Find A Way

by Mazanti

Marisia Park was having a good day, until she got home and turned on the TV. She had to flee her new condo and found herself in a park. She came upon a lake. A swirling light at the bottom drew her to jump in the lake and swim to the swirl ... in a large mirror. She touched the mirror ... and ended up in Thedas ...

12. 12-Treachery and Lies

12-Treachery and Lies

The trip to Denerim was uneventful … and, truth be told Alistair was a bit bored. He was missing some special training in dealing with citizens who had too much on their minds, too much to deal with and who might cause more trouble if left alone. Like Simeon. That one turned out okay, but Simeon had known Alistair already. It would be preferable to catch troubled people before it got that out of hand.

Alistair had been looking forward to learning the signs to look for taught by a specialist from Wycome. However, Eston promised him that he'd take good notes. The Captain took a list of questions from Alistair and requested that Eston ask and fill in the answers. Still, it was not nearly as good as if he had attended and asked them himself. Knowing how he was, he just knew he'd have even more follow-up questions.

However, he was not prepared for what awaited him at the gate into Denerim.

"Prince Alistair Theirin, you are commanded to report to Her Grace, Grand Cleric Elemena, immediately upon arrival in Denerim to begin training as a Templar of the Chantry," an unfamiliar Templar said. The Templar was by himself, which was also odd. Alistair didn't recognize the voice and, of course, his face was hidden by his bucket helm.

Boredom over … except for the slight pull of his thoughts to go with the Templar. Must have been his spiritual training from the Chantry in Highever to respect whatever a Templar said to him.

Fergus rode ahead of Alistair and got off his horse. "First off, Ser Templar, his name is Alistair Laren …"

The Templar interrupted with, "He is a Prince of Ferelden and, therefore, his family name is Theirin by Chantry Law. Step out of the way. This is Chantry business." Again, Alistair felt another pull. A bit stronger.

"Take off your helm," Fergus demanded. "And, state your name."

"I do not take orders from anyone other than Knight-Commander Tavish or Her Grace Grand Cleric Elemena," the man said. "Stand aside or I shall pull my weapon."

Alistair noticed Elle calm Midnight just as a smaller man strode through the gathering crowd at the gate. "His name is Ser Sarnak, my Lord. He's so unbalanced that he is being recalled by order of Lord Seeker Lambert … so, he has the manners of a mule. He's holding up the ship taking him to Val Royeaux so he can have one last bit of jack assery." The crowd was split between laughing and ooooing. He turned toward the crowd. "Let him try to pull a weapon on Lord Fergus Cousland and see how far he gets. By the way, I've sent word to Knight-Commander Tavish if you must hear the same order from him, Templar."

Fergus folded his arms. "Shall we wait for Ser Tavish, then?"

Once he got closer, Alistair recognized the man as Warden Anton. The pull on his thoughts got even stronger. He was about to go toward the Templar, but then the pull stopped when he heard horses quickly riding up. The crowd that had spilled into the road stepped to the side. "Ser Barton, please escort Ser Sarnak to his waiting Chantry ship." Ser Tavish already had his helm off. As he waited for the protesting Templar to be dragged away by Barton and two other Templars, he just took a deep breath and turned to Fergus. "My deepest apologies, Lord Fergus." He turned to Alistair. "And, to you, Guardsman Laren."

Fergus wasn't going to be put off. "What's going on here, Ser Tavish?"

Tavish looked around. "If we could adjourn to the Chantry or to the Palace, I shall try to explain."

!¡!¡

No one saw the elf mage hiding in the shadows of the gate. Not because she was all that good at hiding, but because she was skilled in the magic of shapeshifting. At that moment, Ariannas was in the form of a raven, perched within earshot of the disagreement at the gate. Far enough away to prevent the Templars from sensing her. Something about shapeshifting also masked that she was a mage, but she remained cautious. Her work inside the Chantry kept her away from the Templars.

Her collective, the Mage Collective, was a fairly unseen force in Ferelden. They never made overt moves against anyone, preferring to spread word of activities to others in the Collective or to trusted allies. They were the perfect spies. Not assassins.

So, thanks to Flemeth's instruction in ancient magics, the Mage Collective was known only to those who had been around a long time. Their existence was considered to be idle gossip to most.

Almost twenty years ago, Flemeth had been badly injured by a storm while flying back from Antiva. She lost consciousness in the turbulence. Fortunately, she made it close to the ground before she lost her dragon form and fell. If it had not been for a healer from the Mage Collective in Highever, Flemeth may have lost her life. Since that time, Flemeth had been very generous with sharing her magic — none of it blood magic — and the Collective had been generous with keeping her informed about the happenings in Ferelden.

