Amy Dallon, Herald of Andraste

[DigitalKitsune]

you know amy might actually be able to kill the blight if she ever gets her hands on a dark spawn?
hell she might be able to fix blighted areas too?
but would she even do it is a good question?

Click to shrink...

IMO at best the blight is too metaphysical and too spicy for Shaper to do anything with it aside from healing recently infected. At worst, Shaper gets corrupted like dragon gods. (Evacuate the local multiversal cluster)

 

[Kylia Quilor]

Author's Note: Now that Amy isn't in the same sort of crisis situation she was in the last few chapters, we'll get to see our favorite failgirl fall apart. As I did warn, this story is going to linger on Amy's issues at times, and that means, especially when it does linger, that the pacing may be a bit slow. Amy's got a lifetime of mess to work through, and it's not gonna be fast.

---

Amy didn't dream often.

First of all, to dream, you needed to sleep, and Amy didn't do enough of that. Secondly, when she did get to sleep, it was usually that she was finally so exhausted that she managed to sleep without dreaming, or at least without remembering anything.

When she did dream, she didn't usually have the nice dreams - the dreams where she got away from the Bay and from healing and just... got to live somewhere quiet. Where she could try to read books again and find someone who wasn't her sister to love and maybe have a pet cat and - and -

Just... be free. Not have everything crushing down on her.

No. Her dreams were usually nightmares. Usually about her family finding out about what she could do, about losing control of herself, her power, about hurting someone. Hurting Vicky. About Vicky finding out how she felt and - and - not just rejecting her (inevitable) but leaving her, abandoning her. Being all alone.

She sometimes had dreams about Carol, and her axe and standing over her - Carol had never threatened her, but she remembered being afraid of her, when she'd first come to life with the Dallons. She'd been afraid of a lot of things then, though...

But as she startled awake, a dream still lingering in her memory, Amy could confidently say she'd never had a dream or a nightmare like the one she'd just been having - some land of medieval bullshit and magic and a giant rift in the sky and demons and -

Amy's thoughts ran to a screeching halt as she realized several things, all at once.

This was not her bed. It was warm, warmer than she usually kept her bed outside of the deepest, coldest nights of winter - it felt like she had like two comforters piled on top of her. The blankets and the sheets were scratchy, rough - not a lot, but nothing like the sheets on her own bed. It also wasn't as soft, and the pillow wasn't squishing under her head right and -

And it was colder, on her face, and her neck, exposed above the blankets. Not freezing, but distinctly chill.

Her hand hurt. Her left hand. A dull, ache she wished she could say was unfamiliar, but it was actually terrifyingly familiar.

It was less, less intense, less... distracting, than the stabbing ache that had been her constant companion in that trek through a frozen valley to the ruins of a temple and closing a rift into another dimension and facing demons and -

But it was there. It was the same thing.

No.

Amy's eyes snapped open. Her head hurt. She needed coffee. And she needed to look around and see her own bedroom. Or like, a bed in a hospital. On Earth-Bet.

But she wasn't.

The ceiling above her was wood, and rustic. The whole room around her was rustic, lit by a brazier - that was the right word, right? - and with sunlight streaming in through an open window. The inside looked like the inside of a log cabin, or - there were furs mounted on the walls, the top cover on the bed looked like it was made from some kind of animal fur, and -

Amy's breath caught.

It was all real.

It wasn't a dream.

She was -

She wasn't home. She wasn't on Earth-Bet. She -

She wasn't -

Vicky. Amy screwed her eyes shut, trying to breath, trying to -

Rapid, shallow inhalations, exhalations, her heart in her chest, blood pounding in her ears.

It was all real. She was on another Earth, and she didn't have the slightest idea how to get home or when and her family probably thought she was dead and - and -

This stupid mark on my hand is still here! It wasn't glowing, much, but it was still there, all green lines all over her left hand... she blinked, tears rapidly gathering, feeling light-headed - she couldn't - she needed to -

She needed to breathe. She needed to -

Amy bit the inside of her cheek, trying to bring herself to focus, to -

I will get home. I'll see Victoria again. She'd closed the Breach. And - and that had to prove she was innocent so she wasn't going to die here right? No execution. And - then someone would help her figure out how to get home. Magic was real, so that meant someone would know dimension crossing magic? She'd ended up here, somehow.

So obviously she could go back. She had to be able to.

She had to.

She had to.

She repeated that over and over and over in her mind. She would get home. Somehow. She'd see her sister again.

Amy's nearly hiccuped as she tried to draw in a deep breath, and she tried to center herself, looking around. The bed was... the blanket under the fur-one had a weird, kinda geometric design, gold on black? Leaves? Sorta? There was a table, sort of desklike, by the window. A cup was on it.

Amy swallowed, licking her lips - she was thirsty. When was the last time she'd had anything to drink? How long had she been asleep?

Focus on that. Focus - focus. She was - she was going to see her sister again, but she just had to - she just had to keep her mind on what was in front of her.

Next to the cup on the table were her robes, folded, and - and the rest of her clothes.

They undressed me!? Amy felt her cheeks get hot.

It happened, of course, treating patients and god knows she might have been dying of hypothermia by the end for all she knew - it had been fucking cold out there, even in the temple that was still smouldering and there was that fight against that purple lightning-spewing thing and then the rift and -

Amy looked down at herself again. She was wearing some sort of... dress? Long, and kinda thin? Like a hospital gown? Or more like a nightgown, maybe. It was a plain, brown, worn fabric. Scratchy, but not... not horribly so.

Okay. Get dressed. And - and I hope that's water in the cup and I - I need to make sure they're not drugging the water somehow but -

If they wanted to drug her they had the chance. She wasn't chained up or tied up or anything this time, when she woke up...

Get dressed. Drink water. Make sure it's clean with my power first. She couldn't just stick a finger into water and kill all the shit in it, but she could at least make sure it wasn't filled with like, shit and god knows whatever else could end up in the water in the middle ages.

Didn't they all drink ale because the water was bad? Or was that just movies and the YA fantasy novels she read, back - back when she'd had...

Back when she'd still been able to enjoy books.

Amy shook her head. No. She needed to - she closed her eyes, tried to take a proper deep breath. She mostly managed to succeed this time but -

Focus. Focus. Focus.

Her sister would be focusing. Dealing with what was in front of her. Victoria could handle this.

I just... I just have to ask what Vicky would do...

And then maybe be a little less reckless and a lot less of a fucking nerd than her sister. She loved Vicky more than her own life, but she could get so into powers and how they worked and - Amy just didn't get it. It didn't matter, where they came from and the theories and -

They were here. She had one. And it was ruining her life. And saving so many others...

Except now, she couldn't save anyone in Brockton Bay. How many people were going to die there, because - because she wasn't there? And if her sister got hurt and she wasn't -

Vicky hasn't gotten seriously hurt since that day at the mall. Amy swallowed, latching onto that thought. Her sister could be reckless, but she'd learned her lesson about the limits of her forcefield. Victoria would be fine.

She'd be fine.

Amy was going to find a way home and she was going to see her again and until then -

Until then she was just going to have to -

She was going to have to focus on what was right in front of her.

Swallowing again, Amy licked chapped, dried lips and rubbed at her head. She needed coffee. Was that even a thing in this medieval shithole? Did they have coffee in the middle ages?

I suppose I could do with Tea, if that's all they have but please fucking let there be coffee... She felt less like a zombie than she usually did after waking up, but she'd probably gotten more than five hours of sleep, so...

Get dressed. Drink water. See if I can even leave this little... shack? House? One room hut? Cabin? What even is it? Where am I? What even happened? She'd closed the Breach, so...

Amy was jolted out of her thoughts by the sound of the door opening. Her head snapped back towards it - a woman, pointed ears - elf - carrying some kind of crate -

The woman let out a small startled shout and dropped the crate - the sound of something glass or clay jostling and maybe breaking rang out and the elf stepped back, eyes wide.

"I didn't know you were awake, I swear!" She said quickly, sounding - awed? Terrified? Amy couldn't tell.

Amy stared at her a moment, mouth moving wordlessly, and -

"Where - why - what-" Amy closed her mouth, flushing, floundering.

"That's wrong, isn't it? I said the wrong thing?"

"No? I don't - what the fuck?" Amy cut off whatever she'd been saying as the elf dropped the ground, fucking prostrating herself, forehead pressed to the ground, arms stretched out before her.

What the fuck?

"I beg your forgiveness and your blessing. I am but a humble servant."

Oh no. Amy stared at the woman. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuckity fuckfuckfuck -

Cape cultists had been a thing, when Capes first happened. Even a few still were around now, but the fact that capes could die, sometimes insanely easily, and that the PRT didn't really like people openly worshipping Protectorate heroes.

I can heal shit, and I - fuck, it's not even the healing isn't it? There was a giant massive hole in the sky and demons - whatever the hell they actually were - had fallen through it and - and Amy had closed it.

If people could worship capes back home, then why wouldn't a bunch of medieval people think she was - a god? An angel? A saint?

"Stop! Get up! I'm not - I don't have any fucking blessings to give!" Amy said quickly, feeling herself breathing heavily again. She closed her eyes. Everyone's going to look at me. It's going to be right after my debut all over again. So many people stopping her in the streets, at school -

"I - I'm sorry for - I did not mean to presume-" the elf stammered out, lifting herself up a bit, sort of on all fours, still looking studiously at the ground. "They say you saved us. The Breach stopped growing."

Just stopped growing? Not closed? Okay, so not growing was good, no 'swallow the whole world' and all, but - that wasn't solving the problem.

And since Amy was the one with the fancy glowing mark on her hand, then -

I'm going to have to - If they still needed her to close it... Amy couldn't just - she had to stay at least long enough to do that? If this stupid mark was the only way...

She couldn't leave all the people who might get hurt by demons (fuck it still felt weird to say that. There had to be - demons couldn't be real and yet they were or at least they were something and she didn't think they were tinkertech or projections anymore but what the fuck were they?!) if the Breach wasn't closed and -

"It's all anyone has talked about for the last three days." the elven woman added added, finally looking up at her.

"Three DAYS?!" Amy didn't mean to screech that last word out so high - didn't even realize she had until she saw the woman flinch a little as she slowly stood up. "I was out for three days?!" She didn't feel like - she didn't feel like she was starving, so they must have... they didn't have IVs here but -

Broth maybe? Lots of broth and water down my throat while I slept?

But she was out for three days? And - and then there's -

Amy swallowed.

"Yes, your worship," the woman answered. "I - they - Lady Cassandra - she wanted to know as soon as you woke up." She started backing away, towards the door. "At once, she said. At once!"

Before Amy could even begin to process being called 'your worship', the woman was out of the door and closing it behind her, scampering off like she was terriifed of Amy. Amy wrapped her arms around her stomach, gut churning, throat tight.

All that shit and the Breach still isn't even closed. Fuck. And now - now she -

There were going to be so many eyes on her. And -

"I...I guess they're not going to put me on trial, at least?" Amy said, desperately grabbing onto something that might be a bright side. But was it actually the bright side? She bit her lip, then looked down at her hand, tracing the marks.

She wanted - she wanted to be back in the Bay. Back home. She wanted her own bed and her own room and her sister and she'd even take a lecture from Carol or one of her textbook disapproving glares or -

Amy felt tears in her eyes and she didn't hold them back, bursting into sobs, feeling wetness trailing down her cheeks. She wasn't even sure exactly why she was crying. Not which thing, not which problem pushed her over the edge.

There was a whole raft of reasons to cry. She was trapped on another Earth, and she didn't have the slightest idea how to get home, or if she ever would. If she'd ever see her sister again. If she'd see Carol, or Mark, or her cousins, her Aunt, her Uncle. She had this stupid mark on her hand and the Breach was still there and what else would she have to deal with to see that fixed? She was apparently the object of worship and - and -

And then there was the fact that the Earth she was on was some medieval shithole where magic was a thing and biology didn't even begin to make sense and - and - demons and -

She was never going to see her sister again, was she?

So far, no parahumans. No tinkers. Tinkertech is how people found about and - and contacted Earth-Aleph, right? So - so how -

How could she get home? Could magic send her home? Magic wasn't a thing on Earth-Bet, so -

"Vicky..." Amy whispered, grabbing the pillow behind her and hugging it tight against her, feeling herself rock back and forth on the bed, sniffling, nose starting to stuff up - she kept bawling, unable to stop herself, and not wanting to.

What was there left? No Victoria, no... no Carol, no - no Mark, nothing. She had nothing. Just herself. And and that - and that wasn't anything.

Eventually the tears started to slow, and then stop, but more because she had no tears left to cry, than managing to make herself stop. The pillow was soaked, the nightgown was pretty wet too, at least near the top... she swallowed, lips and mouth and throat even drier, making the whole motion almost painful.

Sniffling, Amy slowly put the pillow down, taking in a slow, shuddering breath.

Victoria wouldn't cry like that. Her sister would miss her, and miss Carol and Mark too, more than she did, but Vicky wouldn't become a sobbing mess. She'd -

She'd focus on the problem in front of her. And try to figure it out. This wasn't powers - though her sister wouldn't have had any way to know that and - and would probably still think that Solas was a Parahuman and that the demons were projections...

Like the fucking nerd Vicky was, she'd try to figure it all out. How it worked and what it all meant and how to fit it into all those Parahuman Studies books she'd read and -

Amy wasn't her sister. But her sister was the best hero - best person - Amy knew. Amy could never even hope to be even close to as amazing as Vicky, but...

Right now, Vicky would focus on the fact that the - the Breach is still a thing, apparently. And she'd handle the worship better. Vicky loved her fan clubs, her meet and greets. The publicity events. She thrived on attention and notice and -

Vicky wasn't vain, whatever idiots on PHO that Amy maybe got into fights with online using an alt account thought. She wasn't self-centered or an egomaniac, but - she enjoyed the spotlight. She wouldn't like being treated - treated like some sort of saint or... having people bow down to her...

Okay, she might like it for a little bit, but it would get old, quickly...

