Ghost Story

[Varric]

"You lost your temper and..." Varric frowns, a flicker of not his memory coming back to him. "Stabbed her. In the lung, wasn't it? I can remember..." He presses a hand to his own chest, frown deepening. As he speaks, Aveline reaches over to take Mari's arm and shakes her head; stay, but just listen, her eyes plead.

[Carver Amell]

"I don't know. The chest, somewhere. She didn't die right off. I-- I tried my best." His eyes are distant, now, his voice a little lost. "I tried to apply pressure, screamed for Mom. I wanted her to live. She couldn't speak, but her eyes glared daggers. She died hating me, and her ghost tried to kill me three times after that. I knew it was all my fault. I deserved to die for it. But I couldn't let that happen. I couldn't bring myself to do it. So I took Bright Margaret's advice and never looked back."

[Varric]

Even as Aveline twists around to stare at Carver with wide eyes, Varric is speaking. "Sorry, what? Bright Margret?" She never said a damn thing, even when I made mention of the ghost. "What does she have to do with all this?" Given how John jumped on wanting to help with this, she should have been able to do something about a haunting with fifty years to work with.

[Carver Amell]

"That was the Bright back then, when I was a lad. I'm sure she's retired by now, she's human. Was human, likely. I couldn't bear the secrecy any longer, so I confessed to her, making her promise not to tell. She advised me to run, before the Bright's got wind of it and tried to have me executed."

[Aveline Vallen]

"You-- she what?" Aveline demands, having not heard this particular aspect before. You said she advised you on the matter, but I-- I assumed. Dammit, I know better. 

[Varric]

"No, she's still the Bright, still alive. Old, yes, but I'd have wagered no more than late forties," Varric says with narrowed eyes. Which is strange, as Bright's John should have noticed (wait). "Sure she's not just merikos? One that can pass easily?"

[Carver Amell]

"...She might be," admits Carver. "I didn't know how to tell as a child."

[Varric]

"Something's not right about all this," Varric mutters, mind churning but unfocused. "But later. Where's her body? You said something about not being buried on holy ground?" Which is fucking stupid (kinslain near-child) for a murder victim. 

[Carver Amell]

Carver nods. "It was Dad's idea. We'd had to dig the well deeper a few weeks earlier, and they didn't want any fresh turned earth in case someone came poking around looking for her. So he sent me down the well to dig a little side chamber and stuff her there." He looks away, clearly ashamed of his own actions.

[Aveline Vallen]

"Shining Steel," Aveline mutters, a pained expression on her face. "I'm not sure what part of that bothers me the most." 

"The well," Varric repeats as he rises to his feet. "How far down? How was it sealed?"

[Carver Amell]

"I dug just below where the stones from the original dig stop. On the side closer to the house. I tried to stuff the dirt back in when I was done as best I could, but I'm not sure it took."

[Varric]

Varric is moving towards the well before Carver even finishes. It's the work of moments to drink down his Flight infusion. Please be there, please be there, please be there. 

[GamesMaster]

There's a gap in the wall, a bit where some dirt has fallen away and left a little hole. Digging there, letting the dirt fall into the well -- he can fix it later, of course, this is important -- he soon hits bone. The skeleton is small, slim of build, not fully grown, but intact.

[Varric]

"Thank you Rationality," Varric mutters with deep sincerity. It's not much on the surface, but looked at in the right way, those three words are of incredible significance. The first prayer of a decade long Unclaimed always is after all.

[Carver Amell]

Carver grimaces when Varric unearths the skeleton, taking it carefully back up to surface level. "Did that help?" he asks, hesitantly. "We could re-bury her in the churchyard."