Hawke and the Order of the Brides

EZRATHANIS

It was a normal day, assuming nobody cared that two apostate mages were were freely roaming the foot of Sundermount. Merrill had assisted me in gathering elf root for me to dry and stuff into my smoking pipe rather than buying it from merchants who had raised their prices to cheat us Fereldans. “You don’t think Anders would know what this rash is on my arm, would you?” Merrill asked as she checked her arm for the millionth time. She kept scratching it, making it more raw and red than it already was. Without a word, I gripped her wrist and swung her arm under my chin.

“I think it’s where your chainmail is chafing your skin. Merrill, you should invest in some street clothes.”

“Street clothes? What are those?”

I blinked at her, staring back into her big green eyes. “Really, Daisy?” I laughed. “You don’t know?”

“Oh no, Creators, is that wrong?” she gasped. “We do so much hunting and fighting the werewolves, I’ve never heard of such a thing-”

“Merrill.” I gripped her hands at her and smiled, as big and wide as I could like Hawke. “When we get back to Lowtown, I’ll take you to a tailor. We’ll get you some street clothes.” She smiled back at me but quickly lost her glow when her ears perked up.

“Did you hear that, Ezrathanis?” she whispered.

I strained my own ears to hear whatever she’d caught. It sounded like muttering. “It’s probably some drunk or a lyrium addict”, I murmured. “Stay behind me.” We both reached for our staffs and followed the sound, me leading Merrill into the grass and trees as she sheepishly looked towards the city walls. I nearly gasped at what I saw. A man was crouched on the ground behind a bolder, holding shards of mirror in his hands. His black hair was trimmed on one side and complimented the outlandish garments he wore.

“Who are you?” I demanded, pointing a staff at him. Merrill eagerly pointed hers too and the man scrambled up. A shemlen. He towered over both of us.

“I-I-I’m Andy!” he gasped. “I was trying to wake up from a dream. I was...what’s wrong with your ears?”

“I could ask the same of your manners”, I snapped.

Andy looked at the both of us before lighting up. He chuckled and smiled at us. “I have to still be dreaming”, he laughed. “You’re Ezrathanis. And you’re Merrill.”

“How did you come to know us?” I questioned.

His eyebrows came together. “This is a game. I’m dreaming that I’m in a game!” Andy exclaimed. “Dragonage two!”

“What is Dragonage?” I asked.

“A game? Can I play?” Merrill beamed.

“You’re already playing”, Andy stated. “I guess for a dream this isn’t bad. What do you want to do?”

“This is no dream. How did you get here?” I hissed.

“It’s a dream. I don’t know.”

Merrill approached Andy though I tried holding her back. Quietly, she took the pieces of mirror from him and knitted her eyebrows. “This is from an eluvian!” she squealed. “Andy! You came through the mirror!”

He tilted his head. “Sure. So um, where are you off to?”

“To Kirkwall”, I said firmly. He linked arms with both of us.

“Awesome! I might as well live this dream to the fullest, right? Let’s go before I wake up!”

“Let’s take you to go see Anders”, I mumbled.




Back in Darktown, Anders inspected Andy every which way he could. “He’s delirious, I’m telling you”, I wailed, throwing my hands in the air. Andy was happily swinging his legs on a table while Anders withdrew from him.

“He’s as fine as he can be”, Anders said uncertainly. “There’s not even a trace of magic or lyrium about him. He’s quite peculiar, I’ll give him that.”

“So says the abomination.” I turned to see a man like no other enter the clinic. He was gorgeous. White fringe falling over forest green eyes, complementing the tanned skin that had been tainted with the befoulment of magic. It was so pathetic. He was so much more than I could ever hope to be and I was madly, desperately, unexplainably obsessed with him. How he could ever care about a mage like me, I had no idea. But that’s the infuriating part about caring for someone. “Witch”, he spat, walking past me. My heart sank. Of course Fenris would say that. “Who is this man?”

“Andy. And you’re Fenris”, Andy greeted. Fenris squinted his eyes at him, being sure to take in every detail.

“How did you come to know this information?”

“Anders and Ezrathanis were talking about you.”

I blushed as Fenris threw me a look I couldn’t read. “Of course they would do that”, he grumbled, turning back to Andy. “I have no reason to doubt you. You have an honest face-”

“Can you introduce me to the others?!” Andy asked eagerly. “Can you take me to the Hanged Man? I’d love to meet Isabella and Varric!”

Merrill, Anders, Fenris, and I shared glances with each other before Merrill smiled. “Why not? It could be fun, wouldn’t it?”

I sighed and sheathed my staff. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt? Maybe we could play a few hands of Wicked Grace.”

“And let the dwarf and the lady cheat everyone of what coin they have?” Fenris scoffed. I bit my lip, watching his own mouth flicker when he referred to Isabella as “the lady”. Creators, if I had merely half the appeal she had to men, I’d go after Fenris-

“Ezrathanis?” I looked away and glanced at the shemlen, Andy, who could so perfectly pronounce my elvish name. Only Merrill and Bethany ever called me that. Fenris didn’t care and the others could barely pronounce Asha’bellanar. “Care to take the lead?” Andy suggested. I shrugged and let the strange man link arms with me again before escorting him to the Hanged Man. For someone who made no sense and barely knew us, Andy seemed to take a quick liking to us. Surely it would change once he realized some of us were mages. Just like it did with Fenris. Just like it did with Carver. Quietly, I sent him a nod and a smile.

“I’d love to lead”, I beamed.

Notes

So this is easily the most random, ill-fitted, bizarre thing I've ever written. So...here it is :D if you have questions, feel free to ask because I'm fucking obsessed with the Dragonage series