Chapter Ten: Something You Forgot to Mention Leliana?
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age.
"Is this really necessary?" Wynne asked, scowling, as Aunn, Leliana, and Alistair worked diligently to remove all of the scales from the drake they had just killed while Trian watched in rapt interest. Once the sloth demon had been killed, another door had opened up revealing the drake and a few dragonlings which were quickly disposed of. What wasn't so quick, however, was the scale harvesting.
"Probably not," Aunn admitted. "But the guy we're going to for armor in Denerim was looking for some drake scales and if we bring him some we might be able to get armor made out of the scales from a drake that we killed. How impressive is that?"
"It doesn't really matter how impressive or not it is," Wynne insisted. "You can always come back and do this after we've saved the Tower. That dead drake isn't going anywhere."
"And neither is Uldred," Aunn countered.
"But the time you're wasting on this drake might be the difference between Irving's life or death!" Wynne exclaimed urgently. "Does that mean nothing to you?"
Morrigan snorted.
Wynne turned to glare angrily at her. "What? You think this is amusing? The Circle could be losing its only hope of not being annulled this very second!"
"In Orlais we had more faith in our highest-ranking mage," Morrigan deadpanned. "Although clearly the Ferelden First Enchanter cannot possibly wait half an hour while we finish up here. And let me tell you, if he is considered the most wise and powerful of you all then I really despair the conditions of the Circle."
"I thought you already did," Caunira reminded her.
"Even more so then before," Morrigan clarified. "Which is a feat that I honestly had not thought possibly so congratulations for proving me wrong."
"It was nothing," Angélique said modestly, apparently interpreting Morrigan's congratulations as sincere.
"We're done," Leliana announced as she deftly removed the final drake scale and putting it in her pack. "It looks a little strange without any of its scales but I'm sure we will be able to make good use of them."
"If the smith in Denerim does not have any qunari armor then this will do for material," Sten informed them.
"We certainly have enough scales," Aunn agreed readily.
"Maybe we should hurry up and go find Uldred before it's too late?" Alistair suggested, eyeing the incredibly peeved Wynne nervously.
They continued to the room just before the Harrowing chamber. A lone Templar was kneeling on the other side of the room and rocking back and forth, trapped behind some sort of giant purple force field.
"Is that…" Angélique asked uncertainly. "It is! Hello, Edward! What are you doing here?"
The Templar stiffened at the sound of her voice and moaned, "No, not again…Why must I be tormented thus by these visions of Angélique?"
"You've been having visions of Angélique?" Caunira asked sympathetically. "I am so, so very sorry for you."
"Visions?" Angélique asked, surprised. "Does that mean you've been thinking about me, Edward? How sweet. You must have been so worried! Not to worry, though. I'm perfectly fine."
"You're not real. You may look real, you may feel real, you may even taste real but I know that you're not. You promise so much, everything I've ever wanted, if I just let go. I'm stronger than that, though," the Templar insisted, closing his eyes tightly. He opened them again and rose to his feet in horror, allowing Aunn to see that this was the Templar Cullen that she had talked to when she and Duncan had been here a few weeks ago. She really might have guessed given his apparent and inexplicable obsession with Angélique. Yes, the girl was probably the most beautiful person she'd ever met but she was such a shallow creature that her appeal was frankly lost on Aunn. How many Templars could possibly be blinded by her beauty anyway? "No…that's always worked before! Why isn't this working?"
"I would hazard a guess that that is because this time she is unfortunately quite real," Morrigan said.
"He has done well to withstand the demon," Sten opined.
"You should be more understanding, Morrigan," Leliana lectured. "This poor man has obviously been without food or water for several days and appears to have been psychologically tortured as well."
"I have," Cullen confirmed. "It was...terrible. My men are all dead. The mages captured us and started planting these visions in our heads, trying to break us. They took my men away one after the other as they broke and I don't know what happened to them. Nothing good, I'm sure. If they're not already dead then I have no doubt that they wish they were. I'm the only one left and I'm not sure how much longer I can…but no! I have to stay strong."
"That sounds really bad, Edward," Angélique said, the situation bad enough that she was trying to be sympathetic but still managing to get his name wrong. "I'm sorry. We've killed most of the blood mages and we'll make sure to kill the rest soon, okay? Then you can rest."
Cullen laughed bitterly. "Don't you see? It's all of them! The only mages that you'll find up in the Harrowing chamber are blood mages or soon-to-be blood mages. I…I'm not sure what has happened to you three. You haven't been up to that Chamber or I would have seen you. That means that you may not be blood mages but there is no way to know for sure! Still, I loved you once, Angélique, so I hope that you aren't."
Angélique's eyes widened. "You…what? When did this happen?"
