A/N:
A bit of a transition chapter. Enjoy!
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Carver blinked at the figure between him and a qunari dreadnought. In the span of time it took for Carver to grab his tin of cookies from the Hawke estate, update Leandra and the Amells of recent events, and return to the docks, Garrett had fitted a black crown to his head, smudged his fingers and cheek with ink, and gained a degree of wildness in his eyes. Bran Cavin and other staff from the viscount's office were racing around the docks with stacks of papers. Every other minute, an official in a similar state as Garrett would thrust documents into his face demanding for his opinion or signature.
The Champion of Kirkwall looked frazzled.
Carver raised a brow. "It has only been an hour or so."
Garrett spluttered. "I didn't ask to become a blighted viscount!"
Arishok stepped out of the dreadnought behind Garrett and crossed his arms. "I still require a summary of laws the Qunari must observe in order to retrieve our sunken dreadnought."
Bran exasperatedly yelled from the distance. "We're working on it!"
Garrett looked at Arishok. "I'm surprised the Qunari care."
"We are not invading," Arishok curtly stated.
Carver moved for the dreadnought. "Sounds like all of you need a break. I've brought cookies, Arishok."
Garrett cut him off. "Let's take a step back here, kadan."
Carver snorted at his curtness. "We're not romantically involved, Garrett." He chose to refrain from mentioning the time a certain Sten had sucked poison out of his neck. It would evoke misunderstandings.
"Oh, is that what it means!?" Garrett spluttered.
Arishok grunted. "It is also a term for 'friends.'"
Carver knew that Arishok disliked the inadequate Common translations of the qunlat term, but still. Not helping.
Thankfully, Garrett accepted Arishok at face value. "I didn't know your kind had a word for friend. No offence."
Arishok huffed at Carver. "This is your brother? I heard tales of the Hawke in Kirkwall. I am not impressed."
"Arishok said the same of the Grey Wardens," Carver quickly defended to Garrett. "Arishok, I'll meet you inside. What confuses you, Garrett?"
Arishok sent him a look before retreating back into the dreadnought, while Garrett slung an arm over Carver's shoulders and cornered him in a headlock.
"You summoned Seekers here," Garrett accused.
"…And a Right Hand of the Divine?" Carver weakly corrected.
"Why didn't you tell me anything?" Garrett remarked. "I could have helped you with the Circle and serial killers and––"
"The Qunari?" Carver raised his brows.
Garrett grumbled, lowering his voice. "The things you keep from Mother and Bethany. The things you keep from me. Are they protecting us?"
Carver quieted. "I know I can't fence the family from real trouble forever." He met Garrett's eyes squarely. "But there is trouble on the horizon, brother – the kind one can only mitigate, not prevent."
Garrett's eyes lit amber from sunlight bouncing off the waters. They seemed to pierce Carver's soul, turning his ribs out like cupboard doors to see what he was made of. Weighing Carver's heart in a spectral hand. Without meaning to, Carver held his breath.
"You learned of this," Garrett slowly asked, "in your time in the Chantry?"
Carver blinked rapidly, having never joined its ranks. "You mean as a child?"
"You were always so serious about sword-fighting," Garrett murmured. "You were…quiet for your age."
Carver chuckled nervously. "A sociopath."
Garrett didn't laugh. "Somehow, in our remote hometown, you deduced major events – and you still do, even now. Or should I credit a vision?"
Carver's heart leapt up his throat. "I can't tell if you're joking."
Garrett stared at him, before suddenly sighing and shaking his head. "It has been a long day – just one day! Yet so much has happened." He released Carver from his arm, noting Carver's satchel and bow. "You're not staying, are you."
"I sail for Denerim today."
Carver was only meant to ensure that Cassandra and Arishok would arrive at Kirkwall safely. He blinked when Garrett extended an arm, before clasping it.
"Don't spark chaos without me," Garrett ordered.
Carver's lips twitched. "How can I? You bring it with you."
The two brothers parted without looking back. After draining a pot of Par Vollen tea and decimating half a cookie tin with Arishok, Carver reluctantly also bade his friend farewell and headed for his ship leaving for Denerim. Carver sought to quietly, smoothly depart from Kirkwall without unnecessary attention, but he had one last task to fulfil. A detour to a cluster of Seekers on the docks earned him odd looks, especially when he asked for a Seeker Pharamond.
A grey-haired elven man with thick, bushy brows stepped away from the group to answer. Laugh lines and bulbous cheekbones highlighted a passive joy in the man that the Void itself wouldn't be able to rob him of.
