boxofmisfits | A Sith & A Mage & Hijinks...

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A Sith & A Mage & Hijinks...

It had been a week now since that day they had decided to start traveling together.

It had been nice- traveling alongside someone else, having stories shared with him and even sharing some very heavily edited ones of his own given that edited stories were all he could offer without sounding completely off in the head. It had also been difficult given that Altair had to be very careful to not let even a slip of skin show. Wandering off on his own during times Anders was otherwise occupied to clean himself or to eat or drink.

Still, Altair preferred it to traveling alone- even if he had found a lot of ghosts along the way to talk to. Having a friend among the living was nice too.

As they traveled on this particular day, the light was quickly being replaced with the darkness of night.

Some old and unused path through a forest, that had once been a well-traveled road if the old rock fence he was currently keeping his balance on as he walked along the top of it rather than on the path through the trees was anything to go by- maybe the place had been settled some time ago. Maybe people had lived out here. It seemed likely, all things considered. Maybe they'd find something neat if they kept walking in this direction.

Who knew.

He wasn't so focused on that at the moment though, instead keeping his head tilted back so his face was turned up to the sky- knowing that the stars would be starting to come out soon.

"Do you ever wonder if there's life out there?" He asked his companion, breaking the comfortable silence they'd been traveling in for a little while.

It was a question that had been on his mind, all things considered.

Maybe there was a similar Empire to his own out there. Maybe a Galactic Republic or something like it. Or perhaps all the worlds out there were like this one- still so early in their development.

Altair wondered if this planet had even gotten to the part of history where they were wondering or theorizing about whether or not there was life out in space too. Maybe he was sounding completely insane to Anders by asking.

But then, a lot of things Altair had said and done since they first met probably seemed completely insane, so it really was business as usual.

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Relief washed through Anders. Part of him had still been certain that Altair would immediately tell him to get lost after revealing that, despite his open-mindedness and assurance.

"It was, yes. We talked about it before hand and ultimately agreed to be equal partners." Though it wasn't exactly a smooth transition, and there were a lot of bumps in the road while they figured things out.

"I'd say we're happy. I mean, there were times when we weren't," Kirkwall hadn't been good for either of them. "It's complicated."

As though he could sense the relief- he could, but he wasn't exactly advertising that fact- Altair gave Anders's hand a gentle and comforting squeeze to reassure him. There wasn't really anything the other man could do or say to scare him off, really. Though Altair imagined a person actually from this world would have reservations. He had one of them though, and his friend was his friend, spirit or no.

"I'm glad you can say you're happy together now."

Complicated times would come and go, Altair imagined, but still.

"And I meant what I said. I'm here if either you or your spirit friend need to talk about anything. Despite my lack of sight, I'm quite aware that most of the people we've been speaking to while traveling together are ghosts. And if I can listen to every sad tale of the dead without any fear for what I might hear, then listening to a friend is so much easier."

He sounded like he was smiling a little beneath his hood, "And stars know you've listened to me go on too."

Anders smiled back. He'd yet to hear anyone swear by the stars, but the Dalish swore by their gods and the dwarves swore by their ancestors, so perhaps in Altair's land, they swore by the stars.

"You've been a good friend. Better than I deserve."

Too kind and better than he deserved. Was that really how Anders saw him? And was that really how he saw himself?

"You know... Sometimes it feels like you look at yourself and see someone undeserving of any kindness you receive. I'm your friend. Listening to you is the least I can do."

That was how Altair felt, anyway. Friends were meant to support each other. And he knew that he personally had a tendency to go a little overboard sometimes, but really- Anders was his friend and Altair was happy to listen and happy to help however he could.

"Perhaps I'm way off, but... I want to continue being a good friend to you and I'm going to have to remind you that you deserve it, I think."

His tone was mild- sincere, friendly, but light enough to dismiss as him joking if Anders felt the need to brush it off, if he needed to draw that line. Altair did mean it though- though he'd go light on the reminders depending on the other man's response.

"You don't know the whole story."

Anders came to a halt, still holding onto Altair's hand, so he would have to stop too. He was confident that they were alone now, and could afford to stop for the moment, so Anders could say what he needed to say. He owed Altair the truth. If he drew the line and left them, then that was the price they would pay.

