Chapter 1 - Strange Encounters

"Is she gone?"

Fiona turned to face Anders. They were on their way back from Chateau Haine. The mage, who had patiently awaited their return a few miles from the castle, was boiling water for their morning tea, a deep frown on his handsome face.

"Yes, Tallis has left." She didn't bother to hide her relief. "Good riddance, if you ask me."

She had a hard time forgiving the elf's lies, even if everything had turned out well in the end. The loot from Duke Prosper's vaults had definitely been worth the effort, and it had been satisfying to make the Orlesian pay for his treachery. But now she wanted nothing more than to be home again and never to see either a wyvern or an Orlesian noble again for the rest of her life.

The others were busy tearing down the camp after a night in the open. Her brother Carver was fiddling with the tents, with occasional help from Isabela who managed to come up with enough saucy innuendoes to make the blush on his face permanent. It was quiet and peaceful here in the forest clearing, a welcome change from the excitement of the past two days.

None of them anticipated the sudden crackle of noise tearing the air, or the huge purple wall of energy that appeared right next to an ancient beech tree. Anders jumped to his feet with a cry of surprise. Fiona motioned to her companions to stand well back, while the swirling fogs slowly solidified into a portal. Several silhouettes took form inside the gateway, and she instinctively reached for her staff. The crackling noise reached a sudden crescendo as four people stumbled through the portal. Fiona had just enough presence of mind to cast a glyph of paralysis at them before a sudden, eerie quiet fell over the little clearing. The portal took on a different hue, slightly paler than before, and there was no longer any movement visible inside its shining surface.

Fiona stepped carefully closer. "Anders?"

The mage had stepped up right next to her, looking stunned. "Who are these people, Hawke?"

She shook her head. "No idea. Care to have a look at the portal?"

While Anders walked over to examine the gateway, she looked the new arrivals over.

Three men and a woman, dressed in clothes of a curious cut, made from some strange, shiny material. Tight-fitting white shirts with short sleeves, loose dark pants, heavy boots. No armour, no weapons. Not even a dagger between them. The tall man who had his arm around the woman's shoulders seemed to be their leader, judging from his posture. He had an interesting face, high cheekbones and bright blue eyes that were looking at her with a wary expression. With a shiver, she realized he was one of the most attractive men she'd seen in a long time, despite his close-cropped hair. One of the men was unconscious, propped up against the impossibly wide shoulders of his companion. That last one drew a whistle of appreciation from Isabela.

"Look what we have here." The pirate walked over to the group to have a better view. "Tattoos, scars, and my, he is big, isn't he? I wonder-"

"Shut up, Isabela, they can hear you." Fiona bit back a grin.

Anders turned back. "This looks almost like a Fade Portal, but-"

"I knew it." Carver had appeared from under the tent plane. "Demons! Or Abominations at the very least. We should kill them while we have a chance." Reaching for his greatsword he moved to make good on his threat.

"No!"

Fiona shuddered when she heard the deep booming voice. Anders' eyes were flashing a bright blue.

"Stand back, Templar! They are not demons. And this portal doesn't lead to the Fade. It's a doorway to another plane."

"What do you mean, Justice?" Motioning at Carver to stand back, Fiona slowly approached the spirit. "Where do they come from?"

The blue glow faded as quickly as it had appeared and Anders was back, flashing a shaky, apologetic smile at her. "Justice thinks... He thinks they come from another plane of existence, another world, if you will. We should at least talk to them before we decide."

Fiona nodded. The leader of the small group had watched her all the time, his eyes fixed on her with a piercing stare. Carefully she loosened the paralysis just enough that he would be able to move his head and speak. His eyes widened when he realized what was happening, but he waited for her to make the first move.

"I'm Fiona Hawke, Champion of Kirkwall, and these are my loyal friends and companions. Who are you, stranger? And what brings you here?" She was proud of her firm, unwavering tone.

