The four of them, Aurora, Sparrow, Rilien, with the addition of Pike, entered the city and headed toward Darktown. It was a path she travelled more often than not, so she was becoming numb to the stark changes as the environment began to melt away from Lowtown to the slums. However, Darktown was a general location, and a rather large place to be searching for a single individual, especially if they were a mage. Aurora had decided that they should try and find Evelina first. If she had evaded the Templars, then there was no way she could be that easy to find. Though rarely did she expect anything of a similar manner to be easy.
"What's the plan when we find her?" Pike asked. He lagged behind the trio as they walked, specifically behind Aurora. Turning back to look at him, Aurora answered, "We will do what we can for her, so long as she doesn't bother the Templars any longer," She caught the wince on his face, but she clarified, "If they know she's here, then they'll keep searching for her. She can only avoid them for so long before they find her, so we have to find her first." Aurora didn't exactly know what they could do for her, but they'd still have to find her first.
Toward that end, she turned to Rilien. "Did they tell you anything besides that she might be in Darktown? There's a lot of people there, and not all of them want to be found either."
"And that is why they asked me to do this, and not someone else.â Rilien had extensive informational networks scattered throughout Kirkwall, contacts from all walks of life that he could lean on when necessary. The abundant coin that his shop brought in smoothed many of these relationships over, and as a result, any number of his birds were happy to sing what they knew. Down here, heâd be best off inquiring of Tomwise, but fortunately, he knew something of Evelina from his own years living down here, and as such, it likely would not be necessary.
"Evelina is a former Fereldan refugee. She spent the early part of her years here taking in various orphaned or homeless children and caring for them, until begging proved insufficient, at which point she went to the Circle, in an attempt to secure them resources by turning herself in as their primary guardian. That is not, however, how such things work. She broke out of the Circle several weeks ago and destroyed her phylactery. But I do not believe she would have gone to ground without checking on those children she considered her responsibility, so if anyone knows where she went, it would be them.â It should not be too difficult to figure out which were hersâpeople tended to know things like that down here. And of course, he was still in possession of the coin required to loosen tongues, if that became the issue.
Strange how he knew so much about people, when she, another inhabitant of Darktown, hardly knew anything at all. Not that she really cared to, honestly. She believed two breeds of people existed in the musty underbelly of Kirkwall. Those whose eyes discerned weaknesses, raking across exposed purses, throats, and bangles, to survive and scrape and live. And those who'd already given up. Hunched in darker corners, settling into the shadows. Anyone else unfortunate enough to call this home were just that: in temporary hiding. Over the years, Sparrow had become a reckless creature of light shoving past everyone, while Rilien became something more of a spider weaving its web across Kirkwall in its entirety. Strange how she'd never noticed before.
She licked her lips and walked beside Rilien, hardly looking where she was going. Weaving down these dirty streets came naturally to her. Instead, she listened. Whoever this woman was, she was good in ways that were all too uncommon. Her crime? Freedom. The Circle left a sour taste in her mouth, even if she'd never experienced life in any tower, in any constraint beyond what the Qunari had taught her. It had taken from Rilien, from many of the other mages, and threatened the very same freedoms she'd sought for so long. Templars, too, for that matter. She had no love for them. âAlright then, lead on,â she said with a flourish of her hand, indicating one of the many paths. There were many children scuttling around, and her means of questioning often involved near-throttling them to a stop and roaring in their faces. Softness did not her needs.
Like Pike, all she thought of was what they'd do when they found her.
Darktown, perhaps of all the places in Kirkwall, changed the least with time. The poorest were always the poorest, and it wasnât as though any of them had the ability to bring any cheer or basic cleanliness to the dirty, half-underground cesspool that was the bottom rung of the city. Rilien, having lived here for three years himself, still knew it quite well, and as such, it wasnât terribly difficult to navigate to a section of the place where youths were known to gather, mostly to keep each othersâ company while their parentsâshould they have anyâattempted to beg or steal work or coin elsewhere.
The particular corridor he led them down was only sparsely occupied at this time of day, but there were two children sitting against the wall, apparently occupied with a game of some sort involving an ill-carved wooden top and some sticks. One of the boys appeared to be considerably older than the others, perhaps twelve, while the younger looked about seven, though given his malnourishment, he might well have been considerably older and merely stunted in growth. It wasnât extremely uncommon in these parts.