"A little over a year ago, I did something... something that made me the most wanted man in Thedas." He looked at their joined hands, unable to meet the masked face. "Even if we win this war, even if I'm officially pardoned, there are still going to be those who want me dead. You deserve to know who you're getting involved with."

Altair stopped when Anders did, turning slightly to look at him- saying nothing yet, only listening to what the other man felt like he needed to say.

"Knowing you, whatever you did, you must have had a reason for."

Altair didn't know what Anders had done to become the most wanted man in Thedas, but whatever it was, Altair was certain that whatever it was had been done for a good reason. Anders was a healer. Altair remembered the sense of hope among the people who had been there when he had come dragging his near dead friend into the refugee camp. And Anders himself needing to be pressed into accepting a reward for helping.

Altair couldn't imagine him doing anything that would leave him the most wanted man in Thedas without having a good reason to do it.

"And how very good then that I am not adverse to murdering those who threaten those I care about."

Like he'd done to those Templars not so very long ago.

"I'm also not easily scared off. If you want to tell me what made you the most wanted man in Thedas, you can. If you'd rather not talk about it, you don't have to. I'll be here regardless."

Whatever it was, Altair was certain that he'd done worse in his life.

He said that now, but Anders still felt like he was setting himself up for heartbreak by confessing this. "Before all this happened, I was in Kirkwall. It was home to one of the largest Circles in Thedas, and it was well known for being atrocious even by Circle standards. The mages there were suffering, dying, and the Chantry was completely apathetic to it all."

Finally he looked back at Altair's mask, focusing on the eyeholes. "Grand Cleric Elthina claimed she couldn't take sides, that she couldn't get involved, and that the mages and Templars just needed to sort things out for themselves. She was content to sit on her hands in her gilded castle of a Chantry, ignoring everything the allowing the Templars to abuse and murder mages."

After a certain point, refusing to take action was as good as helping Meredith. Elthina's apathy had allowed so many mages to die.

"Then I found out that Knight-Commander Meredith had sent for the Right of Annulment, and I knew that the mages were running out of time. She was going to slaughter every single mage in the Circle, even after the Grand Cleric said no. Meredith was going to go over her head, carry out mass murder, and Elthina would have made a show of being sad, all while claiming that there was nothing she could have done."

She would appear to be the benevolent Grand Cleric who tried to stop the slaughter and keep the peace, when in reality she'd have plausible deniability and could claim innocence in the slaughter. She had to have known that Meredith would go to the Divine herself, given that she'd broken Chantry law more than once.

"I knew that if the mages were going to survive, something had to happen. Something radical. Something that would show the world how unjust the situation was and give mages everywhere a reason to rise up and rebel."

The moment of truth. The moment that he just knew that Altair would pull his hand away.

"I made a bomb, planted it in the Chantry, and detonated it that night. I killed the Grand Cleric, along with a handful of Templars and Revered Mothers." He'd made extra sure that the Chantry hadn't suddenly decided to take in orphans and refugees before doing so. "Meredith called for the Right of Annulment right then and there, despite the fact that I'm an apostate and the Circle had nothing to do with it. After that, it was open rebellion. The mages fought back, with my friends and I defending them. The surviving mages fled Kirkwall, and we've all been on the run ever since."

He braced himself for Altair's reaction.

Altair remained silent, as Anders told him his tale and every now and then his head would tilt as he considered his words. He seemed so afraid that Altair would turn on him, even though Altair really wasn't hearing anything any sane man would judge Anders for. Maybe it would have been different if he'd been from this world. Or if he'd been a Jedi who'd found his way here somehow.

But as a Sith he was a man of action. And Anders had taken action.

When he finished talking, instead of pulling his hand away, Altair moved to grasp Anders's hand with both of his and giving a comforting squeeze. All that apprehension he could sense. Anders really did believe that he would pull away from him after hearing this. That he'd think less of him, somehow.

"So your people suffered from both the apathy of the Chantry and the cruelty of the Templars, including a woman who wanted to slaughter all mages in this Kirkwall Circle for no crime other than what?- being born?- and you did something to make sure that that didn't happen..."