"Years," Caunira replied. "You never noticed."
"I don't know what to say," Angélique confessed, having clearly never been in that position before where she'd been confronted by the realities of other people's strange affection for her. "Edward…"
"It doesn't matter," Cullen said wearily, shaking his head. "It's in the past now. And to think…I used to feel sorry for you mages. I didn't understand just how necessary the rules Greagoir enforced so thoroughly really are. In fact, it's clear that he didn't go far enough or else this never would have been allowed to happen."
"Not all mages are like that," Wynne argued. "Irving's not, certainly. And Uldred never would have dared to do what he did if he wasn't promised support by Teyrn Loghain."
"This was just the catalyst," Cullen declared heatedly. "They were already blood mages and they already wanted to take control! If they hadn't been lead to believe they would be supported then the rebellion would just come later! And Irving has been up with the others for days! You can't trust him. You can't save him. You can't save any of them."
"You don't know that," Aunn spoke up. "And Wynne doesn't know that they can be saved. The fact of the matter is that we won't know until we get to that chamber."
"If you get up there you may be able to tell that they are all abominations," Cullen told her. "But you won't ever be able to tell that they aren't."
"Greagoir is willing to accept Irving's word," Caunira shot back.
Cullen laughed again, a harsh, angry sound. "Irving's word? What does Irving know? He prides himself on knowing everything that goes on here but he hadn't the slightest idea of what Uldred and the others were up to. I do not believe he was in on it, initially, but even if he has not been corrupted – which he probably has – then I wouldn't trust him to know a blood mage that wasn't actively cutting themselves open to power their spells in front of him!"
"That will be something for Greagoir to decide, I'm sure," Aunn told him, wondering vaguely if he had a point. Still, that wasn't really her problem and she didn't have nearly the experience or knowledge on the subject that the Templars did and Greagoir, at least, seemed to really want the mages to be salvageable though she didn't think it would interfere with his duty if it came to that. "You can make your case to him and see what he wants to do about it. In the meantime, we need to kill Uldred and his followers or we'll never be able to retake the Tower no matter what happens with the mages."
"No one ever listens," Cullen murmured ruefully. "Why does no one ever listen?"
"I hope you feel better, Edward," Angélique said awkwardly as she hurried up the stairs to the Harrowing chamber.
Aunn stepped into the room just in time to see an exhausted-looking mage throw his head back and scream as some sort of energy shot out of the hands of a mage she identified as Uldred and several demons surrounding him. The masses of huddled, frightened mages looked away in horrified disgust as the unfortunate man slowly grew into another demon. She could see Irving himself was still alive but not looking too good.
The demons spotted the group before Uldred did and he turned around slowly to face them. "Ah, welcome to my little revelry. I don't recognize all of you, of course, though I know a few. There are the two Grey Wardens from Ostagar – congratulations on surviving, by the way – and, as is only to be expected, three of my fellow mages. It figures that you would be here, Wynne. Ines is right: you never can leave well enough alone, can you? And Caunira and Angélique: Irving's star pupils. He was always so proud of you both though I honestly didn't see what all the fuss was about. Especially Angélique. She's good at magic, I won't deny that, but she's so horrible!"
"You're one to talk," Caunira defended her for once. "You're trying to turn everyone into abominations!"
"Trying?" Uldred repeated, chuckling. "Who's trying? I'm succeeding. Even Irving is coming along nicely, aren't you Irving?"
Irving looked like he was gathering his strength to speak. "No…kill him…"
"Oh, you're a wily one," Uldred noted, sounding amused. "Don't worry. I'll electrocute that out of you once I'm done dealing with our guests. I don't suppose you would consent to willingly accepting demons?"
"That's not going to happen," Aunn said flatly. "You know, you seemed so reasonable at Ostagar…"
"Ostagar was quite some time ago," Uldred informed her flippantly. "Almost another lifetime ago. I was a, shall we say, different person back then."
Alistair started. "You're…you're an abomination!"
"That's such an ugly word," Uldred rebuked mockingly. "But when the shoe fits…" He leaned back and smiled as he grew to reveal himself as a large demon that resembled an ogre.
"This is a pride demon," Wynne warned quietly. "They are the most powerful of the demon hierarchy so be careful and keep him distracted while I use the Litany to protect the mages."
Sten, Alistair, and Leliana went after the abominations first while Trian, the mages not occupied with the Litany, and Aunn headed straight after Uldred himself. Even though she and Trian were both attacking him head-on, Uldred decided he'd rather focus on crushing her than her dog and so kept attempting to pick her up while Angélique, Caunira, and Morrigan were hurtling spells at him. Tragically, this meant her effectiveness was rather limited as she kept needing to move to evade the giant fists attempting to close in on her. She had never wished she was back in the Fade so badly – or at all – so she could simply turn into a golem and avoid the problem altogether.
