Author's Note

This work was inspired by a r/dragonage prompt: Modern AU - I need a place to stay. It sparked this murder mystery story that I hope you will enjoy! I'm halfway through writing the story, so I will update on a weekly basis. You can also read this work at Ao3 under the same name.

As a disclaimer, I do not own Dragon Age or any of the characters or elements that appear in this work. It is purely a fan work and I'm not profiting in any way from it. Thank you for reading!

Zevran awoke to the smell of coffee and the sound of pots and pans being shifted in the kitchen. He took a moment to gather his thoughts and examine his surroundings. Memories of the hectic events of the previous day came to his mind and he groaned. What a mess, he was only meant to stop the hold up from happening, but he was a fool to believe he could do it alone. Why hadn't he insisted on being accompanied by a partner? But alas, there was little point in dwelling in past mistakes…

He stumbled out of bed, his bruises from the day before stung and he regretted not bothering to tend to them before turning for the night, but to his excuse he was exhausted. There would be time to do so today. After a quick stretch he looked through the clothes that Kallian had kindly provided him with the night before. They weren't his usual style, but it was nice of her to offer, and they fit, which was the most important part.

Kallian's house was nice, if only a bit old. He noticed it wasn't only the guest bedroom that was lacking in decoration. The furniture was plain and there were no embellishments. He noticed a few abstract paintings hung up on the hallway wall. He hastily made his way to the kitchen, to be greeted by the woman working away on the stove, making what looked – or smelled – like pancakes. She was still dressed in her pyjamas, night robe included. She heard him enter and quickly spun around, greeting him with a wide smile.

"Good morning Zevran! I hope you found everything last night?" She was oddly cheery after last night's ordeal.

"I did, yes, thank you again for your hospitality. You certainly did not need to go to such extents for me, but I am thankful nonetheless."

"Ah, it's fine, I always have friends crashing so it's not like I went out of my way. Glad to see the clothes fit, I was a bit worried they'd be too small…"

"Oh, no, they're perfect. Thank you, I will make sure to return these to you clean as soon as I'm able to."

She waved him off, turned back to the stove and flipped the last pancake onto the plate before putting it down on the table. She had set the table for two, with a cup of coffee and an array of cereal boxes and milk. She laid the tower of pancakes on the table before taking a seat, urging him to do the same. Zevran felt slightly strange, staying in a stranger's home and being greeted with breakfast and smiles the next day, but he obliged. She passed him a few of the cereal boxes after filling her bowl with a mix of two and slid three pancakes onto her plate. He waved off the cereal and pulled two of the other pancakes onto his plate.

"You know, I have heard many things about Ferelden, but with how badly they speak of the food here, I would have never expected to find such a delightful-looking breakfast on my first day. You are setting the bar too high!"

Kallian giggled at his flattery. Now that he was able to see her face up-close, he noticed how her smile created dimples on her cheeks. It was a bright smile.

"Flattery will get you nowhere, you know. I'm afraid I must disappoint you, for these are ready-made pancakes. I only added in milk to the batter and cooked them. Hope they still taste as wonderful as you've described them, though."

Zevran laughed and took a bite. They did indeed taste like any pancakes you might get in any diner or fast food restaurant but considering the fact that he had forgotten to eat since before he embarked on the ferry, they were just as good as homemade ones. He hummed in response, quickly finishing his share.

"You know, if you hadn't told me your secret, I wouldn't have been able to tell!"

She laughed again and they finished their breakfast in a comfortable silence.

"So, Zevran, you are to start working with us Grey Wardens starting Monday. I'm afraid we didn't give you the best reception last night, sorry about that."

"Don't apologise, I brought that upon myself for not asking for help earlier. I was under orders from Antiva, but I was a fool. Starting Monday I don't even belong to the Antivan force anymore. Rookie mistake, but I promise it won't happen again."

"It's fine, I'm not the one you have to answer to! Wynne will deal with it, I'm sure. She's our boss, by the way. You'll meet her on Monday, I'm sure you'll love her!" She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "You know, I transferred here from somewhere else as well. It might be alien at first, but I promise you'll be feeling like at home in no time."

