"I'm not going into the Deep Roads. Not for all the gold in the world."

I sighed despite having entirely expected that to be Anders' answer to that question. He'd been saying variations of that for the past few days, and this was probably my last chance to convince him. That was why the two of us were sitting alone at a high table in the Hanged Man, speaking quietly to one another in the hour before the dinner rush began.

"I know you don't want to. Hell, Anders, none of us want to, but we can't let Varric go down there alone with just his brother and hired help." I paused to sip some ale, "We'll need a healer, and you're the best one we know."

Anders nodded agreeably, "Thank you. Varric should think himself lucky he has friends willing to go that far for him."

"You're his friend too."

"I'm an acquaintance at best." He retorted. "I've met him a few times for cards and drinks over the last month, nothing more. I like him, but I don't know if I like anyone enough to go into those tunnels. Especially not into portions that have never been opened or explored in living memory."

Damn. It was hard to argue with that, so I tried a different track. "The money would really help your clinic, and the new friends you've been talking to."

He glowered at me, clearly getting the reference to the Mage Underground. "I knew you'd bring them up."

"Am I wrong? Couldn't they use a few dozen sovereigns?"

"...no, we could really use that coin for good." His admission was sour, "But that doesn't mean I'm willing to go down there. There's no treasure down there, Maeve. Maps and keys like the ones Varric and his Brother are supposed to have are sold by charlatans by the dozen, looking to make quick coin from fools. If you're very lucky you'll just wander out empty handed and starving after a few weeks."

I blew out a frustrated breath and finally brought out the big guns. "Fine. Merrill and I think we've settled on a design for more Dream-catchers. I'll give you some, and make them for you on demand."

Anders went still, then his voice dropped to a whisper. "Your enchanted feather-hoop? Your Fade-Ward?"

"Yes."

"And it would work for someone besides you?" He demanded, "You said the last time you tried to make one for another person it burnt up the moment they tried to use it."

I grimaced at the reminder of Feynriel's problems. Trying to help the kid was the reason I'd kept going with that project, roping Merrill in to help me. "It did, it did, but we think we figured that part out. And even if we haven't, we'll bring you in to help us find a way to mass produce them. Think how much good it would do your friends to be safe in their dreams every single night without casting a single ward, and all they need is a little trinket no Templar would look twice at. All they have to do is pour their mana into it when they get a chance to keep it charged and tuned to them."

His strong jaw clenched, eyes flashing. "And you won't teach me if I don't go down there with you all?"

I took a deep breath... and gambled. "No, Anders. I will anyway, because I'm not that much of a bitch. I'm saying I'll have a much better chance of living long enough to do that if you're down there with us. I won't have the time to work on them before we leave, and you know I'm taking mine with me on the trip."

Anders stared at me. "...you'll teach me how to make them even if we find nothing?"

Ha! Got him! "I'll swear by anything you want. We could find all the world's treasure, or not so much as a copper. Hell, if Bartrand sees reason and cancels the entire trip, it won't matter. I'll give them to you as soon as we've got a working model. Teaching will take a bit longer though, according to Merrill I do my magical thinking sideways or something. Still working on getting a better way to make them."

Her running theory was that the way I 'sensed' magic, through my regular senses instead of a sixth one, was the main cause of my problems learning normal magic. After thinking about it, I was pretty sure she was right about that. Even if I'd wanted to use a regular Fade-Ward I don't think I could; her one attempt to show me how it was done had left me half-blind from the colors I'd seen her drawing on the ground.

"...Maker's breath." He sighed. "Dammit. You know I can't say no. Those would be invaluable to us. How many children suffer at the hands of demons in the Fade outside of the Circles? All it takes is one lucid dream, one alert Templar to detect a ward being cast... your trinkets could mean the difference between life or death for them."

"I know." I told him, "God knows there's been plenty of times I've woken up there, and found a dozen things staring at me through the netting. It was a lot worse when I could hear them, when they could walk right up to me."

His head tilted a little at 'God', as most people's did, but he stayed focused on his main interest. "You dream like that often?"

