15: Elfroot and Glow Worms

Fenris did not have the market on broody captured, Saemus Dumar had some sort of teenage angst going. Was he a teen? Beau wasn't sure, she had lost the ability to judge a person's age quite some time ago. Living in Kirkwall tended to age people physically faster than their years. Yawning, she stepped out of the Keep, slowly ambling down the stairs. Varric had excused himself from going in with her, another comment about politics before he had disappeared. Isabela had followed, tossing out an invitation for a game of Wicked Grace, she had even included Fenris. It would be interesting if he accepted. "I left your elfroot out on the coast."

Anders stepped out from behind the column he had been waiting behind, somehow not surprised she had stopped. "How long have you known?"

"Oh Maker, Anders, you're not very good with the sneaking." She reached out and ruffled the feathers on the shoulders of his robes. "These gave it away. You know, magic is a thing, can't you use it to make yourself less conspicuous?"

"Nothing long term and not all of us use smoke bombs and parlor tricks." If she had been aware of him, most likely the others had too and that was rather embarrassing. Anders fell into step with her as she continued down the way. "So, all that elfroot is out on the coast, really?"

"Yes, really. You said you weren't coming and then you tagged along anyway, that's both rude and rather creepy." Instead of going her usual route, Beau steered for the Hightown market, reaching to adjust her leather satchel. "Since you insisted on being rude, and creepy, I decided to leave the elfroot in a cave."

Which was a shame because he knew she could have easily carried it back in that enchanted bag of hers. "I don't suppose you'll tell me where?"

"I'll show you; I have to go back anyway. After I sell off everything in here." She had had to leave some of her loot back in that cave as well. Sure, the bag held quite a bit but it did absolutely nothing to lessen the weight of the accumulated items. She was strong, not stupid, she liked her back still in place.

Anders followed her as she went about her business, listening in amusement while she haggled off her 'wares', already knowing how she obtained most of them. He was used to her habit of raiding corpses and containers. "Not camping tonight?" He meant it mostly in jest when they finally started towards the city gates, glancing at the sky. They had a few hours before sunset and it occurred to him that they could wind up spending the night outside the gates again. "Hawke, this is something that can be done tomorrow."

"If you are afraid of the dark, Anders…"

"That's not-" this woman was driving him insane and it was a short trip given everything else going on in his mind.

"Besides, I want to show you something."

A very short trip indeed.

Beau had left the elfroot and her valuables not far from where she and the others had dealt with the Winters mercenaries and found Saemus. Frowning, she looked towards the path that led to that area, remembering how that had all played out. She had joked then but now that she was properly thinking about it… Saemus had not been kidnapped and she did not foresee anything good coming from all of this with the qunari. "I think we'll come to war with the qunari before all is said and done." She said as she turned and guided Anders into the cave.

That was random. He ducked behind the bush she had stepped behind. He would have missed this entirely if he hadn't seen her disappear into the slight opening. "When did you stash everything?"

"Right after the fight, while the others were raiding the camp and minding Saemus, I slipped over here. I found it a few months ago, I used to come out here and drink myself silly," in fact, she had begun using it as a bit of a hideout and even had dug out an old talisman of her father's. It was something she had filched from his belongings when he had died, something they had used as a type of ward to deter people from where they were. It had always been useful during one of their moves. She had buried it right here, at the entrance of the cave and so far, it had kept people and things away. So far, so good.

Drank herself silly wasn't wrong, Anders could see bottles lining the little path back. He watched as she stooped, beginning to light candles she had plugged in some of those bottles. "You weren't kidding about the drinking, how are you alive?"

"I ask myself that every day," she was even being serious. "Okay, so… back here, yeah."

"How deep does this go?"

"Not very, I usually camp back here." Beau ducked and proceeded down a narrow tunnel at a hunch, hearing him cursing and began giggling softly. Anders was a bit taller than she was and with his feathers, he was getting ruffled. The giggles turned into outright laughter. "Here we are."

She hadn't been kidding. There was a neat little pallet on the ground with a few crates neatly against one of the cave walls, candles everywhere. "I'm surprised you haven't caught yourself on fire." He said dryly, watching as she rifled in a crate and began procuring the elfroot. "That's… quite a lot, more than I expected." He hadn't even noticed she had been gathering it, he had been focused on his horrible attempt at being sneaky. It occurred to him that that was, creepy was how Hawke had worded it, stalkerish came to mind as well.

"Actually, it grows not too far from here, so I've been…" Beau trailed off, frowning slightly. She didn't overly care for being introspective, in fact, she despised it which made drinking kind of terrible because that was all you did when you drank, think about things you shouldn't. "I've been stockpiling it whenever I come out this way." He had shown her once how to store it, when there was a surplus, there was rarely a surplus in Darktown.

Crouching down, Anders began rifling through the elfroot, noting some of it had been dried completely, others were in the process of. Then there was the fresh bundle she had gathered recently. He sorted it, looking for mold or rot and finally sat back on his haunches when he found none. "Thank you, Hawke. This is more than I expected."

She shrugged, leaning against the cave wall. "No problem."

A faint glow had caught his eye. "What is… that?"

Bending down, Beau took in what he was pointing at, beginning to smile. "Oh, I'll show you, come on." Without waiting, she grabbed him by his sleeve, tugging him along with her. It was a bit shocking he didn't say anything and that he allowed her to touch him, even though technically she was touching his clothing. She slithered through another small bit of gap, quietly warning him to watch the jagged bits pressing out against them.

Anders would have asked why she was pulling him through a narrow opening, one that was likely tearing his robes, but he didn't. He could feel the heat of her palm searing through the material, or perhaps that was fanciful thinking. Finally, right at the point where he was becoming concerned he was going to have a fit of claustrophobia, they burst through into another open room as it were. "What on- wow."

"Yeah, wow," Beau laughed, tipping her head back to look up. She had no words to describe it, she hadn't when she had first stumbled into his cave and didn't now. Wow was fairly accurate.

The room, such as it were, was quite dark and what he could see of the rock walls and dirt floor, it was small. But the ceiling, it was covered in glowing pale blue… string? It was silky to the touch, he discovered after reaching a hand up slowly, cautiously to feel what he was looking at. "Do you know what this is?"

"Glow worms," Beau said quietly, still smiling as she took in the ceiling. "My father said that the glow is from their nests and trapping habits, you know, for prey."

Chuckling softly, Anders brought his hand back, his own gaze dropping down to study the gentle glowing strands on his fingers. "Makes sense," rolling his fingertips together, he looked at her. "Beauty tends to attract all sorts."

She kept her focus on that blue above her. "Does it?"

"Beauty, courage… compassion…"

"And all that from a glow worm?"

There was the Isabeau he knew and even as the voice in his mind informed him that he was being stupid and leading her on, he couldn't stop himself. Wasn't he the one who said 'this' was a bad idea? Being around her period was a bad idea and he never looked away from her. "All that, from a glow worm."