Chapter Five

Had Gamlen bought new blankets when they hadn't been looking? Because, Marea decided as she tangled her legs in the fabric and buried her face into her pillow, they were much warmer than usual, and felt suspiciously like wolf pelts beneath her fingers. Hmmmm...not to mention they smelled nice. A lot like that mage Anders; she'd noticed when he had been healing her the night before that he'd smelt like cedar, with the slightest tangy undertone that she couldn't entirely place...And her blankets smelled like he'd been rolling on them for hours...She had left her hair up in the braid as well - she must have just tumbled into bed when she got home without even bothering to brush it.

Come to think of it she didn't remember getting changed or getting into bed...or getting home at all...

Shit! Where the in void am I?

Sitting up suddenly, her shoulder twinging at the speed of the movement and at the cool air that hit it (the overly large neck of her bedshirt had slid down over the course of the night) she looked around wildly, taking in the dirt floor, privacy screen separating her from a much large wall and the cracked wash basin set on the table next to her. This wasn't her room – and she hadn't hit her head on the underside of Bethany's bunk as she usually did when she sat bolt upright. In fact, where ever she was it was far filthier than Gamlen's home, something she hadn't thought possible.

"I swear to you, you blasted hound I haven't done anything to her..."

Hissing under her breath Marea covered her ears as the sharp shock of a dog's bark reached them and she cringed into the pillow behind her. Who was letting their bloody dog bark at this time of the...actually, she had no idea what time it was. It was still dark, which meant it must still be night surely. Maker, had she been lying here for days in this bed?

The sound of someone padding around the privacy screen, accompanied by the softest of growls had her scrambling to pull the pelts and blankets up and over her chest, though she relaxed a little when none other than Ander's poked his head round. He looked a little relieved to find her awake and she watched as the rest of his body followed his head, his trousers and loose shirt covered in dirt, closely followed by her Mabari; who, on seeing his mistress alive and well bounded up onto the bed – ignoring Anders' angry protests.

Hawke gave a particularly feminine shriek of pleasure and shock as he lathered attention to her face, neck and bare shoulder; anywhere he could nose at, his large paws pressing against her thighs. Raising her arms against the assault she giggled and pushed at the slobbering beast with soft begs for him to get off not daring to open her mouth more than she had to lest he lick her across the mouth. Kodi however was not to be denied the opportunity to make sure his pup-of-sorts was definitely well and nosed at the tender, still red, area of her shoulder, growling in the mage's direction when she hissed softly in pain.

"I'm a mage, mutt; not a miracle worker," Anders snapped back before pausing. He was talking to a dog...Maker what had he stooped to? "The bundle of fur woke me up a good half hour ago with his barking and scratching at the door. I didn't have much luck at restraining him either..."

Chuffing his displeasure the large war hound continued to nuzzle, lick and groom the blonde until she was covered in his scent, instead of the man's, and flopped down across her legs when he was finished, leaving Marea to rub the saliva away with her sleeve. "Silly puppy...How did you even get down here? Bethany knows better than to leave the door open."

The Mabari gave her a doggish grin, and even Anders was impressed at how well the emotion was expressed, and wagged his tail enthusiastically. He barked once loudly, and gave her cheek an apologetic lick when she cringed again at the strident noise.

"That is nota puppy, or a dog for that matter; he's a beast of some description," the mage grumbled under his breath and grimaced as she soiled his shirt. "You can keep that by the way, I don't think I'll want it back knowing that he's slobbered over it – Maker knows where his mouth's been."

Chuckling Hawke rolled the Mabari off of her and onto his back, rubbing his belly affectionately before swinging her legs out of the bed. "The way you are around him I would never have pegged you for a Ferelden," she teased, frowning as she brushed her fingers across the knotted braid; that was going to take forever to get out and blushed slightly as she noticed Anders' eyes trail across her pale skin. Kodi's jealous growl had him coughing before gesturing to her pile of clothes with a small, barely there smile.