An apathetic Grand Cleric content to sit by and weep false tears to garner sympathy it sounded like, monstrous Templars, and some Revered Mothers lost to give the mages a fighting chance where before all they had been promised was death at the hands of the prejudiced. And considering Anders hadn't mentioned any innocents being caught in the blast, Altair was pretty sure he'd taken precautions to ensure that none would be, which would have been the only reason why one might blame him for anything.

"And I'm supposed to what? Judge you for that? Blame you? Get angry? For doing what you could to save lives in an impossible situation?"

Maybe some people would argue that there was a better way, but. Not him. In that sort of situation, answering in a moderate way would amount to nothing, and innocent lives would be lost as a result.

"I think you did what you could when most others were content to sit on their hands doing nothing besides offering empty platitudes. I'm not going to turn on you for that. And certainly not judge you for it. If anything, I think you were very brave and that you saved a lot of lives doing what you did."

Anders was taken by surprise when Altair began holding his hand with both of his own. Like he'd been so certain of rejection that he hadn't expected the opposite.

No shoving him away, no telling him to get lost and never come back, not even a disapproving cluck of the tongue. Just acceptance and even condoning what he'd done.

"Still, my actions sent Kirkwall into chaos, and not everyone thanked me for what I'd done. Most of the mages were more than glad to be out of there, even if it meant living on the run. They were just glad to be free. But others... they hated me. They didn't like that I'd made them fugitives. They thought that the Circle could be fixed, that mages and Templars just needed to compromise. They way they saw it, being fed and housed was worth being treated as sub-human."

Anders recalled that more than one mage at his own Circle had believed everything they were told. That they were living in sin by having magic, and that the only way to cleanse themselves was to die by the Templars' swords. When they didn't just take their own lives, anyway.

Edited 2022-07-02 23:23 (UTC)

"Sometimes when you're in the middle of it, it's difficult to see the path ahead. I was born into slavery and when I was freed, all I was looking for was someone to tell me what to do. Someone to make my life make sense because chains was all I'd ever known- I didn't know what or who I was without being given an order to follow."

Altair had been so willing to do everything Zash asked of him. He was old enough now to realize that had Zash been open with him- if she'd told him to die so that she could live- he probably would have. It would have been an order from the first person to ever treat him so well and he would have died for her if she'd told him to because it was all he knew. Only her betrayal had forced him onto another path.

"The day I was truly free, I was more frightened than I'd ever been before because my decisions were mine alone and I was the one who'd have to live with the consequences of my actions."

He'd been angry and confused too, until he'd found his course and a purpose to keep moving. He'd made mistakes, but he'd been free to make them and the consequences had been something he'd learned to live with. And he appreciated that now, even if he hadn't at the time.

"Fear of the unknown easily turns to anger. Some overcome that in time like I overcame the fear of freedom, while others will probably always resent having what seems like the easier path away from them because it's all they've ever been told and all they've ever known. Doesn't mean you were wrong, though."

Altair didn't think so, anyway.

"When it seems like the world is telling you with one voice that there's something wrong with your existence and that you should be happy you're even given scraps, it's easy to start believing it. Even if you come to realize how wrong it is, it... Stays with you. Becomes complicated and painful emotions that many would prefer to not think about."

It was something Altair himself was still struggling with, an experience he was still going through. But explaining knowing that feeling would take telling truths he wasn't ready to share yet.

"The change necessary for mages to be free would never come from a place of comfort, and the fight for mages to remain free will likely be long and difficult. I'm sure there are those who would argue that you could have found another way, but... I certainly won't. I haven't known you that long, but the man I've come to know is a kindhearted healer. I think that you've saved a lot more lives than you've taken, and that you'll save a lot more too."

He tilted his head, and again there was the hint that he was smiling beneath his hood from the way his voice sounded, "I'm also pretty sure I've killed a lot more people than you ever could for way less justification, too. How many Templars have I simply cut down rather than attempting to talk my way into non-violence, do you think?"

A soft hum then, that sounded almost amused, "Will that make you pull away from me? For killing others in self-defense?"

Anders suddenly felt a certain closeness to Altair that he hadn't before. It sounded as if his experience wasn't so different from that of many mages, and even Anders's own to some extent. In a manner of speaking, Anders had been a slave too, much like all mages within the Circle. Even if Altair hadn't come from this land, he knew injustice when he saw it.

