Moonpriestess30: Yeah it went boom. I've still not even gotten to the carta piece in my 20plus chapters that I'm ahead.
Judy: Aha! A different word! I hope it means it was just as good!
Chapter 65 - Hiding in plain sight
Isabela charged into the room and knocked the air out of Makatza with her hug. 'Oh maker, I'm glad you're okay! We caught the tail end of the storm and then Varric and I heard some really disturbing rumours and then you weren't at Fenris' or the Estate and I got so worried-'
'Izzy, Izzy, calm down, you need to breathe, I'm okay, honestly I'm fine,' she says softly as she attempts to wriggle free. She can't breathe through Isabela's bosom and has to resort to pinching her sharply on the side of the boob in order to get her to let her go.
'Ow! Bitch!' Isabela snaps as she jolts away.
'I'm fine, you on the other hand have a nasty scratch on your arm,' Katza says with a frown. Her mana was replenishing but not fast enough, she looked around and saw that Garrett had a lyrium potion. That would work, she nipped it out his belt and broke the wax seal.
'Are you sure you should be drinking that?' Hawke says simply making her raise her brow in inquiry. 'Well, you don't have like a pool of mana do you? So if you drink replenishment what are you gonna do? I mean, don't want any windows to be broken,' he teases. 'I don't fancy getting turned to dust if you get surprised by something.'
'Heal you?' Makatza states simply pointing to several bruises and cuts on his face. 'Heal Izzy? Heal myself?' She says holding up her hand with her noticeably swollen fingers, Fenris frowns and mutters to himself but she ignores him knowing what he's complaining about. 'I used most of mine shifting and now I'm slowly siphoning out of the air and stuff but it's not quite fast enough,' she felt that her explanation didn't really go down well.
'So you have an amount that you just generally carry around?' Garrett asks as he becomes intrigued, they hadn't really gone into the specifics of her mana. He knew that she had some mana with her at all times, like all mages.
'Uh, sort of. So I have like a base amount but every time I drain it I can hold more the next time, although I do constantly use my mana and so my capacity is always growing-' she says without thinking. Makatza looked around at the others who had concerned expressions on their faces.
Varric clears his throat, 'so you're telling me that you use your mana all the time and the amount that you can carry grows constantly?'
Makatza looks embarrassed and slightly worried, 'yes,' she says slowly. 'I don't know the ins and outs just what I feel... also I'm getting better at siphoning from around me so it regains faster,' she adds. She becomes a little worried that they might start to think she was really dangerous so she stops talking, 'I'm still just me, the same I've always been.'
'What are you constantly using mana on?' Isabela asks as she looks at her best friend wondering what she would need to be using magic on, 'or is it kinda accidental?'
Makatza goes a little pink, 'um, on things... constantly isn't the word to use really I mean, most of the time. It's nothing that bothers anyone else, just personal stuff,' she mumbles as she fiddles with the lyrium bottle, she avoided looking at Fenris as she didn't want him to be targeted with questions. Her choice to heal him with mana when he was around was a personal decision and she didn't want the others chipping in with their opinion. 'I don't wanna talk about this any more,' she says simply as she takes a large gulp of the lyrium potion, she glitters blue for a couple of seconds and then summons her mana to heal Isabela, Varric and Garrett. She concentrates on her hand and it heals fast, with a sigh she closes her fingers and clears her throat, 'I'm... I'm.. gonna go get a drink,' she mumbles as she leaves with her head down.
Varric looks at the others, 'did we say something?' Garrett looks at Isabela who bit her lip in regret. Varric sighs and grabs a cigar out a of his case twirling it in his fingers before snipping the end off.
Fenris stands up having removed the rest of his armour and passed them pausing at the door, 'you made her feel like she was dangerous,' he states. 'She worries that she might hurt anyone of you and doubting her capabilities to control herself makes her feel like she is unnatural,' Fenris was being blunt and didn't really like telling them what she had told him in private but he was angry at them. 'Next time think before you speak or assume something,' he snaps as he leaves the room.