"I'm afraid the shirt you were wearing was ruined, but everything else seems to be intact; I'm sure I can try and fish out a shirt that'll fit you this time." At his well meant jab the blonde female frowned and looked down at the shirt she assumed he'd changed her into (this thought was accompanied by another deep blush) and realised that he was right; he appeared to have rolled up the sleeves to hang at her wrists, the hem fell to her knees and the wide neckline plunged dangerously low, she clutched it closed with a scandalized look causing a real, albeit small, smile from the mage. She suppressed a shiver.

Maker was he really that big or was she just small?

"What time is it?"

Anders shrugged, "Hard to tell down here, probably only a little after sunrise, or else I would have people knocking on the door."

At the reminder of the real world outside of the safe boundaries of Anders' clinic Hawke's shoulders drooped. The real world held monsters, responsibility, impossible tasks and, Maker help her, her mother. Sighing she nodded and turned to the water basin, wringing out the cloth that had been inside she gently patted it against her inflamed shoulder, whimpering softly at the chill.

"Oh, here." Anders quickly moved to her side and placed the tips of his fingers on the surface, his brow creasing in concentration. Steam slowly started roll from the bowl and he silently pulled his hand away, jumping as she moved to put her hands straight inside the scalding liquid. "No! Wait you have to let it cool..."

Too late. Marea had already sunk her right hand in to the knuckles before leaping back with a yelp to cradle her burnt fingers, her lower lip stuck out and trembling as she breathed heavily through her nose. It took him a moment to realise she was trying not to cry.

Maker he would never understand the woman. She could take a dagger to the back and demand that she would be able to sew it up herself but she burnt her fingers and she was going to sob like a little girl. It was almost endearing. Sighing he pulled her hand towards him taking infinite care as his finger's glowed once more as his magic surged to ease the throbbing and to stop any blistering. Kodi whimpered up at him from his position on the bed, his large head lifting from his forepaws.

"Don't look at me, it's herfault," he said softly, though the way Marea stiffened at the accusation and made to pull her prone hand from his had him hurriedly scrambling to retract his scorn. He did the only thing he could think of; he teased her. "How can you dodge, parry and sneak the way you do and be so clumsy?"

"It's a gift."

Silence settled between them, thick and unyielding, her hand still clutched in his. He could only hope he hadn't caused her offence; it was disconcerting to think that behind the confident front she put on for all of Thedas to see that there was a woman with the low self-esteem her behaviour pointed to. She gently prised his fingers from around hers with her free hand and eased his fears with a smile before trying to break the awkwardness.

"Nice trick...despite me trying to maim myself."

Anders actually smiled; a sly grin that sent gooseflesh over her skin and a shiver of liquid heat down her back. It was every bit as dangerous as she'd imagined it to be, all flashing teeth and narrowed beaming eyes; right down to the dimple in his right cheek. "You should see what else I can do..."

The innuendo in his voice was thick and it took Marea a moment to realise wasn't a tease; it was a promise, one that sent her cheeks burning.

She then became aware of exactly how close he was and with a small, awkward cough she distanced herself from him and tentatively dipped a finger into the basin to test the temperature. Satisfied she wasn't going to scold herself again the blonde soaked the cloth and pushed her sleeves up to her elbows to gently clean away the grime and gore from the night before. From the way the hairs on the back of her neck prickled she could tell Anders was still watching her.

Looking over her shoulder hesitantly she gave up her attempt to clean herself, at least not with him staring at her, and instead started working the band at the base of her braid loose. "I should get dressed," she said quietly and teased the knots out of her hair, grimacing as she did.

"Yes, you should."

Still he made no move to leave and she raised a questioning eyebrow.

"You said you were going to find me a shirt..."

That had him moving, and the mage quietly dipped his head before moving to the screen, as she mumbled his name Anders turned to frown inquisitively in her direction. He was momentarily distracted by the curls matted at her back, and even as disarrayed as they were there was a sense of femininity to them and the way they dipped down to gently graze her buttocks; the image was made all the more tantalizing by the way she popped her hip and twisted the ball of her foot into the dirt...swamped in one of his shirts.

His chest tightened.

As did his trousers.

"Just fold it over the top of the screen, that way neither of us will have to be...embarrassed."

