Past-time
Naishe's husband, lord of tact, had been spending an increasing amount of time with the best that Antiva City's red lantern district had to offer. He would invite them in groups in the evenings and Naishe would see them trickle out of the house the next day. Sometimes they were for Luis and his cronies, sometimes just for him. Naishe noticed that there tended to be a lot of tall slender elven men and curvy dark-skinned women. The Rivaini didn't care. Luis could sleep with whomever he liked. The more time he was occupied, the more time Naishe had for Zevran. Their activities also exceeded the vows Luis and Naishe had sworn a long time ago.
Very occasionally, Luis would go to Naishe for his desires to be sated. She always put in as little effort as possible. Never making any noise except to tsk when she felt he had been taking too long. It wasn't something she felt she could fight. A necessary evil. She let him have his way, a grunting uncomfortable affair, but not one that lasted very long. It only tended to happen once every few weeks now.
As promised, Naishe's lessons with Thir had ended. Luis remarked on how 'proper' she sounded. Whilst it was irritating coming from Luis, she didn't really mind the change. It felt like she was freeing herself from everything that had gone wrong in her life. All the choices she hadn't had in Rivain; now she could start afresh.
Zevran had been kind enough to tell her that her blade skills were almost amateurish.
Naishe slapped the back of his head, "Shut up."
The elf chuckled, tossed his golden hair out of his face, and assumed a fighting stance. "Okay beautiful. Take me down."
Naishe raised her knives and adopted the same stance. They circled each other in the courtyard of the estate. Naishe focussed on Zevran's right shoulder and she swiped to the left. Zevran dodged easily. She lunged forward again at his neck and heard the clang of metal on metal.
The assassin was leaning backwards to block her attack, so Naishe swept her foot underneath his feet to unbalance him. Zevran was too quick for her and jumped over her feet. He pretended to yawn and quickly side-stepped another jab. Naishe launched herself into the air at him. Zevran had taught her a jump-and-spin to throw all her weight on the attacker. He brought his knives up just in time to form an X over his face. The impact knocked him backwards, but Zevran recovered quickly and went on the offensive. He rolled forwards and brought his foot upwards into her stomach.
Naishe staggered backwards, winded. The Antivan sprung up and grabbed Naishe's wrist, twisting one of her daggers out of her grip and tossing it to the side. Naishe, rattled, grabbed the front of Zevran's shirt and slammed her forehead into his. It wasn't something Zevran had taught her; back alley brawls in Rivain were to thank. Zevran was caught off guard and heavily dazed. Naishe was also a little stunned and swiped clumsily with her remaining weapon.
"Shit…" groaned Zevran.
Naishe rallied and twisted the elf's arm behind his back.
It managed to make him wince, but Zevran hooked his foot around Naishe's ankle and kicked forward. She slipped backwards and hit the ground with a thud. Zevran span around and rested a knee on Naishe's chest.
He held a knife to her throat and said, "I w-"
The pinned Rivaini grabbed hold of Zevran's crotch and squeezed hard. Zevran yelped but Naishe just kept squeezing, an amused glint in her eye. He jerked backwards and Naishe brought her other fist into his cheek. It wasn't a very strong punch, but it managed to throw Zevran off her enough that she could scramble to her feet and kick dust in his face. This time, Naishe pretended to yawn.
The assassin was not about to be beaten so easily. He flipped from his back onto his feet and performed an aggressive dual sweep with his daggers. He missed Naishe by inches. A flurry of knife attacks flew at her. All the while, Naishe was doing her best to dodge and duck her way out of the elf's advances. He was backing her into the corner of the courtyard.
Zevran threw something at the ground and became encircled in a cloud of smoke. He was soon entirely shrouded, leaving a coughing Naishe clueless to his whereabouts.
The smoke cleared and Naishe felt a blade press against her neck.
A low voice tutted in her ear, "I thought you had more in you."
Naishe rolled her eyes, "Say that again and I'll pull out all that pretty hair you love so much."
Zevran sniggered and returned his knives to their scabbards.
Naishe turned and watched him pick some dust out of his eye.
"You didn't play fair."
She raised an eyebrow, "Since when was knife fighting about playing fair?"
"Hardly any of what you did could be considered knife fighting, tesoro…"
Naishe shrugged. "The world doesn't obey the rules."
