A/N:
My first fanfiction on this site!
Please read and rewiew. Also, if there are any grammar mistakes feel free to correct me because english isn't my native language! :)
I'm not sure how many chapters I will write to this story, but we shall see haha:D
Bioware owns the world and the characters :)

There were filthy men sitting everywhere. Filthy, and weary from their long journey. All were waiting for their name to be called. Marian was sleeping with his her head lying on her bag, her short,messy black hair covered half of her face. Carver was sitting next to his older sister, looking down, trying not to look at any of the men he might see dead the upcoming days.

Names were being called and slowly the number of the men around them was reducing.

His sister would not see him go alone, of course, so he had to put up with his big sister as well. Regardless of Carver's attempts to convince his sister not to come with him she would not miss the opportunity to go.
Suddenly a voice broke Carver's thoughts, he heard his name being shouted.

"Hawke! Carver and Marian Hawke!"

Carver shook his sister's shoulder. "Marian. Wake up sister."

"Hmm," Marian mumbled, brushing her hair back from her face with her fingers, slowly opening her eyes and rubbing the sleep off of them. She slowly stretched her arms and yawned.

Carver rose to his feet and put his bag over his left shoulder, his right arm he stretched towards his sister who held it to help herself get up, she took then her bag and walked slowly towards the little table in the middle of the huge room, followed by her younger brother.

"Sorry for falling asleep, Carver," She whispered to him.

"Fine."

"Can you be nice? We are going to be here together for quite a while."

Carver sighed and then looked down at his sister, thought a few years older than him, she was shorter, and about that he was glad. "Fine, you are right, sorry. I am such an ass sometimes, you probably know."

In the center of the huge hall, there was a small rusty table. Beside him set three big, muscular men, probably at their forties. Carver recognized the man who set in the middle, his hair was getting greyer with each year that was passing.

"Captain," said carver, trying to sound as formal as he could "I am glad to be here and I promise to defend Freleden as best as I can."

The Captain was not paying any attention to carver, although he did sent a little grin towards Marian. The Captain collected all his messy papers from the table and put them together, and then he looked up at the siblings with a warm smile.

"Carver! Haven't seen you since you joined the King's battalion three years ago. What a brave boy, wanting to defend his country at the age of fifteen! Although I must say you did look funny with all this heavy armor back then."

Carver tried to force a smile, but the mention of him joining the military brought him the memories of his father. His death was the thing that pushed him to join this path. Much to his luck, he did not have to respond to the Captain that turned to his sister.

"And you… Marian," the Captain smiled "I am sure that you are as skilled as your brother, and your sudden decision to join the battle shows that you have the will to fight and defend the King and his country. I must say, however, that we do not have many women in here. In fact, I am not sure we have many women at all. Well, besides some women Grey Wardens and women that are Ash Warriors…"

"How can one send his dog to fight darkspawn?"Marian dreaded the idea of her little pup fighting.

Carver sighed, he would love to have a Mabari hound and be an Ash Warrior. They were proud warriors with a rich history, and they were one of the strongest units of Fereldan fighters. His sister, as usual, was luckier, and a Mabari dog imprinted on her. Marian would not bring her 'pup', as she called him, to battle darkspawn.

"It is a war dog, sister. They are meant for battle," said Carver.

"I am sorry, Marian," the Captain said before they could begin an argument "But I am afraid we found room for you only in the cabin of some of the women Ash Warriors."

"I will be fine," muttered Maria.

The captain smiled as he handed them a piece of paper with the number of their cabins.

Marian was lying on her bed in her little cabin. The women that shared the cabin with her were out scouting with their hounds in The Korcari Wilds. She dreaded of the thought of being alone in this forest, with all these darkspawn, these abominations. But then she remembered that she will have to fight these abominations and her stomach started to ache. She rubbed her stomach with her hands, trying to calm the ache. She realized she can't stay in bed all evening and decided to go and find her brother.

The light wind brushed her hair off of her face. The evening was calm and silent, there was no sign that any battle ever occurred here, but she knew it was only a matter of days until the next horde of darkspawn will come.

She has thought of where everybody could be. The Tavern, she did remember her brother telling her of the existence of a tavern here. Not a smart idea having a tavern in the camp. Is it really necessary for a soldier to get drunk to feel safe? But Marian probably needed a drink herself right now.

She felt a hand slightly touching her shoulder,and when she turned to see who it was, she was surprised to see an elf. She assumed they did not recruit elves as soldiers, and the elf did not look like a soldier. He was almost as short as Marian, his reddish hair and clothes were covered with dirt.

He tried to gasp for breath when Marian put a hand on his shoulder "Calm down, are you alright? I am Marian, and yourself?"

Marian was surprised at how easy it was to put a hand on the elf's shoulder. It was always so difficult with her tall little brother. Younger, younger brother. She had promised not to call him little.

"Pick, I am pick," The elf finally answered. "Forgive me, my lady, I have run across all the camp. I am looking for the person I am supposed to give Ser Garlen's sword to. It isn't you, is it?"

"No, sorry," said Marian with a light smile "say, are there elves who are grey wardens?"

"There is a new recruit that will arrive tomorrow, rumors say she is an elf. Why the question?"

"Curiosity," said Marian "anyway, I am sure you have work to do. Can you point me to the tavern?"

The elf smiled and pointed his finger at the direction. He bowed his head to Marian and run away.

The first time Marian visited a tavern, it did not end well. Marian's friends took her to a tavern in Lothering for her eighteen birthday, and then one of her friends had to carry her home and be yelled at by her mother. The next times were not so bad, Marian had managed to stand the smell in the tavern, and even some of the people. She had heard stories that drunk old men told her about their life serving the king's army. It changed when Marian's father died, and she was the one who had to drag her little brother home from the tavern. She did not have to do that for long, because he had joined the army shortly after their father's death.

The tavern at Ostagar was different from the tavern at Lothering. All the men and women sitting there wore armor, they were sitting in groups and laughing together. It felt good, to see soldiers sitting together as sister and brothers, as a one big family. Marian walked around the tavern, searching for Carver.

When she saw him, he was sitting with a group of another three men, who were a few years older than him. One of them, a very tall man with golden hair, wore the Grey Wardens uniform. The other two men wore the King's army uniform like Carver.

Carver did not smile when he saw his sister. In fact, she thought he was angry, as she was interrupting him. When Carver's friends saw at who he was looking, they smiled at Marian and called her to sit with them.
Marian smiled back to them and took a chair near her brother.

"I thought I would find you here." She said to Carver.

"Thought you could sneak away from a woman, youngster? That never works." Said the one with the Grey Warden uniform.

"She is my sister." Said Carver, still wearing his 'angry face', as Marian called it.

"Older sister." Added Marian.

Carver gave her a hard look. She knew he hates it when she does that.

"You just had to put the 'older' in there?" said Carver.

"Anyway, you never told us that you have such a charming sister." Said one of the King's soldiers with a grin. He was drunk, not a nice kind of drunk like the old men that told her stories of their youth at the tavern of Lothering.
Carver gave him a hard glare, but the man haven't noticed, he was still staring at Marian. She looked away, trying not to meet his gaze.

Suddenly, the Grey Warden stood up. He was around the same age as Marian. He looked different than the other men-brave, kind, loyal, strong, he stood like a king.

This is probably the affect that the Grey Wardens have on people, thought Marian, maybe Carver should have joined the wardens.

"I am going to pick my sword from the smith. Marian, will you accompany me? Maybe the smith can prepare something useful for you, too."

She looked at the Warden and nodded at him, and when she turned to Carver and told him that she will speak with him later, he ignored her and continued staring down at his almost empty mug.