The dwarf arguing with the street merchant was bald with a fringe of graying blond hair around his ears. Gold glinted from a ring in his left ear when he shook his head and snorted.
"The Champion of Kirkwall brought this up out of the Deep Roads herself," the dwarf said. "Fought through a dozen ogres, a hundred guardian golems, and an army of stone wraiths to get it too."
"So how did you get your grubby hands on it, dorf?"
As soon as her eyes fell upon the face of the dwarf arguing with the street merchant about how much he would give him for the shiny silver ring, a magic ring from the deep roads, Epiphany Hawke, darted into the dark alley and held her breath. She prayed he didn't see her, or that if that was too much to ask of the Maker, then she prayed he wouldn't recognize her. The answer to her prayers was the same as it always was—no, not this time, Epiphany, you're shit out of luck.
"Hawke!" Varric, her old friend and companion shouted and suddenly the woman she was in the past became the woman she was in the present and her heart throbbed with grief.
Epiphany heard his booted feet move toward the alley in a rush. She glanced behind her. She could run. There was a sewer entrance just around the corner. Two years ago, bounty hunters hired by the chantry had almost caught her and Fenris at the market, but they had given them the slip by disappearing into the sewers here. She could escape Varric and her past too. She didn't need to let either one of them make a claim on her. She could run and return to being just Evelyn Sparrow, herbalist and midwife.
"Damnit, Hawke, I know you heard me," the dwarf's voice was breathy and weak, as if he had chased after her for miles rather than just a few short steps. Apparently, the years since they last saw each other had been no kinder to him than it had been for her … or Fenris.
"Varric?" She finally choked out. She knew she would have to tell him everything. The storyteller in him would settle for nothing less than the whole sodding story. Of course, Varric never let the truth get in the way of a good story and she took some comfort in that when she turned to face him. There might be a happier ending in his story of her life.