A/N: This is my first story. Rated M for future content. All feedback is greatly appreciated. I will try to update as frequently as work and school (and muses) allow for.
Kattrin Hawke is mine, but BioWare owns everything else.
Carver stood in front of the closed door, arms crossed, before clearing his throat. When Mother and Uncle Gamlin continued their argument, oblivious to their presence, Carver glared at her. She didn't need to reach out with her senses to tell he was angry. But, then again, Carver was always angry.
What exactly did he expect her to do? It had been a long day already. They had been kicked out of Bartrand's office, she'd been robbed, and they had met the roguish dwarf, Varric. Varric claimed that it was entirely possible to make fifty sovereigns to earn a partnership with Bartrand before he left for the Deep Roads. Convincing Bartrand to take her and Carver on as partners seemed like an impossible task but to earn fifty sovereigns to do it… If she had fifty sovereigns she wouldn't need to go to the Deep Roads.
Carver cleared his throat again, bringing her back to the hovel and the argument. The argument looked to be winding down as Gamlen threw his hands in the air and walked away from Mother. He growled, "Get out of my way!" as he barged between her and Carver to open the door and slam it on his way out. Her mother looked at them, sighed, and went to stand in her usual spot in front of the fireplace, looking into the fire. Deimos circled himself a few times and lay down with a tired "Whuff" now that the fighting was over.
Carver shook his head and motioned her into the other room. She followed, curious, as he closed the door behind her.
"They've been fighting over Grandfather's will. Mother wants to know what was in the will and Gamlen claims the will is locked up on the estate. I don't care about Mother's past, I've never lived here, but she gave me her old key hoping I'd stir something up."
She looked at her brother, who was looking down at his hands where he toyed with a metal object that caught the light of the single candle lighting the room. She and her brother almost never saw eye to eye, but if Mother wanted to find out what happened to her family and her wealth, she would try to do that for her. Mother had become dependent on the three of them after Father died, but she had become distant and morose in the year since Bethany's death. Sadness was all that Kattrin registered from her mother of late. If any small amount of happiness could be gained from finding Grandfather's will, then she would do it.
"I think that we should try to get it for her."
"It's not as easy as just walking in and taking it!"
She just looked at her brother until he calmed down. He always had a quick temper but his fuse was shorter than it used to be. Ever since Ostagar and everything that happened afterward.
"The estate was given to some slavers to pay off some debt of Gamlen's, so we can't just go in the front door. The key is for a back entrance somewhere in the sewers of Darktown."
"We can take out a few slavers. Braving Darktown might be something else entirely."
Her brother gave her a rare smile, but it was brief. "We should talk to Aveline. She might have a patrol down that way and we could use another sword."
"Agreed. But I would like to meet Varric at the Hanged Man for a drink, first. It's been a long day and Maker knows I could use one."
"You and me both, Sister."
The walk from Gamlen's home to the Hanged Man was short and, thankfully, uneventful. It was approaching evening and the Hanged Man was starting to fill up with guards, dock workers, and a few merchants. Knowing that Varric would be here, somewhere, she asked the bartender if he'd seen Varric Tethras.
"Who?" he asked before using his rag to wipe down a ceramic mug.
"Varric Tethras. Dwarf. Blonde hair pulled back, brown coat, red shirt open to show his chest hair, carrying a crossbow?"
Looking her in the eye with a straight face, he said, "Never heard of him."
Confused, she decided to look around. Why would the dwarf say that he was staying here if the bartender acted like he didn't know the dwarf? She had thought that the dwarf seemed honest in wanting them to help with the expedition but now she wasn't so sure.
She started to move further into the tavern, trying not to bump into people and failing. One man at a table asked her to bring him another ale. Another pinched her as she passed by him. Carver saw that and she grabbed his hand before he could grab his sword. She shook her head at him and continued moving through the crowded room. At the back, she found stairs leading up to the rooms. She hoped that she was heading in the right direction. If the dwarf was in the crowd, she didn't think that she would have much of a chance finding him. Not just because he was short, either.
Upstairs, there were no people. A hallway ran off and around a corner to her left, with three doors that she could see. Just in front of her was an archway to a large suite and the dwarf was sitting at a large table within. Sighing in relief, she stepped through the archway.
"Hawke! Come in and have a seat. Norah will be back in a moment to get you a drink."
As she and Carver sat down, Varric stood up, pacing, before leaning over the table.
"So, here's the thing: we need to find a way into the Deep Roads. Bartrand can lead us to the right place once we're down there, but we need a good entrance."