Amy tried to take another breath, then sniffled, swallowed dryly and looked to the cup on the desk. She got out of the bed, bare feet on a cold wooden floor and walked over to the table by the window, picking up the clay cup and looking inside. It looked like water. Smelled like it - or rather, didn't smell.

Power, time for you to do the only thing I actually almost like about you and make sure I don't get diarrhea or whatever from anything in this water.

At the first touch of the cold, refreshing liquid against her lips, Amy started greedily glugging it down, finishing off the whole thing almost faster than she could really realize she was doing it. She smacked her lips, tongue darting out to catch a few drops off her upper lip.

Amy stood there, swallowing again, taking another few breaths.

Okay. Breach. A thing. And - and - maybe most people aren't all... beg for blessings? Maybe? It was a plaintive, wishful thought, but she latched onto that.

Her sister would keep trying to get home, there was no doubt about that. But she wouldn't abandon all the people that needed help here, not if she was the only person who could help. And - and -

Amy couldn't either. Not just because it wasn't what Vicky would do but -

If she tried it, Amy knew the guilt would eat her alive. It would be worse than when she laid in bed, unable to sleep, all the people at hospitals suffering, hurting, dying because she wasn't there...

All the people in Brockton Bay she couldn't heal, because she was here -

I'm not there. I couldn't heal anyone in the Bay right now no matter what. It's like getting upset about people in hospitals in L.A.

Amy barked a hollow laugh. As if she didn't get worked up over that sometimes, when she had too much time to her thoughts, on a bad day. All the people she'd never be able to help, all the people dying all over the world she couldn't save, because she had to sleep and continue just figure out ways to heal faster and - and

Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Amy bit her lower lip again, trying - and failing - to banish those thoughts. She didn't manage that, but she at least was able to return her main focus to the reality in front of her.

Amy looked at her clothes, folded up neatly on the table. They'd been cleaned - no blood on her robes, and her robes and her shirt had had the rips from that shade's claws sewn closed - it was a little obvious, but they'd made the effort, at least.

Robes in hand, Amy shivered. Out of the bed, the air was mostly brisk, rather than freezing, but all she was wearing was this scratchy nightgown...

Panacea didn't mean anything here. Her robes didn't mean anything. And they weren't exactly thick, but - it was something.

The window had wooden shutters that came inward, and she pushed them closed. She rubbed at her forehead.

Coffee. She was never going to have coffee again, was she?

She started to tug the nightgown off, but before she could do more than lift it as far her chin, the door opened and Amy let out an involuntary 'eek', jumping backwards, hands falling to her sides and the dress settling back down on her shoulders.

Katerina was standing in the doorway, ducking just a touch to get through the door. Her red hair was tied back into a loose ponytail, her sword slung over her back and wearing her armor.

"Amy, Lady Pentaghast and the others need to speak with you -" Katerina cut herself off, closing the door behind her. "Are you alright? You've been crying?" Katerina asked quickly, concern in voice, her posture, she came a little closer to her, reaching a hand out, and Amy pulled back. Her expression - genuine, concerned, worried - it reminded her of fucking Dean and all his well-meaning 'I just want to help you, talk to me' bullshit, the few times he'd tried to get her to open up.

Prying into her emotions with his stupid fucking powers and -

"I don't want to talk about it," Amy snapped. "Get out so I can change!" She pulled her hands down her face, trying to wipe away any remaining errant tears, trying to make it less obvious she'd been crying. Pointless, probably, but she didn't need anyone pestering her about it. Asking for details and -

Amy took a breath. "Go!" She gestured at Katerina.

Katerina hesitated a moment, opened her mouth, and then nodded slowly. "Fine. I'll be right outside. Don't dally, Lady Pentaghast is not the most patient of women."
"Really. I couldn't have guessed." Amy snarked. She rubbed at her head. Was there anything that had caffeine? At this point she'd take fucking tea.

Katerina chuckled, "Fair enough." She stepped back outside, waiting and Amy pulled off the nightgown, tossing it on the bed and putting on her clothes. Underneath her clothes were a few things - her official New Wave phone, which was borderline useless here, since she couldn't call anyone. It had a really good battery, and was pretty fancy in general, not quite tinkertech but inspired by and derived by a lot of tinkertech. The battery could even be recharged in the sun, slowly, though it wasn't good for the battery's long-term life, apparently.

She picked it up, pressing a button, but the phone was dead. Good battery or not, it had been on for god knew how long. She knew what she'd have seen if it was still working - her lock screen: Vicky hugging her with one arm, both of them looking at the Camera, her sister's other arm out of the screen - holding her phone to take the picture. Amy was smiling, Victoria was smiling...

It had been one of Amy's rare good days, a day she'd been able to mostly forget to feel guilty, hadn't ruined everything with her disgusting feelings, had just... been able to enjoy spending the day with her favorite person.

Amy blinked back tears, eyelids fluttering quickly and looked away from the phone. She... she'd worry about deciding if it was worth charging the battery or -

She stuffed the phone in her pocket. Apart from that - her wallet, with her ID (actual and student) and some dollar bills, a few coins and a picture of Victoria taking off. A wrapper for some kind of tasteless energy bar she'd eaten hours before the bomb that had taken her here. She remembered stuffing it into her mouth and then shoving the wrapper into her pocket and getting back to work...

She'd only eaten it because one of the nurses had pestered her to eat something, and it was easier to do that than block her out.

I guess they didn't know what it was and didn't throw it away?

Amy didn't bother taking the wallet or the wrapper, and then she looked at her robes. They were warmer than nothing, and they had a hood. If people were going to stare at her or... or worse, then being able to hide her face was at least better than nothing.

At least nobody will be calling me Panacea here. No pretending that there was actually some sort of separation between her and her cape identity. Even years on, she still didn't get why everyone else in New Wave insisted on using cape names when in costume.

Amy approached the door.

She wanted to go back to the bed, get under the covers and just... pretend. Pretend this wasn't happening. Pretend she was going to go to sleep and wake up back home and this was all going to be a dream.

It wasn't.

And -

Amy looked at her left hand, at the faintly glowing lines of the mark. It still ached, but barely. A very dull, distant sort of ache, easy to forget, especially with how much her head hurt.

Coffee.

She took a breath, pulled her hood over her face as much as she could and grabbed the door handle, opening it.

Brisk air rushed in, hitting her face full blast. Katerina was standing in front, and past her, two more soldiers, standing at attention... with fists clasped to their chests. The local version of a salute.

Amy looked away from them, ignoring Katerina say they needed to move, and turned her eyes upward. The Breach was still there, up in the sky, but it looked... calmer, less angry. It wasn't expanding, and her mark wasn't doing the thing it had before, where it randomly started spiking in pain as the Breach expanded so...

At least I accomplished something. What had she done wrong? Had she not held her hand right for long enough? Or - or had the rift not been good enough?

Maybe we do need to fly up there?

Amy heard murmurings and voices ahead, and she looked back down, past Katerina and the guards and her heart plummeted in her chest at the assembled mass of people - some wearing red and white robes kind of like the ones Chancellor Roderick had, more soldiers, and just... people. Civilians? The people who lived here in Haven? She was back in Haven, right? Seemed like it...

They were all looking at her, and all the soldiers had fists pressed against their chests and -

Amy closed her eyes. She took another deep breath.

Katerina's hand touched her shoulder.

"Amy?"

Amy let out a small 'ah' and jumped a little, opening her eyes and looking up at Katerina - literally, as she was reminded how much taller than her the other woman was.

"I don't suppose there's any chance you can make them all go away?"

Katerina blinked for a moment, then looked back over her shoulder and then back to Amy. "No? I - they all want to see you. Nothing wrong with people getting a chance to thank their savior."

"I didn't save anyone. That thing," she gestured at the hole in the sky, "is still there."

"It's not expanding anymore. It's not raining balls of fire. No new rifts are opening around the village. It's better than things were before you started sealing rifts," Katerina pointed out. "I can't just make everyone go away."

"Fine. Just - keep them away from me." Amy muttered. "Make sure they don't - thank me or - ask for my blessing or whatever."

"...ask for your blessing?" Katerina furrowed her brow. "Are you giving those out now?"

"No!" Amy half-shouted, flushing when she realized everyone would have heard that. She lowered her voice, "I don't have any fucking blessings to give! That - the - woman who told Cassandra that I was awake fucking prostrated herself and asked for my blessing and - I don't - I don't have one. Why would she even do that?"

"Well, you can heal people with a touch - without using magic -, you did save us from the Breach getting worse, and... everyone's calling you the Herald of Andraste." Katerina ticked them off on her fingers.

That name. It rang a bell, but it took Amy a moment to remember. The Temple of Sacred Ashes. Katerina had muttered something about it being the resting place of 'Andraste'. Sacred Ashes, temple, resting place. Obviously some kind of like... holy person.

"Who the fuck is Andraste?" Then Amy shook her head. "Nevermind, I don't fucking care. I'm not a Herald of anyone or anything. I'm not holy, I'm not - I don't have any blessings and my power isn't one either." Amy pulled her robes tighter around herself. "Let's... let's just get this over with. You said Cassandra isn't very patient."

"True." Katerina started off, and Amy followed her, staying as close as she could, having to pick up her pace to match Katerina's stride, but it wasn't like the other woman was trying to move quickly, so it wasn't hard. She heard the murmurs more clearly, as they passed, people on both sides of them.

"That's her... that's the Herald of Andraste."

"They say she's a mage."

"I heard she doesn't use magic. But she still healed Jacen." Another said. "He was dying and then she touched him and he wasn't. She's blessed by the Maker."

"Impossible. She's just a mage. Look, she's got robes!"

Amy tried to ignore them, but it was hard.

"They say when she came out of the Fade, Andraste herself was watching over her."

Right yeah, a dead woman was personally watching over me.

A part of Amy pointed out that this was a world where magic and elves and demons and fuck if she knew what else was real, but Amy was going to draw the line at ghosts, damnit! There had to be some fucking sanity in the world!

Amy didn't say anything. Back when she'd started healing, when her power was new and there was still an almost enjoyable novelty to it all, she'd argued with people who had said her powers were a gift from God, or thanked God for sending her to them or... whatever else.

It hadn't gone anywhere, and eventually Amy had given up on it. Here, where she didn't even have a passive, loose understanding of the religion?

"Hush, we shouldn't disturb her," another said, and Amy shrunk in on herself more. Even with her robes and her hood, random people could tell how fucking pathetic she was.

"You said it was Cassandra and the others. Who exactly are the others?" Amy asked, trying to avoid thinking about the people staring, as they started to finally get close to the end of the knot of people assembled on the path. Up ahead she could see the big stone building that she'd woken up in originally, her prison in the basement...

"Leliana, I assume?" She asked. The older redheaded woman had seemed to be as in charge of things as Cassandra. She'd said something about being the 'left hand' of Divine Justinia. So... important person.

"Lady Pentaghast and Sister Leliana, yes," Katerina answered, looking back over her shoulder a moment as she talked. "Commander Cullen and Lady Montilyet are there as well."

"...I have no idea who those people are." Amy pointed out once Katerina didn't follow through on explaining anything. "Not from Thedas, remember?" She was going to have to repeat herself on that front a lot, wasn't she. That and 'my power isn't magic'. Though Cassandra and Solas had both confirmed it, so obviously mages and the people who had policed them had some way of... detecting magic?

Fuck, I feel like an idiot even entertaining all this. But it was the reality she was dealing with. Maybe there was a scientific answer, maybe there wasn't - either way, Amy didn't care. It was magic, for all intents, apparently. Not powers, not tinkertech. Magic.

"Commander Cullen is in charge of all the soldiers here," Katerina explained.

"So... your boss?"

"My commanding office, yes, more or less." Katerina agreed. "Lady Montilyet is some sort of noblewoman from Antiva. A diplomat, I think." The swordsman shrugged, "probably was supposed to help with the negotiations before the explosion..." Katerina trailed off, and went silent for a long moment as they kept going. They passed another smaller group, and Amy caught part of their quiet discussion as these people too stared at her.

"...the Breach is still there though."

"...stopped it getting worse..."

"...smaller rifts still all over. Near the crossroads."

"...can close those too..."

Amy grit her teeth and let out a frustrated breath. More of those rifts. And she had to close those too, since who the fuck else could, huh?

"More rifts?"

"That's the rumor." Katerina confirmed. "Probably one of the things Lady Pentaghast wants to talk to you about."

"She didn't say?"

"No," Katerina shook her head. "She just told me to fetch you."

"Fun." She let out another long, exasperated breath as they finally reached the big stone structure. A church, maybe? Or whatever they called those here. Temple?

The heavy-looking wooden double doors were painted with a yellow sunburst pattern. There were a bunch more of those red and white robed people clustered around - priests and priestesses? - talking, but they got quieter as Amy and Katerina got closer. One of them started to approach.

"Lady Pentaghast needs to speak to her immediately," Katerina cut in before the man - an older man just starting to go gray - could do more than open his mouth. After a moment, he nodded and stepped back. Amy muttered a thanks to Katerina, and then watched Katerina push the double doors open, revealing the interior of the building.

"Just ahead, through that door there at the far end," Katerina gestured, past the pillars and the torches blazing in metal holders - Amy couldn't remember the right word for them.

"...At least I know they're not going to put me on trial if they think I'm some holy fucking savior." Amy murmured to herself.

"Hessarian burned Andraste to death before deciding maybe she had the right idea, so I wouldn't count on it," Katerina offered, and then turned, having the gall to fucking grin for just a moment after saying it. "But Roderick has been insisting you be dragged to Val Royeaux for trial for the last two days and no one's been listening to him so you're probably fine."

"...you suck at reassuring people."

"Somehow, I think false reassurance would annoy you more," Katerina countered. Then she took a breath, and her expression was more somber. "I don't know what's going to happen, but you were brave enough to stick with us through all those demons even though you're not a fighter."

It wasn't bravery. She just didn't have any other choice. She wouldn't have been able to live with herself if she hadn't kept going.

