A/N: This is technically my third Dragon Age story, I did a few one-shots for Dragon Age: Origins and decided I wanted to try and meld DAO anf DA2 together. I normally write Harry Potter stories so I am not quite used to this style of writing, but any reviews will be greatly appreciated!
"Hey Hawke, I have a wonder..." The dusky pirate asks as she runs her hand up the bare arm of the rogue walking beside her.
"Yes Isabela?" The rogue shivers with anticipation of what is to come at the mere touch of Isabela.
"Why in hell, has Lady Man-Hands asked us to come here? Is the big bad guard captain afraid to come out to the Wounded Coast to retrieve a package? Or are her guards to lazy to handle such a trivial task?"
Marian stifles a giggle, "Now, Bela... you know the reason why Aveline has asked us to come out here. The guards are too busy playing babysitter to the templars to come all the way out to the Wounded Coast. And besides we were bored. Orisino is too afraid to come out of his room, for fear that Meredith will flay him alive, to give us a job to do." Hawke kicks at a rock in the middle of the path. "Who knows maybe we will find treasure?"
"Ooo... I do like treasure! But, there are other things I could be doing right now..." A devilish grins plays across the pirate's face, causing the Champion to stop in her tracks.
"What kind of other things?" Marian smiles goofily as she thinks of all the things Isabela is referring to.
"Like drinking at the Hanged Man of course!" Isabela laughs as Hawke's face fell, "Aww, sweet thing you know I am only joking with you. You are the only thing I wish I was doing right now." Isabela moves closer to Marian wrapping her arms around the rogue's neck. "Maybe we can make a little detour right now and pick up the package a little later. Big girl doesn't have to know the reason why we are a little late. We could just say that we ran into some bandits along the way and she would be none the wiser." The pirate starts trailing kisses across the other woman's neck, causing her to shiver again.
"B-but, what about Merrill?" Hawke stutters out as she feels her body giving in to the pleasure she was receiving.
"Where did Kitten run off to? Last time I saw her she was chasing a butterfly further ahead of us."
As if right on time the blood mage ran towards the two women who were still on the verge of a full make-out session, "Hawke! Isabela! I-it's the Corterie! There are about twenty-five of them and they are this way!" Merrill gasps as she doubles over to catch her breath.
"Shit!" Isabela swears as she moves quickly away from Marian. "That's why Big Girl didn't want to send her men here, the damned Corterie would tear them to bits! Now she wants us to go after a bloody package and we take the axe to the back... or sword or whatever these gits carry with them!"
"Now Isabela... Aveline probably didn't know they would be here. She would never want us to get hurt, would she?"
"No Kitten, she wouldn't. I'm just a little upset is all, this was supposed to be a easy job. Now, it has turned into a bit of a problem. Hawke, we should have brought the others with us just in case something like this was to happen." Isabela states as she unsheathes her daggers and faces the part of the path that Merrill had just ran from. "Kitten, how about making your way to that patch of boulders there. I don't want to have to worry about you while these bandits try to attack us."
The little elf nods her head in agreement and runs towards the location she was told to go to, silently building energy for a spell to give the mercenaries a nice little surprise.
"I never seen you care for someone as much as you do Merrill, Bela." Marian states as she pulls her own daggers out of their sheathes. "I think I should feel a bit jealous."
"Oh come off it Hawke! You know everyone in our group has to watch out for Kitten and Sunshine, otherwise you would gut us in our sleep!" The pirate's eyes widen as she sees the first two Corterie members appear at the top of the hill. "Can we have this conversation after we kill the bad guys?"
"That sounds like the best plan I have heard in a long time." Marian replies with a smile as she throws a miasmic flask at the two bandits, causing them to cough and sputter, leaving them helpless to Isablea's opening attack.
The scourge of the seas quickly decimated the two men before the cloud of smoke dispersed, "If they come like this, two at a time, we will have no problem ridding ourselves from their poor judge in attack."
As soon as the words came forth from Isabela's mouth the rest of the Corterie tramped down the hill. "Spoke too soon my love!" Hawke yells out as she dives out of the way of a large axe that an equally large man was carrying. "Next time, why don't you give them tactical advice before they ambush us?"
"Of course! That is exactly what I am doing... I am channelling my energy to them and giving them every opportunity to cause us bodily harm." Isabela retorts as she kicks the man with the axe in the groin, causing him to drop to his knees with a scream. In one swift movement, the pirate's dagger slit the downed man's throat then was quickly released from her hand, sheathing itself in the back of a female bandit who was nearing Merill with short sword ready to stab the mage in the back. "Kitten, I know I told you to keep safe over there... but for the love of anything can you give us a bit of a hand?"
