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Josephine could hardly contain her excitement as the gleaming spires of Val Royeaux came into view. The last time she had been here was as a girl with her parents, and what a dreadfully long time ago that was, for Laurien had only been a baby then. Josephine had since then dreamed of returning, and though she loved Antiva with all her heart, as the ship sailed into the harbour, it felt like she was coming home.
It was close to midday and the streets were awash with activity. That in itself wasn't new to Josephine—Antiva City was a city that never slept, after all—but the lustre of the silk banners! The radiance of the painted marble façades! The majesty! The opulence! This was the home of the Grand Game, and the city's very walls bled with intrigue and scandal; oh, the things they must have seen!
Josephine's first taste of the Game was to be had that very night at a ball to which prospective bards had been invited to attend. The first challenge was uncovering the location of the ball; each invitee had been delivered a card with different instructions on how to find the hidden venue, and only a limited number would be admitted.
Josephine's instructions took her to a small street along the waterfront, empty of its usual merchants and dockworkers at this hour of the night. Waves lapped soothingly against the quay wall, the calm broken only by a voice that called down from above, "A thousand sights to see in this city and yet, none so beautiful as the one before me now."
Josephine stopped and craned her neck, but all she could see was a silhouette leaning on the railing of the upper walkway. Were this Antiva City she would have cause to fear, but this was Val Royeaux and the stranger's voice had been bright and teasing; a clear invitation to engage.
"You flatter me, good stranger, but how am I to respond in kind when you hide away in the shadows?" she called up to them. "Will you reveal yourself to me?"
"'Tis only fair, I suppose." The figure flipped over the railing and slowed their descent using a nearby banner before gracefully landing a polite distance away from Josephine.
Josephine's new acquaintance was, as far as she could tell, a young woman of similar age to herself, wearing clothes of fine silk in the latest Orlesian fashion but speaking with a Free Marches accent. Moonlight glittered off the polished silver of her mask which bore no crest or ornamentation to signify her allegiance, similar to Josephine's. Completing her bard's attire was a lyre strung across her back and no fewer than two daggers concealed on her person.
"Well?" the woman asked with a smirk as she spread her arms and invited Josephine's scrutiny. "Do I pass muster?"
"For now," Josephine said with a coy smile. Getting to know one's potential foes and allies was a necessity of the Game, and she had no doubt the woman would have been making her own assessment as they had talked.
"Then might I have the pleasure of your company this evening?" The woman held out her arm.
There was no harm in accepting, surely? If she wanted to use Josephine to discover the location of the ball, it would have been smarter to follow from afar.
"You may." Josephine took the offered arm. "Might I have the pleasure of knowing your name?"
"Evelyn," she leaned in and murmured in Josephine's ear. "Call me Evelyn."
Evelyn seemed to be well-versed in the streets of Val Royeaux, perhaps a little too much so if Josephine were more inclined to paranoia. But as it was, she was glad to gain admittance into the ball so easily, and quite early into the event too if the number of guests currently in attendance was any indication.
"Loathe as I am to leave such lovely company, I am afraid I have some matters to attend to before more of our peers arrive," Evelyn said, her attention already elsewhere. "But perhaps you would allow me the honour of a dance later in the evening?"
Josephine knew why they were here, knew that guile and charisma were the crux of a bard's repertoire and that Evelyn was making full use of both, but still, she found herself drawn to Evelyn's captivating presence.
"If we should find each other once again, I would not turn you away."
Josephine accepted a drink from a passing server as she kept a close eye on Evelyn and tracked her movement across the ballroom towards a group of young hopefuls gathered around an older nobleman. Evelyn smoothly cut through the group to greet the nobleman directly, and he returned her greeting with the familiarity of one already acquainted. Most interesting.
Josephine slowly moved around the room introducing herself to her fellow aspirants as the ballroom gradually filled with more attendees, making sure to keep one eye on Evelyn at all times. She'd eventually left the nobleman and his hangers-on, and now looked to be doing the same thing Josephine was. They circled the room in opposing directions, and met up once more by the buffet tables.
The music transitioned to a cheerful waltz, and Evelyn extended her hand.
"So we meet again," she said with another one of her disarming smiles. "May I have this dance, my lady?"
Josephine was helpless to resist. "You may."
Evelyn took the lead as if it came naturally to her, and Josephine allowed her to steer them through the crowd of others who had been similarly drawn to the floor.
"What winds bring you to Orlesian shores?" Evelyn asked as they spun around in perfect synchronicity with the music. "Fortune? Fame? Adventure?"
Josephine considered the question. It was one she had asked herself many times before embarking on this journey, but still she had not been able to find an answer. She just knew in her heart that this was something she had to do.
"A little of all three, perhaps?" Evelyn suggested.
"Perhaps," Josephine agreed.
She'd thought to give Evelyn one dance and a conversation to find out more about where Evelyn had come from and what she knew of the Game, but by the time Josephine looked up, they'd danced the night away, and she was no more knowledgeable about how much of a foothold Evelyn had managed to gain in Val Royeaux thus far.
"The hour grows late," Josephine remarked as the last chords of the song they were dancing to faded away.
"So it does."
When Josephine spun back towards Evelyn, Evelyn put her hand on the small of Josephine's back rather than on her waist where it had been previously, bringing them closer together.
"I must take my leave soon," Evelyn murmured, catching Josephine's eyes.