"Spoken like a true philosopher," Zevran said sarcastically.
The Rivaini went to gather her lost weapon but Zevran stopped her.
"Aren't you forgetting something?"
Naishe faced him again, "Here?"
He nodded. "I won. You know the rules."
Naishe made a point of rolling her eyes again as she pulled the shirt she was wearing over her head. She kicked off her shoes and threw the trousers she had 'borrowed' from Luis at Zevran's feet.
They fucked against the wall leaving Naishe with scrapes and bruises across her back. They had given up on being careful a long time ago.
"Zevran was…a good teacher?"
"He liked to think so. But for the love of Andraste's perky little nipples, don't write that, or if you do at least change his name. I'll never hear the end of it otherwise."
"Big ego?"
"Among other things…" Isabela smirked.
I cleared my throat awkwardly. "So…you reckon you could beat him in a fight now?"
She snorted, "An owl in a body cast could beat Zev. Leave that in."
After Zevran had left, Naishe asked one of the maids to draw her a bath so she could clean the dust from her skin and hair. She asked the maid whether she knew anything of Clarissa's whereabouts. She'd been doing it nearly every day. Whilst Naishe had taken on Thir's advice to move on, she couldn't wipe the woman from her mind.
The maid said she didn't know anything. Naishe thanked her for the bath and soaked in it a while, thinking. Luis might know. And even if he didn't, he surely had the resources to find out.
She slipped on a silk dressing gown and went to his bedroom. She knocked on the door, figuring if she fucked him, he might be more forthcoming with the information she needed. There was no answer, but Naishe could hear murmuring from the other side. She opened the door. If he were with another whore, she didn't mind interrupting them. As it happened, she was wrong.
Luis was stood with his back to door, his head tilted to the side. Naishe could see his reflection in the window. His face was nothing but bliss. His eyes were shut.
Naishe was shocked to see none another than Hamaal on his knees, her husband's cock in his mouth. The Rivaini cleared her throat loudly.
Luis' eyes shot open and he span around, bewildered.
"Am I interrupting?"
He hastily did up his trousers.
Hamaal had turned as red as a tomato and was staring at the floor.
"What the-? Shouldn't you be-?" Luis blustered.
Naishe feigned innocence. "I was just coming to see my wonderful loving husband."
Luis smoothed his hair and huffed. His embarrassment was slowly turning into anger. "What do you want?" he said shortly.
"Did I mention loyal?" Naishe wanted to make him suffer for as long as possible. Hypocrisy be damned.
The Antivan huffed again, making his huge stomach wobble. "What do you want?"
"Maybe I should come back when he's finished you off?" She knew she was letting herself get carried away. She felt bad for Hamaal. The chance of this being an arrangement of mutual affections was slim at best.
"Enough!" Luis shouted. "Either tell me why you came in here or get out."
No 'princess' this time.
"I want to know where you sent Clarissa. I want to…" Naishe's voice faltered a little, "…write to her."
This clearly wasn't what Luis was expecting. His anger temporarily changed to confusion. "You want to write to the servant girl?"
Naishe nodded, "You must have sent her somewhere." She let remnants of hope colour her voice.
"I told her to leave. I didn't send her anywhere." Luis shrugged, disinterested by the request. "She could be anywhere."
Naishe walked forward. "But surely you have some way of finding her? You have messengers. Friends in other cities. She's probably heading to the Free-"
"And how would that benefit me?" He shook his head, dismissing the idea entirely. "Why do you want to contact her?"
"She…" Naishe hoped Luis would see the forlorn expression as endearing rather than pathetic, "She was my friend. I miss her."
Apparently, the latter. "Make new friends." Luis gestured at the door for her to leave.
Naishe glared at him, "And how am I supposed to do that when you barely let me go outside alone?"
"I introduce you to people all the time."
"You introduce me to your friends. Creepy old farts who'd sooner see me naked than have a conversation." Anger was growing inside Naishe now. This was so typical of him. The one thing she actually wanted. The one person in Luis' house that she liked. And he wouldn't let her. She felt like a kid being denied sweets, and hated him for making her feel that way.
"Beggars can't be choosers," he snapped, making Hamaal jump.
