Chapter 18: Enter the Arishok
Long ago, the Ashkaari lived in a great city by the sea. Wealth and prosperity shone upon the city like sunlight, and still its people grumbled in discontent. The Ashkaari walked the streets of his home and saw that all around him were the signs of genius: triumphs of architecture, artistic masterpieces, the palaces of wealthy merchants, libraries, and concert halls. But he also saw signs of misery: the poor, sick, lost, frightened, and the hopeless. And the Ashkaari asked himself, "How can one people be both wise and ignorant, great and ruined, triumphant and despairing?"
So the Ashkaari left the land of his birth, seeking out other cities and nations, looking for a people who had found wisdom enough to end hopelessness and despair. He wandered for many years through empires filled with palaces and gardens, but in every nation of the wise, the great, the mighty, he found the forgotten, the abandoned, and the poor. Finally, he came to a vast desert, a wasteland of bare rock clawing at the empty sky, where he took shelter in the shadow of a towering rock, and resolved to meditate until he found his answer or perished.
Many days passed, until one night, as he gazed out from the shadow of the rocks, he saw the lifeless desert awaken. A hundred thousand locusts hatched from the barren ground, and as one, they turned south, a single wave of moving earth. The Ashkaari rose and followed in their wake: a path of devastation miles wide, the once verdant land turned to waste. And the Ashkaari's eyes were opened.
Existence is a choice.
There is no chaos in the world, only complexity.
Knowledge of the complex is wisdom.
From wisdom of the world comes wisdom of the self.
Mastery of the self is mastery of the world. Loss of the self is the source of suffering.
Suffering is a choice, and we can refuse it.
It is in our own power to create the world, or destroy it.
And the Ashkaari went forth to his people.—An excerpt from The Qun, Canto 1
The Hanged Man
It was a typical at the Hanged Man, someone was being cheated out of coin, someone was getting drunk and fights were breaking out every minute. Varric was in his room going over some information from his contacts, he could have handle this at his family's estate but the dwarf liked the atmosphere of the tavern as it helped him think. Suddenly he heard a knock at his door, and instantly knew who it was after all no one had manners at the Hanged Man. "Sunshine! Its good see you"
"It's good to see you too" Bethany said. "Varric, I know this seems sudden but you know a lot of people in Kirkwall, right?"
"Yeah, comes with the territory of being in the Merchant's Guild, why?" Bethany handed the dwarf the bloody letter she found at the docks. She then told him the entire story of what happened when they were trying to find Feynriel. Varric sighed. "Shit…Thrask is not going to like this"
"That's the Templar that was looking for the boy, what does he have to with Olivia?"
"Olivia is Thrask's daughter" Bethany looked shocked, anyone that was caught hiding a mage from the Templars was given severe punishments. For a Templar the punishment was even more severe, they could be stripped of the title and possibly ex-communicated from the Chantry. "Templars having mage children or even relations with a mage is more common than the Chantry like to believe" Varric said. "Thrask is more sympathetic to the plight of mages than others in his order; to him mages were not the monsters society makes them out to be but people that had a bad lot in life"
"You seem to know Thrask very well"
"He's an old drinking buddy and he knows I'm discrete with information which is why Thrask trusted me with his secret" the dwarf said. "Don't worry about it, Sunshine; I'll let him know"
"Thank you, Varric…I know if it was me, I would want my family to know of my fate"
Hightown-Fenris' Mansion
Ericks was in study watching the fire place while drinking wine from Tevinter, which was nice but too rich for his taste. Despite using his former master's mansion as his place of residence, Fenris did nothing with the place as it was dusty and full of cobwebs. Perhaps Fenris wanted it that way, letting Danarius's Kirkwall mansion fall and decay as a way to spite the magister despite him not being here. Fenris came up from the cellar with a large bottle of Antivan wine.
"Agreggio Pavali…there are six bottles in the cellar" Fenris said. "Danarius used to have me pour it for his guests. My appearance intimidated them, he said, which he enjoyed"
"Such a charming host" Ericks said dryly. "Makes me wonder what he does for dessert"
"'Nothing like a bit of fear with your wine' Danarius used to say" The elf then gripped the bottle and took a swig from it. All of the sudden, Fenris threw the wine bottle against the wall shattering it and watched as the wine flowed on the walls. Fenris gave a small satisfied grunt. "It's good I can still take pleasure in the small things"
"A damn waste, that's what it is" Ericks said. "I was looking forward to that bottle"
The elf crossed his arms. "There's more if you're really interested"
"And deny you the chance to redecorate the walls? Perish the thought" Fenris gave a small laugh" "So the elf can laugh, someone alert the Grand Cleric we have a miracle on our hands"
The elf gave solemn sigh. "I've wanted to leave my past behind me, but it won't stay there" Fenris then looked at Ericks. "Tell me, have you never wanted to return to Ferelden?"
"Return to what? Lothering was destroyed by the darkspawn"
"The Blight is over. You could rebuild what you lost. Do you truly not want to?"
"My ma came from Kirkwall, our heritage is here" Fenris was in deep thought, to have a place one could put down roots even if the original place was gone. It sounded…nice, the elf was envious he wished he could have that option. "You know if you're looking for a life, Kirkwall's not a bad place to start" he said. "I mean once you get past what shithole this place is"
"I could see myself staying…for the right reasons" Fenris said. "I should thank you for helping me with the hunters. Had I known Anso would find me a man so capable, I might have asked to look sooner"
"Happy to help" Ericks said. He then started to get up. "Now if you excuse me, I have a date with some qunari and don't want to be late"
Fenris raised a brow. "Qunari?"
