Death
Glassy eyes stared out into the fading light, the milky orbs seeing nothing. A buzzing fly landed on the unseeing eye, skittering around before movement startled the pest from its feast. Bodies lined the darkened room, the smell of death and embalming fluid wafting in the stale air as dozens of sightless eyes seemed to watch the creeping pair, their movements measured and stealthy. One of the shadowed figures paused over the corpse of a woman who might have been called beautiful in life, her pale skin now stretched taut over bones, once silky hair now a brittle mess. The body was well dressed, silk and velvet draped over its shrunken form with gold and jewelry sewn into the luxurious fabric. With practiced skill, the figure maneuvered a small knife under the priceless gemstones, cutting the tread and pocketing the freed jewels.
The second figure stood a few feet behind the other, his head constantly swiveling as he nervously watched for any signs of activity that might disturb their macabre task. "Kallian…do you think we should really be doing this," he asked, voice quivering as wide eyes moved from shadow to shadow.
"Relax Soris, you know there aren't any shems who come by here at this time. I mean, who wants to spend any time around the dead as it is?" the girl said impatiently, checking the body for any loose coin she could appropriate.
"Even if no one comes around…don't you think this is wrong somehow, stealing from the dead?" Soris whimpered, avoiding her heated gaze.
"It's not like they are going to need it," she said with a grunt as she struggled to rip off a silver brooch. "And like I even give a damn about a bunch of sodding shems. I wish more of them would drop dead…save us all a lot of trouble".
Denerim's upper classes paid well to have their bodies preserved, a trend that originated with the Orlesian occupiers whose concern with appearances endured even after death. Kallian supported the practice wholeheartedly, her enthusiasm shared by the capital's assorted cutpurses and brigands who relished the chance to come by some easy coin. Guards were supposed to watch over the morgue and prevent any unscrupulous mourners, but hiring guards cost a great deal, a price many of the purveyors of these popular establishments balked at. They believed, rightly it seemed, that the vapid nobles and merchants would be satisfied with the ghastly perversion of life they offered and not question the few valuables that went missing under their care.
Kallian continued moving about the rows of corpses, her hands constantly searching pockets for coin and roving over fabric for valuable baubles. Stopping at the last body, she looked into the sunken eyes of a girl near to her age, her skin ravaged by evidence of plague, expensive clothes hanging off her emaciated body like some kind of monstrous doll. A tinge of pity briefly flashed in her cold eyes as she looked upon the poor girl, a small amount of shame rising within her as she studied the girl who died far before her time. She was an innocent, someone who did not deserve to die so young, someone who had not been stricken with the curse of time that seemed to harden human hearts and turn them into spiteful, cruel tyrants. Her expression darkened as the hateful voice began whispering in her mind, reminding her what this girl would have one day become, just another oppressor of her family and fiends.
She moved on, not willing to risk stealing from a body so clearly infected by an extremely contagious disease. She would leave the gold chain around her neck and diamond encrusted rings hanging loosely off her bony fingers to a more desperate thief. The movement of a shadow caught her eye just as she forced Soris to the ground, her finger pressed to her lips as she held her breath. A figure in the doorway held a lantern, shining a pale light over the rows of corpses. Kallian and Soris stayed low to the ground, tensing as the light passed over them. They relaxed as the light continued on, the figure in the doorway apparently satisfied that no intruders were present as the door shut with an eerie creak.
"Kallian…I think we should get out of here. That was too close," Soris whispered, fear coloring his shaking voice.
"All right you crybaby," an annoyed Kallian responded, stuffing the last of the jewelry into the pockets of her ragged tunic. "Keep your hood up, we don't want any of the shems knowing were elves. It might cause problems in the alienage".
The pair left the room quickly, grimacing as the door creaked loudly as they snuck past. They kept to the shadows, slipping past drunken humans more concerned with playing cards and drinking too many pints than actually doing the job the nobles paid them for. The danger did not cease once they left the morgue as the trash-strewn streets of Denerim were perilous enough for humans and veritable deathtraps for the elf unfortunate enough to be caught alone. Dodging the occasional group of drunken revelers and watchful thieves waiting patiently to take advantage of their intoxicated state, they ran through the market district and to the gates of the alienage just as the last rays of sunlight vanished behind the rolling plains.
The guard scowled at them as they approached, an expectant look on his face as Kallian tossed him a few of her collected treasures. He nodded as a greedy smirk marred his ruddy face, his rodent-like eyes scrutinizing the jewels as Kallian and Soris made it to safety surrounded by the high walls of the alienage. Kallian resented having to give up a portion of her hard earned but ill-gotten gains, but she figured that making less was far better than being arrested. Those who failed to pay up often found the city guards knocking at their door, and no elf could ever expect a fair trial in this city if they even received one at all. Her mother liked to refer to this system of bribery as the cost of doing business, but Kallian still fumed every time she had to lay eyes on those dirty rats.
