Blackwall;
Blackwall was surprised to see the Inquisitor sitting in Skyhold's tavern, alone. She usually had a band of soldiers nipping at her heels, he didn't think she could help it, the lass was likeable. Almost every evening she would be one of fi not the last to leave, listening intently to anyone who dared speak to her or buying drinks for her companions, usually himself of Sera and asking questions about their lives before the Breach. She was always eager to listen, whether it was out of self-interest or altruism remained to be seen but she listened with a genuine curiosity al the same.
"Evening Inq-" she kicked him in the shin before he could greet her properly, though he harly knew where to look considering her choice of attire.
"I apologise Blackwall that was necessary. Tonight, if you must address me you must call me Raen. I am trialling an old favourite as an interrogation tactic, or at least that's what Cassandra thinks because I told the bartender to say the Inquisitor…" she winked, the girl had obviously been on the drink for a while now, she didn't get merry easily, "and then he told someone, who told Cass. So I told her, it was all part of my elaborate plan to catch a spy. But it could, just be me trying to have some fun after the Seeker said I couldn't dance with the soldiers anymore because I dance like an 'Antivan whore'. Judging by your presence, Cassandra thought I'd get myself killed in the process."
"I see. Well forgive me Inq… Raen, but are you interrogating your tankard there or did you have an actual person in mind?" He chuckled as she laughed heartily at him; she was usually not this quick to grin.
"That Qunari and his mercenaries have been making themselves at home in my tavern for two days now, I'm going to find out why." And with that, she slipped off the stool and swayed over past the group of mercenaries to sit by herself. It didn't take long for the mercenaries to stop comparing how many pieces they could cut a man into and to start calling out.
'Pretty lady, come and join us!" She reacted shyly at first, covering her face with one hand demurely until one of them stood and offered her his seat at the table, kissing her hand as she passed.
"What's a pretty thing like you doing in a dump like this?" the mercenary closest to her asked as his friends nodded in assent.
"Skyhold is a long way from Rivain." The largest Qunari looked up from his tankard, Blackwall could tell this was going to be a long night; she'd play this for all it was worth.
"Longer way from Par Vollen, unless you take the Royal Road." She smirked, her voice slurred ever so slightly, sounding far more common than it usually did. The Qunari laughed at her knowledge of Pirate slang for an Orlesian Navy trading route, she had captured his attention.
"I spent a year or two working for fishers' bleeders, but their captain was crap. Figured I could do better. The best folks in the bleeders agreed with me. I snapped his sword in half and we talked things out over drinks. I don't suppose anyone who knows about the Royal Road was just a bleeder. Now a Rivaini Pirate in Skyhold, that sounds like an interesting story." he mused.
"Aye, might be." She smiled, clearly in her element.
"Clear out boys, I'm buying the pretty lady a drink." He hadn't taken his eyes off her yet. His friends didn't much care for the suggestion to clear out but removed themselves to the bar without much fuss. The giant Qunari was clearly the leader, the lass had good instincts. She didn't need watching, as Cassandra had suggested, the Inquisitor had the Qunari laughing more often than not and as the evening progressed, and the drink kept on flowing, she was clear as a summer's day enjoying herself. She must have liked the company, or he'd have wagered a hundred sovereigns that the 'Iron Bull', as the Qunari called himself, would have had no hands after slapping her on the arse when she got up to get drinks. Blackwall's hand had flown to his sword at the sound, but there had been little need. As the mercenaries began to grow more boisterous, they sang shanties and she sang along, when she wasn't laughing too hard to draw breath.
"Do you know any sailor's songs for the lady?" the Bull roared at the man sitting and plucking at a lute in the corner in a most lacklustre manner. The man looked slightly terrified but nodded, "I know one, Drunken Sailor, if it please you."
"Does it please the lady whose name I do not know?" He seemed to be trying to remember whether or not she had actually told him and he had just forgotten.
"Aye, it'll do. And my name's Raen, like the weather, but not." She giggled, "Are you going to ask me to dance, Ser The Iron Bull?"
He certainly looked as if he wanted to; perhaps if his horns didn't near reach the ceiling. "Do you want me to ask you to dance, Raen like the weather but not?"
The woman's voice had dropped low, barely carrying above the music. Blackwall had to move to the table behind the Qunari just to hear. "I'd much rather hear why a Ben-Hassrath spy has killed demons in the area and why he and his band of mercenaries are sitting in my tavern in my Keep." The act had been dropped; she placed a leg upon the seat he sat on to make it clear the option of leaving was out of the question.
"I take it you're the Inquisitor then." The Iron Bull seemed too drunk to care that he had been deceived, and didn't alert his companions who were now happily singing along with the musician.
"You've got a bloody good eye for spy-spotting, it seems." Blackwall had at least expected him to deny it.
"I've got two, actually. And I've spent a lot of time in Rivain, I can tell one Qunari from another unlike most people around here." He roared with laughter at her barb about his eye.
"You got me Raen, your name is Raen, isn't it? Look, all I'm doing is leading the Chargers, taking jobs from nobles and reporting anything I find to the Arishok. When that big hole in the sky opened up, and a woman apparently crawled out of it, my superiors thought it worth investigating. Now, I've got a network of spies that could be useful for someone in your position. I was going to come and offer my, offer our, services to you Inquisition folk formally, but it seems you beat me to it, which is crap because I had it all planned out but I was never going to lie. Not my style."
"People are saying I crawled out of the Breach?" she was gobsmacked, as was he apparently.
"You don't actually care about being spied on, do you?" That got him a laugh.
"Not particularly, though I would like the record set straight that I did not crawl from a gaping, demon-filled hole in the sky. In all seriousness though, can I trust you to have my back? I mean for all I know, I'm the one being played right now."
"Five minutes ago you were the most interesting Rivaini tavern wench I 'd ever met. Now you're someone else. I've got the back of Raen, like the weather, but not, Raen, I don't think I know the other one well enough to say and I can't speak for her companions. But if demons are killing innocent people, we're both on the same side anyhow. You can trust that."
"That's good enough for me, if I read the reports before they are sent. I'm assuming you have a vague and unimaginative idea of what I'll do to you if you betray me, so I won't bother elaborating."
"Of course." The lass was smart, if that matter had come before the advisors, there would have been no guarantee of the mercenaries' safety.
"Then I will see you in the morning in the Throne Room introducing yourself and your band of mercenaries as civilian solders, simply wanting to protect innocent people from demons. If anyone accuses you of being a spy, deny it. I'll vouch for each of you personally."
"Time to go Blackwall", she called, rising from the table and holding out a scarred and delicate hand for the Qunari to shake. As his monstrous hand clasped hers she seemed to smirk despite herself, "I'm glad we could talk this out over drinks." She walked confidently from the tavern, she was not drunk at all it seemed until she reached the stairs and groaned. "You will have to help me, Ser Warden, I'll break my neck on these stairs otherwise and then we'd really be in the shit." Her words had slurred slightly again and her hair had completely fallen out of the tangled mess it was in before. "And If Cassandra asks if I behaved in a manner that was unbecoming or whorish- I trust you know which answer will make her happiest. Happy Seeker, happy Inquisition." The woman was laughing breathily to herself, looking more dishevelled than he had ever seen her before.
"Of course, Inquisitor" he replied, taking her arm and leading the way back to Skyhold.