Their mothers didn't stay long, just a few days before they were off on their quest again. Evie was a little disappointed to see her mother go. She hadn't seen her in over a year, and she only stayed a couple of days. Mareven had tried to divide her time between Evie and her father, but she had spent an evening with Oghren and Felsi as well. When it came time to leave, both she and Alistair watched her ride out until they couldn't see her anymore. He had held her tightly, his arm around her shoulders. And then they had gone inside, to his office. He'd even poured her a glass of wine and spent the afternoon comforting her.
She wasn't sad, just disappointed. Mareven's departure definitely seemed to affect him more than her. Maybe he'd needed the time more than her.
Whenever her mother left, her father did keep her closer than usual for a few days. While he worked in his office, she would play him music on one of her instruments. Sometimes her own songs, sometimes his favourites. Sometimes she would sketch him, or birds that came close to the window outside, or just anything that looked even mildly interesting. While it was a bit boring at times, it seemed to make him feel better. And she didn't mind the extra time with him.
But after a few days Alistair loosened the leash, and she could go back to spending time with her friends. She saw them in their lessons, of course, but after that she usually had lunch with her father and stayed with him in his office while he worked.
Now that she was let loose, she and Tai had been able to plan their heist. Well, heist was a bit extreme. There was a shipment of Antivan wine coming in, and they wanted to steal some of it. Not all; they weren't greedy. Just a couple of casks.
They had been planning it for a little while and were eager to see if they could pull it off. They all had their parts to play. And that was where the guardsman uniform came into it as well. Tai had thought ahead when snagging one of those.
Evie watched from her place on the barrel where she played her lute, singing and drawing quite a crowd in the marketplace. She could see Hirik in his place; Tai was escorting the shipment dressed as a guard, so he was on his way. Once they came through the marketplace and had to get through the crowd, that was when they would switch the casks with their own water-filled ones. Kieran was waiting with those just out of sight; she had seen him get into position earlier.
From her place above the crowd, she could see everything. So she had a perfect view of how it all went wrong.
When the wagons carrying the wine casks were trying to get through the crowd she had attracted, that was when the plan went off the rails. When Hirik knocked one of the wheels off one of the wagons to force it to stop so they could make the switch, it spooked the horses pulling it. They charged off into the crowd, setting off the other horses and causing a bit of a stampede. Horses and screaming people went running, and stalls and their wares were demolished. Evie reacted, immediately dropping her lute, jumping from the barrel she was on, and shoving an elderly lady out of the path of one of the wagons. She could see Tai on one of the other horses trying to calm the pair into stopping. The marketplace quickly became utter chaos. A dangerous kind of chaos.
"Evie!" Kieran made his way to her where she was trying to help people get out from under the rubble of destroyed stalls.
The sound of panicked screams behind them had them turning around, where one of the wagons sans horses was tearing towards them. Kieran raised his hands up, throwing up a shield to protect them and all the people behind them. The wagon splintered against it, wood and wine going everywhere. Another stampeding horse was running at them. Evie leaped at a nearby post, pushing off of it and at the horse, climbing onto it, and steering it away from the crowd, calming it down now that it was out of the mayhem. She quickly slid off, tying its reins to a nearby fence. She gave it a quick pat and ran back to see how else she could help.
She never anticipated their plan would lead to this.
There were more guardsmen out, trying to help people. The rest of the horses were gone or had been calmed down. And most of the people were gone. Some were still there trying to help pull people out of rubble or get the injured to help. Tai, Kieran, and Hirik joined her.
"We fucked up," Tai said.
Evie nodded. "We need to help."
They were all in agreement on that, so they set to the task. This was entirely their fault.
-
Evie cringed at the look on her father's face. She had never seen him so livid, so disappointed. She wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out. Aunt Felsi and Uncle Oghren were there as well. Felsi was just as livid; Oghren, not so much. But he wasn't happy; he definitely didn't find it as amusing as he had the cow incident.
They were standing in front of Alistair in his study while he paced and shouted and tried to understand how they could be so stupid. Over wine. Wine they could have purchased or had someone purchase for them.
"People were hurt!" Alistair roared it. "They could have been killed."
The four of them shrank further in on themselves. They had realised that too, and the guilt was already eating at them. What had started out as a fun way to steal some wine had turned into what could have been a deadly incident.
"We're sorry," Tai tried, earning a fierce glare from Alistair.
"Alistair," Oghren said. "We'll take Hirik; we'll deal with him."
Alistair nodded, and the three of them left. He waited until they were gone before he continued yelling at them.
"What in the Maker's name possessed you to do such a thing!?"
They all kept quiet. He wasn't truly looking for an answer. They had learned that a long time ago. They also didn't have an answer. One of them got an idea, and they all just went along with it. They never thought about the consequences. They were just... stupid like that.
"I cannot keep protecting you from the fallout of your actions," he said, his gaze connecting with hers for a moment. "Kieran, I think it's best you go home. You used magic today; I cannot stop them from throwing you into a Circle."
Both Tai and Evie looked to the other boy, eyes wide. They hadn't even considered that! Though they had heard the Circles weren't what they used to be after the rebellion, especially in Ferelden, there was still oversight and restrictions.
This was also the first time Alistair had ever sent Kieran home before he'd decided to go on his own. He loved having Kieran here.
Kieran just nodded, heading for the balcony doors. He didn't even hug Evie and Tai like he usually did. Too afraid of angering their father more. He did look their way, though, Evie giving a discrete little wave where her hand rested at her side.
Alistair pulled him into a hug as he passed.
"Stay away for a while, until this dies down," he told him.
Kieran nodded. "Yes, sir."
He headed out to the balcony and, changing his form to that of a bird, took off into the sky. He had once told her there was nothing more freeing than flying. She had always been envious of that ability.
Once Alistair saw Kieran safely off, he turned back to them. He sighed and dropped into his seat while they stood stone still awaiting their punishment.
"I don't know what to do with the two of you anymore," he said, his tone defeated. "You dragged Hirik into trouble and put Kieran in a position where he was forced to expose what he is. They follow what you say—Kieran because he wants to protect you from getting hurt when you pull these stunts, and Hirik because... well, because he's like Oghren. He's always ready for shenanigans. But this went well beyond that. This was a shitshow. People were hurt; they could have been killed. Despite being the younger two in the group, you're practically the leaders of it. Be better. Set a better example."
He paused a moment, his gaze hard.
"I've exerted what influence I have to protect you from corporal punishment, and I made promises you two would stay out of trouble. You could have been flogged. Flogged! From today, the pair of you are confined to the castle for the foreseeable future."
She could see Tai about to argue and kicked him in the ankle. His complaint died before he could voice it.
"So you know, I am giving serious consideration to separating the two of you. You're chaos and poor decisions when you're together. I cannot have it any longer."
They exchanged a look, fearful, and a silent promise to each other to grow up and stop causing problems.
He dismissed them, and the pair scurried out, sufficiently cowed.
"I wouldn't let him separate us," Tai said, his voice low, afraid of being overheard.
"You couldn't stop him. And he's right, we are stupid."
"He never said that."
"It was implied," she snapped. She stopped walking, turning to face him. "We have to be more careful. We have to stop being stupid."
Tai nodded.
"How bad was it?" Ben suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
"What did you hear?" Tai asked him.
"That you destroyed the marketplace and got people hurt. But how bad was your punishment?"
"He sent Kieran home. And Tai and I are confined to the castle indefinitely," Evie replied.
"That's not so bad."
They both agreed. It could have been much worse.