I'm terribly sorry for the delay. I swear I was already halfway with finishing this chapter but then I had a nasty encounter with a vengeful staircase and I ended up in the hospital. To be precisely on the operation table with a fractured collarbone. But here I am again, still typewriting with one hand but one hand also can do the job. It just takes longer.

Enjoy!

Part 5 The consequences of a kiss … well a lot of kisses … oh hell, just read and find out!

Later that day in the Hanged Man …

'Again?' Anders cried out. His nose wrinkled with loathing; just the mental picture forming in his head made him sick. He reached for the glass of ale he had permitted himself to smooth his anguish a little and took a sip. Thankfully Justice kept silent though he could feel the spirit's discontent simmering under his skull.

'And you should see what they did to the kitchen. And the bedroom. And the hallway,' Isabela said with awe in her voice, 'I have to confess they put me to shame.'

Anders grumbled something under his breath that sounded like "Spare me the details."

'I must give it to the elf,' Varric smirked cheerfully, 'he has some outstanding stamina.'

'As if you didn't know that all along, you blasted dwarf,' Aveline sneered with an angry scowl at the gathered coin in front of Varric.

'You could have known too,' Varric countered with a shining beam, 'if you had paid more attention during battle. Let this be a lesson to you all: someone who is able to wield a heavy claymore with an ease like it's a mere walking stick and manages to keep fighting with the bloody thing for an impossible long time, such person won't have any trouble at all with a love-making marathon.'

Sebastian rubbed his already flustered face, reddening it some more. 'I can't believe I let myself talk into this,' he muttered ruefully, 'it's most shameful.'

'Oh you bloody hypocrite!' Isabela flew exasperated at him, 'you've had your fair share of wining and dining, and let's especially not forget all the whoring you did; don't play holier than the Divine!' Agitated she fingered the colourful scarf she wore instead of her usual choker; in real she looked even more flushed than the Chantry brother.

'I won't deny I lived the wild life once but at least my friends didn't place bets on my antics,' the former prince responded irritably.

It had been an odd couple of days during which they had assembled in Varric's suite in the Hanged Man every afternoon with increasing excitement and growing wonder. Of course it hadn't escape their attention Hawke and Fenris had been absent since the moment they both had run off after that unexpected but greatly memorable kiss. After two days of wild speculations Isabela had gone on an investigation expedition and the lively glowing story with which she had returned had Varric given the idea of a wager contest. The rest of them all had been willing to participate, though it must be said some with more eagerness than others. What had started as some sort of joke had rapidly become serious business with high stakes. By now the most of them were, depending on the person, astounded or aghast but definitely nearly broke and more determined than ever to find out how much longer the two lovebirds would keep it up. And all bar one fervently were hoping they could win back some of their precious coin.

Defiantly Isabela stuck out her chin at Sebastian. 'I can't remember us having any trouble with persuading you to partake in our little game,' she bit viciously at the Chantry brother. Varric frowned pensively and mused the pirate queen was in an uncharacteristically but nevertheless particularly foul mood this day and wondered about the reason why. Jealousy? It seemed highly unlikely but whatever the case there was absolutely something wrong.

'Yes I know and I admit I was curious at the start but now I regret it.' Gloomily Sebastian stared in his ale. No penance in the world would absolve him from this sin. He shuddered up forehand at what the Grand Cleric would have to say about his despicable behaviour after he was done with his weekly confession.

'You're not the only one,' Aveline muttered, unaware of the Chantry brother's thoughts but still remorsefully glaring at the amount of lost money, now owned by the dwarf.

´I think it´s disgusting,´ Anders grumbled. He had been feeling more wretched by the day over the past week. At first he had been convinced Hawke was acting on some kind of whim, perhaps the searing heat on the Wounded Coast had caused her a sunstroke, and would come to her senses soon enough but now he wasn't so sure anymore. It seemed more than likely she had truly lost her heart to that blighted elf and the Tevinter dog on his turn had fallen for her.

´I think they make a cute couple,´ Merrill waylaid him. It had taken a while before she had grasped the meaning of the whole betting enterprise but when she had found out she finally had a share in something dirty, be it remotely, her enthusiasm knew no limits. And she couldn´t help thinking Fenris wasn´t half as broody and grumpy when Hawke was around; his eyes lighted up and his expression softened every time he saw her. It was worth a few coins.

´It´s disgusting,´ Anders persisted sullenly.

´You only say that because you envy Fenris,' the pirate queen snorted heatedly. She made a face and downed her glass of rum in one go. 'Can't say I blame you, really. But then again, I envy her too.'

