Author's Note: So I was inspired to write yet another Dragon Age one-shot featuring Varric Tethras.
Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Age, this is owned by Bioware.
Fractured Glass
"One of the greatest gifts I've ever gotten is my daughter."-Ace Frehley
Piece One
The first piece, large and oval shaped with sharp edges that cut his fingers, is Bianca. Bianca who waltzes into his life like a natural disaster that sucks him up, taking him along for a wild ride and spitting him out again when she tires of his "mindless scribbling", as she rather uncharitably refers to his book writing.
Afterwards, when she ran off with the boring, dull smith her parents picked out for her, he smashes the piece into tinier fragments, but he can't bring himself to discard those pieces of shattered pieces into one Kirkwall's many rubbish heaps. So, he carries the fragments of their doomed love affair in his heart and in his many books. And sometimes, when he's not expecting it, those fragments poke and prod at him like knitting needles.
Piece Two
The second piece, jagged and irregularly shaped, is Anders, Blondie, the crazy fanatic who obliterated Kirkwall when he's not feeling charitable, and imbibed a fair amount of ale. It seems like only yesterday, that he introduced Marian Hawke to the moody, blonde haired man who nevertheless possessed maps they needed to safely navigate the Deep Roads. Then Marian fell head over heels for Anders, and Varric struggled to conceal his own fiery jealousy that their relationship worked out, and is still going strong, while his fell out of the sky and lingers like mold in the corners of his room at the Hanged Man.
He can't even look at the second piece now without screaming, and wondering whose fault the calamity at Kirkwall was. Was it Anders, the embittered apostate consumed in mage rights? Meredith, the crazed Knight-Commander consumed with red lyrium and the annihilation of all mages? Or was it himself, too concerned with making a handsome profit to not realize the calamity he unintentionally orchestrated? Perhaps, he'll never know.
Piece Three
The third piece, a perfect square polished and clean, is Cassandra the nosey Seeker, who won't allow him to disappear off the map. At first, she's prim and proper, demanding he tell her everything, he's so pissed off about the rough treatment her lackeys gave him that he obliges, spinning and weaving the grand Tale of the Champion that still doesn't truly capture everything that happened in Kirkwall.
At the end of his tale, he realizes that under those perfect edges is a woman who is as confused and afraid of what the future holds as he does. That still doesn't prevent him from telling her one little, white lie to protect his best friend Marian.
Piece Four
The fourth piece, a shape he can't identify because it shattered and the fractured pieces still burned far too hot for him to touch, is the Conclave itself, or rather the explosion and giant hole in the sky that formed as a result of the disaster. He really is getting sick and tired of all these explosions in his life. When he says as much to Cassandra, she scowls, as if this mess is somehow his fault.
In the end, the mess gets blamed on some poor female Carta dwarf who the Breach spits out insensitively. At least, that's the news he receives from Solas, an apostate so dour in demeanor (at least Blondie had a sense of humor) that he dubs him Chuckles.
Piece Five
The fifth piece, diamond shaped and translucent, is Malika Cadash, his daughter. Varric wants to deny it, state that it's impossible, but they share the same hair color, a light orange color that's neither blond nor brown. And she has Bianca's thin lips and well proportioned nose. When she passed out from closing part of the Breach, he has to stop himself from automatically rushing to her sides, because the others can't know the truth.
At first she's translucent, mysterious, and then he begins to get a clearer picture. They both possess the same way with words; although Malika is more inclined to secretly write down poetry when she thinks no one is observing her. He doesn't want to know where she acquired her training as an assassin from; because it will just piss him off that he wasn't there when she truly needed him. When she complained about the loss of her copy of Tale of the Champion, Varric does everything thing in his power to get her a replacement copy. When she says "thank you," and smiled, he struggled to suppress his guilt.
Piece Six
The sixth piece, a heart shaped piece that is a mirror to his own heartbreak, is Blackwall the supposed "Warden". To be honest, Varric is a skeptic, because of the way Malika moons over the dark haired man, and is almost too eager to converse with him. It's enough to make Varric want to threaten Blackwall, in spite of the fact that Malika has no idea that he (Varric Tethras) is her father and she's a grown up woman who is perfectly capable of making her own decisions.
When Blackwall's true identity is revealed, he's there to hold her and see her through all the bureaucratic paperwork to get Blackwall out of prison. He wanted to scream at her when she declared that the liar simply had his freedom, after all the shit the bastard put her through. But, he remained silent. After all, it really was none of his business.
Piece Seven
The seventh piece, the rectangular cornerstone that held all the pieces together back in Kirkwall is Marian Hawke, a strong warrior who knows far too much about Templar abilities than a woman from an apostate family should know. He isn't sure how she managed to make a relationship with Anders work, but it's one of the mysteries about the Champion of Kirkwall that even he lacks the answer to. After all that he put her through, Varric reluctant to drag her into this mess, but they honestly need some more info on Corypheus.
And of course after Malika walks out of earshot Marian asked. "She's your daughter, right?"
"Well shit," he swore.
"She deserves to know the truth," Marian argued. "Don't keep this from her forever, or you'll regret it."
Then when they come back from the Fade without Stroud, Varric found himself comforting Malika, who cried all over his chest, and red velvet shirt.
"I'm sorry," she hiccupped.
Varric shook his head. "Don't mention it, kid."
Piece Eight
Piece eight, a triangle with two sides that match, is his confrontation with Bianca, the mother of their daughter. After the fiasco underground, Varric felt that it was high time they had a conversation about Malika.
"Why didn't you tell me about her," he hissed.
Bianca simply shrugged. "You didn't need to know. Besides, my parents would be furious if they knew she existed."
"And you conveniently decided not to tell me about her! She's my daughter too!"
Bianca just looked sad when he yelled that. "It doesn't matter anyways." And while he told Malika that Bianca would be back, this conversation felt more like goodbye for good, because they've finally shattered beyond recognition the relationship he'd refused to admit had run its course a long time ago.
Piece Nine
Piece nine, a round fireball shape with razor sharp edges, is Solas, the mysterious apostate who may have lied to them the whole time. Varric kept an eye on him, because he appeared to be only one who knew anything about the mark on his daughter's hand. He called him Chuckles before he discovered that he did have a sense of humor, if his biting responses to Vivienne were a good indication of things. He's even more enigmatic than Blondie, and that's saying something, because Anders at least shared the same religion and belief in the Maker.
After Solas disappeared when they finally defeated Corypheus, Varric concluded that Solas would always remain an enigma to him.
Piece Ten
Piece ten, an infinity sign of endless possibilities, is the day he finally tells her the truth. At first, she asked for some space to figure things out. Then she bombarded him with endless questions about his past, and how she fit into things. They haven't told anyone else yet their family tie, although Varric wouldn't be surprised if both the spy master, and Tiny have put two and two together. He's just happy that Malika didn't push him away for keeping the truth from her for so long.
It's the final piece to the fragments of their family relationship, and somehow, it's become Varric's favorite piece.
Author's: I hope you enjoyed this fic, and as always read and review.