Kind

Cassandra looked at the mage in the bed and then she slowly lowered her sword. She slumped a bit and then sheathed it. Edris stared at the Seeker, wide eyed. The Seeker made a gesture and Edris covered up the horrific wound on the back of her head again.

"There were witnesses." Cassandra's tone was odd, quiet and reverent, but also worried. "A magister and his apprentice. A squad of Templars." Edris nodded, completely flummoxed. "Ordinarily, we would take such evidence to the Divine, let her judge if what happened was a miracle or not. But she is gone." Cassandra bowed her head. "Our Chantry is in tatters and yours... Yours did this to you."

"I... do not understand." Edris was very confused as Cassandra smiled a bit sadly. "What...?"

"Welcome to our world, Edris, where nothing ever makes sense." The Seeker said with a sigh as she pulled up the chair and sat. "We need to figure this out. The Magister and the Templars cannot hide you forever."

"I don't understand!" Edris was suddenly crying. She couldn't stop no matter how she tried. "You kill Venatori."

"We do." Cassandra offered her a piece of cloth and Edris rubbed her face, but was still crying. "You are not Venatori anymore."

"But..." Edris swallowed, still trying to stem her tears. "You cannot trust me."

"No. Trust must be earned. But what was told me... I trust a Templar to tell me the truth about such things. He was most forthcoming. There was no duplicity in his demeanor. He is shaken. As am I." Cassandra was being blunt, but this was no time for duplicity. "No matter what, Edris, you are not alone now." The armored warrior shook her head. "The Herald is going to flip. She will be ecstatic."

"Why would she?" Edris begged, finally managing to stem her tears. "I haven't... No one since the facility... I never dared to speak about it. Not even to..." She stilled her stammering as Cassandra smiled at her.

"Edris, I spoke at length to Knight Lieutenant Voss." The Seeker smiled, it was odd, that kind smile from such a grim faced warrior. "He told me what he saw. What his people saw. What the magister and apprentice saw. You were unconscious, no?" Edris nodded, her face down-turned.

"I was... it hurt." The mage's voice was tiny. "It hurt so bad. The others were still. I think they were all dead by then. I didn't know what was happening. Just that Julisa was begging me -screaming at me- to stay awake. Then I woke up, after it was all over, in her arms being tended by the others." She smiled a little forlornly at the Seeker. "She is asleep right now. She had a bad night."

"I know." Cassandra nodded when Edris went still. "One of our agents was watching. He saw all of what happened." Cassandra admitted. Edris bowed her head. "She did what she had to and no more. She only killed five of her assailants." Edris' eyes were flashing as she looked Cassandra in the eye.

"She never wanted to kill at all!" Edris snapped, anger rising. Not for herself. "Even to eat! She was more like sister Holli than me! Than you. Than anyone else I..." She slumped a bit. "She... She is so curious. So kind and so gentle. The ram that we found? The one that started this? The one the herder was seeking when he saw her and fled?" Cassandra nodded. "It had fallen into a crevice. It wasn't going to survive. Broke it's back. She had me kill it to end its suffering. She ate it and tried to get me to eat. I... I couldn't, my stomach wouldn't let me. I was too weak."

"Why didn't she?" Cassandra shook her head, obviously confused. "She could have killed it easily enough."

"Because she is not a killer, Seeker." Edris was so very sad now. "She isn't. Not at heart. Not anymore. I didn't understand what was happening. Only after I woke with Julisa tending me with the others' help did I even realize I was free. Well..." She smiled a bit forlornly. "Free to be bonded to a huge flying lizard anyway. Sometimes I wonder which of us is the civilized one. I am pretty sure it is not me. She is far smarter than me. Far kinder. Far better." She forced herself to relax. Obviously the Seeker meant her no harm as odd as that was. "The Templars were kind to both of us. I didn't expect that."

"The job truly sucks in far too many ways, but what happened shocked them." Cassandra agreed. "I have seen my share of odd things since I took up my own calling, but this..." She shook her head firmly. "The Inquisition will protect you." Of all the things Edris might have expected one of the Seekers of Truth to say, those simple words completely floored her.

"Seeker..." Edris swallowed hard. "That will put your Inquisition in direct conflict with the Imperial Chantry." Cassandra nodded. "I... No. What you all are doing is just as important, if not more so. I haven't heard much. I have been... a bit out of touch. But I do know you are trying to stop Corypheus." She shook her head. "He needs to be stopped. I cannot let you put yourselves further into harm's way. Not for me."

