peopleofthedas | The Wedding Chapter 2

Title: Why didn't you ask her?
Words: 1067
Characters: Anders, Neria, Jowan
Summary: Neria asks a tricky question.

NOTE: Maggie Amell belongs to the gorgeous Amhran_Comrac. But I love her, so I have to borrow her from time to time.

"So… why didn't you ask her?"

"What?" Jowan was reading a book in the library with her - companionable silence - the way it had been back in the Tower. He was at a particularly interesting bit about combining spirit and ice spells and hadn't really wanted to be interrupted.

"Why did you ask her to help you escape?"

Ah. This question was always going to come up. He was amazed it hadn't come up sooner, to be honest.

"You mean Maggie."

"Of course I mean Maggie."

Jowan closed his book. Perhaps… an appeal to vanity? He was going to have to tread carefully, here, he knew, especially given Neria's recent activities involving a certain blond mage and a giant spider. "Do you seriously think she could have helped me better than you?"

She saw straight through that one, of course. One delicate eyebrow arched up and he grinned, sheepishly.

"Ok, seriously then. She was never the most reliable person, you know that. The amount of trouble that woman could cause with nothing more than a health poultice and a spare set of robes…"

"She would have helped you though."

"Of course she would have. If I could have found her. If she wasn't…" careful, Jowan, "…busy at the time. If I didn't think she'd take one look at Lily and call her a fat cow…" Neria looked speculative and Jowan raised a finger. "She wasn't - don't look at me like that."

"You always had dreadful taste," Neria smiled. She'd investigated for him, he knew, once she became a Warden. Tried to find out what had happened to her. But the rumours all pointed to The Aeonar, and not even the Wardens knew where the mage prison was. It was much better to think of her as dead.

It still hurt, though, remembering her face when she'd seen him use blood magic. For six years that pain had been locked away from him. It hadn't gotten better.

"So yes," he said, pushing his thoughts to the side. "I would have asked Maggie, save that she was heavily involved at the time and…"

"Involved?"

"You know… Maggie? Involved?"

"Oh," Neria's eyes narrowed and he held his breath, wondering if he'd given away too much. The timeline was wrong, for Neria to know about who Maggie was involved with - it was one of those times they were being discreet about it…

"So, yes, I could have asked Maggie, but if you were given a choice between her and… well… you… "

"Naturally I would choose me," she said, laughing a little. "But magically she and I are a pretty even match."

"She would have icestormed everything," Jowan said, laughing with her. "Not nearly as discreet as a few well timed sleep spells. The Templars would have caught us before we even got to the storeroom."

He found Anders down in the mage training arena, with Helena, the shapeshifting expert. As a switch, it was Anders who was getting drilled about his lack of talent.

"Look, do you think I like having to be naked to do this?" he was saying.

Helena grimaced. "Yes, actually, I think that's exactly the problem…"

Anders looked up and grinned as Jowan approached. "Here to save me from embarrassment?" he said.

"You actually know what that word means?"

"Helena could you give us a moment?" he looked at the tattooed woman, who flung her hands in the air and rolled her eyes.

"Please, take him away."

Anders grinned at her and Jowan pulled him to the side of the arena. "What was that all about?" Jowan asked him.

Anders plucked at his robes. "I can't transform cloth," he said. "Means I have to be naked when I shapeshift. Helena…" he looked over to where the woman was talking to another of the Warden mages. "She thinks I'm doing it deliberately."

"Are you?"

"Of course not! I'm a nearly married man, I'll have you know."

"Yes. Well. That's what I wanted to talk to you about actually."

"Oh?"

"Neria was asking me… ah… why I didn't ask Maggie to help me when I was trying to get out of the Tower."

Anders raised an eyebrow. "So?"

Jowan sighed. "You know, sometimes I wonder how you and Maggie manage to interact with other human beings."

"Maggie? Oh.. Oh."

"Just, don't let it slip to her what you were up to, all right?"

"Are you kidding? I like all my bits where they are thank you very much. One afternoon in the cage with Bessie was more than enough."

"She never used to be this crazy," Jowan mused.

"Neria? She's always seemed on the sane side to me."

"She used to be… a lot more sane. You remember her from the Tower, right?"

"Sure. Nose buried in a book most of the time. Always had her hand up in class. Cute, but deathly dull."

"That's your future wife you're talking about."

"No, that was someone who would eventually become my future wife. Granted, she wasn't the type I was interested in back then, but I was different too. My actual future wife.." Anders frowned for a moment, " Neria now, is a lot more interesting than the girl I remember from the Tower." Anders leaned against the wall and sighed. "Stuff happens. People change. After you left - well, I didn't see what she went through - I was clapped in solitary after all. But I can't imagine it was good. And then when you came back to the Tower after the rebellion…"

Jowan shuddered, remembering her face. She'd managed, somehow, to get to see him as they were taking him to the ritual. He hadn't been able to talk to her, just seen her standing there…

… It was one of his final memories, before they'd laid the brand into his skin.

"Maker, I was such a fool," Jowan said.

Anders put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, don't blame yourself. She doesn't blame you."

"She should. And you said it yourself - she's changed. If it wasn't for me…"

"She'd still be stuck at the Tower, reading. And I wouldn't be getting married. And you… "

"Good point," Jowan forced a smile. "Any way. No mentioning that you were in a cupboard with Maggie Amell on the day I decided to ruin my life, ok?"

Anders held out his hand and Jowan clasped it warmly. "You have my word," Anders said, smirking.