The Wounded Coast always looked lovely in the late afternoon. The warm sunlight gave the sand dunes a strange, ethereal glow, bestowing the beautiful coastline with even more of a wild and dangerous appearance. Hawke liked coming out here, even though its other visitors would try to kill them on sight, more often than not. There was always some kind of illegal machinations happening in its dunes, or in one of the complex sea caves spotted along the coastline. Still, that little caveat just made the place even more interesting in her opinion. There was a different murderous surprise waiting for them, every time they came; Tal-Vashoth, slavers, giant spiders. It was hard to imagine a time when one didn't get fully battle-ready for a trip to the seaside.

She glanced at her choice of travelling companion for this trip; Isabella was flicking around one of her wicked daggers while she walked, stopping occasionally, hand raised to block the sun from her eyes, to peer at one of the many shipwrecks dotted along the coast. Anders was busying himself by making sure he never missed a chance to shoot a dirty look at Fenris, whenever the elf wasn't looking. This wasn't a particularly hard task for him though, as Fenris seemed to take extra care not to acknowledge the Mage's existence today. Perhaps that was a good thing, she thought, at least a stony silence meant they weren't ripping each other to shreds.

She didn't know if she had the patience to listen to another one of their rows today, it was the first time she'd brought Fenris along on an assignment, after he'd… he'd…

NO! Nope, not thinking about that.

At least he had the courtesy to look vaguely miserable the entire time, she'd even caught him peering sadly at her before scowling and turning away.

Bastard.

Still, at least he'd agreed to come today, that was something. If they couldn't be together in THAT way, at least they could remain allies, if not friends. She would never have lived with herself if he had left Kirkwall for good because of her.

She kicked herself for brooding once again, Hawke was heartily sick of making herself miserable all the time. And if he chose to mope over their brief (very, very brief) affair? Fine, that was his prerogative. She was almost over the whole nonsense anyway.

She scolded herself for letting her mind wander back to him again. It was a lovely afternoon, and they were out on an easy job in her favourite place. Even better, Orana had been threatening to make one of her now legendary hog roasts for dinner tonight, after which she'd have a few glasses of expensive wine, sat next to a roaring fire before bed. The day had been a good one so far, and it promised even more for later.

"You know what Fenris, I can't imagine what Hawke sees in you."

…aaand there her good day went. Fenris stopped dead in his tracks;

"It is done, leave it be."

Despite her previous thoughts to the contrary, that hurt. She knew whatever it was that they had… was over, but hearing him say it finally made the lump in her throat thicken.

"Well good, I always knew she had some sense."

Anders, please do shut the fuck up.

"Do not make light of this. Leaving was the hardest thing I've ever done."

His voice seemed to crack on the last syllable, and her traitorous heart ached at the sound. Perhaps she wasn't 'almost over it'.

Why couldn't Fenris have told her how hard it was earlier? The way he'd left suddenly with little explanation, and the lack of contact afterwards, had made her believe he didn't give a damn. It was not seeing him which hurt the most. Not that the time apart seemed to bother him, he'd become a recluse again after that night. If she'd have known her invisibility would not make a difference, she would have run around screaming at the top of her voice.

The lump in her throat suddenly threatened to rise up and out her mouth as a sob. But she was made of stronger stuff than that, and she'd rot before she cried in front of him a second time. She felt Isabella's curious gaze travel over her but couldn't quite bring herself to look back.

"Oh, will you two get over yourselves? You're like two dogs around a bitch in heat."

Oh Maker NO

Fenris snapped around to face her, the tall elf hunching down slightly to threaten the buxom pirate at eye level.

"We were talking about Hawke, not you."

"Ooh, touchy today aren't we elf?"

"One more word and I'll snap you like-"

Isabella wrinkled her nose, "Like what you silly man? Like you did Hawke's heart?"

"HEY!" the three of them turned to face Hawke, faces blank in astonishment. She hadn't realised she'd screamed bloody murder until they were all staring at her. Time to shut them all up for good.

"This conversation is finished, right now. We have rogue Qunari to deal with and you guys are really starting to get on my nerves, so I suggest you all shut up and start playing nicely. Oh, and if any of you mention this, EVER again, I'll feed you all to Dog, do you understand?"

The three of them gaped a second longer while she waited, arms crossed and an eyebrow raised, as if daring them to give a smart answer back. Isabella seemed to catch up first, followed by a very cagey looking Anders. Fenris continued to stare at her, looking at once slightly dumbfounded and more than a little ashamed.

"Sorry Hawke, y'know, about the whole 'bitch in heat' thing…"

"I apologise."

"Sorry"

She sniffed loudly; "Thank you, now let's get back to it shall we?"

Hawke swept passed them, robes fluttering helplessly behind her as she strode ahead. At least Dog never commented on her pitiful state of love life. Dog would get extra roast Hog leftovers tonight, she decided, he was definitely her favourite travelling companion.