I barely heard the knock when it came. The man on my doorstep did not look ruffled at all, typically he was clutching an expensive bottle of rum in his hand. I invited him in and by stark comparison my own nerves stirred within despite my weariness. I thanked him again for his aid with the foal, it was as if that inner fool took control of me again for I found myself babbling and offering him rum, he smiled, a smile that reached his eyes for truly he must have found me amusing and gestured to the bottle in his hand and made a jest about the cup of tea I was drinking. I offered him a seat by the fire and topped up my tea for want of comfort and something to do. Nay, the reason for my tension was not because I'm some lovelorn fool it is because friendships are important to me and now there was disquiet between us.
The conversation was forced, the silences longer until it turned around to the subject of Eroforth and Taala's wedding celebration that he is hosting at his Inn which then led on to the topic of giving gifts and wealth. “I am much more wealthy than I let on” he told me “but then you know that”. Indeed I did, for he had shared that much with me, how he had inherited a hefty fortune when his father was murdered and he had took the life of his step-mother who was an evil, cunning seductress and murderess herself, a substantial bounty on her head for the wicked deeds she had done, not least of all was to have her subordinates seek out and slay a woman who bore an uncanny likeness to her own so that they could claim the bounty on her own head. But he called this blood money and wanted no part of it and so turned his face from both coin and title and made his own fortune.
We spoke at length of his relationship with his father and how he had never acknowledged Seaver as his son until the very end when it was too late. I believe the matter bothered me, more than Seaver that he would never know the reason for his fathers disdain towards him. Was it that he did not know the boy was his when he levelled hard discipline upon him and spoke of his disappointments, or was it that he did know Seaver was his boy? This knowledge he took to the grave with him. In that moment I wanted to cross the divide between us and embrace him, instead the subject was changed, as is oft the case with Seaver.
He looked troubled by his part in his Stepmothers manipulations, and mayhaps that is why I confessed one of my own shameful secrets, I told him of how I came about owning my farm. My confession would lead to an even more surprising one of his own.
Emion Dourthe was an astute businessman and a trader in secrets. I met him on account of his dealings with Hardoleth and the mans eyes fell upon me and I used that to my advantage. I reasoned that he knew I was Hardoleth's woman yet he tried to seduce me anyway with both his expensive brandy, his charms and his coin. And so he became my benefactor and we went into business together, he used his contacts, coin and influence to acquire the premises and I used my vast experience and love of the mearas and some clever business dealings of my own with a handsome horse trader named Colewulf to buy stock from my homelands from which to trade and breed from. I hired Wil, a man with excellent credentials, ethics and another kinsman. Emion drew up a schedule of repayments and a contract that would make me sole owner upon his death or full repayment of my loan plus interest.
Nothing other than some light flirtation and flattery ever transpired between Emion and I and soon enough his attentions had moved to a young noblewoman named Glorria, whom at the time was involved with Deorgast, a man in Hardoleths mercenary company. From that point forward I would call Emion Dourthe my friend. Hardoleth and I attended Emion's wedding to Glorria, a marriage that did not last more than a few days and Hardoleth would jest that the ceremony lasted longer than the marriage itself. Rumours circulated about Emion's treatment of his new bride, of cruelty, rape, beatings and that he had married her only to secure the title of a nobleman and even more wealth.
Glorria had one true friend and that was Rannie the rat, a woman I knew well from my time in the alley and thereafter, a good and kindly woman whom had a good heart, she was Seavers lover at the time. Rannie was branded upon the face by Emion for her part in aiding Glorria in her attempt to free herself and her unborn child from Emion's clutches. Glorria came to the Dawnhall seeking aid and told a convincing tale after which I confronted Emion with the aid of the Grey Warden, but he denied all allegations and was furiously defended by the nobleman Gerwolf, a man who despised me on account of my association with Hardoleth. That night, Glorria was to take her own life and the life of her child, they died in front of the Grey Warden and I and as much as I felt for the womans plight, I was stricken with horror and anger that she would end her own childs life, a woman with means would surely have had the connections to eventually escape Emion?
Some time thereafter, amidst more vile rumours and character assassinations Emion Dourthe was murdered and drew his last breath in my arms, his suffering eased by the tip of Wil's dagger, there in the DawnHall where he had staggered, riddled with a poison and imparted on me the name of his killer and his wish that the name of his murderer should be passed on to his friend Gerwolf.
I made good of my promise and wrote a missive to Gerwolf, despite finding myself fallen from grace with Hyrien and my warden who protested my actions. However, I feared what would become of my farm, Gerwolf was not without power and influence himself and coupled with his hatred of me I was frightened that he would find a way to take my farm from me as I had not yet repaid my loan in full. The following day, afore his body was even collected, Wil and I hatched a plan, my skills as a former thief and burgler made it easy to break into Emion's office and steal not only the deeds to my farm and all other legal documents, but also the gold he kept there, which still sits in my vault. I know I am a wrong-doer, but I reasoned it would be a greater wrong-doing if I was to lose all that I had worked for, because I would have truly repaid each and every repayment through honest toil eventually.
As I recanted the tale, Seaver politely interjected during the more innocent parts and spoke of his involvement with Rannie and that he had come to know Glorria, and as the conversation moved along it became ever more apparent that Seaver had a differing opinion of Emion that contradicted my own understanding of how events had unfolded, he had witnessed Emion's cruelty first-hand towards his wife, Glorria and Rannie and he was angered. And then, there it was, if I had thought this man could not surprise me further, he proved me wrong for he confessed that he could not let the violation of his lover remain unanswered and it was he and the man who's name Emion had given with his dying breath who had really ended Emion's life that day.
Now it was my turn to stare with utter disbelief. I had confessed my escalating feelings of love towards this man, he had just confessed to the murder of my benefactor! The moments after have gone from memory, I cannot recall them to even record, all that I can remember is that we spoke further and I learned that I had completely mis-judged Emion Dourthe for he was every bit the cruel, heartless, dishonest man many had accused him of being and in that moment I inwardly gave thanks to Seaver for he had released me from the guilt I had harbored these past years for stealing from Emion, it is likely Emion would have robbed me blind for he truly had no honour if he could rob and beat his own wife and brand the face of a gentle woman such as Rannie. It took me some time to reconcile all that I had learned and indeed I felt no ill judgement from Seaver for my own misdemeanors. To the contrary he seemed more concerned I found him a despicable and terrible liar, I told him that he was in fact an excellent liar.
But I do not really see Seaver as a liar, some lies are necessary, I defy any man or woman to stand up and say they have never uttered a lie. Seaver apologised that he had pretended to know naught of Emion's death that night, years ago when he visited Deredan and I at our home, I assured him it was better that he had not, for Deredan is an upholder of justice and would have handed him into the Watch and he would have swung for the murder of a man who deserved his fate.
I was still at this point unsure as to the true purpose of Seaver's visit, I doubted it was to speak of his life with his father and step mother or to confess to murder, nay, his true purpose was to prove even more shocking ...
