Author's Note: I am so sorry that this took so long! I lost inspiration and real life was a bitch, and excuses, excuses. I'm not happy with the end, but I really hope you like it. I had a wonderful reviewer remind me that Aveline 'really knows her spirits' which lead me to come up with a much more entertaining route for this story. I understand that part of it isn't exactly chronological, but if it was it would give too much away too soon! By the way, I'm looking for a beta reader, not just for beta-ing, but I also would really appreciate someone to bounce new ideas off of, if you're interested, let me know!


"This is an awful idea, Isabela." Hawke's tone was monotonous and accompanied with a slow shake of her head.

"Does that mean no?" Isabela asked in reply.

"No."

"So yes?"

"No."

"Gawd, Hawke, could you be just a little less like the Qunari for one minute? This is for Aveline after all." Isabela groaned in frustration, Hawke wasn't usually this abrupt. Maybe it had something to do with the incredibly awkward conversation on the way to the Barracks this morning? Oh well, she would make it better by teasing Fenris later, she was good at that teasing thing.

"Ugh, fine, I suppose. But why is it that you need me to do this? Can't you?" Hawke sighed.

"Hey Aveline, drink this!" Isabela mocked, "How well do see that going over?"

"I... You have a point. What exactly do you need from me?"

"Well..." And Isabela proceeded to spell out her plan.


Hawke mixed a quarter of the tar-like substance with enough liquor to dilute it to a thin paste before setting it down in front of Aveline, she was sure not to tell the Captain exactly what she was mixing it with.

"Are you sure about this, Hawke?" Aveline eyed the black liquid in the mug before her with suspicion.

"Of course I am! It'll be perfect!" Hawke had an incredibly convincing smile painted on her face.

"I mean, will it really work?" Aveline questioned.

"What harm could it do if it doesn't?"

"You got it from the Emporium! It would be more accurate to say 'what harm couldn't it do!' I don't even know what half the ingredients on the label are!" Aveline protested.

"Well you know what it does say! 'Everything your heart desires, desiring you.' And hell, I went through the embarrassment of buying it, the least you can do is drink it!"

"Eh, I guess you're right, besides, there's no sense in not going all out." And Aveline chugged the foul stuff down with a grimace.


It was dark. It was grim. It looked precariously close to collapsing in on itself. It was ridiculously hard to find. It was the Black Emporium.

It took Hawke a good half-hour to find the two potions she was looking for, the first had a thin lace wrapping around it's cork and a pink, almost gaseous substance seemed to swirl inside it. Hawke couldn't even see the actual liquid of the second, or at least she thought she couldn't. The bottle looked like tar, but she would find out soon enough that that wasn't the bottle at all.

"Are you sure you want that?" A loud voice boomed as she set her purchase on the counter.

"Yes, why?" Hawke answered in question.

"That nasty one you have there makes people spew the truth out their earlobes! After a few hours, that is. Can you just imagine what alcohol would do to that?"

Hawke bellowed a heavy laugh, "That's sort of the plan." She thought for a moment while Xenon laughed with her. "And do think I could pay you for just the label on that pink one?" A sly smile spread across her features.

"I like the way you think girl! 5 sovereigns will cover it then!"


The air was stagnant and it swam with the odor of laziness and deceit. There was only a single heaving of vomit this early in the evening, and luckily that pile of chunks and bile had made it's way onto a particularly nasty patron. Isabela and Varric were stationed at a table not far from the entrance to the Hanged Man, waiting for the arrival of the night's guest of honor, and she soon came.

Aveline strode in drunk on confidence, and unbeknownst to her, a little bit of alcohol, flanked by Hawke and Fenris. He hadn't been totally sure he wanted to be here, he had no doubt Isabela was up to something, but he just couldn't help but come to witness the inevitable disaster. Isabela, Hawke, and Varric all knew exactly what Aveline had been dosed with, but Fenris was not privy at all to the fact that her state had been magically induced, and therefor assumed that she was simply drunk. This led him to the belief that the whole situation would go right into crapper the moment Donnic arrived, but luckily for Aveline, he was incorrect.