Norah came in and all three of them ordered a round of drinks. When she left, Hawke asked, "How do we do that? I've fought darkspawn, but I've never been to the Deep Roads."
"Fortunately, I've received some new information. There's a Grey Warden in the city. If anyone knows how to get down there, it'll be him."
"How can you be so sure? Why would a Grey Warden know that?"
"The Warden's don't just fight darkspawn; they forge into the Deep Roads all the time. And if he doesn't know, he might be able to point us to those that do."
"And if he knows nothing? Are there any other options?"
Varric sighed. "None at the moment. Bartrand had an entrance lined up, but it was a bust. I'll keep looking, but if we don't find something, we'll have a fancy expedition with nowhere to go."
"I don't mess with the Wardens. And we don't want trouble with them, do we?"
"Err, let's look at our options first. I'd rather not fight a Warden unless we have to. Supposedly, this Grey Warden came in with some other Fereldan refugees not long ago. A Lowtown woman named Lirene has been helping the Fereldans. We talk to her, maybe we learn where he is. I'll keep after my contacts—see if I can drum up any other work."
Norah returned with their drinks, but Kattrin wasn't sure if she wanted to drink or vomit. The legends spoke of great heroes, defeaters of the Blights, tough men and women who gave up everything to defend the world from the Archdemons. The Grey Wardens weren't numerous in Ferelden, but a group had passed through Lothering on their way to Ostagar.
She remembered being on the road with Bethany about two years ago. She had been sent to pick up some things from the market and decided to bring Bethany since she was always better company than Carver. After they had purchased what Mother needed, they had stopped at the bakery, and while spending their own meager coin on a sweet cake for the walk home, they overheard that there was trouble brewing in Ostagar. Dark things were appearing, crops rotting in the fields, people going missing. She and Bethany had hurried out of town then. When dark things were discussed, Templars started to get twitchy and the hunt for apostates began. Kattrin had worked hard since her father died to make sure that she or Bethany never wound up in the Circle. Once on the road, they were vigilant but still in high spirits, sharing their sweet cake, when they heard others on the road behind them, gaining on them quickly.
Pausing on the side of the road, Kattrin looked behind them, reaching out with her senses. She knew they weren't Templars because Templars always wore heavy armor and felt of fear, anger, or righteousness. This was a motley group of maybe fifteen, some in leather, some in scale and some in plate. They were elves, dwarves and humans and they all felt of the same duty. Then, to her amazement, she saw two in the group wearing robes and carrying staves.
The group hailed her and her sister, asking if this road would take them to Ostagar. Withdrawing her extra sense, she had to try twice to tell them yes because her mouth was so dry. Every man carried themselves with wariness and skill, like some of the more frightening Templars who spun terrible tales of battles with apostates. As they began to move again down the road, she had blurted a question. Were they soldiers?
One of the mages had laughed at that, throwing his head back and practically howling his humor while most of his companions scowled. The leader, a bearded man with dark skin wearing strange leather armor with two wicked looking daggers strapped to his back, gave the mage a reproachful look. When he turned to her, he seemed kind beneath his gruff appearance. He replied that no, they were Grey Wardens, but they had important matters to attend in Ostagar and wished them a good day.
Bethany had spoken then, asking the Maker to watch over them and keep them safe. Each of them had a different response, but the responses all asked for the blessings of a deity. Then Kattrin had felt a shift, a gathering of Fade energy, making her eyes go wide. The mage with sense of humor noted Kattrin's expression and used the gathered mana to summon a wisp and direct it towards them. He winked at them as they passed, causing Bethany blush and a shiver to go down Kattrin's spine.
That same shiver running down her spine brought her back to the present. Both Varric and Carver were looking at her strangely, and she quickly apologized.
Varric turned to her brother and asked, "Is it normal for her to stare like that?"
"No, normally she's perfect," he groused.
With that, she stood up, glaring at her brother. "Excuse me if I don't relish the idea of disturbing a Grey Warden. I'm off to talk to Aveline. Now we have two reasons to go to Darktown and that extra sword is sounding better and better." She downed her drink and left her brother in Varric's company. She must have been glaring or baring her teeth because getting out of the Hanged Man was a lot easier than coming in. That was okay with her, both the ease in which she left and looking angry. Inside, she was knotted up with dread. She had the same sense of foreboding running through her that she had experienced when encountering the Witch of the Wilds. Like Fate was pushing her to Darktown.