I love writing with Carver, he is so much fun to work with. This one's a bit longer then what I usually write, but I really got into it with this scene. I want to tell you all again how absolutely awesome you are. When I put the first chapter of this one shot series up I didn't even think anyone would see it. I've been getting a few reviews, a few favorites and followers and I've got to tell you, it blows my mind! But it's also a great motivator, and I think that's why this one was so easy to write. Thank you so much, you are all so wonderful. As always, I really hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Dragon Age universe, it's characters or it's places.
That's all you Bioware!


The air was hot this evening. The sun had gone down hours ago but the air was as thick and heavy as it had been earlier in the day. Fenris was leaning on a large pillar on the roof of the traders post. Anso was pacing back and fourth in the street below trying to act like he was looking for something in his bags of product and luggage. The dwarf dared a look around the square and when he saw no one else around he looked up to the elf in the shadows and shrugged his shoulders. Fenris nodded once and put his hand up. The dwarf shook his head, let out a sigh and continued rummaging through his things.

When Fenris had talked to Anso earlier that morning, he had sounded so sure that one of his contacts had found someone desperate enough for money that they would accept a paying job without asking much questions, but was more then capable of taking care of things should any...complications come up. They'd only been waiting maybe a half hours time, and the dwarf was already shaking in his boots and ready to give up for the night. Fenris knew better however. Anso was more then aware that he could easily protect him should any unwanted thugs or merchant guild members come across him alone at night. The big black sky however, was another matter entirely. Fenris couldn't help but chuckle at the thought. The dwarf had told him on countless occasions that he was never sure if he was completely planted on the ground, or if he'd magically be sucked up into the clouds. What a ridiculous thing to be afraid of.

Fenris was pulled from his thoughts by an odd laughter. He reseeded into the shadows once more, but had a clear view of the scene before him. There were three people walking towards Anso, a dwarf carrying a crossbow, a tall man with a giant sword on his back, and a rather small woman with rather large daggers on her hips. Fenris couldn't help but find it peculiar that of the three, the small woman seemed to be the lead, and the odd laughter had apparently been coming from her.

She bowed to Anso who seemed in a bit of a rush to send the three off to do the job. The conversation was quick but it looked like the party had agreed to the terms as they began walking towards the Alienage once more. They could have just gone back to where ever it was they had come but as soon as they turned the corner Anso touched his index finger to his nose, signaling Fenris that they had indeed taken the bait.

Fenris easily worked his way down the side of the building, leveraging himself with the thick red tapestries that were always hung up on the sides. He hit the ground with the smallest of sounds, right next to Anso.

"Well, they were a bit different. Did you see that dwarf, with a crossbow? I've never seen the likes! And being led around by a woman nonetheless..." Anso looked back the way the small group had walked and then turned his attention back to Fenris "Kirkwall is all kinds of strange, I tell ya. Anyway, they took the job, so you'll have nothing to worry about." He smiled up at the elf and held out his hand.

"Thank you Anso. I don't know how to repay you for helping me with this. Do you think, however, that they will be able to handle this?" The two began walking towards the cart that was on the other side of the trading post building. Fenris had insisted that Anso bring a safe way of departure, so he could keep an eye on the slavers. "Well, when Meeren told me that he knew someone who'd be able to do a job like this with their eyes shut, he didn't mention that it would be the Hawkes. If he had, I wouldn't even had wasted my time worrying about getting a decent body for the job." He chuckled at that.

"The Hawkes?" Fenris raised his brow in question. He was fairly familiar with all the groups of thugs and mercenaries in Kirkwall, and he'd never heard of any Hawkes before. Maybe they were new here, from another land or just now becoming known...

"They're Ferelden's if you can imagine that. They use to run for Meeren, but last I heard they were working on their own now. They must still be contacts though, if he's passing work their way. Who knows though. I don't know everything that's going on around here just yet, though I can't believe you've heard nothing of them? Even I've gotten a whiff of their work and I've only been here as long as you have."

