Three days later

[Note: AU time. The quest "Following the Qun" occurs after "All That Remains" but for the purposes of this fic – since it makes more sense to me to do it this way – "Following the Qun" events will occur before Leandra's death ]

Marianna couldn't believe it, just mere days –days – after their engagement party, one of the urchins she hired ran up to her and said that it looked like Seamus was troubled and running through the streets in the direction of Lowtown. She immediately rushed to put on her old armor and gather her beloved battleax, then she was out the door with the Hawkes' mabari at her heels. She was thankful that her father's training made all the Hawkes extremely time efficient – she had a chance to find him, she just knew it.

A few steps into Lowtown, another urchin told her that it looked like Seamus was heading towards the Docks. The Qunari compound, Marianna thought worriedly. She started to sprint.

That stupid, stupid boy. Why does he think he can change the world with just a few declarations and promises? The Qunari are to be respected – but from a distance. They are too dangerous.

Marianna saw him at the bottom of the Dock's steps as she reached the top. "Seamus!" she bellowed. He stopped dead in his tracks. She took the stair's steps three at a time. "Seamus," she panted. She couldn't say anything else as she took a moment to force air into her lungs.

He turned to his betrothed with a worried frown, "Are you alright Marianna?"

She looked at him like he was mad, "Am I alright?" she repeated bewildered. "You try running from Hightown to the Docks in full armor and carrying a battleax!" She wiped her brow, "What are you doing here Seamus?"

He stood straighter and said, "I intend to convert to the Qun."

"What?!"

He slouched a little, "I left a letter for both you and my father. They were to be sent by courier after I left."

She put both of her hands heavily on her love's shoulders, and forced him to look her directly in the eye, "You think converting to the Qun will solve all your problems?" She wanted to shake him and demand he tell her that he was only mad, but she decided that wasn't a sound tactic.

As he looked in her eyes with a steely resolve, she saw a hint of something behind it. Perhaps regret?

"The Qunari are treated worse than the lowest beggars here, and they are our guests. Their Qun offers something more to live for than what life offers those in Kirkwall. They do not suffer for the path they've taken. Their path is set before them, and they can live knowing they are where they are meant to be – that they are doing what they are supposed to."

She moved her hands to his face, "Everyone in this world suffers. It is a fact, and it is something that can be found from the Qunari to the Carta. Think of the Saarebas. Life doesn't offer things to people. What fortune or fate has bequeathed to you, is yours due to your decisions, actions, and chance. Out of the Qun, you're still constrained to who you are – no one can escape that. The constraints on who you can be are more stringent in the Qun than not, but it clears no path. It creates no future. No more than what others are already dealt. It is just a way of life – it cannot change life's way."

She took a deep breath, "Seamus, you are Viscount Marlowe Dumar's son. You are meant to take over for your father and lead the people of Kirkwall. The people that need you, that will depend on your for guidance and leadership. So what if you have to deal with a couple dozen noble bigots? Nothing is ever easy. And Seamus, the people need you in this position. Your thoughts, your beliefs can change the fortunes of many people's lives. They need you to act on their behalf, because no one else will. They need you to take up what destiny has offered you. You are meant to lead – it's in your blood. Just as I am meant to fight – either with words or weapons. Those things will never change."

She stepped closer to him, "Will you squander what fate has dealt you to follow a path that was never meant to be yours? Will you let future people suffer because you will leave your father's position to someone lesser and blind?" She brushed her lips softly against his, "Will you deny our future together?"

Seamus let out a slow breath that he had been holding during the entirety of Marianna's speech. He put aside all thoughts of hoping she would devote herself to the Qun as he had intended, and he thought on what she had said. There were indisputable truths to her words. He could help people, he was supposed to take over for his father, but what of the Qun? Does it really not clear one's path? Does it really not create a future? He closed his eyes in thought, and after a few silent moments, he felt her soft lips upon his again. Her tongue slid between his lips and demanded entrance past his teeth. He gave in to her demands and lost himself in the kiss. They had only ever kissed like this once before, and this time he did not blush bright red and pull apart in embarrassment. He was eager for more.

