Author's Note: This is... so late... apologies times infinity. This may be the last chapter, as I am working on another fic soon to be posted that follows this one. Thank you readers for your perseverance and I hope you enjoy!

Back to the Beginning

Isabela wasn't one for mundane metaphors, when she sensed that the winds were changing and that a storm was coming, she literally meant that the skies would soon be filled with dark, grey clouds and they'd be pelted with huge droplets of rain. She informed Hawke of this, but it was unfortunately too late of a warning. Walking back to the estate was out of the question, and the only other options were take shelter in Merrill's abode, Gamlen's hovel or (Isabela's first choice) the Hanged Man. Hawke didn't feel like exposing Arill to even further gossip, but Isabela was adamant in taking them all to the tavern. Varric was going to have a field day with Arya's mother; Hawke sighed at the thought but the rain was beginning to include hail, and the tavern became a welcomed source of refuge.

Isabela felt right at home when she stepped into the Hanged Man, and she couldn't help but chuckle at Arill's obvious discomfort. She was as stiff and heavy as the blade she carried on her knew just what to do.

"Come with me, sweet thing." Isabela maxed her charm to no avail and pulled on Arill's arm, Arill eyed the pirate's touch as a serious breach of privacy.

Hawke fretted slightly as she watched her pirate take hold of the stern woman. Still marched through the crowd of people in their way, and gave them a cold, hard stare if they looked too long at her. It was hard for Hawke to imagine Arya being raised by such an intimidating woman.

Isabela ignored Arill's dagger-like glare and managed to get her to sit at the bar. She ordered the strongest brew they had there, and handed one of the three mugs towards Arill. Isabela swore it could have been poison the way she flinched when some of it splashed on her hand.

"I promise it'll make you feel better."

Arill scoffed, "I don't need to resort to stupidity to feel better."

"It would be stupid to refuse." Isabela took a big swig of her drink. "Let's play a game! For every question you want answered, take a drink. Vice versa for Hawke." Isabela downed the remainder of her drink and grinned, "you know, it's like a duel of sorts."

"Or I could just ask with force." Arill threatened.

Isabela frowned, "surely Arya would not approve of you hurting the woman she loved. My way is better."

The sadness seeped into the elder woman's eyes as her daughter's name slipped through Isabela's lips. Hawke wasn't sure what Isabela was trying to get at, and she didn't exactly approve of her tactics, but she couldn't deny that there were things she wanted to know.

"Oh fine, I'll play your stupid game." Arill took a drink, and after coughing and wondering if this was meant for humans, she asked, "How did you meet Arya?"

Hawke leaned closer to the bar and ordered her own round of the tavern's best. "I met Arya whilst on a walk to a nearby cave. She had been drugged and sold to some of Lowtown's worst scum." Hawke sipped at her brew.

"What do you mean Lowtown's worst scum?" Arill clenched her fist, and Hawke was about to answer, but Isabela stopped her. The pirate pointed to Arill's mug, "that's a question, so take a drink."

Arill groaned but did as she was told. Isabela grinned, soon she would work her magic on Hawke, and she'd have the both of them talking..

"The woman that Arya had been living with had drugged her and sold her to three men to make some easy gold. Back then I was full of anger…. my mother had been kidnapped, mutilated and killed…" Hawke took another swig of her drink and Arill eased the tension on her face. She actually didn't know much about Hawke. "I should have taken those men to Aveline and she would have chained them up, but I didn't. Instead I obliterated them with my magic, and put a definite end to their crime. Arya thanked me for saving her, and I asked Varric to let her stay here at the tavern until she could find some place better."

"You forgot the part where you gave Arya all of your gold." Isabela butted in.

"All of my gold? That's right, I did, but… how would you know that?" Hawke blushed at the thought of Isabela watching her from afar.

"Or how the two of you spent the rest of the night on top of a roof watching stars and kissing." Isabela smirked as the mage's face burned.

