"I was raised among the Dalish. I do not know this Maker or follow his teachings, templar." Thea answered. "Why should I follow the laws of those who left me in the woods to die?" Her fists were shaking as she fought back the temptation to strike out at the templar. The Keeper had informed her of their abilities, so trying to use her magic would only backfire against her. She took a deep breath and calmed down. There was no use fighting this templar, not here. Not when the clan was under threat.

"Enough, Thea. The templar is right, but so are you. Ser Kaitlyn, I do not intend to fight your custody of her, but your fellow templars camped outside assured me she would be treated with respect and honour - or at least as much as your kind are willing to show to a mage." The Keeper seemed to refrain from commenting how the Chantry had warped the words of Andraste. [i]Magic exists to serve man, never to rule over him.[/i] That was what Thea had been told the prophet had preached. How it justified the imprisonment and treatment of people whose only sin was accident of birth, she didn't know.

Thea glared at the Tranquil. She refrained from commenting, but felt that if she had ever fallen to the temptation of magic and forbidden knowledge, she would choose a dignified death rather than lose her soul and become nothing more than a hollow shell. She sighed and figured that the sooner she got to the Circle, the sooner she could rid herself of this troublesome Templar. "The clan is gathered, I'll say my farewells and then we can leave... or does your Maker not allow mages that right?" It was hard not to include barbed remarks like that, but Thea did not give the templar a chance to respond as she exited the aravel.

There was little or nothing the templar could do to restrain her that would break the peace with the Dalish. The hunters would fire on this Kaitlyn if she laid a finger on one of their own in their own camp. That much she was certain, even if the templar had said she was not an elf. She went through the line the clan had formed and shook hands as she bid her farewells, exchanged teary embraces and whispered well wishes as she took each step with increasing dread. The closer she got to the end of the line, the closer she got to never seeing her family ever again.

Just as the farewell ceremony was concluded, Thea turned to the templar. "Let us leave then, templar." She managed to say with her head held high, though her words were forced. Unfortunately at that moment an alarm rang throughout the camp. Those standing guard at the entrance returned with two wounded hunters, sent out to scout the surrounding area for darkspawn.

Thea ran over and checked on one of the injured hunters just as the Keeper tended to the other. She was no skilled healer but knew enough to keep them alive for now. The First had come over to assist her as well. "The darkspawn..." The scout managed to gasp as Thea tried to hush him and get him to rest. "They're a day away from the camp..."

Thea glanced over at the templar. How she would react to the news, the mage could not say. Though if the templars wished to make haste for the Circle, they could. The clan would probably be able to evade the darkspawn if they broke camp immediately. The problem was that it was difficult to determine where darkspawn scouts and patrols would appear, since they could always tunnel through the earth.

"Well, templar, it seems we are in a predicament, are we not?"