-chains rescue fantasy, though who ended up bound often varied. Then there was her major domination fantasy, in which he was a petitioner to the Viscountess of Kirkwall, urging reforms to the Circle, and she requested something in return. He really liked that one.
But tonight, they were just an ordinary—if magical—farm couple. It was a role-play they'd acted out before, as it was how things would have been in another life. It was sweet escapism from the harsh wartime reality.
But the illusion always vanished when they were both sated and happy, replaced with the reality that they were a married couple who loved each other dearly, and that for all their sufferings, they were still quite fortunate.
The next morning.
"Your Grace, news from the Gallows."
A messenger from the mages who had chosen to live there had appeared at the Keep. He looked upset and unhappy.
After Caitlyn and Anders had read the message, they were unhappy too.
"Is this what Cassandra came to tell us?" Caitlyn said hotly when they were alone. "If so, she should've done it last night, tired or no!"
Anders glowered. "I'd like to know why we are hearing it after the army."
"I guess they have contacts," she reasoned. "A couple of them are former First Enchanters themselves. We're apostates," she said, smiling smugly at him in spite of the grim news they had just received. "This is the downside of it."
He smiled, but only for a second before it faded. "I still want an explanation from the Seeker about this."
They cornered Cassandra as soon as she had taken breakfast.
"Seeker Pentaghast," Caitlyn said, controlling her temper as best she could, clenching the message from the Gallows as if it were a staff. "Anders and I received some very interesting news this morning—from our subordinates in the Free Mages, who were under the impression that we knew already!" She unrolled the scroll, almost tearing it. Her expression twisted in anger. "They wanted to know what this meant for the war, if Divine Justinia had turned on the cause—or never really supported it at all!" She waved the document before Cassandra's eyes.
The scroll told of the decision of Lord Seeker Lambert to ban the fraternity representatives of the College of Magi from gathering unless Seekers or Templars loyal to Divine Justinia were there to supervise them—and, implicitly, veto any policy changes that the Lord Seeker did not like.
And Justinia had allowed the change in rules to go forward.
Cassandra sighed, rubbing her eyes. "Yes. I knew that he was planning this. I did not realize that your army had already learned of it. They must have had a handful of people who remained in contact with fellow mages still in the Circles. I apologize if it caused you embarrassment to learn of it from your own 'soldiers'—"
"That's what you're sorry for? That's the least of it!" Anders exploded.
"They sent word to me, asking my thoughts, via messenger," Caitlyn said tightly. "Fortunately, I didn't lose face by revealing to my entire army that I was the last to hear of it!" She tried to calm her anger, breathing heavily. "Seeker Pentaghast. Do you know if Justinia is intending to overrule him? Because this is a rather blatant attempt on his part to keep Circles from voting for reforms—or independence."
"She doesn't intend to override him. She must avoid appearing to openly support the mage rebellion, and she believes she can use this restriction to that end while working around it. He hasn't banned gatherings outright, after all."
"As if he wouldn't put them all to the sword if they held a gathering and voted to join us!" Anders burst out. "The point of having Seekers and Templars present is to menace and intimidate the mages out of doing anything to weaken—or break—their chains."
"You know," Caitlyn drawled, "I rather got the impression that Justinia backed me. I thought I had good cause to think so. Yet you're telling me that she's not going to act against this Lord Seeker that we all know is not her friend. Anders is right about why he did it and what effect it will have. Justinia has to see that too." She glared, breathing hard. "Was I wrong about her? What side is she really on—if this isn't just all the Great Game to her?"
Cassandra forked an eye at Caitlyn. "I am not your enemy, Viscountess Hawke," she said sharply, "and if she did not back you, you would not be talking with me as an equal, because you would not be wearing that crown!"
Caitlyn felt chastised, and nodded more meekly. Cassandra continued. "If you want the truth, here it is. Justinia does back what you want to do. She wants to open up the Circles. She wants mages to have the right to be with their families and live normal lives if they can do so safely. She just wanted to do this gradually, so other people could adjust to the changes over time, and she wanted it done peacefully. She did not want the Chantry torn apart over it!"