Still, she supposed she was serving as a distraction and that was really enough. Besides, his non-attempted smashing or grabbing attacks seemed to involve throwing ice, fire, or lightning at her and, as a dwarf, she really was the person most equipped to handle the magical attacks. Aunn got a few quick reprieves whenever Uldred would glance over at one of the mages and gestured towards them. Immediately, they started to shake and white light began radiating from them but Wynne was always ready with the Litany and promptly blocked Uldred's attempt. It took him six tries before he realized that turning another mage into an abomination just wasn't going to happen at the moment and in his frustration his attacks were twice as ferocious. After that, he did actually manage to pick Aunn up at one point (to her eternal annoyance) but she simply relied on her usual escape tactic of sawing through his fingers – fortunately his weren't any stronger than the ogre fingers she usually removed – and was quickly freed.
Finally, Alistair saw his chance and came from out of nowhere to rip open Uldred's entire backside with his sword. As Uldred tumbled over, Alistair held out his sword and grinned, posing dramatically. "Admit it. That was pretty amazing."
"I had it under control," Aunn claimed. "Seriously, were you even in that fight?"
"Not until the end, no," Alistair admitted. "Which is part of what made me being the one to kill him so epic."
"It might have been more impressive if he had any idea that you were there," Aunn told him.
"The fact he lacked awareness of his surrounding does not take away from the glory of my finishing move," Alistair replied cheekily.
"You know what? I don't even care," Aunn said, turning away from the conversation to look over the mages. She wasn't positive but it looked like there were about the same number of them as there had been before the fight so it looked like Wynne had done her job with the Litany. More importantly, the more-valuable-against-darkspawn-than-Templars Irving was still alive so the Circle could be salvaged.
"Irving! You're alive!" Angélique cried out, rushing immediately to his side. "Are you okay? You didn't become a blood mage, did you?"
"Yes, Angélique , I'm fine," Irving assured her. "Or rather, I will be. And of course I'm not a blood mage! Whoever gave you that idea?"
"Edward did," Angélique answered promptly. "Well…actually he wasn't really sure but he said you'd been up here a long time so you probably were." She apparently had decided against telling the elderly First Enchanter what else the tortured Templar had said about him. Well, either that or she hadn't been listening. Either were really valid theories when it came to Angélique.
"Edward?" Irving frowned, not appearing to know who that was.
"Cullen," Caunira joined the reunion, followed closely by Wynne. "Angélique just can't seem to remember his name although she has, at least, discovered that he's in love with her. Or was. He was tortured and, well…he's in pretty bad shape mentally as well as physically."
"I am confident that Greagoir will be able to handle that," Irving declared. "I take it you were behind this most unexpected rescue, Wynne?"
Wynne looked uncomfortable. "I had survivors, many of them children, to protect and the barrier I set up was the only thing keeping the demons from attacking us. I couldn't possibly fight my way up here alone. Once the Grey Wardens and their companions convinced Greagoir to let them in, however, we were able to form a rescue party."
"Grey Wardens?" Irving looked over at Aunn and Alistair. "Yes, I do remember you from when Duncan passed through here before Ostagar."
"We are here to seek the aid of the mages against the Archdemon," Aunn announced. "I understand that it will take you awhile to rebuild and recover but we've still got two more treaties to call upon so chances are that you will have the time you need."
"Assuming Greagoir does not have our Circle annulled then we will aid you," Irving promised.
…..
Cullen was not pleased to see Angélique and Caunira helping Irving down the stairs, to say the least. By the time the entire procession of mages had made their way out of the Harrowing chamber he looked outright horrified.
"This many blood mages…" he had murmured faintly as he followed them down to where the Templars were undoubtedly still running about in a frantic.
"Oh, Wynne! Thank goodness you're safe!" Petra exclaimed the moment she saw them approach. Aunn could see Moira sitting by herself in a corner. It appeared that the blood mage had decided to honor her promise after all. "And you've managed to save Irving, too!"
"Yes, Petra, I'm fine," Wynne assured her worried younger friend with a warm smile. "And now so is the Circle."
Of course, they'd completely forgotten about the giant door the Templars were using to seal themselves away from the rest of the Tower. Alistair knocked on it a few times but there was no answer so he started kicking it.
"What?" an irritated-sounding Templar demanded after approximately five minutes of non-stop banging.
"It's the Grey Wardens," Alistair told them. "Let us out."
"I'm sorry," the Templar said, not sounding very sorry at all. "But you knew the risks before you went in there. Until the Rite of Annulment arrives, no one is going in or out unless Irving says it's safe."
"It's safe," Irving obligingly assured him.
