Chapter seventeen- Aveline
So, seventeen chapters! Never thought I'd get this far!
Debating whether to add Sebastian to the fic… I think I will, he's so shiny and pretty. :}
Even though I have a hectic work/personal schedule, I've been making sure I have time to write! Mainly because I love writing this and I have a lovely beta who doesn't laugh at all my terrible spelling mistakes and everything else! Enchanm3nt, I know I say thank you at every chapter but thank you for not complaining about how much I overwork you!
As always, Bioware ownownown the characters etc, I just mess about with them and make my own stuff up about them.
Thank you for your reviews, and follows. :}
One year. The anniversary of her joining the guard. She could hardly believe it herself but there it was. So much had happened in just over a year. The Blight. The betrayal at Ostagar. Wesley's death… her meeting Hawke. Getting to Kirkwall. Working in Kirkwall. In the army things were always so… stable, even in war, she fought, and she kept on fighting, that is what she was best at. To have so much change in such a short space of time was strange to her. But she liked the guard. Liked the routine. That didn't mean she didn't still enjoy Hawke's company, though, she had a knack for finding trouble and excitement, of which the guard seriously lacked most days. Not that she wanted anything bad to happen just to give her something to do… but sitting on her hands all day was so dull. At least now that she was going to be Captain she could do some good, make changes…
It did mean she would likely have less chance to spend time with Hawke, however. She watched the secret mage from where she sat in the Hanged Man, watching her with a slightly sad expression. She would miss this, just being able to relax with a drink in the evenings, she had no doubts that most of her evenings onwards would be filled with paper work.
She considered Hawke a good friend, perhaps her best friend, seeing as she had so few. She would never forget the day that she met Hawke, outside the burning remains of Lothering with the darkspawn all around them. It look almost comical how the Hawkes had come running down the hill: the apostate, the rogue and the warrior, their mother and a massive hound, all charging into the fray to save the soldier and the Templar. Aveline had known right away that Hawke would not be someone she wanted to cross swords with, and so she had backed down, had managed to make her husband back down after he accused her of also being an apostate as well as Bethany; Hawke had admitted it, casual as you like, such fierce determination in her eyes, an emotion Aveline knew well, for it had been one she had worn for years too.
In the short hours after their meeting, Aveline had been surprised by Hawke, mostly because she had her sister to compare her to. Hawke didn't use magic, Bethany did, and quite effectively too. Hawke wore armour, Bethany robes. Hawke used two daggers, Bethany a staff. One sister had almost white hair, the other coal black. Opposites in almost every way, except they had the same noses, if it weren't for that, you'd never would have believed them to be sisters.
Watching the younger sister die had been… heart-wrenching. No mother should have to watch her child die, worse still, they had not been able to give the girl or Wesley any kind of pyre with the horde closing in on them. Aveline had watched the mother Hawke crying over her child, begging for her to come back to her, telling her living children it was their fault she was gone. Hawke had stepped in front of her brother, taking the brunt of the blame, and Aveline had been too distracted by it all to even realise her own husband was dying until he collapsed to the ground. She knew she wouldn't have been able to save him even if she had noticed sooner, but it still stung that she had denied how bad things were. There had only been the next kill, the next step, the next breath as they fled, but time had stopped up on the ridge with the entire horde spread out beyond them as their loved ones died around them.
But it was those losses that had tied them together, brought them to Kirkwall. They were stronger having endured all of that, they were closer for it.
She could never repay Hawke for saving her life; if it wasn't for meeting her Aveline was sure that she would have perished alongside her husband that day. She idly stroked the shield resting against her chair, Wesley's shield. She had kept it all this time, she still wore it, used it every day; he was still with her in a way, still protecting her.
"Aveline, you're going to be nicknamed Broody Two if you continue staring at the table like that," Hawke said, pulling her out of her thoughtful reverie.
