After the door shut behind her, Telin broke into a run, escaping through the corridors of the Mansion until she was sure she was as far as possible from Melchor. She came to a stop just short of the entrance of the common hall, waiting for a beat to straighten herself before she walked in. It was pretty late at that point, but a few people still littered the tables, a soft murmur of conversations filling the air, leaving a quite pleasurable atmosphere in the candle lit room. Telin exchanged a nod here and there, but ultimately made a beeline for the bar, where – she noticed with no small amount of distress – Maria was seemingly in charge of the counter.
The Tevinter woman literally beamed at her sight, amusement and mischief already creeping in her cheery expression.
Telin groaned a bit inwardly, altogether not really looking forward to interacting with the older woman; with her expansive attitude and carefree character, Maria made her slightly uncomfortable every time they had a conversation; but in that particular scenario, her need for a drink outranked the possible unpleasantness of the interaction.
"Nemo! It's so nice to see your face!" the woman exclaimed, leaning over the counter to cup Telin's face in between her hands, squeezing her cheeks as if she were a child.
The girl swatted her hands away and then proceeded to let herself fall on one of the stools, forearms resting on the sticky wood of the bar.
"Yeah, yeah. You too. Can you give me something strong enough to make me forget this day ever happened?" she mumbled tiredly, literally slouching on the counter.
Maria gave her a sidelong glance, humming low in her throat as she examined the pitiful figure she was most certainly offering. After some more moments of silence, she crouched behind the bar and emerged with a bottle and two shot glasses.
"Here, this thing comes from the Frostbacks. It's supposed to help with the cold up there, so you're probably going to sweat a lot in here, but it'll help forget whatever happened to you" she explained simply as she poured the crystal clear liquid in the two glasses, sliding one towards her.
Telin looked at it a bit suspiciously, but ultimately picked up the shot, sniffing it before she downed it without further questioning.
The drink burned her throat and all the way down to her stomach, leaving behind a taste she was definitely accustomed to.
"I never really thought I would miss the taste of vodka…" she muttered wistfully, examining the now empty glass. The nice heat in her belly was bringing back memories of evenings spent with her closest friends, playing games that got more funny the more they drank, of sleeping on the couch, of pancakes and tea the morning after…
Telin grimaced at the thought, and she pushed the glass back towards Maria for a refill.
"Must have been a pretty bad day, uh" the other woman mused out loud, pushing the shot back once it was full.
"You have no idea…"
After that, Telin offered no more excuses for conversation, and the two fell into a quiet rhythm: Maria poured, Telin drank, and so on.
She was well on her way to half the bottle when someone appeared to snatch it away, and Telin whipped her head towards the offender with the most menacing glare she could muster in her perfectly drunken state.
Next to her, Simmons seemed totally unaffected by her grouchiness, and he brought the bottle to his nose to sniff it.
"How could you let her drink this stuff?" he said reproachfully to the older woman, grimacing as the smell of alcohol hit his nostrils.
Maria shrugged.
"She looked like she needed it. Plus, she seems to like it" she said simply, retrieving the glasses from the counter.
"Are you even old enough to be drinking this stuff?" the man asked, turning towards her pupil who was back to slouching on the bar. She looked like she was about to fall asleep.
"Ooooh, I'm old enough to be trained as an assassins, but when it comes to drinking you wanna question my age?" she droned, raising an accusing finger in the air, aimed at no one in particular. "Of course 'm old enough to be drinking this shit, so shut it old man" she added after, waving the same hand dismissingly in his approximate direction. She wasn't really sure which way he was…
Simmons sighed in defeat, but the bottle did not return.
"Well, even if that's the case, I think you had enough for one night. Time to go to bed now, c'mon" he announced, giving the bottle back to Maria for her to put away.
When Telin did not move from her stool, he sighed again.
"Telin?" he called her, but no reply came.
"She's asleep" Maria helpfully provided.
"So it seems…" he huffed, stepping next to the girl and bending down to pick her up.
Telin did not even stir at the motion, she simply nestled in his arms once he had successfully managed to detach her from the stool, snoring contently.
"Well, I better go put her to bed. Good night Maria" he said as a parting, hoisting his cargo up a bit better as he moved to leave.
It was the sun that woke Telin the next morning, shining brightly right on her face.
She groaned out loud as she rolled over, a sudden wave of nausea rolling in her stomach as she tried – and failed – to get up right.
Not even a minute of consciousness, and she was already sporting a massive hangover that was making her regret every single decision she had made since waking up in Thedas, and possibly even before that.
Her mouth tasted so bad, her head was hurting to a never before experienced level, her eyes were begging for mercy, and her whole body was screaming for water, her muscles aching from head to toe.
