Daughter of Tethras

Disclaimer: Don't own Dragon Age

A/N:

Chapter 29 (Home Free)

The people at Sahrnia were able to find an agent that was watching over the town to send word to Skyhold that Bianca was safe and on her way. They spent the night resting and getting a full, warm meal before heading on their way the following morning.

The agent had offered to escort them back to Skyhold, but Bianca felt the rest of the route would be just fine for the four of them. On the route, Lantos walked in the front while Sandal and Harding were behind, glancing at nearly every space they passed by.

Bianca studied him from behind, trying to figure out what seemed so different about him. The longer she stared, the more she felt someone staring back at her. She glanced over her shoulder and watched as Harding walked up alongside her. "Everything okay, Bianca?" Bianca shrugged and squinted her eyes at Lantos's back.

"Why is he so different?" It wasn't that he was different so much as he was almost the same as he'd been when they first met each other. Lantos hadn't always been abusive. "Aggressive he's almost always been, but I know he wasn't always abusive, and now it's like he's changed."

"People change."

She scoffed amid disbelief and shook her head. "People yes, but Lantos? It's like someone emasculated him." Harding moved her hands over her abdomen and started to laugh.

"No one did that. Threatened, yes." She raised an eyebrow and studied Bianca closely. "I told him if he ever hit me, I would personally cut off his balls while pinning him down with arrows." Her eyes grew wide and she did a double take.

"Impressive." Bianca crossed her arms and looked back at Lantos. "Has he? Has he gotten violent with you or seemed like he was going to hit you?"

"Shockingly, no." Harding's eyelids fell halfway and her lips curved up a tiny bit. "But I think he knows I worry about that. He's been emotionally distant for a while." The woman breathed in deep and her shoulders started to rise. "But I don't think about that much. I stood my ground, laid it all out for him."

"How did the two of you meet?"

Harding made an uncertain groan and turned her eyes to the side. "Well…" Bianca squinted her gaze and studied the woman close as Harding scratched behind her head. "It might seem odd to you, but we met when he was scouting out Haven once. I guess I knew he was looking for you, so I gave him the opportunity to do something else, and we sparred…"

"You sparred with my ex-boyfriend?" Her arms fell to the sides and her eyebrows and lips fell flat. "Are you certain you weren't fighting him?" Harding chuckled and her eyes swept to the right.

"Well it might have started out that way. I think I impressed him because we started exchanging combat tips. One thing led to another and we went out…I was honest with him, told him I knew who he was and what he was doing, and I wanted him to stop. I was firm, I told him I wouldn't tolerate any abuse, and if he got aggressive with me it was over."

Clearly the two had to have been meeting on a regular basis before their first date, but she could respect that no matter how uncomfortable it felt. She could feel a stirring from within, but it was just a mix of various emotions getting away with her. On one hand, she was angry that Lantos was changing for Harding, but on the other hand she was happy to hear it.

Harding ran her hand through her hair and started tightening her bun. "Hey Bianca?" Bianca rolled her head to the left and glanced to the right at the scout.

"What?"

"Lantos didn't want me to say it, but since your mother showed up, I think it's only right that you know…it's not the first time she's been around." Her heart stopped and she felt a heavy sensation moving through her legs, beckoning against her will to stop. "It wasn't long after you joined up with the Inquisition that she showed up at Haven, and then Skyhold…"

"Why didn't I know that? Did Dad tell her I was there at first?"

"No. Lantos said the Carta did. Your former clan. He was the one keeping her away." News that Davri might have been working with her clan hit her with the force of a building toppling onto her. So much that she could feel the wind being swept from her feet.

"What?" She coughed out and pulled her hand to her chest. "My mother-"

"She's been in bed with the Carta all this time." Harding glanced at Lantos with a frown. "She knew where you were. Lantos said he was the one keeping her away from the clan, away from you. Eventually it just got too stressful, that and a number of other things, and he took his anger out on you….it's not justified, but it's a reason."

Tears started to well up in her eyes, but she quickly swept them away with her fingers. This was too much to hear, and more than she wanted to know. "He kept her away how? Did Dasher know?"

