One to make her happy (Daisy and her boyfriends) - DA II, DAI
Varric lied. It was a truth everyone who ever met him knew. The Tale of the Champion, especially the extended version he told Cassandra, was no exception. Because of course Merrill did not manage to stay as naive as a kitten after nine years of living in Kirkwall. Of course Isabela didn't run around (and fight) wearing no pants. Of course not every word of Hawke's lips had been a sarcastic quip or joke. Of course Carver wasn't an arse all the time (only most of it). Of course Sebastian (who freely admitted having a wild past) did not blush like a virgin choirboy every time anyone made a dirty joke or innuendo. And of course Anders and Fenris could not have despised each other that much for that long without coming to blows at least verbally.
But the thing about Varric's lying was: there was always a reason. Some things were merely dramaturgical, like Merill's naivety or Sebastian's getting flustered from every dirty joke (so whenever Isabela opened her mouth). Some were personal preference, like Isabela's lack of pants, Carver's being an arse or Hawke's being queen of sass. And some, like Anders and Fenris never coming to blows, were done to veil a truth far more complicated.
It had been a conscious decision on his part, to showcase Hawke as a terrible flirt but without a serious love interest. It had been calculated. People wouldn't have understood, had he told the truth. This was easier. Easier and safer. But now Hawke was gone and he really ought to warn Evune about what was coming to Skyhold.
"Starshine, do you have a moment?" Varric asked the Inquisitor when she passed by his nook.
"Of course, Varric. Is something the matter?"
"Picked up on that, did you?" He shook his head. "Not here, come on." He led her to a little, out of the way tower top. Leaning against the banister he began.
"Remember how you asked about whether Hawke had been in love? When you and Chuckles were still dancing around each other?" The dwarf sighed. "I lied. She was in love. It's just… complicated. But I have to tell you now. Because none of those idiots is particularly good at keeping a cool head on their shoulders. And you need to know what's coming at you - "
"Wait, wait. Back up. Idiots? As in, more than one?"
He nodded. "Yeah. Let me tell you about the Champion's love life. But this time, the truth…"
When I met Daisy Hawke - and trust me, I'm aware of the irony of her name, but just about no-one ever used it - I had no idea of the utter mess she'd land us in before all of it would be done. Not even after I saw her making eyes at Fenris, Anders and Sebastian. But I didn't really pay it any greater mind until the year of the Qunari crisis. By then, she had grown close to all three and I almost expected that to be another explosion waiting to blow. But then she fought the Arishok and almost died. I didn't think I'd ever see those three put their collective differences and issues aside, but for Hawke, they did. When she was back to health, she sequestered herself away with them for three days and when they emerged, the disaster I was preparing to manage had been circumnavigated. I do not know, to this very day, what exactly happened in those three days. Hawke wouldn't tell me. I assume they talked, likely established some ground rules. Probably took care of all that tension, if you take my meaning. (at this, a wry smile sneaked on his face) It could have been good. It would have been.
But as you know, tension between templars and mages rose, Elthina was passive to the point of negligence, Meredith was slowly going insane, Anders was radicalising…
Hawke was under immense pressure, even more than with the Qunari and she didn't take it well.
I remember one night at the Hanged Man, Hawke and Fenris had this terrible fight about mage freedom.
I remember her saying "If all mages are evil, why do you stick around? I'm not holding you here. If mages are so detestable, if I'm so detestable, why don't you just leave?"
Now, I have seen Broody angry, I have seen him murderous, I have even seen him sad. But that night, he looked like someone sucked all the light out of his life.
Not much later, she and Anders were laying into each other like street cats in the Clinic. Something about her losing him and Justice becoming Vengeance. It ended when she told him "If you want to kill yourself that badly, please, by all means, go right ahead, see if I care" and storming off angrily. Anders looked like a kicked puppy.
And to add insult to injury, just a couple days after that, Hawke was shouting at Sebastian, right on the Chantry steps at that. For the most part, he was just trying to sooth her, calm her down. That only made it worse. Didn't take him long to realise and he mostly just took whatever she threw at him from that point.
"Chantry lapdog" she called him. "I am losing you. Every day you slip through my fingers a little more. How long until you're gone behind those cold walls forever?" she was crying like there was no tomorrow by that point. Sebastian made to take her into his arms, I think, but she wrenched away, telling him not to touch her and "Make up your bloody mind, Sebastian, because I can't take this tug-of-war anymore"
No idea what changed but two weeks later they were all back together like nothing had happened. And I thought now everything would be alright. The next day, Anders blew up the Chantry and Meredith annulled the Circle of Kirkwall. Sebastian didn't demand Hawke kill Anders. He didn't even demand he get to kill him. But the true tragedy struck when the dust had settled. Anders had fled Kirkwall already of course but Sebastian and Fenris too were preparing to depart. Sebastian was leaving to retake Starkhaven, thinking Fenris was staying with her, and Fenris was going slaver hunting, believing Sebastian was remaining in Kirkwall for now. And so Hawke ended up alone. Then word of the Seeker looking for her spread and she had to go to ground.
"In lieu of the Champion, Cassandra took me prisoner, questioned me and brought me to Haven and you know the rest." Varric ended his tale. "And now a possessed apostate, an angry ex-slave and the ruling Prince of Starkhaven are on their way here because of what happened at Adamant." He looked at Evune. She seemed to be taking this surprisingly well.