When he spoke, his voice, deep and assured, sent shivers down Fiona's spine, even though his words made little sense. "Commander Shepard, Alliance Navy. And this is my crew. Lieutenant-Commander Ashley Williams, Lieutenant James Vega and my shuttle pilot, Lieutenant Steve Cortez. Where are we?"

Isabela raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "Navy? They don't look like sailors to me, Hawke."

"Not that kind of navy." The man sighed deeply. "This is going to be difficult to explain. Look, can you please tell us where we are?"

Fiona shrugged. "The Free Marches, close to Kirkwall."

He shook his head impatiently. "But which planet?" When she looked at him blankly, he sighed. "Which world?"

She blinked. It seemed Justice had been right. "Uh, Thedas?"

"Damn it, this is worse than I thought." He frowned, clearly worried. "Look will you please let us go? We really have to find a way back."

Fiona chewed her lip, deliberating her next step. She prided herself on her good judgment, and the man in front of her seemed honourable, even if he talked in a strange manner. And he was unarmed.

"Will you give me your word of honour not to harm us if I release you?" Ignoring Carver's sputtering words of protest, she fixed the stranger with her gaze, waiting for him to nod.

When he did, she freed him of the spell. With a sigh of relief, he stretched, displaying a trim, toned body. Then he walked up to her and extended his hand with a smile.

But when she took it, her eyes widened at the tingle she felt. "You're a mage!"

Before he could answer, twigs cracked behind her in the bushes, and a loud roar sounded through the forest. She whirled around to see a huge wyvern break through the undergrowth, coming straight at her at top speed.

Shepard had never seen a beast like this before. A massive, scaled body, a gaping maw of teeth, short wings spread wide in the attack. When he saw the creature emerge behind her, instinct took over. Gathering his powers, he slammed it back as hard as he could.

Cries of surprise went up from his new acquaintances when a wall of biotic blue crossed the clearing and threw the monster back, but they recovered with impressive speed. Before he could get in a second attack, the dark-skinned woman appeared right behind the beast, two gleaming daggers in her hands, slicing deeply into its flanks.

The creature roared in pain, but the armoured knight charged in with his sword, taking off the beast's head with a single, powerful stroke. Shepard swallowed. Their weapons might be primitive, but the way those people wielded them, they certainly did the job.

Fiona had whirled back and was now staring at him, her green eyes wide as saucers. "You saved my life!"

Her gaze travelled all over him, ending up on his right hand, still glowing faintly blue. A sudden grin spread over her face. "What else can you do?"

He couldn't resist. With a quick wave of his hand, he lifted the creature's severed head slowly from the ground, making it float.

She smiled with unabashed glee, then raised her own hand and made a quick gesture. A sheet of ice spread from her hand, freezing the head until it was covered in small icicles. Shepard grinned and reached for his powers again. One quick slam and it burst into a thousand little glittering pieces.

Fiona cried out with delight and flashed him another dazzling smile. Shepard felt a curious flutter in his stomach. Stop it, man! You don't need a complication like this. Yet, she was undeniably pretty. Dark auburn hair, cut chin-length, a slim, lithe body, clear skin with a hint of freckles around her nose. Pretty, powerful and very much alive. An intoxicating combination.

He took a deep breath, forcing himself to be serious again. Damn it, where are we? He had no idea where in the galaxy they could have ended up. Some strange, backward colony? The four people in front of him were dressed in a way he vaguely remembered from school lessons in human history. Fiona wore some sort of spiky armour, while the warrior was in full plate. The other two... he didn't even have the words to describe them.

His companions were still trapped in some sort of force field. And how had she managed to freeze that thing? He hadn't seen any kind of tool - the ice seemed to have come from her bare hand. He had never heard of a biotic who could do this. Let's deal with this later.

He raised his chin. "Please release us. We have to find a way back. We are needed there, desperately so."

"Of course. I take it you can vouch for your people?" She gestured in the directions of the others, a quick complicated flick of her fingers, and the strange paralysis was gone.

