Hawke had been enjoying another quiet day of evading guardsmen and Templars alike, so it was with a heavy heart that he read the letter that had arrived at Gamlen's house. It wasn't addressed to anyone in particular, for good reason. He considered for a moment whether or not he should even tell the girl, but he knew that she would want to know. He looked up from the letter in his hand, watching her as she sat at the rough wooden table, eating supper with his mother and sister.

Gamlen and Carver weren't home, but that was of no surprise to anyone. On one particular outing for Athenril, they had discovered Gamlen in The Blooming Rose, an establishment he was apparently a regular patron at. He disappeared there most evenings, though the siblings had all agreed that this was a fact that Leandra was best left in the dark about. As for Carver, his mood seemed to be growing darker by the day. He would be in the Hanged Man, no doubt. He seemed to enjoy being anywhere, really, where he could avoid his brother.

Emily noticed him watching her, and flashed him a brilliant smile that he couldn't help but return. Leandra was telling her yet another story of the Hawkes in their youth, which Bethany was gleefully embellishing. He crossed his arms, leaning against the wall as he watched them, with an easy grin. Somehow, he always came off as a bit of a rascal in the stories his mother told her. He wondered if that was a coincidence, but sincerely doubted it. His mother, though she loved her eldest son, had also developed a maternal fondness for the young mage. She knew Ethan could be a bit of a scoundrel when it came to women, and he could sense that she was firmly opposed to allowing the two of them to grow close.

Not that he even wanted that, he reminded himself. Keeping his family safe was his only priority right now. Of course, his family now extended to Aveline and Emily, and he didn't think that bedding either one really fell under the purview of keeping them safe. Not that he could deny that Aveline did have a certain charm to her. She was just about the strongest woman...no, the strongest person, he had ever known. But he suspected she would sooner shield-bash him into a lake than entertain any notion of a night of fun with him. Besides which, it had only been months since she lost Wesley. Despite what some people might have thought of him, he did have some morals.

Emily, on the other hand, was something of a fascination to him. He had always had a weakness for puzzles, and she was a walking question mark. Some nights, when they were alone, it was all he could do to stop himself from throwing all caution to the wind and kissing her. Some nights, he thought she wanted him to. On others, she seemed distant and surly, like she really didn't want him to be near her at all. She never seemed to make a difference with any of the others, always her charming, affable self. Something about him seemed to rub her up the wrong way at times, and the right way at others. She was rather lovely, if a little odd, he thought.

She had caused him several headaches since they had arrived in Kirkwall, not least when they had been ambushed by the Templars at The Wounded Coast. But, like everything else she did, it somehow worked out for the best. Now the Knight-Captain was a friend - true, they had agreed not to tell him about Bethany, as neither of them were sure how much they could really trust him to neglect his duties. But between Cullen and Aveline, they did benefit from a certain amount of looking-the-other-way from the city's authorities vis-a-vis their many illegal activities.

She had been different, since learning about her sister. After the initial shock, which had lasted several days, she now seemed to shift back and forth between being elated that she was alive, and wracked with anxiety about the danger she was in. A Grey Warden. He shook his head at the thought. She had told him that she and her sister were identical twins. He tried to picture her battling an Archdemon, and found that he could, but that he didn't like it one bit. He also had some other thoughts about there being two women in the world who looked just like her. He liked that quite a bit more.

He knew now that it had been her sister, and not her, whom he had encountered at Ostagar. He cringed when he thought that his single interaction with the woman who might save his homeland from the blight had been a cat-call. She had taken it in-stride, however, flashing him a mischievous smile he hadn't forgotten, the same smile he had seen countless times since, on Emily's face.

Now, though, he knew that the letter in his hand was bound to be one more headache.

May as well get this over with.

"Mother, if you're finished defaming my good name to our friend, here, I need to borrow her for a while." He said, with a good-natured wink.

"I don't think it's defamatory if it's the truth, dear brother." Bethany grinned.

"Well, it's one version of the truth. You left out the part where Carver was being an arse before I dumped him in the river."

"Some things go without saying." Emily smirked, and Leandra threw her an exaggerated look of disapproval, but couldn't hide her amused smile. "What? I would say it to his face if he could bear to suffer our company for more than a few moments at a time."

"Oh, you three. Be nicer to Carver." Leandra pleaded, looking pointedly at Ethan. "He seems to be having a hard time fitting in here. I do worry about him."

"You said you needed me for something?" Emily asked, raising her eyebrows pointedly.

"Yes."

"Can I help?" Bethany asked, rising to her feet with Emily.

"Ah...best not. We wouldn't want to leave mother here all by herself."

"Oh, really, Ethan. I'm quite capable of spending time on my own." Leandra said, with an exasperated sigh.

