Here is chapter 16! Ah, one of my long awaited plot twists is waiting for you at the end! =D Enjoy.
Marian Hawke loved watching Ven Lavellan tear Lady Vivienne apart at breakfast the following morning after his arrival. It wasn't often that Marian found people she hated more than Night Commander Meredith, but the Iron Lady of Skyhold came really close, less than a hairs width kind of close. More than once she had caught Cullen watching their interactions, especially when Marian's hands went to a knife that she kept strapped to her upper thigh. She didn't pretend to be a rogue for years in Kirkwall and not learn a few tricks to back up her claims. Isabella had been more than happy to train her in basic knife play and no one expected a mage to pull a knife out and get stabby.
Marian had nothing on the Inquisitor in terms of skill with a blade, the woman was more like a one-woman army with her twin daggers, but Marian could easily stab Vivienne if she really wanted to. And, by Andraste's flaming knickers, she felt Vivienne could do with a minor stab wound. She wasn't going to be going on the Inquisitors next expedition outside of Skyhold. She could do with some kind of battle wound in the meantime.
But, the disapproving glances from Cullen and Bethany were enough to stop her from actually doing anything. That didn't mean that she didn't vividly imagine it.
Ven was another matter entirely. He had nothing to lose by talking with Vivienne in the crassest ways possible. Nothing that woman did would affect him in long run. He was a Dalish First, untouchable by the Chantry and by the looks of it, completely unimpressed with Vivienne's political jabs and magic. Ven was more level headed about Dalish matters than his sister, who for the most part avoided Vivienne like the Blight. Then again, the Inquisitor had been dealing with the woman for months. Marian vaguely wondered how long it took the Inquisitor to just give up speaking to Vivienne all together.
This made breakfast an interesting affair. Ven was dressed differently than the day before. Instead of wearing furs, he was dressed leathers that looked to be a cross between mage clothing and rogue light armor. The mage, like so many other elves Marian knew, didn't wear shoes, leaving his bare feet to brave the frosty elements of Skyhold. Though, they were cleaner and slightly less callused than what she remembered of Fenris'. For a Dalish First, he seemed fairly at ease in Skyhold. He was actively conversing with everyone around him while eating small bits of everything the castle had to offer.
His sister was nowhere to be seen, much to the horror of her Ambassador, but she hadn't told anyone to fetch her yet, maybe thinking better of it. It seemed that the Inquisitor was getting some much-deserved rest by not being disturbed by her advisors in the early hours of the morning like she had feared the night before. If anyone needed a break it was Ellana Lavellan. The woman was running all over Thedas for humans that, in any other circumstance, would want her dead.
To think, breakfast had been going so well. Dorian, Solas, Bethany and Marian were all discussing different magical theories on spirit removal when a chill went up Marian's spine. She turned to see Vivienne standing behind her and across from Ven, who had stopped eating and noticed the horned woman glaring daggers at all of them.
"Look so many future abominations sitting at one table. What interesting company our Inquisitor keeps."
Ven's head snapped towards Vivienne, his grey eyes hard. "What do you mean abominations?"
Marian's hands itched to grab her knife. Even this woman's voice grated on her nerves and she only said a single sentence.
"Well, my dear, you have no circle training, and even worse, you grew up in the wild, therefore you don't know the dangers you put yourself in by simply existing," she explained, faux concern lacing her every condescending word.
"I don't need to be locked in a tower to figure out how to use magic. My clan has produced hundreds of mages throughout its existence with a much higher success rate than your prisons," Ven shot back, letting some fire magic dance along his fingers.
Marian noticed a few Templars go towards their weapons in the back of the Main Hall, but they didn't rush forward to smite Ven. More than likely they were told not to assault the Inquisitor's brother. Vivienne looked like she swallowed a lemon when the Templars didn't seize him.
"Circles are not prisons. What would a savage like yourself know about Circles?" She spat, some of that lovely decorum she loves so much slipping away like water under Ven's careful wording.
"Is there a better way to describe a place that has guards surrounding it and the people that live inside are not allowed out for the protection of the public?" Ven asked, extinguishing the fire on his fingers and moving to examine his nails, which were rather pointed, showing no respect for the Enchanter across from him.
"The Circle protects the mages more than anything else. Freedom is an illusion. Mages must know how to control themselves and the circle is the only way to do that."
The mages around the table all knew the words coming out of Vivienne's mouth was what the Chantry wanted the Circles to represent, but freedom was no illusion, it was real and it was the reason that the mages fought against their captors in the first place. It was the same reason that apostates existed in the first place.
Though, it seemed that Ven was the only one out of the group that was willing to voice this opinion.
"That's a lie and you know it. You, because of your privilege, are allowed outside of the tower. You attend parties, have lovers and are allowed to have experiences outsides of Templar guarded walls. You have no right to judge me or anyone else raised outside of a Circle. We've all turned out just fine. Did you know that the person who blew up the Chantry had lived in a Circle for years before escaping? It wasn't some untrained apostate or Dalish First, but a human man who had suffered at the hands of your corrupt human system."
Vivienne's face was turning an odd shade of purple. Marian felt that it suited her.
"Nothing to say in reply, Vivienne? How unlike you," Solas said between bites of jam covered toast. Dorian nearly choked on his tea and Bethany was outright laughing. Who knew that Solas had a sense of humor?
"Yes, well, we all know what happened to that abomination. Left to his own devices to roam free with a demon inside of him," she sneered, making a point to stare at Marian. Yes, because it was her fault that Anders was possessed by Vengeance?
Where was Varric? She needed her dwarven friend to back her up.
"Vivienne, your Circles were failing and if it wasn't Kirkwall's Chantry that blew up, it was going to be another one," Bethany snapped, always protective of her older sister, even when they weren't on the best of terms.
