Lilies

Only in Kirkwall could you get into all-out fights with three different groups of people before noon, Hawke thought to herself as she reached the front door of her mansion. Her clothes were sticky with the blood of carta, bandits, and a particularly persistent
giant spider that had all decided to take her on. She sighed. It would take the rest of the day to get the gunk out of her armor.

As her hand closed upon the door handle and twisted, faint voices floated over to her from inside. Opening the door revealed the voice belonged to her uncle, who was currently pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"Enchantment?" Sandal was suggesting cheerfully.

"No, not enchantment," Gamlen snapped. "Leandra. Can I see her?"

"Enchantment!"

"No, Leandra! Lee. Ann. Drah!"

"What's wrong, uncle?" Hawke interrupted, deciding it was best to step in before the man lost his temper on Sandal. Gamlen turned to her, looking relieved to see her for the first time she could remember.

"Thereyou are! Where's your mother? Is she feeling alright?" he asked.

Hawke blinked in surprise. "I'm sure she's alright," she answered. "Why are you so upset?"

"Your mother didn't show up for our weekly visit," he explained peevishly. "Is she ill? She is here, isn't she?"

"No, Gamlen. We haven't seen her all day," Bodahn said, stepping forward.

"Where could she be?" her uncle wondered aloud.

"With her suitor, perhaps?" Bodahn suggested.

Gamlen looked surprised at that. "Suitor? Leandra never mentioned a suitor."

"Well, those lilies arrived for her this morning," the dwarf replied, gesturing to a vase full of white lilies on the desk, next to where Sandal kept his enchanting equipment. The flowers sent up a red flag, and Hawke frowned as she examined the memories
dragged up by the floral arrangement.

"White lilies…" she said slowly. "I know something about that."

"Don't just leave me waiting, what is it?" Gamlen demanded.

"There's a killer in Kirkwall who sends his victims white lilies before he takes them," Hawke explained. She tried to keep her voice neutral, but she could still see the shock and fear stealing across her uncle's face with every word she spoke. "He's
murdered several women already."

"No. You're wrong. Leandra is fine," Gamlen protested. Hawke sympathized with him; part of her wanted to ignore this, to pretend everything was okay, but if there were even the slightest chance this was real, she had to do something about it.

"Aveline will get the city guard to keep an eye out. Don't worry, Uncle," she reassured him, but already in her mind she was racing through all of the possible places her mother could be.

"Well...all right. That girl will know what to do," Gamlen said halfheartedly. "Maybe Leandra took another path to my house. I could've just missed her. I'm going back to Lowtown."

"You should help Gamlen look for your mother," Bodahn suggested to Hawke. "You might be able to track her more easily once night falls and the streets empty out. The boy and I will stay here in case she returns."

Hawke nodded her thanks, then went to hastily put on some armor. Robes might be all well and good, but they didn't help much against assassins and their sneaky daggers.

When she finally made her way to Lowtown, she had Fenris, Varric, and Anders in tow. For once, Fenris and Anders weren't bickering, for which she was grateful. She had enough going on without that headache added on top of it.

She spotted her uncle, who was stopped and speaking to a young dirty boy. "Wait, wait," her uncle was saying urgently. "You say you saw Leandra?"

"I did. What of it?" the urchin said defensively.

"Blue dress? Gray hair? Her cloak was brown, I think. She holds it closed with a round broach," Gamlen described, "silver with…with garnets."

"I told you already, I saw her!"

"Did you see where she went?" Gamlen shifted from foot to foot, arms crossed tightly over his chest.

The urchin squinted up at the gray haired man. "What do I get for telling you?" he said shrewdly.

Hawke stepped closer. "Here," she said, handing him a coin that happened to be in her pocket. "Please, it's very important."

The boy gasped at the sight of it. "That's real silver, that is! I'm your man, through and through. Tell you everything I know! That lady was here. She looked like she was going to take the bridge to Hightown," he explained. "But then a man came up to
her. He stumbled over, right at her feet, like he was dead. His hands were all bloody, like he'd been in a fight. The lady shook him, and I think he said, 'help'. She got him to his feet, and he was wobbly – it was funny. Anyway, she left, and…that's
all I saw," the urchin shrugged.

"I never thought I'd curse my mother's kind-heartedness," Hawke sighed to Gamlen.

"You could be wrong about all of this," her uncle replied hopefully. "Maybe the flowers don't mean anything."

"The man left some blood where he fell over," the urchin added helpfully, pointing out a dark stain over on the other side of the alley. "You could follow it."

"Why don't you do what the boy says?" Gamlen suggested. "I'm going to go home in case Leandra shows up." Hawke nodded, and watched her uncle walk off towards his home.

Hawke knelt to examine the blood. She had no way to know if this blood belonged to her mother or to the man (or the killer, her subconscious provided unhelpfully). "This blood is fresh," she said aloud. "If we hurry, there might be a trail we can follow."
Hawke swiveled her head, and spotted another blood spatter several yards away. She could see the faint outline of a blood trail, leading into Lowtown's streets. "More blood. I'm on the right path," she muttered under her breath as she and the others
followed the trial. She and Fenris caught each other's eyes; she couldn't remember ever seeing him so somber, and he couldn't remember ever seeing her so scared.

They followed the spatters as they twisted through the dark streets, past the Hanged Man and deep into Lowtown. The trail eventually led to a darkened doorway. "A foundry?" Varric said warily. "Why would the trail lead here?"

"They must have gone inside," Hawke said, doing her best to keep her voice steady. Judging from Fenris's glance, she wasn't entirely succeeding. The group made their way to the door, which swung open at their touch.

They crept in, caution taking over Hawke's urge to dash blindly in. "You've been here before, haven't you?" Varric said suddenly. Hawke frowned. Had she? After five years, she felt like she'd been in most every part of Kirkwall and at times it felt as
if the scenery was repeating itself, but he had a point; this place definitely felt familiar.

"I wonder if we'll find more than just a sack of bones this time," Anders said offhandedly, and the realization hit Hawke like a sledgehammer upside the head: this was where they'd tracked Ninette, only to find a handful of her bones and her wedding ring.
They'd had to tell her disgruntled husband that she'd simply left, but told the truth to her distraught elven lover. The thought of finding the same thing with her mother left Hawke's blood chilled. Fenris shot Anders a cold glare at the tactless
comment.

"Mother must be here somewhere," she said forcefully. "We need to look around. There, more blood. They are here, somewhere." The blood trail continued across the dirty room and up a rickety set of stairs. They followed it down a short hallway, until it
stopped at a small trapdoor in the floor.

"Looks like somebody forgot to hide the trapdoor to his secret hideout," Varric commented.

"This wasn't here before," Hawke said slowly. She knelt and lifted the door. Below, she could see a ladder led down to a large, dimly lit room. She descended, and could hear the others following her as she warily looked around. For comfort, she hoisted
the towering staff off her back and held it at her side, the tip of the two foot long blade on the end barely dragging in the dust at her feet.