"So I should be brave enough to handle this?" Amy cocked an eyebrow, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

"Oh, Lady Pentaghast is more terrifying than any demon," Katerina chuckled. "But she is a fair woman, and a good one. She's famous. They even named her a Hero of Orlais for her actions protecting Divine Beatrix from blood magi. Killed a dragon and everything."

"Dragons?" Amy rolled her eyes. "Of course there are fucking dragons here too."

"You say you're not from Thedas, and you seem surprised that elves, dwarves and dragons exist, but you know what they are?"

"Because they're fantasy! Fairy tales! Things dreamed up by people's imaginations! And now here I am in a place where it's all real!" Amy bit her lower lip. "I used to read stories about magic and dragons and heroic adventures in places like this." Back before everything had become too much. She hadn't planned on giving up on books - for years, they'd been her primary retreat from the stresses of living with Carol and not really having friends and -

And then she'd gotten her powers and... she just sort of stopped. Stopped reading, stopped wanting to read, stopped being able to enjoy it...

"I never wanted to live through them." Amy said quieter, looking down at the floor. "I don't need this crap." She looked at her left hand again, glaring at the faintly glowing marks. "Why couldn't the stupid Breach have just been closed?"

"Not a clue. But with any luck, Lady Pentaghast or one of the others has a theory." Katerina offered. "Go on, you really shouldn't keep her waiting."

"What is she going to do, kill the healer? Kill the person that can close these rifts and the Breach?" Amy chuckled darkly, humorlessly.

"Worse. She'll yell at you." Katerina answered with a grin, before turning back and leaving the building, the heavy wooden doors swinging shut behind her.

Can't be worse than Carol giving me shit. Amy swallowed and took a breath, and then proceeded through the large, open empty space to the far end. As she got closer, she heard voices:

"Have you gone completely mad?!" That sounded like Chancellor Roderick. "She should be taken to Val Royeaux immediately, to be tried by whomever becomes Divine!"

Okay, so Val Royeaux is... Rome? If the 'Chantry' was basically the Catholic Church and the Divine was the Pope, then it sounded like Val Royeaux was the capital of it, center of its system. Katerina had said Roderick wanted her tried still, but -

"I do not believe she is guilty." Cassandra's voice countered, firm, unyielding.

"The prisoner failed, Seeker. The Breach remains. For all you know, she intended for this outcome!?"

"She is barely more than a child!" Okay, I'm 17, I'm not a fucking kid. Granted, Cassandra was probably around Carol's age, so that... that made sense for her to say that, but Amy was technically old enough to drive and - she wasn't just some snot-nosed little eight year old brat.

"She is a mage, and they are all dangerous regardless of age!"

"She is not a mage. Whatever her abilities are, they are not magic. They do not draw upon the Fade."

No, they're from... wherever the fuck powers come from. God, another place her sister would be able to explain things so much better. She could at least offer the theories about the origins of powers. Amy didn't even have that much - just a few half-remembered details from her power testing, and all the times Vicky talked about what she learned about powers - her sister's excited sharing of that stuff tended to blend and blur in her mind.

Amy stilled, listening to the conversation for a moment, standing in front of the door, reaching, but not quite touching the doorknob.

"You speak the impossible as if it is so simple, Lady Cassandra! How can you be so sure?"

"I am a Seeker. Just as Templars, we know when magic is used, and when it is not. She is not a mage, and she was not behind the destruction of the Chantry, or the opening of the Breach." It was nice to know that the woman didn't think she was guilty, but Amy could have used that belief earlier. And how much of it was because people apparently thought she was... holy or blessed by God - or the Maker, they called him here.

"That is not for you to decide. Your duty is to serve the Chantry." And no one is in charge right now.

"My duty is to serve the principles upon which the Chantry was founded, Chancellor. As is yours." Cassandra corrected him. That sounded like something her mother might say, about the PRT. Carol and Aunt Sarah didn't really... trust the PRT. too institutional, too concerned with its own thing, long-term structural stuff to really care about principles. Too willing to... just let things stick.

The fact that Empire 88 was still running around in the city after all they'd done was proof enough of that for Carol, for Aunt Sarah. For Amy too, really. She'd healed too many people attacked, beaten, broken by those fucking Nazis to not understand intimately how destructive they were for the Bay.

Amy took one last breath - Roderick didn't seem to be saying anything so she wasn't going to interrupt, and she couldn't just stand out here the whole time.

She pressed the latch of the door and pushed against it, opening it inwards, revealing a smallish room lit by candles and torches, filled bookshelves built into the walls, a table at the center of the room, with books and maps spread out on it.

There were seven people in the room, which was almost too many for the space - Roderik, standing at one end of the table. Two guards just inside the door, where she stood now, helmets covering their faces. Leliana and Cassandra, standing on the other side of the table from the entrance, Cassandra bent over, examining something on a map, Leliana's arms crossed in front of her.

The other two, Amy hadn't seen before. One was a tall, tired-looking man with short, curly blonde hair. He wore armor, heavier than Cassandra's, with... big furry bits on his shoulders. Maybe part or a cape? It looked ridiculous, but it was also probably pretty warm. Which right now, sounded really nice.

The inside of this building wasn't cold - all the candles and torches and insulation from the stone probably - but outside? And what would it be like at night?

Amy guessed that was Commander Cullen, which meant that the other one - a dark skinned, attractive woman, with dark hair and wearing a yellow silk shirt, with poofy-shoulders, right out of a period drama, and a purplish vesty-thing, a big gold necklace around her neck. She held an angled piece of wood with a candle on a flat bit at the top, unlit right now, paper on the wood... it made Amy think of a clipboard, which it... probably kind of was like, actually.

Josephine Montilyet then?

She barely had a chance to take everyone in - Cullen and Josephine were standing on the other end of the table from Roderick - before Roderick gestured at her aggressively.

"Chain her! I want her prepared for travel to the capital for trial!"

Amy froze. The guards were completely covered in armor, so she couldn't touch either of them even if she -

"Disregard that, and leave us," Cassandra ordered, and Amy looked back and forth at the guards - who didn't seem to hesitate to obey Cassandra's orders, clasping fists to chests and leaving the room, closing the door behind them, making it feel a little less crowded, at least.

"You are walking a dangerous line, Seeker." Roderick said, a warning note to his tone, hands balled into fists at his side.

"The Breach remains, but it is still a threat, and one I will not ignore. She is the only one who might be able to close it."

"She is quite possibly the one who opened it, or at least working with those who did! Rebel mages are not above throwing apprentices into the fire!" Roderick snarled.

"I'm not a fucking mage!" Amy raised her voice. "I didn't blow up the Conclave - I wouldn't even know how to, let alone do it, and I barely even know what the Fade is, let alone how to open some stupid... rift in space-time into it or whatever the fuck the Breach is. Is this stupid fucking thing," she lifted up her left hand and pointed to it with her right, to the glowing lines of her 'mark', "the only reason you think I'm guilty?"

"You appeared from nowhere in the aftermath of the explosion, the only one found alive at the ruins, and 'coincidentally' have the ability to close the rifts opened by the explosion!" Roderick threw his hands up. "You cannot expect us to consider that mere accident!?"

"I'm not a fucking lawyer, but where I come from, I'm pretty sure a coincidence isn't enough to convict someone!" Amy snapped. "I didn't ask to end up in this medieval shithole where magic and demons and apparently fucking dragons are a thing, and I didn't ask for this stupid goddamned thing on my hand that feels like I'm being stabbed right through it any time I get near one of those rifts. And I didn't ask for all those people out there," she gestured behind her, "to start calling me a fucking - Saint or whatever the fuck it is they think I am!"

Amy didn't normally do this, didn't yell, didn't... verbalize her anger, but after everything that had happened - threatening Skitter and Tattletale at the bank had been unusual for her, but they'd both made her so fucking angry, and this whole fucking situation was insane on a scale that made the bank look like nothing.

It was be angry, or go back to crying, and like it or not (for the record, not), apparently people's lives depended on her. She had to focus on that.

"We know she wasn't involved because we saw the echoes of what happened in the moments before the explosion. Most Holy called out to her," Cassandra said. "For help. And she was not alone. There was someone else there, with her."

"Someone she did not expect, at that, and whoever it was, even if they perished in the explosion, they might have had allies." Leliana added, stepping forward. "Allies that remain."

Roderick let his mouth fall open. "I am a suspect?"

Turnabout is fair play, Amy thought spitefully, then shrank in on herself at the pettiness of the thought.

"It would not be the first time that elements from within the Chantry conspired with enemies of it to strike at the Divine," Cassandra said deliberately, sounding like she was hinting at something.

"Among others," Leliana confirmed. "As Chancellor, your authority in the absence of the Divine is significant. And Divine Justinia had many enemies among the Grand Clerics... most of whom refused to attend the Conclave."

Politics. Fucking politics.

Was this all some sort of power play? She remembered something like this, in a book she'd read once - a princess framed for the murder of her father, the King, and having to unravel the conspiracy among a bunch of the nobles to put her uncle on the throne as a puppet. It hadn't been as good as the Roaraxia books, but it had been fun.

And now it was apparently her life. She didn't know anything about this, but she was going to have to learn at least a little, right? At least enough so I know what the fuck to expect.

"But not her?!" Roderick said, incredulous, gesturing at her. "Not this false prophet you've raised up-"

"I have a name, jackass!" Amy glared at him, though with her hood still up, he probably wasn't getting a good enough look at her face to tell. "And I'm not a fucking prophet!"

"You were exactly what we needed in our darkest hour," Cassandra said firmly. "Providence provided you to us-"

"A psychotic tinker with more bombs than brains is the reason I'm here, not God or the Maker or whatever the fuck you call him."

"Your own 'Herald' denies your claims. And you hope to stand against the Chantry with her as your symbol?" Roderick scoffed. Cassandra opened her mouth to retort, but then the dark-skinned woman, Josephine, stepped forward and took this chance to cut into the conversation:

"Chancellor Roderick," she said in a calm, level voice, clearly trying to ratchet down the tension in the room. "This isn't about standing against the Chantry. But without a Divine, there is no one to lead it, and it will take time for the Grand Clerics to elect another. Time we may not have with the Breach remaining."

"And what right do you have to decide that it is you who gets to act, Lady Montilyet? Without the Divine, there is no one with that authority! What you propose is madness, anarchy!"

As he'd been speaking, Cassandra had stepped away from the table, retrieving something from one of the bookshelves, and returned with it, a heavy book iron in the cover, metal hinges built into it, clasped shut with more metal, and a the same sunburst pattern that had been on the doors of this building on it.

Cassandra slammed the book on the table hard enough to make it shake, the thud ringing through the small room. Roderick looked down at it, and then stiffened.

"You know what this is, Chancellor," Cassandra pointed to the book. "A writ from the Divine, granting us the authority to act."

"You would risk-" Roderick started, but Cassandra cut him off.

"As if this moment, under the authority granted by the Divine to her Right and Left Hands by this writ, I declare the Inquisition reborn!" Cassandra stepped closer to Roderick, raising one hand up, not quite poking him in the chest as the man stepped back, away from her.

"We will close the Breach, we will find those responsible, and we will restore order," Cassandra continued, voice firm, unyielding, her expression grim, set. Cullen didn't seem to have much of a reaction, and Leliana's expression was entirely unreadable, but as Amy's eyes darted away from Cassandra for a moment, she saw that Josephine was stiff, a little uncomfortable, judging from the grimace that passed across her face for a moment.

"With or without your approval!"

Roderick stared at her a moment, as if expecting Cassandra to say more, or to reveal she'd just been joking, but then he stormed out, wordlessly, slamming the door behind him.

Okay, so... what just happened. The room remained quiet for a moment, and Amy tried to work through what she'd just heard. Her eyes flicked down to the book. Roderick had sounded like he did know what it was, but didn't think having the 'Inquisition' be reborn was a good idea, which...

I mean, the only Inquisition I know about is the Spanish one, and I'm pretty sure they were a lot worse than that British comedy routine had them be. She vaguely remembered something about persecutions and torture from history classes.

"Well. Now that we've alienated what's left of the Chantry leadership, I suppose we should get to work on that," Josephine said, her voice chipper in a way that was obviously forced.

"We are not declaring war on the Chantry," Leliana said, as if chiding Josephine.

"No, you're just declaring them irrelevant," Josephine pointed out, "Which likely offends the remaining Grand Clerics even more. Invoking Divine Justinia's writ to reestablish the Inquisition- the implications-"

"It is the only choice. Without a Divine, and with Orlais in the middle of a civil war, and no peace forged between the Templars and the rebel mages, there is no one else who can be expected to do what must be done." Cassandra said, placing her hands flat on the table as she leaned forward.

"With what forces, Cassandra?" Cullen asked, speaking up. "What forces we have are those willing to remain that also survived the fighting against the demons after the explosion of the Chantry. We barely survived that battle. And now you propose we start a war - once we know who it is we're fighting.

"We did survive it, because of her." Cassandra looked to Amy. "You were able to close the rifts."

"Yes, but I'm not the 'Herald of Andraste'! I barely know who that even is, and I don't have the faintest idea about any of this! I'm not - I'm some fucking chosen one!"

"Believe what you will. No one is outside the Maker's will," Cassandra said firmly, without even a hint of wavering. Great. A true believer. "You were exactly what we needed, when we needed it.

"So you're going from holding me prisoner, chains and all, declaring me guilty on the thinnest of pretextes - you were going to fucking kill me in that cell - and now you're raising me up as some kind of holy icon!? Do you realize how insane that sounds!"

Anyone who tried to - anyone who tried to revere her or consider her sacred or worship or - they'd be rapidly disappointed to see it was her, not some divine prophet. Plain Amy.

Vicky wouldn't like being worshipped, not for long, but she'd know how to handle it.

"I was wrong to accuse you, and threaten you," Cassandra admitted. "I was lost in my grief and lashing out at the first target that presented itself. But you proved your innocence, and your courage."

