Dragon Age One Shots

Daddy Fenris

Fenris peered through the brush, his breath shallow to not disturb a single leaf. Stars hung in the sky, moonlit glancing against the slumbering forest, but he would not be lulled by the picturesque view. Anything could be lurking below.

"What are you doing?" a voice far too loud curled in his ear.

He hitched a hand to the rock below him, digging in with his fingers to keep from flinching. With only the edge of his eye he glanced to the child coming to a stop beside him. As the night continued to dance to the cool wind's music, Fenris whispered, "Watching."

"Oh." His son nodded his head, the black hair flopping in his eyes. Without a thought, Fenris tugged the fallen locks back, allowing his son an unobstructed view. In doing so, he noticed a patch of filth upon the cheek and tried to dab it away. Wary green eyes rolled up to him and while he felt the annoyance in them, Fenris continued until his son was clean.

Once finished, Fenris placed one hand in his lap and the other reached over to make certain his blade remained by his side.

"What are we watching?" his son tried to whisper, but even with the tone low it could still rattle a kilometer's radius in the still air.

Fenris looked over at his son. Despite being the spitting image of his love, the boy was hunched how Fenris would, shoulders high, head tipped down. While Fenris worried there was a problem with his spine, Hawke would laugh and tell him the child was only mimicking his father.

Those same green eyes pierced through the indigo, trying to dredge up what Fenris could see on instinct.

"Here," Fenris said pointing toward a clump of long grass by the stump of a fallen tree. "Do you see the elfroot?"

"Yes, Father."

"Focus on it, narrow your vision to only the stand...and watch." Fenris fished out a small pebble from the ground and hurled it at the log. When it smacked into the wood, a small white head prodded up through the grass.

"A rabbit!" his son cried in joy, hands clapping.

Long white ears twitched trying to find the source of the commotion. The hare's tiny pink nose sniffed the air and quickly it glanced to the pair seated on the cliff above. In a flash, it vanished back into the underbrush, blending into its world.

"I thought..." The consternation and rippled of fear in his boy's voice caused Fenris to turn to him. "I thought you were watching for enemies."

"My son," Fenris placed a comforting hand around him, pulling his reason for living into his lap. As his boy faced out to the slumbering forest, Fenris wrapped him into a safe embrace. "As long as I live, no one dangerous will ever draw close to you."

Those inquisitive fingers picked at the stones, his boy trying to startle more rabbits from their burrows. But when none were to be found, he turned to his father. "I can't find them."

"Then," Fenris leaned back, his gaze taking in the miracle before him, "I shall teach you." To find the joy in life, the calm, the kind. To know safety as your parents, as your father never did.