AN: It's my birthday! so I'm celebrating by posting three fics. check my profile for the other ones. Chapters for these are already pre-written, so i'll update each of them pretty soon. enjoy!

Words: 2,457

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Chapter One - Little Crow

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Cassandra hovered by the door, hesitant to move it. By her side Leliana watched her expression, her eyes sharp and glinting under her hood. The two women were at a standstill, one foot in the interrogation room and one foot out.

"We need answers, Cassandra," the Divine's right spoke, her gloved hand coming to rest on the seeker's arm. "The conclave—"

"You think I don't know? That I am not aware?" Cassandra bit out, insulted that Leliana thought she needed a reminder. She had enough of that from the glowing hole in the sky, thank you. She dragged a hand over her face and took a breath. "But the prisoner—"

"If you may," Leliana said, stepping closer to the door and gesturing for Cassandra to move out of the way. "I can handle them if you wish to stay your hand. These things can be delicate."

"Delicate…" Cassandra repeated, watching her open the door. The seeker followed suit, taking her first full steps into the dark and cavernous cell.

The prisoner had their head hung low, away from their guards, and Leliana looked to her for a final confirmation to start. Cassandra pursed her lips and motioned for her to begin. They still needed answers, after all.

Even though their prisoner was a child.

"You're awake, no need to pretend anymore," Leliana said, her voice light and melodious, while her eyes stayed sharp. "The conclave has been destroyed, with not a single survivor…"

The prisoner didn't move a muscle, her wrists bound in front of her with rope thicker than her small fingers. None of their metal cuffs had fit.

Cassandra stood in the shadows, frustration mounting as the girl stayed silent, yet she held back. This was not a battle she felt she could win through brute strength alone. This was…. delicate. They still didn't know if the girl was a victim or the cause of the explosion, and the only reason they had tied her up was for fear of the mark on her hand growing and turning her into a demon. They were completely out of their comfort zone dealing with this. Nobody had an explanation for the joke in the sky, nor did they have an answer for the mark.

Then, on queue with a deep, thunderous crackling in the sky, the mark on the prisoner's hand lit up with a sickly glow, and the girl fell forward in agony. Cassandra took a step forward, as did her guards posted in the room, but Leliana caught her before the child could fall on her face, both hands on her shoulders.

"Tell me what you know." Leliana's voice was commanding, if gentle, and left no room for misunderstanding. They were not here for fun and games. The sister tucked a strand of black hair against the child's face, and behind her elven ear. Something then caused the spymaster to still, and Cassandra's interest was piqued. What had she seen? "I suppose not... Are you not willing to tell us anything then, little crow? You know as well as I do that information can take and save lives."

"She's an assassin?" Cassandra said unbelievably, striding over so she could see the child's face for herself. There, on the lower left hand side of her face, was the tell-tale mark of an Antivan assassin. Her feathers; dark red crescent tattoos that ran from her cheekbone to her jaw. She wasn't just some girl, she was a killer for hire.

Cassandra had a sinking feeling in her chest. Outside, the breach crackled, and the mark on their prisoner's hand glowed with it. Leliana caught her shoulders again as she fell forward, her bound hands tensing.

"Get your hands off me." Her voice was was high and clear, and she glared at the sister holding her through a curtain of her dark brown hair. "Don't make me ask a second time."

"So she talks!" Leliana smiled at the girl, not at all worried about her empty threats. "How wonderful. If you can speak, then surely you can give us the answers that we need, no?"

"No." The crow shifted her head away, so she couldn't look at either of them. Her fingers fidgeted in her bindings. "I have nothing to say to you."

She had an Antivan accent as she spoke, though Cassandra could tell with some certainty that she spoke Ferelden just as easily as her native language. She watched as Leliana smiled and refused to let go of her hold on the child's shoulders. If anything, her grip tightened.

"Tell us what you know," she warned, her voice dropping several pitches.