Looking forward, she saw soft light sending a warm glow through the window of her home and the unmistakable silhouette of her father standing outside, his arms crossed and his faced obscured in the darkness. Even unable to see his face, Kallian could discern from the tension in the way he was standing that she was in trouble but could not stifle a giggle as Soris seemed to shrink away next to her. Obviously he was not looking forward to the lecture that was sure to come.
Approaching the stoic figure, she looked away from the stern face of her father in embarrassment, the disappointment evident in Cyrion's face more of a punishment than any lecture or chores could be. She stood in front of him with her head bowed while Soris looked deathly pale, like he would be sick at any moment. "Soris…you're parents are waiting for you," Cyrion said imperiously, fixing the boy with a hard look.
Soris stammered something incomprehensible and quickly retreated while Kallian watched his departure with a tinge of pity, not envying the treatment he would probably receive at the hands of his parents. She returned her gaze to the ground but finally looked into her father's eyes when he refused to address her. "Father…." She began before he cut her off.
"I believed I have told you many times before, Kallian Tabris, that leaving the alienage for who knows where is not acceptable, and yet you continue to defy me," she said quietly, no anger present in his voice.
"Father, I just want to help. I don't want…" she trailed off as Cyrion placed his hands on her shoulders, his strong grip firm but not painful.
"I know you mean well, Kallian, but you don't know how dangerous it is beyond these walls. This is not a game; the humans will hurt you without a second thought. Thank the Maker it has not happened yet, but if you keep this up, someday you will learn how dangerous what you are doing really is," Cyrion lectured sternly, worry reflected in his eyes.
"I'm always careful!" she protested. "The shems don't need this stuff anyway; the whole lot of them are filthy rich!"
"It does not matter if you're careful. Even if you manage to stay out of trouble, you are risking Soris as well by taking him with you. What would you do if Soris were caught? It is not just your safety you risk when you do such things but also the safety of your family and everyone in the alienage. The humans are always looking for a reason to make trouble here; you must not give them a reason," he insisted as Kallian looked away with a look of shame and anger.
"Why should we hide here and keep her heads down!" she raged. "Mother wouldn't let the shems walk all over her!"
"Your mother is older and understands the danger better than you," he said dismissively but with the hint of a smile at the mention of Adaia. She was probably struggling to stay in the house and not rush to the defense of her daughter. Cyrion had pleaded with her to let him talk to Kallian first, so her could impress upon her the way her actions made them worry and how his rules were for her own good. "And about stealing from the humans…not all of them are rich. Most are worse off than us. Rationalizing stealing by saying that some are richer or more blessed than you is the last refuge of a wretched heart. I do not want to hear you saying such things in the future".
Kallian pouted as Cyrion placed a hand under her chin and gently turned her head to face him. She saw the joy and relief in his eyes as she looked at him, his arms encircling her as he knelt to the ground to encompass her slight form in a tight embrace. "Please Kallian, if only for the love of your mother, please stop doing things like this," he pleaded.
"I promise," Kallian said in a small voice, wrapping her own arms around her father's shoulders.
Cyrion guided Kallian into their home as Adaia stepped aside to let the pair enter. Kallian glanced at her and saw the mischievous spark in her eye, her mouth curled into a slight smirk, a smile she secretly returned before looking away quickly. "You weren't too hard on her were you Cyrion?" she asked in a teasing voice.
"Kallian needs to learn that her actions do not just affect her but could have consequences for everyone around her," Cyrion said sternly.
Adaia pulled Kallian into a hug, smiling brilliantly at Cyrion whose cold bearing seemed to melt under her gaze. "Don't blame her for taking after me. I don't know what I would have done if our kid turned into a dour, gloomy downer like you," she shot back jokingly, grasping his hand and pulling him closer.
"Well, at least one of us has to be a responsible parent," he said wryly, embracing her as she held Kallian.
"Hey, I'm just teaching her what she needs to know to survive out there on the streets," she objected, playfully punching her husband in the arm.
"Teaching? More like instigating," he said with a laugh.
"Whatever you say, dear," she said dismissively. "Well Kallian, let's see what you hauled in today".
"This is exactly the sort of encouragement that makes her do things like this," an exasperated Cyrion protested.
As Kallian began emptying her pockets of stolen treasure, Adaia moved her face close to Cyrion's and whispered, "You can't baby her forever. She needs to learn how hard of a world we live in. You can only shelter her from it for so long".
Cyrion's eyes took on a serious look as he gazed at his beloved wife and child, "Maybe so, but I will protect her as long as I can".
