36. Bribery

It takes a lot of digging through my pack to find what I'm looking for, considering how long it's been in there. Leliana gave it to me just before Zevran and I left Denerim, as sort of a goodbye present. I don't know where she got it from or how long she had it before giving it to me.

"Ah, there you are," I mutter as my fingers curl around the small bundle and I tug it out. I rub my fingers over the soft lilac-colored cloth wrapping, wondering how expensive this was. Of course, knowing Leliana, she probably either stole it, charmed it off the merchant, or paid for it with money lifted from some unsuspecting noble's pocket. It still smells ever so faintly of Andraste's Grace. I give the binding ribbon a gentle yank and unwrap the contents. Score one for me. And Leli, I grin as I eye the small box of Orlesian chocolates. I break the corner off one and taste it to make sure they're still good. And are they ever. I suddenly don't want to share.

I smirk and force myself to put the lid back on the box. Now I just need to find Miri. She seemed to really like to read-just a general impression I got yesterday-so I decide to start in the library.

oOo

Miri's not in the library, but Gabriel is. Considering my attitude the last time I saw him, part of me is hesitant to talk to him, but I tell that part to hush as I brush back a stray lock of hair and greet the warrior.

"Morning, Gabriel."

He spins from examining the bookshelf and smiles. "Morning, Rahna. How did your first night in Weisshaupt treat you?"

"Slightly chilly, but being able to sleep in a real bed more than made up for that. I was getting really tired of sleeping on the ground."

"I'm sure you were. I remember when Miri and I came here from Jader. Had someone delayed our sleeping in beds another night, well..." he chuckles, "Miri would probably have frozen them to the spot before I had time to do anything to them."

"Why did you two come here, anyway? Just curious." I lean back against the end of one bookshelf and idly turn the box in my hands as I listen.

"After Miri's Joining, we were going to return to Ferelden and join the other Wardens at Ostagar." He lets out a rueful chuckle. "But then I had to go and break my ankle in a practice duel, and even with magical assistance it took almost three weeks to heal up. By the time we tried to cross the Frostback Mountains, Loghain had already sealed off the borders. And I'm sure you can guess how many different favors this accent did for me with his men."

Remembering Loghain's intense, raging hatred of all things Orlesian, I nod. "I'm almost surprised they didn't try to kill you as a spy or something."

"They did actually." He smirks. "That was the first time I really started keeping track of all the benefits of being in love with a mage, particularly one with an unholy love of ice spells."

I snicker at him using the same word-unholy-to describe Miri's love of ice spells as Jowan did. "Lucky you."

"Very lucky me," he corrects with a grin. "After that, we went back to Jader. About...two months later, the First Warden called us to Weisshaupt to help with 'researching and preparing for a Blight'. If it weren't for how superior the library here is to the one in Jader, I would have questioned why we had to come, but as things stood, we just said 'Yes, ser' and came. And Miri likes it here. She has a special affinity for the cold, I think."

"That would make sense, from what I've heard about her. Speaking of Miri, do you know where she is?"

"I think she's up in the old aeries. She goes there to read a lot, because the light's better than inside and there's less chance of being disturbed."

"Ah. Think she'll mind if I find her? This isn't a matter of life and death or anything. I can wait."

Gabriel laughs. "I honestly don't think you could make her angry if you tried. Maker, I haven't heard her chatter like she did last night since the first-and only-time I asked about her life in the tower. Only that time was 'Jowan' every three words rather than 'Rahna'."

I drop my head into my hand. "Please tell me she's not hero-worshipping me or anything."

That makes him laugh even louder. "Rahna, my friend, if being the Hero of Ferelden wasn't enough, you also somehow managed to save her best friend from getting killed. Hero worship is inevitable."

I groan. "Wonder if I can get Jowan to talk some sense into her. I honestly couldn't have done all the things I did without my friends' help. And, as I said last night, I didn't even strike the killing blow on the archdemon."

"But what you did do was manage to keep an incredibly diverse group that normally wouldn't have anything to do with each other working together," he points out. "Even out here we heard about you. An apostate and an ex-templar? A Chantry sister and a mage? I must say the qunari was the one who impressed me the most. The fact he still followed you even after he could have left, I mean."

"That surprised me as well," I admit. A single, small voice whispers something in the back of my mind, and I follow its prompting without hesitation. "Um, Gabriel, this is off-subject, but I feel like I should..apologize for last night." What are you doing? the rest of my brain screams. He probably didn't even notice your attitude, and thus you didn't need to say anything!

"What about last night?" He frowns.

"When...when we first met, I was..." I search for the right word, "reluctant, I suppose, to be friendly toward you because of the way you looked like you wanted to, um, if not kill, seriously injure Jowan. I get really protective of my friends, so while I can understand why you got so mad, my gut reaction in the moment was to...not like you very much." Maker, I can feel myself going red. Even more so than when Zevran would tease me about Jowan. "That passed rather quickly with a simple reminder of how I reacted if someone so much as hinted at hurting Al-someone I loved once. And now I'm over that initial burst of insanity, and like you just fine, but I figured I should still apologize."

"Well, thank you for the apology, and I accept. You did an excellent job masking your feelings last night. I would never have guessed you were struggling with that."

See? See? You could've just kept your mouth shut and he wouldn't have ever known!

