Chapter Text
"Tell me, Lucky, is this worth dying for?"
The man named 'Lucky' looked terrified. He had a dagger to his throat and his two companions were on the floor, groaning in pain. The Hanged Man often had fights between patrons, but rarely did one witness three men lose to a woman.
A very beautiful woman, Dalia couldn't help but notice.
It didn't take long for Lucky and his companions to make a run for the door, nearly bumping into Dalia on the way, who was too fixated on the woman who had defeated them. Varric had to nudge Dalia in the back to get her feet to move, and Dalia nearly stumbled when the woman's eyes met hers; the woman's smile nearly made her heart stop.
Beautiful, Dalia thought, dazed, and could hardly resist the urge to smile back.
When the woman introduced herself as 'Captain Isabela' and asked for some assistance, Dalia did not hesitate to offer her help and more, if she wanted.
If Carver let out a heavy sigh behind her, Dalia chose to ignore it.
"I'm Merrill. Which you probably knew already. I'm rambling, sorry."
Dalia never got to meet a Dalish elf before. Her father had been from an alienage, and what little he could teach about them led Dalia to understand they were a nomadic group of elves, who did their best to preserve the old ways.
Think kindly of them, Malcolm once said. Dalia had been on her best behavior since she arrived at this clan's location. The elves here were wary of her, but Dalia maintained good manners nevertheless.
Dalia only faltered when she met Merrill, who was both pretty and sweet. Dalia couldn't stop smiling as they spoke, and she was quite sure Carver let out a heavy sigh at one point, though she didn't care either way. Here was Merrill, ready to escort them to the top of the mountain for a ritual and a promise, and Dalia couldn't help but feel excited.
The blood magic did little to deter her, too.
It's been three months since Dalia followed Isabela to the Chantry, killed a bunch of raiders, got covered in blood, and began a friendship. It's also been three months since Dalia brought Merrill back to the alienage with the promise to speak to her again.
Adding these two to her pretty large friend group had made Dalia a happy woman. It was difficult to befriend anyone back in Ferelden and a part of her hoped, almost desperately, that she could keep Isabela and Merrill with her for a long while.
So far, the three had enjoyed interesting adventures together, from fighting off abominations, templars and qunari. Those two had, so far, never expressed regret in following Dalia around and Dalia was glad to know she had proven to be an adequate leader.
Ever since she met Isabela and Merrill, though, Carver got into the habit of giving her looks as though he understood why Dalia enjoyed their company the most. Maybe he did, and Dalia had no shame in admitting to herself, at least, that she really liked Isabela and Merrill and saw them as both beautiful and amazing. They had proven to be reliable in a fight, too. She couldn't find any reason not to like them.
Some might argue that blood magic and a strange relic might be a deterrent, but most of her other friends had quickly discovered that Dalia wasn't an easy person to sway.
When there was something, or someone, she wanted to keep, Dalia clung to it hard.
She'd lost enough, after all.
"I hate to say it, Hawke," Varric said, grimly. "but Bartrand won't let us take more than two people on the expedition."
Varric's words struck Dalia in the chest like a dagger. She groaned and nearly threw a sovereign onto the table. The counting of her money had confirmed, at long last, that Dalia had enough to partake in the expedition. She didn't like that she had to leave a lot of people behind while she disappeared into the Deep Roads.
She didn't like the thought of leaving those two behind.
“I think,” She started, irritated. “I’ll go visit Merrill for a bit.”
Varric blinked, surprised. “You’re not going to invite Daisy, are you? We already agreed on Blondie and--”
“No, no. I’m not bringing her.” Dalia sighed. “It’s just a visit.”
Dalia winked and Varric accepted her words.
As usual, Merrill was happy to have a visitor. “Oh, it’s so nice to see you again!”
The house Merrill owned wasn’t much better than Gamlen’s, save for a potted plant. Dalia didn’t complain since it had Merrill in it.
“I came to check on you,” Dalia said.
“That’s sweet of you.” A beat. “You always do that, though.”
Dalia took a deep breath. “I won’t be able to for a while. I’ll be heading into the Deep Roads soon.”
Merrill nodded.
“I see. Anders told me about that when he visited the alienage earlier.”
"He wasn't being mean to you, was he?" Dalia respected her friends, she just wished they felt the same about each other.
"No, he was visiting my neighbor and saw me. It was kind for him to let me know." Merrill grabbed Dalia's hand. "You will be safe, won't you?"
Dalia's smile came instinctively. "I'll try. I think it will be quite hard without you to protect me."
Merrill giggled. "Oh, silly. You don't need me. You have a healer."
She's right. What Dalia really meant though, was that it would be quite hard since she couldn't protect Merrill. The thought would gnaw at her the entire journey, no doubt.
“Will you be all right?”
Merrill’s smile was bright. Dalia resisted the urge to shut her eyes. “Of course, silly. I’ll be fine.”
Well, there was no arguing with that.
The Hanged Man's patrons noticed Dalia the minute she stepped through the door, and several of them raised their glasses in salute. Dalia smiled and waved at them all.
It wasn't her intention to be so well-known, but such was the consequence of helping many people with their little problems, all for the sake of coin.
Isabela, as expected, was nursing a glass by the counter.
When she reached the pirate, Dalia gave her an exaggerated bow, "Isabela! Found any loot you would like to share?"
Isabela snorted. "You really don't plan on giving up treating me like I'm still at sea and doing some fun raiding, do you?"
Dalia hoped her grin was dazzling. "Not a chance."
It was a bit of a game between them, Dalia supposed. Isabela had lost her ship and her crew, and was pirate in name-only. Dalia was intent on making sure Isabela was still treated like the amazing pirate captain she was.
If for no other reason than to see the way Isabela's eyes gleamed with amusement.
"Is this another social call? You don't have to keep checking up on me."
Dalia's smile faltered only for a second, but Isabela still noticed.
"What? Can't there be any other reason for us to meet?" Dalia hoped she sounded convincing; Isabela's expression said otherwise.
"Given the past three months? Perhaps not." Isabela placed a warm hand on her cheek. Dalia hoped no one noticed her shudder. "You're going on the expedition soon, right? Fenris mentioned it."
Damn it. "I...yes. I won't be around for a while."
Isabela looked a bit amused. She gently brushed Dalia's cheek with her thumb, and Dalia thought her eyes seemed to be counting the freckles on her face. Then Isabela pulled away. “Are you going to bring me a trophy? Something shiny?"
“I doubt I’ll find anything worthy of you, Captain.” Dalia managed to say with a smile.
Isabela laughed.
"You're such a sweet thing. Keep yourself safe, all right? Sometimes, I feel like we should be worrying about you."
Dalia didn't think anyone needed to worry about her. She was strong, they all knew that. Still, Dalia gave Isabela another exaggerated bow and offered a promise to try to keep any darkspawn from delivering her to the Maker; she wasn't eager to see the Maker's bosom just yet.
The comment earned her a heartfelt laugh. The sound eased Dalia's worries to a degree.