Five times that Fenris took Hawke’s hand, and one time that he held it. (Also known as: my ham-fisted attempt to summarize the THREE YEARS between Act II and III into one relatively short chapter.)
For @dadrunkwriting . It’s a long one, folks (>7000 words). Sorry about this.
Read on AO3 instead: tinyurl.com/fenhawke2
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–One–
Hawke took a slow, deep breath, then handed the urn to Carver. “Here,” she said. “You can have the honours.”
Carver gingerly took the urn from her hands. He studied the fine porcelain receptacle for a moment before speaking. “I wish we could have buried her with Father,” he said softly. “And Bethany too.”
Fenris watched as Hawke took another deep breath, then smiled at her younger brother. “Don’t worry about that,” she said. “Mother float away on the wind and find them much more easily like this. And maybe some bits of her will go floating off to Orlais or Rivain or somewhere nice and exotic. She always did want to travel in style.”
Carver huffed. “Do you ever take anything seriously?”
She shrugged and gave him another devil-may-care grin. “Why bother? Life’s so short already.” She nodded at the edge of the cliff and waved her hand expansively at the calm waters of the Wounded Coast. “Go ahead. Send her off. Just… make sure the wind is blowing the right way first.”
Carver shot her an annoyed look, then opened the lid of the urn. After a moment’s hesitation, he released Leandra Amell’s ashes to the air.
The whole group watched in silence as the ashes drifted away into the wind, but Fenris studied Hawke from the corner of his eye. Her arms were wrapped around her middle, her customary grin replaced by a look of utter seriousness.
She held herself very still for a long moment. Then, with a heavy exhale, she loosened her arms and looked at Carver. “Come here, you big dummy,” she said, and she wrapped her arms around her brother’s shoulders in a tight hug.
Carver’s eyes widened with surprise for a moment, then he hugged her in return. Varric cleared his throat gruffly, and Sebastian squeezed his shoulder while Fenris pretended not to notice.
A moment later, Carver sighed and pressed his face against Hawke’s shoulder. “I wish….” he muttered, then trailed off into silence.
“I know,” Hawke said softly. She sniffed, then in a bright voice she said, “Keep on wishing, baby brother. Something will come true eventually. That’s how probability works, right?”
Anders chuckled. “Not quite,” he said gently, and Hawke shot him a little wink.
“I do wish you’d stop calling me ‘baby brother’,” Carver muttered.
Hawke laughed and squeezed him harder. “Best keep on wishing, because that’s not going to happen.”
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