Anders' Cell, Circle Tower, Friday Afternoon Fandom Time

[not_every_mage]

Anders	It was another dull, long day in Anders' cell, without even a cat or a pretty templar to bother. Anders had been reading, but he couldn't survive one more minute of trying to absorb the religious propaganda they kept giving him. (Anders thought studying the Chant was all well and good, but after a few hundred pages of it he tended to nod off.) He stared out into the hall, wondering if it was possible to use his magic to will supper a few moments sooner.
Karl	It had been rather a long time since Karl had last seen Anders; even Wynne had not been entirely forthcoming with tales about the man. So Karl had only limited knowledge of what he'd find in the cell - Anders being Anders, the boredom couldn't have been easy on him. He had other reasons to be anxious as well. He was trying not to focus on them. There was no time for that now, as the door opened. "Anders?" he said.
Anders	Anders sat up, hair askew and expression troubled. He was never allowed guests he actually wanted to talk to. "Karl?" he said. "Why are you here?"
Karl	Karl slipped into the room, looking harried. "I was given permission to see you to deliver the news," he said. He hadn't the faintest how much time he had to even have this conversation. Might as well get the rough stuff out of the way as fast as possible. "They're moving you."
Anders	"Back in with the rest of you?" Anders asked, a reedy thread of hope in his voice. It wasn't freedom, but after two months in a cell any type of regular companionship sounded frankly amazing. But there was doubt mixed in with the hope: Karl wouldn't look so serious if they were just discussing a move up to the second floor enchanter chambers.
Anders	Anders was in a very rare state for a moment: Struck dumb. He blinked at Karl, as though if he opened his eyes again the words would change. "But I can't go there," he said in the end, as if that were going to matter in the slightest. "Why would they -- I know why, but it's so far." Karl was right about why the move would appeal to a perverse sense of humor: After all, the nickname that served as Anders' only name had been drawn from his Anders ancestry. But the Anderfels were thousands of leagues away and forbiddingly remote. A blight centuries before had ravaged the country so badly that the land was all but barren. Anders' father might have grown up in that harsh landscape, but Anders himself had never been -- and never had the faintest desire to change that.
Karl	"I've no idea," Karl said. He'd had some lovely delusions about finding a way to break Anders out of this after he'd found out yesterday evening, but in the light of day, those thoughts were quickly revealed for what they were: futile. He wasn't even certain if telling Anders would do any good, besides wipe away some uncertainty. He hoped it'd do more than that. "Perhaps someone up the Templar chain decided to make an example of you. Perhaps this is some perverse interpretation of mercy. I don't know."
Anders	"I can see how they'd convince themselves it would be a fresh start," Anders said, quiet and bitter. "And there's no place to run to from there, is there? Just -- desert and rocks and things." He was already trying to think through ways to run before he was taken. None of them seemed like very good ideas.
Karl	"Anders... perhaps if the Templars are lax, or--" They weren't likely to be lax. Not after what Anders had been accused of. "...I could try to find the ingredients for the potion again," Karl finished lamely. "I... they aren't in season and they're rare, but perhaps--" Unlikely. Especially considering how little time they had.
Anders	"But they won't be lax, will they?" Anders said, staring at his hands. "I'll be lucky if they don't have a sword pointed at my throat the whole way there." This wasn't exactly true, but it was close enough. "And don't bother trying the potion," he added. "There's no promise it'd get me back to the same place, even if you could put it together. And I can't stand the idea of you getting thrown in a cell for trying it."
Karl	Karl deflated. "I'm sorry," he said. "I'd offer to talk some sense into them instead, but we both know how well that would go over." Best case scenario, they'd throw Karl in with Anders just to be rid of him.
Anders	Anders snorted. "Before or after the lecture on associating with dangerous apostates?" he asked, glancing over at Karl again. "Maybe I could get out of it on my own, anyhow. Jump into Lake Calenhad after they load me on the boat. I'm a better swimmer than I was last time I tried that." Not that there was much of anywhere to go if you tried to swim across Lake Calenhad. Or that templars would hesitate to shoot you full of arrows for trying it.
Anders	"It would at least give them a fright," Karl allowed, with a hint of a laugh that was largely devoid of mirth. "Perhaps if you got them all wet, they'd have to put off deporting you for another day just to dry themselves off. Be asking us to conjure up some flames, no doubt."
Anders	"To warm them, or to set them on fire?" Anders checked -- though he knew which one he would opt for, given half a chance.
Karl	"They'd ask for the former and we'd give them the latter," Karl said. That was the fond daydream, anyhow.
Anders	"That would be lovely," Anders said dreamily. He would never actually burn Templars alive -- not yet, anyhow -- but it was pleasant to imagine. He sat up straighter, frowning. "It's not fair that they're doing this now," he said. "I barely got to see you at all."
Karl	Karl shot him a faint smile; an attempt at encouragement. "We'll make up for it," he said. "Once you make your next daring escape." He should be realistic about it. But he didn't want to be. Not here, and not now.
Anders	"That might be pushing my luck too far," Anders said wistfully. "But who knows? Maybe we'll live to see the Circles come crashing down."
Karl	"And maybe Irving will have figured out the rituals required to make nugs fly," Karl said, wistful as well. "We can only hope."
Anders	"And between the two, I'd put more money on flying nugs," Anders said, and rested a hand over Karl's for a squeeze. "Thanks for telling me. I'll try to look surprised anyhow."
Karl	"Be careful, Anders." Karl looked up at him. His mouth was set in a worried line. Whatever attempt at cheer had gone right out of him. "You know they'll look for any excuse to put you down," he said. "If you have a chance at freedom, take it. But for Andraste's sake, don't run your mouth when you don't have to."
Anders	Anders raised his eyebrows -- not because he disagreed with Karl, but because he hadn't expected such plain advice. "I won't," he said, just as seriously. "I'll be as quiet as I was when I got here, promise. They won't get the satisfaction of breaking me." There was a creak outside the cell, armor on stone -- suggesting, perhaps, that they weren't as alone as Anders had wanted to pretend. He stiffened instantly.
Karl	Anders had been disciplined many times - and he'd ran many times, too. But that was different, and perhaps the seriousness of the situation had finally settled in Karl's bones. He was at the end of his rope, and giving plain advice was all he could do to help. But now he stiffened, too, his eyes darting towards the door. "I should leave," he said reluctantly. "They'll think I've been here too long already." He turned his hand around, seized a hold of Anders' fingers, and squeezed back.
Anders	"You aren't wrong," Anders said, voice barely above a whisper. For all his bravado, in his soul he was as deeply afraid of Templars and their power over him as any mage in the circle. "I'll write you as soon as I'm in a place I can write from."
Karl	Karl nodded, quickly. The kiss he pressed to Anders' temple was quick, too. So quick he was upright and away from the man within moments of giving it. "You'd better," he said quietly.
Anders	Delete Screen Freeze Track This Anders had the faintest notion of turning that forehead kiss into a real kiss -- but before he could possibly act on it, Karl was gone. It was hardly the right time for that sort of thing, anyhow. "I will, and you'd better write back," he said instead, and settled back onto his cot. The hours until he was taken away would almost certainly be among the longest in his life.
Karl	"Of course I will," Karl said, and mustering up every bit of levity he still had left in him - most of it had pooled in the smallest of his toes, he was certain - he added, "Someone's got to tell you that whatever you just did was stupid." He sucked in a deep breath of air. Then he hurried out the door, passing meekly by the Templars waiting out there, terrified of finding some reason to stretch everything out if he didn't.

[OOC: NFB, NFI, OOC always welcome. Played with the glorious rebelseekspizza.]