"Are you sure we want to go in there?" Hawke looked over at Isabella, raising her eyebrow at the pirate.

"What's the matter, Isabella? Surely you're not afraid of a few Qunari?"

"You don't know Qunari, do you Hawke?" Isabella frowned disapprovingly. "Help me out, Varric."

"She's right you know, Hawke?" the dwarf alerted. "They're not really… safe."

"I don't think there's much that that can be said about safety," Fenris admitted, looking between the other three. "We just chased down a whole nest of Tal-Vashoth, after all." The four of them stood outside the compound beneath the eyes of the one Qunari that kept guard before the compound. He very clearly considered their exchange to be a suspicious one, but it wasn't apparent what he thought. Hawke frowned and clicked her tongue. Having dealt with the Tal-Vashoth, why were they acting as though the tame Qunari living within Kirkwall were the more dangerous?

Perhaps there was a good reason for that, she supposed. She felt compelled to find Aveline and ask whether she had a suggestion, but she didn't want to hike all the way back up to Hightown just to ask a question. Adjusting herself a little, she pulled her hair out of the way and straightened her back.

"Let's just get this over with," she proposed, starting to head towards the large, iron gates. Fenris nodded, moving in step with her.

"Well if you're going to go talk with them, I'm going to go see to something personal," Isabella pointed out, jabbing her thumb in the direction of the seafront. "I've got a lead on someone selling a ship. Maybe I'll get lucky and find something I can afford."

"A dinghy, Rivaini?" Varric teased. Isabella rolled her eyes and darted off, and Hawke watched her go before progressing up the steps. The heat of the compound surrounded them and as they moved into the open space they each looked around they became aware of the sea of eyes looking down at them. Varric cleared his throat a little, dropping his eyes to the ground as they moved. "Feels like we're in a killing field," he commented beneath his breath, focusing his attention intently on his peripheral vision.

"That's because we are," Fenris confirmed, equally quietly. "We're outnumbered. A dozen to one, I'd reckon."

"Only if a fight breaks out," Hawke mused. "If we challenge them to a kissing contest I'll go grab Isabella and we'll clean house." She was trying to be confident, but she was perhaps the most concerned of all of them. A roiling sensation in the pit of her stomach refused to abate, and she just barely managed to keep her step as they moved toward the back of the compound. Before them stood an honour guard, and past them was a large, very obvious throne which looked out over the small domain. She could see the dwarf they'd met awaiting them. Javaris, who looked rather impatient as he messed with his beard.

"Ah, my right hand arrives!" he announced with great pleasure, and he turned to face one of the Qunari who regarded them with a narrow gaze. "Summon your Arishok - the bargain is done!"

"Arishok?" Hawke asked, glancing at the others briefly.

"You'll see," Fenris murmured. The Qunari at the top of the steps left without a word and Javaris turned to face Hawke.

"About time you showed. I've been here for hours," he commented snidely. Hawke looked down at him incredulously, feeling the desire to punt the dwarf, but before she could respond their attention was returned to the seat. She watched as a new figure emerged. A great, hulking beast unlike any other Qunari present. His mere footsteps drew her to feel a sense of dread, and he looked down across them with the same sort of disdain that she felt for Javaris. Immediately she felt compelled to be offended, but as he settled down she supposed it was no different to the stoic indifference the others met her with.

"Arishokost," Fenris alerted, stepping forward suddenly. Hawke jumped slightly and looked back at him, taking in a slow breath. "Maraas shokra. Anaan esaam Qun." Hawke looked at him for a moment, wondering curiously. Was that elvish?

"The Qun from an elf?" the arishok asked, and his voice was equally shocking to hear. It was deep and rolled like thunder, and Hawke's eyes fixed sharply upon the Qunari as he leaned in. "The madness of this… place." He didn't speak the last word so much as spat it as though expelling poison from his mouth.

"You have no idea," Varric murmured beneath his breath, inaudible to all but Hawke.

"Friend of yours?" Hawke asked Fenris carefully. She felt as though she was almost going to offend him by asking it, but he turned to her and shrugged.

"Friend of no one." She nodded gently. Did this count as Fenris' broodiness, or was this a Qunari thing? It didn't matter. Javaris stepped up with his shoulders squared back, regarding the Qunari with self-importance and entitlement.

"Yes, well, that said, I am here to report that your hated Tal-Vashoth were felled one and all. Right?" He looked to Hawke briefly, almost expecting an argument to come. Hawke felt a compulsion to lie just to make the dwarf look foolish, but he didn't give her the chance. "Yes, they were. So, I'm ready to open negotiations. For the explosive powder. As we agreed." The arishok shifted slightly in the way he sat, and in one word said more than Javaris had in the entire conversation.

"No." Hawke almost laughed but restrained herself, though her eyes danced with merriment as Javaris turned quickly to face her.

"He's not getting it. Make your chatty elf say something," he demanded, and Hawke crossed her arms at him slowly. She took in a slow breath, then simply looked over at Fenris and raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Qunari do not abandon a debt," he alerted. "I humbly request clarification from the arishok."

