The Broken Circle

There were so many bodies. Faren carefully stepped over them all, trying not to disturb any of them. Ciara's face was blank, while Lawrien's expression grew more and more murderous by the second.

This was just the hallway. The first door they opened up was the apprentice's room, where Faren couldn't help but shiver, wrapping his scarf around himself tighter. There was ice everywhere, and dead demon bodies were trapped inside them. This room hardly had any bodies compared to the hallway. Just a lot of ice.

Lawrien pressed her hand to one of the icicles the pierced a demon's body, and let out a breath.

"Myra," she whispered. "Ciara, this is her magic. She was here."

"She must have been down here protecting the apprentices at some point. If we're lucky that means she's close by," Ciara said, a little bit of hope flickering into her eyes. "I'm surprised she was down here, considering she passed her Harrowing."

"Talk about good timing," Alistair said, whistling. "Your sister killed all these demons? She can't be that powerful, surely!"

"She completed her Harrowing at the age of fourteen," Ciara replied.

"Excuse me!" Alistair choked.

"It's true," Lawrien sniggered. "I was fifteen when I did mine."

"That's still too young!" Alistair protested.

"And then Lawrien got recruited into the Grey Wardens and dragged me along," Ciara mused.

"Myra's really strong." Lawrien grinned.

Thank the Maker someone had been. From the looks of things it seemed like she saved a lot of the apprentices lives. Faren had been terrified they were about to walk into a room filled with children's bodies.

"Harrowing?" Narascha asked, looking over each of the icicles nervously examining the demons held within them, or, and even better, stabbed upon them.

"A test for mages to see if they can be trusted or not to control their abilities," Ciara explained.

"Sounds pleasant," Torph grumbled. He had his axes out, searching the bodies out in the hall, grimacing each time.

None of them were alive then.

"It's so quiet," Narascha whispered.

"I checked the other bedroom, but there are no children there either. I haven't seen a single body of a child's thankfully," Epona said, walking back into the room, her brow furrowed. "Just more ice."

"How are you feeling, Lawrien?" Ciara asked.

Lawrien grimaced. "I feel a lot of fear and pain from all over the tower. No wonder Myra's magic erupted like this. She was probably in agony when she fought off these demons."

They all jumped when they heard screams. Children's screams. Faren took off, Ciara and Lawrien right in the lead. They burst through the door, slamming it open, to see a whole crowd of children cowering behind two adult mages, while an elderly woman stood in front of them. A demon made of fire was slashing its way through a field of ice between them and the doorway on the opposite side of the room, roaring in rage. The elderly mage blasted it with a wave of magic before freezing it solid.

Wait, so was it not Myra who had been freezing all these demons? Was it this elderly mage?

"Wynne!" Lawrien called out.

Wynne flinched, whirling round so fast that by all rights she should have broken her neck. "Lawrien? What are you doing here? How did you get in here even?"

"It's quite the story," Ciara said. "We're glad to see you survived Ostagar."

Faren blinked when a weight clung to his leg, and he blinked down at the child now wrapped around him, blinking up at him with big eyes.

"Strange." Faren hummed, earning a puzzled look from Zevran. "I seemed to have gained a lot of weight in one leg." He moved his leg, grinning when the child shrieked, giggling madly. "How did that happen? It's so heavy!"

Of course this invited more children to jump in. Faren quickly had one on his other leg, both his arms, and one clinging to his waist.

"So... Heavy..." Faren grunted, still marching about in small circles, as the children giggled away.

Zevran chuckled. "You seemed to have put quite a bit of weight on all of a sudden, my dear Grey Warden, we might have to start hiding the cheese."

.::.

Zevran looked smitten. The sight made Torph snort.

"You're short."

Torph glanced over at the kid and huffed. "Still taller than you, midget."

"Why aren't you tall? Like that guy?" The brat pointed at Sten who stood by the wall, eyeing the children like they were little monsters about to destroy him.

Well, kinda right, Torph supposed. Children were little monsters.

"I'm a dwarf, not a qunari."

"What's a qunari?"

He jerked his thumb at Sten. "That's a qunari."

.::.

"The children should not be running around screaming like headless chickens," Epona lectured the poor pair of adult mages the children had hid behind earlier. "You should have them seek shelter immediately. If one of you have the ability to wield fire you should clear out that hallway of bodies and have the children seek safety in their rooms. It is the most secured place for them to be at this moment in time. The field of ice and magical shielding will not last forever."

