Attempt One

"He passed his harrowing yesterday," Amelia whispered to Neria as their eyes followed the lanky form of the blond mage. The newly harrowed mage turned and looked at the girls. He shot them a quick smile. Amelia sighed and whispered to Neria, "He's so handsome." Neria shrugged. Her friend had had a crush on Anders for at least a year now.

Amelia was devastated that he would be leaving the apprentice quarters but she was even more impressed with him now that he was a full-fledged mage. In a couple more years, Amelia and Neria would undergo their own harrowing, although Neria thought that if Amelia didn't study a little harder she was going to have to wait longer than that.

For a few weeks following his rise in status, they saw Anders working with youngest mages, trying to teach them the basics. Neria thought he looked utterly miserable. The kids wouldn't pay attention to him. He seemed to always have a scowl on his face. It was only a few weeks after that they heard that Anders had run away.

Neria and Amelia watched the templars leaving the tower as they started to track him down. "Maybe he'll make it to Minrathous", Neria said.

"Where is that?" Amelia asked.

"The capital of Tevinter. Where the mages still rule," Neria reminded her. Another lesson Amelia was daydreaming through, she thought.

"Oh no! I hope he doesn't make it," she said. "I hope the templars bring him back."

Neria looked at her friend, knowing that her desire for his capture was due to her longing for him. Neria wasn't sure what she thought. Why would he run away? The Tower provided her with everything she needed. Food, friends, and interesting things to study.

That evening as the sun was setting, Neria pushed a chair over to one of the high windows in the apprentice quarters and looked out. She rarely saw outside and just as rarely thought about the outside. A cool breeze bathed her skin and she smelled fish, water, and a smell of something else... trees from across the lake? A fish jumped out of the water for a moment and she wondered if fish were curious about the world outside too. As she pondered she saw the little boat cross the lake. It was heavily laden tonight, templars, and a mage. She sighed. It looked like Anders had only managed a few hours out on his own, she wondered what it was like.

After that they didn't see Anders for a few weeks.

Attempt Two

"Hey, Kiddo," Anders greeted her. He was tutoring Neria in basic healing magic. She was smart, but didn't have much aptitude for healing. He handed her a lancet. "Okay, let's see what you've learned."

She took the lancet and frowned. She was supposed to stick herself in the finger with it and it made her extremely nervous. She stared at her finger, willing herself to prick it with the lancet.

"Come on," he urged, "where's my brave girl?"

She grimaced and sighed. "I'm trying." She gave herself a halfhearted poke and cried out. She didn't even break her skin.

Anders laughed. "I can go fetch a tame rat if that would make it easier. You can poke the rat."

Neria looked up, horrified. "No! That would be awful." She glared at her finger, screwed up her courage, bit her lower lip and jabbed harder. This time she yelped loudly but at least there was a dot of blood on her finger and it was getting larger.

Her face went pale, she stared in shock at the deep red dot, then she fainted.

Anders caught her before her head hit the floor. "Hey!" he called out to a templar. "Need some help here." A templar standing at the doorway, watching him closely came over.

"What happened?" the templar asked.

"She fainted," Anders paused a moment, sizing up the opportunity. "Um, maybe you should take her to the infirmary?"

The templar picked up the small, elven girl in his arms and carried her out.

Thanks, Neria! he thought. Anders used the opportunity to make another escape. This time he was gone for a whole day.

Neria saw him being led to the First Enchanter's office. She saw a templar cuff him in the head with a mailed fist. Her stomach clenched up and she questioned things for the first time.

Attempt Three

Anders was assigned to kitchen duty for a month after that. Whenever Neria saw him his hands were red and rough from whatever he did in the kitchen. She felt a little sorry for him and wondered what was so wonderful about being outside that he risked this sort of punishment. Whatever it was apparently lured him away again because he disappeared and this time it was a week before he was dragged back.

She didn't see it but she heard the rumors that they had locked him up for two months after that. She didn't even know there was a place to lock people up. Something about Anders, when she thought about him, reminded her of a bird bashing itself against a window trying to escape.

Attempts Four, Five and Six

After that Anders seemed to settle into life in the Tower and didn't run away again, at least while Neria was there. She underwent her Harrowing and Anders had congratulated her warmly. Then things happened with Jowan. The First Enchanter used her as a pawn in his chess game with Knight-Commander Greagoir. She narrowly avoided being locked up herself, even though she had only been following the First Enchanter's orders. Duncan conscripted her into the Grey Wardens, ostensibly to rescue her but she found out later the Grey Wardens desperately needed more mages. She saw Anders one last time as she walked out the front hall with Duncan and looked back to see him watching her leave.

It should have been him, she thought.

Inevitably Anders tried again. Over the course of the next two years he spent most of his time locked away from everyone. Just as soon as they released him, he would try another escape and that lead to another lock-up. The templars were getting very impatient and even Irving was at the end of his rope. After attempt five he was locked up a good long time. It was a good time to be forgotten as the Tower fell into chaos from Uldred's overthrow attempt. Neria assumed he had been killed, like Amelia and many of her other friends, when she and her companions came back to the tower. Little did she know he was locked in the prison in the basement.