"Seeker Pharamond," Carver greeted. "I have a request as a friend of Wynne's."
The elderly man lit up. "Ha! How is the old girl doing?"
"Flourishing in research, to my understanding," Carver replied. "There's no long way about this, so forgive my frankness, but I've located her son and sent her my findings. She hasn't written back, but…concerning his safety…."
"Is he an apostate?" Pharamond gently prodded.
Carver coughed. "He's a senior enchanter in the White Spire."
Pharamond blinked.
"Rhys is attracted to good spirits, not demons," Carver continued carefully. Pharamond didn't know Carver was aware of the finer details in Seeker training. "I trust your judgement with him. At the very least, should the Templars of the White Spire establish a curfew while investigating inexplicable, possibly supernatural events, I pray someone would help Rhys see reason in observing the curfew. Harmless curiosity can entrap anyone in such circumstances."
Pharamond pondered. "How did you know that Wynne's friend Pharamond was a Seeker?"
Carver dithered.
"What was your name again?" Pharamond pressed.
"Ser Carver."
They turned to see Cassandra walking towards them. Seekers and Templars saluted as she passed.
Cassandra stopped before them and raised a brow. "You two know each other?"
Carver sighed. "Leliana mentioned Seeker Pharamond before."
The elderly man noted the name. "Hm! An old friend of mine evidently has other friends of her own. I hear your request, Ser Carver."
Carver resisted slumping in relief. "Thank you, Seeker." Pharamond returned to his group, granting Carver and Cassandra space. Carver turned. "What did you need?"
Cassandra gestured, and they strolled towards Carver's ship. "I wished to express appreciation of your assistance in this matter. As they say, connections make the world turn."
Carver blinked at the saying. "Do you have friends from Antiva?"
"How can I?" Cassandra replied with a twinkle in her eye. "My jurisdiction only extends to nations that host Circles."
Carver's lips twitched. "Regardless, my usefulness ends here. I cannot speak for how Kirkwall's Circle will improve moving forward. If you would like insight, I recommend someone knowledgeable of Kirkwall's political landscape."
Cassandra hummed. "You remind me of her."
"Leliana?" Carver guessed.
"She said the same thing," Cassandra confirmed. "You were her recommendation."
"Leliana is too modest," Carver deflected.
"She said you'd say that."
"I unfortunately have my own matters to attend to."
"She also said you'd say that," Cassandra snorted, holding up an Orlesian steak knife. "In response, I am to show you this. I assume it's code, though I care not for the meaning. There is simply a mess to be cleaned. Are you with me, Ser Carver?"
A low blow. How else could Carver classify the reminder that he owed Leliana twice now, for retrieving Summer Sword for him when he needed it? Carver and Cassandra stopped before his ship, and he fixed his satchel.
"I don't have to be," Carver exhaled with amusement. "I have already prepared the resources you require to address Kirkwall's predicament. You may start with my sister, Bethany Hawke."
Cassandra's cheeks pinked, conscious of her brusque personality in the midst of a political situation. "Th-There is a manner in which I approach problems…!"
"I am aware of your manners, Seeker Cassandra. I am the one who recommended you for this mission." Carver inclined his head with a small smile, and moved for the gangway.
"Ser Carver!"
He glanced back, and Cassandra shifted in place. "…Do you serve the Chantry?"
Carver paused. "The Antivan Crows once functioned as a part of the Chantry. Now, they're just Antivan…and I am just Ferelden."
Nails grounded Carver to desk duty for three years.
Ah, but as a soldier, wouldn't Carver have to keep his skills honed? According to Nails, Carver could hone them in the training yard or in Denerim's streets. Unfortunately, the city limits were as far as Nails trusted him, and that was only due to the commander's confidence he could throw Carver that far. To Carver's credit, he had helped ship Rendon Howe to Denerim, where the courts had executed the former arl under witness of the Couslands and Nathaniel. The combat quality of Shielders shot up under Carver's guidance.
Whenever Carver chafed against his punishment, Nails would threaten to convince the Crown to grant Carver a title and all the responsibilities of a teyrn of Gwaren. Considering Carver kept his family relations to himself – and knew Maric's Shield would laugh at him if they ever learned of his viscount brother – the threat proved effective. Carver forced himself to be content with learning of world-shaking news from his desk and through his network.
