"Those statues are dwarven Paragons, if I remember right. The best of their ancestors." Alistair said quietly.
Statues lined the walls, standing tall in the center area, as well. It was an amazing sight to behold.
"Atrast vala, Wardens. Your arrival is a mixed blessing." one of the guards spoke as I stared in awe at the giant cavern, "We prefer that outsiders not witness our infighting, but your presence will be tolerated."
We slowly walked down the stairs, one of the dwarves dressed in rags calling out, "Spare a few bits for an old man?"
Without hesitation, I pulled a handful of coins from my coin purse and jogged over to the beggar, gently placing them in his hands. His eyes widened, and he looked up at me with tears in his eyes.
"I cannot accept this."
"I won't take it back." I crouched and smiled at him, "Please, keep it. If you don't want it, you can pass it on, but I won't accept it back."
We stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, before he finally nodded and tucked the gold away in his pockets. Standing, I rejoined the group. No one commented on my act.
Across the way, one woman was talking with a teenage girl.
"Now, that's a thing of beauty, daughter. If you work hard like Branka, all Orzammar will know your name." She was saying as they gazed at one statue in particular. Paragon Branka, I assumed it was.
"Mother, I don't want to be like her! She-" the girl started to protest.
Her mother cut her off vehemently, "Don't say that! Not to me, not to anyone! Now, get back to the forge; I want to see more details!"
Curiosity raged inside me, but I forced myself to quell it; I'd find someone eventually who would tell me the history of that Paragon.
"Yes, Mother." the daughter crossed her arms and walked away, appearing extremely undignified.
Her mother huffed and followed after her, shaking her head like she couldn't believe that was the girl she had raised.
We'd barely managed to go a few feet farther, when a dwarven man came straight up to me. Me, in particular.
"Show respect, surfacer. You're in the Hall of Heroes, home to the best of us."
Was it because I was a child?
Trying not to give in to my irritation, I smiled softly, "The figures are quite grand, indeed."
"Paragons, dwarves who achieve such greatness, they're considered ancestors, even if they yet walk among us." he sighed, "If only we had one now. A unifier. A voice like that... there would be no dissension."
"Perhaps we can help." Alistair offered.
The man's face darkened, and Alistair knew he'd messed up somehow, "Perhaps I don't want you to. A surfacer should not see us in this kind of disarray. Goodbye, Wardens. I hope you're not needed." Without another word, he turned on his heel and marched away from us.
We attracted the strangest people, I thought as we continued toward the large double doors that opened to Orzammar proper.
The first thing I noticed was the heat. Sweat instantly beaded on my forehead, and I wiped it away, my gaze roaming. The cavern had been carved from the earth, and we were on a giant rock overhanging a pool of lava. Oh, what fun. Not only were we I didn't even know how deep underground, we were also surrounded by something that felt hotter than the blasted sun. And it lit everything up so brilliantly, my eyes had trouble adjusting from the dimness of the entryway. But damn, was it a beautiful sight.
"It is the Assembly who makes a king, and a king who nominates his successor. None of it is carried in the blood." A group of over two dozen dwarves had gathered in the center of the chamber, arguing.
"Or, as now, when someone tries using the Assembly to pull a coup." a man on the left leaned forward, looking like he wanted to just deck the other man in the face and be done with it all, "Who's to say what my father said in his final hours, when the usurper Harrowmont was the only one by his side?" Bhelen.
The man who had spoken first was Lord Harrowmont. He shouted, "I'll have you thrown in prison!"
"You've bitten off more than you can chew!"
A new man stepped forward, "Handlers! Separate these deshyrs in the Diamond Quarter! I will not have Bhelen incite a riot!"
The dwarf to Bhelen's left hefted his axe, dropping in to an offensive crouch, "You'll not speak that way about the man who should be king!" he advanced and knocked the other man's feet out from under him. Swinging the axe down, he buried it in the dwarf's middle, almost cutting him in half with little effort.
Harrowmont threw himself backward, away from the fight, and landed on his back. As he got to his feet, it looked like he would start cowering. Sure enough, he and his supporters fled the scene. Bhelen, a smug expression on his face, gestured for his people to follow him as he left.
"That was interesting." It was a struggle to take it all in; the mighty dwarves, reduced to this.
"Perhaps we should split up, to cover more ground." Leliana suggested, the look on her face making it crystal clear she didn't want to think about what had just happened.
The blood was still pooling around the corpse when her group left after we'd divided in to two teams. Alistair, Morrigan, Wynne, and Zevran stayed with me. Leliana, Sten, and Seraphine went with Aedan and Elissa. We'd figured it would be better all around for the Wardens to split, too. Especially if we'd be running interference down here.
