There and Back Again Ch. 021-022

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Modern Girl in Thedas during the Fifth Blight.
9.4k words
4.75
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Part 20 of the 141 part series

Updated 06/08/2023
Created 06/12/2016
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Chapter Twenty-One: Testing

I ate lunch anxiously, trying to determine how to ask the mage what I wanted to know without totally giving myself away. Also, I wondered if I should invite Alistair to the meeting. Deciding that it would be useful to have an 'almost' templar to blame questions on, I motioned to Alistair to follow me after the meal. He gave me a weird look but complied, and a glance at Aedan had him drawing attention to himself, hiding our escape to the library. I showed Alistair the note that Irving had sent to me, and explained that I had asked Enchanter Tanar to meet me. Just as I finished, the man himself entered the library.

I introduced Alistair and myself, and we all settled into chairs. I spoke first.

"Thank you for coming, Enchanter Tanar. I appreciate it."

"I admit to being slightly intrigued, my lady. Not many mages are requested for personal audiences, unless they need healing. For which, if you require, I would recommend Enchanter Wynne instead of myself. My healing skills are rudimentary at best."

"No, no. Thanks for the offer, but I'm not looking for a healer. I actually am looking for some knowledge I believe you may possess. I'm hoping to ask you some questions. About templars."

"You wish information about the Templar Order? May I ask why?"

I'd thought about that a lot. "Well, you see, my friend here was in training as a templar when he was recruited by the Grey Wardens. And since he didn't complete his training, he is left not knowing a lot of things he probably should. I was led to believe that you may be able to answer many of the questions. I am trying to understand what he's going through - I'm sure you can imagine why I'd like to know more." I gave Alistair a fond look, winking carefully with the eye Tanar couldn't see, when he shot me an incredulous stare. "Don't worry, I'm sure we can trust the Enchanter's discretion, dear." I can't believe I'm even pretending to be sleeping with Alistair.

It worked. Any suspicions seemed to be laid to rest, and Tanar relaxed. "You can, I give you my word. I can certainly try to answer your questions. What would you like to know?"

I started with some basics about templar training, learning little more than I had through the game. Templars required discipline, and mental fortitude, and training. Their abilities were likely a form of magic but not the kind that tempted demons, so they were not at the same risk of becoming abominations as mages. They learned faster when taking Lyrium, and were likely stronger, although that seemed not to be universally believed. He felt that it was possible the Lyrium addiction really was only to keep control over the templars who might otherwise desert or disgrace themselves.

We moved on to the more complex topics.

"So can anyone be trained as a templar?"

"Well, yes, to some extent. The basic abilities can be taught, but there are certainly some people who are better suited than others." He paused, but seeing my interest, continued. "Some people seem to have innate talents that allow them to learn more advanced abilities than others. And the order is quick to take advantage of that when they find it - only those who seem talented advance to hold authority. They do not promote those with mediocre abilities."

"Alistair mentioned that those who were better at the discipline were stronger in their abilities."

"That's true in a general sense, in the way that someone with a better attention span learns to read faster than someone with a short one. But there do seem to be other unrelated differences as well, just like some people can make good scholars despite a short attention span."

"And what innate talents make a good templar?"

"I've never been able to determine that for sure, to be honest. It doesn't seem to have anything to do with birthplace, bloodline, or basic personality traits, that I can find. If the Order itself is aware, they have managed to keep the secret remarkably well."

"So...is there any way to test who can learn more advanced abilities?"

"Sort of. If someone has not trained as a templar, a rough idea of how difficult it will be to train them can be determined by a mage who knows what to look for. Alistair, you may not remember if you were taken in by the Chantry as a child, but at some point before they began training you, you'd have been brought before a mage, and made to stand while he or she seemed to simply stare at you while holding a small flame in their hand. After that they would slot you into training based on how the mage rated your potential abilities. They seem to use guilt to...push those who they believe capable of more than the average."

"Well, they were good at wielding guilt, no question. Mind you, being the practical joker of my dorm, I probably deserved it, and not for any innate abilities." Alistair and I shared a grin.

"So...could you describe some of the 'advanced abilities' that can be learned?"

