As the years ticked by the inevitable slowly began to happen. It was Audric who noticed it first though; him having known Ceylon for a large part of his life. He picked up on the small things before Azabeth did. Lapses in her short-term memory, momentarily forgetting who people were. To her credit she did well hiding it behind a veil of humour, laughing and chortling about 'baby brain' as she tended her young son. Audric started shrugging it off whilst it was merely the simple spots here and there, at first falling for her baby-brain explanation.

It was until the daydreams started. He'd catch her cradling Faelan as he slept, looking off into some expanse as if she were somewhere else entirely. As the months slipped by they would vary in frequency, length and intensity until Faelan was five.

By that time the lyrium had clearly begun to take hold again, working it's way through her like the roots of some vile tree, it's canopy blooming with the madness as the tendrils wound deeper. Ceylon had seldom suffered with the shakes as bad as her pup, only when she was desperate for her fix. The madness and her old age drew them out though and soon Azabeth and Audric found their unexpected charge asking them about 'maa's trimbles'.

When the madness finally took her it was in the most heart-beaking manner possible. For it took a strong and independant woman and turned her to a frail shell of her former self. A husk that only served to replay memories long since past. She began calling Faelan by Audric, ushering him along as if he were an older boy and repeating things that the wolf-Templar remembered from his childhood. Feeding birds that weren't there in Denerim, teaching him rhymes that meant little in the city, telling him to be careful of wild animals that never prowled the streets.

Faelan began to grow confused and would seek solace with Azabeth and Audric, desperate for the hugs his mother would often deny him; 'it's time for lessons', she'd tell her son.

They were not his parents but as Ceylon's mind withered and withdrew in upon itself they could do little more that become Faelan's surrogate family whenever she took a dive.

Though it was expected the twilight days of the Templar were no less painful for the pair that had been taken under her wing. She was a shoulder, a bastion of support regardless of how much they wanted one or not. She was there, always there, but now she was leaving them in ebbs.

Audric did not want to think of what would become of her. He knew Templars could go on like this for several years, only half-aware of themselves and the things around them. She had been such a proud woman sometimes and to see her reduced to this would break her more than all the evils she'd experienced in her life. He began to pray that she'd go in her sleep, hoping for a quiet passing. Please, Maker, take her quickly...

- - -

Some more concepting for the Dragon Age: Origins IRC RP that I'm part of.

Audric belongs to .

Azabeth belongs to Amerou.

Faelan and Ceylon are 's.

DA:O and it's concepts belong to BioWare.

I've also most likely written Audric wrong, ahah.