This seemed grossly unfair to Caitlyn. "They broke the peace. They attacked a healing clinic, organized a murderous mob to march on the Keep, defied Justinia's orders. They tore the Chantry apart. I didn't! I did introduce reforms peacefully and gradually, over Dragon 9:35 and 36."
"Two years is not gradual by Her Perfection's reckoning, and some of the changes you made were significant. Mages in the City Guard, using force against non-mages in a city with long memories of maleficarum... and then that rush of major reforms in Dragon 9:36 leading up to the massacre."
"Anders and I were trying to protect Mal!" Caitlyn exclaimed. "If we didn't make changes 'fast'—by your standards—he would have been taken from us! Everyone knew we were both mages. Everyone in Meredith's clique would have been counting the days to when Mal would have been old enough that it could be presumed he was too. And then we decided to have another baby..."
Cassandra sighed heavily. "I know. And I know it was not you who broke the peace, either."
Caitlyn sighed as well. "Let's not fight, then."
"Indeed not."
"I suppose the Circles that voted to join my army did so without consulting with the College of Magi. There is that," Caitlyn muttered. "If they want to rebel, they'll do it anyway."
Anders was still belligerent. "But this will chill debate and discussion among the Circles that haven't yet joined us."
"You're right," Caitlyn said. "It makes it harder for us than it has to be."
"Do you understand that for every rebellious Circle you gain, you also gain enemies in the Templars and Seekers from it who mostly join the schism?" Cassandra interjected.
Caitlyn's temper frayed. "Then why not use these Circles for her own bloody defense? It's not just a war against Kirkwall, or against me, or for mage freedom. It's a brazen defiance of Justinia as the Divine. Doing nothing looks weak. In past Exalted Marches, Divines sent Circle mages. Why not call one with the remaining Templars, Seekers, and Circles?"
"You aren't going to like the answer, either of you."
Anders glowered. "She thinks that if she does, the mages won't go back in their Circles. Doesn't she?"
Cassandra did not obfuscate or dissemble. "You are basically correct."
"And why would they?" he continued. "They would be in a position to wrest concessions out of her, and if she instead dismissed them with mealy-mouthed false promises, the mages would turn on her. That's what it is, isn't it?" His voice was heated.
"Yes, they would be in a position to demand anything they liked and to threaten Most Holy with breaking away if she did not give it to them fully. And if she did give them what they wanted, she would lose the Circles to independence."
"And you think we consider that a problem? Mages should be free."
"Lord Anders, this is about more than mages. I wrote in my letter that if the Circles revolt en masse, the Seekers and remaining Templars will likely turn on her. That would also happen if she granted the Circles independence too soon. How safe do you think she would be with no armed support?" Cassandra stared at him. "And how long do you think reforms would last if a foe succeeded her? How safe, too, do you think you would be with an enemy as the Divine?"
"Then maybe," Caitlyn cut in fiercely, "Justinia needs to reassess whether her personal safety should be so wholly reliant on armies she can't trust! Maybe she should trade fickle Templars and Seekers for mages who have actual reason to consider her their friend. Independent doesn't mean disloyal."
Cassandra gazed skeptically at them both. "And do you think those disloyal Templars and Seekers will just vanish? Just melt into the countryside, instead of trying to depose her? Would you roll the dice on her successor if her ideas have not been in place long enough for the Chantry to get used to them? This is more fragile than you two realize, and she is trying to protect your cause!"
Caitlyn heaved a breath. Cassandra was unfortunately making sense to her. Everything she said was logical. But Caitlyn could not see how Justinia's apparent wish—keeping all the disparate forces in her fold until she could get the Templars and Seekers used to stark doctrinal changes—could be achieved.
"Cassandra," she said heavily, "the Divine appears to want something that I don't think is possible. I learned that the hard way myself over the two years I ruled before war broke out. I also thought that, with time, persuasion, and incremental changes, I could persuade most of my enemies to accept new rights for mages. To accept me." She smiled mirthlessly. "I was wrong. I'm sure I did persuade many citizens of Kirkwall, but not my enemies. Not Meredith, Elthina, Trentwatch, or Van Reeves. And it looks like the Divine is trying to do the same thing. It's not going to work for her either. Sometimes we cannot change our enemies' minds and we have to accept that they are the enemy."
