Abigail looked in on Anders and Nathaniel at the clinic. While she was there, she encountered Isabela, who was sitting on one of the tables, clearly waiting to be seen. She looked better than she had the last time Abigail had seen her, her skin healthy and brown.
“Oh, hello, Isabela,” Abigail said.
Isabela smiled. “Hello there. What are you doing here?”
“I was going to ask you the same thing.”
“Bothering me, is what,” Anders said, coming around the corner.
“You're the one who told me to come back so you could make sure this was healing,” Isabela retorted, tapping the spot on her abdomen where she'd been stabbed.
“I did, and I regret it,” Anders grumbled. “Hello, Abigail.”
“Anders,” Abigail nodded. “How are things here?”
“Well, we had Templars sniffing around here the other day,” Anders said, prodding Isabela in the stomach. Isabela flinched and waved Anders off.
“You don’t need to stab me all over again,” Isabela snapped at him.
“Hm,” Anders frowned, and his hands lit up with healing magic. He pressed his hands to her abdomen. “How much pain have you been having?”
Isabela shrugged. “Well, less than a knife in the gut, let me tell you.”
Anders glared at her. “Isabela...”
Isabela sighed. “Some aches and pains,” she said. “Right here,” she indicated where she meant.
“Anders,” Abigail put a hand on his shoulder. “Templars?”
Anders nodded. “They come around every once in a while,” he said, furrowing his brow.
“Templars come around everywhere,” Isabela said, rolling her eyes. “You know, I spot them on the docks all the time? Bloody ridiculous.”
“Don’t they need to go to the docks to get back and forth from the Gallows?” Abigail asked.
“Well, yes—but I don’t think they should be gallivanting about in the city anyway,” Isabela said. “I mean, really—Calenhad Templars weren’t like that. There were only about five Templars in Denerim at any time.”
“More than that,” Anders muttered, tone dark. “But I see what you mean.” he took his hands away and prodded her again. “How’s that?”
Isabela squirmed and batted him away. “Better,” she admitted. “But there’s no need to prod at me. At least, not there there isn’t.” she waggled her eyebrows, and Anders huffed.
“Abigail, what’s this I hear about you waking up the Alienage in the dead of night?” Anders asked as Isabela hopped off the table.
“Business,” Abigail said. “We didn’t realize how much of a fuss we’d kick up. A former Tevinter slave needed to get his hunters off his back, so he used us to do it.”
“An elf, then?” Isabela asked. “If he was going through the Alienage...”
Abigail nodded. “A bit of a strange one, too,” she said. “You should meet him sometime. He’s called Fenris. I might ask him to help on a job or two.”
“Hm,” Anders said. “Not allied with the Templars or anything, is he?”
“He doesn’t like mages much,” Abigail said. “But Templars aren’t overly fond of him, either.”
“Why not?”
“It’s a bit complicated,” Abigail rubbed the back of her neck. “You’ll see when you meet him.”
Abigail left the clinic and went to the Alienage to check in on Merrill, Velanna and Sigrun. She sat at their table while Sigrun poured tea.
“Is Hahren Josiah still angry?” Abigail asked.
“Yes,” Velanna said. “He wants to find Fenris and shout at him, but nobody knows where Fenris lives.”
“Oh, Zefris was railing on and on about it,” Sigrun rolled her eyes and passed Abigail a teacup. “Malana’s boys and Lorren, and Rachel, too.”
“Is it going to be trouble for Fenris?”
“Oh, no,” Sigrun shook her head. “As long as Fenris doesn’t bring any more trouble, they’d just yell at him for a bit and then probably invite him to stay for dinner.”
“Really?”
“Well, he’s an elf, so...” Sigrun shrugged.
“They’re very...cavalier about who they consider part of their community,” Velanna said, her expression sour.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s dangerous,” Velanna put her cup down. “I’ve told Josiah over and over again—if they let every half-elf idiot into their Alienage, they’ll end up letting in someone...unpleasant.”
“Have they?” Abigail wanted to know.
“Yes,” Velanna said with a scowl. “I had to chase off a swindler just a few months ago, and I always hear stories about thieves...”
“There’s even an old story about a murderer,” Sigrun said, frowning slightly. “Josiah and the others are so lax on letting people in...if your eyes glow in the dark or you have pointed ears, they’ll invite you in, no questions asked.”
“It’s different than with the Clans,” Merrill said. “We’re very careful about who joins us.”
“That makes sense,” Abigail agreed.
“Makes you seem a little unfriendly,” Sigrun pointed out. “I mean, the Alienage takes everyone—it seems to mostly work out for them.”
“We have to be careful,’ Merrill said. “Oh, I don’t know how many stories I’ve heard about Clans being hurt because they let in someone they should have. What about you, Velanna? There was Clan Adhlean and their poor Keeper, and that awful business with Clan Virnehn...”
Velanna nodded. “We run the risk of letting in Templars, Chevaliers if we’re in Orlais, bandits, thieves, soldiers...Creators only know what else. Local shemlen hate the Dalish, even if we’ve done nothing to them.”
Abigail stretched out her legs. “Well, how are you settling in here?” she asked Merrill, wanting to change the subject.
“I’m alright,” Merrill said. “Velanna and Sigrun are helping.”
“Stopping you from getting lost,” Sigrun said with a grin, reaching out to ruffle Merrill's hair.
Merrill flushed with embarrassment. “Well—yes. This city is just so big!”
“I suppose it does take some getting used to,” Abigail agreed. “I came from Lothering—did you ever hear of Lothering? A week from Ostagar?”
Merrill nodded. “We went by there once, before the Blight,” she said. “It was very big too, but so much smaller than Kirkwall!”
“Exactly so,” Abigail agreed. “I had a hard time getting around too, when we first came here. Aveline needed a map or a guide for the first three months, and she was constantly on patrols around the city.”
Merrill giggled. “That makes me feel a bit better,” she said.
They chatted for a bit more about life in the Alienage (Merrill recounting a mugging she had seen, and finding it quite fascinating), but after a few hours, the sun was beginning to go down, and Abigail had to leave.
The three of them wished Abigail a safe trip back home, and Merrill gave her a quick hug, which Abigail was surprised by but returned with a smile.