"Yes, or even better, use the bodies to trip potential demons and undead by the doorway," Cobian added.

"Because that isn't terrifying." Alistair shivered.

"And traumatising admittedly," Cobian mused.

.::.

Ciara eyed the frozen over doorway (with now claw marks ripped into it where the demon had managed to drag itself through) and the field of ice. "So Myra did all this?"

"She must have been angry," Lawrien mused.

"Myra created this barrier between us to protect the children," Wynne said. "I had intended to go help Irving while Myra protected the children, but before I could she froze over the doorway. I have been unable to break the magical seals she imprinted into the barrier."

Lawrien grinned. "You might not be able to, but I can."

"I wish she had stayed behind. She would have been safer," Wynne said, frowning deeply. "Your group always had to rush head first into things, didn't you?"

"There's a group of them?" Torph raised a brow.

"Lawrien and Myra Amell, Jowan, Anders and I," Ciara said. "We became family over the years spent together, and got into quite the bit of trouble during our time here."

"We weren't pushovers," Lawrien said. "Which is why I have full faith that Myra is fine. Anders isn't even here, which is lucky for him, otherwise he'd probably be in the thick of the fighting too."

Ciara nodded. "She'll be fighting for her life, but I have full confidence that she will win."

"And we're going to help kick ass!" Lawrien yelled. "Hear that, you creepy bastard! I'm coming for you!"

"I'll be coming with you to help find Irving," Wynne said.

"You sure you ain't needed here?" Torph nodded at the kids. "They need the most protection, don't they?"

"We will just have to make sure we kill everything that we come into contact with," Wynne said firmly.

"And if anything does get passed us?" Torph frowned.

"I trust in Petra to protect them," Wynne said.

"Don't like it, but whatever, I guess," Torph grunted. "Oi, Faren, we're heading off!"

Cobian helped Faren untangle the midgets from his limbs one by one, earning more laughs and squirms from the kids. Zevran still looked smitten, but hesitant at the same time, almost like he didn't dare touch the kids.

Lawrien braced herself before the ice field and gestured for them all to get back. "Alright, Myra. I'm coming to help you kick some ass."

A wave of heat exploded from her. Fire leapt at the ice, burning away at it. Ciara felt Myra's magical energy stir, then explode, fire and ice blasting everything in the doorway and ground before it.

Wynne just managed to shield them all in time.

.::.

Myra felt that familiar whirlwind of heat and grinned as she blasted a rage demon in the face with another round of ice. "I guess somebody's finally arrived."

"W-What?" Godwin whimpered.

"Don't worry, Godwin." Myra couldn't help it, she laughed, her chest growing light. She was overjoyed. "Lawrien's home."

.::.

Lawrien took off immediately, Ciara right on her heels. Narascha rushed after them, because squishy mage and rogue were not supposed to be running on ahead. The pair were already fighting the moment they stepped into what looked like a library. There were freaky looking fuckers everywhere, with bodies that looked twisted and misshaped.

"Abominations!" Alistair cried as he rushed through, heading straight into the fight. "This is bad. There is so many of them!"

They fought their way through. It was difficult, there was so many of them here too, so Narascha tried to keep an eye on everyone. She didn't want to accidentally hit one of her own, but at the same time if someone was getting overwhelmed and needed help she wanted to provide it.

Epona made it to the chamber first, ducking beneath a swing from an abomination and a corpse. Faren cut the undead down, just as Cobian bashed the Cousland shield into the abomination.

This was amazing. She hadn't charged with such a big group in small quarters since back in the Deep Roads. It made her feel nostalgic. It was so thrilling to do this again.

"Be careful!" Cobian warned. "There's a lot of us. Make sure to keep your targets clear, and watch out for ambushes!"

One of the abominations caught her axe, but Torph's axe planted in its skull before it could swing down at her. It didn't drop, but Narascha managed to use that time to yank her axe free and swing round, cutting it in half.

"Morrigan, watch your curses!" Cobian yelled. "Lawrien, don't use a fireball when Sten is right there! Force magic would be good to help Zevran out. He's getting crowded! Leliana, cover Lawrien's back! Wynne, stay back, focus on healing!"

Narascha grinned, her heart pounding, blood thumping. This was amazing. She loved fighting with everyone here. Cobian was still yelling through the chaos, organised chaos, it was hilarious. This was a great battlefield!

