Welcome to my new chapter! Now we are in Thedas, and the story will follow the Dragon Age canon now. Marian Hawke is a rogue with the default appearance. Mostly a helpful person. The backstory for Dragon Age:Origins is the default Hero of Ferelden. Hope you enjoy, and as usual feel free to review, favourite or follow!

Marian Hawke walked down the steps from the Viscount's Keep; if she managed to rescue the Viscount's son from the Qunari, she would have enough sovereigns to get on to the Deep Roads expedition. Bethany would finally be safe, and mother would get the home she wanted since they arrived from Lothering.

"Hawke, the Wounded Coast is a dangerous place to go, and I didn't like the look of that mercenary woman. We'd best go quickly," Aveline spoke, as she strode beside Marian.

Marian turned to look at her friend. They met while escaping the blight. Although they didn't get on well at first, they bonded during their first year of servitude after the deaths of Aveline's husband and Marian's little brother. As the Guard-Captain, Aveline took her responsibilities seriously with an unshaken loyalty. "You are right Aveline, but first I want to pick up Varric and Bethany before we head off."

Aveline nodded her agreement. "Good. Varric would be helpful and it would be a good idea to get Bethany out of Kirkwall for a bit. Your uncle's house must be stifling for her."

Marian groaned as she thought about Gamlen. For all mother's talk of the riches and respect that her family had in Kirkwall, it turned out that their uncle had wasted the family's fortune until they didn't have two coins to rub together. He had even sold the Amell estate to slavers! She had seen him spending the few bits of gold that she hadn't been able to hide in the Blooming Rose! It was very irritating to Marian; she missed the farmhouse they had in Lothering, it was comfortable and quiet and they made an honest living off the land. Here, Kirkwall felt more like a hive of angry wasps just waiting to swarm with the Qunari in the Docks, Ferelden refugees desperate for work and mages fighting the Templars.

The two women walked towards Lowtown, with Aveline greeting the guards on duty along the way. Eventually they reached the Hanged Man – one of the most infamous inns in the city, the other being the Blooming Rose in Hightown. As they entered, the smell of stale beer and old vomit hit them; this had been the scene of many a drunken brawl, of which Marian the smuggler used to be a part of. After their year of servitude, Marian and Bethany avoided the taverns for a while for the rumours to die down, now they were welcomed like any other patron. The conversations in the bar hushed when the patrons saw Aveline – nobody wanted to get into trouble with the city guard anymore since she took over. However Marian and Aveline ignored the looks that they were given, and climbed the stairs to Varric's suite.

Varric was lounging in one of the chairs in his room with a pint of ale in his hand when the women entered. The dwarf was well connected with a keen mind, but came across as a storyteller and a slacker to most people. In fact, it was Varric that had the idea of becoming partners on the expedition after his brother rejected the Hawke siblings as hired hands. Marian quickly bonded with Varric over a shared sarcastic sense of humour, but often became irritated when he spontaneously narrated her actions occasionally.

"Ah. Good to see you Hawke. What trouble are we getting into today? Or is this purely a social visit?" Varric greeted.

"Hey Varric. We have a job on the Wounded Coast – rescuing the Viscount's son. We'll get paid five sovereigns if we're successful. Want to come?" Marian said.

"Come on Hawke, when have you known me to refuse? I don't like nature, but I'll come along if there's coin involved." Varric stood up, and lovingly picked up his crossbow from its stand. "Let's go Bianca."

Marian said, "Your attachment to Bianca is something that I'll never understand. Still, time is wasting. I'd like to pick up Bethany and then we'll head out."

"Sure thing Hawke," said Varric as they moved to leave the Hanged Man.

Bethany was polishing her staff when Marian entered Gamlen's house. The two siblings were on good terms with each other, although Bethany was becoming a bit more distant towards Marian since they arrived at Kirkwall.

Marian guessed that it was the stress of being in a place with a large number of templars. Their father had always warned them about the ruthlessness of the Templar order when tracking apostates. He originally came from the Circle here, but he escaped to elope with their mother - for while she was disowned, until the siblings found their grandparents will which showed that they forgave her everything. In Lothering, they lived some distance away from the village, so the chances of coming across a templar were small. Here however, the Gallows hung menacingly over most of the town. Marian never liked the templars either, to her they were suspicious busy bodies prodding their noses into everyone's business.

"Hi Bethany, we're headed out to the Wounded Coast. Do you want to come?" Marian said.

"Alright, I think that I've polished this staff enough times already." Bethany stood up, putting her staff on her back and adjusting her robes. "Who's coming with us?"

"Varric and Aveline, they're just waiting outside. Is mother around? I'd like to tell her where we're going." Marian asked as she picked up her two daggers from her corner of the room, and checked her leather armour.

