Notes: Thank you so much once again for reading and supporting this story! There's an M-rated scene at the very end of the chapter.
Song is "Wait for an Answer" by Blind Guardian from A Night at the Opera.
Chapter 34: To Find a Foe Seems To Be the Answer
A few days later, Petrice held another rally. Anders did not want to attend.
"It's not that I disagree with her about the Qun," he explained in a pained voice. "You know what I think of it. But watching her use the kind of language she did... it was incitement and she knew those people were mostly armed..."
"I understand," Caitlyn assured him with a gentle touch. "We agree on both points. It made me uneasy too. But that's why I need to see it, to keep an eye on her and know what she is doing."
He gave her a sheepish smile. "I don't envy you that task, darling. With Justice... well, he is a spirit, and even though he's part of me now, he still retains part of his nature. He doesn't handle complexity well. And politics is nothing if not complex and gray."
"Well, we certainly don't want him to force an appearance in front of that crowd," she agreed. "I'll be back soon."
As she left the house and headed toward the Lowtown marketplace, she thought about the fact that none of her friends seemed inclined to join her. Aveline, of course, had serious duties as the Captain of the Guard. If she attended one of Petrice's "speeches," it would probably be with other guards to keep the crowd from becoming violent. That's not a bad idea, actually, Caitlyn thought—provided that Petrice could prevent her following from fighting with the guards. Varric was almost apolitical; he just wanted freedom and good governance in Kirkwall—but perhaps not too good, if that would cut into his profits. Though wanting freedom, especially, is hardly an apolitical position at the present, Caitlyn corrected herself in thought. In any case, he was not the type to attend a raucous rally. Merrill might be talked into going as a lark, but it could be dangerous for her, as a Dalish elf with vallaslin markings on her face. Some of Petrice's supporters probably opposed the Qun for the same reasons that Caitlyn and Anders did, but others were likely to be intolerant Andrastian zealots. Fenris seemed to be struggling with his own inner conflict about everything; naturally he would be inclined towards the great enemy of Tevinter due to his hatred for Tevinter and his guilt about what he had done years ago, but he did want freedom and he could see with clear eyes that the Qun offered that to few. And Isabela...
I'm going to talk to her again, Caitlyn vowed to herself. After the rally. She has continued to act strangely. Something is up, and I'm starting to think it may have to do with the Qunari. She sailed in the northern seas quite a lot before coming to Kirkwall. She could have had a run-in with them. And don't they have a presence in Rivain? I bet there's a past.
The event itself had been more of the same, plus a hint of additional disparagement of the Dumar family and Grand Cleric Elthina. As Caitlyn headed toward the Hanged Man to look for Isabela, she encountered another person she recognized: her Hightown neighbor, Ser Marlein Selbrech.
"Serah Hawke," Ser Marlein said, greeting her. "Did you come from the speech in Lowtown?"
Caitlyn nodded. "You?"
"I heard about the first one," said the knight, "and decided to see what they were about when word of the one today reached me."
"What did you think?" Caitlyn inquired.
Ser Marlein hesitated. "I... think that this priest is very obviously ambitious and sees this as a way to raise her profile. That said, at least she's calling for action. Elthina and Dumar don't seem to have a plan for finding out what they want or getting them to go back home."
Caitlyn decided to share what she had heard from the Arishok. "I was roped into something recently by those two," she said. "Something that they didn't want to order their own people to do, involving recovering a dangerous Qunari weapon that had... escaped their compound." When Ser Marlein's eyebrows flew up her forehead in alarm and disapproval, Caitlyn continued, emboldened. "I spoke with the Qunari Arishok, and he said to me that one day, 'the Qun will demand an accounting.'"
The knight sucked in her breath sharply. "That's a threat to the city."
"Yes, I took it as such, considering the source."
Ser Marlein scowled. "And Dumar won't see it! He may disapprove of what his son is doing, but I think his son's interest in them is softening Dumar himself. And who knows about the Grand Cleric..." She gazed back at the Lowtown marketplace, where the rally had now mostly dispersed, seemingly coming to a decision about something. Caitlyn was quite sure she knew what—and when Ser Marlein spoke again, she was not surprised by the woman's words. "Yes, at least that priest is calling for action. She'll have to moderate her tone if she succeeds at her obvious ambition, of course." The knight turned back to Caitlyn. "If Viscount Dumar does not grow a spine, if his son converts to the Qun or they finally move against Kirkwall, something must be done."
I take your point, Caitlyn thought, her heart thumping. And I must give these people a reason to support me. Right now they have no particular reason to see me as a leader. I can't tag along with Petrice. I'll owe her much, much more than she owes me in that case, and that's not what I want. But how can I make myself a leader in the public eye?
"I don't know where she is," insisted the barkeeper at the Hanged Man after Caitlyn asked him for the second time about Isabela's whereabouts. "I haven't seen her about lately. And she'd be hard to miss, you know?" He grinned and winked.
Caitlyn was not impressed. "Well," she said coolly, "I am her friend and I wanted to see her. I will be back at another time, you can be sure of it." She turned around in a huff—and instantly found herself face-to-face with an armored man.
She was almost certain that she had seen him before somewhere. The armor he was wearing was white, and a large bow and quiver were strapped to his back. She supposed that he was somewhat handsome, though his looks were not her type. For a moment she tried to remember where she had seen him and who he was.
"Serah Hawke," the man said in a heavy accent. "I do not know if you remember meeting me—"
"I know I've seen you before," she said, "but... I'm afraid I don't recall much beyond that."
The man nodded. "It was... my goodness, two years ago, was it not? You visited the Chantry to see Grand Cleric Elthina."
With that, it clicked for Caitlyn. "Prince Sebastian," she said, her voice now notably guarded. Her impression of the prince had not been favorable, and she could not imagine what he wanted with her now—unless Elthina, who was apparently something of a surrogate mother to him, was sending him out on her behalf for something. She was instantly on alert.
"Brother Sebastian," he corrected with a smile.
"As you prefer. Did you wish to speak with me about something in particular?"
