Our Ghosts Are The Same
Dragon Age 2
Chapter 21: Something Old
A/N:Love getting feedback from you all. Nice to know that Hawke is well liked. When I write her I just mutter to myself, "This character's a fucking mess". Glad that it's appreciated.
BTW, shout out to Mike3207 , Musicalrain , Candle in the Night , JordanMathias,Urazz. I look forward to your reviews every chapter!
And so you can know how long this will drag on for, this story will end after 25 chapters. It's all planned out. Mostly. I'll make it work. And thanks to the guy that pointed out it was Highever Castle, not Cousland Castle. I don't know why I thought that was right. But in my defense I usually write this at one in the morning. And mille libri pointed out a few DA-related words I was spelling incorrectly and all I can say is why did nobody tell me. If you didn't tell me because you didn't want me to feel embarrassed that is exactly what would have happened. I'll go back and fix any mistakes when I can. Thanks!
There's a lot of back and forth between POV this chapter.
Had they all not been wearing Grey Warden attire, Hawke had no idea how she would have gotten them into Highever. As it was, they were welcomed inside the castle grounds quickly and enthusiastically. They had barely finished getting their horses taken care of when a man stumbled wildly inside the stables. He was without a coat or any other cold weather gear and three of the Cousland's guardsmen were chasing after him, each waving around a hat or scarf as they ran.
"May I help you?" Hawke asked, bewildered and unable to keep her voice from cracking as it rose.
The man glanced about wildly before he found the source of the question. "Is Aedan among you?"
Hawke leaned into her brother and muttered in confidence, "Who the hell is Aedan?"
"The Warden-Commander."
"I knew that." To the man Hawke responded, "Cousland's on his way. Just a few days behind." Lying came too easily to her now. "He sent us ahead to..." Shit. "Aid in any preparations needed." Carver kicked her; she knew the last thing her brother wanted to do was help plan a wedding.
"Ah." He looked let down and Hawke didn't know what to do for him. The guards had caught up to the man and threw a cloak around him.
One of the guardsmen huffed, out of breath, "Teryn Cousland, it's too dangerous to be outside in this weather without-"
"I am aware." It was an exasperated statement. Fergus Cousland wrapped the cloak tighter around him and left without another word.
An impressed shout from behind him stopped him cold, "This is coming from someone who's spent a lot of time recently with your baby brother...so you're the pretty one?"
She had single handedly, with that inane comment, earned them a sit down with the Teryn of Highever. The rather nervous and panicking Teryn of Highever.
"My brother, he does know that it's not him getting married?"
Hawke gave him a shrug in return, which she was almost certain was not the proper protocol when responding to the requests of a Teryn. "Your invitation made that very unclear. But he is coming, regardless of which one of you two are walking down the aisle."
"Are you sure? Then I can guess why he's delaying." Fergus had been pacing, back and forth and it was starting to strain Hawke's neck in her efforts to keep up. "I can only think of one reason why he would send the Champion of Kirkwall, a renown mage to our family home."
"How do you know that? And renown mage? Have you seen my healing spells? They actually make Anders cry."
"Is this the same Anders that...? Nevermind, to answer the first part, my bride-to-be and I recently attended an affair with Lord Cyril and his father and that is how I recognized you. He described you quite vividly."
"Ew."
"But am I correct? Aedan sent you here to deal with-"
"Whatever hocus pocus nonsense is taking place here. My brother and I hunt ghosts. It's sort of like a family business."
Fergus looked skeptic. "I've had mages who have studied extensively at the Circle come here and investigate. Unless Aedan is here to-to trigger it, whatever demon is at play here stays silent. Can you do different then them?"
"It will definitely be different," Carver muttered snidely.
She kicked him discreetly. "I'm always up to try new things."
"You said you've done this before."
Her smile faltered. "I talk too much. Don't listen to me. Just...let me do my thing."
Fergus looked less confident by the minute. Carver dragged her out before the Teryn lost all faith in their abilities.
Ah. It was just like old times.
The rest of the wedding guests had yet to arrive which gave Hawke free reign of the castle. She roamed the halls, searching for any place where the Veil was thinner than it should be.
She knew what had happened here, everyone knew what had happened. The Howe family had betrayed years of friendship with the Couslands in a single night of nondiscriminatory slaughter. Only Aedan and another warden that was now long dead had escaped that night. So much blood shed could attract demons, Hawke supposed. Actually, it was odd that there weren't any obvious signs of spirits or such.
