Chapter Text
Zevran was not by nature a very religious man. At least, he had very little time for the formalities of religion. It had been many years since he had sung the chant, and he could not remember the last time he had entered a Chantry for less practical reasons than the release of prisoners or to hide from darkspawn. Being raised by whores and spending his adult life as an assassin had also given him a much more flexible attitude to sin than was usually espoused by those priests he had discussed it with (frequently before bedding and/or killing them)
Still. He had always liked the idea of the Maker, and as much as he might bend His rules here and there Zevran had regardless liked to think that he was, on the whole, on the Maker's side. Those he assassinated were more often evil than not, after all, and it was not as if he had ever engaged in anything really wicked like devil worship or blood magic. He had even helped find Andraste's ashes!
It was thus that even his sinning, lapsed Andrastian heart quailed a little at the idea of bringing an Old God into the world. The Old Gods were not just sinners, they were the very source of sin. They had taught man magic, and as a result brought demons and the Blight into the world!
Of course, being mages, Dane and Morrigan had a rather different attitude.
"Are you saying you believe all that?" said Dane irritably, when Zevran asked him about it. "About magic being inherently sinful and mages nothing but abominations waiting to happen?"
"Not exactly. But you must admit, magic is a very dangerous thing. Would not you and your friends at the Circle Tower have been happier if you had never been given this gift? I am sure it can not be pleasant to be constantly on guard for demons trying to take over your soul."
"No, it isn't." he replied. "But many things in life are both powerful and dangerous, and that does not necessarily make them a sin. And we only have the word of the Chantry for what happened, it's no surprise that their version of the story paints the Maker as the hero and the Old Gods as the villains. Something Morrigan pointed out to me is that even the Chantry says that it was not the Old Gods who created the Fade, or the demons, or even the Blight, but the Maker. The very worst the Old Gods are accused of is teaching humans about magic, and that does not sound so very sinful to me."
"Oh, Morrigan says this does she? And of course, unlike the Chantry, she could have no ulterior motive colouring her interpretation of these theological matters. Here she is performing this perfectly innocent blood magic to create a child with the soul of a demon, how dare I think there might be anything sinister going on!"
"I thought you accepted it!"
"I accepted that we should help her. I am not the most chivalrous of men, but I am not going to leave a pregnant woman to be devoured by darkspawn. And if this child is an Old God, well, better that it remain itself, sinful or not, than become tainted and start this whole Blight business all over again. But that does not mean that I am happy with the situation."
"Nobody is forcing you to stay. I can look after things here myself, feel free to go join a Chantry and pray for forgiveness from your Maker if it makes you feel better."
For a moment Zevran considered it. Well, not joining a Chantry, obviously. They were not big on accepting men or elves, not to mention being incredibly dull places by all accounts. But he was under no obligation to stay and take part in this madness. The Blight was over, the Crows mostly off his tail, and it was not as if he and Dane had made any explicit commitment to each other. He could be free, taking what jobs he liked and sampling the sights and women of any city in Thedas, rather than stuck here in the middle of nowhere with a woman he didn't trust, an unborn baby with the soul of an archdemon, and this man who expected him to put up with it all.
Zevran groaned and rested his head on Dane's chest. "No, you are stuck with me I am afraid. Why I put up with you dragging me into these disasters I do not know, perhaps you have cast some sinful mage spell over me. I can certainly think of no other explanation."
"Yes, that is it exactly, you have caught me out. Well, I have no choice now but to kill you and sacrifice you to my evil gods." Dane kissed him. "But maybe tomorrow, I'm too sleepy for all that mess and effort right now. And until then I am very glad to have you with me, thankyou."
"Until tomorrow then."