A/N: Alright, I said there wouldn't be a lot more Qunari, but it was kind of necessary. There's a translator down at the bottom for anything you may not understand! I tried to balance funny with serious though. I was going to do flashbacks in italics, but I just couldn't bring myself to, it should be rather obvious though. I've tried to make this Hawke an evolving character, which I hope is shown well enough. Oh, and on a side note, the more I think about it, the more I realize that I hate mages. My first two playthroughs they were fine, but the more I played, the more I hated them. And I mean hate, like, Fenris level hate. Like, I want to find a reason to kill Anders hate, this story isn't about him anyway. Any ideas appreciated. Love ya'll. (I did not just say ya'll.) Enjoy!

There was a small, tight-knit village that lay near the tip of the inlet between the Imperium and the Anderfels. It had no name and smelled of the sea. The houses were tiny, minimalistic, there were no resources to waste on frivolity. It had taken the three days to get there, they were exhausted and still stained with the blood of their master. Heads turned as they walked the dilapidated excuses for streets, and eventually someone recognized the native amongst the trio.

"Bethany? Bethany, is that really you?" A tiny old woman squinted up at the mage, sitting in front of a house with no distinguishing features. One of the other two stepped forward to protect her from the unknown.

"It is alright, she means no harm, this is my grandmother." Bethany smiled for the first time in days, "Yes, Sophia, I'm home."

The wrinkled woman looked her over for a moment, "Well then, I'd better get your mother." Sophia slammed her fist against the house, "Leandra! Leandra, get out here!" she shrieked.

"What is it, mother, are those kids bothering you ag-" Leandra stared ahead in disbelief at the three. "Malcom!" She called back into the house, "Malcom, come here!" Leandra's voice started to crack as she stepped forward to touch her daughter's face. "You're really here, aren't you?"

"Well, of course she is, I told you she would come home. Our daughter is far too strong to fall to the Imperium." Malcom said as he stepped around his wife to pull them both into a long, drawn-out, and much deserved hug.

It took them several minutes to get over the crying part of the reunion and the second girl was looking quite impatient, but the third stood stock-still and emotionless. Sophia cut in, "Well, if you all are done I'm certain that Bethany and her friends are rather hungry, and that one's got a nasty hole in her side that you ought to take care of, Malcom."

"What?" Bethany asked, turning to her friend, "Why didn't you tell me? Father, can you help her?"

"Well, come on in, we'll take a look." Malcom nodded and gestured everyone inside, everyone but Sophia anyway. "Can you pull your shirt up for me?" He asked when the group had sat at the dining table.

The young woman didn't understand what he asked, so she growled at him as he approached. "Calm yourself, he only wants to help." Bethany said as she pulled her shirt up to reveal a gaping wound, "My lord, how are you still walking?"

"I've got my work cut out for me, I see." As Malcom started to heal the woman he tried to make small talk, "It's quite a feat that you've survived this long with an injury like this, what's your name, girl?"

She just stared at him, watching his hands, and Bethany answered for her, "She doesn't talk much, she really can't speak our language at all. She knows a few words though, her name is Arvaarad."

Malcom stopped, "A Qunari mage-handler? Does she know what we are?"

"Yes, Father, please, just help her! We never would have made it without her, she's not an enemy!" Bethany pleaded.

"Kost! Maaras shokra." Arvaarad told Malcom, who apparently understood and returned to his healing.

"Well," Malcom said with light laugh, "at least this explains how you've made it this far, anyone without the discipline you surely have would have collapsed long ago."

"Can I teach her how to speak with us?" Leandra asked Bethany.

"I think she'd like that." Bethany said, looking at the gruesome wound that was slowly thatching itself together.

"So, Arvaarad, do you trust my Bethany?" Malcom asked with only the slightest bit of hostility.

"Bethany... Kadan. I," Arvaarad motioned to herself as she searched for the right word, "protect."

Malcom smiled, aware of the seriousness of Arvaarad's statement, the Qunari did not not hand out titles like Kadan without reason. He had studied the Qunari, and this simple word was the foundation of the friendship he and Arvaarad would come to share. Over the time they were together they would discuss the facets of their cultures and their many differences.

"Bethany," Leandra asked as she started to prepare a meal, "who is this?" She smiled at the other mage.

"Oh! This is-"

"Hawke!" Varric yelled from his normal seat at their designated table in the Hanged Man.

