Jasen moved closer, while pushing Lorian into an alley away from the main street. It was dusk, and though shadows had crept into the streets, there was still enough light to see and the young mage could make out all the details of the handsome city guard's face. "Please, promise me you'll hurry back. It kills me that my duty prevents me from helping you, and I know I will not get a moment's peace until you are back here, safe, with me." Lorian smiled in the darkness, but hesitated to touch the man, no matter how badly his palms itched to do so. He had to make this goodbye as painless as possible. It would be some time before he could come back, possibly even years, maybe even never if things went badly. Despite how much he hated to leave, he owed Keran, and all his fellow mages. They had to leave the city and try to find a place beyond the templars' grasp where young mages would no longer be subjected to the fear and the torment they endured in the Circles. They would prove that mages were not a threat, that it is the templars themselves responsible for forcing mages into demon-pacts and blood magicks. They had to, or else all mages would burn in fires as hot as the flames that destroyed the Kirkwall Chantry. He reached up and stroked the guard-captain's beard, something he used to revel in, but now it brought him only grief. But never the less, he forced a smile. "Don't worry, my love. I will be safe, and we will return shortly. But I must go now, it is dusk, and we can now safely escape the city walls." He made to move out of the alcove, but strong arms stopped him. "You are trying to leave without a kiss? How very rebel of you. But you heard how we city-guards are a corrupt lot, turning a blind eye for those who offer a good bribe." Lorian chuckled quietly, and this time could not stop his hands as they reached up and ran over those smooth muscles he knew all so well. "I think I have paid your bribe many times over." Jasen gripped him tighter. "Maybe so, but I'm a desperate man, whose needs outweigh my duty. And right now, I need this..." There was no time for Lorian to reply for demanding lips captured his. It was heat, fire, desperation, longing, all rolled into one passionate kiss that seemed to last forever. All thoughts of Keran, the student mages, the Circle, all fled beneath the loving cruelty Jasen poured into their kiss. By the time it ended, the shadows had enveloped everything.