So, here we go. The escape.

Bioware owns all, I'm just happy to play in the sandbox.

Shelter: Chapter 28

Darktown seethed with hidden violence, but they made it out without a fight. Anders' clinic was clearly broken into, but he didn't spare it a glance.

Tomwise had packed up his stand, Aeryn noticed. She'd hoped to catch him, restock on a few things he didn't share recipes for, but no matter. There were other poison masters and she was no slouch, herself. Between her and Isabela, they could both brew enough to fill their pouches.

Out of Darktown and to the docks. The small craft sat low in the water, and moved sluggishly once they loaded everything and themselves. Isabela's mouth was tight as she directed Anders on sail position. This probably wasn't the safest way, but Aeryn didn't want to take a chance on separating again and none of them had it in them to make a march up the coast. Merrill had already fallen asleep against Varric's chest, one slim hand curled against the mat of hair. His eyes were on his city, the smoke yet rising and the debris piled high. Fenris looked like he was only barely awake, himself, held up only by his league-wide streak of pride. Bethany had her head pillowed on her knees, heavy eyes on the distant Gallows. Sebastian sat next to her, arm about her shoulders and she could feel the weariness coming of him in waves. Only Orana looked alert, her eyes wide and taking in everything.

The breeze was nearly nonexistent. Bodahn nudged his son and they slotted the oars in. "Bodahn, don't..." She started to stand but, Sebastian pulled her back against him, shaking his head. Stubborn, self-sufficient woman.

"No, my lady. Let us help. You're providing the means for our escape. We can do this part." They rowed the craft around several hulls of abandoned craft, out into the open water with more skill than Aeryn would have imagined. She'd clearly missed one or two stories about their adventures.

"You boys let me know if you ever want to man a ship." Isabela praised.

The wind picked up enough to fill the sail and relieve the dwarves. They were upon the ship in almost no time, the silhouette appearing around one crumbling cliff, anchored in a sheltered inlet.

Isabela took charge as soon as they stepped on the ramp. "Stow that gear in the second hold, through the hatch and to the left." She snapped at the two cabin boys she had found and got two mates working on the ropes and such that would lift the sails. She turned back to Aeryn. "Aboard ship..."

Aeryn cut her off with a wave, "You're the captain, Captain. I'm just the paying cargo." Isabela shot her a sly smile. Hawke had never been stupid. "One question, don't we need to name and christen the ship? Luck and all?"

"Got her named, one of the lads painted it up while we were working." Aeryn turned and yanked a bottle out of her pack and handed it to Orana.

"Here, pup. Crack that over the bow." The pirate snorted.

"You've read too many stories, sweet thing." But she waved at the elf to go ahead. It smashed satisfyingly and bubbled down into the water. "Here's to the Siren's Call II."

"Long may she sail, Captain." They felt the ship lurch under them as the anchor lifted and the sails filled.

"Alright. Cabins down the hatch and to the right. Last one's mine. Stay above deck if you want, but if you get underfoot, I'll send you over."

Varric steered Merrill to the hatch and Bethany followed. Fenris clearly wanted to follow them and Aeryn gave him a push. Anders lingered by the bow, watching the water. Aeryn glanced at him then back to Sebastian who'd been watching the mage with a carefully blank expression and sighed. She walked up behind him.

"Do I have to ask Isabela if there's a lock up on this boat?" He shook his head. "I have magebane. Will you make me use it?"

Anders looked at her, stricken and then in a rusty voice, "No. One of you might need healing."

She watched him for a minute, feeling Sebastian's tension as though it were her own. "Then find a cabin." He drooped and made his way down the hatch. Sebastian tracked his descent with hooded eyes.

Isabela hesitated for a moment. "Hawke, I got a skeleton crew, but no cook."

"No problem. How many of yours?"

"Six." Aeryn widened her eyes. Alright, then. Aeryn squared her shoulders and dragged her spine straight. A small shiver hit her, but she stilled it. She was chilled and far past overtired, but there was work to be done, yet.

"Orana and I..." Sebastian nudged her. "Orana, Sebastian and I can deal with that." She'd forgotten that Sebastian had taken his kitchen duties in the Chantry. She picked up one of the baskets and Sebastian took the other while Orana hauled up the two smaller packs of food. "Which way is the kitchen?"

"Galley." Aeryn grinned and nodded. "Past the second hold. Um. Where are we going, by the way?"

