"Mama," Grace cried, clutching to Leliana, hugging her mother and putting her head on her shoulder. "Please don't make me go out there. Please, no, mama. There's so many people out there, so many. I… I can't do it."
"Gracie." Leliana sighed, holding her daughter close. "I know it's hard for you, but it's just dinner. You know everyone down there. Look, even all the people you don't like, Bull, Dorian, they're all gone today. Just our friends."
"I can't." She shook her head, half crying and unable to move any more than her trembling. "There's so many people. They scare me."
"Grace." She shook her head in exasperation. "Mama's not going to be here forever, and I have to be going. I can't explain why, but mama has a very important meeting with someone in Ferelden. I'll only be gone tonight and tomorrow morning, I'll be back by lunch time, and then we can have dinner together again."
"Mama!" She sobbed, shaking her head. "I… can't. Please don't go, please don't make me be alone." She pulled back a little, her shining eyes widening a bit. "I-i-if you have to, can Aunt Josie come eat with me instead?"
Leliana closed her eyes. She didn't know what to do. She was desperately trying to do the best that she could, to be the mother that she had never had, but… she couldn't even begin to imagine what Grace was enduring, let along how to fix it. "Sweetheart, I'm so sorry, but Aunt Josie has to go with me. She's the one who's meeting, actually, I'm just making sure no one hurts her while she's there."
"Maybe I could help?" A gravelly, accented voice came from behind them, and Leliana turned her head to see Cantis standing behind them.
"Inquisitor?" Leliana raised an eyebrow, keeping her hand in Grace's. Even with all that he had done, saving them at Haven, it was still eerie to see him standing free, knowing how he destroyed the Conclave along with the Divine. "H-how long have you been watching us?"
"Only a minute." He was leaning in the doorway, smiling just a little. "I came to wish you well on your trip, and didn't want to interrupt. I could eat with the little one while you're gone, I wouldn't mind."
"I don't know." She shook her head slowly. He was a good man, she knew that much, everyone else trusted him and he had sacrificed so much for the Inquisition… but still, he had killed Justinia, even if by accident. But she couldn't just let Grace hole up in her room, not eating because of some disease... She turned her head to Grace. "I… what do you think sweetheart? Would it be okay to eat with the Inquisitor?"
Grace bit her lip, looking down while she thought. "I… don't know. I like him, he's always been nice to me… I-I could do that, I think." She nodded, and looked back up at Leliana, smiling a little.
Leliana paused a moment, thinking, sighing inwardly, and then nodded, smiling as best she could. "Okay then." She squeezed Grace in a hug, then stood. "I'll make sure he knows what to get you, and then I'll be off. Be back tomorrow, I promise." She kissed her on the forehead, and stood, ushering Cantis out the door with her.
As soon as they were out of earshot, Leliana turned around and shoved him into a wall. Her eyes were massive, dark and formless, and she gave a little hiss. "Look, Inquisitor." She whispered, her voice lower and dangerous. "This is my daughter, that which I value above all else in this world. You can't even begin to imagine what we've been through together. I..." She looked away a moment before looking back up into his eyes. "I'm going to trust you with her, because of all the good that you've done. But if anything, anything, happens to my little girl..."
"I understand." Cantis nodded seriously. "I had a daughter of my own, you know."
"And now she's dead." Leliana replied coldly, making him wince in pain.
"Point?" He closed his eyes as old memories came swimming up, raising a child, the shadow of death, of all his actions… "Taken. Don't worry, Leliana, I'll take good care of the little one, I promise."
"You had better." Leliana nodded, then stepped back. "I'm sorry Inquisitor, it's just… beyond Josephine, and Mara, I've never left her alone with anyone like this before. I've known Josie for some fifteen years, and been married to Mara for ten. You… are different."
"I know." Cantis nodded, smiling a little at her. "Now, you should get going, before Josephine comes to yell at both of us." She chuckled, and nodded, heading down the stairs.
"Hi." Grace waved as he entered into her room, curling up next to her stuffed griffon toy. "You're the nice man with the glowing hand, right?"
"Yep, that'd be me." Cantis smiled, sitting on the bed next to her. "I wish it glowed a fun colour, instead of green."
Grace giggled, sitting up a little. "I like purple, and silver. Those would be pretty."
"Silver would be nice." He smiled, fond memories of Abigail returning instead of the bad ones. "Purple might be hard to look at all day, if it was too strong." He half-considered ruffling her hair, but decided against it. This girl didn't like crowds of public places, and he didn't want to make her uncomfortable. "So, what would you like for dinner?"
Three Years Earlier...
"I always feel so bad for these people."
Leliana nodded at Mara's words, gently entwining a hand in hers. "I know, sweetie." They were in the Alienage of Denerim, trying hard not to look at the poor and huddled people that they couldn't help. They gave coin to everyone who asked it, but there were so many that had simply given up, just sitting in the gutters looking forlorn. Their lot was better now that the Blight was over, but Anora wasn't the kindest queen, and she was particularly hard on the Alienage. "I know. If only we could fix every problem of the world."
"E-excuse me." A voice, tiny and meek came, and they turned. A small little human girl, with a halo of muddy blonde hair and soft features, sitting in the garbage of an alley between two tenements. "I… I'm really hungry. D-do you have anything I could have?"
Mara's heart broke at that, kneeling beside the poor little girl. "Oh my goodness. Where are your parents, little one?"
Her eyes grew a little dark and distant, shivering away. "They… they left me. Daddy… daddy left me when we went to the forest. When I went back home, he and mommy were… I couldn't find them." She was sobbing now, and Mara picked the poor girl up, her heart aching, and put her head on her shoulder. "I stayed there until a nice man in shiny metal clothes brought me here, said that I couldn't live at home by myself. But I… I don't have a place to go."
"Oh, you poor sweetheart!" Mara cried out, holding the little girl close and looking over her shoulder to Leliana, who just nodded sadly, her own heart bleeding. "They just left you here?" She nodded, still crying. "That's so awful." Looking back to Leliana, who nodded silently, she made a decision. "Well, we don't have any food on us, but if you want to come with us back to our apartment, we have some there. You could sleep there too, not out here in the street."
"I would like that." She stuttered, smiling.