"I don't think so. Lantos told me there were all sorts of attacks being sent to the clan from her, whether indirect or personal. She showed up several times and fought him to get through." She didn't want to believe it, but it would explain the times in their relationship in which Lantos would come to their hut covered in blood and angry or unwilling to talk. Most times he said he'd gotten in a scrap with someone at the tavern.

She turned her head away, whispering under her breath as she recalled the expression on his face back at the Hissing Wastes when talking about her mother. "So that's why." The bitterness was because of what occurred between them. "He's fought to keep my mother away from the clan."

"That guard that killed Dasher?" Harding closed her eyes and took another deep breath. "Wasn't originally with the group of soldiers Commander Cullen sent." Her heart sank into her stomach and she raised her hand towards her forehead. "That guard went straight for Dasher and for Lantos, but nobody else. We think he was put there by your mother. An assassin."

"Harding. This is too much."

"I know, and I'm sorry."

"No, I don't want to think about it anymore right now." While part of her didn't want her former clan to be completely eradicated, she hoped that the trio did wind up killing all of them. She hoped her mother might have been the one to awaken the dragon in the wastes and to have been eaten by it. "I'm starting to get a headache."

Lantos turned his head, peering over his right shoulder with narrow eyes. "Wouldn't have dropped it on her like that," he said abruptly, "Now she's going to obsess." Harding shrugged and Bianca snapped at him.

"What's with you never telling me even back then, Lantos?"

"I was protecting you then. That's all you need to know."

"From what? Back then the biggest threat to my life was the Clan!"

Lantos rolled his eyes and shook his head. "The biggest threat to your life back then, now, and even from the day you were born…was and is your mother." The air was sucked out from her lungs and a paralyzing sensation halted her on the spot. Her lips trembled and her hands closed as she watched the others turn to her. "I didn't know she was your mother the first couple of times we interacted, I thought she was just trying to attack the clan."

He crossed his arms and his brow furrowed. "It wasn't until I hunted her down that I demanded to know why she was attacking the clan so much, and that's when she told me who you were. You're the one that gets in the way, you're the one that would cause Varric to leave her, you're a threat to her and as long as you're not under her control or Marcus and Amelia, you'll always be a threat to her."

"You can forget Corypheus," Harding muttered. Bianca cleared her throat and Harding raised her head up to her. "I don't mean literally, but-"

"I know what you meant." Corypheus was a threat to everyone, but Bianca was comfortable with fighting him. She could stop him, she could find a way to defeat him. He wasn't one to be tampered with, no, nor was he one to be forgotten, but Davri might be a potentially greater threat to her and to her father.

Then there was the fact that if she were to die, no one could stop Corypheus. Which meant that while not working directly with him, for all she knew, Davri could hand him a victory. She almost had, if it hadn't been for the three of them finding her in the Wastes.

Lantos walked towards a tree and pressed his right shoulder against it. His forearms folded beneath his chest and his head tilted away from the tree. "For Corypheus, the only threat you pose is a tactical one. You're a military rival almost, one that he doesn't care whether you're alive or not so long as he can find a way to get to his goal. He could go around you, and is probably trying to do exactly that."

"Right…"

"Your mother, however, poses a greater threat to your life because she would just rather you're dead and out of the way. She's more likely to kill you even if you ignore her, while Corypheus would be just fine if you did opt to ignore him."

She wasn't sure how valid his statement was, but she knew there was a chance he was right. If she were to just stop getting in his way altogether, Corypheus might either stop or go after her less. Whatever the case, it seemed her mother was indeed a greater force to her on a more personal level.

A pulsing sensation started in her head, feeling as though someone were smashing a hammer into her head. "I don't want to think about this anymore." She put her hand to her stomach as though to console the nausea within. "Let's just get back to Skyhold." Flashes of her mother striking her down appeared in her mind, forcing the painful throbs to increase. "I can't think about this."

"Yeah, just don't ignore it." Lantos pushed away from the tree and snapped his fingers at Sandal. "Salesman, get over here." She heard Sandal groan and glanced over to see the man approach.

"What is it, asshole?" Sandal flashed a toothy grin and Lantos smirked.

"First off, try harder for an insulting nickname." Bianca rolled her eyes and shook her head at Harding. Lantos's arms crossed over his chest and his eyes narrowed. "We're right around the corner from Skyhold. You and Harding are going in there." She furrowed her brow while Harding raised her eyebrows.