The Collective had just recently made an agreement with the Grey Wardens to become unseen allies who would also offer magical advice and assistance. Ariannas' job for the Collective, as a servant in the Denerim Chantry, was to keep an eye on the aging Grand Cleric Elemena. Her Grace was falling apart at an alarming rate. Most in the Collective credited her unusual behavior to age, but Ariannas felt there was more. Often she got an uneasy feeling in the Chantry, but could never put a finger on why. Surprisingly, she just got that feeling again. In any case, Elemena needed to be replaced.

The only Chantry official willing to do anything about the Grand Cleric was Revered Mother Dorothea. The Grand Cleric went on a nonsensical tirade about a month ago during a service. Dorothea faked a summons to Val Royeaux to tell Her Perfection Divine Beatrix, who was also aging and ill, but still mostly in control of her mind.

The previous evening, she overheard the Grand Cleric demanding that Alistair Laren be abducted and brought in for Templar training. The Chantry could not tolerate deserters. Ser Tavish just tried to appease Her Grace but some of the older Templars were more easily swayed to Elemena's rants and tantrums. Then, on a scouting flight to see if Dorothea was returning, she saw Prince Alistair cresting the last hill heading toward Denerim. Ariannas knew that the bastard Prince arriving in the city would be trouble, so she contacted the Wardens to intercede with the Chantry. Anton was in residence at the Warden Compound at that time and took the lead to contact Tavish. The Wardens had already had a run-in between Elemena's Templars and one of the Warden's new assistants.

That was the arrangement. The Wardens would be the vocal speaker for the Collective … if the Wardens agreed it was an issue they could get involved with … and the Collective would improve and research the formulas and experiments done by a centuries old mage they found in Soldier's Peak. The ancient mage was brilliant but time had not been kind to his rational mind. Some things showed promise, but most of his recent works seemed to have more negatives than positives.

As the Highever group and the Templars rode away into Denerim, Ariannas flew to the Alienage and home. Fortunately, she had been able to be trained by Darenis, a powerful human mage in the Collective. She never told her family any of it, though. It kept them safer. And, they were proud of her work in the Chantry.

!¡!¡

At Anton's suggestion, the group went to the Palace where he bid his farewells and returned to the Warden Compound. Alistair suggested that they include Princess Anora if she were available. And, as news traveled faster than those Eluvians Mari went through, Her Highness was already coming down the stairs as the Templars and Fergus and his party entered the doors. "Lord Fergus, I have been alerted to your altercation with that Templar at the gates." She added, "Are you all right?" as she walked up to Alistair and took his hands.

Fergus just smiled and motioned for Alistair to answer. "I'm fine, Your Highness. I believe there has been some kind of miscommunication." Alistair turned toward Ser Tavish. "The Knight-Commander was about to tell us what he believes happened."

"Very well, follow me," Anora said. "I'm having the kitchens bring up a refreshment for us in the Small Audience Chamber." She smiled at Alistair. "Some of your favorite cheeses."

Everyone laughed as Alistair said, "If there is anyone who could convince me to stay here, it would be Her Highness."

"Nonsense, Guardsman," Anora said with a straight face. "I believe it would be the cheese-master who would convince you," she said with a slight smile.

Since she had not let go of his hand, he squeezed it, and said quietly, "Thank you, Anora. I needed to laugh."

She let go then and motioned for them to enter the room. The servants had already laid out a food table. However, she turned to Ser Tavish. "Have you heard from Dorothea?"

Of course Anora already knows about what's going on, Alistair thought to himself.

"She let us know that she was detouring through Lothering. Ser Bryant is now Warden Bryant, thanks to an inopportune darkspawn attack," Tavish said.

"Oh, dear," Anora said.

"She did not go into any detail about her trip, of course," Tavish said.

"Of course," Anora said. "So, what happened just now?"

Tavish sighed. "Most of the Templars here and I have been trying to run interference as much as we can with the faithful. Her Grace gave an hour-long sermon about the fallacy of Shartan's assistance to Andraste, that he was actually the one responsible for Andraste's capture and execution. One of the faithful tried to correct her and she slapped the poor woman in front of everyone before we could usher Her Grace to her residence.

"That was the final straw for Revered Mother Dorothea. She arranged for future sermons to be handled by other Revered Mothers here. They came up with a list of duties that Her Grace had to handle, instead." He sighed again. "She found the message that you would be arriving to help with the university planning, Lord Fergus, along with other nobility in the coming days. Her Grace convinced Ser Sarnak to find out if the 'deserter' Alistair Theirin would also be coming. If not, Ser Sarnak was to go to Highever and abduct Guardsman Laren and bring him here." Tavish reached into his tabard pocket and brought out a note. "This is why. This is an exact copy, retraced by an acolyte of Curator Justine so Mother Dorothea could take the original with her to Val Royeaux. We believe the original did not come from The Divine, either. It was also fake." He handed it to Anora.

"You must take possession of the bastard," Anora read. "Orlais must bring him under the control of the Chantry. Once he is properly indoctrinated, he can be used as a pawn to retake Orlais' southern lands." Anora looked up in alarm. "It's signed by the Divine!"

