Kirkwall, the city of chains, or so her mind had provided for her, all those hours ago, in that smelly alleyway. She had no recollection of ever hearing or reading anything about it, but it was as if the knowledge was stored in her brain independently.
She had had little time to think and consider once outside the hovel, as Simmons started to walk away. She could hear Athras' light steps behind her, but she would not dare turn around and check if she really was there, lest she lost sight of Simmons' back and got lost.
They walked in silence, mainly keeping to the shadows as they made their way through one dirt street after the other, buildings made of stone and sand raising at the sides, each identical to the other, differentiated only by either height or state of decay. Every so often she would catch sight of another graffiti adorning the walls, but only the red ones. Sometimes, behind a particularly dark corner, some shadows would pop up, usually they were always groups of three or four, but after a quick glance towards her companions they would turn around and ignore the three of them as if they hadn't even seen them.
As she moved forward, with her body in autopilot and her eyes hooked on Simmons broad shoulders, her mind took up the moment of clarity to process the events that had piled up to that moment.
She had been walking home from the train station, same road as always in the past fifteen years, and she had chosen to cut through the neighborhood in order to get home quicker.
Okay, that was still clear enough.
Then she had casually found a weird mirror just laying on the side of the road, which had proceeded to suck her up inside. Then her arm had started to hurt real bad, the tattoo burning as if someone had just lit a fire on it.
And then what?
That was a good question, one that had an answer, but not an understandable one.
She had woken up in that alleyway, in a place that those thugs had called "Kirkwall", and that her subconscious seemed to recognize.
If that was the case, did that mean that her memories of this place had been sealed away somehow?
Maybe her brain had blocked it off in an attempt to prevent her from experiencing trauma. Well, less trauma anyway.
That made sense, more sense than she had found since waking up in that unfamiliar and unwelcomed place.
With her mind occupied, she failed to pay attention to where her feet where going, and almost trampled to the ground when her foot hit and missed the first step of a stairwell.
She closed her eyes and extended her arms as a reaction to the fall, but the fall didn't come.
From behind, Athras had quickly stepped forward and grabbed her by her shirt, preventing her from making the acquaintance of the ground.
"Pay attention to where you're going, telin. I've got better shit to do than peel you off the fuckin' ground" the woman growled, steadying her back up.
The girl turned, a sheepish, embarrassed, blush spreading over her pale face, and nodded her thanks.
When she turned, she was caught off guard by the magnitude of the stairwell in front of her. It was such a stark difference between the dirty and dusty roads behind her, all the white stone felt like a sudden punch in the gut to look at. It was large and tall, and she could swear she did not see where it ended.
A sudden breeze swirled down from the top, and her eyes caught movement in their peripheral vision.
Red.
She turned her head and two distinct roads of blood red flags appeared in front of her eyes: each and every one of them bearing the jet black symbol that was permanently etched in the skin of her right forearm.
"W- what is that?" she asked, suddenly feeling the compulsion to start filling in some pieces of the puzzle in her head. If her brain was really holding information up, then maybe getting some new ones would help her unlock those.
Behind her, she heard Athras sigh.
"What are you, stupid or something?" the woman mumbled in annoyance, drilling a hole in the back of the girl's head with her pointed glare.
"I- feel like I should know, but I don't…" the girl trailed off, her voice getting smaller and smaller with each word that left her lips.
She hated not knowing things, and more so when people called her out for it.
Which was one of the reasons why she never asked for help when she didn't know or understand something.
"Go easy on her, she might be traumatized, after all" Simmons clear voice intervened in her favor, but did nothing to abash the redness on her cheeks.
"Don't fucking tell me what to do!" the woman growled out in all response, only managing to make the man chuckle back at her.
"Then don't be rude" he replied, not even bothering to look back as he climbed up the stairs. "Anyway, that logo you see on the flags? That's the crest of the city. It is a stylized knot work representation of a dragon; it evolved from a symbol of rebellion from the time when Kirkwall was a centre for the Tevinter slave trade. It was an image that catalyzed the slaves to overthrow the ruling Magisters. While the symbol has changed over time, its message has not: Kirkwall is a city unto itself, beholden to no one" he explained, his voice clear and steady as if he was used to speaking up like that. Much like a good teacher would have.
But it was not his voice that captured her undivided attention: the things he said, the information he had relayed…they were doing things in her mind.
"Kirkwall, one of three city states in the Free Marches. The city of Chains. Slave Trade. Magisters. Tevinter. Mages. Elves. Chantry. Exalted Marches. Segregation. Conflict. War. The Blight!"
It was the start of an overload, and her head began to throb painfully, her brain failing to contain all the information that had been unlocked in the span of minutes.
"Motherfucker-!" she cried out, cradling her head with both hands, feet stalling on a unnumbered step.
Simmons and Athras stopped and shared a confused look. Confusion turned into worry when the girl, the telin, fell down on her knees, head cradled in her hands, yelling out in pain.
"What in the Maker's name-?" Simmons exclaimed, but was interrupted by Athras shoving past him to get to the potions that he kept stored in a pouch on his belt.
"Telin. Telin look at me!" she hissed, grabbing not so gently the girl by a shoulder and forcing her to look up at her. "Drink this, it will help" the woman said, uncorking the small vial and pushing it in her hand.
The girl spared just a glance at the red liquid in the vial before she outright downed it all in one go, eager to get the pain away. A fresh taste of peppermint was left behind all the way down her throat as she drunk the contents of the potion, the tail end of her migraine already disappearing, alleviating the pressure on the back of her head.
Quietly, she started to take deep breathes, the effects of whatever drug she had just taken slowly spreading to her whole body.
"Ok, back on your feet telin, we still have ground to cover" Athras declared hurriedly, helping her back on her feet despite her harsh words.
Simmons put off the questions that had naturally started to accumulate on the tip of his tongue and went back on climbing.
After that, they made quick work of the staircase, passing from Lowtown to Hightown.
Oddly enough, Hightown way always way worse than Lowtown at night, and the group picked up the pace. The girl looked around in awe as white, marbled, tiles took the place of dirt beaten roads, the buildings rose higher, and everything had an expensive look to it.
It was clear that they had passed towards the 'fancier' part of the city, and she marvelled at the sight of every single sight as they passed through wider roads and fancy archways adorned in gold.
She was so taken with her surroundings that she almost failed to notice Simmons coming to a stop in front of her. He was standing in front of a small, wooden door encased on a wall that was more shadows than actual stone.
"Here we are, now all that remains is to see whether Melchor will freak out or not" he sighed as Athras stepped up next to him.
"Of course he will freak out, but you know better than me how much he likes freaks.." she huffed, throwing a glance towards the telin girl that was in front of her.
The girl was all wide eyed and dirty cheeks, mussed hair and torn clothes, and was eyeing everything warily.
She sighed.
It was not every day that someone popped out of nowhere with a Kirkwallers mark on them, and especially it was not a mundane thing that the person in question had no clue as to what or whom the Kirkwallers were in the first place.
Simmons shrugged and offered no further answer before he went and unlocked the door.
The girl leaned towards it, peeking inside, and was met only with complete darkness.
She shivered.
What other mind-blowing thing was waiting in there?
Well, beats staying out here for sure…