"Oh, of course Isabela. I just got so excited watching you two fight that I lost focus. It is almost like watching a dance!"
"Of course it is..." Hawke grumbles as she wrentches her dagger out of the shield of one of her attackers. 'Maker's Breath! Isabela was right we should have brought extra people with us on this trek... I thought we wouldn't have any trouble considering everyone is running scared with this whole templar versus mage shit. Where is another apostate when you need them?' She thinks to herself as fatigue starts to settle in.
Almost as is by magic, emerging from the inky blackness of despair, another hero appeared much to the wanton hatred of the mercenaries that had took notice. Daggers flashing in the summer sun, sheathing themselves in the unprotective skin of the bandit's necks and between the hinges of their cheap plated armour. Five more of his men fell before the leader of the band of Corterie knew what was going on, "Archers! On the flank!" He yells out as two more of his men fell to their deaths, each with their throats slit open.
'Bollocks! There's more of them?' Marian thinks to herself yet again as she watched in amazement at their new-found help. The mysterious rogue disappeared in a cloud of smoke from the flask that had been thrown by said rogue.
"Where the hell did that person go?" Marian asks as she throws one of her daggers at one of the archers, who was aiming at Merrill, dropping yet another mercenary to the ground.
"I don't know Hawke, but I do like their style. But a bit on the short side if you ask me." Isabela replies as she backstabs another member of the Corterie, that had become disoriented from a spell that Merrill had cast.
A loud whistle from the edge of a small wooden area drew everyone on the battlefield's attention. Suddenly, a barrage of arrows cover the field dropping the remaining mercenaries
Marian looks around at the bodies that littered the ground; 'Who in Andraste's name was that?' she thinks to herself as she cleans off her daggers, waiting for their mystery saviour to reveal themselves. She didn't have to wait long, for two cloaked figures emerge into the clearing. "Thanks for the help back there. I didn't realise there would have been that many of the Corterie out this far."
"It was no problem." The taller of the two spoke, feminine and obviously Orlesian. She removed her hood and bright red hair shone in the sunlight.
"Sister Nightingale?" Marian asks, clearly confused by the sight of the woman she had met a couple of weeks prior.
"Why is this shem calling you 'Sister Nightingale,' Leliana?" The other hooded figure asks as she pulls her hood down, revealing short sandy hair and elaborate facial tattoos.
"Lyna!" Merrill cries out, running towards the other elf. The blood mage wraps her arms around the rogue in a fierce hug. "I should have known it was you. I thought I would never see you again after you left with the Wardens. Keeper Marethari told me to forget about looking for you after you fought the Archdemon, but I couldn't I tried finding ways to contact you but every trail I took went cold."
"Andaran atish'an, Merrill." Lyna returns the hug from the other elf before speaking again. "I can understand why the Keeper did not wish for you to find me... I was gone for some time trying to help clear out these bands of strange Darkspawn that could talk in Armaranthine, that I didn't have time for anything else really. Then after that I had to find Leliana here in Kirkwall. Oh... speaking of which, I want to introduce you to someone who has become very special to me..."
"Oh! So it is true... Our Lyna fell for an Orlesian shem! Wow, I would have never expected that from you, especially the way you would talk about shemlen before you left!"
"It took some time, but... I believe we got past our differences." Leliana says as she places a comforting hand on Lyna's shoulder, causing the elf to blush.
The three women continue talking while Marian and Isabela begin to loot the bodies of the deceased Corterie. "So... Isabela?"
"Yes sweet thing?"
"That is the Hero of Ferelden that you told me about? I thought that she was ten feet tall and shot lightning out her eyes?"
"I never said that... but, I guess that is what the Darkspawn thought about her... Wait, you're jealous again aren't you?"
"No." Marian replies quickly and turns her head so the pirate can't see the blush spreading across her cheeks.
"Aww, how cute! You are jealous! You have nothing to worry about sweet thing. I mean she was good... really good; but, you are a hundred times better." Isabela purrs into the Champion's ear.
"Hawke! Isabela! Come meet my clan mate!" Merrill yells out happily, jumping up and down with the energy of a four-year old.
"This is going to be awkward." Isabela mutters to herself as she sees the look of recognition cross Leliana's face, causing the normally playful blue eyes to darken in suspicion.
Once Marian and the Rivaini made their way over to the three other women, the elfin blood mage started on the introductions. "Hawke, I know you have met Sister Nightingale, I mean Leliana before in the Chantry at Kirkwall..."