Attempt six had been very promising. He met a girl named Namaya and she promised to help him find his phylactery. They lived together for a few weeks in domestic and sexual bliss, until the templars found him. They dragged him away and he was never sure what they did to her.

Anders didn't hear much news, locked away as he was. He didn't hear about the battle at Ostagar or about the archdemon. His primary source for news was a cat that visited him in his cell, and although the cat was chatty, he didn't pass on much of interest.

Attempt Seven

He was going to Amaranthine to try to find Namaya again. He couldn't imagine she would still be waiting for him after all this time, but he held onto his thin hope. He nearly got to the city and he was nabbed by some seriously angry templars. Before the Tower revolt they beat mages out of a sense of duty, or so they liked people to believe, now they seemed to take open enjoyment with beating mages. He was a bloody mess when they threw him in the cell in Vigil's Keep. This time they were talking about taking him to the Tower and hanging him.

Do they do that? he wondered. Hang mages? He hadn't ever heard of a mage being hung at the Tower. At the Harrowing they just ran you through if you looked like you were having too much fun in the Fade, or came back as an abomination. Blood mages were made tranquil. Hanging? He assumed they were blustering, he'd never heard of that. Of course he'd never heard of a mage running away seven times either...

He was spending his second night in the cell in Amaranthine when the darkspawn attacked. One templar stayed with him, the others went to help with the fighting outside.

"Hey Biff," he said, "Let me out of here so I can help fight the darkspawn." Anders didn't know his name but Biff seemed appropriate.

The templar glared at him, shifting nervously. The sounds of fighting were getting louder. He heard the front gate give way and lots of yelling.

"All right, mage, but don't try anything," the templar warned him. He was just working on fishing the keys out of his pocket when the door gave way and a dozen darkspawn burst into the room. The templar yelled and drew his weapon. The numbers were definitely not in his favor and it didn't take long before he was overwhelmed. He dropped quickly and made a strange gurgling sound as he drew his last breath.

Anders had fought an existential battle from within his cell, while the templar fought an actual battle outside his cell. He could, theoretically, fight the darkspawn who were conveniently killing the templars. He could, theoretically, heal Biff and possibly save his life. He wondered if the templars would be grateful and perhaps let him go free. He laughed heartily at the thought. No, he knew they'd be just as happy to kick him in the head and hang him as ever. So he didn't intervene and he watched Biff die. The darkspawn couldn't get to him in his cell so they left him alone, at least for now. He waited until they rushed away to kill someone else, then he grabbed Biff by the ankle and drew him closer. He pulled the keys out of his pocket and let himself out.

Then another group of darkspawn ran in and Anders had to actually fight this time. They were horrible, grotesque creatures and he wanted nothing more than to unleash a very large fireball from a safe distance, but, unfortunately, they were getting too intimate for that. He flared a cone of flame out of his finger tips. It worked well and quite a few of them dropped. However, more were coming. He repeated his cone of flame several times, until his finger tips were in danger of searing. In fact, just as the last of them were dropping was when the two women charged into the room. He was blowing on his fingertips, sticking them in his mouth to soothe them, but his mouth suddenly went dry as he recognized the small one.

"Neria?" he whispered. He could see her there. The cute elven kid he tutored a couple of years ago. The one that fainted at the sight of blood, too cowardly to poke herself with a little lancet. Yes. Gray eyes, chestnut hair, oval face, pale skin, adorable pointy ears, he remembered that. What he didn't remember was her looking so confident, shouting orders to the warrior with her and looking... savage?

She looked at him without really seeing him for a moment. Then realization hit her. "Anders?" she asked. Her mouth dropped open then formed into a big grin. "What..." she started to ask. She looked around, saw the empty cell, the dead templars. "Oh," she said.

"Er, I didn't do it," he said simply, gesturing at the dead templar. "Not that I'm broken up about it..."

Neria held up her hand to silence him. "Anders! I always thought you died in Uldred's revolt."

He chuckled, "No, I missed that. I was being held in the basement. They forgot about me for awhile. Nearly starved to death."

Neria's eyes almost went misty, seeing someone she knew from the Tower. She was glad he lived.

He looked at her speculatively. "So was it really you?" he asked. "I heard a little about the Blight and a Grey Warden mage, but the last time I really saw you was when I was tutoring you in healing and you...".

She cut him off abruptly. "We could really use your help, Anders. Will you help us out for a bit?" She really didn't want him telling that story about her in front of a recruit. It really wouldn't do for it to get out what a coward she had been. Nowadays she could tolerate the sight of blood, unless it was her own leaking out of a fresh wound. She still fainted at that.

He smiled at her. "Of course, Neria. Anything for my my old student." He chuckled.

"Commander, we should go," Mhairi said.

Neria nodded.

"Commander, is it?" Anders said. "It seems we have some catching up to do, Neria."

"So it would seem, Anders." She smiled at him. "Let's go, we have some darkspawn to kill."