"Cumberland. We have to drop off Bodahn and Sandal somewhere where they can get to Orlais." Isabela nodded and left to issue orders.

The galley had some small provisions; two barrels of salt meat, slabs of bacon, a few crates of crackers, tubs of lard, a large salt box a sack of beans and some dried vegetables like Aeryn carried in her pouches for quick stews. They stowed the things the companions brought; fresh vegetables and fruit, flour and grains, sugar and tea. They wouldn't live richly, but they'd not starve. It was a tight fit with the three of them. "I'll have to shuck my armor to work in here." Sebastian mused.

"You won't want it, anyway, unless we land or hit pirates." She assured him as she considered. "Cold collation, stew and pudding, I think. Use up the fresh stuff first."

He lifted a large pot to the large metal box. It was rather like an enclosed hearth he saw as Orana started building a small fire in the space.

Aeryn went to start chopping meat only to have a delicate hand stop her wrist. "Mistress, I will do this. Please go to bed." Orana had her not quite a scolding tone.

Aeryn shook her head. "I'm not leaving you alone in a strange place with men Isabela plucked up from who knows where. Not happening." But Bodahn had made his way down the hatch and worked himself into the doorway.

"We will attend Orana, my lady."

Aeryn locked her jaw. "You realize that once we hit the shipdeck, you stopped working for me, right?"

"So then we are free to do as we like, true?" She looked like she was going to argue again.

Sebastian looked at her, the dark circles under her eyes and the slight shiver he'd seen earlier and decided. He wrapped his hand around her arm and pulled. "Enough. Let's fret about it tomorrow. Bodahn and Sandal can help Orana tonight."

"Sebastian..."

"Let it go, Aeryn." She swallowed and her eyes went dim and he realized that she was dreading what might come if she had time to sit and rest. "Come on, leannan." Gently, though. She looked up at him and then nodded and let him steer her out of the narrow kitchen.

"We'll take breakfast duty, though." She called behind her.

Isabela stuck her head down the hatch as they passed below. She had a sparkle about her that Aeryn had never seen, a bright glow that obliterated the exhaustion the pirate had to be feeling. "Just so you know there's a bathing chamber with cold salt water pumps just before the last cabin. And a private bath in my bunk, with heat runes. Castillon liked his comforts. I won't be down for at least an hour. Or five. Just don't have sex in my bunk, unless you're waiting there for me when I get back." It was a sharkish smile and Aeryn shook her head. Sebastian honestly didn't have the energy to blush.

Aeryn let Sebastian guide her down the passage. He dropped their gear in the first empty cabin they saw after she pulled out linen, soap and clothes and prodded her down to the final cabin. It was a bright space, rather garishly decked out in mustard silk and brass fittings. Moonlight streamed into the windows at the wide back of the ship over a desk piled with charts. That ship part had a name, she thought dully and Maker, she must be tired if words were escaping her. A large copper tub sat to one side, strapped to the deck with metal fittings and a pump arrangement. A good sized box bed on the other. Sebastian stretched and popped his shoulders and primed the pump. The water gushed with a salty sweet scent.

Aeryn stripped, her fingers half numb and fumbling, but Sebastian was no better and she didn't ask for help. The leather creaked with filth, dried blood and other unmentionable things. She was glad, in retrospect that she had worn the hideous Champion's rig out. She would dump it over the side with no regret, come morning. Her wyvern set was waiting, fresh in her trunk.

She eyed Sebastian's gear. He desperately needed new armor, something more suited to an archer. Somehow, that shining white set had grown on her and he'd seemed reluctant to part from it. But a fresh start. When she knew where they were going, she'd have to find him a replacement.

He watched her, standing in her smalls in the moonlight, the pale light setting her skin aglow and her hair dark. He could see her ribs, sharp against her skin, her collarbone was too prominent and another tremor ran through her. She looked half worn through, breathing shallow. He wondered if the shadows gathered in her eyes would ever go, now. He got down to his skin and then slipped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her narrow tight waist. She'd taken a chill, standing. He closed his eyes as she leaned against him and folded her arms over his. It was such a trust she gave him.

It came to her that she hadn't... Maker, that was unforgivable, despite her exahaustion. "Oh, Sebastian. I'm so sorry, my love. For your loss." Elthina had been a mentor and a good friend to him. He'd had others there, too. She reached a hand back to stroke his jaw, rough with stubble.

