This started as a question posted on Twitter: "If you were stranded on a desert island with two DA characters, who would be the best and the worst to be stuck with?" The characters of Anders and Fenris are from Dragon Age 2 but they will be different for this story. Mage Hawke has abilities that are not from the game as you've noticed so far. I'm trying to see how this goes and decided to post a few chapters anyways. My partner in crime for this is KrisJFern. All comments are welcome.

As always: thanks to Kris for being a great sounding board in all things Stranded. Thanks to Brenna and Lyall for being such great supporters of my craziness.

A/N: I am also working in collaboration with another author here called Signs of Falling Grace. Once she gets set up and able to publish, she will be adding a few "companion" chapters to Stranded written by her.

Fabulous fan art I'd like to mention for this chapter is simply called FHawke by Kou chan from Deviant Art.

Stranded

Defining the Past

I couldn't bear to see Inara so unhappy, having her doubt who she was and what she was becoming. I brushed the tears from her eyes and she smiled up shyly at me before hiding a yawn behind her hand. I could see that she was debating telling me something as I reached out again to touch her cheek.

"You should try to rest some more after everything that's happened," I said as I moved some stray strands off her face.

"You're probably right," she said turned on her side and leaned back down. I reached over her and grabbed the sheet to cover her while she grabbed my folded coat to place her head on. Inara ran her fingers over the feathers as I draped the sheet over her and made to get up but stopped when she reached out and grabbed my arm.

"Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?" she asked and I nodded as she reached down and took my hand.

"What's the first thing you want to do once we return to Kirkwall?" she asked sleepily, rubbing her thumb lightly over my wrist.

I laughed softly as I thought about my answer. "I think what I'd like to do most is to lie on my cot at the clinic," I finally replied. "I'll never complain about having a sore back after having slept on this hard ground ever again."

Inara laughed sleepily as I leaned back and you could easily hear my spine crack. I looked down at her, seeing that she was struggling to keep her eyes open.

"What will you do when we get back?" I asked her quietly, dreading how things would change if and when we got back to Kirkwall.

"You mean after taking the longest bath?" she laughed as she let go of my hand and moved her hand wipe at her eyes. "I want to go to Lowtown and stand in the market, not to buy but just to listen to the crowds as they walk around me."

"I know what you mean. Merrill once commented that she had such a hard time thinking to herself with of all the noise in the city. Who would have thought that you could take such a thing for granted?" I wondered. "Perhaps we'll run into one another," I said hopefully but Inara just turned over suddenly.

"No, we won't," she said quietly. "You'll go back to writing your damn manifesto and forget about everything else…just like before."

I reached out and placed my hand gently on her back, unable to find the words to dispute what she said. So I remained silent and I felt as she shook, crying briefly. I could do nothing more than rub her back and wait for her to continue.

"I'm sorry," she said finally. "I know that what you're fighting for is important and I've done all that I can to help you. It's just…" she sighed. "You say that you and Justice are one but truly, you're not," she said softly. "The demon could not figure out just what was holding you back from her but I could. I think I always could."

"Perhaps one day there will come a time when Justice and I can be separated," I said finally.

"I suppose I will just have to be a little more patient then," she whispered. I paused, my hand on her back, uncertain if I had heard her correctly but not wanting to ask her to repeat herself and have her deny it.

"Will you ever tell me about this scar you have on your back?" I asked finally. I felt her tense as my fingers brushed over the old faded scar and wished I hadn't asked about it.

From her silence, I could tell she was trying to decide how much she wanted to reveal about it before finally answering.

"It was Carver," she said quietly. "Back when we were younger, we used to argue about everything you could imagine. You remember how he was before he left to become a Templar, how he always quick to anger? Well he was no better when he was younger."

I felt the long ridge line along her back and could not imagine how she could speak so calmly about what had happened. "Surely nothing you could have done deserved this…"

"It happened when we were sparring. He had a sword and I had my staff. The simple rules were: no magic involved, but I could tell he wasn't taking me seriously and I cheated," she said as she looked over her shoulder at me. "I used magic and he retaliated. We both acted childishly but from then on, I used a sword whenever we sparred."

