Author's Disclaimer: I don't own a thing belonging to "Dragon Age 2!" Nada thing.
Author's notes: This bit was half written with CharlieBarrow. The very sassy Isabela line at the beginning came from her also.
CharlieBarrow: thanks for the ideas for these chapters.
Tautiana: Thanks so much for your kind words. Go ahead and review more if you want, I like to see 'em. I hope you stay tuned with what's going on in this chapter. (You said Isabela was your favorite ^_^ She's my fave too, but I do have a soft spot for Merrill).
To all the guests, my thanks.
"Catching the Wind"
Chapter twenty-four "Happiness before the Storm"
Isabela was as round as the moon. Hawke rested her head on her hand as she turned on her side toward her naked mate. Life on the Stormy Lover had gone from days to weeks and months and Isabela was showing with the evidence of their loving. It soothed Hawke's heart and made her ache when she saw her mate taking careful waddling steps. Craven had stepped up, taking the crew in hand and wrote their shift schedules and oversaw the ship's supply purchases. He even supplied a good beating now and again if anyone came back from shore leave drunker than a skunk.
It was a good thing her sons picked up their courage and had been easily moved to their narrow cabin down the hall. Hawke had had time to reestablish her physical relationship with both her mates. But Craven and her sons were not at the forefront of her mind now.
Merrill on Isabela's other side. Her pale flesh moved against Isabela's darker tone. Hawke's eyes darted from her sleeping pregnant mate to her second mate, desire lighting in her eyes. Merrill leaned to give her a soft kiss, but touched Isabela instead, small hand moving soothingly over the child within her.
Isabela groaned in her sleep and Hawke kissed her cheek. Merrill gently rubbed the bulge of her belly, singing softly. The child quieted and stopped kicking, giving Isabela peaceful sleep once more.
"Is she kicking?" Hawke asked softly. Merrill nodding, eyes shining. Hawke reached to touch her cheek with two fingers when she saw tears in her gaze.
"He," Merrill guessed. "And he's quieting now. Poor Bela."
With her two mates naked in bed beside her, and one of them pregnant, Hawke's heart surged with love. "I love you, Merrill." Her alpha pride puffed out when Merrill blushed in the dim light, smiling at her.
She leaned to soothe Isabela's dark hair back from her face and pushed to press her lips to Hawke's. Hawke leaned back, and Isabela began to stir, her fingers fisting the shorter hairs at the base of her neck.
"Hmm," Hawke had time to say before she was drawn down for a long kiss. Blood thumped between her legs and Hawke groaned as she began to shift again, pushed on by her mate's pheromones. "Bela?"
Isabela nipped her lower lip and took her mouth in a longer kiss. Hawke pressed small kisses across her face when she was let go. "Hawke. I want mutton."
Hawke had to process what Isabela said and smirked as she sat up. Her abdominal muscles tensed as she stretched her limbs.
"Another craving huh? It can't wait for morning?" True they were anchored at a port town, but all the establishments would have been locked up and closed by now. But Hawke's alpha ego was stoked high as her pregnant mate went on to ask her to alleviate her cravings and needs. She would do anything for the woman carrying her child and staring at her with love and lust in her gaze.
"I'm hungry. The baby wants meat. Juicy mutton only my sweet thing can bring to me," Isabela purred. Her words were honeyed, and her hands splayed over her round belly as she shifted back onto the pillows. Merrill and Hawke helped her. "Do it, Hawke. Bring me a nice snack."
"Yes, my love," Hawke murmured. Her alpha ego roared when Isabela lay back, breasts jiggling above her belly. She winked at her saucily.
"Where are you going this time of night? The town is all asleep!" Merrill wondered. She tugged on her shift. A bucket of drinking water was stowed in a barrel in a corner of the cabin and she went to draw a ladle of cool water. Isabela accepted the tin cup with a murmured thanks and drank deeply.
Hawke tugged on her clothes, regrettably tucking her cock into her trousers and lacing up. She winced as she pressed against the seam of her pants.
