Chapter 19 – When in doubt...

Isabela sighed in content as the man rolled of her. It had been just what she needed, a few minutes of blissful forgetting. The man, whoever he was, had been unnecessarily rough and not very good but good enough to send her over the edge. Now, with the man panting next to her, Isabela couldn't get away fast enough. She laughed at his feeble and tired way of trying to keep her next to him as she secured her tunic and pulled her boots on again. Then the pirate headed into the night.

She started walking towards the tavern, thinking and hoping that Aisha had gotten a room. The tavern was fancier than she was used to, not like the stench of the Hanged Man. The man behind the bar told her that a riviani woman had rented the first room up the stairs on the left and Isabela headed there.

Aisha was asleep when Isabela went into. She looked stressed, not peaceful and her eyelids were fluttering. Isabela couldn't help but look at her friend while taking of her clothes and washing the previous bed partner away. When she was clean she approached the sleeping rivian.

There was only one bed in the room so the pirate gently pushed the girl towards the wall and then lay down next to her, taking the blanket and spreading it over the both of them. Aisha seemed to calm down and pressed herself closer, muttering something in her sleep. Isabela couldn't help but put her arm around her friend and press a kiss to the top of the head that was now snuggled into her bosom. She thought briefly about the people they had left behind, maybe they would all be dead in a couple of days. The thought terrified her. She didn't know when she had started to care about things like friendship but she couldn't deny that she was uncomfortable at the thought of any of her friends getting hurt. Even lady man-hands.

…

The next leg of the journey was just as uncomfortable as the first if not more. Aisha was still annoyed with Isabela for everything and the pirate refused to apologize for anything. Instead they sat in silence looking out of the window.

Aisha was still thinking about the strange meeting with the mother and daughter last night. She still felt conflicted about mages in general and parts of her was simply scared that her fate was to one day slip and become an abomination. But she had decided to get over it. She wasn't about to lay down and die, she would fight and train to be better. …and try really hard to not use blood magic. If she ever met Hawke again she would take the opportunity to talk with a mage who was normal and not like Anders. Because even if Anders was an experienced mage he was also his own form of abomination and Aisha didn't feel like she could trust him with the types of doubts she was having. In a way the mage was happy about last night's impromptu meeting, it had been what she needed.

It was mid-day when the carriage pulled to a halt in Minsop. Aisha was too excited to wait for it to stop properly; she just jumped out and looked around. It had been too long since she had been to Rivian and even if Minsop wasn't Rivian it was closer than Aisha had been for almost ten years. Her heart ached for the food, the dialect, the people. It had been her home and even if it had its problems Aisha missed it.

She heard Isabela sigh behind her. Isabela didn't like anything that reminded her of Rivian. It was diffirent than the Free Marches and Ferelden. Belief in the Qun was widespread and the matriarchal society was slightly... chaotic. Isabela should have liked it, but their homecountry just reminded the pirate of being trapped in a loveless marriage and she did not like the thought of going back. She hadn't thought of stopping a night in Minsop. Isabela told herself that she had changed her mind because it was better to be completely rested when facing Castillion but the truth was that Aisha had sounded delighted at the thought of visiting little Rivian. The pirate didn't know why but she wanted Aisha to continue smiling.

Aisha was happier than she had been in a long time. She pulled Isabela to the various stands of fruits that were being sold at the market square. With squeel of joy Aisha payed one of the vmerchants and then turned around holding five ripe mangoes in her arms.

"Look!" She said and she tried to maneuver the fruits into her bag with one hand while balancing the fruits on the other arm. One of them fell but the pirate caught it before it reached the ground.

"Here," Isabela said and Aisha nodded and took it gratefully. She still didn't say anything, still feeling more than irritated with her friend. Isabela wanted to not care; but felt to her annoyance that she did care. She had never cared what anyone thought about her before, but Aisha was different.

"You should be careful you know," the pirate said trying to lighten the mood, "you have been eating too much mango, your eyes have the same colour as the flesh. If you eat more you might turn into one." Her words were the exact same as they had been all those years before and for just a moment, Aisha's mango-coloured eyes lightened and she smiled.

"Naishe," she giggled.

The two women smiled as they looked at each other and it was as if they were young again. With the smells and sounds all around them it was as if they had never left Rivain. For just a moment they were just Aisha and Naishe, all the years and events in between them didn't matter, their essences were still the same.

The moment passed. They sat down on some crates and Aisha started eating one of the mangos; Isabela ate one too even though she wasn't even that fond of mango. She thought about the relic, she thought about her friends. They WERE her friends. Still. And she had stabbed them in the back. Like she always did. I'm a pirate, Isabela thought, it's what I do. But for the first time in her life it wasn't enough.

"I have to go back, don't I?" She asked Aisha as the mage wiped her wet chin with the sleeve of her tunic. She looked silently at the pirate for a few minutes.

Aisha nodded.