The fire started as a circle that Sunny stood in the centre of, the undead not even realising. She looked over her shoulder to make sure that the others were well out of range, she raised her left hand and she was enveloped in a cylinder of flame whirling around her, it had been a long time since she had used magic this powerful and she was starting to feel it, her mental energy was draining, she pushed the wall of air away with her right hand and the explosion that ensued had the group covering their eyes and shielding their face with their shields and arms. The whirlwind of fire that erupted was a lot larger than Sunny was expecting but the desired effect was the same, the undead that had surrounded her were melting before her, the already decaying skin falling from the bones and the beings collapsing, after the last had fallen she stopped the storm with a single handed motion. She looked at the bodies around her and the still molten skin that encircled her and her lip curled in disgust. Her body was covered in a purple haze and the group screamed when she appeared beside them at the foot of the windmill, using a fade step.
"My lady, you continue to surprise." Zevran chuckled.
"I have never seen magic like it, that was simply amazing" Wynne was in awe as she looked at the elf that stood at her side, she looked as though she weren't exhausted, but Wynne knew better than that, the girls eyes were clouded, not her usual alert gaze. Her shoulders sagged just a little. She may be able to hide the physical strain that was attacking her right now but you couldn't hide the mental fatigue, no matter how many years you trained to. Alistair was yipping around her like an excited puppy, he was in awe of her, even though she knew as a templar, he was probably over showing his awe to hide his fear, Templars protected mages from themselves and others that would do them harm. How could any templar stand against that? Elissa was at a loss for words as Leliana was complimenting Sunny on her way of not getting her shoes dirty.
"Shouldn't we be getting to the front of the chantry now, for the wave that will attack the lower half of the town." Sunny said and the group immediately turned on their tails and ran back to the village all except Sunny and Wynne, who remained staring at each other. "You are alright to go on, I just need to catch my breath." Sunny said her face devoid of emotion, and her voice monotone too, but her brow furrowed soon after at the headache that attacked her, her eyes closed as she pinched the bridge of her nose. Wynne dug around in her pack for a Lyrium potion and handed it to the elf; she couldn't hide the shock on her face as it touched her palm. "Why?" her voice was soft as she questioned Wynne.
"Because we all need to look out for each other, I've seen the way you look at me, you aren't fond of mages, though you are one. And I have no idea why and I don't wish to pry, but don't judge someone on just whether they are a mage, they are also people. I'm hoping we can get on." The old dear smiled at Sunny, she drank the potion in one and popped the bottle in her pouch.
"I will return the potion-"
"There's no need, let us return to the main group." Wynne started to jog off and Sunny was left stunned, she had no idea who these people were and had shown nothing but distaste to them and point blank ignored them when they spoke to her and yet they were looking out for her, all of them in their own way, the potion was working a treat and her headache had started to recede, not one to disappoint, she joined the group in front of the chantry in the midst of fighting another horde. She pulled her bow from her shoulder, the purple haze surrounding her again as she fade-stepped onto the roof of the chantry, the birdseye view allowing her to pick off the easy targets. She remained there after the fighting had finished. She listened as Elissa was talking to the Bann about getting to the castle, and she bit the inside of her cheek, there was no way she would be able to see Eamon and he not recognise her for who she was, then the questions would start and she would have to kill him, Alistair needed him though and Alistair had no idea of the contract that the Great King Calenhad had bound all his descendants to, but Alistair never left Elissa's side which made it difficult for her to tell him anyway, plus the boy wasn't exactly the shiniest sovereign in the pouch. She looked down to Alistair who was shouting up to her that they were leaving to go to the castle and subsequently jumped when Sunny appeared beside him with a fade-step.
"Can you stop doing that? I'm going to have a heart attack soon." He laughed and she smiled back as they left for the castle. She wasn't really listening when they were waylaid by the woman in the dress, she gathered it was Arl Eamon's wife, but her ears pricked up when she heard the woman say 'blood mage' the mage that had poisoned Eamon.
"Why did you have a mage in your home?" Sunny asked and the woman looked at her in disgust, but not as much disgust that she had shown toward Alistair, the lady Isolde turned to Alistair with a biting tongue.
"You should keep your servants in check." Alistair stuttered turning to Sunny and back to Isolde, something along the lines of she wasn't his servant.
"I am his sword and shield, not his handmaid." Sunny said, her voice held no humour, but her scowl softened as she bit back. "I protect him better than you have your husband." And as she said it the group exploded with apologies, Sunny didn't really understand why they were apologising she just stated the truth. and her face said as much and Alistair whispered 'tact' to her under a cough. To which she just raised her hands in exasperation.
"Let's just get to this castle so we can kill this blood mage."
"Talk," Elissa said.
"Kill," Sunny replied.
"Talk," Elissa said again.
"Fine we shall ask him why he did it, then we kill him." Sunny rolled her eyes.
"It is a compromise" Alistair jested, earning himself a scowl from Elissa and a thanks from Sunny. "Okay, I'll just shut up." Sunny and Elissa were still arguing over it as they made their way down the tunnel that led to the dungeons of Redcliffe castle, no matter how logical the argument Elissa gave, Sunny's reply was just 'Kill him' when finally Elissa broke.
