I...have been thinking, lately. I don't think I can really help other mages resist demons. It's been taught to me since before I can remember, so it's all just...how I feel about something. Instinct. I can't explain it.

And yes, I wonder what it would have been like if it had taken longer. I'd have been a real daughter and sister for a while. Other children my age and younger were orphans of a plague that came to our clan. I couldn't say if it's better or worse, never having a thing or losing what you had. I know it was...very painful, every time I met my real family, because we loved each other so much and I had to leave again every single time. I mean, I first remember my baby brother when he was around age ten, and we were friends so quickly. I cried for days after we left. Knowing I had that thing once, and I can't even remember it.

I...don't know how much you know about the Dalish mages. But when I came to Clan Ashara, I was the only mage besides the Keeper. So it was sort of assumed the whole time I would be First, and then Keeper when she was gone. She raised me for it. I think she saw it as an opportunity to give the clan exactly what they would need when she was gone. So I...I was never really a child. When the plague came, I was helping her nurse all the sick. I was nine.