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Chapter 9: Power

"If I had known you were shacked up with a gorgeous elf, sweet thing, I would have come to visit sooner."

Hawke pushed Fenris into the room and slammed the door shut behind her. She turned and stilled his arm that wielded her dagger. "It's alright Fenris, this is Isabela, my friend, remember I spoke of her?"

Fenris flipped the dagger in his hand and sheathed it at his hip. He eyed the woman warily. "The pirate that nearly got you killed?" He said flatly as he pulled back his hood. Isabela winced.

"That's what you're telling people about me?" The pirate perched a hand on her hip. "I should take you over my knee…" The statement was directed at Hawke, but the sultry glance that came with it was directed at Fenris.

A sudden flush of jealousy rose up into Hawke's chest. She unconsciously stepped between Isabela and Fenris as if somehow her body could deflect the other woman's lust. "Isabela, meet Fenris and yes, that's what I'm telling people. You should be happy; it can only help your nefarious reputation. What are you doing here anyway? It isn't safe if you are seen with me."

"Still trying to protect us, kitten? Well, it is appreciated but unfortunately no longer necessary. So now we're here to help protect you. Nefarious reputation aside, I'm loyal you know, at least to you."

Hawke pulled up chairs for her and Fenris and Isabela sat back down on the bed. Hawke froze. "What do you mean 'no longer necessary'? Wait, what do you mean 'we'?"

"You better sit down, first." Isabela took on a serious expression that sent a chill through Hawke. The last time she saw Isabela serious, it ended with a greatsword in her chest. Hawke sat down next to Fenris, suddenly wishing she could hold his hand.

"Varric is with me. He's at the Dwarven Embassy right now renewing some old contacts." Isabella paused. "Seekers from Orlais came for him." Hawke's hands balled into fists. "They had him for three days. He told them everything everyone already knows, but obviously he couldn't tell them where you were. And before your friend over there asks, I didn't tell anyone."

Hawke looked over to Fenris, suspicion poured out of the eyes he kept trained on the pirate. Is he being protective or just suspicious in general? "I know you didn't tell anyone, Isabela. What happened, is Varric alright?"

"No worse for wear. I think he had fun actually. Made up a few ridiculous embellishments about you. After they let him go, he had them followed. They stayed in Kirkwall for one more day, and then left on their ship..."

Hawke could hear her heartbeat thump in her ears as Isabela's voice trailed off into silence. "What do you not want to tell me?"

"They have your blood, Hawke."

"They…what?" Her usual clear and confidant voice cracked.

"The Seekers, they have your blood in a phylactery" Isabela's voice was soft and sounded defeated.

Anger welled up inside Hawke and she felt Fenris grow restless beside her. "That is not possible. I've never been taken to a Circle. The Templars have never even had their hands on me! I've never used blood magic. Where would they have gotten my blood, it's not possible…" She repeated with shock and desperation.

"You spilled quite a bit of blood when that sword ran you through." She gestured to the Qunari blade leaning against the wall where Fenris had placed it. "We think Anders took some of it, when he was healing you. Varric found out they ransacked the clinic in Darktown and found it with some of the things Anders left behind."

Hawke stared at the floor in disbelief. "What could he have wanted with my blood? What could he have been thinking?" She shouted.

Fenris leaned forward to capture her gaze. She looked into his green eyes wishing they were a forest she could disappear into. Now that the Chantry had her blood, however, there was no where she could disappear where they would not find her. Fenris continued to hold her eyes with his as he spoke "You said this abomination Anders, was trying to convert you to his cause of a mage rebellion. If he had plans to secretly give your blood to the Templars then you would have been hunted just like him. You would have had no choice but to aid him fully, if only to re-acquire your own freedom."

"Hm, that makes sense, Hawke." Isabela nodded her head in agreement. "He wasn't exactly stable...towards the end." Hawke clenched her jaw at the reminder of her foolish ignorance.

The bastard damns me from the fade, Hawke thought, but she bit her tongue.

Fenris spoke again. "Marian, the Chantry in Orlais has no authority in the Imperium. It will not be so easy for them to capture you here as you think. They will not be able to move freely in Minrathous. The Magisterium would have their heads if they found out they were even in the city, let alone had plans to abduct a free mage from it."

Hawke's eyes opened wide at the sound of her given name, and she looked at Isabela whose mouth was opened in realization.

"Wait, Hawke, what did he call you? Is that your real name?" Isabela's velvet voice crooned in amusement and it cut through the dark clouds that had settled in the room.

Hawke rolled her eyes. "Hawke is my family name. Marian is my given name. I just...don't use it...much."

