Three Months Later
"Halt! You will go no further!"
It was the dead of night, though in which country, Isabela wasn't quite sure anymore. She had been on the move since dawn, and for the past few weeks she had been tracking newly found traces of a long lost acquaintance, hoping to catch up soon and put this ordeal to rest. Skyhold seemed like a distant memory now, though Isabela was aware that she needed to return soon. Any longer and Sister Leliana would think she had run off. Truth be told, it had crossed her mind. The only thing stopping Isabela from giving up this quest and sneaking back east on The Eider's Cry was the fact that if Hawke was to reappear anywhere, it would be Skyhold. As difficult as it was to stay without any speck of news about her love, Isabela knew that she really had no choice. Heart over head on this occasion.
Stupid heart. And to think I went years believing I never had one!
Shocked at the sudden shouts of warning, Isabela froze, realising then she was in danger. She hovered uncomfortably, half way over a hedge that she was climbing through to reach a camp she had spotted from the distance.
"Er, can I come a little further?" she joked to the unknown hunter. "There is a rather prickly branch lodged up my-"
"Advance," the voice ordered firmly from the shadows, interrupting her perfectly painted image before it could manifest in the mind.
Isabela did as she was told, pushing with her back leg and lodging herself over the bush. She rolled rather unceremoniously into the clearing and dusted herself down after jumping back to her feet. She looked around, scanning the forest for some sign of life, but even with the light of the campfire it was impossible to see much beyond the velvety blackness. Suddenly, a pair of gleaming blue eyes penetrated the dark, and Isabela knew then that she had at last found her target.
Or rather, she has found me.
Navarre Mahariel, Hero and Warden-Commander of Ferelden, stepped out into the light with her bow aimed directly at Isabela's heart. She was thinner than Isabela remembered, her straight blonde hair cascading down across her chiselled shoulders, held by a thin braid on either side behind her small pointed ears. She was wearing light armor that reflected aspects of both her Dalish heritage and her Grey Warden allegiances. Isabela couldn't help but get a chill. Navarre's glowing blue eyes were just as she had remembered them, bright and blinding, reflecting the dormant magic in her blood.
"I see your eyes still dazzle when your emotions run high," Isabela greeted her. "I bet I could fetch a pretty price with those sapphires."
"Do I know you, Shem?"
"Skin deep only," Isabela smirked, "Though I did teach you a few things about duelling once upon a time."
Navarre's recognition didn't trigger. Isabela hadn't really expect it to. It had been ten years or so after all. Navarre had been so young during the Blight. Now she bore a wise and imposing demeanour, projecting more experience and confidence than before. She had obviously seen much in her travels. Isabela couldn't help but be impressed (and slightly aroused). The little elfling she had met all those years ago was all grown up.
Seeing that her description had been lost, Isabela added, "The Pearl in Denerim, shortly after the Blight. Don't you remember? As I recall you were very worthy of remembrance."
She threw her a cheeky wink and a smile. Navarre's features still didn't soften.
I really must have scared her shitless climbing over that hedge!
Isabela fought the urge to laugh, realising the Hero of Ferelden was still in a state of shock at the unexpected company, especially way out in the middle of a forest on the outskirts of Thedas, without a village around for leagues. Navarre's arrow was still aimed at her heart, and Isabela knew she should be afraid. The more time passed in silence between them, the warier she grew, knowing Navarre wasn't renowned for her love of humans.
"Sorry to barge in like this, Warden-Commander. Just thought you might fancy a pint for old time's sake," Isabela continued casually, as though they had just ran into each other at the market and she hadn't just scoured three separate continents for her and arrived at her camp unannounced in the dead of night. She settled into said camp then without invitation, realising it was up to her to make the first move. As fearless as ever, Isabela placed herself down on a log beside the dim, crackling campfire that was busy slow roasting a generous slab of meat. "Maker's saggy y-fronts, that smells delicious! I am starving! Chased a squirrel for about a quarter mile back there but the little bugger dodged me and bolted up a tree before I could catch it."