"Yes, I have no doubts about that." Zevran couldn't tell if he came across as sarcastic or not, hoping for the latter. Kallian didn't seem to pick up on it so he didn't dwell on it for too long. "So, if not from Highever, where is it you're from originally?"

"Denerim, the capital, down south. It's really busy, stinks, it's loud, but it's home. Have you ever been?"

"I'm afraid I haven't, no. To be honest, this is the first time I'm away from Antiva, so all I'm familiar with are Fereldan stereotypes and unsavoury information, the kind usually given by unassuming friends."

"I see… well, I guess you'll have to experience it for yourself then. I hope it will actually surpass the horrible first impression we must have made."

"Well, we are near the sea, so I won't be missing that part of Antiva, at the very least. I'll let you know how I get on."

He helped her clear the table, insisting he at least wash the dishes to thank her for her hospitality. She guided him to her living room, overlooking the small garden, and asked him to wait while she got ready. She turned on the television for him and left for the shower.

Zevran took the time to look around the living room, TV forgotten in the background. The garden seemed well tended; flowers were starting to bloom with the arrival of spring. He wouldn't have pegged her as having a green thumb, but he supposed that was expected, after all he did not know her. A few frames near the windowsill caught his eye. In them he could see Kallian with different people. He walked closer, inspecting them. In one of them she was wearing her uniform next to a group of smiling officers. He recognised Alistair's face in the picture. He'd probably meet the rest of the group at work, then. In another, he could see a younger looking Kallian, probably around her late teens, hair cropped shorter and an arm around a pale girl's shoulders. Judging by the surroundings they seemed to be on holiday, but Kallian was the only one who looked like she was having fun. The other girl looked miserable, probably because of the sunburn that was apparent on her cheeks. He looked at one last picture, it seemed recent. Kallian had her arm around a young man, light blonde hair and a pleasant smile. They seemed to be on holiday as well, and judging by how close they were, Zevran wondered if this was Kallian's boyfriend. But then again, she seemed quite close to Alistair the night before, so this person could be her friend as well. It wasn't any of his business and he did not want to pry.

After what must have been half an hour, the blonde hurried into the living room. Her hair was still damp, but she had changed into a pair of jeans and a loose white tee. It was such a contrasting look to her officer uniform.

"Sorry I took so long!" she exclaimed, "the shower takes forever to heat up sometimes… I hope you weren't too bored."

"Oh, not at all. I was admiring your garden. Flowers remind me of Antiva, they're always in bloom there." He really ought to get himself together, it hadn't even been two days since leaving Antiva, he should not be feeling that nostalgic about it.

"Aw, that sounds wonderful. I've never had a garden before, so I was really enthusiastic about this one. Denerim is horrible for flowers, I think the air is too polluted. Or there's too much mud, I don't know."

"Ah, well, for not having owned a garden before, I must admit you have done a wonderful job here. But alas, I'm sure there's other matters to attend to. I should probably leave and try to reclaim my things. I feel like I have overstayed my welcome."

"Oh, no, don't worry! I'm headed into town anyways. I'll give you a ride. Do you even know your way around Highever? I have time, I can show you around if you like."

"Oh, I do not wish to impose, Kallian…" but truth be told, he really appreciated the ride. He still had no means to get around in Highever and still had no access to his belongings whatsoever.

"Shush, get in the car. I'm sure the forensics will be done with your stuff; I'll drive you to the office!"

So they drove around, Kallian showed the Antivan around HIghever. Highever wasn't too big, so it was easy to drive around. The town centre had all the important shops one might need, including a quaint shopping centre that Kallian was quite fond of. She showed him around her favourite bars, the one she always went to on Fridays, with Leliana and Morrigan, the one the office liked to gather for celebrations from time to time, the posh one Alistair denied going to with his sports club friends.

