Room 322, Tuesday Morning

[not_every_mage]

Anders didn't get much mail, so he was surprised to find something waiting for him in the dorm mailboxes. What was even stranger was that the envelope, seal and stamps all looked like those used in Ferelden.

He tore the letter open with shaking hands. True, Templars weren't in the habit of sending notes to runaway mages -- they were more the type to show up unannounced -- but he supposed there was a first time for everything. And the fact anyone knew where he was posed some level of risk.

It was a puzzle, then, that the letter seemed to be nothing more than a common enough piece of junk mail touting some worthless potion as a "miracle cure" for flatulence, pimples, back pain or the common cold. Anders was about to throw it out when he realized the runes bordering the parchment were not simple decoration at all. Instead, they were an obscure Elven alphabet that Circle apprentices used to smuggle messages between themselves.

Decoded, they read A - Am back in the Circle. Portal dropped me by gate as if no time had passed. Thanks for the vacation. Hope to do it again soon. - K

So that was that. The Circle might not be anyone's idea of a happy home to come back to, but Anders was simply glad Karl wasn't being tortured or worse. He didn't want to think about how his friend had bribed, begged or threatened to get the message out so quickly; he was just glad he'd done it at all.

He reread the letter a few more times as he sat on his bed, trying to work out if there was any safe way to answer it.

[OOC: Cracked door, open post!]

Comments

[not_every_mage]

"In a moment," Anders called as he placed the letter on his pillow and went to open the door. A smile grew on his face when he realized who his guest was.

"Nathan! Come in, please. How are you?"

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"Still trying to wake up," he joked, stepping inside and glancing around. "I decided to have a lie in for some reason. Slept for a long time and just woke up. Had to pick some sticks out of my hair."

That last part wasn't true.

[not_every_mage]

"Let me see," Anders said, rising quickly up to look at the top of Nathan's head. "Hmmm. No sticks left. And you wanted those beetles there, didn't you?"

There was nothing much new to see in the room, other than Anders' mother's pillow on his bed and a few sketches from the Circle he'd tacked to the walls.

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"Well, the beetles add color," Nathan joked, snickering. "And I'm always happy to give bugs a safe and clean home."

Not even.

"How are you doing?"

[not_every_mage]

"And I'm sure they appreciate the space to nest," Anders told him, and went to sit on his bed. "And I'm -- fine, I suppose. The bad news is a portal sucked Karl away. The good news is, he got dumped right back at the Circle without anyone noticing he'd been gone, and Barry's already working on a way to get him back."

He needed to cling to the good news so he didn't get horribly wrecked by the thought of Karl right back where they'd both started from.

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"Oh. I'm sorry, Anders," Nathan said, crossing over to sit down next to him carefully. "It's...good that he's all right but I'm sorry that he's not here anymore. I wanted him to stay too. He's a good man and deserves his freedom."

[not_every_mage]

"He'd probably deserve that much even if he wasn't as good," Anders said --not exactly arguing, but thinking it through. "But the fact he's a good man and a good mage and a good friend -- it makes it sting more."

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"Are you able to contact him?" Nathan asked quietly. "Or is that too dangerous even via letter?"

[not_every_mage]

"I don't know," Anders admitted, offering Nathan Karl's letter. Not that Nathan could read most of it, but he believed in visual aids. "He sent me this to tell me he was safe. The important bit's in these runes along the sides, the rest of it is just junk. So if I could figure out what courier he used and how he got it to them -- maybe I could write back safely the same way."

It would take time and care, but he had both.

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

Taking the letter, Nathan held it close to his face like that might make reading it easier. It didn't He did recognize some of the letters at the very least but otherwise, it was foreign.

He settled the latter on his lap. "Could you use someone else's name? You can send it in my name, if you like. Maybe it'd slip through easier if the name wasn't recognizable when it made to your friend?"