With a long, deep, breath, Telin mustered the strength to lift one arm in the direction of her night stand, blindly looking for the canteen she always kept there. Instead, her hand hit something else, and the clinking noise of glass got her attention; she grabbed the vial, bringing it over her face, and noticed that it came with a note attached to it.
Drink this, then come to see me after breakfast – Simmons.
Telin frowned, a faint memory of the man crawling into her brain: had he been there the night before? She could hardly remember anything after the fourth shot Maria had poured her…
The headache that had quickly built in the back of her skull pulsed, and Telin uncorked the vial without further hesitation, downing its content in one big gulp.
It wasn't the painkillers she was used to, but it certainly did its job, and not five minutes after, Telin felt refreshed, all symptoms of her drunken night forgotten.
Thedas had its advantages, it seemed.
The hangover gone, her stomach came back to life, roaring loudly for food, reminding her that she hadn't had anything to eat since the previous day lunch. Which meant she was now starving.
After a quick change of clothes and a splash of fresh water on her face to wash away any lingering sign of tiredness, she took the door and headed to breakfast, deciding to just grab a bunch of things before stopping by Simmons'.
The common hall was filled at the brim with people, conversation and laughter booming loudly in a stark contrast from the past night quiet. She made her way through the room, exchanging smiles and 'good mornings' here and there to her fellow members until she reached the table where the food was. Humming in approval at the display, she promptly grabbed a tray and started to pile food on it; some sweet rolls, some cookies, some round thingies that reminded her of mini pancakes and a small loaf of fresh bred to eat with jam. Once she was satisfied, she grabbed a pitcher of water and turned around to leave, only to see the grin that Melchor was pointedly directing at her. Telin froze for half a second as she saw him sitting at a table she hadn't passed on her way there; he was enjoying his breakfast with some of the members of the Guild she hadn't come to know very well yet.
Her brain railed up, throwing at her the memory of her gaffe and consequent escape, and her first reaction was to run again.
By the time she had made up her mind, Melchor was already beckoning her to go to him, but her fight or flight instincts kicked in at the last minute, and she simply smiled back, rose her tray a bit to show she had her hands full, and mouthed a 'sorry, I'm busy' before she disappeared between the tables and out the door.
When she reached Simmons' study, she found him already bent on some dusty tome on his desk, so she tapped her foot to the door to get his attention and avoid startling him with her sudden appearance. The man lifted his head from the book, shooting a pleased smile her way when he saw her standing in his doorway.
"I brought breakfast" she said simply, making her way in and settling the tray on the desk in front of him. "Wanna share?"
"You're looking fine, I'm guessing the tonic worked?" he asked, setting his work aside and reaching for a roll.
"Yeah, it worked perfectly, thanks" she smiled back, taking the seat in front of him and grabbing a handful of mini pancakes.
"So, want to share what that was all about, last night? I was under the impression that you completed your work without any problem, what got you so riled up?" Simmons asked after a while spent focusing on the breakfast.
Telin looked a bit conflicted, her hands unconsciously playing with the food in front of her, but ultimately sighed and fell back into the chair.
"I did complete the job, but I had a run in with some people that were after the same thing, apparently. It took me a while but I eventually managed to get it back and deliver it, so it wasn't that bad…" she trailed off, obviously leaving out the small detail of her vision; no one knew about them or her but Melchor, and maybe it was better that way.
Simmons seemed a little worried when she mentioned what had happened, but his keen brain soon steered the conversation towards the crucial point.
"Ok, you're here in one piece, so I'm guessing whatever inconvenient you ran into wasn't that bad. It doesn't explain why you were drinking yourself into a stupor, though" he pointed out, giving her the look of someone that knew there was more that met the eye.
Bingo.
"I, uh, might have wanted to forget a conversation I had…particularly one part of it…" she mumbled, eyes downcast on the table rather than on Simmons. She could already feel her cheeks start to heat up, the last thing she wanted was to blurt out her own embarrassment to one of her tutors.
"Was this alleged conversation that bad?" Simmons asked innocently, definitely not trying to guess who the other party involved had been.
"I might as well have shat my feet for how deep they were down my throat…" she huffed, not bothering to embellish her crude metaphor. A less vulgar one wouldn't have made it justice.
"First of all, yikes, we're having breakfast; secondly, I'm sure it wasn't as bad as you think" he tried to reassure her, even though the tight frown on her face told him he hadn't quite managed.
"Yeah well, what's done is done!" she replied, faking a cheerfulness she was not feeling at the moment. Revisiting the events of the day before had reminded her that she needed to investigate her vision, especially if some events were going to be changed by her presence in Thedas and in Kirkwall. The easiest way to do that, was going directly to the source, and she had a pretty solid idea as to where she could find said source.
