9:34 – Hightown – Fenris's Mansion

Questioning a Slave's Beliefs

"Wait, he-"

"Yes, Seeker."

"But he-"

"Yes, Seeker."

"…I think I hit a point of complete confusion, Tethras."

"Good. Now, you can really listen."

I sighed as I knocked on the door. Apparently, no one had heard from Fenris in a bit and Varric had decided I was simply 'the best' choice to go check on him. Damn that dwarf. I was still… working through stuff. Like how Fenris wasn't answering. Okay then. I guess I could just walk in. It wasn't like Fenris did anything embarrassing. Right?

Sighing again, I opened the door and walked on in. To my surprise, though, I heard singing. Singing. Off-key and rusty. Did Fenris have someone over? Maybe I shouldn't be here, then. Right, I should just leave and-

"Hawke, hello!" Oh, dear Maker, Fenris was horribly sick or something because he was the source of the singing and he was smiling and being cheerful. "What brings you here?" he laughed.

"Right, you should've sent a message if you were sick," I told him. "Here, I'll get someone."

"No, no." He waved off the worries, and I caught sight of the bottle in his hand at last. I glanced around and saw many more littering the area.

Oh, dear Maker. "Fenris, you're drunk."

"No, I'm just drinking." Yeah, and you were drunk while doing it, Fenris! "Last bottle of the Agreggio. I've been saving it for a special occasion.

"And what's that?" I asked, maneuvering a chair for him to safely fall into.

"The anniversary of my escape!" He flopped into the chair I set up and leaned back further to look at me. "Astia valla femundis." What? "Care to hear the story?"

"Sure, I enjoy listening to you talk." …Well, that slipped out. Whoops.

"There are few pleasures greater than speaking with a beautiful woman." Yep, he was totally drunk. "Let's see…" He looked contemplative as I found another chair to sit down in. "You've heard of Seheron? The Imperium and the Qunari have fought over the island for centuries, now." I nodded. "I was there a few times with Danarius. During one occasion, though, there was a Qunari attack. I managed to get him safely on a ship, but there was no room for a slave. So, I was left behind, and barely got out of the city alive."

Wait… "But Danarius considers you very…" What was a good word?

"Valuable." He chuckled. "Danarius didn't know what happened until it was too late. The look on his face…" He laughed again. "Priceless."

Nice as the laugh was, there was something a bit odd about him doing it so regularly. "So, did you use the war to cover your escape?"

He shook his head. "No, no intentions of escaping. That time." He reached over to something on the table and popped it into his mouth. Wasn't sure what it was. "There are rebels in the jungles there called Fog Warriors. Some found me and took me in, nursed me back to health. I stayed with them, until Danarius finally came for me."

"I take it he was thrilled to see you survived."

"Or that his investment didn't end up in Qunari hands." He took another swing straight from the bottle. "I'd grown fond of the rebels by then. They bowed to no master and fought for their freedom. It was… it was beyond my experience."

"Oh?"

"Slaves… they don't think. They just focus on the next day, what best to do to serve. They're happy that way." …I focused on one day at a time, and it felt like a nightmare to me. "When Danarius came for me, I thought the dream was over. Back to work. The Fog Warriors, though… they refused to let him just take me. They fought him. While I was just trying to return to my master. Danarius caught sight of me and ordered me to kill them. So I did. I killed them all."

…Suddenly, the reason why he was drunk made sense. "Because you thought the dream was over?"

"Yes." He popped something into his mouth again. Just what was he eating? "It felt inevitable. My master had returned and this… this fantasy life was over." He stared at his hands and I wondered if he was seeing blood. "But once it was done, once I saw the bodies discarded on the ground, I felt… I couldn't…" He glanced at me. "I ran. I ran as fast as I could, and didn't look back."

I couldn't really think of what to say, so I smiled reassuringly. "This can't be easy to talk about."

"No, it's not." He took another swig and ate whatever it was that he was eating. "I've never spoken to anyone about it. Never wanted to." He smiled at me. "Perhaps that's what it means to have a friend." Oh? "I've never allowed anyone close. Never wanted anyone. But you… you're different."

"And now that's the drink talking," I laughed, standing up. "Here, Fenris, let me help you get to bed." As I took the bottle out of his hand, though, I finally saw just what he'd been eating. "Why are you eating raw sugar cubes?"

"They're good."