Kallian knocked on the door of her cousins' house, the structure not as large or well constructed as her own home. She knew that her family was rather well off compared to most of the residents of the alienage, and that this tended to create some resentment and jealousy among the other elves. Even her aunt and uncle sometimes commented on it, probably believing that Cyrion should share his good fortune more readily. Such an attitude caused the anger to rise within her as her father was a generous and charitable man who did not turn away those who were down on their luck and needed some spare coin to get through hard times. Kallian found that paradoxically, the more you helped someone, the more they resented you and secretly despised you. She loved her father and had gotten into more than a few fights with some of the other kids around the alienage who parroted their parent's false complaints about him.
Soris came to the door, a red welt evident on his cheek as he looked away in embarrassment. "That looks painful, how hard did your dad hit you?" Kallian asked with concern, feeling a little responsible since Soris got punished for following her.
"It's nothing. How'd you end up?" Soris asked.
"My father just had a little talk with me. Nothing other than that," she answered as her cheeks took on a shade of pink.
"You always get off without getting punished. I don't know how you do it," Soris said with a hint of jealousy.
"Well if your own parents won't give you a good beating, maybe I should knock some sense into you," Soris' mother said as she suddenly appeared behind the suddenly frozen boy, Shianni following with a mixed look of apprehension and smugness. "You're exactly like Adaia, always the little terror. If you don't watch it's going to come back and bite you someday".
Kallian pulled Soris from the doorway and took off, dragging her shocked cousin behind her. She yelled back with a grin, "I'm glad I'm like my mother! Maybe if you weren't so mean to Soris, he wouldn't be such a pushover!"
Shianni giggled before a sharp look from her mother caused her to shrink back. "Just wait until I get my hands on that little brat…I'll teach her. I should go have a talk with her mother in the meantime about how to raise a proper child," she fumed, watching the pair run off.
"So Kallian…what are we going to do today?" her unwilling tagalong said apprehensively.
"Father made me promise never to go looking for trouble again, so we're just going to sell the stuff from last night and then I'm done for good," she answered cheerfully.
She left the gates of the alienage with Soris in hand and proceeded through the market district to the docks. As they passed, humans gave them a wide berth, rechecking their coin purses to make sure they had not been pick pocketed as they shot dark looks at the two elven children. Kallian secretly fumed as she tried to avoid the scowls of the passersby, not wishing to cause an incident by returning the insulting looks of the humans. Elves were not welcome in the market district even if they had coin, the stereotypes of elves as dirty beggars and opportunistic thieves too damaging of a reputation to overcome. She had even heard stories of human peddlers who took payment from elven customers only to call for guards and accuse the unfortunate elf of robbery. In order to survive, the elves of the alienage resorted to a much seedier and dangerous method of acquiring the goods they needed by making use of the extensive black market that existed on the fringes of Denerim's economy.
Arriving in a blighted section of the city near the docks, Kallian and Soris moved quickly through an alleyway lined with decrepit buildings, hidden eyes looking out at them from boarded up windows. They came to a halt at a particularly dilapidated townhouse, the many leveled structure leaning dangerously so much so that it looked as if it would collapse at any moment. Garbage and refuse surrounded the building, the rotting stench something Kallian often believed would permanently damage her sense of smell. Walking up the creaking stairs to the sagging veranda, Kallian again considered how hard it was to believe that such a rundown building could house one of the most influential and feared men in Denerim's criminal underworld. It was here that the city's thieves and murderers went to settle their debts and receive payment for their services. This unassuming building was the dark counterpart to the soaring palace of Denerim's noble district, a manor that served as the seat of power for Denerim's dark king.
For now though, the only person in the building was the old pawnbroker, mouth full of rotting, blackened teeth set permanently in a sneer, his cruel eyes the color of the ocean during a storm, white, grizzled hair emerging from his mottled head in tufts. He leered at Kallian, looking her over with a predatory stare as a shiver ran down her back. "Come to make an exchange, girl?" he rasped.
She poured out the contents of her bag as Soris stood behind her with a fearful look. He had never been with her when she came to this part of town before, and she sympathized with his discomfort, as if she had the choice, she would never come back here either. "How much can you give me for all this?" she asked, trying to keep her voice calm and steady.
He scrutinized each jewel with a discerning eye, checking to see if the gold and silver baubles were real and not forged from some lesser metal. After sorting through the assorted jewelry, he nodded in satisfaction and again snapped his gaze back to Kallian's nervous face. "Quite a fine collection you got here. Been busy in the noble district it seems. All together…I can give you two sovereigns for the lot," he wheezed, his voice barely rising over a whisper.
"Two sovereigns? There's enough gold there to melt down to make at least five and that's not even counting all the jewels," Kallian protested, anger flashing in her eyes.
"The old man slammed his gnarled hand on the table before him as Kallian flinched visibly, his eyes filled with rage and his mouth curled into a snarl. "You knife ears think you can come in here and tell me what this sodding trash is worth? You're lucky you even get that much! Who do you think melts this Maker damned junk down, and how much do you think that costs? Huh, you little knife eared brat?" he bellowed.