He laid his cheek against her hair and sighed. "Thank you, mo chridhe. Elthina would say it is the Maker's will. But..." He tightened his arms to press her to him basking in the comfort. "Thank you." He stood there a minute while the water heated. "Let's be getting clean, then, before we stop being able to stand."

She pulled the ties on her bottoms and he unclipped the hooks of her breastband and held her hand as they stepped into the steaming water.

Maker. Everything hurt. He couldn't help a groan as the water hit his seized muscles and she whimpered between his knees in a way that wasn't sexual at all. They sat in silence, letting the salt water do its work alone. He wished now, that he'd turned her around so he could see her face. It was hard enough to read her right with out the tiny visual clues he'd become more sensitive to now. She reached him back a flannel and his soap and began her scrub. He ran his over her back and felt her jump.

"Aeryn?"

"Sorry. Startled me. Got a twinge, there." Her voice was so soft, as if it was just about the last thing she could do to get enough volume out to be heard.

He found the knot and rubbed it away until she sighed. "We...we need to talk, I think, leannan."

"We don't really, love." She circled her cloth down one of his legs, then the other. Truly. She just wanted to sit here with him in the steamy water and feel surrounded by him. It amazed her how much this simple thing on his part turned into such comfort. Talking would ruin it.

"I need to..." But he wasn't going to let it go.

She splashed and turned to him, a graceful and nearly impossible move in the small space. The light picked out a gleam in her eyes, her mouth tense. "You don't. I understand, Sebastian." She watched the emotions chase across the strong features and sighed at the worry in his eyes.

She paused and he was moving to touch her as soon as he saw the twist of anguish that crossed her face.

"Would you leave me? Because I couldn't say no?" He wouldn't be here if that was true, but...

"Of course not!" His hands grabbed at her shoulders, where he'd just meant to stroke. That she would question...but she wasn't really, was she? "Aeryn, I love you!"

She breathed in and Sebastian felt some strength come back to her.

"Then right now, that's all I want. I love you, Sebastian. I'm on my way away from Kirkwall and my whole world is on this boat and everyone is breathing and no one is bleeding, much. As far as I'm concerned, that makes it a good day, no matter what else happened." Then hard regret slammed into her as shock flared in his eyes and she recalled what had started the day. "Oh, Maker that's not...I didn't mean..." Her hands came up to his chest and petted, trying to smooth it away.

The words had startled him but he'd not been hurt. He knew what she meant. "Aeryn, I know that. You meant...between us." She slumped in his hands and nodded.

"I'm tired, Sebastian. I'm so sodding tired. You're tired. What happened...I just...can we keep it packed up for a while longer?" He almost said yes. He knew, he could feel it in the effort she was making to keep herself upright, to keep speaking, how weary she was. But...

He shook his head. "I need to talk. This time. Please."

She looked at him and he wondered what she read in his face as her brow knotted. "Alright, but let me finish bathing. Let's talk in bed."

He nodded and they finished and pulled the plug of the tub. It was a clever device, the water running down a hollow tube into the ocean. More sensible than having to haul out scummy water by the bucket full. Sebastian seemed vaguely amused at her reaction, but declined to answer her why.

He didn't speak other than to offer her a cup of wine once they reached the cabin. She waved it off and pulled out their bed rolls and they spread them across the straw tick. It was a smaller cased frame, not really enough room for both of them, but she wrapped herself around him and pillowed her head on his shoulder and he thought he could live with the results, breathing in the scent of her to calm the tumble of his thoughts.

Aeryn hid her face in his throat. He hadn't shaved, but she'd been longing to be here all day. The clean, fir laced scent of him settled into her and she could feel herself relax despite what was coming.

He stared into the darkness for a minute. Her breathing started to smooth out. He'd better decide what to say, then or he'd lose her despite her effort. Hesitant, he began. What he'd felt, what he'd pushed away to help her had been amongst the ugliest thoughts to ever cross his heart. But he had to explain.

"I knew that you wouldnae have helped him. I...wanted you to leap to my defense. To my revenge, th' way you did for Fenris and Isabela and...everyone."

She mumbled, "It was my first instinct. When you were...when it first happened, I thought to turn on him. I thought...I just thought you wouldn't want me to. That it would be...beneath you somehow. Considering what he'd done before, the healing and all."

"But I said that...I said it all to hurt you. Ta make you realize what I felt." He flushed with shame all over again.

