Denerim

Epona dropped down from her perch on the trees with a heavy frown and approached the others. Lawrien was watching Denerim with crossed arms as Epona approached.

"The guards are checking everyone going into Denerim at the gates," Epona said grimly.

"It's a good thing your eyes see further distances than ours," Ciara mused.

Morrigan scowled. "How are we going to get in with those check points? I'm the only shapeshifter here."

"Maybe we could disguise ourselves?" Narascha asked.

Epona grimaced. "I don't know... they are checking very thoroughly..."

"I would be happy to show you the way in."

They all jumped and whirled round to face the shadows of the trees where an elven woman formed out from the shadows with a sharp smile. She held a staff in hand, but it seemed to act more like a cane as she tapped it off the ground, finding her footing on the damp grass.

"Witch!" Sten snarled.

"What the hell?!" Torph yelped.

"The Thieves Guild bids you welcome to Denerim, Grey Wardens," the elven woman welcomed, bowing her head. "I'm Alyndra, Faren's aunt."

"Like how the ghostly man is his uncle?" Epona frowned.

"I'm the Ghost's wife." Alyndra smiled sharply.

"You just came out of the shadows!" Lawrien grinned. "How did you do that?"

"Magic."

"You're Faren's aunt?" Zevran tilted his head. "How lucky timing we'd run into you..." he muttered suspiciously.

Alyndra smirked. "It's not a coincidence that I'm here, little Crow. Faren and Lord Cousland are with us, along with his dog."

"You know he's a Crow?" Torph raised a brow.

"Of course I do. I'm a member of the Thieves Guild." Her smile sharpened, and her dull, glass eyes narrowed on Zevran. "I definitely can recognise a Crow."

"Even when she can't see..." Torph grumbled. "Fucking scary..."

Zevran raised his hands. "A former Crow."

"Tell that to the little Crows scurrying about our streets," Alyndra huffed, but shook her head. "Not that I'm here for that, as I said before, Faren and Lord Cousland are with us."

"Did you have to fight off their captors?" Alistair asked.

"No, we know one of them, and he handed Faren and Lord Cousland over." Alyndra's head turned towards Lawrien. "His name is Damion Amell."

"Damion?" Lawrien tilted his head.

Alyndra chuckled. "I'm not surprised you don't remember him. He is your uncle. He was also once of the Thieves Guild, but unfortunately had been accused of smuggling back in his old haunts."

Lawrien grimaced. "Kirkwall."

"Exactly!" Alyndra grinned sharply. "He helped with the downfall of the Amell line, but he is trying to fix it now, but thankfully he still has loyalty to his good old friends and handed the kid and his friend over without a fuss." She spun on her heel. "Now! I can take you to Faren and the little Lord."

"What happened to Uncle Damion?" Lawrien asked.

"Why?" Alyndra's voice dark amusement. "Do you want him dead?"

"As long as he didn't hurt Faren, Cobian or Calenhad, then we're good," Lawrien said. "But I want to ask about mother."

Alyndra hummed. "I'll ask and see if he wants to meet with you then. That would be quite the interesting topic." Alyndra chuckled. "Very interesting indeed."

Epona grimaced and leaned closer to Lawrien. "She is rather unsettling..." she whispered.

Lawrien shrugged. "She's acting. This is her as a thief."

Epona paused. "This is all an act?"

"Pretty much."

Alyndra laughed. "Of course an Amell would realise that." She waved her cane and began walking. "You Amells have always been fun!"

Epona startled. She had been whispering, yet Alyndra heard all that? Jeez, Torph was right, Alyndra was terrifying indeed.

.:.

"Thanks for helping us out, Uncle Kerth," Faren said.

They were in the sewers, waiting for Aunt Alyndra to bring the others in. Cobian and throwing a stick for Calenhad along the pathway, while Faren sat on the wooden barricades the Thieves Guild had made. Uncle Kerth sat in the shadows of the tunnel, keeping himself out of sight as always.

"I'm always happy to help, especially when a Cousland offers to pay for drinks afterwards."

Faren laughed. "You own a tavern."

Uncle Kerth grinned. "I will still never say no to free drinks, Faren."

"Sounds about right." Faren smiled, then paused when he saw Aunt Alyndra emerged from the tunnels, while Lawrien walked beside her, holding a hand full of flames, lightning the way. The others crowded in behind them, all warily trekking through the sewers. Faren couldn't help but smile.

They really all came.

Calenhad barked happily and rushed over, sitting at Lawrien's feet.

"Good job, Calenhad!" Lawrien beamed, patting him. "You went on ahead and sorted out their kidnappers, didn't you?"

Epona sighed. "He shouldn't have gone off alone." Her eyes landed on Faren and Cobian. "It is good to see you're both okay, da'len, noble. I feared we'd have to fight the city guard to get you both back."

"Thankfully not," Aunt Alyndra huffed. "That would be a pain."

"It would have been interesting to see if we would have been taken to Fort Drakon or straight to my uncle, but I will admit I'm relieved we were stopped here," Cobian said.

"Yeah, who knows what Loghain would have done," Alistair said, his brow furrowing. "You might trust him, Cobian, but there is no way I ever would."

"That is fair enough." Cobian nodded. "Besides, I feel as though he would have just thrown me in prison regardless since I'm on the Grey Wardens side. He doesn't think this is a true Blight, not when he hasn't seen the Archdemon. He is still more worried about Orlais."

"Orlais hasn't even been involved." Alistair shook his head.

Cobian sighed. "War can do a lot of damage to mental health," he said mournfully. "And if he has had any reason to believe Orlais is involved, even so much as sniffing out a spy from there, then he will lock fully into that idea. That is why we have to focus on ending the Blight, while we get Arl Eamon focused on ending the bounties on us and uniting Ferelden again."

