Are we sure this is the place? … They aren't guarding it very well, if the assassin master is living here. I look up, at the sound of a sword being drawn. This guy could just think we're burglars… however, that's Mistress you're pointing your weapon at! Sorry, but I'm going to have to kill you now.

The two of us deal with him, while Qunie runs the other man through. No response? Okay, this house is in the wrong District, for guards in the atrium to be legit and not criminals … but surely anyone in the next room heard the fight. The leader might not be home?

Mistress motions to everyone, and we form up as she kicks the next door open.

I glance in, and check both ways. There's just some woman… smiling. We killed your goons – you must be horrible to work for, since you don't seem to care. I guess this is the Marge woman Chirpy was chirping about. Wait, what did she about my smell?! I warn you, Marge - insult me again, and I'll kill you myself!

Her smile grows when Chirpy starts talking. I hear something… more goons in the back. I ignore their conversation, and headbutt Mistress. I see her eyes flicker to the door briefly, and she gives me the finger-sign to keep guard. Snorting, she straightens up and turns to Chirpy. "Leliana… I thought you said this bitch was smart?"

Assassin Lady glares in anger, while Chirpy nods in slight confusion. "… Yes."

Mistress rolls her eyes in mocking exaggeration at the older woman. "Right… since you want to know why she left, I'm going to make this simple for you. The Darkspawn horde. Were bearing down. On Lothering. Of course she fucking left the village! There's no big mystery or plot against you."

Glaring further, Assassin Lady steps forward. "… Is that what you think? It's never so simple, with Leliana. You think you see a friend? It is a trick-"

"Just call your men. I don't care about your unsettled scores… I'm here because you tried to kill us" Mistress interrupts.

"So business-like…" Assassin Lady whistles, and both doors burst open. A Mage on each side begin aiming at us, as everyone scatters in fighting formation. Qunie charges for the left door… Wait!

He falls back, as the trap bursts into flames. Good thing I spotted the one on my side! I get behind, and shove the right-side door shut. Inside, I hear the Mage swear and order someone to open it. I brace against the door, and soon feel the man trying to push me out of the way. As his force increases, I roll away… Gotcha! His unblocked momentum makes him stumble forward, onto their own trap. While he screams and swats at the flames, I rush past and slam-tackle the Mage to the ground. Biddy's healing has Qunie back on his feet, and he's parrying against another guy his size. Yelling about that Val Choff village, again. Ally's closing on the Mage behind those two. Leaving Assassin Lady in a duel with Chirpy. Dodging a blow, Assassin Lady leans in and brutally kicks her in the ribs. Her follow-up killing strike comes down, but Mistress's blade blocks it.

Smirking, Assassin Lady spins back and nods. "Teyrn Howe will be quite pleased indeed, to see your corpse."

Mistress replies by dropping her shield, and taking out her second blade. They begin matching strikes, Mistress letting her set the pace. What are you doing? Assassin Lady begins pressing her, as she notices her goons are dead. Biddy's healing the others, who don't even try to join the duel. I probably look as gawky as they do, since I've never seen Mistress fight in this manner. She twirls. She swipes, slightly with a still wrist. She allows a smile as Assassin Lady begins sweating. She's in and out, like a jittery rabbit. She's… beautiful.

Mistress ends it, and drives her knife into Assassin Lady's throat. Free to breathe, she takes a moment. "… Search the back-rooms. Since she mentioned him, maybe she's in contact with Howe. Documents, coin… anything."

The market's in full swing now… wait. Over there. Is that… I take off across the square. "… Doing some shopping?" I hear Ally mutter, as I close in on my target.

He looks up, as I approach. I knew it! Baxter, what are you doing here?! He laughs, and put my fur. Come on, I better take you to Mistress! We run back, and Mistress stares at me in surprise. "Max… what are you doing?"

I found Baxter! If he's here, his father must be! He can tell you what's happening now, to Highever… even if they moved here, he still might know.

"Kid… where are your parents?" she asks.

"Puppy!" Baxter yells.

"… Right. Max, take him back where you got him."

Oh, come on! I know you didn't talk to every servant, but surely you met Baxter and his father! He were the most important of them all… he brought the meat up from the butchers, every week! Sometimes he'd bring Baxter with him, and we'd play while the meat was unloaded.

"If he came with us, he'll have to fight Darkspawn!"

… I wish, sometimes, you'd understand me better. Still, if his father got seen talking to Mistress, they might be in trouble. She's just pretending not to recognise him… right? Come on, Bax, I better get you back. Just act natural…

As I'm heading back, minus Baxter, I see they've split into groups. Chirpy and Qunie look to be heading back to Shoe's house by themselves. Where… over by the tavern! I catch up to Mistress, Biddy and Al. "This is where Isolde said" Ally says, before knocking on a door. Are we meeting someone else? Well, at least our visit here won't result in any dead bodies.