"That's very difficult actually. Each templar has some variation in even the basic skills - some can narrow the target to a single person, while others can expand to unlimited targets, for example. The advanced skills are even more variable. Some templars can injure mages more if they have more mana to drain. Some can drain multiple targets at a time, others can resist even the worst blood magic, but couldn't drain the mana from a kitten. Some can smite anyone, others can refine it to just impact those using mana."

Alistair was nodding at most of those, and I saw the mages eyes widen slightly.

"Alright, well...for example, could a templar drain the mana from a number of mages, and then somehow cause one or two of them to sort of...explode? Like, blood coming out of their eyes and things?"

Tanar's eyebrows rose, and he levelled an impressed look at Alistair. "If you can do that, young man, I am amazed the Chantry let you go without threatening an Exalted March."

Alistair shook his head. "Not me, no. I saw someone else do it, once."

"Not many templars can do it; at Kinloch, Greagoir might be the only one who can use a mage - or a number of mages - to fuel a spell like that. Though they are told it can't be used for purposes like that."

"Are you saying that he'd be using magic to do that?"

"More like...forcing others to use magic, without their consent. The mage being drained doesn't even need to know the spell being cast to make that work."

I looked to Alistair to see the same horror on his face that I was sure was also on mine.

"So it's like enslaving a mage and forcing them to do magic they don't wish to do?"

"I...can see how it would seem that way." He paused, seeming to consider his words. "But it's more like, oh, say someone mixes up weed killer for a garden. And then someone else steals that weed killer and uses it instead to poison their unfaithful spouse. The poisoning wouldn't have been possible without someone to mix weed killer, but the person who made it was neither responsible for the use to which it was put, nor was he enslaved by whoever stole it. He was just short some resources because he had to mix more weed killer for his garden.

"The mage being drained may only intend their mana be used in a certain way, but the templar doing the draining can repurpose it, for good or evil."

The horror abated a bit, but I knew this would still give me nightmares later. Please God, don't let me be the one with those abilities. Alistair finally spoke up and asked the million-dollar question. Oh sure, now that I don't want to know, you chime in.

"So are you one of the mages who knows how to test for templar abilities?" Tanar nodded. "Would you be willing to test Sierra? I'm just so curious if I could ever train her to be like me." Laying it on a little thick, aren't we? Bastard.

Tanar agreed, although he suggested we not be in the library when he would need to summon a ball of flame. We headed down into the basement, standing in a rarely used storage room, currently devoid of anything but dust.

He asked Alistair his range on his usual abilities, and had him stand well outside that range, while we stood near each other on the opposite side of the room.

"Do I have to stare into the fire or something?"

"Not unless you wish to. All I need is for you to stay nearby." With that, he whispered something under his breath, and suddenly a small ball of orange flame bloomed in his hand. He held it out, then closed his eyes, silently waiting. As we waited, the ball very slowly enlarged, and the colour became more vibrant, and I watched, fascinated. I started feeling that same crackling aura I had felt around the darkspawn Emissaries and Uldred, the hair on my forearms standing up, goosebumps erupting all over me. I continued to stand, quietly, unsure what to do with myself and feeling strangely edgy from the aura. The sensation continued to grow as the ball of fire got larger, and my skin started to itch.

In the distance, I heard a loud thump and a short, sharp scream. I jumped as the sudden noise startled me, and I wondered if we were under attack. Tanar gasped, beside me, and I turned back just in time to see his face go pale, the fire ball wink out, and him slump to the ground. I caught him as he fell, easing him onto the cold stone floor. Alistair checked outside the door, discovering that the sound was nothing more than a servant in a nearby room who'd knocked over a crate of supplies. He came back over to check on the unconscious mage. I'd ascertained that he was still breathing and had a pulse, but had no idea what else to do. Alistair and I shared a worried look.

"Should I go...I don't know, get one of the other mages or something?"

"Uh...I don't know. Did anything like this ever happen when you were in training?"

"No. I've never seen a mage faint before for no reason."

"Well, maybe...get Wynne? And try not to be too obvious about it. I'll stay here in case he wakes up."

