A few days had passed and Melisandria was still in bed, her heart broken. No one could get her out of bed, not even Isabela. Hammer sat next to her every day, protecting her in this fragile state. When she finally got enough energy to get out of bed, she got up begrudgingly. She felt like changing things up a little bit, so she looked through her clothes. Pulling out a dark red tunic, a leather waist cincher, black leggings, a pair of black leather boots, and her favorite sleeveless cloak, Melisandria got dressed, tying the waist cincher over the cloak. She brushed her hair, then braided it.
Finished getting ready, Melisandria grabbed a pair of fingerless gloves and pulled them on as she went downstairs. Bodahn and Orana looked up and smiled in relief, glad to see her up and about.
"Glad to see you're better, Mistress." Orana said, offering her some breakfast.
"I'm not hungry, Orana, but thank you." Melisandria replied.
Orana nodded and stood aside as Melisandria walked out of the estate, her staff in hand. She wasn't sure where she was going, but she felt like she just needed to walk around, clear her head. She hooked her staff on her back, and wandered around Kirkwall, just walking. She wandered to the docks, stopping in a far corner of the docks, near where they had slain Senestra the Snake, the lady who Keran and Macha's family owed money to. A group of thugs were nearby, watching Melisandria stand by herself, gazing out over the harbor.
"Hey there, sweetheart, care to have some fun?" one of them said, the lot of them coming up to her.
She ignored them, unintentionally, too. She was off in her own little world, trying to figure things out in her head.
"Oi, I'm talking to you," the thug said, grabbing her arm, startling her.
"Let me go, creep." she demanded and pulled her arm free, starting to walk away.
"I don't think so," another said, grabbing both of her arms, pulling them behind her.
"No! Let me go!" she yelled.
Nearby, someone heard her yelling and ran to the Hanged Man to fetch Varric and Isabela. "Mistress Hawke is in trouble, Varric. She needs help!" the boy said.
Varric nodded, grabbed Isabela and they followed the boy to where Melisandria was being attacked. The thugs were trying to rape her, pulling at her clothes. Varric and Isabela watched as Melisandria broke free, only to have one of the thugs grab her braid, pulling her back. She cried out in pain and Isabela swore like the sailor she was.
"Mel, we're coming!" Isabela yelled, throwing a dagger right at them. The dagger sliced through Melisandria's braid, cutting Melisandria free. Not caring about her hair being cut, Melisandria turned around and punched the thug who had grabbed her. She hit each of his pressure points and forced him to crumble to the ground. Varric, Isabela, and Melisandria fought off the thugs, only having to kill one or two of them. Melisandria cornered one of the thugs, the one who grabbed her initially.
"You will leave here immediately." she said, grabbing the dagger Isabela threw. "I never want to see you face or any of your idiot companions' faces in Kirkwall ever again. If I do, you're dead."
"You think we're scared of you?" the thug laughed.
Furious, she drew the dagger across the man's face, leaving a gash that ran the length of his face. The man screamed in pain.
"You still think I'm joking?" Melisandria demanded. "Leave now and never return."
The thug squirmed out of her reach and ran off, a trail of blood following him. Melisandria wiped the blade of the dagger on her cloak and handed it back to Isabela.
"Thank you, Isabela, Varric. I don't know what I would have done without you." she said.
"Hawke, what were you thinking coming here alone?" Varric asked. "You know how dangerous it is out here, especially for beautiful young woman."
Melisandria felt tears in her eyes. "I don't know, I just needed to think..." she said, putting her face in her hands.
Isabela pulled her into a hug, letting her cry as she glared at Varric. "Hush now, little Hawke." she said, trying to comfort her.
"I don't know what went wrong, Isabela." Melisandria said into her shoulder. "I gave him everything and he left me..."
"Fenris?" Isabela asked. "What exactly happened between you two?"
Melisandria looked up. "I gave him my innocence, Isabela. That night... I gave it to him and he left me..."
Isabela's eyes widened in shock. "You gave up your virginity to him and he left you?"
Melisandria nodded.
"Hawke, I'm not sure what to say here, I have no experience in this matter, but I'm sorry." Varric said.
Hawke managed a smile, but it soon faded. She was bleeding on her side. "I need to go see Anders." She said as she tried to hide it.
Isabela knew better and offered to help her down to Darktown and Varric went to go make sure that the thugs were really gone. Isabela helped Melisandria down to the clinic, getting there fairly quickly. Anders looked up and saw them come in, then saw the blood dripping from Melisandria. Her hair was shorter, so he didn't recognize her. Melisandria sank to her knees, passing out and dragged Isabela down with her.
"Little help here?" Isabela asked.
Anders hurried over and helped her take Melisandria to a cot. As they laid her down, Melisandria's head fell to the side, her hair falling away from her face.
"Mel!" Anders said in surprise. "What happened, Isabela?"