The Hero of Ferelden looked utterly flabbergasted. The fact that she hadn't shot an arrow yet just proved her bewilderment, and Isabela couldn't help but be grateful that she hadn't been shot already. The string on Navarre's bow didn't lessen, as she held her aim with the dexterous and skilful precision that elves were renowned for.
"Stop!" Navarre demanded, as Isabela reached for a mug of ale that had evidently been hers and was about to help herself. "This is my camp! Who are you!?"
"You mean you still don't recognise me?" Isabela asked, slightly disappointed, placing the mug back down lest she get an arrow in the eye. "I know it's been years but, Andraste's tits, I haven't changed that much, have I?"
Suddenly self-conscious, the pirate picked up a nearby silver spoon and began to check her face for wrinkles in the reflection. Navarre Mahariel eyed her curiously then, the glowing in her eyes diming slightly as recognition took over.
"Wait…I do know you…But it can't be...Queen of the Eastern Seas?"
"Got it in one, Warden," Isabela grinned. She gave a little bow of the head in greeting. "Isabela to most. Surprised it took you that long. After all, you've seen more than just my face, or don't you remember?"
At this the elf scowled. "That," she replied sourly, finally putting down her bow and lowering herself onto a log facing Isabela, "was a mistake."
"Not the first time someone's told me that," Isabela chuckled. "People do tend to regret sleeping with me. Do you mind?" she gestured to the mug of ale again. "It's been a long journey out here to the arse end of nowhere. I've been tracking you for days. You're a bloody hard person to find."
"I cover my tracks."
"Luckily I had help," Isabela replied.
The elf reluctantly nodded her head, and her eyes dimmed back to their normal, everyday blue, watching Isabela warily as though she still didn't trust her. Isabela gratefully held up the mug in cheers, and downed the ale in one. Oh, glorious, Orzammar's finest! She smacked her lips, helping herself to another without asking.
"Help from whom?" Navarre demanded coldly. Isabela had a feeling she had given the game away a little too early. She had hoped to butter Navarre up a little first, remembering the good old days before revealing who put her on this path. The Hero of Ferelden wasn't an easy person to sidetrack however.
Isabela sighed.
"Look, I know how this must seem, and believe me, I would rather be anywhere else...She just wants to see you," the pirate said gently, trying to soften the blow.
"If that is the case why didn't she come looking for me herself?" Navarre asked simply, needing no name to figure out who exactly Isabela was referring to. Even through her obvious cold outer-shell, Isabela could see that the very thought of Sister Leliana was a painful one for Navarre. "I told her in a letter that I'd kill whoever she sent next."
"Oh…Well, shit. I guess she 'forgot' that tiny detail when she blackmailed me into doing this," Isabela chuckled nervously, poised then in case she had to suddenly get ready for a fight. Navarre wasn't at all trustworthy of or sympathetic towards humans the last time they had met. Isabela wasn't ready to risk her life wondering if the years of experience had changed her or not.
"Relax, Shem," the elf said, as though reading her mind. She half-smiled at the idea. "You were one of the few people that I met and actually liked back then. Leliana knew that. I believe that was her motivation for sending you. She still plays dirty it seems."
"Don't we all?" Isabela smiled, glad to hear that she was, at least for the time being, in Navarre's good books. "Still, I'm not going to pretend that I'm not relieved. I'd rather do this than sit in an Inquisition prison waiting for the blasted Herald to condemn me."
"Why didn't you just run?" Navarre wondered.
Isabela hesitated. "I couldn't. It's complicated. I've been travelling for months, following Inquisition reports of sightings of you. Leliana has quite the little spy ring going on now, but…I guess you already know that."
Navarre said nothing. Instead, she picked up a platter and began to tear bits of meat off the roast. She handed it in offering to a surprised Isabela, whose stomach rumbled on cue.
"Don't mind if I do," Isabela chuckled, accepting it. She glanced around the camp then, realising it was only set for one. "I didn't expect to find you so alone."