Looking around the table at all of the people Hawke had somehow managed to corral into following her, Aveline was a little dumbfounded. She was only beginning to understand how hard it was to be in charge of a large group of people; a quick glance at the bar had her staring at her guards, staying well away from their new captain. She wasn't sure how Hawke managed to lead and befriend such a varied, averse group. The troubled apostate and the naïve one, the ex-slave with a very large chip on his shoulder, the younger Hawke standing in the shadows and then blaming his sister for blocking out the sun, the dwarf who could bullshit anyone into believing he was actually an elf, and the pirate whore who'd fuck anything that so much as smiled at her. Of course Aveline knew Hawke well enough, but even that was probably not as well as she thought, the secret mages with a dozen more secrets locked away in her heart, one day those secrets would all come spilling out, and Aveline would be there to pick up the pieces for her friend.
"I am just thinking, Hawke, it is what we grown up people like to do from time to time, maybe you should try it," she said with a mock-tut, causing Hawke to smirk and then stick her tongue out.
Aveline naturally mothered Hawke; she was like the little sister she would have loved to have. Aveline was born to look after people; it was something that had been dug deep in her nature from long since she could remember.
Because of this, Aveline had been keeping a close eye on the men in Hawke's life, and the interest they seemed to be showing in Hawke. Although, it probably wasn't necessary; Hawke wasn't as oblivious as she appeared to be, she seemed to be trying to ignore Anders' advances in hopes that he'd take a hint and stop. It was the elf Aveline was more concerned about, already he seemed to be giving the ex-Warden murderous looks whenever the blond mage flirted with Hawke; it was a possessive, angry glare, one Aveline had been surprised to see on the elf's face. If it was out of simple disgust, or something more akin to jealousy, she could not say.
"Why think when you can drink, man hands?" the whore purred, pushing her breasts up as she usually did. Whenever the Rivaini woman would do that men's eyes would widen as they ogled at her. One time, Aveline had caught Anders staring and had smacked him around the head, much to the amusement of the others. Fenris' ears often turned a little pink as he tried to act like he wasn't looking, and Hawke… Hawke just laughed at the pirate's behaviour, laughing things off had always been her way of dealing with things that made her slightly uncomfortable.
Aveline didn't trust the slattern as far as she could throw her, not that she would ever try to throw the pirate; she didn't want to accidentally touch something unsavoury. She did not trust the whore, she was too hedonistic, too selfish, the complete opposite to Aveline. There had been moments where Isabela had surprised the pirate, like her freeing slaves, but for the most part the slattern was far too self-absorbed for Aveline to ever really have a care for her.
Guardsmen Donnic joined his fellows at the bar, chugging back a flagon before ordering another. She rather liked Donnic; he was a good guard, a good man. He was calm and kind… he was easy on the eyes too. But she was his Captain now, and even if she had only been a guard still, fraternization was frowned upon, or perhaps she had just told herself that so she didn't have to entertain such ideas. Wesley weighed too heavily on her mind for her to even consider another man, still, her stare lingered on him longer than a Captain or a colleague should look for, and she found her cheeks flushing a little as he let out that booming laugh of his.
It was something Hawke and her had it common, not getting romantically involved with anyone since arriving in Kirkwall. They worked hard, a rare thing for woman in this city to do. Brennan was the only other woman in the guard, something Aveline was eager to change. Even back in the army in Ferelden, when soldiers were called to stop the Blight, there had been few women.
But on a few occasions Aveline had caught Hawke watching the ex-slave, not as much as Anders, mind, but enough times that Aveline had now taken to watching Hawke and Fenris a little more closely. The night Hawke had played the lute for them, she had rushed out of the Hanged Man after Fenris, and when she came back in her cheeks were rosy but she carried on as if nothing had happened. Aveline had wanted to know what had made Hawke blush so, but of course, with Hawke being Hawke she hadn't given a thing away. It was the one thing that Aveline found aggravating about Hawke; sometimes it could take hours to get just a tiny morsel of information out of her. She certainly didn't open up easily, and it gave her an air of mystery about her that the men in the group seemed to find very attractive, as opposed to the pirate's 'heart on her sleeve' personality.
