Lyra travelled to the Free Marches on the back of a merchant caravan. She had stolen some sovereigns out of her mothers purse. Enough to pay her way across Orlais and the Waking Sea.
She arrived in Ostwick and began asking around where Bann Trevelyans mansion was. She arrived at the solid oak door and knocked feeling rather nervous. A short chubby boy with big dark eyes and light blonde hair answered the door.
"Uh... Hello is this is residence of Bann Maxwell Trevelyan?"
"Whose asking?" the little boy crossed his arms.
"Lyra Pentaghast."
"Of the Nevarran Pentaghasts?"
"One in the same."
"Your kind of young to be making political calls."
"That's none of your concern kid."
"Father" he yelled "there's a girl here to see you."He waited and there was no response "Follow me I'll just take you to his study." She stepped into the rather untidy house.
"Daren whose with you?" a slightly older boy with dark hair and the same big blue eyes as Cora, said from the balcony.
"Wilhelm, this is Lyra Pentaghast."
"Are you related to Cassandra Pentaghast?" He asked leaning over the balcony.
"Yes" she said not giving the boy any unnecessary details.
'My brothers' Lyra thought
"Father" Daren said knocking on the door to the study.
"Come in." a mans voice said from the inside.
Lyra pushed the door open and at the desk by the fire was a tall man with dark hair starting to grey at the temples and those same big blue eyes.
"Makers breath." he said looking up at Lyra. "Daren please leave us." Maxwell said standing up. Daren slipped out of the room and they waited until hey heard his footsteps fade out.
"Maker you are the very image of your mother. You even have a scar just a tad higher up on your face." Lyra felt the scar in her eyebrow.
"So you obviously know who I am."
"Yes, I knew one day you'd show up I just didn't expect it so... soon." He reached out and lay his remaining hand on her shoulder.
"I.." She started and stopped abruptly.
"This must be a lot to adjust to. Come sit. We can talk."
Lyra sat in the comfy padded chair across from her father.
"So how is your mother?"
"Well she's old now. We personally saw to that."
"We?" he looked confused.
"Myself and my little sister Cora."
"How old is Cora?"
"She is eleven."
"Is she mine? Do you know?" he did the math in his head.
"According to my mother. She said she sent you a letter when she found out she was pregnant and then another when she was born, but she thought you just ignored her."
"I would never. If I had known I would've gone back to her side." he shook his head "My wife handled my correspondence. She knew for eleven years, she knew I had another daughter out there."
"Will me being here cause problems with your wife?"
"Uh, no, she died three months ago."
"I'm sorry to hear, it must be hard on your boys."
"I was rather fond of her but I never did truly love her. The boys aren't adjusting well to her being gone."
"How old are they?"
"Wilhelm is twelve and Daren just turned eleven. They were born only fifteen months apart. You must be nearly sixteen now."
"Not until the winter."
"I never thought to ask but does your mother know you're here?"
"Uh, kind of. She told me not to go and I snuck out in the middle of the night."
"I'm surprised she hasn't sent a dozen Seekers to find you."
"I can take care of myself."
"Do you fight?"
"I'm an archer." Maxwell laughed and smiled
"I am too. That's one thing we have in common."
Lyra sat at the dining room table across from her father. Her brothers on either side of her.
"So Lyra will be staying with us for a while." Maxwell announced.
"Why?" Wilhelm asked rather annoyed.
"She is the daughter of my dear friend, she will stay until her mother comes to take her home." Wilhelm sighed and picked at his food.
"Well this will be your room, it's not the fanciest but I hope it suffices."
"Its way bigger then my room at the keep and way cozier." Lyra said surprised.
"You get comfortable I'm going to write your mother."
"Thank you, Lord Trevelyan." she said.
"You can call me Maxwell for now."
"Thank you... Maxwell."
Maxwell sat at his desk and began writing:
Lady Seeker Pentaghast,
Too formal. He tore off the top of the paper:
Cassandra,
I am writing to invite you and your daughter to visit myself and my sons at my mansion in Ostwick.
