Lothering – Twelfth of Ferventis, 9:27 Dragon
.
.
.
Carver threw the cards he was holding onto the makeshift table with a grunt. "You both cheat." He snarled, and then picked up his sword, sheathing it onto his back as he stood.
"Where do you think you are going Carver?" Marian demanded.
"That is none of your business Sister."
"Mother and Father told you that you were to stay here while they were in Redcliff, what if something happens?"
The implication of what her older sister meant by 'If something happens' was clear to Bethany. It was clear to all three of the siblings.
"Nothing is going to happen." Carver turned to look at his twin, his features softening a little, "Have you been doing things you shouldn't, in front of people you shouldn't?" Bethany shook her head. "There." The boy waved his arm, "No one will be coming here to take her away. And don't even think of telling Mother and Father about this, or I'll tell them about your farm girl."
Marian crossed her arms with a huff. "Fine. Don't be late."
Carver gave a short, sharp whistle, and the Mabari lifted his head from his preferred sleeping spot outside. "Come on boy." The dog's stubby tail wagged as he stood up, and made his way to the boy, drooling slightly as he went.
"Lug! Stay!" The eldest sister ordered, and the hound stopped moving, looking between the two siblings, and with his head bowed down, sluggishly went back to the rug next to his mistress.
Bethany watched as her brother strode off into the centre of the village, calling Marian a spiteful bitch as he went, and once he was out of sight, she turned her attention to her sister. "What farm girl?"
"She's no one." Marian said quickly as she picked up the cards from the table.
"Well she has to be someone, and why would Mother and Father not like her?"
"She's no one." Her sister said again, this time with a little more force.
Bethany stayed quiet for a moment, trying to think of who this girl was. She thought she knew all the friends Marian had. Most of them were boys, and the one or two that were girls, certainly weren't farm girls. She frowned when she realised Carver knew something she didn't. Which wasn't something out of the ordinary, because she found that a great deal of the things that he knew and she didn't, were not things she wanted to know, but he knew something about their sister that she didn't, and Marian told her everything.
This made Bethany very perturbed. Her sister obviously didn't want her to know, so did this mean she couldn't trust her anymore? "Tell me!"
"Bethy!" Her sister snapped, balling her fist while still holding the cards.
"What?" Bethany jumped up from the chair. "Why can't you tell me?"
"Because you don't need to know."
She spun on her heel when she felt the sting of tears in her eyes, and as she placed her hand on the door handle she said. "I thought you trusted me with everything." Then she swung the door open, letting it bounce off the wall shutting itself behind her and ran into the bedroom she shared with her sister, locking it once she was inside, and then collapsed onto her bed. She could feel the magic bubbling inside her, and pulled her pillow closer.
This was just great. Their parents weren't here to help her calm down, her brother, who resents her decided he would rather be anywhere else than with her, and the person she trusted most with her thoughts, didn't trust her at all. She might as well just walk straight into the Chantry and turn as many of them into toads as she could before those armoured bullies with swords and the will of the Maker on their side locked her away forever.
The door rattled, and was followed by a knock. "Bethy, open the door. You're overreacting."
"You're overreacting." Hearing her sister laugh didn't help matters. "I'm so glad I can amuse you Sister. You'll feel terrible about mocking me and keeping secrets from me when I'm in the Circle."
"Bethany, don't say that. You're not going to that prison. I won't let that happen."
"You wouldn't be able to stop it. You can't beat the entire Order."
"I would die trying."
The young mage stared at the door for a second, before getting off the bed, still holding onto her pillow, and stood in front of it. "Please don't die. I couldn't bare that to happen."
Bethany heard the sound of something sliding down the other side of the door, followed by a light thump. "I'm sorry for keeping secrets." Her sisters' voice was soft, and appeared to be coming from ground level.
"I'm sorry for overreacting." She replied, leaning against the wooden barrier.
"She's a girl I'm friendly with."