Varric's frown grew deeper. Petty jealousy after all? It wasn't like the pirate queen but he couldn't come up with another explanation. 'Want to place a bet on the chances of a threesome?' he suggested with a wicked grin. Not a second later he but just could dodge the glass Isabela threw at his head. It shattered against the wall behind him, inches above the fireplace. The last drops of rum splattered into the flames and made them crackle; it may be summer and still stifling hot, Varric kept always a fire burning in his hearth. It was a dwarven thing. 'Hey!' he protested, 'that's my wall and my glassware you're molesting!'

'And they say I have a dirty mind!' Isabela growled, paying no heed to the dwarf's objection.

They abruptly got interrupted in their discussions when the door was kicked open and Hawke strode in like a warship flying full colours. She didn't greet anyone but went straight for Isabela. She slammed a piece of gold on the table in front of the pirate queen. 'Lost something?'

Isabela blanched. Involuntarily her hand shot to her throat where her choker was replaced with the scarf. It didn't escape Hawke. She wasn't surprised, it just kindled her fury. 'That's what I figured. Next time when you go spying be certain your jewellery stays intact.' Her look fell upon the heap of coins before Varric and again she wasn't surprised; it only confirmed her suspicion. She glared around the circle of startled comrades and made sure she caught their eyes one by one while she said in a dark voice, 'Thanks to your sick curiosity and your nauseating urge to gamble Fenris has left me.' She was met with hardly suppressed cries of dread. Even Anders had the decency to look appalled. He might hate the whole situation but didn't foster the illusion Hawke would suddenly change her mind and run to him. Frankly he was utterly shocked by her pained expression. In the meantime Hawke went remorselessly on, 'Thanks to you he panicked completely and has fled my arms and the city altogether. I hope you're satisfied. I thought I had finally found happiness after all I've been through so you can imagine I'm immensely grateful for your never-ending support. You're true friends. Do sleep well tonight.' With that she turned on her heels and swept out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her.

None of them dared to raise their voice until Isabela finally broke the heavy silence that had fallen. 'She's bluffing,' she said bluntly,' she must be.'

Varric felt suddenly very weary and rattled to the bone. Not only had he found out why the pirate had been so bad-tempered, but more important he had been on the recipient end of an extremely furious, infinite sad and above all penetrative if not deadly look. He leant back in his chair and massaged the back of his neck, trying to recuperate from the confrontation. 'I don't think she's bluffing, Rivaini. Have you heard her yell? Neither have I. And you know as well as I do she only speaks in that unsavoury scary tone when she's really pissed off. I'm afraid we screwed up big time.' He let out a deep sigh. 'Did you really have to be so incautious as to lose a part of your necklace?'

'They almost caught me red-handed!' Isabela wailed in distraught, 'I had to make a run for it through the backdoor! I only discovered the damage when I had managed to climb over the wall surrounding the garden and by then it was already too late.'

'But not before you had witnessed their last exciting actions,' Aveline scoffed derisively.

'Well, I had to keep score, didn't I. I just hoped they wouldn't find out.'

Sebastian had hidden his face in his hands. He could already feel the stern eyes of Elthina upon him. Not even a week of praying on his bare knees or a month of fasting would cleanse him from this particular transgression. 'Oh sweet Andraste, what have we done,' he moaned.

'Created a disaster,' Varric said grimly, 'and you,' he turned to Anders, 'wipe that grin off your face, Blondie, this is a serious matter.'

'What?' the healer spluttered indignantly, 'I'm not grinning. Do you call this a grin?!' He pointed at his face that at this moment radiated nothing but injured anger.

'Alright, don't get your knickers in a twist,' Varric mumbled, still taken aback by Hawke's appearance, 'I was just, eh, anticipating, is all.'

Before Anders could start an offended retort Isabela jumped up. 'You lot can keep sitting here like stunned ducks but I'm going to check on Hawke's story,' she said determinedly, 'I'm convinced she's lying. Or at least exaggerating. I want to bet Fenris is somewhere skulking in that depressing mansion of his.'

'I'll come with you,' Aveline said. She was developing a feeling of guilt big enough to camp in and desperately wanted to do something to shake off that dismal sentiment.

'I'd rather you didn't,' the pirate queen reacted prickly, 'I work faster alone and with a lot more stealth; they hear you coming from a mile away with all that ridiculous masculine steel clanking around you. I don't feel like being harassed by curious neighbours and I certainly don't want to announce my arrival to Fenris. I cannot wait to yank him by his elegant pointy ears out of his hiding spot.' With that she darted out of the room.

'Suit yourself!' Aveline yelled after her. Her mood hadn't improved by Isabela's attitude, pretty much the opposite, but she'd rather drop dead than let herself down; stubbornly she pressed her lips. 'While the wench scurries around Hightown we better try something substantial, like finding a solution to fix this mess.'