[not_every_mage]

Anders blinked at him in genuine surprise. "That's brilliant," he said. "They read our mail, but they hardly ever stop it. And Nathan's a name at home, so it wouldn't stand out."

He was thinking so hard about tricky solutions he missed a simpler and safer one.

"You're sure? There's some risk, but with you being from a different world it honestly isn't much."

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"I'm sure," Nathan told him, pleased his idea was both a good one and that he could help. "I'm not scared. And if it helps you and Karl talk back and forth, it's worth it."

He nodded. "I want you to use my name, if it helps. It's okay."

[not_every_mage]

"Thank you," Anders said, and reached to squeeze Nathan's hand. "I doubt we'll write often, but being able to write at all will help."

He'd know Karl was safe, be able to tell him when Barry got a portal running. It was fantastic.

Sheepishly, he added, "I should probably mention Anders is just a nickname to start with. But if anybody remembers my real name, the Templars do."

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"Really?" Nathan wouldn't have ever guessed that. Not that it was a bad thing at all. It was just something he wouldn't have pinpointed as being a nickname. "It's a good nickname. I like it."

And that was the truth. "Did you take the nickname to make it easier to hide from the Templars?"

[not_every_mage]

"Partially," Anders said, pleased by Nathan's reaction. "But I picked it up before that. My family's from a country called the Anderfels, and when I came to the Circle that was the first thing people remembered about me. After a while I started calling myself the same thing everyone else did."

It had seemed like a good idea at the time: New place, new life, new name. And then there was another factor --

"I like it too."

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"It's good. It suits you. It's not common but it's not completely out of the ordinary either," Nathan said since he'd thought about it some. "It's unique but not in overly strange ways."

It was a good name.

"I never had a nickname. I guess some people called me Nate every so often but it's not something I'd probably go by all the time. I called myself Ivan once since my name is fairly well known back home. Unfortunately."

[not_every_mage]

"You don't look like a Nate," Anders decided. "Nates are shorter."

He made that up right then, yes. But he still couldn't imagine shortening Nathan's name.

"And Ivan ... actually, I've never met an Ivan. It sounds dashing."

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"It comes from a book that I know..." he started before trailing off, hesitating slightly because he'd nearly taken Gabriel's head off after telling him about this book before. He didn't think it would be like that with Anders though which was why he was actually sharing it.

"It comes from a book I know called One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Solzhenitsyn. When I needed a name, I took it from that book. It was the only thing I could think of."

[not_every_mage]

Anders shook his head. "I don't know it. What's he like in the book?"

He was a little surprised Nathan had taken a name from a book, but it barely showed.

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

Nathan shrugged and looked down at the floor. He clasped and then unclasped his hands a few times. He was glad there wasn't any immediate launch to anger like there had been with Gabriel.

"He survives," he finally said, quieter than before. And that was all he had. A simple answer for a question that probably deserved more.

[not_every_mage]

It was a simple answer, but that simplicity -- and the delay before Nathan could give it -- said a lot.

Anders took another long moment to come up with a reply. "Sometimes that makes someone a hero."

[OOC:Sorry. Random baking project interruption.]

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"I didn't read it," Nathan said because he figured Anders might be wondering. "There was a woman who -- the Council sent me to her after they took me away from my grandmother and she liked Russian literature. She read it to me a few times."

In between his times in his cage, of course. Lovely time that was.

[Not a worry! I'm all over the place tonight.]

[not_every_mage]

"I wasn't going to ask," Anders said easily,though he wouldn't deny having been curious. "You must have liked it, though, if you remembered enough to want his name."

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"I don't know if I liked it or if it was just the only thing I was exposed to," Nathan said because he'd definitely thought about it. "Maybe I'd like some -- some romance novel if she'd read that to me. Can you imagine?"

[not_every_mage]

Anders laughed. "If your romance novels are like ours, you would have ended up calling yourself something like Ser Orwyll De Dragonhart," he said. "Which might have gotten some funny looks."