Tales From Thedas: Dragon Age One Shots

The Wolf from Tevinter

"I only wanted to be happy.
Just... for a little while. I'm sorry."

I sat on the bed, stunned by what had just happened. Fenris had been here, in my bed, closer than we'd ever been before and now he was gone. Had it been too soon? Had I moved too fast? What had I done wrong?

Restless, I dressed and put on my armour. I needed a drink but I wasn't planning anything, I didn't trust my mood to not have me wandering the streets tonight.

I downed two glasses of Antivan brandy in quick succession not caring how it hit me. I was kicking myself for not anticipating what had just happened with Fenris. How could this have happened? Was that it? Had I lost Fenris forever?

My heart felt broken and tears welled in my eyes. Kaffas! I knew better than this! I'd fallen hard for the elf, I loved him and now he was gone. With Bethany in the Circle, Carver and my father dead, what did I have left? Protecting a city that didn't want me? Supporting a mage rebellion that would most certainly end in bloodshed? Or letting my mother find me a wife to become a fat, lazy nobleman? What did I have left to look forward to?

Kirkwall had to be the most unstable city I'd ever seen. Between the mages, Templars, slavers, raiders and qunari, the place was a cesspool of depravity and despair. I didn't understand why my mother liked it here and if Fenris was no longer a part of what kept me here, I didn't want to stay.

Disheartened by what had happened, I slipped out into the night. I needed to vent and given how many criminals prowled the streets, I doubted I'd have much trouble finding someone to take it out on.

I scoured Hightown but surprisingly found no one to fight so I slipped through the shadows into Lowtown. Luck found me and I took on a dozen raiders. The fight was hard and long and I killed them all, though I took a knife to my side and a cut on my left arm was bleeding freely as I stumbled my way to the Hanged Man.

"Hawke!" Isabella called as I entered, taking in my battered state. "What in blazes happened to you?"

"I had a disagreement with a few bandits." I said, swaying a little on my feet.

"You did this alone? Idiot. Come sit down and let me look at you."

"I'm fine Isabella."

"Bullshit. You're bleeding all over the floor. Lucky for you they never bother cleaning up the bloodstains."

"Yeah. Lucky me."

She frowned at me and wrapped a bandage around my arm. "Come on, I'll take you to Varric's room. We need to get your shirt off to see the other one. Can't have the great and powerful Hawke naked in the tavern."

----xxx----

Fenris walked. He had no destination and no purpose in mind. He just kept putting one foot in front of the other, letting his feet carry him wherever they chose. He was surprised then, when he arrived at the docks, staring out across the water to the imposing view of the twins, the smell of fish in the air.

He wrinkled his nose in distaste and wondered why his feet had brought him here, as though they were somehow separate from the rest of him. He stared at the twins, remnants left behind from when the Imperium had ruled here. Sentries who had watched over the port for countless years. How many had passed beneath their impassive visage to their doom? How many had been free when they arrived?

It reminded him of his trip with Hawke to Sundermount, when the witch had taunted him. He'd not argued with her, for she'd been right. The chains were off, but was he truly free? No, was the answer. He may have fled Danarius and Tevinter and ended Hadriana, but he was still a slave on paper. He would always be running from Magisters even if he killed Danarius, he was still property in the Imperium.