Aedan and Magic

Inside Vigil's Keep Iona finally hugs Aedan as she goes through the new scars that Aedan has on his face when she asks, "Where did you get this scar?"

"It was fighting the Archdemon. I was lucky that it was only one nail and not all or my face would have become unrecognizable," says Aedan as he kisses Iona while looking for Amethyne and asks, "Where is my little girl?"

"She is still outside with Vincent," says Bryce as Aedan looked confused when Bryce says, "We need to talk."

"About what?" asks Aedan as Iona looked at the ground.

"About our daughter," says Iona as Aedan looked at her now.

"It isn't her fault. It would be the best if we were alone for this conversation," says Bryce as he didn't want to talk about something that's too sensitive on Thedas in front of everyone.

"Seneschal Varel, can you take everyone out. I want to be with my family alone for a while," says Aedan as Bran nods.

"Of course," says Varel as he brought everyone out.

Once everyone was out and the door was closed Aedan asks, "Why did we need to get everyone out of the room?"

"Because of this my love," says Iona as her hand produced a sphere of light.

"Magic!" shouts Aedan as Bryce and Eleanor followed after Iona by using Candlelight as well making Aedan look quite confused. He could understand that Iona was a mage since she could have hidden it from him but not his parent when he asks, "How is that possible?"

"Thedas and Tamriel might be on the same earth but we have the veil while they don't. I have seen many people in Tamriel and everyone would be a Mage going by our classification of Mage but there they are just normal people," says Bryce as Aedan was feeling weak and needed to sit down when he felt that his future wife could hold him without trouble.

"How is that possible that Iona can support me?" asks Aedan as Iona had a complicated smile on her face.

"It's because of Blood Magic," says Eleanor as Aedan was now even more confused about the situation.

He looked at Iona who was now a Mage and a Blood Magic-user and asks, "How could you?"

"Aedan, you have it all wrong," says Bryce as Aedan was after all like he and everyone else in Thedas afraid of Blood Magic until he found out that Blood Magic is mostly used by Warriors unconsciously or by Battlemage or Spellswords.

"What did I get wrong. In one year many things changed it seems," says Aedan angry when his father sighs.

"The Blood Magic Iona is using is different from the one we know. It powers her up yes but she uses her own blood without sacrificing anything," says Bryce as Aedan needed some lectures about everything that they learned in one year on Tamriel.

"How about we sit down and talk about everything slowly so you understand everything without judging your future wife," says Eleanor as she tried to be the calm voice to guide her son the right path.

The Cousland family doesn't worship the Maker any longer after finding out that Akatosh was said Maker and began to pray to the Nine but mostly to Akatosh.

They still didn't know who Andraste was and they asked Vincent many times since he was the son of Akatosh but even he couldn't answer that question though he had some suspicion who it could be but the consequences of provoking that person could be destructive.

Aedan was slowly accepting his new reality with Iona now being a Mage as well as his parent when he asks, "Are the children as well?"

"Yes, but that is the least of your problem," says Bryce as Aedan looked confused.

"Vincent adopted both of them as his own. He trained them with the Dwarves and Me- Elves he adopted last year," says Bryce as Aedan sighs feeling exhausted from all this talking.

"And why should the children be the least of my trouble?" asks Aedan not understanding his father's logic since Bryce still hasn't mention Vincent's real status.

"In Tamriel Mages aren't persecuted like here in Thedas and Vincent isn't who he says to be. He might be here as the Ambassador of the Empire but back in Tamriel, he is known as the First Emperor of the current Highwind Empire. Your daughter would only profit from this," says Bryce as Aedan was holding his head.

"*sighs* Can we keep talking once I'm done with my problems before I tackle a person that is worshipped as a God almost," says Aedan as he heard from Arthur before they were taken to Tamriel stories of the First Emperor that Arthur catches up from the Legionaries.

Suddenly the doors opened of the hall and Vincent entered followed by Mina, Oren, Amethyne, and Fenrir while Seneschal Varel was trying to stop him from entering. Oren was in Vincent's arms while Amethyne was in Mina's when Vincent says, "They are exhausted from the sparing. Where are the sleeping quarters?"

"Varel can you show them the way. Also Vincent, can we talk tomorrow about the situation regarding my daughter and nephew," says Aedan as Vincent smiles and nods.

"Of course, see you tomorrow morning," says Vincent as he follows Varel to the sleeping quarters.

