fadewalk | RP: Anders

Neria was pacing in front of a table full of open books, parchments, journals and notes. The farther wall from the door was covered with written rituals, most of them Ancient Elven, along with more of her notes, drawings of runes and magical circles. She was completely and utterly absorbed by her own thoughts.

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Anders knocked on the open door of the room Neria had take over in the mage tower before he entered.

"You called, Neria?" He said as he moved in, offering a small smile. He pulled his staff from its sling on his back and propped it against the nearest wall - something of an automatic gesture when he entered an indoor space he felt safe in.

Neria turned to the man, startled, not pacing for a few seconds.

"Sweet Creators, you took so long?"

She shook her head, incredulity on her face as if Anders had just to teleport himself to her location immediately after being summoned. She closed the door behind him and then turned to the wall full of her notes and studies, gesturing to it.

"So, what do you see?"

Aside from what looked like random magic circles of purification on sheets of paper, her notes, maps and even Ancient Elven parchments, there were several drawings, apparently copied from somewhere else, resembling the same kind of painting found on elven temples.

Anders gave her an amused look, his lips twitching.

"I was with Hawke. Varric's Hawke. I told her I wouldn't leave her alone till Varric got back," explained, though truth be told Varric had reappeared fairly quickly after her summons and he'd made his way here immediately.

"Umm..." he surveyed the wall like it was a live thing that might eat him. "Your notes? Those look like the sorts of paintings we used to find sometimes in elven ruins." He pointed, then glanced back and down at her. "You're going to have to ease me into this, Neria, I haven't been doing anything resembling the amount of research and study on the topic you have."

"Right, I'm three years in front of you, I forgot." she glanced at him "So please, promise me none of this will leave this room."

She said quickly, walking to the wall and pointing to a particular drawing, of what looked like a woman dressed in red, a red sword on her hand.

"Leliana passed to me several information she gathered with the Inquisition, information she thought could come in handy for my research. This drawing is about Andruil, Elven Goddess of Hunt, but also recently referred as Goddess of Sacrifice. Apparently, Andruil grew tired of hunting the usual beasts and men and decided to hunt the Forgotten Ones, travelling to the Void. She used an armor made of the Void and weapons too, and plague followed her trail, she even threatened her fellow gods, until Mythal saved them by tricking Andruil." she tilted her head, quirking an eyebrow "What does this particular shade of red reminds you of?"

Anders looked a little surprised by the request, but he agreed readily, giving a nod.

"Well. Unless you ask about it later; I can't say I wouldn't tell my version of you. This Cure could very well affect my longevity as much as anyones, and they would never forgive me if I didn't at least try..." He went silent, golden eyes sad, and then swallowed the emotions back down and looked to Neria. "Is that agreeable?"

At her question, he studied the drawing intently. "Well, red lyrium, I suppose."

"Oh no, please." she made a dismissive gesture with her hand "You're free to use the Cure as you see fit, I trust your judgement. I'm not concerned about it, I'm more concern about how I got to my current theory, and this whole mess contains ground shaking information. Particularly ground shaking for the dalish, so..." she shrugged.

Neria's eyes darted to him and to the drawing until his answer.

"Yes, Red Lyrium. Which, according to Inquisitor Lavellan, is Tainted Lyrium, which means Lyrium is, somehow, alive. But that is not my point."

She started pacing again.

"The Golden City was only corrupted in 800, by the Tevene Calendar. But records of their war against the Elves says Arlathan fell completely in 220. So, if the Taint only made its first appearance in 800, 580 years after the fall of Arlathan, how do we explain Andruil's Red Lyrium armor and spear?"

Anders squinted at the mention of lyrium as alive, a question on his lips, but he let it die when she moved on and started pacing, shelving that topic for later.

"You're asking the wrong person to confer on Dalish history, Neria," he said with a chuckle. "But...if I'm following you correctly - you're saying red lyrium - and by extension, the taint - appeared, what is that, 600 years before history said it did?"

(OOC: I'm gonna have to get to bed early tonight because of work in the morning. I'll be around tomorrow, though!)

(ooc: great! see you tomorrow then ^^)

"Yes. Andruil... the People did it."

She took some breath.

"Despite how this may affect the Dalish and how Thedas see the Elves - and I'm not really willing to give them one more reason to despise us, hence why this can't leave this place - I'm not done yet. See, Inquisitor Lavellan said there was a uncanny amount of Red Lyrium in the Temple of Sacred Ashes after the explosion, a clear sign of corruption caused by the also uncanny amount of magic that led to the explosion, in the first place. One may argue that this was due Corypheus' presence at the explosion, but I believe this was mostly due the magic." she shrugged "The Architect was all over the Deep Roads and we haven't been across one single Red Lyrium vein, hence why I dismissed Corypheus sole presence as origin for the Red Lyrium in the Temple. Magic is the key here. If magic can Taint the Lyrium, by association, the Taint is a magical disease."

She turned to see Anders abruptly, eyes wide at that conclusion.

(OOC: Sorry for disappearing abruptly! Work got a bit out of hand this week)

Anders listened intently, his brow furrowing in concentration as he tried to follow her reasoning. "So...if it's a magical disease...you can use magic to cure it, yes?"

He gnawed on the inside of his lip and took a few steps closer to the wall, then back. "Did...These ah, what did they call them, rifts? That Corypheus caused. Someone said they were caused by...some kind of, of, orb thing, that Corypheus had? Which was a magical elven artifact, if I understood what I was told correctly. Maybe that's what caused the red lyrium at the Temple?"

He blinked. "I think? Is that right? I'm not completely making that up, am I?"

