Josephine and Siara were hurried into the War Chamber not long after they arrived back in Skyhold for a debrief with the council. Word had been sent ahead about the attempt on Josephine's life, and it was being made a priority. Of course, everyone was still thinking about the Grey Wardens and Adamant, but they were waiting to hear back from Leliana's scouts with as much information as they could gather so they'd have the best chances of success. Everything was moving fast - it had to - but that didn't mean that they didn't have time to help Josephine.
Siara was asked for a verbal debrief and she only just managed to suppress a sigh. She'd already said everything in her written debrief that was sent ahead, why was she being asked to repeat it all?
"Josephine and the delegates were in another room discussing how Nevarra and Tevinter were bickering," she started, trying very hard to keep the bored tone from her voice. "I stayed in the main room. My back was to the door to the hallway, and I heard someone enter. I pretended to be asleep and the person that entered came over to me and attacked me. I fought back, and I killed him. I searched his body for any clues about who he was or who had sent him, but the only thing I found was a slip of parchment with Josephine's name on it. I sent the parchment with the messenger and my initial report for Leliana."
"Are you certain that is all?" Jacquelyn asked, a serious expression on her face. "There are no other details that could help us identify the assailant?"
"He had an Orlesian accent. Didn't look particularly old. Short hair. No distinctive markings on his face. Perfectly ordinary in every way."
"Do you know of anyone who would want to kill you, Josephine?" Cullen asked, looking at the ambassador.
"No idea," Josephine replied. "I thought initially that it was someone trying to kill one of the delegates, maybe that someone wanted war between Nevarra and Tevinter."
"Perhaps that is what someone wanted," Jacquelyn suggested. "Perhaps someone thought that the best chance of that happening was to kill you, not the delegates."
"I doubt it," Leliana said. "I have some of my agents looking into this. I haven't heard anything of any use yet, but I'm sure we'll find something."
"In the meantime, Josephine should never be left without at least one guard nearby," Jacquelyn looked to Cullen, who nodded.
"Of course," he agreed.
"Please, that's hardly necessary. I'll be fine in Skyhold," Josephine tried to object.
"Josephine, you are an important member of the council. Not only that, but I see you as a friend. Your safety is of the utmost importance to me," Jacquelyn told her. "We can easily spare a man or two to ensure your safety."
"If you think it's necessary."
Jacquelyn smiled at Josephine, then looked back at the map in front of them. The conversation drifted to other things, such as how successful Josephine's mission was despite the assassination attempt (very successful), supplies, and a rockfall in the Exalted Plains. It didn't take Siara long to start zoning out. No one was talking about anything that involved her anymore, and after a bit she left, not bothering to say goodbye to anyone.
Cullen glanced up as he heard the door open. He watched as Siara left the room, and that feeling that he needed to try to talk to her about what happened arose again. They needed to sort out what happened, and now that his mind was more clear he felt like he could actually handle a conversation with her. If she was willing to discuss what had happened.
Siara, meanwhile, was heading straight to Solas' study. Her mind had been reeling since her fight with the assassin, and there was only one conclusion she could come to.
She needed help. There was too much going on that she didn't know anything about, and it had reached a boiling point. Strange markings on skin was one thing, shooting ice out her hand was another.
Solas wasn't alone when Siara reached his study. She could hear the bickering before she even opened the door, though she couldn't quite hear what Solas and, by the sounds of it, Anders were arguing about. She sighed, pushing open the door and entering the room. Solas and Anders were, indeed, arguing. There was a book open on the desk in front of them, and Anders was pointing at one of the pages.
"There! It says so right there!"
"No. That's not how it works."
"You're not even explaining why you disagree, you're just saying 'no' over and over again."
"I'm disagreeing because it is wrong."