Rilien in fact recognized the elder of the twoâheâd paid him a few times to run errands for his old shop, back when he had been based a few blocks over. "The elder is named Walter. I do not know if he is one of Evelinaâs adopted, but even if he is not, he is likely to know someone who is.â He was a reasonably intelligent child, as Rilien recalled, and down here, knowing who was whom was a valuable skill.
Sparrow crossed her arms over her chest and stared down at the children, squinting her eyes, trying to place faces and names together. It conjured no familiarity, and probably scared them, but they weren't here to make friends. Had she been born in different circumstances, she might of pitied them as Aurora did. As far as she was concerned, they were as free as she had been at their age. Perhaps, even more so. She glanced towards Rilien, then shifted over to let Aurora through.
Aurora frowned with one arm over her chest and the hand of the other on her chin. She felt sorry for these children, they had nothing. She may have been taken from her parents, but she was never without food or shelter. Looking at her companions Aurora shrugged and took the first steps toward them. Out of all of them, she perhaps had the required demeanor to speak with children. Rilien was, well, Rilien, and both Sparrow and Pike were not the most delicate of creatures. She approached the children and they both stood, the younger one running to hide behind the older-- Walter, as Rilien told her.
"We got nothing here you want, leave us alone," The boy said defensively shielding the younger one. Aurora frowned and seemed a bit hurt, but quickly smiled and shot a glance at Rilien. Walter followed her gaze to the tranquil and upon seeing him seemed to relax a little. "Rilien?" He asked. Rilien inclined his head slightly in answer.
"We mean you no harm, we just want to talk," Aurora said, dropping into a crouch to be at the same level as the children. "We just want to know where Evelina is, do you know her?"
"Evelina, she..." Walter began, though he seemed unsure if he should go any further. Aurora smiled warmly and tilted her head to the side. "We just want to help her, that's it."
"She shared everything with us. She found us when the darkspawn came, when our parents died. She made sure we got to Kirkwall safely... But when she went to join the Circle, they called her an apostate, for leaving the tower in Ferelden. They locked her up..." Walter said.
"Typical," Pike said, rolling his eyes. Aurora shot him a glance, of which he shook his head at. "Why didn't she stay here, with you?" he added.
"She didn't want us to be stuck in Darktown, she wanted to give us a real life. She thought the Circle would help her, but they just locked her up!"
Pike said nothing else, but he visibly grimaced and crossed his arms, clearly unimpressed with the actions of the Circle, and Aurora couldn't help but feel the same way. She sighed and nodded, asking another question. "Can you tell us where she went? You can trust us, we'll try our very best to help her in any way we can."
"No one can help her," Walter said, but the boy hiding behind him stepped forward and began speaking instead, "The Templars made Evelina angry. The made her change. It wasn't her fault, when it was over she was ashamed she ran into the tunnels and hid," Before he could continue, Walter pushed him. "Shut up Cricket! Don't tell them that!"
Aurora dropped her head for a moment, before shaking it and looking at Rilien, then Sparrow. "You can't go there, she'll know we told you and she'll get angry!"
"Angry? I don't like it when she's angry! We have to hide!" Cricket said in a panic before he bolted. "Cricket!" Walter called, following close behind.
"Changed.â It didnât take a genius to figure out what the children meant by that, especially since it had been brought on by Templars. Rilienâs expression didnât shift, nor did his posture alter much, but he knew exactly what would become of this situation now. There was no going back from being an abominationâone case very obviously excepted. "We should find her, before she causes any more damage.â
Abominations. Sparrow swallowed thickly and rocked back on her heels, watching the children scamper away. It was a possibility she hadn't wanted to considerâever again, really. How many times had they faced things like this? Grim reminders that they were made up of tender things, swaying on the brink of something dark and irreplaceable. Knowing what they were going to face didn't make it any easier, and as her eyes raked away from tiny footpads rounding the bend, back towards Pike, she knew this would be made more difficult with his being here. She swept her fingers through her tousled hair and rolled her eyes up. Fairness played no part in this, anymore.
As much as she wanted to walk away from this thing altogether because of what she'd been to those children... there were no options. She looked down at Aurora and shook her head mutely. She didn't like this either, but she'd killed enough abominations to recognize futility, and wasted efforts only made things harder. âMaybe it'd be best... you know, if,â she mused and cleared her throat, âwe dealt with this instead.â The only other option one had was to close their eyes, and if Pike wanted no part in this, she wouldn't blame him. Her hands, however, no longer shook.
