A Good Place to Start
16 Kingsway
9:32
Marnie and I celebrated our one-year anniversary yesterday. It has been the happiest year of my life. I love that woman with all that I am. She is the air I breathe. We had a wonderful day and that is all I will say. You'll just have to imagine my grin.
16 Kingsway, 9:32 Dragon
We've been married for a year and I love that man more each day. How many of us get to marry our soulmate? Most don't even know they have one. The Maker smiled upon me when I met Alistair in Lothering.
~oOo~
"Ali, why do you leave out Dragon when you write the date?"
He shrugged. "Iknow it's the Dragon Age."
Marnie nodded. "Fair point. I love that you write in your journal like you are talking to a person. It can hear your voice in every entry."
~oOo~
23 Harvestmere
9:32
Who names a quarry the Bone Pit? I know, I know, Tevinter does. They're also responsible for the Gallows. But the Hanged Man? Smetty's Fish Guttery? Kirkwallers are an odd lot.
Anyway, back to the Bone Pit…my wife…I love writing that…received a note suggesting she speak to 'an Orlesian merchant in Hightown' who was having a problem with his miners. There is only one Orlesian merchant in Hightown - Hubert, an obnoxious individual who boasts of once selling a seat cushion to Empress Celene. Among the guard we call him The Imperial Bum Warmer.
Marnie agreed to investigate the mine and found the miners trapped and the tunnels filled with dragons of varying ages, including one tough adult dragon. Jansen, the foreman, managed to find a place for everyone to hide, hoping (but apparently not hopeful) that Hubert would send help.
Of course Hew-BEAR, as Marnie pronounces it, hemmed and hawed about payment because most of his money is invested in the mine. Marnie and I talked about it and spoke to Hubert. We now own 50% of the Bone Pit.
Yes, I did find out why it's called the Bone Pit. No, you don't want to know how it got its name.
~oOOo~
"You never mentioned Hubert's nickname. I have to admit Imperial Bum Warmer is pretty good." Marnie sighed. "Remember how unsure I was about reopening the mine?"
"How could I forget...
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...... ... ... ... .... ... ... ... .... ... ... ... .
...For the last five minutes Marnie had been buttering a muffin. Alistair placed his hand on the one that held the butter knife. "Love, I doubt Orana's muffins need a half-round of butter."
Marnie started. "Oh! Sorry." She put down the muffin and knife.
"What's wrong?"
Marnie frowned. "I have a bad feeling about reopening the mine."
Concerned, Alistair looked at his wife. "Anything specific?... I mean aside from its horrid name and the thinning veil?"
Marnie smiled. "How do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Manage to both take me take me seriously and make me laugh?"
"That's what I'm here for. To be your partner in all things and comfort you with witty one-liners. Now, what is bothering you about the mine?"
"You've dealt with dragons. Have you ever seen dragonlings, drakes, and mature dragons without a high dragon nearby?"
"Well aside from Archie, I've only encountered one other high dragon. We were in Haven, fighting an insane dragon cult. There were dragon eggs, hatchlings, drakes, and such. There was a high dragon - between us and the temple."
Marnie shook her head. "I am not sending Jansen and the men back to that mine until I'm sure that there is no high dragon, or if there is one, that it's dead." She scraped some of the butter off the muffin. "I wonder if Varric and the crew are up for dragon hunting."
"I know I am."
Marnie frowned, but before she could speak, Alistair put his finger to her lips. "No arguments." He took his finger away and grinned. "Besides, how many high dragons have you killed?"
She chuckled. "Good point. Will Aveline give you the time off?"
"I think she will be quite happy not to have a high dragon near Kirkwall, not to mention having a productive mine providing work for Fereldan refugees".... ... ... ...... ... ... ... .... ... ... ... ...... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
27 Harvestmere, 9:32 Dragon
I am so glad we went back to the mine. As I suspected, there was a high dragon. Thank the Maker for Ali, both for his sword arm and for his experience fighting these beasts. I do have to say, watching him fight… I didn't let him out of bed until the following afternoon.