Kallian blushed in anger and embarrassment, the hateful voice in her mind screaming to teach this disrespectful shem a lesson but the child within completely unprepared for such an outburst. "I…I'm sorry, I'll take the two sovereigns," she said quietly, tears beginning to blur her vision.
The pawnbroker clicked his tongue in an annoyed fashion as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of tarnished gold coins, tossing them across the table to Kallian. She picked them up and quickly turned away, grabbing Soris' hand and racing away from the decaying townhouse. She did not stop running until they had returned to the edge of the market district, her hand still tightly clenched around Soris'. Her cousin looked at her in concern and asked, "Kallian are you okay? Don't worry about what that shem said…I was pretty scared too".
Kallian looked back to her cousin with a misty gaze, tears of shame and rage falling from her icy blue eyes. "Mom…my mother wouldn't have taking that from that sodding shem. She would have shown him. Someday…I'll show all these shems, and they'll pay for pushing us around," she seethed as her shoulders quivered from the sobs.
Soris hugged Kallian as she cried, but he was unable to staunch the tears welling in his own eyes. A shadowed figure watched them from afar, pitying eyes taking in their sadness and pain before turning away.
Kallian had composed herself by the time they reentered the alienage gates, but her eyes were still red and her cheeks puffy from the falling tears. The blood red sun sat low in the sky, casting long shadows as the fiery star began to disappear below the high walls of the alienage. The elven district was always dark, the suns rays only penetrating into the enclosed space for a few hours of the day. The darkness was an apt metaphor for the gloom and desperation that followed many of the residents of the alienage, the fatalistic outlook of many only deepening the shadow that constantly lay over the blighted community.
The girl's eyes narrowed as she saw many people standing outside her home, many holding bits of cloth to their faces as if they were trying to dry tears. A sense of fear gripped Kallian's body as she approached the crowd, their eyes widening and their voices becoming hushed as she came closer. She heard Soris' mother call for her father inside the house, her face a pale mask as Kallian's uncle placed a hand on his wife's and Shianni's shoulders. Cyrion emerged from the doorway looking like Kallian had never seen him before. He looked broken, defeated, his face ashen, and his eyes dead and emotionless. His gaze pierced through her, those dead eyes seeming to freeze the blood running through her veins as the fear rising in Kallian make each step more difficult to take.
He walked slowly out to meet her, deliberate steps like those of a man walking toward the gallows for his execution. He enveloped her in his arms, lifting her off the ground like she was only a baby despite the dozen years she had spent alive in this world. As he carried her to the house through the grim throng of onlookers, she managed to whisper, "Father…what's wrong? Why are all these people standing outside our house? Where's mom?"
Her father's face took on an agonized look of pain at the last question, but his visage quickly returned to a stony, expressionless mask. As he remained silent, Kallian looked to the tearful face of her cousin who avoided her gaze and buried her face into her mother's dress. Cyrion stopped at the door and looked straight at his daughter, a torrent of emotion threatening to spill forth as he tried to keep his voice steady, "Kallian…you are a big girl now, so I want you to stay calm. Your mother…she was attacked earlier today…when you were with Soris".
Kallian felt like her heart had burst as she managed to speak in a strangled voice, "Where is she? Is she alright?" She struggled to look in the darkened doorway of her home, searching for any sign of her.
Cyrion walked into the house and shut the door slowly behind them. He lowered his daughter to the ground and held her shoulders while look straight at her. Kallian wanted to turn her eyes away from his gaze but could not, mesmerized by those deep pools filled with sorrow, remorse, and fear. They were not the eyes of her father she remembered, eyes that were stern but held a spark of laughter. The laughter was gone now, replaced by regret and twin flames of rage. "Your mother…she didn't make it. She is gone…Kallian".
Kallian felt numb, like her mind had been doused in ice water so that her whole body was paralyzed. She did not even feel her legs slowly carrying her into the bedroom as her father guided her there gently. The shape of a body lay under a white sheet, patches of blood staining the pure white of the cloth. Kallian moved to pull the shroud from her face, but Cyrion quickly took hold of her thin wrist and stopped her. "It's better that you do not look," he said.
She had seen others in the alienage react to the death of a loved one, their wails of sorrow and loud sobs always striking her as contrived and only for show. She felt no need to cry or scream, her pain was far beyond the ability of tears and cries of despair to relieve. No trace of tears remained on her father's face, so she would be strong like him and not break down completely. She gripped her arms tightly around his body as she hid her face in his chest. He returned her embrace, picking up her slight form and placing her on his lap, her arms encircling around his neck as the two sat for what seemed like an endless moment.
"Who did this?" she asked in barely a whisper, her face still buried in his chest.
"A group of humans coming from a tavern. They were drunk and looking for a target. Your mother tried to put up a fight, but there were too many. A few of elves were there at the time saw it happen, but they could not doing anything for her," he explained slowly.
