I cannot believe the response I've gotten back for my simple little brainchild! Thank you all for everything, especially putting up with my gaps in posting; and a special thanks to Lucky7171 for keeping me going, I would have stopped by now if she wasn't there to kick my butt :D! And my new friends (you should know who you are) who have told me that my story is worth keeping up with, and to not give it up. I hope the coming chapters are up to it, and hold on things are about to get complicated :D.
We grabbed our equipment and headed for the Hanged Man, Beth and I chatting excitedly as we traveled. We were running on adrenaline at the thought of getting Mother her home back, so it didn't take us long to arrive. We found Varric and Isabella sitting at Varric's usual table in the back having a heated debate over something, most likely a scene in one of Varric's new novels that Isabella didn't think was done just right. They were always going on about his silly little works of fiction and how this or that was wrong. I generally tuned them out when they got like this, but this time I settled myself between them and interrupted, after all my cause was way more important than their petty squabble. Isabella huffed at me but I just bumped her with my shoulder and laughed to myself as she tried, and failed, to hold back a chuckle. Varric just smiled.
"Hawke, Sunshine, what can I do for you two lovely ladies today?" Beth sat down at the table across from him and I just beamed.
"Well Varric, Isabella, how would you two like to help Beth and I on a super secret family mission." I knew that Varric would have no choice but to say yes at those words, his love for a good story wouldn't allow him to say no; and Isabella never said no to a good adventure.
"Well now how can I say no to an enigmatic statement like that. What do you think Rivani, feel like an adventure today?" They both grinned and Isabella added.
"You know me Varric, I can never pass up a perfectly good opportunity to cause some mischief." She winked at me, and they both disappeared upstairs to gather their equipment. I beamed across the table at Beth and we both laughed. It was exciting, and it felt good to finally be doing something for Mother. She deserved it after all that had happened. It would be nice for her to finally have something back, instead of taken away from her. The pang of sorrow and guilt tugged at my stomach, but I pushed it away. I knew that now was not the time to be thinking of Carver, now was Mothers time, and nothing was going to stop me from getting that will. Isabella returned first her daggers strapped to her back and a wicked grin on her face. I had grown to love the wicked pirate queen in the short time I had known her. She may be a bit on the racy side, but she always made a bad day much much better. Her playful take on life was very contagious and I couldn't help but grin myself. Varric came down not much later, and we headed down to Darktown.
We filled Varric and Isabella in while we walked, and both of them were very interested in clearing out our ancestral home and retrieving Grandfather's will. They both liked Mother, and hated her living in that heap just as much as we did. Mother seemed to have adopted our rag-tag little group as her own, and I knew they would be just as protective of her as I was. We reached the lower levels of Darktown and Beth took the lead. Mother had described where to find the entrance to the cellar, and Beth found it without any problem. She fit the key into the lock and it clicked swinging the door wide open, I waved Beth to the back where Varric could watch out for her and Isabella and I stepped into the dark cellar in the lead. We knew that slavers had taken over the home, so we were not surprised when they came crawling out of the woodwork. We drew our weapons and jumped into the fray. Beth and Varric made quick work of them from the shadows while Isabella and I cut them down back to back from the middle of the room. We fought our way up through the room and up the stairs, making quick work of the unprepared slavers, until we reached the main room just below where Beth said the vault should be. We walked into the room and a man stepped from the shadows. I really wanted to wipe that smug sneer from his face, it was far too proud to do him any good anyway. The hair stood up on the back of my neck when he spoke, his voice as cold as ice.