"What about you?"

"I'm gone. They don't need to know I was involved." Lantos walked to the right and glanced sideways at them. "I'm sure her dad will want to thank you for saving his kid, Sandal." Sandal sputtered and smacked his hand to his chest.

"I wasn't the one that found her, if I'm honest. You're the one that found her, you helped her get through the wastes." Lantos rolled his head to the right and started to hum while staring at Sandal. "Besides, he knows me. He wouldn't believe I got through there."

"You had Harding with you. Bianca's alive and safe. I hardly think Tethras is going to press for details." Lantos turned fully to Sandal. His eyes drifted over to Bianca and the corners of his mouth sank. "Besides, it's better that he believes you found her."

It didn't sit well with her that Lantos wanted to conceal his involvement. Truly she just wanted to get home, but she wasn't going to lie to her father about what happened. "Whatever the case…" She met his gaze and hesitated for a second to examine the calmness they held. It caught her off guard. She shook her head and cleared her throat. "You did find me, and like it or not, I might not have made it out of there without your help."

Bianca folded her hands together before her waist and bowed her head. Her shoulders fell and a heavy breath swept from her lungs. "Thank you." She never thought she'd thank him for anything, and it was certainly tough to say those words. Lantos chuckled once and the tiniest smile formed on his face. "All of you, really. I could go on about how capable I am of fighting, but let's be honest…Davri left me without my weapon, without armor, it was only a matter of time."

"Yes." Lantos raised his eyebrows and flicked a finger at Sandal. "Don't forget to give Sandal a kiss for his heroism." Her cheeks turned red and Sandal coughed into his hand. "He did bring your armor and weapon after all."

"Right." She looked over her shoulder, smiling at Sandal and Harding. "Thank you too." They smiled back at her, then she saw Harding's eyes move past her. The woman frowned and closed her eyes. Bianca curled her eyebrows together and turned back.

Lantos was gone. "He didn't even say goodbye," Sandal muttered, "What's up with that?"

Harding shrugged and started walking. "He didn't want to say goodbye I suppose." She pushed past Bianca with a subtle smile and motioned for her. "Come on. Varric will be waiting."

Time moved slow for the rest of the journey, despite Skyhold not being that far from where they were. By the time they reached the bridge, they were tired and their legs were about to give way to exhaustion.

Varric was spotted pacing in front of the rest of Bianca's companions and advisors. His hand was caressing his chin and he was trembling. When he saw them approach, he dropped his hand and took a quick, deep breath.

"Bianca." Her heart jumped as he ran to her and threw his arms around her. She hugged him back, burying her face into his chest. "Thank god you're alright." Tears welled up in her eyes and she tightened her hug on him, but loosened her grip, fearing that she was squeezing too tightly.

Varric's head pulled back and his eyes were glazed over with worried tears. "The letter said you were found in the Wastes?" Her throat tightened and she gave an abrupt nod. "God…" He looked to Harding and Sandal, smiling at them. "You found her?"

"We managed to get her armor and weapon to her," Harding said with a quiet tone. "It's been a long journey. The important thing is she's safe." Sandal nodded in agreeance and Varric thanked them.

Bianca looked past them and at the shadows that fell from nearby trees and walls. Lantos was still nowhere to be seen.

"Someone else helped." Her eyes dipped to the ground and the others looked to her. An intense frown swept across Harding's face while Sandal remained stoic. "They didn't want to let their involvement be known, though…" Varric's forehead tensed and he nodded firmly.

"Whatever the case, I'm just glad you're safe."

She would just be glad for a warm bed and a hot meal, but she knew rest wasn't going to come easy. "We probably should get to work now, right?" She inhaled and stepped away from him. "Adamant Fortress?"

"Not right now." He put his hand to her back and guided her through the others and into Skyhold. "You need to get some rest first. We have agents looking for your mother too…she is going to answer for this."

So much has been discovered here, regarding Davri and the past associations with Lantos. What are your thoughts about everything? Also, do you think Lantos was in the right to let Varric believe Sandal and Harding bear the sole responsibility for locating his daughter? Bianca has a great deal to think about in regards to her mother, but there are still other matters. Still, perhaps she shouldn't simply ignore that her mother is out there.