Tavish shook his head. "As I said, the original was a forgery, Your Highness, and a poor one." He handed her another letter signed by the Divine. "You can see that the signatures plainly do not match. Unfortunately, in her state of mind, Her Grace did not recognize it and believes we are all lying to her when we say it is fake."

"This is intolerable, Ser Tavish!" Anora said. "You know there have been attacks on the Alienage and on elf servants here in Denerim because of Elemena's ravings. And, Alistair does not deserve such treatment at the hands of a lyrium-addled Templar on his way to his retirement in Val Royeaux." She stood straight and looked at the Templar directly. "If you do not publicly announce that Her Grace has become mentally incapacitated, the Crown shall."

Ser Tavish began to respond when Alistair interrupted, "Ser Tavish, if I may have a word with …"

"What is going on with that insane woman now?!" Cailan fairly well yelled as he walked into the small audience chamber. Maric and Loghain were on his heels, both looking bemused at Cailan's take-charge reaction. All of them looking tired and rumpled from sea travel. "I come home from a failed journey to Gwaren to find Denerim's city guard up in arms about unjustified attacks on elves and then …" he motioned to Alistair and added, "…and then Alistair is threatened at the gates!"

Alistair held up his hand to get everyone's attention. "Please, I have something to say, if I may." He looked to Anora. "I was going to say this in private, Anora, but I think I need to speak it out loud with your permission."

"We are only upset because we care for you, Alistair," Anora said.

"I know … and thank you all. I appreciate your concern, I really do … but I believe that running around doing our own ranting would solve no problems and, truly, would it be any better than what the Grand Cleric has done herself?" Alistair said. "Her Grace has been Grand Cleric here a long time and many of the faithful will follow her to the Void if she asked it, so she must have done something right along the way. I suggest that we wait until Mother Dorothea returns with her report before we do anything. Perhaps someone should suggest that Her Grace retract what she said about the elves? Publicly, somehow? An official written announcement? If not, some kind of rumor campaign to say she misspoke?" He shrugged and smiled. "That's really all I have to say."

"I begin to wonder why Maric hasn't locked you in the east tower, Alistair, to handle all of us ranting nobility," Fergus said with a grin.

"He'd just convince someone to let him out," Elle said. Midnight just sat there with his doggie grin.

"Finally, my little sister speaks!" Fergus said.

"I was painfully confused by what happened at the gate," Elle mumbled. "Honestly, Alistair, how do you stand it?"

"Oh, one of these days, I'll probably explode or something," Alistair said with a grin. "But, with Nalah Laren as a mother, there really is no other way I can be. She taught me how to handle people like … me!"

Maric finished looking at the note Anora passed to him and passed it to Tavish who was smiling at Alistair's comment. When Tavish tried to take it out of Maric's hand, Maric held on to it and looked directly into the Knight-Commander's eyes. Tavish quit smiling. "Be aware, Knight-Commander, Alistair is my son and a Prince of Ferelden. He is also a man who has chosen to do his service to Ferelden as a guardsman in one of Ferelden's busiest ports … closest to Val Royeaux. If any harm comes to him by anyone in the Chantry, Her Grace will pay the price. Grand Cleric Bronach switched sides just before I executed the Orlesian usurper or I would have thrown the Chantry out of Ferelden then. I will not hesitate to do so if one of my blood, one of friends, one of my nobles, or any of my countrymen or countrywomen — including elves and dwarves — are endangered by Orlais. Is that clear?"

Tavish nodded as Maric released the note. "Crystal clear, Your Majesty." Tavish bowed and left the room.

"Nice speech," Loghain said. "Let's see if Tavish can lock the demented woman away until we hear from this Mother Dorothea."

Anora took a deep breath. "If she does not have an actionable plan worked out, the Crown should intercede. I agree with you as far as that, Maric."

"I guess Alistair is right. The rest of us should probably take care with threats we throw out about the Chantry," Cailan said with a frustrated sigh. At Anora's look of surprise, he added, "What? I can learn."

Alistair laughed. "Yeah, I can see the King get by with threats like that …" When Loghain cleared his throat and raised an eyebrow, Alistair added, "… or, Loghain, who will likely get the blame for turning Maric against the Chantry."

"Likely," Loghain snorted.

Fergus looked around and nodded to Alistair who said, "Perhaps we could go to the family quarters?" Then, Alistair made a hand motion to Anora that said, We have more to discuss privately.

"The way today has gone, I think that's a good idea," Anora said. "Let's try to get a few moments of relaxation this evening." She turned to Cailan and hooked her arm through his. "I wasn't expecting you to be back so soon."

"Long story, short," Cailan explained as he kissed her cheek. "I just couldn't stay away from you." At her incredulous look, he amended his statement. "We hit a bank of storms and the ship captain decided we just needed to go back. He didn't want to get known as the captain responsible for the drowning of Maric, Loghain and me." He grinned at Alistair. "Then, Alistair would have to test that agreement with Eamon to keep him off the throne."

