“True, but I’ve heard human flesh does nothing good for the brain.”

The woman laughs, harsh and cynical. "Perhaps not, but sometimes: needs must."

"You're being a bitch again," the voice comes from where there was previously, the dog.

"When isn't she one?"

“I can promise I would not be a good meal. I may be tall, but very stringy. Not much meat on these bones.”

He sees the dog turn into a man, and his relief is palpable. “Thank the Maker. You must be a mage, me too. I was worried I’d fallen into the clutches of dwarven-craft-stealing-cannibal Templars.”

"-Uh. Mage? I mean, that sounds really cool, but I do large dog and that is...approximately it."

"You are a bit rangey come to think of it." The woman apparently in charge glances over her shoulder. "Deke!" she roars.

“Shapeshifting is one of the hardest schools to learn. I’ve never been able, myself,” Anders says, and he sounds truly impressed. 

He looks hopefully at the woman in charge, that he might be let down from his...perch. 

A man, a height with the woman appears, and blinks up at Anders. "Didn't know human was in season out here."

"Shut up and help me get him down. You too, Rex, don't just sit there."

Rex is abruptly a dog again.

"-How come he gets away with that?" Deke grumbles, helping the woman unhook Anders from the spike.

Anders is as helpful with the task as he can be, while also trying not to let his coat rip. 

Both of the people lifting him are strong, and lift him up far enough that they aren't tearing his coat.

"There," the woman says, as they set him on his feet.

"So...what we doing with him?"

Anders drops onto his feet, and immediately starts ringing his hair. “Hopefully not dropping me right back in the ocean? Or at least, dropping me a little closer to Kirkwall. I’m not...actually sure where this is.”

"Where the fuck is Kirkwall?"

"-Not somewhere I've heard of."

"Maybe south of the Barrier?"

"There's nothing south of the Barrier, Tana, cept more ocean."

...had he fallen unconscious? Had he actually drowned and Justice had only woken him up now? Just where in Thedas was he? 

“Ah, it’s in the Free Marches? It’s, ah...are we in the Amaranthine ocean still?”

"-You're in the Silent Ocean, neighbour, about a hundred leagues from any shore."

“...I’ve never heard of the Silent Ocean.” He’s only slightly panicking. Where’s Justice? He usually stopped Anders spiralling, even if it meant him turning blue. 

"Hey, hey," the other woman says, holding out a hand. "Just breathe."

"We can't just dump him, Circ," Deke says quietly.