"Is that…Irving?" the Templar asked, sounding shocked. "Wait right there for a moment."
"Like we can do anything else," Morrigan said dryly. "You know, this experience really has done wonders to validate my entire childhood."
"Way to think positive, Morrigan," Leliana cheered.
"This is a waste of time," Sten said. "If we were planning on killing them now we would be planning on killing later."
"Do you want to be stuck here until aid from Denerim arrives?" Aunn demanded.
"No."
"Then let's not say anything about killing them," Aunn suggested.
Sten didn't deign to answer which she took to meant that he agreed.
"Irving?" Greagoir's voice called out. "Is that really you?"
"It is indeed," Irving confirmed. "You could even visually confirm it if you opened the door."
"Kaidan, open the door," Greagoir ordered.
Slowly, the giant door began to creek open again.
Greagoir's eyes widened as he saw just how many of the mages still lived. "Alright, let's not have everyone crowd here all at once. If you're Irving, aren't a mage, or…helped the Wardens clear the Tower then step through. Everyone else wait where you are."
Once the requested people had passed through the doors, Greagoir continued, "Maker's Breath, Irving, I never thought I'd see you again. I am glad, for once, to be wrong."
Irving managed a chuckle at that. "Don't worry, Greagoir. I'm sure we'll be at each other's throats again in no time. For instance, were you aware that Angélique was an indispensible part of clearing the Tower and saving us? I think that more than makes up for any part she might have had in that unfortunate incident of two months ago."
Greagoir pursed his lips and eyed Angélique carefully. "It hardly surprises me that you feel that way. We can discuss that later, however. Are you absolutely sure that these mages you've brought back with you are uncompromised?"
"Yes," Irving said firmly. "They are. We've lost many, I'll admit, but these have managed to withstand the torture of the past few days."
"How can you be so sure?" Cullen challenged. "You couldn't tell about Uldred and the others."
"That was a miscalculation on my part, I will admit," Irving conceded. "But the situation would have been able to have been resolved far sooner and with far less difficulty had Uldred not become an abomination."
"How do we know that you're not an abomination?" Cullen demanded. "And that everyone else up there with you isn't an abomination? Uldred certainly looked human when he was torturing me and I've seen enough Harrowings to know that it's not always obvious at first."
"Uldred did appear much as he always did until he was attacked by the Grey Wardens," Irving allowed. "But the mages he tortured into turning did not! If we had been forced to allow ourselves to accept a demon into our souls then I assure you that you would hardly be able to miss it."
"Well of course you'd say that if you were an abomination or a blood mage and didn't want us to know," Cullen sneered.
"That's quite enough, Cullen," Greagoir said sternly. "You will remember that it is I and not you who is the knight-commander here. I am willing to accept Irving's word unless one of our two Grey Wardens tells me otherwise."
Cullen looked stricken but respected Greagoir's authority enough to stay silent as instructed.
"We were unfortunate enough to witness Uldred and some of his abominations turning another mage into one of them," Alistair quickly spoke up, probably fearing that Aunn would Irving's story so they'd get the Templars to fight on their side. Of course, it wasn't like him speaking up first would stop her if that was her plan but she'd been quite thoroughly convinced that the mages would be more useful in the coming struggle. "Irving is right: the abominations were quite clearly demons and Irving defied Uldred in front of us and asked us to kill him – to kill Uldred, that is – and Uldred didn't seem pleased about that."
"I agree with Alistair," Aunn confirmed. "The Circle appears to be cleansed of blood magic." She could say that it was cleansed of blood magic but that would be blatantly untrue considering Moira was claiming innocence.
"Then that's settled," Greagoir said with an air of finality. "Now all that's left is rebuilding the Tower. I know that I promised that if you aided us then we would aid you but since the Circle is not to be annulled after all then there is simply no way we can leave our posts to do so. Irving is, of course, free to give you whatever assistance he sees fit." With that, he turned and walked away from them to begin giving orders to his men.
"Irving," Wynne spoke up. "I would like to have leave to join Aunn and Alistair on their travels. From what I understand, they still have two more treaties to call upon and if those places are even half as…exciting as the Tower was then they will need all the help they can get."
"The Circle needs you, Wynne," Irving tried to appeal to her sense of duty.
No such luck, though. "I know but the Grey Wardens need me more. Many mages survived here but there are only two Grey Wardens and they are very brave and good people without many allies. And if the darkspawn kill us all then it won't matter whether I stayed or went," Wynne reasoned.
Irving gave a small smile. "Very well. The Circle could really use your help but I suppose you never were one to sit by when something exciting was going on."
Aunn stiffened slightly as she heard her father's words come out of the First Enchanter's mouth. He had always said that about her, most recently when she had won two Provings in the same day before everything had fallen apart. That was one of the last conversations they'd ever had and it was hard to remember how easy things had been back then.