"You kissed her the first day you met her?" Arill made sure to take a swig before the pirate could complain.

"Well it wasn't like I had planned on it!" Hawke avoided Arill's gaze. "Were you watching us the entire time?" Hawke gulped down her drink and looked at her pirate.

"And what if I was?"

"I just never knew; you know there were always a few things between you and Arya that I felt completely left out of."

Isabela shrugged, "take another gulp, ask a question, and maybe I'll answer."

"So you became her knight in shining armor." Arill scoffed, she should have taught her daughter some basic defense combat.

"Not quite, Arya was quite an accomplished rogue. With the right bow, she was one of the best marksmen next to our friend Varric."

"And that's my queue!" Varric shouted from across the tavern as he made his way to the bar. He did a quick scan of the rather formidable woman in between Hawke and Isabela, and a twinkle formed in his eye. "You must be related to Arya."

"How did you-"

He pointed at his eye, "those eyes are unforgettable, and not very common.I suppose Hawke's already shared the worst of the news with you." Varric frowned and gave his sincerest apologies to Arill, "she was always the light in the dark… no matter how dark it got. Not to mention, she gave me and Bianca a run for our money during a marksmen competition."

"Thank you, I take it you're one of Hawke's companions." Arill kept her calm demeanor.

"Partners in crime, justice, adventure, we've even…" Varric was about to explain himself in greater detail, when Isabela interrupted.

"We are in the middle of an ask and tell game." Isabela spoke triumphantly even as Arill shot her an annoyed glance. "Not to be rude, but I'm going to ask you to leave, and I promise to tell you all about it later." She gave the dwarf a gentle shove and a wink, to which he was sincerely surprised by. Isabela was a playful sort, but this gentle shove was full of intent, and Varric sensed an ulterior motive to her ask and tell game.

"No problem Rivaini, I'm actually hosting another one of those Lowtown festivals, so I was just stopping by. If by chance you finish your game early, you all are welcome to join the festivities."

Low town festival? Isabela flashed back to the first one Hawke and her had attended. That was the night she had been trying her best to pin down the vulnerable mage. Instead of pinning her down, Isabela found herself pinned in quite the predicament- she had fallen for the mage unknowingly. Well perhaps she did know, but it was something she thought she didn't want. Hawke also recalled that glorious night and smiled softly at the was one she often thought of during her time in the Deep Roads, and a memory she had forbidden herself to recall once Arya entered and left her day-to-day life.

"Now where were we?" Isabela took another swig; she wanted Arill to believe she had the upperhand in this game of spirits and fortitude. Seeming drunk was just another one of Isabela's many talents.

"So my daughter wasn't completely defenseless…" Arill smiled and knew some of her innate skill must've passed on to her daughter. "Did she smile often?" She took another swig; this one larger than before.

"She almost always wore a smile." Hawke spoke tenderly. "Varric wasn't exaggerating when he said she was often the light in the darkness. Kirkwall has had it's fair share of problems for some time now. If it weren't for her, I might not be here today."

Isabela shuddered at the literal meaning of Hawke's last sentence. The pirate was sure that Hawke would have died in that cave if Arya's spirit hadn't intervened..Arill smiled once more; Arya had taken after Daren as well.

"If I may ask, is Arya's father-"

"He is no longer alive." Arill's smile quickly altered as she predicted the question. "As a Seeker, I was in no position to be married to an apostate mage, but I was bound to him nonetheless. We had to flee our home with Arya, and then there came a time when we were split apart. From what I've learned, Daren cared for Arya until he was hunted down… by a Templar Commander I once oversaw. I can only imagine that Arya grew up an orphan after that."

"I'm sorry to hear that. My father also passed when I was very young." Hawke sympathized whole-heartedly… hardly any of the children that fled the Blight had parents to call their own.

"From your accent, you must be from Ferelden." Arill was beginning to relax her tone and posture.

