Disclaimers: Dragon Age and all of its characters belong to bioware and ea.
Also, the names Nynaeve and Min belong to the estate of Robert Jordan, the author of the Wheel of Time fantasy series.

Author's Note: This fic is a retelling of the mage's background storyline. And may be a prologue to a longer fic in the future. It is only seven chapters and is finished. I will post every other day on a Friday-Monday-Wednesday schedule.

There have been a few changes to canon as well. In my fic the Warden and Hawke are sisters. Also, I have added Anders to the Tower in place of Jowan. Though, this is not nor will it be a romance between the Warden and Anders.

The first time Nynaeve saw her father do magic, the first time she ever saw anyone do magic, she was six. At the time there had only been the three of them, her parents and herself, and another on the way. They had been in the small farming town long enough that Nyn remembered no other. It was home.

The cat was to blame. Flower, the unlucky tom had been named when Nyn found him two years before eating her mother's beloved roses. He was an old and ugly stray, more likely to hiss than purr at her touch, but some days, most days, he was the only friend she had.

That day the young Nyn had gotten into a fight with her mother over the new baby, still in her stomach, though, ready to burst out of it by the look of it. Her mother told her father that Nyn was jealous. Her father told her mother that she would get over it. While they spoke quietly, though not quietly enough for snooping ears, Nyn ran out of the tiny house with angry tears streaking down her face.

She had a temper that she had not outgrown, much to her parents' disappointment. She angrily kicked small rocks out of her way. And when she spotted a flock of blackbirds, she picked a larger stone and threw it towards them with a speed and strength her father would have been proud of. They only flew off however, leaving her unfulfilled.

Nyn saw the cat on the road and called to him. She used her 'nice' voice, the one that often fooled her father, though never her mother. And apparently not Flower either, for he ran from her.

She followed quickly behind, kicking at the dirt. But he escaped by climbing up a tree. Nyn kicked at the trunk. Stupid mangy thing! She called him, words she often heard her mother use for the cat. Why didn't he like her anymore? Even the cat didn't love her anymore.

Nyn started to climb up. She had never climbed a tree herself, but she had watched older kids doing it and it couldn't be too hard, if they could do it then so could she.

She would show her parents. They would discover that she was missing soon and search for her. But they would never find her up here. She would spend all night up here if she had to. And when she finally came down they would be so happy to see her they would... they would...

She sniveled. What if they didn't? They didn't want her anymore. They probably wouldn't even look for her. She wiped her runny nose. Good, she thought. She didn't want them to. She didn't need them.

Nyn decided then that she would run away from home. She would run so far that they would never find her, even if they wanted to.

She started down, getting down should have been even easier than getting up was, but it was harder than she thought and she slipped and fell straight down.

Nyn couldn't move. It was getting darker, and colder. She began to cry, and screamed for her mother. She was alone. And she was hurt. And she was scared.

Her mother found her first, and held her tightly, crying out for her father. Nyn snuggled in her mother's warmth, she would be safe now.

Her father was calm as he carefully scooped his young daughter up into his strong arms. Nyn smiled. They had found her, as she knew they would.

When the family got back home, the father lay the girl on her bed. He straightened her legs, and she screamed in pain. Her parents whispered together. They're broken, her father told her mother. What are we going to do? Her mother sobbed. We can't afford a healer. We don't have to, her father whispered back.

The pain was black with flashes of red. And Nyn had to fight to stay awake. Her father lay his big hands on her leg and spoke in a language she didn't understand. His touch was warm and soothing, and the red flashes started to fade until they were gone altogether.

Nyn opened her eyes and saw her father smiling down at her, his hands holding a blue flame over her that did not burn. That was when she knew:

Her father was a mage.

The first time Nyn did magic she was eight. The baby had been born, and she had a little sister. And though she would never admit it to her parents, she didn't hate her as much as she thought she would. She liked being a big sister.

The small farming town was far behind them and they were living in a large, though clustered, tent community. Her father worked as a miner and her mother washed clothes for extra money. They were poor, but as happy as they had ever been. Though, Nyn had started to detect sadness in her mother's eyes and fear in her father's.

Baby Min was two and her father was away on a dig when she came down with the fever that had stricken the tight community. Nyn's parents kept many things from her. But they warned her about staying away from those who were sick and the importance of staying clean. And she knew what the small dirt hills on the far side of the town were, even if no one told her.

