Ariane woke with a start as the cart stopped abruptly. Judging by the stiffness of her back, she must have been asleep a few hours. It was even hotter under the canvas than it had been earlier. It was also beginning to smell distinctly of dog breath.
Dog himself was panting heavily, while Finn was still buried in a mountain of papers. His lips moved silently as he read something written in blotted black ink, and his face was troubled.
The curtain wall at the back of the cart was suddenly pulled back, and afternoon sunlight streamed into the close interior. Ariane squinted in the bright light. Autumn was underway but the air outside was hot and still.
The merchant, a tanned human with a hard-lined face, scowled at them.
'Alright, everyone out,' he said gruffly.
Ariane looked at him in confusion. There was no way they were at Amaranthine yet.
'I thought you were going to the coast,' she said, slowly beginning to gather her things. They had paid the merchant for transport, but she honestly didn't know how steep the fee he had charged had been. She wished she knew a little more about human currency.
'I'm picking up new stock soon.' The merchant scowled first at Ariane, then at Finn, who didn't seem to have noticed the intrusion. 'Don't need to explain about you lot.'
He jerked his head at the mage. Ariane reminded herself to get Finn some normal clothes.
Hoisting her pack onto her shoulders, she swung her legs over the edge of the cart and dropped onto the road. Dog leapt down after her, earning another scowl from the merchant. She surveyed their surroundings. The cart had halted at a crossroad. Wide dirt roads stretched out in four directions, with battered signposts declaring their destinations. A layer of dust had settled over everything in the heat. She could see the rest of the caravan a short distance down the eastern road.
Finn jumped down from the back of the cart, stumbling slightly as he hit the ground. 'Where are we?' he asked, blinking as he looked around.
'Maybe a day south of the sea.' The merchant pointed in another direction. 'Stay on this road, you'll end up in Amaranthine.'
He eyed Finn's robes and staff again. 'Or maybe don't stay on the road.' Ariane was surprised to realize that he actually sounded mildly concerned. Maybe she had paid better than she had thought.
'Thanks.' She nodded at him, then tugged Finn's sleeve. It was a good thing they had slept on the cart; they would be far safer travelling by night. If they started now, they might be able to reach Amaranthine by morning. 'Come on.'
The heat refused to break the next morning, and the air as they entered the outskirts of Amaranthine was oppressively muggy. Dew steamed off the cobbled streets and Ariane felt like she was breathing through a towel. Dog was panting even more heavily as he followed close behind her.
Looking around at the bustling courtyards and mazelike streets, she could barely believe that by human standards the port city was relatively small. How did these people find anything? How did they even hear themselves talk?
'I didn't think there would be so many people,' Finn whispered to her. He looked as uncomfortable as she felt, craning his head around to watch every person who went by and jumping at every merchant who called to them as they passed. His pale hands fidgeted with his too-big clothes, yanking down the hem of his shirt and turning his pockets inside out and back again.
Ariane could identify. In her plain dress and hood she felt practically naked. Naked and uncoordinated. The dress seemed to have belonged to an elf, judging by the narrow cut, but one of mutant height. Every time she tripped on it - which between her own feet and those of the crowd seemed to be every other step - it jerked forward, pulling her hood down around her neck.
The clothes had been obtained outside the city, to both of their resignation. Finn had pointed out that although the troubled politics of the area had resulted in some odd travellers, Dalish warriors in full armour and blood writing were still not a common sight in the Fereldan countryside.
He had been a little less practically inclined when it came to his own clothes. After numerous tirades on the oppressiveness of pants, including a truly impressive analogy comparing trousers to the restrictive regime of the Qunari, he had finally grudgingly agreed that mage robes wouldn't help them in town. Ariane had pilfered some stored clothing from a farmyard shed, told Finn it was paid for to stop him from agonizing over legality, and put together the best civilian disguises she could manage.
They couldn't disguise Dog, though. The Mabari drew some stares from passersby.
Their own clothes were bundled into packs along with her weapons. Vera, which Finn has flatly refused to leave behind, stuck out the pack awkwardly like some sort of bizarre antenna.
All and all, they were not quite as inconspicuous as she might have hoped.
'Towns usually mean people,' she responded, standing on her tiptoes in an attempt to see over the crowd. A hurrying messenger immediately knocked into her, nearly bowling her over.
'Well,' she added with a little less confidence seeing Finn's worried frown, 'or so I've been told.' She craned her neck again in a vain attempt to see where they were. 'Why are you shemlan so ungodly tall?'