The song was loud in her ears.

Narascha made it up the stairs, following after Sten, Epona and Alistair. Another swarm of demons charged for them, abominations howling. Narascha sprung out in front of the others.

"Stay back!" Narascha yelled.

Narascha planted her feet and swung, cutting into three of the abominations. Epona fired off an arrow, getting one in the throat. Alistair knocked another down. Sten went straight for the demon with a snarl.

.::.

"Well this is going well so far," Ciara mused, following after the others. She spotted a familiar figure crouching down behind a few crates, frowning, and smiled in relief. Owain was still alive. That was good news.

Surprising, but good news.

She let the others fight and headed for him, crouching down next to him as he nodded at her in greeting.

"Hello, Ciara. It has been a long time since you or Lawrien have come here."

"We became Grey Wardens," she said.

"Yes, Myra told me."

"And we came here for our treaty with the Circle, but sadly it's not in a very good state right now."

"Yes, it is a mess," Owain said, his tone as blank as ever. "I have a lot to clean up."

"Have you seen Myra, by the way?" Ciara asked.

"Yes. She has created a ice field around her quarters with a few of the other mages to protect them from the demons and abominations. She has asked me multiple times if I wished to join them, but I prefer the stockroom. It's quiet in here." He eyed the others fighting away. "Mostly quiet."

"These are some of my fellow Grey Wardens and travelling companions," Ciara revealed. "We decided to come in and help the Circle to gain our treaty, and also try to find Myra if possible."

"I last saw her hitting a rage demon in the face with a blast of ice a few minutes ago."

"That's actually very nice to hear. Thank you, Owain."

A spear of ice pierced one of the abominations. The ice crept over its body, freezing it as it screeched and struggled. Quickly its body was frozen over, and it burst, shattering into pieces. Alistair cut down the last demon as Lawrien launched herself past him towards the main doorway. Ciara leapt to her feet too, smiling wide, as Myra walked out of the shadows of the corridor and into full view.

.::.

"Myra!" Lawrien cried, sweeping her into a hug. By the Maker, she was going to squish poor Myra with that enthusiasm. Not that Ciara could entirely blame her. It was good to see her alive.

The tension in Ciara's shoulder eased off a little bit, and the headache began to relax as well. Ciara hadn't realised she had either of those problems, too wound up in the fighting and chaos and not knowing if Myra was actually alive.

She had tried not to think about it, Ciara couldn't afford the distraction, but the thoughts had still lingered in the back of her mind.

"Idiot!" Myra smacked her back with her staff, earning a yelp. "I could be a demon playing a trick on you with an illusion! At least make sure its me first!"

"What a warm reunion?" Alistair laughed nervously.

"Hello, Myra." Ciara smiled warmly as she approached.

"So mean!" Lawrien whined. "I just wanted a hug."

"I might not have been me. If I was a demon or an illusion you might have just been lured into a trap," Myra huffed, then sighed, holding out her arms. Lawrien grinned and threw herself into Myra's arms, squeezing her tight.

"I missed you," Lawrien breathed out.

"I missed you too." Myra smiled.

Their eyes met over Lawrien's shoulder, and Myra held out an arm to her. "Come here, Ciara."

Ciara hurried over and pulled both the Amell sisters into a hug of her own.

They were finally back together.

.::.

"This is her 'sister'?" Sten asked. He looked confused by the word.

"They don't look much alike," Torph pointed out.

"She used to have blonde hair, but it kept getting lighter until it turned white," Ciara explained.

"Nice to meet you, Myra," Faren greeted. "Glad we found you, Ciara and Lawrien were getting worried."

"Although it looks like we have no cause to worry." Ciara softened, relief shining in her eyes. "You've been handling yourself rather well, Myra."

"I wish you hadn't ran off like that!" Wynne cried. "You put yourself in so much needless danger, when you could have remained with the students-"

Myra scoffed. "I'm not the reassuring type, Wynne. You were far more suited to looking after the children than me. And I have to wonder, what are you two even doing here? Don't you have a Blight to fight? I heard Ostagar went pretty badly."

"It was bad." Lawrien grimaced. "So we need a new army to help us take on the Archdemon."

"Army?" Myra frowned. "And I suppose you were hoping the Circle of Magi might have been able to help?"