"She left to visit an old friend of hers, and Gamlen is out again." Bethany replied.

"Probably he's back at the Blooming Rose... Okay, I'll just leave a note for her then." Marian said as she walked over to the desk to write the note. "We'll probably get back after mum returns, and we don't want her to worry. Come on."

"Maker knows that she has enough to worry about with me." Bethany muttered to herself as the two sisters left the house. Marian looked at her sister worriedly, Bethany was feeling more guilty about her magic everyday and the risks that her family took to keep her safe. Marian never really cared for the risks - she would feel worse if Bethany was taken to the Circle and never came into contact with her family again, family was one of the few things that mattered to her.

The Wounded Coast was a hostile place even by Kirkwall's standards. Bandits were likely to jump out at you from nowhere from the sides of the path, and ever since the Qunari were stranded here, hostile Tal-Vashoth had made camp here. The small group that entered were knowingly cautious about coming to this place - Hawke and her band had been a more than a few scraps here.

"So Hawke, where should we look first?" Varric said.

"There's a little cove along the path to the left. My guards report that there are sometimes bandits hiding over there. If the Viscount's son and his captor were hiding from other people, that's likely where they would go." Aveline said.

Bethany looked down on the sandy ground. "There appear to be footprints heading off into that direction anyway."

"You know, you would make a good rogue Sunshine," Varric smiled. "You should let me teach you."

Marian listened to this banter with a smile; Varric, Bethany and Aveline always seemed to get on well with each other."Alright, to the left it is then," she said as she started to walk. The others quickly followed her.

As they walked along the path, Marian heard a small moan coming from a path leading to a dead end. She stopped and turned to her companions in confusion, "Did any of you hear anything?"

Bethany and Aveline shook their heads, but Varric nodded. "Yeah, I did hear something. Don't know what it is though."

Marian heard the moan again, but slightly louder followed by some muttered swears. It seemed to a woman's voice.

"I heard it too. It seems to be coming from that dead end," Aveline spoke, pointing at a path to the left.

"Should we go and look?" Bethany said worriedly.

Marian thought for a moment, "Alright, after all what's the worst that could happen?"

"Well, it could be a hung-over bandit..." Varric said nonchalantly as Marian and Bethany walked off the path to the dead end. Aveline and Varric looked at each other for a moment, but then Varric shrugged and they both followed.

It wasn't long until Marian had found the source of the noise. She and Bethany came across the body of a woman lying on her stomach. She was wearing leather armour, with dark brown hair peeking out from her hood. On her belt was an ordinary steel longsword, but its design was intricate with knots. She was still moaning in pain and swearing slightly under her breath.

Marian looked at this woman in distrust. She didn't look like a bandit, but her armour and sword was nothing like anything she had seen before. She was also wearing a backpack which looked as if it was full to bursting - who needed that much supplies?

"Bethany, can you see what's wrong with her?" Marian said as she kept her eyes on this stranger.

"Well, I'm not as good as Anders, but I'll give it a go."

Bethany held her hands over the body, and a familiar warm light came to her as she examined the woman; creation magic was one of the things that her father was most passionate about. He used to say, "it doesn't matter how many blood mages there are, people will still accept a mage if they can heal and protect the people that they care about". While scanning the woman's body for any fresh wounds, she noticed that there were a great deal of scars and partially healed wounds that probably came from fights - this person was aggressive if she managed to get this many scars.

"It just seems to be a concussion, nothing too serious. She has a lot of partially healed wounds though, evidence that she's been in a lot of fights. Should we try and get her up so I can heal her?"

"Alright, Aveline can you help? Keep your sword handy in case she tries anything. Varric, cover her with Bianca just in case she tries to attack us," Marian said as she turned towards the two figures walking down the path. "As for you Bethany, perhaps you had better keep out of her sight for the time being. If she tries anything, hit her with a cold spell - it'll slow her down."

"Right you are Hawke," Varric replied as he unslung his crossbow from his back and aimed it at the stranger.

Bethany simply nodded and moved behind a tree.

Aveline strode over and shook the figure's shoulder as Marian watched for any sudden moves. The figure moved slowly, as she rolled over onto her back

"W-what? Who's there?" Said the stranger as her opened her eyes, revealing them to be a gray colour. She slowly lifted her hands to her head. "Argh, my head... It feels as if a cart horse has just run me over after one too many meads." She lifted up her head and looked around for the first time. "Where am I?"

Marian got down onto the ground and spoke soothingly to her. In this state, this woman didn't seem too angry, more vulnerable "My name is Hawke, and this is Aveline. We just found you here. As for where you are, you're on the Wounded Coast."

"The Wounded Coast? I can't say that I've heard of it." The stranger replied. 'Thank the Divines, they speak the common tongue,' she thought.

"Kirkwall? The Free Marches? Any of those places seem familiar?" Aveline questioned.