"You sound a lot like someone I once knew. He was a mage too, and when he got out, he wasn't sure what to do with his freedom. He found it thanks to his friends." Sometimes he missed the Warden-Commander. "And he never stopped believing in freedom for those like us. Actually, one time, we ran into one of his old traveling companions, this old Circle mage biddy who was all too willing to accept her leash, and he told her off. It was nice."

At the time, Anders had been against the idea of mages breaking away, but only because he'd been concerned about his own safety and felt that rocking the boat would only make things worse. He knew better now.

"He sounds nice, so I'm glad I sound like him," Altair said, accepting that as the compliment it was obviously meant to be, if Anders's tone was anything to go by.

"And I can imagine it was, yes. I imagine the elderly are much more set in their ways than the young, but with freedom on the line, it's still not acceptable. Calling them out on the ways they're entirely wrong is usually a good time."

Altair certainly enjoyed doing that back in his own world. Admittedly probably in a more aggressive way than getting on a companion's case given that it was usually him yelling across the Dark Council chambers at Ravage and those aligned with him, but still. He could relate.

"Shall we continue walking? Probably best if we find somewhere to set up camp before it gets entirely too late."

If Anders still needed a moment considering he'd obviously just told him something he'd been dreading to say for fear of how Altair would react, then Altair didn't mind, but it would be best if they could find somewhere to set up camp before midnight, at least. Sleep was, after all, important. And humans tended to need more of it than Altair himself usually did.

"You two would get along swimmingly if you met." Sadly, he didn't know where Birch was. Last he heard, the Commander had joined in the fight for mage liberation, while also trying to find a way to cure himself of the taint.

"Oh, yes, let's move on." He resumed walking, still holding on to Altair's hand.

"Wynne was brought to the Circle when she was very young, and she hardly remembered her life from before. Thus she didn't know of a better life, and convinced herself that the Circle was the best place that a mage could be and the Templars were needed to keep everyone safe from mages." He and Wynne had never gotten along.

"I'll have to hope we'll come across him then," Altair said, since he very rarely was opposed to meeting someone new. Besides, it sounded to him like Anders would want to meet his friend again too, so it'd be nice if that could happen.

Altair continued walking- making sure to lead them well across the somewhat uneven path, letting the other man know when to step around something by gently pulling on his hand to direct him. As before, he was navigating easily through terrain that even those who could see would have a difficult time with during the daylight hours.

"Set in her ways, then. On the one hand it's sad that she lived just about her whole life like that- on the other, we can hope that no other mage will ever have to."

"I hope so. Let's hope that mages born years from now only know the Templars and Circles as a scary story and a dark chapter in history."

Anders was still amazed at how well Altair navigated in the dark. He could have provided a wisp for light, or even called upon Justice, but he didn't want to risk giving away their position.

"That mask you wear. Is it Orlesian?"

"I don't know."

He really didn't. He had gotten it off of someone who had tried to kill him- thinking he was a demon, Altair knew now- but that was beside the point, really.

"I've traded for and bought clothing here and there, but I don't know the different styles in this part of the world. Masks and clothing look and feel a bit different where I'm from."

Not entirely different, but. Different enough. Especially the masks, given that the ones he was familiar with were a lot more armored. And advanced.

"When I met my friend who you healed, I was wearing more clothing from home. She said she couldn't imagine me getting into my trousers without starting my day rolling about on the ground trying to squirm into them."

"So you are skinnier than you appear under those clothes," Anders quipped.

"The mask certainly looks Orlesian. Actually a lot of your outfit wouldn't be out of place among the upper-class in Orlais."

"Quite significantly, yes," Altair replied, knowing that the oversized clothing did in fact make him appear deceptively larger than he actually was. Of course the important part for him was the ease of movement the clothes provided him. His own clothes from home were comfortable too, of course, but the way they looked made him stand out a bit too much due to the difference in craftsmanship and even materials between worlds.

"I see," He said, sounding genuinely curious, "Honestly the only thing I really considered is how it feels. I'm on the move a lot, so. It's nice to have clothing that makes moving about easy."