"Oh shut it slattern," Aveline snapped at the pirate whore, who had interrupted her thoughts.
"I knew you loved me, I knew it," Isabela chuckled, her intentions to antagonise Aveline quite clear. Hawke rolled her eyes at the banter, smiling slightly.
"Now, now ladies, can we not just enjoy a good night of drinking and enjoying ourselves?" Hawke shouted to them both, making some of the locals jeer with agreement.
"As you say, Hawke," Aveline nodded her head and smiled at her oldest friend.
She respected Hawke more so than most, not because Hawke was an upstanding citizen, oh far from it, but that she was working her way from the bottom just as she was, and Aveline had a feeling Hawke would make it to the top. She had a determination that radiated off of her body, spreading to her companions and making them feel it too. She was deadly and beautiful, yet she took no notice when it came to her looks, unlike Isabela who used them as a bargaining chip.
She averted her attention to Varric, who was busy explaining the game of Wicked Grace to Fenris and Merrill, Anders who was also sat with them was listening to the dwarf educate the two elves on the game, a smirk of amusement on his face. Aveline could sense that Anders was once the light of the party, but since the man had merged with a spirit unbeknownst to this world, even his smiles seemed like shadows. She didn't like how the mage looked at her friend, how she saw something more than lust in his eyes. It was as if she could almost see the spirit that he harboured looking at Hawke in a similar manner. Both Anders and Justice were curious about Hawke, she didn't know why or for what purpose but she would be keeping an eye on the mage nonetheless.
Maybe a job for the newest recruits?
Aveline was never far from work mentally, physically she was here in the tavern sipping ale and listening to Varric whilst he tried to get the elves to play his game that he often cheated at. But mentally she was sat at her office scanning through papers, even now when she was chuckling at Hawke and Isabela's banter and some of the songs the drunkards had started singing she was thinking about patrol rosters and strategy briefings and…
And Donnic's luscious locks of hair and white toothed smile…
"You know Glowy, if you stare anymore at Hawke's head, her brains might explode," Isabela drawled to Fenris, snapping Aveline out of her thoughts, thankful to the slattern that she had saved her from her inappropriate daydream.
Isabela was grinning at Fenris, choosing to mention it as Hawke had gone to order them more drinks.
"I was thinking and she came into my view," Fenris almost growled, looking extremely uncomfortable.
The conversation had grabbed the curiosity of the entire table with everyone looking between the pirate and Fenris, waiting for whatever it was to happen. The elf's agitation made Aveline cock her head slightly; she appeared to be right about him being more than a little curious about Hawke. "Oh really, and does she do this often? I'll have to tell her that she is hovering in the periphery of your broodiness," Isabela laughed, her eyebrow raised.
Fenris merely snorted into his tankard, though Aveline could see a slight pink tinge to the elf's ears. She smiled as she pulled on the last of her ale, of course the elf found Hawke attractive. However much they were the same, Hawke did not hide herself in heavy chainmail like Aveline did. Hawke wore small leather armour to help her hide in the dark, and the more and more she rejected men or and the more she closed herself away from them, the more the men seemed to become more curious. She didn't know whether Hawke did it intentionally, she didn't really care as long as Hawke was somewhat happy and didn't decide to take a leaf out of the whore's book.
Aveline turned to look where Carver was stood, chatting animatedly to one of the serving girls who was twisting her hair through her fingers and laughing at most things he was saying to her. Maker, it must be a Hawke thing. Aveline shook her head, disagreeing with her thoughts as she watched the youngest Hawke sibling glancing over to look at the small Dalish woman who sat by Varric.
Carver had lost his twin, that day they had met. And yet he did not seem as hardened by it like the eldest Hawke had been. He seemed almost free, and yet Aveline knew what it was like to hide her feelings from the world and put on a brave face every day. Maybe Carver didn't show how much the past had bled him out because he knew the world would spit him out whole if he crumbled. She knew Hawke would soon crumble without her brother; they had a mutual partnership where they would watch each other's backs, they knew each other without talking. Aveline craved that sort of relationship; she felt alone.