"I'm not - I'm not brave. And I am not telling people that I'm sent by your - Maker." Amy insisted, pulling her hood down off her head, then crossing her arms in front of her.

"At this point, the idea has begun to take root, and if you continue to close the rifts, and eventually the Breach, people will believe it, regardless of what you say." Leliana said.

"Fuck me," Amy's shoulders sagged. She swallowed. She looked up at the ceiling a moment, then under her breath, very quietly, "What Would Vicky Do?"

"Your mark is the only hope we have of closing the Breach," Leliana added. "None of this will be possible without you. It is your choice, but if you do not aid us-"

"People will assume I'm guilty." Amy muttered. "Catch-22 if there ever was one." She pulled a hand down her face, letting out a long breath. "It's not like not helping was ever a choice. I can't - I can't just sit around and do nothing while people could be dying from something I can stop." Amy took in a breath. "But I'm not signing up for some - some fucking Holy War to persecute heretics and... burn pagans at the stake or anything like that. And I'm not telling people I'm the Herald of Andraste. If they want to believe it, I can't fucking stop them, but I won't lie."

"We are already at war. Someone destroyed the Conclave," Cassandra said, quietly. "The Inquisition of old restored order in a time when the world had gone mad, in the aftermath of the Tevinter Imperium's fall. They did not act mindlessly, or without care and caution - they punished blood mages and those who would kill innocents in the name of Andraste in equal measure."

Okay, so that... doesn't sound like an Inquisition.

"Then... as long as that's what's happening... not like I have a fucking choice anyway." Amy sighed. She looked at the map on the table. There were various flags pinned into it, marking specific locations. There was a mountain range with a series of pins, and the word 'Haven' marked by one of them. On the eastern side of the mountains, a country labeled 'Kingdom of Ferelden', on the western, a much larger one called 'Empire of Orlais', and then another one called 'Kingdom of Nevarra' north of Orlais and a region labeled 'the Free Marches' north of Ferelden, across what looked like some kind of sea.

The map cut off, but it looked like there was more continent than that to the north.

"So fine. I'm in." She took a breath. "And when this is over..." Amy paused, blinking rapidly, trying to make sure she didn't start crying again. "When this is over... promise you'll help me figure out how to get home." If it's even -

Amy cut that thought off. She had to believe she could get home. She had to believe she'd see Victoria again.

And if I tell myself that enough times, maybe I'll actually believe it. Hadn't worked for anything else, but-

Cassandra walked over to her and held out a hand. "If you can help us close the Breach and restore order, then when this is over, I will help you, if I can."

"Then I guess you have yourselves a healer and a rift-closer." Amy shook Cassandra's hand, then let her arm fall by her side. "But how exactly are we going to close the Breach? Why didn't it close before? And -" Amy sighed. "I'm just here for closing the rifts, the Breach, not all the politics and religion bullshit but - I - I need to know some of it, I guess." Vicky would want to know. She'd probably ignore half the nuances and charge in headfirst anyway, but she studied up on all the capes in the Bay, and beyond, all the time. Forewarned is forearmed. She'd want to know the details.

"What kind of mess did I land in the middle of?"

---

Author's Note: For those that haven't read Ward or even read the handful of excerpts I have, Roaraxia is the name of a series of fantasy books she read (and really liked) pre-triggering that is mentioned in a flashback in Ward. As I said, I take what I like from Ward, even if I'm not holding myself to it, and that was a detail I liked.

Also, the fact that the 'Common Tongue' of Thedas is English and uses the Romance Alphabet (and thus Amy can read it) is definitely all kinds of bullshit, but I really don't want to have to deal with Amy needing translation and being unable to read anything here in Thedas, so... I mean, travelling to Thedas via Bakuda-bomb is also kinda bullshit, so it's kind of part of the territory. Please go with it.

 

[fuddler]

I wonder if the first instance of Amy pushing her boundaries will be something like turbocharging the metabolism of animals like rams or druffalo to make them gain more weight so they can feed more people. Just funnel grass into the animal and have it convert to meat and fat at incredible speed, to help the starving people, as she can't do much healing if a people is emaciated.

As far as I know, Amy can't affect vegetation at all, which is why she would need to do a round about way of bulking them up, as she couldn't just transform trees into vegetables. It's part of her Manton Limit, I think.

 

[Kylia Quilor]

As far as I know, Amy can't affect vegetation at all,

Click to shrink...

As far as I am concerned, Amy can in fact do plants. It makes sense for her power and theres nothing in canon that ever says she *can't* do plants. There's nothing that says she /can/ so one can go either way. But Amy can do plants here.

Now, whether she could actually, say, make better food crops or something is more nuanced and complicated and runs into the fact that [Shaper] is a fucking prick.

 

[Katana_Master]

I wonder what Amy's reaction to Cole will be. On one hand, another darn Thinker trying to get in her head. On the other, someone who actually understands and is trying to help.

 

[Kylia Quilor]

On one hand, another darn Thinker trying to get in her head.

Click to shrink...

That's probably the part that will bother her the most.

 

[fuddler]

As far as I am concerned, Amy can in fact do plants. It makes sense for her power and theres nothing in canon that ever says she *can't* do plants. There's nothing that says she /can/ so one can go either way. But Amy can do plants here.

Now, whether she could actually, say, make better food crops or something is more nuanced and complicated and runs into the fact that [Shaper] is a fucking prick.

Click to shrink...

Thinking on this some more, wouldn't that sort of invalidate a lot of Amy's struggles? Not the family ones, those are an entirely separate matter, but at least her power struggles would be much less pressing if she could do plants.

Amy is an interesting character because she's rightfully scared of what her power can do, but still completely burnt out, overworked and depressed, desperate to do anything new with her power, at least subconsciously, but with no real opportunity to. She can't mess around with people because that's horrible and immoral, she can't just buy a lab-rat because Carol would notice, and she would need to justify it to her somehow, she could catch a rat herself, but then she would need to justify to herself all that effort just to experiment on a living creature, something she thinks is evil and selfish, so she would talk herself out of it, and she can't mess with bacteria because she could mess up and make a terrible virus by accident, so she has no real options.

If she could have, at any time, just bought a houseplant and given her self effectively infinite things she could mess with in a safe environment, then all her impressive self-control just feels silly. Even is Amy somehow wouldn't have thought of that because of her all-encompassing depression, surely she would have confided in Vicky at some point how drained she feels just doing the same thing day after day, though it's not like she would stop of course, that would be evil etc, and self professed power nerd Vicky wouldn't have been like "Why not mess around with flowers or something? Won't have to worry about hurting anyone then." then what excuse could Amy give to herself that would make doing that seem terrible, because I can't think of a reasonable one.

Though you are right, it doesn't say she CAN'T do plants anywhere, and by all right's if she can do flesh and bacteria it would make sense, but then shards can make whatever limitations they feel like, and excluding plants would then force the host to interact with living things instead of just messing with tree's all day, and Shaper could have just took a look though Amy's memoried for what she considered living things and saw that plants weren't on the list and excluded them.

Of course, this doesn't change this story, but I hope you have some kind of explanation for why she didn't ever just change a flower's colour or mess with how well it's cells hold water or something to relive stress, she could even do it without changing the way it looks to hide it from Carol.

 

[Kylia Quilor]

SNIP

Click to shrink...

I think you're applying too much logic to Amy's hangups, which are by definition not logical.

Amy doesn't want her power. She doesn't want to experiment, and she doesn't want to mess with plants. She's constantly afraid she's a monster once she finds out about her dad being a villain. There's also not much actual evidence that she has some inherent urge to experiment, though that's a reasonable supposition, but it's unclear if it's true or to what extent it is.

Also, I doubt Shaper would be happy with minor plant messing. The Wretch (and the Giants, from Ward) is likely more emblematic of what Shaper wants - not sure what the plant equivalent of the Wretch is, but it would be an abomination against God and Nature.

Shaper is going to hate Amy less once Amy starts branching out and experiencing the weird biology of Thedas, but making Shaper happy probably requires some pretty horrifying shit.

In theory, yes, if Amy could get over herself and use her power on plants constructively, she'd probably feel better about herself and her power - that is the basis for some excellent fics, such as "Her Bark is Worse than Her Bite" (wherein Amy makes armor and weapons for herself out of trees and discovers how therapeutic hitting bad guys can be) and "Amy Goes Full Nilbog" (where Amy starts messing around with fungi). But 'getting over herself' is a pretty tall order for Amy, IMO, and one that would require some pretty significant work on her part, or a circumstance that forces it or something like that.

So, ultimately, I don't really agree that Amy being able to do plants presents any issue for Amy's state of mind, personally.

 

[Groffin]

desperate to do anything new with her power

Click to shrink...

Cite a single instance of Amy in any way expressing the slightest desire to "branch out" with her powers.

Hell, cite a single instance of her enjoying it when outside forces twist her arm into "doing anything new" with her power at all.

Amy doesn't hate being a healer; she hates being a Cape at all. Healing is in actuality the only use of her power she is to any degree comfortable with, which is why she keeps voluntarily returning to drudge-work at the hospital or doing maintenance/oversight for a Wet Tinker as opposed to experimenting or producing weird shit herself time and time again, because not using her Power isn't a feasible option but she demonstrably has neither the inclination or aptitude to do anything esoteric of her own volition.

 

[Kylia Quilor]

Hell, cite a single instance of her enjoying it when outside forces twist her arm into "doing anything new" with her power at all.

Click to shrink...

My Ward reading friends have mentioned something about her experiencing like, a strange exhilaration when she was making the Giants, or something to that effect. Though Ward is only as canon to this fic as I want it, and that's at a much later point in her development anyway.

 

[Groffin]

her experiencing like, a strange exhilaration when she was making the Giants

Click to shrink...

That's out of interlude From Within-16.z and literally a split second after registering that sense of elation Amy had a crashout in front of a mirror accusing her shard of fucking with her emotional responses.

 

[Kylia Quilor]

That's out of interlude From Within-16.z and literally a split second after registering that sense of elation Amy had a crashout in front of a mirror accusing her shard of fucking with her emotional responses.

Click to shrink...

I mean, that's already a given, that Shaper is playing some role in how unpleasant she finds healing. It's just a question of extent and degree

 

[Kylia Quilor]

Author's Note: People familiar with Dragon Age will find that this chapter may drag a bit. It is a lot infodumping and explanations about things that Amy does not know but anyone who has played Inquisition (or even just the first two games) would know, or otherwise find familiar. Hopefully this will be engaging enough to read anyway, but best to warn up front.

As I said, I am always willing to hear out and take into account good-faith critique about my characterization of various people, Amy and otherwise. Some characters are harder for me to get right than others, and I do my best to do so, but obviously, sometimes I may get it wrong.

---

What kind of mess did I land in the middle of?

"You managed to land in one of the more... eventful times in the recent history of Thedas," Leliana said, and began ticking off details and names that Amy didn't know the meaning of, beyond loosely grasping what a mage and templar were. "The Fifth Blight ended ten years ago and the after effects are still reverberating throughout Ferelden, and indeed, all of Thedas. Kirkwall was a slowly boiling pot that exploded four years ago, the mages and templars began their war shortly after that, Orlais broke out into civil war last year, and... well, the Conclave just blew up, taking the one person who had a chance at convincing people to stand down peacefully." Leliana set her jaw a little as she said that last part, though her otherwise calm expression and careful tone were hard to read.

"None of that means anything to me, though that's the third time Kirkwall has been mentioned since I showed up here." Amy pointed out. She looked at the map, and found Kirkwall marked on it. It was coastal, in the 'Free Marches' part of the map, but that really didn't tell her much. "I don't understand any of this. I barely believe that what I saw Solas doing was magic or those things we fought were demons." Solas didn't have powers and... while the demons could still be projections...

She was a lot less convinced that had to be the case than she had been before she grasped that mages weren't just capes by another name.

"I'm somewhat confused by that," Josephine said carefully. "I know little of the world beyond Thedas, no one really does, but shouldn't magic and the Fade and demons be a fact of life as well?"

"I'm not from a different continent. I'm from a different world entirely! Where I come from, there's no magic. No demons. No elves or dwarves or dragons. Those are all just fairy tales." She blinked, then, "Fuck, wait are there fairies here too? Ghosts and goblins and god knows what the fuck else?"

"Fairies don't exist, though some ancient traditions confused spirits and demons for them, according to Seeker texts," Cassandra said. "Goblins... I do not believe I've ever heard the term."

"Little gross creatures, sometimes green, usually like, 3 feet tall?" Granted, there were a lot of versions of goblins out there, in fiction that she'd read, but this was a pretty common version, with variations. None of the others said anything.

"Well, okay, at least there's some line. But I'm gonna have to deal with dead people hanging around?"

"Ghosts are not the souls of the departed. All pass into the hands of the Maker to be judged after death. What people call 'ghosts' are just demons and spirits, caught in their echoes in the Fade," Cullen said quickly.

"...Okay." Amy stared at him, blinking. That was... how much of that was religion? Fuck, for all she knew the 'Maker' was a real thing too, and not just religion. She'd read stories where gods were real, after all.

"There is only this world, the one the Maker forged." Cullen said, surprisingly calm for a fanatic relying on his religion to explain the world. "Leliana said you told her this before, in-" he paused.

"In the cell you were holding me in?" Cullen nodded.

"But," the Commander went on, "That - that should be impossible."

"Nothing is beyond the Maker's sight. The Chant of Light was inspired by the Maker, but it was penned by mortal hands," Leliana explained. "I don't entirely grasp what it means for her to be from another world, but I do not believe she is lying."

"I'm not lying!" Amy had to resist the urge to shout, and of course, everyone here was a believer in this religion and she still had no idea how real it was. The idea of this 'Maker' being real was absurd, but so was everything else she'd had to deal with since she'd woken up in that cell.

I'm not going to ask them though. Wouldn't really get her a real answer. If he was real, they'd say he was. If he wasn't, they'd also say he was.

And would they even know? Not like anyone could know God existed. Wasn't that the whole point? Sounded right, from sermons she'd gotten from stupid people at hospitals that tried to convince her her powers were a gift from 'the Lord'.

