When I woke the next morning I was pleasantly suprised to be less hungover than expected. I had to chalk it up to excitement at my prospected evening events. I stumbled out of bed, and as I was going about my morning rituals I vaguely remembered the letters on the desk that I had attempted to read the night before. As I headed for the desk, I realized it must have been a little later in the day than I had earlier summized seeing as the house was empty save for Cookie, my faithful Mabari who was snoozing by the remains of last nights fire. I really needed to take him out and let him run sometime soon. A small Kirkwall hovel was no place for a Mabari used to the open fields of Ferelden. Cookie huffed at me as I exited the room I share with Beth and crossed the small living space to the desk. Maker I had really made a mess of the thing in my drunken stupor, but thankfully someone came along and cleaned most of it up this morning. I made a mental note to thank Mother, or Beth, or both of them. The amount of noise I must of made last night warranted that at the very least. I settled in to read my missives, and Cookie came and laid his big drooling head in my lap. Most of the letters turned out to be advertisments for this sale or this service, but one in particular epecially caught my attention. It was a brief letter, not stating much information past "A shipment of precious cargo has been stolen, and we are hoping to receive your assistance in retrieving it. If you are interested in offering your assistance a dwarf by the name of Anso will be waiting for you in the Lowtown market after nightfall. Speak with Anso for further information." My interest was piqued at the possibility of gathering coin for the expedition and made a mental not to speak with Varric to see what he had to say about helping Anso out with his little problem. I checked myself in the mirror, chuckling when I noticed what was left of the ink I had managed to smear on my face, cleaned it off and headed in the direction of the Vicount's Keep. I had a few hours to kill before I was to go see Varric and figured I would see how Avaline was getting on in the city guard.

"Hawke!" I chuckled at how everyone seemed intent on calling me by my surname instead of my first, but smiled warmly at the woman in front of me.

"I see you are getting on quite well. How is the city guard treating you my friend?"

"This city is a mess. Crime is rampant in the streets, Ferelden refugees are everywhere, and no one has any regard for the law! Its a mess!"

"You can't fool me Avaline, you know you love it."

"You're right Hawke, I wouldn't have it any other way. Speaking of duty, I could use your help on something Hawke?"

"Anything you need Avaline."

"I've received word of a party of caravan raiders on the Wounded Coast, and I was hoping you would go with me to take care of them before anything terrible happens?"

"Of course. I have someone I think we could take with us who would be a lot of help on this one. He seems pretty handy in a pinch."

"Can we trust him Hawke? I don't want to take someone along on guard business that I cannot trust."

"I see no reason not to Avaline. He saved Beth and I in a pickle with a thief, and he's helping us get in on an expedition that could pull Mother out of that hovel Gamlen calls a home. I'm sure he's trustworthy, he just has that feeling about him."

"Well Hawke if you trust him, I trust him. How soon can we be off."

"We'll head to the Hanged Man now and see if he wants to come along. I have business with him this evening anyway, we have to hunt us down a Grey Warden."

"Alright Hawke. Lets be off. I want to take this care of as soon as possible, I would hate to see anyone get hurt."

I waited as Avaline gathered up her sword and shield, saddening a little as I watched her pick up Wesley's shield which she still carried, a reminder of what the Blight had truly cost her. In the time I have known Avaline I've come to care for her as family. She had been through just as much as we had, lost just as much, and yet she remained so strong. A pillar in my life as I liked to think of her, a true friend. I smiled to myself as we headed off for the Hanged Man to recruit Varric for our little day jaunt, Avaline may scare most but I knew better. Underneath her tough exterior she was a caring person, loyal to her core. Willing to fight for you no matter the cost if she counted you family, which Hawke was lucky to be one of those few she let into her inner circle. We traveled in a companionable silence, just enjoying one anothers company as we walked through the city. Kirkwall wasn't much to look at, its years of grandeur long gone. Nowadays it was nothing more than bad memories and illusions of prosperity. When they arrived at the Hanged Man they found Varric at his usual table, an ale in his hand and his carrying voice telling one of his tales to the patrons who had gathered. When he spotted her he shooed his listeners away promising to finish the tale later and beconned her over with a smile.

"Hawke, to what do I owe the pleasure. You're a little early for our reconnasence meeting, is everything ok? And who is your lovely friend." I chuckled at the slight scowl on Avaline's face at Varrics comment. "This is my friend Avaline, she's a fellow refugee from Ferelden. We escaped the blight together. Avaline, this is Varric. He is helping Beth and I find a place on his brothers Deep Roads expedition."