He had lied, of course. Bethany wasn't coming for her own safety, but he didn't want to worry them.

"Really. This is a two-person job, anyway." He said, throwing Bethany a meaningful look to let her know he was being vague for their mother's sake.

"Very well. Would you like some tea, mother?" Bethany asked, distracting Leandra while Ethan and Emily made their exit.

"So." The mage said, when they were clear of the house. "More trouble, I take it?"

He handed her the letter, wordlessly, and she read it quicker than he would have thought possible, grinning widely. Cullen had invited them to the Gallows, where he had some letters from her twin that he thought she might like to read.

"Amazing!" She beamed, as they started walking. "Oh...I know it sounds silly, because it's just letters but...even just to see her handwriting, to hear her voice again, if only in my head..."

"Isn't her voice also your voice?" He asked, raising an amused eyebrow.

"No, you don't understand." She said, clutching the letter to her chest like it was a prized possession. "If you knew her, you would. There's nobody in the world like Lauren."

"Are you going to write back to her?" He asked. Her eyes widened, as though she hadn't thought of that as a possibility.

"Do you think I could? Do you think I should?" She chewed her lip, and suddenly he was thinking about her lips, and was so distracted that he almost missed the question.

"It couldn't hurt, right?"

"Well...I don't know. She has a lot going on, I wouldn't want to distract her from that. Oh, I just don't know. Maybe it would be best to wait."

"Whatever you think is best." He shrugged. As they walked past The Hanged Man, the door burst open, and light and laughter spilled out, illuminating the dark street. A dwarf stumbled out, slinging a crossbow over his shoulder, but he was clearly intoxicated. He nodded at them, in greeting, as he passed, and Hawke looked over to see an odd smile on Emily's face as she watched him disappear into the darkness.

"Another friend of yours?" He asked, jerking his head in the direction the dwarf had staggered in.

"No." She said, simply. "Not yet."

"Ah." He grinned, and she giggled at the amused expression on his face. "A future friend, then."

"Something like that." She said, in that annoyingly vague way she liked to tease him with.

They made their way to the Gallows, and the streets were surprisingly, mercifully empty. He usually couldn't walk very far in this city without being attacked by someone or other. Despite knowing that they had been invited here, he was on edge. He believed that Cullen was true to his word, and the man did seem to have some kind of relationship with Emily's sister, so he wasn't overly concerned that they were walking into a trap but, somehow, it still felt that way. He wasn't sure if it was the presence of the Templars who watched them suspiciously as they passed, or the menacing statues which surrounded the place, but he couldn't shake the feeling of dread as they approached the doors.

Emily produced the letter bearing Cullen's seal and signature to one of the Templars standing guard and, though it was difficult to tell when the man's entire face was hidden by his helmet, he seemed surprised. He stiffened, looking at the girl and then at the armed man beside her, before clearly deciding he would be in more trouble for ignoring a written order from his Knight Captain by denying them entry than he would if he accidentally let in a couple of blood-mages in disguise. He beckoned for them to follow him and led the way inside.

Ethan glanced down at Emily, and she threw him a reassuring smile, as they followed the Templar in silence. His palms were sweating by the time they came to a stop outside of Cullen's office. The Templar knocked, and the door was swiftly opened. The man inside looked past the guard, and smiled, warmly, at Emily.

"Lady Duval." He said, gesturing for them to enter, and dismissing the guard with a nod. "I hoped you would have an opportunity to come by this evening."

"Thank you for inviting me, Cullen." Emily replied, smiling wonderfully at him. "It was very thoughtful of you. And please, it's just Emily."

"Emily. And...it's Hawke, isn't it?" Cullen asked, extending his hand in greeting. Ethan smiled, tersely, shaking the man's hand just a little harder than he needed to. He knew that the Templar knew exactly who he was.

"That's right."

"Thank you for accompanying Emily here. These streets aren't safe at night. I hope you didn't run into any trouble on the way?"

"Nothing I can't handle." Hawke replied, with a smirk.

"Nothing at all." Emily said, rolling her eyes at the macho showdown. "Though I do hope this is my first and last time in The Gallows."

"Oh." Cullen looked a little crestfallen, before apparently realising what she meant. "Oh! You needn't worry, you are free to come and go as you please. I owe your sister my life. And you are a Grey Warden, after all."

"Right. Of course, I am." She said, with a sweet smile. They all knew that was a lie, but it was one they were all happy to keep up.

"Here." Cullen made his way to his desk and retrieved a small bundle of letters from his top drawer. "This is all of the correspondence I've had with Lauren over the last few months."

"Top drawer, huh?" Ethan asked, wickedly. "That's not reserved for more important, high-level Templar documents?"

