"You have two fractures and one displaced rib fracture." Anders finally said.
Nero frowned, "what? That's not bad, right?"
"Andraste's tits, Nero! You're lucky your broken rib didn't puncture a lung or lacerated your spleen, liver or kidney. You could have collapsed a lung or died from internal blood loss, or gotten peritonitis and could have died from that." Anders exclaimed, searching through his pack for a mana potion.
Nero wasn't surprised, he certainly felt like he was dying.
Anders sighed, "at least it's still attached to the muscle, if it wasn't..."
"I don't want to know, just...fix it, please?" Nero begged.
After running into Varric in the market Isabela was taken to where Hawke, Anders, and Aveline were eating quickly. She was shocked by how exhausted they looked, and Varric explained that they had been on their feet for two days. Luckily they appeared to have been following the storm and weren't caught up in it. But they were still muddy, sore and tired.
She lead them back to the Inn that Fenris and Nero were staying at, and lead Anders upstairs where he set about healing Nero while sending the rest of them out. They were now sitting at a table downstairs, waiting for news.
Isabela spun a knife in her hand nervously, nobody had mentioned anything about the Qunari yet, despite some very questionable looks shot towards Hawke. He seemed to be waiting for something, and she was growing impatient as to when he would spring it on her. She also wanted to ask him for help with Castillon, but needed to gauge how angry he was at her first.
She took the opportunity when he rose and said he should probably book them a few rooms. Now that the storm was over most of the rooms were vacant again, he even offered to get Fenris his own room. It took some convincing on his part, but eventually the elf agreed, but only if Fenris could pay him back.
Hawke stood at the bar, waiting for the bartender to hand him the keys to the separate rooms when Isabela sidled up next to him.
"How have you been?" Hawke asked her.
"I'm fine."
He nodded and accepted the keys from the Bartender. He turned to leave but she put a hand on his arm to stop him.
"Remember what you said after the mess with the Qunari?" she asked.
"I'm proud of you for doing the right thing."
"It may have been the right thing, but it was also the dumb thing. The relic was mine. I should've kept running."
"I couldn't have saved Kirkwall without you." he said.
"Bullshit. You could have stormed the keep and slaughtered all those Qunari without me. The others were there too. Look at Aveline, she's a woman shaped battering ram. The fact is, you and I have nothing in common anymore. You're a champion and I'm just a lying, thieving snake." What are you saying, Isabela? she chided herself, your supposed to be buttering him up so that he helps you go after Castillon, not telling him how terrible you are. Idiot.
"Whatever you think you are, I still care about you. It must have been hard to give up the relic, and I appreciate it. Whatever comes, you have my support."
What a stupid, stupid man, she thought.
"Well, perhaps it's time to stop hiding. And I do miss the trouble we used to get in to." she said.
"You never said why you came back." Hawke told her.
"Castillon is in Kirkwall, I intend to deal with him. I was kind of hoping that you could help..."
"I"m so tired right now that the idea of helping anybody ever again makes me want to puke, but I probably will. Ask me again tomorrow, I'm going to go get some sleep."
...
By the time Anders came out of Nero's room the only person left waiting was Fenris. Isabela had gone out, for some reason or another and the rest of them were sleeping. Despite his hatred for the man, Fenris couldn't help but notice that Anders looked like he was going to pass out, even as he approached him.
"He's sleeping now, but he'll be fine." Anders told him.
Fenris nodded but did not reply, unsure if he wanted to go wait in Nero's room for him to wake up, or if he wanted to go to his own room to sleep. He hadn't been sleeping well since he left with Denarius, too anxious and nervous, and he was quite tired himself.
He was just about to get up when Anders spoke again.
"Do you still support the Knight-Commander?" He asked suddenly.
Fenris sighed, "I don't care a fig for her. But she's the only one holding back the madness in that city."
"Holding back? She's howling at the bloody moon!" Anders chuckled, although he turned serious again very quickly, "even her own people think she's lost it. What will it take for you to see that she's crazy?
"Mages in glass houses shouldn't throw fireballs." Fenris scowled at him.
"But by now, you must see what an injustice the templars are." Anders insisted
"Must I? I see templars trying to control what they have good reason to fear."
"But they go too far."
"Talk to Hawke about his mother. Ask him who went 'too far.'" he said angrily, growing weary of the conversation. He would never be able to talk to this mage without wanted to wring his neck.
"You can't hold all mages responsible for that!"
"It doesn't take all mages to cause this. Only the weak ones."
"Not all mages are weak." Anders said firmly
Fenris nodded, "Bethany, for instance, is not weak."
Anders frowned, "you specifically don't mention me."
Fenris gave him a mocking smile as he stood, "that's also true."
"I'll prove to you that I'm not weak" Anders told him.
"Prove it to yourself. You're convincing no one else."
As Fenris ascended the stairs Anders stood from his chair as well, muttering, "I'll never know what Nero sees in that elf."
Fenris shook his head but didn't say anything, chances were that Anders didn't think that he had heard him anyway. He headed to Nero's room and opened the door, closing it quietly behind him. Nero was sleeping so deeply that he was snoring and Fenris chuckled. Nero rarely ever snored, the only times he had heard him snore before was when they had been up most of the night...entertaining...each other.