"It worked." She was blunt and he flinched. She stroked his collarbone, seeking out the three freckles that drew her attention now and again. She swallowed and told him her truth. "It doesn't matter, though."

Sebastian felt a shock run through him. How could it not matter?

"But I knew what I was doing, Aeryn. I knew that if I asked you would, especially if I made it about... You love them and you've killed for them and then... I wanted you to prove..." No he had to say it out loud, terrible though it was. "I wanted you to prove you loved me as much and more. It doesnae matter to you that I deliberately manipulated you?"

She heard the baffled hope in his voice, the shame at his actions written in the way he'd haltingly spoken. Hiding a faint crooked smile into the dark hollow of his throat, she gathered her strength.

Aeryn pushed herself up to lean over him. "No. What matters to me, love, is that you stopped me." Gently, she pressed her thumb against his cheekbone. "Sebastian. No one ever thought to stop me because it might hurt me. I know how angry and hurt you were and I know no one else would have questioned his death. But it would have...no matter what he's done? He was my friend and it would have caught up with me. Or maybe it wouldn't have...and that would have been worse. And you didn't let me."

She set her hands, strong and callused, yet gentle on either side of his face and gazed deeply into his brilliant eyes. "You thought about me. You wanted him dead. You have every reason to want him dead. I'm a weapon, love." He breathed in sharp in protest, but she pressed her finger to his lips. "But you stopped me, because to you I am more than that. Sebastian...that means everything." In the end, it was the only thing that mattered.

"In the dreams, the nightmares, that's what I was aimed at." He touched her face where he'd smeared the blood across her skin. He thought he could see the shadow of it even in the dim light through the porthole. "Shaping you to make you follow my orders. To put you under my control, so I'd know you loved me, so. And it nearly worked." He had to make her understand that.

"But then it didn't. Because you love me enough to not want me to go back down that road. Because you know it isn't right. No matter what was taken from you. You're only human, sweetheart. You're allowed to make poor decisions out of anger."

At his disagreeing hmph, she shook her head. "And I don't care, Sebastian. I don't care if you almost did it. Almost only counts in firestorms and shock bombs." She pressed her lips to his fine brow and rubbed her thumb across it trying to smooth away his worry. . "I will never forget that. I was a weapon in your hand and you chose not to use me to kill my friend and then not to do it yourself, despite the horrific evil he committed. You're a good man, Sebastian Vael. And I am privileged and amazed to be the one you love and want to protect. Please, now, beloved of my heart. Can we go to sleep?" She was actually begging.

He should let her sleep. He should sleep. But…

"I just...is it something I can do again...without thinking, Aeryn? Is it part of your...training?" If that was what it was, he'd never be able to let her take the field on his behalf. Crown and Starkhaven or no.

Maker, please. She closed her eyes for a minute only to open them when she felt the room swirl from her weariness.

"No. I wanted….Sebastian, love…do you know how long it's been since someone I trusted told me, "This is the right choice. Do this. Don't worry about it?" It was…it was the easy thing. And I was so tired and I wasn't expecting you to ask. I…had to, back when I was working for Meeran, had to cut off the part of me that questioned an order, because to question was to put Bethany at risk. And I was so…all my decisions have been wrong, recently. I wanted to not be the one making them. And it just came together badly. I don't think you can do that again."

He pondered that. It was unlikely, he supposed, that they would have another day like today. One last thing, then.

"What...what happened with Bethany this afternoon? After...after she collapsed." He wouldn't bring up Orsino to her. "You gave her an order and it was like she was under your control for a minute."

She was silent and only her eyes in the light reflected off the water and the tension in her frame let him know she was awake. "Father trained us to obey in cases of an emergency. We were small. Children cry. He couldn't let them…Bethany was a crier. Carver would pitch a fit at just the wrong moment.

The implication of what she said hit him like a mallet. Holy Maker. What had he been...Sebastian sat up and pulled her into his lap, muscles protesting the abuse as she groaned.

"Aeryn. Don't lie to me, please?" But he kept his voice soft and made it a question. "Can I...can I do that to you?"

There was a sense of terror just under his words, as if he'd fallen into his nightmare, again. She lifted her fingers to his face again, soothing. "No, Sebastian."

"But...sometimes...I've made you talk to me when you didn't want to."

