The Qunari was unconscious, lying in a massive heap on the cell floor. He was laid on his stomach, curling around the green mark on his hand. As the Seeker looked at this strange mark, a pulse from the Breach was felt through Haven and the mark reacted in sync. It glowed brighter, and appeared to disturb the Qunari, when a low grunt of pain was heard. Cassandra clenched her fist, resisting the urge to draw her blade and end him now.
He needed to pay for this.
Gritting her teeth, she turned to the elven apostate that entered with her and set him with a glare. "Do your work apostate," She ordered him, hand on the sword tied to her hip, the unsaid threat clear. The bald elf studied her for a moment, most likely calculating his chances of winning in a fight with the Seeker, and nodded an affirmative. He turned and walked towards the prisoner to begin work on the pulsing mark. Cassandra turned on her heel and left the chamber.
As she ascended the stairs to the main hall of the chantry, and through her haze of fury, she could hear muffled sniffling echoing off the walls of the empty hall. The shedding of tears was not such an uncommon thing these days, but it was out of place. The building was after all, mostly empty do to the fear of the prisoner below. Anyone remaining on this level likely didn't know, or didn't care.
On a whim the Seeker went to investigate. Halting her brisk march to the exit, she slowly followed the noise until she was led behind the shadow of one of the hall's stone pillars, and was surprised to see a small girl of no more than eight or nine years of age. The surprising sight of the girl helped to rid Cassandra of some of her anger as it was replaced with confusion. There wasn't supposed to be any children in Haven.
The child was crying, but was attempting to stem the tide, clutching something to her chest, and covering her eyes with her other hand. A wooden sword and shield were laid out beside her. Cassandra began to slowly approach the girl.
"What are you doing here?" Cassandra's voice seemed to bring the girl out of her stupor as her head snapped in Cassandra's direction, obviously startled. The girl quickly scrambled to her feet, wooden sword quickly in hand, and into the torch light, allowing Cassandra to get a good look at the child. She was dirty and looked to be exhausted, either from crying or maybe running, judging from her very disheveled state of dress. Her red hair was pulled into a braid, but it was coming undone. She was scared, eyes red and mouth pulled in a fearful frown, the shaking from her hand holding the wooden sword accentuating the fact.
Cassandra put a hand up, "I'm not going to hurt you, I only want to know why you're here," The words came out a little bit harsher then she intended, but the girl seemed relieved despite that, and let the sword drop the ground.
"I'm sorry! I'm not..." The girl's voice was hoarse, and it cracked as she spoke. With the back of her hand, she began to rub around her eyes, in an attempt to present herself, but it did little as she began hiccuping. Cassandra shifted her weight as awkwardness settled in her stomach. What does one do when a random child is reduced to in front of you?
Feeling strange and not at all sure of her self, she knelt, and hesitantly reached a hand towards the girl's shoulder, "It's alright. You're alright. Take a deep breath." She said, in a meager effort to calm the girl, supposing that inaction might be cruel.
It took quite a bit, but the girl's breathing evened, and her tears stopped. A good sign, Cassandra let out a tiny breath of relief. "Now... Can you tell me whats wrong?" The girl wiped her face with the sleeve of her jacket, and looked at the Seeker with grey eyes.
"I was looking for my father, but..." Then the Breach happened, Cassandra realized, feeling pity for the girl's situation, which she was sure would not be uncommon. Her anger flared, this was another thing the Qunari needed to pay for. The girl continued, voice rising in volume, "But... But I know he's alive! He has to be. He said he would be here!" Cassandra feared the girl would began to cry again.
There was little she could do for the girl at the moment, the Breach was too pressing of a matter to be put aside for a single missing person, but that did not mean nothing could be done. "What is your name girl?"
"Asha... I'm Asha," The girl managed through her returning sniffles.
"Alright. Asha. I can't help you right now, I have to fix the hole in the sky. I'm sorry," Asha looked away, apparently expecting such an answer, "But one of the Chanty sisters out might be able to help your search or at least find you a meal to eat, okay? You should find one of them, alright?" Some direction was better then none, right?
Cassandra went to stand, but the girl promptly leaned forward and wrapped her arms around the Seeker's neck in a hug, surprising the woman. Asha let go quickly.
"Thanks Lady." Asha said earnestly, then backed up to pick up her things and walked towards the Main doors of the chantry.
The Seeker rose to her feet, she hoped the girl's father was alive, and that Thedas survived long enough for her to find out. Cassandra then started toward the exit herself, having to return to her duties.
"Lady if you see him, could you tell him I'll be around here?" She asked, looking up to the woman.
"I will. What does he look like?"
She thought for a moment, but settled on a single word, "Tall."
Two days had past since Cassandra had spoken to the little girl, Asha, and the Breach was no closer to being fixed. The stress of the situation was beginning to wear on everyone, few people slept and those that did were only doing so because their body shut down out of exhaustion. The number of demons in the area has only increased, no matter how many were killed, since nothing could be done about the rifts in which they were appearing, their numbers could never truly be cut down. They needed a way to deal with the rifts, fast.