"What the fuck do you want, Varric?" Hawke snapped.

"Hey! I've been trying to get your attention for five minutes now, don't bitch at me!"

"Have not!" She argued.

"Really though, he has." Aveline confirmed over her cards.

"Fine." Hawke muttered, "That still doesn't answer my question, what on earth do you want?"

"By the Stone, Hawke, what's got your panties in such a knot today?"

"It's more about what's not in her panties." Isabela interjected, "Seriously, Hawke, it's been months, why haven't you tried to hit that?"

"Shut the fuck up, Isabela." Hawke answered.

"Pull back the claws, Hawke." Aveline added with a sarcastic over-tone.

"Oh, you cram it too, Aveline."

"I will not. For once I agree with Isabela, you have been absolutely unbearable lately, and the only time you aren't a crazy bitch is when Fenris is around." She pointed out.

"Can you not talk about this right now? I'm sitting right here." A badly rejected Anders asked.

"Don't even get me started on you." Aveline said. Anders rolled his eyes. Hawke had finally told him that nothing was ever going to transpire between them, only Isabela seemed to notice that it was the first stop she made after speaking with Fenris. She had decided that if Anders was going to be upset about it she could handle it, or kill him, whichever. Hawke really didn't care.

"You all are just going to have to fucking nut-up and deal with it, if you keep bitching at me I will be even more insufferable than I normally am. Do you understand?" Hawke glared at the table's occupants.

"Yes, yes, we get it, don't piss off the queen of sexual tension any more than we have to." Isabela waved her off over her ale.

"The queen of what?" Fenris asked, adopting Hawke's penchant for timely entrances.

"Antiva. Didn't you know? I'm quite famous, also dead as of last week." Hawke smiled.

"You were the Queen of Antiva?" Varric mockingly asked.

"Of course I was, but those nasty Crows have this terrible habit of trying to kill of royalty, so I faked my death. I should have spent the fortune to pay them off. Do you know they charge far, far more not to kill someone?" Hawke shrugged.

"Oh, you are so full of shit, Hawke." Aveline said as Fenris finally sat down with them, smirking at Hawke's odd sense of humor. Anders made a point not to even look at him.

"Am not, I'm dead serious."

"The Queen of Antiva hasn't been assassinated, she's not you, and you don't have a fortune." Aveline corrected.

"Oh, no, you're right, that was all crap, but that bit about the Crows was totally true."

"I'll believe it." Aveline said, condescendingly shaking her head.

"They'll kill you whether you believe it or not." Isabela added.

"Alright, alright, enough, I was trying to talk to our fearless leader." Varric injected, irritated.

"Yes, yes, what is it?" Hawke asked.

"There's a merchant named Javaris that wants your help, something about Qunari explosives."

"Ah, which one? The Qunari have quite a few."

"I'm not going to ask how you know that... It was like mat-stop or rat-crop or some shit, I'm just a messenger. He's camped near the Coast."

"Ugh, fine, we'll go." Hawke conceded.

"Not me," Anders said, "I have work to do." He stood up with a loud clatter and left.

"Gawd, he's still butt-hurt about it, Hawke. Can't you just go have some pity-sex with him or something?"

"Basra Vashedan!" Hawke muttered under her breath, "No, he's never bathed, and more importantly he's Bas Sa- a mage!"

"Wh- what did you say?" Aveline asked.

"I've been trying to pick up a new language, assume nothing." Hawke covered with a scowl.

"No, I don't really care about that, what does 'bas-vas-don'," Aveline struggled to repeat Hawke, "mean?"

"Yeah, Hawke, what does that mean?" Varric asked. Hawke made a rather angry face, "Alright, alright, forget we asked." He raised his stumpy hands in surrender.

"You know, Hawke," Isabela said as they suited up for the trip in their room, "those slip-ups of yours are getting more and more prevalent. I'm surprised it took them this long to say anything."

"With the Qunari presence in this city it is bound to come out sooner or later. If we have to visit the Arishok to deal with this gaatlok mess it will undoubtedly be known." Hawke said with a rare ton of seriousness.

"So you do know what it's called! I figured you did. It's been like, 10 years, is he really gonna remember?"

"Of course, and it's incredibly dangerous in hands that don't know how to use it, and yes, undoubtedly."

