Any and all grammatical errors are mine and mine alone.
Disclaimer: Hawke and Arishok are property of Bioware and all others affiliated with them. I'm just letting my weird mind run away with them.
Duty Bound
Signing quietly Bianca looked up at the gates to the Qunari compound for the second time in twelve hours. "Hawke, we should hurry. Those fugitives think to hide themselves among the Qunari without repercussions." With a twitch of her eye Bianca nodded her head without a word. With yet another sigh she walked up the steps and nodded at the Karashok to her left.
"The Guard seeks entrance to your compound to speak with your Arishok." "You are expected, but you may not proceed with such numbers that you have." The Karashok replied tonelessly to Avelines' brusque demand. "Aveline, you do not need your guard, only Fenris, Varric and myself should go within. Guard Captain or not Aveline, you go in with us or we do not accompany you at all." After a few moments of silence came Avelines' terse reply of "Very well Hawke." And with that the of them proceeded to walk through the compound to the bottom of the steps leading to the Arishoks' dais.
"Shanedan Hawke." The Arishok greeted Bianca. "Shanedan Arishok." Bianca gave a respectful nod. "My companion the Guard-Captain seeks an audience with you of an official matter." Bianca spoke with a twinge of amusement in her voice. "Speak, Basra." Came the Arishoks' some-what annoyed voice.
"Arishok, I am here to address the matter of two elves who have recently… Converted to the Qun. They are charged with the murder of one of my Guardsmen as of two days ago." With a look of annoyance upon his face the Arishok stood up and moved down the steps from his dais to stand a couple feet in front of the annoying guardswoman and motioned for the apparent 'culprits', two young elves to step out of the shadows. "These Viddethari are your supposed 'Criminals' Basra, ask them of their apparent crimes."
The elder elf spoke up first "The guard that we killed, he raped and murdered our sister!" "For no reason other than boredom and being a sadist." Chimed in the younger of the two brothers. "Aveline! Is this true?" Bianca asked feeling quite irritated at her friend. With an almost embarrassed cough Aveline replied "I was not informed of this, so I would not know. All I was told that two elves from the Alienage killed one of my guardsmen in cold blood with no provocation." With a twitch of her eye, Bianca sighed quietly and looked up at the sky as if to say 'Why me? What did I ever do to deserve this?'
"None the less Arishok, I at least need to take them in for an interrogation. And in self-defense or not, they should not have resorted to murder. Instead they should have come to myself or one of my senior Guardsmen that are known to be trustworthy and fair." With a glare towards the Guard-Captain the Arishok turned his head to address Bianca. "Hawke, what would you do in my place? Would you give these Viddethari that I am duty-bound to protect over to those who would likely cause harm to them?"
After taking a deep breath and releasing it, Bianca slowly and deliberately walked forward a few steps to the Arishoks' side and turning around to face her companions while simultaneously pulling her hair into a loose bun. With a gasp Avelines' eyes focused in upon the two rectangular earrings made of gold hanging from her left ear that was normally covered by her hair.
"Aveline I love you like a sister but I cannot condone two innocents being condemned for something they did. Your Guardsmen did not show their sister any mercy and that did not call for any to be shown to him. Tell me sister, why do you continue to defend this city? What is in it that is so precious to you other than Ser Donnic and our companions?" she asked; desperately trying to understand her friend.
"B-Bianca? What is going on? What do you mean by this?" Aveline managed to stutter out in confusion at her friend and the sister of her heart. "Aveline, what is left in this city worth protecting? Those who are down-trodden and destitute would be taken care of as is the way of the Qun. There would be no over-lords holding their status over you and your fellows."
After a few seconds of gaping at Bianca; Aveline managed to reply slowly. "It is my duty to the Viscount and my post to prote- "Aveline was not able to continue for the Arishok had interrupted her with a growl of anger.
"Duty? You know nothing of duty Basra!" But he did not continue, as Bianca had laid a calming hand upon his arm in hopes that he would not lose himself to his rage at her friend. "Aveline, if your duty is to protect those of this city, you are losing sight of that! You are becoming misguided sister! You protect those who can make the best lies and you damn the innocents who have done nothing."
"This city would benefit from the Qun, everyone has a place and a role in the Qunari culture and there is stability in the Qun. If you were to convert your role in life would not change! Aveline, you would likely be Ben-Hassrath or Sataareth just as I, Fenris would be Sten and Varric would be Vashkata. Anders would be separated from Justice with no recollection of the past few years and Merrill would not face retribution for what she has done in the name of preserving the history of her people as it would be understood."
"And what of Bethany? Would she as well as Anders and Merrill be chained as all Saarebas in the Qun and their tongues cut out and mouths sewn shut? Would you subject your sister and friends to that?" Aveline spat out angrily. "Aveline… Not all Saarebas have their tongues cut out and mouths sewn shut. Both Anders and Bethany are accomplished Healers and their talents are best accomplished with their mouths unharmed. Merrill? She is an Elvhen mage and a practitioner of her history and culture and would likely be allowed to continue, she is only a user of blood magic out of necessity not malicious intent. She is not an abomination and would not be punished for allowing a Demon to reside in her soul and body as there isn't one."
