Chapter Text
Garrett and Basso spent the next several days and even weeks searching the city for any sign of Revena, checking with Basso’s contacts, investigating recent unknown thefts, all to no avail. It was as if she had vanished completely. With no other choices, the two slowly returned to life as normal.
The Watch never exploited the knowledge the General had, in fact they proceeded as if they had no information at all, leading the two to wonder if the General had ever shared his intelligence with anyone or kept it to himself. Of a surety, the General caught many thieves and became something of a hero in the eyes of the people of the City, but never once did he manage to touch Garrett or Basso, though he got close several times. Garrett resumed his ‘relationships’ with the willing women of the pub, but refused to get close to any of them. Basso continued to court his red-haired beauty. Time passed. Hearts healed, if not exactly in the same shape they started.
Over a year later, in the depths of winter, Garrett found himself attending another ball in Auldale. He stealthily made his way from room to room, lifting jewelry, watches, purses, and wallets from the unsuspecting guests. As he entered the next room in the hallway however, he froze. Inside a man and woman were in the middle of an intimate moment. He had a woman on her knees, her face a buried into mattress and he pulling her arms up and behind her, locking her elbows to hold her arms straight. Garrett had the momentary thought that can’t possibly be comfortable for her before realizing who the man was – the Thief-Taker General himself. Harlan groaned as he finished. He pulled away from the woman, wiping himself on her under-dress before buttoning up.
“Get up, you little harlot. We have to get back downstairs.” When the woman beneath him didn’t immediately move he reached forward to grab at her shoulders or head – Garrett wasn’t sure. With a pained moan she was flipped over and sat up. Garrett nearly gasped aloud in recognition of the short pale woman. The dress covered her form head to toe, including her neck. Garrett had no doubt that it needed to be so. Gloves covered her hands. Shoulder-length hair had been pulled into a messy bun. Her grey eyes were dead and emotionless as if she barely saw the world around her. They flicked over the blackhand’s form, but there was no sign of recognition there. He sidestepped into a shadow away from the door and the two Harlan’s exited the room without incident.
As Garrett turned back to the room, his eyes caught a glint on the bed. Curious he moved to inspect whatever had been left behind. This time he did gasp aloud. It was a necklace – the pendant in the shape of a keyhole, and crossing behind was a pair of keys from which the chain hung; the one he’d given to Revena for her nineteenth birthday. As he picked up the necklace by the chain he noticed a tiny piece of paper that had been hidden underneath. Garrett unfolded the paper with a frown. ‘I’m so sorry.’ was all it said.
“Damn,” he cursed quietly.
He moved through the rest of the house quickly, not wishing to spend any more time than necessary there. Even so, he couldn’t help but pause at a balcony to look down on the dancers below. Knowing who he was looking for, it was easy to spot Harlan in the crowd. Revena stood at his side, passive as a doll, head down eyes refusing to meet anyone’s face. A young man came forward to ask Revena to dance, but Garrett saw that his friends were laughing in a corner. Garrett scowled. Revena glanced to her brother who subtly shook his head no before declining the invitation and the young man beat a hasty retreat, relief evident on his face for all to see. The thief found a small growl forming in his throat and swallowed it.
Knowing he may never get another chance, Garrett stalked one of the male guests that was his approximate size until he went to use the restroom. He courteously waited until the man was finished before blackjacking him and stealing his outer clothes, hiding the body in an adjacent room. It wasn’t a perfect fit – Tay would have had a conniption – but it would do for his purposes. Finding a nearby mirror he carefully removed the kohl from around his eyes. With a smirk he made his way to the dance floor and bowed deeply to the Harlan’s. Thadeus frowned, knowing his face, but not being able to place it in the current setting.
“Forgive the interruption, sir, but I was hoping to ask this beautiful woman for a dance. May I steal her from your side for a brief time?” Garrett didn’t wait for an answer before taking Revena’s hand and whisking her away to the dance floor. As they took their places, he was startled to find that she weighed even less than previously. “Revena?” he asked, almost scared of the answer.
Revena raised her eyes to his face briefly, before looking back down and locking them on his chest. “Yes sir?” Her voice was as dead of emotion as her eyes.
“What are you doing?! Why did you disappear like that? Why haven’t you come home?”
“I don’t know what you mean, sir. I am at home most of the time.”
“That isn’t home, he isn’t home – and you know it. Come back Revena. Please.”
Revena never shifted her eyes as they progressed across the floor. “I’m where I belong.”
“The hell you are.”
“I don’t take your meaning, sir.”
Garrett’s eyes narrowed. “I think you do. And stop acting like you don’t know who I am.”
“The man I think you are,” she answered woodenly, “You couldn’t possibly be. That man would never be foolish enough to show himself in the middle of a ball with Watch all around just for the chance to see a woman. Especially a woman like me. I don’t belong in your life, Garrett. I don’t deserve such happiness. This is what I deserve. This and nothing more.”
“What you deser- Revena you can’t be serious?” Garrett turned them to avoid the corner where Thadeus had been. Revena winced as his hand dug into her waist.
“I tried my best to keep our lives from ever crossing again, but I’ve failed. Again. I’m sorry.”