"Why didn't they help her?" she said, anger rising in her voice.
He sighed, looking far older than he had a few hours ago, "It is hard to ask someone to lay their life on the line to save someone else. You cannot blame them even though you want to. The ones to blame are only those who did this".
"Where are they…the bastard shems who did it then?" she raged, not even caring about using such coarse language in front of her father.
A look of concern passed over his face as his expression darkened, "Kallian…I know how you must be feeling, but you must not do anything dangerous. I want you to stay here in the alienage for the time being and not leave the gates".
Kallian looked at her father in shock, not believing that he would allow the shems to just get away with this, to keep his head down and pretend like nothing happened. She pushed him away, her face twisting into an angry glare as she said quietly, "Those shems, you can't actually want to let them get away with this! They killed mom, don't you understand!"
Cyrion attempted to placate her, reaching his hand out to hers but she slapped it away in disgust. Her voice began rising to a shrill pitch as all her anger and sorrow burst forth like a flow of lava, her screams reverberating around the tiny room. "Don't you even care about mom? How can you let those bastards go unpunished!" she yelled, her slight body shaking as Cyrion stood motionless, unable to move to comfort her. "You…you never even loved mom! If you loved her you'd want revenge! If you won't…I'll make sure that those bastards suffer!"
After she finished her outburst, she flinched at the sight of her father, those eyes full of sadness and regret. She could not face him after saying those words, so she ran, slamming open the door and pushing through the crowd. The young girl did not bother to look behind to see if anyone followed as she sprinted away, her rapid steps taking her far away from the alienage, far from the scene of such horror, far away from the gaze of her father. She continued to run but all the pain and self-loathing within her continued to follow. Kallian found herself in an area she was not familiar with, stained walls of abandoned buildings rising around her like a prison as the angry sun dipped lower in the sky, bathing the area in shadow.
Kallian bit her lip as the tears began to gather in the corners of her eyes, willing herself not to cry. She smashed her fists into the hard stonewall she leaned against, feeling her bones grind and watching as the skin was torn off her knuckles, leaving a splatter of blood as she continued to futilely punch at the unyielding wall. She felt tired, the exertion of running all this way and now wailing away at the harsh stone turning her breaths into ragged gasps. Eventually, Kallian stopped, her hands bleeding profusely as her chest heaved from exhaustion. She wretched as nausea began to rise within her, the strong emotions beginning to take a toll on her body.
"You know," a teasing voice said from behind her, "if I had to pick a side in a fight between you and that wall, I think I would have to take the wall".
Kallian whirled around, surprise in her eyes as she beheld a young woman with pale skin and bushy, black hair with strands falling across her face. Her eyes were very dark, her irises and pupils seemingly black pools of water, but the warmth emanating from them gave Kallian a strange sense of reassurance. The black eye shadow around her eyes gave them a slanted appearance, and a strange tattoo in the shape of a spiral graced the underside of her right eye. She was dressed in unusual clothes, tight black pants hugging her thin legs and a rather revealing shirt held only by two thin strings over the shoulders covering her torso. A silver necklace bearing an unfamiliar charm was draped over her chest, the symbol appearing like a cross with a loop replacing one end. She was not very tall for a human, being of a very thin build more akin to one of elven descent than the burly humans she was used to.
All Kallian saw was one of the hated shems, however, so she lashed out with one bloodied fist, her mouth curled into a snarl as she sought to take out her anger on this human who dared to interrupt her grieving. The woman caught her hand with relative ease, her expression still graced with a mischievous smile as she grabbed Kallian's other hand in mid-punch as well. Kallian strained to break free, but the woman was unexpectedly strong for someone with such a slight and wiry frame. Her smile faltered as she looked at Kallian's injured hands, blood dripping onto her own as she continued to hold the struggling girl.
"It's an improvement that you're trying to hit me now rather than that wall, but you might not want to with these injuries," the woman said with concern.
"What in the sodding Maker's name do you care, shem?" she spat, still unable to free her arms from vice of the woman's grip.
"Well I guess you're free to bleed all over the place if you want," she shot back in a sarcastic tone, "or you can come with me and we can get you fixed up".
"I don't want a shem's help!" she said in revulsion, turning her gaze away from the woman.
The woman sighed in exasperation, "Kallian, don't make this difficult. Night is falling and the alienage gates will have already closed. Do you really want to be alone out here all night in your condition?"
"The girl's eyes snapped back to the grinning woman's face in shock as she stammered, "How do you know my name?"
The woman laughed, "I know everyone Kallian, well at the end at least".
"What do you mean? I've never met you before in my life!" Kallian objected.
"Maybe you just don't remember," she said pleasantly, now pulling the girl along with her.
"Hey, I told you I wasn't going with you!" she retorted feebly as she grudgingly followed behind the woman.
