Author: Revan-sama.
Game: Dragon age origins and Dragon age 2.
Pairing: Male Warden Cousland x Bethany Hawke.
Summary: A Few themes about the sister of the champion of Kirkwall and the noble hero of Ferelden.
Disclaimer: I only own Siegfried Cousland.
-Lord and apostate 4-
12: Circle of magi.
Until now Bethany never truly knew how free she was.
It's been two weeks since she joined the circle of magi.
However she didn't know what to think about it.
She was happy she didn't have to run away from Templars anymore.
But she was a bit angry with her elder brother, he didn't insisted enough for her not to be taking away to the circle.
Also, being in the circle meant that she couldn't see HIM as much as she wanted.
Siegfried Cousland, the Grey warden and the hero of Ferelden.
He would probably forget her. That thought hurt Bethany more than anything.
His gentle smile, his voice, his tease, his determination...
Even if he would forget the short time they had spent together, she wouldn't.
She sighed deeply, it wasn't the time of thinking about that.
"Miss Bethany, are you alright?" Asked a small girl and the other children were looking at her with concern.
She was teaching the apprentices some spells and lost the track of time.
"...Yes, I'm fine, thank you for asking." She tried to smile the best she could.
It worked. The children cheered up and the small girl from before told the others 'See? she is fine!'.
Bethany felt warm inside, those children were really adorable.
She had always loved children, and has wondered a long time ago of the possibility of having some of her own.
But she has let go of that thought, because after all, no decent man would want marry a mage.
Sure, her father Malcolm has found her mother Leandra, but that was a rare luck.
There was no way she would have such a luck.
After the lesson has ended, someone knocked at the door.
"Who could it be?" She wondered out loud.
From what she knew, no one had to use this room for today.
Maybe it was her mother coming for a visit, first enchanter Orsino told her that today someone has come to visit her.
After saying 'come in' , the mysterious visitor revealed himself...
"Siegfried! ?" She exclaimed.
"Greetings Miss Hawke, it's been a while." He responded.
He couldn't be the visitor that the first enchanter told her about...right?
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"I came to visit you." He answered her.
"Miss Bethany, who is it?"
"Is he your boyfriend?"
"Is it true? Miss Bethany?"
"! ?" She was so surprised by his presence that she had forgotten the children.
And his answer didn't help the situation :
"Actually, yes, it's true." He said with a smile.
"! ! ! ? ? ?" she blushed.
Then she punched him on his arm and said:
"D-Don't say things you don't mean!"
He looked at her confused.
"What are you talking about? Of course I mean it."
Her face became even more red and it made the children laughing out loud.
...
After that embarrassing incident with the children, it was just the two of them alone.
"Seriously why are you here? If you really wanted to visit me you could have done it before..." She said with a bitter tone.
"I would have, but your brother said you needed time to adjust to the circle." He answer.
"Well...That's true but still..." She said sheepishly while looking elsewhere.
"...?" He looked at her with curiosity.
I still wanted to see you.
She bit her lower lip.
"So...have you adjusted?" He asked suddenly.
She looked back at him and said:
"Yes, I have. However, life here isn't perfect. The templars are mostly polite, and I know they're just doing their jobs, but some hold extreme views."
She remember some templars harassing some mages for no particular reason.
It made her so angry.
"So, do that mean I can come visit more often?" He asked with a small grin.
She turned her attention to him again.
"You would! ? But...are you sure? There isn't much to do here, it's almost like...like..."
A prison.
"Then we'll go outside sometime, not always though.
I've got the first enchanter's permission and Knight Commander Meredith has nothing to say to a Grey Warden looking for recruits." He said.
"But...You don't look for recruits."
He smiled and said:
"No, I'm not."
She looked at him in disbelieve : "You lied to the knight Commander just to have a date with me! ?"
He chuckled a bit and said: "I thought I wasn't your boyfriend?"
He laughed even more when she blushed.
After all, life at the circle couldn't be as bad as she thought.
13: Grey warden.
Sigh.
Siegfried Cousland didn't know what to do with her.
After the deep roads and becoming a Grey warden like him, Bethany Hawke has become very bitter.
She was angry with her elder brother and the fate she had without having the choice.
Also what pained Siegfried the most was that she seemed to have put a certain distance between him and her.
Has he done something bad to her?
After a fight against some bandits on the road, she got hurt on her left arm.
Since she didn't have any Mana anymore, he insisted on healing the injury himself.
She said nothing, only nodded.
Once they were in her tent, he began to put some bandage on her arm, if it hurt in any way she said nothing about it.
He tried to talk to her but her response were vague.
All his effort to see her smile again was vain.
He sighed deeply and decided to leave her alone for now.
He was going to leave the tent when suddenly...
Something has grabbed his right hand and pulled him back inside.
He turned around and saw that she wasn't looking at him, she was still griping his hand tightly.
She was oddly quiet for a while, until :
"Stay..." It wasn't a request, she wasn't begging neither. It was a demand. A need to be fulfill.
This time she was looking at him, he noticed that her light brown eyes were shining with tears.
She wasn't crying or at least tried not to. She spoke once again the same sentence:
"Stay..." She came closer and took him in her arms. She buried her face in his neck, gently planting kisses along it.
Siegfried swallowed hard, trying to form coherent thoughts amidst feeling soft, wet kisses running up and down his neck.
"Stay until the pain fade away..."
Ah...
Could it be...
All this time, after joining the Grey wardens, even after hating her elder brother for what happen in the deep roads.
She missed her brother and her mother all along.
And the distance she had put between him and her ever since she joined his order...
She didn't want him to pity her.
Nor staying with her because she was the 'new' recruit.
He knew she wasn't the same anymore, they both knew that.
She has grown stronger and has maturated. Something she should be proud.
Still, here, just the two of them, he could still recognize the same innocence in her eyes. And the love she bear for him.
He smiled and said:
"I won't stay until the pain fade away."
The pain she received because of those words didn't go unnoticed.
"However..." She was looking at him, a bit worried.
But it didn't last.
"I'll stay forever as long as you want me to."
CONTINUE.