When Fate Summons (a Dragon Age fanfiction)

I Gotta Feeling

They had left the hut in the middle of the Wilds behind, passing through an old ruin, obviously the site of a battle at some time or another. Anawyn felt her spine tingle, and looked up to see a strange figure watching her. He was wearing a red shirt, and his face was blackened and twisted and ... strange-looking. "Granny," she whispered urgently. "Granny!"

Granny turned, looking first at Anawyn and then at the figure in the red shirt. "Do you know what that is?"

Anawyn looked again. The figure was just standing there, watching them. "Is it— Is it a darkspawn?"

Granny nodded as the girls stared, wide-eyed.

"Will he attack us?" Cybele asked.

"No. I believe he is waiting for ... someone else." Granny smiled the kind of smile that gave Anawyn chills. Then Granny turned to her. "Did you sense him?"

"I think so," Anawyn whispered. "It's ... a little bit like what it feels like when there's a Grey Warden nearby."

"Hm ..." Granny said speculatively. "I had wondered if that would be the case." She looked at Anawyn with a new interest.

"Because both my parents are Grey Wardens. That's what Mother says."

"Let's go," Granny said abruptly.

They walked a long way. Often they were quiet, although sometimes Granny would teach them about herbs and berries to be found in the forests and fields they passed. When they met other people, both girls were silent. Granny said that if anyone found out that they were all mages, the Templars would come. Cybele knew a little about the Templars, a few things her mother had told her. Anawyn had heard many things about them, from Anders and from her father, and occasionally some of them came to the keep, looking for apostates. Anders usually tried to pick fights with the Templars, and Oghren usually had to pull him off them.

On the road, they met a cheerful dwarven merchant. Granny didn't seem as worried about him as she was about most travelers. She began quietly looking over the merchant's stores, setting aside a few things to purchase.

Cybele stared at the man, and at his companion, a younger dwarf who smiled a lot and didn't say much. She tugged on Anawyn's arm. "They're dwarves," she whispered, her eyes wide and fearful.

"Of course. What's wrong with that?"

"I don't know anything about dwarves. I— I think I'm afraid of them."

"They're nothing to be afraid of! Stick with me," Anawyn said. "Remember, I'm half dwarf."

"Oh, right," Cybele said, with some relief. She reached for Anawyn's hand, holding it tightly, but her wide golden eyes stared at the dwarves apprehensively.

"Anything I can offer you ladies today? Name's Bodahn Feddic. And this is my son, Sandal. Say hello, boy."

"Hello," said the younger man, quietly. He seemed fascinated by Anawyn and kept staring at her, grinning broadly.

While Granny wasn't looking, Sandal slipped up to Anawyn and Cybele. Holding a finger to his lips, he whispered softly, "Enchantment?" Then he slipped something into Anawyn's hand. She tucked it quickly away, sensing that he was offering her something special. When he saw the item disappear into her pocket, Sandal's face lit up. "Enchantment!" he said brightly, and turned away. Anawyn couldn't wait to look at what he'd given her, but it seemed like a secret, so she carefully kept her hand away from her pocket. Cybele was curious, too, but she was used to not asking too many questions.

As Bodahn was wrapping up Granny's purchases, he cheerfully chattered on. Anawyn didn't pay much attention until he spoke directly to her. "See anyone interesting on the roads, miss? Lots of people out traveling in this fine weather. Why, I hear the king himself is traveling. Some kind of hush-hush mission, so I'm told."

Anawyn's face lit up. Her father traveling? Out of Denerim? Maybe she'd see him!

Bodahn saw the excitement but misunderstood. "It is exciting. He's a good man, our king. I knew him, you know. A long time ago. Him and the Hero of Ferelden." He looked at Anawyn strangely. "You know—"

"We'll be going now, thank you." Granny shoved her packages into her bag and, taking the girls by the arms, hustled them away. Bodahn stood looking after them, scratching his head.

Eventually they found themselves on the edge of Lake Calenhad. The mage tower rose up in the center of the lake, tall and imposing.

"Look there, children," Granny said darkly. "That is where people with our skills and talents allow themselves to be locked away their entire lives. Most of them never leave that little island, and their talents and everything they learn go to waste because they are never allowed to use what they can do." She chuckled. "Except occasionally in times of war."

"My parents' friend Wynne was from the Tower," Anawyn said softly. "I'm named for her. She traveled with my parents during the Blight, and she delivered me when I was born. Mother says Wynne was never content to sit still in the Tower."

"A few mages do find ways to leave," Granny admitted. "But the vast majority do not. Can you imagine? Your whole life inside the Tower, in the middle of the lake?"

Cybele, whose entire life had been spent in freedom and seclusion, more in the world of animals than that of men, shuddered. "Will you teach us to defend ourselves, if the Templars come?"

"Of course."

Anawyn stared at the Tower. She knew Wynne was living there now, but she knew better than to ask Granny if they could visit.

They camped there by the lake, and in the quiet seclusion, Granny set Anawyn to practicing her fire spells while she worked separately with Cybele on shape-shifting. Anawyn thought it would be exciting to be an animal or a fish, but Granny didn't think she was ready to learn those skills. She formed fire balls for a long time, then selected a rock as a target and threw flame blasts at it. After a while she was bored and felt she had practiced enough. Looking around, she didn't see Granny and Cybele, or any animals that might be them. She sat down by the shore and slipped her hand into her pocket, drawing out what Sandal had given her. It was a ring, covered in runes. It looked and felt powerful. Anawyn wondered what it did. She decided it probably wasn't safe to show it to Granny, who might disapprove of her taking a gift from a strange man, so she tucked it into a small pocket in her pack that buttoned closed. Then she sat, quietly waiting for the others, wondering what was happening at the keep far away and what her mother was doing.