She forced herself to pay attention as Angélique and Caunira wished them good luck on their journey and promised to join their army when the time came to face down the Archdemon. As they turned to go, Aunn hoped that dealing with the Dalish would be easier than this because Ancestors knew that Orzammar wouldn't be.
…
"I'm really glad that we were able to help those poor mages," Leliana was saying on the long walk to Denerim. "Without us, it would have ended in a tragedy, I just know it. This is why the Grey Wardens are so important, you know. Not only are you going to stop the Blight but everywhere you're going will be better for you having been there."
"I'm glad you think so, Leliana," Aunn said, wishing she would go bother Alistair instead. He had a far more idealistic view of the Wardens than she did and would probably love to hear it. Unfortunately, Wynne was already busy grilling him on the circumstances of his joining the Grey Warden and telling him all about griffons for Leliana to get a chance to annoy him. They were still mostly heading to Denerim because Aunn wanted to have another chance to look for Gorim but they had other compelling reasons as well now and they would benefit from Sten's new drake-scale armor and whatever information could be gleaned from the Denerim citizenry. Perhaps if Gorim had been in Denerim long enough he could even assist them in that matter.
"I think that's why I had that vision," Leliana continued blithely.
Trian began growling suddenly. Trian wasn't one to do so unnecessarily and so Aunn was immediately on alert, which was a good thing as arrows suddenly began raining from the sky. Immediately, the group was on high alert and attempted to evade or block the arrows – depending, of course, on whether they happened to have a shield – as they ran into the nearby forest that the attack had emanated from. There were about a dozen mercenaries compared to the seven of them so, naturally, it wasn't a difficult nor a long fight.
"Ugh…" groaned one of the mercenaries. Aunn judged from then nicer clothes he wore than the others that this man was in charge. Why did the men who called for their subordinates to attack them keep outliving them? It really made very little sense. Ah, well. That could be corrected easily enough. She raised her sword.
"Stop!" Leliana cried out. "Don't kill him!"
"Look, Leliana, I get that you're trying to be a good little Chantry whatever but this man tried to kill us. That man in Lothering where we first met also tried to kill us. We cannot simply go around sparing everyone who attacks us, especially not those that order the attack," Aunn said, trying not to sound as frustrated as she was.
"I know that!" Leliana insisted although Aunn honestly had her doubts. "It's just…I know this man!"
"I, too, have known plenty of people that wanted to kill me and, in some cases, actually tried," Aunn said flatly. "Why should that mean that this man lives?"
"Because this man in Marjolaine's," Leliana revealed. "And I never thought I'd see him again after I left Orlais. Tell me, why did she send you here?"
"I don't know," the man claimed. "We were just supposed to attack you."
"If you don't know anything then you're useless to me," Leliana told him but though her words were cold her tone did not change in the slightest. She stepped forward.
"W-wait!" the man protested. "I might know something. There was an address she gave me that I'm supposed to meet her at. I don't know if she'll be there personally or not but even if she isn't then there will probably be someone there that does know how to find her." He quickly rattled off the location of a building that for all they knew could contain a trap or was simply a dead end.
"You have two minutes to leave my sight," Leliana said bluntly.
The man, injured though he might have been, scrambled to his feet. "Of course! Thank you." He quickly hobbled off deeper into the forest.
"So…" Alistair said finally. "Do you want to explain that, Leliana?"
"Not really, no," Leliana told them.
"What a surprise," Morrigan drawled. "The nice innocent Chantry girl is keeping secrets."
"I'm sure she has her reasons," Wynne defended. "And she only said that she didn't want to discuss what happened, not that she wouldn't."
"That is true," Aunn agreed. "Well, Leliana? And I do hope you realize that we're not going anywhere some strange man who wants us dead told us to unless we have a clear idea why."
Leliana looked hesitant. "You're right, I suppose. It would not be fair to ask that of you. In Orlais I was a bard although I swear to you all that I have left that life behind me and have spent the last two years trying to move past that in the Chantry."
Wynne didn't get it. "You're trying to escape your terrible past as a minstrel?"
Leliana blinked. "No, a bard. In Ferelden the two terms seem to be interchangeable but not so in Orlais. Bards are basically minstrels who deal in spying and intrigue. My mentor was a woman by the name of Marjolaine. One day, I realized that some of the things Marjolaine was involved in were outright treason. I thought that there must have been a mistake, you see, for Marjolaine and I were very close and I simply could not believe that of her. I confronted her about it and she assured me that it was all just a terrible misunderstanding and that she would take care of it."