"The Grey Wardens have treaties with the Dalish elves, the King of Orzammar and the Circle of Magi," Ciara explained. "And Lawrien, now the Commander of the Grey-"

"What?" Myra paled.

"Yes," Ciara sighed. "It was between her and I, and I really don't think I was suitable for the position."

"That means you two are the senior Grey Wardens of Ferelden now?" Myra breathed out sharply. "How many Grey Wardens are left here?"

Lawrien winced. "Ciara, Alistair and I, and then all the recruits."

"But that's..." Myra faltered. "Well... Shit..."

"That sums up our situation perfectly," Narascha snorted.

.::.

It turned out Myra had been protecting quite a number of mages. They had remained crowded in a set of bedrooms, all peering out behind the thick ice wall anxiously when Myra returned to them. It didn't take much convincing for them to head downstairs to the children, and to nag that Owain guy to go along with them.

Hopefully they could stay safe while the rest of them kept clearing the tower. Faren didn't want any of these horrors getting past them and attacking the children.

"You not going with them, Myra?" Ciara asked while Wynne frowned.

"You need to rest-" Wynne began.

"I've watched a lot of people die when I tried to get the others to safety. Good people," Myra said sternly. "Besides, my sister is going and so am I."

"Good kid." Narascha grinned. "Right, guess we're heading off again then?"

"Yes. We must keep clearing all the rooms so nothing sneaks by us and attacks the children too," Cobian insisted.

"Just be careful not to tire ourselves out before we get to the top," Torph grunted. "These fights are only getting harder as we go."

"True, which is why I propose that once we finish here we rest in the First Enchanters' office," Cobian said.

"On that I can agree with," Morrigan sighed.

"What's wrong? Getting tired?" Alistair teased.

"Of you?" Morrigan smirked. "Yes."

Lawrien stared at Morrigan, and Faren noticed Morrigan smirk at her, and hold a finger up to her own lips, a shushing motion. Faren frowned at the sight.

"I wonder what she is up to," Zevran whispered.

Faren shrugged. "Hard to say. Whatever it is, guess she'll probably tell Lawrien now, or be ready to be pestered by her."

"That empathy is a difficult ability to predict," Zevran sighed.

Faren grinned. "It's one of the things that kept Epona from killing you, so I'd be grateful."

Zevran laughed. "True!"

.::.

They made their way deeper into the tower, searching each room, finding more corpses and frozen demons. Lawrien cheerfully shattered them to pieces with her staff as they progressed on. Epona had taken to drawing in her book, and Cobian was writing a ton of notes.

Anything was a good distraction from all the bodies and blood splatter, so Ciara didn't blame them. Alistair tapped her arm, gestured her aside, so Ciara followed him.

"How are you handling all this?" he asked softly.

"I'm trying not to identify any of the bodies right now," Ciara admitted. "I feel as though if I do I'll start to recognise people I've grown up with for years, and I don't think I could take that at the moment."

"I think Lawrien and Myra are trying to do the same thing," Alistair said, eyeing the pair. They were chatting away to each other as their group began to head for the study.

"I can't imagine what Myra has been feeling from her empathy these past few days," Ciara sighed. "It must be just like Ostagar was for Lawrien..."

"I forgot they were both empaths." Alistair winced. "I'm so sorry, Ciara, you two coming back here with the Circle in this state must be painful."

"At least we're here now to try and help before the Right of-"

Myra screamed, just as the sound of crashing and yelling went off, magical bolts being fired. That wasn't an angry yell, or a pained one. It was a mournful one.

Ciara bolted down the hallway, Alistair on her heels. She managed to get through the fighting, only a few mages against all their companions. Ciara felt her stomach churn the moment she caught up to Lawrien and Myra.

"Grandpa?" Lawrien went pale, white as a sheet, her voice a mere whisper.

Myra collapsed beside Sweeney, and Ciara bit back a cry of her own. Myra cradled his head carefully, breathless and crying softly. Lawrien's face was blank. Fire flickered from her hands. A creak on the floor had Ciara immediately on the defensive, Alistair right at her side, but Lawrien shoved past both of them, fire flaring from her body, her face twisted with fury.

"YOU!" Lawrien howled, throwing a fist.

A woman was crushed into the wall by a burst of energy.

"HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO HIM?!" Lawrien screamed, a raw, broken sound cracking in her voice. "He was the kindest man! All he wanted was to die peacefully in his bed surrounded by his family-" She choked. "And you- AND YOU TORTURED HIM!"

Ciara choked down a sob. Sweeney had always been so sweet, despite everything, he had always been so kind, even to the Templars. He always coddled the new recruits, passed them sweets and winked playfully with them. They actually tortured him. Not even a clean death. Ciara would have granted him that in seconds.

But they hadn't.

They deserved the same fate. They deserved to suffer as he did. Payback. Equal in all ways-

"H-He let all this happen-" The woman began, but her body was crushed further into the wall, a silent scream escaping her voice.

"How dare you talk to me," Lawrien spat. "How dare you breathe after what you did to him! You laughed at him and you only regret it now because I'm going to kill you. I'M GOING TO BURN YOU ALIVE-"

"That's not what he would have wanted..." Myra said weakly, gently lowering Sweeney's head back on to the floor as she stood up. "You know that."

"He's dead-" Lawrien hissed.

"Yeah. She murdered him." Myra walked up to Ciara, holding her hand out. Ciara handed her a dagger automatically. "And we'll kill her, but our way. Not hers."

"I think her way suits..." Ciara muttered.

"Yeah why shouldn't they suffer?" Lawrien whirled round to glare at Myra. "I can feel it. All over these walls and all over our friends and they did this to them-"

Myra nodded, voice monotone. "I know. I saw."

"Then why are you blanking?" Lawrien asked sharply.

"Because I'll react the same way you are now," Myra said. "I will want to kill every single man and woman here who have ruined our home slowly and painfully, but we're better than them. I'm better than them. I will not stoop to their level and become someone I'm not."

"Then why can't I do this?" Lawrien scowled as the energy pinning the mage to the wall withered, leaving her uncrushed.

"Because you're my sister. You're our sister." Myra reached out with her free hand, grabbing Ciara's and squeezing it. "And this isn't what our family does."

"No. Not what you two do," Ciara agreed easily. Both their eyes locked on her, Lawrien flinched back, startled. Myra tried to grab her hand once more. Ciara slipped free, spun on her heel, and threw her dagger.

The dagger the Knight-Commander handed her to kill Jowan with.

"Ciara!" Alistair gasped, horrified.

It got the woman in the throat. She went down clutching her throat, choking and jerking about, trying to breathe. Myra scowled.

"Really?" Myra huffed. "I was trying to stop Lawrien's rampage."

"I helped. Now this bitch can choke on her own blood." Ciara walked over, yanking her dagger out of the choking woman. She smiled coldly at the woman. "I'll happily watch you choke to death. I will watch you writhe in pain, unable to breath, unable to embrace that sweet release of death until the last possible second. And all you will see is me, watching as you die."

Ciara watched. She watched the last of the woman's struggles bleed slowly from her. She watched the life begin to fade from her eyes. She ignored Myra's curses and Lawrien's sobs. Those Ciara could attend to later. But this suffering Ciara made would be what she endured. The woman's hands slowly dropped to her sides, and the last, strangled breath left her.

Ciara frowned. "Sweeney was kind to everyone. Everyone. Even Templars, despite how we kept him and his fellows locked in towers. He used to sneak me sweets, Cullen too. He'd help Jowan study, play distraction in Anders pranks, make Lawrien laugh when she was being lectured by Irwin and tease you, Myra, when you were too focused on your studies. He was the kindest man I've ever met, and he wasn't even an empath like any of you."

Lawrien cried, sobbing harder, and Alistair immediately hugged her tight, pulling her close to his side. "He's somewhere better now..." Alistair tried to soothe.

"I wanted to tell him about Duncan!" Lawrien cried. "And Epona, Faren, Narascha, Torph and Cobian. And you! I wanted to tell him about all the recruits, he would have loved you and Torph. He would want to smother Faren and tease Narascha and Epona. He would have loved all of you so much..."

Ciara's blood boiled. The cold, sharp anger coiled within her and she wanted to unleash it upon every mage that hurt Myra and made Lawrien cry this day.

Ciara tightened her grip on the dagger. "If this bitch tortured Sweeney then there's no telling what she and her fellows have done to my friends upstairs. I know not all Templars are good people, but a lot of the ones I befriended wanted to change things. I will hunt the ones who tortured my friends down. And I will kill them. Quick or slow doesn't matter. They will die."