"You can't. If I hadn't wanted to talk, I wouldn't have. You reminded me that I could talk to you, is all. There's a cadence and a tone and phrases, it's very like a tricky lock... it took me years and to be honest, I wasn't sure it would work today. I've never done it before."

"You...sometimes. I've told you to..." His face burned in the dark. A man of his age and experience, blushing at intimacies. Fool. But her fool, he supposed.

She gave him just the hint of a smirk. "Hmm. Yes, you have. And I do. But I don't think it has anything to do with compulsion, darling man. I think it has to do with the fact that you can play my body like a Master bard with a lute and I've come to crave it." She collapsed back against him, her head tucked into the space of his neck and shoulder.

"Love, believe me. You have a commanding tone with that addictive voice, and I will not deny that I like it far more than I really care to admit. You can't pull my strings that way, though, and it has never been about anything except noise and crying. And just so you know, I don't ever remember Father doing it to me. Bethany and Carver, yes, but not me. I was a naturally quiet child. I followed the skillset I did for a reason."

He had to trust her. What else could he do? He smoothed his hands down the length of her and she relaxed into him with a sigh, curling her fingers into the light hair on his chest.

"Some other night, I'll let you try though, alright?" He felt his eyes widen. "I mean it. Some time...when we're irested/i...I will let you try. I will even demonstrate the tone and phrases." Her low voice had faded into nearly nothing, now. He felt her speaking as much as he heard her.

He stopped talking for a minute. Her breath started to slow again as if she had gone straight from that to sleep. He was sure she'd fallen into the Fade.

"Is that why you don't cry, leannan? Did he make you so you couldn't at all?" Sebastian breathed the words across her cheek and he heard the sadness in his own voice as he whispered. As if she should want to cry. But he'd been a counseling priest a long time. He knew how it could help to shed a burden that way. And despite her assurances, he'd seen her tears cut off the same way as Bethany's had. It was possible she didn't know.

He would have to be very careful.

He was almost asleep himself when she whispered back. "I'm alright, Sebastian. So are you. Here we are together, despite it all. Count your blessings, love." And right she was, so he prayed them both into the Fade as the boat rocked beneath them.

It was still dark, the cabin warm and close and she woke, deeply disoriented when she felt him stiffen and whimper beneath her. His back arched, dislodging her from her sprawl across him. She reached to his face, patting gently to wake him from his dreaming.

"Sebastian, come back. I'm here, sweetheart." He was huffing his breath and it sounded more like pain than...

"Not...ah, ow...not dreaming. My back..." He'd fired countless arrows, carried packs, lifted kettles. And then as the tightening and spasms had set in, he'd tried not to wake her and held too still. He was in absolute agony.

Oh, poor love. She sat up, ignoring the burn in her own arms.

"Roll over, let me..." He groaned as he moved. Aeryn went to her pack, her own stiffness easing with a few steps and a quick stretch. She pulled out a vial and returned to him, before pouring it to puddle in her cupped palm. She warmed it between her hands before sliding them across his seized muscles. Oh, his knots had knots. Finding the worst, she set to.

"Hnngh." Sebastian whined as she dug into his shoulder with her strong, precise little fingers, finding the sorest spots out of instinct and feel in the dim light. "Ow." He sounded rather put upon.

"Aww." She pressed a kiss down on his slick shoulder, but she didn't quit. Down the sinews and corded lines of his shooting arm and his bow arm. Into the spaces between the ridged muscles of his lower back and his arse, smooth and round beneath her hands. His skin grew hot with the mildly warming herbal scented oil and he grew quieter as he started to relax, just a sigh and an occasional yelp as a spasm released.

Aeryn was kneeling up over him, straddling his broad thighs, baring down with some weight behind the stroke, when she felt his hips twitch, down against the straw tick. And…ah, that wasn't pain, that particular noise.

Sebastian bit into his lip. Maker. He hadn't meant to... but she'd slung her leg across him and...ah, she felt good. The solid weight of her pressing into him, the contrasts of her, taut muscle, soft, sleep warmed skin, the patch of crisp dark copper curls. He tried to hold still and breath deeply, hoping Aeryn would think he slept. She was exhausted. He would not...it was more than he should have asked to wake her. she drew her thumbs down his spine and over his arse and he arched into the firm stroke with a muffled moan.

"Like that, do you?" It was a throaty chuckle and it washed over him in the warm, humid dark like balm.

