He had arrived a little later than she had said to come to the Hanged Man. He hated the place. It served horrible liquor and smelled like vomit but nobody else seemed to mind. He preferred vintage wines to the piss of an ale they served here. He saw their party soon enough, and an odd party it made. She surrounded herself with every kind of character there was. A boisterous dwarf, a shy elf, two apostates, and the captain of the city guard and a pirate. What kind of woman could keep them all in balance?

She was laughing as she kept drink to drink with dwarf. They were taking shots of something. She glanced over at the doorway and saw him to stand up and raise her glass that Varric filled quickly.

"Here he is! My savior!" He could tell she was drunk. Her face was slightly flushed and she seemed much more talkative than in the streets or the night before. She wasn't the leader here, she was part of the group at the second. "Come sit down!" There was a seat next to her, he had guessed she saved it to keep him from feeling awkward as the new comer to the party. The one apostate was glaring at him,, the filthy mage should keep his eyes to himself. He didn't quite understand the man's hatred at all but he saw it flare as she put her arm around his shoulder. He tensed, not liking someone that close to him.

"This is Fenris everyone…" She proceeded to introduce him to everyone then. They all smiled politely or shook his hand and he accepted them all, even the mages with a noticeable disdain. He hated these vipers she kept around her, they would turn on her at any second. He knew how mages were. "Now a toast to Fenris, our newest companion! To many easy battles and lots of coin!"

She clinked the glass that had appeared before him to hers and then swallowed her shot quickly. He had wondered how many she had had. They were all laughing and joking throughout the next couple of hours, and he felt at ease in this party even if there were mages. They were seated far away from him… he had wondered if she had set up the seating arrangements on purpose. He noticed Anders sat furthest from her, next to her sister. He had seen the way Anders had pined after Hawke all night, and the looks he gave him for being so close. It was obvious that he wanted Hawke, and obviously Hawke realized that by keeping him away from her. He smirked to himself as he drank with them at this realization.

He was feeling slightly tipsy as the dwarf was pulling tales from Hawke, asking her about her past.

"Is this going into that memoire you're writing about me? The Great Midadventures of Hawke!" She laughed. "No one wants to hear about my past, and anyways Bethany is here to take all the regality out of my tales."

"Sister! You do paint me so horrible!"

"Well come on, Bethany… like you don't like to burst my bubble."

"I only keep you in check."

Bethany was laugh and Hawke was smiling at her. It must be nice to have such a family. He spoke up though. "I would like to hear about how you came upon Kirkwall.."

They all agreed prodding at her until she caved in.

"Where do I start… Bethany won't like any of this I assure you." She raised her hands in a defensive gesture as her sister looked at her. "My father wanted me to train to be a mage like Bethany… but I had no interest in magic.."

"Rather she was bad at it. She got frustrated and refused to do anymore training."

She sneered at her sister before continuing. Would he have liked her if she had chosen to be a mage? He couldn't quite tell. He was drawn to her like all the rest of them. "ANYWHO… I told my father that I was going to explore to find out what I truly wanted to do… My mother nearly had a fit over it, she said that it was unbecoming of a lady to go exploring on her own… but I had quite the mouth on me if you can't believe that… and I told her that I would be leaving whether she wanted me to or not.." She sipped at her drink before continuing. "She still gets mad at me for leaving… and Bethany is still angry over it too."

"Well you left for three years! You left me with Carver and all he did was pick on me."

Varric was scribbling in some journal sloppily as she talked. "Do continue, Hawke."

"Well, I left… and it wasn't a week before I got lost. I was going to go to Denerium and visit the Chantry… see if I was meant to be a Templar or something silly like that…I guess it wasn't in my cards. The forest was dense and I almost quit and turned back but I couldn't figure out which way was back. I happened upon werewolves I shit you not… werewolves. They were big and ferocious and I was a little more than scared. I felt so stupid for leaving home to just be eaten so I ran. They were quicker than me, sure. I couldn't run for long but I ran to the high ground. It gave me enough of an advantage that I was able to slay them, well… two of them. The others backed off and disappeared into the forest. "

She seemed to be getting bored of her story as she rested her head on her one hand. "So I was in the middle of a werewolf infested forest with two dead werewolves at my feet and Maker knows how many others around me… I heard footsteps and I almost died from fear but when I turned around it was some Dalish hunters behind me. They had seen everything I did, and they respected me for it. They said for my age it was amazing the wolves didn't eat me… Their clan had been dying because of the werewolves… something about being infected by them…a curse." She yawned. "So I stayed with them for three years much to my sister's dismay, and I came to lead one of their hunting parties."

The young elf, Merrill seemed to perk at this as he did. "You lived with the Dalish, Hawke! Why didn't you ever say anything? I always wondered how you knew how to converse with the first so well."

She shrugged, "I never think it anything special… I was one piece of a whole with them. You don't feel unique in the Dalish clans… you know that, Merrill… and I don't think the Dalish want to talk about how a human had been accepted into their fold. I fixed the werewolf problem with them, some were sentient… and they had been attacking the wrong tribe much to their dismay. All they wanted was revenge, and I wasn't about to waste more of my people in a futile war with wolves…. Ma emma harel."

"You should fear me?" Hawke laughed at Fenris' translation.

"Yes… I said that to the werewolves and then we fought and they ran off . I lost too many people to be proud of what I did… So I cut my hair and left them. Sometimes I wish I had stayed."She finished her glass. "After that I went home. When I heard of a Blight spreading, Carver and I joined the King's Army and fought at Ostagar. I dragged him away from the fight as we were overrun… and only one of us made it to Kirkwall." He saw her face darken, and Aveline look down at the table at her last statement. It seems Aveline had been with her longer than he suspected.

She pushed her glass away from her. "But that is a tale for another time." She gave a weak smile. "I think it's time we went home Bethany. Mother will be displeased if I come back too hung." She laughed at her pun to stand up and back away from the table. "Goodnight everyone." She touched his shoulder lightly, barely even touching before she patted Varric on the back. She hugged Merril and Aveline goodbye before walking past Anders and linking arms with her sister to walk out.

The party soon died without her there. The pirate kept making advances on him but he shunned her away. The dwarf had come up with a nickname for him, broody he said. It fit he guessed. He had chuckled at that before getting up and leaving. He didn't like being around that Anders fellow, and he didn't like the way he seemed jealous of him. Jealous that he sat next to Hawke? What was this guy's problem or was he missing something?