Chuckling he nodded and disappeared to fulfil his promise desperately trying to think of something other than her hair.

He didn't see Marea for two weeks.

But she certainly made her presence known despite that.

Two days after she'd left his clinic he'd opened the doors to find a basket in the dirt; inside were two shirts, his shirts, clean and smelling faintly of rosewater, the scent he'd come to associate the rogue with - his bedding had held a taunting reminder of her that had made it significantly hard to sleep. And there, pinned to the front of the one she had worn away from the clinic to return home was a small piece of parchment with flourished script across it. 'I told you I'd bring them back. I cleaned the one Kodi slobbered on twice for your piece of mind. Tore the sleeve of the smaller one and patched it up as best I could, sorry. Hawke.'

Day five had bought another basket, though this one had been snuck into the clinic itself – strangely the idea of Hawke picking his locks while he slept didn't bother him as much as he felt it should. It had been full of food, basics that he had run low on, bread, cheese, a bottle of wine, and, to his wonder, ham. Whatever the blonde had been up to recently had had rewarding results if she could afford to feed him; it was sweet of her to bring him food...though he couldn't help but wonder how exactly the woman had known that he'd been running out of supplies.

At the end of the week there was a box full of herbs; Elfroot, Spindleweed, Embrium and Ambrosia. This one, unlike the other had come with another note; one that wished him well and apologised for not being down to see him since the night at the Chantry and asked if he could leave the baskets out for her to collect later. Beneath the blanket at the bottom of the crate was another bottle of wine – Justice wouldn't let him get drunk, but it was kind gesture and it didn't stop him from enjoying the taste.

Anders found himself looking forwards to opening the clinic in the mornings, eager to see if Marea had come during the night; if his expectation were met with food or, more often than not a short note about her day and sometimes silly limericks he would be, though he was ashamed to admit it, grinning and buoyant for the rest of the day. However, when he opened the doors ready to be charmed by yet another small, inexpensive, but very sweet gift and was greeted by nothing he was sour and grumpy, borderline surly towards his patients.

It was rather frustrating really.

On the fourteenth or fifteenth morning of this tug and pull Anders opened the clinic doors to find the object of his current obsession, braid looser than usual with hair in her eyes, standing outside bickering with Varric about the finer aspects of marksmanship, the red headed woman, Aveline, who had also helped standing just behind them, shaking her head with that blasted Mabari bounding around their feet.

"I've seenyou with a bow, Hawke and you make a mess of every shot."

"That is completely beside the point, dwarf. You can't class yourself as a true marksman unless you hit your target nine out of ten times, not just fire bolts randomly and hope that it hits something. Poor Bianca must get so frustrated the way you handle her; she needs someone who's going to hold her properly and take the time to make her sing, they way she sounds at the moment is like you're startling her. You must make a piss poor lover."

Anders froze and looked at Marea in complete awe; had she meant to sound so lewd? He was pretty sure she had, which simply sent his mind spiralling out of control; she was flirting with the dwarf, and he had been sure she had no interest in him, apparently he'd been wrong. It sent a prickle of jealousy through his gut. She wasn't so carefree when speaking to him...Did he really repulse her that much?

"Shhh! You're confusing her! She's never had reason to doubt me before; you're just jealous that she'll never be in your inexperienced hands."

Snorting the woman smiled mischievously, "I think she'd like being in the hands of a woman; besides, I'm not as inexperienced as you would make me out, Varric."

"I hate to interrupt," Aveline cut in, the tone in her voice teasing and very clear that she didn't mind interrupting them at all, "but Anders is looking like he's about to electrocute something."

He did not.

The blonde rogue however simply turned her attention from Varric and smiled warmly at him, hoisting the pack he hadn't noticed she'd been holding a little higher on her shoulder. The one he'd healed. "All fixed up thanks to you," she interjected when she saw his gaze lingering and smiled a little wider. "Grab a pack and stuff some clothes and provisions inside it, we're off to kill some mercenaries."

"Hawke."

