Blood from Stone [AU]

[Coquette Blacquin]

"We..."

She gathers herself, rallying, trying to steady her voice. You did this, some small part of her says, and she hides her face in her hand, taking another deep breath. When her voice comes out, there's something small and broken in it, something lost. "We've been fighting more, recently. I... She went to see Beth, and something scared her, bad. I scolded her, told her she should have got me, I would have come with her." 

[Varric]

Varric nods slowly. "How does she... react to disagreements?" he asks quietly as he continues to check Liz over for any signs aside from the clear exhaustion. "Did you touch the vial at all?"

[Coquette Blacquin]

"I didn't," she says, quickly. "I didn't dare. I thought you'd find more information from it. I... she... she was always more fragile than she put on, I..."

The only other thing that seems out of place is the movement behind her eyelids. She must be dreaming, then? Strange, if she's passed out.

[Varric]

Varric frowns slightly. "You said she's been having trouble sleeping?" he asks slowly. As he asks, he moves to lift Liz up and carry her to the bed. "But before that, stop, take three, long, slow breaths."

[Coquette Blacquin]

She swallows, hard, and nods, taking three deep breaths. "She always has," she whispers, when she's done. "I think it's because... she used to be nocturnal, you see, and I have become accustomed to late hour as well. It, she's not like me, she doesn't adapt as easily, it confuses the body. She wakes easily and struggles to get to sleep. She takes a tonic, many nights."

That doesn't rule out intentional poisoning, of course. A sleeping tonic can put the body to sleep while the poison works, to help ease the pain and suffering. In fact, it might increase the odds of it -- after all, if she takes this tonic frequently, she'd be well used to making it by now.

[Varric]

"Does she?" he asks with interest. He lays Liz down on the bed, then brushes some of her hair out of her face. "Does she- does she need space at night or does being close comfort her?" As he asks, he moves for the alchemy materials. 

[Coquette Blacquin]

"She... she like to be held," says Cindy, her voice cracking as she braces against the tears. She wipes at her eyes gently, not wanting to let them fall, not yet. "She doesn't always crawl in with me if she's up this late. She'll curl up in the seat there, watching the stars until she drifts off. Doesn't want to wake me, you see."

[Varric]

"She's dreaming," he says quietly. "Curl up with her or hold her hand or whatever," he adds, turning to focus on the tools and ingrediants. Alright... what's been used a lot, what does she make? (did she make a sleep tonic tonight?)

[Coquette Blacquin]

Cindy sits on the edge of the bed, stroking Liz's hair gently, tenderly, unable to tear her eyes away from her girlfriend's sleeping face. It should be wife. Live through this and it will be. I don't... I can't lose you, I can't. Please. Don't make me do this alone.

It's hard to tell what was made, but his practiced eye can easily tell what can be made from the ingredients. Many of the recipes are long familiar to him, from treating her: tonics to calm nerves, to ease anxiety, to bring on sleep. She has rare ingredients that speak of skill beyond what she should have, but most of them are only a little shy of a full unit, if that: things she's bought but not had the courage to try, or tried but failed so obviously she didn't dare drink them. Good. It means she has more sense than bravado, at least. 

As for sleep tonics, there's the ingredients for several of those here. A few ingredients from one of the heavier sleep tonics are missing entirely; if she's using that regularly, she'd go through those first, as they're only safe to store for a short time. It seems likely she's used the last of them tonight, then. Weird, though: it should make six doses, and yet, there's none in her kit. She can't have fit all six in that cup. She could have chugged the bottle she made them in, or poured from it into the cup to drink. Or the cup could be old. Something's not right here, either way. Of course, people do silly little things like drink from a cup or leave one there all the time. Could even be two things: a cup of poison after a bottle of sleeping tonic. But it's likely that what she brewed was a heavy sedative, and at least five doses of it are missing.