One would think that Garrett sitting in the Viscount's Keep at a time of Seeker supervision and Qunari negotiations was a recipe for disaster. It seemed all of southern Thedas stirred at news of a mage ruler. Though Orlais discredited the depth of the scandal by highlighting that Kirkwall was merely one of several city-states in the Free Marches, the controversial figure that was Inquisitor Ameridan encouraged the University of Orlais to reflect. Orlais' founding emperor had counted an elven mage as one of his closest friends. Only the fact that Ameridan had been a faithful Andrastian made the facts palatable for Orlesian nobility; indeed, the baseless idea spread that magic outside of a Circle had been acceptable for the times from someone of nomadic Dalish origins. Viscount Hawke wasn't Dalish and didn't seem to share his friend Prince Vael's piety.
The facts didn't prevent a portion of the general public from praising Garrett as a viscount, especially in Kirkwall. Few others could claim having been able to single-handedly stop a Qunari invasion, however unsanctioned. Qunari were even peacefully cooperating with Garrett's office on removing a dreadnought from Kirkwall's waters and leaving to never speak of the matter again. In a way, having Garrett for a ruler felt more secure than the average noble — even if he sometimes ditched his seneschal to play with his dog, knock back drinks in the Hanged Man, or kill a high dragon nested in the Bone Pit.
Even Templars in Kirkwall respected Garrett for his contribution to public order, and unlike Meredith, the Seekers ignored Kirkwall's officials who were too happy to ignore them in return. No one could question Aveline's dedication to Kirkwall's safety, and Chantry figures weren't supposed to interfere in matters of the City Guard anyway.
Carver knew Cassandra already had enough on her plate on a covert mission with Pharamond from the Divine. While Seekers addressed the horrors secretly conducted in Kirkwall's Circle, Cassandra and Pharamond relocated its Tranquils to Therinfal Redoubt, where the mages were given the choice to endure the tough training to become a Seeker. To maintain secrecy regarding Tranquility's origins, the public excuse was that several Kirkwall Templars like Knight-Lieutenant Otto Alrik had been found to be abusing Tranquils and the Rite of Tranquility. Transferring the Tranquils to another Circle couldn't serve as an answer, hence their relocation to Therinfal Redoubt.
Indeed, Garrett performed passably well as a viscount, despite rumour of his inner circle either tearing their hair out in stress — Aveline — congratulating him from Starkhaven — Sebastian — or laughing at him — everyone else.
No, the true gremlin had to be Bethany.
Bethany who, within a year of becoming a first enchanter, decided to reveal the Fraternity of Illuminati.
Originally a rumoured secret society prominently in the Free Marches, the Illuminati presented a research-focused community that respected religious beliefs and opposed abuse of power, particularly acts that inhibited one's ability to share knowledge. Dalish composed an unexpected amount of the fraternity, from Clan Siona near the Brecilian Forest to Clan Sabrae in Sundermount.
The Dalish wouldn't have joined had the Frostback Basin expedition not created a flow of information about Avvar reaching into the Free Marches. In Avvar culture, augur apprentices willingly hosted spirits to guide their growth with kindness and patience, before releasing the spirits upon their maturity as an augur. Bethany had evidently learned of this and persuaded Clan Sabrae to tolerate Merrill's contact with Audacity, an ostensible pride demon. Bethany had also convinced Maretheri to research more about the Avvar's ways to ensure Merrill and the clan's safety.
Clan Sabrae had ended up becoming the first Dalish clan to join, inspiring other clans when word had spread. In effect, Avvar tribes like the Stonebears in Frostback Basin could loosely be considered members of the Illuminati. Carver groaned into his hands upon realising that not only Anders, but Merrill had been in the Illuminati when he had been in Kirkwall.
Now that they were revealed to the world, Bethany emphasised the Illuminati's peaceful community as proof that Fade-touched people could responsibly live and work together while coexisting with non-mages. The Illuminati also proved that its ideals crossed boundaries, allowing harmony between people of different beliefs.
Upon the Illuminati's publicization, Rhys in Orlais shifted from being a Libertarian to an Illuminatus. As a senior enchanter of the White Spire – the heart of a Chantry-ruled Circle – Rhys' decision solidified the Illuminati's status as a fraternity. When the College of Enchanters hosted a conclave in Cumberland to elect a new Grand Enchanter, Rhys and other enchanters followed Bethany to the influential port city in Nevarra, where they were allowed entry.
