[Closed] The Road to Jader ...

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WHO: Bethany Darton, Aleron Darton, Carver Hawke, Fenris, Alistair, and Inessa Serra
WHAT: Looking for the Champion, high and low
WHEN: Mid-Harvestmere
WHERE: The fine Orlesian city of Jader, and small town just outside of Jader.
NOTES: Warnings for ...well. The DA2 Crew. You know how these guys are.

For weeks, Bethany Darton had been searching for some hint of her older sister's whereabouts since she had heard about the demise of the Hero of Fereldan. Her determination only mounting when Carver returned home with Dog, she remembered one of Marian's last letters, sent from a trader in Jader. She rounded up some people who were actually willing to track down Marian again, and as soon as she had returned from the Island of Red Lyrium, she gathered them all up and headed down to the docks as quickly as she could manage it, to Jader itself.

Comments

[unshadowing]

Carver draws himself up, tall but (for now) respectful as they approach the owner. He glances at Bethany, hoping his nerves aren't showing in his expression. "You put this together? You want to talk to him, or should I?"

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Bethany looks over at him, her brown eyes fixing on his, before she sucks in her breath. "I will. I mean, we will."

She squeezed his arm, and then pulled him towards the bar itself.

[unshadowing]

Carver squeezes hers gently as well as they approach. Maker, let it be something. Let there be some news, something for them to follow up on.

The owner notices them coming over and waves. "A fair day to you. How may I help you?"

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Bethany let out a breath, her brown eyes bright and fixed on the other man. Her fingers were pressed into Carver's arm. She breathes out, softly, before she speaks. "A fair day to you as well. We were wondering if you had any information about our sister - she is about my height, with dark hair like ours, and very bright blue eyes?"

[unshadowing]

It feels like forever until the owner answers, though truthfully, it only takes a few moments as he peers at Bethany. His eyes light up in memory.

"Ahhhh. I think I know of whom you speak! She was here round about this time of year, maybe in Kingsway? Yeah, Kingsway. Last year." He nods as he motions for them to wait a moment as he goes back behind the counter, rummaging around. "A sharp sense of humor, her. I liked her. She rented a room for a time."

"How long?" Carver pressed. "Do you remember when she left?"

The owner stood up, a few baubles in his hands as he walked up to them, holding them out to the twins. "Don't remember the exact date, but I remember overhearing her say something about having to head home. Didn't seem too happy about it. That was a few nights before she left. Came up to her room one morning and she was done. Up and out like that with no warning. Left just enough coin and trinkets to cover her bill. These are what she left behind."

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Bethany's fingers crushed into Carver's arm for a moment, before she moved forward to take the jewelry that the man had given her. A few pieces seemed like they might have just been something Marian had found off some stupid-enough thief trying to rob her first -- and one or two items she felt choke her slightly because they were gifts Bethany had sent her.

And then there was the signet ring.

The red Hawke, done in the Kirkwall style, emblazoned on gold.

"... she must have meant to come back for this." She murmured, handing the ring over to Carver, before she took out her purse to pay the man for all the trinkets they were about to take off his hands. "She said she was going home?"

Her brown eyes crinkled - "...Home Fereldan, or home Kirkwall?"

[unshadowing]

"That's what I was wondering." Carver knows it could be either one, and that means they have two avenues they have to explore.

"I'm afraid I don't know, madam," the owner said, sounding sincerely apologetic. "Just 'home'."

Carver doesn't react quite as visibly. But his jaw tightens, and on the inside, he's shaking. Her rings... and she went to go home a year ago? What in the Maker's name happened to her? "Is there anything else?"

"Not that I can recall. She liked the house whiskey, and knew how to make anyone laugh."

"Sounds like her." He squeezes Bethany's hand.

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"I - thank you. Thank you for this." Bethany gave him a grateful smile, pressing the gold into his hand, and a little extra besides, as she gathered up the other things that she knew were Marian's. The ring, she let Carver hold onto.

