Chapter Thirty-Four: Becoming a Champion

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age 2.

"I understand that you're upset," Orsino was saying gently as they neared the Keep. "But that really doesn't give you the right to say that I don't care about all of my students who were slaughtered."

"Actually, you nearly killed my mother so I can say whatever I want," Emma corrected. "And I just don't see how you can be so blasé with the lives of innocent women and then act like you care about your students. Even Anders and I will agree that you can't only care about mages."

"Most days," Anders amended. "Most days I will agree to that. Although that is largely just because of Varric as I don't know any other non-mages worth a damn."

"It's true," Varric added. "I am pretty spectacular. And no, Cassandra, I did not just make that up, he really said that."

Anders was puzzled. "I know I really said that. I just said it."

"I thought we had agreed to table this discussion for now," Bethany said awkwardly.

"I'm trying," Emma told her. "And if you'll notice, no one's on fire."

Meredith and her men (she had found quite a bit, it seemed) were waiting for them at the Keep's gate.

"First Enchanter Orsino," Meredith said neutrally. "You survive."

"Your relief overwhelms me, Knight-Commander," Orsino said dryly.

"I'm not sure if you knew this," Emma told her. "But he is terrible."

"What happened to all your mage-loving from earlier?" Meredith inquired.

"I can love mages and still think he's terrible," Emma assured her. "In fact, I do."

"We don't have time to talk," Meredith told them. "We must act now to save as many as we can from the qunari."

"Do we have time for petty power struggles?" Orsino asked hopefully. "Because I want to take time out for a petty power struggle and refuse to follow you."

"Well, I could never follow you," Meredith countered. "That might make people think that mages have some inherent worth."

"Ah! You admit your true feelings for mages!" Orsino yelled triumphantly.

"I've always admitted it," Meredith pointed out.

"Dear Maker!" Emma exploded. "I don't care! My mother's in there! Let's just go!"

Meredith and Orsino shut up and stared at each other for a moment.

"I can live with following her," Orsino proposed.

"Let's do that," Meredith agreed. "No one else seems to have noticed she's a mage, after all, and so my image can stand it."

They crept closer to get a look at if how the outside was faring.

"There are a lot of qunari," Meredith said. "That means that they must have already taken the Keep and must have been planning this for quite some time."

"Not necessarily," Fenris argued. "It's been three hours since the attack started and the qunari are so well-disciplined and experienced in this sort of thing due to their constant warfare with Tevinter that it wouldn't surprise me if the Arishok only began to plan this when Aveline was making her ridiculous demand to destroy those poor elves."

"They killed a man!" Aveline burst out.

"He deserved it," Fenris countered. "And you wouldn't do anything."

Aveline frowned suddenly. "I don't see any of my guardsmen."

"Is anyone really surprised by that?" Carver wondered. "Your guardsmen are terrible."

"They must have all been killed heroically defying the qunari," Aveline speculated.

"Heroically fleeing the scene, perhaps," Varric corrected.

"There is only one way in," Meredith decided. "We must assault them now before their numbers grow."

Emma held up a hand. "I will be the first to admit that I know next to nothing about qunari reproduction and childhood but they didn't actually bring any females with them, I don't think, and so I don't think we have to worry about that."

Meredith rolled her eyes. "I meant, before more of them show up here."

"Are you mad?" Orsino cried out. "Wait, stupid question. But you know they have hostages! We need a distraction!"

Meredith ignored him in favor of turning to Emma. "Decide quickly. We have no time."

Emma frowned. "What's your problem with a distraction? It would only take one person and saves more of those lives you mentioned wanting to save."

"I'm morally opposed to agreeing with Orsino about anything," Meredith replied matter-of-factly.

"As am I," Orsino chimed in. He paused. "Well, agreeing with Meredith about anything, not agreeing with myself."

"You have no morals!" Emma cried out.

"Emma, focus," Bethany entreated.

"I say we go with a distraction because it's a good idea," Emma declared. "Aveline?"

