Chapter 2 Whenever, Wherever
"I'm going to ask again... who sent you?!" The interrogator slams his fists at the table, eyes blazing as he regards the four women.
"No one has sent us," Leliana responds. She takes in her appearance at the large mirror facing them, thinly veiled boredom lording over her features. Her hood is long gone during the inspection, along with her dagger and other personal effects. All four of them underwent the same process, and now she is wearing this ridiculous orange outfit. Her eyebrows meet in a frown. I had never been so... orange in my entire life. And the slippers!
Leliana directs her attention back to the shouting officer who is pacing in front of her. She fights a smirk as the man makes a show of his empty posturing.
"You're not getting it. None of you is coming out of here anytime soon if you don't give us names!"
That table is going to give way soon if he doesn't stop. Such a waste. "You can keep shouting and I'd just keep giving you the same answer because it's the only one I have. I don't have names. None that can be useful to you or your swollen fists."
"Leliana!" Josephine interjects with a sharp glare. It softens as she turns to the interrogator, "Officer, please. What has transpired this afternoon was nothing more than an act of desperation. We found ourselves inside a vault; that's how we came to. We had nothing around us but gold coins and a mirror. Whatever were we supposed to think? There was no way out until they came and found us."
The officer snorted and guffawed, eyes glinting with mirth. "Please! That might have worked on those goofy search and rescue clowns, but it would take a lot more than that to get to me! Did you really expect me to take you on your word? Even if you were drugged, who would get to so much trouble to keep you all the way up there?"
"We already told you what you needed to know! Why do you keep prattling on with the same lines? Where is your commanding officer?" Cassandra thunders through. Her wrists had long turned angry red from the metal handcuffs.
"You have some gall, lady, acting like you're some kind of big shot around here! If the Tower was still used today you'd be on your way to the very top faster than you can say Calenhad! You have some nerve pulling that stunt with the Crown Prince! So you want to play tough, eh? Alright, then. No meals for you until you come to your senses!"
The officer knocks to someone outside to open the door. A slam and they are alone in the white, nondescript room. There's no window to help keep track of time; all they know is that it's been hours since they were detained. Earlier in the evening the soldiers had sequestered them into separate rooms. No doubt making them talk one by one through intimidation. And then came the weighing, with all the prodding and sticking of metal sticks to the mouth. Even her vetting process has never been this thorough. Leliana takes a deep breath. It's going to be several hours more before it ends. How it ends is the real question.
In a low voice she regards her companions. "How are we going to play it out? We have to have an end game here or going through that mirror would have been for nothing."
"We should do away with aggression." Josephine gives Cassandra a sharp glance as she answers. "There is no scenario here where we prevail through force. They are far too many, with far more advanced capabilities than we could ever imagine."
"And what have I been doing before mounting that vessel? Hadn't I almost succeeded in making them eat out of my palm if not for this pair of lunatics?" Morrigan intones. Just hearing her speak gets Leliana's teeth grinding.
"They were about to take us somewhere we know nothing about. I'm sorry if slashing a man's throat is too gory for an apostate." The spymaster and the sorceress face off, eyes narrowing towards each other.
"You are many things, Bard, but I have never thought being without wit is one of them. Will you ever run out of ways to go lower in my estimation? Perhaps all the bird singing and flower chasing has finally caught up to you."
Leliana starts edging closer, her gaze growing even colder. That is, until Josephine threw her off, standing between them two. "Not now, Leliana. You've already done enough. We have to salvage this situation if there's any hope to be had for the four of us."
The frost in Josephine's voice and eyes got her to shift stance. "Josie..."
She hates disappointing Josephine. That one time over missed tea almost ate her up. She swore that the Breach will re-open first before she finds herself with the same infraction. And yet here she is. Merde!
"Tsk, tsk. 'Twould be most unfortunate, indeed, to have so many disappointed in you tonight. You can always leave some for tomorrow." Morrigan piles on from behind Josephine with a smirk, her golden eyes dancing in yellow light from overhead.
She feels her eyes start burning with derision for the witch. Before she can do anything else, however, she gives pause to a hand at her elbow. Cassandra restrains her with shackled hands and whispers to her ear, "Hold it in. I get a feeling that someone is watching."
"But—" She jerks her head towards Cassandra, confusion reigning over.
"The mirror. Keep your eyes on me." Cassandra gives her a nod and directs her back to the bench. The Right Hand turns to the other two, "Let's discuss more over here. Ambassador—"
"Yes, of course. Going back to what I was saying, we have nothing. Don't give me that look, the three of you, it's actually a good thing," Josephine starts and pays back their eye rolls with a quirked eyebrow. "Now, we can still turn this around by having it into our strength. We just have to keep playing at rescued captives."