He nodded importantly. "Might we have a seat? This is... a very rowdy place... but the din of noise might provide a certain amount of cover."
Caitlyn's sense of misgiving rose even higher at that, but she ushered the man to a table in a corner and sat down. Looking warily at him, she spoke first. "Well? What brings you here today?"
Sebastian gazed down at the tabletop instead of at her face. "I heard of the... events... in the Lowtown marketplace."
Elthina, she thought at once. I was right. She's sending him out to gather intelligence about a threat to herself.
He lifted his gaze slightly, and his face was distorted with alarm. "Grand Cleric Elthina"—I knew it! Caitlyn thought—"is very concerned with what she has heard of them, and I share her concerns."
"How so... Sebastian? You don't mind if I just call you Sebastian, do you?"
"Not at all. And... I am concerned, we are concerned, because they appear to be making matters worse, regarding the tense situation with the Qunari."
That may be true, Caitlyn thought, but it's not as if Elthina is trying to resolve it amicably. And whatever my own misgivings about Petrice may be, I'm sure as the Void not going to share them with someone who is a toady for Elthina and will pass on anything I say to her. "Mother Petrice is voicing the worries that many, many people in Kirkwall feel about the continued presence of the Qunari here, in a fortified building, headed by a military commander," she said. "I share these concerns myself. Have you listened to what she actually said in her speeches? Nothing she claims about the Qun is untrue."
Sebastian frowned, clearly displeased with that response. "I have not listened to any of the speeches," he admitted, "but I have heard that she has incited her listeners to raise their weapons in anger. How can that be a good thing? People turn to the Qun because they are looking for purpose."
"I agree that that is what is going on," she said. "They are looking for purpose that they are not finding elsewhere—and why is that, I would like to know?" she said pointedly. "If Elthina is concerned about Petrice's rallies, and if she agrees with you about why people are turning to the Qun, why doesn't she step into the void herself instead of letting the Qunari do it? She is the Grand Cleric of Kirkwall. If people feel that they have no options other than the Qun, that is partly her doing."
Sebastian drew back sharply. "Elthina is a holy woman," he said defensively. "How can you say that of her?"
"How can you not? You are a brother of the Chantry," she said. "You would want people to find purpose through Andrastianism. That is also the official religion of human lands, so the Chantry has quite a voice. If they aren't finding purpose through it—if they are finding it in the Qun instead—that means that the chief priest of the Chantry in Kirkwall is failing them. You can't avoid that conclusion, Sebastian, whatever she may mean to you personally."
He sputtered. "She is not to be blamed for the failings of the Chantry to reach everyone," he exclaimed.
"Then who is? In terms of Kirkwall, at least, who is? Petrice is reaching people. She's going to Lowtown and speaking directly to them in the open air. Elthina doesn't do that. She isolates herself from the people she is meant to serve. People come to the Chantry and are turned away from talking with her."
"That is just not so," Sebastian cried, and it seemed to Caitlyn that he really was close to tears of indignation. "Serah Hawke, I have known her for years. She is a generous, compassionate, holy woman, and she saved me from a life of sin and iniquity."
"So I've heard," Caitlyn said, "and I am glad that she was able to help you. But that doesn't mean she has been that for everyone else."
He stared at her with pleading eyes. "Let me tell you how I first met her," he begged. "Let me tell you this story, and then you can decide what kind of a person that she is."
Caitlyn felt that what she had just said had gone in one of the prince's ears and out the other, but he seemed determined to have his say. She nodded curtly and sat back, listening, as he continued to speak. As he told of the meeting and the circumstances leading up to it, she felt her own indignation growing. His family had sent him to the Chantry principally because they were afraid that he would sire a bastard child and disgrace their name. People said that about my son, she thought. He's legitimate now, but people used to call Mal that very word, even my own uncle, and I'm sure it'll be a line of attack against me once I am more of a public figure. Does he not even think about whom he is speaking to? Is he that obsessed with himself?
Sebastian continued his story, telling of the first night he was in the Chantry, angry and miserable. Elthina had, that night, offered to release him from Chantry service so that he could continue his prior behavior, stating that she did not believe people should be forced to serve against their wishes. Caitlyn, to her surprise, found herself in sympathy with that, though she cynically wondered if Elthina would say that to every unwilling initiate sent there by family, or just the ones with noble or royal blood. And then Sebastian capped his story with a detail that let her gaping in fury: The priest had offered him a purse of gold coins to support himself if he left. She could not listen silently anymore after that.
"Do I understand you correctly that she took a purse full of gold sovereigns from the Chantry coffers and offered it to a prince for his personal use?" Caitlyn burst out, interrupting him.
Sebastian gaped at her, eyes wide, as he sputtered in surprise. Apparently that angle had never once occurred to him. Finally he managed to exclaim, indignantly, "I do not believe she would have done it, had she not known that I would have a change of heart and dedicate myself to Our Lady after all!"
Caitlyn gazed at him with deep skepticism. "She didn't know you. She had barely met you, and what she knew of you by reputation strongly suggested that you would have taken the coin. I rather suspect that she genuinely felt sorry for you and did expect that you would take it. She is basically inaccessible to the common people of Kirkwall, and I have not met a single refugee or elf here who has received so much as a copper in charity from the Chantry. She even allowed Meredith Stannard to refuse my Healer husband any Circle mages to help him during a flu outbreak, because it occurred in Darktown."
"You do not know her as I do," he replied, his expression darkening. "You slander her by implying that she only feels empathy with those born rich."
"Then if she didn't really want you to accept the coin, she gambled—yes, Sebastian, she did," she repeated as he sputtered in outrage again at this word, "and the coin she risked was not even her own. That her gamble paid off is immaterial. Just to be sure, I'm not saying a word against you. You refused the gold. She is the one I am speaking against for offering gold intended for charity to someone who did not need it."
Sebastian was offended now and visibly angry. He drew himself up in a huff. "It might have been her coin," he finally managed. "She said my family donated it as an endowment, but she might have thought I would feel guilty if she said it were her own."
