Time to do a bit of backstory on Hawke the next chapter is as well, reviews, questions, comments, im really nervous here people

Stars Fall

Chapter 4 Common Bonds

I can't believe I'm going to do this. But maybe, just maybe it will help him realize he's not so alone in the world. Hawke reassured herself before opening the door to the crumbling mansion and stepped inside making her way up to the room Fenris used.

She opened the door to find him sitting in a chair drinking from a flask he kept on his belt. Good he'll need to be drunk for this story she thought. Fenris welcomed her in the customary, emotionless, way of saying "Hawke".

Oh wow his voice made her shiver, one word from him made her shiver. Damnit Eve pull yourself together her internal voice chided. "Is there something you need Hawke?" Fenris asked pulling her out of her very fuzzy thoughts.

"I..I..I just noticed that you are always keeping to yourself and you don't seem to want to interact with others, and wanted to ask why that is?" she asked nervously. Smooth, real smooth.

Fenris thought for a moment before he replying "I admit I am uncertain how to act around other people, haven't spent much time with characters such as your companions, I find myself alone, none of you can understand what my life as a slave was like."

"That's where you're wrong Fenris" he looked up at her angrily and Hawke held up a hand asking him to be silent until she finished speaking…or so he thought.

Hawke started stripping and Fenris' jaw dropped but he quickly recovered. She took off her armor, laid it on the floor, and reached for the hem off her tunic.

"What in the Void are you doing Hawke?!" Fenris growled angrily as he left his chair to move closer to her.

"Stop Fenris this isn't what you think it is, so just shut up, sit down and listen" Hawke ordered.

Fenris was dumbstruck so he obeyed; he had never heard Hawke speak to anyone like this. Again Hawke reached for the hem of her tunic and pulled it over her head. She stood facing Fenris in nothing more than her breast band, trousers, and a necklace that was hanging around her neck on a crimson ribbon.

Hawke took a deep breath and turned around, facing away from him. Fenris was highly confused by the angry woman who had just stripped in his home only to show him her back. But that was when Fenris noticed it, a circle with a small hand inside it, branded into the flesh of her back on her left shoulder. He came closer to Hawke his hand hovering over the brand, he studied it closely, but he needn't have bothered he knew what it was, the lyrium markings on his body covered up his own, but he still knew, the brand of the Tevinter Imperium, the brand of a slave.

"Hawke what happened to you?" Fenris whispered.

Hawke picked up her shirt and put it back on as Fenris led her over to the benches by the fireplace. She took a few deep breaths before she spoke.

"What I am about to tell you, you must swear to never tell anyone, only two other people in the world know this story, and they are not my mother and sister, I don't ever want them to find out about this."

She paused, looking sharply at Fenris, who nodded solemnly, and said, "I swear to keep your secrets" he gave her the tiniest of smirks "after all I have quite a few of my own."

Hawke laughed softly "Don't worry one of these days I'll get them out of you, by the way do you have any more wine? I feel like I'm going to need a drink for this story."

Fenris chuckled softly and left the room, returning moments later with a variety of bottles in his arms. He silently handed her one, Hawke looked at the bottle "Oh yay Nevarran Red, one of my favorites, not quite as overpowering as Antivan but so much better than Orlesian"

Fenris raised an eyebrow at her slightly surprised by her knowledge of wines. She opened the bottle, threw the cork in the fire, and took a long pull on the bottle, while Fenris did the same with his own. Hawke took a deep breath, bracing herself to tell a near stranger one of her deepest secrets. Fenris waited patiently, intrigued and somewhat fearful of the story he knew Hawke was about to tell. What in the Maker's name is Hawke, a native of Ferelden, and highly capable rogue doing with a Tevinter slave brand on her back?

"I was nearly thirteen when it happened." Hawke started looking into to the fire and through the years back to her childhood.

"It was just after my family moved to Lothering, I had spent the day in the woods hunting and gathering herbs to sell at the market, I saw the sun was starting to sink so I headed for home. I barely spent time with my family then only coming home for nights and leaving again at dawn. I had just made it to the road that would lead me back when I saw men standing maybe twenty paces ahead of me. They were wearing strange armor I didn't recognize then but I do now."

Fenris' eyes wear glued to Hawke's face, and Hawke's eyes were still lost in the flames of his fireplace. "As you probably guessed by now, the men were slavers from Tevinter." Hawke said forcing herself to continue.

"I had only just started my rogue training and I had never taken a life, so I was no match for them, their leader simply walked up to me, took my bow from my hands…"

Fenris interrupted shocking them both " I thought daggers were your weapon of choice?"

Hawke smiled "My younger years were ruled by the bow, it's much easier to hunt with."

"I see"

"Anyway the leader took my bow from my hands, and two I hadn't seen approached me from behind and knocked me out. I woke up a few hours later with a skull splitting headache only to find myself tied to a tree, surrounded by the men who took me. They were drinking and cheering around a roaring fire. I was terrified but I forced myself to take in my surroundings. I was shocked to realize I knew where I was; the lazy bastards had only taken me about a mile or so into the woods. That's when they noticed I was awake, and the leader approached me. "Consider yourself lucky girl," he told me "the boys here wanted to have some fun with you but the Tevinters will pay more for you if your untouched""

Hawke shuddered when she remembered how emotionlessly the man laughed when he said that. Fenris too shuddered, for he knew all too well how much the magisters enjoyed the touch of "fresh flesh" as they called it.

Hawke took a long pull from her now half empty bottle, and Fenris pulled his flask from his side and took a quick sip from it. "Stronger stuff?" Hawke asked with a sly smile.

"You could say that, and no you can't have any" Fenris said quickly with a half smirk. Hawke simply shrugged and returned her gaze to the fire.

"The leader called two of his men over, and one of them stopped by the fire and picked something up. I hadn't noticed it there before, but then again I wasn't really paying attention to the fire. When he came closer I saw he was holding something that looked like a rod with a weird circle thing on the end. That's when the leader untied me, him and his buddy picked me up and slammed me to the ground. They took a knife and ripped my shirt open in the back. I tried to scream but one of them stuffed a rag in my mouth and threw my head back in the dirt. All I could feel were hands holding my arms and legs down. And then I felt pain, searing hot fiery pain, on my back. The smell hit me instantly; I will never forget that smell. I tried and tried to scream, it seemed to go on for hours. Next thing I know I'm being tied back to the tree again, the bark felt like it was literally biting my back. I broke down and cried, listening to the men discuss where they would take me. I didn't care I just wanted to die, I felt so alone. It was some small relief to know that when they took me to Tevinter it wouldn't be long before I was killed; I knew I wouldn't make a good slave. The men fell asleep soon after, and I was left to my thoughts. I was too scared to sleep and in far too much pain. Just before dawn I heard something moving quietly behind me."

Fenris had been looking into the fire as well imagining Hawke as a young girl, a freshly branded slave; he looked at Hawke and was surprised to find a smile on her face. Hawke noticed Fenris watching her; she noticed the anger on his face. She shook her head saying, "This is the part that you will want to hear"