"After hearing what happened in Adamant I decided it wasn't safe to travel with the Grey Wardens any longer," Navarre revealed. "I never fully trusted them anyway, even those that were elvhen. I thought I'd be safer by myself from then on."
"Any news of finding a cure for The Calling?" Isabela asked interestedly, popping a piece of perfectly cooked meat into her mouth. It tasted like bear. Clearly Navarre was still adept at hunting from her time among The People. Taking down a bear on your own was no easy feat.
"A few leads. Nothing concrete," Navarre answered, filling herself a plate of mean and tucking in. "But come on, Captain Isabela. We both know you didn't come all this way to talk about Warden business. She sent you here for a reason."
"It's Admiral now, actually," Isabela bragged proudly. "I promoted myself after Kirkwall. Figured I'd earned it...But you're right. I didn't come all this way for that. You know why I'm here, Navarre."
An awkward silence passed between them. Isabela didn't know how to break it, and was surprised when Navarre was the one who obliged.
"How…How is she?"
It was a simple enough question but Isabela knew how much Navarre had wanted to ask it since she had arrived. Despite this, the Admiral was unsure of how to reply.
"Different," Isabela said truthfully.
Navarre snorted. "Tell me about it," she said sarcastically.
Isabela laughed too. "Sorry, I suppose you know that better than anyone."
"I do. Fen'Harel played a cruel trick on me ten years ago it seems," Navarre answered, possessing all the wisdom of a Dalish Keeper. She massaged her tattooed forehead as though the very notion of her relationship with Leliana gave her a migraine. "I was led to believe that people could change, but deep down what we really do is stay the same, and revert back to our original selves over time as our masks to the outside world fade. The Keeper was forever telling me that when I was younger, but...I never listened. I normally just took people at face value."
"Is that how you feel about Leliana?" Isabela ventured curiously. "You think she led you to believe she was someone that she wasn't?"
"All I know is, Leliana is no longer the woman that I fell in love with," Navarre said sadly, "and that she is a master of The Game. Since she left Ferelden for Orlais I've always wondered if the real her was the person she was back then, or if the person she is now was her true self all along. The Dread Wolf in the flesh."
"I see your point," Isabela relented, onto her third mug of ale already. "I guess I'm lucky that the Champion of Kirkwall and I are pretty consistent in being detrimental to each other's health. We just sort of…breeze through it, and accept it for what it is. We're both the poison and the antidote."
"By the Creators, you finally settled with one bed partner?" Navarre asked, sniggering at the thought. "Maybe I was wrong then. Maybe people can change!"
Isabela chuckled. "Or maybe they just adjust," she admitted instead, having never really thought about it this deeply. "I'm still as shady as I've always been. Hawke is just one of the few people who can actually keep up. She's a rarity in this world full of idiots."
"I have heard the stories," Navarre said. "She certainly does more than keep up. Hawke's reputation and infamy is on par with yours, if not worse."
"Speaking of infamy, what about you?" Isabela wondered. "Haven't you changed at all?"
"You tell me. Ten years ago I would have killed you on sight for looking at me wrong. Now I'm offering you a drink and a bite of my kill despite the fact that you just invaded my camp in the dead of night," Navarre joked.
They both laughed. It was strange seeing this once bitter elf able to ease the tension without prompting. Isabela had to admit, this Hero of Ferelden certainly seemed more grounded and less harsh then the one she had frolicked with a decade ago at The Pearl in Denerim.
"You said Shem quite a lot back then," Isabela teased. "Wielding it like a flail at both nobles and common folk alike. I rather admired your balls. You never kissed any asses…at least not figuratively speaking. Literally however, I have some fond memories there."
Navarre laughed, her pale skin blushing a faint pink in embarrassment. "I still call people Shem," she admitted. "Though with less venom than in my youth. After what happened to all those humans in Amaranthine, I…."