"That is not your choice, Edris. We choose to do this. I choose to do this. Your life is in danger." Cassandra was quiet, but rock might have shied away form the iron in her tone. "Through no fault of your own, you and your friend Julisa have become pawns in a very big and very bad struggle. Tevinter versus the Qunari. The Imperial Chantry versus ours..." She shook her head. "They will not stop hunting you."

"I know." Edris' shiver had nothing to do with being cold. "Sister Holli told us a bit. Taught me history I had never learned as a slave. She tried to help. Tried to keep us calm. It was hard. The others..." The mage sighed sadly. "I didn't know their names. I don't think anyone did. One was a human. The other a Qunari. Neither spoke anywhere that I heard. There was another there just after I got there, but he died." She bowed her head. "He died and I took his place."

"Edris, we need to know what they were doing." Cassandra's voice was soft now. It did not come naturally, but she was trying to be gentle with this broken soul. "What Voss said didn't make a lot of sense to me. I didn't realize what they had done to your head." She grimaced. "Does it hurt?"

"No." Edris reassured her. "That at least never really hurt. It just felt odd for a while. Then it became my normal." She made a face. "Not very normal, my normal, huh?" She chuckled and Cassandra smiled at her tiny joke.

"No." Cassandra agreed but then she shook her head. "This place is not safe for you, Edris. We should move you somewhere safer."

"Please don't lock me in a dungeon or a lab." Edris pleaded. "I had enough of that."

"We won't." The Seeker promised her. "What do you want to do?" Edris stared at her and Cassandra smiled. "You are not who you were. Not a Tevinter cultist. So... what do you want to do? We don't need more battle mages. We could use healers or researchers."

"I... don't know." Edris admitted. "I have lived in fear for so long. Ever since Calpernia died and I woke up in that horrible place. Julisa and Sister Holli tried, but..." She shook her head.

"You keep mentioning this Holli person." Cassandra said quietly. Edris stared and the Seeker shook her head. "One of the other subjects?" Edris nodded jerkily and the armored woman slumped a bit. "What happened to her?"

"I don't know." Edris admitted. "She was hooked to the same machine I was. When I woke, after, the others said she was killed by a discharge of energy. The same one that knocked me unconscious." She heaved a small sob. "We liked her, Julisa and I. She was the only ray of kindness in that whole horrible place."

"You said she was a test subject." Cassandra frowned. "Do you know where she was from?"

"I do not know. She was Chantry. She taught us the Chant." Edris thought about that. "My memories are not clear. I will need to ask Julisa about her. Julisa's memories are far clearer than mine even with the drek they kept feeding her." Cassandra tilted her head in query and Edris sighed. "We don't know what it was. It made her slow and confused. Every time she started to gain strength, they would spray some of that gunk into her mouth or put it in one of the tubes connected to her. She didn't like the feelings, said she always felt weird. Detached."

"Some kind of drug. Powerful to work on a dragon." Cassandra mused and Edris nodded. "That makes a certain amount of sense. She could not have been happy about what was happening."

"Oh, she wasn't. She wasn't." Edris grimaced. "Corypheus caught her and her mother." Cassandra went still and the mage nodded. "She doesn't remember a lot, but what she does... He infected both of them with red lyrium. It killed her mother and turned the whole dragon into red lyrium. It didn't take complete hold with Julisa and I think he gave her to the Chantry to figure out why it didn't work. Not that he told them that."

"So the facility was intended to research red lyrium. Try to find a way to use it or remove it from a living host." Cassandra growled and Edris nodded. "You and the others?"

"We were all infected." Edris said sadly. "None very badly. If it got to a certain level or if the person died, we never saw them again. Julisa had it worst. I saw the lyrium growing through her scales in places." Cassandra looked at her and Edris slumped, her face working as buried emotions threatened her again. "I don't remember doing it. I don't have a clue what happened."

"Edris, be calm." The Seeker was still quiet, comforting instead of commanding. Edris stared at her and then relaxed. "I do believe you. Voss told me what he saw. But seeing a man in archaic armor assisting you had them pausing. The staff were dead."