Morrigan snorted. "And you believed her? How naïve." Aunn knew better than to say anything but privately she rather agreed. 'A terrible misunderstanding'? How did one mistake treason and a misunderstanding? Then again, if Leliana wanted to believe Marjolaine maybe that explained why she allowed herself to believe that. Ancestors knew there were things in her life that she chose to believe even if she knew they weren't true. Still, confronting her about it seemed like a very bad move if she weren't going to take it any further. Once Marjolaine knew that Leliana knew then she was a loose end and in Aunn's experience loose ends weren't just expendable, they were almost guaranteed to end up dead somewhere.
"There are few crimes greater than such a betrayal," Sten said shortly.
"I believed her," Leliana confirmed, closing her eyes. "Why wouldn't I? She was everything to me and I trusted her. And…she betrayed me. It became clear that she was knowingly involved in treason when the guards came to take me away. She had told them that I was the traitor, you see, and they believed her. She always was so much better at the game then I was. I just didn't realize that I…" she trailed off, sounding lost. "I didn't realize that I was a part of the game, as well."
Aunn didn't want to but she could feel herself begin to sympathize with the Orlesian girl. How could she not draw the parallels between what had happened to Leliana and her own story? She'd been betrayed, too, by someone who had been close to her but that she hadn't exactly trusted. And thank the ancestors for that or else she would have felt even worse about the whole thing because then she'd need to berate herself for her stupid as well. And as it turned out, Bhelen was very, very good at the game of Orzammar politics. Not, of course, that she would ever tell him that. Chances are that he had realized that long before the day he'd proven it and how could she broach the subject without having to deal with entirely unwanted smugness? Best to just avoid it altogether. Best to just avoid him altogether if it at all possible, which she wasn't sure it was.
"They took me, tortured me…they wanted answers, you see, and I had none to give them. There are abuses of power in this country, I know, but at least it is not sanctioned by your ruler," Leliana told them. "Eventually, they might have granted me death. I did not wait that long. Using the skills Marjolaine herself had taught me, I managed to escape and I came here to the land of my birth. I didn't look back and I haven't even see Marjolaine since the day I was arrested. I have no idea what she could possibly want."
"I do," Aunn spoke up. "If she's only attacking you now that you've left the Chantry and she was able to find you so easily then that means she was watching you and waiting for you to move on."
"Why would she be watching me?" Leliana wondered aloud. "It's been two years. Like you said, I've moved on."
"You are a threat to her," Aunn explained. "A loose end. If what Marjolaine was doing was enough to get you tortured then imagine what the information could do to her. You may not have any proof but one of her enemies could benefit greatly from that information. I'm not sure why she didn't try to have you killed while you were in the Chantry but maybe she thought you could do no damage there. Now that you've left, however…and we are heading to Denerim. Surely you can see why she'd be paranoid?"
Leliana just looked at her incredulously. "My life does not revolve around Marjolaine. Not anymore. I've made my peace with what happened as best that I could and just wish to pretend that it never happened."
"I believe you," Aunn told her. "But does she? You've probably changed a great deal in these past two years but she hasn't been there to see that and may only have gotten reports on your activities. If what she knows of you is that you're a bard – and more specifically one trained by her – then she may be operating under the assumption that you would act as she would in your place. Now tell me: if it had been you that betrayed she would you really put it past her to try and lull you into a false sense of security by staying in a backwater Chantry for two years before making her move?"
Leliana was silent for a moment as she thought it over. "No," she said. "It wouldn't. But I'm not like that!"
"You can tell her that when we see her," Aunn told her. "Although I doubt she'll be willing to believe you."
….
Denerim was just as big as Aunn remembered and she found herself extremely grateful that she had been to the city before. Morrigan had barely been to Lothering, this was Leliana's first time out of Lothering since she'd arrived, Sten had not passed through the city during his short stay in this country, Wynne had rarely ever come by and never unaccompanied by a Templar, and while Alistair might have actually had a good grasp of the city he was her makeshift second so she couldn't very well follow him around. Trian, naturally, could have had the city memorized and still not be qualified to lead them do to his lack of effective communication. For all she knew he could decide to lead them off to lunch instead of what they were actually looking for.
It only took her a minute to remember the location of the armor shop and so that was the first place they went. Chances were it might take awhile to get measurements and whatnot and so it was best to get that out of the way first thing and let anyone who wasn't occupied go handle their business while Wade worked with the scales.
"Hello and welcome to Wade's Emporium," Herron greeted them with a smile. "You're in luck! Wade is actually willing to work today. Would you like to place an order or look at what we already have available?"