I shook my head, "Rarely more than once a week or so. Lately I've been lucky, been more than a month. Means I'm probably due to be eye candy for spirits again."

Some of his good natured humor crept back in, "Eye candy? That's a new expression. It's disturbingly accurate though."

"Isn't it? How about you?"

He shrugged, "Never that often. Once a year maybe?"

"Lucky." I muttered around another sip of ale, "Stop by the Alienage next week in the morning. We can talk more then, show you our research, but we probably won't have time to sit down and try and make another until we get back like I said."

"I will, and I won't say that's fine because it isn't." He sighed. "I know you're manipulating me, Maeve. You're not that subtle."

"Wasn't trying to be." I replied. "I just want us all to come back from this trip alive, and you being with exponentially improves our odds."

He took a pull from his ale, then sighed once more. "Let's hope Varric's brother comes to his senses, or his entrance turns out to be sealed."

"No argument from me. Come on, let's go tell everyone else that you're in after all."

Anders nodded once, standing with me, both of us picking up our cups as we left the table. The rest of the party was waiting for us in Varric's usual booth. Anders quickly slid in next to Fenris, himself next to Varric, leaving me to drop down next to Isabella with Merrill on her other side.

"So?" Varric asked, not glancing up from the parchment he was taking notes on.

"He's very, very, very reluctantly in." I informed everyone. "We've got our healer."

Everyone but Fenris grinned at that. He was too busy scowling at the news, or maybe the fact that Anders had sat next to him.

"That's your team assembled." I said to Varric. "You have the contracts ready, boss?"

He grunted without looking up, "Mostly. One percent shares for everyone besides Maeve, taken out of my overall cut. Buzz? You're getting thirty percent since you're kicking in so much investment money."

Isabella promptly pouted, "How much does it take to get that large a share?"

"Fifty sovereign." I replied dryly.

"Ah." She transitioned quickly, as always, turning on me with a coy smirk already in place. "And how much to split your share with me?"

"How about fifty sovereign?"

She rolled her eyes, "You could at least pretend to play along."

"Later." I promised, patting her thigh under the table. "For now, Varric? Did Bartrand agree to the repayment plan?"

"He's still kicking and screaming about it." Varric replied tiredly. "But I eventually got him to admit that, if he's so confident in the fortune in this Thaig, then there's no reason to turn you down. He balked some more, so I reminded him the only reason we're asking you for money is because he's too cheap to use our own. Then I reminded him it wasn't smart to pick a fight with a bard who could kill him in his sleep."

"Not a bard." I groused.

He shrugged, "But you could kill him in his sleep, especially since he fired more of the staff yesterday, including two bodyguards."

I groaned, "He's really pinching every copper, isn't he?"

"You have no idea. Point is that he eventually signed. You'll get your full investment plus five percent interest if we don't come back with at least that much in profit. He did push out the timeline. We'll pay it back over five years, not three, with a six month period before payments start."

Fenris snorted, "The dwarf plans to kill you before he has to pay you, and he couldn't have made it more obvious."

"That's Bartrand. Greedy and obvious." I waved a dismissive hand. If my own plans worked out, Bartrand wouldn't be coming back to Kirkwall regardless of what we found down there. I just had to make sure Varric didn't realize I'd been the one to do it... or time it right. I was still working on those details. "That's fine, Varric. I agree."

"I figured, why I already stamped and filed it with the Guild's contractors and the Chantry, so he won't be able to deny that he agreed. Apart from that, we've got our entrance picked out, and most of the labor party hired." From how exhausted he sounded, he'd been the one to do all of that work as well. "Mostly cheap labor off the docks, but he wouldn't let me hire anyone more reputable. Leaves me with just a few suppliers left to talk to, and we'll be on schedule."

On our way to the Deep Roads. The place where, if things went perfectly well, I could solve a whole host of problems I was going to have over the next few years. Most obviously; money. If canon-Hawke had bought the Amell estate for anything like what the Chantry had sold it for, I'd be set for decades with this one job. More than enough to keep me fed and well supplied until I could find Solas. Even if I had to end up fleeing Kirkwall to avoid the chaos that would come. Chaos that Hawke likely wouldn't be around to help resolve.