"I'll find a way to get my mate some luscious mutton," Hawke drawled. She fastened the clasps of her tunic and went to collect her sword. Merrill perched on the edge of the large bed, stroking Isabela's belly. The pirate queen allowed it, drawing the covers up over her legs and resting back.
Hawke blew her women a kiss and walked backwards out of the captain's quarters, drinking in the looks of love from her mates as she went. She quietly eased the door closed and moved down the long corridor belowdecks. The kitchen was quiet, though the oven light was on. Cook usually camped out in there, dozing off on his stool if he needed to cook overnight. The small cabin with her sons was quiet. Hawke risked a look inside their door. The twins were wrapped up in their hammocks, fast asleep.
Hawke nodded and shut the door. Further down she could hear minor arguments and laughing behind the crew's doors. If some of the crewmates got frisky with one another, Hawke couldn't say anything to that. As long as they kept their hands off the captain and Merrill, she cared not what they did.
But Hawke did pound on one of the chamber doors and opened it a breath later. Craven was here, blinking sleep from his eyes. A few of the other men lay in hammocks or bed rolls around his massive form.
"Hawke?" he croaked. Hawke grinned into the dark room.
"I need your strong arm for an errand. Care to help?" Hawke asked casually. Craven got up, pulling his trousers on and a large tunic over his head. He left it unfastened to the waist and tied his machete to his belt.
"For the captain, anything."
Hawke glowered internally at his choice of wording, but she liked the strength the other alpha displayed. In a scrape, he was more than welcome to be there.
Craven called to a few other sailors, and a few alpha and beta males and females lined up to clamber down the gangplank onto the dock as quietly as could be allowed. Hawke laid a hand to the hilt of her sword as they went along. The town square was deserted; the inn lanterns had been extinguished hours ago and all the houses were dark.
"Where to, Hawke?" one of the men stage-whispered. Hawke pointed to the local inn.
"Well, they gotta open up." After a few loud knocks, everyone sighed with frustration. That wouldn't do.
"Anyone bring an axe?"
When the inn keeper jerked away in his bed, it was to a loud thumping of axe on wood. And it was coming from his front door downstairs! Throwing on a robe, the man ran downstairs, and gaped at the strangers spilling into the dark common room.
Lighting a lantern, the inn keeper stared at the smiling faces. "What are you doing?! You're gonna pay for that door, serah!"
Hawke settled her fist on the hilt of her and leaned her hip casually against a table. "Come on, good sir, I notice you keep some sheep in your yard."
"Wha…." The change of subject made the befuddled inn keeper struggle to keep up. "What of it?!"
Craven took up residence behind Hawke, folding his massive arms across the barrel of his chest.
"My mate craves mutton. I know you have some. My sailors were in your inn earlier," Hawke said in a light accusatory tone.
"Well, I'll be selling it tomorrow…when we OPEN!" the inn keeper snapped. He went to collect the pieces of the front door, cursing under his breath. "Just get out!"
"Well, I think you'll find it best just to give it to us," Hawke cajoled. Some of the sailors drew blades and handled them casually. The inn keeper began to sweat.
"But!...But! You keep out there!"
Hawke and Craven both shouldered the inn keeper, knocking him to the ground. A quick rummaging in the inn's kitchen procured a plate of mutton. Half of the mound of meat was sliced up but Hawke knew she could get it served up right quick for her mate back aboard ship.
The small group whooped and exited to the quiet town square, causing some town inhabitants to open their windows and look out questioningly to the sudden noise.
Back aboard the Stormy Lover, Hawke proudly carried a platter into her mate's chambers. Merrill had lit a lantern and her mates were waiting. Cook had fried up a few prime slices of the mutton in his skillet and a few boiled potatoes seasoned with rosemary had been added to the platter, as well as a few sliced vegetables. Hawke beamed proudly as Isabela's eyes roved over her, from top to bottom.
"Oh, sweet thing. Hawke, you are the best," Isabela breathed. Merrill accepted a kiss on the cheek from Hawke and both helped Isabela tuck in. Isabela ate half the mutton almost in a few quick breaths. She fed her hovering mate a few bites from her fork and caressed her cheek lovingly.
