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”Tel, a word.”
Tel could feel her heart dropping into her stomach as Isabela gestured for Tel to follow her deeper into the heart of the Hall of Valor. Whatever Isabela wanted, it didn’t sound like a good thing. But Tel, like the rest of the Lords, knew better than to disobey an order from their leader.
Isabela lead Tel through the winding caverns under the Hilt, taking paths that Tel had never seen for herself, before finally coming to a thick wooden door set into the stone wall. Isabela unlocked it and strode inside, revealing what seemed to be her own private quarters. Something that Tel had never seen before, nor did she know anyone that knew that path to their leaders quarters.
Which only made the dread creeping up Tel’s spine grow heavier.
“Close the door.”
As Tel did as she said, Isabela let out a heavy sigh.
“Right, I don’t have a nice way to say this. It’s not working out. You being a Lord of Fortune. Think it’s time we found something else for you.”
Tel stared at her, eyes wide. She had no idea what Isabela meant. Tel had just brought home one of their biggest scores in years, gold and jewels rescued from a Tevinter ship. The epitome of “Gold and glory.”
“Don’t mistake me, you’ve done good work here. If I need a job done, you are one of the more reliable people I can count on.” Isabela produced a bottle of wine and poured a glass for herself and for Tel. “Problem is the way you are getting things done.”
Tel scowled at that, crossing her arms over her chest. The movement made her feel like a small child, throwing a tantrum. But if she was so good, so reliable, why did Isabela want to cut her loose?
Isabela raised an eyebrow at Tel, holding out a glass of the wine.
“Drink. And listen to what I’m saying.”
Slowly, Tel reached out and took the glass. She waited for Isabela to take a sip, a small distrusting voice in the back of her head not entirely certain that Isabela wouldn’t just poison her if she was being such a hassle.
“Clever girl.” Isabela made a show of sipping her own wine. “But if I wanted you dead, you’d already be gone. This is different.”
Tel took a sip of the wine, the liquid flowing like velvet down her throat.
“What is it that you want to do Tel? With your whole life. Imagine nothing was in your way, the entire world at your beck and call. What would you do?”
Tel had to think about it. The concept of having complete and utter freedom and power to do what she wanted was a foreign one. Even from when she was a little girl, Tel had been assigned a role to play. A way she was supposed to act, a purpose to fill. Deciding her own purpose, even in a thought exercise, was more complicated than she’d like to admit. Even if the answer itself ended up being an easy one.
“I’d free every slave in the whole world. Punish everyone who ever held them.”
Unconsciously her hand came to her neck, captured for so many years in a circle of iron. The last of the scabs had only just fallen away within the last week, leaving unblemished skin behind for the first time in over a decade.
“Helping people. Making sure people don’t have to live through what you did.” Isabela murmured, eyes trained on Tel.
Isabela’s words struck true to Tel, cleaving through the heart of the matter. So many people had died, while Tel survived. Surely her purpose was to try and pay that forward, find a way to balance life’s scales.
“A noble goal. good-hearted. But that’s the thing, pet.” Isabela took another sip of her wine. “That’s not what the Lords of Fortune are here to do.”
The pirate queen leaned on her desk, swirling the wine around in her glass thoughtfully.
“I like to think we do good things. Damn sight better than most. But at the end of the day, my priority is to keep the Lords safe. The best way to do so is to keep our reputations fierce and our coffers full. To do so, we have to tango with some more… unsavory people. But we do what we must to survive. No matter how wrong it might feel.”
Ah. That was what lead to this.
The ship that Tel had helped captured with the treasure trove had been captained by someone who was apparently a very prominent merchant. When the Lords commandeered the ship, after a vicious battle that they had only just barely won due to Tel pulling off a borderline suicidal run on the ship deck, he had begged for his life. Made a point that he could be ransomed for a high price. That there were people amongst the Rivaini royalty that would like to see his safe return.
At least that’s what her squad leader told her he said. Tel never heard it.
Tel had gone to look down in the hold for the goods and found, amongst the gold and jewels, five elvhen girls. Decked in the finest of gowns, chained together at the neck. Ready to be sold to the highest bidder.
Mythal’enaste, they couldn’t have been more than twelve.