"So you do know that that coin was intended for charity. What if you had run, and then your family wanted it refunded? How would she have done that? With other tithes."
The prince glowered. "She trusted in her faith, and it was rewarded. It was not a gamble. The Maker and Andraste reward those who have faith."
"It's not an act of faith to deliberately risk something that one doesn't have the right to risk," she retorted. "It's just a gamble, and in this case, it was even worse because you didn't need the coin. You were born a prince. Even if your family would not take you back, you had many friends and acquaintances. She risked that someone who did not need the Chantry's gold would take it. My uncle gambled with money that wasn't his and lost our estate at last. I see no difference except that Elthina won her bet."
Sebastian rose from the table hotly. "I see that you have made up your mind about her," he exclaimed. "I can't understand why you dislike her so much..."
"Didn't you hear what I said about many Kirkwall poor not receiving any charity from the Chantry? Or her support of Meredith Stannard in refusing to help my husband in quelling an outbreak of disease?"
"I... am sure she had her reasons," Sebastian said uncomfortably.
"Oh, I'm sure she did too," she replied in an acid tone. "I think this topic of discussion is best dropped, Brother Sebastian. Did you wish to discuss anything else with me today?"
He shook his head, and his visage was markedly cold now. "I did not. Thank you for your time, Serah Hawke."
He hustled toward the front door of the Hanged Man, not even bothering to escort her from the place as a gentleman would escort a lady—as either of my male friends would do, let alone Anders, she thought in contempt—and she followed behind, irritation visible on her face. At least I've staked out my loyalty and position very firmly. Maybe Petrice will disapprove, since she likes the Game, but it's not what I want to do, and she herself is speaking quite freely and openly these days, so perhaps she realizes there's no point in my pretending to play both sides.
She had just reached the door of the tavern when she was accosted by a messenger from Seneschal Bran of the Viscount's Keep. Viscount Dumar and Elthina herself wished to speak with her about a matter of crucial importance, he said. Sebastian listened in interest and, without Caitlyn's permission, followed her and the messenger back to the Keep to hear the full details.
"A Qunari delegate and entourage paid me a visit. It was civil, tentative. Hopeful," Dumar said, an air of confusion and ill-usage in his tone. "They left my chambers with precision, but were not reported by the outer guard. They are missing almost literally from my doorstep."
But you got nothing useful out of them. They were probably scoping out the Keep for weaknesses, you fool, Caitlyn thought.
"They were vulnerable," Seneschal Bran said. "Their swords were tied into their sheaths, as I advised."
"You let them come into the Viscount's presence armed?" Caitlyn burst out. Maker's breath, did anyone in this place have any sense?
"It seemed a respectful compromise. Even I know you cannot separate a Qunari from his weapon."
"This is your Keep! If we have to follow their customs while we're among them, it's not too much to ask that they follow ours! Why must we always be the ones to bend and appease, while they won't even say why they are here?"
"Hawke, this is not helpful," Dumar remonstrated.
Caitlyn tried to cool her temper. "Fine. You think they have been taken hostage?"
"By Ser Varnell, according to the guard Orwald," said Elthina. She gazed at Caitlyn with frost in her eyes. "The very Ser Varnell who used to be the bodyguard of Mother Petrice," she added pointedly. "He stole my seal and used it to apprehend the Qunari."
I'm not being told something, Caitlyn thought at once. This seems on its face to be another attempt to drive a wedge into the alliance, but she has to know that I am going to go to Petrice to hear what she has to say. She just named her and Varnell directly. Surely she realizes that I'm going to do that. It can't be as simple as trying to divide us or switch my loyalty. There is something else afoot. What, though?
"You say 'used to' be her bodyguard," she repeated, eyeing the Grand Cleric. "Was he relieved of duty?"
"He has been derelict in his Templar duties and instead decided to head a violent mob of fanatics that we already suspect of terrorist activity!" she exclaimed. "Yes, in consultation with the Knight-Commander, I have stripped him of the honors of a knight. He is no longer a Templar, just a common man with no protection from the law."
So you truly think that Templars should have protection from the law, Caitlyn thought in contempt. Did you mean for that to slip out, "Your Grace"? Aloud she said, "I see. I will do my best to resolve this situation peacefully, Your Graces. Thank you for letting me know."
Making sure that Sebastian was not following her now that he was with Elthina, Caitlyn headed back to Lowtown to the house where Petrice had advised her to meet for secret business. If her suspicions were correct about this, Petrice had passed the seal to Varnell—and she has to know that I would work that out, she thought. I wish she had told me that she was going to do this, but perhaps she didn't know about the Qunari diplomats in time to warn me, since she also had a rally scheduled today. I know something else is up, though, and I am not going to act without talking with her first to find out what.
Petrice was in the Lowtown house, seated comfortably in a chair with a glass of wine in one hand, obviously awaiting Caitlyn's appearance.
"Well," Caitlyn said once she saw the priest, "clearly, you know why I'm here. Let's get right to business." She sat down in another chair. "Is Elthina trying to create a scandal to get rid of both of us?"
"Yes," Petrice said at once. "That is one outcome that she would find acceptable. But it is not the only one, and I don't think it is her preferred one. There is a greater game afoot, Hawke," she added once Caitlyn started to ask for elucidation. "We must be careful in how we deal with this."
Caitlyn took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Explain, then," she said. "You took the seal, didn't you? And passed it to Varnell, even though he's no longer a Templar?"
"Yes, to both. I also approved his dismissal as my bodyguard. Don't worry, Hawke—it was a false show of loyalty, or at least, the absence of open rebellion. Varnell and I are still allied, I assure you. And there is something else that you need to know about all of this. Elthina let me take the seal. She does not know that I know this, though, and it is important that she not learn."
"I... beg your pardon?" Suddenly Caitlyn's temper flared. It was one thing for Petrice not to warn her about the hostage-taking and seal theft if she did not have the time to do so, but this was starting to sound as if she did have time. If there was one thing Caitlyn despised, it was being used as a pawn. "Excuse my language, but what in the Void is going on? At the Keep, Elthina said that Varnell had stolen the seal. If she knew that you took it and let you do it, then why did you forge documents with it anyway? She will use it against you! I'm only surprised that she hasn't yet, and blamed Varnell instead. Are you sure that she knows it was you? What is going on?"
