A/N: Betaed by the wonderful vabvioand! Hope everyone enjoys the second chapter.
Varric leaned back into his chair relaxing while he watched his friends chatting around the table. It had been a while since they had all gotten together, everyone had always seemed to have something they needed to do until Ialeth Hawke had finally had enough of the excuses and basically dragged the whole group down to the Hanged Man. Now, after a few rounds of Wicked Grace and ale, the gang had begun to truly unwind and relax for the first time in months. Even the broody elf was smiling from his place next to Hawke (and wasn't Varric glad those two finally made up) as Blondie neared the end of a funny story from his days in the wardens.
"Then the Commander looked into the back of the wagon and, seeing the damage Oghran had done she turned to the other wardens and said…"
"Everyone congratulate Oghran: he has just proven that it is possible to get drunk off medical alcohol and somehow get a goat, a mabari and three nugs sleeping in a cart together." A female voice said.
"Yes, that's exactly what she said! Now you can imag…" Anders started only to cut off midword.
Realizing that an unknown voice had finished Anders' story for him, everyone's eyes snapped to the front of the room to see two hooded figures standing in the doorway. As they watched, the shorter figure removed her hood to reveal a blond-haired woman with silver-warden eyes that were locked on Anders. Pushing his chair back, Anders stumbled to the other side of the room, a look of shock and slight fear on his face.
"Resha…Comman…what are…how did…" Anders stuttered.
Everyone at the table stood and drew their weapons as the woman stalked over to the babbling man, but they stopped in confusion as she pulled him into an embrace.
"You Maker forsaken idiot! Do you know how worried I've been about you?!" she demanded, the sound of tears entering her voice. "A letter, a note, anything, just so I could have known you were alive and well, but no the only way I heard anything about you in six years was because of the brief encounters you had with Alistair and Nathanial. I can't understand why the man I think of as a brother can't even contact me once in six years. You know ways to get messages to me without the other Wardens knowing about them. So why did you never send me even one letter?" The woman demanded as tears began to fall down her face.
They all watched as Anders stood stiffly in the woman's arms during her entire speech before his face collapsed and he leaned over and folded his arms around the woman.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, Resha! I never meant to make you worry so much." Anders said as he buried his face into her shoulder and his own shoulders started to shake.
"Perhaps," They all jerked in surprised and their eyes snapped from the scene on the other side of the room, to the man that now stood next to the table leaning slightly against Isabella's chair. "We could give them the illusion of privacy. It's been a very long time since they last saw each other and I think they should be allowed their reunion." He said, his own silver eyes softening when he looked over.
"He's right, let's give Blondie and his friend some time." Varric said as he sat back down and put Bianca aside. With one last look back, everyone nodded and placing their weapons down, returned to their seats. Though seeing Fenris sit down in such a way that he mostly shielded Ialeth from the stranger's line of sight amused Varric greatly.
"Wait, I remember you!" Everyone looked at the seated mage in surprise before looking at the male stranger that seemed just as confused. "You're the Grey Warden I met during the Qunari attack. Alistair, right?" Ialeth asked, having to lean forward to see around Fenris.
"Ahh, yes I remember now! You're Carver's sister, Ialeth. He told us a great deal about you after we left Kirkwall." Alistair said, as recognition appeared in his eyes.
"Of course he did," she mummers under her breath. "Hopefully it wasn't all bad or embarrassing. Is Carver with you? How has he been?"
"I'm afraid he is not with us this time. Resha and I have been on warden business for the past year, though before we left he had been doing well and had managed to form many friendships among the other wardens."
Ialeth relaxed some. Though she was disappointed that it wasn't more recent news, she was glad to hear that her brother had been making friends, then her mind caught on the other thing Alistair had said.
"Warden business? Please tell me you're not here because of something like Corypheus again." Hawke groaned, feeling Fenris tense in the chair beside her.
"It's nothing like that; in fact, it's not even warden business that brought us to Kirkwall." Resha said as she and Anders walked up to the table. When they pulled out chairs, the others decided not to comment on the fact that both mages had very red eyes.
"Everyone, meet Resha Amell, Warden-Commander and the Hero of Ferelden! Resha and Alistair, meet Isabella, Merrill, Fenris, Ialeth Hawke, Varric Tethras, Aveline, and Sebastian." Anders introduced and each person nodded as they were named, though Hawke stared wide-eyed as she suddenly realized exactly who was in front of her.
"While I wish I could say I had come to Kirkwall to meet my cousin," Resha started smiling at Ialeth. "I'm afraid that isn't the case. A very good friend of mine may be in danger and I need to find him as soon as possible. After asking around, we learnt that you might have been in recent contact with him. So please tell me, have you seen Zevran Arainai?"
Ialeth blinked in surprise at the question before reaching over to place a hand on Fenris' arm as he growled at the mention of the flirty assassin.
"We did help him take out a group of Crows about a week ago, but I haven't seen him since we parted on the Wounded Coast." Ialeth answered before looking around at the others.
"I saw him about three days ago." Everyone looked over at Isabella who took a drink from her mug before continuing. "I wanted to talk to him, but a woman walked up to him, then he left with her and I haven't seen him since."
"Do you know how she got him to leave with her?" Resha asked, leaning forward in her chair.
"Well, I know they talked and whatever they were talking about had him tense and worried, but it wasn't until she put a necklace of some kind on the table that I saw fear enter his eyes. He picked it up and after rubbing it for a moment, he pocketed it and they left right afterwards. Sweet thing, what's the matter?! You're pale as a ghost!" Isabella asked while she watched Anders put his arm around the Commander in concern.
