When Fate Summons (a Dragon Age fanfiction)

Losing My Religion

After a few moments of the group hug, Anawyn pulled free of her parents, looking around the room for Cybele. Both little girls rushed at each other, clinging close and laughing. "Anawyn, you're safe! You saved me."

"You're my sister," Anawyn said. "I wasn't going to let anything happen to you."

"We really are, too! We're real sisters!" Cybele's bright, happy face smiled into Anawyn's. "Just ask him." She nodded toward Alistair.

Anawyn looked over her shoulder at her father, who nodded. Her heart warmed at the confirmation, and at the sight of her parents sitting together so naturally, her father's arm around her mother's shoulders. All her questions could wait until later, she thought, hugging her sister again.

Alistair watched his daughters embrace, his heart swelling at the sight of their affection for each other. All that was needed to make the picture complete was his little Duncan, he thought. How he wished the boy was here to meet his sisters. Alistair decided that, come what may, he would make that happen—see all three of his children together. He felt Thora leaning against him, and it came to him that now, with Anawyn finally safe, he had to take Wynne's advice and decide where his duty truly led. Would he allow Dorothea and her rumors to separate him from his family again, or would he take a stand for those he loved, even though it could well cost him his kingdom? His arm tightened around Thora, his heart and mind warring with each other.

The door opened then, and First Enchanter Petra came in. Tears gathered in her eyes as she and Dagna went to Wynne's body.

Alistair stood up, putting his hands gently on the little girls' shoulders. "Come on," he said, "let's leave them to care for her. We'll just be in the way in here." Morrigan and Xandros followed them out.

"Can we do anything?" Thora asked.

Petra sniffled. "No, thank you," she said. "Would you ... speak a few words at the pyre?"

"Of course. It's my honor."

Folding Wynne's hands carefully across her breast, Petra said fondly, "I'm so glad her last wish came true. She hated the idea of dying in bed." A pair of strong young mages came into the room, and with Petra and Irving's help, removed Wynne's body to prepare it for her pyre.

When she and Dagna were left alone in the room, Thora remembered Wynne's cryptic comments. "Dagna, Wynne told me to talk to you about—"

"Oh, yes!" Dagna exclaimed, her face lighting up. "It's the most exciting thing," she said. "I figured out a way to go to the Fade."

"Really?" Thora's eyes widened. The ability to enter the Fade through dreams and meet up there with friends and loved ones was something she'd wanted since she'd first come to the surface. She'd never expected to have the opportunity ... but here it was. "What's it like?" she asked Dagna.

"It's like flying," Dagna said, practically hopping with enthusiasm. "You see, it's like this. The arcane energies flow to the left and the life force flows to the right and then if you cross the streams you can open up a ..." She stopped, looking at Thora's mystified face. "You're not following any of this, are you?"

Thora shook her head. "Remember, I haven't spent my whole life studying magic, unlike some people."

"Of course not," Dagna said with a giggle. "Sometimes I forget. Okay, so: I've developed this potion. You drink it before you go to bed, and then when you fall asleep there'll be this glowing door that you can go through. You have to decide to go through, and decide to stay there, but it's easy once you get the hang of it. You can meet up with all sorts of people. No dwarves, of course," she said, her mouth turning down for a moment, "but everyone else. It's so exciting! And in theory," her voice dropped to a near whisper, "if you take enough of it, over time it will build up in your system and you can go to the Fade after you die. Just like ... well, everyone else."