It had been weeks since the Hawke family got word of Carver. Melisandria and Leandra were both heartbroken at the loss of yet another of the Hawke family. Leandra was going to see Gamlen one day, but she never showed. Melisandria was reading upstairs when she heard Gamlen yelling.
"What's the matter, Uncle?" she asked.
"Where's your mother? Is she feeling alright?" he asked.
"Yes, I'm sure that she's alright. What's this about?"
"Your mother didn't show up for our weekly visit. Is she ill? She is here, isn't she?" he demanded.
"No, Gamlen, we haven't see her all day." Bodahn said.
"Where could she be?" Gamlen wondered.
"With her suitor, perhaps?" Bodahn suggested.
"Suitor? Leandra never mentioned a suitor." Gamlen scoffed.
"Well, those lilies arrived for her this morning." Bodahn said, pointing to the side table with a vase of white lilies.
"Wait, white lilies... that sounds familiar; I know something about that." Melisandria began.
"Well, don't keep me waiting. What is it?" Gamlen demanded.
"There's a killer in Kirkwall who sends his victims white lilies before he takes them." Melisandria explained, a look of worry on her face. "He's murdered several women already. I know someone who can help: Gascard Du Puis."
"No, you're wrong. Leandra is fine." Gamlen said in denial.
"Ignoring the facts doesn't change them, Uncle." Melisandria retorted.
"But you don't know for sure if she's in trouble. Maybe... maybe Leandra took another path to my house. I could have just missed her. I'm going back to Lowtown." Gamlen said and left in a hurry.
Bodahn suggested that Melisandria go and look for her mother, help Gamlen find her. Thankfully, Melisandria was fairly ready to go, having dressed in a blue tunic, brown leggings, and black boots. She grabbed her sleeveless cloak and staff. She hurried out, grabbing her pack from by the front door. She was hesitant, but she headed straight to Fenris' mansion. She opened the door and stepped into the main room.
"Fenris, are you home? I need your help." she called.
Fenris came out of the study and saw Melisandria standing there. "What is it, Melisandria?"
"My mother is missing and she received white lilies like those other women when we helped that templar Emeric with the murder case." she explained. "I wouldn't have come if I didn't really need your help."
Fenris felt his chest tighten, knowing how hard this must be for her. "I understand. Let me grab a few things."
"Actually, can you meet me at Anders' clinic? I'm going to ask Varric for his help, then Anders as well. I need to find Gascard Du Puis, and as I recall he said he'd be in Darktown." Melisandria said.
Fenris nodded and watched as Melisandria left, a pained and worried look on her face. He got his things together, then headed down to the clinic.
Meanwhile, Melisandria went to the Hanged Man to ask Varric for his help. Varric agreed and they hurried to the clinic. Fenris was already there and was having a glaring match with Anders. Anders was relieved to see her and Varric walk in.
"Mel, what's going on? Out of the middle of nowhere, this elf shows up in my clinic and doesn't say why he's here other than you asked him to meet you here." Anders asked, frustrated with Fenris.
"My mother is missing, Anders. She got white lilies this morning and hasn't been seen all day. I wanted you, Fenris, and Varric to help me find her and make sure she is OK."
"White lilies? Oh, Maker, Mel, I'm so sorry." Anders said, remembering what happened with Emeric.
"I need to find Gascard Du Puis and he's somewhere here in Darktown. Will you help me?" Melisandria asked.
Anders nodded. "Of course, it's the least I could do for you."
"Then let's not waste more time." Fenris said.
Melisandria nodded and they went to search for Gascard. Finding him, Melisandria called out to him and came to a stop next to him.
"Hawke," he said in surprise, "What are you doing here?"
"Gascard, my mother received flowers this morning. White lilies..." Melisandria said. "I need your help to find the killer, to find my mother before it's too late."
"Do you remember Alessa? As I predicted, he took her not long after you found us." Gascard explained, leaning on a nearby railing. "I have enough of her blood for one ritual to track them and it will lead us straight to the killer."
"Do it, please. Use the blood. I need to find my mother. Maybe it won't be too late for Alessa if we get there soon enough." Melisandria said, though if her mother really is the next victim then the chances of Alessa still being alive were very slim.
