Special thanks to BioWare and the readers!

A special chapter from Anders' point of view, taking place during chapter 12 before Reneka wakes up.

"Tell me again, why am I here washing these bloody rags for you?" Solona groaned, her tired hands moving with a lot of effort up and down the washing board.

"Because I don't demand a payment for the medicine I prepare for you every day?" Anders sneered in response.

"If this becomes a regular thing, I'll seriously consider moving out of the city."

Anders smiled, knowing that despite all the complaining, the irritated woman wouldn't leave Kirkwall just yet. Her reasons weren't clear, but Anders had known Solona for a long time. Never had he seen her act without a cause.

As for Anders, it had been his decision to run a free clinic in a templar city. It allowed him to help the people who were in despair and focus on the upcoming change that had to be initiated. Kirkwall represented only a fraction of how far the issues between the templars and mages had gone, but Anders had a gut feeling that in the years to come, matters would only grow more complicated. Whoever the person taking the lead was going to be, Anders wished to be there to ensure his kin would stand a chance.

Solona let out another cuss and waved her index finger in the air. "I swear, as soon as the ban against using magic outside the Circle is lifted, I'll make sure the rest of my life is going to be nothing but luxury," she declared and sucked the blood out of her fresh cut.

"Be careful enough and you can cast a spell or two without being made tranquil," Anders joked, taking a pause from writing his journal to sweep his arm in a half circle, a gesture that showed his clinic as an example of his statement.

"You are allowed to continue only because the templars don't want to deal with the rebellion that would follow if your clinic was closed," Solona said, hanging the last of her wet cloths on a string she had tied near the door. "The common folk are happy and won't add to the templars' problems. Just keep quiet about Justice and you'll be fine. But me? Or Reneka or anyone else who isn't of any use to those tin men? Feh."

A blob of black ink stained Anders' paper as his fingers immobilized for a moment, leaving his pen unattended for a second too long. A dark thought occupied his already busy mind and he sighed profoundly to erase it. The headache he was suffering as an after-effect of casting multiple healing spells in a row thumped against his temples even harder.

Solona was observing him and there was a smug grin on her lips with a hint of actual comfort. "Cheer up, Anders," she folded her arms. "If there exists one mage you absolutely don't have to worry about, it's Reneka. Don't take me wrong, but living among the qunari as a mage does evolve one's skills to survive in this world."

Right or not, Anders wouldn't wish Reneka's fate to any other mage. No matter how strong she might have emerged from such a struggle, it wasn't something worth celebrating for. He wouldn't ever waste a thought on the matter were he as persistent as her. Many individuals had succumbed to madness and hopeless rebellions due to much lesser reasons.

Anders took a brief look at one of his patients, a skinny young man Solona was forcing to finish his meal by simple but effective intimidation. The man was an apostate, a pitiful being too inexperienced to understand why a templar would attack him for asking help. The underground wasn't the most comfortable home, but as long as people were able to identify a templar spy or a bandit, it could keep mages safe, men and women like the man who was about to crumble under Solona's threatening leer.

Whenever Anders had looked at Reneka, he had never seen such weakness and inability of taking care of oneself. He admitted that Reneka's strength made him a bit jealous, though.

All of a sudden the front door was opened as fiercely as an autumn storm knocking down trees. Anders turned around and saw the heavily-breathing pirate captain and her round bosom as she leaned against her knees.

"Who is chasing you this time, Isabela?" Anders chuckled and lifted his gaze.

"Reneka...," Isabela huffed.

"Pardon?" Anders frowned.

Isabela drew a sharp breath and swiftly rose up. "Reneka needs help, now!" she spat out.

The tone in Isabela's voice caused Anders to freeze, like he had been caught in his own ice spell. The usual composure shown on Isabela's everyday face was nowhere to be found and if she out of all people was so upset, something must have been terribly wrong.

Despite being terrified to learn more, Anders gathered his courage and slowly stepped closer to the front door.

"What happened?" he asked.

"No clue, but whatever she did, it really drained her," Isabela shrugged and shifted towards the exit. "She just fell unconscious and won't wake up. Can we please hurry already?"

With one brief but concerned glance, Anders hoped to message his intentions to Solona, who seemed to have no difficulty at understanding him.

"Go," Solona cocked her head. "I can manage here. She needs you."