"Stone-blind idiots! I won't have fighting in the common! Especially in front of outsiders!" One of the guards was shouting at no one in particular, it seemed, "I find that sodding fool, I'll have him in the Legion."
I wanted to skirt him, but he intercepted us. I could already tell that helping Orzammar would take all of my patience.
"Veata, surfacers! I am bid to let you walk the commons, but keep your place. Wardens or not, I want order."
I turned to the man speaking, "The Blight is coming, and we need Orzammar's assistance."
He raised an eyebrow and looked me up and down, "Surface problems. Well, we have no king to hear you. You can join the shouting at the Assembly in the Diamond Quarter, if you want. Bunch of deshyr lords bickering over sand. Bhelen, Harrowmont... is one so different? No Paragons here."
"Sounds like Bhelen and Harrowmont are the one to talk to." Morrigan remarked.
"They've caged themselves for fear of each other. As you've seen, keeping order down among us working people is dodgy. No place for a proper lord. Bhelen speaks through his second, Vartag Gavorn, in the Assembly. Lord Harrowmont speaks through Dulin Forender from his estate."
"Can a city function like this?" Wynne asked.
"See, that's why I don't want you surfacers seeing our worst. You'll think that's all we are. The market is thin but busy, and the tavern never closes. Bad blood is usually kept to the Proving. Should toss Bhelen and Harrowmont in there, sort this all out in a hurry."
"The Proving?" It sounded familiar.
"Personal battles for honor and ancestor. I don't expect a surfacer to understand. If you must be our Wardens, at least know us. Go to the Shaper of Memories in the Shaperate. The true bright spot in the Diamond Quarter."
"We should get going." I was staring over the man's shoulder, something drawing my attention. Someone was approaching and waving.
"Yes, you should." was the curt reply.
I maneuvered around him, ignoring his tone, and walked right up to one of the last people I'd expected to see.
"What are you doing here? How did you get in? Where's-"
Duran smiled and shrugged, "Now that I'm a Warden, no one can stop me from entering."
"Your brother is gunning for the throne, I hear."
"So he is. More than anything, I'm impressed, actually. He must have been arranging things for years, possibly more than a decade, to get everything just right. If only he'd bought off more of the Assembly, then Orzammar wouldn't have a stalemate."
I grabbed his arm, "Do you remember when we met?"
"When you were pacing around like a caged animal?"
"Yeah. That's what I'm talking about. I need to tell you someth-"
"Brother? You're an Aeducan?" Alistair blurted, unable to wait for us to finish catching up.
The dwarf held up a hand, "The lady is speaking. It is only polite to wait for someone to be done, before interjecting with your own words."
"It's fine. Yes, he was." I waved it off, "Where was I? Oh, right. I know who should be king. The right choice for Orzammar."
"Bhelen."
My eyes widened but I wasn't surprised, "Yeah. You understand why, I assume?"
He nodded, "Harrowmont would have the dwarves pull back and keep to themselves. Shut Orzammar off from the rest of the world. Where as my brother... well, he will break the caste system, putting an end to Dusters. He will bring surface trading and allow dwarves to go topside, without stripping them of their status. I fully believe he will be the better king. It's not just Orzammar's future at stake. The surfacers rely on the lyruim and other products from underground. Take that away, and there will be war."
I released a gust of air, "Thank the Maker. I was worried you wouldn't think that way."
"Hey! You're here."
Looking in the direction the call out had come from, I grinned, "You sound a lot more welcoming than when we'd met."
"What can I say? I'm learning to interact normally with people. Not be so..."
"Uptight. Cold. Frigid. Quiet. Stiff."
"He's been nothing but a pain." Natia growled, stopping Duran before he could list off more descriptive words.
I giggled. They were getting along just fine.
"Who are they?" She asked, looking specifically at Alistair.
"This is Alistair, the other Warden I start with." I pointed everyone out, "Morrigan, Wynne, and Zevran. The others are here somewhere. We split up to cover more ground. You might run in to them later. There are two more Wardens, much like your situation, Aedan and Elissa Cousland. Leliana, Sten, and my mabari, Seraphine. Sten is a qunari, so you can't miss them."
"Our situation, meaning you saved them from certain death?"
"I mean... I'm sure you would have survived, somehow. You looked like you were handling things on your own. Before the human child showed up and bested you."
They laughed, and I grinned.
"Anyway, we need to meet Bhelen, to get this throne argument settled."
"I agree." Duran answered, and Natia nodded.
Morrigan muttered, "Tis about time."
"I'll defer to you two. You're from Orzammar, so you know the layout of the land. Where to go, what to avoid."
They looked at each other, and he gestured to her, "You know more about the kingdom than I do. I was kept mostly in the Diamond Quarter."