'Did we really do that?' Isabela asked.
'We were kinda probing her about her mana, it's just so different... she must have been thinking about it recently and we've kinda confirmed fears. It's nice to see that Fenris isn't scared of her though,' Garrett sighs motioning Varric to give him a cigar. The rogue flicks it over and he snips off the end before lighting it with a small flame. 'Shit! It's bad enough that the Carta after her, we've just been total dicks when she was trying to help us.'
'What are we going to do about the Carta?' Isabela asks taking the cigar from Hawke and stealing it.
Garrett swears and simply takes another that Varric passes to him, 'well we've got to discuss it with Katza but I don't think she should go to that ball,' he sighs. 'It's just too dangerous.'
'Well you're telling your mother, I do not want to be around for that conversation,' Isabela shuddered as she sat down and grabbed the half bottle of rum that Katza and Fenris had left. 'I feel like a right cow,' she sighs as she takes a mouthful of smoke and savours the taste before letting it billow out. Hawke nods as he takes the bottle and takes a hefty sip before giving it back to her. They sit in silence for a bit before he speaks.
'I know we're contemplating what utter buggers we are but I gotta say, Isabela, watching you smoke a cigar is really attractive,' he says making her smile for a brief second. 'She'll come back when she's ready and then we can apologise in person,' he says softly. Varric nods and pulls out a pack of cards for them to distract themselves until that moment.
-x-
Katza wandered up from the bar after getting a room for the night, she wandered down the corridor and let herself in before sighing heavily, 'great...everyone's worried I'm going to vaporize them.' Am I really that strange? I mean I have almost a wolf spirit residing in me, I can siphon mana from literally anything living and my mana remembers things... fuck, I'm a god damn mess. No wonder the Imperium want me, no wonder father and mother tried so hard to keep me safe... if I had stayed here and grew up here my mana would be ridiculous. I mean it's barely been over a year and I'm powerful enough already. I wonder if there's a way to stop my growth... she kept thinking these things as she opened the balcony doors. She hated the height but she wanted to see the sea, feel the breeze and the smell of salt on the air. She sat down and looked over the docks of Kirkwall, the Hanged Man's attempt at a safety railing consisted of a pole on each corner and a plank hammered between them. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply trying to lose herself in the scents that rode the wind.
Fenris asked for Makatza at the bar and was sent up to the room she had rented, he wasn't pleased with their friends and understood why she wanted a bit of space but he couldn't leave her. He opened the door slowly and saw that she was sitting on the balcony with her back against the wall, her knees pulled up to her chest and resting her head on her arms. He smiles a little before going over and crouching next to her, 'Katza?'
'Am I really that much of a concern?' She asks him not opening her eyes but catching his scent, she smiles a little at the sound of his voice. She sighs and turns her head away from him and her next words are choked with emotion, 'I know what I do is strange but I can't stop it. I don't want to be powerful or put people at risk, I just want to be normal,' she mumbles. Fenris could tell that she was crying and she didn't want him to see. He gently strokes her shoulder feeling no pain, she was healing him again even if she didn't realise.
'Katza, I know how you feel,' he says softly making her look at him. 'There is no one else like me. I am utterly unique and that makes me dangerous. I am powerful and I cannot control my brands at times, what I do is strange and I do not want to hurt those I care about either. I too wish to be normal,' he admits. 'We are...what we are.'
She sniffs and nods, 'they treat you badly at times, well, Anders does... and Seb... because of me,' she sighs as she shuffles over for him to sit down next to her.
'I would feel the same if you had feelings for the Prince, I cannot begrudge him his hostility towards me,' Fenris says as he pulls her closer and she moves into his lap leaning against his chest. 'When it comes to the abomi- Anders,' he corrects himself, 'he sees me as an animal. I do not care what he thinks though I admit looking back on my past behaviour I have been reckless and brutal... before I knew that I was …. ill,' he says stiffly.
