The evening sun had just painted the white stonewalls of Kirkwall into hues of flaring orange when an older woman with a small basket hanging in her arm came from the city towards the gate looking around in search of something. Fenris stepped out of his corner to greet Leandra, the woman whom he had learned to respect as Hawke sisters's mother even if he had met her only couple times before. Leandra hadn't quite agreed his company to her daughter, not that she had agreed most of the company she had kept. Since her daughter had been the one to bring the coin to their hovel though her brother had convinced her not to complain all that much. By her look it was clear the last weeks had not been kind to her.
When she saw Fenris she walked to him, clearly having found the purpose she had come for. To Fenris's curious greeting she only answered that she'd been told he could be found from here, before she started to empty the basket on a nearby crate, first covering it with a piece of cloth that had been protecting the contents. Bottle of cheap wine, some hard cheese and a loaf of bread, the few fresh fruits she fished out last being a luxury. For Fenris's wondering look she just gestured towards the makeshift table when she poured the wine to two wooden goblets she had also placed there.
Fenris had seen more exquisite feasts, as well as served some, but this one seemed more impressive than any of those. He knew that Leandra was not a wealthy woman. While Hawke had left her as much coin as she could, most of her earnings had went to fund the expedition. Offering from her own to a person she barely approved, what had Aveline told about him, as it surely couldn't have been anyone else. Looking at the meal also reminded Fenris that he hadn't eaten a proper meal in days. He sat on another crate and started to eat in silence while she did the same.
It took Leandra some time to build the courage to say what she had come to say. The orange on the walls had already faded to pale rose when she finally put down the empty goblet she had been nursing and looked at Fenris, for the first time searching for the elf beneath the markings. She told him that she was grateful for the trust he had placed on her daughter, for the vigil he had kept, but that he'd have to stop, that they'd both have to accept that they weren't coming back. Fenris didn't know what to say. Was she pitying him, or trying to console herself? He hadn't even considered the possibility of them being lost. But Leandra had already lost so much, her family, her husband and son, and now her last children were somewhere out there. Fenris wondered if not remembering his kin was a blessing of sorts.
While Fenris stayed silent Leandra asked him if he could tell her of his time together with her daughter, tall tale of their adventures which Hawke had promised to tell her once they'd come back from the Deeproads. Fenris didn't want to be crude and he saw this might have been the closure she needed so he complied with the request and started with recalling the time they had slayed a dragon. Leandra listened while absentmindedly scratching their family mabari which had at some point come sit besides her. Fenris was in the mid sentence when he stopped to stare it in disbelief. Hadn't it followed Hawke to Deeproads? Fenris faced the dog and asked it where it's master was, as the one thing Fenris knew about these Fereldan house beasts was that they did understand.
The dog sprang up and bounced around few times, wagging it's tail, before starting to jog towards the gate stopping halfway to look back as if to see if he was followed. Fenris didn't need another call while he ran after the dog following it through the gates on the last rays of the setting sun. The gate bell rang behind his back when the dog lead him towards the Wounded Coast, roads and paths that had become familiar to him in the past months while traveling them in pursuit of various trouble. Now he dearly hoped it wouldn't be trouble he'd find.
Apparently chapter length is not my forte, hopefully the storytelling is or I'd be rather poor writer indeed. Thanks for the reviews and a humble request for more, even if critical ones.