"Not always." Cullen said, shortly, as he handed the letters to Emily.

"Are Templars allowed to keep a hold of personal letters?" He asked, innocently. He knew he was behind enemy lines, as it were, but he couldn't stop himself from prodding, just a little.

"Well, as Knight Captain, I do have some privileges afforded to me." Cullen said, with a friendly smile, but Hawke took the hint. Cullen was reminding him of his rank. He returned the man's smile, and said nothing, looking over at Emily as she read through the letters with a heartbreakingly sweet smile on her face.

"So that you do not worry unduly…" She read aloud, grinning. "Very fancy-pants, Miss Duval. She does come across a bit formal in these, doesn't she?"

"More so than she was in-person." Cullen agreed. Emily looked up at him, longingly.

"What was she like?" She asked. "I mean...how was she? How did she seem? How did she look?"

"She looked wonderful." Cullen replied, before clearing his throat, and Ethan hid a smirk behind his hand as the man blushed, furiously. "I mean...she looked healthy. No visible signs of any injury."

Emily grinned, looking back down at the letters. She had already read them all, and was rereading them now.

"Do you remember much of what she said to you?"

"Well...yes." Cullen cleared his throat again. "After she...saved me. I told her there was something...different about her. She suggested that it might be "charm and charisma."" He said, with an amused smile.

Ethan barked out a laugh at this, and Emily grinned, rolling her eyes.

"That's Lauren." She said, fondly.

"And then she...she told me I reminded her of someone she knew once. She told me that I was a good man, and that the world needed more good men. She told me that I would do great things one day, and that, even though it didn't feel like it then, that things would get...easier." Cullen said, with a sad, thoughtful smile.

Ethan and Emily exchanged looks.

"Did you say this happened months ago?" Hawke asked, curiously. Cullen nodded. "And yet you still remember the conversation so well."

"Of course." Cullen replied, unabashedly. "She was my rescuer. Her words meant a great deal to me. They still do, in moments of weakness."

"These letters have certainly been well-thumbed." Emily muttered, averting her eyes for a moment, before looking up at the Templar with a sad smile. "Do you love her?"

"Of...of course not. I...I mean, I respect her, greatly, and I care about her well-being, but…"

"It's okay." Emily said, softly, setting the letters back down on the desk with a sigh. "Everyone loves her. They always have. Not that she ever gave anyone the time of day. Antisocial, my mother called her." She grinned at the memory. "Honestly, I would be more surprised if you weren't in love with her."

"Now, I never said-"

"You didn't have to." Hawke cut him off, clapping a hand on the man's shoulder. "And besides...with that face?" He nodded at Emily. "Who could resist, am I right?"

"Oh, too kind." Emily replied, rolling her eyes.

"I...care for your sister. I will not deny that." Cullen said, in a strong voice. "I worry for her safety, and I think of her often but it's not...it's not like that. It's...difficult to explain."

"Try?" Hawke suggested. He was enjoying himself now.

"I think of her in the same way I think of Andraste." He said, quietly, looking up at them both, as if daring them to laugh. When neither of them did, he sighed, before continuing. "You must understand, when I was in that tower...the things that they did to me, I...I was certain I would die there. And then, all of a sudden, she was there. She saved me. And she knew my name. She spoke to me as if she knew me. When I asked her who she was...it's because I thought she was Andraste, herself. And I know, I know that that is...blasphemous to say, or to even think, but that is what she is to me. When I told her she was different, I meant that she was impossible. When she writes to me now, I'm relieved that she's safe, yes. But I'm almost...more relieved that she's real."

"I suppose it must have been quite a shock, then. Seeing me." Emily said, apologetically.

"Quite." The Templar agreed, with a chuckle. "Anyway, I just thought...if the letters bring me comfort, they might do the same for you."

"They do. Thank you, Cullen." She said, with such heartfelt sincerity that Hawke had to force himself not to stride across the room and hug her. Her eyes were shining with tears as she looked back down at the letters. "You'll let me know? If...when you hear from her again?"

"Of course." He promised. "I'll send for you at once."

"Great. But...just...don't tell her that I'm here, okay?" She said, visibly swallowing a lump in her throat. Hawke frowned at her. He could see that she was trying to be strong, trying to do the right thing for her sister, but he knew how hard it must have been. "I don't want to distract her. Knowing Lauren, she'd be on the first boat out of Gwaren if she knew I was here. Or...maybe she wouldn't. I don't know what she's been through...although I have an idea. No...maybe she would stay, and see it through."

"I believe she would." Cullen said, gently. "There are only three Wardens left in the whole of Ferelden, after all. She is needed there."

"Three?" Emily asked, curiously. "Who...do you know their names?"