"She is playing the Game against you and me, Hawke. Sometimes the best countermove is to pretend that one does not realize that it is the Game."
Caitlyn snarled. "I'm not Orlesian. I'm Kirkwaller and Fereldan. I don't like the Game."
A faint smirk formed on the priest's face. "But she is playing it, so you have little choice but to play against her, you know. When Varnell heard about these 'delegates,' he was very insistent that they should not be allowed into the Keep, because he distrusted their intentions. That was not part of the Game. He is like you in some regards, Hawke, and even more like your husband, much as Warden Anders might dislike that comparison—sincere and idealistic to a fault, and rather inclined toward physical, even violent action." She paused. "His plea for the seal was very urgent, as they were apparently en route when he learned of it. For my part... I considered denying his request, and—if he is correct—allowing an assassination to occur."
Caitlyn scowled. "Well, Seneschal Bran appears to have forestalled that by having their swords bound. But they got the chance to scope out the Keep for weaknesses anyway."
"That must be why he wanted to stop them, to prevent them from carrying that intelligence back to the Arishok. Of course, at this point, slaying them will likely just give casus belli to the Arishok. We are caught between the frying pan and the fire, Hawke. I do not know what to advise you now."
"I've already decided what I have to do. We can't withstand a Qunari attack. We can shore up the Keep, regardless of what they will learn from this. Losing Dumar right now would destabilize Kirkwall and maybe even allow Meredith Stannard to seize direct rule. He is a fool, but he's what we have for now. I am not ready to make my move yet. I met with a noble today, after your rally, but I need to plead my case for leadership as you are pleading yours."
"That was my conclusion too—and I am glad that you are soliciting support from nobles now. When my own agents—yes, Hawke, I have some," she added as Caitlyn raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Varnell was not the only Templar who supports me secretly. I believe he even dispatched one to Warden Anders' clinic to warn you once. When my agents told me, after the speech, that Elthina had asked you to do this work when she knew perfectly well that I had used the seal, that was when I realized that it was the Game."
Caitlyn took another deep breath and exhaled. "What do you think is her play, then?"
"She involved you in this for a reason, and it is not because she likes or trusts you. You don't need me to tell you that she doesn't. There are two possibilities I am considering: Either she wants to get you killed in the fray and me disgraced, or to break up our alliance if you survive."
She sighed. "I considered that she might want our alliance broken. What 'fray' do you mean, though?"
"They're Qunari soldiers," Petrice said dismissively. "They are violent in and of themselves. But there is another danger. Varnell did take over the existing group of renegades who incited that elf to make the poison gas. He might have them with him, and they might decide to execute the Qunari rather than fighting 'fairly,' which would elicit sympathy for them in certain quarters. We don't want that. We do need to intervene, but if he has that group with him, you need to make sure that you do not turn them against you. They are much more zealous than the people who come to my speeches."
"I did say I would try to resolve it peacefully." She gazed at the priest narrowly. "There is one other thing. Why didn't you warn me in advance?"
"I was going to tell you, Hawke. This happened very quickly."
She nodded. "Prince Sebastian intercepted me and engaged me in a long discussion. I wonder now if Elthina might have sent him to keep me busy so that you wouldn't be able to reach me before the messenger did."
"It's very possible." She finished her glass of wine and rose from the seat. "Gather any friends and allies that you would like, Hawke. I know where Varnell's Darktown hideout is. I suspect he is there, and the Qunari with him."
For this, Caitlyn rounded up everyone that she could find who was willing to go. Varric, Fenris, and Merrill accompanied her to Darktown. Isabela was still missing, and Aveline pleaded a conflict of interests with her position as Captain of the Guard. The hideout was not too far from Anders' clinic, and she dispatched Merrill to it to let him know what was going on. She knew that Mal was with him, so she was not sure that he would choose to come—and when he emerged down the corridor, with Baldwin the mabari and Mal in tow, she was actually shocked.
"This could be dangerous," she told Anders in an undertone. "Are you sure that he should be here?"
"Justice is less inclined to burst out in combat if Mal is present. He knows that Mal cannot afford to lose his parents, and his emphasis is shifted toward justice for our son in that case... so if he does try to influence me, it'll be to take Mal and leave to protect him. And I will cast a ward that's impermeable to physical damage upon him—and myself—if it gets bad," he said. "I'd include you as well, but..."
"I understand," she said, giving him a brief hug. "And I'm sure that Baldwin will do his part too!"
The dog barked in agreement.
Petrice nodded as Caitlyn's family joined her. "I trust they are prepared to flee..."
"They are."
The group reached a dark corner where Varnell and a female Templar stood guard over four Qunari, all of whom were chained and tied to the walls, stripped of their weapons. A couple of civilians with sharp knives and wild eyes accompanied them, but there was no large group of fanatics. Caitlyn breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps she wouldn't have to fight anyone at all...
"Varnell," Petrice said, "here she is, and her friends with her."
Caitlyn stepped forward at once. "Yes," she said. "What is going on?"
The ex-Templar glared at the confined Qunari, then at the pile of weapons that lay to the opposite side of the dark space. "See that stack of swords, daggers, and bows? That's what they had with them."
Caitlyn's eyes widened. "I see. All of them?"
"Every last one. Don't you tell me they meant the Viscount well." He spat on the ground at the feet of the Qunari.
One of the Qunari spoke up. "It is the way of our people."
Caitlyn gazed back at them evenly. "Even if that is true, you are not in Par Vollen," she said. "You are in Kirkwall, which means that you will do things our way. The way of our people is that ambassadors do not go into diplomatic discussions menacing our rulers with weapons."
A Qunari spoke up again. "We were treated with disgrace. The weapon of a Qunari is asala, his soul."
Fenris shifted beside them at this, clearly very uncomfortable all of a sudden. Varnell sputtered in contempt, turning back to Caitlyn, "That's more than I got out of them—but it's no surprise to me. It means that not a single one of them is a diplomat at all, just as I thought!"