Money would also let me take a quick trip over to Ferelden to find out just what the hell had happened over there, especially to Hawke herself. The rumors coming in from the docks were so all over the place I couldn't even begin to make sense of them.

The second big problem was, well, me. Specifically how much attention I'd begun to draw in Kirkwall. Vanishing for a few weeks, maybe even a few months, sounded like a good way to try and get people to forget about me for a while. I doubted that Petrice would forget me, nor would the Alienage, but I'd be a very happy woman if Meredith, Cullen, and Elthina let my name fade from their memories.

Thirdly, even if things 'merely' went according to canon's plot, that would mean Bartrand would be skipping town... thus leaving Varric as the sole manager and owner of the massive Tethras fortune. He'd be able to do a lot more with his money, especially with the influx of cash from the treasure we could find down in the tunnels. Things like improve both Lowtown and the Alienage, hopefully in such a way that would stop the Humans from rioting just because the Elves' lives got a bit better.

So yeah. I had a lot of hopes and dreams pinned on this one.

And if it didn't work out, I'd at least get my money back. Eventually. So long as we all lived, which having Anders with should really help with.

And if Bartrand tried to kill me after or during, I'd have every reason to reply in kind.

I know. Murder is bad, but Bartrand really set me off. The man was a racist snob with full blown... what the hell had Tolkien called it? Dragon-sickness. All he cared about was money, and having the most of it. Everything else was becoming completely immaterial to him. Case in point? This Deep Roads trip.

Varric wasn't wrong; House Tethras did not need the extra money. Not in the slightest. This was a colossal risk all because Bartrand thought that treasure beyond price was to be found in that Thaig.

"Right." Varric said, setting his quill aside. "I'm sick of working, but we've got to get this settled too. Is everyone, and I mostly mean you, Broody, fine with the fact that half our company has spooky mage shit going on?"

Fenris scowled. "You know that I am not."

"And you know what I really mean." Varric shot back. "The Deep Roads aren't going to be any place for you to have problems with them."

"I'm well aware." The other man shook his head, reaching up to brush his white hair back. "It will not be my first time down there, though I did not travel nearly as deeply as we are about to. So long as they keep control of themselves, there will be no problems."

Varric sighed. "Good enough. Rivaini? You're sure you're in?"

"I'm not thrilled at one percent." She replied tartly. "You promised me riches, Varric. Riches."

"And we both know you're going to end up with more than one percent if we find anything down there." He countered. "Don't think I don't know who keeps stealing coin purses around here."

She smirked. "I don't have the faintest idea what you're talking about."

"Uh huh." He drawled, "Blondie?"

Anders nodded to me, then to Merrill. "We have an arrangement. One percent's fine otherwise. Not like we'll find anything down there besides ruins and Darkspawn."

"Ease up on that would you? I've spent the last week doing nothing but faking optimism. Last thing I need right now is you to tell me what I already believe. If Bartrand wasn't my brother we'd be sitting here drinking instead of stomping through Blighted tunnels."

Our newest mage held his hands up in surrender, "Fine, fine. I'll go order us another round if that will help."

"It will, put it on my tab." Varric let his head fall back, resting it on the wall behind him. "Rivaini? Get the deck out would you? Let's play a few rounds before dinner."

Isabella made the cards flit across the table, everyone relaxing into the now-familiar routine. More jovial conversation slowly picked up when Anders returned with ale, mugs rising and falling as coins joined the cards and spilled booze. We played a few hands casually, using coppers to keep score. That lasted until Varric recovered enough to order everyone dinner.

We played through a meal of fish stew and bread, and only once the bowls were cleared did the real game start.

"My turn, I think." Isabella purred, shuffling the deck once more. "So many options... but tonight I think we ought to get to know one another better."

Merrill perked up, already a little tipsy. "Like Maeve's questions game?"

When everyone glanced to me, I shrugged. "Something my people do to get to know each other. We just trade questions. Nothing invasive or mean spirited, just a quick back and forth."