"And for that you need the Urn of Sacred Ashes..." Uncle Kerth said, startling most of them.

He still looked a bit too tempted when he spoke, his eyes a little starry, and Faren could see the urge to go look for it now in him. He maybe wearing his hood low over his head, but Faren was at the right angle to see him still.

In fact, only Faren and their fellow thieves were able to really see Uncle Kerth's face right now, even if they had to crane their necks at the right angle to do so.

Faren raised a brow.

"I know." He laughed uneasily, holding up his hands. "But it is a lot of money, Faren. How much gold-"

"No."

Ciara chuckled. "The Thieves Guild now knows it might exist?"

"Unfortunately," Faren sighed heavily.

"You say unfortunately," Uncle Kerth chuckled. "I say by the money."

"Um, do you mean 'by the Maker'?" Leliana asked, her brow furrowed.

"You worship your thing, I worship mine."

"Are you heading back out now, Faren?" Aunt Alyndra asked. "Or will you be spending some time in Denerim?"

Faren titled his head at the others. Lawrien shrugged.

"I think a few of us have business in Denerim." Cobian eyed Alistair, who nodded. "And we could start handling our affairs with Brother Genitivi."

"I have cloaks you can use to hide yourselves, Grey Wardens," Uncle Kerth said. "And the boss' wife can led you out of the tunnels and into Denerim."

Lawrien looked confused at that, and probably went to ask, but Ciara was quick to stop her. Uncle Kerth didn't know everyone in their travelling group after all, and he would be wary revealing his identity properly.

"I'll come by again later," Faren whispered to him.

Uncle Kerth smiled and nodded, his voice low too. "I'll hold you to that, kiddo."

They each took a cloak and followed Aunt Alyndra. She remained rather quiet, while Leliana leaned over to whisper to Faren.

"Was that the Ghost?" Leliana asked, excited.

Aunt Alyndra snorted. "He wishes."

"That's one of his cover agents," Faren explained. "The Ghost tends to hide their identity very well-"

"We know the Ghost is your uncle," Leliana said. "So we know he's a man at the very least."

"True enough, but again, he hides his identity a lot. There have even been female decoys," Faren said. "The guy back there enjoys pretending to be the Ghost, but he is one of many decoys we've had over the years."

"So if any rumours get confirmed about the Ghost being a male..." Aunt Alyndra trailed off, stopping in her tracks to face them, a sweet smile plastered on her face. "Just know that the Thieves Guild has tracked down each of your locations, past and present, and will hunt you down, and kill you if you reveal anything to outsiders."

Lawrien blinked. "Past and present?"

"Because that ain't creepy," Torph grumbled.

"I know where you have all lived and live currently, discarding the Blight and your travels of course," Aunt Alyndra said. "And the only one who intimidates me is Flemeth. The likes of Marjolaine doesn't make me bat an eye."

Leliana froze mid step.

Aunt Alyndra instantly focused on her. "Yes, bard. I know who you are. The day you saved Adaia from imprisonment by that damnable Hard Line company was the day I knew you existed. I know everything about you. Then there is you, Karasaad." She looked towards Sten, who stiffened.

"How did you know that?" Sten growled lowly.

Zevran grimaced. "The Thieves Guild always knows a lot of things."

"Indeed we do, little crow. The Thieves Guild do not just reside in Ferelden," Aunt Alyndra said, a bite to her tone. "We're everywhere. We are like rats you see, we find your valuables, and then we leave shit behind for you to clean up afterwards. So this is my warning, do not mess with us, or we will break into your homes, and crush you into dust."

"I for one will not mess with you." Alistair put up his hands.

"Yeah, definitely not," Torph agreed.

Lawrien grinned at Faren. "They really want to protect your uncle, huh?"

Faren laughed. "They're all quite protective over each other to be honest. The Thieves Guild tends to stick together through thick and thin. Probably all the money it generates. It makes things a lot easier in the long run."

"We have multiple businesses running in all countries, and yes, Karasaad, I did say all," Aunt Alyndra insisted, walking ahead of them again. "And feel free to try drag them out. Smarter men and women than you have tried."

Faren sped up to her side. "Do you really know everything about everyone here?" he whispered.

Aunt Alyndra smirked at him. "Faren, they are your travelling companions, of course we studied each and every one of them, especially the crow."

The Thieves Guild and Antivan Crows did have a... complicated relationship... to put it lightly. They didn't like Crows interfering in their business, nor did Crows like the Guild pecking around their contracts.

"Before you leave us, there is something you should know, Faren," Aunt Alyndra said, stopping at a set of ladders.

"What's wrong?"

"The Alienage has been locked down for the past few weeks now," Aunt Alyndra said. "It might have lifted by now, I'm not sure, I haven't checked today, but please be careful if you try sneak in. The guards so far have been remarkably quiet about what's going on in there, but we have people on it."

Faren nodded. "I'll look into it too while I'm here, but I do need to avoid being noticed."

"And a lot of the guards here know you," Aunt Alyndra agreed. "Be vigilante, Faren, Denerim isn't safe for any of you Grey Wardens, but you and Lord Cousland are in the worst positions here. You two are easily recognisable because of how well known you are." She looked towards Alistair. "And you might be in the same position too. You have a high bounty after all. The highest if I remember correctly."

Alistair grimaced. "I'll keep my head down."

"A good idea." Aunt Alyndra nodded. "I would heavily advise keeping your heads down. Now when you want to leave, meet me at The Pearl. There are some idiotic mercenaries kicking a fuss and Sanga is desperate for them to leave. If I'm not there for whatever reason, then you best find Slim, Faren. He's around the main market."

"Thanks, Aunt Alyndra. We'll do our best to be quick."