The moon hung full in a clear sky, offering ample light through the open window facing the safe. Isabela's hands moved slowly and with incredible precision, her expressive brown eyes focussed on the lock in front of her with a rare seriousness. She'd pulled back her hair with a bandana, but a few strands still fell to frame her face. Every now and then she would stop and change one weirdly twisted strip of metal for another, her long fingers gently twisting and shifting the picks.

Varric gave an impatient sigh. "Do you want me to have a go, Rivaini?"

"Hush," whispered Isabela, without looking up. "It's complicated."

The safe had not been their original goal: they'd been hired to break in to this Lord Belmont's house and steal some documents, and those had been sitting on his desk clear as day. But Isabela had gotten an acquisitive look in her eye when she'd seen the safe, and May had agreed to let her have a go at opening it. In and out faster than a Chantry brother in a brothel she'd said, but it was taking a little longer than that. May was usually about as far from patient as it was possible to get, but there was something soothing about watching Isabela work. The moonlight glinted off the massive collar around her neck and May wondered what she'd look like without it on. When she'd met Isabela a few weeks ago May had thought her attractive enough in an obvious sort of way, but in this light she was transfixing.

"That's a good sign, isn't it?" said May. "Shows he cares about what's in it."

"You'd be surprised," said Isabela.

Varric gave a grim smile of agreement, then started rifling through the remaining papers on Lord Belmont's desk. "The amount of junk people keep in locked boxes is staggering. It's like they're trying to disappoint me." Not finding any satisfaction on the desk, he started poking through the objects displayed on a nearby shelf. There was so much junk in this room! May wondered if they should destroy some of it, make it harder to tell what had been stolen. Plus destroying things was fun.

"One time, I spent three days working out how to break into a chest I'd found on a captured ship," mused Isabela. "It was huge, all covered in detailed carving and gold leaf. And you know what was in it?"

"What?"

Isabela looked up and grinned at May.

"Socks!" When May gave a muffled laugh Isabela's grin widened. "They weren't even very nice socks! I eventually traded them to another ship for some rope. Got a nice pile of silvers for the chest, though, so the story still has a happy ending." She was looking back at the lock again, but a smile still hung on her lips.

"This story won't have a happy ending if you don't hurry up," said Varric. "They're bound to notice the guards Hawke…subdued any moment now, and I'd really rather not be here when they do." He gave a small grimace.

Ug. For someone so connected to the underworld Varric could be incredibly squeamish about killing people. So she'd been a bit creative, so what. May was glad she'd decided not to bring along Carver or Aveline, they would have been irritating enough about the the fact that they were stealing. By contrast Isabela was refreshingly free of moral qualms (except possibly about slavery, and she could live with that) May was finding herself increasingly glad that the pirate woman had decided to stick around.

May made a shooshing motion at Varric. "Don't rush her," she said. "This angle gives me a fantastic view down her bodice."

Isabela looked up at May then down to her chest. She smiled broadly and shifted to give May a better view, then got back to work.

"You never stare at my chest when I'm unpicking locks," said Varric.

"I can start if you like," said May.

Before Varric could reply he was interrupted by a small click and then the sound of Isabela letting out a quiet Yes! She opened the box and her expression shifted from joy to disappointment. "What on earth is that?" she said.

"Just grab it and let's get out of here!" said Varric.

As much as May enjoyed having an excuse to fight people, it was always satisfying to get to the "being paid" part of a job. Varric had offered his quarters as a safe place to count out coin without encountering any thieves (well, any other thieves) and soon the three of them were happily dividing up their take and calling out to the passing staff for drinks.

"That worked out pretty satisfactorily," said Isabela. "Overall. Let me know if you need me for any other jobs like that, I could always use the coin."

"Still saving for that ship, Rivaini?" asked Varric.

"In theory," she replied.

May considered the possibilities. "I got a letter today with a job," she said. "Someone wants to meet me in Lowtown at night to discuss a business proposition. It sounds incredibly shady."

"Oooh, I like shady," said Isabela. "Sign me up."

"And maybe if you're lucky you'll find another rotten peg leg," said Varric with a grin.

"Well," she said, "I am a pirate. If I'm really lucky I'll get a matching set."