I also regretfully informing you of the unexpected passing of my wife after a brief illness.
Maxwell Trevelyan
So impersonal. He thought.
Cassandra received the letter a couple weeks later.
"Maker, she was quick to convince him to invite me." she said aloud.
"Who?" Cora asked from the chair in her mothers study.
"The Inquisitor, Maxwell Trevelyan."
"Your friend from the war?"
"He..." she paused, "was more then a friend. He was my lover."
"Your lover? You loved him?"
"It often has a different connotation."
"What?"
"He and I were, intimate."
"I really don't want to hear about this." Cora said blushing heavily.
"You do know what that means right?"
"Yes." she said looking away from Cassandra. "Lyra told me."
"Did she tell you who her father was?"
"No."
"Maxwell was her father. I conceived her sixteen years ago on Maxwell and I's last night together" Cassandra said "Did she tell you about your father?"
"No I never asked."
"Well he just invited us to his mansion."
"Lord Trevelyan is my father too?"
"Yes."
"But you just said you have seen him in sixteen years."
"I never said that. I said it was our last night together. Twelve years ago he came here and we.." she gestured her hand "and we conceived you."
"I always thought we had different fathers."
"No you are sisters through and through."
"Does my father have any other children?"
"He has two sons, they are the same age as you."
"Oh great, brothers I thought a sister was bad enough."
They left the next week on the long journey.
Lyra was in the sitting room when she heard a knock at the door.
"Daren get the door!" Maxwell shouted from the study. Daren got up from his book by the fire sighed and went to the do.
"Father!" Daren shouted. Maxwell left the study and went to the door.
"Cassandra" He announced and they embraced.
"Daren this is Cassandra Pentaghast, my companion from the war and this is her daughter. Cora is it?" Cora nodded.
"Come we will have dinner, my cook was preparing a turkey."
After dinner Cassandra joined Maxwell in his study.
"Maker, you are as beautiful as you were the day I met you."
"You are a liar, I'm an old spinster now. Your children stole my youth." Maxwell laughed.
"I'm not the most youthful anymore. Look I'm going grey."
"I am just as grey." She jested.
"But you have a good twelve years on me." He smiled and held her hand in his.
"Maker, I can't believe it's been twelve years since I last had you."
"Come to bed with me." Maxwell said grabbing her hand and lead her upstairs to his chamber.
"I just want to hold you tonight is that okay?" Cassandra said.
"Of course it has been a while, we should get reintroduced." He sat back on the bed. "Usually I get my manservant to help me undress but you can help me tonight." She undid his buttons and slid her hands across his chest leaning forward and kissing him.
"Your body is still the same as it was sixteen years ago" she said impressed.
"I haven't been the same since having my children."
"Your still beautiful" he said resting his hand on her hip. "Last we met you never told me much about how it was carrying and raising Lyra and now Cora."
"It was hard carrying them due to my age but Lyras birth wasn't especially awful. Coras on the other hand was nearly twenty-four hours long."
"How were they when they were infants?"
"Cora was an absolute delight, she takes after you, so sweet and easygoing. Lyra was a stubborn as an ox."
"Takes after you." Maxwell smiled.
"When Lyra was only a couple months old she contracted scarlet fever. She was so sick, a rash covered all of her tiny body and she had a terrible fever. I sent for a healer and they gave me a salve and said if she made it through the night she would live. I sat up all night in my chambers holding her fever racked body, applying the salve to her forehead. I just prayed to the Maker that she would live. The most precious thing in my life would live. The fever broke shortly before dawn and we finally fell asleep with her in my arms."
"Maker." Maxwell said "How did you do it?"
"My dedication to those girls is stronger then anything I've ever been a part of it my life. Including you."
"I wish I had been there."
"We can't change the past we're here now."
"Hopefully you can stay for a while."
"I hope so too." She changed into her night gown and slipped into his big feather bed next to him.
"Good night." she whispered in his ear.
"Don't leave me tonight." he said wryly.