Being covered was the most important part, but it was good that it was easy to move in and fight in too, considering how often he'd been fighting since coming here. He did a fair bit of fighting at home too, of course, but here it seemed to be every other day or so- where at home he could at least go weeks without seeing any combat at all.

"I think there might be a clearing up ahead we can set up camp in for the night. This area feels different, anyway."

More specifically it felt haunted.

And indeed there was a clearing- almost a perfectly circular one with six stone pillars along the edge and one larger one in the middle. Ancient and crumbling- whether it was some sort of ritual site or whether these pillars were marking the locations of graves was difficult to tell.

Probably not a clearing that any sane man would suggest camping in, but then, Altair was really just like that.

"I suppose if anyone's found a way to make clothing both fashionable and comfortable to travel in, it would be the Orlesians. If it wasn't for your accent I would have guessed that you were Orlesian when we first met."

When they came upon the clearing, Anders paused right at the edge, eyeing the pillars warily. "Why do I get the feeling that if we stop here we're going to disturb some ancient and angry spirit or demon?"

"I see."

Orlesian. Altair wondered what Orlais was like. He'd probably met people from there on occasion since arriving, but honestly it was difficult to know.

He supposed he was really just glad to have made so many good friends since arriving, regardless of where they were from. If any of his friends that he'd made were Orlesian too, they hadn't mentioned and he wouldn't know.

He tilted his head at Anders's comment then, "I think it'll be fine. It's a bit chillier here, so I assume it's haunted, but... It doesn't feel bad. Does it really look that creepy?"

"I mean, you hear a lot of traveler's tales about coming across cemeteries or ancient burial grounds and stopping for the night only to disturb a demon that kills them or chases them down." The Commander had told him that one time during the Blight, he and his companions had found an old camp that turned out to be a trap laid by a demon.

On the other hand, Altair seemed to have some innate sense about ghosts. "But I suppose if you say that it's safe, then we can camp here." Justice would warn them if demons came out.

Edited 2022-07-08 00:21 (UTC)

"I've camped in a lot of places that feel similar, so it should be fine. I mean, I did travel alone for a while and I'm still not dead, so..."

As good a reason as any to assume it'd be fine, really. And Altair would be awake for a while, keeping guard while Anders slept. He had said that he'd take the first watch, after all, considering that there were likely less than friendly travelers in the woods. Templars, most likely, that Altair would prefer to not be caught by surprise by.

Moving into the clearing, he made sure to not disturb the pillars. Since it felt a bit colder near them, it was likely that they were more haunted than the actual area itself. That was the feeling he got, anyway.

His cat meowed as Altair gently set his bag down, hopping out to sniff around the ground while Altair set his things up, and hopped right back in once Altair was done rooting around in his bag for the things he needed.

"You can set up as close to me as you'd like, by the way. If being close would make you feel safer."

No teasing, nor mocking. Just sincerity in his voice. He'd hate it if Anders couldn't sleep due to the eerie nature of their chosen campsite, after all.

Anders took a moment to scratch the cat behind the ears, before getting out his own camping supplies. "Probably a good idea."

He rolled out his bedroll next to Altair's. "Be glad you never got to visit the Blackmarsh."

"If it's haunted I'd probably like it," Altair commented, with a bit of a laugh.

"If it's cursed somehow, then I'd probably like it a little less."

Ghosts he could deal with, and even enjoyed the company of. Curses were a lot of work though- especially here where even the curses were different than what he was used to from home. Not that Altair minded working hard- in fact, he loved working to the point of finding it difficult to put his work down- but still. Sith curses and whatever curses were here were two very different things.

"Honestly I sometimes prefer the company of ghosts to the company of the living. They're a lot less complicated for the most part."

Except when those dead were noisy ghosts in his head. That was less pleasant. Still, ghosts usually had plenty of stories to tell, and he liked listening. Both here and at home.

"It's complicated. The marsh used to be home to a village, but then thanks to a blood mage the Veil was torn, and the town was sent into the Fade. After that, the village was left to rot, and thanks to the tears, it was home to all sorts of demons and ghosts. There were even signs warning people to stay out because it was haunted."

Yet he'd still followed Birch into that cursed place. He would have done anything for the man who saved his life.

"There was even a dragon ghost there."

A Sith & A Mage & Hijinks...

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