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Varric hung back while Hawke and Sunshine embraced, both of them crying. Hawke had needed this for a long time, this reconnection with her sister. He hated that it came at the hands of people who had mistreated Sunshine, but she seemed none the worse for wear.
The young mage Alain stood next to him, wringing his hands. Literally. Varric didn't think he'd ever seen anyone actually do that before. "I tried to stay away from her, you know," Alain said. "Grace. After Decimus. But the Circle here is worse than ever Starkhaven was. It began to seem like hers was the only way out."
He'd heard about enough of these kinds of excuses from mages. The Circle was bad, he got that. But Thrask had offered solidarity, a chance to find a way to work together, and here was this boy still trying to defend blood magic and turning to abominations.
Fenris snorted loudly at Alain's words, and Varric let that reaction suffice for both of them.
"What happened?" Bethany was asking dazedly as she clung to Hawke. "The last thing I remember is these Templars coming into my quarters."
"Those bastards won't be bothering you anymore," Hawke said. Holding her sister, feeling the way Bethany trembled in her arms, she wanted to kill the whole assemblage all over again. Only the fact that her team had the surrendered mages and Templars under control kept her from wholesale slaughter.
Bethany looked around, gasping in shock and horror. "What have you done?"
Hawke stepped back from her sister. "What have I done? Saved your life. That's what I did. Again."
"But these are—" Bethany knelt in the sand next to Thrask. "He was a good man."
"He was," Varric said. "But he trusted the wrong people. Grace killed Thrask, not Hawke. And all these dead people you see? Attacked Hawke when she came here to save you. If they'd asked, she would have worked with them. But they didn't ask."
"They chose violence," Fenris added. "And Hawke is very good at violence."
"Aw, thanks," Hawke said.
Bethany got to her feet, putting a hand on her sister's arm. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. It's only that—I had no idea what was happening, and then to come out of that, to this … it was startling."
"I can see that." Hawke bent a little, but Varric could see that her sister's instant mistrust had hurt her. He wondered if Sunshine could see that, too.
The conversation between the two sisters was interrupted by the jangle of armor. Varric looked around to see Samson arriving with the Knight-Captain. "They're meeting here, Ser Cullen," he was saying, but he stopped short when he saw Hawke, and sneered at her. "I see you didn't get along with these mages as well as you thought."
"Some of them took some convincing," Hawke replied coolly.
"Champion. Samson never said you were involved in this," Cullen said, shaking his head with disappointment. "I trust you were here to stop these traitors, not join them."
"I killed Grace before she could take her blood magic and her demons to Kirkwall. You're welcome." Hawke bent down and ripped the sash off a dead Templar at her feet, ostentatiously using it to wipe blood off her sword. "And I believe my work here is done."
"The Champion is a fine lady, ser," Alain spoke up. "She wanted to resolve this peacefully."
Cullen gave a sharp nod to indicate he had heard, then ordered the men behind him to gather the remaining mages and Templars and put them to questioning.
Alain's wide eyes pleaded for Hawke to intervene for him.
She sighed. One last thing she would do for him, and then he was on his own. "The boy stood up to his elders when they would have murdered an innocent hostage."
"You mean he was one of them, save for a convenient last-minute change of heart." Cullen looked at the boy. "Very well. I'll encourage Meredith to take it easy on him."
Hawke wondered what that promise was worth. Did Meredith listen to her second-in-command? Was she capable of 'taking it easy' on anyone?
Alain looked gratefully at her as he was led away. "Thank you, Champion."
"Are there any other recommendations you would have me bring to Meredith, Champion?"
Cullen's tone was dripping in sarcasm, but Hawke decided to take him seriously anyway. "She should consider reinstating Samson. When it came down to it, he showed where his heart is."
"True." Cullen turned to his former fellow Templar. "Samson, you have done us a great service. Do you wish to take up the shield once more?"
"More than anything, Knight-Captain, ser!" There was no mistaking the sincerity in his tone.
"I'll see what I can do." Cullen signaled to the rest of the Templars to move out.
Samson remained behind long enough to thank Hawke, then followed his colleagues.
"Come, Mistress Bethany." Cullen held out a hand to her.
"She stays with me." Hawke's voice was sharp.
"She is a mage of the Circle."
Hawke shifted her grip on her sword. "Who was attacked in her quarters by your own Templars, and bound by blood magic, on your watch, Knight-Captain. She comes with me until she is fully healed."
The two of them stood looking at one another. Varric readied Bianca, and around them he could see the others also shifrting their stances, preparing for a fight. Even Aveline.
Cullen sensed where the wind was blowing, and he sighed heavily. "Very well, Champion. For now. But if I go looking for her in your mansion, I expect to find her there."
Hawke nodded, although Varric noticed she didn't say anything that would bind her to any particular promise. Then she put her arm around her sister, and led Sunshine away.
The rest of Hawke's team followed, slowly, passing by Cullen as he stood there on the sand in the midst of the ruin of Thrask's attempt to bring peace. Varric wondered what would happen there, but he couldn't muster up the energy to truly care. Mages and Templars … surely at some point, they could solve their own problems.