"Thanks for the chat, Sims, I better head out now. Got a couple of loose ends to tie up" Telin told her mentor once she was done with her food. It was still mid morning, but if she was lucky, she just might be able to track Hawke down somewhere in the city.
"Alright, be careful out there, ok?" Simmons called out after her as she made her way out.
"Promise!"
At that time of the day, the Hanged Man was basically empty; the only patrons present had most likely been there since the night before, passed out with their faces on the tables, and no one had bothered to remove them. There was no Varric Tethras in sight, and especially no Hawke, which left Telin feeling mildly disappointed, until she caught sight of a familiar figure.
Sitting at one of the farther tables, with a pitcher of water in front of her, was another one of Hawke's companions, one she hadn't had the pleasure to meet yet.
A smile broke on her lips as she watched Merrill happily watering the small potted plant that rested on the table, a soft humming reverberating in the air near her. It was clear she felt happy and relaxed doing that small act of caring, which told Telin more of her Dalish heritage that her vallaslin ever could.
She approached slowly, a somewhat of a shyness creeping into her as she moved closer to the girl; on one hand she didn't want to come off as too invasive, and on the other she was too excited to care.
"Hello, mind if I sit with you?" Telin greeted, hovering just short of the table without invading her personal space before she was noticed.
At the sound of her voice, Merrill's big green eyes lifted from the plant and focused on her, a bright smile appearing on her lips as soon as she saw her.
"Hello to you, too!" she greeted her cheerfully in return. "Please do, I'd love some company!" she added, gesturing for her to take a seat at the table.
Telin sat down right opposite to her, smiling back to the elf. Her happy aura was certainly contagious!
"What flower is that?" she asked as a way to break the ice and initiate a conversation that sounded natural.
"It's Embrium, very pretty isn't it? It's also used for medical purposes" the girl explained, beaming at the chance to explain something to someone else, for a change. "I used to go and pick herbs when I was with my Clan, so Hawke gave me this a gift" she babbled on, giving a fond look to the flower.
Telin ears perked up at the mention of Hawke, and she saw her opportunity to breach the subject without coming off as creepy.
"Ah, now that you mention it, you're one of Hawke's friends, are you not? Merrill, if I'm not mistaken" she proclaimed, feeling a bit guilty for faking her sudden recognition of the girl.
Merrill, bless her pure heart, took the bait and seemed to get even more exited at the idea that someone other than her newly acquired friends could know who she was.
"Yes, that's me! Do you know Hawke as well?" she asked, almost jumping in her seat.
Telin could not repress a giggle as she nodded in confirmation.
"I do, kind of. I met her just briefly through a common friend of ours" she explained. "Actually, I came here looking for her, do you know where I can find her?" she added, glad to have come to the relevant part of the conversation without making a fool of herself or scaring the elf away.
"Oh, I'm sorry. She left with Varric, Fenris and Aveline for the Coast just this morning, I don't know when they will be back" Merrill explained, a sudden sadness coloring her face as if it was her fault that Hawke was not there. Or, maybe, she was just sad to have been left behind.
"Ah, I see. Too bad then" Telin sighed, already resigned to go back to the Guild and spend her day in between training and avoiding Melchor as much as possible.
"But, if you come back after dinner, I'm sure you will find her here!" Merrill suddenly said, her enthusiasm already back at a hundred in the span of a minute.
Telin smiled at the girl with gratitude.
"Thank you, I will" she said, moving to get up from her seat. "Have a nice day, Merrill"
"You too" the elf girl replied, waving at her until she was out the door.
It was too bad that she had missed Hawke for the day, but at least she had a chance to catch her later that night, so her curiosity and apprehension wouldn't exactly overwhelm her completely.
With the resolve to be back in the evening, Telin leisurely made her way back up towards Hightown, taking her time while strolling through the markets, and stopping here and there at some stall or the other when something caught her eye. At one stall in the courtyard of the Merchant's Guild, Telin ended up buying a leather bound journal with several maps of different parts of Thedas printed on the inside. It was nothing fancy or overly expansive, but the craftsmanship of the maps had caught her eye, reminding her of a similar journal she had bought with her Mom during an international fair. The memory had stung quite a bit, but after almost nine months, she had somehow come to terms that she had no immediate way out of Thedas. And, after weeks spent crying and turning her head upside down over whether she had disappeared for good from her world or not, she had come to the conclusion that she could not keep on going like that; a solution needed to be found, and she would not stumble on one just by being miserable all the time. And so she had grown accustomed to the Kirkwallers, its members, and Kirkwall, adapting and growing in her new life, still waiting and the same time searching for the answers to her questions.