'I still love you, regardless,' Makatza says as she curls into him, his heart flutters with her words as she moves against him. He had only heard it from her the night before for the first time and they hadn't lost their importance. 'Being ill doesn't mean you're worth anything less.'
'You need not reassure me about these sorts of things, you do it whenever I have doubts,' he says with an amused smile. She shushes him and shakes her head in defiance, Fenris kisses the top of her head as he feels a pulse of mana soothe his scars, 'are you purposely healing me?' He chuckles, the wave was a little stronger than usual as in he noticed it.
Makatza bit her thumbnail, 'that lyrium potion was stronger than I thought. I'm at capacity even though I healed everyone. I think that lyrium is really potent and I need to be careful around it, if I had finished the whole bottle I think I would heal everyone in Kirkwall,' she mumbles. 'I kinda get that people are worried about my control.'
'They should believe in you like you believe in them,' he replies softly as he holds her tightly. 'If I can trust you with no doubts, they should have no excuse.' Makatza smiles and thanks him quietly as she nuzzles into his neck as she tightens her grip on him.
They watched the clouds for a while and listened to the sounds of the city before a gust of wind winds around them and she shivers, Fenris was a decent radiator but they were outside and it was getting very bitter. 'I think we should probably show our faces or Isabela will think we're doing something naughty and try to peek through the door,' she says to make herself feel better.
Fenris lifts her up and then gets up, kissing her gently, 'I will not lie and say I have not thought about it,' he teases lightly. 'Later on maybe,' Fenris says pulling her close.
She wraps her arms around his shoulders, 'it would make me feel better,' she giggles as she kisses him and runs a hand through his hair. 'I don't mind taking our time to go back if you don't,' Makatza smiles, she was being a little selfish; she should go back and discuss with her friends and family about the whole Carta situation but she wanted to be elsewhere right now. Fenris grins and picks her up making her giggle as he puts her on the bed and then climbs on and holds himself over her.
'As far as I am concerned they can all-' She leans forward and kisses him deeply making him lose his train of thought as other emotions and desires swamp his mind.
'You were saying?' She teases through the kiss as she pulls him even closer.
Fenris chuckles and loses his hands in her hair as he returns her kiss, 'no idea,' he shrugs a shoulder. 'I know what I wish to do now,' he adds as he bites her bottom lip making her moan lightly and dig her nails into his shoulders. A little time passed while they sated their need for each other before they heard a knock on the door, Makatza sat up and frowned, annoyed to be disturbed. She looked down at her lover who shrugged his shoulders, he wasn't happy about the interruption but they could just ignore it.
'Katza, can we talk?' Garrett said.
'Later!' She shouts at the door feeling Fenris' hand trail up her spine as he waited for her to come back to him. 'It's like he's got a fucking radar, bloody determined to interrupt,' she hisses as she rubs her eyes in annoyance, flicking a strand of hair over her shoulder she suddenly felt the cold on her bare skin from the window. Garrett continued to talk and she rolled her eyes as she grabbed the blanket to cover herself, going to the door she opened it a crack and glared at him. 'I am busy!' She scowled.
'We wanted to apologise-'
'Apology accepted!' She said simply shutting the door and groaning as she heard him knock again, she contemplated just ignoring him but he knocked again harder, again and again. She yanked it open a bit and sent him a look, 'what?!' She asks. 'What is it now? Is it really that important?'
Garrett looked a little smug, 'just wanna know how long you've been going at it as I have this bet with Varric-'
'Oh, fuck off!' Makatza snapped as she slammed the door and summoned her mana to shove the wardrobe in front of it so that it couldn't be opened, that's one way to use some up, she thought with a giggle. She turned back to Fenris who was watching her with amusement, 'so...where were we?' She grins as she lets her blanket fall to the ground. 'You were saying something about pleasing me?' She teases as she comes back to bed and instantly feeling the warmth from his body covering her.
'Until you moan my name in pleasure,' he promises.