Evelyn had warm brown eyes of immeasurable depth, and were Josephine not so acutely aware of where she was and why she was here, she would happily lose herself in those eyes.
"As must I," she said, letting her hand fall from Evelyn's shoulder.
"One last drink before we part?"
They took their drinks out to the balcony, lit by softly glowing lanterns and the dazzling light of the full moon. Seeing Evelyn like this in the moonlight filled Josephine with a medley of emotions, none of which she allowed to show on her face.
"Will we meet again?" she asked, affecting an air of nonchalance.
Evelyn's eyes gleamed with amusement. "Look inside and tell me what your heart thinks."
Josephine did not have to look very far. "We will meet again." If wishing made it so, then Josephine truly believed her words would come true.
"Then so it shall be." Evelyn set her glass down on the balustrade. "What am I to call you by the next time we meet?"
"Ah." Josephine's cheeks flushed with embarrassment; in the evening's excitement, she had forgotten entirely to introduce herself. "How rude of me. I am Josephine." She held out her hand for Evelyn to shake.
"An exquisite name for a most enchanting lady." Evelyn brought the back of Josephine's hand to her lips, then she was gone, leaping over the railing with the grace of a feather in flight.
That night, Josephine dreamt of she and Evelyn dancing in an endless room while gossamer threads of clouds circled them. They were swaying to a melodic tune that seemed to come from every direction all at once, but they were alone, with eyes only for each other. Josephine so desperately wanted it to be real that when she woke, she swore she could still feel Evelyn under her hands.
Later that morning, on the instruction of another card that had been slipped under the door of her lodgings, Josephine found herself in the marketplace looking for the one merchant out of hundreds that would hold the clue to her next destination. But what caught her eye first across the bustling crowd was a woman who was unmasked and dressed in plain clothes, but whom Josephine recognised in an instant. She pushed her way through the crowd, determined not to let her quarry slip away.
"Evelyn," she said, slightly out of breath as she grasped both of Evelyn's hands in hers.
"Josephine," Evelyn said, and kissed her.
They fell into a whirlwind of a romance that Josephine had only ever read about in books. By day, they would meet at cafés and restaurants when not otherwise occupied with assignments from their patrons, and by night, they would take to the alleys and rooftops, at times working together and at others trying to best each other. The life of a bard was everything Josephine had hoped for, made even better with Evelyn by her side, and her heart was so light that some days, it felt like she was floating.
-
But as all good things must come to an end, so did those few blissful months she had with Evelyn. Josephine knew their time was drawing to a close when Evelyn climbed in through the window of their room one night, her expression troubled.
"I have to leave Orlais," she said, beginning to pace. "My patron chose poorly earlier in the week, and the repercussions of his actions are beginning to resound. Or perhaps it was I who made a poor choice in patrons. But danger is imminent, and I must leave."
Evelyn did not need to ask the question that hung between them. They both knew that Josephine would not abandon her bourgeoning career as a bard to follow Evelyn into exile, and that if Josephine wished not to draw the attention of the enemies of Evelyn's patron, they would not be able stay in contact.
"Then this is farewell," Josephine said with a heavy heart. Part of her always knew that what they had was all just another game, another set of motions to go through and pretty words to bandy back and forth. In Val Royeaux this bond between them had been formed, and in Val Royeaux it would stay long after both of them had gone.
"I will miss you so dearly." Evelyn stopped her pacing, placed her hands on Josephine's hips, and leaned in close. "My ship does not leave 'til an hour past midnight."
Josephine stroked the side of Evelyn's face, memorising the curve of her cheekbones. "Then we have time to say our goodbyes."
-
Josephine wasn't sure if she wanted to be awake or not when Evelyn left. They were lying in bed, Evelyn wrapped around Josephine after they'd made love so tenderly it almost made Josephine break down in tears at the thought that they might never have this again. There was nothing left to say, and silence had fallen between them. If Josephine closed her eyes now and went to sleep, maybe she could pretend that Evelyn was someone she'd only ever met in her dreams.
She closed her eyes. Felt the even exhales of Evelyn's breath on the back of her neck. Felt the warmth of Evelyn's body pressed against hers, the comforting strength of one of Evelyn's arms curled around her waist and the other cradling her head. The moon, full as on the night they had met, bathed in light a scene that Josephine both wanted to commit to memory and couldn't bear to look at if it meant they would never get another one like it. She drifted off to sleep.
She was still clinging to the vestiges of consciousness when Evelyn's arms retreated and cool lips gently brushed her forehead.
"Farewell, my love," Evelyn whispered. "May fair winds guide us back to each other's shores."
With that, she was gone.
-
The years came and went and Josephine's memories of Evelyn faded into the back of her mind, just a bittersweet reminder of what was never meant to be. That was, until one brisk morning in the Frostback Mountains when the doors of Haven's chantry flew open to let in the biting cold.
Across the vast room, Josephine met eyes with the one the people had taken to calling the Herald of Andraste. However, it was not the Herald she saw but the one she'd thought forever lost to those moonlit Orlesian nights.
For years, Josephine had considered what she might say to Evelyn were they ever to meet again, but here, as they stood before each other once more, it felt right to simply say, "It is a fair wind that brings you back to me."
Evelyn broke out in a smile and crossed the space between them to gather Josephine in her arms. "A fair wind indeed."