It was well past midnight when Hawke sat down in her armchair before the fireplace. The fire inside was burning hot, freshly lit by Bodahn as she had requested. In her hand she held a bottle of wine. She went to poor herself a glass before she sat down but decided to drink straight from the bottle instead like she had seen Fenris do. She took a swig, savoring the taste of the wine on her tongue. After she swallowed, she blinked her eyes slowly. For the second that her eyes were closed she thought she could see the image of her mother's stitched together corpse imprinted on the inside of her eyelids. She had been trying to sleep for hours, but whenever she closed her eyes all she saw was horrors.
Her mother had gone missing earlier that day. As she and her friends searched for her imagination became active with the most horrible ideas. She had imagined her mother being held captive for ransom, she even expected Leandra to have been killed by the time she got to her. But what she found she would never have imagined in her wildest dreams. Now her mother, the last of her family, was dead. Hawke blinked again and saw Carvers mangled body having been crushed by an Ogre upon their escape from Lothering. She blinked again and saw Bethany dead in her arms after she was taken from the blight. No, there was no one of her family left. Except…
Without a sound the family dog came up and rested his head on Hawke's knee. Hawke looked down and scratched the dog behind the ear. She remembered when Carver brought him home. It happened ten years ago. He was still but a child back then. Carver had found the dog as a stray living in the streets. He took pity on the poor thing and led the dog into the garden shed where he made an attempt to hide it from the rest of the family. It wasn't long before Leandra caught on. She knew something was up when the fresh cut beef she'd bring home from the market every evening started to go mysteriously missing. The heavy panting coming from inside the shed also didn't help. Once Leandra found out the truth, she demanded that Carver get rid of the beast, but Malcolm intervened, claiming that caring for a pet teaches responsibility. Eventually Leandra gave in, and the dog has been a loving family member ever since. That dog was all she had left of her family now. He was all that she had left of her life in Ferelden.
Hawke smiled sadly as she continued to stroke the mabari's head. She turned her eyes away from him and gazed into the fire, a tear slowly sliding down her cheek.