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New Year...

...Same Old Hinterlands

Maybe the Inquisition sent you, maybe you came seeking the Inquisition. Maybe you fell out of a rift into this world last week and are still just trying to find your feet. However it happened, the first days of the new year find you in the Hinterlands. Tucked between Ferelden's massive Lake Calenhad and the icy Frostback Mountains, the Hinterlands are a hilly region covered in patchy forests and small farms trying to eke out a living between the boulders. Though somewhat remote, the area is rich with game and minerals and home to Redcliffe, a bustling town on a busy trade route.

Lately the Hinterlands have also been full of mages and templars and rifts, all threatening to turn once-peaceful countryside into a dangerous warzone. The Inquisition has set up several camps and sent personnel to try to restore order to the region, unwilling to let it slip into chaos. There's a lot to be done, some of it straightforward killing bad things, some of it weird and nebulous morale-building.

STILL WITH ADDED SNOW.

1. SHOULD OLD ACQUAINTANCE BE FORGOT

You have turned the wrong corner in the snow, forded the wrong stream in the snow, crested the wrong hill in the snow, entered the wrong cave in the snow. Maybe you are far from camp, in the snow. Maybe you are in camp, which is also snowy. Whatever has happened, wherever you are: you are being chased through the snow by bears. Did you throw a snowball at the bears? Are they huge and snow-dusted? Babies burrowing through the snow drifts and coming for your ankles? Fade-touched in addition to snow-touched? Controlled by cold mages who are hiding in the snow? Popping up out of the snow like a game of whack-a-mole? What are they chasing you away from in all of this snow? What are they chasing you into, other than more snow? What warm things do you plan to make out of their hide if you kill them in the snow? What do you think they'll craft out of your hide if they kill you in the snow? P.S. It's still snowy.

2. WE TWO HAVE RUN ABOUT THE SLOPES

Farmers have been forced to abandon their homes after a series of vicious attacks by wolves. Packs of them are roaming the foothills and stalking paddocks and even roads seemingly without the usual wariness of humans. Inquisition agents and local volunteers guard travelers through the affected region, hunt the wolves through snowy woods, and track them back to their cavernous lair in the edge of a canyon. Only eliminating the demons that lurk there will free the wolves from their influence and allow the area to return to normal.

3. AND PICKED THE DAISIES FINE

Winter snows freeze and bury the ground, but the need for healing herbs is as great as ever. Stockpiles are thin after the chaos of the last year, and Corporal Vale is desperate enough to send people out to search caves and hollows and cliffsides and beneath overhangs for any plants still clinging to life. The weather is brutal, the search tedious, the footing often treacherous, but that last patch of Crystal Grace could be a key find. Getting it requires clambering up a slippery hillside and stretching up to a ledge and hoping whatever creature lives in that foxhole beside the plant isn't at home, but it's worth it, right?

4. WE TWO HAVE PADDLED IN THE STREAM

With many roads through the hills and ravines blocked by deep snow, some crazy, desperate few have begun traveling by river. The ice is thick and jagged along the shores but in the center the water rushes, just deep enough for a shallow draft boat lightly laden. Supplies are carried down from the passes toward Redcliffe this way, a white-knuckle process that you, for some reason, have become involved in. Maybe you were hired to help fend off the bandits that haunt the calm shallows and try to demand tolls for passage, maybe you're paying your way downstream by helping port both boat and cargo around the steep falls, the mist so thick and cold it coats whatever it touches in a thin sheen of ice. Maybe riding a glorified canoe through rocky rapids and narrow gorges just sounded like a good time. Don't rock the boat!

5. WE'LL TAKE A CUP OF KINDNESS YET

It is still snowing, and the tavern in Redcliffe is still the closest and warmest place to duck into to wait it out, and not only is it packed to the gills but it seems that the First Day celebrations have continued within long past the dawn of the second day. The Gull & Lantern is so packed with thawing visitors that it's hard to walk from one side to the other, the owner has given up on telling these Fereldans they can't bring their dogs inside, every few minutes the group in the corner breaks into a traditional First Day song that will be stuck in your head for weeks, and that lady in the corner is almost definitely someone you've tried to kill before, or vice versa. But there's a fire going, and the bartender seems to think that giving everyone half-price drinks might prevent a brawl instead of causing one, and there aren't any demons indoors, so it could be a lot worse.

6. WILDCARD

Hunt game in the snow, kill demons in the snow, dig under the snow for herbs, track bandits through the snow, deal with someone charging extortionist coat prices now that it's snowing, fall off a deceptively tall rock into the snow, get lost circling the same hill ten times trying to find a way up to the weird glowing skull on a stick you can see is up there in the snow, climb trees or abandoned towers covered in snow, rummage around in empty homes to get out of the snow, run from a dragon in the snow, cry over how cute that fennec fox you just shot in the snow was, set up camp and chat around the fire because it's snowy and cold, knock yourself out (figuratively, or even literally if that's more your speed)-- the Hinterlands are your ~~Frostback Mountain~~ oyster, topped with snow.