"Both," Aunn said. "Alistair and Leliana could use some better armor and we'd like to get something for Sten, too." For that matter, Wynne and – especially – Morrigan could use some armor as well but they had both flat-out refused. Morrigan apparently enjoyed going around half-naked and Wynne didn't feel it was proper for mages to wear armor for some reason. Oh well. They usually weren't close enough to their enemies to be stabbed anyway so it probably didn't matter.
Herron started pulling out pieces of armor. "We have plenty of human armor but I do not believe we have anything for qunari available at the moment. I take it that's the custom order?"
Wade poked his head out of the next room at the words 'custom order' to complain. "Not more of the same old dull craftsmanship! An artist should not have to put up with these horrid conditions, Herron! I…wait." He stopped as he peered closer at Aunn. "I recognize you! You're the one who came in with Duncan the last time you were here. I don't suppose you have any drake scales, heartwood, golem shells, or dragon bones?"
"Don't be ridiculous, Wade," Herron laughed. "Why would these people have any of that?"
"Actually, we found quite a bit of scales on that drake we killed at the Circle Tower," Alistair piped up, looking away from his perusal of the available armor. "And we were hoping that's what you could make Sten's armor out of."
Herron froze before turning slowly and fixing him with a withering glare. "I hate you so much right now."
Alistair looked taken aback and quickly glanced back down at the armor he was supposed to be selecting.
"You do?" Wade looked like he'd just been told that the King himself wanted one of his pieces. "Let me see, let me see!"
Trian dragged Leliana's pack over to Wade.
"Good boy," Wade said, absently patting Trian on the head before picking up the bag and peering inside. "Oh…but these are some fine quality scales! And so many of them! You say you would like a suit of armor for your qunari friend? I can do that. In fact, I could probably make two."
"They really only need the one!" Herron cried, sounding almost desperate.
"I will need to take your measurements, of course," Wade continued, blatantly ignoring his beleaguered assistant. Sten quietly followed Wade into the back room to take his measurements.
Aunn waited a few minutes until Leliana had found her new armor before announcing, "Okay, Leliana and I are going to go look up this address. Does anybody want to come with us?"
"I'll pass," Morrigan said immediately.
Trian didn't even bother to answer but instead trotted over to her, indicating that he was going to be coming along.
"I'll go," Alistair volunteered. "I'm familiar with that area of town."
"I would come," Wynne told her apologetically. "But I don't quite trust our Orlesian friend to be alone with this poor man."
"Well that settles it then," Aunn said as Morrigan and Wynne began bickering. "Let's go."
….
True to his word, Alistair quickly located the home that may or may not contain the biggest ghost in Leliana's past. They stood outside of it for a moment, waiting for the ex-bard to give the signal to go in.
"You know, I had actually thought I would get to know you well enough to disclose my past without having my hand be forced," Leliana remarked idly.
"Well there's no reason for Marjolaine to hold off sending people after you until we were aware of you pasta as a bard," Alistair pointed out.
"True," Leliana agreed before lapsing into silence once more. Finally, she took a deep breath and opened the door.
A woman with long dark hair worn down and pin-straight was seated at a table when they entered. Her eyes widened a little upon seeing them and she quickly stood, revealing an ugly pink outfit. Aunn had seen similar Surfacer silks before and honestly didn't see the appeal. Even if it hadn't been unsightly it still would be no help during their probable fight. There were guards standing about but they didn't move to attack so they were not relevant until the violence started.
"Ah, Leliana!" the woman greeted, her accent think and grating. If Aunn had thought that Leliana's was annoying then it was understandable how this woman's made her want to stab something. "How nice of you to join me. Would you like some tea?"
"Spare me the pleasantries, Marjolaine," Leliana told her, sounding unimpressed. "You sent your men to kill me and I want answers."
"Answers?" Marjolaine laughed lightly. "To what question? Why I sent those men after you? They weren't to kill you, my dear sweet Leliana. I just needed to see you and I knew that if I sent them then they would fail and you would come here. Why else do you think their captain knew my real location?"
"So you tried to assassinate her in order to enable a reunion," Alistair said disbelievingly. "You know, you could have tried other methods. Like sending a letter! Who doesn't like letters? And if that didn't work then you could fall back on the whole trying to kill her to get her attention thing."
"I could have," Marjolaine agreed. "But I didn't."
"Why have you done this, Marjolaine?" Leliana demanded. "What could you possibly have to say after all this time? I don't expect an apology from you and honestly that's all I'm interested in hearing from you."
"An apology," Marjolaine scoffed. "For what? You know too much, my precious Leliana, and you'd have acted against me in a heartbeat if I hadn't done it first."
"Not everyone is you, Marjolaine," Leliana disagreed. "And I know that I'm certainly not."
"Oh, but you are, my little Leliana. I trained you. I watched you for years. We are exactly alike although I can understand that in your anger you do not wish to admit it," Marjolaine said patronizingly. "You know my secrets. I can't ever let you go. You're simply too dangerous. We are the same, you and I, and just because I won that doesn't mean you can take the moral high ground here."