Bethany mused over that, having friends was never something their parents generally disapproved of, but whenever Mother said Carver was friendly with a girl, it meant much more than friends. "Friendly, as in courting?"
"I suppose."
"Oh." The sudden lurch in her stomach prevented her from saying anything more than that. She closed her eyes and leaned back. She'd never imagined her sister as the courting type, she knew Marian was beautiful, she'd attracted many admirers over the last few years, all of which her older sibling had brushed aside. So who was this girl that could turn her head? The very idea of having to share her sister made her feel… something. Anger wasn't the right word, but it seemed close. She shook her head, admonishing herself for wanting to keep her sister to herself. Marian deserved happiness, she wished she could be the reason for her happiness, but that was just plain selfish.
"Are you upset?"
Bethany wanted to say yes. "No. Of course not." She sighed, pushing herself off the door, and snorted when her sister fell back onto the floor.
"You did that on purpose." Marian grinned up at her.
"I did no such thing." She smiled back, and held out her hand, which was accepted gratefully.
Once Marian was upright she took hold of her, and Bethany heaved a happy sigh as she wrapped her arms around her sister. "Come on baby sister, let's get dinner ready."
"I'm not a baby! I'm fifteen." Bethany whined as she released her sister from their hug. "And I'm not hungry."
Marian gave her a smile and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "I know you are not really a baby. And we haven't eaten since breakfast, I could eat a rotting mule I'm so hungry."
"Sister! Was that completely necessary?"
"No. I just like seeing that cute disgusted face you pull!"
Bethany slapped her sister on the arm, and shook her head as she went to collect the vegetables from the basket. "Are we making enough for Carver too?"
"We probably should, although he doesn't deserve it. The ungrateful bastard."
"Why do you have to be so hard on him?"
"Me? Hard on him? Ha! Maybe if he didn't act like a brat, I wouldn't treat him like one."
"He's jealous that you are a better swordsman than him." Bethany tried to defend her brother, but he did make it hard for her.
"Well excuse me, and my natural talent."
She looked at her sister with a cocked eyebrow and a smirk. "He probably has no problem with that ego of yours though."
"It's healthy."
"And in no way, absolutely annoying of course."
"It isn't."
"I just said that it wasn't." She chuckled when Marian scowled and stomped her way over to the kitchen table.
"You're peeling the potatoes." The eldest Hawke said as she picked up a knife that was too large for preparing carrots.
"Yes Sister." She stifled a laugh when she heard a growl, but couldn't stop it when a slice of carrot came flying passed her.
She had found that most of her friends that had to sleep in bunk-beds, preferred to be on the top one. It may have had something to do with the hierarchy of a family, or it could be because people don't like the idea of having a dead weight directly on top of them. Bethany and Marian had the opposite mindset. Between her training with Father, and odd jobs around the village, and her sister's training with Carver and working in the mill most days, they were both usually so exhausted; the top bunk was an effort to get to. If they could be bothered, there would be a slow race to see who could get ready and make it to the bottom bed before the other, but most of the time, they just collapsed in there together.
Today had been a relatively easy one, so there was no race, and she had resigned herself to being on the top bunk. Several hours had possibly gone by, at least that's how it felt, and she still couldn't sleep. Something bothered her, and she had to find out. She climbed down the ladder, and crawled under the blankets of her sisters bed.
"Marian?" She nudged the warm body.
"What?" Came the groggy response.
"Who is this farm girl?"
Her sister looked at her with a frown, and turned her back on her. "Go to sleep Bethany."
"No. Not until you tell me."
There was a loud exhale, and Marian shifted herself to face Bethany. "It's Flora."
"Martin's sister?"
"Yes."
"As in Ser Martin? The newest Templar?"
"Yes."
"What in the Void are you thinking?" She shouted at her sister, threw the covers back from the bed and stood motionless in the middle of the room for a few moments before starting to pace. "A Templar's sister for crying out loud!"
"What is it that you think will happen? I'm going to shout out 'My sister and Father as apostates' in the middle of a conversation?"
"No!"