"I'm not from here. I don't know anything you guys would know, and on my world, we know the whole world. All seven continents and four oceans... and seven seas." Okay, she knew it was more than seven seas, but she had no idea how many there actually were, so she'd just say that. Wasn't like this was a geography test. "And we're not... we have electricity and the internet and cars and helicopters and guns and a billion things you don't have here. Wherever this is, this isn't Earth-Bet."

"That is what you call the place you come from?"

"I come from Brockton Bay, in the United States, but that's on Earth-Bet, yeah." Amy answered Leliana's question. She furrowed her brow, then, "Look, I barely paid attention when they talked about in my classes, but - multiple worlds were a theory for like... years? Decades? Something something physics." She realized how stupid she sounded, and tried to search her mind for an analogy, maybe something she'd read or seen in a TV show, or...

"It was all just a theory, no one proved it until like... a decade ago? Two?" Amy pulled a hand down her face, letting out a frustrated sigh. "I don't remember how long. But this Tinker, Professor Haywire, he opened a portal to another Earth, which we call Earth-Aleph. And then no others, but... Earth Aleph is also not all... swords and bows and...medieval stuff."

"Every word you speak only produces more questions," Cassandra said, setting her hands on the table and leaning forward.

"Join the fucking club!" Amy rolled her eyes. "I'm seventeen, and I - I didn't -" she flushed a moment, then looked down at the ground. "Look, I'm not smart like my sister, and I didn't bother to pay much attention in school the last few years so - there's just things I don't know how to explain, okay?"

"The same sister that you say knows how to fight?" Cassandra asked, and Amy nodded.

"Vicky - Victoria." Amy nodded, blinking repeatedly. "She's - she's - she's a hero. She can fly and break people into a pulp and she's smart. Studies powers and aces all her classes and..." Amy closed her eyes, inhaling, covering her face again, trying to hold back any tears. "She'd - she'd know how to handle all this... though she might also have just broken the chains and broken all your arms before anyone could explain the situation to her." Cassandra looked skeptical, and Amy laughed, "You know how I can heal without magic? My sister can break through stone walls unharmed just by punching them, or flying at them fast."

"Your sister can fly?" Cullen shook his head. "And you - Cassandra said you can heal without magic, but how is that possible?" He looked to Cassandra, "I know you'd be able to feel magic's presence, especially being used to heal you, but I don't - how is it possible?"

"Well, it's not a blessing from some divine being, so don't even start with that," Amy cut in before anyone could say anything else. "Nobody fucking knows how powers work, not really. They just... do. Vicky could give you a better answer, but..." Amy swallowed and trailed off. She inhaled, closing her hands into fists, opened them again, trying to remember her sister's talks and explanations and things she'd learned and heard and picked up....

"Thirty years or almost, they just... started cropping up. People able to do all kinds of insane things. There's a hero, named Legend. He can fly and shoot beams from his hands that can do all kinds of stuff. Velocity - he can run fast, like, faster than a car, sometimes." She blinked, remembering that would mean nothing to them. "Or - like... I mean, I haven't seen it, but he can definitely run faster than a horse can gallop."

Aunt Sarah had dragged all four of them - her, Victoria, Crystal and Eric - to enough horseback riding stuff during the summer when they were all younger for Amy to have a vague idea of how fast horses could go, and Velocity was like... sixty miles an hour, right?"

"There's an absolute bastard of a guy called Hookwolf, back home. He can turn into a wolf made of knives and hooks and sharp pointy bits. I've seen the effects of what he can do to people. I've healed the damage he's done to people. I mean... you guys can imagine what a wolf made of knives can do to some random civilian, right?"

Josephine looked away for a moment, and Amy thought it looked like she was maybe nauseated for a moment, while Cullen and Cassandra had their jaws set grimly, and Leliana's expression remained unreadable.

"Powers can do... all kinds of stuff. Mine let me heal. Anything. Cancer, if someone has a missing arm I can regrow it, any kind of disease... as long as they're alive I can keep them alive."

"And give them cancer." Leliana observed, and Amy bit her lip.

"I wouldn't actually do that. I don't -" Amy started, then, "Cancer is just cells going crazy and multiplying out of control. I can do that."

"You also threatened to render all the guards impotent." Cassandra added.

"I can -" Amy let out a breath. "I heal. Okay. That's what I do with my power. If you had someone with a missing arm or leg, I could prove that to you, if you wanted. As long as there's enough body mass to spare."

"Body mass to spare?"

"I don't know how magic does it, but when I heal someone... I have to take the material from somewhere. Usually excess fat or turn a little of their blood into bone cells to mend a broken bone or - in serious cases I can use muscle, - that's why I said that... scout I healed back in those tunnels needed to eat after I was done with him."

"...he was quite ravenously hungry that night," Leliana mused. "More so than one might be after a fight, usually." She sounded satisfied to have an answer to that, if Amy was even remotely gauging the woman right, which she probably wasn't. "But that doesn't exactly answer the question of what else you can do, and how you're able to do it."

"I just told you I don't know how powers work! They just... happen!"

"Were you born with this ability?" Cullen asked. "Mages are born with their abilities, though it may take time for their powers to manifest properly, and longer for them to be able to use them safely... assuming they aren't possessed first."

"Demons can do that too? Fuck, this is just a fun world you people live in."

Nazis and Slaughterhouse Nine and Endbringers running around rampant, or demons, possession and giant fucking holes in the sky. Why couldn't I have landed on some nice, peaceful world where no one had anything worse than a fucking skinned knee?

"The threat of mages giving into a demon, allowing them to possess them and becoming an abomination is one of the primary reasons the Templars exist." Cullen said. "Or... it was supposed to be." He added.

"Fun." Amy repeated. Then she shook her head, "No, I wasn't - I wasn't born with my power. I-" She licked her lips, looking down at the ground. "And like I said, it wasn't a blessing. I get enough of that shit from people back home telling me God or Jesus or whoever the fuck else they worship saying my powers are a divine gift."

She inhaled, exhaled. "We call people with powers 'parahumans'. Maybe... one in seven or eight or nine thousand people is one? I think? I don't really remember."

"Because you didn't pay attention in your schooling," Cassandra crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"I'm seventeen! And I spend more time healing people at hospitals than I do sleeping, so yes, I don't pay much attention in my classes, okay? I get enough shit about it from Carol - my - mother - about that." she added, realizing they'd have no idea who Carol was.

Of course, she wasn't actually Carol's daughter, and Carol never let her forget it, even if she never said it to her face, but... Amy closed her eyes and inhaled.

"Parahumans get their powers after what people call a trigger event. Trigger events are..." Once more, Amy closed her eyes, inhaled, and stepped back, leaning her back against the stone wall behind her. "They're... traumatic events. My - Carol and my Aunt Sarah triggered when the people kidnapping them tried to kill them. My cousin Crystal when... a gang of people tried to..." she swallowed. "Tried to kill her, or worse." She didn't exactly know that many trigger events, and - she wasn't going to talk about Victoria's... that was...

People still thought she just triggered from that foul ball... because she kept saying that in interviews.

Amy knew better. Victoria knew better.

"And you?"

Sure, ask about the worst fucking moment of my life, why don't you?! Amy inhaled, then inhaled again, feeling her breathing faster, shallower, that fucking day flashing in her mind - she had it in her nightmares too much. She'd wish too hard that she didn't have powers, that she'd never triggered, and then she'd remember Victoria, and lying there on the floor in that mall, so much blood... so much blood...

"Leliana," Cassandra's voice cut in. "I don't think we need to know."

"We need to know who we're dealing with and how her abilities work." Leliana countered. "How many times have we encountered mages turning to blood magic or becoming abominations only in desperate moments? She is our only hope for closing the Breach, but we know nothing about her.

"I think it's quite clear she'd rather not discuss this, Leliana," Josephine added. "Perhaps later-"

"My sister was dying in front of me! Bleeding out and if I hadn't triggered and hadn't been able to get the bullet out of her and heal her then she'd have died! I triggered with the ability to heal and to - to manipulate the biology of what I touch while covered in my sister's blood!" Amy shouted, only realizing what she'd done as the words left her lips. She closed her eyes, unable to hold back tears now - she wasn't sobbing, not yet, but even after her breakdown after waking up, she still had tears left in her and -

She was sitting on the floor now, knees pressed up against her chest, shallow breaths, tears still springing from her eyes. It wasn't just remembering that day, or the nightmares on if she hadn't triggered, or hadn't been there or triggered with a different power (on those days when she wished that if she had to have a power, couldn't she have had a different one) or -

She wasn't going to see Victoria again, no matter how much she tried to get home. No powers. No tinkers. No -

She could hear the others talking, maybe there was an argument, but she just stayed there for a moment, not registering anything for a moment, trying to hold herself back from sobbing - a tiny part of her felt mortified she was doing this in front of them, but she couldn't help it.

What else was she supposed to do? The most important person in her life... out of reach. The rest of her family. Everyone she knew. Everything on Earth-Bet. Books and music and TV and cars and electricity and comfortable beds and coffee and -

And here she was and -

She blinked, looking up as she noticed Cassandra standing next to her, and the woman extended a hand and Amy reached out, taking it and standing up, back pressed up against the wall again for support.

"Are you fit to continue speaking? Not - not about how you got your powers," Cassandra quickly added.

Amy swallowed, "I'm suffering a caffeine headache because I haven't had my morning coffee, and I'm cut off from everyone and everything I ever knew, and I'm still grappling with that fact and I just..." she trailed off. "But yeah, I'm as ready as I can be."

"Coffee is quite a useful drink to wake up with," Josephine said softly. "When we are done here, I believe I can spare some of mine for you, Amy."

Amy blinked. "You have coffee? Oh thank God," Amy said that last part in a quieter tone. "Please, yes, god, thank you."

"It is a common drink in my homeland of Antiva. Less so this far south, especially... here, in Haven. I am the only one here with a taste for it. Or I was, anyway." Josephine explained. "I only brought enough for myself, but under the circumstances-"

"I'll take anything you're willing to share," Amy said quickly. She tried to take another breath, forcing herself to go slower, trying to get a little more calm. It was absurd, she was in tears a minute ago and now she was begging for coffee and trying to focus on this stupid meeting. Bouncing between breaking down and trying to focus on the problems in front of her.

People's lives still depended on her. Differently, maybe - though there were probably people to heal here in Haven too, with medieval hygiene and shit - but... she had to stay focused on that.

"I think at this point... many of the questions about your powers and... the para-humans of your world," Leliana didn't exactly stumble over the unfamiliar word, but she did say it slowly, "and indeed, questions about your world in general can wait. You do not believe the Maker sent you do us in our hour of need."

"No, I don't."

"So then how do you think you came to be here?"

"One of Bakuda's bombs went off, and then I woke up in the cell." Amy explained, letting out a long, exasperated breath. "Her shit can do all kinds of stuff, so I suppose one of them sent me here." Or she could be dead and this was hell, but Amy was pretty sure hell would be more painful than annoying. And right now, she wasn't in much pain from this stupid thing on her hand. "I have no fucking memory of what happened after I got here, or how I stumbled upon... whoever it was that was with the Divine, in that... echo we saw."

"Unfortunate, though I suppose you wouldn't have recognized him even if you did remember his face," Leliana observed. "I have questions about this... Bakuda, you mentioned her in your cell, but perhaps it is time to proceed to answering your questions."

"Great idea," Amy agreed. She licked her lips, realizing she was thirsty. She looked around and saw a metal pitcher and wooden cups over on a small table in the back of the room. "Please tell me that's water and not alcohol."

"It is water," Cassandra confirmed, and Amy walked around the main table to the pitcher, pouring herself a glass - cup - of water.

"Before we move on to explaining... well, everything, to you, I do have a few more questions about you," Josephine said. Amy swallowed the mouthful of water she already had as Josephine went on quickly: "Not about your ability to heal, though I'm not sure we'll be able to convince most people who hear of it that it is not a gift from the Maker, but about you."

Of course we won't. Some people back on Earth-Bet still thought powers were from God. Also some that thought Scion was God. Or that powers were from aliens or demons or fuck if she knew whatever other insane theories existed.

And here? She could explain Corona Pollentia and Corona Gemma forever and get nowhere.

"Why do you need to know about me?"

"Because you are the Herald of Andraste." Josephine held up a hand, once again tacking on more: "You do not claim to be, but the idea has spread throughout those here in Haven, and is already spreading beyond. People will believe it. And, as the only person who can close the rifts and the Breach, you are the most important person in this entire effort. People will have questions about who you are, where you come from... we can tell the truth, that you are from far beyond Thedas and your abilities are not magic, but that will not be all people want to know."

"And," Josephine added as Amy inhaled slowly, closing her eyes as she realized the implications of what Josephine was saying, "the Inquisition lacks the manpower or resources to deal with the problem before us. We must recruit, we must make contact with nobles and other people and groups that can provide us with assistance."

"And that means making your 'Herald' who can heal with a touch part of your PR campaign." Amy said softly. "Fuck." She hated New Wave PR events, hated when reporters or interviewers tried to ask her questions... it happened less these days, enough times where she'd given people nothing to work with, one-word answers, or ignored them and she just wasn't photogenic like the rest of her family, so... she'd been able to avoid them.

"P....R?"

"Public Relations. You know, spreading a specific message about you or your organization. My family did it all the time." Amy looked down, "I hate it."

Josephine made a small 'hm' noise, "An elegant way to put it. But yes - we are out on our own, without Chantry support, and as it stands, neither Ferelden, nor Orlais support us, let alone anyone else."

Those two countries on either side of the mountains they were in.

"Alistair is a friend. He will support us." Leliana said firmly.

"King Alistair is not free to simply do whatever he wishes," Josephine cautioned. "You know as well as I that he depends on the support of the Bannorn, and his friendliness to the mages during this war has cost him much support."

"Ferelden is still recovering from the Fifth Blight, there's only so much support they can provide even if their King does back us fully," Cassandra cut in.

