"This is my job!" Isethari shrieked.
Her ragged and strangled voice echoed in the eerie quiet. Violent sobs wracked her body as she thrashed about, yet Sten held her firm against his chest. Isethari continued to screech and cry out, the King's Tongue broken and intermingled with Elvhen. Tears poured down her cheeks, staining the intricate patterns of her vallislin. Chest heaved under the strain of her broken breaths and constant struggle.
Her valiant efforts against her captor proved futile. Sten's arms remained locked around her, grip too strong for her to break from. Yet this did not stop her as she writhed and kicked in vain to get free. He had no right to take this from her. None of them did! They didn't understand. She wasn't supposed to live. Not now, not ever. This wasn't supposed to be how it happened.
"Kadan."
Sten's voice came out as a harsh demand. An order; a tone he'd never once used with her. Yet it did little to assuage her protests as Isethari continued to struggle against him. She attempted to leverage herself against his chest to kick away, to escape. All it got her were grunts - of pain or annoyance it was hard to say - as her feet slammed against his body with each failed attempt.
"You will hurt yourself if you do not stop," Sten said.
The calm in his voice, in spite of the commanding tone, was maddening. It drove her to further fits. But her cries began to come weaker and weaker, voice cracking and faltering. Until it stopped altogether. Silent sobs came now, her body twitching and jerking as they tore at her.
A bright light engulfed the rooftop, a blast of energy sending all sprawling across the ground. Sten released one final grunt as his back slammed against the cold stone. His grip then relented, setting Isethari free. She wasted no time as she scrambled away. Her legs protested, but she ignored them to stagger across the rooftop. She collapsed against the stone just shy of the limp forms of Loghain and the archdemon. A crawl carried her the rest of the distance. Fresh tears began to fall as she wrapped her arms about her stomach. Bowing forward, she touched her head to the cold metal of his chest plate.
"Why wouldn't you let me do this?" she asked. Her hushed tone was inaudible. "Stupid, stupid, shemlen."
Isethari continued to mutter and curse, her body shaking in new found sobs. How could she continue after this? She'd made peace with what little she had left in this life and now she had nothing. No hope of escape. No freedom. No love. And that was the scariest fact of all.
"Tamlen… ma vhenan, wait just a little longer for me." The whisper all but died on her lips as she doubled over herself and wept. "Please."