"And well you know...ah." She slid her hand between his thighs to cup his sac from behind, heavy now with want. The memory of her fallen, the need to drive it out with the wet warmth of her. But he would not. She was...she...she laid her body over the length of his, her full breasts and hard nipples against his slicked shoulders, sending his whole body loose and warm except for the length of him that had grown hard and hot as she'd worked. He tried not to rub himself against their blankets and swallowed another moan.

Maker, please. He wasn't going to ask when she could barely move a few hours ago...but she'd slid off and then using the strength that seemed unnatural at times, wedged her arm and leg under him and flipped him to his side.

No hiding the cockstand now. He should slap himself. He closed his eyes to try again to will it away.

Aeryn's lips were twisted up. She'd straddled him unthinking, only wanting a better angle in her massage. Once the worst of the knots had gone she'd lost herself a bit in the dark heavy salt air and the slide of his oiled, pliant skin under her fingers. There was a soothing in it for her, too, being able to touch with no restraint. Then resigned herself to the pleasant ache between her thighs when he'd relaxed and quieted. And now, here he was presenting her with himself, heavy and thick against his stomach. They were both weary, but oh, she needed him inside, filling that aching empty want. More proof of his presence and safety.

She turned to her side, facing him and curled her leg over his hip to draw him closer. "Aeryn...Maker...sweetling...you...I can wait. You're tired." He could see the bruises under her eyes in the last of the moonlight.

"Parts of me seem to disagree, apparently." She drew his hand between her thighs and he could feel her, heated, swollen and slick. He let his fingers slide and kissed away the wanton sound she loosed. Ah, Andraste, this eagerness of her for him. Please never let it stop.

"How are you not as sore as I?"

"You've a year or two on me, love. I have a better stretch routine. And I've got a less intense weapon set." She reached to fit him to her and pulled his cock in to her sheath with a movement of her hips and her tightening leg.

He groaned as his tip pressed into her cleft, wet and dragging tight and hot. She whispered to him, the husky tone curling down his spine. "We could have died a dozen times today, Sebastian. Prove to me we didn't."

Slow and languid. Neither of them with the energy or the will to move quickly or let it finish. He watched her face between soft kisses, though she was in shadows, rubbing the long muscles in her back as he stroked. She arched and he nuzzled her breasts, breathing in salt and almonds between them before suckling one hard little nipple then the other and spoke against her skin, his voice sliding against her like dark, heavy warm silk.

"Want you, ah Maker, I need you so, mo chride. My beautiful, smoke-eyed love." He rolled one nipple between his teeth and tongue and got a birdlike cry as the tug sent tendrils of heat through her.

"You have me, my love. You do." Her arms wrapped him up, hands across his welted shoulders, trying to press the adoration, and oh, call it what it is, Aeryn...devotion that welled up in her heart into his very skin.

Aeryn opened her eyes to stare into the banked glow of his, saw it flare and burn as they rocked, the ship's movement their cue. Long rough fingers drew delicate lazy circles around her clit and she gasped as the orgasm caught her unaware, gentle spiralling rings of warmth pulling her into blackness soft as feathers.

The rhythmic clench of her drew his cock further into her scalding heat, milking him and he followed her. Burying his face in her neck he came, filling her, her name on his lips. "Aeryn! Aeryn. Marry me, ileannan/i. Please, don't ever leave me." But she'd fallen from bliss into sleep and she missed his plea.

From the light that streamed in through the porthole, Aeryn was forced to assume no one had chosen to wake them for a turn at the morning chores.

Sebastian was still out, sprawled face down on the tick. Somehow managing to look very young and innocent with his sweet mouth and the lines around his eyes relaxed. She ran through her stretches and dressed quickly, eyes lingering on him, the way his feet dangled off the end of the bunk.

She made her way back to the deck, first. She had no way of knowing the time until she saw that the sun was not too far above the horizon. Still early morning then, but a bright, clear day. Chilly, too, now that she was in the air.

The deck was still, except for the fellow guiding the ship wheel and the two up in the sails. That looked like great fun, actually. Maybe she'd get a chance later.

She slipped down the hatch, reluctantly and turned into the galley. Orana had left things tidy, as always. And breakfast was laid out to be prepared. So, they'd decided to take a lazy morning. Good. She set to work laying a fire.

She got the oats on to cook, before setting the griddle across the back of the cookstove, just as Orana hustled into the tight quarters, tugging an apron into place. "Mistress, I'm so so…."