Hawke came back in, smiling, oblivious to what had just happened. Fenris was staring down into his tankard, a slight blush to his cheeks, whilst Anders shot glares at him, in what Aveline assumed was an attempt to ward the elf off of Hawke, considering Hawke didn't belong to Anders, or anyone, for that matter, it was an amusing sight.
"So, what did I miss?" she asked the group, but her eyes wavered towards Varric, the one who would tell her everything without a moment's hesitation.
"Isabela trying to goad broody to the point where he agrees to have sex with her, the same that's been happening the past week or so really," Varric said, shuffling the cards in his hands nonchalantly.
"Oh Izzy, I respect your determination," Hawke laughed, placing the tray down and grabbing a drink. Aveline knew how much Hawke liked a drink; the alcohol suddenly made her less caged and more herself without the doubts and the bravado.
Isabela did a mock salute and grabbed one of the tankards downing it in one. Hawke raised an eyebrow but didn't question the pirate's behaviour; instead she turned to Aveline with a smile on her lips. "So, not going to go to your new friends for a few drinks?" she asked, nudging her head towards the off duty guards.
"No, I see them enough as it is. I never see you these days," Aveline said, although she looked at the group of laughing guards wistfully.
"Yes well, I hope that doesn't become a constant thing, me and Varric are getting bored now there's no one telling us off or even acknowledging our diabolical plans!" Hawke exclaimed, throwing a wink at the dwarf whilst the rest of the group watched her in amusement. Hawke was born to be a leader; people listened to her effortlessly like her voice was a beacon. Men and women answered to Aveline of course, but that was because of her aggressive bark as she spoke to them, Aveline was a woman of authority and Hawke was a woman of mystery; two sides of a coin.
"As long as you two don't intend on getting Corf drunk enough to sign over the ownership of the Hanged Man to Varric, I think you'll be just fine without me," she said almost sternly, her eyes darting from Hawke to Varric accusingly.
"My dear Captain, how could you expect such debauchery from me and our lady Hawke?" Varric asked sincerely, Aveline knew by now whenever Varric was being sincere he was talking utter bullshit most of the time.
She snorted at the dwarf, her eyebrow raised and a strict smile ruled on her lips.
"How could I not?" she said, making Hawke laughed deeply.
She enjoyed Hawke's laugh, it was a rare thing to hear her real one. It was true, Hawke was a female who acted impish and light hearted in front of the group, she would chuckle and laugh at most things, but most of the time it wasn't her real laugh. Her real laugh reminded Aveline of chestnut trees and barley wheat on Ferelden's farm land, it was warm like soil on a summer's day.
"But Hawke doesn't really do that much bad compared to the good things she does, you know Aveline," Merril, the Dalish elf simmered into the conversation, the elf was deaf to sarcasm and most jokes and had once again got the wrong end of the stick. Aveline found her somewhat endearing at first, but it seemed Merril and Isabela had something in common. They were both okay in small doses, Isabela's vulgarity and Merrill's ignorance combined was a one-way ticket for a migraine. And yet Hawke could speak to them both for long lengths of time, she would drink with the whore and share stories with the elf and never give off the impression she was sick of them.
"I never said that she did a lot of bad Merrill, I just merely insinuated that her and Varric plotting together could be deadly, or worse," Aveline replied, kindly trying to dumb down her words for the small elf woman.
"Now what could be worse than those two together? With the dwarf's mouth and sister's daggers I'm sure they'd be ruling all of Thedas now, making their commandments and mocking the Maker as they go," Carver said, as he took a seat at the table, a bemused smile playing on his lips. He had obviously been listening to Merrill and instead of finding her tedious like Aveline, the young Hawke must have found the Dalish woman to be another type of endearing; it reminded Aveline of Wesley when he had tried to court her all those years ago.
