The tavernkeeper at The Broken Sword methodically cleaned the bar. It was getting late and the evening patrons would be arriving soon. His place did good business both with the local laborers and with the sailors, mercs, travelers, and other adventures passing through. Everyone was welcome here, elf, dwarf, human, Orlesian, Antivan, Rivani, didn't matter to him as long as they paid their tab and didn't cause trouble. While it was a rough neighborhood here by the docks, he kept order inside. As an ex-solider not many could take him, even when they were sober and fewer if they were drunk. Most didn't even try. He had quit the army after being injured in the Battle of West Hill. There had been too much death for him on that battlefield. After he had recovered he had went back to that place and found his sword still lying where he had fallen, broken into three pieces. He had worked the docks, dawn till dusk for years till he had enough money to buy this place and marry the smart mouthed Rivani prostitute that worked this street. She said that he had done it becasue it was cheaper than paying her, but she knew better. It was the Maker's own luck that she happened to be an excellent cook. They had good food and the best imported spirits and a hard fought reputation. It was the kind of place you could find out things, hear things, a place where you could make your name known or be completely anonymous.
As it was, the place was close to empty. There were only a couple traveling merchants by the door and one man sitting in one of the more private booths in the back. He kept an eye on him. He had ordered one of the finer Antivan brandies by name. Those type of people have two things, good taste and lots of coin. They usually run up a pretty good tab and tip well. As an ex-soldier he could tell that the man was someone who could handle himself but the other reason he watched him was that even inside and hidden in the back, he kept his hood low over his eyes. People like that are hiding from something or someone and can be trouble and he didn't like trouble in his place.
He was hoping someone came in soon. He had heard a story from the grocer about a duel at Fort Draken between the king and one of Loghain's soldiers. Normally the grocer was a reliable source for information but the tale seemed nearly impossible, which made him all the more eager to tell it. He prided himself on knowing all the rumors and the best gossip. Finally the light began to fade and many of the regulars trickled in. Between the rounds of ale and bowls of stew the story was told over and over, and hardly ever the same way twice. The man in the back ordered two more glasses of brandy.
The place was soon packed, filled to the rafters with the smell of ale and the dull roar of conversation. The notes from the bard rising above it all. The tavern keeper was so busy that he didn't see the woman walk in and she was someone he would notice. Beautiful, sure, but you could tell by the way she walked, by her manner and poise that she was not to be trifled with lightly. She made her way through the front area gliding easily between the patrons and the tables, obviously searching for something or someone. A few offered her a seat but she kept walking, brushing off each attempt to get her attention. She saw the man in the back booth and made her way through the crowd and sat down across from him, not waiting for an invitation. Now the tavern keeper noticed. He didn't want anyone bothering what might be his best tab of the night or a man who might be trouble if he was found and didn't want to be. He told his wife to cover the bar and went over to check on them.
The tavern keeper was a man used to reading the tenor of a situation and the countenance of people and he could tell right away that the two were on friendly terms, more than friendly terms and likely had shared a bed at some point, probably still did. But more importantly the man was glad she had arrived, relieved even. In fact, it occurred to him that he had been waiting for the woman this entire time. He walked up and said "May I get you something?" The woman looked up at him.
"Yes, open a bottle of the best Orlesian red wine you have." She said with the air of one used to giving orders and having them obeyed.
"Yes, my lady. I'll send the waitress right over with it." He didn't use that term for all his female patrons but he could tell that she qualified, noble or not. He looked to the man, who waved off another drink. He bowed slightly and somewhat awkwardly and walked away. The woman waited till he was out of earshot and then looked to the man.
"I heard an interesting rumor on my way here." She said. The man took another drink of his brandy. "About how the king was challenged by one of the captains of Loghain's army to a duel and that he stripped to his small-clothes gave the man his armor and weapons and then proceeded to choke the life out of him with his bare hands."
"Is that what happened?" The man said with a voice deep in drink but clear and sober. "I figured that he'd have torn the man's head off, or ripped out his throat with his teeth or something."