Anders nodded and grabbed his worn leather satchel that held the most vital gear. He glanced at his coat, but had no intention of wasting one more second and left without it, dressed in simple civilian clothes. "Lead the way," he told Isabela, not caring it sounded more like an order than a request.

#

As he silently followed Isabela, Anders couldn't help squinting suspiciously when they approached the Blooming Rose. It was one of the last places he would expect to find Reneka from. Not at all because of her appearance, but because of her undying will of staying far from people who might try to use her.

The pirate captain seemed to notice his eyes and she shot a reassuring grin at him. "You have to admit, it is among the safest places for her kind," Isabela said. "I know people from here and one particularly excellent fellow happens to know Reneka as well, or so he tells me."

"Someone from a brothel knows Reneka?" Anders blurted quite impolitely. He coughed after realizing how harsh his tone had been.

Isabela didn't use the opportunity to tease the healer. "Come on, we've wasted enough time already."

Anders couldn't decide if Isabela's nervous fidgeting was part of her usual behavior or because Reneka caused her to act so. Wiping a bead of sweat off his cheek, he climbed the stairs and entered the den of both curious and disgusting scents.

"Isabela!" a pitched voice called as soon as Anders had shut the door behind him. "Thank the gods the healer is with you."

"The gentleman I mentioned earlier," Isabela introduced the sapphire-eyed elf who had greeted the pirate captain. "He's Jethann."

"Let's save this nonsense for later, shall we?" Jethann waved his hand, his right foot eagerly pointing towards the wide stairs leading to the upper floor. "I'm afraid her condition is getting a bit worse."

"Just show me where she is," Anders said while already walking forward.

The house was filled with the giggles of young ladies and exposed skin could be seen everywhere. The setting was more than enough to tempt any living man, but Anders' keen focus on getting to Reneka was as unyielding as an eagle targeting mice in cornfields.

He spotted her right after opening the door of Jethann's room and spared no moment for idle staring. Reneka's breathing seemed painful, like the air was too thick for her lungs. Her forehead radiated heat when Anders put his palm against it and he didn't approve of the hyper-active pulse he felt in Reneka's wrist. The pile of bloody clothes on the floor caught his attention and he promptly examined her for injuries, baffled when he found none.

"The blood is not hers," Isabela commented when Anders turned to her for an explanation. "I told Jethann to change her clothes before I came to you."

Before Anders could question why Isabela would ask a man to undress Reneka, he took another look of Jethann and presumed the elf had seen so much naked skin in his line of work that it would never make him uncomfortable. He reckoned Reneka shouldn't be informed about that detail, though.

When Anders cast a spell to detect the source of the illness, his eyes widened and the puzzlement made him stop the examination. "Have you given her anything?" he demanded from Jethann, leering like an angered wolf whose pack had been threatened.

"Huh?" Jethann's head tilted to the side. "No, nothing. Not that I didn't want to, but because I couldn't, obviously. Plus I'm quite certain none of the medicine the Rose has stocked would be any help."

"I'm not talking about common herbs or liquids," Anders frowned. "There is a strong presence of lyrium in her body, as if she had drunk at least ten potions to restore her mana. All in one go."

Isabela put her hands on her hips and Anders shot her the most pressuring glare when he figured the pirate captain hadn't shared the whole truth yet. Out of all times she could have picked, Isabela was keeping a secret when the person it considered was suffering right next to her. Her desire may have been to protect a friend from facing trouble, but Anders cared not and his impatience made his fingers cold from icy magic he would have gladly thrown at an ally if it helped Reneka recover.

Isabela gazed at the spotless floor and sighed. "Of course there's no point in trying to oppose you," she said and Anders wasn't quite sure whether the tone in her voice had been sarcastic or serious.

"No, there isn't," Anders said as matter-of-factly as he could.

He watched carefully as the pirate captain strutted to a drawer and lifted a small leather pouch from within. Surprisingly, Isabela didn't toss the pouch but carried to Anders and placed it in his hands as delicately as she could, like she was afraid any extra movement could cause it to explode. Anders could instantly sense a strong magical aura bleeding through the leather, so wild and swirling that he hesitated to look inside.

"I found this in her pocket," Isabela declared. "The moment I touched it, it made me feel nauseated. Seems I didn't imagine that because now I have that exact same feeling again."

