Time healed all wounds, or so it was claimed. A millennia had passed since the mages of Tevinter broke into the Black City, years had gone since the elves were freed from slavery, weeks had passed since the Archdemon was slayed and the Blight ended, yet the wounds remained. They festered and brought on disease. Lea wondered how deeply wounded Isa was while Myde and Roxas were perplexed by Isa's recent behavior. Isa had been relentless in his tasks, working long days and hunting in his spare time, but this past week he had scarce left his room. Every time Myde mustered the courage to ask him about it, Isa had a new excuse. Roxas had suggested that elves might hibernate like bears and now that the end of summer was approaching, Isa was preparing for winter. Lea had not worried himself with it until he too heard Isa speak to himself.
The dwarves in town sometimes brought books with them to sell. Ancient lore, journals, maps. Lea had rummaged through the dwarves' wares to find anything that could be of help, but found little. Perhaps Isa was homesick. It had been long since he had seen other elves. He had neglected his Dalish traditions of prayers and sacrifice to his gods. Lea could not find any books on the Dalish either and he suspected any such book would cost a fortune. Only the rich and powerful had access to such information.
Life had, in other aspects, been all but bad. Roxas had been all the more cheerful. The villagers had taken a liking to both Lea and Roxas even after they revealed their healing powers. The ice cream had most likely been their most enticing aspect. The villagers must have stopped associating them with blighted creatures and instead thought of ice cream at seeing them. Myde had pleaded with Roxas to keep the alchemy behind it a secret to secure a revenue. He had been overjoyed when Roxas promised him that the recipe for this glorious delight would not be revealed by him. It was Myde's to do what he pleased with it. Their banter and Roxas' good humor kept Lea's worry at bay and made it possible for him to enjoy their frivolous activities.
In the midst of a particular bad hand in Wicked Grace, Myde had thought of a way to lure Isa out of his room and hopefully inspire him into his normal self.
"What if we talk to his sense of duty?" Myde said with a clap. "We all have to pull our weight around here and he is part of the community, he cannot stay in bed all day. What do you think?"
"It's worth to try," Roxas agreed. "I raise you one silver."
"Always with the silver. I thought we agreed to stick to copper," Myde whined.
"I'm willing to try anything at this point," Lea cut in. "He wouldn't let me examine him this morning. I hear him walk around at night. And the mumbling..." Lea shuddered. "Could a forest spirit have done this to him? He did spend a lot of time in the forest."
"Spirits need consent," Roxas reminded Lea. "And someone with magic. Even if Isa could merge with a spirit, he would have to have merged with the essence of sloth to stay in bed as long as he has."
After breakfast, the very next morning, Lea and Roxas sat by the table waiting for Myde to come back from Isa's room. They listened for any raised voices or a yelp from Myde, but heard nothing.
"Did Isa kill him?" Roxas asked in a whisper, but reconsidered at the disapproving look from Lea. "Sorry."
They heard Myde open and close the bedroom door and his slow, uncertain steps down the hallway before he emerged, pale as ghost.
"What happened? What did he say?" Lea asked with urgency.
"Are you alright?" Roxas walked up to Myde to help him down onto his chair.
"So, I… I went with the plan. I told him that we were running low on coin and that I needed him to pull his weight. Just like we discussed, remember? I said that and, he… he sat up and turned to me. And I thought 'hey, problem solved', but…" Myde shook his head. "He reached for a blade and he…" Myde held up his hand. In his grip he had Isa's long braid, cut right above the ribbon.
"Did he say anything?" Roxas asked.
"Yeah, he said that elven hair goes for a lot of coin on the sham - shem - market? And then he said 'an elf in pieces is worth more than one as slave'. I don't think I can go back in there. The only other time I have been this frightened was when I was chased down the road by Darkspawn. And in that moment I knew I was going to die. I cannot relive that moment again."
They agreed that something had to be done, but were at loss.