BioWare owns all but what I made up. : D
So Kai and Zev make it to their home away from home. They will have some explaining to do to Wynne and our favorite rascally twinkle fingers...Anders. LOL!
My customary tribute to those who put me/the story on alerts and favs goes to: stardust794, nomibubs, taz3SGSN, SweetWench918, Liso66, THE JUDSTER, makillian, Silver-Hair-Lover, Jinx 1983, Lady Alira, RandomWittering, arboura, and Kiki Aries.
My eternal gratitude goes to my betas and friends (whom I snooker into doing beta for me), you all rock my world: Night Hunter MGS, Ladyamesindy, Violet Theirin, Piceron, Blightsworn, Liso66. *HUGS* guys!
My deep and humble appreciation, and aw, go to you who read and review. I can't tell you how much it means to me. And I have received some of the most beautiful, and fantastic reviews. I wish I could put everyone of you here, but I try and send personal email responses so I can tell you each in detail how lovely you really are. Wow, just , wow you guys! Thank you!
I know one of my fantastic fans told me I don't need to apologize for being late, so I won't say sorry; instead, I will say THANK YOU, for waiting so patiently for this chapter. Holidays, and a bit of writers block... blech!
Oh and I haven't had a chance to see all of my fans who put me/the story on alerts and see your own writings, but I wanted to remind everyone here that most of us do write. Please read! There are some fantastic works out there: Zeeji's "Seeing Clearly", Ladyamesindy's "Ever Constant" (her Nate AU), Liso66's newest "Silk and Steel" (AU Ser Bryant and Amell) & "Throw Away Warden", Kiki Aries's "One Year Later", Picron's "Of Parents and Secrets", and Random Wittering's "Impossible Dreams"; just to name a few. I know I wish I could read all of them and I want desperately to call attention to you all as writers in your own rights.
Blessings!
Kai and Zev walked into the dimly lit interior of The Hungry Nug inn. The lobby floor was covered with a thick woolen rug in a geometric pattern. The room itself was neat, dimly lit by two torches, and some muted magical runes. It served to give the impression of twilight and sleepy comfort.
There were stone benches and chairs, and not all built for dwarves either. It eased Kai's mind some, as it meant a bed that might fit a human. She didn't relish dangling her feet over the edge or sleeping caddy-cornered to get some shut-eye.
They made their way to a front desk made of carved stone, upon which stood a flat etched disk of metal hanging from a metal bar suspending perpendicular to its stone base. A small stick with a leather-covered padded end hung from a hook on the frame. Zevran picked up the stick and applied the leather covered end to the plate of hanging metal which emitted a low reverberating 'bong' sound.
A tapestry worked out in red, black, and white geometric designs bulged slightly before being swept to the side to reveal a doorway Kai had no idea was there. The makeshift curtain swung back into place as a male dwarf walked through to stand before them. His elaborately plaited beard glowed like golden honey in the torchlight. "Ah! A young couple in love, I supposed you're needing a place to bunk down? As it so happens, I have a room with human sized furniture still empty."
He turned back to the wall to the side of the doorway through which he had just appeared. The wall held square openings carved into the rock, and each cubby-hole sported a glyph and held either an empty metal hook, or a hook with a heavy iron key. Kai noticed that some of the spaces held what looked like parchment pieces. The dwarf reached for a key and pulled one such piece of brownish paper from the space behind the hook. He sat the scrap of parchment along with the key on the counter as Kai put coins down for the room.
"My lady, the occupants in the room next to yours have a missive. Would it be an imposition if I were to ask you to deliver it? It is a couple of mages here from the tower about lyrium. I think this note might be from their friends there?" The dwarf shoved coins for the change Kai didn't think they were entitled to. He winked at her with a grin before flashing a look at the coins and back to Kai. "My cousin, Georig, he lives next to Lake Calenhad and the tower. He tells me that the mages are ten feet tall and shoot lightening out of their fingers, he is such a joker. They both looked as normal as cloud-heads can to me." The braids of the man's beard wiggled with his laughter, "Georig loves his ale. He keeps trying get me to go topside and visit The Spoiled Princess tavern there."
Kai looked down at the pile of coins some copper bits and good amount of silver, sitting on the paper beneath it. One coin was larger and bore a symbol Kai was very familiar with: three crescent moons back to back joined by a triple knot. The 'coin' had writing not readable in the dim light of the lobby, but Kai knew it said 'dileas go deo'. Without flipping it over she knew a rampant griffin would adorn the other side.