"No."

The group looked at her in disbelief. Marian was at best doubtful about this. Either this woman had gotten so drunk that she had forgotten everything about where she was, she was never taught anything, or she wasn't from Thedas - but that was impossible.

The stranger knew that she had to make something up quickly, she needed allies but she couldn't afford to tell them about Skyrim or Tamriel yet - not until she knew more about this place.

"I was on a ship when a storm hit us. I got knocked out after that, I assume it was shipwrecked and destroyed. I'm sorry, I don't know any more. I'm not from around here."

Aveline looked up at Marian, "There have been a few storms recently and her accent is different to anything I've heard. Her story is kind of plausible."

"Perhaps, I still don't really believe it though." Marian looked back down at the figure. "Could you tell us your name?"

"It's Eira."

"Alright Eira, would you mind if my sister healed you? Just keep in mind, that if you tell anyone about her magic I will come after you and I will kill you," Marian said in a menacing tone.

"Sister!" Bethany cried out in shock. Although it wasn't the first time that Marian had threatened someone, she had never really done it too often. Bethany was still unused to this side of her sister that she rarely saw.

"I will not risk the templars catching you Bethany," Marian replied. 'Family is more important than anything else'.

'Hmm, this must be a mage outside these prisons I've heard of', Eira thought. 'I'd best tread carefully, I need allies and I can't afford to antagonise anyone - yet'.

"Don't worry," Eira raised her hand in the universal gesture of an oath. "I swear that I will not mention to anyone any use of magic that I see here. May I be hunted down and killed like a dog if I tell a soul."

Marian was a bit weirded out by this oath. She had never heard that of an oath where the taker had to be hunted if they broke it; especially the wording 'like a dog' - it sounded more familiar to this woman than just a saying.

Eira meanwhile had lowered her hand, "Now, I would greatly appreciate your assistance in getting this damnable headache away," she said to Bethany.

Bethany sighed in relief and started her healing spell focusing on this woman's concussion. There were many things that seemed wrong with this stranger, but Anders would have to look over them - she wasn't experienced enough.

Marian turned to Varric, "Alright, I think you can put Bianca away. I doubt that she'll be a threat to us now."

Varric put his crossbow on his back and walked towards the rest of the group. "Well, alright. I'll keep my eye on her just in case." Varric was equally as bothered by this stranger as the rest of the group.

Meanwhile, Eira' headache had disappeared with the healing magic. In truth, she was slightly disquieted about how the magic felt. It was unlike anything that she had felt before, almost as if it was forced rather than intuitive like magic was in Skyrim; similar to daedric magic in a way. Maybe it was the magic reacting with her body, but the wolf within her blood was practically snarling at this. Eira breathed as she sought to regain control.

"Thank you Bethany."

Bethany nodded her head, "You're welcome. I'm not a good healer however."

Eira smiled back and moved to stand up. Then she noticed Varric in surprise, "Why are you so small?"

Varric looked slightly offended by this, "Have you never seen a dwarf before?"

'Dwemer? They're here? They look completely different to the descriptions in the books I've read', Eira's thoughts spun in her head as she thought about this. She replied, "No. I've never seen a dwarf before."

The group looked at her again in shock, there were dwarves everywhere these days.

"Are there no dwarves where you are from?" Varric asked with surprise.

"No, they disappeared a long time ago." Eira replied.

"Your home must be very remote from ours then," Bethany said as she stood up from the ground.

"You could say that, yes." Eira said.

Aveline looked at Eira then eyed her blade, "Well, since you have a sword I assume that you know how to use it."

Eira looked down at her steel longsword. It was simple, yet reliable. She didn't want to shock her new acquaintances with her artefacts. "Yes. I was somewhat of a mercenary in my home. I travelled around doing odd jobs for people; things like clearing out bandits, killing animals on the road, that kind of thing. There's usually someone willing to pay for someone else to do their dirty work."

"You're too right there." Varric smirked in cynicism.

"If you are good with that sword, then we could probably use some help. The Viscount's son has been kidnapped, and we're tasked with bringing him back. Call it payment for the healing." Marian said.

Masking her confusion over this 'Viscount' term, Eira agreed. "Very well, I always clear my debts, and it's always useful to have backup in these sorts of situations," she said. "Do you know what opposition that we're likely to face?"

"There were some nasty looking mercenaries on the same job, and the kidnapper is a Qunari," Aveline replied. Seeing the confused look on Eira' face, Aveline clarified. "They are a horned race from Par Vollen. They are very strong, so be cautious around them."

"Alright, I'll be careful then," Eira said. "So, shall we get going?"

I hope you enjoyed this, I shall be continuing this soon, but this to be a good cut off point. Again, please review and send suggestions for Varric's nickname for Eira.