I do not own any characters, places, items, or plot lines originally seen in Dragon Age. The two characters I own are V'lartha and Amilee in this chapter. Edited for minor mistakes, this was started before the "crossroads" revelation in the third game so please bear with the faulty lore of this chapter.

Chapter 1

All she could feel was the pain.

The pain was excruciating, like she was being forced through a gap too small for her body to fit through. She screamed but no sound came from her lips. Then all around her was darkness and fogged shadows.

In the distance, she heard whispers garbled and too soft for her to hear. The shadows shied away from her, hissing and spitting, as she was continuously pulled forward by some unknown force through this foreign, dreary world without light. On and on she went, the wasteland around her coming more into focus. She saw dead trees scattered around her and bones stark white littering the barren ground. She trembled as she saw a hunched figure to her left encased in fire and lava, stopping to watch her proceed. The creature spoke, but she couldn't understand what it said. In the distance she saw a foreboding black city, its majesty marred by the dark cloud that swirled in its wake. Something caught her eye the way she was being pulled and saw a familiar black hole. She cried out in vain struggling anew as she moved forward and entered.

The pain came again, as before, stealing her breath away. She couldn't move if she'd tried, her mind white hot agony. And then, in a flash of brilliant blue light, the pain was gone and she collapsed to the ground.

Gasps ensued around her and she struggled to open her eyes, peeking through her chestnut colored hair. The floor was spattered with blood and scattered glass shards, her body lying in the thick of it. Black figures moved around her as she was pulled up from the stone floor by hands unseen.

The whispers continued as a man came into view, with a large nose and sharp green eyes under a full head of shocking red hair pulled back in a short ponytail. He sneered and barked at her in a foreign tongue, causing her to jerk away in fear.

The hands that held her tightened and the green eyed man grabbed her head to make her look at him. Again, he spoke, obviously asking something.

"What do you want?" she cried, struggling against his hold. "I can't understand you!"

The man went still and stared. He looked up behind her with a puzzled but grim expression. He spoke quickly and the hands dragged her away from him.

She saw the other hooded people clearly now and counted eight of them, at least. In the center of the room, where she'd come from, was a tall mirror frame, the glass on the floor obviously the remains of the mirror itself. The hooded men and women looked at her in awe as she was dragged through a wooden doorway and down a long stoned hallway.

Fear coiled low in her stomach as they passed a window. She saw large gray towers in the distance behind what looked to be a huge city not unlike many rural cities she'd see in movies with the buildings crammed and stacked tightly together on a hill. They continued on and she began to struggle against the hands that held her in earnest, terrified by the visions she saw.

They turned into a room with a broken down bed and a small candle lit lamp on a table in the corner. She was spun into the room and the door quickly closed and locked behind her.

After a few minutes on the floor, she realized she wasn't going to wake up from this nightmare. Oh my God, she thought. Where am I?

Shaking and weeping uncontrollably, she crawled up from the floor onto the bed, hugging her knees to her chest. After a long time, her heart beat slowed and she curled up and fell asleep, dreaming of shadows and barren wastelands.

She woke up sometime later, maybe the next day, to a soft knock on the door. The sound of a key turning and the door opening made her sit up and huddle as close to the wall as she could in fear.

A petite form emerged and a lilting voice speaking the same unknown language came to her ears. She looked up in wonder at what looked to be an older woman with elf ears holding a tray of food.

Staring in awe, she uncovered herself and moved to stand up.

The elf-woman smiled nervously and held the tray out to her. She had pale white hair with gray eyes accented with a pale purple eye shadow. Her ears were prominent and pointed and her nose blending up into the forehead, a clear indication that she was not human. Delicate tribal tattoo donned the right side her face as well. Awestruck, the girl could only stare.

The elf-woman set the tray on the table next to the bed and bowed her head. "Andaran atish'an. V'lartha." She said gently, indicating to herself.

Amilee smiled brightly for a moment, giddy over the fact she was speaking with an elf, of all magical beings. Then she came back down from her excitement as she realized she was being rude. She pointed to herself and said shyly, "Amilee. Thank you for the food."

As if she understood, the elf nodded and indicated to the tray. Amilee sat on the edge of the bed reached over and took a piece of the bread and began to eat.

V'lartha turned to leave, pausing long enough to watch the lone girl devour the first piece and reach for another. Smiling softly with pity, the elf left.

Five Months later

Garrett Hawke was not happy.

After several attempts to track down a lost shipment for Athenril, his recent former employer, he'd finally made his way to a back alley house in Lowtown, where the thieves were presumably hiding. And of course, it had to be the night of his natal day, no less. Maker forbid he wait a day with this shipment out of the she-elf's hands. But her insistence that this shipment could be important to him as well had peaked his curiosity.

He snuck up to the door listening for signs of movement within.

Mumbled voices ensued and he nodded to Varric and his sister. Bethany brought up the rear as he kicked in the door and rushed the first man to go for his daggers. He swung his sword staff around, cut off one of the man's hands and pulled his pommel back hard to hit the rogue who'd sprung up behind him.

