AN: Make sure you check the last chapter's ending I've changed and added content since I posted it.

Also new Pov!

Working for the Inquisition brought Kaaras a bit more peace of mind than the usual work contacts. Not that he didn't love the Valo-Kas, and the work they did, he did. Kaaras loved every minute he spent with them, but the work didn't give him the same feeling the Inquisition gave him, nor was a stable place to rest, and a steady income to match anything to sneeze at. He felt good being here, despite the constant squabbling the humans seemed to do.

In fact he could see a few of them arguing right now, from where he sat outside the cabin he and the Gremlin shared. It seemed Haven's trader had set prices a few silvers too high, and now two humans and an elf were laying into the man. His face twisted a little in amusement as he watched. It was the traders own fault, Kaaras could hear the outraged customers shouts from here, and the prices were indeed much higher than what you'd seen elsewhere, even if you included the current crisis from the hole in the sky.

The thought brought a light buzz from his left hand, and he turned his palm over to look at the Mark. That was the only thing he could call it, or anyone could call it. The lack of a name or anything bothered him, since no one seemed to know anything about it. Even Solas, who seemed to know something about everything. It seemed that only thing they knew for sure was that it was connected to the demon spewing rip in the sky. Which is very reassuring.

"-s a pretty color." Asha mumbled from against his side where she dosed lightly.

"It is a pretty color." He agreed, and gently ran his right hand over her head, letting the familiar smell of her hair drift to his nose, along with something that told him she had convinced one of the Chantry sisters to slip her some sweets again. He smiled and shook his head. The Mark had worried the girl at first, but he reassured her it was safe and she had relaxed, he had just conveniently left out the part of it almost draining the life out of him. That definitely wouldn't have helped matters. Kaaras really hoped it stayed like it was, the Gremlin really didn't need it killing him.

He went back to watching the spectacle the humans and elf were making. Even while being ganged up upon by three others the trader refused to back down, and the Vashoth admired his resolve, but he really did need to lower his prices.

Watching on for a few more minutes, he saw that the situation seemed to be escalating now. Kaaras could see one of the disgruntled customers reach back for a punch. As annoying as his business practices were, the trader didn't deserve a beating quite yet. Kaaras made to stand up, and settle the situation, perhaps put his title as 'Herald' to good use, but the action turned out to be unnecessary. A familiar shout froze the four, and the Voshoth smirked.

He could see her steady and angry march towards the group, who now stood stiffly with heads bowed as she berated the lot.

Seeing Cassandra bring the hammer down, and fix matters in such a straight forward manner usually brought him good deal of admiration... as well as a few other feelings.

When each side had been sufficiently reamed, the Seeker dismissed the two humans and elf, likely with orders to be on watch for sometime, and gave the trader a glare, along with what was probably a threat to find someone else to trade in Haven. She was pleasantly predicable that way.

As the group dispersed, the Seeker glanced around, making sure the scene wasn't too disruptive and everyone was working as they should, she caught his eyes. Kaaras grinned and waved at her. She gave a short nod in acknowledgment, seemingly completely moved on from her embarrassment from the previous day, and left, continuing on her way to her destination, likely a meeting with Leliana.

"The Lady is nice," Asha spoke, a little more awake this time.

"She is," He agreed again, holding in a laugh at the irony.

"Varric says you like her."

"Varric says a lot of things. He hasn't told you about his friend Hawke yet has he?" He said, deflecting her question.

Asha straightened to frown up at him, "No." She denied, apparently not in the mood to play, and he knew, for a fact, she had asked for the story at least twice.

He dropped his hand on her head, pressing down slightly, "Alright Gremlin, and if I did? What would that mean?" He asked her instead.

Her frown deepened as she looked off for a minute. "I don't know." She huffed, "Something."

"Don't worry about it, okay?" He said brushing Asha's hair lightly with his fingers, as she settled against him again, returning to her little cat nap. If he had indeed felt like getting into it, he would have said yes, that he did in fact like the Seeker. She was brave, and honorable, and if he was being quite honest, incredibly attractive. He always had a weakness for warriors, the more serious the better. It made him want to crack their careful composure, let them live a little, even if it never went beyond a few jokes, and smile.

Cassandra was definitely one of those people. She was always in 'Inquisition' mode, everything she did was for the cause, it appeared that she never took time for herself, and the closest person to a friend she had appeared to be Commander Cullen. It looked... lonely. Throwing all that she had into this rag tag group of misfits. He admired that, and felt compelled to approach her. Maybe crack a joke or two, throw her day off, and maybe get on her good side at the very least. Jobs always went easier when you're nice to the boss.

He was surprised to see how well they got along when he did speak with her. Especially when she had tried to wring his neck when he first saw her. An amused half smile appeared on his face at the memory.