"Stand back; if there is anything of Alessa left in this world, this ritual will find her." Gascard said, pulling a dagger from his belt, slicing his hand.
Something came over him, levitating him before the glow around him burst, throwing him to the ground. Melisandria helped him to his feet and when he could walk, he led the way to the foundry where they had found the bag of bones and Ninette's wedding ring.
"You've been here before, haven't you?" Varric asked Melisandria.
"This is where Emeric's investigation led. There was someone here, but he ran off and we were attacked by shades. I found bits of the missing women, as well as the wedding ring of one of the victims, Ninette. Her husband had hired me to try and find her, bring her back home." Melisandria said.
"I wonder if we'll find something other than a bag of bones this time." Anders said.
"Mother must be here somewhere. We need to look around." Melisandria said as they progressed forward.
As they made their way through the halls of the foundry, they were attacked by shades and abominations. They fought their way into a large room, and when they were all gone, Melisandria saw someone to her left.
"Mother!" she cried out, running to the woman who was laying on a wooden table. She turned the woman onto her back and saw that it wasn't her mother. "Alessa!" She knew that they would be too late, but she had hoped.
Shaking her head, she left Alessa's corpse and went on ahead of the others as they followed closely behind. After a short while, Melisandria stopped, seeing something shiny on the ground. "I recognize this locket; it belonged to Mother. She wouldn't willingly part with it; it was a gift to her from my grandmother." she said and knew that they were getting close.
They moved forward down a large set of stairs, only to be met by more shades and abominations. When they were gone, Melisandria looked around at what looked like a shrine filled with furniture and a large portrait of a woman was hung above the fireplace.
"What is this?" she asked in disbelief at the portrait. "The woman in the painting, she... she almost l-looks like Mother."
"A shrine dedicated to a wife? A sister?" Anders suggested.
Anders knew the look that Melisandria had on her face. It was the look she had when Carver went with the Wardens, when Fenris had left her, when she had gotten news of Carver's death. He watched her walk away as she insisted on finding her mother.
They continued forward, going down another set of stairs and into a larger room where a man stood in front of someone sitting in a chair. Melisandria recognized his robes- he was the one who ran from the foundry when they first found the bones.
"I was wondering when you would show up." he said. "Leandra was so sure that you would come for her."
"You bastard, I am going to kill you!" Melisandria said, feeling the rage and pain and fear well up inside of her.
"I was afraid you might say that." Quentin said.
Gascard stepped forward. "Quentin!"
"Gascard! So you've reached me after all these years?" Quentin said, recognizing him. "I figured you gave up."
"You lying dirt bag!" Melisandria said, backing away from Gascard. "You knew his name this whole time? Why didn't you tell me his name was Quentin?"
"I had other things on my mind." he said. "You promised you would teach me, Quentin; you're going to deliver on that promise."
Melisandria couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"I promised to teach you," Quentin said. "But I didn't promise to teach you everything."
Melisandria looked at Gascard. "I trusted you, Du Puis, gave you the benefit of the doubt. I knew that I should have trust my instincts instead of listening to what my mind told me. You knew all along and you let him do this? You are as much at fault for what happened to those women, to my mother. You'll pay for this deception."
"I didn't deceive you totally. The plan was always to kill Quentin and we can still work together. Once he's dead, you'll have your mother back and his research and writings will be mine."
Melisandria shook her head, her anger getting so intense that she was afraid that she would become an abomination.
"I'm sorry, Gascard," Quentin began to say. "When my wife died, I lost all hope. I wasn't able to be the mentor you deserved." He looked at Gascard. "But now that my work is finished, I can teach as you as I always meant to. Come back to me, Gascard."
"You'll let me be part of this? You'll teach me the secrets of necromancy?" Gascard began to say, but a bolt shot through his throat. Varric came up and pulled the bolt out of Gascard's throat.
"What?" he said, shrugging when Melisandria looked at him. "You were going to do that, right?"
Quentin looked back at the person sitting in the chair. "You will never understand my purpose. Your mother was chosen because she was special, and now she is part of something greater."
"Spare me the demented rambling. Where is she?" Melisandria demanded, drawing her staff from its sheath with one hand and pulling out Carver's dagger with the other.
