Under Darkness [AU]

[Carver Amell]

He swallows, trying to take that all in. I've been suckered before, in small ways. Tricked into games of chance that I never had a shot at winning. Talked into adventures where the frontman robbed me blind and laughed at me. But this... this is a whole nother level. And Vallen looks so... so personally distraught. I knew they were friends -- well, I did after the other day -- but this... 

"You and my sister are... close?"

[Tethras Clan]

"Do you know much of the Astean and Vangalite religions? Beyond the basic tenets," Aveline asks slowly.

[Carver Amell]

"Astean, yes. I'm Astean myself." He seems eager to latch onto something he can understand, something he has experience with. 

[Tethras Clan]

"I've sworn Vangal's First Oath to Hawke," Aveline says with a tender smile.

[Carver Amell]

So-- quite serious indeed. "My congratulations, then." A pause, then he frowns. "Or-- well, you know what I mean." 

[Tethras Clan]

"Congratulations are fine," Aveline says with a smile. "We are lovers, though that's not as important. Just the shape of our bond, not the... depth." She takes a deep breath. "But... But I need to... keep going. With what happened. After... after Jadan has... twisted her enough- grooming, it's called- he took her on a... business trip." Her mouth twists. "She- she didn't explain very well when she left and evidently Jadan changed their plans a day out from the city, but... evidently, he told her they were 'transporting prisoners' to 'somewhere they can work off their debts.' Merrill slipped out and followed them. Into the Underdark. To a drow city."

[Carver Amell]

He scowls. "They and who else? Because there's no way three of them could take on a city of drow, not even a ruined one." 

[Tethras Clan]

"'Transporting prisoners' to 'somewhere they can work off their debts,'" Aveline repeats softly, voice anguished.

[Carver Amell]

Transport isn't too strange a task, but the way she said that... could they have been disguised mercenaries? No, she sounded--

The copper drops. His eyes widen, and he pushes back from the table, standing abruptly. "She what?!"

[Tethras Clan]

"Her best and most trusted friend told her they were prisoners," Aveline says softly. "She was unable to think of Jadan in any lesser way. So her mind was forced to... edit, to bend and even break in order to justify Jadan's words with reality. It doesn't matter how bizarre or wrong what he said was- she had to believe it."

[Carver Amell]

Carver stares at Aveline for a long moment. "You're talking-- Slaves. She transported slaves. That's how--"

He breaks off into a string of curses -- oddly enough, in Dwarven. His accent is atrocious; he speaks the words like he's learned them by rote from a book, then made the pronunciation his own. As if he's never, or only rarely, heard the language spoken by a native. But the words are quite crass -- crude sexual references, nothing about stone like a real Dwarf would use. 

He concludes, in Common, with "--city! This is what I was worried about, that she'd--" 

[Tethras Clan]

"Carver," Aveline snaps. "Leash your temper" That's it. His name, three words. But damn if it's not effective.

[Carver Amell]

He sits, hanging his head in his hands. After a long moment, he says, "Sorry." 

[Tethras Clan]

"It's alright. I... I was not..." Her jaw twitches. "I as not well myself either. I gave Beka quite a scare."

[Carver Amell]

"I'm not going back to Nyra," he says after a moment. "And neither is she. I'll send for my things, pay for them to be packed up and sent here. We'll start again, somewhere new. Glaley, perhaps."