After reminding himself that Reneka's life depended on identifying the substance, he laid a piece of clean cloth on the bed and gently tipped the pouch until a red shard fell from it. Without even realizing it at first, Anders became more mesmerized the longer he looked at the glass fragment. The burning red color drew him in like a vortex and he could almost hear the raw compressed power pulsating within something so tiny and fragile. The odd ringing in his ears was slowly sweetening, almost turning into music-

His eyes flared with blue light and in that moment Anders was able to tear his gaze away. He squeezed his chest as a reflex to calm his pounding heart, noticing only then how his fingers trembled. His thoughts were once again his own, although he felt like his whole mind had been tossed.

Every time Justice had taken over, Anders could still recall bits of what had transpired while the spirit controlled him, but this time there was a blank scene in his memory. He was aware Justice had intervened, but could not remember what had triggered it. The fear he sensed felt more like a residue of an emotion belonging to someone else. Anders didn't want to believe it, but he speculated Justice had become so frightened of the red stuff that he had forcibly taken the helm without consent.

"What the fuck, Anders?" Isabela was grabbing the healer's shoulder, possibly for some time already. "What happened, are you alright?"

"It's lyrium," Anders said under his breath, sitting on the bed beside Reneka and glaring at the shard. "This is the lyrium that I detect inside her."

"Doesn't look like any kind of lyrium I've ever seen," Jethann stepped closer.

"It's a good thing you haven't," Anders stated and checked Reneka's temperature again, his hand sliding down from her forehead in disappointment when there hadn't been any change.

His palms emitted a faint glow and he emptied all the shards from the pouch onto the cloth and quickly wrapped them into a tight bundle, hoping that his protection layer would dampen the energy of the dangerous lyrium. He couldn't risk leaving the shards for some civilian to find, so he hid them inside his satchel under a pile of bandages.

It pained him to think that Reneka had been able to carry such monstrous magic, let alone use it. His throat closed up even more when he had to assume that she needed to digest the shard in order to obtain its power.

"This will require more than I have here," Anders said to Isabela. "Go to the clinic and tell Sonya to give you a bottle of diluting elixir and a box of rare herbs. She will know what to look for."

"Really now?" Isabela scoffed. "Why didn't you bring them with you to begin with?"

"I didn't think I would be needing ingredients for this kind of lyrium neutralization. Plus we were, and still are if I may point out, in a hurry."

"Ugh, fine, jeez," Isabela spun around. "Just make her better, okay?"

"What can I do?" Jethann offered when Isabela had left the room. "I can't just stand and do nothing while she's like this."

Anders was overly curious of how Reneka had befriended such a pretty elf, even more than the weird fact that Jethann was best described as pretty than handsome. Scolding himself for getting distracted, he whipped his head back at Reneka when she let out a hoarse whimper and gripped the sheets unconsciously.

"Her brothers have to be informed," Anders said. "They are her family, it's only right."

"I know where she lives," Jethann sounded optimistic. "Should I go get them?"

Letting Hawke see his sister in such a state was not ideal and Reneka would definitely prefer not to worry her brothers, but she couldn't make that decision now. Just like Anders had put his neck on the line to guard the red lyrium shards, he chose to be the one Reneka could get mad at if she disapproved of getting Hawke involved.

"Go," he nodded. "Be quick."

Jethann obeyed the recommendation after shutting the door behind him, his light feet thumping against the thick carpet. Anders glanced at Reneka to make sure the surge of pain she had experienced had passed before standing up. He wasn't certain how he would deal with the lyrium yet, but the fever had to be forced down. Reneka wouldn't be able to fight against the poisonous amount of mana if her body was too weak to hold it.

With a silent whisper, Anders cast a spell that wrapped his right hand in a healing aura. While he couldn't predict how red lyrium reacted to his magic, he kept some distance and let his hand hover above Reneka's face just close enough for the aura to touch her pale skin. He sighed from relief when it didn't seem to hurt her at least, encouraging him to lower his palm inch by inch.

It occurred to him that he had never seen Reneka sleeping, making him wonder if her dreams were peaceful or plagued by nightmares. Whenever she was with him, her eyes were full of life and curiosity like a child's, with a hint of the horror she had witnessed as an enslaved mage. That dark shadow behind every smile he received from her was reason enough for him to do everything he could to help Reneka banish it. Anders had found himself yearning to meet the kind of Reneka who wouldn't be encumbered by her past anymore.