"The point being, Amy, that people are more likely to support us if they know why we believe we have a chance to fix this... and know more about who that chance is." Josephine forced them back on topic. "Your surname is Dallon, and you just said your family has experience with 'public relations'. Is your family noble? Do people with abilities like yours govern, the way magisters govern in Tevinter?"

"We don't have nobles where I'm from, and no, people with powers don't run the show." Some people thought they should, cape supremacists - groups like the Elite... "My family are heroes. We all have powers - my Aunt, my Uncle, my cousins, my parents, my sister, me."

"What exactly makes them heroes? You said you spent more time at hospitals than sleeping. I can see why people would consider such selfless work to heal others heroic-"

Amy wasn't sure if she actually spent more time healing than sleeping, but given how little she actually slept some nights, and all the times she went out at night to hospitals, and especially during crises like Bakuda's rampage...

It had to be close, sometimes, if nothing else.

"I'm not a hero. My family is, I'm not." Amy interrupted. "My family are heroes because they use their powers to fight criminals, and villains. Like Hookwolf, and the entire gang of Nazi shitheads that he's part of. Or the ABB."

"Your family works to protect the innocent people of your home from criminals and murderers?"

"Yeah. It's a team, New Wave." Amy nodded. "My Aunt Sarah is the leader."

Josephine wrote something down on her clipboard with her quill, then dipped it into ink again.

"A healer in a family that fights criminals... what sort of crimes do these criminals commit?"

"All of them?" She wracked her mind, "Empire 88 beats up people over their skin color, smuggles guns and drugs, forces people to pay protection, steals from people who don't... they terrorize the city. The ABB does the same, and they force girls to work in their brothels." The part about kidnaping girls off the street to work in their brothels or whatever was a rumor, and probably not true - Victoria thought it was one E88 spread because it played on racist tropes about threats to 'good, decent white girls' - but they did force the girls working for them to stay, beat them and addicted them to drugs and took most of their money...

She'd had to treat girls who were rescued from their brothels before, flush their systems of drugs, and mend poorly healed broken bones and bruises and sometimes worse.

"In the old days, they fought gangs like the Teeth, who just... fucking murdered people because they could."

"Worthy opponents, certainly," Josephine nodded. "A healer, child of heroes, sister to a hero, and willing to do what must be done to close the Breach... I believe that can be worked with." She set wrote some more, then set her quill down again. "I may have more questions at a later time, but there are matters to attend to."

"Quite," Cassandra said, crossing her arms in front of her. "There is much that will need to be explained to you."

"I'm not entirely sure where to begin summarizing this situation. Do we start with Kirkwall, the dissolution of the Nevarran Accords, do we go all the way back to the Tevinter Imperium?" Cullen began, "You don't even know what the Fade is,"

"Something about it being where demons are from."

"The Fade is the realm of spirits and demons, the Maker's first children. It is where people go in their dreams, and it is also the source of magic." Leliana explained. "Mages channel the energy of the Fade to make reality as... mutable as dreams can be, in essence." Cassandra and Cullen both looked at her, and Leliana shrugged, "I learned a great deal when travelling with the Hero of Ferelden during the Fifth Blight," she explained.

Okay. That... makes as much sense as 'magic' does anyway. "Magic comes from the Fade, mages draw on it... and demons are from the Fade and can possess mages. There's a connection there." Amy wasn't a complete idiot, she could add two and two together and get four...

Sometimes.

"Demons are jealous of mortals and of our material world," Cassandra explained. "Mages are the vehicle by which they can have means to interact with it, either by possession, or being summoned... and now these rifts, and the Breach. They will try to trick or convince a mage to make deals with them, or try to overpower their will until they accept possession. Once that happens, they become abominations - a single abomination has the ability to destroy an entire village. It is to protect people - mage and non-mage alike, that the Templar Order was created."

"And then it failed, utterly." Leliana countered. "Kirkwall was merely the worst case, but abuses against mages at the hands of Templars could be seen in every Circle. The rebellion was sparked by what happened in Kirkwall, but-"

"There were abuses in Kirkwall, and Meredith was insane, but the city was crawling with blood mages and abominations," Cullen interrupted. "I - I do not deny that things happened outside of it, but the alternatives are worse."

"Alternatives are not the problem right now. The Circles do not exist, and the Templars as a whole have broken from the Chantry." Cassandra raised her voice just a little. "We must focus on the Breach first." She set her jaw, "The Seekers' role in monitoring the Templars failed."

"I still have no idea what you're talking about. Why does Kirkwall keep coming up, and who is Meredith, and since I remember both came up when Varric saw that red stuff... what the fuck is that?" Amy demanded. "I have so many questions, I don't even know where to start!"

She looked down at the map, "I - okay, let's start with the basics: Everyone's calling me the Herald of Andraste. Who the fuck is Andraste? Kateria mentioned someone called Hessarian burning her to death, and her ashes were at the temple that blew up?"

"The Temple of Sacred Ashes is where Andraste's surviving companions took her remains, yes." Leliana said. "It was lost to most of the world until it was rediscovered ten years ago, and its sacredness made it seemingly the perfect neutral ground to host the Conclave. Even the mage rebels still follow the Chant of Light, or most of them, anyway. Divine Justina was respected by enough figures on both sides, though neither Grand Enchanter Fiona or Lord Seeker Lucius came personally."

"...the leaders of both sides of a war don't show up to a peace conference that blows up, and you don't assume one of them was behind it?" Amy blinked. "You blame me instead?!"

"Either of them certainly could be involved, but at the time, we had no way of knowing if you were working for one of them or their agents... whoever it was that intended to use the Divine as some sort of sacrifice may still have had allies in either camp." Leliana said.

"Or both." Cassandra offered. "Treacherous Templars have worked with blood mages to strike at the Divine before."

"Back on topic!" Amy insisted, "Who is Andraste?!"

"The Bride of the Maker, who led the first Exalted March and broke the power of the Tevinter Imperium," Josephine answered.

"The Bride of the Maker. And the Maker is... the one you all worship. Created the world and all that?"

"Yes."

Okay. So Andraste was a big deal. "Okay, so everyone worships the Maker and... honors Andraste?"

"The Dwarves in Orzammar keep to their own faith in the Stone, and the Dalish Elves follow their own gods, but otherwise, yes. Even the Tevinter follow the Maker, though they have their own version of the Chantry." Josephine explained, "And their own Divine."

Great. Amy's knowledge of European History could probably fit on the back of a postcard, but she knew religious war over who was Pope or if the Pope mattered had been a thing once.

"Not to mention all the slavery, blood magic and letting magisters run the show."

"Slavery? You have slavery here?!" Amy recoiled just at the thought.

"Only in Tevinter. It is illegal elsewhere."

"Good." Amy said firmly. Then she sagged a little, "Okay, can you... can I get like, a really quick history lesson? Tevinter was overthrown, but still exists, Andraste died, but... what, went to the Maker's side?" The others nodded. "And... there's Circles and Templars and the Chantry..." It sounded like their Bible was the Chant of Light from what they said, and the Chantry was the church...

"I'm still so fucking confused."

The other four looked at each other for a moment then finally Leliana spoke:

"In the Ancient Age, the Tevinter Imperium ruled all of Thedas, more or less. They had destroyed the elven realm of Arlathan and enslaved the survivors, and built their empire on the backs of their slaves, and on blood magic and pacts with demons. They worshipped the Old Gods, powerful demons that masqueraded as divine."

"Tevinter bad and evil. Got it." Amy nodded. Since they apparently had slaves, and still did, that seemed about right to her. Also, she just... anything called 'Blood Magic' couldn't be good, right?

"Eventually, seven Tevinter Magisters, the highest of priests of the Old Gods, sought to enter the Fade by means of mass blood sacrifice, and at the behest of the Old Gods, claim the throne of the Maker in the Golden City. Instead, they corrupted it with their sin, creating the first Darkspawn, and turning the Old Gods into the Archdemons that lead them during each Blight." Leliana explained.

"...Okay, that's..." Amy blinked. It sounded very... over the top. Like Garden of Eden type shit. But again. Magic. Demons. She could imagine that being the plot of a fantasy novel and she was fucking living in one. "That's... a thing that happened, apparently. And Darkspawn are?"

"Creatures of pure evil and destruction." Cassandra answered. "They are nearly mindless on their own, though in larger groups, they show... rudimentary grasp of tactics."

"And during a Blight, far more than that, under the leadership of an Archdemon." Leliana added. "Their blood is corrupted, and Darkspawn will spread a terrible taint to the land around them, and those they fight. If tainted, death will follow soon, for there is no cure, unless one becomes a Grey Warden. And even that only delays the process."

File in another term I don't understand. "Okay. I..." She found herself wondering what this taint was, how it worked... she'd never met a disease she couldn't cure, and 'no cure' could just mean they didn't understand medicine enough.

"Magic can't cure the taint?" Magic being a healing thing here meant there was less... on Earth-Bet, she was the only chance for a lot of people, or at least the best chance. With healing magic... that wasn't as true. Which... was good. Less people that only she could help...

"No. Magic's ability to heal is limited by the skill of the mage, their power, and how much energy they have to draw on." Cassandra answered. "In the hands of the skilled and powerful, or with more power to hand, it can regrow limbs, or even heal most illnesses, but there are things beyond even the skills of the greatest of healers."

"The First Blight nearly destroyed the Tevinter Imperium, and it turned many away from the Old Gods, as they ceased answering prayers." Josephine said, setting her clipboard down as she kept going. "The Tevinter were forced to focus on defending their core territories, in the north, leaving much of the world to their own. It was the Grey Wardens who devised the means of permanently killing the Archdemon, which made defeating the now leaderless darkspawn far easier,"

"And there's been four more Blights since then? Including the one that hit Ferelden ten years ago?"

"Yes. The Hero of Ferelden managed to end the Blight in less than a year - the First Blight took nearly two centuries, and even the fourth lasted for twelve years." Leliana answered.

"Wow." That sounded impressive, but Amy honestly didn't know enough to say how much. So she just went with 'wow'.

"With the Tevinter weakened, and the faith in the Old Gods broken, Andraste was called by the Maker to lead an Exalted March against them. She was the wife of Maferath, a powerful warlord in what is now Ferelden, and she urged him on this holy cause. Blessed by the Maker, and she rallied many, including rebelling elven slaves, to her cause. Unfortunately, Maferath grew jealous of Andraste's relationship to the Maker, and betrayed her to the Tevinter in exchange for being allowed to keep the territory he conquered."

"Which is when this Hessarian burned her to death?"

Okay, so she's the Bride of the Maker, but also married to this Maferath guy. Who betrayed her. When did the marrying the Maker thing happen? Amy figured she had to be getting some sort of... like, biased version of events? History was big and complicated and this all sounded very simple. Very 'and the evil Romans just crucified Jesus because they were evil'

Or whatever the fuck they taught in Sunday school and on those bible cartoons she'd always skipped past as a kid.

"He was the Archon, leader of Tevinter at the time." Leliana went on, nodding to answer Amy's question. "He was moved by her faith, and it is said that the Maker spoke to him through her. He granted her mercy by killing her rather than allow her to continue to suffer the slow death in the flames. It was after this that he would eventually convert to the following of the Maker, and lead Tevinter to turn away from the Old Gods. This sparked a civil war, and he revealed Maferath's betrayal, causing his realm to crumble."

"And this is when the old Inquisition was a thing?" Amy asked, recalling Cassandra's earlier comment, and Cassandra nodded.

"They were those who rose up to do what needed to be done, to protect the people from those who might use magic to rule others, but also to protect mages who had done no harm, protect the innocent in the time of a world gone mad." Cassandra said. "Just as is the case now. The Inquisition of old worked with the Chantry and Kordilus Drakon to combat the Second Blight, proving that magic and mages could still be used for good, to serve man, not just to rule him. So the Nevarran Accord was signed, creating the Circles, Templars and Seekers, as they exist... existed." She let out a breath. "I can admit that there were... flaws in the execution."

There's a rebellion about it, so yeah, sounds like it. But Amy didn't know enough about magic or mages or Templars to -

"And this rebellion? Why? Why are mages rebelling? And Templars? What are they rebelling against? Both sides of this civil war are also fighting... who else exactly?"

"There are many things that led to the rebellion," Leliana explained. "The Circles were supposed to serve as a place where mages could learn to control their powers, and be kept safe from those who would hate them for what they are. Instead, they became prisons."

"Mages are dangerous, even the most well-intentioned can fall prey to possession, and if one gets it into their head to do worse-" Cullen started, then cut himself off, seemingly forcing himself to take a breath. He looked over to Amy. "The role of Templars to protect mages was forgotten by most. Too many of them, of us... we did come to see mages, all mages, as the enemy. Many mages chafed at the circles, and many tried to run or did. Some because they wished to practice blood magic, or otherwise abuse their powers."

"And others merely because they wanted some freedom to live their lives," Leliana interrupted, raising her voice a little to speak over Cullen.

Imprisoning people for what they might do, rather than what they can do. Amy swallowed, throat feeling tight. If people back home knew what she could really do, the full breadth of it, would they want to do that to her? If they realized the sort of damage she could do? Amy had never wanted powers but at first she'd told herself that at least she'd been able to save her sister, and her power didn't mean she had to fight, that it could just let her help people. If she had to have powers, better than the alternatives?

"All too many apostates free of the circles turn to abusing their powers. There is a place for the Circles," Cullen insisted. "Rebellion and plunging all of Thedas into war as a result was not the way."

And then she'd realized just what she could do. To brains. To... anything. If she wanted to, she could make plagues more horrifying than anything. Her power wasn't healing, no matter how much she insisted...

But that's what I use it for. Amy told herself. Whatever else, whoever else she might - whoever...

I'm not a hero. But I - I use my powers to help people. The idea of being thrown into a cell just because of what she could do, of people, her family, Carol - Vicky - finding out and -

It was one of her worst nightmares. Only on the worst days.