Aedan was completely exhausted. Now he had to deal with three big shots tomorrow and kill two of them when he says, "I will go to sleep as well. Iona, are you joining me tonight?"

"Of course," says Iona happy as she grabbed Aedan's arm.

"Where are Arthur and Oriana?" asks Aedan since he didn't see them.

"Arthur stayed in Amaranthine to defend the city with the sailors while Oriana is watching over Arthur right now. He is a bit depressed from everything that happened," says Bryce as he could understand that he felt depressed about not being adopted by Vincent while everyone left and right was.

Bryce asked Vincent about it earlier and Vincent explained to Bryce that he would have done so if it wouldn't weaken Ferelden's Navy. Aedan was confused but didn't really care since he had his own depressing shit to handle right now.

"I will see you tomorrow then," says Aedan as he walked out of the main hall with Iona.

"It seems that Aedan took it quite well that Amethyne became Vincent's daughter," says Eleanor as Bryce sighs.

"I think he took it that well because she isn't his real daughter. He thinks that only Iona should decide Amethyne's future. If it were his own child he would have argued more about it. Fergus will be a hard nut to crack as well," says Bryce as he felt exhausted just from worrying about it.

"Then let's pray to the Divines to show our children the right path," says Eleanor as she could believe in the Divine because they appeared and showed themselves on rare occasions to the people not like the Maker.

"Yes, let's hope they bless them with wisdom and protect them from the darkness," says Bryce as both retreated as well.

The next day Vincent and Aedan were sitting in Aedan's office when he asks, "What do you want to talk about Aedan?"

"Why did you really adopt my daughter and nephew?" asks Aedan direct as possible.

"Because of their potential and because Oren was a Mage before he was brought to Tamriel," says Vincent as that shocked Aedan.

"That can't be. How did you know that?" asks Aedan as Vincent sighs while taking a Chocobo Egg out.

"Puree some blood over it and you will find out," says Vincent as Aedan did so but the egg didn't move at all like a year ago with Oren.

"Why doesn't it hatch?" asks Aedan as Vincent smiles.

"Because you don't have magic in your veins. A Chocobo either hatches by staying near his parents absorbing magic from them and the atmosphere or by absorbing the blood of his master that is rich in magic," says Vincent explaining why the egg didn't hatch when Aedan tried the same method.

"So my nephew was a mage before he went to Tamriel. My brother won't like it at all," says Aedan as he sighs and began to think about something else as he looked out of the window when he says, "But that doesn't explain why you want my daughter."

"She has the potential to become someone as great as the person that saved your life before," says Vincent as Aedan turns around towards Vincent.

"You mean the woman that killed the High Dragon," says Aedan, and Vincent nods.

"Yes, your parent have told you who I am, haven't they," says Vincent as Aedan nods making it easy for Vincent who says, "Who you met is Aerae Highwind. She is my first daughter I have with Anra and the first Dragoon that was trained by me."

"Dragoon?" asks Aedan not understanding that word when Vincent explained it to him.

"A Dragoon was the most feared enemy of the Dragons from where I'm from even when our name meant Dragonrider. Anyway, we are trailing away from Nirn. You just have to know that every person calling himself Dragoon was trained by me personally and only four of them really have Dragons as mounts," says Vincent as Aedan saw the Dragoon fly away on a Dragon making Vincent's story believable.

"And my daughter shall become one," says Aedan as Vincent nods.

"If she passes all her tests she will make an exceptional Dragoon even without a Dragon," says Vincent reassuring Aedan.

"Well, at least I won't have to worry about her being targeted by Darkspawn if she is on Tamriel," says Aedan as his worries laid on the Architect and the Mother right now.

"You have troubles with something?" asks Vincent seeing it quite clearly.

"Yes, the attack by the Darkspawn was planned by an intelligent and speaking Darkspawn. We call them normally Broodmothers since they normally only are there to reproduce more Darkspawn," says Aedan as he turned paler by the minute just remembering his first broodmother and how they are made.

"There is more right?" asks Vincent as Aedan nods.

"Yes, the Mother so we call her got her intelligence from another Darkspawn far more intelligent than her. He calls himself the Architect and caused the Fifth Blight what he called an accident by his side," says Aedan as he was quite angry about that.

"Do you need help. I might be here on vacation to bring your family back to Highever but I could help you," says Vincent as his spear appeared in his hand.

"I killed a lot of things in my life. Killing something like an Architect should be easy," says Vincent as he was ready to help Aedan.

He saw it as a repayment for trusting him in taking care of Amethyne.