Alistair looked at his feet and sighed. "Thank the Maker that captain put his foot down."

"Be sure to go with him later when you try to sail to Gwaren again," Anora replied with a wry smile.

On the way, Anora had a servant bring a small dinner up to the family quarters. Once a table was laid out with sandwiches, cheese toast and wine, the servants left the royals to their privacy. Anora's handmaiden, Erlina, came in and added a bottle of Maric's favorite wine to the table, bowed and left.

Maric smiled and said, "I'll save that for when we're done. Sounds like I'll need it."

The family quarters held Maric's plus Anora and Cailan's suites as well as a large den with a balcony overlooking the courtyard of the Palace. The furniture was large and overstuffed and certainly comfortable, if not fashionable. There was a desk by the balcony windows and couches and chairs surrounding a blazing fireplace. An ornate strip of cloth hung next to the door to call for a servant if one was needed. Most importantly, though, there were two types of runes in the area. The entry hallway and all the windows and doors were protected with alarm runes should someone try to sneak in and listen. Also, to further thwart spies, there were silence runes scattered throughout the family quarters. To that end, most of the royals' discussions and plans were done in this wing of the Palace rather than the more formal audience chambers.

"All right, Alistair," Anora said after the meal was finished.

Alistair carefully slipped out the intercepted message from Reinhardt in Kirkwall and handed it to Maric. "Careful with it. It's pretty delicate. It's evidence from Elle's informant in the kitchen at the Vigil. He managed to save part of a message to Howe from the fire. Please don't destroy it, Your Majesty."

"Maker, he called me 'Your Majesty'," Maric said as he opened the wrapping of blank parchment and read the scorched message out loud, "'… must be careful, Howe. Our contact in Tevinter still wants Maric and he wants him alive …' more scorching 'Do not, I repeat, do not move against the Couslands yet. N is an exemplary errand boy. I may just keep him.' It's signed, Reinhardt."

"This Reinhardt is the Kirkwall noble who has Nathaniel squiring for him, right?" Cailan asked.

"Yes, Cailan," Elle explained. "I daresay Nathaniel is in danger up there." Midnight barked his agreement. She shook out her hands. "Sorry, it all has me a bit out of sorts."

Anora walked over to Elle and hugged her. "We'll find a way to contact him, Elle. In fact, …" She turned to Cailan. "Cailan, please have Captain Andren go to the docks. There is a ship there called The Siren's Call. Her Captain is Isabela. Please request … nicely … that Isabela and her passenger come to the Palace about that matter she discussed with me yesterday." Once Cailan left, Anora added, "Isabela went to speak with Sanga first who got me a message," Anora said.

"She knows about this Tevinter business?" Loghain asked.

"I don't know if she does, but her passenger may. He is Varric Tethras, the dwarf you said Nathaniel mentioned to you earlier. Varric is helping him with the Free Marches contacts," Anora said. "Isabela contacted Sanga to pass a message to us here at the Palace."

As Anora walked to the desk, presumably to retrieve the message, Cailan returned from sending a guard to tell Captain Andren. He asked, "Sanga? The Pearl's Sanga?"

"Yes, is there another here in Denerim?" Anora said with a sly smile. "Elle introduced me to her. Honestly, gentlemen, do you think we don't realize the value of gossip?" She pulled the note out from between pages of a journal. "Here it is," she said as she handed it to Maric … who handed it to Loghain.

"You get to read this one," Maric said as he went for a glass of his special wine. "Just pouring it out for now. If I throw the bottle into the fire, at least I'll have one glass left."

Loghain opened the note and read aloud: "'Your Majesty, Unable to find a source for hunin blue cheese in Val Royeaux or Cumberland. Ostwick and Antiva City are making arrangements with their sources. Please advise how to proceed.~Lord Nathaniel Howe, Squire to Lord Reinhardt' If I had to guess, I think he's telling us that he doesn't have a contact in Val Royeaux or Cumberland."

Maric said, "Fiona might agree to that, or know someone who would. I'd hate to endanger her with this, though. The Chantry can be quite vindictive as Alistair got a taste of today."

"Likely, but I doubt she has the freedom of a good spy," Loghain said. "Knowing someone would be the best route, I think. Perhaps she knows of a servant with his or her ears always open."

Alistair chuckled. "Maybe she'd be willing to share her spy with us." When everyone looked at him, he grinned. "Honestly, gentlemen, do you really think she doesn't know the value of gossip?"

"I need to meet Fiona sometime," Anora said with a smile.

"I already correspond with her," Elle said. "I'll mention you're interested in meeting her, perhaps the next time she comes to Ferelden."

"All I ask is that you both take care in your 'gossip'," Loghain said. "I, for one, couldn't trust anyone in Val Royeaux." He looked at Anora. "Maybe Erlina knows someone?"

