There were very few people, Fenris found, that Hawke did not like to flirt with.
One of these people was the Arishok. He had watched her with a trace of amusement as her posture straightened and head tilted up in an attempt to make herself appear taller than usual. She was nothing in comparison to the huge mass of muscle and horn that the Qunari possessed. Hawke looked tiny in comparison, so very fragile and breakable. After discovering his knowledge of the Qun, she had almost begged him to go with her whenever the Arishok called for her.
"He's so massive!" She flung her arms out to demonstrate her point as they sat in his mansion. "And that look in his eyes when I talk, it makes me feel like I'm missing out on a joke at my expense."
"You have always seemed to get on without my help in these situations." He commented, still sitting, still watching her.
"You know me well enough by now Fenris, to know when I am bluffing." She moved her feet up onto the bench, her dark blue robes brushing around her ankles. "He makes me feel like a fake."
"A fraud, you are not." He told her, he moved to take hold of the bottle he had been drinking from before she arrived and took a swig.
"Could you teach me? The basic principles of the Qun." She was looking into the fire with what she obviously thought was a face of nonchalance. Fenris felt the tug of a smile on his lips that he fought to suppress. In an attempt to distract from it; he shifted slightly and straightened his back for better posture.
"As you wish."
There it was, that blossoming smile she barely ever shared. Her face, usually contorted with a cheeky smile and a flirtatious glint in her eyes instead lit up with genuine joy that he had grown to cherish since the first time he had seen it. The way her lips curled around her teeth and accentuated her cheekbones, dimples in her cheeks, the crinkles around her eyes that formed the shadow of crows feet that would deepen in the years to come – breathtaking.
"Thank you. In the mean time though, can you keep coming with me? The Arishok is still absolutely terrifying."
"He will not hurt you." His smile was tugging at his lips, watching her so open with her emotions was a novel experience.
"Oh I know that," She waved her hand, "But... Its still nice to have you around. Comforting."
She always knew how to catch him off guard, appeal to a protective instinct that seemed prominent in all men. The way she was curled up, looking up at him through her dark locks of hair and seeming to be ever so vulnerable. Ankles crossed, arms hugging her knees and the most tender smile on her delicate features.
There were so many words he could describe her with in his mother tongue but in common he was speechless. Instead he just about found his wits enough to keep his composure and attempt to hide how the blood was rushing uncomfortably down to his groin.
The silence must have gone on too long because when he finally found words to speak she instead stood up and stretched, the grin was back on her face, she must have known how titillating that pose was.
"Well, I should get going. I'll see you in the Hanged Man tonight right?" And there it was, all confidence and flirtatious poise. He knew how to deal with that.
"I never miss it." He didn't rise as she walked out of the room, he was confident she knew her way out of the building. She waved good bye whilst walking away, careless and controlled, he wondered if even she knew what part was the act and what was real.
His ears twitched as the door downstairs shut behind her. Silence. Then, as though remembering the bottle of wine he was holding in his hand, he pressed the rim to his lips and finished off the remaining dregs of liquid.
"Sorry we're late!" It was Hawke, her robes slightly singed and a rosy flush on her cheeks. Anders was following her, looking just as burnt but grinning just as widely as she was.
"Not that sorry be judging by your expression." Isabella moved over to let Hawke sit down next to her. Varric snickered and threw a few more coins into the middle of the table.
"Nothing gets me going like learning." Hawke said, moving over to Isabella and pouting her lips as though to kiss her.
"I'll keep that in mind then." Anders told her as he sat between Varric and Aveline. She grinned and leaned over the table to grab one of the tankards that he'd bought.
"I'll never master glyphs with that attitude." The pout had returned and those dark locks of hair curling around her face made it difficult not to watch her. "I'll just keep blowing up your clinic after hours."
"I'm going to say I didn't hear that." Aveline fished for another coin from her purse and threw it in the middle again. "I'm in."