"What am I supposed to do?" Aveline asked blankly.

"Preferably get yourself killed," Emma said frankly.

"I do so hate you," Aveline said, glaring witheringly at her. "And no, I won't do it."

"Well, I will," Orsino said, stepping forward.

"I still hate you," Emma told him.

"I can live with that," Orsino replied. "You sneak inside while I'm distracting them. Meredith…do whatever and try not to get the wrong people killed. Or non-qunari mages. I know that they wouldn't count as the wrong people for you to kill."

"How do you intend to distract them on your own?" Meredith demanded.

Orsino merely smirked at her and stepped forward, twirling his staff. "Have confidence, Knight-Commander."

Emma looked pained.

"What?" Anders asked her, concerned.

"It's not fair for him to be that cool and badass!" Emma complained. "It's getting in the way of my hating him!"

"I've never had that problem," Meredith told her.

"Yeah, but you're a templar," Emma said as if that explained everything. Naturally, to Emma it did. "And now he has giant fireballs? That's it, I'm leaving now before I start this man a fan club."

They had just snuck into the back of the main room in the Keep and, by unspoken agreement, decided to stay quiet for long enough to figure out what the situation was before Emma made her dramatic entrance.

The nobles were all there, talking amongst themselves and complaining bitterly almost as if nothing strange were going on.

Leandra and Gamlen were standing near the back of the crowd and Emma sent a small bit of electricity towards the so they'd jump and turn around. Upon spying the group, they quickly made their way over to them.

"Oh, my children! Carver! Thank goodness you're alright," Leandra cried, throwing one arm around Emma and the other around Bethany.

"Seriously?" Carver asked the world at large.

"What are you doing here?" Emma asked Gamlen.

"I'm a noble, too," Gamlen pointed out.

"Um, barely," Emma replied.

"I was the title holder for twenty years!" Gamlen cried out.

"And just look what you did with it," Bethany countered, evidently still annoyed about that.

"It's always wonderful to see you, Bethany," Leandra said, smiling warmly. "And not even in the Circle, either! Though you're still wearing those horrid robes…"

Bethany shrugged. "I've seen horrid-er ones."

"Stay back, okay?" Emma requested. "We don't want you getting killed or caught in the crossfire or something. Everyone that's not Fenris, who needs to explain things, or me – or Loghain, of course – stay back here to protect my mother. And my uncle, I guess."

"You guess," Gamlen repeated bitterly.

"That is what I said, yes," Emma agreed easily.

The Arishok paced back and forth, apparently annoyed at his inability to shut these people up. Finally, in frustration, he threw the head of the viscount at them. "Here is your viscount."

That hardly shut them up, either, although then there was less talking and more horrified screams. The expression on the viscount's face was truly sickening.

"Father!" Saemus cried out, horrified. Apparently he hadn't noticed the Arishok murdering his father.

"You dare-!" one of the nobles shouted, stepping forward. "You are starting a war!"

"You started it," the Arishok said, a little petulantly. He gestured and one of the qunari stepped up behind the man and snapped his neck.

"Hello," Emma said brightly, stepping forward.

The Arishok immediately lost interest in the cowering nobles and moved forward as well to greet her. "Emma Hawke. I have been expecting you. You are the single worthy person in this entire city. This is what respect looks like. Some of you – most of you – will never earn it."

There was a ringing silence, ultimately broken by Carver. "Seriously? Emma – Emma – of all people is the only person worthy of respect? How in the world did that happen?"

"Emma Hawke was the only one to not try to deceive me or to waste my time and she is the only one who will take responsibility for her actions," the Arishok proclaimed solemnly.

"I knew she was a qunari-lover," someone whispered loudly.

"My casual indifference is actually leaning towards dislike now that they're bothering me with their invasion and…other things…" Emma replied, not wanting to remind people of her mother at the moment.

"So tell me, Emma Hawke," the Arishok said casually. "You know that I am denied Par Vollen until the sacred tome is found. How will you see this conflict solved without it?"