"You're not even the one who - "
"Oh, enough," Siara sighed, striding forward and grabbing the book, slamming it closed before putting it back, front cover down, on the table. She didn't know what they had been arguing about, but she didn't trust that Anders wasn't about to say something incredibly stupid. There had been a small, tell-tale glow of the eyes starting, and if Justice had really shown up then they would have been in even deeper shit than before.
Anders and Solas both turned their attention to her. Anders seemed a bit shocked, his eyes calming down to their usual state. Solas simply seemed surprised that Siara had popped in, though Siara wouldn't have been surprised if he had noticed her enter and simply hadn't bothered to acknowledge her because he was too busy dealing with Anders' stupidity.
"We were in the middle of a discussion," Anders tried to scold. Siara just raised an eyebrow at him.
"So that's what we're calling bickering like toddlers now, is it?" she asked, then scoffed. "There's something I wanted to talk to you two about."
"Both of us?" Solas asked. Siara nodded, then looked around the room. She never liked this room. Not for a lot of the types of conversations she had, anyway. Too many doors, and of course, there wasn't actually a ceiling until Leliana's haunt.
"Not here," she said. "Are you both free now?"
Anders and Solas shared a look.
"I think so," Anders confirmed.
"Come on then. We'll talk in my room."
She then turned and left the room, Solas and Anders taking half a second before following her out. Anders fell into step beside her while Solas hung back a bit, just listening to the conversation.
"Is everything all right?" Anders asked.
"It's… well…" Siara frowned. "To be honest, I'm not entirely sure."
"You? At a loss for words? Now I'm really worried."
"My interest is certainly piqued," Solas added, Anders glancing around at him with a small, concerned frown on his face. Siara not knowing if the topic of conversation was good or bad was, in itself, not a great sign. She usually did her best to seem sure of everything.
The three of them had made their way to the courtyard below Siara's room when they were interrupted.
"Siara, wait a moment."
Siara stopped walking, an irritated sigh escaping her. Anders and Solas paused with her, looking behind them to Cullen. He had spotted them just as everyone was leaving the War Chambers and had hurried to catch Siara. Anders and Solas looked at Siara questioningly. She just motioned with her head that they should carry on.
"I'll meet you up there," she said. "This shouldn't take too long."
Solas nodded and continued on his way to the stairs, Anders pausing a moment and watching Cullen before following after Solas. With them gone, Siara turned to face Cullen, who had just reached her.
"Yes?"
"I was hoping we could talk," Cullen said, calmly. Siara frowned, raising an eyebrow slightly. There was something different about him. He seemed more confident, somehow. More sure of himself. There was something about it that she didn't quite trust, and there was an unease growing inside her.
"About?"
"You know what about," Cullen sighed. "We need to be able to move past this, Siara. We work together, and it isn't unusual for us to be working rather closely. I wanted to - "
"We don't need to move past this, Commander," Siara cut in, "we simply need to be able to work together. We don't need to be friends, we simply need to be able to be in the same room as each other. I can manage that without any further discussion on the matter. If you cannot, then, with all due respect, that is your issue and not mine. Now, if there's nothing else?"
Cullen just looked at Siara in shock. She took the opportunity and inclined her head to him slightly before taking a step back and turning away.
"Good day, Commander."
She left Cullen standing in the courtyard, scrambling to figure out what his next move was.
Anders and Solas were waiting for her in her room. Solas was looking at a pile of books Siara had off to the side, not that she had much of a chance to read. Anders had been waiting for her and crossed over to her as soon as she shut the door behind her.
"Is everything all right?" he asked. Siara shrugged at him, realising that he had watched what he could of her conversation with Cullen.
"I've got it handled."
"What happened?"
"You want the truth?" Anders nodded and Siara half smiled. "You. You happened. But it's okay, like I said. I have it handled. He has nothing to do with what I want to talk to you two about."
"What is it you wanted to talk about?" Solas asked, placing a book back on top of the pile, looking expectantly at Siara.
"Promise you won't tell anyone else?"
"Of course," Anders assured her. Solas simply nodded.
