Free Marches, Tiurg (a small city between Starkhaven and Ansburg)

Wintermarch 2012, (2 days after the events of the fifth chapter)


Zaties loved his family. Having a sickly wife and four small mouths to feed caused him to take almost any possible job, no matter how risky it was, even if it meant leaving the somewhat protective walls of Tiurg.

The treasure searching mostly was tiring and ungrateful business. He wasn't the only one who sneaked into the debris of discarded waste, digging around in a search for anything that could be sold for a few silvers; the competition was high. The area was unprotected, visited only by enormous trucks that departed quickly after their load was carelessly dumped.

Adjusting the muzzle of his breathing mask which blocked most of the stench and the toxic gases, Zaties slowly examined the garbage-mountains, his experienced gaze filtering whatever looked valuable in between the colorful masses. Too busy with trying to find another 'treasure' he even didn't notice how far away he went, further from the city than he ever had been before.

Carefully walking on the iced, slippery ground he stopped from time to time, sometimes slipping something into the bag he brought with him and sometimes straightening with a disappointed sigh. 'Till now he had not found much, to his dismay.

A faint blue shimmer caught his eyes and the man rushed to the stinky mass of half frozen garbage and many things he couldn't identify. He pushed his hand almost to the elbow in the crack between a smashed plasma TV and half mattress stained with something yellow and dark (better not to think about it). His fingers felt the object, something thin and fragile and he pulled at it as gently but firmly as it was possible. It didn't come out easily; he had to try a few times until whatever was holding it broke with a dry sound and finally Zaties was able to see his find.

He smiled to himself but the smile was gone when he saw what he was holding. It was a weirdly shaped chip, thin and dirty with a….piece of bone attached to it. Wherever it was a human bone or not, Zaties couldn't guess. Well, he really hoped it wasn't.

He paled, studying his discovery. His first instinct was to throw it away in disgust. But then, the chip was rather large and if cleaned could be sold for a nice price. From what he could tell, it was dapped with lyrium, its bluish shade unmistakable even under all the filth. Whatever it was, trivial it wasn't. Zaties leaned closer, trying to see the shape engraved on it.

Was it an engraved eye?

He looked at the flake before shoving it into his bag and standing up, and wondered if he could sell it for ten silvers.


Free Marches, Starkhaven, Guardian 2012, the present day

Marian had made it a long way from a broken refugee to an (almost) princess of Starkhaven. Her path had been full of obstacles, unfriendly strangers and only a few allies. Climbing up with teeth and claws, Hawke used everything she had or could put her hands on to fulfill her plans. No wonder some quirks went too deep, habits which in time turned into an affectionate obsession.

Looting was one of them. The necessity of digging in garbage somehow, without her noticing the change, became a small adventure. Even after the success of their expedition, Marian still took time to collect any piece of junk she found interesting. Marian could be the archeologist, the detective, and the great discoverer of unspeakable treasures, all in one.

Of course most of the things she brought home were no more than simple rubbish and were quickly thrown away, but from time to time she found something unusual enough to keep as a trophy. The shelves dedicated to her 'treasures' became a large mirror-closet where each piece was polished and positioned in perfect order.

Her non-dangerous (mostly) obsession deeply annoyed her companions in Kirkwall. Varric often pondered what people would say about their Champion happily crawling on her stomach and collecting scraps.

With time, Hawke's new status and a few loud arguments with her fiancé tempered her passion, somewhat. Smart woman that she was, Marian found a way around.

The grand city market.

The market was a wide collection of stands and small shops, located between the broad alleys of eastern part of the city. Unlike many other countries, Starkhaven wasn't affected as deeply by the Blight and its economics didn't crash; only faltered. Due to that, most of the businesses were able to hold on.

The market itself was divided into two wings. The right side of it was of edible products. Here you could find rows of fruits and vegetables stalls, freshly baked breads, cheese and more. Also, it contained a large variety of animals and flowers.

The left wing held clothes, furniture, trinkets and random antiquities. Marian headed there, as usual. She loved to slowly explore the stalls, chatting with the already familiar shop owners as she checked upon the variety of their merchandise. Smiling as if she had won a fortune, Marian wandered between the stands, chatting with their owners (who already knew her) and occasionally lingering around this and that.

A half hour later, she was the happy owner of an ancient dwarven scales' chain (at least the clerk claimed so) and a dark green vintage elven lamp. She was getting hungry and just had a thought of visiting her favorite bakery at the other side of the market when she saw it.

It was a small, shimmering object; its shape was oval like with once smooth edges and a wide open eye engulfed in flames engraved over it. Any thoughts of food escaped her head. The small thing was bluish; Hawke was bemused to discover it had lyrium dots all over it. She examined it closer only to see some kind of embossed symbols on its backside.

She had seen this eye somewhere before, she was sure about it. Hawke had a good memory. For some reason it bothered her.

Wasn't it a very curious thing? If Marian couldn't stand something it was an unsolved enigma.

Curiosity flaring, she paid for it, had it wrapped, and rushed home.

Marian had a new toy to play with.

The first thing she did when she returned to the mansion was to run into her private laboratory. Marian could check for hours on the smallest piece of metal, running tests upon it, analyzing it, and researching the subject from every possible angle.

The flake was placed under a microscope and later scanned, put to chemical reaction tests. Simultaneously, she sent a picture of it into the internet search engines.

Sebastian came to check upon her eventually, but seeing her absorbed in her new research just shook his head and gave up. When Hawke was in that particular knowledge-thirsty mood, even an earthquake couldn't avert her attention.

The results of her investigation were rather shocking. The flake turned to be authentic, packed with enough lyrium to make an average mutant drool with happiness.

"Andraste's smoking panties! It's the Inquisitor's symbol. I wonder how it ended up in the market." Hawke raised an eyebrow, gaping. Now she was truly curious.

"How did you end up between washing machine parts, will you tell me, dearie?" Marian cooed over the obviously silent piece.

The next level of the process was to compare the oversized image of the pattern which now, when seen clearly looked like a cipher code. Here Hawke came to a dead end.

She spent more than two hours using all she knew about internet to find even the smallest clue as to the purpose of such a thing. It didn't seem like something that one would wear on his clothes or as jewelry. Perhaps it was a trinket, no more than a decorative meaningless object. The Chantry liked to remind people of itself and its glory. But it was too small to be noticed unless it was looked upon from a close range.

"No way I'm giving up now." Hawke declared with a grim determination hours later. So what if she'd have to hack the Chantry databases. She'd been there, done that before. Having Isabela and Varric as friends did teach one many usable skills and Hawke was always good with computers. She just needed the right direction. From there she could manage.

Cracking the system defenses was an annoying procedure, too slow for the suddenly impatient woman.

"Finally!" Marian smirked as the screen filled with the highly protected information. As she began to read her eyebrows climbed up further and further.

"What? Inquisitors have chips implanted into their bodies? What is this? A D rated science fiction movie? Maker's breath, what is that shit?!"

She kept reading, fascinated and horrified in the same time. It looked like the Chantry didn't trust even her most loyal pets and insisted putting into each of them a unique to that person chip that could be used as tracking device. To remove it from a person would be a complicated and probably very painful procedure.

Hawke whistled. She was glued to her main computer, fingers typing in an almost inhuman speed. Comparing the cipher code on the purchased chip to the database gave her the most surprising results.

The flake's data belonged to a familiar name.

Arthur Reeley.

Sebastian was sipping a cup of his favorite tea as he was reading a newspaper when Marian rushed in, face pale and confused. "Love…I have something I want to show you."