"Well you seem to be coming with me," she joked, giggling at the girl's attitude.
"Only because I can't get away from you," Kallian said under her breath. "Well since I'm being forced to follow, why don't you tell me your name, shem?"
"Oh, I'm Death," she answered matter-of-factly.
"Is that some kind of joke?" Kallian responded darkly.
"No joke, that's my name or what most people call me anyway," she continued.
"What kind of idiot parents would name their kid such a stupid name?" Kallian said sarcastically.
"People give names to things so they are better able to grasp them, like…you can't see, feel, taste, or touch love, but you know what it is by its name. Something like that anyway," Death said as her face scrunched in concentration as she tried to think up an explanation.
"That made no sense," Kallian deadpanned.
"Huh, my sister always thought my explanations were very enlightening," she responded with a shrug.
"I hope you're not going to tell me about your family now," Kallian groaned as they continued to walk along, passersby shooting them suspicious looks as the human woman dragged the bleeding elven girl behind her.
"Well if you insist," Death said with delight. " I have one older brother, but he's pretty boring to be around. My one younger brother's been moping around for a while now, so I had to go see him to try to snap him out of it. Then there's my other younger brother who I haven't seen in a while, the twins who are always causing trouble, and my little sister. So I have six brothers and sisters in total".
"Must be tough on your parents," Kallian said in a bratty way.
"We don't have any parents, not in the way you think of anyway," Death explained.
Kallian narrowed her eyes at this and said bitterly, "Well we've all lost people we love, haven't we?"
"It's true," Death nodded. "But death can't exist without life. You should remember the happy times and not dwell on what can't be changed".
"I could have shared more happy times with her if it hadn't been for those sons of shems," Kallian seethed, her one free hand curling painfully into a fist.
"Such things are better left to the care of Destiny," she urged softly. "We all have our roles to fulfill and seldom can we decide how our lives should go".
Kallian fell silent at this, continuing to follow quietly after the older woman as she seemed to effortlessly cut a path through the crowds of humans swarming around the market district.
She stopped at a rundown but comfortable looking inn, opening the door with a creak as the innkeeper looked up with a warm smile. "Didi, you're back. I hope you didn't get into too much trouble out there. You're parents would never forgive me if I let something happen to you".
"Don't worry, I'm fine. I had something important to take care of," she said with a smile, pulling Kallian into the inn as she avoided the gaze of the innkeeper.
The man scowled at the elven girl, his eyes scrutinizing her with distaste. "Didi, you know how I feel about them knife ears coming in here…lot of thieves they are. Leave the trash outside where you found it".
Kallian stiffened, her mouth opening to voice a scathing remark, but Death quickly placed a finger across her lips, bidding her to be silent. "Gramps, she's just a kid and she's hurt. Can't you make an exception this one time, for me?" she asked with pleading eyes.
The man's stony gaze faltered at her request, the ice in his eyes melting as he looked into the woman's warm eyes. "Sod, I can never say no to you. Just make sure she ain't stealing nothing. I don't have so much that I can let it be pilfered by the odd knife-ear".
Death pulled Kallian along to her room, the girl venting once they were upstairs, "What an ass. Are all shems such sodding bastards? And anyway, what'd he call you, Didi? Why'd you make me call you Death?"
"You can call me that name if you want, but anyway Kallian, not all humans are bad people. Just holding prejudices doesn't make you a bad person. A person can be the kindest and most gentle person in the world and still have terrible, bigoted beliefs. Instead of despising them for their wrongly held beliefs, you should try to change them," she chastised gently.
"And how, may I ask, am I going to do that, huh?" she said contemptuously.
"I don't know, but only complaining about it and not doing anything to stop it isn't going to change anything," she said, wrapping gauze around Kallian's battered hands. "Believe me I know, my brothers are always whining about things and acting like spoiled toddlers rather than trying to solve their problems".
Kallian was silent for a moment before she whispered, "My mom was killed today by shems just because she was an elf". Death's eyes avoided Kallian's for a brief instant before returning as the girl's voice rose, "Were they not bad people? Did my mother deserve to die? The innkeeper is exactly like them, it's the way they think about us as worthless that makes it so easy to inflict such cruelty on us!"
Death finished tying the gauze around Kallian's hands, the white cloth standing out from the girl's tanned skin. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been saying such things so soon after your loss," the woman said quietly. "I just don't want you to be filled with so much anger and hate. Life is too short to spend it focused on hate. You still have others in your life you love right, just like I have my brothers and sisters, even if they are a tad annoying sometimes".
Kallian wanted to hate the human woman before her, just another shem who felt nothing about hurting her kind, but found that she could not. "It's not your fault," she said, avoiding her gaze as she blushed in embarrassment.