"But 'Marian', really?" She laughed heartily. "It just sounds so delicate and innocent; like some vapid little princess. It doesn't suit you at all! And you never told any of us, but you told your new boyfriend here? Exactly how much have you told him? Who are you anyway?" She asked Fenris directly.

Fenris leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. Hawke could feel the tension in him as he stifled a flare of the lyrium. Hawke opened her mouth to speak, wanting to save him from Isabela's questioning, but he replied before she could come to his aid.

"Who I am is not as important as why I am here. Marian is helping me with a personal matter, and in return I have agreed to put myself and my sword between her and her enemies if and when they come for her." He spoke confidently and without hesitation. Huh, definitely protective, Hawke couldn't help the stupid grin that appeared on her face. She quickly attempted to twist her mouth hoping Isabela had not seen it.

She had seen it, however, and knowing Hawke as well as a dear friend should, Isabela just winked at her and said to Fenris, "Well then, handsome, welcome to the family."

xxxx

"It wasn't hard to find out what you've been up to Hawke. All I had to do was follow the trail of dead slavers. And two blood mages I hear? Just like old times then." The dwarf, Varric, chuckled and leaned back in his chair, propping his feet upon the table. The four of them sat in a shadowed corner of the Sword and Sovereign. Marian insisted they focus on the hunt she and Fenris had started for Danarius and not make any rash decisions yet regarding the hunt underway for her. We've already drawn blood in your battle, she had told him, we've given your former master reason to pause, we shouldn't waste the opportunity.

"So what's the story, Elf? Did you ask for Marian's help," he sent an amused look towards the mage as he used her name, "or did she insert herself into your affairs unsolicited? She does that quite a bit."

There was only a small fraction of Fenris that was currently functioning in the present. He had been prevented from resolving what troubled him. He had meant to confront Marian about it in her room, but they had not been alone. His conscious mind only vaguely registered meeting and interacting with Marian's friends. His new family, as the pirate identified them, not that he remembered any previous family.

The functional part of Fenris absently replied to the beardless dwarf. "The latter, I suppose..." He did not even look at Varric as he spoke the words. The rest of the group continued to talk and he retreated back into the ruminations that had him occupied since she touched him with her magic, all the while unable to take his eyes from her hand.

Content to let the others converse without him, despite the fact that they were discussing his affairs, he let the memory of her touch move to the front of his mind again. The memory was a wild thing inside him. He twitched his hand almost feeling her magic in it still. He had never felt anything like it. He wanted to feel it again. He had to feel more of it. He needed to understand it.

He watched Marian's full lips move as she continued to tell her friends about the past few days. Slavers. Danarius. The Kirkwall merchant. The brothel. The suspicious manor. He did notice that she kept glancing over at him, as if seeking permission to continue telling his story. He cared not and remained silent.

Feel it again. He had to feel it again. He struggled for words to make sense of it. Warm? Cool? Gentle? Soft? Pulsing? Tingling? Thrilling? He briefly squeezed his eyes shut and tried to grasp at the remembered sensation. He could taste it on his lips and smell it in his nostrils. It rang loudly in his ears and pounded with his heart in his chest. It was a powerful thing...powerful. That's it.

Fenris knew he was strong. But powerful? Power was a thing controlled by others. He had been a slave. A slave is always at the mercy of his master's whims. But I am no longer a slave. He stretched his fingers; the lyrium there felt different. Powerful. How had he never felt it before? Like a slave, he had only ever felt helpless against the whim of the lyrium in his skin. Had her magic changed it somehow? He clenched his fist. Where was the familiar burn? In its place flowed power. He wanted more. He wanted to feel her hands all over him. Feel her magic chase away the burn of the lyrium. He wanted to have that power over himself, and over her. He wanted to claim her curves with his fingers, taste the salt on her skin. He wanted to capture her lips and feel her gasp in his mouth. He wanted to wrap himself around her and bury himself inside of her.

He realized he was speaking. "...then if Isabela is willing, she can scout ahead and determine the safest approach." He saw Hawke nod her head in agreement with him, but she wore a concerned expression. He looked to Isabela, who was smirking. He looked to Varric, who had one eyebrow raised. It was Varric who spoke next.

"I'd say we have a plan, then." he pulled his legs from the tabletop. "I'll let you know what I find out from the gossiping busybodies down at the merchant's guild. Rivaini, I'll catch up with you later. Hawke, Elf, you kids look tired, you should get some rest before we move on that manor." Pirate and dwarf both rose and left the table. Fenris did not hear what was said between them as they walked away and leaned close to each other.

"Can you blame him Rivaini? She's a force of nature..."