***Author's Notes***
Hey everyone! :)
I'm sorry It's been awhile, (about a week?), but I've been really busy with uni and work and stuff!
There's a bit of fun a bit of tension and plot development in this chapter! :O
I hope you all enjoy and review please :)
-Sophus xx
Chapter 36
The sisters ran through Hightown. After years of running with Hawke they had built up an impressive well of stamina and reached the Docks in record time.
"So, sister. What do you plan on doing first?"
"What do you mean 'first'? I only had the one plan..." Sophie rested her hands on her hips as she caught her breath, watching Sarah with her dark eye brow raised.
"Yeah, but I've decided to add to it." She pulled her red hair back and fastened it with a leather tie and brushed dust from her leggings. "All this running builds up an appetite..."
"No bakeries are open Sarah." She gestured around herself, the Docks were dead as it was only nearing second bell after midnight.
"Never stopped us in England." She smirked down at her sister.
Really? She wants to do this now? "Well, we've never had to do it since we came here. Hawke saw to that." She shrugged it of and began walking in the general direction of the sea.
"Please, Sophie." Oh, God. That voice. "Pretty please?"
"Ugh! Fine...whatever. But you are so taking the blame if brother ever finds out..."
A small whoop escaped the mage and she sauntered toward the small market area of the Docks. A small time bakery was nestled between a fishery and a butchers, the lingering stench of the raw meats and fish mixed terribly with the sugar and sweetness of the bakery and the saltness of the air. Sophie wrinkled her nose as Sarah approached the door of the shop.
"Shall we do this old school?" She looked over her shoulder and watched Sophie pull a lock pick from her pocket and the pause as she heard her sisters suggestion. A small smile spread on the rogues face and she slipped the pick back into its home. "I'll take that as a yes..." She began looking on the ground. "At least we don't have to worry about alarms anymore."
"That is a plus, I guess." Sophie was also looking on the ground and grinned in triumph as she spotted what she was looking for. A large stone, possibly some loose rubble that had fallen from a cart at some point, it was jagged and hefted nicely in her small hands. "Found one."
"Excellent. I leave the honours to you, dear. I'll have to climb in because I doubt your short legs would be able to handle it." Sophie rolled her eyes and hefted the rock and took aim.
"Shut your face." A grunt and then the rock was soaring through the air, crashing into the glass window with the pretty display inside it. The glass shattered, echoing around the silent docks with gusto. "Just like old times."
Sarah laughed and ran for the window, leaping into the bakery and filling her pockets with sweets and pasties. Sophie followed but was more selective with her choosing. A muffled "who's there!?" signaled to the women that the noise had woken the owner, a warning that it was time to leave. A last rush of stuffing pockets and they escaped with their spoils.
"We got sloppy." Sophie muttered around a mouthful of pie.
"Well, give ourselves some slack. We haven't done it for years." Sugar littered her face.
"Why did we just do that?" Her amber eyes locked with icy blue ones.
The mage shrugged as she nonchalantly threw a few sovereigns into the window as they climbed out. "Sometimes I miss England..." They began walking to the docks, looking for a boarding boat. "Don't you?"
"I used too. The music, technology, hell, even sometimes the weather." Sarah laughed. "But then I remember what we were like there." She paused as they climbed into a little dingy and Sarah began rowing. "Always running from the past, living in one hole or another. And look at what we have gained here. Family, friends, a constant place to live. I don't think I'll go back if given the choice, sister."
"Yeah, I guess you're right. I wouldn't have Levi, you wouldn't be my 'sister', we wouldn't have Hawke."
"Exactly."
The dingy bumped into a much larger boat and together they climbed the wooden slats that served as a ladder.
The deck was quiet and dark, the moon reflecting of the tar coated wood and dried puddles of sticky blood. They quickly gathered the bodies of the slaves and piled them gently atop each other. The slavers and guards were left where they lay, bolts and arrows still embedded in some skulls. They entered the cabin and dragged the bodies of Varania and Danarius (minus the magister's head) and lay them by their guards.
Sophie went back into the cabin and gathered anything she thought Fenris may want. A large great sword strapped to her back and an orange sash was tied around her waist. She rejoined her sister by the bodies they had killed for Fenris.
"Tell me why we aren't just dumping these bastards in the sea?"
Sophie glared down at the dead who had caused so many such pain. "They don't deserve to be buried at sea. That's an honour reserved for captains and honest sailors." She moved over to the dead slaves and shut her eyes. "Hahren na melana sahlin, emma ir abelas, souver'inan isala hamin, vhenan him dor'felas, in uthenera na revas. Vir sulahn'nehn, vir dirthera, vir samahl la numin, vir lath sa'vunin."
Sarah sniffed. "Ready?"