Anora's face clouded over. "Not the kind of contact we would want, I'm sure. I just received a troubling report …." She was about to finish when a rune alarm went off at the Prince and Princess's suite door.

Cailan ran to the door and yanked it open just in time to see Erlina running out of the servant's door. "Erlina, stop immediately!" He chased her with Alistair closely behind. Even with Cailan's head start, Alistair caught up to her first. He held her while Cailan said, "Come with us."

As Alistair held tightly to the elf's arm to keep her from running away, she babbled, "I didn't know there was a rune there. It must be new. I was only going to check on Her Majes … Her Highness! You've no need to treat me like this! Her Highness will be very displeased! Let me go! I have duties to attend!"

Once back in the family room, Alistair pushed her into the room, closed the door to the suite and stood in front of it. Fergus went to stand in front of the main door to the hallway while Elle and Midnight stood in front of Maric's suite.

"Anora, go on," Maric said.

"I've gotten a troubling report about a letter Erlina sent to someone named Briala in Val Royeaux. The messenger she gave it to was killed by a runaway wagon outside the gates. The guard looked through the messages and came across Erlina's message. He thought it odd that a member of the royal household would be unofficially corresponding with someone in Val Royeaux. There is a rumor that this Briala is a lover of Celene's," Anora said, her face hard and flush. "Why, Erlina?"

The elven maid looked around the room. Alistair noticed her eyes pause at the wine bottle Maric had just opened and again at the glass of wine Maric was reaching for. "Don't drink that, Your Majesty!" Alistair yelled.

He stopped and looked at Alistair like he'd lost his mind. "Why?"

"Because she looked at it," Alistair explained. He reached for the glass of wine and said, "May I?" When Maric nodded, Alistair picked it up and sniffed it. His face grew hard. He walked up to the defiant face of Erlina. "You put the bottle out too soon. It's not undetectable yet. I've recently had instruction in poisons, Erlina." He held up the glass to her. "Drink it."

"What?! I … I can … cannot! It wouldn't … it wouldn't be proper!" she said as she ran toward the door again.

Cailan grabbed her this time. "I should make you drink it, maid, and choke on it, but we have laws in Ferelden. Fergus, bring in the guards from the main hallway, please." Once Fergus was on his way, Cailan got close to her. "We will detain you until we can investigate your belongings."

Anora headed out of the room. "I'm going to do that right now. Father?"

"Right behind you, Anora," he said.

Alistair poured the wine into an empty bowl from dinner and then he sprinkled a few bits of crumbled cheese over it. It fizzed. He turned to Erlina. "Noble Killer poison that the dwarves are so fond of." He smiled evilly at her as Fergus and the guards returned. "You see, everyone thinks that it becomes clear in water and otherwise undetectable after a time in any other liquid. But, cheese can save you. The cream in the cheese reacts to the rashvine potion mixed in with the other ingredients of the poison. Especially, the Denerim Rindless that Maric, Cailan and I are so fond of."

"You're lying!" the elf screamed and tried to reach for the bottle of wine. Alistair stopped her and handed her off to the guards.

"Put her in the windowless cell with two guards on her at all times. Once we have evidence, we'll hold a trial and notify Her Radiance, who will, no doubt, say she's never heard of an elf servant named Erlina," Maric said. "Tell Cauthrien to be sure to search her well. Take away all her clothes and give her common clothes."

"Right away, Your Majesty," one of the guards said.

"And, have someone take all this away and burn it," Cailan said. "It would be spoiled by the time of trial."

"We'll notify the seneschal on the way out, Your Highness," the other guard said.

"No need," a middle-aged man with salt and pepper hair who was impeccably dressed said. "Give us a few minutes to clear this away and replace it with cookies and some new wine."

"Thank you, Andras," Maric said.

As the servants hustled in to clear away the food that was there, Andras said with a small smile, "Quite the welcome back, Your Majesty. I'll be sure to add some Denerim Rindless to the rest." He looked curiously as Alistair laughed and the rest smiled.

"Sorry, Andras, I just explained how Denerim Rindless can alert you to the presence of the Noble Killer poison that is used by some dwarves," Alistair said. "I think I shall eat some with every meal."

"Indeed?" Andras said. "I shall pass that word around the staff immediately, Your Highness. Perhaps a letter to Orzammar would be advised." He bowed. "If you will excuse me."

"I found that out from Duncan's new … eh, by now it's probably Warden Dugan, so they know. At least some of them do. I doubt they've announced it via thaig crier," Alistair said. He noticed Cailan and Fergus giving Maric concerned looks. When Alistair looked at his father, he saw a man with his head in his hands.

"Howe is working with a Kirkwaller to get me to Tevinter … for some reason only the Maker knows," Maric mumbled. He sat back on the couch, looked up and sighed, "I suppose Bryce will be grateful for the reprieve from the attack on Highever."