"Alright, I'll bite. Why should we kill him? And offer him no chance at redemption." She had her hands on her hips as she turned to face Sunny and Sunny turned to her with a disinterested sigh.
"Have you ever met a nice blood mage?" Sunny said.
"Well I don't know if I have ever met one?"
"Precisely, there are no nice blood mages. You went to the circle and saw the devastation they caused." Elissa went quiet and looked at Alistair, he pretended to not notice and became rather interested in the structural integrity of the passage they were in. Of course he would have told her what happened in the tower, he was a templar after all, that couldn't trust mages as far as he could throw them, and Sunny seemed to dislike any mage despite being one herself. "A blood mage starts with just a nick of their own finger, just to try it out, see what it's like, they seal the deal with a demon and are given the false belief that they are now stronger, Blood magic is only as strong as the mage it will not make you a better mage, full stop. Then they are tested, they believe, no, they get paranoid, the demon is constantly whispering in their ear, and with the tensions already high between mages and templars, they play on that fear. So it becomes necessary to get rid of the templars, they try to and find that using their own blood is not strong enough, so they kill another, they call that person a 'willing sacrifice' and they darken their own soul. Try to tell themselves that it was necessary, at first they feel guilt but that is soon outweighed by the power they think they felt. And then they kill another and another until they are nothing but an abomination themselves. Don't get me wrong it doesn't always come from a thirst for power, it can come from grief, the loss of a loved one and not being able to accept they are gone, they try to bring them back and the end result is the same. Magic is something all elvhen used to carry, it was simply beautiful and a part of our everyday lives, not just for fighting, but seeing your mages, in this world, they do not wish to live at one with the Creators, or your Makers world, most mages I have seen wield too much power and that changes the men of today, just because you have power doesn't mean you should seek to use it for your own good. Magic was made to serve everyone, not just oneself."
The group remained quiet as they continued on their way, what Sunny had said had given them all food for thought when Wynne spoke up. "So you believe Templars are the right way to handle this, the circles."
Sunny sighed, shook her head and she pinched the bridge of her nose, her earlier headache coming back.
"Everything is so black and white in this day and age, you people see no colours of grey or green or blue or gold. The templar's may not have always done right, but these are men and women that give up everything and are slipped the leash of lyrium on the understanding that they are not only keeping the people safe from magic, but tell me, are you ever harmed in the circle from the people who fear magic enough they would take up arms against a child who has just discovered she can wield it. No? See they not only protect them but they are also protecting you from them, and although some templars may be horrible people, just as there are horrible mages, some became templars because someone in their family is a mage, and they want to protect them and all other innocent mages from those that would seek to do you harm." They reached the gate to the dungeon, "Can we drop the subject now, I'm beginning to lose my temper."
To look at, Alistair wouldn't have thought she was losing her temper at all until silence fell and he wasn't sure if the grinding he heard was from her yanking the rust shut gate open or from her teeth, that he could so clearly see were clenched from her locked jaw. As luck would have it they stumbled across the blood mage in the cells of the dungeon first and the only reason Alistair knew he was a blood mage was because first his skin tingled with Sunny's seeker magic as he had taken to calling it and within a split second of the man asking for help Sunny had grabbed him by his throat and pulled him against the bars of his cell cutting his head, he was terrified, near on wetting himself, and Alistair couldn't blame the man, for even he hadn't been on the end of such an intense glare himself yet, he thought he still had more than enough to make her that angry.
"Let him talk Sunny," Elissa held Sunny's forearm gently.
"I have not killed him yet, I have compromised." She said through a still clenched jaw, Elissa looked at Alistair nodding her head toward Sunny, but Maker be damned Alistair was not so stupid as to walk between a bear and its lunch, so why would he walk between Sunny and something she so clearly wanted to rip limb from limb.
"At least release his throat a little Sunny, so the man can talk." Alistair offered, doubt on his face and laced his voice, but as he said it the man, red faced, and definitely having wet himself now if the smell was anything to go by, gasped for air as Sunny released him enough to let him breathe and talk.
"So talk." Sunny looked at Elissa who took Alistair's hand thanking him before letting go to talk to the mage. Sunny was concentrating so hard on not crushing the man's throat that she missed half the conversation and didn't really come to until Alistair asked her to open the cell door. "What?"
"We are going to take him with us Sunny," Alistair said calmly and clearly, his hands held out as if he were trying to convince her that he meant no harm toward her. "Just for a hand getting through the undead and what with Connor being in danger we need another hand, just until we get there, then when we've helped the Arl, we will let him decide what to do with him." Sunny dropped the mage her hand falling to the lock as she did so. The mage stumbled and fell backwards to the floor.
"You have got to be fucking with me." She said disbelief flowing from her every word.
"Such an eloquent way with words." Zevran laughed as he held his hand on his chest, pretending to be touched emotionally.
"Um no I'm not- are ladies meant to say words like that?" Alistair was genuinely astounded by the words that left her mouth. As he said it the lock was enveloped with ice under her hand and she pulled the cell door so hard she actually ripped the lock off the door leaving it to swing open as she turned her back on the group making her way out of the dungeon, a string of elven curses leaving her lips.