The nights were cold enough now that Hawke could see her breath as she exhaled but her Fereldan blood refused to allow her to label the temperature as anything more than "brisk." Clad in only thin leggings, sports bra, and tank top, Hawke felt invigorated as she ran along the trail. Wounded Coast Park was deserted at this time of the day and it was her favorite time to go running, especially after a shitty day at work.

Percy was accompanying her on her run, as usual, his small legs a blur as he did his best to keep up. The miniature Mabari didn't have the massive frame of his canine ancestors but he more than matched them in spirit and vigor.

Hawke looked out on the water, glistening with moonlight. Her mind wandered back to the night of the gala at The Keep when she had met with the Arishok. She was finding it something of a common occurrence for her thoughts to drift in that direction, whether she was in the midst of yet another dull meeting at work, or like now, when she was alone with nothing else to occupy her mind. He had certainly made an impression on her; her vibrator, showerhead, even her pillow were paying the price. From the day when she had discovered how to bring herself off, back when she was twelve or so and her very best friend had been her old, stuffed bronto with the rubber horn pointed just right, her sexual fantasies had featured roles for a wide range of friends, acquaintances, and total strangers. The past week had seen a drastic shift to monogamy as the Qunari leader was the male lead in every single sexual scenario that her mind had come up with.

As her sneakered feet pounded along the sand, Hawke found herself hoping that a good, long run would exhaust her enough so that she could fall into bed and simply sleep. With the moon as the only source of light, her eyes distracted by the dark water, and a particularly loud song blaring through her ear buds, it was perhaps somewhat unsurprising that she didn't see the large kossith standing cross-armed in her path until she nearly collided with him.

Hawke skidded to a sharp halt, heart pounding in her chest. She yanked her ear buds out of her ears. Percy was barking furiously at the horned giant, who paid the little dog no more attention than he would a bothersome gnat.

"Holy SHIT, you scared me!" She leaned over and put her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath enough to not feel like she was about to have a coronary.

"You're lucky I didn't mind blast you right into the blighted ocean! What are you doing standing in the middle of the path?" she asked the Qunari male. He was a dressed in a simpler version of the armor she'd seen on the Arishok's guards at the party but looked quite imposing, especially at this close vantage point.

Before he could reply, a deep, familiar voice rumbled in her direction from a higher point on the twisting path.

"My karashok made several attempts to gain your attention, Marian Hawke. You should be more aware of your surroundings." Perched on the flat, gently sloping side of a huge boulder, with his knees drawn up and powerful arms crossed on top of them, was the Arishok.

Hawke shook her head ever so slightly and blinked her eyes rapidly, almost believing for a moment that she had somehow summoned the man magically. How in the world she had almost run smack-dab into the Arishok and his small group of men in the middle of Wounded Coast Park, she would never know.

Suddenly aware of her casual running attire and messy knot of hair, Hawke straightened her posture and gave the Arishok a quick nod. "Shanedan, Arishok. I hadn't thought to, er, run into you again." She gave a wry smile. Gesturing to the deserted park around them, "So…. come here often?"

Honestly, she wouldn't mind at all if the filter between her brain and her mouth would at least sometimes catch the awkward phrases that tended to tumble out of the hole in her face.

The Arishok's gold-colored eyes shifted slightly. Hawke wouldn't swear to it in court, but she would almost say he gave her scantily-clad body the "up-down," as Izzy called it. Imagined or not, she felt a frisson of awareness in her stomach.

Words rumbled from his mouth. "This is the only place I have found in your wretched city where my lungs need not strain to breathe the putrid air." He looked out at the dark water. If it any been any other person, Hawke would say there was longing in his face, yet his features had changed not a whit. "The salted scent of the ocean reminds me of—"

The words cut off abruptly.

"Par Vollen?" Hawke offered softly.

Those golden eyes burned into hers again. "Yes."

She forced herself to look in the direction of the water before she found herself staring at him lustfully. "Your duties as Arishok must take you away from your home more than you'd like." She stayed quiet for a beat, then steeled herself to train her gaze in his direction again. "What else will you do here now that you've had your meet-and-greet with Kirkwall high society?"

With just a slight downward turn of those surprisingly supple lips, displeasure suddenly radiated from his countenance. "I go where the Qun demands; my personal preferences do not enter into it." Despite this dispassionate statement, his large hands, dark-colored talons decorating the ends of each finger, flexed in frustration. "There is one more task that I must see to before I can return to Par Vollen. Until it is completed, I must remain."