"I believe that I can answer that," Sebastian (of all people!) said, smiling confidently as he walked into the room carrying the sacred tome.

"…Sebastian? What…how…?" Emma spluttered.

"I ran into a mutual friend of ours when she showed up at the Chantry, shoved the book in my arms, and told me to take it to the Arishok," Sebastian explained. He presented it to the Arishok. "I do hope that its condition is acceptable to you. I have no idea where it's been for the past several years."

The Arishok reverently accepted it and then examined it carefully. He then solemnly handed it off to the qunari next to him. "The relic is reclaimed. I am now free to return to Par Vollen. I would like to take the thief with me as well but she is not here and I do not wish to remain in this city one single minute longer than I have to."

"So…you're just going to leave?" Emma asked hopefully.

The Arishok nodded. "Yes. Goodbye, Emma Hawke. You are the brightest star your people have."

Emma beamed. "And just like that, I think I'd edging back towards actual indifference."

"Wait, you can't just leave after all of this!" Aveline protested. "What about those two criminals?"

"Let it go, Aveline," Varric advised.

"One day, we shall return to conquer and kill you all," the Arishok informed them.

"That's so sweet," Anders said sarcastically.

"So, Sebastian," Emma said, hardly believing she was actually willingly speaking to him. "Why send you? Where's Isabela?"

Sebastian shrugged. "I do not know. All she told me is that after years of going through almost ridiculous pains not to be seen by the qunari, she wasn't going to be an idiot now and present herself before them in case they wanted vengeance."

"And I guess they did," Emma concluded.

Sebastian nodded. "Yes. She also said to tell you that this newfound conscience of hers is all your fault and that that's why she's going to be avoiding you for the foreseeable future and not any guilt she might be experiencing from abandoning you."

The Arishok cut through the crowd and left the Keep, the rest of his people following suit.

Of course, that was when Orsino and the templars arrived.

"That would make a really good band name…" Varric mused.

"What?" Merrill asked, surprised.

"Oh, nothing, nothing…" Varric said mysteriously.

"And I didn't even have to have my duel," Emma commented. "Still, probably for the best. It would have been highly embarrassing for everyone involved. Particularly me for doing nothing but running away, my family for being related to me, my friends for knowing me, and the Arishok for having to fight me."

"Is it over?" Meredith asked, unable to keep the disappointment out of her voice. Since they usually just fought mages who were helpless before them, Emma could understand how she'd be looking forward to a true fight and now – thanks to Emma, Isabela, and (strangely) Sebastian – she was denied one. Not that Emma cared or anything.

"It is," Emma said proudly. "I'm kind of awesome like that."

Meredith glared at Emma and lifted her sword slightly. For one wild moment, Emma was almost afraid that she was going to strike her with it. But then, reluctantly, she sheathed the sword and shook Emma's hand. "I suppose that at this point there's really nothing left to do but to declare you Kirkwall's newest Champion. Tragically, Kirkwallian Champions are like Grey Wardens in that they can be mages if they so choose."

Choose? What was she on about?

"Success!" Emma cheered.

"Not that they're any more likely to notice you're a mage now than they were before," Meredith said wryly.

Emma frowned. "Haven't I heard your name somewhere before? Maybe in relations to that expedition…?" She shrugged. "Oh, well. It'll come to me."

Cassandra just stared at him as the second part of Varric's epic tale of Emma Hawke came to an end.

Varric was smiling pleasantly at her. "You seem confused, Seeker," he gloated.

"Are you seriously telling me that everything could have been avoided if only she had remembered that Meredith was the name of the woman who bought the idol?" Cassandra demanded.

Varric shrugged. "Everything? Who knows? Even if she knew and Meredith wasn't that far gone yet, it was still very valuable and so most likely hidden. Who knows if we would have been able to get our hands on it and – if we had – if we would have been able to destroy it? I suppose some of it might be avoided but to blame everything that happened from this point on solely on Emma is unfair and reeks of second-guessing history."

