Rose of Ferelden

Hawke rolled her eyes. They had cuffed her with her hands in front, she could slip her thumbs in and out with ease too. So much for the military keeping her out of trouble. She grinned at the still seething Sargent, his eye swelling beautifully, and he shoved her through the door into the building dubbed the Pen. She had been here a week and this was her second official trip, her fifth trip all together. They locked all the contraband on the second floor, the unlocked window not out of reach of the small Chantry's roof. The local fence knew her on sight already.

A young man was seated at a ramshackle desk, scratching away carefully at the paper in front of him. She flopped into the other seat, kicking her feet up on the desk and smiling when he jumped. "Must be a very pretty girl that letter is for."

He flushed to his ears but hid it away in the drawer. "Can I help you?" she held up her hands and shook the cuffs. He groaned. "Where's the officer who arrested you?"

"That would be Sargent Dickface No Fun. He said I can spend the day in here without food."

She gave him some credit when he didn't blink at the name calling. "What did you do?"

"He yelled at me and I yelled back." She shrugged. "When he ordered me to run off my attitude, I told him he could kiss my ass."

"So he swung on you and you swung back." She nodded. "And since you don't have a black eye, he must have missed. He didn't come in, so you didn't." She smiled slowly, reclining in the chair like a well-fed cat after it caught a mouse. He drummed his fingers on the table. "Asshole deserves it but you have to stay put for the day so he doesn't see you."

She chuckled. "I assure you, he won't see me unless I let him."

A voice echoed from down the hall. "Sargent Dickface bring in another one he's beaten up?"

She blinked twice before dropping the cuffs on desk and leaping at the man entering the room.  "Carver!" She wrapped him in a tight hug, pinning his arms to his sides.

"You?" He spluttered and twisted so she released him and stepped back. He grabbed her shoulders, towering over her and giving her a good shake. "He dragged you in?"

She pouted. "Oh, that's a nice thing to say to your sister. I haven't seen you in a year and you make me sound like garbage being drug in, brat."

He gave her another shake before dragging her back to the desk and pushing her into the chair. He leaned against the desk. "Why are you here? Mother finally get to you?"

She looked at the floor a moment before meeting his eyes with a tilt of her head. "How much do you know about the market place in Amarathine?"

His eyes and mouth fell open. "That was you?" She nodded, her smile crinkling the corners of her eyes as he rubbed a hand over his face. "Maker, Rose. They haven't even found all of it."

She chuckled. "I don't imagine they will."

He hung his head, a laugh escaping him. "You're terrible. And this is your penance?"

"Yeah. Two years." The other man was examining in the unopened cuffs. "I just slid them off. No magic." He looked at her a long moment and then dropped the cuffs into another drawer. "They should have specified my behavior in their terms but that's on them. I wasn't aware the army needed people to pick locks."

"They want you as a spy?" He stared at her, the same hard stare their father had used every time she had tried lying to him. Lucky little Carver was just her brother; it didn't make her feel wiggly.

She stared right back. "If they do, I'll run like I stole a mabari and won't look back. I'm not an idiot and Ferelden isn't established enough to take that kind of risk with anyone who isn't loyal to the point of insanity. I could make it to Orlais before they would realize I was gone to Redcliffe."

He laughed. "You are the worst Ferelden in existence."

She grinned. "That's because I was made in Kirkwall. I'm not from here."

The other man cleared his throat and they both grinned sheepishly at him. "Take the day off, Carver. I think you're the only one that can keep your sister out of trouble anyway."

They sat out behind the stables, bottles of ale between them. Carver watched her tip the bottle back, shaking his head as he took a sip. "How's Beth? Letters aren't much."

Hawke nodded. "She's good. Everyone is always disappointed she isn't a healer." She sighed, fiddling with her now empty bottle before tossing it against the back of the stable. "She stays inside all the time, never goes out. She's terrified she will be caught and dragged off to the Circle."

"All that gold I send every month should keep the Templars away."

She arched a brow, pulling a cork from another bottle. "It keeps them away from the house. They decided to increase the bribe for the market place and the Chantry." He swore and took a long drink. "What am I supposed to do, Carver? Complain about their unfairly high bribes?"