Alistair agreed, helping me shift the unfortunate Tanar onto his back in a slightly more comfortable looking position, then running out of the room. I sat beside the mage, hand on his pulse, watching his face closely for any sign that he was waking. After a minute or so, he sort of twitched a little, and then a low, quiet groan echoed across the room.

"Enchanter Tanar? Are you awake?" He opened his eyes, expression pursed in confusion.

"What...what happened?"

"I'm not sure. All of a sudden you just sort of slumped over." He looked thoughtful, and I could almost see the memories slowly returning to him. He struggled slightly, and I helped him sit up.

"I was testing you."

"So you said."

He thought for another few moments. "Cruel trick, asking me to test someone who's already a templar."

"Pardon?"

"Maybe you didn't know, but testing someone who is already trained like that can be dangerous. I hadn't even used enough mana to light a candle, and you snuffed it out, while draining me completely. If I'd put more into that spell, you could have harmed me."

"But...I didn't do anything." He watched my face closely as I said this, and I saw my own puzzlement reflected on his face.

"Tell me exactly what happened."

I described the ball of flame, the crackly sensation, being surprised by a loud noise, then turning back in time to see him faint. His eyebrows drew closer and closer together as I spoke.

"That's...not possible. You're sure you've never trained?"

"I swear it."

"But...you could see my visualisation of the spell before I had committed the mana to it. Even Greagoir can't do that. And you drained my mana while distracted? That's not supposed to be possible. Most templars require years of training to perform the most rudimentary of abilities without intense concentration. The way you describe it...it's like yours was triggered by the distraction."

"But I didn't...I mean, I don't know how to...I'm not a templar!"

Alistair returned with Wynne at that moment, and she rushed over to check on Tanar. As she touched him, she looked surprised, but then muttered under her breath and I felt the crackling aura again for a brief moment. Tanar relaxed, suddenly, looking much more comfortable, but he didn't look away from my face.

"You felt that, didn't you?" I nodded. He looked over to Alistair, who was kneeling beside Wynne. "Did you?"

"Did I what?"

"Feel that. The spell Wynne just cast. The rejuvenation."

"Uh, no?"

He looked back to me. "No, my friend, you are not a templar." I almost sagged in relief. "You are something...more. You have abilities beyond any I have ever heard of, sensitivities that should not be possible. And yet you do not use discipline, you rely on emotional turmoil to trigger these abilities. I have no idea of what you may be capable, especially with training. But I would very, very much like to find out." Oh great. I'm not a templar, I'm a super-templar. How in God's name did that happen?

I spent the next few minutes, with the help of Wynne, convincing Tanar to keep what he knew to himself. I begged, she semi-threatened, and we secured his confidence in return for a promise that next time I saw him, I would update him on any new abilities I had learned. He recommended I spend a bit of time figuring out my range, so if ever needed, I would know how far I had to be from a mage to drain them. With Wynne having rejuvenated him, he was able to cast his little ball of fire again. It seemed that no matter how small he kept it, my range at least for detecting magic was greater than we could test in the castle, and didn't hinge on line-of-sight - I could feel that crackle even from several rooms over.

We decided that emerging all together in a group upstairs would draw unwanted attention to what we had been doing, so Alistair went upstairs first, followed by Tanar, and finally Wynne and I followed, arm-in-arm, pretending we had just been for a walk. Aedan gave me a look, but no one else seemed to notice.

The mages were in the process of organising everything to leave. We all thanked them once again, Connor's shy smile a reward of its own. They finally took their leave, heading down to their boat at the docks - all except two, who watched the group leave and then walked away together to meet up with Jowan. As a group, we decided to meet in the much-used library for a planning session. On the way there, Theron approached me and grabbed my arm to pull me aside.

"You didn't tell your new lover about us."

"Theron, I swear to God if you don't let go of my arm, I will scream for everyone in the castle to hear all about us. Mostly about the part where you touched me, uninvited, while I was changing. And then about the part where I held you down in the water and gave you that nick. If you really want to re-ascend to the throne known as the 'would-be rapist King who was beaten up by a nearly naked girl', I suggest you keep acting like this. Otherwise, grow up." I tried to pull my arm away, but he held on and I wasn't strong enough to break his grip.

