"You could do it yourself, you know," the dwarf muttered as he finished getting dressed. "You seem to be strong enough, and that huge blade," he added, pointing to Fenris's broadsword, "would probably make them think twice before messing with you. I know it made me think twice…"

"I'd rather not make my presence felt until it's the right time," the elf replied, peeking into the street from behind the curtain. "Are you sure that they'll be there?"

"No, not really. This Meeran guy said that the one who was bound to take the job was a reliable guy, one of the Fereldan refugees living in this… lovely part of the city," Anso said with contempt.

Fenris smirked. "I'd never have thought that a dwarf would dislike this part of Kirkwall. The buildings are tall enough to make you feel like you're underground."

"Yes, but that bloody sky's always up there," the dwarf shuddered. "I still think I'm going to fall into it one of these days."

"If I were you, I'd be more wary of it falling on top of us, not the other way about," Fenris said seriously. His quip caused the effect he had aimed at: the dwarf's lyrium-blue eyes opened wide, and he muttered something like 'Paragons protect us'. "Right now you should have other concerns, Anso. Let's hope that these mercenaries don't slit your throat when they realize that this is simple subterfuge."

The dwarf swallowed hard. "Y-You'll be around, won't you? Just… Just in case?"

Fenris looked out of the window again. "I'll be around, yes."

"Are you the one who sent this message?"

Anso's startled face made the woman giggle. He looked at her. Exotic and appealing for a human. All the curves in the right place, and the barely-covered dark skin kissed by the sun… Perhaps being on the surface wasn't going to be so bad, if he could feast his eyes on women like her.

The unamused face of an impossibly tall human blocked the dwarf's view. "I asked a question, little man," the young man said in a low voice.

"I sure hope you don't call me 'little man' when I'm not around, Big Boy," another voice grunted behind the tall man.

Another dwarf, thank the Ancestors! Anso hurried to explain. "Yes! Well, no… You see, I talked to this man Meeran and he promised to find me some suitable people for the job, so he sent the message, I suppose?" He looked at the group in front of him. They seemed capable enough. The tall man's arms were impressive; muscular and lean, the human looked like the leader.

"Fair enough," the man said, as he extended his hand. "My name's Carver. These are my associates, Varric and Isabela. Should I take somebody else along for this job?"

"The three of you will do," Anso replied, his eyes darting from the dwarf to the exotic woman. "It's… You need to recover a shipment from a house in the alienage. It's the house marked with this symbol." He showed them a piece of parchment with a creature that looked like a deer on it.

"Three people to recover a shipment? How heavy is it?" Varric sneered.

"It's not about the weight I'm concerned about," Isabela said, raising an eyebrow. "It's the 'recovery' part. What will we find there?"

Shit, Anso thought. The bloody elf didn't pay me enough to improvise. He cleared his throat and ventured, "Possibly a group of smugglers?"

"I thought so," Isabela sighed.

Anso breathed out, relieved to see that he had chosen the right answer. "Will you do it, then? Or should I ask Meeran to find someone else?"

"Oh, we will do it, as long as you pay up front," Carver said, crossing his arms over his broad chest. Anso managed to suppress a grunt and gave him a sovereign.

"The other one… You'll get it when you return," he said.

"Wait a minute… This was all a set-up?" Carver's blue eyes looked furious in the moonlight. "Why would you do that?"

"Would you have helped me if I had shown up in that alley, instead of Anso?" Fenris asked.

"I know I would have," Isabela purred, sizing Fenris up with her amber eyes. The elf blushed.

"Why not, elf?" Varric said, a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Anything was better than getting us killed over nothing!"

Fenris let out a deep breath. "I apologize. I haven't met many people I could trust. Anso agreed to be my contact and I thought it was better to let him deal with this. Besides, I doubt many sane people would be willing to help if I mentioned that I'm being hunted by a Tevinter magister."

"A mage?" Carver frowned.

"More than that. Magisters are powerful in ways that mages are not, and they won't hesitate to resort to blood magic if the need arises…" Fenris felt his disgust increase at the mere thought of the ways of his Master. Was he ready to confront Danarius, once and for all? He was so tired of hiding… Even if he got killed… At least it would give him the freedom that he'd yearned for since they'd last met. "Not just a mage, but my… My owner," he grunted as he knelt down next to the body of the man he'd just killed to see if he had any information. He found a note and gave it to Varric, in an almost dismissive way.

"What's this?" the dwarf muttered. "Ooh, Hightown… I know this place. Your master must be a rich man."

"He's certainly got piles of gold smeared with the blood of his slaves," Fenris murmured, thankful that the dwarf hadn't questioned why he hadn't read the note himself.

"We will help," Isabela nodded.

"Hold on." Carver's hesitation was palpable, even before he'd opened his mouth. "What will we find there? This man must have guards. Can we take him on, on our own? Maybe we should talk to Aveline…"

"Awww… Are you afraid of a good challenge, little man?" Varric mocked.

"Expect dirty magical traps. Look, I…" Fenris breathed in. "I'm in no position to offer you some great reward for this, but if we survive, whatever we find in the house can be yours." He looked at the party of three, whose eyes had never parted from him. "Can I… Can I count on you?"

Carver seemed to consider something. After a moment that felt like an eternity to Fenris, he nodded. "We'll meet you there." As soon as he'd said this, the elf dashed up the stairs, away from the alienage and into the night.

"He could have at least said 'thank you'," Varric grumbled.

"If we come out of this alive, I'll let him thank me for this in oh so many ways," Isabela grinned in anticipation, making her two companions groan and roll their eyes. "So, what will it be? Will you ask Manhands to come with us?"

