Room 322, Wednesday Morning

[not_every_mage]

It had been more than a day since the children left, and Anders wasn't sure his head was entirely back to normal yet. It was funny how deeply you could miss someone you'd known for such a short time, and who quite likely wouldn't ever exist at all.

At least it seemed like Leo was headed back someplace where he was safe and loved. Carys, though ... that was another story. He still wasn't entirely certain he and Kathy had done the right thing by making her go home. Her parents had lots of friends, sure, and he liked the idea of palling around with a Champion (whatever that meant exactly) but ... he didn't want to raise a child in a world where her father was an apostate. It seemed likely to lead only to heartbreak for everyone.

He tried to set aside his worry for the girl as he scrounged through his books until he found one on the history of Thedas. Maybe it would at least give him some background on Kirkwall to put a bit of what Carys had said in context.

[OOC: Cracked door, open post.]

Comments

[seeks_truth]

"It was once a mine," Cassandra said. "But over the centuries, it became a refuge for criminals and the destitute. That is how they tell it in Kirkwall, at any rate."

She looked thoughtful. "I have never seen it for myself," she said, "But few had any good words to speak of it."

[not_every_mage]

"So I spend my days tending to criminals and the impoverished in some old mine and then complain when my family visits the alienage," Anders groused. "Sounds like a lovely life. Exactly what I dreamed of when I ran from the Circle."

He wasn't a picky man, but he'd rather thought he'd get to see the sun once in a while.

[seeks_truth]

"You would be better off staying in the Ferelden Circle," Cassandra said mildly. "Kirkwall is not kind to apostates."

Mostly because they got a lot of blood mages.

[not_every_mage]

"You might even be right," Anders said, equally mild. "It's one thing when it's just me, but I'm not raising a child as a target for Templars."

[seeks_truth]

A wise apostate in a similar situation would go to the outskirts of some country or another to live. A place like, say, Lothering, rather than a Free Marcher city-state.

Not that Cassandra was inclined to point this out.

"If it serves as any kind of further explanation," she said, coming back to an earlier point instead, "I am told the alienage is worse than Darktown."

[not_every_mage]

Why Anders wouldn't take Malcolm Hawke as a role model in that situation was indeed an excellent question.

"Oh, so that's why I don't want my five-year-old wandering around there," he said, in some relief. "Apparently Kathy -- the Kathy who's my daughter's mother, anyhow -- thinks that makes me a bigot."

He wrinkled his nose. "I was wondering if I'd hit my head at some point and turned into the kind of idiot who runs around calling them knife-ears."

[seeks_truth]

Cassandra let out a quiet snort.

No, Anders did not seem like the type for that sort of foolishness. "My impression is that there is a spirited competition between the two areas," she said dryly. "Which one is the least unpleasant. While I cannot claim I trust you not to hit your head, it seems likely your decision had more to do with that than any elven prejudice."

[not_every_mage]

"Thank you," Anders said, with a little laugh of his own. "I've only really known elves in the Circle, but many of them were fine mages. I've no bias against them. Still doesn't mean it's a good idea for a human to go strolling through certain alienages."

Strange, how being oppressed for centuries tended to turn a race bitter.

"But it sounds like bringing Kathy to our world was interesting all around. I couldn't quite bring myself to ask if Carys was being raised Andrastian. She mentioned we'd fought about it."

[seeks_truth]

Cassandra frowned. "Why?" she said. "Would she prefer the local religion, with its preoccupation with people's personal lives?"

That's what she'd picked up from it. Not that she didn't respect it - the temples she had seen were impressive. Still.

[not_every_mage]

"No, she doesn't even belong to that one," Anders said. "Her family's something else. Buddhist. I think she takes the way I feel about the Circle as a strike against the faith as a whole."

Which, to be fair, wasn't completely irrational. Maker knew Anders wasn't the world's biggest fan of the Chantry establishment, largely for mage-related reasons.

[seeks_truth]

"That is rather short-sighted," Cassandra said dryly. "There is far more to the Andrastian faith than merely the Circles. Never mind that it seems strange to disagree with the teachings of something that is true."

[not_every_mage]

"I've always thought the part about the magisters and the black city was oddly convenient," Anders mused. "But otherwise I agree. Besides, if we're in Thedas and her father's a mage, she's already in trouble. No need to add to it by making her a heathen."

[seeks_truth]

"Convenient?" Cassandra echoed, raising an eyebrow. "You believe the poisoning of the Golden City was convenient?"

[not_every_mage]

"And we were almost having such a nice conversation," Anders informed his ceiling. "The poisoning's not what I meant, anyhow. But the saying mages brought it on -- it's a nice thing to point to to justify locking us up, is all."

[seeks_truth]

"You know the Tevinters," Cassandra said. "Do you really doubt they were capable of such a thing? Blood mages, especially."

It did not seem convenient to her.

[not_every_mage]

Anders shrugged. "I'm just saying, Andraste had every reason to hate the magisters," he said. "If she needed a villain, why not pick the people who enslaved her? Who would know she was wrong? Besides, as far as I know nobody's figured out physical travel in the Fade since. It's interesting, is all."

[seeks_truth]

"Andraste rose up against the magisters in part because of their practices," Cassandra pointed out mildly. "There are accounts of dreamers. Before and after."

Very sketchy accounts. Possibly made up accounts. But it made perfect sense in her worldview.

[not_every_mage]

"I'm not denying the magisters were awful people," Anders said, then considered it. "Are awful people, given the blood magic and the slavery. But the question isn't whether they're terrible, it's whether we know for sure that they made the Maker turn away from us. I don't know that we can. I don't think Andraste was a liar, but maybe she heard what she wanted to hear."

Of course, Cassandra happened to be right on this point. Too bad they didn't have Corypheus to tell them that.

[seeks_truth]

"And I believe you are distrustful of her words because it suits you," Cassandra said. "It would be such a coup for you, would it not? The great Andraste, lying about the terrible sin the magisters committed. In this, I do not believe it is Andraste who looks for convenience."

[not_every_mage]

Anders smiled sheepishly, chagrined. "You aren't wrong about that, either," he admitted. "It's convenient for her if they did it, it's convenient for me if they didn't, and she did get a bit closer to the source than I ever have."

Which was not to say he was convinced, but Cassandra's point was undeniably a good one.