Sorry for the rather long and unexplained pause in updates, I was quite sick for a while- but fear not, I am back (with a disappointingly short chapter, yes, but still...).
...
Hawke and Tallis managed to get inside the castle in good time, and left a way in for their companions to follow them- not that any of that really mattered, considering that the Duke managed to catch them in his vaults and imprison them in the cellars, anyway.
Bethany muttered softly to herself as she hurried along, her brother and their elven companion in need of rescue. She was clearly worried, and maybe even a bit annoyed at the two rogues. After all, weren't they supposed to be skilled enough not to let things like that happen?
"Garrett is going to get his ears chewed off good for this." She huffed, and Sebastian found it strangely endearing.
There was a slight swing in her step even in her hurry, and he could see her chew on the inside of her cheek, betraying her agitation.
In the rare moments she felt at ease walking, too, he knew her to hum softly to herself, as if she needed to bodily express her feelings at all times, in some small way. He would miss that once they returned to Kirkwall- she never showed such vulnerability in a city that watched mages with such critical eyes, after all.
He would miss her- the side of her that caution forced her to hide.
The thought, so sudden, almost made him stumble in his run- but he was better than that, and so his speed merely faltered for a moment. He didn't realise how true the thought rang until he remembered her- his- their situation. He knew all too well how likely it was that he would never have another chance to enjoy her company like that again- not so freely. It pained him to think about it; getting to know the mage better, closer, outside the Chantry's walls…it felt right. It felt wrong as well- it was so hard to tell the differences sometimes with her- especially with her- but it was nothing worse than usual.
"The layout is wrong." Bethany muttered aloud, after a considerate amount of running around with no results. "We're back where we started!" Obviously, she was frustrated, and her nose crinkled in the most adorable way- her expression enough to pull him back into the present and remind him he should enjoy what time he still had with her, even if they were hopelessly lost in the chateau's dungeon.
"It's backwards from every book on Orlais I've seen. It's just not…"
If her voice hadn't trailed off as it did, she might not have realised just how openly he was staring, or the unchecked smile on his face.
She smiled back, though, unsure of herself, a bit red in the cheeks.
It was a wonderful sight, and he started moving forward again, to hide how much it pleased him.
…
…
…
Bethany felt somehow faint, and tried not to make too much of the way he'd looked at her. Of course, she failed spectacularly.
"Oh, Maker…" The words passed her lips before she could even think to stop them- and she knew her breathy tone revealed far too much.
She was glad he had run ahead so quickly, or he would have certainly heard it.
…
…
…
There were times when Hawke was reminded of the horrible fate Bethany had to endure; the horrible confinement that she had put up with for so long already.
If there was one thing Hawke could not truly stand, or easily make light of with a joke, it was confinement.
Much to his displeasure, as if he'd sensed that, the Duke had them thrown into the smallest, most reclusive cell in his impressive prison.
Wonderful.
He would have rather fought his way through the many, many Orlesian guards than be captured so, but the revelations surrounding Tallis had caught him unprepared, and thus placed on a secondary plane thoughts of any daring escape. When he recognised that it would have been a good idea, it was too late; the guards had surrounded them completely.
"So…there was never any jewel." He started, when sitting around in the dusty cell became too much. His tone wasn't either loud or harsh, but the elf still visibly recoiled at the sound. "I must admit, though, while that I could have expected, the fact that you are a Qunari assassin is an entire matter entirely..." He was angry, even if his voice did not betray it, and both of them knew it.
Tallis was quiet one moment more, and then spoke.
"I'm sorry…this hadn't worked out like I'd planned…obviously." She felt the need to say, and it appeased Hawke slightly that she first spoke to apologise to him.
"What was your plan, then?"
She pulled her legs closer to her chest, and looked straight ahead of herself. "The one I expected to find is named Salit, a member of the Ben-Hassrath…The Heart of the Many." She disclosed, and moved to stand up from her sitting position- her voice bolder as she remembered her drive to do what she did, the one that lead her to him in the first place. "I was told he's here to tell secrets to the Orlesians, and I came to stop him. I…" The elf paused briefly, and her teal eyes hardened, her impetus faltered. "…suppose I was misinformed."
Hawke wanted to groan, to laugh and hit something all at once. "So you came here to stop this Salit from betraying your people?" Of course, things were never easy- this was about much more than petty ambitions or lies, and it had little to do with that. The elf probably did not even want to betray their trust as she did, if the uncomfortable way she held herself once exposed was any indication. Or not- she was Ben-Hassrath herself, after all.
Still, Hawke silently wondered at the irony of letting himself have his trust betrayed by yet another woman secretly connected with the Qunari.
Obviously, the Maker took delight in toying with him.
"Salit was my bessrathari- the one who recruited me into the Ben-Hassrath. My tutor. He's the one who saw my potential…" The sentence trailed off, and the elf inhaled, rid her face of the sadness there. "It doesn't matter now. I cannot let him do what he plans to- not when so many would be hurt because of it."
Hawke watched her closely. It was unlikely she was lying- but then again, she had fooled him before. "Well, do you have a plan to do that?" Frankly, for as long as she got them out of there somehow, he was willing to see this through, one way or another.
Finally, she seemed to relax. "I always have a plan."
"A good one?" Teasing was easy, it came naturally to him.
"Oh, ye of little faith." And she sighed, long and slowly, from the depths of her chest. A sigh of relief.
"Getting out of here could be tricky, though- any ideas?" She looked at him with big, tentative eyes.
There was one easy way they could get out quickly, Hawke realised, if they were lucky.
"We didn't come here alone, remember?"
And so, they waited.