"Why was it never properly healed?" I asked as I move my hand slowly away.

"Bethany could only heal it up to a point and I didn't want Carver to get into trouble," she explained. "So he bandaged my wound and I dealt through most of the pain until our father returned. By then I couldn't hide what had happened. There was little he could do about the scar but he healed it so I wouldn't feel pain every time I moved."

When I first met Hawke, I was intrigued by her when she came to my clinic, a mage dressed in warrior's armor. A clever disguise in a city such as Kirkwall but I saw her for what she really was. I could sense her magic before she even walked in the door. She surprised me further by revealing that her sword was not nearly just a decoration but could use it as well. Later when I asked if she knew how to focus her magic by using her sword as if it were a staff, she was intrigued by the notion but was never able to fully grasp how.

Upon meeting her brother, I understood her desire to not stand out as a mage, with his constant disparaging of her magic. I began to wonder how she put up with him; how she seemed to never stick up for herself once he started to rage at her. She later explained how she felt responsible for his twin sister's death and how Bethany was the only mage that Carver would never judge.

It was only during her fight with the Arishok that people realized that Inara was in fact a mage. Everyone she had helped before had kept that fact to themselves, knowing that the Knight-Commander would lock her in the Gallows for being an apostate. Once he was defeated, having saved the remaining nobles from whatever fate the Qunari had in store for them had insured that Inara could not be taken without the outrage of the entire city. When she was named Champion, I asked Solivitus to find a staff for her that could represent both a staff and a sword.

Before she fell asleep, she admitted that most of what we saw go on between them was all for show. She knew that as a child, Carver resented being the only one of the three without magical abilities. He felt as if the Maker had played some cruel joke upon him, by joining him to a sibling who would always be different from him. She explained that one night she found him in tears and tried her best to explain to him that perhaps the Maker knew that Bethany would need a protector one day and that would be him. He vowed that he would always protect Bethany and she solemnly vowed she would always protect them. And so he trained hard to be just that. Inara became his sparring partner, which their father very much approved of since he was constantly away from them. After their father's death, it fell on the two of them to look after Bethany, who they always treated as if she were made of glass and their mother who mourned.

It was Carver's desire to save his sister that caused him to join the King's army. Being the oldest, Inara was pushed into joining him by their mother, promising that she and Bethany would be safe until they returned. But when the battle at Ostagar was lost, the Hawke siblings fled and made their way back to Lothering to ensure their family's escape. Despite how hard she and Carver fought, it only took a moment for them to lose Bethany who stood between her mother and a charging darkspawn. In their grief, both Carver and Leandra blamed Inara for Bethany's death, which she fully accepted.

In Kirkwall without Bethany, Carver yearned to be something other than just the younger Hawke. Inara could see he was getting bitter and restless and during one outing, the two had it out finally. She knew that he needed something to channel his grief and knew that their being together would only be a constant reminder of what they lost. She agreed that perhaps it was best if Carver finally left to pursue what made him happy. And for him, that meant becoming a Templar. While she knew he was happy to finally happy, it took some time for the two of them to come to terms with their life before Kirkwall.

Which is why I was surprised to learn that if anyone could, it would be Carver who would come for her. Yawning, she explained how she developed a close relationship with Orsino, the First Enchanter of the Kirkwall circle. With his help, they secretly had a phylactery made using Inara's blood, one that only Carver had access to. Orsino had seen all the good that she tried to do for her fellow mages and agreed to keep it hidden. It was designed so only her brother could use it, which assured that even if it fell into Meredith's hands, it would not work for her. Orsino also assured them that it would not work if Inara were dead. It was meant for just such an occasion.

I was shocked that Inara had so much faith in Carver to place so much power over her in his hands. I asked if this was what the demon meant by her having plans on how they were to escape and she had nodded sleepily to me that it was. Secretly, I had wondered how she was so certain that someone could even find us. Hearing this, I wasn't sure how I felt of the extremes she had gone to but I would just have to wait and see.

Thanks to everyone who has been following this crazy story. If you have any questions about this, please be sure to have your PM's enabled so I can answer back!