The last darkspawn gurgled weakly as Hawke pulled the bladed end of her staff from its chest. To her left Fenris was removing his sword from an ogre, Varric was pulling a crossbow bolt from its eye.
The Grey Warden Nathaniel turned to acknowledge his teammate, who had appeared in the midst of the fighting. Hawke's eyes lit up as she saw who it was.
"Carver!"
Her brother didn't look nearly as pleased. "Of course it's you. Even in the blighted deep roads you find a way to steal my thunder."
Hawke's eyes narrowed. She was beyond tired of Carver's pouting. It had been three years already.
She cupped her hand around her ear and leaned dramatically to one side. "What's that I hear? Carver has thunder! We can't have that!"
She threw her hands up. "I must gather my friends and climb into a maker forsaken hole in the ground to steal it! And I brought Varric so he can tell everyone in Kirkwall the epic tale of how Hawke stole her little brother's thunder!"
The dwarf in question looked like Christmas had come early.
"Maker, Carver, do you know how petty you sound?" She sighed.
Nathaniel cleared his throat loudly but the raging siblings ignored him.
Hawke continued. "Contrary to your ego, the world doesn't revolve around you."
That had done it. Carver exploded. "Of course not, it's too busy revolving around you!"
They were nose to nose now.
"Father thought so, Bethany thought so. And now you're the 'Champion of Kirkwall'! Solving the whole world's problems!"
Hawke's fists were clenched, her voice icy now. "Maybe if once in your life you had showed some backbone instead of whining about the injustices of younger brothers everyone wouldn't have looked to me to fix everything."
Carver's mouth hung open. He was speechless.
Hawke stepped away. "For your information I came down here to find Nathaniel, because his sister is worried about him."
She met her brother's eyes then. "Because sisters worry about their brothers, especially when they're off fighting darkspawn."
She turned to the other warden. "Nathaniel, you should let your sister know you're alright."
He nodded, turning to leave. "Good to see you, Anders."
"Yeah," the healer said awkwardly. "You too."
Hawke was headed for the tunnel out. "Come on guys, the sooner I can get out of the fucking deep roads, the better."
It was a long while before anyone spoke as they trekked out. It was Varric that broke the silence.
"So," the storyteller began. "Have you heard the one where Hawke fights a whole army of ogres in the deep roads, just to steal her brother's thunder?"