Isabela strode over to the Guard-Captain, grabbed her arm and guided her to a small, two person table with a candle in the center and a red napkin on either side. Aveline was surprisingly quick with her reply, "That is incredibly stupid. I'm not a teenage girl, and that candle is terribly ugly, kind of like Varric when he's drunk."

Isabela laughed, "Short, fat and lumpy!"

"And undoubtedly stinky." Aveline added.

"Hey! At least I don't grope everything with a pulse when I'm intoxicated!" Varric shot back, less concerned with Aveline, but that was mostly because he didn't have anything bad to say about her. Well, that and he didn't want to get beaten back to the Stone.

Isabela and Aveline took their place at the wide table that was decidedly the harbor for tonight's events. Hawke and Fenris had already taken their places, leaving one empty chair.

"So, when did you tell lover boy to be here?" Varric directed his question at Hawke.

"Ten, twenty minutes from now. Just depends how fast he can walk." Hawke replied nonchalant.

"It's not his walking I'm concerned with, it's his... swordplay." Aveline interjected.

"Oh Maker, Aveline, was that- was that a sex joke?" Isabela asked, stunned.

"Why yes it was. Just because I haven't had any since Wesley died doesn't mean I don't still know how it works."

No one spoke. No one moved. No one so much as took a breath. Until Hawke that is, "This is the worst idea I have ever agreed to."

"Really Hawke, really? None of your other ventures top this? Not the time you willingly traipsed into the Fade? Not the time you agreed to retrieve deadly Qunari poison? This is the worst?" Aveline said with an incredibly condescending look on her face.

"Undoubtedly." Hawke backed up her statement. She believed it, too, she could fight that; she couldn't fight love.

"You know Hawke, you're a cow." Aveline said after a few moments of awkward silence.

"Oh, I'm a cow, am I?" Hawke was unsurprised by her sudden comparison, it was one of the side-effects, after all.

"Yes, Hawke, a cow." Aveline acted as though it should be obvious why, "You do what you want, when you want, and if anyone tries to tell you differently you stand stock-still and make that face at them. Like a cow."

"Personally, I much preferred your comparison of Varric and the candle." Isabela said with a snicker.

"Shut up, Isabela, don't even get me started on you."

"What could you possibly have to say about little old me!"

"Little! Have you seen yourself! You have more curves than- than- something curvy!"

"I can't tell if that was a compliment or an insult." Varric added.

"It was compliment! Of course! Isabela is gorgeous! If I looked anything like her I could have Donnic falling all over me, no problem, but the Maker cursed me with fire for hair and a speckled face! Not to mention that I'm built like a golem." Aveline's remarks made Isabela smile, and that smile grew far, far wider when she saw the torrent of emotion crossing the face of the man that stood behind her.

Donnic hadn't been standing there very long, but he had most definitely heard the 'falling all over me' part. For the first moment it was shock, but as the moment passed he looked honestly intrigued. Something close to Isabela's scheming look came over him, as though he were looking for words, and the courage to approach his Captain. Luckily, Isabela was the only one that had noticed him, and took full advantage of it while he mustered up his bravado. "And what exactly do you think about Donnic, Aveline?"

She didn't hesitate a moment, "He's so nice to everyone, and he's so nice to me... I really hope it isn't just because I'm his boss. And he's beautiful, I don't know why he doesn't have a woman already. He always knows just what to say, too, and when he smiles it just makes my whole day." And then Aveline looped back to her constant insecurity, "But then I've got this stupid hair and this stupid face!"

That seemed to be all Donnic needed to hear, he stepped forward and placed a hand on Aveline's shoulder. She jerked around to look at him, her face morphed into instant horror, but before she could speak, he did. "I happen to like your stupid hair and your stupid face."


Author's Note: I just couldn't write anymore of those two! But I hope it worked. Tell me in the reviews! And don't forget about my beta-proposal if you're into that sort of thing. If you aren't a beta, but you're still willing to hear story ideas, send me a message too! (I don't bite.) Luckily, I know exactly how my next installment is going to go, so it shouldn't be nearly as much of a wait!