In return, Zevran told her more stories about Antiva. He told her that the Antivan force was not too dissimilar from the Grey Wardens. They did the same sort of things, gathered in the same sort of places and were overall much the same. He complained about the smell of fried oil from the restaurants, saying that Antivans had been right about Fereldan cuisine after all. He got excited at the sight of a shoe shop that carried his favourite Antivan brand. He explained how Antivan leather shoes were different and how much he appreciated seeing something familiar in such a foreign country.

They had stopped by one of the parks to get something to eat. Zevran appreciated what she had done for him, relieved he was finally in possession of all his belongings and documents. He informed her of his plans to stay in a nearby hotel, he did not wish to impose further on her. Kallian was relieved to hear that the man had already found a flat prior to arriving to Highever, which said a lot more about him than her, who had mooched off Morrigan for three weeks before finding a place through her friends. However, Zevran had been informed that the landlord was still renovating parts of the flat, so he would have to wait until the end of next week to move in. She asked him if he needed any help moving stuff through, but he waved her off. He didn't own too many things and what he did need he could easily purchase in the shops. He was a minimalist at heart, he had exclaimed.

Kallian was going to offer to drive him to the hotel before she set off to Morrigan's, but her phone buzzed with an incoming call, putting a halt to their conversation.

At the end of the line, she could hear Alistair's voice. The static was making it hard for her to hear him.

"Kallian! You finally picked up!"

"Alistair, what's wrong?"

"Is that Antivan officer still with you?"

"Yeah, he's here. What's up?" She could see Zevran lift an eyebrow, intrigued.

"I… I don't know how to tell you this. I'm at the docks, Leliana called me earlier and said it was urgent, she needed to check something with me."

"At the docks? From yesterday? Did she find something last night? Is Wynne assigning us to the case?"

"No, um, I mean, yes. But…" he groaned, "oh, man, this is so difficult. We're not sure yet, but we have… we found a name on the passenger list from yesterday…"

Kallian's felt her pulse racing. "This is sounding really ominous, Alistair. Tell me what's going on please? I can't take the suspense…"

"Look, I'm not sure how to tell you this… I… We…" he took a deep breath, "the passenger… The name of the passenger was Nelaros, I tried to tell Leliana it was nothing but she asked me to call you and…"

"What? No, wait, what? What are you saying? Is he…? What's going on, Alistair!?"

"A body was found inside the ship, but we don't know any details yet. It's just he's unaccounted for, maybe he slipped from our grasp last night with all the commotion. It could be anyone else, we were just… look, can you… can you come over? Bring Zevran, if you can…"

Kallian let the phone drop from her hand. Her eyes widened, and she tried to control her breathing. Zevran panicked, moving closer in case she lost her balance, wordlessly asking if she was okay. She shook him off and jumped to her feet, shaking her head. No, no, no, this could not be happening. This was a strange dream. She was in a park with the new recruit, eating a sandwich, helping him move in. Alistair had not called to talk about Nelaros. Nelaros had no reason to be in Highever today. Or yesterday. Not without her knowing. No, no. It was just a prank. She just had to make sure…

Her hands shook and her knees threatened to give in, but she tried to maintain her composure and looked at Zevran, who looked back at her expectantly, ready to jump at any moment. She had difficulty gathering her thoughts and stringing words together.

"It's… Alistair… Alistair called. We are required immediately… It's urgent…"she didn't have the willpower to finish her sentence.

Zevran nodded, not needing any more information before he hastily making his way to her car with her.

Kallian felt like time had stopped, like everything was running in slow motion while the world rushed around her. She jumped into the car, starting the engine, almost forgetting about Zevran, who hurriedly fastened his seatbelt. She was sure she had exceeded the maximum speed limit on her way. She suddenly felt her muscles ache from the night before, like she had been too awake to rest properly and it had finally caught up to her. She was lucky the roads weren't too busy. She hoped she wouldn't get written up for jumping a traffic light, but it was urgent. Alistair had made it sound urgent.

The sun painted the sky red and glared directly into her eyes, making it difficult to drive. Hastily she pulled down the sun visor and accelerated. Zevran seemed aware of the severity of the situation but decided not to speak at first. Instead, he tightly gripped the door handle until his knuckles turned white.