"Well, that wasn't really my point, I'm glad you know what we're dealing with though. I usually like things that go boom, but if you think it's too dangerous..." Isabela trailed off.

"It does make for quite a pretty boom though." Hawke smiled, "The gaatlok is how the cannons on the dreadnaught hit us from so far away. I digress, what was your point?"

"Well fuck, that explains it. I still can't believe you helped me steal that from your own people." Isabela snickered to herself, "My point was that you're speaking Qunari again, I don't mind, but what happened? You used to flinch whenever you said anything that even sounded Qunari."

"They aren't my people anymore. I... came to a realization. 'There comes a time when you must turn and face the tiger.' I've been avoiding something that is a part of me because I still cling to bad memories. I killed Vanard, he can't electrocute me every time I call something Dathrasi or quote the Qun." Hawke's sudden frown quickly turned to a smile by the end of her statement.

"You, you never told me that, Hawke. Wasn't that the only language you spoke?" Isabela asked in surprise.

"It was, but enough! We have work to do!" Hawke said as she laced up the last part of her boots.

"Yes, yes, don't remind me. Hey, was that line about the tiger from the Qun?"

"No, that was from Fenris."

"Oh, is that so?" Isabela narrowed her eyes and smiled suggestively before she continued, "Does he know about this Qunari/slave/revenge-driven maniac thing?"

"All but that last part."

"You're really quite fond of him, aren't you?"

"I am, he's straightforward and he doesn't lie."

"Good luck then, love, it's about time you did something for yourself." An awkward silence fell on them as Isabela tried to decide whether or not to ask her next question, she decided on yes. "Are you still not going to tell me what you and Bethany were looking for?"

"Not until I find it." Hawke's tone grew angry.

"And if you don't?" Isabela asked, irritated at Hawke's constant determination.

"Then I die searching."

"What could possibly be worth throwing the rest your life away for?"

"Parshaara! This conversation is finished."

"What did you just call me?" Isabela half-shouted.

Hawke just laughed at her, their relationship mended despite the argument.

"So, do we have a deal or not?" Javaris rubbed his hands together, he could already taste the profits.

"You sir, are a fucking idiot." Was Hawke's curt reply, "The Qunari are never going to give you the gaatlok. You probably just made up this whole thing. I'll kill the Tal-Vashoth, but I hope when you go to collect your 'reward' that the Arishok chews you up and spits you out."

"I agree." Fenris added.

"Bah! I don't care what you dog-lords and knife-ears think, if you want your money, do what I asked. I'll be in the Qunari compound when you're finished." Javaris scampered back into his tent.

"Wait, Hawke, aren't we going the wrong way?" Isabela asked as they left the campsite, "The Tal-Va-whatever are that way!"

"No, as much as I hate to say it, if we're going to take down a band of Tal-Vashoth, we're going to need Anders." Hawke admitted.

"Hawke," Fenris stopped her outside the compound while Aveline and Anders were bickering about something Templar related. Varric and Isabela had already slunk back to the Hanged Man, "are you certain you want to go in there? The Arishok forgets nothing and you still don't know what happened to your charges. I can go get the payment if you wish."

"No, this is my final demon, at least the last one I can put a name to. I had faith in my charges, it'll work out."

"And if it doesn't?"

Hawke shrugged her shoulders, "Well, fuck all then. They aren't after you three, all I have to do is disappear in a cloud of smoke and hope they don't send the Beresaad after me." Hawke grabbed her (probably, no, most definitely, alcohol-filled) flask from her belt and downed a long, long drink.

"Doesn't the Beresaad 'answer questions', why would they be sent?" Fenris asked, confused.

"To answer the question of where the hell I am, the Qun takes fugitives very seriously."

"I can see that. Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

"Do you think you should tell them before we go in?" Fenris nodded towards Anders and Aveline.

"No, I can't wait to see the looks on their faces." Hawke turned to the other two, still bickering, "Aveline! Anders! Shut your stupid fucking mouths and come on!"

"Fine!" They said in unison.

As they strode into the compound Hawke stood a little bit straighter, held her head a little higher, and all of her companions noticed. "Ah, Hawke!" A frightened Javaris called when he saw her, obviously having been trying to negotiate with the Arishok, "Perfect timing!" When she got close enough he leaned in to angrily whisper to her, "Help me out here or you don't get paid!"

