Thread: Where Allegiances Lie [Kyre & The Intrepid Wanderer]

The other Circles? If ever there was a thought to sober the mind of even the love-struck Templar, that was it. His Templar brothers fighting an almost impossible war against the potential corruption of mages. Never had there been a job less suited for those who enjoyed marks of progress and success. All you had to your name at the end of a long career was a lyrium-addled mind and a retirement to Val Royaux, with a career of killing young children not even old enough to shave, or wish for marriage. And the current turmoil was not making any Templar's job easier. Brow furrowed, Darryn had to mentally go through the list. There were at least fourteen Circles not counting those in the Imperium, all of which he had memorized, and he had to go through the list as he knew it with the most recent news taken in to account. There was the Rivaini Circle, Val Royaux, their own, the Circle Tower in Fereldan recently rebuilt, and . . . Maker be damned, the Knight-Lieutenant found himself at a total loss for any others. The whole of Thedas was in chaos and the Templars here seemed barely able to hold control at times. They are . . . He bit his bottom lip, an old nervous habit of childhood that had never really left him, Shall we walk? He asked suddenly, motioning behind him to the door as he stepped to the side for her. Then he started for the door, rather anxious to leave the library. The Circle had always been divided in a manner akin to opposing gangs, now more than ever. Each side had their own places, their safe havens where they could be expected to find solace amongst their peers. The Circle Chantry and their barracks were the preferred areas for the Templars a place to relax among their fellows. To the mages it was the classrooms, their quarters, and -- the library. Under normal circumstances, if it had been almost any other mage asking him that question he would have dismissed them on the spot, but this was Alisia. She wasn't part of some dark or ulterior motive. But the library was not the place for a Templar to discuss such things. The halls were a relatively safe neutral ground for him to talk with her about the situation. A place where a Templar and a mage conversing would not necessarily be seen as too out of the ordinary within the Circle. Stepping through the door, tome still under arm, he waited for Alisia to join him, and started down the hall in the direction of the mages' quarters. A junior Templar would have been seen under a different light, marred with a badge of shame for seeming to converse with a mage so casually during such times as these, but none of the junior-ranked Templars standing at points throughout the halls would ever think to question the actions of one of the eight Knight-Lieutenants of the Circle. As far as they knew, he might have been trying to discover signs of a conspiracy, or a plot of rebellion. At least had it been any other mage besides Alisia. Even the ever wary and suspicious Knight-Commander Andreev was kept from suspecting her by remarks from Knight-Captain Grenier's assurances of innocence. Most of that had to do with her behavior. It was why Darryn trusted her, knowing that he wasn't soon to be lured in to a meeting of blood mages waiting to spring a trap upon him, or unknowingly giving information to mages hoping to flee the Circle. She was a shining mark of what a mage should be. Senior Enchanter was not a title too many years off in her future if he understood anything about mage politics, he imagined. Though he really didn't know. A quick glance over an armored shoulder as he walked to ensure they weren't pursued and he look down at the mage walking with him. The Circle's are not doing well, Alisia, I won't lie. Frankly, the Knight-Commander fears the spread of corruption among our mages, and I don't know whether or not he is right to believe so. It wouldn't be difficult to imagine in these times that any mage might see the Circle as some oppressing cruelty on them. He shook his head, Though that's not to say I condone the threats of Tranquility made against any mage who dares to complain about harsh conditions. Magic is a curse but not a guarantee of foul deeds by those who bare it. He had begun to look down the hall again as they walked, but now looked to Alisia again, It is good to see that you, for example, are staying away from the trouble. I've heard talk of dark whispers at night and it concerns me. He let out a heavy sigh as they walked, as if trying to come to terms with some unpleasant truth. I am just a simple man. The troubles we face are not something I feel very well accustomed to. How about you, Alisia? Have you heard anything? Or has anybody tried to invite or pressure you in to any sort of meetings or groups? Though on friendly terms with her, being his crush or not, they still had their stations. He was a Templar and she was a mage, his charge. Yet at the same time the meaning behind his asking was different of that than might have come from other members of the Order. They would have asked out of a suspicious notion against the mage herself. Darryn asked out of a legitimate concern. The Tranquil, those they passed in the hall, who enchanted items sold or used by the Circle, and who manned the storeroom were unnerving for Darryn. He wasn't particularly fond of seeing anything like that being considered for Alisia. So duty bound him and spared not even the likes of one of the more promising young mages of the Circle from the Templars' vigilant eyes.