"Actually, Highever has a plan for that, Maric," Fergus said. "So, my father will likely be a bit closer to additionally angry about having to deal with the damn Tevinter mages as well as Orlais … again."

"I was joking, Fergus. I am angry about that elf ruining a good bottle of my favorite wine!" He smiled as the room looked relieved he wasn't going all moody. "I'm just feeling sorry for myself. I apologize. It's a Theirin thing," Maric said as the servants brought in trays of cookies and small cakes and juices … along with new bottles of wine. Each bottle had a small bowl by it with shreds of cheese floating on top. No fizzing.

It made Alistair laugh. "Wine and cheese! I've started a trend!"

Cailan smiled. "Looks like one Theirin escaped the 'thing', Father."

Maric smiled fondly at Alistair. "Actually, I think he may be the cure. I normally would have been curled up in my bed by now."

"I've created a 'trend' and I'm a 'cure'! Who knew?" Alistair said, never one to let humility overcome humor. It worked for him so far.

Before he could say more, a gorgeous, voluptuous dark-haired woman and a dwarf walked into the room. A Royal Guard followed carrying a fancy crossbow of some kind. "Your Majesty, Princess Anora asked us to request the presence of Captain Isabela from Rivain and Master Varric Tethras from Kirkwall. Shall I take them to her or …?"

Maric stood. "That's all right, Dansk, we'll take it from here. Carry on. Oh! Have Andras bring up more cookies, cheese and wine." He turned to the new guests. "Captain Isabela and Master Tethras, welcome to our home." He motioned to the table of goodies and drinks, "Please help yourselves to refreshment. Anora should be back soon. We can speak in the meantime about other things."

Varric motioned to the guard. "Take care of Bianca. If there's one scratch on her, there will be consequences."

Cailan walked over and took the crossbow from Dansk. "I'll just put Bianca over here out of the way, Varric. Don't worry about it, Dansk."

The guard didn't look happy about the arrangement, but nodded, "As you wish, Your Highness. I'll get word to the seneschal and be stationed just outside the main hallway door."

Varric went over to the table and poured two glasses of wine, one for him and one for Isabela. "Anyone else need a refill?" he asked. "And, uh, what the hell is in the bowl with little white flecks floating on top?"

Maric laughed. "We just found out that cheese fizzes in the presence of Noble Killer poison. Did you know that?"

Varric laughed, heartily. "Hah, no I did not, but definitely a good thing to know for the next Merchants Guild meeting I'm forced to attend."

However, the laughter was quickly squashed when Anora appeared in the door with Loghain behind her. Both looked unhappy, but Anora looked around the room and spotted Varric. "Master Tethras, Captain Isabela, I am pleased you were able to have a moment of levity before we returned. A great many serious things have happened in a very short time."

Varric bowed. "Your Highness, just let us know if we can help in any way."

Isabela smiled and bowed, adding, "What he said."

Anora nodded to Varric and turned to Isabela. "Captain, you delivered a message from Nathaniel. To answer that quickly, we know someone trustworthy in Cumberland who may have a suggestion. As for Val Royeaux, we just learned that my own handmaiden, an Orlesian elf, is a spy from Empress Celene." Anora then spread a number of things on the table in the center of the furniture. "We found these items in her quarters."

As Anora put down a plain yellow box, tied with a red ribbon, Isabela reached toward it and said, "May I look inside, Your Highness?"

"Of course, I don't mean to presume, but I was hoping that you and Master Tethras might have knowledge of such things that a spy may use … since you have become such trusted friends of Nathaniel," Anora said. She handed another brown box to Varric. "Is this Noble Killer poison?"

Varric was looking at a ceramic bottle when Anora asked the question. "Um, I'll look at it, Your Highness." He pointed to the bottle. "But, that is probably the NK." He took the box from Anora and opened it. All he said was, "Shit." When no one said anything, he said, "I'm fairly certain this is a bad, bad poison. You give it to someone over a period of months. Their health will slowly go downhill until they die."

"Rowan," Maric whispered.

"That was my first thought," Loghain said. He looked at Varric. "It causes a wasting sickness?"

"Yeah," Varric said. "Good news is that it looks untouched … at least, this box of it is."

"Damn," Alistair said. "My guess is that if Maric wasn't killed by the NK, Erlina was going to find a way to use that on him." He looked around. "The little bitch did misspeak Anora's title as she was trying to get away. She said, 'I was only going to check on Her Majes…Her Highness'. Like she'd been practicing the change." He shrugged and frowned. "That could be paranoid conjecture, but that does seem to be the theme for today."

Isabela looked around at all the men, giving a small smile to Elle. Alistair couldn't tell but this confident woman seemed just a little embarrassed when Anora looked to her for her report. "Um, Your Highness, this is a blend of herbs that the ladies at the Pearl use to … uh … prevent babies. You haven't had any … erm … female issues with pregnancy, have you?"

