Solona Amell

"Even highways! There was nothing like this back in Kirkwall...or was there? I can't really remember."

She giggles and walks alongside her sister. Anders nods at Cullen, taking up the back, just smiling and shaking his head. Girls.

From:

"Nothing, Nel. Just a lot of stairs, if I remember correctly. Though I don't really know what's beyond Lowtown. Do you remember that place? The one with the big market?"

From:

"I remember the market! It was huge, they had a lot of stalls there..."

She nods and grins.

"Can't remember much else about Lowtown, though. Just the market..."

From:

"Well, maybe we'll get a chance to visit sometime. I expect we'll be travelling a lot anyhow." She turns to both Anders and Cullen-- since when was Anders walking behind them? "Right, boys?"

Cullen gives her a look. He wasn't too sure they would be able to make it to Kirkwall.

From:

Nellie nods at that, smiling.

"I can't imagine we'll be able to do that immediately, but...well, I'd like to visit someday. I want to find out what happened to Mother."

Anders shrugs and nods.

"We could go someday, I guess. I don't remember you talking about Kirkwall a lot, Sol."

From:

"I honestly don't remember much about it, Andy. I mostly remember just the estate and mother and grandfather but other than that, nothing much," Solona shrugs back.

"Kirkwall would probably be a bad idea," Cullen says. "Horrible place for mages. They lock them up in the Gallows, or so I've heard from the other templars."

From:

"That's still more than a lot of people remember, Sol." Anders remembers more about his family than most, but he knew people who couldn't remember where they were from originally, who their parents were...it wasn't right.

Nellie nods quietly at Cullen, shuddering slightly.

"Yeah. Yeah, they do. It's...bad."

From:

Cullen frowns at that. "Where do they keep the mages then? In cells?"

From:

Nellie nods slightly.

"Not always, but mages end up there more often than not. If they're not there, we've got dormitories. They're a lot smaller than what the Tower has, and we all have to sleep in them--even the senior Enchanters. I think the only person who gets their own room is the First Enchanter."

And the templars, of course, but that goes without saying.

"When Solona and I first arrived at the Gallows, they had a new Knight Commander, and she was the one putting all of these big changes into effect. I don't know what it was like before that."

From:

"That sounds like a horrible place to live in. I imagine the Circle was a breather after experiencing that," Cullen sighs, trailing behind to wrap an arm around Nellie's shoulder for a half-hug. He lets his arm linger there for a while before letting go, remembering that they couldn't risk being too conspicuous. "And this new Knight-Commander, I've heard of her. Meredith, I think her name is."

"That's her," Solona adds to the conversation. "I remember she had lovely hair. Ash blonde and fell down in waves."

From:

"It was a lot better, all things considered."

Nellie sighs and leans on Cullen's arm for a moment before they both pull away, afraid of drawing attention.

Nellie nods in response to her sister.

"She had beautiful hair...and I remember that she was putting all these new rules in, but weirdly, despite everything, she was always sort of nice to us children..."

Anders scoffs at that. Somebody who locks up mages in cages can't be nice to mage children.

From:

"What was that noise for?" Solona turns back to look at Anders, raising an eyebrow with a smirk playing at her mouth. "Don't believe a Knight-Commander can actually have some good in her heart?"

From:

Anders just scoffs again.

"No, I can believe that a Knight-Commander can be a good person...I just find it difficult to believe a woman who locks mages in cages can be nice to mage children she'll probably start locking up when they get old enough."

Nellie sighs quietly.

"She was strict, but things were a bit rough in Kirkwall when she took over...I'm sure she's lightened up by now..."

From:

"Well, then, it's a good thing Nellie and I didn't stick around long enough to find out how it would be like behind bars, right Nel?"

From:

Nellie nods again.

"Though they did threaten me with that a few times, I remember correctly..."

From:

"They what--?" Cullen snaps. "To children? They'd threaten children?"

From:

Nellie nods.

"They didn't do it, but they did threaten it, yes. I think some of the older children did get locked up..."

From:

"Moving on from such dreary toics," Solona interrupts, not exactly wanting to reminisce the memories of the Gallows. "How much far till Lothering?"

From:

Anders frowns and looks around.

"Well, we're making good time, haven't run into any trouble yet...I'd say another day at the latest, maybe..."

Nellie nods and sighs in relief.

"Good, the sooner we get there, the better I'll feel."

From:

"Don't get your hopes up," Cullen says. "We've still more ground to cover and we still need our rest." He doesn't like to dampen their spirits but it was the truth.

From:

Anders groans and rolls his eyes.

"Do you always have to be a buzzkill, Cullen? Okay, yeah, maybe it'll take 2 days. But we just need to move for as long as possible, then we can rest after it gets dark."

Nellie doesn't say anything, just fiddling with her bag a bit.

"Where are we going to camp tonight?"

From:

"There's a small village, not too far off from here," Cullen says. "I'm not sure about the amount of supplies we'll be able to get, considering the size of the town but hopefully there will be a good household willing to take a few Chantry folk in."

Solona grins. "Ah, if only they knew who we really are. Circle escapees on the run. Three mages and a templar. Who would have thought?"

From:

Nellie smiles and laughs at Solona's comment.

"I can get the supplies while you guys get shelter set up. I know we don't have much money, but we don't need to get much, right? We're only a few days away from Lothering, so we just need enough to get us through until then..."

From: