Chapter 21: Testing

I ate lunch anxiously, trying to determine how to ask the mage what I wanted to know without totally giving myself away. Also, I wondered if I should invite Alistair to the meeting. Deciding that it would be useful to have an 'almost' templar to blame questions on, I motioned to Alistair to follow me after the meal. He gave me a weird look but complied, and a glance at Aedan had him drawing attention to himself, hiding our escape to the library. I showed Alistair the note that Irving had sent to me, and explained that I had asked Enchanter Tanar to meet me. Just as I finished, the man himself entered the library.

I introduced Alistair and myself, and we all settled into chairs. I spoke first.

"Thank you for coming, Enchanter Tanar. I appreciate it."

"I admit to being slightly intrigued, my lady. Not many mages are requested for personal audiences, unless they need healing. For which, if you require, I would recommend Enchanter Wynne instead of myself. My healing skills are rudimentary at best."

"No, no. Thanks for the offer, but I'm not looking for a healer. I actually am looking for some knowledge I believe you may possess. I'm hoping to ask you some questions. About templars."

"You wish information about the Templar Order? May I ask why?"

I'd thought about that a lot. "Well, you see, my friend here was in training as a templar when he was recruited by the Grey Wardens. And since he didn't complete his training, he is left not knowing a lot of things he probably should. I was led to believe that you may be able to answer many of the questions. I am trying to understand what he's going through - I'm sure you can imagine why I'd like to know more." I gave Alistair a fond look, winking carefully with the eye Tanar couldn't see, when he shot me an incredulous stare. "Don't worry, I'm sure we can trust the Enchanter's discretion, dear." I can't believe I'm even pretending to be sleeping with Alistair.

It worked. Any suspicions seemed to be laid to rest, and Tanar relaxed. "You can, I give you my word. I can certainly try to answer your questions. What would you like to know?"

I started with some basics about templar training, learning little more than I had through the game. Templars required discipline, and mental fortitude, and training. Their abilities were likely a form of magic but not the kind that tempted demons, so they were not at the same risk of becoming abominations as mages. They learned faster when taking Lyrium, and were likely stronger, although that seemed not to be universally believed. He felt that it was possible the Lyrium addiction really was only to keep control over the templars who might otherwise desert or disgrace themselves.

We moved on to the more complex topics.

"So can anyone be trained as a templar?"

"Well, yes, to some extent. The basic abilities can be taught, but there are certainly some people who are better suited than others." He paused, but seeing my interest, continued. "Some people seem to have innate talents that allow them to learn more advanced abilities than others. And the order is quick to take advantage of that when they find it - only those who seem talented advance to hold authority. They do not promote those with mediocre abilities."

"Alistair mentioned that those who were better at the discipline were stronger in their abilities."

"That's true in a general sense, in the way that someone with a better attention span learns to read faster than someone with a short one. But there do seem to be other unrelated differences as well, just like some people can make good scholars despite a short attention span."

"And what innate talents make a good templar?"

"I've never been able to determine that for sure, to be honest. It doesn't seem to have anything to do with birthplace, bloodline, or basic personality traits, that I can find. If the Order itself is aware, they have managed to keep the secret remarkably well."

"So ... is there any way to test who can learn more advanced abilities?"

"Sort of. If someone has not trained as a templar, a rough idea of how difficult it will be to train them can be determined by a mage who knows what to look for. Alistair, you may not remember if you were taken in by the Chantry as a child, but at some point before they began training you, you'd have been brought before a mage, and made to stand while he or she seemed to simply stare at you while holding a small flame in their hand. After that they would slot you into training based on how the mage rated your potential abilities. They seem to use guilt to ... push those who they believe capable of more than the average."

"Well, they were good at wielding guilt, no question. Mind you, being the practical joker of my dorm, I probably deserved it, and not for any innate abilities." Alistair and I shared a grin.

"So ... could you describe some of the 'advanced abilities' that can be learned?"

"That's very difficult actually. Each templar has some variation in even the basic skills - some can narrow the target to a single person, while others can expand to unlimited targets, for example. The advanced skills are even more variable. Some templars can injure mages more if they have more mana to drain. Some can drain multiple targets at a time, others can resist even the worst blood magic, but couldn't drain the mana from a kitten. Some can smite anyone, others can refine it to just impact those using mana."

Alistair was nodding at most of those, and I saw the mages eyes widen slightly.

"Alright, well ... for example, could a templar drain the mana from a number of mages, and then somehow cause one or two of them to sort of ... explode? Like, blood coming out of their eyes and things?"

Tanar's eyebrows rose, and he levelled an impressed look at Alistair. "If you can do that, young man, I am amazed the Chantry let you go without threatening an Exalted March."

Alistair shook his head. "Not me, no. I saw someone else do it, once."

