Thea was furious. She felt betrayed, angry and rejected. She had known all along that she would never truly be Dalish, that the Keeper teaching her magic at all was a privilege and even then she would never be First or Keeper. She was not even allowed to wear the Vallisin. Yet to think she would be handed to the templars and Chantry so easily, that they would not resist the shemlen...

"Keeper, please. I am no elf but I have grown up among the clan, played with every one of the hunters and warriors as children, listened to the tales around the fire. I have known no other family but the clan. Do not throw me away to he caged and imprisoned!" She pleaded with Keeper Shartos. She was met with sad, regretful eyes.

"I cannot, Thea. The shemlen see you as one of their own, that their laws apply to you. They made that much clear. Yes, you have grown up with the clan, helped me deliver some of the infants even, but that is why I must ask this of you. Would you see them die for your sake? You know the templars will march here in force and take you at sword point if need be, if they do not outright kill you. You cannot ask me to risk the clan - your brothers and sisters, for you." He replied evenly. She could tell it pained him to do so - he had been her father figure and she was like a daughter to him. She had learnt much from him, and owed the clan a great debt. She had just never anticipated what form her payment would take.

She fell to the floor, weak and defeated. She cried. Not to manipulate the Keeper into pity, but because she was at the end of her will. He knelt beside her and cradled her to let her cry against his shoulder. "Oh, my sweet child, I wish I had the strength to resist the templars and the chantry they serve. I would break camp and move us if I thought we could evade them. I do not make this choice easily."

"I know, Keeper." Thea sobbed. The clan was already preparing for her farewell. The templars who had first found her were camped right outside the edge of their camp. They had graciously let Thea say her goodbyes and spend a final few days with her clan before her handler would come and bring her to the Circle. It felt very much like the mercy of a last meal to a prisoner sentenced to death.

After a few moments to compose herself, Thea got back up and prepared to leave. She shared an aravel with Shartos' First, but now the girl would have it to herself. She wondered if the clan would miss her, or if she would become a long forgotten memory. She had heard tales of how humans treated their mages - and cursed her fate. She was abandoned by her birth parents, now these shemlen wanted her to obey their laws and spend the rest of her life rotting away in some prison, if they didn't decide to brand her and make her a shell of a person.