Cassandra did not respond for a while. Caitlyn could tell that her words had made an impression—that, perhaps, the Seeker did not want them to be true, but that she could not really argue against them.
Finally Cassandra spoke. "Most Holy does not want further fracturing. It has hurt her deeply to preside over the Chantry as a new schism occurs, especially one triggered by opposition to her ideas. She wishes to change doctrine for mages... but she also is the shepherdess of the faithful. She wants to keep those who have not yet joined the schism in her fold. If the rest of the Templars and Seekers join the schism, the Chantry as we know it is finished."
"The Chantry should be finished 'as we know it,'" Anders said, gazing levelly at her. "It has too much power. Let it become an organization of local chantries that stick to faith and charity, not bastions of lyrium-addicted zealots who do whatever they're told, whether that's 'threaten a Grey Warden,' 'rape and kill children,' or 'overthrow the Viscountess.'" He ended in a snarl.
Cassandra looked aside for a moment, trying not to respond to this with hostility. She knew that everything Anders listed was something they had seen or experienced. Her words were carefully chosen when she did reply. "I agree that the Chantry... has, in some ways, become corrupted by gold and power, and has not always followed Andraste's teachings. Many reforms are needed, and some would indeed take power away from it. There could even be some decentralization, as you suggest. But if it simply breaks up, the schism will become the most powerful center of Andrastianism in Thedas. Its reach will spread. Is that the outcome you want?"
Caitlyn spoke up. "I have a question of my own, and it's a real one, not a rhetorical one," she said. "If 'keeping people in the fold' is her goal, will Justinia actually respect our victory if we do win this war on our own?"
"You will have won a seat at the table. Any Circles still in the Chantry would also know it and would probably back you at that table."
"And Justinia supports that?"
"She does. You have my word on that."
"So," Caitlyn concluded, "she wants change to happen, but she wants others—meaning me—to make it so that she isn't the driver. She wants the war to be a victory for my side so that doctrinal changes will be inevitable, but she doesn't want her own hands blatantly in it. She thinks that'll be better for the Chantry." Caitlyn was certain that this was what the Divine was thinking. She herself was not a masterful Game-player like Justinia was, but she could guess the woman's game well enough now. Beside her, Anders raised his eyebrows at her, impressed with her acumen. That had not occurred to him.
Cassandra smiled wryly. "Between us—and you must not repeat this, either of you—I think you are exactly right."
"You know, then, that more Circles are likely to revolt once they figure out that my army is the way forward. And she'll be faced with her Templar and Seeker mass defection anyway, if you are right." She gazed at Cassandra. "She can't stop the war now. It's begun. We've already fought and won a battle."
"Yes," Cassandra said heavily. "It is war. We all know it. As you say, it has begun. Most Holy knows it, and that is why she has tasked me to liaise with you. It's not to talk you out of your fight; it's to keep you informed. As I hope I have done so far."
They took a break after that to attend to various matters—Caitlyn to affairs of state, Anders and Mal to check on the healing clinic in the Keep, and Cassandra to pay a perfunctory visit to the Chantry to tell Grand Cleric Petrice that she was in town to reassure the Viscountess of the Divine's support, although it could not be armed support.
Caitlyn and Anders both strongly suspected that she had not told them all that she meant to, however. She had said in her letter, the one they'd received before the Battle of Wildervale, that she meant to pay a visit to Kirkwall to tell them things she could not trust to writing. The Lord Seeker's decision could not have been what she meant, since that was a public policy.
They were, therefore, not surprised when Cassandra returned to the Keep after lunch to ask for another private meeting with them.
"Lord Seeker Lambert's decision forced me to have a discussion with you that I would rather not have had to hold," Cassandra acknowledged upon her return, "at least, as the beginning of our visit. Because I'm afraid that nothing else I have to tell you is that pleasant either."
