Here we are with chapter 3! I promised some new character points of view so here they are. I hope you enjoy.

I do not own Dragon Age, BioWare does, only characters I own are Johnathan and Lyna, yada, yada, ya.

Chapter 3: A Hawke in the Dark

"Nice place, Skyhold. Could use a good dusting, but nice." Marian Hawke stifled a grin as her Dalish companion got up on her toes to better see a tapestry hanging on the wall.

"Honestly Merrill, I should buy you a portable stepladder when we go to places taller than you."

"But that's most everywhere we go. And you said you like that I'm smaller than you! Makes you feel more important when we-"

"Yes. That's true." Hawke fought the urge to cover her now reddening face with her hands. "I thought Mari would be down here by now. Or that we would at least be greeted by Cullen or Josephine."

"Perhaps they're busy." Merrill said, inspecting a vase of tulips on a side table. "They should water these more."

"Perhaps you should work here as a gardener, dear." chuckled Hawke, going behind Merrill for a hug. "But then I would miss your face around Kirkwall too much." Merrill, however didn't embrace Hawke's arms as she normally did when Hawke hugged her like this. Hawke turned Merrill around to face her. "Merrill, darling, what's wrong?"

"Ma vhenan…why are we here, really? I know you talked about coming back to see Mari, but this is something different, I can tell."

Hawke sighed and looked Merrill straight in the face. "You know Bethany and her fiancée are in trouble, and Mari can help them."

"But when you heard about Bethany's engagement, you pitched a candelabra and three vases at the door and refused to speak to her for three months."

"Well, that I got over it, didn't I? Besides, this concerns more than just Bethany and her possibly poor marriage choices. King Alistair and Queen Elissa have gone, and that means that something has gone terribly wrong." Merrill didn't reply and simply looked at the fancy stone floor. "As soon as all of this is over, I'll bring you home to Hightown and make those sugar violets you love."

"You promise?"

"I promise." Hawke kissed Merrill on her cheek, but Merrill pulled Hawke in, touching her soft lips to Hawke's own. Hawke ran her hands through the elf's soft black hair, and kissed her more deeply.

"Eh-hem."

At the sudden interruption, both Hawke and Merrill flew apart, to find Bethany, Mari and Cullen staring. Hawke could see that both Mari and Cullen were trying to fight back tears of laughter.

"It's alright, Hawke. Your sister caught Cullen and I like that not fifteen minutes ago." giggled Mari. "It's good to see you again. Same to you, Merrill."

"Thank you, Inquisitor." Hawke could practically feel the blood pumping in her cheeks, but she pushed away the embarrassment. "Shall we…proceed to the war room, or something?"

"An excellent idea." interjected Cullen, who very clearly wanted to move on from the awkwardness that had just ensued.

"-so this is the first we have heard of such an occurrence as this." finished Leliana. She and Josephine had joined Hawke, Bethany, Cullen and Mari in the war room, along with a dark-haired and very pale man who introduced himself as Johnathan De'Launcy. Leliana had gathered a much information as she could from Dagna about magic, and had compiled a "small" pile of about 300 papers into the war room. Most of these papers included stories of raw lyrium sickness and the formation of abominations, which had Cullen leaving the room several times. Mari rubbed her eyes; it had been all too easy to fall asleep during that presentation, but she had fought to keep her eyes open. The last person who had fallen asleep during one of Leliana's meetings was a visiting scribe from Tevinter, and he had disappeared for a few and came back very hollow-faced, refusing to speak of his experiances.

"So all of this applies to human mages, or do elves have differences in these happenings?" asked Mari.

"Dagna made it seem that these applied to every living being, except for dwarves. But I could ask my elven informant about this." responded Leliana, who made a motion to Josephine. Josephine immediately began writing a letter on her clipboard.

"Wait, if you have an elven informant with knowledge on this, how come she isn't here?" inquired Cullen, who had crept in to see if Leliana had finished with abomination stories.

"Thank you for pleasing us with your presence at last, Commander." said Leliana with a very piercing look of disapproval. Cullen sat down and proceeded to knock over a goblet of wine onto the table, which sent everyone but Leliana up in sniggers. "If you are quite finished, Commander." Cullen avoided her gaze, and Leliana gave him a small smile. "Very well then. The reason my informant is not here is because she is off securing information on... a matter of her own, and she is too busy to help us at the moment. However, she still may be of some assistance to us later. Now, Inquisitor, what is our plan of action?"

Mari stood up from the war table. "Right. Leliana, send your informant information on our current standing in this issue I also want information on the last whereabouts of King Alistair and Queen Elissa. In two days, we leave to the last and closest marked Circle, which appears to be Lake Calenhad, to search for evidence, whether it be magical or not. We also search for the King and Queen. Any questions?"

No one spoke, so the war table meeting was dismissed. Cullen left first, practically running from the room and from Leliana's fiery gaze. As she left the room, Mari saw Hawke disappear into the shadows of the hall.

"I hope she finds her room alright." Mari said under her breath, and as she turned the corner into her chamber, she found herself in the embrace of a very furry coat.

"Shouldn't you worry about you being in our room, my dear?" asked Cullen, who had somehow snuck around her and into Mari's path. Mari stared at him, as he took off the coat, revealing Cullen in nothing but his smalls

"Of course I worry about such things, Commander," whimpered Mari, her voice full of lust-filled longing. "I've thought of little else for the past hour. But I don't wish to find Merrill and Hawke embraced and half-naked on our dining table tomorrow morning."

"Don't worry about that, Madam Inquisitor," whispered Cullen, as he took off each part Mari's clothes and pulled her into bed with him. "We'll just get Varric to move them. But don't think about them right now. Just relax…" Mari lay against him, receiving every kiss he gave and falling deeper and deeper into oblivion.

And here we are at the end of chapter 3 . Things are about to get verrrry interesting, as we venture across Thedas searching for the answers our lovely Inquisitor needs. Will Alistair and Elissa be found? Will Varric be subjected to a half-naked Hawke on a dining table? (well maybe, I would kill to see the look on his face) We shall have to wait and see :)