Hazelnuts and plaid

[Isabela]

"Nobody wanted you to see that. We tried to get her help. Nobody thought it was this bad. Dammit, dammit, dammit!" 

[Varric]

Varric shudders, bile rising in his throat as memories of his father well up through the cracks of his discipline. "No," he finally bites off. "No."

[Isabela]

"DAmmit, tell me who she killed! We can still fix this if it wasn't Merrill."

[Varric]

Varric flinches, eyes casting away for a second. He plans to answer, he does truly intend to, but that hesitation? He doesn't have to anymore.

[Isabela]

"Dammit," whispers Isabela, shoulders slumping. "I told her. I told her if she doesn't get her act together... dammit all to hell." 

She takes a deep breath, lets it out. "I'll tell Zev. We'll leave town before this gets worse. Aveline will need you to be here, I think, when this all dissolves."

[Varric]

Varric's gaze snaps back to Isabela, something ugly simmering in his eyes. "You think she did it."

[Isabela]

"Didn't she?"

[Varric]

"Charged with murder," Varric says tightly. "Charged. Aveline was taken off the case and I sure as fuck don't trust anyone else in the guard to be both honest and competent."

[Isabela]

Isabela is quiet. Suspiciously so. 

[Varric]

"What in the god's pity happened while I was gone?" Varric whispers, swaying slightly. I trusted you all to take care of her!

[Isabela]

"It was bad, at first," says Isabela, slowly. "She fell to bits. Crying all the time, trying to hurt herself... we assumed it would pass. That as time went on and the world didn't end, she'd get stronger. More self-reliant. That was the plan, right? She'd hurt, badly, and she'd heal, and time would mend most ills. We had to step in a few times to ensure she didn't hurt the babes on accident, but that was nothing new. We did watches, traded off, kept her busy and distracted. We went all-out. And she resented us for it. I think that's what really took us by surprise, how much she seemed to resent us helping out. Once the babes could be transferred to Merrill and she was allowed to drink again, that seemed healthier than what she'd been doing. Not great, but she was able to cope during the day. She enrolled in university, we thought that was a good sign, but it meant she started drinking more, going out with her comrades from the uni. She started to get closer to them and further from us. And some of them weren't... exactly the kind of people we wanted her to be around. We staged an intervention about the drinking and she told us to go to hell. What could we do? She was a grown adult, she had a right to her own life at some point. She was functional, and we figured time would help her see how bad the drinking was. I wasn't expecting this, but I was expecting her to hit Merrill and go to pieces about it when she got sober. Something like that, some wake-up call."

[Varric]

Varric leans against the wall, head bowed and gut churning. This isn't (right) what I wanted. This wasn't (gods laugh) the plan. She was supposed-- She should have-- how did-- "Why didn't you write?" he asks hoarsely, almost begging. "I would have come back. We could have-- A new plan. Something." Why didn't Aveline (trusted her) mention this in her letters? How did this happen?

[Isabela]

Isabela looks away. "I spoke to a priest. He said... you can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped. She has to want to get better. And I figured... if you came back... if she got what she wanted... why would she want to be better? What would make her see that she didn't need you, what would make her see that she didn't need drink? She's so gods-be-damned stubborn. So insistent on seeing herself as weak. It was... draining."

[Varric]

Varric is silent a long moment. "I wasn't just..." He sighs, reaching up to rub tiredly at his face. "I wouldn't have come back just for her," he says softly. "Or even-- Even if I didn't come back, I could have maybe offered advice. Or just listened."

[Isabela]

Her face softens again. "Things have been... rough, since Seli and Hawke fell out. I've had Zev, but he's been fighting on and off with Merrill, and Aveline's been working so much, and... it just didn't feel like there was help to be had, I guess. I don't know. I should have written you."