It wasn't often Carver got leave from the Wardens. But it wasn't often that the Warden camp was infiltrated by assassins trying to specifically kill one of their own, either. Nothing had come of it, aside from some dead assassins, but learning the troubling reasons behind his sudden popularity with hired hands was enough to inspire the Wardens to send him to get to the bottom of things. That meant returning to Kirkwall.

That of course also meant running in with his brother and all of his ragtag friends, many of whom Carver hadn't seen in years. Isabela, for instance, probably hadn't seen him since he'd bulked up and taken on a few new scars and mellowed out his old pissy attitude that she used to tease him for. She certainly hadn't flirted with him in earnest the last time he'd been in town.

A few hours, a few games of cards and a few drinks later, Carver was starting to wonder if she was going to put her money where her mouth was. Which was currently about three inches from his, as they stood very, very close in a back hallway of the Hanged Man, treacherously close to actually getting somewhere.

Maker. Good thing he was older and wiser now. This situation would have probably given him a fatal heart attack back in the day.

"Did you have something to say to me?" he teased her under his breath. "You could have just said it out there, you know."