Caitlyn realized where this was going at once. It was as she had feared.
"I know enough about the Qun to know this," he continued heatedly. "If you consider a weapon your 'soul' in the Qun, it means you're a warrior. A soldier, a fighter—and you can do one thing in the Qun, so they're not warriors and diplomats. They were sent to assassinate Viscount Dumar. I knew it!"
Beside Anders, Mal's hazel eyes widened. Anders grimaced, but he had made the decision to let the little boy witness this.
Fenris was visibly appalled as he spoke. "This man... is correct about roles in the Qun," he said, horror spreading over his face. He gazed at the bound Qunari. "They are a Sten, who is a military lieutenant... Karashok, and Ashaad. All warrior classes in the Qun."
The one who was apparently the Sten spoke up. "The Arishok only commands a force of fighters. He sent what he had."
Caitlyn stepped forward, distrust and indignation in her green eyes. "The Arishok is one of the Qunari heads of state," she replied to the man. "He himself has confirmed to me that you are here because of an official mission. Your people, in fact, have been here for three years. If he wanted an ambassador, he could have requested one from home, and I rather suspect that is what the Qun would demand that he do, rather than forcing people to do work that the Qun claims they're not suited for."
The Sten fell silent at this, staring back at Caitlyn expressionlessly.
"And you didn't actually discuss anything useful with him, did you?" she persisted. "No information about what you people supposedly need. You were there for assassination—or, failing that, reconnaissance."
"So let's just kill them," said one of the two civilians. "Enough talk."
"Let's not," said Caitlyn at once. "They're unarmed captives. If there was a plot on the Viscount, and I am inclined to agree that there was, it's been thwarted. Let's march them right back to the Arishok." Beside her, Anders smiled proudly.
"They have information about the Keep and its weaknesses," Varnell said. "They thwarted the assassination plot, but these soldiers still took note of the defenses of that place, like any soldier scoping out an enemy encampment! That's why they have to die. That horned heretic can't learn the internal design of the Viscount's Keep."
"Then you're ready to fight the entire force of Qunari? Because that's what you'll be facing, Ser Varnell. We can shore up the Keep, make the information obsolete. They assumed we wouldn't figure out why they were really sent."
As soon as she finished speaking, however, several more Qunari appeared from the corridors of Darktown, every one of them bearing weapons, just like their fellows. Varnell's eyes bugged out in surprise, and Caitlyn's widened as well at the sight of a collared, leashed Qunari mage—a Saarebas, whose mouth was sewn shut. Fear suddenly overtook her, and she grabbed her staff in a threatening attack position.
"Anders—that's a Qunari mage! Get Mal out of here!" she exclaimed.
Beside the family, Baldwin began to growl and bark menacingly at the approaching fighters.
Anders did not need to be told twice. He scooped his son up in his arms and hustled him back toward the clinic even as the boy started to plead for his mother's safety.
"I'm going to be fine, Mal!" she cried at the rapidly retreating pair.
"You two mages," Varnell said gruffly, looking at Caitlyn and Merrill, "stand back. Far back." He raised his hand, and the scent of lyrium began to coalesce around him. Caitlyn instantly took off running, Merrill close on her heels, as Varnell cast a Holy Smite that sent the Qunari Saarebas reeling.
The edges of the Smite reached Caitlyn and Merrill despite their attempt to flee. They were not drained of their mana, but it still winded them both. Should I use blood magic in front of a Templar, an ex-Templar, and a priest? she thought. Or just stay out until we recover?
She was certain that Varnell's action would initiate combat, but as she recovered her magical strength, she realized that it had not happened. Instead Varric had stepped forward to speak, to try to calm everyone. She took a deep breath and returned to the area. Each person who had remained was standing intimidatingly before one of the newcomer Qunari.
"We do not want to fight," Varric was pleading. "You lot can just go back to the Arishok and we'll all walk away, all right?"
Caitlyn breathed deeply again. Her mana was recovered, at least. She turned to the Sten who remained chained to the wall, a hard look in her face. "Explain this," she said. "Why weren't these Qunari with your group? And how did they know where to find Varnell? This is supposed to be a secret hideout."
"They obviously followed behind secretly and lurked here," Varnell himself snarled when the Sten did not reply. "This apparently isn't just a squad to kill the Viscount, as I thought—it's meant to hold the Keep afterwards! They were going to confer and then take the place immediately!"
"Another thing I want to know," Caitlyn said, "is why the Saarebas is here. If this really was a diplomatic mission, Sten, what in the Void is a mage with a 'handler' and a sewn-up mouth doing here?"
The Sten remained silent, glaring back at Caitlyn and the others coldly. The rest of the Qunari also refused to answer.
"Their silence speaks volumes," said Petrice. "I think Varnell is right."
Caitlyn decided to choose her side unambiguously at last. "So do I," she said, her voice set and hard, the three words falling from her lips like the tolling of a bell.
The Qunari who were still armed reached for their weapons. It appeared that it would come to a fight after all—but Caitlyn burst out, in a last-ditch effort, "You were following the Arishok's orders. My friend is right. We have two options. We can fight, and there are more of us than there are of you, so you will not have strength of numbers at the end to fulfill your mission even if you defeat us... or you can go back to the Arishok. Your choice."
The Qunari turned to the Sten for guidance, who was clearly the leader even when disarmed and held captive. After a moment's consideration, he spoke, contempt in his words. "We return to the Arishok. If we have failed, better to face the demands of the Qun than to fall to bas blades and unchained magic."
As her friends and Varnell's group began to seize the weapons of the new Qunari and restrain their arms, she regarded the Sten coolly. "If he lets you speak, you can tell him that not everyone in Kirkwall is naïve and indifferent to security. Or perhaps I will tell him that."
The last of the Qunari were bound. The Sten looked at the pile of weapons that had been taken from himself and his force. "We will be slain if we return without our souls," he said.
"That's not my problem," said Varnell.