"Oh dearest brother, I would make sure all my family would live amongst us in our palace," Hawke said, stroking her brother's hair as she stood behind him. Carver was the only one that got any of Hawke's affection it seemed apart from Aveline on the odd occasion. It was as if Hawke was scared that if she was touched or touched one of them she would implode. Aveline could understand her obvious distaste to touching some of the members of their party, she looked at Isabela for a moment as if the thought had brought her gaze there, but she didn't understand why Hawke took it so offensively. When she had questioned Carver, he explained to her about the night she was taken, and how she had returned a week later with nothing on her body apart from her skin, blood and dirt.
Of course, Hawke refused to speak about it, in fact it was one of the rare times that Hawke had gotten into such a frenzy that she was tempted to use magic. When Aveline asked her about what happened she flew into a temper, cursing her brother and glaring at the floor as if trying to singe the wooden floorboards of the ship. Aveline knew from then onwards never to mention it ever again. Truth be told, Hawke scared her that day she had never seen someone look so animalistic as she charged towards her brother and hit him squarely in the jaw. Carver never spoke of anything about his sister's past from that day on also.
Carver looked at her sister with a sceptical smirk on his face as he replied to her, "Well, I could live with that, feel free to do what you wish sister although you always do."
She took her seat next to Aveline, she had obviously understood whatever meaning was to her brother's words and in hushed tones she spoke with her brother, the group going back to their conversations knowing Hawke was done having her moment in the spotlight.
"You know I didn't plan for them to come along," she said quietly, looking at her brother apologetically.
"It was my idea and Varric's, I just actually fell asleep instead of pretending," Carver groaned, looking at his sister as if he had done something terribly wrong. Aveline couldn't understand much of the conversation but she knew Hawke well enough to know by now she had obviously got an idea in her head and they had tried to stop her and failed, so decided to accompany her. It was something that had become the norm for Hawke and Aveline didn't understand why they wasted their breath trying to sway Hawke's stubborn mind. Aveline had given up long ago trying to make Hawke do what they wanted her to, she just accepted what Hawke wanted to do and defended her in battle, her shield stopping the enemies swords even get near Hawke.
"Well you must have needed the sleep brother, the matter is dealt with now," Hawke said, sipping ale from her tankard as if was a cup of tea.
"Did you receive a payment?" Carver asked, but his tone stated he already knew the answer.
"No, but I did it more out of empathy than gold, although the boy's mother did give me a Dalish trinket, that may be some worth," Hawke said, her eyes looking round the tavern as if sensing trouble.
"Could I have it instead, I know Merrill's feeling homesick and-" Carver started to plead, but Hawke raised her hand in understanding.
"Consider it yours, I hope she likes it," Hawke said, a loving smile on her lips.
Out of the corner of her eye, Aveline saw a boy enter the tavern. Her guard senses told her that this boy meant no harm, but if she were to see the rapscallion take a sip of alcohol he would be feeling the end of the guard captain's boot as he exited the Hanged Man faster than a whore in the Chantry. The boy had the sash of a courier, which was a job well beyond the boy's age but nevertheless Aveline did not question it; child labour was as common as air in the south and a lot harsher than Ferelden.
The boy walked up to the table and stood looking at Hawke for a moment with eyes as big as sovereigns, he then cautiously walked up to her as if she was slumbering bear and with a small voice mumbled, "Are you the Hawk?"
Hawke looked at the boy with a small grin, trying to make the boy feel at ease. Aveline noticed how Anders had stopped doing whatever he was doing and was watching Hawke as if she was Andraste herself, Fenris had also taken to watching Hawke out of the corner of his eye, not scowling for once but trying to be subtle that he was watching her speak with the child.
"I am," she said, making the boys already big eyes go wider.
"I have a message for you, Serah," he said fumbling with the velum and passing it her quickly out of nervousness.
"Thank you, now what is your name?" she asked the boy, who was frozen to the spot as if he was scared or worried that Hawke may get angry with him in some way. Aveline found a lump at her throat at the sight of the poor child; Kirkwall was a shit hole, one she would clean up if it killed her.
"C-Callum Serah," he stuttered, still glued to the spot.