Oh, be quiet! I needed to do it for me as much as for him. The voice shuts up. "Glad to hear I've gotten better at hiding emotions. Considering how I used to fly into either rage or fits of sobbing or shouts of joy at the slightest provocation," I chuckle. "Well, I guess I should go find Miri. We need to have a chat about a certain mutual friend." I smirk, which makes Gabriel laugh.

"Should I warn him this is happening?" he teases.

"Oh, I told him I was doing it. He's been sufficiently warned. I'll talk to you later."

"Of course." He smiles and turns back to examining the bookshelf as I leave.

oOo

Just like Gabriel said, Miri is sitting in one of the old aeries, lost in a book. I can't see the cover, but whatever it is must be fascinating to hold her interest so thoroughly.

I lean against the wall, hiding the bribe behind my back. "Mind if I join you?"

Her head whips up and she smiles. "Go right ahead. Did Gabriel tell you where I was?"

I nod as I sit down across from her. "I'd never have found you otherwise. My sense of direction is terrible. I probably would have gotten so lost they'd have to send search parties."

She chuckles at that. "So, were you looking for me for any particular reason, or just to talk?" She slips a blue ribbon between the pages of her book and closes it.

"Mm, both, I suppose. I want to talk, but had a particular subject in mind."

She grins. "Oh, really? And that would be...?"

"Jowan."

The grin turns to a laugh. "You could just ask him, you know. It's not like there's any huge secrets from before he left the tower."

"I know. And we have talked some. But I figure asking the best friend is a good way to learn the stuff he might not tell me. Secrets, any embarrassing moments, that kind of thing."

"Ah-ha." Miri's devious grin matches my own. "If I'm really his best friend, why would I tell someone else anything in that vein?"

In reply, I pull out the chocolates and hand them to her. "One of the things he told me was that you have a sweet tooth to rival mine."

She peeks inside the box and her eyes widen. "Are these Orlesian?"

"They are. A...goodbye present from a friend in Denerim. Don't worry, they're still good."

"Well then, in that case, what do you want to know?" Miri grins and folds her legs under her as she nibbles one of the chocolates.

"Hmmm...well, I already know he's ticklish and nearly impossible to wake up."

"Oh, yes." She laughs. "I can't count how many times I resorted to hitting him with a pillow or all but yelling in his ear to wake him up. And you know he's ticklish, huh?"

"Yep. Found that out one night trying to wake him for his turn on watch duty."

"D'you know where he's most ticklish, though?" Miri's grin is now decidedly devious.

"No, where?" I lean forward, biting back a grin of my own.

"Right here." Miri lightly jabs my side with two fingers, just below my ribcage. "And the right side's a lot more ticklish than the left. I found that spot when I was eight and he was ten." The memory must be a good one; she's all but smirking. "He'd been teasing me about my fire spells and I got sick and tired of listening to it-even though I'd just finished teasing him about his ice spells-so I tackled him. When you're eight and don't want to cause any serious damage to your best and only friend, tickling is one of the first things that comes to mind."

"Mm-hm? I usually whacked Soris up the back of his head for teasing me. Maybe tickling would have been a better tactic."

"Oh, it works wonders. Especially when you find the extra-sensitive spots. Now, I got lucky; the way I landed on top of Jowan, right there was really easy to reach. Maker, I had him absolutely begging for mercy in under two minutes." Now she is smirking, the self-satisfied smile of someone looking back on a particularly proud moment. "After that, all I had to do was threaten to tickle him and he'd go along with anything."

"Even sneaking into Irving's office in search of chocolate?"

"He told you about that, huh?" Miri leans back against the wall, her grin more sheepish. "I felt horrible for getting him in trouble." She laughs. "It was always my fault when we got in trouble. Always. I came up with the craziest schemes, he followed my lead, and we both wound up in trouble. And every single time was my fault. Well, except the last time." She sighs, a small, sad smile pulling at her lips. "That one was all him, and Maker, it was a lot of trouble."

"I'll bet. That's one thing he never wanted to talk about. He told me, when I asked, but I could tell he didn't really like doing it. And I can't really blame him, honestly." I sigh. "Miri?"

"Hm?"

"You said it took all of two seconds for you to forgive him after he left. I know you were best friends and everything, but how'd you do it so fast?"

"Oh, it stung for a while that he'd lied to me about the blood magic, but getting caught wasn't supposed to happen. I knew that." Miri bites her lip. "And I realized-with all the time I had to think in that cell-that it's not exactly easy to tell someone you're a blood mage, even your best friend. It wasn't the kind of thing he could just drop casually into conversation. And even if I had known, I still would have helped him. My loyalty to him ran deeper than my loyalty to the Circle." She grins, turning the conversation back to a more light-hearted tone. "But I think we got sort of sidetracked. You wanted to hear secrets and stuff like that."

"Oh, yes." I match her grin with one of my own. "Any you'll tell me."

She snorts. "For Orlesian chocolates? You kidding? I'll tell you anything. Let's see..." She nibbles one of the chocolates as she thinks. "Ooh, there's the time I got mad at him and locked him in a closet."

"What?" I stare at her in disbelief.

"Hey, I was nine, Irving took away my sweets, and Jowan picked the wrong day to tease me," she protests, still grinning.

"Oh, this I gotta hear."

A/N: Annnnd I'm gonna stop there, before this chapter gets out of control. *evil grin* Don't worry, there'll be more next time, and hopefully the Joining, too. I really do want to get that over with...