'Unless you know a way to turn back time I'm afraid there's not much we can do,' Varric muttered. He didn't even make an effort to enliven the situation; he felt guilty, a fairly unfamiliar and very unwelcome sensation. 'We can only hope Rivaini is right and Hawke made the whole thing up or was overreacting.'

'I'm confused,' Merrill timidly piped up, 'are we still betting? On what? And can anybody explain why Fenris would leave Hawke? I don't get it.'

'A good question Daisy, but keep in mind we started with the assumption there would be many days of brooding, moping and fretting and surprisingly something entirely different happened. Something nobody could foresee. So it could well be now the situation has turned around once more and has tilted to the upset side. I gather Fenris isn't fond of surprises.'

Merrill pondered the answer but wasn't satisfied. 'That doesn't explain why he ran away.'

'Well, you know Fenris,' Anders said with dark cynicism.

'No I don't,' Merrill replied, 'not really. And neither do you. I think nobody does.' She cocked her head and her look became contemplatively. 'Poor Isabela. Is she getting the blame now?'

Aveline stared at the small elf with mild bewilderment. Blood mage or not, she had to admit she harboured a soft spot for her but for all the love in the world and even after the years she'd known her she ever so often still wasn't able to follow her rambling train of thoughts. 'I'd like to,' she said, 'but no. I deem that would be unfair.' She pinched the bridge of her nose and blew out some air. 'For the record, Merrill, all bets are off and Varric, I'm convinced you have a bottle of Orlesian cognac somewhere lying about. Right now I would kill for a decent glass of strong liquor.'

A few hours later Isabela came shuffling back in with an expression as amiable as an annoyed thundercloud out for blitzkrieg. She slumped heavily down in a chair and took a swig from the bottle of cognac sitting on the table. She looked viciously around the table. 'Yes, I was wrong, all right? Hawke wasn't telling rubbish,' she bit, 'Fenris has disappeared and he has taken his stuff with him. I couldn't find a trace of him in the mansion and believe me I've search the place thoroughly. It looks like he hasn't lived there at all; the evidence of his existence has simply been wiped away.' She took another swig before continuing. 'And it gets even worse: I made enquiries around the docks and had a nice little chat with the harbour master. He states Fenris stowed aboard a ship bound for Ostwick. And before you say something clever, the ship has already sailed.'

Varric almost knocked over his tankard with ale in shock. 'Ostwick?! Are you sure it was him?'

'The harbour master was. And let's face it, there's no mistaking Fenris. Even if he were hooded and cloaked he would stand out in a crowd.'

'Why would he go to Ostwick of all places?' Aveline wondered bemused.

The dwarf shrugged. 'Probably because it was the first ship available.' He thumped the table with energetic force. 'We have to go after him and drag him back.' He started to detest this unfamiliar feeling of guilt and like Aveline he wanted to undertake something to drown it. Preferably right at this very moment.

'Have you gone completely out of your mind?!' Aveline blurted out, 'going to Ostwick and getting back here will take at least a fortnight! I cannot spare that amount of time!'

'What? Afraid the city will crumble and fall apart in your absence?' Isabela said with abrasive sarcasm, 'do you think you're that important?'

The Guard Captain glared daggers at her. 'Well, at least when you are out of Kirkwall, the crime rate will drop significantly,' she parried.

'There you go then, no reason to stay behind. Consider it some kind of holiday; I promise the sea air will do you good. And who knows your usual crankiness will even evaporate in the heartening salty winds.' She wouldn't admit it under torture but she also was suffering from guilt. It got her off balance.

'Shut up whore,' Aveline answered out of habit but her heart wasn't in it.

'I'll come with you,' Merrill said silently.

'And I as well,' Sebastian hastened to add. He hated the sea; he got seasick even by thinking about rolling waves and thus he considered a voyage a proper punishment to start with. (For one reason or another religion always brings up a kind of masochistic behaviour in people.)

'I have a clinic to run,' Anders objected, 'there're people depending on me, I can't just ...' his voice trailed off when he got aware of the icy looks the others threw at him.

'You carry as much responsibility for this debacle as the rest of us,' Isabela said tetchily, 'so it's not more than fair you share our predicament and accompany us to Ostwick.' Aveline was surprised the woman knew the word "responsibility", let alone she'd worked out what it meant.

'That's easy for you to say,' Anders sniped, 'you're a pirate; you like ships and such, I don't.' Unlike Sebastian he didn't suffer from seasickness but after the Deep Roads he didn't bear any fondness at all for cramped spaces. And besides that, the idea of getting Fenris back didn't hold much of an appeal either.