"She is here, she is waiting for you." Quentin replied, looking behind him. "I have done the impossible. I have touched the face of the Maker and lived."
Melisandria shook her head in disbelief, her anger fading and her fear for her mother growing.
"Do you know what the strongest force in the universe is?" Quentin said. "Love. I pieced her together from memory. I found her eyes, her skin, her delicate fingers, and finally her face. Oh, this beautiful face! I searched far and wide to find you again, beloved, and no force on this earth will part us! "
The person in the chair stood, revealing that is was a woman, but when the woman turned around, Melisandria's heart dropped. "Mother, no!"
The woman was Leandra, but she looked like she was in pieces, stitched together like a doll. Melisandria felt tears stinging her eyes and she felt her anger well up again. Not caring if she became an abomination, she rushed at Quentin, only to be stopped by dozens of shades and abominations, as well as desire demons that had possessed the spirits of Leandra, Ninette, and Alessa, and corpses. Having no other choice, Melisandria turned and focused her anger into her magik, not letting it consume her but instead channel it into energy that she used against her enemies. She fought and fought, scaring Varric, Fenris, and Anders with her attacks. They knew she was angry, but when the enemies were all defeated save Quentin, they saw a whole new and terrifying side of her that not even she knew she had.
Turning to where Quentin had teleported himself, Melisandria threw Carver's dagger at him, hitting him square in the middle of his deranged face. The man who had killed some many women and had practically killed her mother was in turn killed by Melisandria and Carver by extension of his dagger, avenging their mother. Melisandria pulled the dagger from the bastard's skull and turned to see that Leandra had stumbled over to her. As she fell, Melisandria called to her as she caught her in her arms, kneeling on the ground as she cradled her dying mother in her arms.
"There's nothing I can do," Anders said. "His magik was the only thing keeping her alive."
"I can't let her die like this!" Melisandria said. She summoned all of her spare magikal energy and used the strongest healing spell she knew, pushing the spell into Leandra's body but to no avail. She somehow ended up reopening the wound that Anders had healed a few weeks earlier. Ignoring the blood gushing out of her side, Melisandria looked at her mother, tears falling onto her tortured face.
"I knew you would come." Leandra managed to say.
"Mother, I'm sorry! I tried to find you!" Melisandria said.
"Shh." Leandra said. "Don't fret, darling. That man would have kept me trapped in here, but now I am free." Leandra reached up to her face with great difficulty. "I never told you how much I liked your hair this way. You are so beautiful. Don't worry, Mel. I will get to see Bethany, Carver, and your father again. But you'll be all alone."
"I failed you, Mother. I'm so sorry. I failed Bethany, I failed Carver, and now I have failed you, too." Melisandria said through the sobs she was trying to hold back.
"My little girl has become so strong." Leandra said, managing a pained smile. "I love you. You've always made me so proud..."
And with those last words, Leandra took her last breath and the small light that had lingered in her eyes vanished. Melisandria laid her mother gently on the ground and stood. She stepped back to her companions and summoned a fire spell, pushing herself past her limits and engulfing her mother in flames. She then summoned an ice spell, one that is effective with fire spells, and tossed it into the flames. Melisandria stood there, watching her mother's body burn as her companions stood there helpless. They stood there until the flames were dead and as the smoke cleared, they saw a pile of crystalized ashes where Leandra's body had been. Melisandria's combinations of the two spells created a unique pairing that resulted in the hot ashes of Leandra turning into tiny ice crystals that shined as bright as her smile had in life. Then, summoning a wind spell, she directed the wind to pick up the ashes and fly out a nearby window and out towards the sea.
"Hawke..." Varric said, putting a hand on her arm.
"Let's get out of here." Melisandria said, her voice hurt, heartbroken, angry, and icy and the tears stinging her eyes. "I need to tell Gamlen that Mother is gone."
Melisandria turned and began to walk away, but Anders noticed blood dripping behind her. He wasn't sure if it was her own or if it was the blood of the abominations and other dark creatures they had just killed. They were all covered in their blood. He was just about to say something to her, but Fenris glared at Anders because of the way he was looking at her, only to receive a smirk in return. Varric could feel the tension and pushed them in separate directions, trying to minimize any potential fighting. They then walked in silence and soon enough, were back in Lowtown and went their separate ways. Fenris followed close behind Melisandria, only taking a different path when he knew she made it home safely before he himself went home.
