Hi! 9 or 17 for the Rook Story Time prompts, if you want!
Thank you <3333 Answering these for my canon Rook, Iori Laidir! :) A little bit of context, she joined the Lords after fleeing Orlais during the civil war. Her recruiter was a Lord of Fortune named Lowell Moran and she lived with him and his longtime partner Saatera during pre-Veilguard years. Also the name Rook was something she gave herself when joining the Lords.
9. Rook saying goodbye to a friend.
The walk to the house was like something out of a dream. Iori's legs were heavy, each step like trudging through mud. Her mind raced--surely there was something, anything she could do to make this right.
Behind her, the two dwarves chatted and laughed.
It seemed as though they made it to the house before Iori could even realize. She stood at the little gate. The same windows, same garden Saatera grew herbs and vegetables, the same cheerful yellow door.
"Wait here," she murmured.
The gate creaked as she opened and shut it behind her. She didn't bother knocking as she entered the house.
Saatera stood at the kitchen table, hands diligently kneading dough. She arched a brow at Iori. "Rook! Hope that job went well. Fetch some water from the well for me before you take off your boots, will you?"
She couldn't help the frown that crossed her face, nor the way her ears flicked downward. "I... can't stay."
It was Saatera's turn to frown. The motion pulled on the long-healed stitches that lined her lips. "What happened?"
Iori's mouth couldn't, wouldn't form the words. Instead she darted up the stairs, boots still on. At the landing she turned to the ladder and went into the attic.
Her little room was just as she'd left it. A small cot-like bed with the sheets in disarray. A little table below the window. Her small collection of treasures piled on the dresser.
It didn't take long to stuff a pack full of what little she owned. A few shirts, changes of underclothes, the smaller treasures she had grown attached to.
A small part of Iori hoped that, by leaving the other things, it would give her a reason to return one day.
As she made her way down the ladder, she heard the door close downstairs.
She slowly walked down the stairs, each step like the path to the hangman's noose.
Saatera was still at the table. But this time she was joined by Lowell, who she was whispering to urgently.
Lowell turned. Even after all this time, Iori couldn't tell if the look he gave her was disapproval or not.
"You heard?" was all she could manage.
"I... Look... Thanks." The words twisted in her throat. Nothing felt like enough. "For everything."
"Your room will still be here," Saatera assured her.
"At least once the authorities cool off," Lowell added. He stepped foward, putting a scarred hand on her shoulder. "You never could keep your hands out of trouble, could you?"
She couldn't quite meet his gaze, her hair falling into her eyes. "Wouldn't have been a Lord if I did."
Saatera moved forward, handing her a small pouch. "Something to remind you."
Iori weighed it in her hand and the faint smell of mango met her nose. Her eyes felt hot with the weight of unshed tears. When she'd run all those years ago she hadn't had anything to remind her of home. Some days she could only just recall the smell of the trees their hovel had been set back in, or the call of the rooks that made those trees their home.
She grasped Lowell's forearm in some kind of grateful gesture. And then she turned, leaving out the cheerful yellow door.
17. Rook teaching someone else a skill.
"How do you think she does it?" Bellara asked.
"Varric did say she was a dungeoneer for the Lords," Neve answered. "Probably years of experience."
Iori scowled, ear still pressed against the thick stone of the ruin but hand falling still. They'd hit the dead end about an hour earlier and their only other way out had been blocked by an angry varterral. Luckily for them, ruins of this kind always had a secondary exit.
"But I wonder what the secret is! There's always a trick with relics, so I wonder if maybe it's like that?"
Both mages perked up. "What?" Bellara squawked.
"I can't detect magic," she found herself saying as she pulled away from the wall. "But I can hear when the stonework is hollowed out. That's where they hide the mechanism. And its always below eye height."
"Regular stone isn't hollow?"
"No. Can't just use magic to hold up a building. Sometimes you need a real engineer."
She pressed her ear once more to the wall and reached out, the pommel of her dagger facing the stone. She tapped it where she'd left off. The same dull thunks carried through the brick.
She frowned. One more to the right then.
Iori grinned and sheathed her dagger. She pressed against the brick, which slid forward until a satisfying click rang out in the space.
The entire wall gave way, dust and cobwebs falling away after unknown ages of stillness. It slowly slid along the track until a hidden doorway was revealed.
"Oh, nice, Rook!" Bellara cheered.
Neve brushed off her coat as she stood from some fallen stone. "Let's see where it leads."
First prompt got away from me a little lol. Will probably expand it into a ficlet/oneshot of some kind down the road 😅
