The Dragon Age world, plot, and their characters aren't mine but belong to Bioware. I get no money for writing this sequel.

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Kirkwall Lowtown, the Hanged Man

- Varric Tethras

I wrote '5/Matrinalis' in my account books in the strange quiet of the Hanged Man. I didn't think the changes in Kirkwall were very august; reverence and majesty were not granted to non-believers. The Qun didn't have a Viscount to make an example this time, making surrender. After they beat down much of Aveline's guard, resistance mostly died down in only three days. Many of the guards turned their shield covers right away. Some must have escaped or been killed in the bombardment as they weren't paraded as prisoners and forcibly converted.

The new Grand Cleric Chardjia brought in late in the winter, strong-willed and militant, didn't manage to escape the Qun. In her tattered robes she was left out in the Viscount's square this time, bruised and bloodied from struggling to clean up the latest battle damage. Anyone could just go up and talk to her as she worked. Chardjia was no longer the brightest knife in any drawer.

The stuff of a good tragedy if I didn't like how the story was trending. They'd been here before.

My door slammed open in the too silent building, the Princess already frantic. "Why haven't you found me a maid and a cook yet, Tethras? And why haven't you found the nugget's da, either?"

Thus ended the blessed and too-short season of serenity… Guards trailed behind her, their faces as blank as the legendary golems from old blood and forges.

"Princess, you've heard the fighting. Humore and Dumore were right to get you out of Hightown when they did. The Qunari do not like nobles, especially idle ones. They beheaded the last ruler here and we don't have the Champion this time to stop them. You don't toe their line and they'll make you as dull as the most cracked of dusters. Do I have to take you to see the ones they 'converted' again?"

She kept getting more reckless as the weeks passed, and I was glad her guards took the brunt of it. I had enough to do with reining my people back until the port opened again.

If it opened again.

"Tethras! I can't wait any longer for your underhanded deals and shady friends..." Her voice got louder and shriller as she got rolling in her rant, but she hiccuped through her whole body and glared at me.

"Look, Lady Harrowmount, if you want to go out and start demanding anything from the Qunari leader, I'm staying here. You haven't earned his respect and he's gonna treat you like a duster." I'd heard from my people that some other dwarves from Hightown had disappeared, the ones with the worst reps.

"You look, Tethras! I cannot keep waiting. If I stay on the surface for much longer… I was supposed to be back home before now." A wave of anger and frustration crossed her face. "Marry me, Tethras. I'll bribe enough to say you were there and you have a decent House even if your father was a fool. That can be fixed."

I'd expected this desperate ploy for a while.

I put the back of my palm to my forehead as if in shock. "This is so sudden. I hadn't dreamed that you felt like that about me..." I considered batting my eyes at her, but managed to resist laughing. This was the stuff of many a bestselling romance, but I didn't want a political alliance. "I don't think so, Princess. I've never missed Orzammar or the Stone."

And more importantly, I wanted something more like Aveline and her Donnic. All the Hawkes had too much drama.

Her mutterings about my future as part of the Stone confirmed the decision. Finally she took a breath and resumed her glare. "It's been what, six weeks on the surface? You said they were in a lost branch of the Deep Roads. I'm not afraid of the Deep Roads, I'm no Surfacer like you."

That made me laugh. "And that I'm glad for, Princess! I like the sunshine and storms crashing against the stone of Kirkwall. I've fought darkspawn and lost legends down there in the Deep, and seen too many bodies of fools who thought they could get by without the Legion of the Dead or Grey Wardens. This city isn't like the partly tamed areas around Orzammar, but a wilder place that chews up the stupid and the greedy. Lyrium below here doesn't sing in blue danger. It shrieks in madness as red as blood, red as insanity."

She had that slightly glazed look, that my words have taken effect.

Lady Harrowmount shook her head and glared at me. "I don't care what your excuses are. You will find me that Warden, or you will find me a da for my nugget… now!"

The pieces fit. I didn't know if there was any Shaper or even fellow dwarva healer remaining to help her. "Get her back to her room. Princess, I'll get a healer for you."

"You stupid nug-shit! The only healer I saw among the other surfacers, I wouldn't trust with a litter of nugs."

"Calm down, Princess. It'll be much easier to spread the story that you found your Warden yesterday after this. In this mess, who's going to argue? You just let Uncle Tethras get someone in here who knows what they're doing..." I'd send agents to the dwarva neighborhood, and a large promise to Lirene to fetch someone from the oldest clinic in the city, despite the risk.