Caitlyn sighed. "It's war. 'Pleasant' only comes after victories. Which, at least, we've had." She looked at the Seeker. "What else did you need to say? I recall that you wrote us that there were things you couldn't entrust to letters."
"Yes," Cassandra acknowledged. "They relate to... unfortunately, to rumors and stories spread about you by your enemies. Some have already affected the willingness of potential allies to join you. Others have not—but Divine Justinia requested that I tell you of all of them, so that you can counter them."
Caitlyn breathed heavily. This was going to make her angry. But best to hear it, she resolved. And I must remember that this is not Cassandra's fault. I mustn't attack the messenger. "Let's start on a better note this time, then," she said. "What are the ones that aren't affecting people's perceptions of me?"
"For now," Anders added in a mutter. "Better to know so that we can counter them before they do have an effect."
Cassandra smiled mirthlessly. "I doubt Your Graces will consider this to be 'starting on a better note,' unfortunately," she said. "The first rumor... is largely defunct now. The Left Hand of the Divine, who I understand is a personal friend of Your Grace who knew you in Ferelden, did much work to shut it down when it was popular in certain quarters of Val Royeaux."
Leliana, Caitlyn felt with a pang. She hoped that she was doing well.
"This rumor was based on the fact that Your Graces married in Dragon 9:32 when young Malcolm was born in 9:28, and that you were both known to have migrated to Kirkwall in 9:30 or 31. In short... the rumor was that Lord Anders wasn't really his father."
Caitlyn and Anders glowered. "What a very Orlesian rumor that is," she spat. "They do so love to speculate about what happens between people's legs. It's not news to me, though. I'd heard of it a time or two here in Kirkwall. No one seemed to credit it. Our history—Anders' and mine, about our separation in Ferelden and how it motivated us—became pretty widely known. I'm glad that Leliana could shut it down, though."
Cassandra looked awkward. "Well, unfortunately, it was more than just a rumor. There were actual investigations that your enemies conducted, hoping to be able to cast doubt upon your son's paternity."
Caitlyn blinked. "Investigations? Meaning what? And who did it?"
"For one, Knight-Commander Meredith demanded that the Fereldan Circle surrender records of Anders' escapes, which, of course, they still kept—"
"Of course they did," Anders growled. "Never mind that I was a Grey Warden and the spouse of a head of state by then and they had no power over me. They still kept records and a phylactery for me. This, Seeker, is another example of why we're fighting."
Cassandra avoided that digression. "Of course, the records showed how your long escape to the Lothering area coincided perfectly with the time that young Malcolm must have been conceived, based on his birth date. They also hunted down and questioned one of your Grey Warden colleagues in Amaranthine and asked him about your... comportment... during your service."
Caitlyn gaped at Cassandra in disbelief and fury. "I've never been with any man except Anders and only one woman. What does a woman have to do to escape this type of vile, misogynistic attack—never love anyone?" Anders shifted angrily beside her, placing an arm around her waist to support her.
Cassandra carefully avoided noting her admission that she had been with a woman. She had had strong suspicions that the Left Hand had been more than friends with Hawke during Anders' imprisonment, and this all but confirmed it. Of course, both women were with their life partners now, and there was nothing between them anymore but friendship—and that was damaged by the war.
"I do not think there is anything we can do," she said. "It is not truly about what you have done, but the fact that you are a woman they don't like and see as an enemy. Even Divine Justinia has been attacked in this foul way. We should just seek love and happiness and ignore them as best we can."
Caitlyn sighed, glowering. Anders gave her a sympathetic look.
"Go on," she finally said. "They gave it up at last, I assume? Accepted reality? I do recall a document that Elthina issued, condemning me, but on the basis of mage policy. It also said in print that I'd had a child with Anders in Ferelden, so they must have accepted the truth."
"Yes. The Grey Warden they found said that you were always 'moody' about your lost family," she said to Anders. She turned back to Caitlyn. "And the fact that you chose to raise your son alone for three years is, of course, a strong indication itself that the father was not there, and these reactionaries had to acknowledge that Anders was that father. But yes, Meredith, Trentwatch, and a handful of others wanted to manufacture a cloud around it, since your being a mage did not seem to matter to Kirkwall's nobility."
