A Princess, a Knight, and an Assassin Walk Into a Tavern...

Clarity

Clarity is what the Mothers had called her; some 25 years ago when she came to them across the sea to the west.

The Mothers lived in the Ridgeback Mountains, in a tiny installation 20 miles from the nearest village.

Though Clarity was only 3 when she was brought there, she had felt at peace instantly.

This was due mostly to Mother Greer, who, though a burly mid-40s Qunari with large horns, the shoulder width of an ox, and a faint mustache, had kind sparkly eyes that seemed to radiate tenderness and affection, even as she smelled of freshly baked bread.

There were other mothers, 3 elves and a human, but they were never her mother.

She was raised with other orphans, mostly humans, who would come at varying ages, and everyone, without fail, would leave on their 12th birthday, picked up in a black chariot by a man in a white suit, and never return.

When it was Clarity's turn, Mother Greer had caught her in the kitchen, grabbed her into a fierce hug, and whispered in her ear somewhere between a growl and a sob, "You can do it child. Hold on. You are stronger. I ask you to do this task for me. Pass all their tests, and then run."

With that, she had kissed me on the forehead, made a shushing motion with her hands, and left the hut.

I had left the next day.

Turns out, I was to become an Antivan Raven. The most feared league of assassins in Thedas.

I had trained hard, and they had trained hard right back. Grueling schedule and emotional tolls, not to mention the punishment for less than perfection, as I learned this trade for the next 6 years. I became a tall slim woman made entirely of lean muscle, silver blonde, with large calculating eyes, ready to kill.

After that, I was put to work practicing my trade, the fear and obedience having been drilled into me so hard, I forgot what freedom was.

I no longer desired freedom, only blood.

It wasn't until I was given a mission that would end in tragedy, me losing my left leg and being left for dead, that I remembered.

They left me to die, like I wasn't a part of their brotherhood. The abandonment haunted me.

I had done rehab, and now had a peg leg with a joint. From there, I sailed to Port Town. Where there were no Ravens to find me and I could start fresh.

But fresh costs money, and though there were no Ravens, there were also no contacts in Port Town.

So here I was, stuck in a rotting heap of a building, simply because the purse I had snatched earlier wouldn't pay for anything more, waiting for Varric, a dwarf I had met on the voyage here, who said he might have a lead on a job for me, but I'd been waiting all day....