Very requested recently. I've been going through all your lovely reviews and collecting requests, so keep an eye out, you creative little daisies, you. :)

Do You Wanna Build a Snowman? (Frozen) – Leto & Varania

A small dark head bobbed before the big door in front of him. Leto's face was screwed up in concentration as he weighed up his options. Varania had locked herself in the dormitory again, crying and refusing to speak. Leto didn't know what to do. Mamma said she'd be alright soon, but this was the eighth time, and Mamma had bitten her nails down to the quick. Mamma only did that when she was worried.

But he was bored. All the other children were bigger than him, and didn't want to build castles out of stones. They wanted to play warriors and Magisters-and-Elvhen, and he hated fighting. He always lost. His Rainie would always build castles with him. She didn't like fighting either.

Taking a deep breath, he tapped a nut brown fist on the door.

"Rainie?" he asked, tentatively. "Do you wanna build a castle? Come on, let's go and play! I never see you anymore, come out the door, it's like you've gone away!" He slid down to sit on the sandy floor, drawing circles in the grains with his finger. "We used to be best buddies," he sighed, "and now we're not – I wish you would tell me why…" He stood, peeping through the keyhole. "Do you wanna build a castle? It doesn't have to be a castle," he repeated, imploringly.

Varania's voice came muffled through the wood. "Go away, Leto," it commanded, roughly. She'd been crying again.

Leto stepped back, his head hanging low. "Okay," he muttered, "bye..."

As he sloped off, Varania breathed a sigh of relief from behind the door as the light at her fingers extinguished. She was a slave. This wasn't supposed to be happening. She buried her face in her hands.

The same dark head wavered before the same tall door. Leto was taller now, skinnier, but the eyes – dark green, like the herbs Mamma used in the kitchens – they were the same. It had been six years since Rainie had first started hiding, and he still didn't know why. When she wasn't avoiding him, she'd been put to work in the sculleries, scrubbing at Master's robes to lift the bloodstains. Today was her one day away from the sink in a moth, and Leto was determined to see her. He lifted a scrawny fist and rapped on the dormitory door.

"Do you wanna build a castle?" he giggled, half excited, half nervous. "Or chase each other round the halls? I think some company is overdue," he admitted, raising an eyebrow. "I've started talking to the statues on the walls!"

He began to pace before the door. "It gets a little lonely, out there in the fields, where I'm left to lift stones alone…"

Nothing. Leto sighed, and shuffled away. Maybe he'd go and play warriors with the other boys.

Master had been having a party that day; Leto did not know that a guest had taken a shine to the young, slender redheaded elf from the scullery.

Years had gone by. Leto was taller still, his shoulders broad, his arms bulked with muscle. Working in the fields had built him that way, but something in the way he moved, like a cat stalking its prey on silent feet – that was the weapons master's doing. Varania knew he'd been training since he discovered her role in Master's party all those years ago. It saddened her.

She sat in the women's dormitory – no children's room any more – with her back to the door, remembering the time when she first discovered her magic, when she'd hidden herself from her little brother in terror of him finding out and telling. A tear slid down her cheek as she thought of all the time she'd lost with him. When today could be his last.

The other side of the door, Leto stood, head bowed, long lean fingers dancing on the hilt of an old, chipped greatsword. It was less than an hour until the tournament started. The tournament that would take him away from his Master, that would give him and Varania and Mother a better life. He would serve the great Magister Danarius, and Rainie and Mother would be free to live in the city, like noblewomen. He would buy them silk and diamonds, and they'd be happy.

He could do this for them, but Varania still didn't want to see him.

"Rainie, please," he whispered through the wood, "I know you're in there... You know I haven't got much time…They say have courage, and I'm trying to, I'm doing this for you, just let me try…"

Varania stifled a sob behind the door. She didn't want him to do this. She'd told him not to do this. He was naïve, she said, the same bright-eyed optimism he'd always had clouding his judgement. She didn't want him to get hurt, she didn't want him to work for a strange master, she didn't want to live in the city

"I know I'll make it better," Leto sighed, "for you and Mother, this is something I have to do…" He closed his eyes, his grip on the sword tightening. "Do you wanna build a castle?" he murmured, his voice catching on the tears he fought to keep down.

Varania sobbed silently behind the door. She didn't know when he left. She didn't want to.

When Leto's hand was lifted into the air triumphantly by the Overseer, Varania looked over to Danarius. She knew that in that calculating smile was the end of all she'd known.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

I'm not crying, I have Fenris' backstory in my eye.

Sakura Lisel asked for this song to be done with the Hawke siblings, but I wanted to branch out a bit more in regard to characters and stories, and I thought these two might work nicely. Fenris annoys me no end in the game, but his backstory is one of the most tragic.

(kris-dragon – Both on the planned list, should be up soon!)

(PoisonHarley/Guest – sure can do, glad you liked. I don't like stacking the same movie together, so it'll be up in a bit!)

Up Next: There's opportunity in Kirkwall, and Varric knows it.