Caitlyn was torn for a moment. On one hand, it seemed extremely foolish to return these weapons to the Arishok, knowing that he intended to assassinate the Viscount—probably after learning of Petrice's first rally. On the other hand, she still hoped that she could take a leadership role in persuading them to leave peacefully, as she had done today. And besides, would a handful of weapons matter in a full-scale attack? No, not likely.
"No, let's return them," she said. "We want to prevent Kirkwall bloodshed. It's potentially a big provocation with little to no gain."
Varnell and Petrice looked at her skeptically, and the ex-Templar appeared to be on the verge of objecting, but Petrice held up her hand and shook her head at him.
As she took her place at the head of the group, leaving Darktown, she noticed that two people joined her: Anders and Mal. They had not gone to the surface to the Hightown house, but had lurked in the distance to keep an eye on the proceedings. Her heart soared at the realization that Anders had been there all along to protect her if it had become necessary.
"That was impressive," he said to her as he and Mal hurried to the front of the group to walk beside her. Baldwin barked in pleasure at their return and immediately took his place guarding his mistress's pup.
She smiled. "I guess it was! I can't quite believe it happened. Now let's just hope the Arishok doesn't attack us on sight."
Caitlyn handed her staff to Anders as they reached the surface. She was not ready yet to out herself as a mage, though she did want to seize this moment for other purposes. As they frog-marched the Qunari through the streets of Lowtown, heading for the docks and the Qunari compound, people on the streets parted to let them through. A great many of them cheered and pointed. They appeared to recognize Petrice immediately, which was no surprise given that she had held two rallies in Lowtown, but Caitlyn caught their excited comments as word of her identity as the person heading the entire group spread through the crowd.
"Now that's a leader, Hawke is," she overheard one merchant say.
"Looks like she's working hand-in-hand with our priest," agreed another.
"Yes. I'd like to know what Viscount Dumar and the so-called Grand Cleric were doing all this time."
She decided to speak. "People of Kirkwall," she called out to the throng, "I am pleased to announce that we have thwarted a plot against the city and secured the safety of the Viscount from this group of heavily armed Qunari that had been dispatched to the Keep to harm him. And with no bloodshed!"
Cheers erupted from the crowd. Beside her, Anders chuckled. "Elthina will certainly hear about that statement!" he said in a voice that only she could hear. "It's a good idea, though, to protect yourselves from her vengeance for this not going the way she wanted it to."
As they approached the docks district, a new, very disquieting thought entered Caitlyn's head at his words. Did Elthina know what the Qunari intended too? How much does she know about roles in the Qun and what it means that the Arishok sent no one but warriors and a mage? Did she actually want that team to reach the Keep and assassinate Dumar? she wondered. Was that the ultimate goal of the game? First get rid of Petrice, Varnell, and me—and any of my friends and family who went with me—and then let Dumar be assassinated, empowering her and Meredith to seize direct control of the city?
This thought was so dark and disturbing that she pushed it out of her mind, unable to consider the implications fully right now. If Elthina was capable of that, she was far more dangerous than Caitlyn had seriously contemplated—and all the more so because many people considered her harmless.
They reached the steps of the Qunari compound. Caitlyn glanced back and noticed, to her surprise—but relief—that she had acquired a large following from Lowtown, people who had joined the group to march to the compound in support and protection of their chosen "leaders." There were now dozens who had her back, and most of them were holding weapons. It gave her courage and excited the ambitious part of her. Still, she decided one thing at once. "Mal," she said to her son, "you need to stay back with your father. This is no place for children."
He nodded. "I understand, Mamma."
She took a breath and headed up the stairs with those in her entourage who were holding Qunari weapons and force-marching captives. "I have come to return the missing 'delegates' and their weapons to the Arishok," she declared to the guard, "and to give him a message."
Caitlyn's heart was still palpitating after she had left the Qunari compound. She had no idea what would become of the Qunari they had returned, since they had clearly failed in their mission—but that was out of her hands. If they were to be killed, their blood would not be directly on her hands or those of her allies. She and all of her companions and entourage had left the place unscathed, despite the extremely threatening statement that the Arishok had made when she informed him that she knew what the squad had been sent to do and that if he intended any real diplomacy, he could send for real diplomats.
"I told you once before, Hawke. The Qun will demand an accounting. You have merely delayed that today. You cannot delay it forever."
Those words continued to echo in her mind as she headed home, trying to avoid the glad-handing and cheering from Lowtown. To her mild annoyance, some of it even continued as she entered Hightown.
"I heard about what happened today," said a bearded nobleman who was standing and talking with Ser Marlein Selbrech. "Well done, it was. Comte Guillaume de Launcet, Serah Hawke. I knew your mother's family."
Caitlyn recognized the name at once. This is the man that Mother's parents wanted her to marry, she realized. "Pleased to meet you, Comte," she said, shaking his proffered hand. "I was glad to do what I did today."
"And I heard, too, that the Grand Cleric was nowhere to be seen—that she even tried to make villains out of the ones who intercepted those Qunari. The one that used her seal shouldn't have done it, as a general rule, but I think this merits an exception."
"The Grand Cleric was very concerned with punishing the use of her own seal, it is true," Caitlyn said, seeing an opportunity to further smear Elthina to a powerful person who seemed disposed against her already. "And the Viscount seemed not to consider the possibility that the 'delegates' might have been sent in bad faith."
De Launcet shook his head in disgust. "Poor leadership all around. I even hear his son is considering converting to the Qun, partly because his father isn't there for him and his mother is dead." He gazed at Mal and Anders, a smile on his face. "What a contrast! Perhaps it's time for a change."
"The assembled nobles of Kirkwall have the right to call for no confidence in a Viscount," Ser Marlein remarked. "That option has not been invoked, but it's written into the city charter, after the Orlesians were expelled."
"Well!" said De Launcet, studying Caitlyn and her family in interest. "Something to think about!"
Dumar was shocked to learn that the Qunari "delegates" were apparently assassins. He thanked Caitlyn profusely when she informed him what had taken place.
"Yes, we are certainly grateful that Hawke was able to keep to her word about avoiding bloodshed," Elthina said tightly, standing beside the Viscount.