"We aren't here to rehash the same arguments over and over again," Josephine said in a calm, level tone, pre-empting the others. She turned back to Amy, "There are already a dozen books attempting to discuss just what led to the rebellion, tracing it back through the centuries. Trying to summarize a conflict like this when you know so little of the context is pointless."

"I'm stuck living right in the middle of it." Amy countered. "I - I don't like the idea of people being imprisoned just because of what they might do." If they were afraid of someone getting possessed...

I suppose I should be glad these people probably have no fucking idea about germ theory or microbacteria or...

Amy closed her eyes, breathed, opened them again, hands clenched tight, fingernails digging into the base of her palms.

"Circles are not supposed to be prisons," Cassandra said. "But they failed in that purpose."

"And Kirkwall figures into this?" The city kept coming up. "How?"

"How much Kirkwall truly matters is... complicated. It became a symbol, regardless." Cassandra explained. "Knight-Commander Meredith was the leader of the Templars in the city, and she was always strict on the mages under her authority."

"Given how often blood mages and abominations showed up in the city, some strictness was justified," Cullen said, just above a mutter, but then he shook his head, raising his voice. "But she did take it too far, eventually. When the Qunari killed the Viscount, she decided she should rule the city to protect it from blood mages, and turned the city upside down trying to root them out, punishing mages severely for the smallest infractions, or even imagined ones, by the end."

"There had been a movement, sneaking mages out of the Gallows, getting apostates out of the city, working against Templars." Cullen said, then paused and elaborated: "The Gallows were an old Tevinter fortress repurposed to house both Templars and Mages, "Meredith was able to eliminate them within a matter of months, but she continued to see enemies everywhere. And then matters came to a head four years ago."

Okay, so paranoia, oppression... Amy let them keep talking. At this point, trying to figure out what she thought of all this was...

"The Seekers were investigating the matter, but... too many of us believed that perhaps she was right, and actually going to Kirkwall to see for themselves was delayed. Lord Seeker Lambert may not have gone as far as Knight-Commander Meredith, but he agreed with her more than he didn't," Cassandra admitted.

It was more than Amy could really deal with right now. She wanted to just shut her brain down and not have to think about anything, process it. She pressed her fingers into her head just above her eyes, covering her face, speaking through her hands for a moment, "This is a lot that I need to wrap my head around, so can you - how did things come to a head?"

"An apostate, Anders, used magic to destroy the Chantry in the city, killing the Grand Cleric and hundreds of people in the resulting explosion." Cassandra said bluntly.

"Fuck." Yeah. Explosion that killed lots of people would set people off. Something about Earth-Aleph fingered at the back of her memory. Members of some religious group killing a lot of people in an attack and - every member of the group getting blamed by a lot of people?

It came up in a class once, or something, but Amy had no memory of details.

"Meredith's response was that this was proof that all mages in the city were corrupted beyond recovery and that they must all be killed, that there was no other solution."

"The Fuck?" Amy glared at Cullen. "She wanted to just... kill everyone?!"

"Meredith was mad. None of us realized it until it was nearly too late, but she had been getting worse for years." Cullen shook his head. "There are excuses, but..."

"Had the Champion of Kirkwall not stood to rally any willing to fight in defense of the mages in the Circle, the innocent - children, the infirm, the elderly - then Meredith may have been able to cover it up." Leliana said quietly. "But Kiandra Hawke did, and she was able to allow enough mages to escape to spread word of what happened."

"And that's what started the rebellion? Then why did Templars rebel? This is fucking insane!" Amy let out a ragged breath.

"The Templars rebelled because Divine Justinia did not support them cracking down on the mages as they discussed the prospect of rebellion. She became Divine seven years ago, and tried to reform the Circles, but she faced much resistance from within the Chantry. After Kirkwall, the leadership of the Circle voted down breaking the Nevarran Accord at first, but Lord Seeker Lambert's actions made matters worse in the aftermath, and when the Divine tried to restrain him..."

"Templars were told for years, centuries, that they were the trusty right arm of the Chantry, the only thing protecting the world from mages gone amok, and then they were addicted to lyrium at the behest of the Chantry to make them better warriors and better at suppressing magic. Not to mention when sometimes Grand Clerics would withhold lyrium to reign certain groups of Templars in." Cullen interrupted Cassandra. "For centuries, they were left to risk their lives against blood mages, abominations, demons, protected the Chantry from threats..."

He shook his head and let out a sigh, "Too many felt ill-used, abandoned and disregarded by the Chantry for all they sacrificed, and Divine Justinia trying to reign them in was the last straw for too many."

Amy wasn't sure what to think about that, it was all too much, and she felt... she was kind of numb to the tide of information still washing over her. She would have to think about it and -

The Templars were still sort of like the PRT - people who regulated the powered people, even if mages weren't parahumans. But they were a lot more than that, and they were... what, pissy they weren't being appreciated for it? And to rebel over that? Compared to mages who were upset about a bunch of innocent people being murdered for one person's actions?"

"I don't agree with those of my fellows who rebelled, but I understand their frustrations," Cullen concluded.

Then Amy's mind picked up on something Cullen said. 'Addicted to lyrium'.

"Wait, wait, you - you purposefully were addicted to a thing? Like, on orders? Not because you just decided to do drugs? And - lyrium? Like the stuff Varric was worked up about at the temple?"

"Red Lyrium is different from normal lyrium, and appears to be much more dangerous." Cassandra explained. "There is much we don't know, can't know, but one of the things that drove Meredith to her insanity was prolonged contact with red lyrium."

"And normal lyrium is just totally safe, but also addictive?" Amy shook her head, "There's almost nothing in the world that's both addictive and safe, I can't imagine that's different here." Even caffeine had risks, they just were situational or required massive amounts of it and Amy also didn't care about those risks.

"No, it's not safe." Cullen said curtly. "In small amounts, such as used by mages to replenish their magical energies, yes. In the amounts and frequencies used by Templars, no. Losing your memories are the least of the problems that can emerge after long enough use. And we're never told the full extent of that danger before becoming Templars, taking our oaths and taking the first doses." He set his jaw grimly,

"Why the fuck do you use it then? Some sort of initiation hazing bullshit?" Drug addicts were just people too obsessed with their own bullshit, or too selfish, or just couldn't restrain themselves to just... not get addicted in the first place. To not actually shoot up with heroin or snort cocaine or whatever else. But if you were a soldier and your superiors told you to take the drug, that was different. Still fucking stupid, but.

"Lyrium is the source of our ability to suppress magic. Taking as much of it as the Chantry requires makes it stronger, but some lyrium is required no matter what."

"So no lyrium, you can't fight mages?"

"A mage still dies to a sword in the stomach all the same, but the abilities of Templars and Seekers allow us to prevent mages from using magic near us, or at least make it substantively harder." Cassandra explained.

"So you're a lyrium addict too?"

"No," Cassandra answered curtly, "Seekers acquire our abilities differently, and the process by which we do so is... difficult to replicate. That is why there are so few of us."

"And your religion's solution was to give your soldiers drugs and make them addicts, just to get more of them." She scoffed. "Fuck, I don't even -" she pressed the bases of her palms to her forehead. "Okay, fuck, I really don't know what to think about any of this. It's insane, it feels like the plot of a fantasy novel and I just - I just want coffee and maybe something to eat and to collapse and process all of this shit."

"Understandable, under the circumstances." Josephine nodded.

"Agreed. There is still more to discuss, about how we move forward with the Breach," Cassandra nodded. "But matters there are still being determined."

"So you at least have some ideas on how to try again?" Amy asked, letting out a sigh of... not relief, but at least... less tension?

Cassandra nodded: "As far as Solas and the others mages here - ones that did not rebel - can tell, the problem was that your mark wasn't powerful enough to close the Breach entirely. So if we can get more power to aid the process, or find a way to weaken the Breach, then that should allow us to succeed on a second attempt."

"But we must be sure before we try. You were able to stop the Breach from growing, stabilize it - no more balls of fire raining from the sky - and that has been enough to convince people you are the one who can close it. But a second failed attempt could cause people to lose faith." Leliana said, hands clasped behind her back.

"I don't really care if they lose faith in my 'chosen one' status," Amy muttered.

"If people lose faith in the Inquisition, then we won't be able to accomplish anything, or muster the resources required to close the Breach, let alone restore order." Leliana countered bluntly. "Power rests where people believe that it does."

"Well, that part is not my problem. Once you guys figure it out, let me know, okay?" Amy said, then looked over at Josephine. "Are we done enough that I can take you up on that offer of coffee?"

"I believe so." Josephine agreed after glancing over at the others, who didn't object.

"Thank you."

"One moment," Cassandra took a book, and then another, off the shelves, and brought them over. "There is obviously much we had to leave out, but reading these will help you."

Amy looked at the two books, reading the titles on their spines. The first, The Chant of Light, made her grimace. Of course they'd give her the bible.

"I'm not reading your holy book, I'm not - I don't believe in God, so I'm hardly going to start believing in the Maker." Amy snapped. "Fine everyone else believes, but I don't." She started to hand that one back, but Cassandra didn't accept it.

"Just consider it."

Amy rolled her eyes again, and looked at the other book. In Pursuit of Knowledge: The Travels of a Chantry Scholar by 'Brother Ferdinand Genitivi'.

"Brother Genitivi's work was, until recently, one of the most read books in Thedas, and it is an excellent primer on many matters." Cassandra explained.

"And he has been at risk of censure by the Chantry for his candor more than once," Leliana added.

Which means maybe it's more likely to be accurate.

"Okay. Fine." Amy accepted the books. "Coffee, please?"

"Of course," Josephine led her out of the room they were in and off into another side room in the same building, smaller, and a little cozier, with several bookshelves against the wall, and a neatly organized desk with more books and papers. There was a small fire burning in the fireplace, and Josephine grabbed a poker and poked at the flames and ashes and charred wood and all that inside, then she put a split piece of log into the fire, to help it get hotter.

"This is your office then?" Amy looked around.

"I've taken over the space, yes. In the three days you were asleep, I've sent out messages to my friends and contacts across Thedas in an effort to obtain more support for our efforts." She let out a sigh, "Cassandra and Leliana were within their rights to put Justinia's writ into action, especially under the circumstances, but the way they chose to do it will certainly do us no favors." She shook her head, then let out another breath. "But, you do not care about that."

Amy nodded, and Josephine opened a drawer in her desk, retrieving a small manual coffee grinder - Amy had seen those at this one fancy-schmancy place she'd stopped by, though this one was smaller and looked a lot more basic.

Then she took out a metal box and opened it, revealing coffee beans within.

"I admit I have so many more questions about this... Earth-Bet you come from." Josephine said, as she started turning the grinder. Amy hadn't realized how much work would have to go into getting coffee for yourself, especially if you were the only person who drank it.

Is everyone here a tea drinker, or do they just... not drink caffeine? How does anyone function without it? Then again, there were nurses at Brockton General that somehow did without it, so it wasn't technically impossible. Somehow.

"What little you've said makes it sound very different from Thedas. Not just because of the absence of magic," she went on, pouring the coarsely ground beans and water from a pitcher into a small iron kettle-looking thing, stirring it up and placing the kettle on a hook over the fire.

"You have to do that every time you want a cup of coffee?" Amy asked. Grinding the beans yourself and putting the water over an open fire rather than just... put water and grounds into the coffee maker and turn it on.

I miss electricity already.

"Back home in Antiva, or even Val Royeaux, I could go to a cafe and have it made for me, but that's not an option here." Josephine sat down in her chair. "Few in Ferelden enjoy the drink, and it isn't even particularly popular among Orlesians."

"Well, anyone who doesn't like coffee is allowed to be fucking wrong," Amy muttered, and Josephine giggled just a little.

"I might not agree with such blunt vulgarity but I do agree." She admitted. "I take it you get your coffee from cafes, back home?"

"Or things like that, yeah." How could she even begin to explain those coffee vending machines at the hospital, or a coffee maker? "Plus I'm usually the last one out of bed, so Carol or Vicky are the ones to have already made the coffee."

"Carol is your mother, and Vicky your sister, correct?" Amy nodded. "I have a younger sister, Yvette. She is a painter back home in Antiva. She takes endless delight in sharing embarrassing stories about my youth with people whenever we are both together at the same event, but... she is still my sister." She smiled softly, a fond expression on her face.

"Vicky won't stop trying to drag me on dates with her and her stupid boyfriend and whatever guy she's trying to set me up with this time, but she's still the best person I know." Amy said. "She's a fucking nerd too." She couldn't help but smile as she said it, no heat in her voice. She blinked repeatedly, a few tears threatening to rise, talking about her reminding Amy how unlikely she was to see Vicky again -

"No, please, don't cry, I didn't mean to upset you." Josephine removed a handkerchief with a coat of arms sewn into it from a pocket and handed it to Amy.

Amy took it, flushing, dabbing at her eyes.

"No, I just... my sister is the most important person in my life. And they probably all think I'm dead back home and..." she pressed the handkerchief against her eyes again. "I'm not going to stop missing her any time soon."

"I don't think anyone could expect you to. Is she your elder, or your younger sister? If you feel willing to continue speaking of her."

"She's older by a month and change." Amy swallowed. The books on her lap felt weird. The covers were probably thick leather or something, she'd handled some really old books once, they kind of felt like that, but... not, since these weren't old, probably. The paper inside looked different too.

"Just a month? Are months longer than thirty days where you're from?"

"No?" Amy blinked, confused by the question, not following at all.

"Do you have -" Josephine furrowed her brow and her nose crinkled a little, and then, "...is one of you adopted?"

Amy stared at her, trying to understand how Josephine made that - accurate - leap. Oh. Wait. One month isn't enough to like... conceive a new kid and give birth and -

"I'm adopted," Amy answered.

Josephine said nothing for a moment - just a moment - then nodded. "Very well."

"I don't know anything about my birth parents," Amy lied flatly, "And I am a Dallon," she lied again.

Different lies, but still. Both lies.