'I don't know. Sheer bloody-mindedness, probably.' The lanky mage peered over the crowd, resting one hand on her shoulder for balance. He was so tense that his fingers dug into the rough fabric of her dress. 'There are no signs. Nothing is labelled,' he concluded, sounding appalled. This lack of written clarity seemed to offend him more than the crowd. 'Um... Who are we supposed to ask about ships?'
'I was... sort of hoping you'd know,' Ariane admitted. On the back roads and in the countryside Finn had been panicky and nervous (as well as unnaturally fixated on dirt) but at least she had known what she was doing. She had figured that when they got to town it would be his turn to manage things. 'Didn't you grow up in this city?'
Finn's frown deepened. Without access to proper bathing facilities his hair had started to resemble a red string mop. Stubble had started to come in on his chin too, which looked unnatural on his childish face. He did not look like a reliable authority on navigating cities. 'If by 'grew up' you mean 'grew from being a sort of human grub to being about three feet tall', then yes, but I never really got past the bit where I wasn't allowed to cross the street on my own. I was six,' he explained hastily, seeing the look on her face. 'I never exactly explored the place.'
Ariane sighed. 'I guess we just look, then.' She realized she wasn't even sure how much a boat would normally cost. Maybe they had something they could sell, or she could pick up a mercenary job.
'We could look for water,' Finn suggested helpfully. 'Water is usually a prerequisite for boats, I think.'
The roofs were different colours here, she realized. Maybe she could use them to navigate, like she did with the stars. Squaring her shoulders, Ariane strode forward, eyes on the rooftops. Finn followed agreeably behind.
Within fifteen minutes they were completely lost.
'The walls move', she panted, leaning against the grimy wall of the ally she had inexplicably found herself in. 'That's the only way to explain it. It's all an awful trick to keep elves out of human cities.'
'I don't think,' said Finn thoughtfully, looking around at their gloomy surroundings, 'that I like cities very much.' He nervously toed a broken bottle that lay on the cobbles.
'I'll bet that's why they need the alienages,' Ariane continued, ignoring him. 'All the elves have to stick together, because if they ever separated they would never find each other again.' She started chewing her fingernails. 'Are you absolutely certain there's no secret human trick to this? Some kind of codeword?'
'Listen,' said Finn semi-seriously, 'one of these days there's going to be something heroic that needs doing in a library. And I am going to be so ready. You just wait.' He absently batted her hand away from her mouth. 'When some diabolical book-cataloguing darkspawn makes its bid for tyranny, I am going to be all over it.' He looked around at the alley again. 'You know, in all fairness to the city, I'm not sure that this is the best bit.'
'Too late', Ariane said, crossing her arms mock-imperiously. 'You've had your chance to impress me, town. On behalf of the - clan, I officially brand you confusing and ugly. And smelly.' The smoke from various chimneys had been making her eyes water and they had started to sting.
Finn nodded sagely. 'Your charms are woefully lacking. And those I can find are kind of unhygienic,' he added, toeing the jagged bottle again. Dog sniffed the broken glass and sneezed disapprovingly.
Ariane giggled, then hiccupped loudly. Finn's round hazel eyes widened in alarm.
'Oh, come on-' she started, and then hiccupped again, which made her giggle harder. Theoretically, she was on a heroic mission, defending the heritage of her people. And here she was laughing and hiccupping, completely lost in an alley.
'We are the worst heroes', she told Finn by way of explanation, still giggling and wiping her eyes.
'As the world is determined to remind us', he agreed, grinning. He started rummaging around in his pack. 'I wish the Seekers and Templars could see this. Then we could all just agree that we're obviously harmless and call it a day.' He proffered a skin of water to her.
She grabbed it and took a long drink. The warm water cleared the dust out of her mouth, and seemed to clear her head a little too.
She closed the container back up and looked around. 'So, first of all. Where are we?'
'Well,' said Finn, 'evidence would suggest that we are in a scary back alley full of rubbish. Further research concludes,' he continued, leaning out into the street and looking up and down at the darkened windows, 'that we have discovered the location of the dodgy side of town. Although I am the first to admit that my breadth of knowledge on the subject is severely limited.'
'Alright.' Ariane walked out into the street. Dog followed at her heels. There were noticeably fewer people in this region of Amarathine, and those who passed didn't even give her the curious looks she had received in the market. 'Let's think about this logically.'
Shifting her balance from foot to foot, she realized that the cobbles of the street sloped gently downwards. Surely the water would be downhill from the town.
'I think it might be this way,' she said, pointing. She grabbed Finn's loose sleeve and pulled him down the street, stopping every few meters to reassess which way the ground sloped.
They passed houses made of chipped stone and weathered boards, open shops with barkers calling outside the doors and closed ones with boarded up windows. Ariane kept her eyes in front of her and willed herself to be less nervous.
