The Planning Session

CONTENT:
Rating: Mature
Flavor: Adventure/Drama
Language: yes
Violence: no
Nudity: no
Sex: no
Other: none

Author's Notes:

All right, chapter-long party banter! I had this stuck on the end of the previous chapter, but... um... I had to split it, for some reason. I'm sure it was a good one.

Recap:

"Anora's handmaid is here," Wynne said urgently. "Something's wrong."

"Anora?" Zevran wracked his off-balance brain. "She's like the queen or something?"

Wynne gave a huff of strained annoyance, and dragged him into the dining hall.

The Planning Session

==#==

"Zevran and I," Bannon was saying, "will go in from the Alienage side and through the servants' entrance. No one will suspect a couple of elven servants."

"You won't have any armor or weapons," Alistair protested.

"We'll put them in a crate and carry it with us." Bannon pointed a finger at the dubious Templar. "No one ever stops an elf carrying a box."

"The two of you can't go in there alone."

"Why not? Look, I know the layout of the estate. I've been there before."

Leliana said, "You were there under the old arl. We don't know - Howe may have brought all his own servants. Or with the plague and the Purge, perhaps he has no elven servants there at all. Then you would be highly noticeable."

"We could sneak in under cover of darkness," Zevran said. "Who are we trying to kill?"

"No one!" the group chorused.

Bannon and Leliana sat at one side of the table, across from a porcelain-skinned, dark-haired woman. Eamon sat at the head of the table, while Alistair and Teagan stood behind the woman. Sten and Shale loomed near the doorway, and at the opposite wall lurked Morrigan.

"What's going on?" Wynne asked. She moved to sit at the table as well, while Zevran preferred to stand.

Alistair said, "This is Erlina." He indicated the nervous woman. "She's one of Anora's Ladies, who Anora sent to get help because Howe is keeping her prisoner."

"Supposedly," Bannon added.

"Do you think everything is a trap?" Alistair complained.

"That's why I'm still alive," Bannon shot back.

"I don't know what else to do to convince you," Erlina cried.

Leliana said to Bannon, "What if I accompany you? As a kitchen wench, perhaps?"

"I must go, too," the Lady insisted.

"Can't I go as one of Howe's guards?" Alistair asked.

"No," said Leliana, Bannon, and Arl Eamon.

The Denerim elf added, "Alistair, if this is a trap, it's meant for you. Once Howe gets you inside his estate, you're through. What did I tell you about traps? Don't go into them."

"But you are!" the Chantry boy whined. "Why do any of us have to go?"

Eamon said, "We can't risk doing nothing. If we help Anora... she'd be a powerful ally."

"Why don't Zevran and I," Bannon said, "go in the back, while the Chantry pays a visit through the front gate? Leliana and Erlina can pose as Sisters. Wynne could, too," he added, nodding to the mage. "You'll keep them distracted, and if things get hairy, you'll be there to back us up."

Morrigan said, "I could go, as well."

Leliana twisted in her seat. "You as a Chantry nun? I'd love to see that."

"Deception isn't difficult."

"Don't the Sisters need a guard?" Alistair tried.

"No!"

Bannon rubbed his face. "Alistair, if you want to help, have a parade."

"Do what now?"

"Yeah! March down to the market and give a speech. That will distract Howe and all his guards."

"Sp-Sp-Spu-Spubbuh- SPEECH!?" The Templar's face went pale. "I'll need Leliana for that!"

"We need her for the Chantry ruse."

Leliana tapped her chin in thought. "A marketplace speech could rally support for you, Alistair."

"Or- make everybody realize that I'm a babbling idiot. Shut up, Morrigan."

"I get tired of stating the obvious, anyway."

"Take Sten and Shale, that will impress people, and keep you safe if Howe tries anything," Bannon said. "And Oghren," he added quickly.

"Look, we have our guards," Alistair said, gesturing to Teagan. "Why don't we all have a parade and storm Howe's gates?"

Teagan said, "We can't attack another arl. The whole civil war will start up again, and we'd have bloodshed in the streets."

"We need stealth and subtlety," Bannon said. "Which leads us back to just me and Zevran with a box."

Everybody groaned.

"I must go with you," Erlina insisted.

To which Bannon replied, "You're not going. The guards would surely recognize you."

"But I must! Queen Anora won't know Howe didn't send you as some sort of trick."

"Look, if we get in there, and she suddenly decides not to be rescued..." Bannon scowled.

Leliana leaned forward towards the woman. "Don't worry, I will fashion a disguise for you. A bit of powder for your hair, some stage makeup, and a bit of stoop to your spine - even your own parents wouldn't recognize you."

Erlina nodded. "Then I will be another servant."

"With a guard," Alistair added.

"We can't! The whole point of a small team is to be unobtrusive," Bannon said. "Not a whole big crowd."

"You can't all go in there unarmed!"

Zevran said, "Let us take Sten. Perhaps," he added, forestalling any arguments, "we are from Howe's late unlamented slavers with a message from Tevinter. Sten is exotic - and imposing - enough to get us through."

Bannon mused on that. "That's a good idea. Sten, if people ask, can you tell them you're from Tevinter with an important delivery for Howe?"

"The Qun is against deception."

The elf frowned. "This is military strategy."

"It is not my way."

"Your way sucks," Bannon muttered in frustration.

"The Qun is wise in all things! It is the way things should be."

Bannon threw his hands up. "When are you going to realize that reality doesn't follow neat little rules, and people don't fit into neat little boxes? The world is chaos, and you need to be flexible and adapt to every situation."

"The qunari and their ways are superior to your... chaos," the giant growled.

"Really? Because as a warrior, you can't even cook or clean or mend. If some plague came and wiped out all the qunari cooks, you'd all starve to death!"

"That is an oversimplification. The Tamassrans assign a life path to each individual, as best suits him."

Leliana tried to intercede, but Bannon ignored her signal to stop. "I get that a big burly kid would make a good warrior. But what if he wants to be a bard, instead? Maybe he can't be as good as a kid with a naturally sweet voice and dexterous fingers, but at least he'd be happier doing what he truly wants, not just what he'd be best at. And that bard might be happier being a farmer."

"Happy?"

"Yeah, you know, happiness?" Bannon eyed him. "After food, shelter, and a job to make sure you have money to keep those things, it's the greatest driving force in a person's life!"

Zevran snorted. "The qunari do not even know how to love and mate until their superiors tell them when and how to do it."

Sten frowned, his brow creased deeply beneath his horns.

Finally, Leliana managed a word. "Now is not the time for religious debate."

"I will do it," said Shale from the corner.

"I don't know, Shale," Bannon said.

"Why not? Am I not as exotic and imposing as The Horned One? Even moreso, I should think."

"Yes, but the problem is, you're unique. Everybody knows you're with the Wardens."

Shale said, "I will lie to these fools, and if they don't believe me, I will simply squish them."

"That's a good idea, Shale, but the opposite of what 'stealth' means. If a bunch of guards wind up dead, we'll just end up with more guards coming after us."

"I will squish them all."

"That's... fine for you," Bannon allowed. "But not so much for those of us who are not indestructible."

"I'll go," Oghren said next. "What, didja forget I was here? Blasted giant furniture."

Zevran stood up on tiptoes, and yes, now he saw that the pushed-out chair wasn't empty. "Do they have dwarves in Tevinter?" he asked.

"I dunno," Bannon said. "But who'd want to argue with him? Dwarves can be... stubborn."

"Heh," Oghren agreed.

"All right, do we all know the plan?"

Everyone started talking at once.

==X==