Varric opened the door to the next room, letting off a combustion grenade, effectively killing two men in hiding.

Garrett ducked as Bethany shouted and a cluster of lightning hit the rogue behind him, a robed mage turning to flee out the back way. She then spelled her brother's pommel and the sword staff crystallized into ice, just in time for him to block and throw another rogue dropping down from the wooden beams above. The rogue staggered to his feet and threw a smoke grenade down, obscuring his view. The first man recovered and yelled in outrage, using his remaining hand to slice at Garrett's face. The attempt was quickly out maneuvered and the response a fatal stab to the gut, turning the man to ice simultaneously.

Varric ran up and stabbed outward with Bianca's bayonet just as the missing rogue appeared trying to stab Bethany in the side, killing the man instantly.

Bethany shot off ball after ball of fire at and behind the remaining thieves near the back, cutting off any chance of retreat.

By the end of the battle, several bodies lay scattered, dead or close to it, and the shipment was successfully recovered from the back room. He hunched over and lifted the heavy crate onto his shoulders, motioning to Bethany to follow.

"This package better be worth it. I think I got blood on my coat," Varric jeered.

Bethany smirked and responded, "Don't forget to check Bianca for nicks."

To which the dwarf laughed, rubbing his crossbow absently.

Athenril paced anxiously, as she waited for Hawke's return. After ten months of waiting, her enslaved cousin had finally done the undoable: killed her hell-born master and smuggled herself back to Kirkwall.

But of course those damned fool Coterie would go and steal her cargo right out from under her nose, just as they were unloading it from the docks.

Thankfully, she'd spotted Garrett Hawke on her way past the Hanged Man and practically begged him to help her. He agreed reluctantly, after lying to him that he'd be interested in its contents. But she would pay him well in recompense for the deceit.

One of her messengers came and she'd snapped at him to leave. The boy ran back the way he came and she scooped up the note he'd dropped, tucking it into her pocket. Everything else would wait.

Well into the night, she finally heard footsteps and turned to see her former employee carrying the crate that was more important to her than any other shipment she'd ever had.

At the risk of getting over excited, she indicated to the man to set it down.

"You can open it," she said softly.

At her request he took a small knife and pried open the lid, setting it aside. He gasped in surprise. "I thought you didn't deal in flesh, Athenril."

Glaring at the man as she walked up, she snapped, "Of course I don't, this is my c-cousin…"

She gaped at the figure inside. A human woman with long, wavy chestnut hair pulled back in loose pigtails wearing a collar around her neck and a small white gown was nestled in a bed of blankets.

Bethany said politely, "If that's your cousin, elf, Varric's my uncle."

"I second that," the dwarf chimed in.

Athenril began to panic. "I don't understand. My cousin, an escaped slave from Tevinter, was supposed to be in here! Not this... this…Human!"

Garrett reached into the crate and pulled out a stack of paper. "Maybe this will explain things," he said handing them to Athenril.

She grabbed them and began reading:

"My dearest cousin,

I am sorry I cannot be there to explain but things have changed in these past few months. This woman's name is Amilee. I know not from whence she came, but my master came to possess her and had take a great interest in her. He tortured her when she refused his instruction and put a collar on her with a compulsion spell on it. The spell didn't work but for some reason, it won't come off. I also fear he tried to... take advantage of her body. She killed him, I do not know how, and is now hunted by all of Tevinter for her so called crime. My contacts could only smuggle one of us with the money I could spare and I decided it should be her. She has been a wonderful friend to me, kind where other humans would be cruel, understanding where others show ignorance. She has an energy and curiosity that cannot be satisfied. This girl will need help to learn the language you speak. She is like a baby newly born, in awe of everything, acting as though she's never met elves or seen magic. I believe she may not be from this world at all and as such, I feel she deserves to be free more than I. We escaped our pursuers and managed to find friends to help her. One of our people I contacted knew some blood magic and spelled her to sleep so she could be more at ease. I have, in this letter, a spell any mage can use to free her from this sleep. Again, I am sorry I could not come, dear Athenril. I miss you very much. Maybe in the future I may find my way to you, but for now… Just please have her taken care of.

With all my love,

V'lartha"

Athenril held the letter as a errant tear fell from her cheek, which she quickly swiped away. After all this time, hoping and praying to be reunited with her only family, fate would dash those hopes away. She handed the letter back to Garrett and said crypticly, "You deal with it." With that, she walked away in defeat.

Garrett looked on at her in confusion until she disappeared, then turned to the others, reading the letter out loud. Shocked at its contents, the group stared at their new burden.

"So…" Varric said. "Looks like Bethany has her work cut out for her."

The mage asked tentativly, "What do we do, Garrett?"

After another moment's pause he growled, "Damn-it!"He then picked the girl up out of the crate.

"Let's go," he ground out as he walked quickly back to his uncle's home.

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