"Ready."
Sarah pulled her mana from the Fade and gently trickled her fire over the dead slaves. Their eulogy still playing in her mind. The fire was warm and comforting and she hoped that the slaves would appreciate the gesture.
Sophie pulled a combustion grenade from her bandoleer and kicked it toward the dead magisters where it exploded violently and engulfed their bodies. Where Sarah's fire was made with love and with the hope that the dead men and women had found peace, Sophie's fire was an attempt to burn the dead slavers in the Fade. She hoped they could feel it.
The smell of burning tar and wood overwhelmed any smell the bodies may have had and the two escaped back into the dingy. They rowed backwards and watched the pyre engulf the Tevinter ship as it sat in the bay.
"Let's go home." Sophie nodded.
Fenris awoke with the familiar warmth of Sophie hugging close to his back. Her arm rested on his waist and her hand was nestled in the crook of his elbow. Her legs were entwined with his and her face pressed into his neck, her warm breath ghosting over the flesh beneath his ear.
He breathed in deep but instead of vanilla all he could smell was smoke, tar and burning wood. He rolled onto his back and looked down at his love. Her pink lips were slightly pouted in her dream and a small crease was between her eyebrows. A black smear coated the pale skin of her cheek and her hair was a disheveled mess that reeked of fire.
"Sophie?"
"Hmm..." Her eyelids squeezed together as she tried to fight waking up.
"Wake up." His deep baritone rumbled and he smiled as he watched her shiver with it.
"What do you want? It's way too early, Fenris."
"Why do you smell of burning tar?"
Her eyes shot open and her yellow eyes looked up into his forest greens. "What do you mean?"
"Seriously."
She jumped out of bed, the tunic she wore was much too big for her and then he realised it was his. From beneath her table she pulled out a massive sword. "I got you a sword." She looked around and held up a plate. "And a cake." What is she up to? "Take a look at it." Gesturing at the weapon again.
He sighed and stood to join her. His eyes lingered on the sword as he realised what it was. "A Blade of Mercy?" She went back to that blighted ship! "I remember these. You see them in the Imperium, replicas of a sword Archon Hessarian used to kill Andraste." He watched Sophie bite her lip at the story. She obviously didn't know what it was when she picked it up. "This one looks finely crafted."
She thought for second. "I thought it might be worth something..." She meant it as a gift and now you've scared her with its ridiculous history.
"It is. Here, let me show you." He took the blade form her and watched her face as he ran his palm down its steel. As the metal ignited, its enchantments reacting to his Lyrium, her lips formed a small O in awe. "These are gifts of honour, given to those who have preformed a service for the Imperium." She looked at him now. "Danarius coveted them as I recall."
She nodded and pulled a strand of hair to her nose and sniffed. She frowned and wandered to the bathroom and began making a bath. "You don't talk about the Imperium much."
"It's not a place I remember fondly."
She hummed as she entered the bath, Fenris watched before he began to strip and joined her. "Do you want to keep the blade?"
He feigned surprise, making her laugh lightly. "For me!? Yes, I think I'd like that." He spun her round and began to rub a softening oil into the scars of her back to keep them supple. "I'll think of the irony as I wield it." She hummed and bent her head forward as he rubbed. He leant his forehead against her. "Thank you. For coming for me."
"How could I not." He smiled.
Dinner time in the Hawke household was a traumatic affair. The noise of his friends and servants shouting over each other made him cover his ears and seek solitude with his hound in the main room. Today, however, he stood among the commotion and chaos looking down at his sisters who were attempting (without much success) to appear as though they hadn't noticed them.
Eventually the rest of the group noticed the awkwardness and sat around the long table with the three Hawke's at its head. Levi sat with his father as was told to be quiet and eat his vegetables.
"So, dear sisters, I got a letter today."
Sophie chewed her food and swallowed before answering. "Oh really , dear brother? Because you don't get one letter or another everyday?"
Varric snorted at the other end of the table as he jotted relentlessly into his pad. "Indeed. Today it was from the Docks."
Sarah leaned back and observed her brother and sister with a cool eye, seemingly unaffected even though her heart was racing. "The Docks? Are we being invaded by pirates?" Sophie looked to Isabela and winked making the dusky woman giggle.
"This isn't funny, Sophie." He sighed and looked at them both. "It was a general message to all the nobles but I know it was you two!"
"What was us?" She took another bite of her food as Sarah sipped a deep red wine.
"You burnt down that Tevinter ship! In the middle of the night!"
Anders and Fenris both choked on their food. Anders looked up at his lover with an incredulous look. Fenris nearly shouted at Sophie. "I knew you went back to the ship! I didn't know you had burnt it down! That's why you reeked of burning tar!"
