Varric Tethras can't stand holding back the truth about Marian Hawke after the Inquisitor leaves her in the Fade to die. What he can't stand more is no one is trying to get her back. With the assistance of friends in surprising places, he fights in...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Love punishes golden hearts and leaves the strongest cowering to love again. I watched Hawke after the demise of Meredith. So many lives lost, but none affected her as much as those whose blood creased in the wrinkles of her palms. She adored freedom for mages. I doubt she ever saw freedom the same way after that. Hawke once slipped into my suite and got the pointy end of Bianca, said she's going into hiding, leaving me with the aftermath, and the rising war. I didn't beg her to go because no one stops a Hawke once their mind's made up. Have you met her mother?
"The Wardens found a safe route out of Kirkwall," she had said. "I'm taking it." I saw her fiddling with something in her hands. "You should come with me."
I thought turning her down was the smart thing to do. I told her we still had a city to clean up, but she didn't feel safe anymore. Her entire life had not been safe. I knew what she meant. Every corner from Darktown to Viscount's Way reminded her of it all. Of him.
"I can't," I said foolishly. "I—got a lot of work to do here."
And when the silence fell stagnant she blurted out something I repeat in my head every morning. "Did I do the right thing?"
"Frankly, I don't know what's right or wrong. But I know what's effective and you saved a city doing that, so..."
"Thanks, Varric." And then, "Well..." She exhaled.
"All right, Hawke," I said. "You better look me in the eye and tell me I'm gonna see you again."
She looked.
She looked like she was going to say goodbye forever.
"You're gonna see me again."
It felt like forever, long after the words left her, and lingered in the vacant spot she stood until she put something over her finger, and vanished.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
In three days, the Inquisitor brought back her caravan. Varric thought he had a week. Apparently, so did everyone else, but when Cassandra burst through the main hall, Trevelyan told her they had great weather coming back.
