"Intruders! Intruders, everyone is to be in their gear and spread out!"
"Yes, Ser!"
The alarm sounded sometime after midnight, but the men found nothing. Irritated, the freshly-promoted Captain of the Guards herself had helped in with the search, but still they only achieved to waste more time. Something wasn't right; Ewald was a good guardsman, having even served as a Captain himself before Jeven got his dirty paws on the position. He would not have roused such attention without a serious reason. Frowning, the Ferelden willed herself to act wisely.
"I'm sorry Captain, I seems like I've been mistaken. I swear I thought I saw someone sneaking around, though." The man frowned, clearly disappointed with himself and his poor judgement, and Aveline tried to rub her headache way. She was already starting to lose sleep as it was, with the juridical and organisational mess her predecessor helped create, she certainly did not need this. Not now, not ever.
"At ease, Lieutenant, we will not speak of this now, it is already late, and we've lost enough sleep as it is. Make sure that the night patrols return to their posts and that everyone else is dismissed until dawn. Practice shall be held an hour later tomorrow." She instructed firmly, but not unkindly.
Ewald saluted and hesitated only for a moment before making himself scarce. Silently, Aveline noted that the men were still in need of adjusting to her. "More practice wouldn't hurt, either." She muttered irritably under her breath.
Crossing the hall, she thought she'd heard noises coming from the Capita- her office- she remembered herself. For a second, she silenced her breathing, straining her ears, and, without fail, she heard it again. Sweet Andraste, was she in dire need of some sleep.
She took a step towards the door, wariness on her face, and there was no denying that something- or better said someone- was playing with her nerves.
"Alright scum, you have some nerves to snoop around my office! Show yourself!"
A shadow moved, and then there was light, so suddenly Aveline was briefly blinded.
A torch, the basted fool had the gall to light up a torch!
"Guard-Captain, I need your help."
The redhead warrior blinked, taken aback by the familiar voice.
"Sebastian?" There was a tense silence before the prince convinced her there was indeed no need for her sword, and Aveline tucked it away in dissatisfaction. "What are you doing here? How did you get in?"
"The back supplies door, I didn't want to be seen or cause panic. I guess I only halfway succeed." The man answered; a silent disappointment in his expression as he spoke.
"The back door? But it is always locked!"
"I am a rogue, Guard-Captain, I know how to pick locks." There was an irony not fit for a person of the faith there, somewhere.
"I do not appreciate your tone, prince." The warrior frowned, falling back to her earlier indisposition, now that no possible danger was distracting her from her exhaustion. "Why were you so dead-set on barging in like that in the first place?" The question was well justified, and Aveline wasted no more energy to keep her agitation in check.
"I didn't know what to do with her…I thought you would be better fit to handle this situation."
It took The Captain only another second to take in the sight around her and realise there was someone else with them.
On one of the chairs, unconscious, was Bethany, and she was bruised enough to cause some worry. '…enough for Hawke to have my head for letting it happen, should he ever find about it…surely.' Pushing the thought away, Aveline frowned even harder.
"Maker, what happened to her?"
"A group of Pretenders, not in a very great number, but more than plenty of them. I noticed the fight from the Chantry and went to help, but it still took a lot out of her. She collapsed shortly after fire-balling a man to death." Involuntarily, the slightest hint of pride chimed in his words.
For only a brief moment more, Aveline took in the situation, and soon after she kneeled by Bethany's side.
"She'll be fine, she just need to sleep. You did well to bring her here." She commented, approval in her sober, green eyes.
"I sure hope so." The prince muttered, preparing to take his leave. Hesitantly, he took another long look at Bethany and turned. "I will be heading back to my duties now, Guards-Captain. Thank you."
"Yes, you do that." She prompted, kindly. "And Sebastian, thank you for looking out for her." The woman smiled, a troubled smile, but an honest one nevertheless. "Hawke and his family are like a family of my own. Had something happened to Bethany…I wouldn't have forgiven myself, and it was my duty to protect her, not yours; you could have very well chosen not to do it... You did, though."
In the dim light, he smiled. The warrior couldn't have possibly known how wrong she was.
As if there was ever any talk of choices...
Sebastian furrowed his brow. "Hawke is back?" How had he missed it?
"Yes, he, the pirate, the dwarf and the abomination came back a few days ago, all in one piece." Fenris answered sourly, most likely displeased with the fact that Anders was still very much alive and would continue to poison the world with his magic. A few months back, maybe the prince would have approved of this anger, but at that time, unlike the elf, he wanted to believe that there was still some hope for the man, no matter how doubtful that was. Then again, in Sebastian's case there were the helping circumstances that he had already started not to judge mages so harshly, and that he hadn't suffered atrocities at the hands of maleficars…
"Tell me, Fenris, how have you heard of this so quickly?"