"Yes, well your cousin is right, good ser. Topside has many fine ales to choose from. The Spoiled Princess is well known for it's selection." Kai grinned at him, "And I would be happy to deliver the message to the mages for you." Kai leaned in close as she piled the coins into her palm, "And I thank you for allowing yourself to be recruited by the Scath by way of Georig." Kai slapped some of the silver back on the stone counter, along with the Scath medallion, "Your, tip." She scooped up the key with a wink.
"I am Ruhe, my lady. It is a pleasure to serve." He returned her wink with a grin at this, "my wife Walpurga helps with the running of the inn and can attend to your needs as well." Ruhe made the medallion disappear into his pocket, and the coins into a metal lock box. "Please don't hesitate to call on us. You'll find your room up the stairs and at the end of the hall. Room three-oh-four. The mages are in room three-oh-three next door."
Kai and Zevran made their way up the narrow stone step to the floors cut into the rock. Signs at the corner of each corridor glowed softly with inset lyrium and pointed travelers to the halls where their rooms were.
They found rooms three-oh-three and three-oh-four at the end of one long hall near a set of back stairs. Zevran slipped the heavy key into a matching iron lock on the stone door with the glowing glyph, giving it a twist. The mechanism was well oiled and tumblers slid back with hardly any noise at all.
Kai watched as he placed one of his long fingered hands on the door and nudged it open slightly. Like the lock, the great iron hinges on the door were well lubricated. Zevran must have heard something in the room beyond as he drew one of his throwing daggers from its secret sheath and readied it as he put himself into the shadows. Kai followed suit, cautiously moving around the heavy door.
She had barely entered the room when she heard a familiar voice, "Now, mate, I have all the holes a body needs to function. And while I appreciated a good poke, I am usually the one doing the poking."
Kai came into the room to find Zev standing over Anders who lay prone on the bed with his kitten on his shoulder, Argus laying beside him and a plate of fruit and cheese in his lap. Kai watched as Anders flashed the elf a saucy grin while feeding, first the cat, then Argus, a bit of cheese before popping a grape into his own mouth.
"My sparkled fingered friend, it is truly amazing that you have not found yourself on the sharpened end of a dagger while in bed before this." Zevran grinned and shook his head while making the blade disappear once more, "How did you manage to gain entrance into our room?"
Anders let out a deep chuckle, "Ah, it takes one to know one, does it not, my dangerous friend? I have no doubt you know well the art of quick escapes from amorous romps gone wrong."
This statement caused Zevran to throw back his head and laugh, "Si, my magical mischief maker, we have more in common than I would have guessed upon our first meeting."
"Oh, perhaps even more than both of us realized, besides our good taste in women?" Anders grinned at Kai before he winked at Zevran. "As to how I managed to enter your room, comfy bed by the way, do you think it's big enough for a threesome?" With this Anders flashed Kai a hopeful look before turning back to Zev, "I picked the lock of the door between our rooms." He popped another grape into his mouth. When the kitten and Argus protested, he addressed them while doling out more nibbles, "So sorry, my furry friends!"
"And it took him forever and an aye." Wynne's dry voice floated into the room as the mage entered from the door in question, "I thought I would grow old and die here before he picked it." Kai turned to watch as Wynne walked in with a tray holding a bottle of wine, and four mugs. The mage set it upon a low slung bureau that appeared to be carved from the stone itself. Kai saw two more plates piled with more food. "I offered to go to the innkeeper as he is on the side of The Silver Griffon, thanks to our Scath weapons-smith and his family, but Anders insisted he show off his 'skills with a lock pick." Wynne cocked an eyebrow while a smile played at the corner of her lips.
Anders's voice took on a mock hurt tone, "My dear lady, you tease me! I admit that I am no slick fingered rogue, and that perhaps it took longer than say, our talented friends here; but believe me, picking locks has come in handy on several occasions and on several escape attempts." Anders flashed them all a cheeky smile, " And I don't mean just from the tower."
"Of that, I have no doubt." Came Wynne's acerbic response as she poured burgundy wine into the mugs.
"Why not just bust a lock with a freeze spell? Why take so much...time, with a mundane tool when you have magic at your disposal?" Kai grinned and shrugged her shoulders as Wynne handed her a mug of sweet smelling wine.
"My dear lady, Templars at the tower know when magic is being done, and they can suppress mana. They saw fit to lock me away behind mundane, as you called it, doors; therefore, I thought it prudent to learn how to use a lock pick." Anders winked and grinned taking his own proffered mug with a little bow of the head to Wynne. "I am nothing if not practical."