Upon her return to the Mansion, Telin was snatched away by Athras who, having caught word of her success the day before – and subsequent hangover, thanks to Simmons – had decided to reward her with a sparring session. Not exactly the kind of reword she'd wanted, but she'd taken it nonetheless.
The sparring session had ended an hour later with a bruised Telin, an overly-amused Athras, and a promise of lunch from the elven woman. Telin agreed to it, and disappeared in the bath before setting foot in the common hall; not that many of them bothered to get washed so often if they weren't working a job, but she could not shake a life time of habits, and a quick bath and scrub were necessary after any kind of work out.
After lunch, she made her way to the shooting range, rearranged the targets to her needs, and spent the whole afternoon practicing. She had yet to use her bow for something more practical, but deep down she was dreading the moment she would need to use it to kill someone, whether for self defense or for assassinating a mark. If only threatening the Harbormaster with a knife and bluffing with his life had given her a panic attack, she was scared to even imagine what killing a man would do to her…
Not that it really mattered, anyway.
She knew Thedas was a pretty heartless place to be stuck in, and she was aware that sooner or later someone's blood would be stuck on her hands, but that did not make it easier to accept.
The sun was setting when she heard familiar footsteps coming up the trail from the garden, and despite how much she did not want to interact with him, she had no way of escaping if not the way he was coming from. Letting go of the breath she was holding, Telin released the string of the bow. The arrow flew at a great speed before it embedded itself in the bull's eye of the target.
"Impressive. You really are becoming a proficient marksman" Melchor complimented her as he came to a stop behind where she was standing.
Telin turned, the bow lowered in her hand.
"Thanks" she said simply, crouching to let the bow down gently before she made her way to the target to retrieve her arrows. Melchor followed her, his eyes plastered to the back of her head where she could feel them.
"How was your day?" he asked casually, leaning on a tree as she extracted the arrows.
Telin shrugged.
"Had breakfast with Simmons, got my ass handed to me by Athras, had lunch, came to practice. Nothing much, really" she replied, trying not to let her nervousness have the better of her. She was still not comfortable enough to look at him, the embarrassment still fresh in her mind.
In all honestly, she was scared.
She'd never dealt well with rejection in general, and the idea of Melchor telling her off for her comment the night before really frightened her. She didn't want to make things awkward with the only other person she could talk to about her situation…
"I heard you went out this morning, you went back to the Hanged Man?"
His question had her whipping to attention, her eyes clearly startled.
She was about to deny it, but then remembered that she had mention it yesterday, and she probably owned him some explanation.
"Yes, I was looking for Sinead Hawke. She's the one that triggered my vision, so I'd figured I'd get to know her, learn if things have already changed because of my presence here… she wasn't there, though one of her friends told me to go by this evening after dinner, so I'll do just that" she explained, going back to take out the last arrow she had shot, one of several that had made the bull's eye.
"The name is familiar, now that you mention it. I think she made quite the reputations while she was working for the Red Irons, but if I'm not mistaken it's been a while since she left Meeran's company. She's a freeloader now, which explains what she was doing in that warehouse, actually" Melchor mused out loud, and Telin nodded in agreement.
"Ah, but of course you knew all that already, right?"
"Yes"
The qunari watched her closely as she put away the arrows in her quiver, and came to a conclusion he was sure she was not going to be pleased with.
"So, if tonight you're going back, I'm coming with you" he announced, and Telin almost dropped her full quiver back down.
Once more her head whipped back to him, eyes bulging and mouth slightly gaping.
She missed just a beat before she vehemently started to voice her aversion to his proposition.
"Absolutely not! What do you think will happen when you set foot in that Tavern? You'll scare half the patrons away and Hawke will surely refuse to talk to me!" she hissed angrily, taking a step forward towards him.
Melchor chuckled amusedly at the display in front of him; it was highly entertaining to watch Telin get mad at him, it was like seeing a kitten hiss at a bulking Mabari, adorable.
"Do you think I'm scary?" he asked suggestively, leaning forward to fill their height gap.
His hair cascaded over his shoulders in the space between them, and he smiled when he caught her staring at it; she always seemed entranced by his hair, and it somehow pleased him very much.
Telin eyes flipped back up to meet Melchor's violet one, and her frown was immediately replaced by a deep red blush spreading all over her face.
"Not when you act like an idiot, you're not" she muttered, helplessly trying to school her features in a neutral expression, but ending up pouting in annoyance at her failure to do so.
"Good to know!" he laughed, straightening and leaving her bubble before he patted her on the head. "Now, let's go have dinner. We have a long night ahead of us!" he declared cheerfully, turning on his heels and making his way back towards the garden.
Telin pouted a little harder, but ultimately followed him back inside.