'Here's a proposition,' Varric interfered, 'let's stop bickering and go to the docks to find out when we can catch the first ship sailing to Ostwick. Despite all the shouting I know we all want to help Hawke. I for one don't wish to see that look in her eyes ever again and I'm certain you're of the same opinion. And perhaps in the meantime we can figure out how to haul back a distressed but lethally strong elf while keeping all of our body parts intact.'

And so, about a week later, they huddled together in the gloomy taproom of an obscure dive in the harbour district of Ostwick. Sebastian's face still held a somewhat greenish tint after his ordeal on the wild billows and he quietly nursed a glass of water, trying to keep his revolting stomach in check. The mood in general was dejected; they had spent the whole day looking for clues and information about Fenris but had found nothing. No-one in the city had seen the elf or even caught a glimpse of him let alone they would know anything about his whereabouts.

'I'm beginning to suspect he hasn't been here at all,' Aveline said morosely

'I'm inclined to share your opinion,' Varric mumbled, 'it seems he indeed hasn't disembarked in Ostwick, otherwise someone certainly would have remembered. Like pointed out before, he's very hard to overlook.' He felt defeated; he had pictured this day entirely different. He hadn't been as foolish as to think it would be easy, but this result of nothing at all was the equivalent of dying for a drink and finding out that your friends had emptied all of your bottles. Even the one that contained that sticky sugary sort of sickly alcohol that made you almost vomit just by looking at it but by now would have been more than welcome to quench your misery.

'He could have travelled on to Hercinia,' Isabela suggested, 'or even went as far as Wycome.' Secretly she was hoping for more time being spent on the sea; even though she hadn't had the opportunity to act like a captain the voyage had done her good. She had missed what she had become to regard as her natural habitat.

'Of course, the farther the better! Why wouldn't he just be heading back to the Tevinter Imperium while we're at it!' Aveline sneered. She'd been on edge for over a week now and it didn't help their efforts seemed to have been for naught. Besides that this very moment they were surrounded by the grubby clientele of this highly suspicious waterhole and she didn't appreciate the way the culprits were ogling them. Her fingers itched to start a bar brawl under the cloak of restoring order but she knew all too well she didn't carry any authority whatsoever in this place. And it would definitively look very bad if the Guard Captain of Kirkwall would be arrested for disturbing the peace. She could already imagine Seneschal Bran's evil delighted expression and she didn't want to grant him the pleasure of that undeserved gloating.

'Whatever the case, finding the elf won't be as simple as we imagined,' Varric sighed, 'this was just a waste of bloody time. I admit we could have planned it better.'

'O really?' Aveline groused, 'and here I was, thinking that storming off on a whim was always the best idea.' A small group of curious locals sitting at the table next to them shrank nervously back under her murderous glare.

'I say we return home,' Anders proposed, 'I see no benefit in continuing this journey. Perhaps Hawke knows more. We never asked her.'

'I highly doubt that,' Varric said, 'she would have taken measurements if she did. Like hammering the elf to his own bed to prevent he would storm off.'

'You don't really think Fenris has gone to Tevinter?' Merrill squeaked anxiously, 'it's far too dangerous for him over there!'

'No, he wouldn't be that stupid, Daisy, unless he wants to commit suicide in a very original but elaborate way.' Varric screwed his eyes shut and groaned loudly. 'Okay, I think Blondie is right and we should head back to Kirkwall. We better go find a decent ship.'

A week later they were back were they had started, none the wiser but for the valuable lesson that careful scheming would save a lot of time and probably a load of money. In his haste to reach the quay Sebastian stumbled on the gangplank and would have fallen into the water if it hadn't been for Aveline's quick reaction. The Guard Captain was as gallant as to assist him to further safety. He was so grateful he felt solid ground under his feet again he could have kissed her.

Varric invited the whole bunch to a drink in the Hanged Man but except for Isabela no-one was in the mood. Instead they agreed to meet the following day to discuss the next step to be taken after this downright flop.

Near to exhaustion and about to be overwhelmed by the mother of all terrible tempers Varric opened the door to his suite and at the same moment so abruptly stopped dead on his own threshold Isabela bumped into him. In an instant his eyes widened to the size of saucers. He was met with a sugary grin and a cheeky lopsided smile sitting next to each other in merry harmony and sharing a bottle of wine.

'Had a nice trip?' Hawke inquired sweetly, her words dripping with honey, 'I hear Ostwick is lovely this time of year.'

I apologise to everyone who expected more of Hawke and Fenris in this chapter but on the other hand I hope I have with that last sentence reassured the ones who feared Fenris had left Hawke as yet. Well, obviously he didn't. No, he didn't at all. Next time I'll explain why and how ...

Thanks for reading!