There and Back Again Ch. 149

He'd apparently made the offer to Aedan before, and was just restating it, whether for my benefit or to push Aedan to make a decision, I wasn't sure. Aedan told him he'd think about it -- and that he needed to discuss it with Alistair. Personally, I had no objection -- but I'd want to grill any potential recruits very thoroughly before we took them. No one needed a repeat of the Rolan problem.

Finally we moved on to the discussion of the Architect and what could be done about him.

"I really must insist on knowing all of the details of who you are detaining, and why," Greagoir stated darkly.

Ahh, now we get to what they were arguing about.

"Warden secret, Knight-Commander. I've already told you that. All you need to know is that we need a room warded against magic, so that the occupant cannot cast spells at all." Aedan was visibly frustrated, and it was clear they'd had this conversation more than once already.

"This knowledge is specific to the Chantry, Warden-Commander. The Chantry may owe you recompense for what was done to your Wardens by templars not under my command, but I will not give out this information without adequate reason, nor will I risk unknowingly contributing to something immoral-"

I cleared my throat, interrupting the templar mid-rant. Aedan looked away, embarrassed but still aggravated. "How much have you been told, Knight-Commander?"

"Nothing, and that's exactly my point. Calling in a favour is one thing, but-"

I sighed. "Aedan?"

"He doesn't need to know." I glared at him, and he scowled right back. "He doesn't!"

"What happened to my diplomatic brother? The one who could talk a Chantry sister into committing murder with a smile on her face?"

He stood, suddenly, face red. Visibly shaking with anger, he opened his mouth to respond, and I braced myself for a torrent of vitriol. I was shocked and frightened by the look on his face; my brother hadn't been that angry in my presence ever, never mind aimed at me. My reaction must have penetrated his anger, because he closed his mouth, took a deep, calming breath, rubbed his forehead irritably with the heel of his hand, and then leaned over to kiss my forehead softly. "Sorry sis," he mumbled.

I reached for his hand, but he shook his head slightly and pulled away. "I will defer to my co-Commander in this." He gestured to Alistair, and then turned towards the door. "I find myself needing some air." He walked out swiftly, closing the door behind himself with a definite thump.

The room was deadly silent in the aftermath of Aedan's outburst. What in the hell was that all about? I looked from the door, to Alistair's face -- which echoed my confusion, his brow wrinkled and lips pursed -- to Greagoir and the others. The Knight Commander looked thoughtful, stroking his chin like some movie cliché. The others winced, clearly having a better idea than I what was going on, but Anders caught my eye and purposefully glanced toward the Knight-Commander, and I got the point: it would have to wait until we had some privacy to discuss whatever was wrong with my brother. And I hope Zevran is out there to calm him down until we can figure it out.

Alistair and I shared an uneasy glance, and then he shrugged slightly and gestured at me with his chin. I sighed, and turned back to Greagoir, shaking my head to clear the fog that was creeping back in after Anders' rejuvenation spell.

"Knight-Commander, do you remember the darkspawn that killed Duncan during the battle with the Archdemon?" He nodded. "It was a mage -- one of the most powerful mages I've ever come across."

"I recall. King Cailan killed it while you disabled its magic, as I remember," he replied.

"Right. Well, we've found another darkspawn like it -- one even more dangerous and intelligent. We captured it. You can probably feel the mana I'm holding right now, if you concentrate. And for reasons we cannot explain, we can't simply kill it. We need to contain it, possibly forever. If it escaped or was rescued, a lot of people could die. It is all but immune to magebane, and we don't have any other reliable method of subduing it. We need your help to create a way to keep it locked away from its magic forever.

"Will you help us?"