Oneshot. The idea for this came out of fanart I saw of Fenris and Bethany, and a few drabble sessions on the R/Dragon Weekly Writing Prompts, where I first posted this.

"Did you have to do that?"

His eyes drifted away from the brightly coloured children's book and back to the mage's head that was resting on his lap.

She'd already closed the pages to hers, a thick leather bound tome of spells she held close to her chest, a long time ago.

"Eavesdropping again?" He asked.

"I was there in the Hanged Man, you know."

"It was necessary."

"That's exactly what you told Merrill."

"So, you were eavesdropping then."

She huffed before opening up her eyes to look at him and scowl. The lyrium marks on his skin prickled back in response, but after the past few days of adventuring with the band of the Hawke, he scarcely noticed it.

Maybe it was also the fact that after decapitating Danarius in the Hanged Man, the sight of angry frowning mages didn't make him tremble anymore.

"Well, it's hard not to notice when you two are arguing everywhere in Kirkwall." She responded.

"Point taken." He murmured back.

Time passed by them and the sea bench they were on. That the Band of The Hawke hadn't returned yet could only mean Isabela hadn't picked out a new ship yet, and that Varric's haggling with the boat shop on her behalf hadn't gone entirely as planned. (Such was her dowry after the crash landing the first time around.)

Fenris wasn't fond of boat shopping or listening to Varric's drivel, and Bethany didn't want to journey back to Kirkwall already either. So the two of them had found each other as company as they waited back on the others, swapping stories and catching up in the years they'd spent in and out of the circle.

Then the topic of literature had bubbled up. They swapped the books they'd brought along when they both realized they'd taken a novella along with them on this expedition. Bethany blazed through the drawings and sparse words of Golems Can't Dance, its author's first foray into the world of children's literature, but Fenris couldn't get even past the first few complex spells and castings that illustrated her chantry spellbook.

"Do you think Hawke would've done the same?"

"Killing Variana?"

"I mean me."

"No." Fenris answered swiftly, but he felt those bookish blue eyes of Bethany's trying to read him as the word parted his lips.

"Your brother is a good man." he added, but he wasn't sure if he could believe that anymore.

Tensions between Templars and Mages were beginning to boil over back in Kirkwall, and Hawke had positioned himself as Meredith's successor should she succumb in the inevitable clash.

At the same time, as Fenris had overheard from Aveline and Isabela, Bethany had grown nearer to First Enchanter Orsino within the circle and become his closest confidant and apprentice.

Moreso, neither had spoken to each other since Varric had arranged this expedition to the Warden's prison.

They didn't talk as they journeyed deep into the Vimmark Mountains or even as they fought side by side against the ensuing darkspawn that were cramped everywhere within the derelict lairs.

It was something the others in the gang had picked up on, but Fenris wondered if this would be the last time either of them would be on the same side.

Hawke had grown more ambitious and impatient since the death of Viscount several years ago; but would he really draw his own blade against his sister in the chaos?

His lyrium scars prickled again, and he could sense that the same thoughts were troubling Bethany. Even more startling, deep down he could feel those same thoughts were troubling him too.

"I still can't believe that dwarf published a children's book." Fenris remarked, trying to steer the subject away from Garrett Hawke's ensuing bloodlust.

No response.

"Bethany?"

He looked down again and saw that her sewn shut eyes, heavy from the onslaught of studying chantry approved magic, revealed she'd fallen back into slumber once more.

Perhaps his false reassurance was all she needed to slip away back into the comfort of sleep, or perhaps it was because she was able to do something that he could never bring himself to do with any mage; trust him.

If that were the case, the least he could do then was to watch over her before the boat came along, before the last of the sun's embers fettered past them and onto the water of the Waking Sea behind.

Thanks for reading, I could use some R&R on your behalf though :)