The rogue sighed. "Long story, I'm just hoping to get paid for this"
"Hmm, if you're dealing with qunari perhaps you should take me along" Ericks tilted his head curiously.
The Hanged Man
A lone Templar came into the tavern, weary from his work. He came to the bar and ordered a tall glass of ale to work off the stress. To the Templar's luck, the ale was cold for once…a pleasant surprise for a trying day. "Hard day Templaring, Thrask?" Varric asked coming up to the bar.
Thrask sighed. "My search has gone cold, we have found neither hide nor hair of a young lad" he said. "I can only think he has fallen victim to demons or slavers, I went to the boy's mother but she seemed eerily calm about never seeing her son again…hmm, perhaps the poor woman is going through some denial"
"Ashlen, I…got some bad news" the dwarf said.
Thrask stopped drinking and looked at Varric. "You used my first name, it must be terrible news"
"The city guards stopped some slavers recently, they were selling people to Tevinters" he said. "They found this letter…it's from Olivia" Thrask dropped his drink and took the bloodied letter into his hand.
Father,
I know the sacrifices you've made to conceal my secret, but I am a child no longer. I cannot burden you my whole life, lest my secret destroy us both. I must live my own life as a woman... and as a mage. It is oddly freeing to write the word.
Farewell, Father. I hope one day you make peace between what you have been taught and what you have seen.
All my love,
Olivia
Tears welled up in his eyes, there was no doubt this was his daughter's handwriting. "No…no…no, my angel, how did she die Varric?" The dwarf was silent. "Please Varric, I must know!"
"They found the body of an abomination in one of the warehouse" the dwarf said. "Your girl is a strong one…for her to take that route; the slavers must have done terrible things to her"
"I should have forced her into the Circle; my own weakness in the face of her pleas is what destroyed her" Thrask sobbed.
"The letter was given to me before the guards reported to the Templars, your secret is safe"
"Thank you, my friend. She is at peace now…I…would not wish to see her name smeared while her ashes are still warm" he said. "Now please, let an old foolish man mourn in peace"
"Of course, you ever need to talk Ashlen, my door's always open" The dwarf left the Templar alone in his sorrow.
The Docks-The Qunari Compound
The Qunari Compound is a walled off section in the center of the Kirkwall Docks. It is here that the Qunari expedition and their leader the Arishok reside. Following a storm which left the Qunari shipwrecked, they were forced to take up lodgings here until a new ship could be sent to return them to Par Vollen. According to the Viscount, it was a gift to the Qunari to "contain them". Ericks and Fenris came up to the qunari guarding the gates. "Let me pass. I have business with the dwarf Javaris and your Arishok"
"The short mouth, yes. Enter, if you must, basra" The guard nodded to the other qunari and the gate was opened. Inside dozens of qunari stood around looking grim; if they were bored they didn't show it. Javaris was in front of the Arishok's throne waiting for Ericks.
"Ah, my right hand arrives! Summon your Arishok, the bargain is done!" Ericks came to his side. "About time you showed, I've been here for hours"
"This better be worth my time, dwarf" Ericks said. "I could be doing other jobs right now"
"It will, just be patient and let me do all the talking" A large qunari man in red armor came walking to his throne; all of the qunari had red paint on their bodies and faces. Apparently the qunari used this paint as a substitute for full armor, as for reason it hardens their body to that of armor but is poisonous to the other races. The Arishok sat on the throne and gave a hard gaze to the men below them.
"Arishokost. Maraas shokra. Anaan esaam Qun" Fenris said. Ericks and Javaris looked at the elf surprised. The qunari were just as surprised.
"The Qun from an elf? The madness of this…place"
"Friend of yours?" Ericks asked.
"Friend of no one"
Javaris cleared his throat. "Yes, well, that said, I am here to report that your hated Tal=Vashoth were felled one and all. Right? Yes, they were" he said. "So, I'm ready to open negotiations for the explosive powder. As we agreed" The Arishok looked at the dwarf and then Ericks and Fenris. His eyes narrowed.
"No"
The dwarf turned his head towards Ericks. "He's not getting it; make your chatty elf say something"
"Ugh…Fenris?"
"Qunari do not abandon a debt, I humbly request clarification from the Arishok"
The large qunari grunted this elf knew of their nature well despite not being one of them. The Arishok was almost impressed. "I have a growing lack of disgust for you" he said. "The dwarf imagined the deal for the gaatlok. He invented a task to prove his worth, when he has none"
"I see, then we have wrongly inserted ourselves in your affairs" the elf said. "Would you have us kill this dwarf to clean the slate?"
Javaris jerked his head to the elf. "Wait, what now?!"
"If you faced Tal-Vashoth, he is not worthy of dying to you. As he was not worthy of dying to them" He then looked at Ericks. "But you…you keep good company" The Arishok said. "Let him live. And leave" There was no coin to be had for this day and from the look of the Arishok and the other qunari, it was not a very good idea to push for an argument.
"You may want to take this opportunity to go" Ericks said.
"But…he has to sell, it's a product" Javaris said. "People want it"
"There is no profit in empowering those not of the Qun" the giant said. "The means of creating the gaatlok is our alone"
"It shall be dispensed only to our enemies, in the traditional manner"
The dwarf's face was red as an apple. "You…are a frustrating people" He then turned to Ericks as he walked away. "And you're fired. Sodding bunch of oxmen and dog lords. The whole lot, breathing smoke. Bah!" Javaris could be heard cursing right out of the gate.
"You will leave as well, human. There's no more coin for you here"
"Obviously" Ericks and Fenris left the compound with nothing lost but not gained. A waste of time for all involved.
Another day, another empty wallet…a typical day for the Hawke luck! Next Time! As always Review and Comment!
