Under Darkness [AU]

[Isabela]

"Uh, two in the afternoon I think?" 

[Tethras Clan]

"Oh. Good." Hopefully it's still the sixteenth..."Anyway, I have rock sugar here too if you prefer sweet," he offers. "So..."

[Isabela]

"Bah. Drink was meant to be bitter," says Isabela, cheerily, as she pours. 

[Tethras Clan]

"This is sharp and tangy," Varric points out, amused. And a little worried.

[Isabela]

"That would explain the whole salt thing," she reasons, squinting at it. "Huh. Never drank something this green before."

[Tethras Clan]

"Remind me to introduce you to absinthe sometime. Probably when you can afford to take at least three days off in a row," the dwarf adds thoughtfully. "Any particular occasion prompting this experimentation?"

[Isabela]

"Zevran's asleep," she says again, and there's something twitchy about the way she says it that subtly indicates that it's not the male merikos whose sleeping habits worry her.

[Tethras Clan]

"Give it time, Bela," Varric says gently as he takes over pouring their drinks. "She seems to be settling out, so I doubt it'll be more than a day or two more at the most. Might even be today." Especially if it's the seventeenth.

[Isabela]

"Last time it was a week," she mutters, glancing away. More, really, but she was gone by the end of the week -- and if she's this twitchy, it's hard to see why. 

[Tethras Clan]

"This isn't as bad," Varric says with a shrug. "Just heavy overexhaustion and some bad injuries. Nothing magical about it though, and not nearly as emotional. She'll be up in no time."

[Isabela]

"No time was two days ago," mutters Isabela, taking her glass from Varric. 

[Tethras Clan]

"Figuratively," Varric says, rolling his eyes. "Just have to keep busy. As you can see," he adds, gesturing at the table between them. "Speaking of which.... Maeve- the giant ass tree nymph, finished questioning that slaver you and Zevran captured." He shudders a little- poison and cutting seem... cleaner than Maeve's method. Poor sod is hers now, mind and body. Only mercy is she killed him, gently, as soon as she was done getting what he knew.

[Isabela]

"She find out where he came from?" asks Isabela, a little too eagerly. "Someone Hawke went after maybe?"

[Tethras Clan]

"Yes and no," Varric says slowly. "Evidently, it was two groups- which explains why the parts weren't meshing. The slaver was a guy named Anso, who in turned worked for a rather powerful shit named Danarius." He nods curtly at her reaction. "I see that the name rings a bell."

[Isabela]

"They tell me he's dead," she says, her tone flat.