Her fruitless search brought her into a series of private chambers. Snooping around would get her in trouble, normally, however, today she had the perfect excuse. Ooh, sorry, ser, for going through your underclothes drawer, but I was searching for demons.
"What are you doing?"
Hawke whirled around and despite her former talk, looked sheepish. She was faced with two women, one human and one an elf.
"I was, uh, looking for your underclothes-no, demons. Demons. Hold on, belay that. I've mucked that up. Let me try that again. I'm Marian. Currently a mage under the hire of the Grey Wardens. And I'm not going through your underclothes drawer."
The human looked vaguely disgusted while her maiden spoke for her. "This is Lady Anora, former queen of Ferelden and future teryna of Highever."
Maker, Aedan hoped Hawke would end this soon. And, perhaps even more so, he hoped that it was Fergus marrying Anora. Nothing against the woman, she was a skilled politician and ruthless when it came down to it. Begrudgingly, Aedan had to admit, she was rather like himself in many aspects and that may have been precisely why he disliked her.
And, honestly, that not so friendly trip down to Fort Drakon's dungeons she had caused him did not help the status of their frigid relationship.
She had to have hated him, too, after he had promised her a throne and then taken it away from her.
Turning to her and adding, "Now we're both liars," must not have helped, either.
This is why all of your friends are glorified serial killers or worse...no one else can put up with you.
This little break was giving him too much time to think. Shortly after Hawke and her borrowed crew had left, he had passed out. Only to wake up much later in some minor knight's home east of Highever. The lady of the house had sentenced him to bed rest, leaving him nothing to do except an old chessboard with a few makeshift pieces.
Eventually, out of options, Aedan forced Ohgren to play a game with him and was shocked beyond belief when the damn dwarf won.
"Ohgren, do you even know what game we're playing?"
"I have no idea what's going. Why are we playing with tiny dolls? Is this a surface thing? Playing with dolls?"
Aedan stared, left eyebrow twitching, before he slowly and deliberately tipped the chessboard over.
Hawke, you'd better be having more luck than I am.
Carver was in the kitchens, having a quick lunch he begged from the cooks, when his sister plopped down next to him and stole some of the sweetbread he had been given. "Heard you were sweet talking the chef, brother," his sister teased, winking at the servants eavesdropping.
"You heard wrong." He went back to his meal, irked at her presence until he noticed something odd; she had stopped eating.
"Why is that door boarded up?"
Carver knew she wasn't directing that question at him. That wouldn't make any sense; this was his first day here. He followed her gaze, regardless, and found the cellar door(he assumed it was a cellar at least; it had all the makings of one) she was indicating.
She continued, "I don't like that door."
He looked carefully at her. "You're being strange."
"Too mage-y?"
"No, just strange."
After a few minutes of contemplative silence, she returned to eating and chewed thoughtfully. "I met the former queen just now."
He knew better than to question the things that happened to his sister and yet he still did. "How?"
"She accused me of stealing her smalls."
"Right. Forget I asked."
"Already have."
Fergus wasn't surprised that all of her efforts had turned up nothing new and Hawke didn't bother to mention the strange feeling their kitchen cellar had given her. The feeling hadn't been a strong one, might have been just a cold draft for all she knew. So she reported nothing, only that she would try again in the morning.
The teryn personally showed her to her new quarters. She was shocked and slightly turned off by how ornately decorated it was. As one of the servants unpacked her things, Fergus explained the room choice to her. "I gave you my brother's old room. I thought it might...help."
"I know your brother. This isn't his room."
"We've made a few changes," Fergus admitted.
"There is a giant portrait of a man in here. It's eyes are following me."
"That's my brother."
"No."
"He's changed since then."
"He had so much hair."
Preoccupied elsewhere, Fergus wasn't in the mood for idle chatter. He left quickly, wishing her better luck in the morning. She felt like she had let him down somehow, and she had, but she wasn't certain how to contact whatever spirit was after the Warden. Normally when a spirit was within a ten mile radius of her it soon sought her out and tried to murder her. Hawke didn't know what to do with this silence, this disconnect.
She doubted much would change in the morning, but after she turned Aedan's portrait around so it faced the wall and she didn't have it staring her down, Hawke went to bed.
She awoke soon after.
Her bed was damp with sweat and it took her too long to realize she was shaking.
