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peopleofthedas2011-01-15 01:17 pm
Prompt Fill - Under Orders
Title: Under Orders
Words: 1060
Rating: Um.. there's a naughty word in there.
Characters: Anders, Jowan, Neria, Sigrun
Summary:
For the BSN Anders forum - prompt was Blood Magic. Set in the Fractures universe - about a year after the end of Fractures.
Sigrun didn't usually call them into her office. She was a sneaky one, tending to turn up at the door of their bedroom, or come into Neria's office without announcing. Anders suspected it was her dust town instincts and not something she did for kicks - she was always incredibly embarrassed if she interrupted anything... vigorous.
After a while she'd stopped picking the lock on the door. Anders had promised her they would only lock it if they were doing something she didn't want to share.
This time, he and Neria were working with the most recent warden mages in the new training arena that they'd finished setting up a few weeks after Jowan had joined them. That she wanted to see them in her office was worrying enough. That she sent a servant to fetch them was even more so.
"Do you think she's going to make us call off the wedding?" Neria said, looking worried.
Anders felt a little thread of fear in his belly at the thought. Warden policy clearly stated his and Neria's plans were... unconventional at best and against the rules at worst, but Sigrun had as good as told him she didn't care. "I doubt it," he said.
"Then what could it be?"
"Why don't we get there and find out?"
When they got to her office she found Jowan already there. Both of them were wearing uncharacteristically sombre expressions an Sigrun was holding a letter in her hand.
The thread of fear got bigger. Jowan looked up at gave them a sad smile - all of his smiles were a bit that way, not that Anders could blame him.
"What is it?" Anders asked.
Sigrun threw the letter on her desk, disgust marring her features. "Read it," she said. "Weisshaupt's decided to interfere with us again."
Anders looked at Neria, who picked up the letter and read it, her eyes widening as they slid down the page. "Can they do that?" she said finally.
Sigrun shrugged. "Any means necessary," she said shortly. "I suppose they think it's necessary."
"What is it?" Anders asked. Surprisingly, Jowan answered.
"Weisshaupt heard that you reversed my.. er.. tranquility," he said. "They're pushing the Commander to conscript as many more tranquils as we can without sending the Chantry into more conniptions than the whole Orlais thing did. And send them the methods you used, of course."
"That's not the worst bit, though," Sigrun said. "The pertinent part of the letter says that now that the Ferelden wardens have their very own blood mage the rest of you better get cracking and learn to be malificarum yourselves."
Anders' jaw dropped. "Weisshaupt is ordering us to..."
"Learn blood magic," Sigrun finished for him. "Yes."
Jowan spread his hands. "I'm so sorry.." he began.
"Shut up, Jowan," Neria said forcefully. The dark haired man clamped his lips closed so quickly that Anders almost laughed. "This isn't your fault. For all you know they were going to send us their own malificar to make us learn it eventually any way."
"But..."
"I said shut up." The tiny elf he loved with all his heart started to pace the room, her hands firmly clasped behind her back and her body thrumming with fury. "Even if Anders and I agreed to do this, there's no way some of the other recruits would. And are they aware that the only reason Anders and I are even here is because the Chantry proved we weren't blood mages?"
Sigrun shrugged. "You read the letter. It's the same as all the other letters I've gotten from the First Warden. Not even a hello, just 'do this right now'. Even when I went to Weisshaupt they didn't bother to say more than that."
"Are they going to send someone down to check up on us? And what will they do if we don't follow their instructions..."
"You could tell them I died," Jowan said suddenly. Anders looked at him. "Hell, if I hadn't survived the joining they wouldn't be able to ask me to do this..."
"Doesn't solve the problem of them sending us a malificar of their own," Anders pointed out. "Which I'm sure they would have, eventually. Perhaps they didn't think it was worth the bother when there was just me and Sevarin, but now we've got what? Fifteen mages? With the apostates Helena found while we were away and Branwen's last Tower run..."
Neria took his hand in hers, he was babbling, he knew it, but the thought of having to become something he'd been careful to avoid all his life was making his hands shake.
Jowan sat heavily in one of the many armchairs that dotted Sigrun's office, burying his head in his hands. "This always happens," he muttered.
"How many times do I have to tell you to shut up?" Neria said sharply.
He managed a weak laugh. "I think you'll be telling me to do that for the rest of my life," he said.
Sigrun was watching them all, a fierce expression on her face totally at odds with her usual cheerful demeanor.
"I'm not going to order you to do this," Sigrun said. "If Armand or Branwen or any of the other mages want to learn, will you teach them, Jowan?"
He spread his hands. "Seems stupid not to," he said.
"Fine. That'll have to do." She took the letter back from Neria and threw it on the desk. "I'll write to Weisshaupt and tell them you're all attending malificar classes like good little heathens and they can go fuck themselves."
It was the second time in as many minutes that Anders' jaw dropped. Sigrun gave him a sunny grin. "What if they..." he started.
"If they find out, I'll take the blame. 'S my fault. You guys are my wardens, not theirs. They're hardly going to line you up and ask you to cut yourselves. Not on my watch, anyway."
He blinked. "If you're.."
She fixed him with a glare. "Decision. I just made one. Now go away."
They did.
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