Isabella grinned, "Something like that. Rules are simple. Instead of accepting a raise, you can demand a question. If you answer, you don't have to put any coin in. Otherwise you have to double the raise or take a shot. A blatant lie is another shot as well."

"No shots." Varric said firmly. "Or else Buzz and Daisy will be gone in the first round. A drink of ale instead, and let's leave off the extra coin. We're not playing for money, just to keep score."

Everyone nodded in agreement, accepting the modification to the rules. Isabella dealt once more, my fingers pulling the cards up to glance at them. Then at the sizable amount of coin that Varric promptly slid in to open the betting. Merrill folded at once, while Isabella matched the bet. I eyed my hand, then the silver in front of me.

"Question." I said firmly.

Varric grinned, "Most attractive man at this table."

I blinked at the choice, then shrugged. "Sorry to break your heart, boss, but Fenris has both you and Anders beat by a mile."

"Broody? Really?" He chuckled, even as Fenris gave me an askance look.

"I didn't say I liked your personality." I told him, smirking. "Just the body it's in."

Fenris snorted, rolling his eyes, then tossed his own silver forward after Anders folded. We ran around the table once more, Isabella quickly scooping the pot up at the end of the round. Our second go around had Merrill speaking up after Varric raised aggressively once again.

"All right Daisy." Varric grinned, "Most attractive person at this table?"

Merrill flushed right up to the tips of her ears. "You just asked Maeve that!"

He laughed, "No, I asked her the most attractive man. I'm giving you more options. Drink or answer!"

She stammered a few more times, eyed her mug... and then muttered. "Is... Isabella."

The pirate whooped, promptly grabbing her in a one armed hug. "That's my girl!"

Everyone laughed when Merrill only turned an even brighter shade of red. Fortunately for her Isabella quickly demanded a question of her own, smirking as the actual game got started.

"Well, then Rivaini. Longest you've gone without. Not including before your first!"

That quick addendum brought a pout to her lips, and she took a moment to think it over. "Maker's Balls, I don't even know. Probably the year I was sailing in the north? No one on the crew would have listened to me if they'd seen my tits in the air, and I didn't trust them enough to leave the ship for a good night ashore either."

"That sounds like a story." I noted.

Isabella shrugged, still holding onto Merrill with one arm. "I've got far better stories, don't you worry sweet thing. I might even share them if you give me a few in return."

"Now that you mention it..." I pretended to hesitate, then smirked and tossed some silver forward to groans from both her and Varric. "Anders?"

"Too rich for me." He replied, tossing another truly abysmal hand out. The man had terrible luck at cards, much to my amusement.

Fenris considered his own options, then copied me in sliding coin forward. "Call. Dwarf?"

Varric chose to close his betting there, as did Merrill, but Isabella took on the aggressive role in their place. "Another three silver, I think. Sweet thing?"

I pursed my lips, considering my hand. "Fine. Question."

"Last time you had a tumble between the sheets." She said at once; she'd clearly been holding on to that one.

"...ugh." I sighed. I should have expected that from her. "Hmm. About... three months before I woke up in Nevarra, so that makes it... a little over a year ago, now."

She pouted. "Well that's depressing, and where's the steamy details? I gave you some details!"

"Yup, you did, but that would be another question." I countered. "Fenris?"

He folded his hands together, eyeing Isabella before sliding more coin into the center... and then adding another. "Call and raise."

Varric huffed, tossing his own hand down, Merrill pouting as she did the same. Isabella groaned as if pained, then said. "I'm going to regret this, but question."

"Are you so soft on these two because they remind you of them?" And there was definite stress on the last word.

I blinked, glancing at Isabella to find her lips pressed together in a hard line, outright glaring at him. She carefully got her arm off of Merrill, took a deep breath, then brought her mug to her lips without letting up her stare for a moment. Whatever this was about, she was very much not happy that he'd brought it up.

"So it is." Fenris replied, looking entirely unruffled. "Maeve?"

"...question?" I more asked than said.

Thankfully he toned things back down from whatever the fuck that had been. "What was that bottle you stole from Varric's suite last week?"