"Where is it we're going?" He finally asked. He could see her eyes were focused on the road, glazed over.

"The docks, from yesterday. It's urgent, it's… I don't know, Alistair just…" Kallian couldn't mutter any other words before she choked a sob. Zevran got the hint and shut up, deciding to focus back on the scenery.

After what felt like an eternity, she made it to the scene from the night before and parked next to the area that had been closed off. She spotted a few police cars, less than there had been at the scene the day before. She noticed Alistair's red car was parked amongst them. It was likely that he had been called to scene in short notice as well.

She got out of the car and ran into the scene, Zevran trailed behind her. Alistair spotted her and called her over, his usual goofy expression replaced by a solemn one, lips thin and pensive.

"Alistair! Talk to me, what happened?" she demanded.

"Look, I'm not sure yet, they're in the middle of investigation, I got called over because we were the ones that showed up first last night. Maybe we're wrong, forensics are inside right now, they're gathering as many clues as they can."

"But what is it…? Is it…?" Kallian's voice was strained with desperation. Alistair averted his eyes.

"We don't know, I wasn't too sure. We haven't been able to identify him properly, but… I told them to wait for you before we access the scene."

"Alistair, please, tell me what you know! What's happening? You can't just call me over and tell me you think Nelaros is…" she never finished the sentence.

"Kallian, I already told you what I know! After we left last night, they finished identifying every passenger that left the ship, they also had a list of everyone registered as a passenger. It took a while, but they found a passenger that was registered but hadn't been accounted for. It was Leliana who recognised the name and that's when she called me over. When I got here, they had finished searching the ship and had found a body. I made the connection but figured it could have been any other Nelaros! Leliana was the one that asked me to call you over, figured if anyone could identify him it would be you… I… It might not even be him!"

Kallian's heart stopped and she felt her blood turn ice cold.

"That makes absolutely no sense! Why would Nelaros be here? He didn't tell me? No, it can't be him."

"Maybe he wanted to surprise you, I honestly don't-"

They were cut off by the team of forensics, who had finished taking photographs and preserving the scene. Kallian took the photos off their hands with a little too much momentum, but she just needed to check. It could be anyone, it didn't have to be him… She almost didn't want to look, but she had to. She gulped and her eyes widened. No, it couldn't be... There, in the picture, with a lifeless expression and open eyes was Nelaros. A sob got caught up in her throat and her eyes filled with tears before she let out a wail, gripping her arms with force and walking away before turning around, trying to hold back from losing control. She was pretty sure she needed to throw up.

That was all the confirmation Alistair needed.

"Kallian, please breathe, please breathe…" he attempted to touch her shoulder to reassure her, but she brushed off his hand and ran off to her car.

"Oh Maker…" he turned to the forensics team. "Kallian has identified the victim, it is the unaccounted-for passenger Nelaros Sarel, please bring all the evidence to the office and get it to Wynne, we need all the clues as to why he was found inside a room was not to his name. That ship is not leaving town for a while, we need to detain any suspects as soon a possible, we need all the statements you can take and we need to question the man who got injured yesterday, whenever he's recovered."

Zevran was extremely confused at the display. He gathered the victim had been important to Kaillan, judging from how tense she was after the call, and her breakdown just now. He looked over to Alistair, the only other known face in the scene. Alistair glared at him.

"I'm going to need your statement again, because this attempted murder has resulted in an actual murder. And Nelaros is not the sort of person that would wind up in a murder. We need to solve this as soon as we can. The murderer could be already on the loose. Why the fuck did they not fully check the ship before letting everybody go?"

"I understand, I'm ready to go as soon as you are." Zevran looked back towards Kallian's car. "Is Kallian okay? She really didn't take it well…"

"Don't you dare bother her right now. Leliana's already on her way to her car. She will need some time. Nelaros was her fiancé and they were to be married by the end of the year. This is fucking horrible." Alistair sighed, "Now, let's go back to the office, the other guys will deal with the scene here."