"I'm sure it wont take long before you do know everything that's going on here." Fenris replied coolly. He liked Anso, more then anyone else he'd met in the past few years. But the dwarf was slippery, the only reason he had trusted him thus far was because he knew Anso thought he was the best bodyguard he'd ever found. As the dwarf helped himself into his carriage and let the driver and guard know he was almost ready he stuck his head out the small opening. "You know if you ever change your mind, of if this goes sour, I'd still be honored to have you along Fenris."

"Thank you Anso. If things change, I'll keep that in mind. You can be sure of it."

The dwarf smiled down at him and then told the driver to 'haul arse'. Fenris watched them until they disappeared down the stairs before he took to the roof tops again. It'd be fairly easy to catch up with the party unseen when traveling from above. Plus, he'd get a great view of the action.


When he did catch up with the three strangers, or the Hawkes, they had made it too the Alienage and were gathered around the large base of the tree. The woman was talking to the dwarf and the larger man was standing off to the side with his arms crossed. Fenris was still to far to see precise details or hear exactly what was being said, but he could see a bit. The man and woman both had dark hair, his cut short and messy, hers down to her midsection with loose curls and waves. The dwarf had blond hair and his over coat looked like it was only buttoned up a third of the way. They made their way into the hovel before Fenris could make out much more. So he waited.


By the time they'd made their way out of the hovel, the group had only been inside a few minutes really. The men were easily dispatched and disposed of and Hawke made her way over to the chest in the corner of the room. "Ah hah! This must be our jumpy friends goods." She smiled at Varric and bent down to check it out. "This one was easier then a peg legged tavern wench, wonder why Meeran wanted us to pick this up. Surely his little boys could have taken care of this." Varric ran his fingers through the stubble on his chin.

"Well, he did say something about them having a large amount of jobs this week. Maybe this was just one they didn't have time for. Either way, it was quick, painless, and we are getting pa-" Hawke stopped mid sentence when she finally threw open the chest. It was empty. Not even a spec on dust lay at the bottom.

"What's this? It's empty! What a bloody waste of time, who would put us up to this?" Carver shouted as he threw his hands up in the air.

"Hawke was silent a moment before she stood up and walked back to the front door. "I don't know, but it looks like we have no choice but to go back to Anso and tell him."

"Oh we'll tell him. Tell him he better pay us for wasting our bloody time, risking our bloody necks, and leading us bloody on!"

"Oh put a lid on it Carver. There's nothing we can do about it now except," Hawke stepped out into the Alienage and as she did so a woman's voice interrupted her.

"That's not the elf. Who is that?" About ten men surrounded the group of three, one of them carrying a staff in her hand.

"Oh is it time for target practice already? And here I thought that wasn't supposed to be until tomorrow night. You sure do keep me on my toes Hawke." Varric pulled Bianca out of her bed on his back and put her in position, as Hawke readied her daggers and Carver held up his sword.

"It doesn't matter," one of the masked men replied. "Boss said to kill whoever entered the house. Let's take care of them." Before he knew what had hit him, an arrow pierced his neck. The man fell to the ground clutching his throat making ghastly noises. "Let's get this over with." said Varric.


After the group of slavers were taken care of, all lying dead in pools of their own blood, the three made their way up the steps leading out of the Alienage. "So they were after an elf? What kind of job was this supposed to be? I thought we were just getting back some merchandise, not slaves." Hawke placed her daggers back in their homes at her sides, then yet another man, dressed in the same armor as the others they'd just killed stepped right in front of her.

"I don't know who you are friend, but you've made a serious mistake coming here. Do you know how much it's going to cost me to replace all those men?" He shot an evil, sinister smile at Hawke and she made to move for her daggers once more. "I want everyone in the clearing now, Lieutenant!"

A man came stumbling up behind him. His armor looked like it had taken no damage, but blood was flowing out of his mouth and it seemed like he left a river of it behind him with every step he took. "Captain..." was all he managed to get out before he fell face first to the stone ground.

