I'm not normally one for author's notes, but I really wanted to thank Obscura Wilde for the reviews. I haven't written fic in years, so the encouragement is really great. Thank you so much!

Anders' sixth escape and Solona's first kiss both happened a week before her harrowing. Each day she waited to see him again, half hoping the templars would drag him back by the scruff of his neck, and half hoping that he finally made it to freedom. It was silly of her, to hope for either. Even sillier for her to wonder why he hadn't tried to bring her with him, or if he had only kissed her because he knew he finally had the perfect escape.

Still, his latest escape got her to thinking. They hadn't really been friends. Anders refused to let her get close enough that she could qualify their relationship as such, but they had grown to be at least friendly. Sometimes, after being released from solitary confinement caused by his latest outing, he would find her and excitedly tell her about what the outside world was like. Mostly brown, and smelling of wet dog – in her mind, Solona always imagined it was a pleasant smell, despite Anders's over-exaggeration about the awfulness - but he got most excited about the stars. They looked amazing when you could see the whole sky at once, he promised her. Freedom was the only thing she'd ever seen him passionate about (or at least not snarky), and she'd always watch him prattle on fondly, happy that he could share at least this with her.

Part of her felt as though she wouldn't see him again. She couldn't know it for a fact, of course, but she had a sick feeling something was going to go wrong, even if she had exposed Joawn's plan to the first enchanter. The unpleasant thought of her best friend being made Tranquil threw her out of her reverie and back into the present. Solona's mind had been on autopilot as she stalked through the storage room, praying that each spider she saw would be her last. She had a terrible case of arachnophobia, and the only thing that kept her going through those awful cobwebs was the knowledge she was helping her best friend. She took a deep breath, trying to think about something more pleasant than giant eyes and hairy fangs to finish out her little trek and finally decided on the time she visited Anders after his fifth escape.

Solona had begged the first enchanter to give her permission to see Anders. This time he earned himself a full month, locked up alone like an animal, and not being allowed to see anyone other than a mean templar would be enough to drive anyone mad. Or so she said, in her impassioned plea to see him. Irving seemed completely deaf to her petitions, until she pouted like a child. He frowned, and she realized she had an ace in the hole. Solona was very good at fake crying. Her eyes began to water and he stepped back, his own eyes widening in concern. Then her lower lip began to tremble, and he quickly relented, awkwardly putting his hands up and giving her a placating, "Ten minutes, Solona." She thanked him profusely over her shoulder as she rushed off, trying to make sure the silly cat she was hiding in her robes remained as still and quiet as possible.

When he realized it was her and not a templar, Anders fixed her with a look that made her feel like she was the last woman in Thedas. Her stomach fluttered and she tried to ignore it. Solona smiled, gingerly holding Anders's favorite mouser up so Anders could see him. "He missed you," she said, handing the kitten to Anders through the bars. "Kept meowing so pitifully when he couldn't find you…"

"Mister Wiggums," Anders crooned delightedly, and Solona giggled, "You shouldn't be worrying about me, sweetheart, you have mice to eat and templars to harass!" The cat meowed in response, and Anders held it against his chest, gently scratching behind the ears. Solona sat just outside the bars, expectantly waiting for more escape stories, and Anders mirrored her position inside the cell. After a moment of petting the cat, he looked into her eyes and thanked her so sincerely she couldn't stop the look of surprise on her face. Anders laughed. "You know, Solona," he said, eyes crinkled in good humor, "no one's ever thought to visit me before. Bringing me cats and company… a man might start to think you wanted a favor." Solona shrugged, not wanting to tell him why she came as she asked shyly, "So where did you stay? You were gone longer than normal."

Cat in his lap and as content as she had ever seen him in the tower, Anders regaled her with the tale of how he was mistaken for a worker of a nearby brothel and managed to keep a room there for a week before anyone realized he wasn't taking customers. The memory of it still made her giggle, drawing her a stern glare from the senior enchanter whose name she had already forgotten.

"Is that all?" she asked, and Solona nodded and thanked her as she ran off to get the fire rod. The Tranquil unnerved her, but she still smiled and thanked him as she tucked away the rod of fire and headed back to Jowan and Lily for their ill-fated escape.

Solona wondered if Anders smashed his phylactery before he left. If he had, it probably meant he was gone forever. But if he hadn't…. It took the three of them to get into the hold, and that alone was enough to convince her that Anders couldn't have done it on his own. She made a resolve that, if they hadn't already sent his phylactery to Denerim, she'd find it for him and smash it. She was already complicit in helping a rumored blood mage escape; it wasn't as though helping Anders could be much worse. What would he do, spirit heal people to death?

It turned out to be a moot point anyway, as she couldn't find his phylactery. She had tried, so hard, but they hadn't had the time. And then, of course, everything had gone to pieces when it turned out that Jowan actually was a blood mage, and some small part of her couldn't help but be glad that he at least wouldn't be made Tranquil because of her.

When Duncan asked to recruit her she went gladly, feeling a strange sort of numbness at not knowing how this had all happened so fast. She didn't know what being a Grey Warden was like, but it had to be better than this.