"No doubt that will be what happened by morning." she said. "Maybe you can tell me what you heard?" The elven waitress arrived with the bottle of wine and a glass. She poured the wine, waited just long enough to see that she was no longer needed, and then left. The woman picked up the glass and after taking a quick sniff, took a sip and waited. The man set his glass down, stroking the side with his thumb.
"The story I heard was not quite so outrageous. I heard... that the king was confronted and challenged by one of Loghain's soldiers, and that he did remove the royal armor, laid aside his father's sword and royal shield. That he took only a simple wooden shield and proceeded to... kick the man's ass. Then he... picked up his father's sword and... as his right for winning the duel and by the power given to him by the Landsmeet as sovereign ruler of Ferelden... executed him." He took another sip and set the glass back down. "Then having got the undivided attention of the entire army, he went on about his love for the country and not suffering anyone who would threaten the safety and sovereignty of Ferelden, that kind of stuff. Some of the soldiers were moved to swear oaths, even some of Loghain's. It was a good speech. One of my better ones."
She finished off the glass and poured herself another and waited. He started again. "I... I knew it would happen, eventually. It had to, someone would finally say what many thought. I really expected it at the landsmeet, but..."
"Are you alright? You aren't... hurt?" She blurted out. He looked at her cocking his head to the side. She could feel the stare even if she couldn't exactly see it.
"Are you, of all people, really asking me that?" He asked with some incredulity.
"Sorry, I had to ask." She said, eyes begging forgiveness for the slight, hoping her concern for him would make up for it. "He was a captain in Loghain's army, at least that was what I heard. He might have gotten lucky." She explained.
"Please..., it wasn't even close. I mean... if I can't defeat a soldier even a well-trained one, in a straight duel... I don't deserve to be kin... alive." He looked around to make sure no one was paying any attention to their conversation. They weren't. "He thought I was some royal whelp still wet behind the ears who didn't know the pommel of a sword from the pointy end. He thought I was Cailan or him made over." Kathryn noted how he said the former king's name as though it was an insult. "I took the armor off to prove to them I could do it, to show it wasn't the armor or weapons but me. The poor bastard never even suspected till the end that he could lose." He took another sip and then continued. "I know I had to and really he did me a favor, making a scene there in front of most of the army... but I could have walked away. I could have had him... arrested or something, but I didn't. I... I killed him and I didn't have to."
"Didn't you?" She asked and then waited till he looked at her. "If you hadn't done it, if you had walked away, they all, the entire army, would have thought you a coward, and you know it."
"I know." He said softly, and finished the last of his brandy. "Doesn't mean I have to like it." He said setting down the empty glass.
"I'd be worried if you did." She said. She leaned forward and pointed to the blood on the sleeve of his shirt. "This is the blood that makes a king." She whispered.
"It's not mine." he admitted.
"I know." She said. "The blood you are willing to spend, even if it isn't your own to do what you know you must." She sat back and took another drink. "At times being a good man and a good ruler are not compatible." She said with some surety.
He smiled a smile that had just a touch of bitterness to it. "Did you just come up with that?" He asked. "It's good... and it seems true."
"No, my father said it, many times." She said. He cocked his head slightly at the mention of her father. She didn't talk about him much, if at all.
He chose his words carefully. "From all I hear, your father was a good ruler and a good man, well-loved and well-respected." He said gently.
"He was." She said with only a slight flinch at the word 'was'.
"So, how did he manage it?" He asked.
"At times he didn't, but he tried and that's what's important." She said. Her eyes lost a bit of focus, thinking back over fond memories, and smiling at them weakly. She continued. "He said that ruling is the highest duty. It must be, even more than to yourself, or to family, or to even to the Maker. The principle must be the most good for the most people. You do what is necessary but that is not the same as victory at all costs."
