Kirkwall – Twenty Eighth of Parvulis 9:31 Dragon

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Bethany watched as her sister stood at the bar in the Hanged Man, swatting away Isabela's hand in an attempt to ignore the Pirates flirting. In all honesty, she could never figure out if the Rivaini woman was genuinely interested in Marian, or if she did it simply because the older Hawke reacted so aggressively against it. It was probably an equal measure of both knowing Isabela.

"Sometimes, when I think of Hawke, it makes me sad."

She turned to Merrill with a confused frown. "Why does she make you sad?"

"Oh no, no." The elf waved her hands out emphatically. "She doesn't make me sad, what makes me sad is that I've never seen her smile. She seems so angry most of the time."

Bethany gave her a short nod in response. It was true. She hadn't seen her sister smile since Father died, not a real one anyway. There were times when the shape of her mouth appeared to be doing it, but she could tell it was for show, and Maker did she miss it.

And that anger that their companions automatically associated with her, started the same time as the smiles went, she wished that they could have seen her before everything fell apart.

"She isn't always so angry." Bethany said out loud. Maybe to reassure Merrill, or possibly to reassure her self.

"I know. I've never seen her angry with you."

"Or with you." She looked to the young elf with a soft smile. "She knows you wouldn't like it."

"Really?"

"Yes. Really." She supposed not everyone could tell the difference between Marian's 'Pissed off' mood and her 'If you don't shut up right now, this very large sword on my back will be going in one side of your head, and coming out of the other' mood. If they could tell, Anders and Fenris would never speak again.

Her sister's only real objection to Fenris was simply due to his hatred of magic, but her dislike of Anders was less about his opinion, and more to do with the almost pathological need to express said opinion as loudly, and as often as possible. There can only be so many times you hear what essentially boils down to; Mages, yay! Templars, boo! Before it stops having any actual effect.

Isabela, Varric and Aveline generally get the brunt of her anger, simply because they are the ones that shrug it off the easiest. Isabela flirts with her, or says something outrageously dirty to stop it, Varric starts telling a story, and Aveline just calls her a Tit.

Bethany wonders if why the guardsman can get away with insulting her sister so bluntly is because she's become family. They lost Carver and she lost Wesley, barely an hour apart, Mother took it upon herself to take Aveline under her wing, and the two of them grieved together. It should have been something they did as a whole, but Mother blaming Marian for Carver's hotheadedness meant that she had shut out her daughter, and Bethany couldn't have her sister feel alone, not when she needed someone. After three days on the ship from Gwaren their mother finally let her back in, but the damage was already done. Not that Marian no longer loved their mother, but a distance had been made, which after a year still had not been mended.

But it was Aveline that kept that gap from getting any wider; she took on the role of adopted daughter and sister with ease. It had long since been mere gratitude for not leaving her behind in Lothering, and her protectiveness of the family, except Gamlen of course, was occasionally overbearing, but never unwelcome.

A mug of ale slammed down onto the table, and several gulpfuls of the liquid jumped out in defence. "Must you persist Isabela?"

"Why yes, I must, you are so very adorable when you're grumpy."

"I hate you."

"No sweet thing." The pirate leaned into Marian's ear, and breathed, "I don't think you do."

Her sister grabbed the ale and took a long swig, but Bethany could see the flush on her face, and that made her want to slap the Isabela, which was ridiculous, because she adored Isabela.

"Am I adorable when I'm grumpy too?" Merrill chimed in.

The pirate laughed and leaned back in her chair. "I don't know Kitten, I've yet to see you grumpy. But if it happens, I have no doubt you will be."

Merrill gave Isabela a goofy grin, and the elf reminded Bethany of herself, years ago, when Marian paid attention to her and made her feel like she was her favourite person in the whole of Thedas. Now she barely gets a handshake, let alone any other type of affection.

Her sister finished off her drink and stood up. "We can't stay here all day, we have jobs to do."

As Bethany stood up, Isabela grabbed her arm and yanked her back down. "You know you don't have to do everything your sister says."

