Seekers and Followers

Leliana rubbed her leg after exiting the cave. Varric moved past her and looked down at the village. "This is the village that reveres Bethany; I assume that means my friends went this way!" He stated. "You don't say?" His companion snarky replied.

"Look, the only lead to this point is this letter that was sent to me about three months after their departure. Their journey was so eventful that she compared it to her entire time in Kirkwall, you can't exactly expect all the details to be scribbled on this lab of paper…" Varric defended while waving one of his many kept Hawke writings in the air.

"You are great at guessing, yes?" She smiled and stomped the ground with her foot to make sure her leg wouldn't fall off. Varric but sighed and started to head for Donne and Laryn.

Once entering the village, the sweet smell of freshly brewn ale filled his nose. He headed straight for 'The Shot-Dead Wolf.' Leliana tried to call out for him, but when it was his dry throat that mattered he could seal off his ears. She gave up on her pursuit and decided to look around the villages.

She went to the bridge; perhaps she could get a overview from there. As she made her way she noticed a quite high statue towering on the middle of the thing. Once she got close enough she could recognize the person. "Bethany?" She whispered to herself and remembered the young girl from Lothering, now there her statue stood; standing proud in a Grey Warden outfit alike the one her love had worn once she was officially named Warden-Commander of Ferelden. Holding out her staff as a sword Bethany looked so… Adult. Not like the shy sweet girl she had told stories to in Lothering.

"Oy stranger!" A unfamiliar voice sounded. "You like it?" He asked.

"Yes, it looks very much like her." Leliana replied without stopping her gaze up on it. It was funny how she never saw Bethany in Thea Amell; now that she knew they were family all the similarities were clear. Given though, Thea Hawke had even more in common with the circle mage.

"You know her?" He asked. She shifted focus to him: "Yes, I lived in the village she is from a dozen years ago…"

"That is something! Can I get you a drink? I would love to hear what you know about her!" He pointed towards another inn on the other side of the river.

"Sure, perhaps you can tell me something I want to know too…"

"You bet! I'm Clayton by the way, welcome to Donaryn!" He led her towards the inn.

"Donaryn? I thought this was-"

"All strangers think so! But after Bethany the pure saved us all from the corrupt templars we let the villages merge so that we all could live in peace and honor her example!" Proudly, he sounded. He opened the door and shoved her to a seat. "Danal, two on me!"

"Danal?" Leliana gasped and rose before she had even taken her seat. She turned around and looked over at the familiar face. "You live?"

"Heh, aye; Little miss Bethany had that same reaction when she came in here a couple'o years ago." He smiled and shook her hands.

"So she did come through here, thank the maker." She followed Danal's lead and sat down while he got her something to drink. "But I thought this was two settlements, what happened?"

"Bethany happened." He said, a fire shot in his eye and he sat down in front of her. "When the Templars tried to annul the two towns she saved us, the Champion and the Prince of Starkhaven had followed a lone templar to a cave so they weren't present, but Bethany, Hawke's lover and another elf was here. They saved our lives, and Bethany led them."

Leliana giggled as she thought about the shy young girl from Lothering leading a squad into battle against an army of templars. Danal told her in detail about the assault, all coming from hunting a single mage to loosing by the hands of another. As she walked by Bethany's statue she left a small white flower at the base, perhaps it wasn't too late to find her lost love after all; perhaps Bethany would lead her to her. "Andraste's grace symbolizes the hope Thea gave me…" She whispered.

"That it does? I don't remember Hawke ever giving you flowers…" Varric grinned as he crossed the bridge. "Well I'll be dammed…" He mumbled with the bottle half way into his mouth as he caught sight of Bethany's statue. "That's Sunshine!" He laughed.

"Right now you kinda remind me of Oghren…" Leliana mumbled as she turned him around to continue their journey. "A barkeep I know told us which way to go, come on."

"Perhaps you can help us then." A rough voice sounded from a silhouette in front of them, shadowed by the leaving sun. She shielded her eyes and quickly recognized the men in front of her that she each only had met briefly before. "Cullen, Nathaniel and Jowan, what's going on now?"