"Not all of them were bad." Edris said weakly. "Most... Most of them tried to be clinical, neutral. Or at least not cruel about what they did."

"Edris." Cassandra rebuked her, but so gently. "No matter how they did it, what they did was evil. They killed who knows how many people. They took out parts of your brain." The Seeker slumped a bit as Edris recoiled. "I am sorry. The thought of any Chantry person doing such makes me very angry. The Chantry is supposed to be a place of hope. Of sanctuary in a turbulent world. Now? Ours is mired in debate on who will succeed Divine Justinia while ignoring the world falling to pieces around them and yours is involved in this horror."

"I never meant to cause problems for you or your Chantry." Edris said in a small voice. "We just ran."

"You haven't." Cassandra said with a smile. "Not yet anyway. When they hear about this, though... they are going to go crazy. Everyone is." She shook her head again. "Hearing about an elf woman who can destroy red lyrium will be powerful enough. Hearing that she was on fire when she did it...? Like Andraste?"

The Seeker made a face that Edris shared.

Skyhold

Evelyn Trevelayn was tired. Bone tired. It had been a very long day. All she wanted to do was curl up in a bedroll, cover her head and try to sleep. That would likely be difficult with the whispers. She hadn't even thought about it. She should have. She should have let Morrigan drink from the Well. But truly... It was very hard to trust Morrigan. The woman had secrets piled on top of secrets. She had to keep walking-

No. No, she wasn't on the road now. It was so hard to focus. To hear past the whispers in her skull. She was lying on her bed. She was in Skyhold. But... it felt as if she were elsewhere. Many places and none. She jerked as a knock sounded. She pulled her robe about her as she sat up and moved to the desk where she sat again. Someone had laid her a fresh cup of caf. She sipped it. She was still getting used to the servants. She had them growing up a Trevalyn, of course, but she had been drilled over and over that they had their jobs and she had hers. Several vigorous spanking had taught her not to be rude to them or pester them over much and now? She was grateful for her parents' discipline It helped.

"Come." She called. She was not very surprised when Leliana strode up the stair into her quarters. The spymaster had an open invitation to come and talk anytime. "Leliana?" She asked and then paused. Leliana looked like hell. "Are you all right?"

"I should be asking you that." Leliana said with smile that did not touch her eyes. Eyes that were red. Had she been crying? "That had to be jarring."

"It was." Evelyn admitted, indicating chair nearby. "Is. You look like hell. Any word from the Wilds? What of the War Council?"

"No more word from the wilds." Leliana shrugged. "Cullen is still on his way back. The army will take several weeks, but they are moving now. Josie is wining and dining some Antivan diplomats and will be all night from the reports I have. But I received word from Cassandra."

"Cassandra?" For a moment, Evelyn couldn't understand the change in subject. Cassandra wasn't in Skyhold. She had gone to Redcliffe. The Herald of Andraste stiffened. "The new dragon in Redcliffe."

"Yes..." Leliana stared at the floor. "She was going nuts here. I thought it would be good for her to get out for a bit." Evelyn nodded with as a smile that faded. "She jumped at the chance."

"Is there a problem?" Evelyn asked. She didn't really want to add more to her already strained brain, but it was the job. 'Inquisitor' sucked much of the time. Leliana nodded and the Inquisitor groaned. "Okay..." She sighed deeply. "Hit me with it."

"Cassandra says that the report has to be made in person. That the message is too dangerous to even put on a bird." Evelyn jerked at that and the spymaster nodded. "I know you want to convene a War Council as soon as possible, but it will take at least a few days for Cullen to get back. I left before he did. The Eluvian was much faster."

"I would almost prefer to be riding on remounts the whole way." Evelyn said with a groan as she put her face in her hand. "Not a pleasant way to travel. My butt hurting or my brain? Next time, I will choose my butt."

"We need to regroup anyway." Leliana agreed. "No matter what, be assured that this was a victory. But as soon as I got home, I got a message bird. Cassandra says that you are needed in Redcliffe."

"No rest for the weary." Evelyn rose from her chair, moving to her wardrobe to change into traveling clothes. "But... why are you so upset?"

"Cassandra asked me something that... I had tried to forget." Leliana said quietly. Evelyn paused, her pants half on. "During the Blight, I was...with the Grey Warden in Ferelden."