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Anders winces. On one hand, at least it's not a shout, and he's not getting an arrow aimed at him. On the other, he can read a great many emotions in Nathaniel's voice, and none of them are positive. Not like they should be. But this is another complication upon all of the others, and Anders wonders if he's going to need to run from Skyhold.

"Nathaniel." What really is there to say? Hi, please forget you saw me, I'm just passing through? "I don't suppose there's a chance you'd be willing to use the name Detlef for me?"

Worth a shot. It's probably not going to work. Most things don't, really. He'll take anything other than the disappointment he hears from Nate, though.

Nathaniel is lost in thought for a moment, and belatedly gives him a faint nod and a smoothing gesture with one hand, letting him know to consider it done. He comes only a step closer and stops in wonder.

"Maker, what happened to you?"

He doesn't exactly know what to make of it when reunions don't promptly go poorly. There's so much trust he's betrayed, so many people he's hurt, and yet those he'd counted as friends in the past seem to be forgiving him. The question leaves him blinking for a moment before he shrugs, a little self-consciously.

"There was a great deal of mud between two hills, twelve, thirteen minutes back. I didn't see it before I stepped in. I've had a delightful squishing sensation with every step since." It doesn't answer the question he's really being asked and he knows it, but Anders has no idea how to even start approaching that. Kirkwall happened.

"You're not the cleanest person out here yourself, you know. You've twigs in your hair." Nate doesn't. But Anders wants to see if he'll scowl and check.

Lo and behold, Nathaniel's hand goes straight to his hair to brush out twigs. When he doesn't find any after a few seconds, he gives Anders a squint. Which, for all the irritation his face conveys as a default, is actually a bit relieved.

"Well, whatever happened didn't damage your tongue, unfortunately."

It's good. After all this, Anders is still making jokes. Justice never made jokes. Or understand them. Justice badgered Nathaniel for attempting to steal back his family's things. Justice yammered at Anders all the time about fighting for his fellow mages. Justice was probably the one really behind that mess at Kirkwall, whether directly or by nattering incessantly at Anders those seven years. Justice did so love nattering. So as long as Anders is making jokes, Nathaniel knows Justice isn't interfering.

"Where's our friend? Still in your head?"

Our friend. Anders looks down, momentary tiny smile from Nate checking his hair wiped completely off his face. How much of Justice is truly Justice anymore? At least there's a technically accurate answer.

"Yes." There's a beat before he looks back up. It's not a topic that he really wants to dwell on at the moment, though he knows sooner or later someone's going to push. The ones who knew Justice before are the most likely of those to do so. All Anders can do is be grateful they're out here, in the open, where no one can eavesdrop, rather than back in Skyhold.

"More or less. What brings you out here?"

Nathaniel's gaze flicks away at the answer, the old guilt settling in on his shoulders again. His own damn fault, though he escaped most of the consequences. Stirring the fire, provoking the beast, tempting fate. Talking Justice into the idea of a willing, living host. Such a little risk it had seemed at the time, and look where it's gone.

"Running for my life. Are you here to join the rebellion?"

That's a warier question. Still gauging the danger of this situation, and whether it's safe to leave Anders alone--for him or for the people of the Hinterlands.

"Your life? You're in danger again?"

The question is missed at first, because at least, maybe, Anders can do something for someone, protect or help or... he doesn't know. He needs details first. Then his brain catches up with his ears and he shakes his head.

"I'm with the Inquisition. I've joined. It seems the best chance of seeing lasting freedom. You could join too. Sigrun was there for a time, I've heard, though I've no idea where she went." She'd vanished before. It was little surprise she'd do it again, and he spoke as someone who had a habit of vanishing. "If you're in danger, they're fair. From what I've seen."

They just don't happen to know who he is, yet. His opinion might yet change.

A pause, then an increasingly bewildered scowl.

"Maker, Anders. The Inquisition? Are you out of your mind? They're going to find out who you are and they will kill you. And if our friend is still with you, they may not have much of a choice about it."

Anders sighs.

"I know. I know. But I..." There's another sigh, combined with a glance past Nathaniel, before he continues. "It's not entirely up to me. I have... He needs to fulfill his purpose, and mages deserve to have a future that isn't being locked away. What time I've left, I should make mean something."

And to think he used to be a coward, running whenever things got difficult. He misses the ability to flee, but he doesn't miss the flight.

"And let's not ignore what you said. What did you do, that your life's in danger again?"

...Shit. Oh, shit fuck everything this is going to be another catastrophe. Maker damn fuck shit Justice is still making Anders do things for this cause after he very nearly destroyed Kirkwall. Justice is going to fulfill his purpose even though it means destroying Anders along with all the innocent bystanders they've already killed together. And the further innocent bystanders they will inevitably kill.

If you gave instead of taking, I would consider you no demon.

Dammit, this is his fault.

"Don't change the subject. And don't mince words. Justice is a demon now, and he's driving you into the ground."

"No." There's a force behind the word, and a bit of an echo. Anders shakes his head as if to clear it. "No. He's... There's been some change. He's not purely Justice any longer. But there's a, a person, part of the Inquisition, who speaks of having that turned back. And it's not... it isn't all his doing."