Hawke beamed with pleasure and grinned at her pirate queen. "Aye, as you say my love…"
"Where'd you get it?" Merrill chirped up. Hawke leaned to kiss her softly.
"Don't you worry about that, sweetheart. Do you need anything else, Bela?" Hawke purred. Isabela rubbed her thigh, moving upward. She finished chewing.
"We are so fucking after this."
Hawke grinned as she unfastened her trousers. "Aye, Captain. Permission to come aboard."
Merrill squeaked as Hawke lowered her pants. Isabela watched her mate lift the platter to the floor and make room.
"Maker, fuck yes."
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Merrill looked at the edge of the forest that emptied out toward the dirt roads that led to the town square. The boys had wanted to get off the ship and she had wanted to look for any spirit artifacts in the surrounding lands. Hawke had suggested they stay in the woods to stay away from any inclination of trouble. It suggested a rather unorthodox way to how she'd obtained Isabela's craving the night before, but Merrill didn't think less of her mate for it.
The boys were gathering leaves, acorns and pinecones, bringing her what they found most interesting. Merrill giggled and accepted the small daisies they plucked from the dark soil. Her attention was brought full round to Falcon piping up about a strange stone he had stumbled upon, literally.
"I hit my leg on it!" the boy pouted. Merrill knelt down and massaged the area, feeling a bruise form. She lowered her staff toward the small boy, watching the magic illuminate his round face as her magic healed the small hurt.
"What is it?" Lark asked, attention diverted from his brother's hurt, to the oddly shaped stone.
"A shrine, da'len," Merrill murmured. Strange interest seized her heart and she smiled as her fingers traced the ancient runes. "It's for some kin of spirit of this land. I think."
Elven rites and traditions had been lost for centuries and centuries now. Any inkling of any grasp of ancient knowledge was garnered tightly by Dalish Keepers, but there were fathomless quantities of knowledge that was forever lost to the elves. Half of the runes were unrecognizable, and Merrill could barely read who the shrine was for. The name was not known to her and she began tidying the stone of leaves and grass.
Falcon and Lark helped, their small hands carefully tugging up the wild grass growing over the stone's runes. "Looks better," one of the boys said. Merrill giggled.
"It does. But we're doing it for the spirit."
"Why?" Lark wanted to know.
"Well, if this was your stone, wouldn't you want it cleaned up?" Merrill asked gently. The boys nodded, gaining some semblance of understanding. The stone was clear of debris, grass and weeds. Merrill traced the runes of the spirit's name with her fingertips and murmured softly in elvish.
"Whas that mean, Mamae?" Falcon asked. Merrill knelt before the cleaned shrine. She looked rather serious.
"It was a prayer for the spirit. Kind of faint, but I can feel him nearby in the land."
"Really?" Lark and his brother looked around curiously. Merrill nodded.
"Yes. Well, it's good we helped him out."
The boys nodded seriously. "Papa's waiting for us," Falcon added.
Merrill tied her staff across her back and took up the boy's hands, one in each. As they headed toward the port town, she could sense the pleased affirmation of the hill spirit.
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Hawke beamed proudly down at her mate. Isabela, wearing a longer tunic to cover her belly and rear, clung to the crook of her arm, captain's hat cocked at a jaunty angle and a smirk on her lips. With the child growing into the third part of the pregnancy, Isabela couldn't wear her corsets. Her breasts were larger to Hawke's delight, even if Isabela complained that they hurt. And even though her ankles were swollen half times as naught, her mate kept wearing her thigh-high boots. But damned if she didn't look good and Hawke knew she looked a fool sharing each smile her mate shared with her.
Her pirate queen was happy. With her, wearing her mark and carrying her child. Hawke remembered an evening years ago after they'd lain together the first time. She had sat on the edge of her bed, grinning like a fool and basking in Isabela's glow as she dressed, searching for her smallclothes. She had said love wasn't for her. But damned if love didn't look good on her now.