This room was suffocating, Hawke thought and left her too warm bed. Once she was out of the bed she continued on until she was out of the room. As a mage, sleep took her, willingly or not, to the fade. Normally such trips were uneventful, but not this night.
She had dreamt of Mother again, only this instance was worse. She never found Quentin in time. He and Mother were gone lone before she ever got to that damned underground lair. It was surprisingly worse than finding her mother a living corpse. Not finding her at all.
After some brief wandering Hawke eventually made her way to the kitchens and started rummaging through the pantry. It was a good hour before one of the servants heard her and tried to stop her. She was on her fourth pastry by then.
Ignoring the servants protests, Hawke continued eating and asked her, "So, how long have you been working here?"
The girl stuttered, glanced around for a bit, before answering slowly, "I was hired when the Teryn returned from Ostagar."
"You've been here a while then." Hawke picked up another cake, ignoring the girls increasingly louder protests, and ate it anyway. "Got any idea why the cellar has been nailed shut?"
"We don't talk about that."
Hawke's smile stretched so wide it nearly hurt. Finally she was getting somewhere. "That's what I like to hear."
His illness was passing and Cousland could only assume this was a good sign, though he normally knew better. Perhaps Hawke with her unorthodox knowledge of the fade had done what the Circle could not. Or, perhaps, had done what they would not.
Blood magic. If Hawke had used it he only hoped she hadn't stabbed anyone too important.
He called for the lady of the house. "Ma'am, we'll be leaving tomorrow when my fever breaks. Thank you for your hospitality and if you haven't received one already expect an invitation to stay at Highever."
She seemed concerned. "Are you sure your fever will break by then?"
"We're leaving on the morrow."
Hawke had no idea what inspired such loyalty in the Cousland's staff but she knew she needed to break it.
She had pulled out all the stops; money, promises, threats... She had even resorted to using her magic to convince the servant girl to tell her about the boarded up cellar. And that was what worked. Never underestimate country folk's superstitions. They believed anything.
"Tell me or I can make you." Could she? Probably. Would she? Probably not.
The girl didn't know that. She stammered quickly and angrily, "The teryn's brother ordered it the last time he visited."
Aedan ordered it? "When was that?"
"Years ago. Before he stopped visiting."
"Did he give a reason for the order?"
"No. He grew ill last time he was here and he said it in his sleep quite frequently until the Teryn ordered it to be so."
Neither Aedan or his brother had thought to mention it. It could have been a simple mistake, with a wedding on his mind Fergus's attention was obviously elsewhere.
Hawke made disgruntled, thinking sounds until, "May I go now, Lady?"
"Oh. Yes. Go on." Hawke waved her away before she yelled after her, "Ah! Tell no one we spoke!" The girl was definitely about to tell half the castle what had just happened. Hawke only hoped Fergus wouldn't be too angry with her.
She decided to leave the cellar alone for now. Most of the staff were starting to wake up and she wanted to work alone. Instead she'd try meditating. The fade wasn't her favorite place but she was out of ideas. The spirit didn't want to fight on this plane. She'd have to meet him halfway.
Carver had been up for hours when she asked him to watch over her as she slept. The castle's atmosphere was clashing with his sleeping patterns as well. Hawke woke up Sienna and inquired about her general feelings about Highever. After Hawke tuned out the swear words she got a halfway decent opinion. It, unfortunately, was the same as her own and therefore no help to her. Hawke made the mage meditate with her anyway.
Fifteen minutes in Hawke came to the realization that this was not for her. When sleeping had a purpose she found she simply couldn't make it happen.
"Hey." She tapped Sienna's foot, eyes still closed. "Hey, are you asleep yet?"
"She is." Hawke was met with her brother's disapproval when she snuck a peek. "Why aren't you?"
"You wanna sing me a lullaby?"
"I'm up for a promotion soon. You had better not change that."
She cracked her neck and shook her arms out in preparation. "Don't worry about it. Creepy fade dreams here I come."
"I can't believe she left Rebel behind," Merrill muttered again, her pale hands tightly wound in the mabari's fur. The elf disliked the ocean nearly as much as Varric did. Only Isabela was having a good time on the small clipper they had hijacked.
The crew they had stolen along with the ship was probably having the worst time of the bunch. "Ser dwarf," the most outspoken of the men asked, "Are we going to get paid when we get you to Ferelden?"
The rest of Varric's companions suddenly grew very quiet. Varric muttered as they avoided his glares, "Being friends with all of you is getting to be very expensive."