Her voice trailed off, and Isabela could hear the stinging pang of regret. The elf's eyes became hooded and sorrowful then. Navarre's time as Warden-Commander in the Arling of Amaranthine hadn't ended well. Isabela recalled hearing that Navarre chose to protect her Keep instead of the city when the Darkspawn attacked unexpectedly after the Blight. The casualties in the City of Amaranthine were more monstrous than the Darkspawn that had caused them. It was an absolute massacre on top of what the Blight had already destroyed.
"Who in the right mind thought it was a good idea to put you in charge of those wretched Shems? Bloody idiots!" Isabela teased, trying to make her smile again.
Clearly Navarre had been heavily burdened by guilt since that battle. That must have been what finally humbled her and lessened her prejudices, Isabela observed silently, watching the Hero lose herself in a mountain of regrets. Isabela remembered back to how she had felt after drowning all those slaves in her days with the Felicisima Armada, just to out-sail the Orlesian Navy and escape execution for slave trading. It certainly changed me, being responsible for that kind of slaughter. Isabela knew more than anyone what guilt could do to a person. She'd had her fair share of it, lest she ever admit it aloud.
"That was my reasoning too," Navarre sighed, agreeing with her statement. "I didn't want anything to do with them. Leliana was the one who persuaded me to take the role of Warden-Commander, promising to help me with it, to be by my side as I struggled to stay afloat in a harsh, foreign world...But when the Divine's call came, she up and left at the first chance, proving me right for having not trusted her in the beginning. Mythal, I'm the idiot for even accepting the role in the first place!"
"You are many things, Navarre, but you are definitely not an idiot," Isabela offered kindly, shoving a mug of ale into her hand to cheer her up. "Power is power. You were given something you deserved and you took it. Andraste's tits, who wouldn't? Rather have it that not, but not everyone knows how to control power."
"I shouldn't have trusted her," Navarre said sadly, shaking her head. "I should have trusted my instincts and refused."
"I don't trust many people, but Leliana usually means well, or at least she did back then. Although her love affair with The Maker does bore me into an early grave, I have to admit." Isabela joked. "You can't blame Leliana for what happened in Amaranthine. You need to own your mistakes, Navarre. I learned that the hard way."
Navarre chuckled. "Yes, I…heard about the goings on in Kirkwall. You and your friends certainly caused a stir. Did you really steal that Qunari relic?"
"And returned it!" Isabela added defensively, "Everyone always seems to forget that bloody part."
"My apologies," the Warden said hastily.
"Oh shove your sorrys in a sack, little elfling! Just get that down your neck so I can pour you another one!" the pirate said, gesturing to the untouched ale in her mug. Navarre did as she was told.
"So... she sent you here to what, capture me? Drag me back kicking and screaming?" the Hero of Ferelden asked, accepting another drink from Isabela. They were fairly getting through the bottle now.
"Actually Sister Nightingale sent me here to save me from spending the last few months in an Inquisition prison."
"What did you do this time?" Navarre chuckled.
"Attempted to kill her...Twice...In one day," Isabela said awkwardly.
Navarre choked on her ale and spat it into the fire. The flames sparked out the sides and crackled wildly. "What!?"
"It's a long story," the pirate continued, hoping she wouldn't fly off the rails. "Dear, sweet Leli just overstepped the mark with me a few times since I arrived in Skyhold to see Hawke."
"And you tried to kill her!?"
Even as strained as her relationship was with her former flame, Navarre couldn't keep the venom from her voice.
"Hey, it wasn't like that," Isabela said hastily, before she found herself in a fight. "At least not exactly. She rubbed me up the wrong way is all. I reacted. It was the other Inquisition willy-fiddlers that had me arrested. I now have to have a bastarding trial when the Herald of Andraste returns from the Western Approach…I just hope she's brought Hawke back with her. I don't think I'll escape this without her influence...not legally anyway."
Isabela stared into the campfire sadly then. There had been no word of Hawke since Bethany's demon told them she was trapped in the Fade. Isabela hoped it wasn't true. Leliana had promised to send word when the Inquisitor and the others had returned, but in the months Isabela had been tailing the Hero of Ferelden, there had been nothing, not even a letter.