Marea turned to Aveline with a pout and crossed her arms with an overdramatic sigh before adding in a put on Orlesian accent, "If you please, ser mage, my dear friends and I would be absolutely thrilled if you would accompany us on our trip of mercenary hunting. You might want to pack some extra clothes and some potions because we won't be coming back for a few days." Then flashing a cheeky smile in the warrior's direction asked, "Happy?"

Anders watched with a small smile as Aveline shook her head again with a soft: 'Maker why do I bother'but almost leapt out of his skin as Hawke turned excitedly to him again. "You're in a good mood..."

She grinned and shrugged, tossing her hair out of her face as she answered. "It's a nice day, the sun is shining, the birds are probably singing somewhere in Thedas and I don't have to go home for a week or so. I don't have to put up with Gamlen's cooking anymore, Maker bless him for trying but his soup looks like it's about to make its great escape at any moment – a few more meals like that I might have come down here to put myself up in your clinic...So are you coming or not?"

How could he say no? The mage had to admit that he liked this happier Hawke a lot; she was actually rather silly, though the sarcasm was still heavily in play. It was nice to see her smiling instead of frowning.

"I'll go pack. I'll have to write a sign to tell people that I'll be gone for the week."

The group nodded and he turned to disappear into the clinic chuckling quietly when he heard Varric and Hawke's banter following after him.

"Do they know how to read?"

Hawke smirked and waved her hand dismissively, "We could always draw them a picture?"

Groaning softly Hawke flopped down on the soft sand dune they'd decided to camp in the shelter of and leant back on her arms, closing her eyes to breathe in the salty air. It had taken them two days hard walking to get to the Wounded Coast, and another day and a half to find the Flint Company mercenaries; and now that at least one group was dead she'd decided it was time for a well-deserved rest. It had been the largest of the three bands she had found out about and they had done well; she'd managed to stay out of the firing line and Aveline had only gotten a few easily healed cuts and bruises.

"I think I'm going to go wash."

The declaration had the group stiffening as she pushed herself to her feet, Kodi immediately joining her, and Anders looked up from the fire to see her rummage in her pack for her night things. She didn't given them much opportunity to say anything but Aveline stood as well. "There are safety in numbers, Hawke, we might have missed a few."

"Varric?"

The dwarf shrugged and crossed his ankles, leaning against his pack, the epitome of peaceful confidence, "There weren't any tracks leading away from their camp, but if it makes you feel better we can bathe in pairs, Blondie and I will go once you get back."

Marea's bath was anything but relaxing. Her Mabari, though he hated bathing, didn't seem to see the ocean as a bath and had spent his entire time barking and chasing fish through the water before leaping on his mistress, soaking her to the skin when she was too tentative to submerge herself properly. Ten minutes of being assaulted and dunked the rogue had dragged herself to shore feeling every bit like a drowned rat; it was too dark for her to make out much more than Aveline's silhouette and so she had scrambled to her clothes, drying with her rough fabric she'd bought with her before dressing in the soft pants and shirt.

Bare foot the two women made their way back to camp, chatting and joking together as Kodi dipped into small caves and loped along beside them. As Hawke settled herself by her pack she smiled at the two men and confirmed herself as clean, shrieking as the war hound chose to shake himself dry beside her, flicking damp sand in her direction.

"Not for long if Kodi has anything to say about it," Anders chuckled and pushed himself to his feet, narrowly missing the clump of wet sand, courtesy of her wet hair, she launched at him. "We'll return soon fair maidens."

Snorting Hawke buried her hands in her pack for her bed roll and ignored the pair, setting herself up for a good, well deserved sleep. Sitting on the blankets cross legged she silently set about the grating task of getting all of the knots out of her hair, something that Aveline watched with quiet curiosity; she had never had the opportunity to see her friend with her hair down and the change was remarkable. She looked years younger.

"We should decide who's going to take first watch."

"No one," Marea answered simply, rolling her eyes at the frown the warrior sent her. "Kodi will keep guard, he doesn't need that much sleep anyway, he's just a lazy puppy, aren't you – " she reached over to rub his belly as he rolled over with an excited whimper, his tongue lolling, " – he won't let anything bad get too close. Relax Aveline, please, you'll ruin my evening."