"Better us than the Templars who started this," Pike said, spitting to his side. "Dammit," he then cursed under his breath. Aurora turned toward him and nodded in agreement. She had said that they would help her in any way that they could but now... It was the only way they could help her. She shouldn't be left to suffer like that and hurting others. No one would want that.
"Come on, let's do it quick..." Aurora said, standing and making her way toward the sewers.
"What's the plan when we find her?" Pike asked. He lagged behind the trio as they walked, specifically behind Aurora. Turning back to look at him, Aurora answered, "We will do what we can for her, so long as she doesn't bother the Templars any longer," She caught the wince on his face, but she clarified, "If they know she's here, then they'll keep searching for her. She can only avoid them for so long before they find her, so we have to find her first." Aurora didn't exactly know what they could do for her, but they'd still have to find her first.
Toward that end, she turned to Rilien. "Did they tell you anything besides that she might be in Darktown? There's a lot of people there, and not all of them want to be found either."
"And that is why they asked me to do this, and not someone else.â Rilien had extensive informational networks scattered throughout Kirkwall, contacts from all walks of life that he could lean on when necessary. The abundant coin that his shop brought in smoothed many of these relationships over, and as a result, any number of his birds were happy to sing what they knew. Down here, heâd be best off inquiring of Tomwise, but fortunately, he knew something of Evelina from his own years living down here, and as such, it likely would not be necessary.
"Evelina is a former Fereldan refugee. She spent the early part of her years here taking in various orphaned or homeless children and caring for them, until begging proved insufficient, at which point she went to the Circle, in an attempt to secure them resources by turning herself in as their primary guardian. That is not, however, how such things work. She broke out of the Circle several weeks ago and destroyed her phylactery. But I do not believe she would have gone to ground without checking on those children she considered her responsibility, so if anyone knows where she went, it would be them.â It should not be too difficult to figure out which were hersâpeople tended to know things like that down here. And of course, he was still in possession of the coin required to loosen tongues, if that became the issue.
Strange how he knew so much about people, when she, another inhabitant of Darktown, hardly knew anything at all. Not that she really cared to, honestly. She believed two breeds of people existed in the musty underbelly of Kirkwall. Those whose eyes discerned weaknesses, raking across exposed purses, throats, and bangles, to survive and scrape and live. And those who'd already given up. Hunched in darker corners, settling into the shadows. Anyone else unfortunate enough to call this home were just that: in temporary hiding. Over the years, Sparrow had become a reckless creature of light shoving past everyone, while Rilien became something more of a spider weaving its web across Kirkwall in its entirety. Strange how she'd never noticed before.
She licked her lips and walked beside Rilien, hardly looking where she was going. Weaving down these dirty streets came naturally to her. Instead, she listened. Whoever this woman was, she was good in ways that were all too uncommon. Her crime? Freedom. The Circle left a sour taste in her mouth, even if she'd never experienced life in any tower, in any constraint beyond what the Qunari had taught her. It had taken from Rilien, from many of the other mages, and threatened the very same freedoms she'd sought for so long. Templars, too, for that matter. She had no love for them. âAlright then, lead on,â she said with a flourish of her hand, indicating one of the many paths. There were many children scuttling around, and her means of questioning often involved near-throttling them to a stop and roaring in their faces. Softness did not her needs.
Like Pike, all she thought of was what they'd do when they found her.
Darktown, perhaps of all the places in Kirkwall, changed the least with time. The poorest were always the poorest, and it wasnât as though any of them had the ability to bring any cheer or basic cleanliness to the dirty, half-underground cesspool that was the bottom rung of the city. Rilien, having lived here for three years himself, still knew it quite well, and as such, it wasnât terribly difficult to navigate to a section of the place where youths were known to gather, mostly to keep each othersâ company while their parentsâshould they have anyâattempted to beg or steal work or coin elsewhere.
The particular corridor he led them down was only sparsely occupied at this time of day, but there were two children sitting against the wall, apparently occupied with a game of some sort involving an ill-carved wooden top and some sticks. One of the boys appeared to be considerably older than the others, perhaps twelve, while the younger looked about seven, though given his malnourishment, he might well have been considerably older and merely stunted in growth. It wasnât extremely uncommon in these parts.
Rilien in fact recognized the elder of the twoâheâd paid him a few times to run errands for his old shop, back when he had been based a few blocks over. "The elder is named Walter. I do not know if he is one of Evelinaâs adopted, but even if he is not, he is likely to know someone who is.â He was a reasonably intelligent child, as Rilien recalled, and down here, knowing who was whom was a valuable skill.