Isabela moved her hat up on her brow, noticing Hawke staring down at her. "What is it, sweet thing?"
"I was thinking," Hawke purred. She rubbed her hand possessively over her mate's arm. "That you're so beautiful."
Well, it was the truth. Isabela blushed, smirking. "Oh you," she murmured. Hawke moved her hat to the side to shield them from the town's inhabitants and leaned down to kiss her. Their mouths met sweetly.
Loud screeching came closer and closer down the town square and Hawke's attention was drawn to the cacophony that was intruding on her moment with her beloved mate. A familiar flushed face was before her and Hawke remembered the breaking and entering the night before. But her mate approved of her method. Pirate's ways and all. And it had put the craved mutton into her mate's belly and helped feed her child. It all would benefit her in the end, so she had done it.
"What?" Hawke mumbled, trying to dispel the flustered man from her path. The inn keeper would not be swayed this time. He dogged her steps, easily getting in Isabela's way, who stopped quickly due to her large size. Hawke bristled as Isabela reached for one of her daggers, tied at a sash loosely fastened over her belly so she could reach it faster.
"Hawke, make this go away," Isabela commanded. Hawke was already a step ahead of her, charging into the inn keeper's space and backing him up by force.
"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HER," Hawke growled. The man blinked in her face, enraged. He cared not that her mate was pregnant, and he was a nuisance that was gaining a crowd. Several of the town inhabitants crowded the square, staring. Isabela darted a quick glance around. There, Mel was at one of the stands, and one of her men was entering a farmer's house, for Maker knows what reason. Where was everyone else? Luckily, she spotted Craven easily, an easy head higher than the tallest man.
"Craven!" she called. Hawke bristled.
"I can handle this!" she snapped. But Hawke let her words die when she saw Craven shoulder his way non-too-gently towards them. He WOULD be handy right about now. Two men went flying to the side as he charged through.
The inn keeper signaled to a few soldiers of the area. "This woman broke into my inn and stole from me last night! I want her arrested!"
"Aw fuck," Craven muttered, one hand going to his machete. Isabela drew one of her daggers, Heartbreaker this time, and tried to take up stance. Craven stood fully in front of her. Hawke was glad for his strength and charged back to defend her mate.
"Throw your arms down so we can straighten this out," one of the armored men suggested. Hawke drew her sword.
"I don't think so," she snarled. Isabela was glad for her response and stayed behind the wall of Craven's back.
"Stop!" Hawke yelled suddenly, and Isabela's blood went cold. The melee began, and Craven kept it back from his pregnant captain as much as he could. But when ten armored men all piled on him, even he fell beneath the brutality of their attack.
"Captain!" he bellowed. Isabela turned to stab one of the men in the crook of his arm where fabric met armor when she was pushed from behind. Hawke screamed somewhere nearby and she fell heavily. The wind was absolutely knocked out of her and Isabela couldn't take a breath. After several shaking moments where she was certain she'd lose consciousness, her lungs forced a breath and Isabela heaved a ragged breath. Her lungs hurt, her legs hurt, her arms burned where she'd tried to break her fall, but worst of all, her belly hurt.
The realization of that forced the rest of her hurts from Isabela's mind. She rolled on her side, arms going protectively over her belly. Tears forced their way out of her eyes as the urge to wail overtook her. And she couldn't fully stop the instinctual urge to bemoan the random attack as the effects began to make themselves known. Wetness dripped onto her thighs from within and Isabela was so worried, so deathly afraid what was unfathomable for a mother was happening to her.
Hawke's worried face coming into view only told her the worst was upon her. Hawke had sheathed her weapon and was sliding her up into her arms, picking her up from the dirt, murmuring impotent words to not worry. How could she not?!
Craven had knocked five of the men off them and the other soldiers stopped their attack when they saw what was happening to the pregnant pirate.
"I still want her arrested!" the innkeeper either hadn't seen what had happened or didn't care, but his shrill words poured rage into Hawke's blood.