"Sister, are you mad?" The knight's face was red with rage. "You don't know them. He's a dangerous mage. He's just proven it to you. How can you-"

Fiona ignored him and walked over to Cortez, who had begun to writhe in pain. Dropping down on one knee, she gently touched his cheek, oblivious to Vega's protective growl. "Your companion is wounded."

Shepard nodded, suppressing a sudden flash of weariness. Shit. How did we end up here?

They had scanned a planet in the Krogan DMZ when an anomaly had showed up, and they'd decided to go down in the shuttle to investigate. At first it had seemed like a routine mission, but when he had felt the tremble under his feet, he had known immediately what it meant. Thresher maw. There hadn't been enough time to get back to the shuttle. When the huge jaws had closed around it, he'd been convinced they had lost Steve, until he had seen the pilot jump out of the open door at the last second, joining them on a rocky outcrop. He had been badly injured by the impact of his fall, though. They had scrambled for higher ground, but when the beast had come back for a second attack, they had already resigned themselves to dying. Until the strange portal had appeared right in front of them. It had been a choice between going through and certain death.

Fiona frowned. "This looks bad. Anders can look after him. He's a healer."

Shepard agreed with a quick nod, but Ashley spoke up, her tone incredulous. "You can't be serious, Shepard. Please tell me you aren't going to let some primitive use his mumbo-jumbo on Steve?"

He felt his face harden. "We don't have a choice, Ash. We have no medi-gel, in case you hadn't noticed." And no weapons. No armour. Somehow the portal seemed to have left those behind. He tried to activate his omni-tool, but it had disappeared as well. Damn!

The tall, lanky man in the curious feathered robes knelt down next to Cortez and ran his hands carefully along his body. They watched in growing fascination as a blue glow emerged from his palms. Steve groaned, but his posture became immediately more relaxed. Shepard could hardly take his eyes off the healer's face, struck by the intense focus on his features. He knows what he's doing.

Tearing himself away, he walked over to the portal and carefully lifted his hand to touch it.

Anders raised his head. "It's closed on this side. You can't go back this way."

Shepard bit back a curse. "You don't understand. We need to return now. It's urgent!"

Fiona nodded. "You saved my life. I owe you, and we will help you. Anders, do you think you could find a way to open a portal like this and send him back?

Anders shrugged "I might, with a little help from Justice and Merrill. But first..."

He went back to the portal and carefully immersed one hand into the glowing surface, now so pale as to be almost translucent. He closed his eyes to concentrate on what he was doing, but suddenly his body tensed, and blue cracks appeared all over his face. His eyes snapped open, taking on the same unearthly blue as earlier. Fiona sighed deeply. There was a curious expression on her face as she looked at Anders. Affectionate, but at the same time incredibly sad. Shepard frowned. Clearly there was a lot going on here that he had no hope of understanding. That strange blue glow, almost like biotics. And the looks exchanged between the two of them... He wondered briefly whether they were lovers.

Time to go back to business. "Please. We don't have time."

Anders shook his head with a soothing gesture. "Don't worry. Time is relative between portals. I need to examine this carefully. That way, when we take you back, we can set it up so you won't have been gone more than a few minutes. But first you'll have to rest. Your friend..." He indicated Cortez, who seemed asleep now. "He will need a lot of sleep, and more healing."

Shepard closed his eyes for a moment, trying to collect himself, and when he opened them, found Fiona right next to him. Her face was full of compassion, but her tone was business-like.

"Come on. We need to get you to safety first. We can take you to my house, get you out of these clothes..." She blushed briefly. "I mean... You are too conspicuous like this. I have clothes and armour you can wear, though probably none of it will fit him." She gestured toward Vega.

"No problem, sweet thing." The other woman, the one in the ridiculously skimpy outfit, laughed raucously. "I had a first mate once who was part Qunari. I'll drop by at the Hanged Man and get some clothes for him."

"Thanks, Isabela." Fiona smiled. "Come on. Let's get going. We can be in Kirkwall in a few hours."

I wouldn't even dare get started on this without the help of my trusted and wonderful beta, zevgirl. *hugs and thanks*