She pulled away from his lips after a long moment and trailed light kisses to his ear, and whispered, "I swear to the Maker that I will take you right here in front of everyone, if that will convince you to stay with me Seamus." More seriously she continued, "The Qun is not your future, love, it is here. Where you can make the most difference. Do the most good. And I swear that I will always protect you and aid you as best I can, for as long as I draw breath. I will not leave you alone to shoulder the burden that is Kirkwall. I will be with you always. I love you Seamus."

"I love you too Marianna," he kissed her softly again.

She smiled, and the couple was interrupted by an apologetic looking boy. "Sorry Sers, but I have a message from the Viscount for his son."

Marianna signaled the boy to stay as Seamus read the message, "My father received my letter. He wants to discuss my actions at the Chantry, in neutral ground."

Marianna nodded in understanding. She was instantly suspicious, "This is unlike him isn't it? Why not in his office?" and said to the boy, "Can you deliver another message? Do you know where the Amell-Hawke estate is?" He nodded, and she hoped that her sister had returned from taking Orana to Merrill's for lessons, "It is for Olisa Hawke, my sister, but you can leave it with anyone at the estate with the express intent that Olisa hears it right away. Understand?" He nodded again eagerly, the Hawkes always gave good coin for messages. "Tell her that Marianna asks that she go to the Chantry as soon as possible with backup." She asked the boy to repeat the message before he raced off with a silver in his hand, and the promise for another from her sister.

As the couple entered the Chantry, Marianna noticed immediately that it was eerily quiet and empty. "I have a bad feeling. Be careful Seamus." He squeezed her hand he held in reassurance before he broke from her grasp, and walked to stand before the large golden statue of Andraste. "Andraste's guide and one true love was the Maker. I feel the same for you Marianna," he said as she joined him at his side. "You are my guide, and I was foolish to think that it was the Qun. You alone are the one to give me guidance and strength." She remained silent as he gazed solemnly at the statue.

Marianna came to a decision about their situation. It was very probable that things were going to get bad. They hadn't seen a single sign of the Viscount, or anyone else, in several minutes – they were being set-up. "Do want to come with me to get Brother Vael? He should be in his room at this hour."

"You may get him if you wish, love. I am in no danger in a house of the Maker."

She sighed, "Just be careful. You do remember how to punch don't you?" She tried to lighten her tone as she walked away.

Sebastian wasn't in his room. Olisa hadn't yet arrived, and Marianna needed help. She knew without question that the situation they were in was not right. She left Dagger with Seamus, since the boy refused to leave, and left with the promise of a quick return from Fenris'.

As she arrived at the elf's mansion, she pounded on the door hard enough to rattle it on it's hinges. Fenris opened the door and his face quickly mirrored the worry etched into Marianna's.

"Thank the Maker! Fenris, you have to help me. I think Seamus is in danger. He's at the Chantry and the blighter wouldn't come with me. I can't find Sebastian either."

"I'm here," Sebastian said as he approached from behind Fenris. He had been visiting Fenris to offer to help him read and understand the Chant.

Marianna quickly dragged the two men away with her, and briefly explained what had happened along the way.

Within minutes she was walking beside Sebastian and Fenris to where she left Seamus in the Chantry. As they rounded the corner, she saw Mother Petrice stalking behind Seamus with a nasty looking dagger in her hand. Enraged with anger, Marianna shouted as she drew her ax, "Get away from him you bitch!" The devious Chantry Mother had been obviously just waiting for an opportunity to strike Seamus when he was vulnerable and alone. Her sister's hound, Dagger, was nowhere to be seen.

Sebastian drew his bow, "Maker forgive us."

Seamus, startled from the shouts and activity, spun around to be face-to-face with the Mother and her dagger. She lunged at Seamus and burrowed her dagger to the hilt in his flesh. He screamed and collapsed to the floor as dozens of armed civilians started to pour out the doors in the front hall.

Sebastian started to whisper the Chant as he, Fenris, and Marianna started to thin out the hostiles. Marianna saw red, focusing her strength she gained from her rage and anger, but she tried to cripple whenever possible, as did the men. None of them were very willing to kill mislead and brainwashed civilians. A large muscular man with an ax of his own started for Marianna, and the hound Dagger, who seemingly appeared out of thin air, lunged at the man.

The fighting died down, and all that could be heard were the agonized moans of the few still conscious people. Mother Petrice descended the stair then with the Grand Cleric. Marianna ran for Seamus as the Mother started to spout her lies.

Seamus was drenched in a pool of his own blood.

Marianna saw that the dagger had burrowed to the hilt into his chest, and he wasn't moving. Marianna started to shake him and pleaded at the top of her lungs. "Seamus! Seamus!" She could barely hear the Grand Cleric's, the Mother's, and Sebastian's words as she yelled and shook at the searing pain she now felt, as if the dagger had pierced her heart and not her love's.

Fenris dropped to his knees beside her, and peeled her hands away from Seamus' now cold body. She gasped for air as if she were drowning, and punched Fenris in the chest as she became blinded by pain and rage.

She cried, "Why? Maker,why?" and grasped the edge of Fenris' chestplate until her knuckles ached and turned bone-white. She put her forehead against his chest and continued to sob. Fenris raised his hands to her shoulders, and held her with his gauntleted hands. He was quiet, there was nothing he could say or do to ease her pain.

What finally caught her attention was the sharp click of the Grand Cleric's heeled boots on the balcony above. She turned and rose her head, just in time to see Olisa standing in the Chantry's doorway with Cullen at her side. Her sister had her bow trained on Mother Petrice. She let her arrow soar with a whoosh and a thud. "I protect my own," Olisa said as the Mother's body dropped. Her strong voice resonated off of the walls.

Marianna could then see why her sister had shot the Mother in the back of her head. Her body had dropped from just behind her with another dagger clutched in her hand. The Mother had intended to end Marianna as she and Fenris were preoccupied with her grief.

Olisa ascended the stair right after Sebastian kneeled beside Seamus' prone form beside her sister. "What happened?" She asked as steadily as she could. Her sister was clutched to Fenris as if he were her lifeline, as they kneeled in the pool of Seamus' blood.

Marianna took in a sharp breath, her forehead had returned to Fenris' chest, "S-Seamus wanted to convert to the Qun. I stopped him, and then he got this mysterious note to meet his father here at the Chantry. Everything seemed too... suspicious, so I went to get Sebastian. He wasn't there, so I went to get Fenris. I left Dagger here, but I-I don't know. Petrice killed him. And I wasn't here to protect him."

Sebastian got to his feet, "I will send for the Viscount and the Guard. They will want to interrogate those that remain." He whispered as he walked away, "So much death in the Maker's house..."

Marianna turned red-rimmed eyes briefly to Olisa, "Where were you sister? I... I had sent a message."

Olisa put a hand atop her sister's head lightly, "After I took Orana to Merrill's, I went to the Gallows. Bodan sent word to Cullen's office, and we went straight here."

By the time the Guard and the Viscount arrived, Fenris had managed to move Mariana away from the body. She was still gripping his chestplate, and refused to let go. She was mumbling incoherently with a tear-stained cheek pressed against the elf's chest. Fenris was still cradling her shoulders, and had begun murmuring soft reassurances in Arcanum just above her hair as he bend his head down.

Viscount Dumar was beside himself, "A Mother murdered my son in the Chantry!" He looked around the room, "All this death..."

…...

Note: So, I wasn't completely sure how the line of succession goes for the Viscount's office, but I just wrote it as following a familial line until the family ends, or another line is voted in.