"He told me that while you want your subjects to love you, they must respect you... your fair judgment, your morals, the strength of your convictions, your dedication to the people... to Ferelden. There is no other position where you can affect the happiness and well-being of so many." She waited giving the words space, letting them sink in, giving him time to consider what she said and realize the truth of them for himself. He nodded thoughtfully.
She looked under the hood, making sure she had his eye, and then said "And the fact that you are here, not getting drunk but trying to sort through what you know to be necessary and what you know to be right... that's what's important. That you try. That you still care... even about some soldier who hates you."
He gave a half smile and then with gravity said. "Some would say that... that caring is a weakness."
"And they are wrong. To harden your heart to the point it feels nothing, is easy. To care despite the hurt it causes, to feel that pain and continue on, that is strength." She said with conviction.
He took a long look at her, then shook his head. "How did you do it? So much was riding on everything you did, every decision you made. How were you able to deal with all that and still stay... sane... stay... you?" He asked.
"I had you." she said simply.
"I'm serious..."
"So, am I." She said making sure he understood that she meant it. "You were a friend when I needed one above all else. Anytime I wanted to give in and steel myself completely I knew that it would mean I would lose that friendship, and it meant too much to me. Then despite the risks and potential for pain and tragedy you cared, you had the courage to love..." She stopped and smiled.
She leaned across the table. Her voice dropped to little more than a whisper. "All those nights together, when there was no blight or civil war, just us in the dark, you reminded me why all this was worth saving. You made sure I could never stop caring. That I never lost myself in all that. That's why I couldn't lose you, wouldn't lose you... It was your strength, that quiet strength of yours, that helped me through. Never doubt that."
He smiled a shy smile, then looked serious. "Is that why you made me king? Despite all my protests that I didn't want it, because you saw that... in me."
"In part, but then again the alternative was not really an option." She said. He smiled. She continued. "But I wouldn't have done it if I didn't truly think you could do it and if you hadn't truly wanted it."
"I changed. You changed me." He said.
"No, I didn't. I simply pointed the way, but it was you. Your choice, your decision." She replied.
He shook his head slightly and said. "But only with your support, your encouragement... without that... I never would have... You... you had confidence in me... believed... no one had ever... and you made me believe it too. I can't even tell you how much it meant... still means to me." He said with emotion.
"I believe it is a fair trade, as it should be." She said.
He reached his hand across the table and she took it. He leaned forward, bringing it under the edge of the hood and kissed it. Then reluctantly lowered it to the table but did not let it go.
She looked to him and then asked. "So after all this, knowing what is means and what it entails and what it costs... do you still want to be king?"
He stared at her hand clenched in his, for several moments and then looked back to her, holding her eyes and said. "More than ever."
The tavern keeper walked up to the table. "Can I get you two something else?"
"Yes," the man said with a smile "...we would like... a room for the night, the top one with the window... and two bowls of your lamb and pea stew with another bottle of wine."
"Yes, ser. Oh, I did not know if you two had heard the news? About the incident at the fort... with the king." He asked hopefully.
"No, do tell." She said with a great deal of interest.
"Well, it seems one of that traitor's captains challenged the king, right there in the fort! Said he wasn't nothing without all his fancy armor and weapons. So what's the king, do, he stripped down till he is naked and then without sword or shield or even a penknife, he breaks the man's arm and leg and then breaks his neck, with his bare hands, he does! That's our king for you! So there he stands drenched in the traitor's blood and the whole of the army fall to their knees and swear loyalty to him till death! It was something to see, I hear!" The tavern keeper said proudly.
"Wow, his bare hands huh?" She said and looked to the man with eyes wide.
"That's what I heard, from someone who was there and saw the whole thing." He said glad he could enlighten them with reliable information. He had a reputation to maintain.
"I don't know about the part about being naked," the man said "...seems rather unkingly, don't you think?"
The tavern keeper shrugged. "Well, from what the fort washwomen said, and they were there, the king's got nothing to be ashamed of." He turned and walked away.
Kathryn looked thoughtful and said "Well, at least there is some truth to the story."