"No." Hawke said in a far more commanding voice than she usually carried, her change in character so drastic that Anders and Aveline stared in disbelief. "I told you this would happen and it has. Pay me for the task you hired me for, or I take it from your flesh."

Javaris looked around nervously for a moment, probably calculating his chances of being able to escape her, and the rest of them, successfully. "Ah, bitch-born! Here's your blood money! You fucking horn-freaks and sons-of-bitches and Stone-blasted, mother-fucking..." He trailed off during his stomping retreat from the compound.

Hawke and her team turned to leave before the Arishok's command echoed off the walls, "Arvaarad, halt! I have not forgotten you." It took Anders and Aveline a moment to realize he was talking to Hawke, but she and Fenris turned immediately.

"Shanedan, Arishok." Hawke bowed.

The Arishok stood from his make-shift throne and prowled over to Hawke, standing several feet taller than she, "You live. Asit tal-eb."

They stared at each other for a long time, it seemed like forever to Fenris, he was certain that the Arishok was going to attack at any second, but instead the two spoke in unison: "Ataash varin kata." And for a moment Hawke was once again Arvaarad.

"Uh, Fenris, do have any idea what's going on?" Aveline asked in hushed tone.

"In the end lies glory." Fenris said, only partially ignoring her.

"The Qun understood by an elf, what an odd city this is." The Arishok said before he turned back to Hawke, "Arvaarad, you hunt Tal-Vashoth, you still follow the commands of the Qun, even though you are dead. You are Qunoran Vehl."

"Wh- what?" Anders asked.

"Silence, Bas Saarebas!" He shouted, and Anders quite intelligently listened, though totally unaware of what the Arishok had called him.

"Maaras shokra, Arishok." Hawke and the Arishok shared yet another long silence.

"Are you aware of what your return means, Arvaarad? Do you know the fate you face?"

"No. I do not know what became of my Karataam."

"Then you must hold yourself in high regard, coming here without knowing whether or not you face execution. Your Karataam survived the battle."

There was a deafening silence and all eyes lay on Hawke. She stood without fear, waiting for the verdict. If her Saarebas did not take their own lives as soon as she fell, then she had failed in her duty to the Qun, and she would be killed. There would be no compromise, no special circumstance, it all came down to whether or not her Saarebas truly saw her as their Arvaarad, if they would rather die than risk falling to what lie inside themselves. Hawke was faced with a moment of doubt as the impasse dragged on.

"Your Saarebas, did not. They called fire and charged your captors, their final sacrifice in the name of the Qun." The Arishok finally spoke. Fenris and Hawke both let out an audible sigh of relief.

"Wait up a minute, Hawke, isn't that what he called me?" Anders asked after spending several seconds daftly trying to comprehend its meaning.

"No, you are not honorable enough to be Saarebas." Hawke's blunt reply hit Anders like a brick.

"Spoken like a true Arvaarad." Fenris added with an approving nod.

The Arishok snorted, "What odd company you keep. Panahedan, Arvaarad. May you find peace in death."

"Panahedan, Arishok. May you find what you seek." Hawke said as she and Fenris walked away, Aveline and Anders quickly following.

They returned to the Hanged Man, their base-of-operations, per say, for the impending questioning of 'Arvaarad.' "So, Hawke," Aveline started, fuming, "is it safe to assume that you aren't Fereldan?"

"Uh..." Hawke acted like she was thinking, "yeah... I'd say that's a safe bet."

"No! No more of your sarcasm, Hawke! This is serious!"

"What, Aveline? What the fuck do you want me to say? I answered your question."

"I want you to tell me why you lied to us." Aveline spoke for the group.

"I didn't technically lie."

"Yes, you did! I even asked if you wanted to go back to Fereldan and you said yes!" Aveline countered.

"You didn't say go back home, you just said back to Fereledan." Hawke corrected her.

"Ah, but when I asked 'Don't you miss the life you had back home?', right after that, you said yes!" Anders argued.

"You didn't specify where my home was." Hawke said, Fenris was reminded of his first talk with Hawke, Master of Wording, and had trouble not snickering.

"Then why does Fenris know?" Anders asked with more than a little jealousy, he just didn't know how to move on.

"Because he asked." Hawke said, matter-of-fact.

"Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me!" Aveline bellowed.

"Ah, cut her some slack, you two," Varric cut in, "would you want to go around telling people that you're a Qunari mage-wrangler turned slave, turned fugitive, turned, whatever the fuck she is now?"