Varric coughed in the middle of his drink. "What!?"

I flushed, joining Isabella in glaring at him, but I had to fess up thanks to how the jerk had framed the question. "His '21 Orlesian Brandy."

"Buzz!"

"What? That's the best I've had since I got here!" I protested. "And besides, you left it right out in the open. If I hadn't taken it then Isabella would have."

Isabella huffed, apparently calming down a little. "She's got a point, dear dwarf."

I nodded quickly, then turned my glare back to Fenris. "And how did you know anyway?"

"That would be another question." He smirked as he tossed my own words back at me.

I grumbled under my breath, trying to ignore Varric's glower. Turning our cards over was all the more satisfying when I got to take Fenris' silver, grinning as I neatly stacked it all up in front of me.

We ran through another pair of rounds more quickly after that, thankfully without anyone setting anyone else off again.

By the fourth round Isabella was back to preening, asking about our sex lives, and fishing for compliments in her questions, with more ale flowing as we all got steadily drunker. Things occasionally diverted, like when Fenris and I got into a long argument about whether or not brandy was better than whiskey, and if wine was better than either. A very buzzed Anders trying to explain why the feathers on his cloak were 'noble' to an equally drunken Merrill made the rest of us crack up, with even Fenris unable to keep his usual scowl in place.

Ale came and vanished, being replaced in far greater quantities than it probably should have been. I generally avoided crossing the line between drunk and buzzed, mostly, but tonight was definitely going to be on the wrong side of that restraining line... and nearly everyone was following me over the edge.

I blamed the fact that we were all about to head down into the Deep Roads.

For all that I knew it would work out, that we really would find fortune and glory down there... it was still the Goddamned Deep Roads. I wasn't looking forward to fighting Darkspawn. Demons. To maybe having to murder Bartrand. To worrying if one of the people at this table would take Hawke's siblings place in catching Blight-sickness. Worrying that Varric would realize I'd offed his brother, and take it personally... which was really giving me more doubts about that entire idea.

Worse was the fact that no one else here knew what I did. That it should all work out in the end. As far as they knew we were all going to be dead or ghouls in the next few months... and the guilt at not being able to tell them that it would be fine, that I knew what would happen, had me downing the booze nearly as fast as the waitresses brought over the mugs.

I hated feeling guilty. It was far easier to get drunk. To be merry. To have fun.

Merrill got her courage to start playing aggressively as she got drunker alongside me, grinning when Isabella demanded a question rather than call.

"What are body shots?" She demanded, slurring a little. "Maeve won't tell me!"

I groaned as piteously as I could, leaning into the pirate's side, giving her my best sad eyes. "I will totally make out with you to not answer that question. With tongue even. Lots of tongue. Maybe even some groping."

Isabella snickered, reaching a hand up to gently push me back. She had to promptly grab my shirt when the gentle shove nearly sent me falling out of the both, laughing as she got me more or less back into my seat. "Sorry, sweet thing. Can't say I'm not tempted, but her pout's far deadlier than yours. Come here kitten, I'll tell you."

And she did, whispering it into Merrill's ear, making the smaller woman blush, then giggle.

"Ohhh. I get it!"

I groaned and tried to take another drink, only to find that my mug had betrayed me. "...traitor. Not supposed to be empty. You fucking treasonous... thing! Anders! Fix this!"

Anders chuckled across from me. "I think our Elven friends have reached their limits."

"You're not doing great either, Blondie." Varric said, then paused, frowning. "Blondie. Broody. Buzz. Too many B's. I've got to fix that. Anyway, we finish the round, and I believe it's your call to Rivaini."

The mage waved a hand grandly. "I shall take a question."

"Oh will you?" Isabella purred, "Then tell me, who taught you that trick with electricity you used back in Denerim?"

Anders promptly turned bright red, coughed, and quickly picked his ale up until it was empty. We all laughed a bit, especially when the cards turned and Isabella claimed the last pot of the evening. Then it was time to break up for the night.