I guess that's another two dead bodies for the score, today. "How long do you think he's been dead?" Mistress asks, as she begins checking the desk.

"Impossible to say… he's had several preservation spells cast on his remains" Biddy says, studying Second Weylon. So that's why he isn't stinking up the place? … Didn't quite work, though, I knew something was wrong, in this room. Magic's no match for the keen Mabari mind!

"Calenhad… I don't remember seeing anyone there, but I was exhausted after the Tower" Mistress says, handing some paper to Biddy. "This village… I've never heard of it. You?"

"Haven? I'm afraid not…" Thinking for a moment, Biddy scoops up the other notes from the desk. "Perhaps we should read these elsewhere… where we don't run the risk of being found with two bodies."

"Right you are… Al, see what else you can find. We'll take this stuff back to Bodahn's."

I still haven't caught her name, but I'll give her this… Shoe's mother sure knows how to cook. I glance up, as Mistress stops scratching my head. "Hey, Al" she says, moving over so he can sit on the wagon as well. "You alright?"

"I've just been thinking, again… about what you said, outside Goldanna's. I think you were right. I need to think about myself for a change, or I'll never be happy. I have to stand up for myself, right?"

"Of course" she replies. "I still don't know how you managed to stay calm, with what she was saying to you."

"In hindsight, neither do I" he shrugs. "… Anyway, second question."

"You didn't really ask anything. First question."

"Whichever number… I didn't know you could fight like that, today."

That's not a question, either.

Mistress sighs. "When I first started begging my parents to let me learn how to fight, I kept using 'I need to be able to defend myself against Bards! We're such a notable target!' and so on as my main reason. They finally had to give in, and hired an old former Bard who had ended up retiring in Ferelden after the war. She taught me several styles, and how to counter them. Luckily, Marjolaine's old enough to have still used one of them… and I was hoping she'd be out of peak condition, from letting her underlings do everything for her."

He whistles in approval. "So you can switch back and forward, like that?"

"Today was the first time for real, but I practised a lot… I think I had been trying it in the training yard, when Duncan arrived."

"No wonder you impressed him, then… but why didn't you ever mention it?"

"… When she first joined, I didn't want Leliana knowing what I could do. I was pretty sure she was a Bard, or had some training. I wouldn't have let her come, if I wasn't confident about being able to take her out if she tried something. So I decided to keep it hidden, as a precaution." She smiles. "After all, most people are surprised enough I can fight with a sword and shield… but if not, I can go dagger-fancy instead."

"Dagger-fancy… not a bad term for it. So… you trust her now?"

"I do… she hasn't run, despite everything we've seen."

"Hmm… true. What about her vision, though?"

"… I believe that she believes?" Mistress frowns. "Not sure how else to put it."

"That's one way of looking at it… I don't know. Have you noticed, if you look at her when she doesn't realise, she just looks so sad."

"I hadn't, no… but I have noticed your habit of watching her. Even in the market, today – Wynne noticed, too. 'Enraptured by her swaying hips', were her exact words."

Ally sits up straight, surprised. "I wasn't looking… there. Her…" Rump? "Hindquarters…"

"Your loss" Mistress says, with an evil gleam in her eye. "After all, she does have a nice b-"

"Well, I better go see what the others are doing, before they go to their rooms!" he stammers, getting up.

"Hoping for a goodnight kiss?" Mistress asks, in a sweet sing-song voice.

"… You're a bad person."

"So I keep hearing… make sure she's alright, won't you?" Ally nods back, and steps out the door. "One problem solved, and another to take its place" she says, rubbing my ear again. "Religious loons, living in the foothills… nothing's ever easy, Max."

Like Aldous always told you – you can't win them all.

"… Can't win them all, girl. Right, Aldous? Because it would be boring if you did. It's funny… as much as the old man loved telling me that, he still has to be right. Even now. Well, maybe getting help from the Dalish will be easy…" Mistress shakes her head, groaning at the thought.

I'm sure it will! Think about it – they've been living and surviving without help for centuries. You really think they'll have some hundred-year old problem we need to fix?!

Marjolaine's a dead end in this story, so I decided to play with her getting mocked and outplayed as a final humiliation. Hopefully it's not too Sue-ish. I don't know where the Baxter idea came from, I just sat down and thought 'what kind of kid would Max try to recruit? ... A butcher's boy?' and it typed itself out.

The usual thanks to everyone reading and sticking with my lore-tampering. Melsyande for the review.