Caitlyn shook her head in disgust. "That is vile," she grumbled.
"You will get no argument from me about that."
"And they didn't care about the fact that Mal would have heard it," Anders added. "Even if he never had a shadow of a doubt himself, he is a child."
"They don't care about the children of mages or anyone that mages love," Caitlyn snarled, "especially other mages. That's what it amounts to."
"Well," Cassandra continued, "they gave it up and are now making an attack on the basis that you are a mage couple with your own children by blood. They are calling you 'would-be magisters.'"
Caitlyn rolled her eyes. "I've seen that. It shows they'll say anything about me, even things diametrically the opposite of what they used to say."
There was nothing to say to that, to they lapsed into silence. Caitlyn tried to tamp down her anger, but her thoughts were a violent storm. I wonder how many Orlesian noble bloodlines run true, she thought darkly. They'll do anything with anyone and only care about being able to wink and claim it didn't happen—even when they all know it's a lie. How many Orlesian nobles are actually the children of strapping young knights or guards? How many knights and guards are actually the lords' children? But all that matters is being able to wink behind those stupid eye masks, never let anyone have proof against you, and play the Game without making too many waves. I don't tell stupid lies, Anders and I incontrovertibly had Mal years before our marriage, and I certainly haven't hesitated to make waves. That's the issue. They don't morally judge me for having slept with Anders before our wedding and they wouldn't if it came out about me and Leliana. What they really deride about me is that I'm a woman who doesn't play by their rules. Cassandra is right.
She sighed heavily. "Let's move on. The other rumors, and potential allies' perceptions of me, as you mentioned."
Cassandra leaned in. "Your Grace, as I understand it, you have Circle mages from Kirkwall, Ferelden, and Markham who have rebelled, as well as some number of apostates. You also have treaties of alliance with Ferelden and Markham. Nowhere else."
"That's correct," Caitlyn said. She was not inclined to give Cassandra details of the mages. The Chantry had records of those who were taken to Circles, and she could not do anything about that, but she didn't want anyone getting their hands on the mages who had always been free. "I did request an alliance with Orlais shortly after I became Viscountess. Celene refused. It was disappointing, but I wasn't completely surprised."
"That was also right after your husband executed those Templars."
"They were child rapists and broke local Chantry law that banned Tranquility," Anders said defensively.
"I understand that, but it was a shocking event in Val Royeaux."
"Forget about Orlais," Caitlyn said. "I'm not going to have an alliance with Celene and I accept that. She has her own problems. Since we're discussing this, what I don't understand is why Wycome won't ally with us. It has the reputation of being the 'freest Free Marcher city' of them all—though I wonder if that's true anymore," she added smugly. "Anyhow, that's the type of place that should back our cause, regardless of any rumors."
Cassandra eyed her. Caitlyn could tell that, although this Seeker respected her as a head of state and clearly was not a mage-hater, Cassandra was more conservative than Leliana and possibly also Justinia on the subject of the Circles, and did not agree completely with Caitlyn's policies.
The Seeker cleared her throat. "I doubt the rumors help, but they are not the reason why Wycome is neutral. The First Enchanter of Montsimmard, Vivienne de Fer, was born in Wycome and has influence. Well," Cassandra amended, "she has influence in Orlesian politics too. In any case, she has urged the Duke of Wycome not to ally with Kirkwall."
Caitlyn's eyes narrowed sharply. "A mage is urging the Duke against an alliance to advance mage rights? Is she another of the sleeper agents that Divine Justinia had such trouble with before the schism?" Her words were harsh and her tone furious.
"No, I do not think she is the most devout Andrastian in the first place. But to the extent that she is, she is utterly loyal to Justinia and the true Chantry. I am positive of that. She considers the schism traitors, as indeed they are. She simply, with all due respect, does not agree with your cause."
Caitlyn tried once again to control her temper. Cassandra was just the messenger; her anger was now directed at this First Enchanter Vivienne. "If she really doesn't want the schism to win, I still don't understand why she would urge Wycome against allying with me."