Walking away, she squeezed his hand in turn, lowering her voice, "She isn't in Kirkwall - we would have heard of that - but perhaps ... perhaps she got waylaid? That was a year ago."

[unshadowing]

Carver thanks him as well. The owner nods appreciatively, pleased what his little bit of information landed him. He bids the siblings farewell as Carver leads them both outside. He needs air.

He grasps the ring tightly in his hand. Marian wouldn't have parted with it lightly. And he suspects the same as Bethany, that she meant to come back for it. Until he sees her again, it's not leaving his sight.

"If she was coming back to Kirkwall, then yes, something happened. Or she went to Ferelden." Which meant more places to have to look. He sighed, letting the cracks show a bit as he ran a hand over his hair. "A bloody year. We should have heard something by now."

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Bethany let out a sharp breath, clutching the few pieces in her hands to her chest, before she looks over at Carver with the same determined look all three of them shared. Tipping her chin up.

"So - we back-track. Send out ... what was his name, Gilles? To see if our sister passed by near Lothering. Then we hit every contact that Varric's ever introduced to in Kirkwall."

She put her hand on Carter's arm, her dark eyes serious. "Most importantly, we don't give up. We go to the others, and we tell them what's happening, and see if they have any ideas."

[unshadowing]

And there she goes, already forming a plan. Marian would be proud.

"Lothering's a start. We might want to have him or someone else check the surrounding areas. If she went to Ferelden, it'll be a harder, longer search, since she could be anywhere." But he hopes it's Ferelden. If she went back to Kirkwall, then, given how long it had been, that more likely meant something had happened. Of course, the possibility exists even if she went to Ferelden, but it's easier to believe otherwise.

Though many of Marian's friends drove him crazy, he knew they would need their help, and they had just as much reason to want to find her. He nods. "Right. If she went back to Kirkwall, she'd likely have taken the same route we took to get here. We need to ask more people along the way back if they remember her. Now we at least have a timeline." Hopefully that could help narrow things down. "No one's giving up, least of all us."

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"Right - we might also want to try Denerim. She might have gone to Queen Anora -- or maybe she ended up back at Skyhold." It had been months since they had all left, after all. She pushed down the sick feeling of worry in her stomach, and smiled up at her brother.

"Definitely not us. We aren't giving up, no way, no how."

[unshadowing]

"Maker, we're going to have to scour the entirety of Ferelden at this rate." At least it wasn't Orlais, but still, it'd be no small feat. Maker willing, if she was still in Ferelden, she might catch wind people were looking for her and at least send a damn note. It would be better than nothing at all.

"Whatever she's doing, I hope it's worth all the fuss she's been kicking up." He is SO going to lay into her when he sees her next. (He's refusing to consider IF he sees her again at all.)

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"Honestly, that we have any place to scour at all fills me with relief. Before this it was just - 'Oh she's out there, somewhere. At least now we have a direction." She sighed, looking out across the fields.

"I don't know what is happening -- but I know our sister has been there for us. It is time we were there for her."

[unshadowing]

Something of a direction, he supposes. But "between here and Kirkwall" and "possibly the entirety of Ferelden" still doesn't feel like it's been narrowed down much. Maybe in comparison to the entirety of Thedas. Bethany's right, he knows she is. It's simply how they are: she's optimism and brightness, and he's realism and dreariness.

"Hard to be there for her when she's nowhere near us. When we don't know what she's even doing or why she's been gone so long." Does she even know they're looking for her? Does she know what's going on in the world? What's happened?

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And here, as always, is where Bethany and Carver differed. She preferred to look on the brighter side of things while Carver was ... Carver about it. She gave her twin a wry look.

"We know she was looking into red lyrium."

[unshadowing]

"It'd be easier to say where that hasn't popped up than where it has." Though he wonders if she ever decided to go back to that thaig where they had found that lyrium idol, the thing that started it all. But that's a thought for a later time.

"Come on, we should let the others know what's happened and see if they learned anything else."