"Let me guess, Gamlen sent you to reclaim what he lost. Well I will just have to send one of you back with my response won't I." With that he drew his staff and hurled a fireball. I managed to dodge it but when I rolled I must have triggered a hidden trap of some kind. A horrible noxious gas filled the room, burning my eyes and nose making it nearly impossible to see or breathe. I tried to get off the ground but only made it to my knees when a second blast of fire came hurtling towards me. I managed to dodge it by rolling to the left but I had failed to see the archer taking aim at me from the stairs. The arrow hit me in the shoulder almost nicking my neck, and the pain was near blinding. Isabella ran over to give me a hand and keep the slavers off of me, so I took the opportunity to wrench the embedded arrow free. The pain was maddening but I knew I would have to deal with it later before the slaver mage had an opportunity to take us all down. Varric and Beth managed to take care of most of the slavers and Isabella was felling them left and right, so I seized the moment to charge the mage in the center of the room. The gas was still lingering and had effected not only us but them as well, so I decided to use this to my advantage. I could tell that the mage was having difficulty seeing so I feigned to the left and dodged behind him, swinging my greatsword up the mans back dropping him to the floor. Not about to be finished off so quickly the mage rolled and fired a blast of lightning at my chest, which I just barely managed to dodge. I brought my greatsword down intending to remove the mans head, but he blocked with his staff and sliced at my leg with the bladed end. As I staggered back in pain he managed to get himself to his feet, and send a mind blast that rocketed me into the crates against the wall. I heard a sickening crack as a few of my ribs snapped and I let out a pained groan. The mage advanced on me with his staff raised, that same proud smirk on his face. He had however underestimated my companions and their abilities. They had recently just finished off the last of his goons and had just noticed my plight. I couldn't help but mirror his self-satisfied smirk as he fell to the ground gurgling, one of Isabella's daggers having just been recently removed from his throat. Beth ran over and began her healing, and after a quick look at my companions I was pleased to see that I had received the worst of the injuries, the rest just having minor cuts and burns. Beth made quick work of getting me back on my feet, and had us all back to new in a matter of moments. While she was attending to a burn on Varric's forearm I set to the task of checking through chests strewn about the room and as I was looking through one I found something that I knew Beth was just going to love. It was a painting of our Mother, and I had to assume it was her engagement portrait. I stuck it in my pack, hoping that Beth had not seen; I was hoping to keep it a surprise for her. We found the key in the mages pocket and unlocked the door leading to the vault. Beth let out a gasp as we stepped inside.
"Sister, this is the vault. Everything we could ever want to know about our family should be in here. Look! There is the Amell family crest. Could you imagine how the estate looked when Mother was growing up, this hanging above the door." I smiled at her.
"It will hang above the door again Beth, only this time it will be the Hawke crest. I promise you."
We set to the task of searching for the will. Beth let out a small squeal.
"Over here sister I have found it, Grandfather's will...Ooohhh. Mother will need to see this as soon as possible." I nodded.
"Lets be off then. Varric, Isabella thank you both for your help. As soon as we have settled everything we will meet you at the Hanged Man. I hope you understand. Things could get ugly...well you know." They both smiled and nodded understanding Gamlens tendencies all too well. We exited the cellar through the main door and parted ways just outside the Hanged Man. When we reached the front door I could hear Gamlen and Mother speaking inside so I knew that this could get ugly really fast. Looking over my shoulder at Beth I gave her a small smile.
"Are you sure you're ready for this Beth, it could get ugly?" She let out a small laugh.
"You know I am sister. Mother needs to see whats in Grandfather's will, and Gamlen needs to face the truth. Let's get this over with."
With that I pushed the door open just in time to hear what Gamlen and Mother's conversation had been about, and needless to say I was not happy about it.
"You know Leandra, blood is blood and all but...you don't think you haven't been taking advantage of my hospitality just a little bit? Its only fair that you make some sort of monthly contribution. Its not like I'm asking much." I'm sure my face showed the same amount of indignation as Mothers did, only with a tad bit more hatred than hers.
"First you sell my children into servitude, and now you are asking me to pay rent!" I stepped behind Mother glaring daggers at my dear Uncle, and he became visibly uncomfortable. He shifted his feet.
"Gamlen lied to you Mother." And here I stared down Gamlen "We found the will." Beth stepped up at my side with the will in her hand, reaching out to hand it to Mother as she spoke.
