"I can't tell you how much I appreciate this, Miss," Loghain said.
"Don't mention it, and do please call me Githa," Githa said. "The healing was easy; the only tricky part was taking out the stitches, and that's not all that difficult. You didn't do a half bad job with it. She probably wouldn't have scarred much even without my help."
"Nevertheless, I am glad you were able to help her. I don't like the fact that there are women who make their living on their backs, but I didn't want to be the reason one of them lost a reasonably decent position here at the brothel. It's better - safer - than working the streets, I guess."
"You're a lot different from your…'friend.'"
"Maric doesn't mean any harm. He thinks that because they give it up to him for free it means they truly want him, when I'm certain it's all the Duenna's doing. Either she knows who he really is or she actually likes him for some reason."
"Is he really the King of Ferelden?" Githa asked.
"He really is. I would ask you to keep silent about it, however. We are trying to keep a low profile."
"It seems so hard to believe. I mean, I had always heard that King Maric was a great man."
"Maric is a great man," Loghain said, and bridled.
"He seems pleasant enough, but rather shallow."
"You do not know him," Loghain said, but was seized with the uncomfortable sensation that she was right.
"You're right, of course. I should not presume." She peeped shyly up at him. "Is it true also, then, that you are Teyrn Loghain?"
"Yes. Do you find that hard to believe?"
"To be truthful with you? Yes. The stories make you out to be rather brutal and uncaring."
"There is a great deal of truth in such stories."
"And yet you show great concern for the welfare of an Antivan prostitute. Perhaps it is true that I do not know you, either, but I do not think I could be mistaken. You obviously have a kind heart, even if you do not care to show it often."
He tugged at the collar of his blouse, which was suddenly too tight, and changed the subject. "Tell me of your studies. You have information on the Tevinter Imperium that may be useful to us?"
"Assuming your mirror was hidden by them and not the elves of Arlathan, yes," she said. "The magisters used a variety of spells to hide and protect things that were precious to them, but they can all be confounded with location spells of varied strengths. I can handle it easily. The spell we need to find the mirror if it was hidden by the elves is more complicated, almost ritualized. And you don't really care about how it works, only that it does, am I right?"
"That's not entirely true."
"Yes it is. You only changed the subject to keep me from getting too personal."
"I did not."
"Are you married?"
"Why do you ask?"
"I'm getting personal."
He tugged at his collar again. "My wife passed away a few years back."
"I'm sorry. Did you love her very much?"
"She was my wife."
"That doesn't mean all that much to some men. Do you have any children?"
"I have a daughter."
"Is she very pretty?"
"She's lovely. Why are you asking all of this?"
"I'm just curious. It's hardly every day you get the chance to talk to a living legend."
He grimaced. "Easy on that bullshit."
"What's your daughter's name?" she asked.
"Anora."
"That's a pretty name. Much nicer than Githa, at any rate."
"Githa's a nice enough name."
"I always thought it was the first injustice my parents inflicted upon me. Not that I remember my parents."
"I know women named Hedglund and Bolga. Githa's not so bad."
"When you put it that way, I suppose it isn't. Hedglund? Really?"
"Really. It's an old Avaar name. They still hold to the old ways up in the Frostbacks."
"So what really brings you to Antiva? You don't seem the type to care about chasing ancient history."
"Shows what you know. I happen to find history fascinating."
"But magic mirrors? Doesn't seem like something you'd care to waste your time on."
"You want to know why I am here? Fair enough. I am here because Maric needs me here. He asked me to come and so I came."
"You set your entire life aside, even if temporarily, to chase magic mirrors with your King?"
"With my friend."
She smiled. "You're that good of friends?"
"I don't quite know what you mean."
"You'd just drop everything and come running for a friend?"
"Wouldn't you?"
"I don't know. I'm not really allowed to go running off after anyone."
"Oh. I suppose you're not."
"I like the fact that you would, though. That's loyalty, I guess. Fidelity is an…attractive trait."
Loghain cleared his throat loudly and took a step back from her. "I should be going," he said.
"Going where?" she asked, and laughed. "You have plans for your evening, here among the hookers? Stay and chat. Unless you're scared of me, that is."
"Don't be ridiculous. Why would I be scared of you?"
"I don't know," she said, and laughed again, "but I know that you are. If it was because I'm a mage I guess I'd understand - I'm used to that - but I think it's because I'm a woman."
"I'm not afraid of you."
"You shake like a leaf if I venture the slightest little flirt. You're a bundle of nerves."
"I am…unaccustomed to…flirtation."
She grinned broadly. "You're shy."
"I am not shy."
"You are. The Great Loghain Mac Tir is shy." She seemed utterly delighted to discover that. "We shall have to work on that. Don't want the world to think that Ferelden's greatest Hero has a weakness."
"And what would you recommend to remedy the situation?" he asked, with a roll of the eyes.
"I suppose I shall simply have to flirt with you until you get used to it," she said. She waved a leather-bound novel in the air. "I am going to go read this book, so enjoy your freedom while it lasts, Your Lordship."
She walked away then, but as she passed him on her way to the next room she smacked him none too lightly on the rear with her book. "Nice," she said. Maric came into the room just in time to catch this exchange.
Maric caught Loghain's eye and raised his eyebrows to his hairline. "You two seem to be getting along rather well," he said.
"She's a little tart," Loghain said, uncomfortably.