Disclaimer: I own nothing, I make no money.

Author's note: So I know that it's been a little while for them to still be at Haven and not even gotten to Skyhold yet but hey, everyone likes build-up right? Soon, my pretties. Soon.

Interlocking

Chapter Five: Dark Water

. "'Scared of water, there?' Harding scoffs and crosses her arms, her chin raised slightly. 'No.' He chuckles beside her." – Krem and Harding find each other in a world torn apart. A story told in brief glimpses.

The air is cool and crisp when Harding steps out of her tent in the middle of the night. Used to short sleeping hours and knowing her watch started shortly anyway, she had emerged from her tent in her full leather armor. She is adjusting the strap along her shoulder guard when she catches sight of a figure down on the beach of the Storm Coast. They are far enough away for her not to recognize them, but close enough to gauge that the figure is human. They sit in the sand, just on the edge of the water as waves slosh slowly and gently against the beach.

There are torch posts and a half guard patrolling the camp, the Chargers asleep in their tents, so she figures it can't be an enemy. She has time before her watch. She strolls down the bank and realizes as she gets closer that it is Krem. He sits with his knees pulled up, his arms resting atop them, and his shin guards and boots are removed, lying in the sand next to him. His bare feet touch the edge of the water as it pools close to where he sits. He hears her approach and looks up to find her silhouetted in moonlight.

He smiles softly. "Harding," he greets.

She stops just beside him and leans her weight on one leg, her hand coming up to her hip. "Darkspawn wore you out, Krem?"

He smirks, remembering the pockets of darkspawn crawling from the recently opened caves along the Coast. Harding and her scouts had reported the sightings on their routine search along the coast. The request for troops to clear the creatures had been sent to the war table and Bull had suggested the Chargers for the operation to Cullen, seeing as the Inquisitor was off in the Forbidden Oasis and the threat needed immediate attention.

Bull and his Chargers had made the trek shortly after and spent the day clearing the creatures from the Sword Coast caves. They decided to stay the night at camp before returning to Haven the following morning. Everyone was anxious for the Inquisitor to return and seal the breach.

Krem turns to watch the shimmering ocean before them. "It'll take more than a few of those beasties to put down a Charger." There is the smallest hint of pride lacing his tone. And Harding finds that she enjoys how he always includes the band in his speech. How his own personal situation is only a reflection of the Chargers. How he is always proud of it, always belonging to it. Always more than just the life he leads.

She turns her gaze to the dark water as well and then takes a slight step back, a quiet wary breath along her lips, when she catches sight of a small wave rolling toward their position on the beach. It is barely enough to wet Krem's feet by the time it crashes softly along the shore and he is looking at her, amused. "Scared of water, there?"

Harding scoffs and crosses her arms, her chin raised slightly. "No." Her protest is just adamant enough for Krem not to believe her.

He chuckles beside her.

She grumbles under her breath and looks to the sand at her feet, where her boot flicks a pebble into the water. "It's just…I'd never seen the sea before we surveyed the Coast here." She watches the lightly moving water. "I mean, sure we had the lake back in Redcliffe but this…this is just so…endless. It's still strange to me I guess." She turns her gaze to Krem in the sand next to her.

There is warmth in his eyes. "It's calm now. Though I've always found it more beautiful when it is crashing and storming and wild." He digs his toes into the wet sand and watches the water.

"But it's more dangerous then, right?"

"That's what makes it beautiful." He does not move his gaze from the sea when he speaks.

Harding considers it momentarily, tries to find a horizon past the water but there is nothing except the bleeding of grey and blue, where she cannot tell the sea from the sky. "I guess it is rather majestic."

"It's free," he muses quietly.

Harding blinks at him, uncrossing her arms. She turns at the call of her name from the camp. She finds Scout Brennan waving at her. Harding sighs and looks at Krem, who had turned his gaze on her in question.

She shrugs. "My watch. No rest for the wicked, huh?"

A smile tugs at his lips. "Well, I certainly feel safer knowing you're on duty."

She snorts as she moves to step away. "Like you need protecting."

Krem shrugs and smiles. "You never know. I might need you to come rescue me one of these days."

"Ha!" she barks. "I look forward to it. Night, Krem." She walks back up the beach.

"Night, Harding," he answers in whisper to the silent sea before him.