Nyn's mother fell asleep crying and waiting for her father to return. He would come too late though, her mother knew, and she knew. They had never spoken of what her father had done for her, except to say that she must never speak of it, but she remembered.

She silently crept toward her sleeping mother and sister, and placed her palm against her sister's feverish forehead. She closed her eyes and recalled the words that her father had spoken. There was a fire that didn't burn and then... darkness.

When Nyn woke, her mother was holding Min in her arms, both crying silently. And her father stood over her, a look of horror and fear on his was when he knew:

His daughter was a mage like him.

They sat together in the old barn, daughter and father, with an unlit candle between them.

You're trying too hard, Nyn. You're trying to lit it here, he pointed to her head, instead of here, he held his hand against her heart. Don't think about it. Just do it. I can't do it! She had screamed back, scared, frustrated, and angry. The candle burst into flames and melted down into the straw. Her father laughed with tears in his sad eyes. I knew you could do it, he kissed her on the top of her head.

Nyn, this is important, you must keep this a secret. No one must ever know you can do this. If they find out, they will take you away from us, they will take us, and we will never see your mother or Min again. Do you promise?

She had promised him, but they had come for them anyway.

Nyn was nine when the Templars came.

Her father had gotten work as a tutor for the ward of a lord and her mother worked in the manor as one of the many maids. Min was three and followed her big sister everywhere she went. And her mother was pregnant again. Twins, her father said, though because he knew she carried two babies or was teasing her over her weight gain, Nyn wasn't sure. She liked the thought of twins though, and she wished for a boy and girl.

They were more comfortable than the family ever remembered being, but they were also in more danger of being discovered and they had to be more careful than ever.

Nyn knew her father was up to something. He would disappear for hours at a time, and not come home at all some nights. And there were whispers of apostates, evil mages, roaming the countryside. Nyn had a feeling the two were connected, but though she tried, she could never prove it, and her father never spoke of it.

Eventually, the Chantry sent out their Templars to investigate the activity and they were housed in the manor. Her father was even more nervous and fearful than normal, and he kept fighting with her mother, though, Nyn couldn't hear what the arguments were over.

Even Min knew something was wrong, she would cry herself to sleep every night. And Nyn's dreams were full of armored Templars, where they had once been full of a handsome noble boy with blonde hair and blue eyes.

They came to their door at night. Their mother held them in their bedroom while their father answered the knock. It'll be fine, she whispered against their hair, but Nyn knew she was trying to convince herself as much as them.

The Templars had loud rough voices. And they called her father an apostate. How could he be? She had wondered. Apostates were evil and her father was... the most good she knew. He was kind and gentle. And would never hurt anyone.

She slipped from her mother's arms and crept toward the bedroom door, ignoring her mother's quiet call, she eased it open.

Her father stood straight and proud in front of the heavily armed men. If you come with us, you and your family will not be harmed, they told him with swords in their hands.

I will never go back there, he told them with red fire that burned in the palm of his hands. I'll die first.

No! Nyn ran out without thought. They couldn't take him. She wouldn't let them. She raised her hands and the fire that burned engulfed the three Templars. Their screams echoed in her ears.

She watched in shock as her father added his own blaze to hers and soon the silence was even more deafening than the screams had been.

Her father shook her roughly. We have to get out of here, he told her.

The manor was in chaos. Her father held her hand, and her mother ran clumsily behind them with Min in her arms. There was a servant entrance that led to the sewers and that was where her father was headed; probably how he had been sneaking in and out of the manor for months.

The way was clear. Her father motioned for her mother and sister to get out first. But before he could get Nyn through, more Templars showed up behind them. Go honey, I'll distract them. He quickly kissed her goodbye on the head. Take care of your mother and sister.

Nyn knew what she had to do.

She jerked out of his arms and ran back, throwing the fire that burned in front of her. But this time there were too many, they were ready for her, and they easily overpowered the smaller girl, though she fought to get away.

They dragged her out of the basements and she saw the Lord's young ward, the pretty blonde boy that she had dreamed of so often, and there was fear in his wide blue eyes; he was afraid of her.

She stopped fighting. She was tired, she was hurting, and she was alone. And this time no one would be coming for her.

Nyn was nine when she came to the Tower.