Inquisitor

“Hey, Varric,” Falura greeted, sliding into the seat across from him in the tavern. “I’ve got a quick question about The Dasher’s Men, if you’ve got a few minutes?”

Though he’d seemed rather focused on the letter he was writing—most likely to the Merchants Guild, judging by his awful expression—he put his quill down rather quickly after registering what she’d said.

“Sorry, did you say The Dasher’s Men?” Varric asked disbelievingly.

“No need to sound so shocked,” she said, rolling her eyes and placing her old, secondhand copy on the table. He looked at the book like it had personally offended him. Distracted as he was, he didn’t even protest when she snagged a biscuit from his plate.

“I don’t know if I’d say shocked so much as appalled. You know that’s the worst thing I’ve ever written, don’t you?”

“I thought that was Swords & Shields.”

Apparently deciding this was more worth his time than the letter (or more likely just not wanting to deal with it anymore, she thought), he set the paper and ink aside and waved a hand at her dismissively. “That was before I found out that a Seeker of Truth and the Inquisitor herself are big fans of it. It can’t be that bad, if you two like it so much.”

“Dorian would disagree,” she muttered. “And Solas. And Sera. I can’t believe all three of them actually agreed on something for once, and it was that I have bad taste.”

“Ignore them,” he advised. “But back to the point. Why are you reading my worst book?”

She shrugged. “It’s for my book club. We’re reading it this week.”

“Oh, your book club.” He paused. After a moment, he stood up, the force of the movement pushing his chair back with a loud squeak. “Your book club? We have a book club here?”

“I made it about a month ago,” Falura explained cheerfully, grinning at his incredulous look. “I read a book Cassandra recommended to me a while back and enjoyed it, so I suggested it to Josephine. I guess she gave it to Leliana, who gave it to Harding, who somehow ended up giving it to Dorian, and long story short, I thought it would be a fun idea to make a book club?”

“Where you read my books,” Varric clarified, slowly pulling his chair back to sit down again.

“Well, we’ve read two of yours so far, if you include this one.” She tapped the cover of the book on the table. “The other one was The Tale of the Champion. Cassandra insisted that we all experience—this is a direct quote, so don’t shoot the messenger—’all of the bullshit that the dwarf likes to spew.’ So, you know. I think Dorian got a kick out of it.”

Varric squinted at her disbelievingly. “You’re telling me that Sparkler enjoys my books?”

“Well, I don’t know about that. Sorry,” Falura apologized with a grin. “He likes to critique everything, that’s for sure, and I think he just likes to be included. You should see him get into everything with Sera—the mockery is endless.”

“I’m sorry, even Sera is part of this thing?”

“Book club,” Falura corrected. “And I told her we’d give her free wine and cheese and she’d get to make fun of the books if she wanted. I’ve never seen her move that fast.”

“Who else is a part of this book club?” Varric demanded, aghast.

“Well, aside from the people I’ve mentioned already…” Falura trailed off, glancing at the ceiling and counting on her fingers. “Bull likes to stop by, though he doesn’t usually stay the entire time. Krem and Harding have come once or twice, too. I made Solas come to the second meeting, but I think he was just trying to humor me, so I let him off the hook last week. Vivienne said she’ll come next week if she gets to pick the book, but I’m a little frightened of what she’ll choose.”

“So let me get this straight,” Varric said, putting a hand up to stop her. “You and half of the Inquisition made a book club, where you sometimes read my books, and you didn’t tell me? I’m appalled, Traveler. Shocked and appalled.”

“Well,” Falura said, smiling a bit sheepishly, “when you put it that way, it does sound a bit rude, doesn't it? Though I certainly didn’t invite half of the Inquisition! Creators, that sounds terribly difficult to manage, don’t you think?”

With an amused shake of his head, he let out an exaggerated sigh. “Alright, alright. You win. What questions do you and this book club have for me?”

Despite his apparent dislike of his work, he humored her questions and chatted about the book for close to an hour, which was more than she’d expected. Hearing him talk about his writing process was enlightening and she hoped the rest of the book club would be just as interested as she was now when she shared at the next meeting.

Noticing her starting to get up, Varric asked her to wait.

“Is there anything else you want to ask me?” he prodded, clearly fishing for an invite.

Falura tilted her head, pretending to think about it. After a couple of moments, she smiled and leaned forward conspiratorially. “Actually, there is one thing…”

Thinking he’d won, her friend grinned. “I’m all ears.”

“Will you sign this for me?”

Varric groaned.