I doubted those dwarva hiding in Hightown wanted to come out, especially for someone in Lowtown. I wasn't surprised, King Bhelan's approval still counted for some of them. Daisy could have helped with herbs and soothing chatter, but she hadn't returned to Kirkwall. Human healers didn't care about thaig politics.

Gerdel did better and brought back a tart older woman who negotiated her fee during the Princess' pauses, while she had the advantage over the Princess' frugality.

I didn't help with the negotiating, it wasn't my funds. Nor was I about to hang around with Humore and Dumore to watch over the Princess while she swore at the absent Arkun.

She was loud enough to carry to the tap room where I got reports back from most of my people. The above-board makers were reporting the first shortages, but I thought it was more worry about food. Kirkwall lived off trade, and needed the food that passed though its warehouses and harbor before winter. Even if the harbor opened in a month, too much food would have bypassed the city during the harvest.

I didn't want to leave with only what I could carry, but this winter would be hard, harder than the damage last fall. Time was running out before I had to decide. After checking on a frazzled looking Humore, Bianca and I left the Hanged Man to do a quiet walk around Kirkwall to check on my missing people. Near the stairs to Hightown, some of the stairs had taken heavy damage from the intermittent fighting, while others looked intact outside of some dark stains.

The Alienage was just around the corner. The gate was gone, the bolts ripped or broken out of the stone. Despite that, the elves in the clearing around their tree did not all look happy. A female elf argued with their storyteller, and with the other elves ranged around the two of them, it didn't take a genius to see this could explode into a brawl.

I settled Bianca into position, ready for trouble. Mehra's room was only a little further in.

She didn't answer my knock. I hadn't gotten a report from my courier and informant since before this started. No one seemed to be watching, so I unlocked the door and slipped in. I remembered how happy she was that she finally had some privacy, and her room was still nearly bare. A few items were strewn around, but I couldn't tell if she fled, was killed, or converted. Mehra didn't leave a journal or shopping list either.

How many in Kirkwall last week were soon to be nameless bodies in some street? How did the Qun honor their dead?

I didn't want to be in that group, but I suspected I would be marked if they became aware of how much business I had in this 'corrupt and worthless pit of vice.' I should be safe for a time. I didn't look wealthy, with a mansion and servants. I'm not sure how they viewed my writing. My link to the Champion was known, but would they 'reeducate' me for that?

Maybe not.

They respected her.

At least they did once, she still had that nice dagger they gave her. I don't know what they expected her to do after Blondie did his grand stupid... convert? No, no one would believe that. Looks like they got what they wanted: a weaker city.

When I exited the apartment building, the scene with the elves had changed, and not for the better. "Where are they? Someone has to know."

This elf had her foot braced on the hahren's shoulder, and her pose clicked as much as her arrogance. It was that Qunari elf we ran into a few years back, parts of that one that left Hawke still pissed every time it came up.

I didn't think she had met me, but I took an extra helping of casual and walked away, humming. I could scurry back and hide, but I wanted to see what was happening with my own eyes.

My tour became more subtle. Not all Qunari were hornheads and I didn't want to draw attention to myself. A stop at a small pawn shop that was open and I bought a rucksack for my coat and a worn tunic. Leaving Bianca was not an option, but I would appear less distinctive as I checked out empty and looted Hightown mansions, and the clinic and shelter watched over by a mix of Qun and locals. Lowtown areas further from the harbor looked almost normal, just way too quiet and lacking any children on the streets.

I stopped at the top of the stairs that went down into the harbor. I could easily see rubble and burnt out buildings. There were a few people moving around, they might have been looting as much as trying to work. I checked warehouses I had an interest in. Some were intact with squatters who'd lost their homes. Made deals with the leaders to protect remaining goods, others already had guards who were very glad to see me.

Spotted that former Templar, Sampson, in scavenged armor that hadn't been cleaned or repaired. He was breaking into a clearly Orlesian business, egging some other beggars. Hawke had asked Cullen to give him another chance, but I hadn't heard anything about him lately while the Captain was trying to rebuild.

I'd just love to see his records, but this would not be the time for a visit the strangely-still-Captain. The Gallows had unknown ships anchored, bristling with ballistae.

That meant I was well within their range if they decided to resume their attacks.

The distance back to the Hanged Man seemed to take forever, but when I walked back in I called a snarky order for the house 'best.' Nothing ever tasted so sweet.

Still, I heard Princess upstairs and I scanned the common room, wondering which were spying on me.

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A/N: Thanks to my beta readers who have been kind enough to read this and point out stupid flubs. Any typos that remain are not intentional... Reviews or a PM to let me know what you think would be very appreciated.