No you aren't, thought Caitlyn.
"Were you able to prove that it was Varnell who stole my seal?" she demanded.
"He acknowledged having used it," Caitlyn replied, "but he said that he did it because of the threats to the Viscount and city." She turned to Dumar. "You need to increase the guard here and shore the place up. They'll carry useful intelligence back to the Arishok, but we can render it useless."
Elthina's lips thinned. "Nonetheless, the Chantry will have to punish Varnell for the theft and misuse of the Grand Cleric's seal."
"You said he had already been stripped of his knighthood and expelled from the Templar Order," said Caitlyn.
"That was for joining the group of violent fanatics. This is different. The Chantry will do as it sees fit, Hawke. Your work here is finished."
I just bet it isn't, she thought as she turned to leave.
When she returned home at last, she saw that Petrice was in the living room, talking idly with her mother and Anders, while Mal read quietly in a corner chair. She walked over to him and gave him a hug. "I'm so proud of you today," she told him quietly. "You must have seen a lot of frightening things, but you were very brave!"
He gave his mother a smile. "I was scared once, when you told Father to take me home. I was scared for you."
"Oh, Mal," she cried, giving him another brief but tight hug. "I'm sorry for scaring you. I just wanted you to be safe, whatever happened to me."
"Father said that we were going to stand way back and watch, and he would protect you if he had to."
"I saw that he did!" she agreed.
"I felt better then."
"Of course. Your father and I protect each other, you, Grandma, the animals—all of the family and our friends."
"Someday I'm going to help. When I'm big enough. Then we'll be even safer."
A pang struck Caitlyn at that. His illusions are breaking, she realized. He knows that his mother and father are not invincible now, and he knows his own limitations too. He is learning what vulnerability really means. She had known that it would happen, and she was glad that it had not happened in a traumatic, tragic way, but it still hurt to see him lose this part of his innocence.
"Yes," she managed to get out, "we will." She turned aside and joined the others, greeting Petrice at last as Anders replaced her beside Mal. Clearly, his preference was to be beside his son rather than chat with the priest.
"I should warn you," Caitlyn said to the priest, "she intends to try to punish Varnell over the seal."
"She won't find him," said Petrice smoothly.
"What is this?" Leandra exclaimed. "What do you mean?"
Caitlyn supposed she might as well explain to her mother as much as she could. "You have heard what happened today, I guess?" When Leandra nodded, she continued. "The man who first apprehended the Qunari had used the Grand Cleric's seal without her permission, because he deemed it urgent. I just returned from the Keep, and Elthina is focusing on this 'slight' rather than anything else." And dishonestly and in bad faith, since she let it be used.
"Well, it seems very inappropriate of her to focus on that," Leandra said.
"Inappropriate, indeed," said the priest. She turned to Caitlyn. "I was waiting for you to arrive, Hawke. Your husband informs me that we need to discuss something. We were catching your mother up with what happened today in the meantime."
Caitlyn raised her eyebrows at Anders in the corner, wondering what he had said. He gazed back sheepishly but still with a smile on his face, rising to his feet. "Let's go to the study," he urged.
The three of them walked into that room, Anders closing the door behind them once they were inside. Caitlyn touched a rune on a lamp to provide light as they sat down.
"What is this about, Anders?" she asked him.
"I think... things are moving quickly at last," he said, "and so we need to be prepared to act quickly on other issues."
Suddenly she understood, and once she did, she realized that she should have guessed at once. This was Anders, after all. "Circle reform," she said.
He nodded. "It's part of our plans."
"You mentioned to me a couple of years ago that you wanted an end to the Rite of Tranquility in Kirkwall and for mages of the Circle to have the right to see their families and friends," said Petrice. "Given that my speeches against the Qunari have focused in part on their prohibition of families and their maltreatment of mages, these are reforms that I think the people of Kirkwall are ready for—or very soon can be made to be."
"Well, there's more," Anders said bluntly. "You must have guessed that at the time."
"I suspected. What other reforms do you want to see?"
From the expression on his face, Anders seemed surprised that a priest of the Chantry was asking the question so nonchalantly, not even knowing what he might say. It seemed that she really did not care about changing long-standing policies about mages, as strange as that was to him. "There are two other things I thought of," he said. "I want mages who are accused of crimes to have the right to be tried in the same court as anyone else. And I want an end to the Harrowing. It's all but useless. I want mages to be allowed to leave the Circle entirely and do as they please in life once the senior enchanters have declared them masters of a school of magic."
Petrice raised her eyebrows. Oh, Anders, thought Caitlyn in despair at the sight, I agree with every word of that, but you are asking for too much too soon.
"That is a very radical set of reform proposals," Petrice said guardedly.
Anders glared back. "You can see for yourself that they could be done, though. Caitlyn and I... our family... her late father and sister... and other Grey Warden mages live this way with no harm done. It could happen."
"I saw it for myself in Orlais," she replied, "but politically, can it happen? That is the question."
"Would you make us hypocrites before other mages and mage supporters?" he burst out. "If you're in a position to set Circle policy, and we're... where Caitlyn would like to be... then people will know that we are a family of mages. How could you ask us to seemingly condone other mages being locked up while we live openly and freely? I am a Warden, but Caitlyn isn't. Maybe mages will get to see their parents and siblings, but they still can't start their own families without reforms like these enacted. Meanwhile, Caitlyn and I are married with a child. How could you—?" He broke off, gazing down.
Caitlyn was deeply moved by this impassioned speech. Her initial inclination to think of political possibilities above all lessened. "You know, he has a point," she said. Anders looked up at her gratefully, and she continued, encouraged. "How about a compromise?"
Petrice seemed interested. "What do you propose, Hawke?"
She thought quickly. "Regarding the right to a trial for mages... how about an appeal to the Chantry? The problem is that the Knight-Commander has the right of summary execution with no appeal. No other person is subject to that. Mages should have the right to appeal to a Chantry panel when they are accused of something and to present witnesses in their defense."
Anders scowled, but he kept silent.