"He forgave you Mother, Grandfather left you everything. Read it for yourself." Mother began to read, and I could hear Gamlen stuttering from where he stood. She began to read out loud.
"To my daughter Leandra, and all children born of her, I leave the estate in Hightown and all associated revenues." She looked up, and absolute look of shock and horror on her face. I took the opportunity to speak, glaring down my Uncle as I did.
"Well Uncle...what do you have to say for yourself." He turned on Mother instead.
"You are the one that ran off Leandra! What happened to you always saying that love was so much more important that money!" Mother looked as though she had just been slapped.
"It is, and always has been!" But Gamlen hadn't finished with his rambling missive just yet.
"You didn't even come home for their funeral!" I could tell now that Mother was getting angrier by the second.
"The twins were a week old! What was I supposed to do, leave them behind!" Gamlen's face grew darker.
"We all have our own burdens to bear Leandra. How lucky was I that mine was looking after a life you abandoned. Honestly! How long was I supposed to wait!" I couldn't stand to watch Gamlen attack Mother any longer, and I was pissed. I couldn't believe a member of my family, who was supposed to care about our well being could do something like this.
"You will spend the rest of your life paying Mother back for what you have done Uncle." It was his turn to look as though someone had slapped him. He took a step back.
"Andraste's ass I will!" I took a step towards him, but Mother laid her hand on my arm.
"I'm not asking you to repay me Gamlen. It was enough to know that Mother and Father didn't die hating me. I will see about petitioning the Viscount for the rights to the estate, and Maker willing you will have your house back within weeks." Gamlen shook his head.
"You don't have the coin or the standing to even get an audience with the Viscount. You have to be someone in this city to even consider living in that house again." Mother just smiled.
"Well then, I had better get started hadn't I." And with that she went to sit at the writing desk to study the will and begin writing her letters. I glared at Gamlen and he turned and headed for the door. I didn't think it was possible for someone to be this big of an arse to a member of their own family, but yet again Gamlen had gone and proven me wrong. I looked over at Beth and motioned to our little bedroom we shared. I shed my greatsword and pack and she leaned her staff up against the wall.
"Well Beth, that couldn't have gone any better if the Maker himself had intervened, wouldn't you say so?" I had to hold back a giggle at the look on her face. "I'm only joking dear Beth, you can't seriously believe I meant that." She laughed and hit me playfully in the arm.
"Oooh you! What am I going to do with you! But, if anyone could get the estate back, it would be Mother. Even if she has to picket the Viscounts office every day until he signs the papers." We fell into a fit of giggles at the image of Mother picketing the Viscount, only to be shushed by Mother a few minutes later. She always had a way of instantly making us feel like children caught with our hands in the cookie jar when she did that; and we quieted instantly. I cleared my throat, breathless from giggling.
"Well Beth, should we go fill in Isabella and Varric? We did afterall say we would meet them when this was all over." She sighed, but nodded. We took a few minutes to clean up and change into our everyday clothes. I was glad that Gamlen's was so close to the Hanged Man, it kept me from having to gear up every time I wanted a drink. I strapped my travelling dagger to my hip just in case and we set off.
We found them sitting at Varric's usual table and they waved us over. Isabella had obviously started without us, seeing as she was a giggling mess by the time we had sat down. She ordered us both drinks despite our protests and proceeded to try and get Beth to hit on the man at the bar that couldn't stop staring. Beth blushed scarlet at the idea and we all had to hold back our laughter, although we failed miserably and she proceeded to kick me hard in the shin under the table. We sat at the table enjoying drinks and each others company, Beth and I filling them in on what happened. Which prompted both of them to offer their assistance in having Gamlen taken care of. We just smiled and laughed it off. After awhile of enjoying each others company Fenris showed up and we began a few games of Wicked Grace, before Beth and I had to excuse ourselves and headed home. When we arrived home we found that Gamlen still hadn't returned and Mother had already gone to bed, the desk showing signs of how hard she had worked on her missives. We said goodnight to Cookie, and headed off to bed, readying ourselves for whatever the next day in this crazy city had to offer.