Azry hears the soldiers approaching, and her mind reels. Can’t sense them, so not darkspawn. Loghain’s men? She thought her camp was well hidden-

And then Blaze stumbled away, face terrified, and Azry no longer cared who they were. They were going to die. 

“Everyone! Arm up, protect Blaze!”

The Templars clanked into the clearing, immediately fanning out and drawing swords. 

One stepped forward, in the armour of a Captain. “Surrender the girl,” he ordered. 

“No,” Azry spat, drawing her own swords. 

Wynne drew Blaze close to her, forming a shield around them both. Her instincts as a loyal Mage told her to hand Blaze over, but the way the girl arrived in the camp, the clear signs of abuse, the pregnancy-

No. These Templars would not have their victim back. 

She half tries to evade Wynne's grasp, but exhaustion works against her. But...

...they're...not just handing her over?

She's shaking against Wynne's side. "Please," she whispers, letting herself hope they'll protect her baby. "they'll hurt my baby." (She doesn't care if they hurt her, she deserves it, she knows she does, but her baby doesn't, and never would, and that was why she ran.)

“Don’t worry. We won’t let them touch you.”

“That girl is an apostate! We are carrying out Chantry Justice!”

“And I’m telling you. I’m not giving you back your victim. You have abused this girl and we will not stand for it!”

“Last chance. Hand over the girl.”

“Go to hell.”

She clenches her hands into fists. Ignores every part of her that's telling her she needs to just...go back, that she's not worth protecting, that she's wrongevilbad and deserves everything she gets. (She can't, a much larger part of her is reminding her that her baby needs her to not.)

Flames flicker around her hands, and she doesn't even seem to notice it.

“Magic exists to serve man, and never to rule over him.”

The Templars charge forward. 

Azry does the same, rolling past one, the springing up to take on another. 

The rest of the group springs into battle, defending Blaze, even though some harbour guilty feelings about killing members of the Chantry. 

This...doesn't make sense. That complete strangers would defend her. (No-one has ever defended her before.)

She's shaking harder, and the fire this group had set leaps. She won't let them get hurt because of her. (Even if the idea of attacking the Templars is terrifying, and she knows it'll just make things worse for her when they inevitably recover her.) Flames arc from the fire to one of the Templars.

The Templar screams as the fire envelops him. 

She flinches at the screams but doesn't relent. (She's not worth this, but she won't let these strangers get hurt because they thought she was.)

The Templar tumbles to the ground, screams cutting off as the fire consumes him. 

"That's enough, Blaze! He's dead!" Wynne catches hold of Blaze's hands.

It was always harder to stop. But she triestriestries. She can't extinguish the flames, but she certainly isn't controlling them any more. "Sorrysorrysorry," she says, rocking back and forwards, not quite trying to pull her hands away.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. You did well,” Wynne tries to soothe. The poor little thing hasn’t even been trained properly. What sort of circle did she come from?

The Templars put up a fight, but they’re no match for Azry and her team. She slices the throat of the last one, and they fall with a gurgle. 

“Right. We need to dispose of them,” Azry says after a beat. Alistair’s mouth drops open, like he wants to argue, but he closes it quickly, looking at Blaze. “Morrigan. Can you?”

Morrigan grins wickedly, summoning purple fire that quickly burns through the Templars. 

Azry returns to Blaze. “Are you okay?”

She ducks her head down, wants to wrap her arms around herself, but Wynne is still holding her hands. She twitches slightly at the purple flames, eyes drawn to it.

Her eyes dart back to Azry (her knees at least). "I- yes? M'sorry, I- you should've- I-"

Wynne lets her hands go, holding her shoulders instead, wanting to wrap the poor girl up. 

“Nothing to be sorry for, Blaze. They were bad men that needed to die. Now we can focus on getting you healthy and making sure your baby is born safely. If that’s what you want.”