She was being shaken awake by her brother. Hawke squeezed her eyes shut, though she was now very much awake, and tried to pull away. "Don't look at me!" It came out more like a shriek than a demand, as she had hoped.
Bethany.
What was this spirit after? First Mother and now her fallen sister? If the being wanted to make some sort of deal, as most demons did, it was going about it entirely the wrong way.
She could hear Carver calling out to her amidst the roaring in her ears. No, she couldn't look at Bethany's twin. Not just yet, with the image of an ogre still fresh in her mind. "I need a minute."
"She hasn't woken up yet." Carver left his sister and moved over to Sienna. "Why are you awake and she-"
Sienna startled them both by suddenly drawing in a sharp breath and then repeating. Her arms flailed and she succeeded in smacking the Hawke siblings both at once.
"She's hyperventilating!"
Hawke stared at her brother. What did he want her to do? She was no healer. "I don't... I could slap her in the face a few times... I'm really not equipped to handle this."
Sometimes Carver looked at her like he should have been the eldest. "Well, don't hit her."
Sienna settled down on her own mostly, though her breath still wasn't regular. "What the fuck was that?"
Hawke nodded. "I agree."
"I mean," Sienna clarified while wiping sweat and drool off her face, "I've never encountered a demon like that before. I've never even read about whatever the fuck that was."
"You did a lot of reading back in the Circle, did you?"
Sienna stared at Hawke and exclaimed, "Why are you taking this so lightly? This is unprecedented! A demon of this kind has never been recorded-"
"Look," Hawke explained gently, "I never have any idea what's going on in the fade so I never panic. It's a working system." Suddenly curious, she asked, "What happened to you back there?"
Uncharacteristically quiet, Sienna answered, "I used to mouth off to my superiors-"
"Used to?" Carver finally found something to add to their fade-filled conversation.
"-and once it got someone else in trouble. I had to watch it again."
The Hawke siblings exchanged glances. It wasn't a very helpful glance. "Sister, what did you see?"
Your deceased twin. It was with a practiced grin that Hawke said, "Nothing at all."
"My brother will be here very soon."
Hawke watched Fergus pace before she had to look away. He was making her tired. "Cousland, wait, Aedan gave me three days. I have two more days left."
"He'll be here tomorrow. I know my brother. It's killing him to let someone else do his dirty work." Fergus sat down heavily. He and the Champion were alone in the main banquet hall. Alone with very gaudy, and possibly of Orlesian origin, wedding decorations. "You haven't learned anything new?"
"New? Oh, yes, but useful? Not very and I'm not feeling up to talking about it so can we switch topics?"
"Lady Anora mentioned that the two of you met."
"So back to this fade nonsense."
"Can this blasted ship go any faster?" Fenris had never been particularly known in his new circle of friends for his patience. He had had too much of the virtue when he had been enslaved by Danarius. Now? It was mostly nonexistent.
Isabela leaned her back on the ship's railing and shrugged. "Without making a deal with the local demons...no, she can't go any faster."
"I'm not surprised to see your good humor hasn't been effected."
"Grouching about it will certainly find our girl faster, no doubt." Isabela decided to stop teasing him, though his complaining had taken a special toll on her today. "Look, Lanky. Until we reach land there's nothing you can do to make us find Hawke any faster. Once we hit the shore, though," Isabela added with a wink, "you'll be our best shot at tracking her down."
"She's right, Broody," Varric chimed in. "Hawke's desperate. We know she traveled with the Warden, but we don't know where they parted ways."
Merrill asked from over Varric's shoulder, "Could they still be together?"
"Doubt it. By this time Hawke would have made one too many puns and pissed Cousland off." Varric had it all thought out. "And she knows she'll be harder to find alone, rather than marching around with a mess of Grey Wardens."
Fenris agreed with that. "But when has she ever done anything with logic or reason?"
"With templars after her, I think she may surprise us," Varric warned.
She didn't.
Days later when their crew reached Amaranthine's shore they discovered that a woman of the Champion's description was last seen marching around with a mess of Grey Wardens, presumably to Vigil's Keep.
Only Varric was still optimistic. "Well, now we know where to start."
A/N: I am so sorry for the Supernatural reference. Also I've based the portrait of Aedan off the concept art of the human warrior in Origins. The concept art depicts a long haired, well groomed, snobby looking noble and it clashes so incredibly with my idea of Aedan that I had to poke a little fun. At Aedan. It's literally my favorite thing to do.