Chapter seven
A bird of prey
After this one I promise you Fenris will be here!
Big thanks to my Beta, Enchantm3nt as always for reading through and helping me become a better writer!
Hawke walked into her uncle's hovel in the early hours of the morning, she had been up all day and sleep had eluded her as always. It was becoming a recurring thing for her these days, she thought, as she unbuckled her leather armour. On the other side of the room, her brother laid face first on his bed his mouth wide open and a substantial amount of drool coming from his mouth. She rolled her eyes.
And he wonders why he can't get laid?
She looked at the sun coming from the clouds and realised that it would be nearly time to wake up anyway, rendering sleeping pointless. Instead she opened her coffer box and counted the gold they had collected for the expedition. There were about seventeen sovereigns, she counted quickly. Maker, if she left the box open for too long her uncle would be able to smell the money and ransack it like he did to the girls at the Blooming Rose.
She thought about the past week's events, and the new "friends" she had made. The pirate Isabela seemed to be fun to be around, although she danced around the subject of the relic enough to make Hawke aware that there was something to the relic that was deeper than she let it on to be. She was however constantly in the mood for sex, and always trying to throw her clothes off. But she was wild and free and being with her made Hawke feel that maybe she could be wild and free too. It was nice to finally have a friend that was a girl, as much as she loved Aveline she was manlier than most of the guard put together.
The mage Anders seemed pained and haunted; she had felt sorry for him when he explained the story of how he and Justice had come to be. She thought he would be useful as they had no other mages apart from herself and she had deserted her staff years ago. Anders was an exceptional healer and a Warden, two things she needed desperately for the Deep Roads, plus he looked like he could do with a friend, he looks so sad and lonely.
She enjoyed both the pirate and the healer's company; both were easy to get along with. Carver, however, had objected to Anders right away, pleading that she just leave him and his spirit to their own problems. She knew that her brother was scared for her safety rather than his own; he had sworn to protect her since the day it happened. She winced, shaking off the memory before it surfaced again.
She walked towards the basin, cleansing her skin in cool water to keep her awake and washing the grime from yesterday's activities. She brushed her hair and tied it up into a neat bun, and started to put her armour on once again. Whilst she got dressed she heard the stirrings of her mother who always liked to be up before her children to make sure that she was able to cook them breakfast, she worried about them if they hadn't eaten properly. A good hearty breakfast was apparently a must before they left for their "work" as mother called it, even though she knew full well what they did during their days and some nights. Their mother had even met Isabela and had called the pirate a little firecracker, claiming that Isabela reminded her of her younger self, much to Hawke and Carver's horror.
Leandra had not yet met Anders, and Hawke did not want her to, just yet. The mage was normal enough at first glance but what she had experienced with him in the Chantry would haunt her forever. She had felt the burn of the fade calling her like a beacon, something she thought she had abandoned many years ago. Justice's wrath had scared the hell out of her, and yet a small part of her wished that someone like that was there to save her on that terrible night.
No, don't you dare think of that night.
And yet despite his flaws she found Anders' company enjoyable once she looked past Justice. He had a kind nature and she pitied him. But she did not trust men. She laughed at that thought, making Carver stir in his bed. Well, apart from Carver.
"Aria, are you up?" her mother whispered through the crack of the door.
"Yes mother, I was just about to ask you the same actually," Hawke replied, walking towards the door and opening it to reveal her mother standing there. Her mother's hair had begun to grey terribly in the year that they had lived in Kirkwall. She was hardly surprised; the stress that she had dealt with in the past year would have turned her hair grey, if it wasn't already white. The loss of Bethany had impacted Leandra terribly, and in her grief she had lashed out at Hawke. She didn't mind, if it helped heal her mother she would happily pass her daggers and let her mother stab her until she felt better.
"I'm just about to make breakfast, or are you already going out?" her mother asked, eyeing up her armour and daggers that she had already changed into.
"No, not yet Mother. I will be when Carver gets his lazy ass up though" she said, raising her voice slightly so that Carver could hear her.
"I'm coming, I'm bloody coming! I hate getting up this early! Az, why can't we have just one day when there's nothing to do? Maker, I never get to sleep!" Carver groaned, stepping out of the room to sit at the pitiful excuse of a table.
"Carver, you had two days off last week, and you just whinge when I tell you to go and enjoy yourself," Aria replied, coyly grinning at her brother.
"Well if you stopped making trips to the Chantry at night maybe I would be able to relax," Carver retorted back, and then cringed as his mother gasped in horror.
"Oh Maker, Aria you should not be going in that place! What if you're caught? They would chain you in the Gallows and we would never see you again!" her mother exclaimed, as she started to stir the pot that was on the stove.
"Do not worry yourself, Mother, I will not let that happen," Carver attempted to reassure their mother who just nodded in acknowledgement.
She looked at her mother as she continued to stir the pot, she could tell she was worried and stressed. Life had not been good for her mother lately and she mentally promised that when she came back from the expedition with a horde of treasure she would give it all to her mother and they would buy back the Amell estate. She would no longer have to live in this hovel of a place.
Leandra bowled out the porridge she had made into three bowls, placing them all down on the table and sat down. They ate in comfortable silence for a moment, before her mother broke it.
"So, Isabela tells me that you have an admirer, Aria," her mother said, smiling.
"Oh, I hadn't noticed if I do have one," she replied puzzled at this new knowledge.
"Yes, she said an apostate named Anders has expressed an interest in you," her mother continued but before she could say anything more Aria raised her hand in objection to the conversation.
"Now that is just Isabela assuming, it appears to be one of her traits. Me and Anders are work colleagues and nothing more," Aria replied disgruntled whilst her brother snorted into his porridge.
"I thought so when she told me, but I remembered that we Amell women have a thing for apostates," her mother chuckled, putting a spoonful of porridge in her mouth.
Aria did not reply to this, she didn't want to start a rant or argument about how she did not want a relationship or even think about such a thing. Mother and Carver were her priority and as soon as they restored their noble stature she would not have to hide herself as much. As soon as she had fixed their predicament, she would then try and fix herself.
She stood up as soon as she finished and hugged her mother goodbye, rolling her eyes and her mother hugged her tighter telling her to be safe.
"I'll be at the Hanged Man, Brother," she said before left the hovel they lived in and stepped out into the sunlight. She loved it when the sun dawned; it meant a brand new day had begun.
She lingered for a second and made her journey to the Hanged Man.