"What then when they start asking for personal information? And they will. What if Solas tracks us through the information we give?" Cassandra counters from her spot between Leliana and Morrigan.
At that moment, it struck her. Leliana can't believe how she has failed to remember. She can only close her eyes, unable to evade the frustration crashing over her. For all her emphasis on details big and small, this one may just be her very undoing as a seasoned spymaster. Of what remains of the Inquisition. She finds herself detaching from Josephine's droning, tracing their steps. Her lips thin as she realizes golden eyes observing her. Not a second sooner and the well-worn mask is back on, a wall against Morrigan's knowing gaze. She wills herself to focus on Josephine's voice.
"As I've said, whatever we have would have to do. We give them the basics. We are not nobodies. I am a Montilyet. You are a Pentaghast and the Right Hand of the Divine. And you two are the Imperial Court's Nightingale and Enchantress. If nothing else, Empress Celene and Divine Victoria would have their attention." Josephine looks convinced that her plan would work as she paces back and forth in front of them.
"Oh? I never thought Celene had developed flying transport vessels in Jader of all places." Leliana quips. She finally pays Morrigan a sharp glance, unable to ignore the condescending nod thrown her way.
"This is true. 'Tis clear that we are in our own world no longer." The sorceress continues to study her. For better or worse, Morrigan has caught scent and now she finds herself in a second discussion she fears Cassandra and Josephine would soon catch on. A most unideal time for it to unravel. Not without a plan or a solution.
"But we must insist on this plan! Or does anyone else have something else in mind?" Josephine hedges, hands wrung together as she is wont to do in times of anxiety. Leliana stares at the mirror ahead, deciding to stay mum.
"Very well. Then we have decided on this. We came to inside the dark vault and then go from there." Cassandra stands, as if she has someplace else to be.
"And what of my staff and the Eluvian? The fact remains that we must find a way to retrieve them before someone else does." Morrigan remains unflinching in the way the three of them are looking at her.
"That Eluvian is the reason we are in this mess in the first place!" Cassandra hisses. Suddenly it's no longer a pacifying idea to have the mercurial Nevarran right beside Morrigan.
"That Eluvian is the only reason we live!" The witch soldiers her point across.
"And so we must use it as leverage. Admit to its rare value. Not of the origin. Just allude to its old age and heritage so that they will be inclined to go back for it." Josephine weighs in from where she is standing by the mirror.
They remain like so for several minutes, the blanketing silence adding to the room's bereft and sterile wills herself to focus on their current situation. Or at least she tries. Somewhere deep inside, another Leliana is roused. The one she cannot stop from rummaging through fragments of memories. Location… people… explosion. She ignores the sting as she sifts through shards of details during that night. And then, a wince. Generously given away by the calculating mask that was supposed to know no emotion. She notices Morrigan watching her from across the room. The witch looks like she's about to say something but was halted by the opening of the door.
"Alright ladies, time for a change of scenery. With me."
It must have been close to an hour since the soldiers transferred the four of them to this new location. This time they have natural light and trees to look at outside the windows. Josephine could only hope it could be a source of comfort.
Yet, she could not quite do away with the gnawing feeling in her stomach. Leliana and Cassandra attacking when they did have complicated matters for them. Josephine cannot voice it out but she sees herself aligning with Morrigan more and more with each passing hour. Regardless of the expertise they share between the four of them, they are still in over their heads. This is a Game they have no idea how to play.
The pleasant environment starts to have the opposite effect on her. The openness of the area makes her feel restricted and the windows start to feel taunting. All the glass walls and doors nails her deeper to her seat, wary of a watchful eye. She is starting to wonder if having them sit here is a deliberate move to throw them off balance.
"They must be related," Leliana muses from beside her.
She stops from watching the people working outside. "Surely you say that in jest! We are about to be interrogated and that is how you decide to spend the time?" She looks at her with narrowed eyes, shaking her head in disbelief.
A beat. Then a couple more. "Who is related?"
"Ha! You see? The captain that rescued us and that officer right there. I wonder if they're cousins?" Leliana ponders as she sways on her swinging chair, nodding towards the tall man talking to his subordinate.
"How is it that you do not see that as a bad thing? If they are related, then he would not take lightly to what has happened!" Cassandra joins in from her spot by the window.
"Perhaps this is another way to rattle us. We must remain composed, Lady Cassandra." Josephine looks back to the Right Hand from where she is sitting.
"Composed? I'm composed! Who is not composed?!"
"Yes, we can see that," Morrigan interjects drily. She is walking around the room, inspecting everything she passes.
"Come, sit with us. All the standing is riling you up—sorry, you are not riled up. Just sit with us." Leliana attempts at pacifying her counterpart of a decade.
