A/N: This was overdue for an update. Hatseput and TIM will be happy, I'm sure. Thank you everyone for your reviews, alerts, and favorites! They make me so happy!

Disclaimer: Bioware


A Wolf and Mage's Uneasy Path

Chapter Twelve


Fenris was awash with so many feelings, he was afraid he was finally losing his mind. He'd stormed back to his mansion and had thrown his sword across the room, screaming his frustration. Even though his now former master's blood stained his hands, he felt no freer than he had when he had been in chains, whether literally or figuratively. The chair followed, then the benches, and he even flipped the table. Never did he feel so…so…To the Void! There wasn't even a word for it! He was just so damned angry, bitter, his brands nearly afire as he tore through his room. He wanted to bring Danarius back to life just to squash his heart in his hands and kill him again. Over and over, until these feelings washed away in the river of that damned man's blood. Maybe, just maybe, then Fenris could move on and have some semblance of a normal life.

"Fenris?" The question of his name was posed warily from the doorway and Fenris froze, his chest heaving as he struggled to reign in his anger. The last person who deserved his lashings stood in the doorway. He didn't want to hurt her, not any more than he already had.

"Hawke. It would be best if you just…leave," he muttered, his lyrium brands flickers as he stood straight and sucked in a deep breath.

"I…" she sounded hesitant and he knew if he were to turn around, he would see her biting her lower lip. The image made him ache, as he had been for so long. He wanted to go to her more than anything, but he knew he was a coward. "I just wanted to see if you were alright…" she sighed the words softly.

"I am fine!" He snapped, more harshly than he intended and he swore he could feel her flinch.

"Yes…I can see that." She murmured and he knew she was surveying the damage he'd done to the room.

"Please, just go…I…" He grit his teeth, his hands balling into fists. Before he knew it, he'd turned toward her and was approaching her at a curious pace. She didn't flinch, even as he turned her and pinned her against the wall, smashing his lips down on hers. Her arms came up quickly around his neck and she made a noise of pleasure that shot straight to his shaft, making him groan. He allowed the kiss to go on, lips and tongues melding together, teeth clicking against each other's, before with a growl, he tore himself away. "Festis bei umo canavarum," he muttered the words as he pressed his forehead to hers', sucking in a steadying breathe.

"It's obvious that you're upset, Fenris…" She whispered, her voice trembling as she unwrapped her arms from his neck and slid her hands down to press against his chest. He shuddered before drawing back away from her, missing the frown that curved her lips as he turned away.

"It means you will be the death of me," he sighed with a shake of his head.

"I had no idea," she chuckled as she walked toward him, her footsteps nearly silent, and pressed a hand to his shoulder. "I am here to talk if you need to, Fenris."

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Six years ago I decided to stay with you, in part because I owed you. But I also thought you could help me. And you did." He tore away from her and kicked on the benches as he had before. "Hadriana is dead. Danarius is dead. I am finally free. But none of it feels like it should." He scowled as he turned to face her. "This freedom taste like ashes."

"Fenris…" She smiled softly, reaching for him but when he drew away, she dropped her hand with a soft shake of her head. "You were already free, Fenris. Killing Danarius was just revenge…not that I am saying you shouldn't have killed him. I would have if you didn't. Bastard deserved it."

He sighed and shook his head, letting out a long breathe to try and calm himself. "You are not responsible for my misery. Why am I angry at you?"

"I don't think you are angry at me." She smiled again, softly, same as before. "I think I am just…in proximity."

He felt himself give an ever so slight answering smile. "Perhaps." He paced away from her, his brands finally easing and no longer illuminating in the semi lit room. "I thought finding Varania would open up a whole new world, one that was lost forever. But it's gone and I can't get it back."

"Fenris –"

"What do I do now, Hawke?" He asked as he turned away, cocking his head as he stared at her. She looked torn, a variety of emotions flickering through her eyes before she smiled, almost regretfully.

"What do you want to do, Fenris?" Her voice trembled and she glanced away, moving and resting back against the wall where he had pinned her moments ago with a violent kiss. He licked his lips; Maker smite him, but he wanted to do it again. And again.

He smiled almost wryly. "Clearly making decisions for myself isn't one of my better qualities…something we both know very well."

She chuckled and nodded as her eyes came back to him. "I guess we do, though we both have been known to screw up a time or two."

He sighed. "Maybe it is time to leave this hatred behind. It's poison, yet I continue to swallow it. There is no one left to blame. What I have done I have done to myself."

"It's a realization we all face at some point, Fenris. I have said the very same to myself." She pushed herself up from the wall. "I am here if you need me. You don't have to go through this alone, you know."

"Don't I?" He asked, so softly he was aware that she may not have heard him. "We…we haven't discussed what happened between us…"

"Stop, don't Fenris. I…" She sighed and moved to the door, her body giving a soft tremble he caught with his gaze. Was she afraid? Or tempted? "I can't…"

"Hawke – "

He took a step toward her and she looked over her shoulder, shaking her head faintly. "I came here to see if I could help you, but this…I'm sorry, I can't, not yet…" And then she left, despite his vocal protest, leaving him to stand there feeling strangely empty. Like he'd lost a part of himself in that moment and he wasn't certain if he could get it back.