The tension between templars and mages wasn't going to make that wish easy for him. Kirkwall was gradually turning into the least optimal residence for any spellcaster. Those who were locked in the Circle had less freedom than all of the mages in other Circles combined and those who were called apostates couldn't stay in one place for more than a day. He wasn't too worried about his position as long as he kept Justice in check, but Reneka was protected only by Hawke's influence, which wasn't great yet despite his accomplishments.

The healing spell began to fade and a cold shudder ran along Anders' spine, instigating that he was running low on mana. He took a deep breath and canceled the spell for a moment as he was going to need rest of his strength to cleanse the lyrium in Reneka's system. He kept glimpsing at the door, hoping for Isabela's quick return with the supplies.

Another weak moan shifted his attention back at Reneka and he sat closer to her, taking her hand and feeling the pulse. It was alarmingly irregular, making Anders suspect if Reneka had taken something else in addition to red lyrium. Having no knowledge of the subject made his teeth grit in irritation as he had no idea whether the current effects were normal or not, although he couldn't believe why anyone would use the drug if they ended up in such a condition.

Because she had no choice, Anders reminded himself, biting his lower lip for his stupidity. Mages were just tools for the most qunari and he figured they had to be the ones to blame for Reneka's ability to consume such strong, alien source of magic. She didn't seem like the type who would experiment with different colored lyrium without coercion. Or maybe he didn't want to think of her as one.

Anders touched Reneka's forehead again to see if the healing had made at least a dent against the fever and winced when her body began to cramp, her face twisting from obvious pain. It wasn't the first fever cramp he had witnessed as a healer, but in his experience they were more common with children, not adults. He had underestimated the seriousness of red lyrium's toxicity.

Reneka's fists balled, the sheets wrinkling in her shaking hands and her unconscious body couldn't decide if she should breathe or groan. Anders tried to keep her as still as possible between the cramps, like he would do for any patient, but in Reneka's case he felt achingly helpless. It made him confused, pondering about why he thought he should have been able to help her more. He couldn't explain why her pain squeezed his own heart so tightly, like he was going to fail as a person and not as a healer if he couldn't erase her suffering.

"It's alright, Reneka," Anders whispered while looming over her, pressing her shoulders gently enough to ease her squirming but not restrain her. "It's okay, calm down. Calm down, please."

Anders found his voice breaking when the cramping didn't stop and Reneka attempted to curl up, like a beaten animal seeking safety.

He reacted by grabbing her before her upper body fell back on the bed and pulled her into an embrace, shushing almost inaudibly and brushing her damp hair. Her burning cheeks were hot against his skin and she trembled like a leaf in the wind. Anders noted that even though Reneka's fingers weren't clenched anymore, her arms that hung on her sides hadn't relaxed. When she was so close, he could feel her restless heartbeat and hear her breathing and it made him somewhat nervous. Any good person would try and comfort people important to them with such normal displays of affection, but the longer Reneka remained in his arms, the harder it became for him to let go.

He hadn't spent that much time with Reneka ever since she had appeared, yet she had already left a massive impression of herself. Her ways to communicate were intense, yet so warm and soft. Every time she took his hand, it had more meaning behind it than anyone could ever convey through a simple touch. Anders could always hear what Reneka had to say without words and her writing on a piece of paper was just the more lengthy explanation of a point she wished to make.

She deserved every bit of admiration he had for her. Ignoring a past such as hers was no easy feat and she clearly made every effort to succeed at that. Anders had no idea what she had gone through to get away from her captors and he would never ask. He wanted Reneka to enjoy the present where she finally had her family to protect her. They could steer her towards a brighter future by simply being there.

"It's okay," Anders breathed into Reneka's ear, thinking she smelled so appealing despite the sweat and dried bits of someone's blood. "You'll be fine. I promise."

If teaching her healing magic would also aid her wounds, he gladly complied. Like Reneka had asked his help with few gestures and words, Anders knew he would also have to let his actions speak for themselves. While he desired that his presence too would someday be enough for her to feel secure, he wasn't confident he could achieve that yet, especially with matters in such disarray with mages in general.

He even shuddered to think how Reneka might have responded if she had been awake when he held her, even if it was out of friendly concern.

Because that's what it was, right? The fleeting remark floated in Anders' mind.