"But she makes it so hard not to!" Cassandra protested. "She can remember the name but not the why? She could have asked any of you and you would have known."

"Probably not Bethany, actually," Varric corrected. "She was gone by that point. And Aveline might not have answered to spite her. And who knows what kinds of things that dog of hers said? As a non-Ferelden, I just heard barking."

"You believe that Fereldens can speak to dogs?" Cassandra asked, surprised.

"Anyone can speak to a dog," Varric said, rolling his eyes. "Only Fereldens seem to think that the dogs speak back."

Cassandra shook her head, dismissing this line of discussion.

"The Champion just lucked out on having Isabela send that book back and then not return herself?" Cassandra asked. "That's…not really deserving of the title of Champion."

Varric shrugged. "I kind of agree, to be honest. But then, the nobles of Kirkwall just saw Emma's arrival as being what ended up saving them all and they were in the mood to make someone a champion."

"If you're telling the truth," Cassandra said pointedly.

"Why would I lie?" Varric inquired, leaning back in his stone throne.

"To protect her, perhaps. Make me think she's not worth going after," Cassandra suggested.

"Only you can make such a decision, Cassandra," Varric said sagely.

"If things continue in this vein then what happened at the Gallows may be very different than what we had assumed," Cassandra said slowly. "I need to hear it. "

"I don't even want to know what was assumed," Varric said sardonically.

"Tell me what really happened," Cassandra commanded.

" 'Champion of Kirkwall' was the reward," Varric told her. "It was a fine title but Emma would have wanted money or her sister back from the Gallows. She helpfully suggested this several times but nobody seemed to hear her. Everyone decided that Emma was the most important person in the city, something that annoyed Meredith to no end."

"What about the viscount?" Cassandra asked.

Varric snorted. "The viscount…You know what happened with the viscount? Once his father was dead, Meredith declared that Saemus was the natural choice and he was crowned in absentia on the spot."

Cassandra frowned. "I thought he went with the qunari."

"He did," Varric confirmed.

"Then how-?" Cassandra started to say.

"Good question," Varric told her. Meredith always sent him letters and he occasionally deigned to send a letter or two back telling them to leave him alone," Varric continued. "So you see, Saemus was the viscount in name but Meredith was the one with all of the power. And man was she getting crazier by the day. One of Saemus' letters said that the qunari were getting concerned about their treatment of mages. So after three years of that-"

"Wait, another time skip?" Cassandra complained. "And right after the qunari attack? Something important must have happened then!"

"Um…not really," Varric said, scratching his head. "Carver and Merrill got married and she moved into Emma's place and had two little kids, Malcolm and Rowan. Malcolm after his father and Rowan just because Merrill thought it sounded like a nice name. Not to be outdone, Emma got engaged to Anders but – quickly losing control over Justice – he kept delaying the wedding."

"If you knew…if you knew that something was seriously wrong with Anders then why didn't you do something?" Cassandra asked quietly. "You had six years."

"I didn't understand just how wrong and it was a slow descent," Varric defended himself. "And Emma…She really loved him. I couldn't do that to her."

"But-"

"Isabela managed to avoid Emma for three years," Varric interrupted. "My success as an author, both with Isabela as a co-writer and independently, just kept growing. Fenris finally looked into finding his sister. Emma still never visited hers. Aveline married what's-his-name and Emma killed someone at their wedding. And, um, everyone but Anders and Emma joined the templars."

"What?" Cassandra had clearly never heard this bit.

"We weren't real templars," Varric explained. "Just Carver-like templars. And it was just for the money. Emma and Anders refused out of principle."

"But not Merrill?" She couldn't believe it.

Varric shrugged. "Evidently, it has never occurred to the templars that a mage might try to be a templar and so she had no real problem."

"Maybe the question isn't 'why did this happen' but 'why didn't it happen sooner'," Cassandra mused.

Varric laughed. "Now you're talking."

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