"Hawke, Orana. Not your mistress anymore, remember? We discussed this. You continue to work for me, you go on as the rest of the companions." Her voice stayed gentle, but firm. "And you've as much right to rest as any of us. I take my turn, considering I volunteered us for the duty."

The slight woman nodded. "I don't mind. I wouldn't know what to do without a chore."

Aeryn chuckled. "Me, either, pup. I figured it was either work or let Isabela chuck me overboard when I got underfoot once too often." Orana hovered by the doorway and Aeryn narrowed her eyes. "What is it, Orana?"

"I…I have something to show you, Mis….Hawke."

"Oh. Alright. Let me turn this meat and …" She wiped her hands on the towel she'd grabbed to protect her clothes and turned to take the papers Orana offered.

It was a letter from Orana's music tutor. The paper was fine and the script elegant and it offered quite the opportunity. Aeryn had to swallow before she asked. "Do you understand what Master Tinto is offering?"

Orana answered quietly, her eyes on the worn worktable where her finger was tracing an old scar in the ridged wood. "We had spoken of it, once or twice. He was leaving yesterday. It was to be our last lesson. I…he gave me this to give to you. He wanted to talk to you, but…"

"I have been busy, yes." Aeryn read the first bit of the letter again. "Is this what you want? To go to Navarre and study?" The other papers were the contract offering Orana lessons at the College of Musical Arts in Navarre in exchange for two years of service as a court musician. She'd have to get Varric to look it over, check it out for double speak.

"Yes." It was a tiny answer and Aeryn tipped Orana's chin up to fix her gaze with a frank assessment. "Yes." This time the elf's voice was firm, though she flushed a bit. "I do not want to leave your service, but…I…I would like to learn more."

"Then, Orana. That's what you should do." She thought for a moment. "You can go with Bodahn and Sandal at Cumberland. He'd likely be happy to see you to Navarre and get you settled." She released Orana's chin and turned back to the breakfast. Oh. One more gone. Aeryn tried to ignore the flutter of lonesome that welled up.

Orana should do something with her life besides serve. This was a chance for the woman to make herself a new life and in all honesty, she wasn't suited to the rough road life that they would be leading until Sebastian won his throne. It was a good thing. But Aeryn would miss the quiet, efficient presence.

Sebastian came in as they were dishing up the food. He gave her a chiding pinch as he kissed her. "You should have woken me, leannan. He gave her a glance. Better rested. Still needed feeding up, though.

"You looked too comfortable. Couldn't bring myself to do it." She heaved the covered pot of oats swathed in sturdy cloth to carry up to the deck and he took it from her. There was something in her face, he thought. Not sad, but…

"Is everything well, Aeryn?"

She shot him a smile. "Well, now that I don't have to carry that, yes." He let it go for the moment.

Everyone was up on deck except for Anders. She saw everyone served and then went to make him a tray. Sebastian stopped her. "Eat first. If he can't stand to join us, then he can eat it cold." His voice was hard under the brogue and Aeryn decided not to argue with him. He watched her with serious eyes until she'd fixed her bowl the way she liked it. And kept watching until she stuck her tongue out at him and took a bite. He quirked her a smile, then.

Fenris was frowning at the net he was perched against, near the trestle. She took a seat near him and jostled him with her elbow as she took another bite. It did taste good, her porridge. Better than it had, for some reason. Must be the air.

"It smells of fish."

"Well, Fenris. It's a fishing net. I admit to being at a loss for what else it should smell like."

He gave her a glower. "I just thought, being a pirate ship, there wouldn't be fishing equipment." He pushed the closer loops away.

"If I had to guess, pirates tend to fish when not pillaging and plundering. Isabela would know better than I." She was scraping the bottom of the wooden bowl. Hmm. Sebastian handed her another bowl, topped up with the last of the cream. She blinked at it a minute before spooning another bite with a shrug.

"We have not discussed piratical habits during their leisure. I…don't know how she will live now." He was watching the captain lecture her new cabin boy about something.

Aeryn looked at him, then. "Is it…alright, Fenris?" She didn't want to pry in their romance, if that's what it was. She hadn't thought that far ahead. Isabela might not be following them back to land.

He barked a self-depricating laugh. "I think that it will be. I have just become a creature of habit."