She led us to a shop, "You can buy things here or not, I just need to check in about something."
"Welcome to Janar Family Armorers." He ignored the dwarves, addressing the rest of us, "I must say, you look like our type of people. Looking for a new set of mail? At Janar's, we have everything from leather to platinum."
Natia moved around the corner, presumably to look at what was on the shelves.
"You know anything about what's happening with the king?" I asked cautiously.
"I stay out of politics. It's not good for a smith to get the attention of those who grant vendors' licenses. Lord Harrowmont's a fair man. My father did business with him, and he always paid on time. But the Aeducan's have served us well. If it is the ancestors' wisdom to keep them on the throne, I cannot object."
They really looked up to their ancestors, their Paragons.
"Are you part of the Smith Caste?"
"Aye. For a hundred generations. My father made his name by inventing a fauld and tasset, which were integrated in to the cuirass..." He paused, smiling good-naturedly, "But, ah, I'm guessing by your face, you're not a smith yourself. Why don't you take a look at my wares?"
I glanced at my companions, "Why don't you guys take a look at what he has to sell, while I check on Natia?" Turning back to the shopkeep, I asked quietly, "Will you sell to the dwarven Wardens? I know one was stricken from the records, and the other was Casteless. Will that be a problem?"
He rubbed his chin, thinking, "I don't see why not. The Grey Wardens are to be treated with great respect. You won't find any trouble here, Wardens."
"Thank you." I bowed to him before going to the shelves.
"This place used to belong to old leader of the Carta. I'm not sure if Jarvia is still using this place or not, though." She nodded her head at one of the bookcases, "This one hides a secret tunnel, a direct path to their hideout. I wonder if they sealed it up..."
"I'm sure Bhelen will want us to take care of them, one way or another, so that's something to keep in mind."
"You're siding with Bhelen."
I bit my lip, "Yeah. He's the better choice."
"I know. We just weren't sure if you would see it that way."
"I'm actually the one who brought it up to Duran."
"You're not half bad."
I decided to take that as a compliment and smiled, "Thanks. You're not, either."
"Did you want to look at his stock, my dear?" Zevran had moved to my side, seemingly on edge.
I was instantly on alert; when your resident assassin starts acting paranoid, something is wrong.
"Should I? Do you think we have enough time?" My voice was a little louder than necessary for a conversation in such a small space, gathering everyone's attention.
His eyes tightened, and Natia shook her head, "We have to get to the tavern, remember? We're supposed to meet with someone to learn more about the Assembly debate."
"I forgot. We'll have to come back here later. Is that alright? I mean, neither of us got to look." I frowned.
"Yeah, we can. Maybe not today, but definitely before we leave Orzammar." Alistair threw in.
Natia and Duran were the first to leave the shop. After waiting ten minutes, Alistair went next, with the mages. Another fifteen passed, and I started toward the door, but the elf grabbed my arm and gave a sharp shake of his head. I glanced at the shopkeep, swallowing hard. The man was watching the door with a frightened expression.
The Carta was likely outside, right at that very moment. Waiting.
I tapped Zevran between the shoulder blades and motioned to the bookshelf that was supposed to be the secret tunnel. His response was swift, another shake of his head. I rolled my eyes and shifted it slightly, so it looked as if someone had disturbed it, then snuck over to the desk the shopkeep stood behind and hid under it. Making eye contact with the man, I mouthed 'please don't tell', and after a tense moment, he looked up at the door again. Zevran joined me a few seconds later, pulling me to him, and shielded my body with his. I figured now was a good time as any, so I placed a hand on the floor and gathered the energy to me. Cloaked us from sight. The dwarf, when he looked back at us, blinked. His head whipped around in confusion.
Then, the door opened.
"Where are they?" a deep, female voice demanded immediately.
"I... I don't know. They were just here." Damn. It was a good thing I hadn't trusted him.
The assassin cocked an eyebrow and tightened his hold on me. I offered a reassuring smile, listening carefully.
Footsteps approached, rounding the desk. The woman bent, and her eyes searched the space underneath. Not believing that she saw nothing, she reached out and swept her hand through the space. I had just enough time to will us intangible, before it touched me.
She hit nothing but air and growled, "Search the store. Tear this place to pieces. No one went in and no one came out. They're here, somewhere."
"The passage." a man called out.
"What about it?"
"The bookcase was moved."
She whirled on the shopkeep, "Why didn't you say something? Did you know they'd gone that way? Are you covering for them?"
He held up his hands, "I-I swear, I didn't know! I swear! The girl and the elf were here just a moment ago! I don't know where they went!"
She got in his face, "You better not be lying to me, or Jarvia will find out. And you know what that means."
He cowered in the corner, and Zev and I exchanged looks.