Both Cailan's and Anora's eyes grew wide, before Anora threw down the rest of the stuff in her hands. "Damn her!"

Cailan took Anora in his arms and asked, "It doesn't have any permanent affects, does it?"

"I don't think so," Isabela said. "I mean all the ladies use it … and some of them go on to have children later."

"Some!?" Anora asked.

"I believe what Isabela is saying is that some ladies get married later. Some just continue in the profession as long as they can," Varric explained. "If you don't mind me asking … and you absolutely do not need to answer … but how do you think this elf might have given it to you, Your Highness?"

"How would she use it?" Cailan asked.

"I believe you put it with hot water to steep out … like hot tea," Isabela replied.

Anora sat down. "My morning tea. She was poisoning my morning tea," she said quietly.

Cailan sat next to her and held his wife while Maric said with an evil grin, "Then, we have her. There is an old law in Ferelden. Any attempt to thwart Theirin succession is punishable by death. Oh, you can kill the King once he has an heir, but absolutely cannot stand in the way of having a Theirin heir. We have Kendells, Fergus as proxy for Bryce, Franderel, Loghain and Bryland in Denerim right now. We can get enough of the rest in a few days so the bitch will hang by the end of the week. Legally. I'll go speak with Hahren Valendrian about it myself to avoid misunderstandings in the Alienage."

"If Orlais doesn't already have an assassin here to kill her for us," Loghain said. "I'll go with you to the Alienage. In the meantime, I'll go make sure …" Loghain started to say as he turned to the door.

"No, Father, please," Anora said, anger firmly in place. "If Orlais executes her for us, let them. They sent her. There will be enough of the nobility in town tomorrow for my university council meeting. The execution can happen in two days, regardless." She turned to Fergus. "Please plan to arrive a bit early tomorrow so we can adjust the agenda."

"Of course, Your Highness," Fergus said. He added, "Alistair and I will be at Highever House if you need anything before then. Captain Isabela, Varric, could you stay in Denerim for a few more days?"

"Good idea, Fergus," Cailan said. "We may need you to tell the Landsmeet what you told us."

Varric looked at Isabela who nodded. "Actually, I was thinking I might stay here for a while … maybe travel with Prince Alistair … if that's okay."

"If I could get a name of that someone in Cumberland, I should probably head there immediately before getting back to Nathaniel," Isabela said.

"Just tell Nate that a good contact in Val Royeaux is going to take more time," Maric said.

"Wait," Elle said, "Alistair, please show them the half-burned note, please."

"Right," Alistair said. "There's something else you should know about before going to Cumberland first." He took the burned note that Maric handed him.

Varric read it while Isabela looked over his shoulder. "Shit! Forget Cumberland for now. Copy this down and get it to Nate. He needs to play it very carefully. I have a rock solid contact in Tevinter, Your Majesty. I can get word to her, but it might take a while. I'll write out a coded message for my bird guy in Kirkwall. Isabela can take it to him." He took a deep breath. "There's something else you need to know, too. Isabela?"

"Our contact in Antiva City is the madam of The Best Brothel," she said.

Fergus said, "That's its real name, too."

Isabela laughed. "Yeah. Anyway, she says that she knows Rendon Howe. Said he used to slip away from his family from time to time to come up and spend time with her." Isabela sighed. "She said that Rendon was an Orlesian sympathizer from way back. Even during the rebellion. Rendon's dad made Rendon fight for Maric. He wanted Rendon to die in battle … or be elevated to Teyrn of Highever if Maric somehow won."

Alistair walked around behind Maric and started to rub his birth father's shoulders. "Cure, remember?"

Maric patted Alistair's hands. "Thank you, son, but that's nothing I didn't already know about. We had an informant in Ostwick who told me about Rendon and his father. Rowan wanted to castrate Rendon, but we decided to just let him go with a 'private discussion'. He had too many supporters who think he's the most adamant believer in Ferelden that there is. At the time, we didn't have the political support to just execute him. We still don't."

"That must have been Gymon Pruesse's father. He's the bartender at the Ostwick dock tavern, Drunken Fish and Smelly Pirates," Varric said as he opened his jacket and pulled out a note and read it. "'Howe and Reinhardt are two of the stupidest connivers in Thedas, but they think they got the drop on everyone else. My Dad was a Pack Runner and knew Maric personally. If there's anything you need from me, I'm happy to take up the cause once again.'"

"Nice to know we still have friends we can count on," Loghain said quietly.

"It looks like Nate has a good start," Maric said. "Yes, please let him know about that note from Reinhardt as quickly as you can get there, Isabela." He smiled at the dwarf. "We'll take good care of Varric."

"Hah, he wants to travel around with me, Maric," Alistair said. "I wouldn't make promises." He quickly got serious. "The real question is: how do we handle Rendon?"

Elle got up from sitting next to Midnight on the floor. "Send the NK vial to that spy at the Vigil and tell him how to use it?"