"Leliana..." Evelyn said, horrified. She knew how much the Blight had cost Leliana, personally. "No. It can wait."

"Cassandra would not ask such a thing without a good reason. She knew how I felt. How I feel."Leliana looked nothing like the cold, hard mistress of espionage that she usually did. Far more broken, far more human. "She asked me something that I had forgotten. That I tried hard to forget. It was...special. But then they were gone and no one could find them."

"What?"

"The Sacred Ashes."

"Cassandra asked about the Ashes?" Evelyn pulled her pants on by touch, all of her focus was on Leliana. "Maker, why?" She held out her hands to Leliana and the spymaster let the Herald take them. A first.

"I don't know." Leliana said weakly as Evelyn walked forward to stand by the now all but sobbing spy mistress, the Herald's stocking feet silent on the stone floor. "There were tests. Grueling ones. I forgot most of it. But I know I faced myself in battle at one point. Then I had to walk through a fire. It... wasn't... It didn't hurt. But it felt very odd." She did not resist as Evelyn pulled her close and held her as she shuddered. "I looked up at the Urn and I felt closer to the Maker in that moment that I ever had before. Than I ever have since. So much horror. So much death and destruction. But there, I felt peace. I looked upon Andraste's mortal remains and I knew peace, Evelyn. I knew she loved us all. Even those who fall."

"Oh, Leliana..." Evelyn was crying softly as she held the spymaster. Leliana wasn't crying. Yet. "I am so sorry."

"It is not your fault." Leliana returned the embrace a bit clumsily. As if she had forgotten how. "I knew then as I know now that my path is and always will be filled with Darkness, but in that moment I knew Light. The memories of the others hurt and will. Wynne, my love, so many lost to the Blight..." She choked a bit and Evelyn hugged her again. "But remembering that place. That feeling. It helps a little."

"I have been so very worried about you." Evelyn was sad as she released Leliana and stepped back. "You scared me."

"I know." Leliana said with a sigh. "It wasn't intended."

"You can talk to me anytime, Leliana." Evelyn moved back to the bed to start putting on her boots. "I do not trust many people, but I do trust you. I can't believe she asked about the Ashes."

"She didn't." Leliana said quietly. Evelyn stopped with her right boot half on and Leliana smiled. "You will look awfully silly with one boot on, Inquisitor." She teased as her smile morphed to a grin at Evelyn's sputter.

"You are bad, Mistress Leliana Nightingale." Evelyn said with a matching grin as she finished pulling her boots on. "So... what did she want?"

"The first thing we encountered in the Temple was a..." Leliana paused and shook her head. "I don't know what it was. It wasn't a spirit. It wasn't a demon. It wasn't any kind of creature I know of. It took the form of a man with a large black beard wearing archaic looking armor. He bore a maul as a weapon. But it wasn't a man. There was feeling of age. Of power." Evelyn looked at her and Leliana shook her head. "He was odd. He called himself 'The Guardian' and he knew things about all of us. Things that no one knew. No one. Things we had all buried deep inside ourselves."

"Why would she ask about such a thing?" Evelyn asked, stunned. "The Ashes vanished after..." She swallowed hard and Leliana nodded. "After." The Herald concluded lamely.

"I know." Leliana said with a sigh. "I went to the Temple with the first Chantry team after we were sure the Blight was over. The room were the same, the traps had been deactivated. The Ashes were gone. So was the Guardian."

"So... why is she asking about it now?" Evelyn asked as she rose, straightening her tunic a bit.

"I betting that it has something to do with the dragon." Leliana shrugged. "She didn't say. But.. If you do not mind, may I come with you? If The Guardian has shown up again... Well, Wynne is gone. Alistair is King and..." She shook her head. "I am available."

"We will need to plan on what to do next." Evelyn said with a frown. "Can you do what you need from the road?"

"Yes, if not as easily." Leliana said with a smile as she rose. Then she reached out to pull Evelyn close. "You are a good friend."

"Just keeping my minions happy." Evelyn said as she returned the embrace. "Hey!" She squealed as Leliana tickled her. "Stop!"

"Call me a minion again." Leliana warned as she stepped back, a feather appearing in her hand. "If you dare."

"Wouldn't dream of it, spymaster." Evelyn said with a grin as she started for the stairs. She did keep Leliana in her view. The former bard took every advantage and used them ruthlessly. Even being ticklish.