Nero had stripped down to a sleeveless undershirt and his pants, he lay on his stomach, which made it all the more surprising that he was snoring. Fenris watched him for several minutes before he pulled the blanket up and let his fingers trace the outline of what little was left of his tattoo. When he had been taken all those years ago they had basically beat the thing off of him. One less thing a magister could Identify him with, Fenris figured.
He wanted to slip into the bed with Nero, but was unsure how it would play out when they both woke up. He shook his head and headed to his own room, it was only when he laid down to go to sleep himself that he realized that there had been a tension in his shoulders that was gone now.
...
When Fenris woke up it was late in the day, he was disappointed to learn that Nero had been up and eaten a couple of hours earlier, but he was back in bed already. With a shrug he sat down next to Varric, Hawke pushed him over a plate of food, explaining that he had bought them all supper, even though nobody was there. He tried to refuse, but Hawke gave him the eye, an expression he got when he was going to hurt somebody if they didn't do what he wanted them to. He scowled but ate his dinner.
"Varric," Hawke began, "I've heard... stories of a personal nature being spread around town."
The dwarf chuckled, "you're the Champion of Kirkwall. People pay attention to everything you do. And everyone." He paused thoughtfully, before adding, "If you want your private life to stay, uh, private, maybe don't sleep with half of Kirkwall."
"I haven't slept with half of Kirkwall, I haven't slept with anyone in ages!" Hawke exclaimed.
Isabela and Aveline opened the door to the Inn just before Hawke had spoken and Isabela smirked as she walked over to him and sat on his lap. "That's a shame, champion. Would you like to rectify this situation?"
Hawke eyed the breasts in front of his face appreciatively before smiling at her and saying, "maybe...but later."
Isabela raised an eyebrow in surprise, "really? But I thought you didn't like fe-"
"Later." He scowled at her.
She sighed and got up out of his lap to sit in a chair beside him, pulling a plate of food to herself. Aveline sank into a chair next to Fenris and did the same.
Suddenly Hawke grinned evilly, "I heard you're being fixed up with one of the Helmi daughters." he said to Varric.
Varric sighed, "thanks Hawke. I've been trying to forget about that all week."
"So... not love at first sight?"
"Dusana Helmi is easy on the eyes. Also, she's tried to kill me five times this year."
Hawke laughed, "did she try again during the date?"
"She waited until I paid for dinner. She's in the Merchant's Guild, Hawke."
"So, you're not going to see her again?"
"No. And I might stay out of town for a while just to make sure." Varric grumbled.
"Being the most eligible bachelor in the Merchant Guild is perilous indeed." Hawke mocked.
"I'm going to need more aliases." Varric frowned.
"Speaking of leaving town..." Aveline said, "it turns out that the Tevinter ship has been abandoned, as far as the townspeople know all the people on it were killed."
Fenris furrowed his brow, "how do you know?"
"They went out to find out what they could about the situation. We figured people would be more willing to talk to one of them, as opposed to us." Varric explained.
"Its the bosom, isn't it Varric." Isabela smirked.
"Of course." He smiled.
"There was also a carriage and several horses bought from somebody, there was this big argument in a bar deeper in town because apparently one guy sold this carriage when it wasn't actually his, it was quite entertaining." Isabela smiled.
"Do you think..." Fenris said thoughtfully.
"I try not to. But yes I do, I asked if they could describe who bought it and they described an old man with a staff and robes with a bunch of heavily armed guards. I think I saw the same guy a couple of days ago, after I ran into you here." She told the elf.
Fenris frowned, confused, had Denarius really given up so easily? It seemed too far-fetched to be true. He voiced his opinion and received a curt nod from Aveline, who agreed.
"We should still lay low for a few more days, I think, and keep an eye out for him. He might still be here."
"If only I had a spy network here, why couldn't the ship have stayed in Kirkwall?" Varric grumbled.
Fenris chuckled, "I'm a known acquaintance of the Champion, Denarius isn't an idiot."
"Are you sure?" Hawke asked, "He clearly didn't take into account that Nero would storm after him for taking you."
Fenris frowned and leaned back in his chair, a slight blush creeping up his neck. He heard Hawke chuckle, but thankfully the man turned to Aveline and started up a conversation with her. Isabela looked like she was going to say something about his blush but Varric shushed her, she frowned, but obeyed.
After several minutes of brooding Fenris turned to Varric and said, "so, Varric, this 'spy network' of yours..."
Varric chuckled, "oh, this I have to hear."
"You don't have one, do you? You make it all up."
"Could be. That, or I have an army of elven urchins, and they're all watching."
Fenris smirked, "you are a strange, hairy little man."
"And you, elf, are one lucky son-of-a-bitch."
"What do you mean"
Varric gave him a knowing look, "you now what I mean."
Fenris sighed tiredly, "is this about the diamondback game? Again?"
"I've never seen anyone bluff like that in my life! I was sure you had a hand full of nothing."
"So was I. " Fenris chuckled, "you're the one who pointed out I had four serpents."
"See? Luckiest bastard I've ever seen. "