"From what Varric and I saw, Mel was out by herself at the docks and some thugs came up to her, grabbing her and tried to rape her. One of Varric's informants came to get us. When we got there, she was surrounded. She managed to break free for a moment, but one of them grabbed her hair, so I threw a dagger and it cut through her hair, letting her free. I didn't even see her get injured, but there were a lot of thugs, so I wouldn't be surprised."
Anders nodded. "She's unconscious, so it'll take some time. I'll take a look at her injury. Thank you for bringing her here."
Isabela nodded and left, deciding to go pay Fenris a visit. She walked through the streets of Darktown, up through Lowtown, and up into Hightown. She was furious that the one person she could call her best friend had been hurt so badly. She burst through the front door and marched up the stairs to the study, where she found Fenris sulking near the fireplace.
"How dare you, elf." she yelled, smacking Fenris across the cheek.
"What?" Fenris asked, his cheek pulsating.
"How dare you do that to her?" Isabela asked. "Mel told me what happened between you two. How could you be so heartless?"
Fenris' face fell and the pain in his cheek no longer bothered him. "I thought it best..."
"How could you be that stupid? You took her virginity, Fenris, did you know that?"
Fenris shook his head. "I had no idea." Now he felt even worse.
"Fenris, that poor girl is hurt. Bad. She walked into the most dangerous part of the docks and almost got raped. Varric and I had to come help her when one of his informants came to get us. She cut one her assailants' face as a warning and told them never to come back or she'd kill them." Isabela told him. "Does that sound like the sweet mage we all know and love? Does that sound like the Mel who always keeps her cool, tries to find the most diplomatic solution to every problem?"
Fenris looked up at her, the pain of leaving her clear in his eyes. "I left to protect her. I started to remember things when we... I just didn't want to risk her getting hurt..."
Isabela rolled her eyes. "Fenris, you know that girl loves you. Yet, in trying to protect her from being hurt, you do the worst possible things: take her virginity and break her heart."
Fenris didn't know what to say. Isabela sighed. "Don't ever hurt her again." she said and left.
Fenris sat there feeling even worse than before. He stared at the fire, thinking things over. He grabbed a bottle of wine and sat there, drinking straight from the bottle as he mulled things over in his head.
Meanwhile, back in the clinic, Anders was working on Melisandria's wounds. She had been stabbed pretty deep into her right side, but Anders removed her waist cincher and moved the tunic out of the way to clean the wound. He tried to be gentle, but he was able to patch her up. He sat there and waited for Melisandria to wake up. After about an hour, Melisandria stirred, sitting up and wincing.
"Easy, Mel." Anders said.
"What happened? Last I remember I was at the docks." she said, a hand at her side.
"Isabela brought you in. You were stabbed in the side when you fought off the thugs who attacked you. You passed out right as you got here." he explained.
"How long have I been out?" Melisandria asked.
"Only about an hour or so." Anders said, handing her some water. "You need to be more careful, Mel."
"Anders, I've told you before, don't worry so much." Melisandria said, managing a smile.
"Mel, you have to be careful, especially around the docks. What if something worse had happened to you? I don't know what I would have done."
"Anders, you've been so good to me. Thank you for everything." Melisandria said.
Varric came in with a grim look on his face. "Hawke, I have some bad news."
"What is it Varric?" she said, trying to stand.
"You may want to stay seated, Hawke. It's about Carver." he said, handing her a letter. "I got this at the Hanged Man, thought you should see it."
Melisandria took the letter and saw that it was addressed to her, regarding Carver. As she read it, her heart sank:
"To the Hawke family,
In regards to Carver Malcolm Hawke:
I am not pleased to inform you that Carver did not survive the Joining.
He was buried here in Fereldan with honors,
having requested to be buried alongside his comrades at Ostagar.
Enclosed is a dagger he wished to be delivered to you.
I am truly sorry for you loss; we did what we could to save Carver.
My condolences to you and your family.
~Ser Stroud of the Grey Wardens"
"Carver..." she said, tears spilling from her eyes. "I'm so sorry..."
Anders put a hand on her knee, but Melisandria fell into his shoulder, sobbing. Anders was surprised, but he pulled her into his arms and held her. Varric said he was going to take the letter to Leandra and left the two alone in the clinic. Anders sat there for a while, letting Melisandria cry into his robes.
"Mel, I am so sorry. I thought that Carver would be able to survive the Joining." he said when she seemed to calm down a bit.
"I don't understand what happened... Carver was so strong... he should have been able to survive something like that..." she said, wiping the tears from her eyes.
Anders tucked her hair behind her ear. "I thought he'd be ok, but I guess I was wrong."
"What am I going to do with Mother? She's going to be so broken hearted." Melisandria said.
"You should go home, Melisandria. Be with your mother; she's going to need you." Anders said.
Melisandria put her hand on his cheek and pressed her forehead against his. "Thank you, Anders. For everything." She kissed his forehead and left.
Anders could still feel the warmth of her kiss on his forehead and the warmth of her breath on his face. He sighed, not sure how things would play out.