Hawke was about to answer, when Isabela butt in and protested that Arill had to drink.

"I didn't ask a question." Arill responded calmly.

Isabela paused and recalled Arill's previous statement. True she hadn't asked a question, but it was implied… could the woman be harder to trick drunk than sober?

"I didn't come to Kirkwall until the Blight, but my mother was originally from here."

Arill nodded and took a drink. "Do you know why Arya loved you?"

Hawke blushed slightly as she recalled her past lover.

"That's easy, Hawke's not only easy on the eyes, she's also strong and kind. You wouldn't know it by looking at her hands, but she does the most interesting thing with her fingers and some of her magic. She's literally got the magic touch."

"Isabela!" Hawke tried her best to cover Isabela's mouth before she say any more ridiculous stories.

"But in all honesty," the pirate's tone changed, "your daughter fell in love with Hawke because she has a soul full of hope and you feel like your life has some kind of purpose just by being near hers."

Arill was astounded by the heartfelt answer after her previous crude statements. Perhaps there was more to the pirate than the warrior had initially given her credit for. She had met women like Isabela on her journey. They were always humorous, light-hearted and particularly annoying to her. She could tell that the pirate wasn't all talk though, The way she moved her body seemed to always be with purpose and intent.

"I see," Arill broke the silence seeing as Hawke was too busy hiding her face in her mug. "And may I ask what your relation to my daughter was?" The drink poured more easily down her throat than it had in the beginning.

"Of course," Isabela smirked, "She was the first woman to seriously challenge me to a duel when it came to Hawke's affection. In the end, however, I conceded that she was everything that I couldn't be-faithful, ever-loving and reliable." Isabela chuckled as she thought of her current state. "Perhaps it is better to say, she was everything I wanted to be to Hawke, but would never allow myself to be for anybody."Isabela met Arill's eyes, "She was a friend, even to me."

"You say she died during the Qunari occupation?" Arill took another chug.

"Yes, well, so Meredith, the current Knight-Commander, stated. You see," Isabela felt her throat tighten as she let guilt weigh her down. "I stole something that kept them here in Kirkwall, and I had decided to run off with it, but I had a change of heart and returned, but it was too late- a riot had already started. By the time I got to the Keep, the battle had been dwindled down to one duel, one which Hawke fought for me. She defeated the Arishok, but moments later the Knight-Commander walked in with a badly wounded Arya."

"Then the Qunari are to blame for her death." Arill sighed, "I had come to Kirkwall in hopes of finding my daughter alive, when I learnt of her death, I assumed that Hawke had killed her and was set on revenge, but I see now that I've been misled. The tales that surround you, Hawke, aren't always favorable."

"To be honest, I'm not always a favorable person." Hawke recalled the actions she took out of anger and the feeling of futility. "But I would never have hurt Arya."

To the pirate's surprise, Arill raised her mug and motioned for them to as well. No words were spoken, but Isabela knew it was a silent toast to Arya, so she raised her mug, and downed the rest of the mead. They shared several more pints with some mild conversation in between before Hawke got up and looked out the window.

"We should enjoy the festival!" Her words were a bit slurred, but her balance had yet to be affected.

"Why so you can cheat at all the booths again?" Isabela chuckled as she pulled back Hawke from leaning too far forward and walking into another denizen of the Hanged Man.

"You two go ahead, I think I'll ask your friend Varric if there's a spare room." Arill stood up and rubbed her eyes; she hadn't drank this much in years.

"Here love, this key is my spare room, just take a left and it's the first door in front of you. I promise it's clean." Isabela handed Arill a bronze key.

"Thank you." Arill took the key and stumbled her way to the hall and out of sight.

"You think she'll be okay?" Isabela said aloud, but when she turned to look, Hawke had disappeared. "Balls, she got away." Isabela smirked; this would be her funnest game of cat and mouse yet. "And so it begins… yet again." She smiled and walked out of the bar confident that she would catch her prey