"Your family is your family." Josephine agreed simply. "I don't mean to touch on any sensitive matters. Merely making conversation." She stood up from her chair and checked the kettle, then carefully took the longer handle off the hook, and set it on the floor a distance away from the fire, probably to let the coffee cool a little to be drinkable now?

"I'm not - I can't really make conversation right now. I just... This world is fucking insane." Amy knew it was a bad idea to just say it like that, but she didn't care. Couldn't care. "I used to read books about shit like this, about worlds of magic and elves and dwarves and... I liked them, but I don't - I don't want to live it!"

"I cannot really imagine what it's like for you to experience all this. This is... nothing like the experience I thought I would have when I agreed to Leliana's request to come and assist the Divine during and after the Conclave, but I am at least in places I have heard of. However..." she grimaced, "lacking in the usual amenities they are." Gesturing to the room around her.

Josephine set out some very nice looking porcelain cups on dishes - they looked like teacups, mostly, if a little wider and shallower.

"One does make do as they can, of course." Josephine said brightly. "I will be happy to do what I can to help you, under the circumstances." She picked up the kettle and poured some into the two cups. It was a very dark brew, but it smelled like coffee. A little different than what she was used to, but that barely mattered.

"Thank you," Amy said quickly, and tried not to snatch the cup up off the dish, instead lifting it to her face and inhaling the smell of it. Her sister didn't understand how Amy could drink black coffee, and it had definitely been an acquired taste, but really, taste wasn't the point for her. But the smell of a good, fresh coffee...

It was a moment Amy really did enjoy, when she was actually able to do that, rather than just downing a cup of whatever cheap crap she could get to keep going at the hospital.

"I love you," she murmured, and she heard Josephine giggle.

"I believe you're talking to the coffee, rather than me?"

Amy didn't say anything, she just took a sip of the coffee.

It was... coffee. It was different from any coffee she'd tasted before - it was a dark roast, bitter (she liked bitter, and didn't use cream or sugar), and it didn't taste quite as strong as the coffee she was used to, and it was a lot oilier than anything she'd had before.

But it was coffee.

Amy let out a long exhaling breath.

"Okay, so - I - what do I have to do to get you to share more of your personal coffee stash? I don't do healing on request but like - if you or anyone or - I'll heal anyone you want. Is anyone in your family sick?"

Josephine laughed, "I will bear that in mind, but as far as I am aware, my parents and my siblings are all quite healthy. I will certainly be willing to share, though if you would be willing to indulge my curiosity about your world in the future, I'd appreciate-"

"Done. Next time, Coffee for answers about Earth-Bet, as best as I can give them." Amy agreed. "But I'm serious about owing you a healing or -" Amy cut herself off before offering to do other modifications - she would, if Josephine asked, if coffee was the price, but like...

She still wasn't sure if admitting just the full range of what she could do was like... a great idea. Even for coffee.

She sipped at the coffee again, sighing again after she swallowed.

"I'll bear that in mind, I promise." Josephine agreed. Thankfully, she stayed silent and sipped at her own coffee while Amy drank hers, savoring it more than she was used to. Hopefully Josephine would let her have more tomorrow, but since the older woman had emphasized she'd really only originally brought enough for just herself...

I am going to have to demand coffee if they want me to keep closing rifts, I swear to god. Amy resolved that that was going to have to be a thing. Sure, she wouldn't actually stop, but like... the hospitals only made her pay for her coffee sometimes - usually after the 3rd or 4th cup - so if she insisted they probably would go for it, right?

Amy wasn't sure how long it took for her to finish - maybe ten minutes? - but it was longer than she usually took to drink coffee. It did feel like there was just less strength to this coffee - maybe it was the bean, or the way she brewed it, or the amount of grounds for the water... Amy didn't know.

She set the cup down on the dish, Josephine still with more than half of her coffee to go as she was reading a letter.

"Thanks for the coffee, and... for all the information you gave." Amy said after a moment, standing. "I have a lot to think about."

"I'll be happy to provide answers to any questions you have. Though I am far less versed in matters of magic and the Fade than others." Josephine said, inclining her head slightly.

Amy nodded back and then left the room, greeted by Cassandra, who had been leaning against the wall, arms crossed.

"Done working out how to close the Breach?"

"Hardly, but there is little that can be done today to resolve the matter," Cassandra said in a frustrated, grumbling tone. "Where are you going next?"

"The place I woke up. I... I guess that's my place now, while I'm here?"

"It has been set aside for you. If there's anything you need, let someone know, we'll try to arrange what we can."

"I need coffee." Amy said bluntly. "I know Josephine said she only brought enough for herself, but... seriously. If you want me closing rifts, I need coffee."

Cassandra stared at her, then shook her head, "I will never understand why Antivans enjoy that drink so much."

"Everyone's allowed to be wrong," Amy muttered.

"I'm sure it can be arranged for more coffee to be brought in, along with other supplies as needed," Cassandra said, walking towards the exit, gesturing for Amy to follow alongside. After a moment, Amy complied, the taller woman shortening her stride to keep pace with Amy. "If you are going to close rifts, you will need armor. And training on how to fight, or at least how to not get hit."

"I'm not a fighter." Amy said quickly. "I don't want to fight."

"That is a luxury you may not have anymore, Amy," Cassandra cautioned. "I am not asking you to take the lead in battle, that would be foolish given your lack of experience and your importance. But you did get injured on the way to the Temple, and a fight can be chaotic. Even if Katerina stays with you during every battle, there is every chance a demon or other enemy might get past her."

"...are you assigning Katerina as my personal bodyguard or something?" Admittedly, the redhead was... nice to look at, and she at least didn't annoy the crap out of Amy much, but still.

"For the moment, yes, unless you have some objection. She is quite skilled, and close to you in age, making her convenient as a guide for you as well. But no one is so skilled they can be guaranteed victory in every fight. So you need armor."

"I've never worn armor before, and I - I barely remember the self-defense training my uncle gave me years ago."

"That much is quite obvious." Cassandra said, and Amy flushed.

"I'm a healer! People knew not to mess with the healer, back home."

"Unfortunately, you are here, and leaving aside demons, it is likely that you will attract enemies. You are a threat to whoever may have been behind the Breach, and anyone else you might decide you could upset their own power."

"Fuck them. I don't care about anyone's power. I just want to figure out how to close the Breach and find a way home."

"Understandable, and admirable. I despise politics, but it is unavoidable. I have arranged for our master armorer, Harrit, to fit you for armor tomorrow. Would you prefer leather, or chainmail?"

Neither. Is neither a choice? Amy didn't ask, because obviously it wasn't. And...

She didn't want to have demons cutting her again. Avoiding fighting when she had to be close to it... Amy licked her lips then bit the inside of her cheek, inhaling.

No. No. Don't think about it too much... Of course, thinking that just made her do it more...

"Leather? Chainmail? I don't - whichever fits better under the robes, maybe? Whichever is warmer?" Amy added. "It's fucking cold up here."

"Leather armor will probably be easier on you, in terms of managing the weight." Cassandra said with a nod, some finality to her tone. "And you will need to build your endurance."

Amy blinked, "What?"

"You managed to push yourself to your limits getting to the temple, but you are not used to such exertions. I've never heard of the phrase 'leg day', but I can surmise the meaning from the context of what you said about skipping it."

Oh fuck you. Fuck YOU. Amy could see where this was going, and she did not like it.

"I'm not agreeing to join twenty-four hour fitness! Fuck, I'm already so far out of my element and in over my head I can't even see daylight and now you want me to do... what, ten mile jogs every day?"

"I assumed we'd start somewhere well below that, and go from there, but if you'd prefer to begin with ten mile jogs, we can." Cassandra replied calmly.

"Was that a fucking joke?" Amy demanded, then shook her head, groaning. "I hate this. I hate all of this so much." She muttered under her breath, even though she knew the answer: "What would Vicky do?"

Fly, because she doesn't need to run. Not that her sister wouldn't do the jogging if she needed to build up the endurance anyway. Victoria was lucky that her metabolism was naturally good, and she did train and practice with fighting and stuff too, so she could stay in shape - really fucking amazing, perfect shape - that way. Amy had given up on exercise ages ago, beyond walking the corridors at the hospital, which was just not the same as jogging through mountains in a life and death situation.

They reached the doors, and Katerina was waiting out front as they opened them, though the woman was walking to Varric.

"...you're telling me the stories about Orsino were wrong?" She sounded like she didn't believe what she was saying, or whatever she'd heard.

"I'm telling you the rumors that he did some sort of blood magic ritual and became a giant flesh monster are wrong. I was there, and the First Enchanter did nothing of the sort. Which is good, because there was really only room for one sane Blood Mage in that battle, and Daisy had that spot taken."

"You never mentioned in your book that Merrill was a Blood Mage." Katerina said.

"Because it would give people the wrong idea about her." Varric replied cooly.

"Give people the idea that the Champion's lover was a maleficar?" Cassandra asked. Katerina let out a small surprised sound, and turned.

"Seeker, when you use words like 'maleficar' you completely misrepresent the kind of person Daisy was. I've met a lot of blood mages, killed most of them, but Merrill wasn't like any of them. If you thought she was a threat, you'd have gone after her while you were in Kirkwall. It's not like she's hiding, she's been out in the open in the alienage there for years."

"Compared to everything else we were dealing with, and are dealing with, yes, she is not much of a threat."

"And you don't want Hawke coming after you if you laid a finger on her." Varric chuckled, and turned back to Katerina. "This one noble bastard in Hightown once thought Merril was just Hawke's maidservant, tried to shove her out of his way - Hawke broke two of his fingers and gave him a black eye before he could even blink." He shook his head, and Amy just let all this extra stuff wash over her.

About the only thing that sort of registered for her is that this Hawke was the same Hawke that Leliana had mentioned earlier, protecting the mages from Meredith?

...and no one seems to be bothered that a woman was dating another woman? Merril was a woman, and this Hawke was, and Cassandra just mentioned they were lovers, but with no sign of any... disgust or distaste? She searched Cassandra's and Katerina's expressions, but neither seemed bothered.

Really nice to know being gay isn't against the religion here... Not that it was ever going to matter, but... not getting burned at the stake for being attracted to women was a good thing.

"My apologies, Lady Pentaghast, I was merely discussing the Tale of the Champion with Varric while we waited."

"So I gathered. Varric is quite the skilled spinner of tales, and, remarkably, he's capable of being honest, when he wants to be."

"Well, telling the truth is usually more boring, but you did make a convincing case as to why I should refrain from the usual half-truths and wild exaggerations." Varric shrugged. He looked over at Amy. "And our savior has awoken. How are you holding up?"

"I'm not," Amy muttered. She looked at Cassandra, "I need something to eat. And time to think."

"You'll have both. Katerina, take Amy to the tavern, get her something to eat." She took in a breath. "Leliana has promised that Flissa is trustworthy, but take care with her food, regardless."

"You think Flissa would poison her? Lady Pentaghast, I-"

"I will take no chances."

Fucking hell, now I have to worry about that?

"I'm pretty sure I'm immune to poison. Same way I'm immune to getting sick. Side effect of my power." Not that she'd ever tested poison, because duh.

"Handy. That's the sort of thing that could take you pretty far in the Merchant's Guild... wouldn't do anything about anyone sneaking some knives into your back though," Varric mused.

"That's what I'm for," Katerina grinned. "I'll take you there, and then back to your place," She told Amy.

"I think I'll join you. The tavern's beer isn't that bad, and I could use some lunch."

"Varric..."

"What? Seeker, I'm hardly going to corrupt the Herald-"

"Don't call me that," Amy interrupted. "And right now, I just want food, and then I need to collapse and have time to think. So no questions, and no more information about all the insane shit going on in this insane world. Everyone here's fucking crazy."

"Remind me to never bring you to Kirkwall if you think everyone here is crazy." Varric chuckled. He looked over at the books she was carrying. "Brother Genitivi, eh? Not a bad place to start. Best selling book in Thedas, before my Hard in Hightown serial started to outsell it."

Cassandra made a sort of 'ugh' sound, then turned back to Amy. "We will be fitting you for armor tomorrow, and beginning your training." She said it like there were no options, and Amy grimaced, exhaling slowly. Cassandra turned away and walked back into the Chantry.

"Training?"

"Apparently if I'm going to be traipsing around closing rifts, I need to get better at walking long distances." Amy grumbled.

"She's probably not wrong." Katerina offered, then looked Amy over, smirking faintly for a moment. "And armor's just a good idea if you're going to be getting anywhere close to demons."

"Speaking with way, way too much experience she's right, kid," Varric said. He looked at the closed doors of the Chantry, and leaned in closer, voice quieter. "Really, now that Cassandra's out of ear shot, how are you holding up?"

"I'm fucking not." Amy repeated. "Coffee helped, but this is all too much."

"Well, then let's get you something to eat. My treat." Varric offered.

"Varric, you hardly need to-" Katerina said, but Varric interrupted and shook his head.

"I am a pointlessly wealthy dwarf in charge of a major mechant family and my books make me a fortune besides that. What else am I going to spend my money on but buy food for people I plan to pester with questions, even if not today?"

Great. Amy could just tell Varric was going to be annoying as hell to deal with.

 

[Kylia Quilor]

It has occurred to me that people who didn't play the game wouldn't know what all these characters sound like. Leliana's psuedo-french accent (which can vary in intensity, and was more notable in Dragon Age: Origins) has been noted in story. Personally, I've never had much luck mapping Cassandra and Josephine's accents onto RL ones, so I couldn't really have Amy do that for either. Katerina is also Nevarran (though of peasant stock, rather than Cassandra's noble birth), so her accent is pretty similar to Cassandra's.

But here's some samplings of a few character voices, and I'll try to find other spoiler-free videos that can do the same for others later/as we go.

Josephine:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRTCPAxGNbk
Leliana:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkW8tAsY5nk (As I said, to my recollection, her accent is more pronounced in Dragon Age: Origins)
Cassandra:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=840J-klsKsQ

(Again no meaningful spoilers in any of these videos, ftr)