Hawke almost felt uncomfortable to have Fenris with her after that afternoon, but he was by far their strongest and Varric's information seemed sketchy at best. That was also her reasoning for bringing Anders, as he was by far the most talented mage in their group in the art of healing. She couldn't deny that the atmosphere was tense, but she couldn't let her relationships affect the cohesion of her group. When it came to battle, they had to work together, or else they would all pay the price. To her surprise, as they waited in the cold night air of hightown, there was no bickering, no glowering, just…silence. She found that almost as…disconcerting.

Once the silence had stretched on for too long, Hawke sighed and stopped her pacing to turn her pale eyes to Varric. "And of course there is no one," she chuckled, as she half shrugged.

"All I know is it had something to do with you and nobles. Edge if usually very reliable," Varric defended with a somewhat nervous laugh; not all that reassuring.

"This is normally when we're ambushed," Fenris said, drawing Hawke's eyes to him with raised brows. He'd spoken for the first time the entire night, well – that was a start.

"Why?" Varric exclaimed with a roll of his eyes. "It's not always an ambush." Hawke would have said something but suddenly there were bodies popping out from behind stands, out of the tree, off the edges, and arrows being notched in bows, daggers being drawn. Varric sighed. "Alright, maybe sometimes it's an ambush."

Hawke chuckled and shook her head as a blonde man approached her, his arms outstretched. "And there is the Champion of Kirkwall." She nodded her head in greeting. "You die today."

"Why am I not surprised?" She sighed dramatically.

A dagger flew through the air with a low whistle, imbedding itself in the man's shoulder who cried out in pain as blood spurted. Hawke's gaze was drawn to the source, a red headed elf on the rooftops. Well now – what exactly was going on? She watched as the elf jumped from the rooftop athletically, and took out more than half the attackers, before running up the man she'd originally stabbed and slitting his throat as he cried out "kill her! Kill all of them!". The elf turned and licked her lips with a smile.

"Well what are you waiting for?" She asked sweetly, before jumping back into the fray with Hawke and the others on her heels.


"Sloppy," the elf mumbled as she stood from where she had been crouched beside one of the corpses. She came toward Hawke, who watched her carefully. "You'd think the Crows would be better at this. They've been doing it for ages."

"Interesting entrance," Hawke chuckled. "You have some fine moves, some I haven't even seen Isabela pull."

The elf chuckled. "I do, don't I?" To Hawke's surprise, she half curtsied and nodded. "My name is Tallis. I have been looking for you."

"Looking for me?" Hawke sighed as she shook her head. "Why am I not surprised?" Vaguely she heard Fenris chuckle and she half turned to glare at him, but he only smirked. Blighted elves, she mumbled to herself as she returned her eyes to Tallis.

"Looking for the woman who has an invitation to Chateau Haine, to be specific."

"Ooooooh," Varric exclaimed. "That's what Edge was on about! You remember? Duke Prosper, the one who fawned all over you at the Champion of Kirkwall banquet. He talked about a hunt."

Hawke shuddered and she heard Anders' grunt; they both apparently recalled the way the Duke had nearly been throwing himself upon her that night. She wanted to gag, just thinking about the man's hand on her. "How could I forget?" Hawke drawled dryly.

"The duke is a delightful host – or so I hear," Tallis chuckled.

Hawke wasn't fooled by the rather cute appearance of the elf, not when the nagging sensation didn't dissipate even after the ambush had been taken care of. She narrowed her eyes thoughtfully as Tallis walked a couple of feet away, before she turned to look at her with a brow raised. "Let me guess," Hawke sighed, "this isn't just a social call?"

"I need to relieve him of something he has no right to possess. And I can't do it alone," Tallis confessed, making Hawke pause at the slightly desperate note she could hear in the elven woman's voice.

"You want to rob him?" Hawke cocked a brow.

Varric threw out his arms with a slight laugh. "Well, stealing from Orlesians is never wrong. Or so I've been told."

"There's always a catch," Anders said and Hawke glanced at him with an amused, I-know-what-you-mean expression. He chuckled and shook his head, tapping his staff pointedly. "Nobody ever helps unless there's a catch."

Tallis sighed, though a slight smirk pulled at her lips. "This isn't how I was planning to ask you this. I was picturing an introduction with…less blood."

"I imagine if we did this, we would do it together?"

"That's the idea. Or did you…have something else in mind?" Tallis smiled coyly at that and Hawke felt herself blush; was the elf insinuating what she thought she was? Maker's breathe! She hadn't meant that.

"What did you have in mind, Hawke?" Fenris voiced, turning a slightly narrowed gaze upon Hawke's flushed face.

She shook her head frantically, coughing to clear her suddenly dry throat. "I just thought we should get to know one another if we were going to work together!" She exclaimed with a groan, turning her eyes away from Fenris' disgruntled face.

"I think I'd like that," Tallis giggled.