Everyone looked to Anora to be horrified. "Why are you looking at me that way?" she asked. "I'm inclined to do that as well … at the moment. Give us some time to think about it. He must answer for that implied threat to Highever, but I'm uncertain if traditional laws should be applied here. He has too many sycophants in Amaranthine. We may need to be creative." She smiled. "This will not stand. Trust me."

Cailan stood. "For now, enough insurmountable problems and irritants. Anora and I are going to have dessert brought up to our room and spend the evening with just the two of us." He looked at her. "If that's all right, my heart."

"I think that is very all right, beloved," she replied.

After making a copy of the half-burned note from Vigil's Keep, Isabela went back to her ship, planning to set sail first thing in the morning. After getting Varric's things off The Siren's Call, Varric, Fergus, Elle, Midnight and Alistair went to Highever House.

At dinner, Elle asked if Alistair had heard from Mari.

"No, but after hearing that they were headed on to Lothering, I didn't think a response to that letter I sent to Mari would be soon. I sent it via Revered Mother Dorothea's carriage driver." Alistair shrugged and pulled off a hunk of bread. "Maybe they do things differently on her world and I'm just clueless."

Varric did not miss it. "Wait a minute … on her world? Did she fall from the sky or something?"

Elle laughed and proceeded to tell Varric about Mari, ending with, "And, she gave Alistair the right answer to help him make up his mind about staying in Highever."

"Actually," Alistair explained, "she didn't tell me anything, didn't suggest I make one or another decision … and that was just what I needed to realize I could do my life as I wanted."

"Sounds like a great gal," Varric said. "Don't give up."

Alistair smiled. "She is … my mother and father love her, the Teyrna and Teyrn love her. Elle loves her. Fergus hasn't met her yet, but he'll love her, too. I'm sure. Maric and Cailan like her. Even Loghain! I'm sure Anora will, too, once they have time to get to know each other."

Varric drew his eyebrows together. "So, your mother and father? I thought King Maric was your father."

"He's my birth father," Alistair explained. "But Gilsen and Nalah Laren raised me. From the start, I've insisted that they are my mother and father."

"So, that's why you call, Maric … Maric," Varric said. "I'm surprised he isn't upset about that." Then, Varric waved his hand to interrupt his own thought. "Nevermind me. I can get too nosy, sometimes."

"It's okay, Varric," Alistair said. "Both Maric and Fiona, my birth mother, have had to get used to it." Over the end of dinner and throughout dessert, Alistair explained the Warden expedition where he was conceived and the highpoints of his upbringing and decisions that got him to sitting at a dinner table with Varric.

Elle gave Alistair a wry smile. "Did you just tell your deepest secrets to a storyteller?"

"Maker," Alistair groaned as he dropped his head in his hands.

Everyone laughed, but Varric said, "Don't worry. I'll pass any ideas for stories past you before I tell them." He waggled his eyebrows. "But, you have just given me enough for several good tales … just so you know."

"I doubt you'd be telling anyone anything new, Varric," Fergus said. "Everyone seems to know it all already." He shook his head. "I don't recall so many spies in Ferelden before I got married to Oriana. Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention before."

"Obviously, since most of my information to you, dear brother, came from my spies," Elle replied.

Fergus smiled at Elle. "That's true, but you recall it took a while for me to believe you were so accurate." Then, he added, "Maybe I should ask Oriana's father to put me in touch with the Crows to hand out a little intimidation of my own."

"The Crows!" Alistair said. Then, he said quietly, "If your Antivan in-laws do have some contacts with the Crows, they would be perfect to spy on Rendon Howe. No one here knows all the Crows. Maybe they could bring in someone even Ignacio doesn't know? Or, at least, someone good enough to avoid Ignacio?" He turned to Varric. "Ignacio is our Denerim Crow." Then, he continued, "A Crow might be able to intercept or exchange a message before it gets half-burned." He shrugged. "I really have no idea how that sort of thing works. Just throwing out an idea."

"Let me think about it," Fergus said. "I'll mention it to Anora tomorrow and see what she thinks."

"Might be a way to get rid of him without anyone knowing," Varric said quietly. "Just saying. Sometimes the good guys gotta wear the black mask. And, older men do die from natural causes."

Alistair sighed. "I just don't like the assassination part. Spying, yeah. We need to gather evidence." He sat back in his chair. "I can't get the comment Lord Nathaniel said that his father mentioned a blood mage being in the Vigil. Instead of the Arl's children being influenced, maybe it's him? I mean that's why we have laws here. They work when we let them."

Varric looked toward Fergus who laughed. "Yeah, he's an honest-to-the-Maker idealist."

!¡!¡

AN: Thanks to Judy and Kanta 48 for your reviews! Judy always bolsters my confidence and Kanta, I hope you … and everyone … had a terrific Thanksgiving, if in the US. Otherwise, I hope you had a wonderful week! Next time, Lothering … and the Hawke family!