Hawke turned to Isabela, mouth agape, "Oh, fuck you! I thought we were leaving that part out!"

"Get off it, Hawke, it would've come out eventually."

"No, no it wouldn't have. No one is looking for me, there's no reason the word slave ever had to be a part of this."

"Fenris was a slave," Isabela mocked, "and he didn't have a problem with everyone knowing, why are you bitching about this?"

"Because Fenris is a man." Hawke said through clenched teeth, "All I'm going to get is pity, and I don't need your fucking pity!" She turned and pointed to Aveline, "See, Isabela, it's all over her face! And you!" Hawke glared at Anders, "you just heard 'mage-wrangler', yet all you're thinking about is what must have happened to me as a slave. I can see it in your eyes."

In a fit of rage, Hawke threw her mug at the wall, ale flying every which-way as she stormed out of the tavern. "Hawke, wait!" Anders called and stood to follow her.

Isabela stopped him, "Oh, no you don't! You have no idea what that woman has been through, you try to comfort her and she will quite literally cut you to pieces."

"I-" Anders started to argue, "I'll be at the clinic, can someone come tell me when you find her?"

"Sure thing, Blondie." Varric agreed as Anders left. "And where are you going, Broody?

"He doesn't have any idea, but I do. Besides, it's my cellar she's probably raiding." Fenris said with a sad shake of his head.

"Fenris," said Isabela, pausing to make some decision, "hurry. She doesn't know how to handle things like this without alcohol and she'll be drinking as fast as she can." Fenris nodded and left.

"So," Aveline said in the sudden silence, "she was Qunari? Never struck me as the type."

"Born and raised. Captured on Seheron. Escaped. It's a pretty cut-and-dry story." Isabela said.

"I should've guessed," Varric added, "the more I think about it the more sense it makes. But, where does Bethany fit into all this? No way a girl that sweet was Qunari."

"She fits in somewhere between captured and escaped." Isabela spent the next few minutes telling her colleagues the story of Hawke.

"Malcom! Malcom!" One of the village's children came frantically pounding on their door.

"What? What is it, Charles?" Leandra answered the door.

"Oh, oh miss Leandra! There's some nasty, nasty looking men here, swords and staffs and chains and- and-" Charles panted, out of breath from running across the village, "And they asked about Bethany and the other girls! Samantha wouldn't tell them, so they killedher! So we had to tell them, we just- just- I'm so sorry!"

"Shh, child, run to your family, this is not your fault." Leandra remained frighteningly calm as she entered the room where the rest of the family was dining. "They've come for them." She told Malcom.

Arvaarad remained ready for battle at all times, and the mages only needed to grab their weapons. "Leandra, take him and run, we fight." Malcom told her before they went to face the enemy. Leandra wanted to argue, but she knew there was no one else in the village that could hold them off, she couldn't risk his life.

Within seconds there was fire and ice everywhere, and a pillar of inferno had engulfed the center force of the hunters. The battle was a frenzied mess of shouts and blood, but when the smoke cleared, only two stood.

"No!" Bethany screamed at her father's corpse, falling to her knees. She called all the healing magic she could, though it was not much, not with how drained she was, but before she could start a strong hand gripped her arm and pulled at her. Bethany looked back at a strong, stoic face, lacking any visible compassion. "No, Arvaarad! No! I cannot leave him!"

"Dead! Malcom, is, dead!" Arvaarad still spoke slowly, she was a hard learner. "More come." She pulled on Bethany's arm again, this time Bethany stood.

"Wait, wait, what about-" Bethany tried to ask, looking on the body of her other fallen friend.

"Dead! All dead! We run."

"I can't! I can't leave my father like this!" Bethany started to cry.

"Arvaarad promised Malcom, protect Kadan. Come!" She pleaded, and Bethany realized that this was her way of showing compassion, by honoring her promise to Bethany's father.

It would be 7 years before Arvaarad realized how dire a mistake she had made.

"Hawke! Stop this! Do not make me force that away from you." Fenris shouted at her in the dim light of the cellar. Hawke was sitting on a crate, nursing a large, nameless bottle. Her head spun with the mistakes of her past, screaming the mantras of all her broken promises.

"No. I am not Hawke. I failed 'Hawke'. I do not deserve such a name." Hawke didn't even look up at him.