"My guess is that she wants your side to have to turn to Val Royeaux and make concessions, rather than winning the war on your own. She is more conservative on Circles than Divine Justinia."
This explanation, though a guess, made perfect sense to Caitlyn, and it was utterly infuriating. An empowered mage, using her influence for this end! Caitlyn couldn't hold it in. "Yet you said she has political influence in Orlais, and apparently Wycome. If these are her beliefs, that's a little hypocritical."
Cassandra actually chuckled. "Between us, Your Grace, I agree with you. To be honest... I know of her mainly by reputation. You and she have much in common—it is true, you do—but the differences are explosive."
"A couple of my friends are 'conservative on Circles,'" Caitlyn said, thinking of Fenris and Aveline. "They support me because if change is happening anyway, they'd rather have me leading a war for it than Maker knows who. This Madame de Fer should feel the same. I'm the Viscountess of Kirkwall, not some strongman with a gang."
"Frankly, I think that is part of the problem. In Orlais, you would never have been allowed to openly hold political power as a mage. Orlesian civil law holds to a very strict interpretation of Andraste's command of magic 'never to rule over' mankind. It is in the secular law that nobles cannot be mages."
"Maybe not officially, but Orlais is full of liars about that. There have been dozens of secret apostates in the Orlesian nobility."
"As you say, secret apostates. None of them ruled openly as mages."
"Well, things are obviously different in Kirkwall."
"Things are different in Kirkwall because Divine Justinia allowed them to be different if the people of Kirkwall wished it. You do realize, don't you, that Divine Beatrix would have ordered an Exalted March on Kirkwall if you had made yourself Viscountess during her reign?"
Caitlyn sighed heavily. "Yes. I know I only hold this seat because Justinia is on the Sunburst Throne."
"Which she only took in Dragon 9:34, three years ago. Vivienne de Fer rose to prominence during Beatrix's reign, following Beatrix's strict reading of doctrine. She had to obtain power and influence by following those rules."
"But she must have done rather well if she, a First Enchanter, can influence the politics of Orlais and of a foreign free city."
Cassandra let out her breath abruptly. "She is not just a First Enchanter. She is a Court Enchanter, and the mistress of Duke Bastien de Ghislain."
Suddenly some things became clear to Caitlyn. "I sent Comte de Launcet to Val Royeaux in 9:35 to request an alliance with Orlais," she said. "He came back saying that the Empress was very polite but still refused."
"Madame de Fer may well have counseled against the alliance, yes."
"And she's an Orlesian duke's mistress and has freedom and influence because of that? That's how she would have us live—shut up in Circles if we didn't meet whatever her standards are, or if we do, the most we can ask out of life is to be some noble's kept woman... or man. I've fought for us to have partners and families of our own. Our rights shouldn't depend on our being kept by nobles as exotic bed warmers."
Cassandra considered her words carefully. The Viscountess was known to be family-oriented and strictly monogamous. It was because she, as a mage, saw committing to one person and forming a family as romantic, revolutionary acts. So, apparently, did Anders. Cassandra was quite a romantic herself, so she understood that part of it. But not everyone was the same.
"I have heard it is an affair of the heart. The Duchess did not mind sharing him, I gather," she finally said.
Caitlyn shook her head. "I have a friend who would understand that, but I don't. Nor does Anders. We suffered too much. For us, freedom is the ability to commit utterly, to defy and vanquish the fear that someday we'll be shattered because we dared to love someone like that." She sighed. "That was too personal, wasn't it?"
"No, frankly, Your Grace, I understand. I... have a romantic side too."
She seized this admission rapidly to try to change the subject from her own confession. "So I should find Bianca Davri and—"
Cassandra interrupted loudly, not letting Caitlyn finish this. "But others are different. I mention this about Madame de Fer because it is of a piece with how she has had to gratify her ambitions. You and she have in common the desire for influence and power as mages, but she had a harder path than you."
Caitlyn wanted to object, given how much violence and opposition she faced, given the separation from Anders for four years, given the abduction of their firstborn by Meredith and her near loss of their second also because of Meredith, but she tried to make herself hear Cassandra out.