"Your men are dead and your trap has failed. I suggest running back to your master while you still have the chance, better yet, getting out of the city before I find him first." A white haired elf stepped out from behind the steps that the dead man had just fallen out from and walked right past the Captian towards Hawke.

His hair was impossibly white and he had the strangest armor she'd ever seen. It seemed more like an outfit, really. He wore all black and the shoulder blades had feathers adorning them. It made him look sharp and dangerous. The grieves he wore were even better as they looked more like claws then gloves, the sharp finger tips mad his hands look a bit too large for his body, and the only real armor from what she could see was a huge pointed plate covering his chest. He had markings that adorned not only his arms and feet, but his neck and chin which looked beautiful. They were white and Serai had never seen anything like them before.

Before the elf could get out of arms reach of the man, the captain pulled hard on the elf's shoulder but it seemed he'd had no effect on the elf. "You are going no where slave." Without any warning a bright light seemed to burst out of nowhere, out of the elf! It disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared and when Hawke's eyes adjusted the sight struck her speechless.

The elf was standing above the man, who had apparently fallen to the ground in a pool of blood. The elf dropped something right on the mans chest as he took his last breath, and coolly stated "I am not a slave." Before he turned his attention back to the group of three staring at him in shock.

"I apologize, when I'd asked Anso to provide a distraction for me I had no idea the hunters would be so numerous." The elf met Hawkes eyes and she felt like she was going to faint. Literally. He had the most stunning eyes she'd ever seen. They were a deep green, but they had a lightness to them, she couldn't do them justice no matter how many words she thought to use to described them. Nothing was sufficient. There was a moment of awkward silence until Carver spoke up to the elf. "We do things like this often enough. It wasn't much trouble. Who are you?" He stepped in front of his sister putting himself a little bit closer to the strange elf. He was an elf, so Carver had height on him, but it seemed he was pretty tall compared to an average elf, he easily had a few inches on Serai, and for whatever reason that made Carver uncomfortable. So he inserted himself between them.

"Impressive," the elf replied. "My name is Fenris, and these, "he nudged the dead captain with his bared foot, "are Imperial Bounty Hunters trying to recover a Magister's lost property, namely myself." Serai's eyes widened and Varric began fumbling in his pocket for the small parchment paper he always carried.

"They've been wanting to lure me out into the open for sometime now. As crude as their methods were I could not face them alone. Thankfully, it seems Anso chose wisely." Now the elf crossed his arms and gave a small nod towards the group.

"So that's it then? There was no job, this was just a bloody set up?! You used us as bait!" Carvers hands curled into fist as he took another step towards the elf. "I should give you a taste of my blade." Before Fenris even had time to reply to that the small woman stepped in front of her brother pushing him back a few feet from where the elf stood. "Alright you, that's enough, if you can't play nice then let the adults handle this." Carver's eyes locked with Fenris' as he took the few steps back. The woman turned back towards the elf and flashed him a friendly smile, "Sorry about Carver, he's a bit of a hot head but he means well...sometimes. This is Varric Tethris, our own personal paragon of manliness."

"Oh Hawke, you flatter me. But Bianca says you should know she's got her eye on you." Varric patted the bow that was sleeping on his back and winked at the elf.

"Oh yes this is Bianaca, how could I forget." the woman said pointing to the weapon strapped to the dwarfs back. She rolled her eyes and Fenris couldn't help but be slightly confused, had she just introduced him to a...crossbow?

"And me, " she stepped towards him now with that same smile on her face and held out her small hand, "well, you can call me Hawke."

He hesitated a moment before he took her hand. He didn't know if it was because she seemed so friendly, if it was because she was so small, or if he had just momentarily lost his mind and forgotten about all the rules he'd lived by since he'd escaped, but he took her hand in his and gave it a light shake, "Well met, Hawke."