"Well, at least I'm not the one with the most complicated relationship anymore" Evune joked.
"How complicated can Chuckles and you be that it would top Tiny and Sparkler?"
Now she was laughing. "If only you knew, Varric, if only you knew." Then she sobered up. "Thank you for telling me this, Varric. I have to go talk to Solas." And with that, she breezed down the tower and was gone, leaving Varric alone with his memories.
It was a stately welcome the three men that loved Daisy Hawke received. Thankfully, the Inquisitor had warned her of the upcoming visit of a foreign head of state. Talking about the Inquisitor, Evune was late. "Don't fret, tesoro, I am sure she will be here as soon as she can." Softly spoken words, meant for her ears only, reached her from the shadows. Josephine shot them a glare from the corner of her eye. "Stop loitering about in the shadows!" she hissed at her elusive lover. With a soft laugh Zevran stepped into the light slightly behind her. Oh that rascal! He just loved to rile her up. Now was not the time for his antics. She turned her attention back to their guests. The three men had almost reached the stairs into the castle proper and still no sight of the Inquisitor. Time to grin and bear it and hope she could do enough damage control.
"Your Highness, my Lords, the Inquisition welcomes you to Skyhold" she greeted them with all the grace and poise ever drilled into her. The Prince of Starkhaven nodded, the rugged apostate raised an eyebrow and the elf with the indeed most peculiar tattoos scoffed. "I hope your travel wasn't too bothersome. If you'd like, baths were prepared for you in your respective quarters to freshen up before dinner" she offered, sending a quick prayer skyward they'd take her up on that. They didn't.
It was the Prince of Starkhaven who spoke first. "My lady ambassador, where is the Inquisitor?" His voice belied his young age. Like a seasoned politician's, it revealed nothing.
"We do have a rather important matter to discuss with her." That came from the apostate, Anders.
"Indeed" there was an almost unsettling darkness in the elf's, Fenris, tone.
Keep it together, Josephine. She told herself. And it wasn't like she had anything to fear, personally. Her crow would strike all of them down before they'd ever touch her. Unfortunately, that safety did not extend to international relations. She heard the door behind her creak open but paid it no mind.
"The Inquisitor…"
"... Is right here." A weight lifted from Josephine's shoulders. Never had she been so glad to hear Evune's elvhen lilt. A quick glance from the corner of her eye confirmed the Inquisitor's presence. She was walking down the steps in a beautiful semi-formal robe that Josephine assumed was elvhen from the way the fabric gathered and draped yet allowed (almost) prime mobility, her moonlight hair gathered from her face with intricate braids and piled on the back of her head before tumbling down her back freely. The Inquisitor had passed Zevran now and came to a stop next to Josephine. "Prince Vael, Anders, Fenris" Evune greeted their guests with an incline of her head. "I believe I know why you are here." When Anders made a move to speak, she raised her hand regally, commanding silence. "Please, allow me to preempt what I am sure you wish to discuss. Yes, the lady Hawke was lost in the Fade during the Siege of Adamant. A decision made by herself to save my life and that of my companions as well as Warden Stroud." A discreet motion of her hand set the door moving again behind them. Josephine couldn't see what happened at the door but it drew a collective gasp from the men before them. "But as you can see" the Inquisitor continued unperturbed "she has since been recovered and is on the mend. My apologies no-one informed you, but it is a fairly recent development and I am sure you understand she is at this point in no condition to travel."
Those news hit like a bomb. Stunned silence, then a clamour. Josephine used the upheaval to turn around. In the open door, leaning heavily on Solas, stood Hawke, pale, thin and all in all worse for the wear but undoubtedly alive. A soft smile spread on the Antivan's lips as those three oh-so-dignified men rushed to reach the Champion who all but fell into their arms, her strength exhausted by the way from her sick bed to the door. A little aways from the reunited lovers, the ambassador saw Solas drawing Evune into his arms, her dark blue (was that imperial blue? Josephine wasn't even sure how to get cloth that colour without spending a fortune, let alone as much as all the gathering and draping necessitated) dress a lovely contrast to his muted green tunic. Her own paramour's arms came around her from behind.
"Ah, they are the best of stories, those that end well, are they not?" His soft-spoken words and his accent made her think of home. She smiled at the picture before them. "Yes. They are."
After Hawke's recovery, after the Inquisitor vanquished Corypheus and healed the sky, after Leliana was named Divine and Cassandra became her right hand, when many began to leave Skyhold one by one, Sebastian, Anders and Fenris took the Champion to Starkhaven. And despite her archer's exponated position, despite her healer's infamy, despite her warrior's memorability, very seldom only did any battlefield - be that literal or political - see the almost-Viscountess of Kirkwall.
(The Exhalted Council was one of those exceptions. Hawke and her lovers could hardly leave the woman that reunited them to the dogs. And under these four, Starkhaven had become chief among the Marcher cities and was beginning to challenge Nevarra in power. Not to mention none of them held any particular liking for Orlais and only very little for Ferelden.)
Because Princess or not, in the end it was just Daisy and her boyfriends, living in a house, sharing a good life. And they all lived happily ever after. (Though at least one royal advisor had a hysterical fit about the parentage of the Princess's children, but that is tale for another time)