Cassandra's men shifted uncomfortably in the corner of the room, and the seeker herself tensed and waited for a sign in case things got out of hand. She had to remind herself: this was not just a child they were dealing with. This was an assassin, found at the conclave, where the divine and all the highest clergy had been slain—where their only chance at peace between the Templars and mages had been snuffed out. This crow could have the answers they needed— they couldn't afford to play nice.

"I didn't do it," the girl said finally, lip curling as Leliana's fingers dig into her shoulders. She winced, and spat, "I don't even remember being at the conclave!"

"And interesting story to spin," the spymaster said, leaning back to finally give the girl some space. She seemed grateful, if annoyed that they didn't believe her, that she wasn't being manhandled at the moment. Cassandra relaxed. "Tell me, why should we believe anything an assassin has to say? For all we know, you could have been sent to kill the divine."

"If that was the case, then someone beat me to it, no?" She bit out a patronizing smile. "Because I was nowhere near her when happened. I was…. I…"

"Yes?" Cassandra took a step closer and watched the elf's face twist as she tried to recall her last memories. This could be the key to the disaster in the sky. "What is it?"

"I… I don't remember…" her confusion seemed genuine as she stared down at her hands.

Leliana sighed and shook her head, disappointed as she knelt in front of their prisoner. "How incredibly convenient."

"I'm telling the truth!" Her eyes were blazing, and she struggled against her restraints.

"And how novel that is, little spy. Are the crows giving away their feathers now? Have they set the bar so low they're accepting truth-tellers and children into their ranks?"

The child's expression was livid, and Cassandra hesitated, not sure if she should intervene or not. "You take that back!"

"Should I?" Lilianna smiled down at her and tucked the rest of her dark hair behind her ears in a very motherly fashion. It only seemed to make things worse. "Only if you say please."

In a quick moment, faster than Cassandra or her guards could react, the prisoner slipped her bindings and struck, slapping Leliana across the face. "Bitch!"

Leliana's head turned and she blinked, still crouched on the floor as the child scrambled backwards and into the farthest corner of the room. As Cassandra's men turned on her, she held up her glowing hand threateningly.

"Stay back! Don't make me say it again!"

"Delicate," Cassandra murmured as she helped Leliana to her feet. "This is what you wanted?"

"Shut up," the sister grunted. The two of them stood in waiting as the tiny crow held her ground against fully armoured men, her posture threatening despite the fact that they were backing her into a wall. Leliana rubbed the side of her face where a tiny red hand print remained. She gestured to the prisoner. "She's all yours, seeker."

"How kind of you…" Cassandra moved towards her soldiers, penning the girl in as best they could without being stuck down by the mysterious magic sewn into her palm. She took a steadying breath and, without drawing her sword, approached the frightened child. "What's your name?"

"Che palle!" She hissed a series of curses towards her in Antivan, before slipping back Into the language Cassandra could actually understand. "—as if i'd tell such a thing to a Ferelden dog!"

"I am Nevarren," Cassandra said impatiently, one eyebrow raised. The child's glowing hand lowered just a tad. She tried again. "My name is Cassandra Pentaghast, I am head seeker for the chantry and I was the divine's left hand. You know sister Leliana, behind me…"

She waved, and her smile grew sharper when the crow sneered at her.

"You know our names. I say we trade information—answer our question and you may ask your own." Cassandra motioned for her men to stand down. They did, reluctantly. "Does that seem fair?"

The girl hesitated for a moment, before dropping her hand. She stewed over her answer, frustrated perhaps by the fact that she had no other choice. "Call me Velasco."

"Great," Leliana muttered, shaking her head. Velasco was an incredibly common name given to assassins—its meaning literally translated from Antivan to mean crow. It was like naming oneself anonymous, or ser; it was a nothing name. Cassandra wondered if the name was given to Velasco by someone else, or she chose it herself.

"My turn for questioning," the elf demanded, jutting her chin out as she stared down the adults in the room. Her hands tucked firmly at her side, and hardly wavered as the mark crackled dangerously. She had been embellishing her painful reactions from before, Cassandra noted, though the sheen of sweat on Velasco's brow was a good way to tell that she was in fact still suffering. She was a good little actor. "Where did you take my things?"