The Sun Dome in Cumberland became a melting pot. Aside from Rhys, Merrill drew attention as an attendee. No one could oppose her presence as a representative of Dalish Illuminati, and the College eventually agreed that a clan's Keeper was similar to a first enchanter. Given Marethari's greater interest in protecting and preserving her clan, Merrill as a former First and the more avid researcher stepped up.
On the Aequitarians' side, there were only two representatives of note. One was a grizzly, weary old man named Edmonde, the First Enchanter of the White Spire. He was the de facto leader of his fraternity due to him having the longest enchanter career; a feat in itself, given the large and outspoken fraternity. United by the common idea that mages should operate within the more reasonable tenets of Chantry law — and outside the rest, if ethically called to — it seemed everyone wanted a hand on the reins. The fact they could agree on Edmonde was a miracle.
Presiding over the fraternity added to Edmonde's years, leaving him with energy for little else. It was purportedly still awkward when he recognised one of his senior enchanters sitting across the dome with a young and controversial fraternity. Rhys barely noticed due to the other Aequitarian of note: First Enchanter Wynne of Kinloch Hold, having returned from Tevinter to address the meeting and certain familial matters. Carver understood that Wynne had left Shale with Feynriel in Tevinter.
The Libertarians occupied a fifth of the Sun Dome as they always did, eager to further an autonomous Circle. First Enchanter Fiona led the fraternity, championed by the members as a reliably neutral voice given her former Warden background. A senior enchanter of the White Spire named Jeannot assisted Fiona. In equal attendance were Loyalists, represented by Senior Enchanter Irving of Kinloch Hold and other such enchanters who didn't live by the book, but were the book. Both fraternities were still dwarfed in number by the Aequitarians. In comparison, the Fraternity of Isolationists sent one token representative. Carver was surprised they bothered sending anyone, as it was unlikely that the next Grand Enchanter would be Isolationist-friendly or -minded.
Finally, there were the Lucrosians, who sent their wealthiest and most politically influential members to – apparently – engage in passive-aggressive arguments with the Aequitarians over the number of ballot boxes in the Dome and the arrangement of voting cards. The position of Grand Enchanter held the highest authority in the world of Circle mages, serving as their representative to the Chantry and their chief adviser on all matters magical. The Lucrosians and Aequitarians' nitpicking mattered little, however, when Fiona ended up elected as the next Grand Enchanter.
Fiona's first act was to motion for a vote of secession from the Chantry.
The Sun Dome nearly burst into literal flames, before Wynne led the vote against it. However, due to the very act of voting about independence, the Chantry temporarily revoked all fraternities' rights to meet. While the action prevented another heated assembly in the Sun Dome, it also expressed the Chantry's willingness to dissolve the College of Enchanters, and with it mages' rights to self-expression.
The conclave's details frayed Carver's sanity, but he understood that the Illuminati ultimately left Cumberland the true winner. Bethany's fraternity was officially recognised by other fraternities, and thus the Chantry itself. She made use of changes in Kirkwall's Circle to be able to contact family members regardless of their last name, and reassure Carver that she was moving cautiously. Per Carver's request, Bethany had her fraternity scout a Clan Lavellan near Wycome, but the clan — like the people of Wycome — declined involvement in institutional politics, preferring their isolation.
Carver's focus in mage matters cost him details of Meredith's sword. Between departing from Kirkwall and crashing into the coasts of Brandel's Reach, the sword's box and its Seeker guards had vanished, likely taken by the storm that had violently thrown the ship off-course and hundreds of kilometres east from the intended port of Amaranthine. When Carver reached out to his Antivan contacts, he was firmly advised against poking into Brandel's Reach. As an island that raiders called home, no ship flying legal colours could dare sail close to its ports without risking attention from the sea of raider ships anchored there.
There was also a possibility that the Carta, driven by Bartrand's brief prosperity and not his loss of a guild seat, had organised a hijacking of the Seekers' ship in hopes of attaining the sword and the red lyrium idol attached to it. Alternatively, the Carta had sought to erase any chance of their rivals possibly acquiring the valuable artefact. Either way, the sword was lost to Carver. Infuriated, the Seekers pulled out of Kirkwall's Circle to investigate any whispers of red lyrium.
In the months after Carver's probation expired, he hunted Ferelden's coasts for information on the Carta, to no avail. Then Oren Cousland turned the legal age of eighteen to Amethyne Kendells' twenty-one, and Carver was invited to their wedding.
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A/N:
Viscount Garrett is funny, because he blew up the roof in his new office :D
For tracking purposes, Carver left Kirkwall in early 9:35.