"I'm not a fucking beggar," Naishe growled. She knew that was exactly how Luis saw her. How noble he was to rescue her from the poverty of her former life. The dashing Antivan noble who could have chosen any woman seeing the beauty in a lucky Rivaini peasant.
Luis' voice grew louder, "Then why do you come here asking for favours? Why can't you do anything yourself?"
Was he serious? "How am I supposed to find her myself? When I'm not living under house arrest I'm not allowed to set foot outside the city." Naishe's voice was rising as well.
Her husband gave her a very cruel smile and said, "I wish you would use this much energy in bed."
Naishe couldn't believe her ears, "You're not even worth the breath..."
The Antivan actually had the audacity to laugh. "Maybe if you did I'd be more inclined to consider your request. A pity…"
It was just as well Naishe didn't have knives in her hands any more. Lives would have been lost. She gritted her teeth and said, "If you just want some girl to lay there with her legs open, buy one."
"I bought you."
That shut her up. Luis might as well have slapped her across the face.
Before she could protest any more, Luis shoved her out of his bedroom and slammed the door in her face.
Naishe was so angry that her nails were cutting into her palms. Blood dripped onto the floor.
The next day, Naishe descended the stairs to see Luis saddling up his horse. He was joined by a few of his guards.
He must have sensed her presence, because without looking he said, "I'm leaving for Ferelden this afternoon. I'll return in a fortnight."
"You're going to Ferelden?"
"Yes." Luis gave her a contemptuous glance, "I would've asked you to accompany me, but I couldn't tolerate any more of your whining. A shame really. You could have met some Orlesian royalty."
Naishe stared at him incredulously.
Luis snapped his fingers and a guard immediately grabbed her arm and took her back to her room.
Naishe was seething.
True to his word, her husband left soon after lunch for Ferelden. Whilst he was away, he had instructed his house guards to keep a watchful eye on Naishe. She couldn't step outside without one of them seeing. Couldn't go into the city without company. They claimed it was for her 'protection' but Naishe knew it was just Luis' way of ensuring she didn't cause trouble.
Luis' plan almost worked. Whilst her movements outside were restricted, Naishe had a lot more freedom inside the mansion. She moved the furniture into bizarre places and positions in several rooms. The dining room, the ballroom, the parlour, Luis's bedroom. She didn't touch the servants' quarters; they had done nothing to wrong her. Only he deserved punishment. She overturned cabinets and hung pieces of Luis' clothing from various chandeliers. She piled books from the library on top of each other to form a big middle finger by the entrance. All of the paintings in his bedroom were replaced by crudely drawn images of knights fucking dragons and women in cages. She painted hundreds of eyes onto his mirror and left pieces of meat in his study for flies to gather. She bought a mabari and let it trample mud everywhere the day before Luis was due to return, asking the servants not to clean anything up.
When Luis returned and was greeting by an obscene hand gesture, paw prints and his mattress on top of the stable roof, he headed straight for Naishe's bedroom.
She was lounging on her bed, flicking through a book on magic and arcana.
"What the fuck have you done to my home?!"
She held out a finger whilst she dog-eared one of the pages, then smiled sweetly back at him. "Darling. You're home. How was your trip?"
He stormed into the room, "There is a dog loose in my home. My piano is in the bath. My wine has been replaced by radishes. There is lard in my shoes. The horses nearly broke all the plates because you lined the stables with fucking crockery!"
Naishe merely blinked.
"What do you have to say for yourself!?"
The Rivaini stretched lazily and sat up a little. "I'd say this is what happens when a girl gets bored…You know. Stuck inside. Nothing to do…"
"This is unacceptable." He pointed a fat finger in her face, "If you ever do anything like this again I'll make you regr-"
"Fascinating." Naishe got off the bed and swaggered over to the door. She looked at Luis expectantly, "Now would you mind? I was in the middle of something."
Something snapped in Luis's head because he charged forward and bundled her against the wall.
Spittle and loud pants hit Naishe's face. She was alarmed. Luis was never this violent with her. She stared him down, daring him to act.
He seemed to calm himself quickly. He let go of Naishe and took a few steps back. "You'll miss dinner tonight," and with that, he left.
He left the room so quickly that the end of Naishe'd dress caught on the door as it slammed. She heard a loud rip and saw that it had torn all the way up to her waist.
On the other side of the wall, Luis locked her bedroom door.
A barking dog could be heard downstairs.