They all watched the wardens shared a long, defeated look before turning back to the others.
"We're too late then, they must have captured him." Alistair said as he reached out and took Resha's hand into his. "Recently, Resha has been attacked repeatedly whenever she left the Keep. During the last attack they managed to take her necklace, which was a wedding gift from Zevran and her staff. After that, we were sent on several missions outside of Ferelden, but they started to attack our friends, trying to draw us back. So we sent warnings out to everyone, but the one to Zevran was intercepted. When we were informed of this, we immediately came to find and warn him."
"But why Zevran? And why take Resha's staff and necklace?" Ialeth asked while the others exchanged confused looks.
"The first part is easy: Zevran would be the only one on his own and that could possibly be captured. The other, well," Resha began frowning at the staff; she had leant against the wall when she had come in.
"It is a very distinctive staff. It's white, made of dragon bone and the top is shaped into two griffin heads facing away from each other with one head holding a blue stone and the other a green stone." Anders answered, his arm still around Resha. "I can only guess that they took the staff and necklace to be able to fool Zevran into their trap."
"Will you help us find him?" Resha asked.
"Of course we'll help! Varric?" Ialeth said, turning to the dwarf.
"I'll get my people to start searching for any new mercenary groups that might have just arrived in Kirkwall. Also, any empty warehouses which are now being used." Varric said pulling parchment towards himself and beginning to write.
"I'll have my guards keep an extra eye out for trouble in Low Town and at the docks, Hawke." Aveline said.
"I'll see if any of my sources can find out anything as well." Isabella offered as she finished off her drink.
"I'll have my contacts in Dark Town make inquires as well. Don't worry Resha, we'll find him." Anders reassured squeezing her shoulders. Resha reached up and squeezed his hand in gratitude.
"Sounds like we have a plan. Isabella, give Varric, Anders and Aveline a description of the woman you saw leaving with Zevran. We'll meet back here tomorrow evening to see what's been done and what we still need to do. Resha, Alistair, why don't you stay at my house while we're searching?" Ialeth asked.
Getting a nod from the two wardens, everyone rose and left to get started on their chosen tasks.
Zevran groaned as he slowly came back to consciousness. He was confused as to what had happened and wondered if he had made the mistake of joining one of Oghren's drinking games again, only to have such thoughts vanish a moment later when he tried to move his arms and found that he couldn't. Forcing his eyes open, he turned his heavy head and stared until his eyes could focus on his arm and felt adrenaline pump through him, clearing the last of the fog from his mind when he realized that his arm was chained to a wall. Giving it a test pull, Zevran quickly found that there was no slick in the chain and that the cuff was skin tight to his wrists. A check showed that his other arm was held in a similar fashion at the same time a look down showed him that he was now dressed only in his under shirt and a pair of trousers.
With his initial shock and panic receding, Zevran found his memories coming back to him: the Hangman, meeting Maria, the strange body next to Resha's staff as darkness had covered his vision. Cursing his foolish inattentiveness, he began to take in the room around him and quickly decided that he wasn't in the care of the Crows. For one, the room was very bare and two: he was in no pain; the Crows would have made sure that pain was a constant companion to his waking hours. As he tried to figure out how he could escape, the door to his left opened and Maria walked in.
"My dear woman, if you had wished to have an exotic night with me, you needed only to have asked. Such measure as knocking me out and the chains are completely unnecessary. Well, maybe we could have added the chains later in the night for fun." Zevran purred huskily while he leered at her.
He took great pleasure in the disgusted look that crossed her face before watching her motion someone outside to come in. A young brown-haired woman whose appearance screamed nobility walked in: from her fine expensive clothing to the over abidance of jewelry she wore, to the way her nose turned up as she entered the room. Normally such a woman would be on the very dumb and obvious side and he would pay very little attention to her (unless it helped him get closer to his mark), but it was the woman's eyes that made him realize she did not fit into the usual category. They were cold, calculating and cruel as they locked onto him and racked over his body. He had seen predators giving their prey the very same look just before they pounced.
"Ah my dear Maria, you have even brought a friend with you. Come, my dear, you must really remove these chains so that we may all have a bit of fun together." Zevran leered and his satisfaction grew when the noble woman took a step back in disgust.
"You will not speak to the Bann like that!" Maria shouted marching up and backhanding him hard enough to force his head to the side. "A filthy knife-ear like you would never be allowed to touch the Bann Angelina Esmerelle."
"Maria, enough." Zevran turned to watch the noble walk up to Maria's side, her face completely blank. "Are you sure that this is the one that can help us obtain our goal?"
"Of course, my lady."
"And what, my dear woman, would that goal be?" Zevran asked as he looked between the two women.
"You are to be the main component to the death of the Warden-Commander." The Bann told him with a cruel, self-satisfied smirk.
"Ahh, my dear beautiful woman, I can promise you that the dark spawn will do the Remigold before I will ever help you harm the Warden."
"We shall see, won't we my dear knife-ear? Maria, begin the next part of our plan." Angelina ordered before she turned and strolled out of the room.
"Now my dear little assassin," Maria said drawing her dagger and pressing the flat of the blade to his face. "Shall we see how much you can take?"
"Do your worst, whore. I promise you, I will never help you." Zevran snarled.
"We shall see my dear, dear elf."