Chapter Text
Britania knew she was in trouble. She was walking quickly down the hall from the library, trying to not let panic overwhelm her. If she could...all she needed was...Maker if she could just think straight for just a moment. But she couldn't. Her eyes were darting and wild, trying to find...
And then she saw him. What had Fiyo said about him? The kindest, sweetest Templar she had known? Handing out candy hidden away in his armour to any child that might give him the smallest of pleading eyes? Bless the Maker for sending him here, to her Circle in her time of need.
"Knight-Templar, a moment," she said hesitantly as she approached him.
He turned to face her and what she saw was nearly the complete opposite of what Fiyo had described. His jaw clenched tight and a look of barely tolerating intrusion spread across his face. "What is it, mage?"
She felt like she had been slapped. No, punched in the stomach, all the air rushing out of her with just that one word. 'Mage'. How could that one word be filled with so much hate and distaste as---
Her thoughts were cut off as he spoke again, clearly tired of waiting for her to speak. "I'm busy. If you have nothing to say, then I will take my leave."
Without her even realizing anyone else was near, she suddenly felt fingers wrap around her upper arm so tight she knew she'd have bruises later. "Sorry she disturbed you, Knight-Templar. She's...a troublemaker. I'll escort her back to her quarters so she doesn't disturb you further."
"Thank you, Augustus," he gave a small smile and walked away.
~~~
She didn't see him again until a week later, not that she had attempted to seek him out. She was reading in the library, curled in one of the back corners where someone had hidden cushions for them for this very purpose when she'd heard his voice.
Seeing him, she quickly decided she no longer wanted to be in the library. She stashed the cushion behind the shelf and returned her book to its place before making her way quietly down the aisle towards the exit.
She heard him calling her name but pretended not to hear it as she walked out. She didn't make it far before she felt his hand on her arm. She immediately pulled out of his grip, turning on him in a defensive stance.
He raised both his hands in a show of non-hostility, though she knew his hands being bare in no way meant she was safe from him. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," he said with a smile.
It made her feel sick to the stomach to see him like that. She said nothing, not trusting her voice, instead just raising a brow at him in question.
"Right. Last week you wanted to talk to me. I was having a bad day and I brushed you off. I just wanted to check if the matter had been resolved in the mean time?" he asked.
She gaped at him. "You...you were having a bad day?" she spat.
His smile was gone. "Watch your tone, mage." He had dropped his hands, the earlier truce over.
Standing to her full height, she forced herself into perfect posture before she spoke. "Yes, it resolved itself. I will take my leave" she said, deliberately repeating his words before turning and walking away.
Britania snapped awake, her heart racing, sweat covering her body and dampening her sheets. She swallowed back the bile that threatened to come out, forcing deep breaths of air in instead. Of course she would have the nightmares again. Years of forcing those emotions down until even her sleeping mind didn't dare entertain them were no match for today, a day in which she had been thrown into such a mess.
A day in which she would come face to face with both the people she intended to kill.
Knight-Templar Augustus, Knight-Templar Rutherford, Sister Leliana, Divine Justinia.