Vivienne turned heel and made a strategic retreat back to her room, much to the everyone's amusement. The Templars seemed to calm down slightly, but it there was still quite a bit of tension in the room.
The conversation was beginning to hit a little bit too close to home for Marian. It seemed that the twins really did share everything with each other, including things that Marian had shared with the Inquisitor's group while they had traveled together.
Their conversation returned to spirits and corruption from them and Marian started feeling a bit uncomfortable. Anders was asleep in their shared rooms and really didn't want to think about Vengeance at the moment.
She stood from the table and decided to make her way to the Inquisitor's quarters. Marian knew that she was taking the morning off, but it was nearly ten and the Inquisitor had always seemed to be an early riser. Marian figured she was probably awake, but just laying about and taking it easy.
Smart woman.
Marian made her way up the stairs to discuss her plans for the spirit removal. Ven was in charge of the magic portion of the spell removal, but the Inquisitor was in charge of setting up where and when it was going to take place.
It wasn't until Marian reached the Inquisitor's bedroom door did she notice something was off. There was an extra pair of boots sitting near the door. They were neatly placed, and Marian wondered if the Inquisitor had left them there after they returned for Crestwood? They looked fairly new, not something that had survived hours of treading through snow and rain.
She had only ever been to the Inquisitor's quarters once, and there hadn't been shoes in front of it then… Marian wasn't one to stare at people's feet, but those shoes were a bit too big for her and they weren't caked with mud and sand that littered Crestwood.
Did the Inquisitor have a guest?
Was this the mysterious fiancé she been told about, but never got the name of?
Marian figured, if she was smart, she would turn around, but her curiosity itched to find out more, and she wouldn't be the Champion of Kirkwall if she didn't look into something she wasn't supposed to at least once a day.
It was law.
She thanked the Maker that the door didn't squeak when she opened or closed it. Small blessings were hard to come by at the end of the world after all.
So, Marian quietly entered the room, tiptoeing her way up the stairs until she got a clear picture of the Inquisitor's quarters and all its inhabitants.
The first thing that she noticed was that one of the balcony doors was slightly ajar and the fire had long since gone out. The room was slightly chilly and let the morning sun into the room through the Dalish inspired stained-glass. The next thing she saw were clothes scattered across the chamber, both male and female armor. One was definitely heavy armor, built for a warrior, while the other was the Inquisitor's bloodied and partly burned armor. The heavy armor was different than most she's seen, built for an elf so it wasn't quite as bulky. Figured she'd be engaged to an elf, ever the traditionalist, the Inquisitor.
Marian had to admire the Inquisitor's and her lover's passion. Their clothing was everywhere in the room. There was, what appeared to be, a breast-band sitting on the top of a bookshelf in the far corner of the room and a gauntlet on one of the upper level banister balancing rather precariously.
Something about the armor seemed vaguely familiar, but she knew she had never seen this exact set of armor before. Did she know the Inquisitor's lover from somewhere? Marian had met a lot of people in the past…
It wasn't until she saw their feet tangled together did she put the pieces together, of just who was in the Inquisitor's bed. All she had to do was look at the sheets, there were two pairs of tangled feet peeking out of the bed, one pale foot belonging to the Inquisitor and the others were tanned skinned lyrium marked ones. She suddenly felt somewhat nauseous.
Though, much like a carriage wreck, she just couldn't look away. Her eyes drifted higher on the bed and at the top of the blankets she could see tufts of white hair peeking out, tangled with the Inquisitor's dirty blonde locks.
It took Marian a second to realize just who was in the bed with the Inquisitor. It was Fenris. Someone Marian thought had died months ago, or so Varric had told her when she asked him about their broody friend. He had stopped answering letters from anyone over a year ago and they had all assumed he had been killed fighting slavers along the border. The bastard had been alive the entire time and had just stopped replying. They had mourned his loss, and here he was alive and well, sleeping with the most powerful woman in Thedas.
He had been so adamant about ending the Tevinter slavers' tyranny...Marian wondered what had changed to have him decide to settle down with a Dalish clan, that, from what Marian understood, had a lot of mages.
Merrill would die of shock from this news or skip around the alienage.
Marian quickly fled from the room, not wanting to get caught. She had already seen far too much. She knew Fenris would not appreciate seeing him tangled up in bed with anyone, especially after she had rejected him in favor of Anders all those years ago. She needed to find Varric and a strong drink, not necessarily in that order.
Hey, did any of you see that coming? I know a few were curious about who Ellana was seeing prior to cannon events and now you know! Next chapter will hold much needed explanations to my inner madness and more twists and turns come about as we reach Adamant and the Winter Palace.
Also, did anyone else feel that, in game, the Dalish Inquisitor didn't have nearly enough dialogue options to defend herself/himself against Vivienne? I felt like the game was forcing me agree with her more than I was allowed to tell her to stuff it. I know she's a politician, but between her and Morigan, the Dalish Inquisitor is treated like a moron that has no idea what Elven lore is or any of its history or meaning. So, I figured I put Vivienne in her place. I find her character fascinating in the same way I find a venomous animal fascinating, nice to look at, but only from a distance it cannot strike me.
On to updating news! I got a job (part time, but still finally)! I start tomorrow for some hands on training (I'm really nervous)! So, what does that mean for you all? More than likely, nothing. I have everything, but the last chapter written. I'm waiting till I actually get there since I've been changing things as I've been uploading the chapters and I want it to be as accurate to what I have written as possible.
Thank you to those lovely people that favorite, follow and review! They make my day, so keep it up!
Now, I gotta get back to working on my NaNoWriMo stuff, 19,000 words and counting!
~Animerocker