"Get the fuck away from her!" she screamed. Craven shoulder to her side and the two rushed off, sailors of the Stormy Lover trailing behind as they noticed the scene. The town's inhabitants stared, dumbfounded as the gaggle of sailors took off down the dirt road, and hopefully for a healer.
"Hawke, I don't think it's this way…" Craven gently tried to get the ex-Champion's attention. Tears lined Hawke's face as she snarled at him.
"Then you tell ME where the bloody healer is!"
"Isn't it back in town?"
"We're not going back there!"
"But Hawke…!"
Isabela began to weep suddenly, clinging to Hawke's sleeve. "Hawke…the baby…."
The look of anguish that tore Hawke's visage burned its way into Craven's mind and would be forever buried into his memory. Never had he see someone care that much for their mate.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's all my fault," Hawke babbled to her. Isabela clutched her sleeve, pinching the flesh beneath enough to bruise.
"PLEASE….. help me!" she begged.
"Hawke?" a familiar voice called, and Hawke's head whipped to the side. Merrill was leaving the edge of the forest, the twins in hand. The boys stared at the scene and Hawke winced, wishing they didn't have to see.
"Kitten," Isabela wept. Lights and orbs gathered from the edge of the forest and cut off the sailor's way into town. Hawke cursed, and Isabela felt herself lowered to the ground. She blinked, and Merrill's worried face hovered above her. Isabela sniffled as she lay, her head in the elf's lap. Their sons had fortunately been pulled to the side by one of the sailors. She could barely make out Hawke arguing with Craven a short distance away.
"They're not letting us leave!" Hawke cursed.
"What do they want? It's just spirits…" Craven said.
"I'll cut a way through if I have to!" Hawke was livid.
"Maker help us, we need a healer!" one of the sailors called listlessly.
"Then forge a way through this!"
THIS was a mass of spirits milling and obscuring the way through to the dirt path to town. It didn't seem like it could be an obstacle but there it was. Every step Hawke, Craven or one of the sailors took, they seemed to be moving in molasses and were all but rooted to the spot.
Isabela whimpered. Her wavery vision focused on Merrill above her. The elf was crying too, holding her in her lap.
"Bela….I'm sorry," she whispered. The two women latched onto each other, Merrill longing to soothe Isabela's pain and Isabela longing for things to be the way they were just earlier that day. The swirling orbs focused on the two women and Merrill looked up, attention secured on something other than the tragedy of this day.
"Dalish, thank you for your help," a voice intoned, deep, and oddly feminine in decibels at once. The marked androgyny made the spirit a faceless threat and Isabela cringed in Merrill's arms.
"It….it was….I'm sorry," Merrill stammered. "I just don't want this to be happening!"
Isabela could hear the pain in her mate's second mate's voice. She loved their child, she didn't want her to lose it. Tears clogged her vision. But she was….it was inevitable….
"You are here. You cleared my shrine. You served when no one asked you to." The swirling spirit moved around the two women, blocking them from the rest of the sailors. From Hawke, from Craven, everyone. Panic clutched Isabela's heart.
"She can't house her child. The pain has been inflicted."
Isabela began to weep. The spirit's next words made little sense, but they forced their way into her grief.
"This one can house the child. Her body is open and ready. Will you allow the exchange?"
"I….I…." Isabela looked up at Merrill with confusion. The elf was easily as confused. Her tears fell off the edges of her jaw onto the pirate's upturned face.
"WILL YOU ALLOW THE EXCHANGE?"
Isabela had no idea what she was agreeing to, but she would agree to anything to save her baby. Fear surged through her as pain wracked her womb and blood ran between her legs. And suddenly she wanted Hawke badly. Where did she go? Just when she needed her most!
"Yes! Yes….anything…"
"Bela…" Merrill cupped her face protectively, holding her. The lights swirled around them, dashing from Isabela's round belly and to the elf's middle. Isabela blinked as the light dissipated, the pain gone. There was blood between her legs, but there was no more cause for injury or pain. It was simply gone. Her alarmed hands moved over her belly, which was flat again, as if she had deflated, as easily as a balloon deflates with the prick of a pin. Alarm surged through the pirate. Her child! Where was it? DID she lose it?... Emptiness surged through her and alarm made Isabela's breath quicken. She couldn't even feel it anymore!