"I am not liking this," Cassandra professes as she takes one of the many vacant seats.
"Who does? But we see it through with what was discussed," Leliana's soothing voice envelopes the group.
They sit rigid in their seats as the officer emerges from his glass office, striding towards their room. Morrigan takes notice and occupies the seat on her other side. The towering man doesn't miss a beat as he closes the door behind him and takes a seat in front of them.
Josephine tries to distract herself from the growing tension by biting her lip. All this suspense is not doing her any good, and the night with no rest and food is not helping. He must be using this to his advantage. Assert his position of leverage and get us to feel even more imbalanced.
He finally looks up from a document and within seconds, Josephine's musings were interrupted by a rich baritone voice. "I understand that they brought you in last night with nothing to eat? Let's rectify that, shall we?" He reaches out to the black apparatus in the middle of the table. A tone comes on as he presses a button, "Can somebody bring in breakfast, please?"
"Yes, sir!" A female voice came through and disappeared just as quick.
"Right. While waiting for that, can you please give me your basic personal information?" The officer reaches for a pair of spectacles as he peruses the myriad of documents in front of him. He starts with the interrogation, regarding the four of them with professional stoicism.
"Who is Josephine Montilyet?" He gives her a nod as she lowers her raised hand. "It says here you are 29 years of age and is from Antiva City. That's a long way from the Frostbacks. Would you mind telling me how you ended up inside a vault in the mountains?"
She swallows, bracing herself to respond. "I was working for an organization and one of my roles is to oversee our base not far from the Frostback Mountains."
"And how long have you been working for this organization?" The officer follows up while scribbling on an upturned document.
"A little over four years now."
"What is the nature of your organization that calls for you to operate on such an inaccessible place?"
"We are mainly focused on peacekeeping and making sure refugees are cared for." Josephine leans forward to the table. Her eyes are earnest as she feeds just the right information. Thread the middle ground, Josie, that's what you're here for.
"Refugees, huh? Interesting. And what is the name of the organization?"
"Don't answer that." Leliana interjects from her left. Josephine can't say she's not thankful for the interruption.
Stymied by the interruption, the officer looks up with a frown, his pen pooling ink on the paper. He meets Leliana's cold gaze with an irritated frown. "Why the hell not?"
"It's not for you to know," Leliana responds.
"What's for me to know or not know is not for you to decide. And I'm not exactly talking to you," he retorts in equal measures of coldness as the one given him. He turns back to Josephine, prompting for an answer with raised eyebrows.
"She will not be answering that. Try again." Leliana insists from her side.
The officer lets out a sarcastic chuckle as he points his pen to Leliana. "Is she always this grumpy? It's all the orange, isn't it? Don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to get used to it."
That remark earned him a sharp look. Josephine and Cassandra watch as the two battle for dominance. They have been with this man for not even a half hour and yet he could so already push Leliana's buttons like it's nothing. All the while, Morrigan watches on with growing interest. A smirk ghosts over her lips as the man crawls under the spymaster's skin.
"And what makes you think I am so bothered by such trivial things?" The spymaster tries to deflect.
"The way you sit." He finally lets himself get sidetracked and puts the pen down.
"And what about it?" Leliana challenges, arms crossing in defense.
"You are full of confidence, as if you own the chair and the man who built it. I surmise the last thing you want is for people to take you for a circus act." He pauses as Leliana sits straight, taut like a bow. "You know... flaming red hair, alabaster skin, orange overalls. Tsk. So bright. Judging by your frown lines, I take it you don't like bright, cheery things." Morrigan's snort magnifies the tension in the room.
Leliana brushes off the blows with a smirk. "And I'd take it you know all there is to know about me in the minutes you've sat there?"
A long moment passes in which the officer studies the Nightingale who was supposed to be hard to read. The light from the windows makes his eyes dance, in contrast to the weight by which he regards her. "The bright light does not always burn. Sometimes it could also bring comfort."
A knock on the glass door marks the fragile impasse in the room. "Sir, permission to enter, sir!"
"Permission granted," the officer barely looked back, shrewd brown eyes trained on Leliana's sharp blue ones.
"Sir, thank you, sir!" The officer ushers two more of his colleagues as they balance four trays. They must have also felt the tension in the room, making quick work of laying down all the food. Josephine hears her stomach rumble as she eyes the spread. This must be a feast compared to nothing the past several days. There are sandwiches, milk, eggs, bacon, and toast.
"Help yourselves," the officer waves a hand to the trays, eyes never leaving Leliana.
"No, don't pick that up. It could be poisoned," Leliana challenges.
"Leliana!" Sometimes Josephine cannot believe just how much on the verge of paranoia her friend can get.