Barely fifteen minutes after they had left Varric and Anders appeared over the verge to find the red head and blonde still sat chattering, the latter still battling with the many curls of her hair. Chuckling the dwarf set his own bed roll up and settled a little closer to the fire to warm his cold feet while Anders flopped down gracelessly next to his staff, watching Hawke carefully.

All was silent for a moment before Marea tossed the comb into the sand with a curse. "Andraste's tits why does it have to get so many blighted knots? Aveline, please will you help?"

"Oh no. I'm not touching your hair, I might do something wrong and I won't be around long enough to appoint someone to take my place as Guard-Captain. It's your mass of locks and you insist on having it that long, you can duel it by yourself."

Smiling at her grumbling the mage quietly shifted and scooped up the comb, padding behind her to sit, cradling her hips between his thighs. "If it'll stop your whining, I'll do it," he teased, his hands surprising gentle in her tresses and loosened the tangles patiently. He felt her relax a little under his touch, having stiffened when he sat behind her and she sighed.

"You'll have to entertain us tonight, Varric. Tell us one of your stories."

The dwarf laughed and crossed his hands over his stomach, cocking an eyebrow at the demand. "And what would you have a tale of, dear lady? A thrilling tale of debauchery, lies and intrigue or one of the more...romantic persuasion?"

Anders could all but feel the heat radiating from the woman in front of him and snickered silently as she answered, the playful venom in her voice oozing. "How about the one about the charming, extravagant crossbow with her mediocre wielder and her dear friend from Ferelden?"

"Oh!" Varric laughed and sent a suggestive smile in her direction. "Like the time the mediocre wielder watched the crossbow's friend nakedly squirm into a pair of breeches?"

Marea groaned. "You're never going to let me live that down are you?"

"Doubtful."

"What's all this about Hawke being naked?" Anders teased behind her, prompting a shudder as his breath pooled over her ear.

Varric took to studying his nails and chortled under his breath, "Trust you to only hear the part about her being naked, Blondie...Though I assure you, the little arse wiggle she was doing was divine."

"Please stop talking," Marea whispered, mortified as her face went a darker red by the second. "Now."

As it was Varric told them along, witty tale about a young, penniless woman who flattered and danced her way up to the courts of the Orlesian Empress with her cutting wit, stunning good looks and sweet disposition, entering a loveless marriage to a boring noble. She fell in love with a passing bard and the freedom he lived before escaping with him to start a thrilling adventure full of magic, Crows and politics.

The fire had long since burned down when the dwarf finally stopped speaking to survey what was left of his audience. Aveline had excused herself a little while after he'd started, the call of her bed roll too strong to resist, while Marea had made a valiant attempt to stay awake throughout the whole story but had eventually slumped back against Anders chest and subsequent warmth.

"Is she asleep?"

The mage nodded once and gently manoeuvred the blonde into her roll with a familiar sense of Déjà vu. It was the second time Hawke had fallen asleep on him, and he couldn't help but chuckle; he only hoped it wasn't a sign of things to come, she would be an awful snuggler, especially if her lover decided he wanted more only to find she'd passed out of him.

"This is the happiest I've seen her," Varric commented dryly and slid beneath his own blankets, watching as Kodi lifted his head to make sure the area was clear before resting his muzzle on his paws with a snort.

Anders digested this information before frowning, "You've known her about a month right?"

"Give or take," the dwarf answered with a shrug and leant back, pillowing his head on his arms. "She and her mother...don't see eye to eye. She doesn't like to admit it, but it gets to her; it's good for her to get away from Kirkwall for a while."

A wave of protective anger swept through him at the idea of anyone hurting the blonde slumbering a few feet away from him, even her own mother, and the mage grunted softly. "We should get some sleep; she'll want us up by first light no doubt."

"You know her well already, Blondie," Varric chuckled sleepily and all was silent, save for the heavy breathing of the war hound and the crackling of the embers.

Anders allowed himself to doze for a moment, wondering what it would be like to run his fingers through her hair when she was kissing him, her naked body pressed against his as she moaned into his mouth. His breathing hitched and he bit his lower lip hard to try and subdue the arousal that such a simple thought induced.

It was going to be a long night.