A Future to Be Had (a Dragon Age fanfiction)

All in the Family

Varania stood frozen, staring at Fenris, for so long that he began to think perhaps he was imagining his own presence here and to wonder if the last few months had all been a dream. Would he wake to find himself lying next to Hawke in the narrow bed in Rivain, surrounded by the stench of dead fish?

And then his sister spoke. "What brings you here? Have you tired of being a human's plaything?"

The venom in her voice snapped him out of any misperception that he was in a dream. He struggled to recall the words he had intended to say to her. "I believe you know better than that. Your men have hunted us from country to country across half of Thedas."

"You ran. What was I to do?"

"Let me alone?"

Varania snorted at that.

Fenris nodded. "No, you could not have done so. I represent money and power, and as an elf and a magister, you need as much of both as you can grasp simply to maintain your position."

"Figured that out all by yourself, did you? I'm surprised; I wouldn't have thought you capable of thinking about someone else's difficulties."

"Difficulties?" Fenris looked around the luxuriously appointed room, raising an eyebrow.

"There it is! Always the eyebrow, so superior to everyone else."

"You have me at a disadvantage—I no longer recall any of your irritating habits." He had expected her to wield the power of their now-unshared memories, and had prepared for the twinges of envy her words brought forth. He smiled. "Although you are doing an excellent job of reminding me."

"Is that what this is about? You want me to return your precious memories?"

"No." Fenris didn't want to introduce the important topic; like any good card player, he wanted to hold his cards close to his chest for as long as he could.

Varania returned his steady gaze. Age had not treated her well, despite her wealth and her magic. Her skin was wrinkled and sagging, her mouth thinned to a cruel line. Her red hair flamed as brightly as it had when he'd seen her last, but it was clear the color was no longer fully natural. It made her look far older than he imagined her naturally greying locks might. Varania's eyes were as green as ever, the same color as his. The same color as Bianca's, Fenris thought with a stab of pain. He had tried to hold thoughts of his daughter away from him, encasing them in a thin, fragile bubble to avoid contemplating what she must be going through in his absence, to avoid missing her smile and her laughter and her sweet trusting love with every breath he took.

The longing that swept him must have showed somehow, despite the firm control he was holding himself in, for Varania nodded knowingly. "You want me to stop chasing you and your little family."

The observation was so obvious that Fenris didn't bother to confirm its accuracy. "May I sit?"

"No." Varania seated herself, though, leaning back in the chair and looking up at him. "What are you offering?"

"Offering?" He intended to delay as long as he could in order to force Varania make the first move. In this situation, the reactor would be in a stronger position than the actor.

"Don't play me for a fool. I didn't ask you to come here—you came on your own. Which means you must have had a solution in mind. I want to hear what it is."

"You have no thoughts of your own?"

They stared into each other's eyes, the battle of wills none the weaker for being silent. Varania smiled. "I have many thoughts. I think you were a fool to come here, for example."