"He has been like this for the past ten hours. I've not seen stamina like this before."
"It's the tattoos. Can't you feel they're lyrium?"
"Lyrium tattoos?! That must have been painful."
Fenris grunted, wiping the sweat off his brow as he ignored the templars that were gossiping about him. Solana allowed him to let off steam on the dummies in the templar's training courtyard, but he didn't know he would get this much attention.
A few mages were hiding in one of the dark corners of the room, giggling and staring at the elf in awe as he placed his greatsword against a pillar to take a drink.
But he couldn't care about the looks the young mages were giving him, or the whispers of the templars.
Right now, all he could think of was Hawke.
Fenris grabbed his sword and got into his usual battle stance, and began to hit the dummy with more force than he usually uses, flashes of memories with Hawke burning within him.
The way she used her hands as scales whilst weighing the pros and cons before making an important decision.
WHACK!
The charcoal smudges on her face when she drew one of her drawings.
SMACK!
The sleepy giggle she would do when he woke her up with playful kisses on her neck.
WHAM!
His name on her lips as they made love.
As more thoughts of Hawke flooded his brain, Fenris began panting her name after every strike he unleashed on the dummy. He didn't notice that the chanting of his beloved's name soon turned to roars of anger as he continued to slash and pummel the defenceless dummy.
He also didn't notice that the group of mages had run off in terror of the ferociousness Fenris was showing them, and templars had begun ordering Fenris to stand down. They tried using their magic nullification abilities on him, but all failed to slow him down.
"Uncle Fen!"
Winter squeezed her way past the heavily armoured templars to get closer to her uncle, Wynne and Solana close behind her.
Only when Fenris had cleaved the dummy in half, he stopped his onslaught and stood completely still; his lyrium markings flaring angrily and his eyes hidden behind his hair.
"Uncle Fen…?" Winter repeated, cautiously stepping towards him. Solana quickly dismissed the majority of the templars, keeping two of them just in case Fenris harmed Winter in any way.
Fenris threw his great-sword to one side and fell to his knees, his hands covering his face. He had kept all his emotions in for so long, and didn't share his thoughts with anyone.
That's what Hawke was there to help with.
He began to shake, his nails digging into his scalp as he felt the tears pour from his eyes. Through the tears, he noticed a figure get down on their knees in front of him and wrap their arms around him with such care and gentleness that he never thought he deserved.
Instinctively, Fenris buried his head into the figure's shoulder as he sobbed silently, shaking as he did so and clinging onto the person. The person than began to run their fingers through his hair, knotting it between their fingers. Exactly what Hawke would do if she was trying to comfort someone.
When Fenris inhaled through his nose, that little ray of hope that it was Hawke drifted away. He smelt the rustic sense of crushed elfroot and other healing herbs, and also a hint of lilac. It was Winter.
Fenris managed to slow his breathing, and the shaking soon stopped. But he still kept his arms tightly around his niece, not wanting her to see his tear-stained face. He loathed showing his vulnerability in front of others.
"We'll find her Uncle Fen, I swear it."
Sorry for such a short chapter, I've been working on the next chapter a lot. You guys are going to either love it, or want to murder me for it. :P