The gates to the underground city of Orzammar dwarfed the Grey Warden and her merry band of adventurers. All four of them could have been stood on each other's heads and the topmost would not have been able to reach the lintel. Behind the imposing doors was what remained of the once expansive Dwarven empire, driven into its last refuges by the constant onslaught of the darkspawn.
The night before their party arrived, Leliana had offered to sing the few songs she knew about the dwarves. Without exception the entire handful were about drinking, which had provoked a great deal of laughter from the Warden, Alexa, and Zevran. Wynne, on the other hand, had made her usual disapproving face but tapped her foot to the tune anyway.
The singing and quaffing that went along with it (to keep the music culturally authentic) had eased some of Alexa's inherent unease about the idea of being trapped beneath miles of heavy rock. Living her entire life until rather recently in the cramped Alienage of Denerim had accustomed her to claustrophobia, but the sky was always visible through the buildings, no matter how squalid her direct surroundings were. Maybe it was the elven spirit in her, the part that hadn't been killed by the years of humiliation and city living, that made her apprehensive at the idea of a whole city under the ground.
Leliana had snuggled into Alexa's arms that night, slightly drunk and whispering lewdly, but the imagined weight of all of Orzammar's rock hanging above her head had left Alexa cold. Finally, Leliana had fallen asleep with her head on Alexa's shoulder, leaving the Warden to lie awake staring at the stars for what she irrationally feared would be the last time. The sun was lighting the horizon by the time that Alexa finally drifted off and before she knew it, Zevran was poking her in the side with the tip of his boot to wake her up. Leliana was up beside the fire, cooking breakfast with Wynne. Before she knew it, breakfast was eaten, camp was broken down and they were on their way.
And now she stood, shoulders hunched a little, staring up as the absolutely enormous gates of Orzammar opened. Whatever she had said to the guards about their king problem had been instantly forgotten when the first blast of cool, dry, underground air hit her face. The roiling feeling of disquiet in her stomach was complimented by the sourness left over from the night of drinking.
"How do we know there isn't going to be an earthquake? I don't want to die down there," Alexa leaned over to whisper to Leliana, who stood comfortingly at her side.
"It is said that the halls of Orzammar could withstand every earthquake that has ever shaken the ground, at once, without a single crack appearing. The dwarves are exceptional engineers," Leliana offered.
But Alexa didn't find it in the least bit comforting. "What do bards know about digging tunnels, anyway?"
Leliana had wisely chosen to ignore Alexa's peevishness as they entered the Hall of Ancestors but she avoided talking to Alexa for the rest of the day as they wandered around the city, gathering intel and working out their politics. As much as she loved Alexa and understood the source of her razor tongue, she felt nervous enough herself about the Orzammar adventure that she couldn't take the added pressure of Alexa's mood.
Despite the obvious tension that left Alexa's shoulders squared and the sinews in her neck tight the entire day, Leliana was forced to concede that the elf had a way about her that made it easy for her to handle people diplomatically. They liked the way she laughed, they found her well placed sarcasm to be a sign of a special connection, and they appreciated the prestige that came with being seen as an equal with a fabled Grey Warden. By the time they retired to Tapster's Tavern to sample the local cuisine for dinner, Alexa had maneuvered them so that they had gained some trust with both parties to Orzammar's disputed throne, without promising either side very much at all.
Wynne had a hard time covering her distaste for the rowdy clientele and the general disorder and smell that permeated the tavern, which only provoked a rather more pointed then usual jibe from Alexa as they made their way through the crowd to a more secluded booth near the back. Leliana had to jockey with Zevran, who always tried to slip in next to the Warden wherever they went, to slide into the booth next to the elf woman. She mentally noted that it might be time to finally have a long talk with that oily little elf man.
From the pouch at her waist Alexa retrieved a handful of silver coins which she tossed on the table in front of Zevran. "Why don't you go get us a round?"
"I look like your little Crow serving boy to you?" Zevran replied in the most lascivious manner that he could muster, arching one of his blond eyebrows.