Isabela looked like she was going to cry. "You b-burnt down my ship?"
Sarah sighed. "It wasn't your ship, Izzy. And how did you know Fenris?" She looked at her sister who shrugged. "We weren't going to tell anyone."
"Where else would you have got a Blade of Mercy?" He flung his arms up and resumed his seat. Levi merely giggled at the commotion.
"Mummy did a bad thing. Didn't she daddy?" Anders put his head in his hands.
Hawke sat beside his sisters. "Everyone's worried that Tevinter will want compensation for the loss of a magister and the ship."
Sophie sighed and stood, collecting plates as she wandered around the table. "The soulless bastard deserved it. And I'll do it again in a heart beat. They want compensation? I'd love to see them try." And with that she went into the back room to begin washing pots, followed closely by Orana and Fenris.
The room sat in an awkward silence as Sarah grinned around the glass of wine.
"We stole from a bakery too..."
"Oh, for fucks sake!"
Sarah sat at her desk as she wrote out plans for trying new spells. Anders entered her room and walked toward her, scratching at his feathered black pauldrons as he did.
"I'm going to be trying something, and I thought you'd want to be part of it." He sat beside her and rested a hand on her knee. "We've both been wrong. What I did with Justice was unnatural. It should never have happened."
"We've both been wrong? I told you from the start that you need to look into reversing this shit!" He sat back, a hurt look on his face. She took a breath and started again. "I'm glad you finally understand."
He shook his head and rested on the desk. He shut his eyes as Sarah ran her long fingers through his hair. "I can't help mages like this. Not while I am everything the Templars fear about magic." He sighed through his nose. "I need to be free of this curse."
"You brought this on yourself." She shut her mouth quickly. Did I just say that out loud?
He sat up straight and looked down at her, a hint of steel in his eye. "I did. But I think there's a way out. I've spent the past three years researching the methods of Tevinter Magisters"
Sarah sighed. Oh Maker, really? "Why am I not surprised?" I said it out loud again!
"They're the only ones who have ever sought to reverse spirit possession, not just behead the victims." He pulled a pice of parchment from his robes. "I believe I have a formula for a potion that can separate Justice and me. Without killing either." She took the paper and looked through the ingredients.
"Have you had Sophie look at this?"
"Why would I?"
"Well she knows what she's doing with things like this...she might be able to help."
"She's a poison master, she deals with death. Not things like this." He took it back from her hands, shaking his head.
She held her hands up. "Fine...I'll help."
He smiled. "I knew you'd stand behind me in this. Even if..."
"What?" His smile had faded.
"...Nothing. I've gathered most of what I need, but there are some...outlandish ingredients I was hoping you'd help me collect." Anders stood and began pacing making Sarah dizzy as she watched him. "A powder the Tevinters call 'sela petrae', and a small amount of drakestone."
"Is it just a potion? Is there anything more to this ritual?" She stood and took his hands to stop his endless pacing. He seemed a little shocked that she had touched him.
"N-no, no ritual. Just mix the ingredients up and...boom. Justice and I are free. And we can take our rightful place among free mages." We?
"What aren't you telling me?"
"Oh, many things. I'm sure." He laughed but it sounded wrong. "Did I tell you about the dream I had where the grand cleric was completely naked except for her miter? And there was this giant glowing cheese wheel..."
Sarah laughed. "You're such a dick Anders."
"I love you too."
And then he kissed her. It had been so long since they had simply kissed that Sarah and nearly forgotten just how good he was at it. She melted into it as he pushed his tongue into her mouth and massaged her tongue with his. Butterflies erupted in her stomach as she pulled away with a small smile on her face.
"We'll get Garrett and Sophie to help us find the ingredients and then maybe we can just be simple again?"
He frowned, a look of longing in his eyes. "Yeah...maybe." He brushed her cheek with his thumb and let himself out of her room, leaving Sarah in a bemused state as she brushed her lips with her fingers.
He walked the passageways he had memorised back to his clinic.
Soon, and then we can be free together. The Templars wont be able to do anything and we could raise Levi like a normal couple.
Your obsession with this woman and child are distracting you from out goal!
That child is my son! And that woman is his mother! I'm doing this for them just as much as I am for us...
When she finds out what we plan she wont want you. None of your friends will. The sister and her elf will surely kill you and any other mages.
Sarah and Hawke wont let them!
We shall see...
Boom! Plot development!
Again, sorry for the delay and here's a translation for the elven eulogy, taken from :)
elder your time is come we sing, rejoice
now I am filled with sorrow
weary eyes need resting
heart has become grey and slow
in waking sleep is freedom
we tell the tales
we laugh and cry
we love one more day
Review and stuff please! :) Tyvm.