"You mean your weapons?" Cassandra asked, and when Velasco stared at her blankly, because that wasn't an answer, the seeker conceded. "Held in a safe place where you are not to have them. Explain the mark."

"I can't."

"Then explain what happened at the conclave."

"I can't."

Cassandra pinched the bridge of her nose. "Is there anything you can explain?"

Velasco stood her ground and clenched her fists. "Ask better questions! I already told you I can't remember, and I was being honest." She shot a glare at Leliana.

The seeker looked between the two of them, before she sighed to herself. "What do you last remember, then?"

"I…" her face went blank for a second, her eyes distant. She licked her lips and unclenched her hands. "Um…"

"Yes..?" Lelianna held her breath.

"There were… really big, ugly spiders," she said, her expression pinched. "They were chasing me."

"...spiders?" Cassandra repeated, not quite sure she believed the story herself. "Why?"

"I don't know," Velasco said impatiently. "Why am I supposed to be the one holding all the answers? I just woke up here after some woman grabbed me."

"There was a woman?" Leliana pressed, interest piqued. "What was she like? Did she say anything? What else did she do?"

"I don't know!" Her hand with the mark was up again, as if to put distance between her and all the suspicion around her. Any more questions and Cassandra was afraid they'd push her to tears—even though the young assassin seemed closer to righteous anger than confused sobbing. "She reached out to me. I don't even know what's going on."

"Perhaps it would be best to show you…"

Cassandra moved for her men to open the door outside. At the sudden change in light and blast of cold air, Velasco forgot her fighting stance and took a few tentative steps forward.

"No running off." The seeker motioned for her men to shadow behind them as she brought Velasco outside. Leliana slipped out the door they came into, throwing a few words over her should about keeping the rest of the survivors informed before she disappeared.

The snow crunched under their feet as they walked outside. Velasco's footsteps were quiet, careful, as she followed Cassandra. The glow of the beach caught her eyes, and the antivan swore again under her breath as the mark began to hiss and pop, green light pouring from her hand. She fell to the snow a moment later, hallow groan wrenched from her lips. Cassandra helped her up.

"This thing, this mark—it's killing you, with every moment the breach grows larger. Do you understand?"

Velasco shakily nodded, holding her arm close to her chest like a broken wing. She looked angry—Cassandra didn't know what she expected. Tears, perhaps. She wondered what the girl's life must be like for her to have the face of a soldier already, for as young as she was.

The seeker gave her a moment to compose herself. "How old are you?"

"A question for a question?" Cassandra nodded, and she said: "Ten… maybe."

One of the soldiers behind them swore, and Cassandra ignored him. "You don't know for sure?"

"We didn't celebrate birthdays," was all she replied, and the underlying statement of 'when I was with the crows' remained unsaid. She looked up at Cassandra, her head just barely as coming up to her elbows. "Do you still think I did it? The hole in the sky?"

"I… wasn't sure to begin with."

Cassandra glanced up at the breach for good measure. There were so many unanswered questions still, and none of them answered now that the prisoner—The child— was awake. She knew leliana still suspected her, as did quite a few of the survivors, but they were split. Most weren't willing to suspect a child created such chaos and suffering. The fact that she was an assassin was a point in favour of the people calling her a killer. From the marks on her face, the tattoos were proof that she already was one.

Velasco looked down at her palm, so small and fragile, glowing under the light of her mark. Cassandra wondered how anyone could use such hands like that and force them to take a life. "What can I do to get rid of it?"

"We're not sure," the seeker confessed, watching as Velasco's tiny eyebrows drew together. She had to remind herself to focus on the task at hand, and cleared her throats and looked away. "But there is someone who looked over you who might have answers. There may be a way to close the breach and save you from the mark before it kills you."

"Then why are we doing waiting around?" Velasco gaped at her and took several large steps forward, so that her guards startled and started following after her. Cassandra just stared. "There's a hole in the sky!"

The seeker had nothing to argue about that. They set of towards the conclave.

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