Chapter 12 – The thief and The confidante
The next day they simply left, Isabela went to one of the bathhouses desperate for a bath and Aisha walked up to High Town thinking of paying Hawke and Merrill a visit. It had been nice sleeping next to the pirate but Aisha had to remind herself that she mustn't like it too much. It would only give her heart ache. Then to her delight she saw Sebastian also climbing the steps up to High Town.
"Sebastian," she yelled and ran to catch up with him, he turned around and smiled at her.
"Lady," he said, "I came looking for you at the Hanged Man but no one was there. I got worried after I heard about the Qunari fights yesterday. I trust you are well?"
"It was sweet of you to worry," Aisha said and hooked her arm on his, "but I was very well. Isabela came and told me and we spent the night in Dark Town. Are you going to Hawke's, I was thinking…"
"She made you spend the night in Dark Town?"
The girl rolled her eyes.
"She didn't make me do anything; I agreed that since we couldn't go back home it was the best. Don't worry, it was perfectly safe. And if it wasn't, we are hardly incapable of defending ourselves."
"Still," Sebastian said softly, "I don't think Dark Town is a place for…"
Aisha suddenly felt so tired of Sebastian and his monarch ways. The way he was a stuck-up coir boy, like Isabela and Varric called him.
"It is no place for me?" She snapped, "I'm a Rivaini in Kirkwall, why should I live any better than the Fereldens that live down there?"
Sebastian looked like he didn't know what to say and Aisha just shook her head and removed her arm from his.
"Let's go," she said and then they walked in silence.
…
Hawke was preparing to go out when they arrived. Merrill was standing next to her; with a hand on her shoulder while Hawke was putting on her boots. They looked up when Sebastian and Aisha walked through the door.
"Oh hello," Merrill smiled at them and Aisha smiled back.
"What is happening?" Sebastian asked, "new mission?"
"Not really," Hawke replied, "Aveline came by, asked me to talk with Emeric. He is stirring up trouble with all his questions."
"I thought the Qunari were a bigger threat?" Aisha asked.
Hawke sighed.
"Hawke this, Hawke that," the mage said, "the Qunari aren't my problem either, but yeah, I thought so too. But Aveline thought this needed my attention first. Want to come with us?"
They found Emeric down in the gallows as usual, he told them that his search for the dead women had actually given him a name, Gascard DuPuis, and he wanted Hawke and the others to go to DuPuis' estate in High Town to look for any sort of evidence linking him with the murders on any of the women.
They were about to go there when Isabela came running.
"Isabela," Hawke said, "joining us now are you? We are looking into the murders of fair maidens."
"Fair maidens might be my kind of thing," Isabela said quickly, "but murders are not. Aisha, come home."
Aisha crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow in the pirate's direction.
"You have no right to tell me what to do," she said darkly and put her chin in the air like a stubborn child.
"I know I don't sweetness," Isabela replied softly, "but I really think you should. I need to tell you something."
Hawke looked at the two Rivaini women and then rolled her eyes.
"Come on, Aisha," she said, "just go. We'll be fine without you and Isabela is stubborn like a mule. You might as well do as you're asked."
Aisha nodded grudgingly.
…
"What is it?" They were back in their room at the Hanged Man; Aisha was sitting down on her bed whereas the pirate was pacing back and forth. When she didn't answer, Aisha tried again.
"What's going on?" No answer, just Isabela walking back and forth looking for an answer to give to her friend.
Eventually Aisha got tired with the silence and constant movement and got up and forced Isabela to a halt with a hold on both of Isabela's forearms. She made her stop and then forced the pirate to look at her.
"Isabela! Stop it. What's going on?" It was worrying the girl now as Isabela almost never seemed to worry about anything. She looked upon life with a devil-may-care attitude but there was a fear now in her eyes.
"Look," Isabela finally said and looked down, "I'm going to tell you something but you must promise me you are not going to go running to Hawke, or Choir boy, or Big girl or anyone, okay? Not even… Merrill or Varric. No one, do you understand?"
Aisha inhaled deeply, not liking where this was going.
"What did you do?" She asked then.
"You know the relic I have been searching for for years?"
"Yeah…."
"It may have once belonged to the Qunari."
"The… the Qunari?"
"Yeah. I've always known what the relic was. It's a book, by… ugh, doesn't matter who wrote the bloody thing. I didn't actually steal it from the Qunari. The Orlesians had it, were going to give it back, I simply took it before they had a chance to meet with the Arishok. Oh, don't look at me like that. Getting the relic was easy; it was getting away from the Arishok that was difficult."
Aisha had figured it out.
"Is it your fault that the Qunari are still here?"
"Well… the relic belongs to the Qunari and there is a small chance they want it back, both the Qunari and myself were stranded here when we fought and all of us got shipwrecked, I lost half of my crew."
"Naishe!"
Isabela looked irritated for a moment.
"Don't call me that, and saying that it is my fault is a little bit strong, is it not? I never meant for any of this to happen."
"Why are you telling me?"
"Because I'm so close to getting the relic back I can feel it, and when I do… I'm leaving Kirkwall."
"… after you hand over the relic to the Arishok?"
"Aisha," Isabela sat down on the bed next to Aisha and closed her eyes, "if I don't give the relic to Castillon, he is going to kill me."
"And if you don't give it to the Qunari they are going to kill everyone else! Isabela, I can't believe what you are saying!"
"Look this is who I am," Isabela still kept her voice soft even though Aisha had resorted to almost yelling, "I'm sorry if I disappoint you sweet thing, but I can't be anything else. I'm going to go to Hawke, ask her for help and as soon as I get the relic, I'm leaving. I am telling you to give you a chance to come with me."
Aisha looked at Isabela like she couldn't believe her ears.
"If piracy means betraying ones friends, I think that I will stay right here."
"Whatever floats your boat," Isabela muttered. She actually felt sad at the thought of leaving without Aisha but was thoroughly convinced that she had no other option.
"So you are leaving?" Aisha asked, almost whispering.
Isabela nodded. The mage took a moment of simply looking at her friend; her closed eyelids, her bronze skin, her full lips. Her lips. Naishe, the girl thought to herself, if this is one of the last times I get to see you… Without thinking the girl put both her hands on either side of Isabela's face and pulled her closer, finally planting her lips on the pirate's.