They ate breakfast in the dining room with Daren, Cora, and Lyra. Wilhelm was noticeably absent.
"Where is your brother?" Maxwell asked Daren.
"He said he was going to spend the day in his room, he said he was doing some reading."
"Is he sick?"
"I don't think so. "
"I'll have to check on him after we eat." He looked over at Cora, who looked rather dishevelled "Did you not sleep well Cora?"
"I haven't shared a bed with Lyra in at least five years. I forgot how much she kicks and tosses and turns."
"I'll have another room made up for you then."
"Thank you Maxwell."
Maxwell went up to Wilhelm room and knocked on the door.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
"It's rather rude for you to hide up here when we have guests." He shrugged "Just come down for dinner okay."
"Okay."
At dinner that night Wilhelm came down obviously not very pleased.
"So Wilhelm, what were you reading about?" Cassandra asked trying to make conversation.
"What's it you?" he answered rudely.
"Wilhelm! Don't be so rude what's with you today?" Maxwell scolded. Wilhelm turned red and smashed his fist on the table.
"What's with you?" Wilhelm spat "Mother is only dead a few months and you've already moved your mistress into our house!"
"What are you talking about?"
"I saw you last night with her." he said pointing at Cassandra "all curled p in bed."
"What were you doing in my room?"
"I was wondering if you were still up. I wanted to ask you a question but clearly you weren't."
"Cassandra is not my mistress."
"I'm not stupid. Cora looks like me, like you and she's younger then me so you clearly went on mother. What's Lyra? Like fifteen. You were married for mother for sixteen years. So if she is yours as well its been going on a long time. They're your bastards."
Maxwell was stunned.
"Wilhelm this is not a topic of discussion at dinner." Wilhelm got up and left the table.
"Father" Daren whispered from Maxwells left."Are they really my sisters?"
"Makers breath." he rubbed his temples "We will talk about this after dinner just the two of us okay?" He nodded and hung his head.
The rest of dinner was silent. After dinner Maxwell took Daren into his study.
Cassandra and her daughters sat in the sitting room.
"I don't want to be a bastard." Cora said breaking the silence.
"It's not a very nice thing for Wilhelm to call you." Cassandra said brushing Coras bangs out of her face.
"What if you got married would we not be bastards anymore?"
"No, it doesn't work that way. He was already married when both of you were born."
"Oh" Cora said disappointed.
"It's not big deal." Lyra said "King Alistair of Ferelden is a bastard and look at him."
"But can I call him father?" Cora asked with big eyes.
"I think you can if you want to." Cassandra said rubbing her thumb on Coras cheek.
Maxwell came into the room.
"Well I just had to explain sex to my baby boy." Cora turned red.
"I don't want to hear this." Cassandra put her hands over Coras ears.
"How did he take it?" Cassandra said
"He's confused and mad at me."
"It was a long time ago." Lyra said
"They loved their mother they must think I betrayed her."
"She is the reason you didn't know about Cora she couldn't have been stellar" Lyra said.
"What?!" Cassandra said obviously getting upset,"What is she talking about Maxwell?" Maxwell sighed and rubbed his stump on his cheek.
"She took care of my correspondence she knew about Cora and threw out the notes you sent me. She knew something was going on."
"She went to her grave hating me." Cassandra said.
"I spoke of you to her only once. When I returned from the Hunterhorn mountains twelve years ago she asked me if I had ever been in love and I said it was you and to never bring it up." he sighed "It was obvious what we were up to."
"This is too much much for my delicate ears to handle." Cora said still red faced.
"Get used to it, you're going to be dodging questions about your parentage the rest of your life." Lyra said from her spot on the sofa.
"This clearly doesn't bother you Lyra" Maxwell grinned "Do you have a lover?" Lyra mimicked Cora and turned red.
"I...I..."
"Lyra has a special Seeker in her heart but he doesn't like her back." Cora inserted slyly. Lyra threw a pillow at her.
"Let's change the subject before Coras face turns permanently red. Lyra would you to see how my crossbow works?"