"Well, Callum, do you like chocolate?" she asked, a grin playing on her lips that was renowned for being infectious, and as Aveline looked back she saw a small smile accompanying the boys red cheeks.
"I don't know Serah, we have never been able to afford it, Mama says it's a waste of money," he said, looking confused as to why she would ask him such a question. Hawke went into her pockets and took out a small pouch, fishing out a small cube of chocolate. Hawke was also renowned for her love of chocolate; everyone knew her love for it.
She passed it to the boy who took it in his hands with wide eyes, and looked at her as if she had given him the deed to Viscounts keep. Hawke motioned her head as if to say well go on then and the boy took a small nibble, after a few seconds of tasting it he flashed a wide smile at Hawke who smiled back in kind. Aveline was so used to viewing Hawke on the battlefield; she forgot that when it came to children on animals Hawke had a sweet nature, completely different to the hard faced killer that hid in the shadows of the city.
"Good?" Hawke asked.
"It's amazing, thank you Serah! I'm going to save the rest for my ma and my sister! Thank you!" he said, rushing out to hug her. Hawke automatically froze, her eyes wide at the surprise touch and then she smiled, patting the boys back for a moment.
She passed him the pouch when he released her and said kindly, "Eat that piece for yourself, and take the other two for your sister and mother, tell them it was because you did a good job today," she said, and the boy blushed a bright red at her compliment.
He bowed down at her as if she was his queen and scampered out of the tavern, obviously running off home to share his treat with his family. Aveline smiled at Hawke widely, making her roll her eyes.
"What?" she asked, her eyebrow raised quizzically.
"Nothing, I just forget that you're rumoured to be one of the deadliest people in the city but you also give candy out to children," Aveline said, smiling at her friend as she huffed and took another sip out of her ale.
"Sister, that was your only chocolate for the month," Carver added, the rest of the group listening to Hawke and her brother once again.
"Yes, yes Hawke's adorable, so adorable I don't know whether to have sex with her or vomit all over," Isabela drawled, grabbing another mug of ale from the middle of the table.
"Hawke, you're perfect story material; stick with me kid, and I'll make you a star!" Varric said, his eyes twinkling. Aveline knew that he would be adding that moment into his novel, everything Hawke did or spoke about the dwarf scribbled into his story. When they had first met, he had tried to bribe Aveline into telling him some of background history, which she answered back with a swift kick up the dwarf's arse.
Hawke just rolled her eyes again and opened the velum, reading the message casually, not noticing the glare that Fenris was giving her just for merely reading a piece of paper. Aveline wished she knew what the elf's issue was, it wasn't as if Hawke was a staff carrying all magic halleluiah kind of mage, and Hawke would never let herself become as twisted as the magisters. Anders maybe, but never Hawke.
"We're going to be busy tomorrow it seems. I give it a couple of weeks until we've got the money, you know. Varric, how's your brother faring?" she said, looking at the letter again as if evaluating every word.
"He's just waiting for a moneybags investor to come along, and in a few weeks my lady Hawke, that will be you," Varric replied, winking at her. Aveline thought that it must have been one of the dwarf's ticks, aside from telling stories all Varric seemed to do was wink or tell coy jokes.
"Indeed, hopefully this expedition will be fruitful enough that I can have a house made out of chocolate, "Hawke said dreamily, looking up as if imagining it.
The group laughed at Hawke's daydream, clinking their mugs together, apart from Fenris. Fenris sat brooding in his corner, sometimes looking at Hawke and sometimes the table. Aveline made a mental note to ask Fenris what his problem was and took a pull of ale, looking wistfully at Donnic from the corner of her eye.
Hawke looked at her for a moment, whilst everyone else was drawn into debauchery of alcohol and clinking glasses and flashed Aveline a sad smile.
"Happy anniversary," she whispered before turning back to the group with a pretend smile plastered onto her face.
*Author's note- So I am going to be posting next week, even though I will most likely be working/sleeping/inquisition because my delightful beta has done some of the back log of my work. Seriously, she's amazing.