Our resident healer slipped away first, heading unsteadily back to his clinic in Darktown. Fenris ghosted out right after him, far more even on his feet than anyone else. That just left Merrill and I, and she was far too drunk to make it all the way back to the Alienage.

Bunking at the Hanged Man it was.

"I've got Daisy." Varric steadied my roommate when she nearly tipped over. "Come on, let's get you to my couch. You have her, Rivaini?"

"Oh I certainly do." Isabella promptly grabbed hold of me, an arm sliding around my waist. "I've got plenty of space in bed for you. Try not to be sick in it."

"I'm not that... woah..." The world spun when I tried to take a step on my own. "Oh. I guess I am that drunk."

"You certainly are, sweet thing. Come on."

Getting up the stairs was harder than it should have been. Someone had set the bar to spin cycle from how often it was twisting around. Rather unfair of them to people like me. I wasn't nearly as graceful as Isabella was. Even half drunk she was strutting perfectly along! So unfair.

Isabella hummed as I narrated all of that to her, guiding me into the suite she occupied across from Varric's. "I don't have the faintest idea what a spin cycle is, but it sounds fun."

"Dull. Just washing." I told her. "Washing clothes is very boring. I hate being an adult. Adulting sucks. I hate it."

She snickered, "Of course you do. Come on, bed's right here."

So it was!

It wasn't nearly as bouncy as a proper bed back home, but it was pretty comfy once I'd fallen into it. I couldn't be bothered to take my clothes off, and besides, looking as Isabella was a far better use of my time. Especially when she leaned over the bed to check on me, giving me an excellent view down her shirt. She had perfect breasts to go with her perfect features. She was annoyingly attractive like that.

"You're really sexy. Are you gonna take advag... avanta... ugh. Words are hard." I told her as she hovered over me. "Are we gonna fuck?"

Isabella snorted, reaching down to tug a second pillow into a better spot. "Don't think I'm not tempted, but no. You'd never forgive me once you sobered up."

"Probably not." I agreed. "I'm a bitch like that. I make... strings when I have sex. You don't like strings."

Her grin faltered for a moment. "No... no I don't, but I don't think we ever talked about that."

"You didn't. You told Hawke." I reminded her, then frowned as I remembered that things were wrong here. Stupid things. "Oh. You didn't meet Hawke, did you? Stupid Thedas. Is all wrong."

"...I have met Hawke, and she was fun between the sheets, but I don't think I ever told you that story either."

I blinked slowly, trying to think through the foggy haze in my head. And the fact that Isabella was frowning at me. She had a very sexy frown. Everything she did was too sexy. It was annoying. "You... met Hawke?"

"I was in Denerim, sweet thing. She was there when I was, with some of the Wardens. That's where I met Anders."

Wardens. Hawke. Anders. Denerim. Isabella... had been there. Met them all before. That was important. They were important. I knew they were really, really important, even if I couldn't quite focus on it. And I was really mad at myself for forgetting something so obvious as the fact that I could have just asked Isabella about the Wardens. Ugh. I... no... there was something else too. Something I needed to know, but it just... wasn't coming to me.

"Fuck. I'm too drunk. I... need to know. Tell me when I'm sober."

"Maeve, love, you're not going to remember this. I'm not sure I'm going to remember this."

Somehow my hand got a hold of her shirt, jerking her close. Her amber eyes were wide with surprise, both of her hands already on my wrist like she was ready to break it or shove me away, and had only stopped herself at the last moment.

"Promise." I heard myself say. "I need to know about Hawke. It's important."

"...all right, all right. I promise I'll tell you that story. Maybe once we're back here safely." Warm fingers gently pried mine loose. "Maeve. Sleep. You're drunk and not making much sense, but I promise I'll tell you someday."

"I..." Not someday. I needed it soon. Very soon. Soonest. "...ok... ugh. I don't feel good. I..."

"Hush." The world got blurrier, but I felt the bed shift as she crawled in next to me. "Sleep, sweet thing. I'm right here."

Arms slid around me, pulling me close. I felt myself bury my face in her neck, that place I loved on every lover I'd ever had. I breathed in her scent... and let myself slip into that wonderful darkness.