Now it's safe for Jansen and the men. Having a safe place to work, good wages, and regular-length shifts increases morale, which increases productivity; at least, that is how I was taught. However, many here in Kirkwall seem to hold to the adage 'The beatings will continue until morale improves.'
Hubert favors the latter method, as long as someone else does the beating. Which I suppose is what he expected me to do. He is quite unhappy about my changes, especially the wages. He keeps arguing with me, saying it is going to ruin him.
Frustrated, Ali and I appealed to his greedy nature and bought out his share. We will send most of the profit from the mine to Lirene.
27 Harvestmere
9:32
Marnie and I petitioned the Viscount to change the name of the mine. I asked Jansen what the men wanted to call it. Fortunately, Dumar signed-off on the name before Bran reviewed it (thank you, Varric).
We are now proud owners of the For Anora Mine and Quarry; The official spelling however is the Foranora Mine and Quarry.
Bran can't change it because he would have to tell Dumar that he'd been fooled. The insufferable seneschal was so mad his face matched his hair…
~oOOo~
"I'm glad we wrote to Anora's Chancellor about it. Apparently Anora loved having a Kirkwall mine named in her honor." Marnie chuckled.
Alistair nodded. "She was very good to the crew when they retired from mining. They wanted to return to Ferelden. She made Jansen a bann, and gave farm holds the rest of them."
Marnie opened another packet. "This is from 9:33. We seemed to have stored these in an orderly fashion."
"You mean as opposed to the 'quick, scoop it up and toss in a crate' method we adopted sometime later in the in storage process?"
Marnie rolled her eyes. "At least, the crates aren't labeled 'Bedroom, behind Alistair's chair.'"
Alistair looked over the various crates. "Actually, there is one labeled 'Stuff stacked under the writing desk.'"
After a good laugh, Marnie looked at the candle. "We need to stop for now; Lily will be back in a candle mark or so."
After Lily went to bed, Alistair brought the crate of journals to the sofa so they could sit in front of the fire and read.
~oOOo~
31 Haring
9:33
Aside from finding a wedding ring on a woman's severed hand, 9:33 was a quiet year.
I know…I thought I could just sneak that one in and be done with it. But I can hear Edwyn's voice: "Never keep the hard stuff inside. That is what the journal is for!"
So here goes:
Ghyslain de Carrac had been looking for his missing wife, Ninette. He was worried that his in-laws would think he had done something to her. Given the things he said, I could see why his wife would want to run away. But there was something else in his eyes. He had loved this woman once, and he was afraid for her.
I mentioned this to Aveline and she rolled her eyes. Yes I know, she does that a lot. She wasn't going to devote any guard-time for this unless additional evidence came to light. I forbore saying that if we didn't investigate, exactly how would new evidence come to light?
Anyway.
When I was off-duty, Marnie and I followed leads from a templar named Emeric. They led us to a foundry where I saw a mage run into one of the upstairs rooms. Demons appeared before we could give chase. Of course, by the time we were able to get upstairs he was gone. But lying in pool of blood was a severed hand wearing the wedding ring Ghyslain described.
Marnie gave the ring to Ghyslain with her sympathy, but did not give him the details. Afterwards we told Aveline. The Captain said it was enough to investigate, but she gave the case to Bryn and Garron, who have no experience with magic-related crime or blood mages. I was effectively banned from the case.
So aside from that, 9:33 was a quiet year.
~oOOo~
Marnie looked at her husband. "There were times during those first years when I was so angry at how Ave ran the guard."
"She did get the hang of it."
"For which I am truly thankful, otherwise I doubt we'd still be friends. So, onto 9:34?"
"We can skip those if you want?"
Marnie snuggled next to Alistair, "No. I think it would be good to read some of these. I don't think I have since I wrote them."