"Now that I hear your real name, I believe we have met before Sister Leliana... in Lothering." Marian smiles as she remembers the woman before her, 'Bethany would have an absolute fit if she weren't trapped in the Circle right now. I remember how much of a crush she had on this particular lay sister.'
Leliana's eyes lit up upon the hearing of Lothering, "Wait... you're Leandra's daughter, are you not?" Hawke nods her head and smiles. "How is your younger sister? Bethany was her name, no? It has been so long since I have been away from the Chantry in Lothering that I may have forgotten some people's names."
"No, you are right... Bethany is doing pretty good considering they have her locked up in the Gallows."
"What in bloody hell is the Gallows?" Lyna asks irritably, hating the fact that this so-called Champion knew her Leliana before she did and also disliking the fact that she noticed that Isabela was also with the other two women she and her bard had rescued.
Merrill and Leliana both place a hand on Lyna's shoulders, both knowing from her tone of voice that she was rather jealous of the fact that Marian was smiling more and more in the direction of the red-haired bard. "The Gallows is a horrible place, where they keep all the mages locked up tighter than a Chantry sister's knickers." Isabela says out of nowhere, causing everyone to turn and face her. "What? It's true! I mean seriously how many Sisters in the Chantry do you know that would willing pull their bloomers down for anyone to have their way with them? I guess present company excluded." The pirate says with a snicker.
The bard's eyes darken again, "I have you know, I never took the vows. And I never as you say, 'dropped my knickers down' for anyone save for one person in fifteen years... Captain Isabela!" The name was spat from Leliana's mouth as if it were poison.
"Oooo, I'm all a quiver." Isabela rolls her eyes. "I guess it took you long enough to realise what you had wanted was right in front of you eyes the whole time, but alas... you were too caught up with your Maker to notice her until someone else had taken an interest in her. But I digress... I am not here to take away your little Hero," The pirate slides her arm around Hawke's waist and pulls her closer. "I have my own Champion that keeps me up until the wee hours of the morning."
Lyna looks around at the women around her, wishing she could crawl into a hole like she had done before in the Fade. Not only was she standing right beside the love of her life, the pirate queen she had slept with just to learn how to duel and also to make Leliana a bit jealous, and the woman who was now the centre of the attention of said pirate; but, she also had the first person she had ever made love to standing on the other side of her acting as if nothing ever happened and no one else was the wiser. Clearing her throat to gain everyone's attention, who seemed to have been ignoring her since the whole spat between the bard and the pirate started, she finally spoke. "Yeah, I have heard a lot about you Serah Hawke. I am glad I was able to pull your arse out of the fire. But Leliana and I have a bit of business to attend to in Ostwick. Maybe if time permits and the troubles that I hear coming out of Kirkwall haven't exploded out of control yet, we will meet again and hopefully under better circumstances.
Lyna and Leliana walk away after the Dalish woman gave Merrill another quick hug, leaving the other three women staring in the direction they left. Hawke turns to Isabela and crosses her arms in front of her chest, "So Bela... why in bloody hell did you have to start up that Chantry Sister like that?"
Isabela shrugs her shoulder and peers out towards the sea, "I don't know... I guess when I first met her I thought she was a little good girl, who always got what she wanted. And I always knew that what me and the Hero did got under her skin but she was too much of a saint to do anything about it. And you know me Hawke, I don't like when people think they are better than me."
"Is that all?" Marian prods, unconvinced of the pirate's answer.
"By Andraste's flaming knickers, Marian!" Isabela throws her arms up in the air. "Okay, okay you win. I was a bit jealous at how you were ogling that bard."
The Champion snorted, "Really Bela? I wasn't ogling her... I was just remembering how much of a crush Bethany had on the woman. If you wanted to see ogling, we should have tried to see we could have had Bethany with us. We would have had to put her eyes back into her head before we could move out again. Now come on, let's get out of here before more bloody mercs come after us." Marian and Isabela continue walking down the path towards where Aveline said the package would be located, calling out to Merrill when they noticed the lithe elf was not following.
Merrill is startled out of her memories from the past, as she stares down the path the first two women had left down. Wiping away a solitary tear that had found its way down her cheek, she casts one look over her shoulder to make sure neither Hawke nor the pirate were close enough to hear her. "Fear not, emma lath. I never forgot what you meant to me." Merrill murmurs before turning on her heel and heading down the path to catch up to her friends.
Final note: For the readers who may not know a lot of the Dalish elf vernacular the phrase... emma lath means my love.