[Varric]

Six does of sedative is poison. And if she has half the skill she must, she should... she should know that (unless... unless... she was always careless when she was tired)... "Does..." He has to pause to clear his throat. "Does she still get... sloppy, slow in thought... impulsive, reckless, when she's tired?" Please be why.  A part of him hates that he has to ask, that even after two years of having her back, she's still keeping so much of herself hidden from him. Most of him doesn't care about that right now.

[Coquette Blacquin]

"I... she's so much smarter than I, I'm not sure if... reckless, not really. A little impulsive, perhaps? Gods, but she's so brilliant, you don't know how smart she is, under all that, that meekness and fear."

[Varric]

Varric smiles, the expression bittersweet. "Oh I do," he murmurs. "I taught her, remember? Not enough but..." He swallows again, clearing his throat. "Right. So probably yes. Still. This kind of mistake is..." He trails off, shaking his head. "I'm going to test her ingredients and equipment. Call out if anything changes with her, anything at all." That said, he pulls his own alchemy kit, intending to test the various reagents and ingredients to see if any of them are spoiled, tampered or simply wrong.

[Coquette Blacquin]

"Of course," says Cindy, but it's clear her mind is elsewhere, on the prone figure before her.

Many of the ingredients aren't as pure as he'd like, for his own use, but they're within normal parameters for an apprentice trying to save coin. In fact, that's a main finding as he tests the ingredients: they're all fairly cheap, with some ingredients he prefers more expensive substitutes for, and others not as pure or in a harder to use form. 

(The discovery of Yellowmoss, some of it missing, stills his heart for a moment. But there's so many uses for any ingredient...)

There's the missing ingredients to be considered, however. One of them would be Elven Mandrake, a root which is poisonous in large doses but required for the tonic he thinks she brewed in small ones. If that were purchased pre-powdered, which it often is, as the powdering process takes time and adds little coin, it could have been adulterated or perhaps unusually strong. Or if her pine sap had been tainted, or whatever she was using as a thickening agent. He tastes the stickiness on the bottom of the jar. It tastes faintly of mint -- not something he uses, then. After a moment wracking his brains, he recalls a type of clover sap, often mixed with mint, which can be used as a substitute. Tastes nicer, easier on a troubled stomach. And he doesn't buy it so he's not certain where she would have gotten it, whether she used a reputable seller or not.

That yellowmoss, and that vivid purple crystal still unused, and this mushroom, half of it grated off... and there. That dried poppy flower. These are less savory ingredients, things you need a full license to purchase and even then there's limits. She can't have applied for an alchemy license without his knowing; knowledge may be free, but exams are proctored and recorded. This is illegal, then, meaning she can't have gone to any of his usual sources to buy these things. Maybe more of her kit was sourced from the Undercity, from back-alley merchants. Maybe that sap was tainted, or the mandrake, or...

He can test the poppy, and he does. Without taking it, without wanting the soporiphic effect or the sweet dreams it brings, he can't be entirely sure, but all his tests come up pure. The crystal hasn't been shaved, and that's good, because the calming draught he brews from it is particularly tricky to get right and often fails in subtle ways. The mushroom is an exotic one, one he's never seen before, and what did she think it was, what did she use that half of it for? And the yellowmoss...

[Varric]

Alright. Yellowmoss slows the heart, stills the blood. Can be used in very, very small doses pure to settle someone whose heartbeat is way too rapid (shit solution, short term and with some undesirable side-effects) or mixed with a few balancing agents for a smoother cure. Also a common ingredient for calming tonics- slow the heart, trick the brain (body's not scared, mind follows, sometimes). But in a sleep tonic? Heart already slows when you sleep (most races anyway, including human and elf). Slow it even more... damned dangerous. But... but if you weren't healer trained, if you didn't understand biology right and were trying to come up with a more powerful sedative while already fatigued, the logic might flow... Not sure what's up with that mushroom (Merrill or Helene? Helene is steadier, Merrill's a healer).

"She needs to be seen by a real healer," he says abruptly. 

[Coquette Blacquin]

"Alright," Cindy says quietly. "I can carry her to the Temple of the Waters."