"A pleasure to meet you Avaline. And what can I do for you lovely ladies today? I hope its nothing too serious?"

"Would you like to explain Avaline, or would you like me to?"

"Allow me Hawke." I listened as she explained our mission. Avaline had a clear and consise way of getting business done, and in only a matter of moments she had explained our goal thoroughly to Varric.

"Well, what are we waiting for ladies? It seems we have some bad guys to take care of." And with that he gathered up Bianca and they headed for the Wounded Coast.

The trip to the Wounded Coast took most of the afternoon. We pleasantly chatted about many things, giving Varric time to get to know us better. It was a little after midday when we decided to stop and have our little lunch Avaline had had the head to pack. They munched on their bread and cheese and listened as Varric told tales of the Hero of Ferelden. The sat in the shade and rested for a bit, enjoying the tales that Varric could so easily weave. I was in awe of Varrics ability to spin a tale, Avaline and I could no longer tell fact from fiction in his stories, and you could tell that neither of them cared. I was pulled from the sound of Varric's voice by Avaline clearing her throat.

"Well as much as I'm enjoying your tale Varric, there are some bandits that need to be taken care of. We should be off."

"You're right Avaline, we should get going."

We gathered up our stuff and set off the rest of the way to the ambush site. Once we we're getting in the area Avaline had told us they would be I spoke up.

"Avaline, where exactly is this ambush site? I don't think we should be caught unaware by anyone. It would be best if we scouted the area out to make sure the advantage is on our side."

"Good idea Hawke. The ambush site is just over this ridge, we should be able to head up that bank to the right and have a good view of the layout so we're not running in blind."

"Alright, Varric you and I will head up the ridge to scout the ambush site, Avaline will you stay here and make sure no one cathces us off guard?"

"Ok Hawke, but be careful and make it quick. We want to be able to catch them off guard."

"We'll make it quick Aveline."

Varric and I crept up the ridge to find the bandits laying their traps. There we're quite a few of them, but not too many that we couldn't handle them. We assesed the situation and seeing it to be in our favor to perform a sneak attack we headed back to Avaline to formulate the plan. We all came together, and when we had the plan compleated we headed into the clearing to take care of the bandits once and for all. Once the battle had begun they realized there were more of them than they had originally thought, but they managed to make it through the battle basically unscathed. Nothing a few elfroot potions wouldn't cover.

"Well, that was certainly something. Capitan Jevan should hear about this. Any guard on patrol that would have come across this alone wouldn't have walked away from it alive. I can't believe he wouldn't want to know about this. Lets get back to the Keep quickly."

They traveled in haste, Avaline's determination driving them. They made it back to the city gates at dusk and hurried up to the Keep.

"Wait here guys while I talk to Capitan Jevan. It shouldn't take long to update him on the situation."

We nodded our agreement and settled in to wait for her. Not more than five minutes had passed before we heard yelling coming from the Capitan's office. We listened intently to see if we could catch what they we're saying. We didn't have to wait long, the door to the office burst open expelling both Avaline and Jevan. Jevan was yelling at the top of his voice,

"It was not your place guardwoman. I make the patrols not you! Step out of line like that again and I will see you removed from your position, understand!"

"Understood capitan"

"Dismissed guardswoman."

I could tell that Avaline was furious. I knew from my time with the woman that she didn't take things like this very well. She was a strong woman, but devout in her ways of right and wrong. Just as I was about to speak up another guardswoman came up and began to address Avaline.

"Guardswoman Avaline. Thank you so much for covering my patrol, I had heard that it was you that took care of it right?"

"Brennan, that was your patrol?"

"Yes, and if you hadn't have taken care of it I'm sure I wouldn't be here."

"Not a problem Brennan. Did you happen to see anything strange on your last patrol?"

"Well the satchel was a little heavier than usual, but other than that no."

"Who has the satchel now Brennan? Who did you pass it to?"

"Guardsman Donnic. He has it for his patrol tonight."

"Thank you Brennan."

With that Brennan walked off to join her comrades, and Avaline turned to us.

"Guardsman Donnic, I know him. He's a good man. We should see what patrol he's on, I have a feeling that his quiet patrol is not going to be as quiet as I expect it to be."