"Oh sweet Aveline you are good to me." That genuine smile flashed on her face again before it disappeared into her drink. Almost immediately she slammed the tankard onto the table and pulled on a look of absolute disgust. "Good god Anders what have you bought?"
"Pale wine." He smiled. "It was my favourite back in Amaranthine before I left the Grey Wardens."
"What happened to ale?" She asked him, looking at the glass before feeding some to Isabella. "Hey!" She stood up and tried to take the tankard back. Isabella had instead decided to pull away and attempt to drink the rest.
"Shouldn't have given me it then." Isabella tried to grab it back as Hawke snatched it back and downed what was left. "Ooh, that was clever."
"Stop laughing!" Her cheeks had gone bright red, coughing slightly as the liquid burned her throat and made her eyes water. "Oh maker..." She wiped the tears from her cheeks and slid next to Fenris. He looked over her, his lips tugging into another smile again as she rested her head on the table.
"I fold." He told them, moving his eyes away from the young woman next to him and focusing back to the game at hand.
"If you do elf, then I do too." Varric leaned back and emptied his drink. "I'm out."
Isabella looked like the cat who'd got the cream as she looked over at Aveline. The guards-captain narrowed her eyes and threw another few coins into the middle of the table, earning a low whistle from Anders and Varric.
"Bring it whore."
"You wish you could." Isabella smirked and picked up one more card, never faltering once in her expression as the two women completed the final round.
Hawke looked up through her arms and watched them finish the game. Both were sat down opposite each other; grim determination on one face, great amusement on the other. They had paused; each trying to discern the other's hand through tells and body language alone. If the atmosphere could become tense through a card game, it would have done. Still watching them; Hawke picked up the nearest drink and sipped it absent mindedly.
"Oh! Sorry." She blinked and looked at Fenris' tankard in her hand, he glanced over to see what she had done and simply shrugged, there had been no harm done.
"Ho ho ho; cheating Isabella?" Varric's voice ripped through the room causing both Fenris and Hawke to look over at the cards.
"And yet it still does her no good." Aveline smiled and collected her winnings from the table and into her purse. "Perhaps that will give you reason to at least attempt on a change in your ways."
"Don't bet on it." Isabella leaned back in her chair, letting the two hind legs bare the brunt of her weight. "You'd get bored otherwise."
Hours later and companions came and went, Anders left to open up his late night clinic and Merrill dropped in very late on account of getting lost. When Isabella had chosen to walk back with the Dalish elf, Hawke stood up and wavered slightly.
"I should also get going. Mother will be getting worried!"
"Remember tomorrow Hawke."
"Yes yes! I remember, how could I forget?" She flashed another smile at Varric. "Anything for my favourite Dwarf."
"Oh Hawke, if you were a Dwarf." He told her, fingers like steeples as he watched her from his throne like seat.
"I'd be a paragon by now!" She trilled and grabbed her staff. Fenris stood up as well, shifting in his armour as he also grabbed his great-sword and headed out to follow her quietly.
"Like a mabari." Varric said to himself, watching the pair before going down to get another ale and retire for the night.
The air was cold and a shock to the system after the humid warmth of the inn. Hawke instinctively folded her arms for warmth and shivered after pulling her hood up over her ears for some residual heat. Fenris ignored the temperature and instead fell into an easy pace next to her.
"You could have stayed you know. I wouldn't have minded." She said mildly as they climbed the stairs out of low town. He could see her breath mist under the lamp light.
"The streets are dangerous for both of us." He said, shrugging off her comment. He knew what she was getting at. The three years he'd known her, he'd learnt when she was teasing and when she was serious.
"Hm that is true, and you do glow sometimes. Can't have you walking about alone I guess."
"Indeed." He told her, pausing for a moment, there was something that had been on his mind since she had entered with Anders. "I was unaware of your... liaisons with the apostate."
"Which one? Anders?" She glanced at him and he nodded. "Well... He's circle trained, he knows a lot about healing and things I could never learn from books or papa."