Melisandria tried to heal the wound enough to hide it from her uncle and she found Gamlen back at her estate, waiting for her. She sat in the chair closest to the fireplace in the library as Gamlen came down from the upper library floor.
"Did you find her?" he asked, sounding hopeful.
"She's dead, Uncle, murdered." Melisandria said, trying to be strong for her last remaining relative.
Gamlen's face fell. "You were right about the flowers, about everything. I-I can't believe she's gone."
"I'm sorry, Uncle. I know it hurts, but Mother wouldn't want us to dwell on it." Melisandria replied.
"I'm not you." Gamlen retorted. "I can't just shove my grief into a corner and forget it."
Standing, Melisandria looked at her uncle with tears in her eyes. "Is that what you think I am doing? I am trying to be strong for the both of us, like Mother would have wanted. You and I are the only family we have left and I can't say that I am proud of that. I have lost my father, my sister, my brother, and now my mother, too. You may have some idea what that's like from losing your mother and father and your sister, but you weren't there, Gamlen. You didn't see what that monster did to my mother!" she retorted right back at him. "I tried to save her, I tried with every ounce of magik that I could muster and used the strongest healing spell I had to try and save her, but she was already far beyond saving. I held her in my arms, listening to her last words. I burned her body and sent her ashes to the sea because I knew that she loved the sea and I knew that you couldn't handle the sight of her if you saw what that bastard did to her."
Taken aback, Gamlen suddenly felt ashamed of himself. "W-Why her? Why Leandra?"
"Would it make you feel better if I told why?" Melisandria asked.
Gamlen shook his head. "No, it wouldn't. Did you at least make him pay?"
"I killed him with no mercy. I made him pay dearly for what he did to her." Melisandria told him.
"Good, I hope it hurt." he replied. "You've had a long day, so I'll leave you to yourself. Take care, my dear." Then he left, never thinking to return to the estate again.
Fighting back her tears, Melisandria couldn't bear it anymore. She ran up to her room, closing the door and let herself cry. She cried harder than the night that Fenris had left her, sobbing into her hands. She felt as if she could fill the entire harbor with the tears she was shedding. A knock came from the door and Fenris walked in.
"I'm not sure what to say, but I am here if you need me." he said and came to sit on the bed.
"Is it my fault, Fenris? Is there something that I could have done differently that would have kept Mother alive?" she asked, searching his eyes for answers. When he was silent, she looked away saying, "Say something... Anything..."
"I hear they say death is only a journey." Fenris said.
"I suppose they also say that you return to the Maker's side when you die." Melisandria said.
"I have heard that as well," Fenris replied. "Though I do not think that filling this time with empty talk is going to help much."
Knowing he was right, Melisandria put her hands to her face and sighed. She didn't know what to do, what to say, or how she was going to get through this. Gamlen was her only family left now, but she knew he blamed her for Leandra's death even if he didn't say it. Fenris sat next to her for a while, silent. He looked at her, seeing that she was holding back her tears, her sorrow, keeping it bottled up inside. He moved his hand to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear, not realizing that he was doing it. Melisandria looked at him, her face full of pain and loss. Fenris felt his heart get heavy at the sight of her looking like that.
"I should go." he said, starting to stand.
Melisandria grabbed his hand for a moment, stopping him. "Fenris... whatever has happened between us... I'm glad that I still have you in my life... I need you..."
Fenris squeezed her hand. "I will always be here for you." he said. "Would you like me to stay?"
He almost sounded hopeful, but Melisandria shook her head. "It's alright, Fenris. I appreciate you coming, but you don't have to stay."
Fenris nodded and left. Melisandria followed him to the balcony and watched as he went down the stairs and left the estate, never looking back. Melisandria's heart ached, but she couldn't cry the pain out. Something was keeping her from crying, from relieving herself of everything that was bottled up inside of her. She felt her head pounding, so she went to lay down and try to get some sleep. She lay in bed, staring at the fabric of her canopy. She didn't know how long she stared at the fabric, but she somehow managed to fall asleep.