"You'll need someone to speak on your behalf," Navarre said. "This Inquisition possess real authority. I met Commander Cullen during the Blight. He takes his calling very seriously."
"He takes everything seriously," Isabela said, rolling her eyes. "And as for someone speaking for me, I...was rather hoping that it would be you. You're the closest key to freedom that I've got, Navarre."
Navarre exhaled. She got to her feet then and walked closer to the campfire, holding her thin fingers over it for warmth, losing herself in thought. Isabela scanned the Warden's slender figure, remembering back to their adventurous foray in the sheets all those years ago. She smiled as she reminisced, tilting her head to the side in admiration, taking in all angles.
I forgot about that cute little ass of hers.
"I…will have to think about it," Navarre said finally, without looking at her. "I don't know if I can bear it…I…You don't understand, Isabela."
"Try me," the pirate countered, draining yet another ale.
"Leliana broke my heart," Navarre choked, her voice breaking with emotion. "She reminded me that I had one, then took it for her own and shattered it."
Isabela didn't know how to respond. She could hear the pain in the Hero of Ferelden's words. Clearly she had held onto this for a long, long time.
"Ever since Leliana left to be Justinia's Left Hand she hasn't given me a second thought!" Navarre continued, her eyes glowing blue as she lost control of her emotions again. "I loved her!"
"Not everything is supposed to become something beautiful and long lasting," Isabela told her gently. "Some people come into your life to show you right and wrong, to show you who you can be, to teach you. Leliana probably thinks about you all the time. You probably think about her. The problem is that neither of you are doing anything about it!"
"She didn't even try to—"
"Leliana thought you were dead!" Isabela interrupted, knowing full well after all this time that this was the main reason why Leliana didn't try to find Navarre. "You have a blasted tomb at Weisshaupt that I know for a fact she visited! She thought she'd already found you, Navarre. She'd found your corpse. That's why she stopped looking."
Navarre did a double take, glancing back at Isabela in surprise.
"She...visited my tomb...?"
"Yes," Isabela nodded, getting to her feet as well then, her amber eyes staring into Navarre's lightening blue ones. "Or so Hawke told me. Look, I know this must be hard for you. You and Leliana have a lot of history and you've been apart for a very long time. Maybe meeting face to face is better than actively avoiding each other forever, don't you think? Balls, you might never get another chance to see her if Corypheus destroys the world! There's this fantastic thing called 'moving on', you should both try it some time."
Navarre actually smiled then. "Leliana certainly knew what she was doing when she sent you to find me, it seems."
Isabela was taken aback. She thought she'd be terrible at this. "It's probably just the ale talking, sweetness," Isabela snorted. "But does that mean you're finally coming to Skyhold?"
The Hero of Ferelden turned back and stared into the fire once more, taking a while to consider.
"Yes," she said, finally giving in. "I think this needs to be done, though for better or worse I am not entirely sure."
"Worse," Isabela chuckled, "It's usually worse, but that's no reason to say that it can't ever get better."
Navarre turned back to her and smiled the first proper smile Isabela had ever seen her wear.
"You are wiser than you get credit for, Isabela."
"It's a hidden talent," the pirate teased. "I'm not all just tits and ass, you know."
"I know," Navarre admitted sincerely. "I never thought you were. Not for one second."
"I didn't know you thought so highly of me when we met," Isabela replied, genuinely surprised. "No one else ever does."
"I did," Navarre admitted with a kind smile. "I learned more from you than just how to duel... You taught me how to laugh again."
Isabela smiled, appreciating the genuineness of such a statement. Navarre really had changed for the better. Isabela could scarcely believe it, though the evidence was right here in front of her.
"We did have a glorious time that night," the Admiral admitted fondly. "Maybe we'll get another one back at Skyhold."
"We will," Navarre said softly, finally taking the first step on a path she had been afraid to follow, knowing where it led. The Hero of Ferelden met the pirate dead in the eye then and gave her a curt nod. "I will go with you, Isabela. I will see what Leliana has to say. It is time...I have been on my own for far too long."