Merrill's alarmed cry rang out and Isabela pushed to sit up, one hand going for her dagger. Before her astonished eyes, Merrill's belly extended, her tunic tearing and raising against the protrusion of pale flesh. Isabela's hand clapped over her belly, searching, wondering. The elf squeaked, hands roaming and when her eyes rose to meet Isabela's, equal terror was shared between them.
Isabela rushed to hold onto the elf, lest she fade away too. But as her hands moved over Merrill's now very round belly, she felt a flurry of movement beneath her skin. The baby, HER baby, was well if the kicks against her hand indicated. Merrill blushed, squeaking with surprise. She breathed hard, so hard, as if a hand were pressing down her chest and making it very hard to try to collect herself. Isabela's mouth was agape as the two women stared at each other.
They were beyond shock and sailing well past that emotion. They could only hope to keep their sanity as they came out of the current cloud of confusion.
The swirling lights dissipated finally, and Hawke collapsed to one knee beside them. She fell so suddenly, it was as if the spirits were holding her, then released her to her flailing motion. Hawke reached for Isabela, hand hovering over her flat stomach. Her questioning panicked eyes met her mate's and then both looked down upon Merrill. Her pale belly was round, holding a baby obviously in a late trimester. Hawke's hand descended and rubbed the ball of her stomach.
"Merrill?" she questioned. The elf tried to smile through the tears running down her face.
"Its safe. The spirits made it so," she said. Hawke cast an anguished look to Isabela. But her arms were going around Merrill, gently lifting her into her arms, her larger size not marring her strength in the slightest. Merrill slung an arm around her neck and her crying eased against Hawke's shoulder. Hawke's tears slowed but she still felt like weeping, more out of confusion and the whirlwind of the past hour's events.
Their child was safe. It made Hawke's heart ache to know her second mate had helped, in some way. Even if they couldn't knot, Hawke's seed had made its way to root somehow in the elf. But it was Isabela's child! Hers and Isabela's…Hawke's gaze settled on her mate, who was laying in the cradle of Craven's strong arms. She looked like a doll in his massive embrace, face turned into his tunic front. Hawke gave him a terse nod as they made their way to the ship.
They should set sail this very night. Hawke's family was safe, and she intended to keep them that way. Her worried gaze picked out her sons, trailing the head of the party, each holding a sailor's hand dutifully.
As they ascended the gangplank of the Stormy Lover, Hawke rushed to carry Merrill below decks. There was so much to do, help Craven round up the sailor's tasks, set sail, set her new pregnant mate into bed, and check on Isabela….
The sun was setting as Hawke strode across the deck, carrying Merrill down to the captain's quarters. Her mind was solely on her family. She prayed to the Maker that this would work, this would hold…. It had to. The spirits made it so. Right?
"Hawke," Merrill murmured sweetly, hugging onto her neck. Hawke accepted a loving kiss from the elf but gently tucked her in.
"I'll be right back," she promised, one hand moving over Merrill's belly. Merrill was thrilled to feel Hawke's warm hand over her stomach, soothing the kicking child inside her. The rapid movements almost hurt at first but now felt strange and good at once with Hawke's hand quieting the babe. Merrill squeaked with surprise, settling back.
"Please," she begged. Hawke's eyes were full of love for her, but as she hurried from the cabin, her heart was a whirl of fear. She came onto the deck, and saw her boys taking up residence on either side of their mother. Isabela was looking out over the sea at the ship's prow. The sailors moved quickly around her, helping set sail.
Hawke swallowed. She approached her mate, her heartbeat thundering in her ears.
End for now
End notes: Betcha didn't think it was going THAT way did ya? Well I found a way to get Merrill in on the Hawke pup rearing. It's a fantasy world, so we can do that. Like it, leave a review. Stay strong, lovelies. Early Christmas chapter for you, if I get another of these done by then, it'll be a holiday miracle.
Sincerely, pen
12/16/2018