"Then what?"
Bethany flapped her arms, as she tried to put into words what was so wrong about this. But the only thought she could form was the word 'Because' and that probably wasn't articulate enough.
Marian got out of bed and took hold of her hands. The only light was from the half moon shining through the small window, but she could see the piercing blue eyes looking directly at her. "Bethy, I would never, ever, jeopardize my family, for anything. Not for a girl, not for coin, not even for my own life. Flora is not going to be part of this family, so you don't have to worry about her brother. It was just a bit of fun, and now I'm done."
"You don't have to do that for me."
"I'd do anything for you."
Bethany leaned forward and rested her forehead against her sisters then squeezed the hands that were still holding onto her and closed her eyes. One image ran through her mind when she did this. An image that made her heart pound in her chest. Then she felt the breath on her face, warm and sweet.
"Bethany?" Marian's voice was barely a whisper. "Are you alright?"
She nodded slightly, as that was all she could manage, because her throat had tightened and she didn't think she would be able to speak.
"Are you sure?" There was concern in the voice, so she held onto her sisters hands a little more firmly, and made a sound that could be considered an affirmative.
All the while, that same image kept worming its way into her minds eye. Marian's lips, and her lips. She attempted to control her breathing in an effort to banish the thoughts, however it didn't seem to be working.
When a loud bang came from the other room, she jumped a good five feet away from her sister, and her hands started to glow, Marian quietly picked up her sword and edged towards the door, trying to listen out for another noise.
"Lug! You are my best boy!"
The two sisters relaxed at the sound of Carver, but the eldest Hawke didn't stay relaxed for long, as she barged into the next room. "Carver, what in Maker's name do you think you are doing?"
The boy was on his hands and knees, the plate of food that she had left for him was on the floor in front of him and the Mabari was there too. He looked up at her and puffed out his cheeks. "I'm sharing my food with my favourite family member. What does it look like I'm doing?"
"You can't share your food with the anything that cleans his own arse with his tongue!"
The dog gave her a plaintive whine, and Marian shrugged. "I'm sorry handsome, but it's true." Lug wagged his tail, but continued sharing the plate of food. She turned to Bethany and rubbed her face. "I think our brother is drunk."
"I'd say that is very likely." The young mage made her way to her sister, hesitated, and then kissed her on the cheek. "Go to bed, I'll take care of him."
"No. I can't let you do that."
"You can and you will. You have to work tomorrow. It's probably best that it's me anyway, he hates me slightly less than you."
"That isn't the strongest argument, but I find that I can't disagree." Marian gave her a tired laugh and kissed her on the head, making her heart speed up again, even though she hadn't noticed slowing until now.
She made her way over to one of the chairs, and waited until the slobbering sounds had stopped before looking at them, Carver's face was covered in food, and Lug helped him clean off. She grimaced as she poured him a mug of water and handed it to him once he'd managed to stand up.
"I don't hate you at all Sister." He said, before downing the contents, and putting the mug on the table. "I need to go to bed now." Bethany took his abnormally sized arm, and draped it over her shoulder, guiding him towards his room. "Why aren't you lecturing me Bethy?"
"I don't need to."
"Oh? Why is that?"
"Because." She said, releasing him arm, and letting him drop to his bed. "From what I've heard, when you wake up tomorrow, you'll feel like an army of Darkspawn are charging around in your head."
"Ah. I think it's already started."
"Of course it has." She said, and left him to take off his own boots to go into the kitchen to fetch the bucket, the jug of water, a chair and a candle. By the time she got back, he had half made it into bed, so she put the bucket, jug and candle down beside him, lifted his legs up and draped a blanket over him. When she was satisfied that he was fine, she settled down in the chair and picked up one of his training manuals as something to. It didn't take long for her mind to wander to Marian, and for her heart to thump ferociously again. And she spent the rest of the night trying to figure out what it all meant.
Years later, she would remember this evening as the beginning of her downfall. And even if she had known that then, it would still have ended the same way.