He takes a breath, trying to calm down himself and slow the rush of words. "He's not fully gone. Which means I'm not either. We've still a chance to make things better."

If Nate decides he's fully an abomination, Anders isn't sure what will happen. He doesn't want to die, but he doesn't want to fight Nate.

Nathaniel stands, watches him, wary, then releases a long breath. Anders' posture is that of a cornered animal, and that voice... No. No, no, no.

"I won't hurt you. Or. I won't try to hurt you. Maker knows I couldn't if I tried, I remember how Justice fights. Maker's breath."

He pinches the bridge of his nose.

"Are the Wardens with the Inquisition agents of Clarel?"

Won't try. That's what matters, here, as Anders tries to ignore the fact that they both know what sort of devastation Justice can cause. Justice doesn't want to dwell on that, though, and Anders doesn't want to push it.

Anders shakes his head, looking away. "No. As far as I can tell, I mean. I've not exactly gone close to any of them. It's not like the Wardens recruit many mages, and a blond, male, Spirit Healer mage Warden would be far too specific for my survival." It's possible that not many know about how his story intertwines with the Hero of Ferelden's, but he doesn't want to add more risks to what he's already bearing.

"But I believe they've all broken from the Wardens, from what I've overheard. I've only been around them for... not even a month, yet."

"Well, that was your first mistake. You shouldn't be blond. Nothing to be done about that now, I guess. But you're not doing any mages any favors by being there, Anders. When they catch you, every mage in Skyhold will be suspected in your harboring."

There's another shake of his head, though this time it's paired with a grimace.

"No. There's... It was a Templar who asked me to come. One who actually believes that mages should be free and equal, which means I don't want to use his asking against him, but it was no mage who suggested my arrival in Skyhold." Not even Varric knew that piece of information. "If they come after the mages for my presence, it'll be proof they weren't complicit. And as he had no cause to know who I am, they can't possibly suspect a Templar would knowingly bring me to assist the mages."

It might be the one thing he's done right in this. The alias isn't a good one, there's nearly no disguise at all, but at least it won't come back on the mages.

"Can we get back to your life being in danger, again?"

"It doesn't matter what's true or not. Maybe the Inquisition won't blame the other mages, but the public will. They're afraid and you already showed them there's something to be afraid of."

Oh for--

"Warden-Commander Clarel is hunting loose ends, and I'm one. Moving along."

"The public. You mean the people who were fine ignoring that we were dying and worse because at least we were doing it far away from them?" Anders snorts. "And we're not moving along."

There are a few ways this could go. He could press, and if he presses, it likely won't go well. There's the option of ignoring it, but he can't take that. Which leaves trying to make a joke as he pries.

"Do you mean to tell me in the time I've been gone from the Wardens you've become loose? Imagine what Oghren would say." Spirits, he misses the foul Dwarf sometimes. He misses them all sometimes, but there's never a good time to contact people you once knew when you'd left them behind. "I might even be jealous."

"Yes, those people. The ones who'll make a mob and overwhelm all the mages that are now free and defenseless."

A snort. "Stop, Anders. You hear it, too. We all hear it. It's driven Clarel to ally with a Tevinter magister, who's convinced her we can all march into the Deep Roads with an army of demons and destroy all the Old Gods so there are no future Blights. I took issue with her methods."

Mobs might happen. If they do, they should be set on fire. He has no sympathy for those who would oppress others, and especially those who would attempt mob justice to do it. Anders chooses to focus on the other, faint smile on his lips for the briefest of moments when Nate snorts.

"With an army of demons?" That's worse than the rumors he's heard. Then again, not a lot of Grey Wardens would talk openly about Warden business, and he's kept his distance.

"How can she even... She's not convinced. Something's happened to her." He had no true love for Clarel. She's the reason his cat is gone, the reason Rolan had been allowed to harass him constantly. But surely she wouldn't willingly consort with demons. "Blood magic, maybe. Or the sound's driving her mad."

Certainly no more Blights is a good goal, but using demons to achieve anything will only make that attempt backfire.

"Whatever the case, I'm glad you took issue."

"I wouldn't be surprised by blood magic. And since Jonas and...our most dubious ally are likely sitting in a cave sipping tea together instead of solving problems, there's no one to stop her."

Anders is right. He needs the Inquisition. Nathaniel releases a sigh.

"The Inquisition it is, then. They may be able to stop this nonsense."

Also, Anders needs looking after and protecting. Desperately.

Edited 2016-01-11 16:40 (UTC)

"I respect our former Warden-Commander a great deal, but that was still the wrong call." Organized Darkspawn. And he can't imagine Corypheus having any trouble making promises to the Architect.

"At least I believe you're making a good call. You being there can only help the situation, and you're probably among the more senior Wardens." Not a lot got recruited when there wasn't a Blight, and between the regular Calling and this noise going on a great many had become misguided. Nate's got a good head on his shoulders, too.

And it will be nice to have another person he likes and has missed around the place, even if Justice is unsure about Nathaniel's presence. "Do you have anything to gather up? We could head toward the camp together, and you can meet some of the people there. Or you can come on your own when ready."

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