Sparrow crossed her arms over her chest and stared down at the children, squinting her eyes, trying to place faces and names together. It conjured no familiarity, and probably scared them, but they weren't here to make friends. Had she been born in different circumstances, she might of pitied them as Aurora did. As far as she was concerned, they were as free as she had been at their age. Perhaps, even more so. She glanced towards Rilien, then shifted over to let Aurora through.
Aurora frowned with one arm over her chest and the hand of the other on her chin. She felt sorry for these children, they had nothing. She may have been taken from her parents, but she was never without food or shelter. Looking at her companions Aurora shrugged and took the first steps toward them. Out of all of them, she perhaps had the required demeanor to speak with children. Rilien was, well, Rilien, and both Sparrow and Pike were not the most delicate of creatures. She approached the children and they both stood, the younger one running to hide behind the older-- Walter, as Rilien told her.
"We got nothing here you want, leave us alone," The boy said defensively shielding the younger one. Aurora frowned and seemed a bit hurt, but quickly smiled and shot a glance at Rilien. Walter followed her gaze to the tranquil and upon seeing him seemed to relax a little. "Rilien?" He asked. Rilien inclined his head slightly in answer.
"We mean you no harm, we just want to talk," Aurora said, dropping into a crouch to be at the same level as the children. "We just want to know where Evelina is, do you know her?"
"Evelina, she..." Walter began, though he seemed unsure if he should go any further. Aurora smiled warmly and tilted her head to the side. "We just want to help her, that's it."
"She shared everything with us. She found us when the darkspawn came, when our parents died. She made sure we got to Kirkwall safely... But when she went to join the Circle, they called her an apostate, for leaving the tower in Ferelden. They locked her up..." Walter said.
"Typical," Pike said, rolling his eyes. Aurora shot him a glance, of which he shook his head at. "Why didn't she stay here, with you?" he added.
"She didn't want us to be stuck in Darktown, she wanted to give us a real life. She thought the Circle would help her, but they just locked her up!"
Pike said nothing else, but he visibly grimaced and crossed his arms, clearly unimpressed with the actions of the Circle, and Aurora couldn't help but feel the same way. She sighed and nodded, asking another question. "Can you tell us where she went? You can trust us, we'll try our very best to help her in any way we can."
"No one can help her," Walter said, but the boy hiding behind him stepped forward and began speaking instead, "The Templars made Evelina angry. The made her change. It wasn't her fault, when it was over she was ashamed she ran into the tunnels and hid," Before he could continue, Walter pushed him. "Shut up Cricket! Don't tell them that!"
Aurora dropped her head for a moment, before shaking it and looking at Rilien, then Sparrow. "You can't go there, she'll know we told you and she'll get angry!"
"Angry? I don't like it when she's angry! We have to hide!" Cricket said in a panic before he bolted. "Cricket!" Walter called, following close behind.
"Changed.â It didnât take a genius to figure out what the children meant by that, especially since it had been brought on by Templars. Rilienâs expression didnât shift, nor did his posture alter much, but he knew exactly what would become of this situation now. There was no going back from being an abominationâone case very obviously excepted. "We should find her, before she causes any more damage.â
Abominations. Sparrow swallowed thickly and rocked back on her heels, watching the children scamper away. It was a possibility she hadn't wanted to considerâever again, really. How many times had they faced things like this? Grim reminders that they were made up of tender things, swaying on the brink of something dark and irreplaceable. Knowing what they were going to face didn't make it any easier, and as her eyes raked away from tiny footpads rounding the bend, back towards Pike, she knew this would be made more difficult with his being here. She swept her fingers through her tousled hair and rolled her eyes up. Fairness played no part in this, anymore.
As much as she wanted to walk away from this thing altogether because of what she'd been to those children... there were no options. She looked down at Aurora and shook her head mutely. She didn't like this either, but she'd killed enough abominations to recognize futility, and wasted efforts only made things harder. âMaybe it'd be best... you know, if,â she mused and cleared her throat, âwe dealt with this instead.â The only other option one had was to close their eyes, and if Pike wanted no part in this, she wouldn't blame him. Her hands, however, no longer shook.
"Better us than the Templars who started this," Pike said, spitting to his side. "Dammit," he then cursed under his breath. Aurora turned toward him and nodded in agreement. She had said that they would help her in any way that they could but now... It was the only way they could help her. She shouldn't be left to suffer like that and hurting others. No one would want that.
"Come on, let's do it quick..." Aurora said, standing and making her way toward the sewers.