Death smiled at her, pulling her off of the bed as she moved over to a glass jar containing a gold and an orange fish. She tossed some flakes into the jar, the two fish rising to the surface to collect the flakes as Kallian watched. "Those two are my fish, the fat one's Slim and the smaller one is Wandsworth. I thought I should feed them before we go out," she said.
"Going out? I thought we were staying here until I could go home," Kallian said hesitantly, not wanting to go out at night in the city proper.
"No silly, why should we stay all cooped up like this? We should go out and find something to do," she urged.
Kallian acquiesced reluctantly, following the woman as they exited the establishment, the innkeeper warning her companion to be careful while also casting a suspicious glance at the elven girl. They walked out into the bright lights of the market district, the stalls still bustling with activity even at night. Lanterns were tied along crisscrossed strings spanning the length of the town square, lighting the area as if it were daytime. Kallian looked in wonder over all of the activity, amazed that the bazaar seemed even busier than in the day.
They continued to wander around the many stalls selling a myriad of goods, the usually suspicious peddlers not even giving Kallian a second glace as Death pulled her along. Merchants from every corner of Thedas were present in the Denerim market, Orlesians, Antivans, even sellers from as far away as Tevinter. Fine silks, exotic fruits, and sparkling jewelry were all on display, items Kallian had never seen during her trips through the market during the day.
Her guide stopped at a stall bearing some particularly delicious looking food consisting of flaky bread filled with cream and fruit filling, the heavenly aroma wafting around the area. "How much for two of these," Death asked, her eyes looking over the assorted desserts they offered.
The peddler eyed Kallian with a patronizing look and she readied herself for the inevitable refusal to serve a "knife ear". "Don't usually serve to elves, but you know, it's been a good night for business. You can have them on the house," he said jovially, handing over two of the pastries.
Kallian's eyes widened in surprise at this turn of events, not expecting to be served let alone getting the delectable food free. Death thanked the peddler with a brilliant smile as he refused her thanks graciously. She bit into the pastry greedily, the jelly running down her chin as she tasted something more delicious than she had ever experienced before. "Well he was nice, wasn't he?" her companion said pleasantly, turning an expectant look to Kallian.
"I guess…for a shem," she admitted reluctantly.
Their night continued in much the same way, Death seeming to have an uncanny ability to acquire anything she wanted at no cost to the pair. To Kallian, the whole situation seemed rather spooky, almost as if the people she met were entranced by her presence, but Death passed it off as the general response of people to be kind to people who were kind to them.
As the sky began to grow brighter as the sun rose to just below the horizon, the pair came to their last stop. Death had spotted a rather garish looking hat complete semi-precious stones and colorful feathers apparently of Orlesian origin. She had gushed about her love for such things, and given the many scattered around her room, Kallian believed she might have a mild obsession. As they approached, Kallian said, "Why don't we just skip to the part where you give it to her free".
The peddler fixed her with a strange look as she said that it would cost twenty silver. Kallian was shocked but Death seemed nonplussed, reaching into her pocket but only producing a handful of silver and two bits. Slightly put-out, she shrugged and said, "Oh well" before Kallian stepped in front of her, intending to pay for the hat as a sign of gratitude for the night, but found her pocket empty.
"Sod! Some cutpurse stole my two sovereigns!" she cursed, trying to remember any seedy looking characters that brushed by them during the night.
Death gave her a sympathetic look, saying cryptically, "I think I know how to make it up to you" before guiding her to a nearby tavern in an attempt to cheer her up as the girl seethed. They entered and she ordered them two breakfasts, using all of her remaining silver and leaving the two bits on the tabletop. The tavern was empty except for a group of men whose eyes resembled snakes more than humans. Apparently they had spent all night here given their drunken states complete with coarse language and overall boorish behavior. Kallian tried to ignore them, but a few words stood out as she tried not to listen. "That knife eared bitch was a feisty one, huh?" one of the disgusting men said as the others guffawed in laughter. "Don't meet one as good looking as that everyday, and we didn't even have to pay for her. You know me, I love them knife ears. The guards don't even care what you do to them".
The color drained out of Kallian's face as she heard these comments. Her body began shaking as the monster within her began to slowly rise up. One of the drunken thugs laid eyes on the only other two patrons of the tavern and motioned to his fellows whose faces all contorted into leering smirks. Stumbling forward, the large man slammed his hands down on the table, his breath smelling of stale beer, as his cruel eyes studied the pair. "Greetings ladies," he slurred. "Just wondering if you'd like the pleasure of entertaining me and my boys".
Death's smile remained firmly on her face even as her expression darkened while she said firmly to the man, "It would be a pleasure if you could leave us alone please".
"Don't be like that bitch," he said dangerously, grabbing her arm and twisting it painfully. "The knife ear might be a tad young, but she has to learn sooner or later, don't you think?"