"If Aveline hears you calling her like that, she'll deep-throat you with that sword of hers," Varric observed, checking the number of bolts he had left.

"No, not Aveline," Carver said slowly. "My sister."

Hiding again. Would that ever end? Sometimes he wondered if other slaves felt the same way he did. The ones he had met had never expressed such desire. But slaves didn't often talk about freedom. Fenris thought they didn't even want to think about it, for fear that their Masters would read their minds.

He watched the house for movement, but it looked quiet, except for a dim light in one of the rooms upstairs. He could smell the trap from where he was, and he knew that if he went in alone, he wouldn't make it to the dimly-lit chamber. Still, he couldn't blame the others if they decided not to help him out…

"There you are," Carver murmured. "I was starting to think that you'd leave us on our own."

As Fenris got closer, he saw a fourth person in the party. "Who's this?" he asked, mistrustfully.

"This is my sister, Irina," Carver introduced her. The young woman looked up at Fenris but she didn't smile or say a word. She was obviously younger than Carver, and standing next to her brother, she looked insignificant.

"She doesn't look like she can handle this," Fenris arched an eyebrow.

Irina looked at her brother uncomfortably. "Carver…" she mumbled.

"It's alright. Irya is more useful than she looks, trust me." He took a look at the manor. "Is that it?" he asked Fenris, who nodded. "Irya? What do you think?"

Irina walked to the manor. Fenris cast a nervous glance at Carver, whose eyes followed his sister's petite body. She stood there for a long minute and when she was ready, she turned to her brother.

"There's nobody there," she said in a calm tone.

"What do you mean?" Fenris growled. "He has to be there!" His anger made him dash past the little woman and he kicked the door open. "Danarius!" he shouted. "Can you hear me?! I'm coming after you!"

They were more skilled than he'd thought. The pirate woman was fast and she was not afraid of the Shades that threatened to rip them apart. The dwarf had got him out of trouble with more than one shot of his strange contraption, and the human's physique was a great advantage – his blows were unerring and powerful, and Fenris felt comfortable around him, as if he was back among the Fog Warriors.

The little woman, however… It was a mystery how she could lift that spear of hers. It was a strange weapon; the blunt side was covered with what seemed to be some kind of clay, but the sharp side… He'd seen her protect herself rather effectively against a group of Shades using that pointy end.

But then the Demon had emerged, and she had screamed. Fenris was used to seeing those beings – Danarius always kept him around when he experimented on the weaker mages, trying to merge them with the foul spirits and turn them into abominations that he'd be able to control. This demon looked no different. He took a quick look at her brother, but Carver and Isabela were dealing with another entity, and Varric was keeping some other things at bay. He grunted and lunged forward, but before his sword could go through the monster, it disappeared.

"Where'd it go?" he yelled at a scared Irina, who was shaking from head to toes. Her cowl had fallen off and he saw her terrified eyes looking past him. He turned around just in time to avoid the Demon's grasp, but he fell on his back while doing so. The Demon raised its fiery clutch and Fenris braced himself against the blow, but a sparkle behind him caught his attention.

Irina's left hand was enveloped in a sphere of sparks that tugged at his very core. He felt his markings glow in resonance with her spirit energy, and he saw her imprison the Demon in that light. Soon, her brother and his companions were at it, and Fenris got back on his feet, watching her cast her spell and become more and more potent by the second...

"She's a witch," Fenris spat. "And you brought her to a place infested with demons. It could have turned out very badly," he scowled at her. She flinched and stood at the back near Isabela. As she put the cowl back on, Fenris saw her blinking away some tears.

"Hey, you watch what you say!" Carver grunted. "This is my sister you're talking about!"

Fenris breathed in and out slowly. "I'm sorry. I do not wish to appear ungrateful, but–" He looked at Irina. "I apologize."

Irina shook her head. "I understand," she just said, and then she turned to her brother. "Can we go home now?" Carver nodded. He'd already taken what he'd found in the mansion and there was nothing else that Fenris could offer him.

"Stay safe," Carver said seriously. He took his sister's hand in his and started to go down the steps towards the Chantry district, when Fenris's voice called after him.

"Wait!" the elf said. He stood there self-consciously; being observed by several pairs of eyes reminded him of the times when he'd been paraded for the bloody magisters. He cleared his throat. "If there's something I can… If you ever need help with this 'mercenary' business… I'm available."

"The man you were after is not here," Varric said. "Why would you stay?"

Fenris looked at them for a while and snorted. All of them were actually waiting for an answer. He sighed discreetly.

"I have nowhere else to go," he admitted.

In the moonlight, he saw the four of them standing together, in unity. He felt a little envious and wondered if he'd ever find a place in a group with others. He'd had it once, and he'd lost it.

"Meet me at the Hanged Man tomorrow, elf," Varric said. "We'll see what we can do."
Fenris nodded but remained silent.

As the party walked away, Varric grunted, "I didn't hear a 'thank you' either, this time."

"Do you do things so that people thank you, Varric?" Isabela chuckled.

"No, but it's nice to hear that every now and then," the dwarf said, bobbing his head.

"I don't think he's used to saying it," Irina muttered.

"What did you say, dolly?" Isabela asked, looking back at her mousy companion.

But Irina shook her head and remained silent. As she held onto her brother's arm, she looked back one more time, only to see the elf still standing at the top of the stairs, alone in the moonlight.

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A/N: the title of this story comes from the song "Silver Blue" by Roxette. Every chapter will be named after some words in each of the lines of the song. I think this is actually the first time that I've written some in-game Fenris, and to be honest, I'm doing it mostly to connect with the character.

If you're reading this, thank you for spending some time here!