"You are honorable, determined, honest, isn't that what Hawke means to you?" Fenris asked, stepping closer.

"You know, it'll be 7 years in a week, 7 years that I've called myself that. I failed, Fenris, the only promise I ever made Malcom, Bethany's father, was that I would protect her. I couldn't stop them from killing him, or Leandra, or Sophia, or anyone else in that village, but I promised I would protect Bethany. She was Kadan, and now I can't even keep my last promise to her." Hawke's voice cracked and she took another long drag from the bottle.

Fenris crouched down to face her, "What are you talking about, Hawke?" He reached out to touch her face, or, to try anyhow.

"Stop, calling me that!" She cried, standing up and balling her fists.

"No." Fenris said, standing again, "You are Hawke, you will always be Hawke, and tearing yourself apart like this isn't helping anyone!" Hawke moved to pull the bottle up to her mouth again, "And stop drinking!"

Fenris grabbed the bottle, but Hawke had an iron grip, "Fenris, you wouldn't dare." She warned.

"I am far stronger than you." They stared at each other, each waiting for the other to give in, until something broke. Fenris ripped the bottle from her hand and it crashed to the cobblestone floor, leaving yet another stain on the mansion. The momentum caused a rather tipsy Hawke to fall forward, right into an unconventional kiss. The two stood there like that for a long moment, neither of them moving. Neither was certain if they didn't move because they didn't want to, or because they couldn't think of how to deal with the situation when they pulled apart, it was an inevitability though.

"I... uh..." Hawke started to explain what had obviously happened, but something Isabela had said echoed in the back of her head and she attacked him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Fenris, as reluctant as he was, pulled away from her mouth, but not her hands, "Hawke, you're drunk. You don't know if you want this."

"Fenris, I'm always drunk." She said, trying to kiss him again.

She smelled like fresh earth and alcohol, and she was so warm, it was almost unnatural. "No, Hawke, don't say that."

"I know what I want Fenris, Hawke always knows what she wants and she's wanted this for a long time." She spoke with an unusually sultry voice, "Just this once, if you don't love it, it never happens again."

"Hawke..." Fenris groaned.

"Don't tell me you don't want this. I've seen you staring at me. Besides, the Qunari are the supreme masters of 'friends with benefits'." And it was true, mostly, the Qunari never mated for something as silly as love.

"You... are impossible to deny."

They were at it long into the night, long after Hawke's buzz wore off, each orgasm melting into the next until they were too tired to move. The lyrium made Fenris's skin icy, but Hawke was always too hot, so they complimented each other. That's why Fenris didn't have to think about how he was going to approach her that morning, he didn't even have to turn over to know that she was already gone.

"Vashedan!" Hawke yelled as she threw her cards down.

Varric chuckled, "I think I like Qunari Hawke better than regular Hawke."

"Ah, shut the fuck up, you cheating Dathrasi!"

"And what does that one mean again?" Anders asked from the other side of the table, he had been paying an odd amount of attention to her this past week.

"An indulgent beast, a pig." Hawke explained for the third time.

"Oh, oh, look who just walked in!" Isabela exclaimed as she pointed to Fenris, "I mean, I knew Hawke was good, but to put you out of commission for a week! Have you even left your house?"

Fenris grew suddenly angry, "You told her, Hawke?"

"No. You did. She knew nothing until you asked that."

"Ha! I knew something happened!" Isabela called in triumph.

"Really, Fenris, you should have seen that one coming." Varric added.

"Ugh, I have to go." Anders said as he made to leave.

"Come back any time!" Isabela shouted after him, in a ridiculously good mood. "Maker, Fenris, he really doesn't like you."

"I don't like him." Fenris stated.

This was the first time they had seen each other since their night together, not because they didn't want to, they were just busy people. Fenris had to deal with security issues and Hawke was tracking down some elf-woman's son. It wasn't awkward seeing each other again, which both of them thanked the Maker for. They sat and played cards like they usually did, talked about this, that, and the other thing, and everything was just peachy. But, fucking Isabela...

"Happy Birthday, Hawke." She said out of nowhere.

"Oh, it's your birthday?" Varric asked.

"No."

"What do you mean, no? I'm quite certain that today most definitely is your birthday! That's why I made Fenris come! Well, technically you made Fenris come, but that's beside the point."

"My god, Isabela, do you ever shut up?"

"What? What did I say?"

And Hawke just glared at her.