(ooc: Oh, it's ok! I just figured you were busy or something. Glad to have you back though ^^)

"No, you are absolutely right, I believe." she nodded "They say those orbs could harness the power of a elven god, so the explosion at the temple could've been caused, yes, by the power of an elven god. But I digress."

She approached the wall.

"As for the Taint, there is one more thing. Remember our Grey Warden fellow, Utha?"

Anders pressed his fingers into his brow and frowned. "Utha...oh, right! She was that dwarf with the Architect, yes?"

"Exactly. After you left, I spend some time with the Architect, studying with him, getting to know his research." Neria avoided Anders' gaze on a clear sign of I-feel-guilty-about-it-because-I-should-be-killing-him-I-know "I came across some papers and found out Utha fought by Grand Enchanter Fiona's side when they both served the order, so I decided to talk to her and see if anything had happened that could hint me why Fiona was cured from the Taint." she shrugged "Well... as much as you can say you 'talked' to a Silent Sister, anyway."

And she took a step closer to Anders, lowering her voice. "Fiona was pregnant just a little before Utha left the order. Maybe, maybe and that is a really long shot, generating a new life acted as a purifying spell on its own way, you know how unconscious magic can be. But since we're trying to find a solution for everyone, and not just mage warden ladies, so I started developing this spell." she pointed to a old journal over the table "Based on that high-level Spirit magic spell, Revival. I just don't quite know how to convert it to a purifying spell, but that's why you are here."

Anders folded his arms and pursed his lips. "The Taint is something in our blood - which is why darkspawn blood is one of the ingredients in the Joining, why the Tainted who die from it usually do so from getting the Taint in an open wound. As a healer I have a hard time imagining conception would cure it? Far more likely the infant would inherit the Taint, although perhaps to lesser degree."

"That's pure conjecture though; Wardens are supposed to be infertile, aren't we?"

He moved towards the journal and inspected it. "Still, you might be onto something here."

"It's not the conception per se. It's what she felt over it." she sighed "Besides, have I ever told you about how I survived the killing blow?"

"I, ah, am not entirely sure I follow."

Anders arched a brow and looked back up from the notes to Neria's face.

"No? You were very hush-hush about that, as I recall."

"I think it's only fair you know, then. This motivated my whole research, after all."

She pointed him a chair.

"You should take a seat."

"Ah, all right..."

Anders sat down, crossing one leg over the other and leaning forward. He fixed an expectant gaze on Neria.

"In the night before the Battle of Denerim, me and Alistair were panicking. Riordan, the Orlesian Grey Warden aiding us by Duncan's request, had just told one of us would die when killing the Archdemon."

Her voice was low, grave, and she shifted uncomfortably.

"But then Morrigan came across some interesting information on her mother's grimoire, about a ritual who could save us. This ritual involved a non-Tainted woman bearing the child of a Grey Warden, so the taint would pass down to the child and the Archdemon's immortal soul inhabit the still soulless child. No one had to die, and the Old God is not evil per se, it's just the Taint so... everyone wins."

"Um." Anders looked incredulous, and he blinked multiple times. He made an aborted gesture with one hand, first and second finger pressed to his thumb. "So you're telling me...no."

He sat back, ran his fingers through his hair, tried again.

"You and Alistair avoided dying at the end of the Blight because you engaged in some freaky sex ritual? One that resulted in a god-child??" He blew out a breath. "I knew you had done some crazy shit, Neria, but that's - that's like, myth level out there, you know?"

"I wasn't confident this would work, yet here I am."

She motioned her hands, showing herself.

"Now you see why this made me question the very fabric of the world as we know and pursue this crazy nonsense such as a cure for the Taint. The order don't know nothing of it, clearly, though I suspect the First Warden might suspect of something."

"I...am not sure I would equate the cure with that, exactly. But I suppose the whole 'not wanting to die' thing is the same."

Anders tilted his head, admitting, "It's not a notion I'm unfamiliar with, the willingness to do whatever it takes to be free and live the life you choose with your loved ones, Neria. Nor is it anything to be ashamed of."

"Oh, so I shouldn't be ashamed of depriving a child from their own father? A god-child, on the top of it?" she sighed, shoulders dropping "This could be Alistair's--"

Neria ran her hands through her hair, dropping in the nearest chair "Better focus on the spell." her hand reached for the journal, and she handed it to Anders "Care to take a look?"

Anders studied her thoughtfully for a moment, trying to puzzle out what it was she was not saying. He accepted the journal silently and flipped through it without really seeing it.

Then he said softly, not taking his eyes off the journal, "Alistair has never regretted anything about being with you, Neria, so long as I've known him, and if I know him at all, he never will."

"I know."

She said, softly, glancing at her feet.

"Regretting something usually only tortures you, and I know it and yet... under the same circumstances, I would do everything again. Love is a powerful feeling. Hence my theory about Fiona."

Anders finally looked over at her, his amber gaze soft.

"Another sentiment I'm familiar with," he said. There were a lot of things he regretted, but very few of them that he would change even so. Leaving Fenris alone for so long, that one, perhaps. Not doubting Jicosa so much. What he had done in Kirkwall? Never. He might not be comfortable with the fact that he was still alive, but he wouldn't regret that. He couldn't.

He cleared his throat and picked up a piece of charcoal from the table, making a few adjustments to some of Neria's formulas and diagrams.

"You'll want to focus more on - burning the infection, so in this case the Taint, out, rather than just healing the body back to wholeness like you would with a revival spell," he said. "You have to think of a purification spell as a kind of destructive magic, rather than a kind of creation magic."