"Hey look! The brooding club of Ferelden is here to join us, are you sure you're not looking more for Fenris than Hawke?" Varric yelled and threw his bottle into the water.

"Oghren…" Nathaniel mumbled, like Leliana, before he shook his head and looked down at Varric. "You're that dwarf that was with the Champion in the deep roads to safe me…"

Varric looked closer, trying to control the blur the alcohol had given him. "Nathaniel Howe! The Brooding arl with a knack for getting into all kinds of trouble!"

"Why is it that dwarves always make me hate them when I try not to be prejudice…" He mumbled back before Cullen stepped in front of him.

"Enough, we have something to discuss." He bowed. "I'm the former Knight-Captain of Kirkwall, now rogue templar on the hunt for Hawke and her family."

"And you assume I'll help you assault people who are important to me?" Leliana snapped back at him.

"No, I do not wish to harm the Champion or the Hero, we just wish to find them. They could help us end the madness in this world before it's too late."

"Why is it that everyone thinks Hawke can end this?" Varric asked, now looking as serious as a drunk dwarf could.

"I don't think she can help us, everything I have seen her do is solve messes that she created herself. I believe the Hero is key." Cullen answered and looked back at Leliana. "We have tried to follow both the Hawke sisters and Thea Amell, but with no success, our trail ends here."

Nathaniel handed some documents over to Leliana and continued: "These are the last letters from Thea to the first warden before she went rogue; apparently she had dealings behind his back with a old Warden called Avernus, back in Ferelden, and we suspect that she may be trying to find a cure to the blight."

"Isn't that good?" Leliana asked.

"It is fantastic, but the problem is her going rogue." He looked down, "As much as she has good intentions, we have no idea if she's getting involved politically, no matter how much she believes she's out of the wardens, she's still our strongest public symbol, and the people will assume that her means are those of the wardens."

"So you want to control her? Have you ever thought that, that was perhaps why she, Anders and that group of wardens that travel with her left your order?" Varric scuffed.

"We don't want to presume, so the first warden tasked me with finding them and finding out what they are after and how far they are."

"And you?" Leliana looked to Jowan.

"I have personal reasons… Like you I suppose…" He quietly answered.

Leliana spotted the amulet he held in his hand. "What's that?"

"This was supposed to show me the way, but that idiot next to me destroyed it when he tried to 'convince' me that cooperating was the best idea."

"I had no idea that you kept it in your belt!" Cullen growled at him.

"And I had no idea that hitting people was a good means to get their allegiance!" Jowan scowled right back at him.

"Enough!" Nathaniel yelled and broke them away from each other. "What matters is that we all seek the same people, and I suspect that finding Hawke and Amell is the same thing in the end. Destiny must have in store for them to meet!"

Varric went ahead and placed his hand in the middle of the circle they had formed. "I suggest that too, we can also better watch each other when we travel together. Plus I don't find forests and dungeons very inviting when we only travel in pairs." He looked at Leliana and smiled.

"Exactly!" Nathaniel said and placed his hand on Varric's, "I vow that I do not intend to harm the Champion or the Hero, I will lend my bow to this cause and see that we all find those that we seek."

Jowan joined his hand without saying anything. Cullen hesitated but went along too. "I am no longer Templar officially, I am not bound by rules, but I am still one in morals and I cannot tolerate blood magic."
"Fine Jowan mumbled."

Leliana took a moment, looked up at Bethany once more before sighing and placing her hand on top of the others'. "Sounds like fun!" She forced a smile. Frankly she was far from sure that this was a good idea, but Varric did have a point that traveling alone only would invite more danger than what they could handle. Besides, if any of these men intended to harm one of the Thea's they could already have done so. She pointed to the tavern and they all agreed to stay one night before heading for their goal.

All righty then, and we are back on track. It took some time to get it finished, I've been lazy, but here it is.
I'm not sure how dedicated i am right now but i am confident that i will finish the story anyway. I might make shorter chaoters to keep pace.
Want a spoiler? Okay!
*Spoiler*
The next chapter will involve Velanna! _
*Spoiler over*

Cya!