Neria Surana

When I'm alone I can extract little bits and pieces of my past. My father had a loud laugh, the kind that filled a room. I can't remember what he looked like, but I can remember the texture of the shirt he was wearing when he picked me up once. I think I had tripped, but I can't really be sure. I remember that he was very big, although I was much smaller then. Sometimes, when I close my eyes I can see my mother's face or hear her voice. I look like her but I think my memories might be a bit shoddy. Her voice probably wasn't as nice as I remember. She smelled like cinnamon because she worked for a baker and sometimes she got to bring home treats. I was young when I came to the tower, and these parents have relatively little to do with my life. These traces of memory are all I have left and truth be told...

I don't think I'd care if I forgot them or not. I've heard about the alienages: full of pestilence, poverty and disease. Life in The Circle isn't so bad compared to what my life could have been. Learning magic as way cooler than growing up in some rat infested shit hole. We're all the same here; distinctions like Human and Elf don't exist. The only distinction that matters is Mage or Templar, and even then I've heard they're pretty lenient in Ferelden. I've probably gotten more tail than some tart in a brothel and no one's caught me yet. Sure! I can't go outside or enjoy basic human freedoms, but I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth! If not for The Circle where would I be?

I'll tell you. The shit-bottom rung of the social ladder! At least in The Circle I can be useful. Jowan and Solona disagree, but I guess that's just a matter of perspective. It's not like I love Templars and I wish they would leave just as much as the next mage, but no circle? That's crazy talk. We could never live in harmony with the general populace. I've heard the Chant, no one would accept the idea of a mage having even the tiniest semblance of control over their own life as much as the lives of others. The Tower is clean, the food is good, and there aren't as many rats or cockroaches around as there are in the slums. Sounds good to me. I honestly can't really remember being outside and you can't miss what you never knew in the first place!

Of course, just because I like The Circle doesn't mean I like the idea of being thrown into a Demon's food bowl by the Templars. If I could go my whole life without meeting a demon I would gladly do it. Still. It's better than being Tranquil.