A frown slipped onto her face and she looked down at the floor, thinking.
"There's something… I don't know if it's quite wrong, but it's not quite right," she started, then shook her head. She didn't know how to explain what was going on.
"Siara?" Anders asked, a concerned frown on his face. Siara sighed, raising her chin and pulling a face.
"I killed someone," she said, "with a shard of ice."
"What's so strange about that?" Solas asked, assuming she meant she'd used an icicle or something similar.
"I made the ice."
"Excuse me?" Anders raised his eyebrows. "You made the ice?"
"Yeah."
"How?"
"That's sort of why I asked you here," Siara said. "I think it's not the first time, either. I um… I think it started around the same time these markings started… growing… on me."
"Could we see these markings?" Solas asked. Siara silently rolled up her sleeves, showing blue and red tendrils starting somewhere under her sleeves, finishing close to her wrists. Anders frowned and took one of her hands in his, turning her arm over as he looked at the tendrils. Solas stepped closer, an intrigued frown on his face.
"Are these only on your arms?" Anders asked, running a hand over Siara's lower arm, tracing the markings.
"No," Siara admitted. "They're also on my body."
"How long have you had these?" Solas gently took her other hand in his, also looking at the markings.
"I'm not entirely sure. I think maybe around the time Haven was destroyed?"
"Why haven't you told anyone?" Anders sounded almost accusatory, and Siara rolled her eyes at him.
"Because I don't trust many people, and because I didn't want to admit anything was wrong. Even to myself. But now apparently I'm shooting ice out of my hands."
"These markings look like they're - "
"Made of lyrium," Anders finished. "I know someone else who has lyrium tattooed into his skin. But this looks different to that. This looks almost like it's… like it's…"
"Like it's growing in your veins."
"Great, that makes me feel so much better about everything," Siara pulled her hands away from Anders and Solas and tugged her sleeves down to cover the markings again, shifting uncomfortably. "Is there anything that can be done about them? Do you think there's a connection between them and this newfound ability of mine?"
"It would seem that you have developed some mage abilities," Solas confirmed, "and it wouldn't be much of a stretch to say that it's likely related to the markings."
"But we can't say anything for sure until we've done some more research," Anders cut in.
"Why have I started growing these markings? Could it have something to do with the Fade? It's the only thing I can think of that changed in my life is my little trip to the Fade."
"I doubt it," Solas frowned. "Simply journeying into the Fade likely isn't enough to have this sort of reaction."
"Did you have any magical artifacts at the time?" Anders asked. Siara blinked a couple of times, then headed over to a small bag of belongings and rummaged around in it before pulling out the golden armband she'd stolen at the start of everything. She held it out to Anders, who took it, turning it over in his hands for a bit before he passed it over to Solas.
"There's no magic left in it," he said. Solas looked at the armband in interest.
"But there are still traces of magic," he agreed. "It's possible that the combination of the magic in the armband reacted with the magic opening the first Rift, and that reaction caused something to awaken within Siara."
"It's a good theory," Anders agreed, "but I definitely think we need to look into it more."
For a moment Siara just watched them. Solas kept looking at the armband, holding it up to the light. Anders crossed over and stood at Solas' shoulder, also seeming to search the armband for answers.
"Is there any way to stop this?" Siara asked eventually. The mages looked around at her, shared a look, then looked back at Siara. Solas lowered the armband and Anders crossed over to her, placing his hands on her shoulders.
"We will do everything we can to find answers for you," he assured her, "but at the moment, I don't think there's anything we can do except teach you how to control your magic."
"I'm not a mage," Siara hissed, rather vehemently. "I don't have magic for you to teach me to control."
"The man you killed would say differently," Solas pointed out. Siara didn't know how to reply, falling silent and then sitting down on her bed. She leaned forward, resting her head in her hands, feeling tired.
"You'll get through this," Anders said. "You just have to take it one step at a time."