After grabbing the empty amulet they headed back to the city and she showed Merrill where her new home was to be. Lisa had to admit that she was surprised by how excited Merrill was about all of this. Then again, maybe that was because she'd never been in the city before. She couldn't really tell.
Either way it was back to work, especially since that bit of a sidetrack hadn't resulted in any increase in their funds. But Lisa had to admit that she was surprised with herself. Sure, she hardly slept at night, but they were making good progress. And the work didn't end there as even the Viscount started to ask for her help. Well…that wasn't true; in reality she'd read a pamphlet from the Keep that was requesting help. It paid well and thus she turned up to discover that the Viscount's somewhat flowery son had been kidnapped by a Qunari.
That the sent them to the Wayward Coast where they ended up being beaten to the punch by the well-known Winters. They were a family business made up of professional killers. And from what Lisa had read about them they seemed to take pride in getting the job done and getting the job done well. But when she looked upon what seemed like the next generation she had to admit that she was a little bit saddened. This woman wasn't someone that took pride in their craft, in the ability to keep kills to a minimum; instead she lived off each death.
"And another monster falls by the hand of the Winters." The woman remarked as Lisa, Isabela, Bethany, and Aveline stepped into the clearing. They watched as the Viscount's son fell to his knees besides the Qunari, calling out the creature's name. Lisa had to admit that it saddened her. Obviously he cared much about this beast and she had to sympathize with him. Her parents weren't exactly thrilled with her sexual orientation, especially being the eldest of the siblings she was sort of expected to carry on the Hawke name. And at first they simply told her that she was just looking for attention. And she sort of was…but then it got to a point where she just never looked at men or women the same.
She couldn't exactly put her finger on when it happened, but it had. But the worst part about it was that despite all of this…she'd never found someone that she truly felt a connection with. It was easy to pull a curious girl under the covers. But it was difficult to keep her there. Normally when the mornings would come the girls would get up, blush about what happened last night, and start getting dressed. And for a moment, Lisa's confidence would falter when she asked her if she would see her again. And as always, the woman would give her a surprised look before sadness swept over her eyes. It was obvious…during the night it was steamy and hot and lovely, but while the girl planned on going back to her normal life with this checked off her bucket list…Lisa couldn't. This was Lisa's life. And the Viscount's son was the same way.
So it angered her that the Winters had so casually done away with Saemus's lover; Qunari or not. "How could you!? You monster!" Saemus shouted at her as the woman laughed.
"I'm hardly the monster here," she glanced up to watch as Lisa and her friends approached.
"Not from my angle," Lisa growled as her friends gave her a curious look, wondering what had happened during the short walk to make her react this way.
"Ah, competition. Well, you're too late. This is my bounty."
"Messah," Saemus remarked, "I'll go with you without trouble…if you just don't let this monster get away with the murder she's committed." The woman frowned at Saemus before turning towards Lisa and pulling out her blades.
"No need to ask," she grumbled as she pulled out a blade just in time for the woman to swing down.
"So you're the flowery boy's bodyguard then?" The woman laughed as Lisa took a swing at her, the nimble bounty hunter flipping away.
"Hardly. Consider me as someone sweeping up the rubbish," the woman simply smirked and charged back forward. And the problem was that while Lisa knew she was nimble, the Winters woman was even more agile. This was what she was born to do and thus after a while it caught up to Lisa and she was found tripping over the woman's outstretched foot, unarmed, and onto her back. The woman swung her blade down as Lisa caught her wrist just in time, looking up at the woman's grinning face.
"You're a little over your head aren't you? I've heard of you, Hawke, all that you've done. I've also heard about all of the women you've done. A dike little Ferelden aren't you? I'm sure this job means a lot to you," she gave another push on her knife, sending it an inch closer to her face. Lisa spit in her face as the woman growled and shoved more. "You see…us Winters are built for this and we don't fall to peasants like you." Another shove and Lisa was forced to push her hands to the side so the knife sunk into her shoulder. She yelped in pain, blinking at the hot tears in her eyes but fought through it as she reached down for a small knife at her hip.
"And us Hawke's are born to be the best…not what is most base," she remarked before sinking the blade into the woman's stomach. She lurched and sat up, giving Lisa enough space to pull the knife out of her shoulder and shove it into her chest, killing her on instant.
During all of this her friends had been doing their best to hold off the Winters' guards. And once the leader lay limp on the ground Lisa did her best to sit up, looking at her bleeding shoulder and wincing as she shifted her shirt to look a the wound. "Lisa…lemme help," Bethany offered, rushing over as Lisa finished getting up, shrugging her sister off.
"It's fine, don't worry about it," she remarked, her wounded arm wrapped across her stomach to dull the pain.
"I can see the exit wound! Let me heal it!" Bethany argued as she reached for Lisa's bicep.
"No!" Lisa snapped, "I've gotten over worse, Bethany!"
"Why are you always so difficult?! I just want to help! Both you and Carver were always so difficult!"
"Because whenever you did mum and dad were always there to pat you on the back and tell you that you did a good job while Carver and I were scolded and sent to our rooms." There was a pause as Bethany's face fell in surprise. Lisa sighed and rolled her eyes, "Anyway, let's get back to the task at hand." And because of all of the commotion there was no conversation during the walk back as Lisa did her best to patch up her shoulder, which wasn't much on the move.