"I despise Kirkwall."

"Oh come now, Evelyn, you haven't even been here for an hour. Give the city a chance."

"Adrianne, how many piles of shit have you stepped in since I arrived?"

The lack of a response prompted a grin from the older Orlesian. Evelyn knew the younger woman liked the city no more than herself, but Adrianne had always been more tactful with her words. The two had met a decade prior in Denerim; it was the classic story of bitter rivals settling their differences and discovering a long-lasting bond. Being that Evelyn was about twenty years her senior, Adrianne took to Evelyn much as a student would a mentor. In recent years, Adrianne found herself spending more and more time in Kirkwall, keeping the two apart until Evelyn's path brought her to the City of Chains.

"At least I'm not wearing anything nice. I had to part with all my clothes from Orlais when I left Denerim," Evelyn lamented, glancing down at the simple leather armor she was wearing over a deep green cloak. "Where the hell is this Blooming Rose, anyways? All these buildings are starting to look the same." Everything was so plain and colorless in Ferelden, though Evelyn had to admit, the people were more interesting. Spending forty years in a country built on facades and deceit wore thin quickly, and the culture of Ferelden, as initially off-putting Evelyn found it, was ultimately intriguing.

"We're just about here. You can see the sign from here." Adrianne pointed in the distance, and there it was: the all too yonic insignia of the Blooming Rose. Evelyn was simultaneously amused and disappointed.

"Will you be coming in with me? Or do we part ways here?"

"This will have to be it, I'm afraid. I do have my own business to attend to, you know," Adrianne responded with a smirk. What it was that Adrianne was doing these days was far beyond Evelyn's knowledge, but knowing that her young friend was successful in Kirkwall warmed her heart.

"Of course. It was good to see you, Adrianne." The two shared a hug before Adrianne disappeared into the Kirkwall crowd.

As Evelyn pushed open the door to the Blooming Rose, she was met with no less than three well-endowed women and chants of "Another round!" being shared in the main room. At the center of it all was a massive Tal-Vashoth, relishing in the seemingly endless supply of drinks. Evelyn pressed her way through the Blooming Rose, politely rejecting the offers of its employees as they came.

"Excuse me!" Evelyn shouted as she found herself in front of her presumptive captain. "I believe you have a job opening available, and I would like to make my services available. My name is Evelyn, of Orlais."