Reneka let out a relaxed sigh and it had been some time since the last cramp. Anders sensed how the stress in her body began to unwind, her expression much more serene and her heart beating to an actual rhythm, although it was still paced. The slight improvement and the clamor downstairs compelled Anders to slowly release her if he wanted to avoid awkward questions, laying her head on the pillow like it was made of the thinnest crystal. He managed to cover her with a blanket before the door flew open and Roghart stormed inside, Carver and Isabela trailing right behind him.

"Stop that, Rogue," Isabela scolded the older Hawke brother. "Your rushing is upsetting the people here."

Roghart disregarded the pirate captain and dashed to Reneka's side, dropping on one knee and enclosing her hand in his own. "What's wrong with her?" he asked, carefully touching Reneka's face.

"Lyrium poisoning, most likely," Anders replied as he stood up and walked to Isabela. "Did you get my things?"

"Yep," Isabela handed over the bag she carried on her shoulder.

Anders checked the contents and nodded when nothing was missing. He started sorting the herbs and took more components from his satchel, putting them all on a table before grinding them with a mortar. While he worked, he still kept close eye on Reneka, but Hawke's disturbed look made him perplexed and unsure of how he should have brought up the true cause for Reneka's condition.

"The normal way to treat a lyrium overdose would be to drain it, leaving the mage completely out of mana," Anders explained, partly to himself. "But there's so much of it inside her and it's more...potent. I don't know if I should try removing it fast or let it sort of dissolve on its own."

"So it was her doing..." Carver suddenly said in shock, his eyes fixed on Reneka's blood-stained clothes.

"What was?"

Roghart got back on his feet. If his face was supposed to show concern, it was skillfully masked somewhere behind the judging frown.

"She hadn't gone home after leaving the Hanged Man," Roghart sounded too stern in Anders' opinion. "While searching for her, we discovered several bodies at the alienage. That's when the blue-eyed elf came to fetch us."

"Carnage," Carver spat, making wide gestures with his arms in the air. "It was a fucking carnage. Some were so horribly burned only their blackened skeletons remained and some looked like the inside of their skulls had exploded."

"What makes you think she did it?" Anders didn't care that his voice was strict due to the accusations directed at Reneka.

"Only magic could cause that kind of scene," Roghart said bluntly. "And what we saw would either require several mages or a single one with overwhelming power. You're saying that lyrium has made her this ill, so I'm just putting two and two here together."

Anders was about to correct Hawke that regular lyrium wouldn't be able to strike a mage with a fever that caused the body to cramp, but he chose to keep quiet instead. If Reneka hadn't spoken about the strange red lyrium to anyone yet, it meant she wasn't ready to share that about herself and Anders had to respect it. It would have been wrong for him to initiate a conversation of something so personal when Reneka was in no state to express herself regarding the matter.

He would still need to confront Reneka about the lyrium once she woke up, but she was in charge of how to proceed after that. Keeping the shards despite their controlling power that had spooked even Justice was the only decision he was going to make for her.

Reneka's groaning pulled Anders back to her side and he checked the pace of her breathing again. Although the cramping had stopped, her fever was still too much for her body to handle.

"This chattering won't help her," Anders pointed out, hearing ire in his voice. "Her sickness is very serious, so you will have to wait till she wakes up to get answers. What she requires now is peaceful rest, along with that medicine I have to finish preparing for her. I will also need enough space to cast a couple of magic neutralization runes."

His words had made an impact on the elder brother's straight-laced attitude, turning Hawke's gaze softer like he had been shaken back to the reality. There were still quite a selection of phrases Anders was prepared to use against someone who couldn't see the reason behind the actions mages were too often forced to take, but Hawke was clearly an exception. Whether it was due to Reneka or the amount of jobs he had done involving mages, it was good he could show sympathy before Anders would have defended Reneka to the point of it becoming embarrassing.

Not that he would have minded. Anders had already witnessed how delicate subjects hurt Reneka and he didn't wish any more harm on her. If embracing her could remedy everything the qunari had done as effectively as it had calmed her cramping body, he would have never hesitated.

"Right, sorry," Roghart apologized and headed to the door. "Let's go Carver. We have to think of a way to explain this to mother. If we're going to tell her."

Before he left the room, Roghart turned to take a look at Reneka and the last traces of his dour expression were gone when he eyed at Anders. "Please help her," he asked.

"Leave her to me, Hawke," Anders replied without delay.