Anri's eyes fluttered open to the sight of a rickety, wooden roof. He felt a sting to his mouth and noticed a corner of his lip was cut but healing. The wound on his full arm was also healed but still throbbing mildly.

  He glanced about and saw he was in a bed and small room, he guessed, of a log cabin.

  His heart raced with happiness when he saw Dorian sleeping at his bedside with his head resting on his elbow. He was wearing his silk enchanter robes over light leather armor. Anri noticed tell tale signs of a magic battle along the hems and sleeves. But he was relieved when he saw no other evidence of wounds on his man. He tenderly stroked his hair, relishing the raven silken strands to this fingertips. Tears welled in his eyes as all his yearning for him surfaced.

  Dorian stirred awake to Anri's touches, feeling relieved to see him staring at him. He got up and slapped the man's cheek, then pulled him into a hug.

  "You bloody bastard." His voice croaked with tears.

  Anri relaxed in his arms, missing his hugs so much.

  Dorian pulled out first and turned his head to wipe away his tears. "That's it. I'm breaking up with you."

  Anri fretted. "Why?"

  Pent-up worry contorted Dorian's expression. "Why?! You promised you wouldn't do something silly! Missed my touch is what you said." He paced the floor to make the wooden boards creak. "But what do you do? Rush into a Venatori Red Lyrium mining plant like a stupid butterfly and nearly die in an explosion!"

  Tears continued to rain from Dorian's eyes as he released all his stress about never seeing his Amatus again. He slumped down on the bed, the weight of his fear making his shoulders sag. "I can't handle this anymore. I keep worrying if today's the day I hear you're dead."

  Anri sighed and tenderly rubbed his back, drawing close to hug the man from behind. "I'm sorry. I fucked up I know. I miss you so much."

  Dorian felt drained by his emotions. All that truly mattered was Anri was well and they were together again. He shuffled around to face him and tenderly wiped the man's tears from his cheeks. Anri's eyes were such an ugly shade of blood-red from all his crying. But knowing these tears were for him, he yearned to kiss each one.

  "I love you," Anri said with a wide-eyed puppy expression Dorian found so adorable and irresitable.

  They eased into gentle touches and tender kisses, relishing the contact they hadn't experienced in a long time.

  It was evening when they finally decided to leave the bed. Although Anri had been the most reluctant and clingy, which stirred even more love from Dorian. But, eventually, they had to get on with whatever was left of the day.

  Once they were freshened up, they gathered everyone into the log cabin's main lounge room. Lounging on the chairs were Iron Bull, Hawke, Maevaris and Alistair. Fenris was warming himself before a roaring hearth at the back wall, where a cauldron of chicken stew emitted an aroma of savory bliss.

  Dorian and Anri stood before them. Night was high in the sky by the time Anri kicked off his meeting.

  "Thank you." He bowed to his friends. "If you didn't come when you did, I would be dead."

  "Yes, and I would've had to bear the agony of a brooding magister." Maevaris scoffed.

  Anri scratched his head awkwardly, "I guess it was good that didn't happen."

  Fenris frowned when he saw Anri's half-arm. "You lost your weapons back at the caverns?"

  "Yeah. The venatori took them when I got captured..."

  "What?!" Dorian snapped and began chanting nonsense to calm himself down. His agents never mentioned that Anri had been captured: he would have to give them a good talking to later.

  "It's okay Dorian. It worked out well."

  "Define well! You got captured, from the looks of you, bloody tortured. How is that well?!" Again, Dorian willed himself to calm down, especially when he caught Maevaris's chuckling behind her hand. That woman adored their desperation for each other too much.

  "Okay, let's just go through facts." Anri gently steered conversations back to business.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  "What did you discover?" Alistair soberly asked to break the moment.

  Anri shook his head. "Nothing good. The Venatori are mass-producing something called Rift Orbs. They're entombing people in red lyrium to speed up the maturing process, harvesting it for these orbs. And they had been making a lot of them."

  "Maker!" Hawke and Iron Bull gasped with horror at the same time.

  Dorian frowned. "This entombing sounds similar to what had happened to people in Redcliffe's future."

  Anri nodded. "Something similar, yeah."

  "The monstrosity!" Maevaris cursed, her hands trembling with rage and disgust.

  Alistair felt his age at seeing the world still going through the same shit but in worse ways. "So those orbs that we encountered at the Western Approach likely came from that mining plant."

