"Bianca's still hungry," Varric commented, slinging the crossbow over his shoulder as the last demon dissolved with a blast of flames from Hawke's staff.
Cassandra eyed him. "You know, sometimes your obsession with that crossbow scares me, Varric."
Varric gasped. "Don't you dare say that in front of her! You just hurt her feelings!"
"I honestly can't tell if you're being serious or not."
"Shh, Bianca," Varric stroked the weapon on his back. "Just ignore the Seeker. She didn't mean it."
Cassandra and Hawke shared a glance of mingled humor and concern.
"Guess we should join the Inquisitor," Hawke offered, and they headed forward before Cassandra stopped her. Anxiety welled up in Hawke's chest at the interruption. Have I done something wrong? More wrong than basically destroying Kirkwall and running away from templars and being an apostate?
Cassandra waited until Varric was out of earshot before pulling a book out of a deep pocket. The Tale of the Champion. Great. Not that book again. Thank you, Varric.
"Can you sign this for me?" the Seeker whispered, casting furtive glances at Varric's back.
"Shouldn't Varric be the one to sign it? I mean, he's the one who wrote it."
"But you're . . . You're the . . ." Cassandra's cheeks flared red, and she shoved the book into Hawke's hands, crossing her arms after.
"Do you have something to write with?"
Cassandra fumbled around in her pocket before digging out a pen.
"You really came prepared," Hawke noted as she scribbled her name on the inside of the cover. This was a rare copy of the book, with it being leatherbound and containing what appeared to be every chapter in one volume. "Why didn't you just ask me at Skyhold? We are in the middle of a battle."
"Well," Cassandra stumbled over her words, "I didn't want anyone to see. And nothing's happening right now."
Hawke handed the book back, and Cassandra stared at the signature as though it were Andraste herself.
"Where did Cullen go?"
"Huh? Oh." She slid the book into her pocket with reverence. "He went ahead to direct his soldiers. He said something was happening on top of the keep."
"Then why aren't we going?" Hawke broke into a run, annoyed after the delay for a book signing when men and women were dying out there.
"The battle isn't as bad as we thought it would be. They should be fine. We would just add to the confusion by standing up there, waiting for another enemy to materialize."
"Materialize? What are you––Oh. I guess I'm just used to fighting mages and templars, you know? They just kind of . . . stand there. Waving a pointy thing. Yeah." She noticed Cassandra wasn't listening anymore and had stopped at the end of a battlement. "What is it?" Hawke asked, tone falling into seriousness.
Hawke's eyes grew wide as disks. "Is that a dragon?"
"Corypheus's dragon."
"Is it an archdemon? Is that red lyrium?"
"We're not entirely sure."
The creature gave off a fierce roar that rumbled deep within Hawke's gut. Wow.
"Well, let's go!" Hawke took of running again, faster this time. "Andraste's ass, I love dragons!"
"I'm glad you do," Cassandra replied flatly.
A/N: I love Hawke so much 3