All except my character's and her dog's names belong to BioWare. Special thanks to them and Mr. Gaider for creating such a wonderful world that inspired me to start writing again.
Thanks to all the readers of this story. Particular thanks to those who have put my story on their favorites and for the reviews. I feel the love, and I hope you keep enjoying what I write as much as I enjoy writing it. : ) Oh, and there will be bitch slapping. : )
Kai's stomach was rolling with waves of nausea so bad that a cold sweat had broken out on her skin and she felt chilled to the bone, she dashed around the corner from the dining hall and up the walk to atrium. She just made it to atrium where she put her head into the niche behind the outdoor couch to be horribly sick into a potted plant. Even after the two spoonfuls of porridge she managed to eat before she so gracefully cleared the room came up, she kept retching until there was nothing but bitter bile burning her throat.
Finally, thank the Maker, the heaving stopped. She wiped her mouth and her watering eyes. Poor plant, Kai thought. She turned to find only Argus had followed her out of the hall, for which she was grateful. She really didn't want their sympathies or kindness at the moment. She probably didn't deserve it with her boorish behavior anyway. Oh, if Mother could see her now.
Kai turned to Argus, who whined and looked at her with concerned eyes. "Thanks for coming to find me, boy." She scratched him behind the ears. Since she had two hours before the...funeral, she made herself say that word, if only in her head; and if solitude was what she wanted, she would grab a book and go out to the small garden near the beehives next to the orchards. It was a favorite childhood spot full of good memories and unlikely to trigger a sad one.
Kai continued past the atrium and around the corner to the sleeping quarters. She made her way through the first doorway leading to the hall with the guest rooms. As she passed, she heard Lady Isolde speaking in an angry voice, her Orlesian accent heavier due to her ire, "I can't believe it, and she talks to my husband about that bane of our existence, Maric's bastard! I thought I had gotten rid of him, and he keeps turning up like a bad coin, he doesn't even have the decency to stay out of our lives now that he is dead!"
Kai's vision seemed to narrow to a pinpoint and then expanded outward again with great speed. Everything became clear and highly defined. She could count the threads in the rug at her feet, see every chip in every stone. Kai felt as if she were out of her body and just observing, she watched as she went into the room to find the lady in question talking to an elven servant. She watched as she stared at Isolde marking every wrinkle on the woman's face, her pouty full lips, her big doe eyes. She saw all of this while speaking to the servant in a voice that didn't quite sound like her own. "If you will please excuse us, I need to speak to the Lady Isolde, we have...unfinished business," Kai said, never taking her eyes off of the face in front of her.
As soon as Kai heard the door close she watched her hand, as it seemed to sail of its own accord, and slap Isolde soundly across the face. It was so loud the report echoed off the stone walls of the chamber, and Isolde rocked back on her heels clutching a hand to her cheek, her eyes wide. "You cowan bitch!" Kai heard her own voice hiss, "If you ever speak about Alistair like that again, I will personally rip out your shrewish tongue and feed it to Argus." Kai's voice didn't rise above a quiet conversational tone. It was cold, calm, incredibly smooth, and oh so dangerous. The tone caused Isolde to step back from her, not that she could go far or she would find herself aflame by stepping into the fireplace. Kai took a subtle joy in visualizing Isolde encased in flames and thinking about how she wouldn't piss on her to put her out. What has gotten into me, the detached part of her mind wondered.
"Do you know how close I came to letting Jowan stick you like a pig and bleed you to save your son? It was so tempting, so very, very tempting." Kai felt her eyes narrowing and her lips peeling back in a feral mask. Argus, catching his mistress's anger at the woman before her, peeled his own lips back and growled as well, Kai stayed him with a flick of her hand.
"Do you know why I didn't, because Alistair wouldn't have wanted it. Alistair, even after you made his life a living hell. Taking from him the only home he had ever known, making him sleep in the stables at Redcliffe and with the dogs at the Arlship in Denerim, like he was some piece of garbage! And when that wasn't enough, you made Eamon basically send him into slavery with the Maker forsaken Chantry where he was miserable." Kai watched as Isolde's big brown eyes got wider, "Even after all that, he had forgiven you."
Isolde stuttered, "I thought he was Eamon's; it was embarrassing. I was only looking out for my son and his future! Alistair was a stone around Eamon's neck, I was only trying..." Kai's other hand snaked out and slapped Isolde's other cheek with a loud crack. Well, at least she'll match, that detached part of her mind noted.
"You mean like you did when you hired a blood mage to train Connor? How many people have you hurt, Isolde, with your own selfish interests? Maker, you are dumber than a crate full of hair. Eamon is very weak man, but he is a good man, it's a wonder what he sees in you." Kai felt a small cynical smile play on her lips. "Oh, never you mind, I know what charms he sees, it must be the buxom chest, the 'suck me' lips and those big vapid eyes," Kai hissed at Isolde, her tone making it sound as lurid as one might find visiting The Pearl, Denerim's famous brothel. "It certainly isn't your brains he is enamored of. I watched you with Teagan who, by Andraste's grace, is not as easily swayed by your obvious charms." Kai strung out the word "charms," making it sound as tawdry as possible, "Charms which can be found in any brothel in Thedas, by the by."
Kai kept her voice calm and conversational, but she wielded it like a blade, "Teagan didn't trust you either, or how did you figure we got into the castle to save him?" Kai laughed a low and sultry chuckle of her own. The detached part of herself amazed at how nasty she could be. "You act all pious, but you are nothing in comparison to Alistair. He is...was a better person than you could ever hope to be." Kai watched dispassionately as tears fell from Isolde's eyes.
"As for me, the darkspawn will be holding ballroom dances with the dwarves in the Deep Roads before you will have my forgiveness. Alistair was better than both of us it seems." And with that Kai spun on her heel to leave.
Kai had almost reached the door when another thought occurred to her and she spun back to look at Isolde. "You know, Isolde, I may not forgive you, but I do need to thank you. If you hadn't done what you did, I might not ever have met and had the privilege of loving that wonderful man." She heard Isolde sob before she opened the door and walked right into Ban Teagan.