"I have a growing lack of disgust for you," the arishok announced, and it took Hawke a moment to realize that it wasn't a thinly-veiled insult at all. It was… a compliment? Did Qunari understand that? Or was it an accident? "The dwarf imagined the deal for the gaatlok. He invented a task to prove his worth, when he has none." It was all spoken so… straight-facedly that Hawke couldn't help the small laugh that passed her lips, and she cleared her throat to try and conceal it.

"Then we have wrongly inserted ourselves in your affairs," Fenris announced, then casually asked "Would you have us kill this dwarf?" Hawke turned to look at him, taking in a sharp breath. Javaris was a little shit, but he didn't deserve to be killed.

"Wait. What now?" Javaris asked, mirroring Hawke's alarm.

"If you faced Tal-Vashoth, he is not worthy of dying to you. As he was not worthy of dying to them." The arishok gave a small nod to cement his point and Hawke relaxed a little, though she did try and step forward to direct the conversation a little more. Her hand clenched and she held it tightly, focusing her attention on the Qunari as he spoke directly to her. "But you…" he said, and she felt her breath hold for an instant. "... you keep good company. Let him live. And leave." She blinked and felt the compulsion to obey the order, but wasn't entirely certain whether the arishok meant for her to allow Javaris to leave, or whether he was dismissing everyone. A subtle whistle from her side alerted her to Varric, and the rubbing of his thumb against her finger reminded her.

"He…" she began, then cleared her throat loudly. Taking a deep breath, she reaffirmed herself. "He had big plans for your recipe. I was supposed to get a piece of that," she informed him. They needed to fund the Deep Roads expedition. She couldn't afford to give the Qunari her charity.

"Dwarf, did your imaginary bargain make promises on my behalf?" the arishok asked with an even deeper level of contempt, which Hawke had thought impossible. Javaris cleared his throat and stared down at the ground.

"I.. expected your wisdom to be more profitable," he admitted, and Hawke shook her head and pressed her palm up to her forehead. She felt like stepping forward and kicking the dwarf, but more than anything she felt compelled to just kick herself. Her hand drifted down a little further to press against her eye, but it quickly moved back to her side as the Qunari around them shifted suddenly. The warriors stood, handling their weapons, and she thought for a moment that she was going to watch one of them skewer Javaris for the insult. The arishok stood slowly, regarding the group before him and inhaling a breath into his barrel of a chest.

"Then you will pay, on my behalf," he issued.

"Sod it all, take your coin. Take whatever!" Javaris announced suddenly, turning his anger on Hawke as he threw whatever coin he had to the floor in fury. Hawke blinked and stepped back as the dwarf walked away, uttering insults regarding 'horn-headed oxmen' and 'mongrel dog lords' as he went. Hawke pursed her lips tightly, then knelt to pick up the coin he'd thrown to the ground in his rage.

"You will leave as well, human," the arishok informed her, and she looked up suddenly. "There's no more coin for you here." Hawke felt herself blush, looking down at the small scraps of metal she was digging out of the sand, and after gathering everything she could see she stood and regarded him silently. He was sitting once again, looking distantly and as though they were not even there. She clutched the handful of coin tightly and joined Varric and Fenris in turning her back on the Qunari, slowly walking away and resisting the urge to turn back and look as she went, refraining from running out while she could. Who did the Qunari think they were, anyway? They were so… stuck up. She took in a deep breath as she focused on the exit, glancing at Varric as he offered a hand out and pouring the money into his palm.

"Well that worked out better than I expected," he admitted, counting the money as he thumbed it into a purse. Hawke agreed mutely, tilting her head up to look at the sky briefly before it was overshadowed by the stone of the gatehouse. She smirked as she savoured the knowledge that she'd made it the entire way without looking back, and glanced over her shoulder to see whether the arishok had noticed. Somehow, across the vast distance of the courtyard she could feel his eyes on her, and she tensed her body at the sensation.

"Damn," she whispered, then gasped as she felt the floor disappear from beneath her. She stumbled a pace, feeling Fenris' hand on her arm to steady her as she almost dropped to the ground. Varric paused, looking back at her curiously as she gathered herself.

"Are you alright?" Fenris checked. Hawke brushed him off, taking her arm back with a slow breath.

"I'm fine," she breathed quietly. Varric shrugged and followed behind her as she stormed out the rest of the way. Fenris took a moment, then caught up quickly.

"Is something wrong?" the elf asked, looking at the dwarf when Hawke didn't respond. Varric chuckled and shook his head.

"Come to the Hanged Man tonight, Broody," he invited casually. "I'll buy you a drink. I'll be telling Rivaini this story, and clearly you'll want to hear it as well."

"But I was here," Fenris frowned, grumbling at the brooding beneath his breath.

"If you were, you wouldn't be asking me that question," Varric hummed. "Don't worry, I'll explain it so that you can understand. There are some subtleties of women that you probably didn't learn all that much in Tevinter."If that was the case you wouldn't have to ask the question," Varric pointed out sagely. "Don't worry. I'll explain it all so that you understand everything. There are subtleties that a delicate Tevinter flower such as yourself may have missed." He paused, then continued, unable to resist the crack. "Maybe I'll invite Daisy too. She'll probably be able to help you where you're a little confused."