And glared.

And glared.

And- "Hawke! I think you're causing her brain damage!" Varric accused.

Hawke made a noise in her throat, "Like she has a brain."

"Hey! That's not nice! You're supposed to be happy today, today is the same day I met you 7 whole years ago!"

"Fine, fine, I'm happy, can we not talk about this whole birthday business?"

"Suit yourself, I was going to pay for an extravagant night at the Rose, but no..."

Hawke just had to giggle, it was impossible for Hawke to be mad at her. "Isabela, you are such a tease."

"That's my girl." Isabela winked, "Is there anything you do want to do today?"

"I... yes. There is. I want to go and save the Viscount's son, there's quite a profit to be had."

"That's not fun!"

"Money is. Fighting is. There will undoubtedly be fighting."

"Oh fine. Are you two coming with?" Isabela asked Varric and Fenris.

"Oh yeah, wouldn't miss it." Varric said.

"Of course, you'll need a warrior, you all are so fragile."

"Now that's not nice." Hawke chimed, "We'd better get going, it's a long walk to the Coast."

"I really hate my name, you know. You and Arvaarad have such pretty names, and she doesn't even realize her name is pretty. Why couldn't I have been named something pretty?" A lanky brunette complained to Bethany.

"Your name is too pretty!" Bethany argued, "At least your name isn't Horton. Or Hagar. Yes, at least it isn't Hagar."

"Well, I supposed I do have that. But really, just listen to it, it's whiny and evil-sounding."

"Not Hagar." Arvaarad said, miming Bethany.

The lanky woman laughed, "Oh, Arvaarad, you don't say much, but when you do... That's why you're my favorite."

"Hey!" Bethany protested, "I'm right here!"

"What? She's your favorite too!" The mage girls laughed at each other, but Bethany knew that the elder of the two cared for Arvaarad in a much, much different way than she did. It was unhealthy, Arvaarad had saved her and she clung to that moment, twisting it into something it was not.

"Halt!" A shout shook Hawke from her thoughts, "You are in possession of stolen property!"

"Oh, well would you look at that, it seems as though we've walked right into an ambush." She waved at the man on his perch, "Fenris, what on earth do you think we should do?"

"We could kill them." He shrugged, slowly becoming accustomed to the way Hawke did things.

"Ah, we could." Hawke turned her focus back to their attackers, "Any objections, boys?" She called as the battle began.

When it was done with Hawke and Isabela were back-to-back several yards away while Fenris was beating information out of the man who was obviously in charge, Varric trotted over to the two rogues. "Is it just me, or was that way too easy?"

"We'll find out soon enough." Hawke said as she gestured to a slowly approaching Fenris.

"It is Hadriana." Hawke's ears twitched. "She is Danarius's apprentice." Hawke's stomach sunk. "She hounded my sleep." Hawke stepped back and looked away from him, she wasn't hearing this. "She denied me my meals and tortured me constantly. She's camped on the Coast, I cannot let her escape me again."

"Well, let's go get her then!" Varric agreed.

"Wait, Hawke, what is the matter?" Fenris questioned Hawke's behavior.

"It is nothing, we should go." Hawke denied, but a single thought rang through her head, the words of a woman she had once taken grievous injuries to save. A woman she had admired.

'I really hate my name, you know.'

A/N: DUN DUN DUN DUN. Sorry, that probably killed the mood. I hope I did a good job piecing things together though. Feedback is always welcome! I have a timeline of how things progressed in Hawke's life, and I found that in the last chapter, when Isabela says '8 years' she should have said 6. It's not that big of a detail, but I thought you should know. I replaced the chapter with a fixed version, but it did say that. If anyone is confused about how things have gone, message me and I'll send you the timeline, I'm not posting it because it seems excessive, but I have no problem handing it out. There are also a few of the Qunari words you may not know, and not want to look up, so, it's time for a vocabulary lesson!

Kost - Peace

Maaras shokra - There is nothing to struggle against

Kadan - That which is held close to the heart

Vashedan - Trash, crap, refuse

Parshaara - Enough

Panahedan - Goodbye

Karataam - A group of Qunari mages and their handlers

Asit tal-eb - It is to be

Qunoran Vehl - One who is an example to others, the Arishok calls her this because another duty of the Arvaarad is to hunt Tal-Vashoth

If you have any questions, concerns, or even suggestions, please tell me!