Sebastian nudged Aeryn's knee as she finished the bowl and took it from her. She smiled her thanks as he went to gather the others' detritus and stack it to return to the galley. She turned back to Fenris with serious eyes. "You know we want you with us. But if you feel you want to go…" He was shaking his head.

"No, Hawke. I want to help Sebastian take his throne. I…it seems the right thing to do and a good use of my skill. I…do not want to be a mercenary forever. Nor am I suited to the pirate's life, I think."

"Aww. You might come to like fish, you never know."

"I know." His tone was deep and disgruntled, but he smirked when she grinned at him. She patted him on the knee. He was a grown man. It was up to him. But, Maker, she was glad he was staying.

Anders was lying on a bare bunk in the farthest cabin when Aeryn brought his tray. "I didn't know if I should come up."

"You make extra work if you don't." Aeryn sat the tray down on the small desk and turned to leave. "Bring this to the galley when you're done."

"Hawke. Where are you…What are you going to do with me?" His bloodshot eyes raked her straight back, wishing she'd turn back to him.

"Come to the galley when you're done. I'm not talking about this down here alone." She slipped out of the door, leaving him devastated behind her.

He came back with the tray just as they finished laying out the plans for the rest of the meals of the day and tomorrow's. They'd reach Cumberland for supplies and to drop off those who wanted to leave the ship by then.

Aeryn had slipped down to the cabin and rearmed herself before she returned to the galley. Sebastian had noted it, but decided not to say anything. He noticed the tension in her spine, now and wished he'd thought to bring a dagger, himself. His bow was not much use, here.

Anders set his things to soak and turned to her. She twitched her shoulder and they followed her above.

Fenris saw them come up and tapped Varric's shoulder. He'd been explaining some of the more colorful sea chanties the sailors were entertaining themselves with to Merrill. They gathered towards the stern.

"So. Something has to be done about you, Anders." Aeryn had waited only until the others were gathered. They had a right to hear what would happen to the man who had disrupted their lives, so.

"I take it as my responsibility. I'm the one who let you stay on with us, even after I knew what you'd done, taking in a demon." Anders clenched his jaw. He couldn't dispute it, he knew. Her eyes were bright and clear on him. She had that look of steel about her. He'd admired it, once, her lack of ambivalence once she'd made a decision. It reminded him of Meridan, the Orlesian Warden Commander who'd freed him from the Templars.

"I've decided…I've decided to take you back to the Grey Wardens. To Amaranthine. They're the ones who let you get away first. And if you can be of some help to anyone, it's probably fighting darkspawn in the Deep Roads." He was staring at her aghast. "Unless there's an objection."

"It's too noble a punishment. He's unworthy of the name." Sebastian snarled. She turned to him with a question in her eyes and he shook his head. "But he fears it. So let it be done and rid us of him."

Fenris shrugged. If Sebastian accepted it, he who was closest to the injury, then Fenris had no qualms.

Varric agreed. "It's a righteous end for him." The dwarf looked sad. He'd liked Anders, but it was too far, where he had gone. Merrill nodded with tears in her eyes. Isabela shook her head, but she didn't say anything. She knew when Hawke had made up her mind.

Anders pulled himself up, even under their condemnation. "I object. Hawke…"

Her voice went smooth and cold and she locked her gaze with his. "You have a choice, Anders. I will take you to Amaranthine, to the Wardens and charge them with your imprisonment or I will take you to the Circle at Kinloch and see you're made Tranquil." Merrill gasped as Anders spun.

A flash of blue in his hazel eyes and Aeryn had a knife at his throat, before anyone else could move. The magebane mixed with a neural poison dropped him. Martin had been right, it was a nasty combination. She should have been carrying this with her earlier. "You can tell me what you've decided when you stop drooling. Until then, we'll just keep the heading set." She prodded him with her toe, turning his head so he could see her, even though he couldn't move. "I'll be reapplying the magebane now until we land." She had just enough, she thought.

She sat down on her haunches next to him. "You should heed this, Anders. I will turn you over to them. If they allow you to escape again, then it won't be Templars or Wardens coming after you. It will be me." Her voice, with its promise of doom, settled into his gut as he lay prone on the deck. And then she walked away.

Author's Note:

Short epilogue to follow, tomorrow or so.

Meridan is the Orlesian Warden Commander I created for Awakenings after my Lyna/Alistair playthrough. Mage, Arcane Warrior specialty. She and Anders were buddies, but she would have been horrified by his actions with the Chantry.