"I'm not doing anything I don't want to!" She snapped at the pirate, then immediately regretted it when she realised that she may still be annoyed at how Isabela can make Marian blush. "Besides, she my big sister."

"Big sister as in older, that's about all I can see Sweetness. You are the bigger person in so many other ways. You have a bigger heart…"

"I'm not sure about that." Bethany interrupted, while avoiding her sister's eye.

"I am. Bigger heart, bigger smile." Isabela held out her hands in front of her. "Bigger…"

"Isabela." Marian warned with gritted teeth.

"What? I was going to say bigger staff."

Bethany's brow furrowed. "Well of course I have a bigger staff, my sister isn't a mage." She whispered the last word.

"It's bigger than mine." Merrill said. "And much prettier. Is that a naked lady?"

Marian coughed. "Yes, well, can we get going now?" The eldest Hawke looked at Isabela. "There's a job, which means coin, and I know how much you love shiny things."

"You're right about that." The pirate slapped her thighs and stood up. "What's the job?"

"I had a letter from a trader in the Hightown market saying something about the Bone Pit."

The pirate scrunched up her face. "The Bone Pit? Uh, I don't want to go. No amount of coin is worth going there."

Marian grabbed hold of Isabela's arm, and pulled her close. Bethany could see that something was being said, but couldn't hear what. The pirate looked at her sister, then to Merrill, and sighed. "I guess we're going to the Bone Pit then!" She said with a great deal of false joviality.

With that, they all left the tavern and made their way to Hightown.


The few times they'd actually left Kirkwall, it had been a pleasant change of scenery. The wounded coast had been pretty - being attacked by rebel Qunari, not that great. Sundermount was pleasant enough - angry Dalish elves being hostile, not so much fun. So when Bethany saw the dreaded Bone Pit and it made her feel instantly miserable, so hoped that this place wouldn't have yet another long line of things that seemed to want them dead.

She was disappointed, but ultimately not that surprised when they got attacked by a large group of raiders outside of the mine. She was even less surprised by how quickly they were dispatched. No matter how much in-group bickering there was, she, Isabela, Merrill and her sister always seem to work awfully well together.

"There's the mine over there." Marian pointed to the entrance. "I'm going to check if there's anything else out here that needs killing before we go in." She turned to the rest of her companions. "But that doesn't mean you should all wander off. Stay close."

"Aye, aye Cap'n." Isabela clicked her heels together.

Marian glared at her, then rolled her eyes and stormed off and Merrill followed close behind, leaving her and the pirate walking together. She looked down at Isabela's bare arm and saw an unmistakeable hand print, then had to look away when she felt sick. When had her sister become this person? This bully? In Lothering she never bullied anyone; in fact she got into trouble more than once for sticking up for anyone who was being abused.

"It's not as bad as it looks. It's just a bruise." Isabela said.

"It looks pretty bad." She answered.

"Looks can be deceiving Sweetness. Believe me."

"How can you just ignore what she did?"

"What she did?" The pirate laughed mirthlessly. "Do you really think Hawke is such a bad person?"

"I... I don't know. That bruise you have isn't working in her favour."

"She apologised for that. She didn't grab me as hard as it looked, she's wearing her armour, it's bound to leave a mark."

"Okay, I can accept that. But what did she say to make you change your mind about coming here?"

"I didn't get where I am today by telling secrets."

"Isabela!"

"What is it with you Hawke women shouting my name?" The pirate sighed. "I'm the only one she trusts to look out for Merrill. It's all about tactics. We stay out front, while you two get the bastards from the back. If we get split up, she needs to know that someone is going to make sure she's safe."

"Why can't she make sure Merrill is safe?"

Isabela looked at her incredulously. "Because you are her priority. You are the one she's going to protect."

"And she said this to you did she?" Bethany asked the question with scepticism.

"Yes! Andraste's knickers, woman! How can you think anything else?"

"I guess I've never thought about it." She shrugged.