It didn't work. Amaranthine wasn't known for being dangerous, but with the current state of the world no place seemed safe. Rogue mages and Templars were at each other's throats, and neither seemed to care particularly who was caught in the crossfire. She would be glad to see the place behind them.
'How much money do we have anyways?' Finn asked, sounding worried again. 'Do we even have enough for a boat? What qualifies as a lot?' Money was another area neither of them could claim expertise in. The odd collection of coins they had unearthed in Finn's things seemed like a lot, but he was the first to admit he had gathered them for variety, not for value.
Ariane winced. 'Maybe we could not talk loudly about the contents of our purses?' she muttered to him, noticing the way the eyes of a man passing strayed to her pack. Or maybe he was looking at her chest. She wasn't sure which thought was less pleasant.
'Sorry,' Finn answered. He fell silent. She looked back, vaguely meaning to apologize for being so harsh. Lack of sleep was making her testy.
A heartbeat later, she shoved him behind a doorframe, clamping one hand over his mouth, heart pounding.
'Mmph?' said Finn by way of objection, looking at her blankly over her fingers.
'Templars', she whispered back. His eyes went huge and he leaned his head out to try to look down the street.
She pushed him back against the wall, then poked her head out herself.
There were only two of them, she realized, a woman and a man, the sunlight glinting on their armour. She had seen the shields and had assumed it would be an army. These two looked somewhat bedraggled as well. Their armour was polished but dinted in several places, and the purple fabric of their uniforms was faded and patched.
Their swords, however, looked to be in perfect working order. She fingered the knife in her sleeve, the only weapon she had managed to hide in these stupid clothes. 'If there's a fight,' she whispered, trying to keep her voice even, 'don't use magic. That will make it worse. Run and we'll find each other at the docks.' He nodded, face white.
Trying to stay as hidden as possible, Ariane sized up the Templars again. She tried and failed to dismiss the little voice in her head which pointed out that her chances against two fully-armed and armoured fighters while wearing a too-big dress and wielding a dagger were more laughable than her chances of finding the docks if they were separated. The armour would slow them down. It had to.
As she studied their armaments, Ariane noticed that the pair wasn't moving their way, as she had originally thought.
In fact, they weren't even looking in the same direction. The woman appeared to be deep in conversation with a grimy-looking shopkeeper standing in front of a basket of tomatoes. The man had his arms crossed and was scowling at the unfortunate merchant, who was fidgeting and babbling.
Ariane strained to make out the words.
'...know you saw something,' the woman was saying. Her voice was cold. 'I suggest you tell us.'
'I swear, I don't know anything about any mage!' the merchant said, his panicky voice shrill. Ariane felt Finn flinch beside her. She silently cursed herself for having gotten so complacent. Obviously the blood dolls hadn't thrown off the Seekers for long.
Finn's face was grey; Dog's fur was standing up and he was growling softly.
The lady Templar sighed and leaned back, one armoured hip jutting out. 'I know what you're thinking. How dangerous could they really be?' She examined her gauntlet, holding it up as though checking her manicure. 'Have you ever seen what a mage can do to an ordinary house? I have.'
The merchant deflated visibly. His shoulders slumped and his eyes dropped to the ground. 'She's my wife,' he said pleadingly.
Relief flooded Ariane. Her arms relaxed slightly. A different mage.
'All the more reason that you need to protect your children', said the Templar flatly. Her partner hefted his battered shield. Templars operating with the Seekers would be better equipped, Ariane realized. These two probably weren't even with the Order formally at all. Rowan had said that most weren't anymore.
'Let's get out of here', Ariane whispered. Dog whined in agreement.
Ariane slowly started moving, trying to look casual. Her back prickled as she walked as calmly as she could up the street. She willed herself not to turn around.
They rounded a corner and she realized she'd been holding her breath. She exhaled in a rush.
'You know what's strange,' said Finn slowly. His face was still white. 'When I saw them, my first thought was, thank the Maker. Now someone will help us find the dock.' He ran a hand slowly through his hair. 'I keep forgetting that they aren't here to take care of us anymore.'
Ariane remembered the petrified look on the merchant's face. Then the iron doors of the Seekers' chambers. 'D'you know, I think I may be able to remember for both of us,' she said dryly.
Finn chewed his lip and didn't answer.
'It's not strange', Ariane said in a gentler voice, feeling a pang of sympathy. It was easy for her to react - Templars had only ever looked like enemies to her.
'We just have to remember that we're normal people,' she said, sounding far surer than she felt. 'Just some travellers hoping to catch a boat. Panicking will just draw attention.' He smiled disbelievingly at her faux confidence, but some colour was coming back into his face.
Just the same, she picked up her pace as they kept walking.