The Amell Legacy: Transgressions

[Varric]

Baby things. Gods above, isn't that a weird ass thing to ask. "Uh. What... kinds of... things?" he asks awkwardly. Diapers and... bottles? I have bottles... 

[Bianca]

Hook, line, and sinker.  "Just the basics, really. Cradle, blankets, stroller, changing pad, diapers, clothes. We'll need herbs -- babies get colds shockingly easily. Eardrops, eye drops, milk substitute in case there's latching problems. Toys, soft ones. We'll need to keep him warm at night while we're on the road, well fed, and clean -- baby soaps, and rash ointment, they always get rashes."

[Varric]

Varric snorts lightly, the deluge of information acting, as Bianca must have realized, to steady him. But in a useful fashion. "Most of that we can get or make do with make-shift. We have a healer, I'm an alchemist, that's handled. Worst to worst, I can make formula easily enough." Nutrient broth for an infirm child with a weak stomach, tweaked for body weight and maybe extra calcium. "Got travel gear enough for two more."

[Bianca]

"Then it sounds like a plan." She smiles, then, a genuine smile -- letting some of her happiness at her plan working shine through. "I assume you know who we're up against, by now?"

[Varric]

"Bartrand," Varric says evenly. "Which means Clans Tethras and Dunswithe as well." Which is... not a good thing. Tethras is still minor nobility at best (could have done better) but Dunswithe has some fair heft...

[Bianca]

"Can't imagine Davri will be too happy about it either," she points out, naming her former (tiny) clan. "Which means Stewart might be tempted to get involved, grab some power back from Dunswithe." Not likely -- Davri's never missed me, and not even my brother would help when I reached out. But better to get him to over-prepare than under. 

[Varric]

"Who do you think I plan to finger for your vanishing?" Varric asks, sounding puzzled. 

[Bianca]

"Go with Helmi. Rumor has it I'm in deep with Caem Helmi anyway. It's more believable." And ain't that a punch in the gut, that my own clan is less likely to kidnap me back than some nobleman I've never spoken to?

[Varric]

Varric rubs his chin. "Fair enough," he muses. "Anything more specific about that? Any chance he'd work with Davri?"

[Bianca]

"Davri made it clear they side with Tethras," she says, after a long moment. Biggest, dumbest mistake I ever made, assuming Vic would shelter me. Assuming 'always' meant 'always', not just 'as long as it's politically convenient'. I won't be making that one again any time soon.

[Varric]

"I see," Varric says far too quietly. No, punishment later, saving now. "Anything else I might need to know that you don't think I can find out?" That's a lot of trust coming from Varric, who Bianca would know damn well always prefers, needs, to do his own research.

[Bianca]

Now this, this is the delicate bit. If she leaves him utterly blind, he'll fail -- and she can't fail, that would be the only thing worse than not trying. But giving him the truth, the whole truth, would be worse. He'd go off in a rage, insisting on murdering his brother, and that would cause more problems than it'd solve. Not to mention, she'd have to admit her part in things if she gave him all the information she'd gathered -- the bribes she'd paid, the dirt she'd sold to get the information she needed. No, it would have to be vague, just enough for him to be aware of the danger but not all of it. And he'd have to believe she didn't know all of it. That she wasn't holding anything back from him. Otherwise he'd be furious at her for lying.

"This is bigger than you know," she says finally. "I've been working at it for most of a year and I've barely made headway. Just enough to catch wind of the danger in time. Bartrand's got friends, powerful friends. Aeducan, maybe. Or bigger. Maybe foreign powers. Not sure, and it's too dangerous to get sure. Just... watch your back, Varric."

Strategic, the use of his name. Strategic, the way she softens a little as she says it. Surely, it's all strategy. One more cog in the machinery. One more lever to pull to get what she wants. I have a week to smuggle out the things I'll really need -- that's more than enough time, I expected to have a day. Get out, ditch him, come back for the prototypes. Make my own way, set up a workshop. I can do this. I only need him for the first leg of it. People smuggling is way more difficult than goods smuggling.

[Varric]

"How foreign is foreign?" he asks absently, part of his mind thinking of drow and duegar. He wouldn't normally think his brother capable of working with either group but... he wouldn't have thought Bartrand a kinslayer a few months ago either. Another part of his mind is very, very busy pushing away any thoughts about... pushing way distractions. Unimportant distractions.

[Bianca]

Very foreign. About as foreign as you can get, really. "Impossible to be sure. Just... look out for yourself, yeah? Your nephew's counting on you." She lets the quiver back into her voice, wishing she could see him so she could subtly look away -- instead making do with a slight downturn of the head. Let him believe I'm ashamed to ask for help for myself, that I'd only do it for the babe.

[Varric]

"Even Greybeard is never sure, best guess it," Varric says, tone a little gruff. He'd had that tell as long as she'd known him...