Ash stood there in silence. "Why would a colonel of the Stone Guard hire him for a heist?" "Kid, you don't need to fear," the colonel said. Ash met his dark brown eyes that felt like they were penetrating him. The colonel sighed. "My name is Varric Hale, son to the bastard old man you call warlord of this land."
"What do you want from me?" Ash finally spoke, his legs shaking. 'Not only was he a colonel, but he was also the son of the warlord. I'm doomed.' He held his bag with two hands close to his chest, which rose higher than usual. Varric pointed at the seat near Ash.
"Sit down, Ash," he said. Ash listened. The sound of cracking wood came as he sat on the chair. "Ash, listen, the heist today was a test for you and Cinder." His left hand signaled to one of the guards. Without a word, one of the guards came inside the room. She was small for a Stone Guard, the size of Ash. She saluted with her right hand while holding a leather bag in the other. "Here, this is your pay. I gave you double for escaping me." She came closer to Ash. He glanced at her as she gave him the bag. Her lips curved a little as their eyes met. Ash's eyes widened. Her eyes were soft on her chalk face.
"Thank you…" he managed to say, still looking at her sapphire eyes. She turned around, her long, clean, blond hair tied up in a ponytail. Before she walked out of the room, she glanced back at Ash with a faint smile. Ash glanced back at Varric. As he opened the bag, inside were more gold and silver than he had ever seen. He threw his bag with the necklace to Varric. "Who was that girl?" he asked.
"If she wants, she will tell you. Now, about what I said," Varric threw the bag back without taking anything. "I don't need this. You can give it to your sister, Mirel, was it? But before that, I have a job offer for you, one that can take you out of this shit hole for good."
"Job offer for me?" Ash asked, tilting his head to his left. "Why me? I don't get it. You, a colonel from the Stone Guards, came here to the slums to test some scums so you can offer a scrawny kid a job."
The corners of Varric's lips twitched a little. "Do you know what the difference is between a rich and a poor family?" he asked. Ash shook his head. "I guessed so. A rich family will change their god in a heartbeat when things get harder, but a poor family will start to pray harder to their god so he may help them in the future." He pulled out a sheet of old paper and handed it to Ash. "Tell me, Ash Riven, what god do you pray to, what god does Mirel pray to, and what god does little Eli pray to every night?"
Ash took the paper, on which was written the answer he wanted to say to the god of the ground, Tharuun, "Of course you know about me, about my sister and brother, and about this, but what does that have to do with your job, or with what I asked you?" Ash looked even more confused now. He glanced back at Varric, then at the paper. Something was wrong with it; it didn't feel like normal paper. He lifted the paper to his nose and sniffed it. Then he understood: it was made from dirt, not parchment or rag.
"What you are holding is a paper made by God himself. It acts like normal paper, but it is not," he said with a prideful smile. "Have you noticed lately the weather started to change, like the weirdly hot temperatures outside, or plants and fields drying out?" His eyes fixated on Ash's lips, waiting for an answer.
Ash looked back at him and nodded, "Yeah, a few days ago my sister's tomato plants dried. She cried for the rest of the day because of that. She thought that those plants would let me finally retire from being a thief, and today was awful. I was sure I was going to die because of the hot air."
"It is because the goddess of the sun, Solmyra, and her warlord, Caedryn, decided to break the bond between our lands and invade us. They have now set up a camp near the mountains to the north." Varric crossed his arms and leaned backward, his face turned serious, "I need you to go there and steal that warlord's ring, and I need you to do it as cleanly as possible. That's the job: only the Ring of the Sun. I can give you and Cinder all that you need to do this shit show, and when you are done, you will have everything. You'll become a noble and take your family from the slums to finally live the life you always wanted them to live."
"Why me?"
"Well, kid, you are a Tharuun worshiper, and the only one who managed to escape from me." Varric's lips curved again; he crossed his legs and leaned forward. "And I like you, kid. Take your time; don't answer me now. We will be here for the entire week. You can go home to your family."
"Sure," Ash said with a small smile. He got up and left the room. Downstairs, Cinder sat at the bar, drinking his ale. "Cinder... how are you?" Ash asked as he saw him. His face was already red from the booze.
He shifted his look towards Ash, his lips curved. "Ash, you all right? Good, come drink with me," he said under his breath, then shifted his gaze to his cup of ale, smile gone. Ash barely heard him. He sat next to him, grabbing a cup of ale on the way. "What about me...?"
"You've had enough, Cinder..." Ash raised his cup, as they had done many times before. "For another good heist," Cinder smiled again, his dark blue eyes looking pale and bloodshot. He raised his cup to Ash's; their cups clinked, and both downed their drinks in a sip. "Where is everyone? This place is usually filled with scum." Cinder's smile was gone again; he placed his cup on the table.
"They all left… after the colonel came, they all said 'it's a death wish, not a job'…" his tone low, his shoulders down and his left hand tracing the tip of the cup he had just drunk from, "I know it's dangerous… but I know what we are capable of, and that type of job can make all of us live happily… but they all left me… bastards, all of them." He clenched his fist tight, his hand started to tremble.
"It's no matter, we're both still here... even if this job is a death wish," Ash said, placing his hand on Cinder's shoulder. His tiny hand looked like a toy next to Cinder's shoulder. If not for the clothes, Cinder would have looked like a noble, but he was not, neither was Ash or any of the scum that walked in the ruins. "We just need to make sure doing this is the right decision, and not just a death wish."
"You're right, we don't need them… thank you Ash, I knew you would be the only loyal one…" Cinder said, now able to sit properly. He spun around in his chair a little. "I think I will go to sleep… you should go back home… and talk with your family about this." He got up, almost falling down. Ash rushed up to help him, but Cinder stopped him with his hand as he regained his balance. "I am fine Ash, don't worry too much about me… and Ash, I know I don't say it, but I love you as a son I never had."
"Good night, Cinder," Ash's lips curved a little. He waved to Cinder as he walked up to his room. He got up and walked to the door. Outside, the sun had already started to set. He stopped for a second after he walked out the big double door to the wooden hangar. "Wondering if you should take the offer," a soft and gentle voice came from behind him. He turned around quickly. There stood the girl from before. She leaned on the wooden wall like she had been waiting for someone. Ash's eyes widened at her beauty. "What... you've never seen a girl before," she said as her face turned red and she looked away.
"Sorry," he said, brushing the back of his head. He had never seen someone so beautiful and strong at the same time. He could feel his heart starting to beat faster. "Well, I guess I am wandering... it is a very dangerous job, and my sister won't want me to get into this mess." He had a little smile on his face, a soft and warm smile that made the guard smile as well.
"I would want to work with… but it is your choice in the end," she said as she walked toward Ash and took his bag. Inside was the necklace. "It will fit your sister… it matches your family's eyes."
"You can take it if you want; it suits a noble better than a girl from the slums."
Her eyes widened as if you gave a little kid a piece of candy. "Really?" she asked excitedly, and Ash nodded. She turned around and lifted her hair, and Ash clipped the necklace around her neck. "Thank you, Ash..." She brushed the stone in the middle with the tip of her fingers, then she hugged Ash tightly; he could barely breathe.
"Glad you like it," he said, gasping for air. She released him and opened the door to the hangar. "Wait, what is your name?" Ash burst out before she could say goodbye.
"I'm Maren," she waved and walked back inside.
He wanted to go back inside to keep on talking with her, but it was already getting late, and he hadn't bought food for today. 'Eli and Mirel must be hungry,' he thought before turning around and walking The Low Steps towards his house, where he had lived all his life, in the slums of Stonegrave.