Petrice nodded. "That seems reasonable and politically possible."
"And... regarding Anders' other idea... how about this? This would build on existing precedent. Even Elthina said once that mages have been allowed outside the Gallows to serve the city. Harrowed mages would have the right to serve Kirkwall, either as Healers or as auxiliaries to the City Guard. And they can live outside the Gallows altogether if they do serve the city in either way."
Petrice considered this before nodding as well. "This would be in keeping with the command of the Prophet that magic is to serve man. Locking mages away, unable to help others with their talents, violates that command, I think."
Anders sighed heavily. "It's not as much as I wanted... as you know," he said grudgingly, "but it's better than nothing."
Late that night, when they were finally in bed, she turned to him sympathetically.
"It could happen someday, Anders," she said, trying to reassure him. "I agreed with everything you asked for... but better to get half of what we want than to ask for too much and get nothing. And once people are used to the first set of reforms, then we could gradually make bigger and bigger ones."
He scowled ahead in the dark. "I hope you're right, but it might also result in that becoming the new status quo for centuries. As time has passed, the Circles have become more restrictive, not less. Change is not always forward, Caitlyn. And I didn't even mention my most radical position."
"Oh?"
"I want the Chantry taken completely out of the picture," he said. "There's a place for a school of magic—that I'll grant. But it should be run by cities... kingdoms, whatever they may be. Not the Chantry."
She gazed at him in awe. "That's actually... a great idea," she said. She leaned over and gave him a kiss. "And there was not a chance in the Void that a priest of the Chantry was going to agree to it tonight, even a Circle moderate."
He chuckled wryly, pulling her into an embrace. "I suppose not."
She let him kiss and caress her as he pulled her on top of him. They were wearing nothing but their thin house robes, and as his attentions grew more intense, she found herself looking forward to what she knew came next.
"You were amazing today," he murmured against the tender skin of her neck as he kissed her. "Magnificent. When you talked all of those people down... led that group through Lowtown to applause and approval... I could hardly wait to have you to myself, just like this."
"It was touch and go for a while in Darktown," she began to protest, but she stopped at once when he pulled her house robe off.
"But when I saw you at the head of the throng..." Anders trailed off, his pupils dilating in lust as his voice dropped an octave. "I saw a Viscountess." He tossed the robe to the floor and quickly stripped himself of his own, throwing it atop hers. His breath caught in his chest. "And to think that you have chosen me..."
She leaned forward, pressing her increasingly heated flesh against his from head to toe, as she kissed him deeply. "Never think yourself unworthy," she murmured, breaking the kiss. "Sometimes... I think you're the better half of us. And we chose each other."
He growled in approval and agreement as he gently rolled her over, pressing her against the mattress. She let her head fall back on the pillow, her eyes rolling upward to meet his as he towered over her. As they began their familiar movements, she thought about how, even though they had been a married couple for over two years and had been lovers for additional months in Lothering and Kirkwall, this was still just as wonderful as it was from the first. Both "firsts," she thought, thinking of when they renewed their relationship physically after being reunited at last. It's just as good, if not even better. Our desire has not diminished or moderated one bit.
He lifted her arms above her head and held them in place with one hand, planting another very deep kiss on the side of her neck that would certainly leave a mark if he did not heal it. She smiled as he did, happily allowing him to do what he wished. Some nights, she would be the one taking the lead... but tonight he wanted to please her, to do the work himself. Pleasure and desire quickly overtaking her, she let him continue until they both were gasping, staring at each other with wide, dilated eyes, the aftershocks still rippling down their sated bodies.
"Amazing," he said in a hoarse whisper, stroking her sides. "Just as I said."
"Because I have an amazing partner," she managed to reply.
They shared one final kiss for the night before curling up together to sleep.
Notes: I'm aware that this is controversial, to say the least, but I'm nearly certain that the "delegates" were sent in bad faith, and that the writers intended that. Dumar got nothing useful from them, but they sure got something: intelligence about the Keep. And Seneschal Bran, of all people, sensed a threat and bound their weapons. That is the clincher to me. Even he knew that they were soldiers rather than diplomats. (Hawke's dialogue option "Could this be a Qunari plot?," and Dumar's naive answer "Would the Qunari stoop to trickery?"—er, yes—also suggest that the writers thought about it.) Reconnaissance, rather than assassination, was probably their actual intent, given that they do indeed take the Keep and kill the Viscount later on. However, I cannot rule out an assassination either as the original plan, given the presence of those Qunari who lurk in ambush (including the Saarebas, of all people) if you side with Varnell. (Yes, they were lurking in ambush. The Arishok is lying when he says he sent them to retrieve the delegates. They do not appear if you fight Varnell, either as allies or to recover the corpses. They apparently left rather than taking on a huge fight, but were willing to attempt a small one. And there is still no explanation for how they independently found the hideout if they did not follow behind undetected all along.) If there was a plan to gain information on the Keep's weaknesses, it is honestly harder for me to justify why Caitlyn doesn't kill them... but I've tried to account for it by saying that they're not ready for a full-scale attack yet.
As for why Elthina knowingly let her seal be used, I think she is using people as pawns. The way in which she's doing so is a little different between canon and this AU. Her goal in canon, I think, is to provoke the Arishok into attacking; she would know full well what a zealot with an angry mob would do to the captives (and game!Hawke does not have Petrice's and Varnell's existing trust to talk him down). Once Dumar and his heir are dead, there is nothing standing in Elthina/Meredith's way of seizing direct rule and no one with an existing leadership profile and respectability to challenge them. This holds even if the game writers didn't intend the Qunari to be a hit team—and if they did, she would still get what she wants if the Qunari defeated Hawke, Varnell, etc., and continued to the Keep.
In this story's AU, of course, there is an alternative motive for her in that she sees direct threats to herself that she could try to remove by involving all of them in an ugly fight that she expects them to lose. Her motives about Dumar and direct rule would still hold, so that's why she "might have" (wink, wink, we'll find out!) wanted at least some of the Qunari to reach him, so long as Caitlyn and Petrice died first.