"Hawke! I'm sorry I'm late but that sorry bastard had me chasing him all around the under-city for his worthless hide." Came the voice of the rather late Pirate Captain. Everyone in the courtyard turned to look at Isabela pointing over her shoulder at the man at the gate trussed up like a Solstice-Day nug. After taking a breath Isabela approached the Arishok and held out the Tome in her hands "Vashkata reporting Arishok, I come bearing the Tome that the Dathrasi stole at the behest of the one I was ordered to 'follow'." The pirate said as she gave the Tome to the Arishok.
"Err sorry if there is any damage, I tried to keep it from being damaged when I was chasing him, but I cannot be sure if he kept it in perfect condition after he took it." Isabela said somewhat sheepishly rubbing the back of her head. As she held her head to the side, it became clear why the woman hadn't been killed when she stepped through the gate and had referred to herself as Vashkata – she had an earring similar to the two that Bianca now had in her own left ear, as it swung into view from under her hair.
With a nod towards the woman the Arishok carefully handed the Tome to the Kithshok to his left to take carefully to the Ashkaari who had accompanied the Antaam for just that reason. "Vashkata, this one expects a detailed report of how exactly you retrieved the Tome." With that, Isabela nodded and sat on the steps by Bianca's feet to catch her breath from carrying the Dathrasi through the city while keeping the Tome from further damage.
"W-What is going on here?" Aveline said rather confusedly. After looking to her Arishok for confirmation, Isabela started her explanation.
"Well, firstly I was never following the orders of Castillon. I am Vashkata, known to you as Isabela. I was ordered to don the guise of a Pirate Captain as a safe-guard before the negotiations for the Tome began those few years ago. As part of my act I was to… Don the mask that you all know as Isabela, Pirate Captain and shameless whore. It was a deep-cover mask that I've spent years in as to gain enough of a reputation that Castillon would choose myself and my crew to 'Escort' the Tome into Tevinter hands. Hawke has been aware of this for approximately two weeks when I gave the Arishok a report in front of her at his behest." When Isabela stopped to take a breath Bianca chimed in "Yep! I got these the next day." She pointed to her golden earrings.
Before Aveline could say a word however, Varric and Fenris - who had been quite forgotten about by said Guard-Captain – stepped forward. "Arishok, myself and the Mahtabas known as Varric have discussed this and after some misgivings on his part, we have agreed to convert to the Qun." Spoke Fenris having been elected speaker by Varric because of his knowledge of the Qun.
After a moment's thought the Arishok nodded his head and the two stood behind Isabela – who had stood back up after her small speech – on the step above her. At that, Avelines' shoulders seemed to sag for a moment before she looked towards the Arishok. "You are planning on taking control of Kirkwall, aren't you?" After seeing the Arishoks' nod Aveline continued.
"If you wait an hour and allow Vashkata Isabela and Hawke to accompany myself, I will head to the keep ahead of you telling the Guardsmen to fall back to the Barracks for an important meeting to avoid needless blood-shed. If they ask who is to guard the streets, I will tell them that the Knight-Commander is sending her Templars to 'Guard' the streets and that they shouldn't tarry behind. I should be able to get them to follow myself and the others to the keep in a small brigade seeing as there are minimal guards during the day and I Am their Captain after all."
Bianca got a grin that seemed to go from ear to ear once she heard her sisters' declaration and seen her Arishoks' nod of assent. "Technically speaking Aveline, you won't be lying. Well other than the part about the Templars anyway. There Will be a meeting and you Can ask your guardsmen if they will convert peacefully. I'm sad to sad that those who do Not will either be killed if they try to fight or they will be subjected to Qamek if they do not willingly convert. There is no waste in the Qun just as there is no tolerance to betrayal."
At that Aveline nodded sadly before she replied "Then I can only hope that the guards comply willingly." "Especially Donnic?" Isabela asked rather slyly. At that remark everyone could see the slight blush upon Avelines' cheeks before it receded. "Vashkata Isabela, I do believe you're retaining part of your mask." Aveline said with a tone that seemed to be pouting. "On the contrary, the joking is part of who I am. Not all Qunari have to put up the guise of emotionless soldiers all the time. The one view of our culture that you have seen is the militaristic one." Isabela said with a happy grin upon her face the whole time.
"Girls, please no arguing! Save it for After the important meeting with Avelines' Guard, yes?" Bianca said rather exasperatedly. 'And here I was hoping that was One thing that would end after Isabela dropped her guise.. Ah well. Meravas.' And with that, Isabela and Hawke stood behind Aveline and followed her out the gates towards the Keep after getting the Arishoks permission to leave.
Those in the compound could hear the irritated act of the Guardswoman as she slid into the act as annoyed Guardswoman told her guards to separate and gather the guards posted through the docks and to meet her had the keep after giving her explanation of why and who was to guard the docks.
An; Wells, what do you think? Good, bad, what? Please tell me your opinions! I would of gotten this out sooner, but the plot bunny ran away a few times. (Or it was kidnapped by my baby sister.. I'm not sure which.) ^.^ byees.