"Young man, if you were practical, you would not continue to escape from the tower. And once you had absconded, you would not have been caught over and over." Wynne cocked an eyebrow at the young mage while sipping her wine delicately, "Why do I suspect pursuit of female company was to blame for your continued incarcerations?"
"My dear lady, if there was some irate husband on occasion who misconstrued his wife giving aid and succor to a homeless and penniless mage, well that was not my fault. And if said husband caught a man warming his wife's bed, well, I didn't do it."
"Certainly not, you are a model of propriety, I'm sure." Wynne raised an eyebrow while stating drily, "Much in the way that Zevran is, no doubt."
This drew a laugh from Kai and Anders, and a "My deliciously endowed Wynne, you wound me!" and a chuckle from Zev.
Wynne snickered and shook her head, before sitting in one of the three chairs in the room. Apparently she and Anders had brought them in, in anticipation of their meeting. Wynne waited until Kai and Zevran settled themselves before she looked at them leaning forward, placing her elbows on her knees. "So, what took you so long? You are hardly the type to sit in a tavern drinking for drinking sake."
"Except for that time at camp where you and Leliana got drunk off of Oghren's stolen beer stash at camp that one night." Ali's voice teased in her ear.
"Ugh! Don't remind me! The headache the next morning was horrible, and Wynne wouldn't heal it as a reminder to us both." Kai gave him a mental grimace.
She broke off with Alistair and addressed Wynne, "Well, we had a visitor."
Zev gave Kai a cheeky grin, "A most beautiful, and interesting visitor, no?"
"Beautiful?" Anders's face lit up with interest.
Kai laughed, "Yes, beautiful and deadly, so behave yourself when you meet her."
"Oh, now I am even more intrigued!" Anders lips curved into a wide smile while he winked at Zev conspiratorially, "I have always had a weakness for beauty and danger."
This made Zev laugh and Kai throw up her hands shaking her head. "I give up on both of you, two incorrigible reprobates! What am I supposed to do with you?"
"I could thi-" Zev began, before Kai stopped him by placing a finger on his lips.
"Yes, you could think of something. Both of you could, no doubt." Kai flashed a look at Anders who only smirked harder. "You two are so much alike, Maker help me." Zev grinned and kissed her finger's tip before sipping more wine.
Kai turned back to the elder mage, "Our visitor was none other than the sister to Queen Rica Aeducan herself. And Vartag Gavorn sent her to us. I expected to have a missive telling us where you'd found us lodging, this is very nice by the way and in a good place close to the front doors." Kai pulled out a small tightly folded piece of parchment that had been stuck to the bottom of one of her mugs, she unfolded it and it bore lettering on it in ink. "From this childish scrawl, I take it you let Anders write the note." This earned Kai a mock, hurt 'hey', from the mage in question.
Kai wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out at him before continuing, "It seems Vartag recognized me, and sent her to us." Kai went on to explain what was going on at the palace and around the city: the Nevarran mages, their demon portals, their holding Bhelen and his family hostage, their disappearing to the Deep Roads with dwarves and information on Cairidin (which led Kai and her companions from the Blight to fill Anders in on dwarven history and golems).
"So, you tell us that Nevarra wishes to build a golem army?" Anders looked taken aback, "To what dark purpose, I wonder?"
"I don't know that the Nevarran government is itself involved, though, they do have their constant battles with Orlais. If Nevarra had lost the war to own the mineral rich Blasted hills to Orlais, well, then golems would indeed come in handy; but they didn't."
"No, young lady they didn't lose that battle, but I can see why the Nevarran government might agree to let some of the mages from the college in Cumberland help a certain little viper on the Ferelden throne to amass an army of golems." Wynne stood and went to the bureau to pour more wine into her mug. "Nevarra feels about Orlais the same way that Loghain did. And I am sure Anora is manipulating that to her own advantage. She probably promised them help against Orlais; supplies, gold, weapons, armor, soldiers should they need them."
"Why so many mages? Why not engineers and soldiers?" Kai shrugged.
"I suspect that they are of one of the mage factions that believe that magic should be profitable, either monetarily or politically, or both, dear lady." Anders shot Wynne a knowing look.
"Hmm, our young troublemaker is probably right. Lucrosians, they are a small faction among us. They do believe our talents should be for sale." Wynne sipped delicately while staring off into space, lost in thought. "They would be the mages to send. But I don't like it. I think you are right, Kai, something else is going on."
They all sat in silence, each to their thoughts, before they bid each other good night and went to their beds. Sleep, at least for Kai, did not come easily; her head so filled with thoughts that she hardly noticed when she did slip into strange dreams.