"Sure." she said getting up off the sofa.
"Fuck you're amazing "Maxwell grunted. He thrust harder and Cassandra gasped beneath him. He finished grunting and exhaling, collapsing on top of her.
"Maker I've long for this for years." Maxwell said panting.
"I love you." Cassandra said "I haven't told you that in sixteen years."
"I love you too" he responded "Let's get married, actually go through with it this time."
"Maxwell, the Seekers..."
"They'll be fine without you. You should retire and spend the res of our lives together."
"I will think about it."
"Our daughter is an amazing shot" Maxwell announced at a dinner a week later" Lyra out shot me all day. She was even better when I gave her my old bow."
"That was supposed to be my bow." Wilhelm scoffed.
"Uh... I have something to say." Cassandra said stumbling over her words, "Your father and I are going to be married." Wilhelm stood up and left the room. Daren looked down
"Don't get too excited now, boys." Maxwell said with a sigh. Daren began to cry.
"I don't want a new mother, I just want my mother back." Maxwell stood and lead the boy out of the room and they didn't return.
"Spoiled brats." Lyra said.
"You didn't just lose your mother. Remember that." Cassandra scolded.
They married in a private ceremony in the Ostwick Chantry shortly after. Wilhelm refused to attend. Daren attended and remained silent. A stark contrast to his smiling half sisters.
"Are we Trevelyans now?" Cora asked back at the manor.
"No." Cassandra said. "You are Pentaghasts you will always be Pentaghasts."
Months passed and Daren slowly came around to Cassandra as his new stepmother. Wilhelm continued to mope until one day it came to a head.
"Watch where you're going!" Wilhelm spat one day after Cora bumped into him and the books in his arms fell to the floor.
"I'm sorry."
"Sorry isn't going to cut it, bastard." Wilhelm shoved her and Cora punched him square in the nose.
"You're a bitch." he swore as he shoved her into wall.
"You're a prick" she shouted throwing him to the floor, dropping o her knees punching him repeatedly in the back and shoulders.
Maxwell walked down the hall.
"Makers breath what are you doing!" He grabbed Cora and pulled her off Wilhelm. He lifted Wilhelm off the floor. He was crying and his nose was bleeding profusely.
"Your bastard is a fucking psycho she just attacked me out of the blue."
"He's a liar." Cora snapped "He started it."
"You hit me first."
"You shoved me first." Wilhelm lunged toward Cora and Maxwell suck out his arm to block him.
"Wilhelm go to your room we'll have a talk in a few minutes. Cora come with me."
"Cassandra you lief when you said she took after me." Maxwell said as he entered the sitting room.
"What happened there is blood on your shirt. Are you okay?" Cassandra said alarmed.
"She's fine Wilhelm is the bloody one. Tell your mother what you did to him."
"I punched him in the nose then knocked him down and beat him."
"I am legitimately surprised." Cassandra said raising an eyebrow. "What did he do to you he obviously provoked you."
"He called me a bastard and pushed me. "Cassandra looked up at Maxwell.
"He will be apologizing." Maxwell said," I'm going to go talk to him."
"Maker Cora, it has been a very long time since you hurt anybody." Cassandra said. Lyra scoffed.
"My eyebrow has never been be same where you hit me with that jewelry box."
"He makes me so angry. He got to grow up with both his parents in a city not a boring old keep not knowing who his father was. He was raised as a future Bann." Cora said angrily.
"He's grieving. You're never lost someone you love before. I lost my mother and father when I was a little girl and the my brother. It's something you have to experience to understand." Cassandra said holding Coras shoulders rather tightly. Cora dropped her head as Maxwell came back into the room with Wilhelm in tow.
"What do you have to say?"
"I'm sorry for calling you a bastard." Wilhelm said rather unenthusiastically.
"I'm sorry for beating you" Cora said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
After that encounter Wilhelm started to slowly come around. Never really accepting Cassandra and continuing to sulk with his bad attitude but no longer picking fights with his new blended family.