He sighed, head hanging. "At least tell me you rob them."

"Every chance I get." She chuckled, she took another long drink, her face distorting. "Robbery is this horse piss you call a drink. You didn't buy it, right?"

"Standard issue." He clinked his bottle against hers. "A whole week’s worth." He tipped his back and then wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. "After a while your tongue goes numb and you don't taste it." She laughed. "I missed you, you know. Life is boring around here. Where are you staying?"

She pointed to the far barrack. "Women's 3, I've been here a week and I've yet to be bored. Orgies every night." She gave him a wink. "Don't you have those in the men's?"

"No." He froze with the drink halfway to his lips. "I can't even get a date."

"Poor baby brother. It's those sweet cheeks of yours. Grow a beard and the ladies will fawn all over you, men too if you want them." She choked on her drink, spewing ale everywhere. At his questioning look, she gasped out. "I'm glad they don't have shared barracks. That could have been awkward."

He snorted in disgust. "I never want to see your naked ass."

"I've been told I have very fine naked ass." Carver covered his ears and started singing loudly, laughing when she punched him in the shoulder. "I met a strawberry blonde last night I could introduce you to. She's an archer, I think. I don't know, I stopped paying attention and she talked a lot. Tiny tits though, like peaches. It kind of stuck and she thinks it's a sweet nickname."

He rolled his eyes. "I am not dating your seconds."

She patted his arm. "I didn't sleep with her yet. I'm being kind enough to offer you a chance before I ruin your chances."

He shook his head, snapping his fingers. "David, weren't you two a thing?"

"I slept with David once. It wasn't fun." She snorted. Her gaze softened and she dropped the bottle, picking up some long blades of grass and braiding them together. "You know how things went bad with Mira."

Carver scooted closer and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Still bad?"

"Bad enough I have to sneak in and out of Lothering in the dead of night." She sniffed. "She's apprenticed to the baker now, just like she always wanted."

"What happened?"

She shrugged. "I went back right after you joined up.” He nodded. “We fought again, and I just let her yell. I just stood there and took it like I did everything else with her.” She wiped tears away from her face. "She told me your hands are as dirty as your soul."

"She was going to rat you out for your hobby and she had the balls to say that."

She snorted. "Yeah. It broke my heart all over again. I told her she could say all she wanted about me but if she threatened my family again, I'd do more then hit her." She took a long drink. They sat in silence a while. "She apologized when I came back that fall, loaded down with enough supplies to make for a comfortable winter and enough coin to make me the most eligible woman in Lothering. She had spent the summer sleeping in the ashes of the baker's hearth, an innocent woman in his eyes and worthy apprentice."

"What did you do then?" He watched her face.

She sucked in her lower lip and grinned. "Went home with someone new every weekend at the bar. Man, woman, human, elf, dwarf. It was fun." She turned to him and took another drink, still smiling. "Baker found another apprentice too, and he inherited the shop when the old bastard died, right before I left for Amaranthine."

Carver chuckled. "The best revenge is to live well and fly free."

She nodded. "Is it true? What they say about Darkspawn and the Wardens?" Carver shrugged. "Well aren't you a fountain of knowledge. I've fought Darkspawn. I guessed that's why they didn't slam me in prison."

He stared at her. "You fought Darkspawn again."

She shook her finger accusingly. "I do some above board jobs, you know. House Cadash hired me back again and we tried another entrance. We came right back out. Darkspawn, everywhere." She leaned back pulling up her shirt. A long jagged scar lay across her hip. "I was lucky it wasn't poisoned according to Val."

"Val?"

"Valkyrie Cadash." She grinned. "Youngest of the Cadash Clan and the most terrifying. She's running the family's branch of the Carta now. Her older brother runs their Guild. He likes being all diplomatic and she likes breaking kneecaps." She looked at him sideways, still grinning. "You'd like her; she has a huge warhammer. She’s very good at exploding nugs with it."

"And then you slept with her because you're a whore."

Hawke laughed. "So jealous. You try and resist a reaver with tits that nice. Blood lust is good for more than just killing. And we have a regular thing when I’m on the Storm Coast, thank you."