"Then start thinking about it." The pirate said seriously. "As much of a bitch as she can be, there is no one who I'd want watching my back more. And you, my Pretty, have it, without question. Never think that she doesn't have you at the forefront of her mind at all times, because she does. You are the luckiest girl I know." Isabela was silent for a moment, before she laughed. "Stop looking at me like that Sweetness. You'd swear I just kicked a puppy or something."

"I…"

"All clear!" Marian's voice boomed over to them.

"We found some Elfroot." Merrill added. "As well as a dead body. A deader body than the ones who are just dead. From us, I mean."

"Probably one of the miners." Bethany said, looking over to where the elf was pointing.

"That doesn't bode well." Marian scowled.

"Does that mean we can go?" The pirate asked hopefully.

"No." The older Hawke said firmly. "Whatever did this, is probably still out here."

"My point exactly. If we leave, then we won't have to deal with it." Bethany smiled at the pirate's sigh, when rather than respond to her statement, her sister just walked off in the direction of the mine. "Guess that's a 'no' then."

"Guess so."


"Oh, are we going to go that way? I've never seen a huge dragon before."

"You are in luck Kitten, because it appears that we are INDEED going to go that way."

"I'm sensing some stress in your voice Isabela." Marian smirked.

"Really? Picked up on that did you? You're not as self-absorbed as you seem then."

"Are you two actually arguing?" Bethany cut in. "Or are you both just trying to put off seeing the big dragon?" When she didn't get a response she looked to Merrill and said, "Come on, let's go. I want to see the big dragon too." Two seconds after they started in the direction of the exit, Marian and Isabela rushed in front of them.


She hadn't anticipated just how huge it would be. Yes, Flemeth had been bigger, but she was also not really a dragon. Or not entirely a dragon anyway. This one was definitely just a dragon, and it wanted to eat them.

She and Merrill stood as far back as possible while Isabela and her sister attacked it head on. It had been going better than expected, until the thing caught Marian with its claw, and she went hurtling into the stone. Bethany called out, but got no response, so she handed the elf one of her last two lyrium potions, and drunk the remaining one. "Hit it with all you can, don't hold back, Isabela's counting on you now."

"What about you?"

"Marian isn't moving."

Merrill looked at the still Hawke, her eyes widening at the sight. "Go." She said, and launched her most powerful spells onto the beast.

She rushed over to her sister, and saw there was a lot of blood coming from her head and her eyes were closed. She placed her hands over the wound and let the magic do its work. From behind her she could hear the primal screams of battle, but couldn't risk taking her eyes off of Marian.

Absolute dread gnawed at the pit of her stomach. What if this was it? What would she do? How would she cope? She was nothing without her sister. She'd been waiting for so long to see the old Marian come back, to hear her laugh again, to see that twinkle in her eye when she was about to do something impish. She shook her head and stopped thinking about what she missed and just focused all her energy on the injury. Repeating 'Maker help me' under her breath.

There was a moan and then blinking. "Hey." Her sister's voice was hoarse, but warm.

That one word brought on a relieved sigh, followed by guttural sob, then a punch on her armoured chest. "Don't do that again." After a few seconds, sounds began to drift back into her conscious, and she remembered what was going on. "I'll be right back." She told her sister, then aimed her staff at the dragon and released a bolt of lightening. The three fighters had learned from the mistake and kept on the move, it didn't have a chance against them. When it crumpled to the ground, they all gathered around a relatively upright Marian.

Bethany sat beside her sister, while Merrill just laid on the ground with a groan.

"Fancied taking a rest did you?" Isabela asked as she plopped herself down and leaned against the rock face.

"Urgh." The older Hawke managed, and then collapsed onto her sister's lap.

"It clearly wasn't beauty sleep, because you look terrible."

"That was mean Isabela."

"It's okay Kitten, Hawke knows I'm only joking."

"But I don't think now is the right time to be joking about how she looks." Merrill defended.

Bethany looked down at her sister, and brushed the hair out of her face. "I though I was going to lose you." She said quietly.

"You'll never lose me."

"Promise?"

"I promise." And Marian smiled. A real smile. To Bethany it was like a jolt to her heart, and that all too familiar pounding beat came back.

"I'm going to hold you to that."