Pride, Wolf and Rebellion

Confessions

Fen'Asha relaxed. It was a good feeling. She slouched, chatted with Solas, discussed the Fade, the spirits, their books and the Inquisition. She was satisfied with questions that had no answers. She was satisfied with a kiss, a smile, an embrace, a hand in a special place. Those were the solutions she needed.

The carriage rattled to a stop near the mouth of Valammar, near an Inquisition camp that'd been erected some time back. There were several tiers to Valammar and it held quite a lucrative mining operation. It also held darkspawn and Carta dwarves, both of which were more than eager to fight for their space in the thaig.

Bianca was where she said she would be, operating a door mechanism as the Inquisition approached. She pocketed the key, but not before Varric saw what she'd done.

"Shit," he muttered as he approached her.

She turned to face him, but her eyes refused to meet his.

"You're the leak?" Varric said.

Bianca sighed. "You sent me those letters after Bartrand's expedition," she said. "I..."

"You built the safe," Varric said. "I trusted you with it. With everything."

"I wanted to see for myself," she shrugged. "I was just trying to help. And then..."

Varric crossed his arms. "And then?"

"Red lyrium has the Blight," she said. "Do you know what this means?"

Varric nodded slowly. "Two deadly things combined to make something awful."

"It's alive," said Bianca. "The Blight doesn't infect minerals. It infects animals, like people or druffalo or whatever. I wanted to know what this meant. I found an expert, a mage, a Grey Warden..."

"I don't like where this is going," said Varric.

Fen'Asha listened intently.

"Larius," said Bianca. "I gave him a key to the vault."

"Larius?" Varric said, raising his voice. "Him?"

"Who is she talking about?" asked Fen'Asha.

"Larius was at the Grey Warden prison when we found Corypheus," said Varric. He began to pace. "He wasn't a mage then, either."

"So he became a mage somehow?" said Fen'Asha.

Varric shrugged.

Fen'Asha looked at Bianca, who also shrugged.

"Varric told me how the red lyrium was being used," Bianca said. "I had to make it right. I fucked up, but...we fixed it. Kind of."

"It's not that simple," said Varric. "This isn't one of your...machines."

Bianca nodded.

"You can't just replace a part and hope for the best," said Varric.

"No," said Bianca. "But I can try."

"Yeah," said Varric, waving a dismissive hand.

"It's better than doing nothing," said Bianca.

Varric glared.

"She had no way of knowing what would happen," Fen'Asha said. She stepped between Varric and Bianca.

Varric sighed. "I know," he said. "There's nothing else we can do here."

Bianca looked down.

"You better get home before someone misses you," Varric said as he turned on his heel to leave.