"I…" Leliana said, looking torn. "I want you out of my life."
And so the parallels continued. Honestly, if Aunn ever sat down and had an honest conversation with her little brother – and wasn't that a novel concept – then she imagined it would go very much like this. Knowing Leliana, the ex-bard was about two seconds away from deciding to spare the woman who had just professed to not ever be willing to stop stalking her out of some misguided attempt to prove that they weren't the same after all. She wondered if Marjolaine knew that and was counting on it or if she didn't think Leliana would even bother taking her denials that far. One could argue that this was Leliana's business and not hers but the last thing she really needed was to having annoying Orlesian women sending assassins after them while they were already technically outlaws and even if Marjolaine laid low for awhile it was definitely better for Leliana in the long run if this chapter of her past were closed. Just like Leliana was a loose end for Marjolaine, Marjolaine was now a loose end for Leliana.
"That's just not going to happen," Marjolaine said flatly.
"You know she'll never stop hunting you," Aunn told her quietly. If Marjolaine wasn't even going to bother denying it then she certainly couldn't be allowed to live.
"You're right," Leliana agreed, not sounding at all pleased. "I am sorry that it's come to this, Marjolaine, but you leave me no choice."
"You really think you can beat me, little Leliana?" Marjolaine asked mockingly. "I created you and now I will destroy you!"
The guards leapt into action then. There were only two of them but two mages came into view then which made it four against five and for the first time in awhile they were actually outnumbered. Leliana went straight for Marjolaine and ran after one of the mages so Aunn decided to go after the other mage and leave the guards for Trian to deal with.
Once the mage saw that she was heading for him, he quickly started casting spells at her. Most of them either missed or were absorbed by her armor but one of them made her feel a little dizzy and made it difficult for her to aim properly. Still, her job was simply to hit the mage with a sword until he died so if she kept swinging it then chances were good that she'd manage it sooner or later. The mage kept continuing to cast spells at her but, of course, they weren't very effective. Sometimes – well, all times, really – she loved being a dwarf.
Just as Aunn had managed to start aiming properly again, Marjolaine let out a choked cry and her opponent glanced over. Aunn took this opportunity to quickly behead him before looking over herself to see what was going on. Leliana was kneeling over the fallen Marjolaine and pulling a dagger out of the woman's chest.
"Maker forgive you," she said softly. "And may I one day do the same."
Aunn and Alistair exchanged a quick look and silently agreed to give the poor girl a minute so they went into the other rooms to see what they could salvage. Some of it looked rather valuable and there was a very nice longbow that Leliana could probably use. It was certainly better than the one they'd picked up for her in Lothering.
When the pair made their way back to Leliana, they found her standing near the door with her back to the body of her old mentor. "I'm ready to go," she told them in a small voice. "And I would appreciate it if you didn't mention this to the others. At some point I may want to talk about it with one of you but right now…now I just want to be able to think it over on my own."
"Of course, Leliana," Alistair said immediately. "And for what it's worth…I'm sorry."
"Me too," Leliana said, still looking downcast.
"We found a bow you might like," Aunn said in an effort to change the subject. She held it out. "Here."
Leliana took the bow, her eyes widening in surprise. "This is…this is Marjolaine's Recurve. This was her best bow, the one she always used…I suppose she wasn't expecting me right then or she would have had it out."
"Would you like it?" Aunn pressed. "Or would that bring up too many bad memories?"
"No, it's fine," Leliana assured her. "In fact, I think I'd like something like this to remind me. Thank you."
They headed outside again and Alistair suggested taking a longer route back to Wade's so as to give Leliana more time to compose themselves. They four walked along silently for a few minutes before Aunn heard it.
"Dwarven crafts! Fine dwarven crafts! Direct from Orzammar! You won't find better."
The words were strange but the voice was familiar. She would know him anywhere. Her eyes darted around wildly looking for the source. There. She could see him from here. He was on the other side of the street they were walking down but she could see him.
"Stay here, okay?" she told Leliana and Alistair vaguely. "I've just seen the friend I was telling you about and reunions are best when smaller."
Trian took it upon himself to ignore her and follow her over to where he had not yet seen her but Alistair and Leliana at least were doing as she asked.
How long had it been? Three months now. Maybe a little longer. Gorim.
She could tell the moment he saw her as he stopped in the middle of his sales pitch and stared straight at her as if she were a ghost.
"My lady? My Lady Aeducan? Is-is that really you?"
She couldn't help but smile a bit at his clear incredulousness. "I told you that I'd find you here so that we could see that we both survived, if nothing else. What now?"
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