"Have it your way, then. I can assure you, though, that you'd be dreaming of these once you get back to whatever hole they keep you." The officer merely shrugs as he reaches out for the communication apparatus yet again. "Looks like our visitors aren't interested in breakfast. You can clear the table."
He keeps his eyes on the stubborn spymaster as two officers enter the room. They were just about to pick up the trays when Josephine speaks up, "Wait. Please. We are without food and rest for so many hours now. We will take our generosity where we can."
"Josephine, momentary pleasure is nothing compared to the threat they pose!" Leliana stresses out, arms crossing yet again in a defensive stance. Josephine can barely keep her eyes from rolling. Just how far is she willing to drag us just to prove a point?
"Threat? Weren't you the ones who tried to kill an officer thrice in one helicopter ride?" The stare he gave the redhead couldn't be any more chilling. They remain silent as he continues, "But have it your way. Full stomach or empty, you will answer my questions. Get settled, we have the entire day ahead of us."
He stands and starts picking up a tray himself. Josephine could only watch in remorse as he and the officers head towards the garbage bin in the corner of the room. He is the first officer to have offered them anything, starting with basic decency. Now Leliana is throwing the kindness back in his face due to her inability to concede an argument. She finds herself between wanting to throttle her friend and feeling heartbroken. In her distress she had long stopped masking her expression, staring openly at the food.
"It was a research expedition. My colleagues and I were accompanied by a group of four women and eight men. We are a fledgling organization struggling with funds and is in dire need of resources. It's been months that we have been looking for a bigger base. That's when we heard of a fortress along the pass between Orlais and Ferelden. We knew we had to go. But the way had been more perilous than expected. By the time we reached our destination, our supplies had already been severely depleted."
Josephine watches wide eyed as the words flowed from Leliana's calculating lips. Sometimes it still catches her off guard just how good her friend has become in lying through her teeth. But then again, if it would buy them a day or two, who is she to not cooperate? Her eyes leave Leliana to study the man pausing by the bin. He turns back towards the table, eyes not leaving her friend.
"Why just now?"
"A moment sooner or later and we're still captives. Does it matter?"
He skips his original seat to take the one directly in front of the spymaster's. "I doubt you were that enticed by bacon and eggs." He places the tray on the table but keeps it close.
"Why fight what you can't avoid? This saves us both the trouble, yes?" Leliana quirks an eyebrow.
"What's your organization?" He hedges nearer, the humongous table between them notwithstanding.
"An organization interested in a place to grow." The spymaster prods to see how far she can go.
"What do I have to do to get a straight answer out of you?" The officer pushes back.
"A good start would be to stop tormenting my friends with spoiled food." At this point Josephine starts to wonder if Leliana will ever tire of this dance. She can feel Cassandra and Morrigan getting more impatient with every step.
"Sarcasm is a little unsettling coming from a woman so orange." The officer comes back equally calm and confident.
"Petulance is a little unbecoming for an officer, no? Aren't chevaliers supposed to be dashing?" Leliana deflects the backhanded comeback with one of her own.
"Oh, I can be plenty dashing. Just not with people who try to take down service men. These men and women only wish to serve their country, and I will have their backs as they do so. How about you? Who has your backs? I am not sure what kind of organization you're trying to protect, but it couldn't be one of the good ones. All it has ever taught you, it seems, is to make you watch your back for daggers in the shadows." He watches in satisfaction as Leliana visibly flinches.
He nudges the tray their way as he stands, gathering his papers and pen. He has one hand on the door when he turned back to face them. "Flooding in Lothering, the separatist movement in the Southern Korcari, Qunari terrorism. And yet here you four are, acting like we're a big bother when you can't even show your rescuers some decency. But it's good to know that we're the threat."
That's when it dawned on Josephine. Perhaps coming out of the Eluvian when they did was far more complicated. She closes her eyes in sad understanding. All the while they had been thinking about themselves and never of others. Weren't they the Inquisition's leaders precisely because they wanted a better Thedas? She glances at Morrigan by her side and catches a look of mutual understanding.
"Officer, we do not mean to come across in that manner. Perhaps the weight of the situation has yet to settle." Josephine looks up to him, sincere in her every word.
"And hasn't that what the Crown Prince tried doing when he chose to trust you? To help you get settled? He is the reason for the olive branch when it's my duty from a legal standpoint to tell my superiors to lock you up. So you can mock and sass all you want but like it or not, we two are your only friends around here." The officer's pointed response turned sharper as he notices Cassandra's startled look. Her eyes dance with shock and guilt as she leans back dejected into her seat. "Think about that, will you? Think about the mockery you're making of all this. Think about how you've almost left this country without a future king."
He has just stepped across the doorway when Cassandra stood up. "Wait!"
The officer looks back at her with an expectant look.
"I'm… I'm ready to cooperate, sir."