"You trust him to teach you magic?" He asked her, incredulity was written all over his face. She faltered, glancing around nervously before nodding slowly. "Its not like I can pop into the Gallows and ask for advice on the matter. I'd never see anyone again, and what use is magic if it can't be used?"
"You are treading a dangerous path Hawke." He could feel his annoyance growing, he was aware she was a mage, but she was not the sort for casually flinging spells at any situation. There was no glib comment or careful distraction from the topic this time.
"I know." She still wasn't looking at him, instead watching the floor as they continued to walk through the empty streets. Their footsteps echoed around the walls, counting the length of time it took for her start speaking again. "I need a way to fight the demons in the fade, I'm strong enough for that. But.." She paused again, carefully looking at the floor as she slowly spoke her next sentence. "I can't watch anyone else die."
It would have been easy for him to tilt her head up and attempt to call her bluff. This vulnerable Hawke, so unlike how she preferred to be seen. Fenris found himself wondering how many of their friends had seen this side of her before, a swell in his chest of something he couldn't define blossomed at the thought of it just being him.
"So Anders is teaching me healing magic, and defensive spells. There are... spirits involved." She sounded careful again, but he ignored that to focus on the idiocy she was spouting. "They call heal injuries, bring people back from the brink of death..."
"Marian, I was not aware you were as stupid as the rest of them, what are you thinking?" He couldn't believe it, she was admitting to consorting with demons to him, no matter what she defined them as, he struggled to understand why she didn't recognise this has a slippery slope to her destruction.
"Its Circle approved." She protested. "Its not illegal, when it happens, they have a templar around to ensure that if the mage is possessed then they're cut down-"
"Why are you telling me this? That you are willingly submitting yourself to possession-"
"Listen to me!" She sounded so frustrated, finally looking up at him with bright eyes and Fenris realised there were tears there. "Listen to me." She paused, and he waited for her to continue, not bothering to hide how furious he was at her. "Its a risk I'm willing to take. I have nightmares... Of seeing you, seeing everyone hurt and I can't do anything about it. I only know basic healing spells, I can't just sit back knowing that I could stop it if I'd just been willing to take the risk."
She paused, running her fingers through her hair to get the wisps out of her eyes. Fenris still glared down at her, hands as balls of fists meant that his gauntlets cut into palm making him bleed. Hawke noticed and gently guided his hand upwards so she could see it more clearly, always careful not to directly touch his skin. A small tingle and the wound was gone, only drying blood to show it had ever been there.
"I want you to be the one who cuts me down." She was avoiding his gaze, suddenly the thrill of privilege in seeing her more serious, vulnerable side was wearing thin.
"Do not ask me that!" His temper was getting the better of him, he could feel his jaw beginning to clench. He had stopped walking, moving in front of her in the narrow alleyway they'd been walking in so he could address her properly.
"Well its not like I'm saying that its inevitable!" She snapped back at him, moving to see him eye to eye before quickly averting her eyes again, the intensity of his glaring was too much to handle. "But you're efficient and you know that it is necessary. Magic was created by the Maker to serve man. What better service can I provide than helping those who need it most?"
"The magisters say the same about blood magic."
"I have never used magic to kill. You know that." There was a waver in her voice and Fenris mentally cursed. He'd upset her, and now she was illuminated in the moonlight with bright, tearful eyes begging him to understand her reasoning. Worst of all, she was right, he had never seen a single offensive spell pass from her lips, using the sharp blade on her staff to kill her opponents. There was a fear, however, one he did not care to admit just yet. For once he was grateful that the alcohol in his system had depressed his temper.
"Very well, but when you do attempt it, ensure you have someone on hand." He sounded defeated but part of him wondered how much of that was acted when he felt the thrill in his chest for the smile he gave her.
"Thank you."
It took a lot of effort for the pair to move away from each other and start walking up the stairs to hightown again. This time however, they spoke of more amiable things.