The elf snored, tone maybe amused, certainly caustic. "Unlike you, priest, I visit the Hanged Man once in a while. Even short as he is, the dwarf would have been hard not to notice."
Sebastian smiled wirily. "So I think. Thank you for letting me know."
The warrior nodded curly and turned to go, but stopped in his track for a second longer.
"Next time you see Hawke, be careful not to mention his sister." He told him over his shoulder, and only after that was he gone…
Uneasily, the prince tried to get his thought back into his routine, but it was of no use.
"Why did he have to say that?"
It was two more days after that particular discussion that Sebastian actually got in touch with any member of the Hawke family; more specifically on the day Garrett finally decided to visit. It was not a cheerful reunion, to say it as it was, with Hawke not in the best of shapes and the archer a bit too eager for information. It was only due to the prince's well-studied, carefully-enforced discipline and tact that he had not made a fool out of himself.
"Sebastian, good to see you. I trust the Chantry hasn't changed much since I've been here? Or am I mistaken? I thought I saw some new drawings on that door down the hall, some… interesting ones, for certain." That was such a typical Hawke thing to say that Sebastian unwillingly smiled.
"Certainly not! I should know; I clean the halls every other day." The dark-haired man in front of him laughed. "It's good to see you back and well, too. What happened? Did you find anything down there?"
The laughter stopped, and Garrett nodded, his tiredness showing. "It was the whole, fantastic adventure, with monsters, rescue missions, hidden treasures and even an epic betrayal at the end. A really long story, I'll say…"
"I'm sure it's worth listening to; The Grand Cleric won't mind if I take some time for myself, it's already past noon, nothing interesting is bound to happen at least until the next sermon starts." The prince explained, smiling surely, and motioned for the man to take a seat with him on a nearby bench, away from the Sisters' sharp ears. "I would be interested in hearing this story of yours, if you feel up to it."
He laughed again, but it was not an easy laugh. "Whenever do I not?"
The story was indeed a fascinating one, and, while Hawke wasn't as skilled as Varric in the art of story-telling, he was a wonderful orator. Sebastian supposed he had to be, having been the head of a family and in charge of people's lives since an early age.
It wouldn't do not to know how to talk yourself or you apostate sister out of troubles.
'Focus, Sebastian, focus. You do not want to go there…' He really needed to learn to keep his thoughts in check.
"I wish it had all ended when we got out of those tunnels, but when doesn't everything that could go wrong, go wrong?" The man sighed, completely put up. "Have you heard about Bethany?"
Sebastian's head spun, and suddenly he had the strangest sentiment of dread take over him. He prayed with everything in him that this was not going where he suspected it did. "What about her?"
"She'd been taken to the Circle the very day I returned. Just what I wanted to find when I got home: Templars, holding my sister by the arms… I apologise if I sound bitter, I just…" He rubbed him temples, cast a fugitive look at the strained-glass windows. "I went away for the sake of my family, but I failed to protect it anyway, because of it."
"I understand what you must be feeling, I myself sometimes wonder what would have happened if I haven't left home, If maybe I could have saved someone." The read-head shook his head, and by doing it, chased away the memories. "But we must all accept our past and try to look out for the future. There is a purpose behind everything; we are never out of the Maker's gaze." He felt certainty in that, and his eyes showed it.
Hawke seemed to ponder the words for a moment, before he exhaled deeply and tilted his head upwards, to study the light passing through the lattice above him. "And still…Bethany's words from before I went on the expedition ring in my head, sometimes, 'It's either Templars or darkspawns, and I'm at least allowed to fight darkspawns.'. I wonder what would've happened if I'd taken her with me, then. I cannot help but feel that things would have turned out a lot different."
"True, but that is not for us to know. We just have to make do with what we have. If it helps, I'll talk with the Grand Cleric and see if there's anything we could do to allow Bethany to attend sermons at the Chantry, that way you'll be able to see her from time to time, make sure she is well." It was the honourable thing to do, Sebastian told himself, and it had nothing to do with his personal interest in the mage.
"You're a good man Sebastian, and a good friend, too." The dagger-wielder commented jestingly, once again sounding like the Hawke everyone knew. "Who would have guessed? And I though everyone in the Chantry was evil and snobbish." Garrett laughed again, that easy laughed that put everybody at ease around him, and Sebastian smiled, despise the tension their discussion had put on him.
"I'm always glad to prove you wrong."
"Most people are, although for the life of me I couldn't tell you why." He stood, smirking, and turned to leave. "I'll be at the Hanged Man if you'll need me; I've still to drown my sorrow into alcohol."
The archer's face lowered in disapproval, and his companion laughed again.
"That isn't very clever!" Was the only remark the prince allowed himself to make. In all honesty, it wasn't his place to judge.
"But who knows, maybe the other options would have been worse!" Immediately after, Hawke turned, shook his head, and dismissed him with a flick of his hand.
Sebastian couldn't have helped it but think that he wasn't talking about drinking.