"The King himself isn't good enough for you, but you'll make eyes at his bastard half-brother?"

"You know what? I could only ever wish to be good enough to deserve your half-brother. Do you know that if you had died, he would have hated every minute of it, but he would have done his duty? He would have done his level best to preserve your memory, protect your scheming bitch of a wife, and take care of your people the way you could never be bothered to do. You don't deserve him as a brother. Why don't you spend your time trying to find ways to be a better monarch, rather than ways to confirm for me why I don't want to sleep with you?

"Now this is your last warning. Let me go, and do not touch me again."

I finally ripped my arm free of his grasp, storming off to the library. I stopped outside, trying to decrease the flush in my face, and the anger that was still overflowing, before entering. I needn't have bothered - Aedan took one look at my face and his clouded over; I could practically see sparks when he spotted Theron coming in. Fortunately the room was rather full of people, and he could do nothing about it. Everyone finally gathered, and before they could start talking, I revealed what Alistair and I had learned from Tanar during the day.

Everyone looked shocked, and some sort of skeptical at the revelation. All I could do was shrug and say "I guess we will see" in response to the myriad questions that were thrown out. Theron's response was the most interesting, to me.

"So...you did save us. At Ostagar. It wasn't some random mage. It was you."

"I...suppose. I mean, there were a bunch of Emissaries around, I could feel them, so I suppose I could have drained them to somehow...shield you, or something. And maybe to kill a bunch of them which allowed Arl Bryland's men to escape."

"I guess I'm supposed to thank you, then." The bitterness in his voice surprised even me, but I decided to ignore it.

"Don't. I had no idea what I was doing then, and I still don't now. Don't thank me for a happy accident."

The group all watched this interplay with a mix of confusion, concerns, and anger on their faces, but not one said a word. I was grateful. Aedan, as usual, rescued me before it went on too long by clearing his throat.

"We have a potential new Grey Warden recruit. You were right, Sierra - Solona was miserable, and I'm half-convinced they were still going to have her executed. She has elected to stay in Redcliffe for now, and think about whether to join us. The Circle has assigned two templars to stay here and watch over both Jowan and her, as well as Connor, until she's made up her mind and Eamon is awake. If she chooses not to, she will go back to the Circle when the templars take Connor to the Circle and Jowan to be made Tranquil."

I winced at the news, not surprised, but still somewhat sympathetic to the idiot mage. He didn't deserve to be Tranquil, but it was quite clear to me that blood magic couldn't be allowed to persist. I shrugged and tried to put it aside. It was the same choice I had made, playing the game.

Aedan then pulled out the piece of paper I'd seen Teagan hand him the previous night. I'd forgotten about it in the rush of everything that had happened.

It turned out the paper was a letter that had been delivered to Redcliffe during our little jaunt to the Circle Tower. It was addressed to Aedan, care of Bann Teagan, and consisted of a short note and a map. The map was one of Ferelden, with several major landmarks but not much else on it. It was passed around the room as Aedan read the note aloud.

"Dear Aedan, I know your sister loves maps, and I hope she finds this one complements her collection. I got it from her favourite Andrastian scholar, so I hope she sees the care with which I chose this gift. Please give her my highest regards, Tomas."

Theron raised his eyebrows as Aedan read the note out loud, but I ignored it. The map was passed to me, and I stared at it for a while, uncomprehending. We needed a map to Haven, so surely that must be what he had sent, but there certainly was nowhere like Haven marked on it. I knew where it should approximately be, based on the map I'd brought with me from the wiki, and so I pulled out my own version to compare side-by-side. The map he sent looked to be quite ancient, made of a thick rough parchment and covered in paint that had dried into an interestingly abstract patina if you looked up close. I held the map near my face, examining the interesting paint, when I noticed that a few of the cracks were not exactly the same as the rest. Some of them were clearly random, from paint drying, but some looked artificially formed, as though someone drew a scalpel through the damp paint before it completely dried. The cracks were too perfect, and too deep. And they happened right in the area I knew Haven should be, based on my own rough print-out.