  "Orbs?" Anri asked, receiving an overview from Hawke.

  "Damn. Yeah, I think so. And, thank you for coming here," Anri said to Alistair after the recap.

  "I'm here to, well, hear what you have to say," Alistair plainly stated.

  "There is something I'd like to talk to you about in private." Anri turned his focus back to the wider group. " I wanted to discuss the sect's developments with everyone here."

  "Sect?" Maevaris was naturally confused but also curious.

  Anri faced Dorian. "Firstly, yes or no?"

  Dorian instantly answered with a definite yes.

  "Okay." He faced Alistair and Maevaris with a serious expression. "Master Theirin and Magister Tilani, I know this will sound strange but I need your help."

  "Master Theirin sounds like I've aged 50 years. Alistair is fine," Alistair said and listened with a frown when Anri laid out the purpose and plan for the Shadow Sect.

  Maevaris found the concept so adorable and sneaky she naturally had to be apart of it. Besides, she owed Anri for all the times he had the Inquisition help her.

  Anri added to Dorian's role in the sect network, which had him being on the same authority as himself.

  Iron Bull grumbled about taking orders from a Vint; naturally, it was in jest.

  "Ha, you didn't complain when I gave good gold for those easy kill jobs." Dorian scoffed.

  "Hey, gold is gold. It doesn't discriminate."

  Everyone's laughter lightened the mood of the room.

  "It's not like we're the Chantry's Divine. It's more accurate to say that Dorian and I will act as central pillars of the sect's network: architects to coordinate the bigger picture," Anri explained, which had heads nodding.

  "And you just happen to enlist your boyfriend for the power role." Hawke found the fact funny and cute. "But, I don't object. It makes sense with Dorian in the Magisterium to keep the Venatori sweating."

  "Oh, trust me, they'll get some attention from me when I get back." Dorian's eyes narrowed.

  However, Alistair remained reluctant. He felt a bit annoyed that Anri mentioned the startup of such an ambitious undertaking and dumped him with the the risk of blurting it to whoever without being tied to a condition.

  "Alistair, it's okay with whatever you do from here. There is no cause and effect between us. And to someone outside this room, we're just idealists talking the talk."

  Anri's words had Alistair sighing with a realization that he was still thinking with his same old cynicism.

  "It's not like I had anything better to do anyway." Alistair joked to lighten the mood.

  Anri received everyone's updates and called the meeting. When the others had dispersed, he and Alistair spent time before the fire to talk in private.

  "Why did you send Hawke and the others to find me?" Alistair's eyes were focused on the hearth's flames, but his mind was churning through many questions.

  "I promised your mother I would after I had returned from Adamant." Anri's words appeared so steadfast and honest they made Alistair gasp with a mixture of disbelief and hope.

  "Say what? Surely you didn't revive her from the dead to make that promise."

  Anri chuckled. "She's not dead. In fact, she's very much alive and well."

  Alistair frowned, struggling to believe it. His whole life he was told that his mother died giving birth to him and he was led to believe he had had a half-sister named Goldana.

  "Why would I believe you?"

  Anri faced him with certainty and calmness. "I'm not expecting you to believe me. I'm just fulfilling a promise to an old woman who longed for the safe welfare of the man she called her son."

  He fished through his jerkin pocket, pulled out a silver chain and pendant with the symbol of Andraste's sword etched on the surface. It had tiny nicks and scratches to show age. Some of the surface had been carefully cut way to show where flames filled the space. He held it out for Alistair to take.

  "She, well, I was told to give you this as a keepsake."

  So many emotions churned through Alistair as he stared at the small thing, for it placed such a weight on his conscience. He feared that if he took it, his whole identity would collapse like a house of cards. Yet, identity was the very reason he had a rage demon take control of him.

  He closed his eyes, realizing that it was time for him to let go. He opened them and carefully took the pendant, pulling out the locket he wore around his neck, which had been hidden snugly beneath his tunic for many years.

  Anri's eyes widened when Alistair's locket of Andraste's flames fit the cut pattern of the flames to the sword pendant to make them a set. Together the pendant and locket formed the Templar symbol.

  Tears fell from Alistair's eyes as he saw the truth. "You, um, said she's well?"

  "Yes. If you want to visit her, I'll give you the directions." Anri patted his shoulder and left the man to his thoughts.