"She became proficient at the subtleties and interplay of the Great Game of Orlais; you prefer boldness and directness."
"You could say that," Caitlyn agreed.
"But a mage could not have power and influence in Orlais by boldness and directness," Cassandra emphasized. "Not unless they wanted to rebel outright, which, again, Beatrix would not have tolerated. Madame de Fer did what she had to do. And so it is with her relationship with the Duke. She is a mage."
"So am I, and I'm married. The Chantry doesn't actually ban it."
"No, but laws and tradition are different things. No one would have held a wedding for the First Enchanter. It would have been an act of rebellion. When your Grand Cleric Petrice—Mother Petrice then—wed you and Anders, he was a Grey Warden, and it was still a secret that you were a mage. It would not have been possible even here in Kirkwall if you had been the First Enchanter. That is what she faced. She could not marry or have children of her own. They would have been taken from her. So she pursued a man she fancied who could also give her soft power, the only kind possible at the time."
Caitlyn scowled. "I know it's common enough to pursue power through the bed, marital or otherwise. It isn't my problem as long as I have the right to choose differently. And that's the issue I have with her. I live free, I married the man I love, I have a family, I obtained hard power, and I'm not selfish about it. I want other mages to have those same chances. She doesn't." Caitlyn paused as something suddenly hit her. "She's envious of me, isn't she?"
Cassandra gazed down momentarily, sighing, then met Caitlyn's eyes. "That possibility has occurred to me."
Caitlyn shook her head in derision. "She doesn't want any other mage to have more than she does! That's all it is." She scoffed. "I think I'd like to meet this First Enchanter Vivienne de Fer and have some words with her." Her tone was menacing.
Cassandra glanced sharply at her. "I think that would be an extremely poor idea and an unproductive use of everyone's time," she replied. "Would you listen to anything she said, Viscountess Hawke? Do you imagine she would listen to you? You appear to want to take personally targeted verbal revenge on her because of Wycome. You are not entitled to an alliance, you know."
"If she starts meddling with the alliances I've already made—"
"Then she will have behaved as an enemy, yes. But she is clever enough not to do that. You have strong ties to Ferelden, through your birth and the Grey Warden connections in your family. I understand your Markham alliance is that the Margrave is Ser Marlein Selbrech's cousin and is now wed to a daughter of Comte de Launcet. Madame de Fer would know those bonds are too strong to be broken by persuasive words. Leave it. Leave her be. Focus on the enemies you already have, rather than creating more."
Caitlyn thought for a moment about it before realizing that the Seeker was right. Resignedly, she nodded.
The silence became unbearably awkward, so Cassandra spoke again. "You asked about the stories that are spreading about you," she said. "Let us return to that subject."
Caitlyn swallowed. "Yes. Let's focus on the enemies I have, as you said."
"These stories all have a common theme, and I don't mind saying that they appear to be based in fact, to have a grain of truth, unlike the filth about your son. These are the ones that have worried Divine Justinia. There are some in the Seekers and Templars—yes, even those who remain loyal to Most Holy—who see you as the second coming of Perrin Threnhold, but a mage."
Caitlyn folded her arms. Beside her, Anders scowled. "And why is that?" she said. Her words were cold, but her eyes were aflame. "Because I went to the Gallows and killed the Knight-Commander?"
"That and other things. He hired mercenaries; you had a militia of loyal vigilantes. A private armed force answerable to you alone."
"Should I have ordered the City Guard to do it instead?" she said edgily.
"No, but I am merely explaining why some people see you as being like him. There was also an Orlesian who had been a property owner here, who returned to his homeland and took a grievance he had with you to his lord, which then reached the Empress."
Caitlyn suddenly realized whom Cassandra meant. A rage simmered in her.
"He said that you had seized some property that he jointly owned with you, because you were Viscountess and no one could stop you."
"It was a mine, and I seized it because he was guilty of criminal negligence of the laborers' safety!" she exclaimed. "For years he refused to believe them when they reported dangers, refused to pay for equipment, or anything. They reported a High Dragon and he scoffed. Well, there was one, and I bought dwarven weapons to chase it off. They would have all died if I hadn't. Maybe Orlesian law doesn't protect workers' safety, but Kirkwall's does. I had every right to seize his shares."
"I see," she said. "Your account of it is not circulating in Orlais, just his. And, no, the Orlesian well-to-do don't care that much about peasant laborers, I am sorry to say. But I understand and sympathize with you on this. Unfortunately... there are other things said about you, the embargoes against Starkhaven and Tantervale that you established well before the war, and this... deal... you have with Ferelden to essentially enact double tolls on the Waking Sea. People say that it is reminiscent of Threnhold's policies."
Caitlyn bristled. "The Templars and Chantry shouldn't have interfered with Threnhold. Heads of state have the authority to make trade law and sanction whatever nations they choose."
Cassandra sighed. "This part of the Waking Sea is dangerous outside the Kirkwall passage. Ships go through Kirkwall's harbor or risk foundering on the Storm Coast. And Threnhold was embargoing Orlesian goods and denying them entry unless they paid a high tax that he charged no one else."
"Sanctions, in other words." She shrugged. "I don't think Threnhold did anything wrong by taxing the Void out of the nation that had plundered, ruled over, and tyrannized the entire south for ages. And as I see it today, with my policy, we have to maintain navies to protect our waters. Those who use our patrolled, pirate-free waters for trade routes can help fund this, especially since they are not helping us fight. Our allies don't have to pay the toll, you know."
Cassandra considered her reply cautiously. "Divine Justinia prays that you win," she said, "and you do have a point about assessing duties on ships that use these waters in a time of war but are not aiding your defense of them. But I would not take the comparison to Threnhold as a compliment or seek to emulate him, Your Grace. He made many enemies by the end."
Caitlyn raised her eyebrows. The misgivings and worries that she had felt at the victory banquet about her newly granted powers had vanished with this conversation. No, she thought, I am not going to play these people's game, by their rules. I defy that; I spit on that; I curse that with a fireball. I will show them the mages have a leader who won't be cowed by their weaselly whispers and tutting.
"My Small Council just empowered me with emergency war powers for the duration of the conflict," she said. "They trust me enough to grant me that authority. I will do what I must, Seeker."
Notes: Viscountess Caitlyn is loosely inspired by one fictional person and one real one: Daenerys Targaryen and Napoleon Bonaparte. Don't take that as a spoiler for the war's outcome! It's about her duality: seeking liberty for others while having an authoritarian streak as a leader. I'm fascinated with the challenge of securing liberty against an autocratic foe while not becoming just as bad, or if sometimes one does have to approach the cliff, gaze into the Nietzschean abyss, and then step back.
About Circles: The Circles at Tantervale and Hercinia are my invention; they don't appear on the Dragon Age wiki. The northern schism has to have some magical power, even if some mages are conscripted against their will. However, I'm not overly concerned with consistency with canon, because canon isn't consistent with itself. Asunder says there are 15 Circles outside Tevinter, but that conflicts with DA:O, which says 14. DA2 claims there are only the Kirkwall and Starkhaven Circles in the Free Marches, which is false. As for the grand total, you only get 14 from those mentioned in games or novels, and I consider other sources to be just semi-canon. (They'd add 2 more if counted, but one is a second Circle in Ferelden, which is implausible to say the least.) And is Starkhaven still counted after the fire? Since canon is this sloppy, I have decided: Eff it; it's AU anyway, so I'm going to do what makes sense for me, and there are 16 Circles. They are: Kirkwall, Ferelden, Markham (independent). Starkhaven, Tantervale, Hercinia (conscripts and Loyalists, minus escapees). Hossberg, Antiva City, Ansburg, Hasmal, Ostwick, Cumberland, Perendale, Montsimmard, Val Royeaux, Dairsmuid (currently noncombatant).
Regarding Caitlyn's comments about Vivienne, I would point out that she's never judged Isabela. That said, I know she is being judgmental, even if it's in a revolutionary rather than a sexual puritan way. She is Red Hawke, after all. And Vivienne is not an enemy in the AU, but she did need to be mentioned.