"I believe their names are Cousland and...well, do you know, I'm not sure about the other one."

"Alistair." She said, softly, with a strange look in her eyes. "I wonder how they're getting along. But there's a Cousland there...a woman?"

"Uh, no." Cullen said, frowning in confusion. "The Couslands only have the two sons...unless I'm mistaken. But the other two Wardens were men."

"Huh." Emily said, thoughtfully. "Interesting…"

"Is it?" Hawke asked, sharing a confused look with Cullen.

"It is to me. It might be to Lauren." She replied, thoughtfully, before seeming to snap out of a daze, looking at the men with a smile. "Well...we should be going, before your mother starts to worry."

"Of course. I'll walk you to the doors." Cullen said, gesturing for her to walk ahead of him.

"Thanks for this." Hawke said, quietly, to the man as they made their way back through the Gallows. "She needed it."

"It was my pleasure." Cullen replied, looking at him curiously. "You two are…?"

"Friends." Hawke replied, though the word seemed to stutter from his tongue, and left a slightly unpleasant taste in his mouth. "Just friends."

"I see. Well, do remember what I said. You are welcome to come and go, as you please."

Hawke stiffened when Emily stopped by the door and turned to hug Cullen, gratefully. The Templar seemed taken-aback, but he returned the hug, smiling down at her.

"Thank you again." She said, softly. "And remember, if you hear from her…"

"You'll be the first to know."

Hawke was glad when they finally left, and as soon as they were back in Lowtown, his breathing grew easier. Lowtown might have been the most dangerous part of the city, but to him, it felt like a safe haven. It helped, of course, that he was one of the people who made it dangerous in the first place.

"I'm glad you got to read your sister's letters." He said to her, as they approached Gamlen's house. "And I'm sure she's doing just fine."

"I hope so. I just hope she writes again soon."

Selfishly, Hawke didn't share this hope. He hoped it would be at least a few more weeks before they had to return to that place. Despite Cullen's assurance that they weren't in danger, he couldn't help but feel that she just wasn't safe there.

He didn't know then that another letter was already on the way. If he had, and if he knew what that letter would do to her, he would have burned the summons from Cullen before she ever saw it.

AN: Don't you love it when I draw these things out? Painful, isn't it? But I thought we'd check in with the Kirkwall lot before we return to our regularly scheduled programme.

Eiris: I'll do my best to get another up on your birthday, as a treat lol. No promises though, because I haven't written it yet, and I have an ungodly amount of uni work to do between now and then...we'll see how much a girl can do in two days lol.

Mihoshi 2.0: I did watch Once Upon a Time! Was obsessed with Regina, she was my favourite. Yeah, heartbreak is a bitch. I mean, it's been a while since I went through it, but I drew on my own experience when writing the little drabble in the last chapter. Staying friends with an ex suuuucks. But I'm a collector of broken things, so I just can't help it.

Chimera Spyke: I'm glad that I managed to get across that there's not *really* a bad guy in this. I mean, we all want Alistair to change his mind, but it's not like he doesn't have good reasons. The course of true love never did run smooth, as they say. I do plan to have fun with the magic/spirit companion combo. I'm not about to rush anything, I don't want her to suddenly be beast-mode Lauren without having to work for it, because that never feels satisfying (despite the whole Spirit of Valour thing, I do try not to make her too unbelievably OP, even though everyone in your party in the games is OP lol)

Never33: Ooft, I feel your pain. That first Alistair dump is a pain that never quite goes away, isn't it? Sorry if I brought that back up for you lol

SoccerGirl4Life30: Good! I'm glad you're excited. It's about time we had something to be excited about in this stupid fic, this writer is so depressing omg. I hate her, even though she's me. But yeah, I'm excited to see what Lauren's going to do too! I mean, I have a rough outline, but I don't know what's going to happen until I write it most of the time.

annjames: Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying it

LeliMor29: I'm glad you chuckled lol, I thought it needed a bit of reality to kind of slice through the metaphor a bit. But then I turned that into a metaphor so Idk, I'm just a nightmare really haha

Playerovic: To clear up the DA2 timeline, they're still in the first year, working through their indentured servitude to Athenril, so it's just the Hawkes, Aveline and Emily right now. With a small, uncredited cameo from Varic, of course. Ah, I wish some of what's happened was a nightmare, but unfortunately the only passenger Lauren has is Valour. I don't think he'd be up for sharing a body with a demon lol. And I hear your questions about how her magic hasn't manifested until now and my response is...coming up, in future chapters. Morrigan is very good with all this stuff, she's bound to know what's going on. And yeah, can't wait to hang out in the deep roads for a bit, that should be endless fun and just a barrel of laughs, as it always is!