Hawke waited for some greater explanation but she was quickly realizing that the Arishok wasn't one to prattle. She was actually somewhat surprised he'd shared as much as he had. It was embarrassing how even a short encounter with this man set her heart racing.

An idea came to her addled brain. Would he allow her…? Using her thumb to scroll through the song library in her OmniPhone, she selected a song that she had downloaded from the Extranet only a few nights back.

She unwrapped her ear buds from around her neck and moved to approach the boulder where the Arishok lounged. The sounds of several Qunari guards putting their hands to their sidearms and shifting in her direction stopped her.

Putting her hands in the air, OmniPhone and ear buds clutched in one, Hawke said, "Wow. Sorry, guys, just want to show the big guy something. I won't bite." Whether the guardsmen understood Common or not, she didn't know, but a slight head motion from the Arishok had them standing down. Hawke took this as tacit approval to come forward. At the base of the boulder, she gestured to the space next to him. "May I…?"

The Arishok narrowed his eyes appraisingly, then, to her surprise, jerked his chin to indicate she was welcome. Hawke couldn't help it; her face broke into a wide smile. She scampered up the large rock and plopped down next to the horned man. In the cold—brisk!—night air, heat seemed to roll off his body and it seemed very…intimate that she should be sharing body heat with this man.

Momentarily distracted by Arishok-induced warm fuzzies, she suddenly remembered what she had come up here for. Holding out her ear buds to him, she said, "I have a little piece of home for you. Here, take them."

The Arishok eyed the ear buds suspiciously but after a just-this-side-of-awkward length of time, he reached out and plucked them from Hawke's hand with his giant fingers. She gestured to his ears and waited for him to place them in his ears, which he did. She smiled again. He was fucking adorable. "I hope you like this one," she said, "I don't know shit about Qunari music but I downloaded this the other night and well… here." She pressed play before she could babble any more.

Hawke could tell when the song started because the Arishok's eyes widened ever so slightly and swiftly met hers. Close as she was sitting to him, she could hear the soft strains of a female voice echoing from the earbuds. The Arishok spoke, the volume of his voice slightly louder. "This is Chantaara. She sings passages of the Qun." Hawke smiled softly. He seemed pleased. She didn't know how she could tell exactly but he seemed… pleased. Drawing her knees up and resting her arms on them, unconsciously mirroring the Arishok's posture, she felt that maybe she would be content to sit there all night while he listened to music from his homeland by her side.

All too soon, however, she heard the muffled sound of the music cease. The Arishok took the buds from his ears and handed them back to her. He said nothing and Hawke felt no need to break the quiet.

A soft exhalation of breath exited his mouth. "I have not had the opportunity to hear music from Par Vollen in… it has been too long." Still not looking at her, he asked, "It is an unusual song to be part of your collection, is it not? I do not think that many bas would have the works of a chantaara in their device."

"Bas?" she queried.

"Those who are not of the Qun," he replied curtly.

Hawke shrugged, "Maybe, maybe not. I stay up late and I have a fast extranet connection. You'd be surprised at the variety of songs I have on here." She side-eyed the giant man next to her. "You should ask your elf girl—Tallis?—to get you one of these here new-fangled devices. There are all kinds of Qun-related goodies on the extranet, enough to satisfy even the most discerning Arishok, I'm sure." She winked at him. Maker, she just couldn't help herself, irrepressible flirt that she was.

Glancing at the time on her phone, she grimaced. "I should get going. It's really, really past my bedtime now." Hawke shimmied down from her perch and stood uncertainly for a second, shifting her feet. Sensing his mistress was getting ready to leave, Percy hopped up from where he'd been snoozing to stand alertly at her feet.

She hung her ear buds around her neck again, clipped her phone to her waistband, then looked up at the Arishok a bit shyly. "Maybe I'll… see you again sometime?"

His eyes had followed her every movement as she readied herself to leave. He said only, "If it is to be, it will be."

She smiled and turned away but his deep voice stopped her.

"Thank you for..." and he gestured to her phone. "It was… an unexpected diversion."

She grinned and made a short bow, ridiculous though it might have looked in running gear. "My pleasure. Panahedan, Arishok." Looking down at Percy, she said, "C'mon, Perse, let's go home."

Hawke took off in the direction she had come from; it was far too late to continue her usual run now. She held out as long as she could before her impulse to look back at the Arishok overwhelmed her. She quickly glanced over her shoulder. Yes, he was definitely watching her go.

She could be wrong, of course, but she just had this undeniable feeling that the Arishok was checking out her ass.