Tel had then come back up to the top of the ship, where her leader was talking with the captain. Without a word, Tel ran him through and retrieved the key to their chains.
Leaving the filth to bleed out as she went back below to free the slaves.
Her squad leader had chewed her out, but Tel paid it no heed. The man was a slaver. Slavers deserved death. There was no room for argument in Tel’s mind.
Apparently that was not the case for the rest of the Lords.
But still, Isabela’s line of reasoning didn’t make sense.
”I understand that we need the money but.” Tel searched for the words, still scrambling for understanding. “It’s just a means to the end, but we do help people. We rescue slaves. The Lords of Fortune saved my life, attacked and sunk the slave ship I was on. I nearly drowned. You pulled me out of the water yourself.”
”The only reason we saved your life, Tel, is because we were already there.”
Isabela’s words cut through Tel like ice. She pulled no punches, minced no words. “We didn’t attack that ship seeking to free its slaves. We had a tip-off about smuggled cargo. Saving people, saving you, that was a welcome bonus. But that wasn’t our main intent.”
Tel could feel the tips of her ears starting to tremble, the sides of her face going numb as the enormity of what Isabela was telling her started to sink in.
“We don’t go out of our way to free and help slaves.” Isabela continued on. “We can’t, it’s a losing uphill battle. Like I said, we help where we can. I think we do more good than most, and I’m at peace with that. But I don’t think that’s enough for you. I don’t think you can tolerate that.”
Tel curled her fingers into fists, fingernails cutting into her palms as she continued to tremble. Could she accept this, live like this? Knowing that there was more that she could do, that the people around her could do, but refusing to do so. For gold. For glory.
The wine in her stomach turned to ash in her mouth.
No.
No, she couldn’t do this. Sit here and stay with the Lords, be content with doing good when the opportunity struck. Had she realized the truth about the Lords sooner, Tel would have been long gone.
But. There was another wrinkle, another layer to this entire mess.
”I’ve got nowhere else to go.” Tel admitted softly. She didn’t know the coast of Rivain, didn’t know where she could go for work that wouldn’t end up with her locked up in chains once more.
”I know.” Isabela finished the last of her wine, placing the glass upside down on the table before flashing Tel a smile. “Luckily, I may have a solution that could benefit us both. At this very moment, a squad of Grey Wardens is sitting in our Hall for a bit of food and ale before heading on to Weisshaupt. The leader of the group is an old… well friend is too nice of a word. He was a right ass when I knew him in Kirkwall.”
Isabela chuckled, a surprisingly fond look coming to her eye.
“He was mad at the world with nothing to do with his fury but fester and be an insufferable cunt. He ended up joining the Grey Wardens, disappeared for a bit. When I saw him again, he was different. Seemed like he’d grown into the man he wanted to be, found something to channel all of his anger into. Now I hear exploits of his heroism all the damn time. Seems he found his true purpose.”
Isabela set her glass down, eyeing Tel.
“Maybe you could too.”
The Grey Wardens. Tel had heard all kinds of stories about them. Remembered seeing a few glimpses of them as Denerim fell. They were heroes. Tried, true and tested. They faced down all sorts of evil, human or beast, without flinching.
At the heart of the order, their purpose was to protect humanity. No matter the odds, no matter what.
They helped people.
“Warden Tel” did have a nice ring to it.
But still something remained here, something Tel couldn’t disregard. Isabela had saved her life. Reached into the ocean and pulled Tel to the surface, clothed her, fed her, given her a place to live. Tel owed Isabela everything. She had to repay that, somehow.
“I owe you my life, Isabela. I don’t want to-“
Isabela flapped her hand, cutting the words short.
”Tel, you did help deliver enough gold for me to make a solid gold statue of myself. Your debt is paid. To me and the Lords of Fortune.”
Isabela extended out her hand, a shake, the ending of a bargain.
And the end of Tel’s time as a Lord.
After a moment, Tel reached out and took Isabela’s hand firmly, giving it one final shake.
”Thank you Isabela. Truly.”
Isabela actually grinned at her.
”You’re welcome. Now, gather your stuff and fuck off. Oh, and next time I see you, bring me something pretty.”
Tel grinned back at her in turn before leaving the quarters. Excited to see where her life would grow next.