Solas should have had something by now.
The Seeker fumed, as she tore though another shade demon. The action simultaneously eased her anger, and increased her frustration at the bleak state of affairs. She quickly scanned the area near the rift, checking for more demons, when she found none she relaxed a little to inspect the rift and see how soon the next wave of demons would arrive. This rift was quiet and still for the moment, meaning it would be an hour or so until the next wave.
Hearing others approach from behind, she turned to find the soldiers meant to secure the rift. Cassandra and the squad commander shared a nod as she sheathed her sword and shield, and allowed the squad to do their job. Cassandra then began to head back to Haven, where it was hopefully warmer than this place.
On the journey back she contemplated on what to do if Solas found nothing. These were... very troubling thoughts, if Solas failed it would mean many more people would die. The Breach needed to be closed.
She found a seat in front of one of the many campfires, with a bowl of some kind of mystery stew, probably Fereldan judging by the grey color. The sight of the 'food' brought a small disgusted noise from the Seeker. While disappointed in the food, she refused to actually complain about it. However a voice next to her did not have such reservations.
"This sucks, Pa cooks better than this." Cassandra looked over to see the source of the mumbled voice and found Asha seated closely to the Seeker, in a much more presentable state than two days ago. The girl's face was wrinkled up intensely at the grey concoction, but she was still eating it none the less, apparently out of the childish phase of refusing to eat unwanted food. This amused the Seeker, not at all blaming the girl for that reaction. She decided that maybe speaking with the girl might help the food go down easier.
"Hello, Asha" The Seeker spoke, turning her eyes back to the girl. Asha turned her head to smile a little at the scared woman, but lost it when she took another bite of the Fereldan stew. The absolutely disgusted expression on Asha's face brought a huff of laughter out of the Seeker.
"Hello Lady... maker this is terrible," The girl fought through the taste to greet the older woman, while continuing to mumble complaints.
Glancing around the girl Cassandra noticed that there still wasn't an adult with her, she still hadn't found her father it seemed. "I take it your father isn't much of a cook?" Cassandra asked with mild curiosity.
"Yeah, he's awful, and I every time I tell him so he says, 'At least it isn't Ferelden.' I never really got what he meant until now," Asha's expression changing as she tired to mimic her father's face and voice, eyebrows and tone at the lowest the girl could manage, but she lost the lightness of the moment quickly. He was still missing.
Maybe talking about him would make her feel better. The Seeker decided to prod further, "It sounds like you get along well." The stew's taste, was losing its edge.
"He's my Pa." The girl answered, "A lot of people are afraid of him, but he's a really nice person. If someone is sad he always does everything he can to make them feel better, even if that means making horrible jokes." The girl's face grew somber as she ate the stew and spoke between mouthfuls, "Actually the only time I've seen Pa ever be mean to anyone was when some bandits attacked our camp one night. He... killed them. It was... the only time I thought he was scary. The next day Pa brought me these," Asha gestured towards the wooden weaponry on her back, "And started to show me how to use them, just in case something like that happened again. 'For my protection' he said," Her mouth drew into a frown, the last of her stew finally finished, "That was some time ago, but since he doesn't use a sword and shield he can't really teach me very much." Asha sounded very disappointed at that, but she was distracted from finding her father and the terrible stew.
Cassandra watched the girl begin to rant about how she had to teach herself what she knew, which wasn't much. The girl seemed adept at distracting herself, seeing as the girl wildly described the way her father tried to teach her and did a terrible job of it, with little to no prompting from the Seeker. The girl brought a real smile to the woman's face, something not often seen.
Asha, seeing the smile on Cassandra's face, immediately stopped what she was saying, and smile at the Seeker. Cassandra's expression fell away as she began to realize that maybe she was the one being distracted.
Asha, began to explain, "Whenever I'm too lost," She made a circle motion around her head, "Pa would talk to me until I forgot what had me lost. I'd remember what it was afterward, but I could always think about it more clearly when I did. You were miles away Lady," She bumped her shoulder into to the Seekers arm lightly, "I know you're trying to help with the green hole in the sky, but it's harder to solve a problem when you're lost in it for too long, Pa said that," The girl's face fell.
"Your father sounds like... a very wise man," Cassandra felt extremely surprised at Asha's words. What must her father be like?
The girl grinned, "Don't let him hear you say that, he'll get full of himself." They shared a smile, but a voice sounded from behind them.
"Cassandra." It was Leliana.
At once the Seeker had her full attention on the Spymaster. If Leliana was approaching directly that could only mean that something was happening with the prisoner. She gave a nod. Setting what little there was of her stew aside, Cassandra stood and turned to the young girl beside her.
"I have to go, stay safe Asha," The seriousness in her voice and face was a jarring change of tone from their conversation, but it did not seem to bother the girl.
"Maker keep you Lady," She replied matching the woman's tone.
Leaving the girl behind Cassandra, along with Leliana, headed towards the chantry, where hopefully the prisoner would provide some answers.