Sometimes Janus Hawke wondered how he got himself into these messes.

Until a year ago, the redheaded rogue was just a lowly refugee, working as a smuggler to pay off the bribes to get him and his family into Kirkwall. By the Void, it was only recently that he was able to leave that elf's services. Now he had a slew of unusual friends and was constantly getting himself in trouble, either because there was coin to be had or because he couldn't turn down anyone in trouble.

That was how he ended up in this mess. He had seen that crying girl worrying about her Templar brother being in trouble. Though Janus didn't care one bit for Templars, he figured it wouldn't hurt to at least look for the man and ease her woes. The next thing he knew, he was helping the Knight-Captain expose a plot to make Templars into abominations. It was the kind of thing you would expect to hear in one of Varric's wild tales.

With Anders, Aveline, and Varric in tow, they entered the Blooming Rose, as Cullen suggested, and were directed to Idunna. Well, might as well just get this over with.

The four entered Idunna's chambers, prepared to interrogate her and nothing more. It wasn't until she invited Hawke to bed that things became strange. For starters, his friends inexplicably sided with Idunna over him.

"Hawke, go easy on this lovely creature," Varric suggested.

"It can't be easy for a girl in her position," Aveline added, a note of pity in her voice.

"We should just do what she says," Anders finished. With him it was the most obvious that something wasn't right, since he just droned out his words.

"You should listen to your friends," Idunna said smugly.

"What's wrong with you all?" Hawke snapped. "We're here to interrogate her."

His friends didn't answer. Idunna chimed in again, voice as sultry as ever, "Tell you what. I'll talk if you answer one of my questions. Who told you about little old me?"

Hawke was about to tell her that he just heard a rumor, but his words were strangled in his throat. He felt a commanding presence in his mind, trying to force the truth out of him. The rogue tried to fight, but wound up blurting out a confession that Vivika told them about her.

All sultriness gone, Idunna stood up. "That little weasel, I'll deal with her later. But first, I need you to do one more thing for me. Draw your blade, and bring it gently to your throat..."

Hawke was powerless to resist, and even though he tried to make his hand still, his body wouldn't obey him. Against his will, he drew his knife and pressed the blade against his neck. Gathering all of his willpower and concentrating as hard as he could, Hawke gasped out, "Anders... make her stop..."

Through the haze of control, Anders glanced at his friend and seemed to register that he was in danger. Blue flashed across his eyes right as the mage raised his hands and said, "Let go... of my friends!"

This was followed by a wave of magic and Hawke felt a mental backlash from the combination of being hit with the spell and Idunna's hold on him snapping. He was too caught up in the sensations to notice the deep undertone in Anders' voice.

Beaten and realizing that she was out of her game, the blood mage sang like a bird.

"Well, this was some day, wasn't it?" Janus asked casually.

"You can say that again," the mage agreed.

After dealing with Idunna, the four of them dealt with her cohorts and sent Keran on his way after Anders tested him for demonic possession. Fortunately, Cullen had taken their word and let Karan keep his position, though Janus still couldn't find himself to like the Knight-Captain, especially not after his biting remarks about mages.

Varric had gone back to the Hanged Man and Aveline had returned to the barracks once the ordeal was over, while Janus had offered to walk with Anders back to Darktown. He had come to enjoy the mage's company in the short time they'd known each other.

"Demons and psychopaths out for our souls… All in all, an average weekday," Janus joked. Anders just rolled his eyes.

Janus rubbed his face a little, causing Anders to look at him with concern. "Is something wrong?"

The rogue ran his hand down his face, settling on that little patch of stubble on his chin, and looked up at the mage, "I think I'm still trying to shake off the fact that I was mentally violated today." Ever since the Blooming Rose, Janus's mind had felt oddly cluttered and heavy. He had trouble keeping his thoughts straight throughout the day and still felt like there was someone trying to get at his mind.

"Not sure if I can do anything about that," Anders said. "I think you'll just have to sleep it off."

"Some healer you are," The rogue gave Anders a playful jab to the side.

It wasn't much longer before they reached the clinic, where patients had piled up slightly in Anders' absence. The volunteers had done what they could, but there were some that needed Anders' healing touch. Janus wasn't too eager to go back to Gamlen's shack just yet, so he asked if he could just hang out for a while longer. Anders was always welcoming to the other man's company, so of course he said yes.

Janus cleaned and bandaged wounds, and generally did whatever he could to help out, before the patients either went home or went to sleep in their cots for the night. The rogue and the mage sat down on Ander's personal cot in the back room once they were done and Anders closed shop, sharing laughs and stories.

But still, the odd feeling in his head wouldn't go away. "I should probably get home. Mother and Bethany might start to worry."

Anders nodded. "See you tomorrow?"

"I could probably work you in between killing qunari rebels and defacing the giant statue of Andraste in the Chantry," This time Anders smiled at his joke and bade him goodbye.

That night, the itchy straw bed wasn't the only thing keeping Janus awake. Trying to get to sleep was hard enough, since his mind wouldn't sit still. He kept forming fuzzy, half-formed thoughts and he wasn't sure where they came from.

When he did finally get to sleep, he was plagued by nightmares about the darkspawn and woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat.