Hawke woke to the feeling of water dripping steadily onto her head. She cracked her eye open slowly and groaned in pain. Her body felt as if she'd been thrown around by a few ogres. It felt too troublesome to move so she didn't. Instead she tried to take in her surroundings. It was hard to get a feel for where she was as the area was mostly dark, sans a light shining from somewhere above. From what she could see, a wall of rock surrounded her. The water dripping onto her forehead came from the stalactite hanging above.

Her hand groped the pouch she kept tied to her belt till she found what she was looking for. She pulled out a health potion, and downed the red liquid as she tried to search her memory to remember how she ended up wherever she was. The sound of metal scraping against rock snapped her out of her reprieve. She sat up quickly, the potion had already worked its magic and she felt no pain as she tried to pinpoint the source of the sound as her hands flew to her daggers. A groan bubbled up from next to her and Hawke relaxed, the memory of how she wound up in this mess coming back to her mind. She waited patiently for Cassandra to fully wake up.

"W-where am I?" The woman asked in her heavy Nevarran accent.

"If I were to guess, an underground cavern," Hawke responded.

She could see Cassandra next to her lean forward to try to get a better look at the person who answered in the dim light.

"Hawke?" The voice asked uncertainly.

"That's me," She replied.

"How did we get here?"

"You fell,"

Cassandra considered this statement in silence. After a few moments her lips twisted into a snarl.

"Varric. It is because of him that I fell."

This statement made Hawke bristle. She didn't know what Cassandra's problem with Varric was, but she was going to get to the bottom of it.

"No, it was your fault that you fell. You lunged at him on a rickety rope bridge, which in itself was not a bright idea by the way, and fell. You caused this seeker, not him. What the hell is your problem with Varric anyway? Since I have been here you have been nothing but aggressive to him."

"He compared my-my womanhood to being as barren as a cavern…the cavern we are currently in actually."

"It was a joke. You know what that is right? You laugh at them not call people little shits—well actually the little shits things is acceptable at times. The point is you don't try to slice them with your sword on a wooden bridge. Can I just reiterate how bad of an idea that was?"

Cassandra sighed. "Yes, Hawke. I got it. It was a bad idea. I was angry and wasn't thinking clearly. Varric has a way of getting under your skin."

"That seems to be just a you thing. Everyone else seems to have no problem with him."

"I know how I fell. Why are you down here?"

"Tired of my company already, Seeker? After all that time you spent looking for me? My but you are a fickle one."

"Hawke," She said warningly.

"I tried to catch you. Your bloody armor is a lot heavier than it looks. I couldn't get a good grip and wound up taking the plunge with you. Now we get to have bonding time…in this dank little cave. Fun right?"

Cassandra merely grunted in response.

"So in the interest of sharing, I ask you again, what is your problem with Varric?"

Cassandra pushed herself off of the ground and winced. Hawke dug in her pouch once more and fished out another potion handing it to her. Cassandra took it gratefully and downed the contents before letting the glass vial shatter to the rocky ground.

"You mean besides the fact that he is a crude, lying, manipulative little shit?" Cassandra responded as she took in their surroundings.

"Well…tell me how you really feel why don't you?" Hawke muttered bitterly.

"You asked."

"That I did. I don't agree with that assessment though."

Cassandra turned to face Hawke. Hawke could barely make out a frown on her face in the low light.

"Of course you don't. You are his friend though I cannot understand why for the life of me."

"Because he is friendly, kind, generous and has a really huge….di—uh delightful heart," Hawke said with a mischievous smile. Cassandra didn't seem to think anything of her pause. "He also has that magnificent chest hair. I mean have you seen it? He's like walking sex," Hawke finished while waggling her brows. Cassandra made a face of disgust.

"That is an assessment I do not agree with. It does not matter. We need to find a way back to the others."

"Actually, it does matter. Your dislike of him got us into this situation in the first place."

Cassandra glared at her. After a few moments, her features softened.

"I know…perhaps my anger is a bit…unreasonable but I feel as if he made a fool of me."

"Fool of you? How?"

Cassandra opened her mouth to speak when Hawke raised a hand to stop her. Cassandra shot her an annoyed look.

"You ask me a question and then tell me to be quiet."

"I heard something," Hawke replied and she began to move forward as if being lulled by some sound that Cassandra could not hear.

Cassandra followed her slowly, groping the sodden walls to help guide her way. Hawke led them to a larger cavern which had a bit more light then the one they were previously in. This area seemed to be an abandoned dwarven thiag. She saw Hawke crouched behind a large slab of a fallen column and followed suite crouching down beside her.

Cassandra could see that both she and Hawke looked quite the mess. That fall had not been gentle on either of them. It was a good thing Hawke had those potions on her because she wasn't exactly sure if they would have been able to get up from it. She silently cursed herself for using up all of her potions in earlier skirmishes. Even with the potion, her body still had a dull ache and she felt a bit stiff. She knew that they would most likely need to see a healer before the day was done.

Cassandra peered over the stone slab to look at whatever had Hawke so transfixed. It seems this thaig was not quite abandoned after all. There was a group of darkspawn on the other side of the room, milling about in what seemed to be an exit.

"Sooo of course, they have to be blocking the only exit to this room. My amazing luck strikes again," Hawke said in a whisper.

"There is nothing to be gained by complaining. We need to come up with a strategy on how to deal with those things."

"My normal strategy would be to sneak past them but you make that a bit difficult."

"What do you mean by that?" Cassandra asked with a incredulous look.

"Stealth isn't exactly your strong suit is it? I mean your armor just screams hey, listen to all this clanking. I'm over here."

"It is for protection. Besides, I am not one to run from a fight. I did not think you were."

"You really are a hard ass," Hawke muttered.

"What?" Cassandra asked.

"We should take them out hard and fast?" Hawke replied with feigned innocence. Cassandra eyed her for a few moments in silence then nodded in acceptance to this explanation.

Cassandra looked back to the group of darkspawn. It was mostly comprised of genlocks. They would be easy to eliminate. The hurlocks might pose a problem. Luckily, there were only two of them. They seemed to be looking in their direction. They didn't hear them did they? Just to be on the safe side, they needed to move quickly if they still wanted the element of surprise on their side.

"I think I have a plan. First, I will charge in. While I have the attention of the group, you will sneak in behind and take out their weakest members first. Once I see that half of their forces are down, I will switch to the offensive. At that time, you should switch your focus to the hurlocks while I take out the remaining genlocks. Once the genlocks have been eliminated, I will join you in your assault of the hurlocks. If we follow this strategy, I am confident that we should get through this battle with no problem."

Cassandra waited for Hawke to give input on this plan. When she received none, she figured that she was simply not paying attention. With an annoyed sigh, Cassandra called Hawke's name. There was no response. With a frown, Cassandra turned her head to look at the spot that Hawke occupied to see that she was no longer there. Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked around. Did Hawke abandon her? She could have easily stealth past this group. Would she have done that? Did she leave her? She did seem rather upset about what she said regarding Varric. She knew the two of them were close friends. No. Hawke wouldn't do that. She was a hero. She was good person.

A strangled gargle followed by several animalistic shrieks filled the cavern. Cassandra's head snapped in that direction to see a dead genlock on the ground in a pool of its own foul blood. The remaining darkspawn were looking around frantically for the assailant, hurlocks screeching out what she imagined were orders to the remaining group. Another genlock dropped spreading further panic in the group. They were disorganized and disoriented. They couldn't see who they were supposed to fight. A third fell and Hawke was revealed from her hiding place in the shadows. She had a grin on her face as she admired her handiwork before assassinating yet another genlock. It seemed that whatever she used to conceal herself had run out. They could see their enemy now and with a terrifying howl they rushed at her.

.

Hawke waited until they were almost upon her. She moved so quickly that Cassandra didn't see it. Suddenly she no longer inhabited the spot she had previously. She was now behind the group that rushed at her, her daggers protruding out of the chest of another genlock.

She kicked its dead body off of her daggers into its allies. Two genlocks struggled to catch their fallen comrade and Hawke used that distraction to rush forward and thrust her daggers into both of them. One of them finding its target in a genlocks's throat, the other embedding in the other's eye. The genlock she had impaled in the eye flailed about, howling loudly in pain. She wrenched her dagger from its eye, pulling shredded chunks of it out as she withdrew her blade and slammed the blade in its throat as well. She bent backwards, barely missing the attack of one of the hurlocks who had joined the fray. Hawke swiped at the hurlock causing it to hop back away from her. She straightened her body and rolled to the side, barely missing an attack to her own neck from the other hurlock who had joined the fray.

Cassandra could only watch in awe. Hawke was deadly yet graceful on the battlefield. Her dance of death was hypnotic and she could not help but be impressed. She had always thought Varric's stories about Hawke were pure exaggeration; Embellishments from the mouth of a friend. She could see now that it was real. Every single word of how she fought a dragon, giant spiders, an arishock, a malformed blood magic monstrosity, it all seemed so very plausible now.

Hawke was now surrounded by the two hurlocks and the remaining three genlocks. Cassandra snapped out of her admiration and focused on the battle before her. She jumped over the slab she had been hiding behind and charged into the battle, her shield positioned in front of her. As soon as she was upon the first hurlock, she slammed into him, checking him roughly with the shield and knocking him clear off its feet. All focus shifted to her. Cassandra noted that Hawke was no longer there. She used Cassandra's distraction as an opportunity to slip back into the shadows. The second hurlock reacted to Cassandra almost immediately, his weapon swiping at her and bouncing off her shield as she blocked. It was undaunted by her defense, swinging its weapon furiously. Hawke used the distraction to pick off two more genlocks and the hurlock she had knocked down. Cassandra parried the next attack from the hurlock and took advantage of the opening by burying her blade in its gut. She yanked her blade out and slammed it into a nearby genlock.

Her eyes scanned the battle and all she could see was the fallen bodies of their foes and Hawke wiping the tainted darkspawn blood off of her blades. Hawke glanced down to her outfit and wrinkled her nose at the blood splotches that decorated it.

"You ever notice how bad darkspawn smell? Even their blood is foul. It's going to take ages to get this stench out of my armor."

"What did you think you were doing? You just ran into battle without me. It was completely reckless to go in without a plan."

"I had a plan. Stick them with the point end until they stop moving. It hasn't let me down so far. Works for most battles actually."

"Stabbing things is not a plan."

"These dead darkspawn beg to differ."

Cassandra made a disgusted noise and threw up her hands.

"Forget it. You are impossible. I see why you and Varric get along so well."

"And I can see how you two clash. You are kind of intense. It's like you don't know how to enjoy things."

"I can enjoy things as much as the next person. There is just a time and place for everything and battle is not a time for jokes."

"It is the perfect time for jokes, Cassandra. Not everyone can deal with such abysmal circumstances head on. Some of us need to laugh or we will cry. We will be too powerless to do anything at all. We cope the best way we can; Just like you seem to like to approach things with a massive stick up your ass."

"I might have been more sympathetic to what you said if you hadn't included the stick part," Cassandra responded. Her voice was laced with irritation.

"Sorry, habitual. Can we start over?"

Cassandra sighed.

"I do not hate Varric and I do not dislike you."

"Then what is your issue with him?'

"He lied to me and I believed it. I felt like a fool for hanging on his every word."

"Don't feel bad about that…Varric has a very talented mouth….," Hawke grinned to herself at the joke she was sure went over Cassandra's head if her expression was anything to judge by.

"You mentioned that before though, that he lied to you. What did he lie about?"

"About you. He knew where you were when we needed you most and he lied! He told us he didn't know where you were and I believed him."

"Okay, Cassandra, step back for a second and look at it from his point of view. Crazy human drags him into his best friend's home after breaking in mind you and throws him in a chair. This crazy human follows this up by throwing a dagger at his crotch and demands he gives up his best friend. How exactly would you react?"

Cassandra remained silent as she thought about what Hawke had said. It was true, perhaps her initial introduction to Varric was a touch…rough but she was warned about how much of a swindler he was. She did not want to risk being deceived by him and figured a direct approach was the best approach. In hindsight, perhaps it was not. She understood Varric's anger towards her and knew it was warranted but her own anger that she was still deceived by him prevented her from acknowledging her own fault in the situation.

"Perhaps…I could have handled the situation better. Perhaps I could have let him know how important it was to find you. Let him know exactly what was on the line."

"Maybe. It doesn't matter now though does it? You have someone who can handle this situation far better than I. The Inquisitor is the perfect woman for the job. Touched by Andraste and all that. I'm good but I can't boast that," Hawke said with a smile. Cassandra only nodded to Hawke's words.

"I suppose you are right. I will try to be less antagonistic toward Varric. While he is still annoying, I will admit that he has fought by our side when he could have left long ago."

"There ya go! Soon we will all be the best of friends, sharing a drink in the tavern and talking about this crazy time when you guys hated each other."

"Let's not get carried away," Cassandra replied flatly and Hawke laughed. She walked towards the exit the darkspawn were guarding and peered down the new corridor.

"I feel a breeze. I guess this is the way to go."

"I know you have no reason to do so, but would you consider doing me a favor, Hawke?"

Hawke turned around to face Cassandra, the look on her face imploring her to continue.

"I would like you to autograph a copy of 'Tales of the Champion', uh for my friend that is."

Hawke grinned.

"Is your friend named, Cassie?"

"Do not call me that."

"I'm not! I'm calling your friend Cassie."

Cassandra grunted and pushed by Hawke, leading the way out of the cavern and back to their friends.

A/N: I just wanted to take the time to thank everyone who has ever left a comment on this story. I really appreciate you taking the time. So thank you KoraKendalls, Tom, David Johnston, Omegas Prime, Random Rockets, Nightheart, Zeezle, Kyla Baines and Kiarainu!

In the future, I will try to engage more and respond to your comments going forward. I read them all and I love em so keep em coming. Thanks again!