Author's Note: Was prompted for me on Tumblr: Your OTP' (Female Amell/Leliana, Female Hawke/Merrill, Male Trevelyan/Josephine) is separated from one another and spend time daydreaming about their other half. I already did Amell and Leliana, so this one's Hawke and Merrill. Trevelyan and Josie are next.

To any readers of Become the Beast: Taking a tiny hiatus from that story. Chapter 7 covers the events of Here Lies the Abyss, but I need to replay that part of the game, which is about another ten hours of gameplay away from my current playthrough. Sorry for any inconvinence.

If you wish to prompt me with any stories, please feel free to leave a review, send me a PM, or search for greyassassin24 on Tumblr and click on the prompts tab.

I prop my legs up on the coffee table in my living room, weighing my cup of piping hot tea in my hands and sinking into my strong, cushy chair and enjoying the roaring fireplace in front of me, the chill of a cold Kirkwall night melting away.

Perfect. Except maybe for Merrill's absence.

Maker, I always miss her so much at about this time of day, just like clockwork. Even though she's moved in, I don't think that she considers this her home yet. All she's brought over here is that adorable little Anthurium flower that she keeps on our nightstand.

Almost every morning she leaves to go and work on her mirror, and I usually don't see her until after sundown once she goes. Maker's breath, I almost feel like I have to make an appointment to see my beloved, having to tell her the day beforehand if I want to have dinner with her or take her with me to go and fill some mission or other. More than once I've deliberately taken her with me even when I didn't need the help, just to see my little sweetheart.

Maker, I love her so much. She's... perfect. How someone could be so utterly amazing is quite beyond me. She's fiercely intelligent, optimistic, sweet, caring, compassionate... not to mention the most adoring, devoted lover I could ever have dreamed off, not to mention had.

And utterly, utterly drop-dead gorgeous. What with her cute cheekbones, that adorable little stature, those intricate tattoos that run all down her body...

I shake my head free of such thoughts, saving them for when she comes home. The tea is still much too hot for drinking, but it feels lovely just sitting in the palm of my hand, emanating heat.

I wonder if Dad would ever have approved of me and Merrill. Probably not, he hated Blood Magic vehemently, and taught me and Bethany to detest the stuff and never so much as think about it, lest it's power drive us to unspeakable acts of selfishness and cruelty and, until I met her, I thought he was right. All I'd ever seen was evidence that the power of Blood Magic drove it's users mad.

But Merrill's nothing at all like that. She's done everything in her power to reduce the dangers of her magic as much as she possibly can, save for stopping altogether, and she's only ever used it to restore her people's history, as well as last-ditch self-defence when we're fighting for our lives. Perhaps that's that single most remarkable thing about her: I'm absolutely certain her demons have offered her unimaginable power in exchange for her mind, but she's ever used it for any personal gain whatsoever, instead using it to protect and preserve. After seeing that from her, I don't believe that there's such a thing as intrinsically evil power, just power that people use for themselves.

Just then I hear keys jingling in the locks on the door, and I set my tea aside, standing up. Considering that mom's upstairs and everyone else is asleep, there's only one person it could be. Her.

And sure enough, in comes my beloved Dalish elf, her hair frazzled and her clothes dirtied and soiled, and the wildest smile on her face. "Ma Vhenan!" She cries, hucking the set of keys in the bowl on the table beside the door. "You would not believe what happened to me on the way home! I saw the cutest little family of kittens in the Alienage, but when I stopped to see them, I must have scared the little baby kitten because he went running off into Darktown when I did, and so I went chasing after him to bring him back to his family, and when I caught him I couldn't remember the way back out, so I just started wandering. Did you know that there's a place down there where they race dogs? I don't know why, it just seems silly to me but somehow I wound up on the track when their race was starting, and I was standing in the middle of it with a baby kitten in my arms, so I just had to outrun the dogs behind me, and..." She blushed when she turned back to me from having set down her staff. "I'm rambling, sorry."

I smiled and wrap my arms around her. "Sounds like you had a full day."

She giggled and hugs me back, burying her head on my shoulders. "Oh, I haven't even gotten to the part where I got into the Grand Cleric's Airing cupboard!"

I throw my head back and laugh. "How in the world did you do that?"

"I don't know!" Her voice is excited and there's a wide smile on her face, her happiness is practically bounding her off the balls of her feet, and I smile as she stands on her little tiptoes to kiss me on the nose. "But it was exciting!"

I swear my smile is about to break my face, and I take her hand in mine. "Well, come here. I have some tea that you can have while you tell me all about it, and then maybe we'll have to get you into the bath."

Merrill smiles and takes my hand, following me into the front hall. "Only if you'll share with me."

I turn on my heel and kiss her.

"Obviously."