Two days later

Their uncle had sent word to Lizbeth informing her of her mother's untimely death, by messenger pigeon as they had for Seamus' ceremony, and had not yet received word back. It was odd, considering that the one day ship journey across the Waking Sea was reduced to less than half a day's journey for the pigeon. The sisters were concerned for Lizbeth, as they were not sure what the delay in reply implied. Void, but even Cullen was concerned and he had never had a proper conversation with the youngest Hawke sister before.

The family had decided to delay Leandra's cremation ceremony for another day to await word from Lizbeth. If she could get permission to attend the funeral, then they would await their sister.

Cullen, with an unusual lull in his day's work, could not focus on the patrol updates as he sat at his desk and soon found himself further in melancholy as he continued to think on all that has happened since the foul Quentin murdered Leandra.

The estate had been quiet when Cullen entered after his dismissal from Meredith the evening of Leandra's death. Bodan, looking sobered and uneasy, only greeted Cullen with a small nod of his head in acknowledgement. Cullen walked with a cold coil of trepidation in his gut as he neared Olisa's rooms, where he could hear the faint and muffled sounds of the Hawke sisters behind the closed door. Knowing that knocking was an irrelevant thing to do at this time, Cullen opened the door and stepped through to see Olisa slumped on her bed, a pillow held to her face, and Marianna pacing in front of her sister with both her hands in her hair. Marianna was talking, but Cullen couldn't understand a word she was saying. Not that she was incoherent, it was just that she was speaking in another language, as the sisters normally did when discussing sensitive information that they didn't want anyone to overhear – didn't want Leandra to overhear.

Marianna was the first to notice Cullen, as Olisa's face was still buried in her pillow. Marianna's face was swollen, the whites of her eyes streaked with color just as deep a red as her hair, and her voice cracked when she said, "Cullen's here sister," in Olisa's direction. Olisa removed the pillow from her face, and something in his chest cracked when she whimpered as their eyes met. Tears streaked her cheeks, and her entire form seemed crumpled. She was in the worst state he had ever seen her, and she was one of the strongest women he knew.

Marianna broke the silence that had befallen them, when she said, "I'll leave you two alone." Olisa had protested, although weakly, "No, Anna. You, you don't have to go."

Marianna shook her head, "It'd be better if I did." She met her sister's gaze, "I'll be fine, sister." Olisa didn't look convinced, "Really." Cullen put a hand on Marianna's shoulder, "If you need to be with Olisa..." Marianna shook her head again, "I'll be in my room." And to no one in particular, she said, "Come get me if you need me."

Cullen dropped his hand from her shoulder, and let her walk from the room without another word of protest. Once the door was closed, he went to Olisa and sat beside her on the bed. She curled against his chest, as he wrapped his armored arms around her shoulders in comfort. Talking against his chestplate, Olisa softly said, "I just had tea with Mother this morning." They stayed in that position for some time. Cullen offering soft words of reassurance, and Olisa barely able to formulate in words just how distraught she was. How she felt that she had failed yet again in protecting her family. How she carried the burden of the fates of each of her family members.

Cullen sighed heavily as the memories from that day faded to the back of his mind. Such thoughts would do no good right now. The man that killed Leandra is dead, murders have been solved, and no more women would be harmed as Leandra had. Meager positives have come from Leandra's murder, and hopefully a precedent has been set in the Order in the event of future cases of a similar nature.

Leaning back in his chair, Cullen rubbed at his brow as he considered how Olisa and Marianna have been coping. He hasn't been around them as much as he would've liked, but Marianna at least seems the more stable of the two despite her loosing two people close to her in such a short period of time. Aveline has, understandably, given the younger Hawke some time off from Guard duty, but Marianna is still actively fighting against the criminal population. The night after Leandra's murder Cullen saw Marianna, fully armed and armored, leave the estate with Dagger and Fenris. The three didn't return until the morning bruised, bloodied and exhausted. Cullen had seen Fenris asleep in one of the plush chairs in the library as he had passed to return to the Gallows. He had thought it odd, considering that the elf's place of residence is not that far from the estate. Perhaps he was just too exhausted to walk the extra distance.

Olisa though, she has become more distant, more introverted. She doesn't object to the company of others, but keeps more to herself than Cullen would like. Perhaps once Leandra's ceremony is completed, and her body is returned to the Maker, Olisa will break from her despair. All he can do is hope that the family will soon have the peace that they have desired since they left Lothering to escape the Blight. They did have a short period of peace, but he hopes that they soon get a reprieve from their current hardships, as they deserve.

…...

Note: I thought way, way too hard about the messenger pigeon thing at the top of this chapter. This is what I assumed, using the map of Thedas as reference: the width of Lake Calenhad at its widest point at about 60 miles (assuming it's as large as the Great Lakes), so the distance from Kirkwall across the Waking Sea at about 150 miles. I think it's entirely possible that a merchant's ship at the time could cross that distance in a day, and a messenger pigeon could probably fly 20miles/hour. Giving the bird some time to rest, a message could theoretically go from Kirkwall to Amaranthine and back easily in a day. If anyone has information that would make my assumptions more definitive, please let me know and I'll change what I've written in this chapter. :)

Another note: So, I'm sorry for the slight delay in getting this chapter up. It's the last week of break for me before the spring semester classes start up, so my free time is dwindling. :/ Thank you again for reading and reviewing, etc.!