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[thereneverwas]

[For correspondence, private scenes, and anthrax.]

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speaking of comeuppance,

[cozen]

[ Some average Spring day or another, when Barrow steps off the ferry and onto the docks in Kirkwall, there's someone waiting.

Someone is not Bastien. Someone is a girl, twelve or thirteen at most, with dark hair and eyes, kicking her heels against the shipping crate she's sitting on until the sight of him makes her straighten up and go still. She stays that way for a few seconds, then takes a visibly deep breath and hops off to approach him. ]

Are you Ser Barrow?

[thereneverwas]

[It's not often that children speak to him, so Barrow is briefly perplexed by the girl, but he offers her a kind smile nonetheless.]

That's me. Who's asking?

[cozen]

Anne.

[ She sniffs and wiggles her nose, because it itches but she's trying too hard to make a good impression to scratch it. ]

You're from Ferelden?

[thereneverwas]

[With creeping dread,]

Yes?

[cozen]

[ A long moment of courage-gathering silence, and then she is very frank, with very earnest eyes: ]

My mum says you're my father.

[thereneverwas]

[It's enough to make a person's whole brain shut down.]

...excuse me?

[RUN, RUN YOU IDIOT]

[cozen]

My mum says you’re my father.

[ With earnest patience born of being a little too young for a teenager’s attitude. She looks him over. There’s a little bit of skepticism to her face—a bit of him?—but mostly interest. Someone looking for a resemblance would be able to claim to see one. ]

She called you a lot of other things, too, but I’m not supposed to say them.

[thereneverwas]

[Shit. Fuck. Run. Throw her in the harbor? No, that wouldn't do, he couldn't,]

Which one-- er, [maybe she just wants money?]

--what's your mum's name? [Maker, it could be anyone.]

[cozen]

Lorna.

[ Another itchy nose wiggle. ]

She's working, but—I can take you to see her if you want. Maybe she's wrong.

[thereneverwas]

[He's still wracking his brain for a 'Lorna' when the girl speaks again, and Barrow goes very still, furrowing his brow at her.]

Working?

[He blinks rapidly.]

She's here?

[cozen]

[ Anne shakes her head, taking here to mean right here, and points off toward the rest of the city. ]

She’s a laundress.

[thereneverwas]

[Something is amiss.]

And how long have you two been living here in Kirkwall, Anne?

[cozen]

[ A shrug, a screwed-up thinking face, and, ]

Five years? I was seven.

[thereneverwas]

And where'd you come from before that?

[He starts lighting up a cigarette.]

[cozen]

[ She wrinkles her nose in distaste at the cigarette. Or at the question. Or both. ]

I remember Highever and Amaranthine. I don’t know. We traveled a lot.

[ Her arms cross. The slightest glimmer of an attitude. ]

Where’d you come from?

[thereneverwas]

Ferelden, [spoken cagily, one arm crossing under the other as he squints down at the girl.]

Your mum always been a laundress?

[cozen]

[ She squints back at him. ]

No.

[thereneverwas]

[sqqquuint.]

No? What'd she do before?

[cozen]

[ A sqqquuint back, and a stubborn little chin lift. ]

This and that.

[thereneverwas]

Yeh?

[He tilts his own chin up, exhaling a puff of smoke.]

What's her family name?

[cozen]

[ She scoffs a little. ]

We aren't that fancy.

[thereneverwas]

[There it is. Barrow smirks.]

So whaddyou want, money?

[The question comes out as a grumble, not especially threatening.]

Who told you I had any?

[cozen]

[ She doesn't know she's been had. Her bottom lip comes out, just a little, as if she's hurt but trying not to show it. ]

I don't want your money. I only wanted to meet you.

[thereneverwas]

No no, none of that.

[He shakes his head fondly, digging into his coin pouch.]

You had me going for a moment there, kid. Take this, go on and get yourself a better scam.

[He approaches her to offer out what equates to around half a day's wage in coins.]

[cozen]

[ She considers him, considers the coins, and snatches them out of his hand. ]

How long did I have you going? You think five minutes?