"Not many templars can do it; at Kinloch, Greagoir might be the only one who can use a mage - or a number of mages - to fuel a spell like that. Though they are told it can't be used for purposes like that."

"Are you saying that he'd be using magic to do that?"

"More like ... forcing others to use magic, without their consent. The mage being drained doesn't even need to know the spell being cast to make that work."

I looked to Alistair to see the same horror on his face that I was sure was also on mine.

"So it's like enslaving a mage and forcing them to do magic they don't wish to do?"

"I ... can see how it would seem that way." He paused, seeming to consider his words. "But it's more like, oh, say someone mixes up weed killer for a garden. And then someone else steals that weed killer and uses it instead to poison their unfaithful spouse. The poisoning wouldn't have been possible without someone to mix weed killer, but the person who made it was neither responsible for the use to which it was put, nor was he enslaved by whoever stole it. He was just short some resources because he had to mix more weed killer for his garden.

"The mage being drained may only intend their mana be used in a certain way, but the templar doing the draining can repurpose it, for good or evil."

The horror abated a bit, but I knew this would still give me nightmares later. Please God, don't let me be the one with those abilities. Alistair finally spoke up and asked the million-dollar question. Oh sure, now that I don't want to know, you chime in.

"So are you one of the mages who knows how to test for templar abilities?" Tanar nodded. "Would you be willing to test Sierra? I'm just so curious if I could ever train her to be like me." Laying it on a little thick, aren't we? Bastard.

Tanar agreed, although he suggested we not be in the library when he would need to summon a ball of flame. We headed down into the basement, standing in a rarely used storage room, currently devoid of anything but dust.

He asked Alistair his range on his usual abilities, and had him stand well outside that range, while we stood near each other on the opposite side of the room.

"Do I have to stare into the fire or something?"

"Not unless you wish to. All I need is for you to stay nearby." With that, he whispered something under his breath, and suddenly a small ball of orange flame bloomed in his hand. He held it out, then closed his eyes, silently waiting. As we waited, the ball very slowly enlarged, and the colour became more vibrant, and I watched, fascinated. I started feeling that same crackling aura I had felt around the darkspawn Emissaries and Uldred, the hair on my forearms standing up, goosebumps erupting all over me. I continued to stand, quietly, unsure what to do with myself and feeling strangely edgy from the aura. The sensation continued to grow as the ball of fire got larger, and my skin started to itch.

In the distance, I heard a loud thump and a short, sharp scream. I jumped as the sudden noise startled me, and I wondered if we were under attack. Tanar gasped, beside me, and I turned back just in time to see his face go pale, the fire ball wink out, and him slump to the ground. I caught him as he fell, easing him onto the cold stone floor. Alistair checked outside the door, discovering that the sound was nothing more than a servant in a nearby room who'd knocked over a crate of supplies. He came back over to check on the unconscious mage. I'd ascertained that he was still breathing and had a pulse, but had no idea what else to do. Alistair and I shared a worried look.

"Should I go ... I don't know, get one of the other mages or something?"

"Uh ... I don't know. Did anything like this ever happen when you were in training?"

"No. I've never seen a mage faint before for no reason."

"Well, maybe ... get Wynne? And try not to be too obvious about it. I'll stay here in case he wakes up."

Alistair agreed, helping me shift the unfortunate Tanar onto his back in a slightly more comfortable looking position, then running out of the room. I sat beside the mage, hand on his pulse, watching his face closely for any sign that he was waking. After a minute or so, he sort of twitched a little, and then a low, quiet groan echoed across the room.

"Enchanter Tanar? Are you awake?" He opened his eyes, expression pursed in confusion.

"What ... what happened?"

"I'm not sure. All of a sudden you just sort of slumped over." He looked thoughtful, and I could almost see the memories slowly returning to him. He struggled slightly, and I helped him sit up.

"I was testing you."

"So you said."

He thought for another few moments. "Cruel trick, asking me to test someone who's already a templar."

"Pardon?"

"Maybe you didn't know, but testing someone who is already trained like that can be dangerous. I hadn't even used enough mana to light a candle, and you snuffed it out, while draining me completely. If I'd put more into that spell, you could have harmed me."

"But ... I didn't do anything." He watched my face closely as I said this, and I saw my own puzzlement reflected on his face.

"Tell me exactly what happened."

I described the ball of flame, the crackly sensation, being surprised by a loud noise, then turning back in time to see him faint. His eyebrows drew closer and closer together as I spoke.

"That's ... not possible. You're sure you've never trained?"

"I swear it."

"But ... you could see my visualisation of the spell before I had committed the mana to it. Even Greagoir can't do that. And you drained my mana while distracted? That's not supposed to be possible. Most templars require years of training to perform the most rudimentary of abilities without intense concentration. The way you describe it ... it's like yours was triggered by the distraction."