Kallian's knife was in her hand faster than the man could react and was slicing through his throat before he could blink. As blood spattered onto the table and the man's wet gurgle filled the room, Kallian had already jumped forward and ran her knife into the second man. Rage clouded her vision as all she could think about was killing these bastards for what they had done to her mother. The drunken reflexes of the third man were easily overcome by the girl despite her youth, her knife breaking off in his chest as he fell to the ground bearing dozens of stab wounds.
Now unarmed, Kallian faced down the final thug with fury running through her tiny frame. She lunged at him, landing several blows before he grabbed her arm and twisted her around in a headlock. Lifting her off the ground and pulling a rusty dagger from his belt, his hot breath slipped past her ear as he laughed and said, "Am I going to have some fun with you".
Kallian struggled in vain to break free as the blade of the dagger moved closer to her skin, her eyes closing as tears fell down her cheeks. She fell to the ground painfully a moment later, opening her eyes to see Death landing a punishing strike into the jaw of the larger man, his rotten teeth flying everywhere. He stumbled backward as if stunned, but Kallian saw that it was only a feint, the man apparently used to brawls of this character. She opened her mouth to scream out a warning but her words were transformed into a strangled gasp as the fiend buried his dagger into the chest of the woman, her eyes displaying shock as she reached up to hold the dagger to her chest.
Kallian pulled a knife from one of the bloodied bodies, screaming in rage as she charged the man. He attempted to rip his dagger from the chest of the woman, but she held fast without yielding. His beady eyes widened in terror as he fell back, the knife slicing through his throat with the wet slap of torn flesh against hardened steel. He collapsed on the ground, holding his throat in a futile effort to staunch the fountain of blood bursting forth from severed arteries. Kallian stabbed him in the back of the head, holding his face to the ground as she slammed the blade down again and again until her arm felt numb from the pain.
Sprawled out among the pools of blood, Kallian's breathing gradually slowed down to a normal pace as she crawled toward the fallen woman. Turning her over, she checked for any signs of life but found none, her body growing colder by the moment, the dagger pierced straight through her heart. She sniffed before a manic chuckle left her mouth as she quipped, "It seems like death has been following me around all day". She did not find it funny or ironic, but she had cried enough and had no more tears to shed. Since she could not cry, all she could do was laugh.
Taking the two bits from the bloodstained table, her hand seemed to move on its own volition as she placed the coins over the eyes of Death. As she did so, it felt like a burden had lifted from her shoulders, and the freezing chill that enveloped her body seemed to fade away. In the alienage, one learned to accept death and welcome it, greeting death like an old friend rather than trying in vain to placate the reaper. In that moment, Kallian accepted the day's events, accepting that for the first time she had taken lives and accepting the death of loved ones both long held and newfound.
Looking around in confusion, the murderers of Adaia bickered and swore, staring in horror at their cooling bodies as they cursed at the still living elf, trying without success to attack her from their disembodied state. "That little, knife eared bitch! Sod! I'll teach her!" the last one to die said as his outstretched arms passed through the form of the young girl before his eyes glimpsed his bloodied corpse lying near to her. "Wait…what's that body doing there…"
"It's a shame. I always miss it when I have to leave the mortal world. I wish I had more time," a disappointed voice said behind them. The group turned to the origin of the voice, beholding the woman that lay dead, her pale skin now a chalk white and her face set in a wry smirk as she observed the quartet.
"What in the Maker's name is this, bitch? Where are we?" one asked threateningly.
"Oh, this is the plane between the mortal world and the realm of the dead. I brought you here," she answered with a smile.
"Brought us here? I killed you!" he yelled with fear growing in his voice.
She shook her head, "No, that's wrong. Only I have authority over the Sunless Lands, and I am the one who guides the living into the next world.
"What are you…some kind of demon from the Fade?" he exclaimed even while they shrunk back, beginning to feel the power that radiated through her form.
"I'm Death," she answered, laughing quietly. "I don't know where you'll end up after leaving here, but if my hunch is right, I would suspect you'll be seeing a lot of demons in the future".
Kallian stood at the doorway of the tavern, the serving girl still cowering behind the wooden bar. She looked down at her clothes now stained red with the blood of both foes and a friend. Her mother was avenged, but it had come at a high cost. Walking out into the morning light, a faint sound caused her to look back to the carnage behind her. As she listened, this time the sound came through more clearly, filling the room with the sound of wings.
A/N: This chapter took longer to write than I expected, so much so that the new chapter for my other story probably will not come for a while. This is based off Death: The High Cost of Living where Death becomes mortal for a day. If you have not read it, I would recommend it even for those who do not like comics. Neil Gaiman is a fantastic storyteller. The city elf in this story is the same character as in my other stories so this could probably serve as a sort of prequel to Darkness of the Heart. The city elf was always my favorite out of all the origins, the elements of tragedy in the story really struck me. This story might take a long while to be updated as I work on a storyline for the next chapter, maybe it will involve Desire and Aeducan.