…This was going to be one of those nights. And I had to help Aveline tomorrow too. Oh well. Time to get the happy drunk to bed.

The next morning, I lounged in a chair looking through one of the books left behind by the original owners of the house. I normally would've ignored it, but I could help but at least glance through it. Just to see if there was something truly beneficial in it. I could hope, right?

"Ugh, my head…" I glanced up to see Fenris stumbling into the room. "Hawke?" he groaned. "What are you doing here?"

"Do you remember anything from yesterday?" I asked. He nodded hesitantly. "Well, I couldn't very well just leave you to deal with that on your own, now could I?" I shrugged. "Especially when you took care of me when I was drunk, once."

"I… well, yes, I did, but…"

"Come here." I beckoned him over and was pleasantly surprised that he did. "Hold still?" Very carefully, I reached up and cast a healing spell to ease his headache. "There we go." He was staring in confusion, so I just smiled. "How's the head? Stomach? Anything else hurting?"

"No." He answered far too quickly. "…Not that isn't normal, at least."

"Normal doesn't have to be normal."

"The markings cause pain. I doubt even you can fix it."

I winced. He was probably right. "I guess so…"

"…What are you reading?"

"Huh? Oh." I held up the book so he could see the title. "This one."

"They don't teach slaves to read, Hawke." Oh. "I don't know what any of those books are."

"Well, this one is on blood magic." He snarled at the words. "Calm down. I was just seeing if there was a helpful way to apply it. Not much luck so far. Just a bunch of things that make me sick just reading about them."

"'Not much luck'?" he repeated.

I shrugged. "Well, some seals can use blood to make it more powerful. That whole reflecting magic business could be useful on a large scale. There are also some sigils you can draw to make casting spells faster, or even access spells you can't use otherwise." Not sure if I needed that though. "Things of that nature. That's helpful. Not the rest of it, though."

"Why would you even look?"

"It would make me feel better about being a blood mage." I sighed. "Besides, if I could be more helpful, that would be great." He just stared at me a moment. "Oh, right, I need to go help Aveline with a patrol and…" As I stood, I stumbled and nearly crashed into him. "Sorry," I laughed off, moving to step back. "My legs must've fallen asleep and…" And I trailed off as his hands fell on my shoulders. "Fenris?"

"You're so small," he whispered. His hands felt heavy. "I never noticed, but… but you're so small."

"Huh?"

"You carry everything on these tiny shoulders. All that weight… how do you not break?" Was he still drunk? "I'm… scared of that."

"What?"

"Of you shattering under the weight. I have been. You're everywhere, doing everything. I'm even more scared now." His grip tightened, but he wouldn't look me in the eye. "Why? Why can't you just hide and stay safe?"

"Well…"

"Every time, you put yourself into so much risk. One day, you won't be lucky." A hand brushed over the scar my eye. Did he hear of how I got it? "It's already happened. You… you should just stay safe. Reclusive."

"Fenris?"

"…No, nothing." He stepped away. "Ramblings. Don't worry about-"

"I'll stay safe." He glanced at me and I smiled. "Like, I don't know, like a dragon guarding her horde?"

"Even dragons are eventually slain. I think the Nevarran nobles showed that clearly." Yeah, but I'd been hoping for the laugh. "Sorry, I… need to be alone."

"Yeah, of course." But when I reached the door, I turned back. "Hey, Fenris?"

"Yes?" His back was to me.

"If… if you'd like, I can teach you how to read?" My face was hot. "I… I taught the twins, so…"

"…I'd like that." He turned towards me and I thought I saw him blushing too. "Later, though."

"Yeah. I'll… uh… send a message or something. Good night. Day. Bye." And I bolted outside, still flushing furiously.

What had all that been about? Could he… could he feel the same way? No, no surely not. Right?

Author's note: Okay, Gideon Emery, or however you spell it, voices not only Fenris, but also this character named Gaius from Fire Emblem: Awakening. Gaius has an enormous sweet tooth. As a result, I've been unable to not image Fenris having a sweet tooth, but only when he's drunk.

Sorry for the short chapter but, unlike the previous one, this was literally just these two talking. The second scene was, mostly, just for building the relationship? Haha… whoo boy, I'm still bad at this stuff. The scene itself was inspired by a scene in Zakuro (an anime) and some of his dialogue in Mark of the Assassin. The reading thing is related to his gift for the Act 2.

Next Chapter – The Long Road. AKA THE BEST QUEST EVER xDDDD