"You look like you're sitting on the outside edge," Alexa answered and pointedly dropped her arm around Leliana's shoulder, pulling the other woman into her side. "And you look like a polite young man with a booth full of thirsty ladies."
The money disappeared into Zevran's pocket, his deft hands moved so fast that it was impossible to track which one and then sketched an impish bow for the benefit of his three fellow adventurers before disappearing through the crowd in the direction of the bar. "I always feel like taking a bath after having a conversation with him," Wynne frowned.
Before the conversation could really pick up, and even before Zevran had time to return a swarthy dwarven man slid into the vacated seat. Over the din of the tavern and the general chaos, his approached had gone unnoticed even by practiced rogues like Leliana and Alexa. "So, the Grey Warden!" the man exclaimed, cutting off any questions or protest.
Instinctively, Alexa's free hand dropped to the dagger sheathed at her waist, and she pulled Leliana toward her and back into the booth to free a shot if she were to throw the dagger. "Who the hell are you?"
"Your best friend. I have something very special that I think you can really take advantage of. You're not afraid, like these other gutless little shits," he gestured theatrically around him, but it was a calculated maneuver to distract from the hilt of the dagger that was sliding into his other hand from a wrist sheathe covered by the sleeve of his shirt. "Best friends, they don't have need for violence, no?"
"That depends on how it is we came to be best friends." Alexa drew her dagger and laid it directly in front of her on the table, leaving her hand resting on it. "But, we aren't from around here and we don't need any trouble that's not absolutely necessary."
The shady dwarf was just beginning to relax when his head was jerked back by the hair to allow a blade to press against his throat. "Amateur," Zevran leaned down to whisper into his victim's ear. A thin trickle of blood was released by the razor sharp blade and ran down to disappear beneath the collar of the dwarf's shirt.
Alexa laughed sharply. "Like I said, how is it that we are coming to be best friends?"
"Don't cut!" The dwarf protested. "I'm going to reach into my pouch. There is a map in there." He narrated as he lowered his hand, desperation in his eyes. Zevran remained poised, all the muscles in his bare arms taut, prepared to spring if anything fishy should happen. True to his word, though, the dwarf produced a wrinkled, rolled parchment from a leather pouch on his thick belt and laid it on the table. "A map to Nalthuran Thaig which was lost to Orzammar when the Deep Roads were overrun."
"And what is Nalthuran Thaig to me? This doesn't seem like the beginning of a very auspicious friendship." Alexa didn't even look over at the man, reaching out to grab the map and unroll it. She scanned it, then shook her head and offered it to Leliana who began to carefully peruse it.
"The last resting place of a great hero of the Grey Wardens who journeyed with the Legion of the Dead during the Second Blight. It is said he had a mythical sword that…"
Alexa cut him off with another sharp laugh. "I don't care about magical swords. I care about soldiers. You've wasted your time, we aren't going to be playing whatever game this is."
"The sword is said to be the key to unlock a legion of spirit soldiers that can be commanded by the wielder. They never fall. They never fear the darkspawn," the dwarf tried to recover the mood, but it all fell a little flat.
"And what does that matter to you? Where did you get the map?" Absently she leaned into the bard next to her to see what it was that Leliana found so interesting on the map. The dwarf was now so far beneath her notice she didn't even bother to make intermittent eye contact.
"I was on an expedition in the Deep Roads when I found that map on a dead body that had been half-eaten by tunnel predators. But, I can't make it down there myself. All I want, is a cut of whatever you find. A finder's fee, yes?" He was looking positively pale now, the blade had his throat had never wavered and the trickle of blood was growing alarmingly. It couldn't be a comfortable position to find oneself in.
Alexa waved her hand and Zevran immediately released the dwarf. "We'll see what we find. And then we'll see what a reasonable finder's fee might be."
Immediately the dwarf's hand flew to staunch the blood at his throat. His hasty retreat drew some interested glances to the booth, but Alexa ignored them. She turned to whisper into Leliana's ear, "He's too much of a fool to be playing us."