“Tell me this is some kind of joke. Are you really saying you don’t want to come back with me?”
“I can’t.”
“Of course you can. I ha-“
“No.” Revena stopped moving, “I’m sorry, but no. I deserve this. Please, get out of here before he realizes who you are.”
She drew away from him and began weaving through the dancers towards her brother. Garrett watched as she reached him; Thadeus angrily grabbing for her wrist and mouthing something, Revena wincing but meekly following his lead, Thadeus dragging her to the sidelines. Suddenly Revena whipped her head around to stare directly at him.
“RUN,” she mouthed across the floor. It earned her a slap across the face that sent her to the floor. The thief looked around to find several guardsmen advancing on him and frighteningly close. Garrett ducked to one side, twisting past a pair of grabbing hands. The dancers were an impediment now, keeping him from the safety of the shadows, and he could see the predatory smiles on the guardsmen’s faces. Desperately trying to avoid them, he used the large bustles of the women’s dresses as cover. Even so, one managed to get hold of his jacket, which he left in the guard’s hands before reaching the hallway. He collected his loot as he ran for the nearest exit, the guard hot on his trail. He felt a crossbolt slide past his ribs but refused to slow down. Once outside, it was an easy matter to lose them on the rooftops. Once in the safety of the shadows the thief shed the rest of the dress clothes and determined his next stop. It wasn’t difficult.
Garrett’s mind spun as he made his way to Basso’s office. Did she still care or not? Why would she warn him if she didn’t? Why wouldn’t she come with him if she did?
“’Bout time you showed up…” his fence greeted him. “I was about to close up.”
“Save it.” The blackhand practically threw the back of loot at Basso.
“What? Was the General there or something?”
“Yes. He had enough Watch there for it to have been at least somewhat of a trap. It was slow so he couldn’t have known for sure…”
“Shit. You aren’t hurt are you?”
“One of their bolts grazed me. I should be fine. Physically.”
“Huh?”
“Basso,” Garrett sighed. “She was there.”
No need to clarify who she was. Basso was much more earnest in his cursing this time. “Was she okay?”
Garrett shook his head, relaying the brief conversation and events leading up to the chase. “I don’t understand,” he finished lamely.
“It’s simply, really,” came an old female voice from the stairs that lead to the alley. Slowly shuffling into view was the Queen of Beggars. Both men turned to face her. “Basso, I told you once before, that the face you looked upon was what it looked like when you could no longer go on. To imagine what her heart must have felt.” Basso nodded silently. “Most who attempt suicide believe they deserve it – either to die or to be cursed into non-existance depending on the particulars. Revena has somehow gone past that.”
“What are you talking about?” Garrett demanded.
“She believes that she deserves to live.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?” Basso questioned.
“You tell me.”
Garrett cocked his head, the pieces slowly coming together. “Everything that’s happened – she thinks it’s her fault. Living is painful. Living with him, with what he does to her. To die would be…peaceful. And Revena doesn’t think she deserves peace or hope or happiness of any kind.”
“Indeed,” came the old woman’s approving reply.
“Dammit, Garrett, we need to do something!”
“Like what? He knows we have a connection to her. He knows he almost had me tonight – because of her. His place is going to be swarming with Watch. You know I’ll take any challenge, but that…? Thieves and swords do not get on well.”
“Then we wait and see, I guess,” Basso replied sadly.
They did not have long to wait. Garrett was awoken a few hours later by Jenivere pecking lightly at his fingers, matchbox next to his hand:
G-
Papers say she could use
a friendly face at noon.
-B
Garrett checked the clock face – ten minutes ‘til – it didn’t leave much time to investigate the mysterious message. He dressed quickly and stepped outside to an unexpected scene. Beneath him in the square was a throng of people despite the winter chill. Some were faces he knew, and he was able to quickly spot Basso’s signature hat. Seeing him emerge, the fence merely pointed to the nearby watch station then turned his own gaze the same direction. There, nearly level with Garrett were several Watch officers, including the General who stepped forward to speak.
“Citizens! For too long has our fair City been ruled by the black hands of thieves who come in the night. Who steal your hard earned wealth and make light of the laws that out good Baron has set forth to keep us all safe! No more! You all know that I have pledged to clean the City of this filth. What you may not know – what I did not know – is that one such was living in my own house! I will not have it! I aim to prove to you all today that NO ONE is above the law. Not even my own kin.”
He stepped back from the edge to allow two officers, one of whom Garrett recognized as Poul Edison, to bring forward their prisoner. Dressed only in a prisoner’s shift, she stared straight ahead, seemingly impervious to the cold. A noose had already been fitted around her neck.
“Does the prisoner have any last words?”
Her eyes scanned the crowd. Basso took off his hat. The woman’s grey eyes met Garrett’s brown ones. Both knew there was nothing more to say. She smiled and stepped off the ledge of her own accord before the Watch officers had the chance to push her. Garrett turned away from the twitching figure as the crowd below began to disperse and Basso knew they would never speak of her again.
Jenivere flew from the clock tower with a stolen treasure – a necklace of a keyhole.
Several years later a ship sailed into port bearing a small dark teenage stowaway. Basso saw in her a potential not unlike the Master Thief’s, and silently swore to himself that this time would be different.