He was even more surprised later when she actually apologized for her actions, it won her many points in his book. Under her hard shell he found her to be awkward, and adorable, especially when she turned red. He loved when humans did that, since vashoth and qunari can't really change color quite like that, it was interesting to watch. It was even better that she mostly did it on her own with out any prompting on his part.

Kaaras knew it was because she was attracted to him. Oh he definitely knew about that. He could sense it easily, but he could also see how she dealt with that fact. He always saw the realization reach her eyes, and how she immediately buried it with a distraction. She was rejecting her own feelings, and if what he learned about her these last few weeks held true, it was probably mostly out of duty.

He could understand that, especially with the situation being as hectic as it was. A hole in the sky, Mages and Templars in an open war, and an entire freshly put together organization to run. It was no surprise she held herself back.

Besides, he didn't know how long they'd even stay in this place. Sure the Inquisition felt like a solid movement right now, but once the Breach was sealed, what then? The Inquisition could lose steam and disband under all the pressure from the Chantry, or they could accidentally start a war and have the worlds armies knocking on their door.

He didn't really think any of that would happen of course, but he had to keep it in mind. In those cases any pursuit of the Seeker wouldn't lead anywhere substantial. Which is he wanted for himself, substantial. Short dalliances had lost their appeal a long time ago, they were only a waste of energy now, nor did he want his personal relationships to affect Asha negatively, her life didn't need any more instability. However the opportunity to fluster Lady Cassandra was too good to pass up. He wondered how red she would turn when he'd try to do it on purpose.

"Your Worship!"

Kaaras stiffened at the call, pulling him out of his thoughts, and resisted the urge to pull a face, he really wished they'd pick something else to call him. Looking up the Vashoth spotted one of the camp's messengers walking towards his makeshift seat.

"Message for you sir!" He said loudly, in that voice humans tended to use just after they join, and have a drive to prove themselves. Kaaras didn't mind this most of the time, but at the moment it was quite unwelcome. Against his side, Asha pressed herself harder into his side, hiding her face, the volume of the young man's voice having disrupting her from her dozing state. Kaaras could a hear her low whine of protest, and the Vashoth fixed the human with a glare, irritation rushing to the surface. That surprised the human as his eyes went wide, and his pace slowed significantly.

Kaaras flicked his head down to the half asleep girl under his arm. "Shouting is not necessary." He tried keep his tone as neutral as possible, but the iciness could not be helped.

"Yes sir. Sorry sir." The kid practically squeaked, much quieter this time however.

Kaaras exhaled through his nose slowly, trying to dispel the annoyance he knew to be mostly irrational. "It's fine," No it wasn't, he was still annoyed. "What's the message?"

Scrambling now, the kid began sifting through the small stack letters in his hand. It took him a moment, but he found the correct piece of parchment and held it out to Kaaras, a slight shake to his hand. The warrior held in a sigh at the sight of the tremor, and took the letter from the messenger's hand as the kid began to speak, "A letter from a... Shokrokar, sir. Of the Valo-Kas." His voice cracking in the middle from nervousness or from his age, Kaaras didn't know.

Looking down at the paper he saw the familiar smattering that made up the chief's writing. Relief flooded his chest, replacing the tingling irritation. Next to him Asha straightened up at the familiar name, waking up fully this time, and rubbed an eye as she stretched.

Mood having done a complete 180, Kaaras smiled up at the slightly fearful messenger, "Thank you. We appreciate it." He said sincerely.

The kid let out a small relieved breath, and collected himself. With a nod, and a salute, he turned around to continue making his deliveries.

"What'd she say?" Asha said leaning over in an attempt to read the letter.

"I don't know. I haven't opened it up yet." He teased. She huffed, and wrapped a hand around his sleeve and tugged, urging him to hurry up.

With an absentminded smile he opened the letter and began skimming through the message. A frown soon replaced the smile as he read the Qunlat, which the Valo-kas always used in writing, and an icy disappointment settled in his stomach. The letter read in Shok's usual rambling line of thought, but its contents did not hold the humor that would normally be carried.

"So? What'd she say?" Asha urged, brow crinkling as she noticed his reaction. She could read the words herself but, it always took her some time to do so. She would get the information faster through him. "I can see Katoh's and Meraad's names..."

Kaaras closed his eyes, and breathed in deeply. Opening his eyes, he angled himself to face his daughter more fully, but didn't met her eyes, and placed a hand on her shoulder, a silent encouragement for her attention. The letter's contents settled over him, sinking into his bones with the coldness of fact. He had suspected of course, but the reality... was always cutting.

"It's bad isn't it?" She whispered

He took another deep breath, and pushed aside his trepidation to meet her eyes. "Asha," He started, and watched as the use of her name set off bells in her mind. She tensed and made to stand, but he took her hands in one of his own, to ground her as well as himself. She had to be told, the Valo-Kas was the only family she had ever known. "Asha, Katoh and Meraad were the only ones to make it back." She stills, and Kaaras felt a fissure form in his chest, "None of the others made it off the mountain."

For the longest time she didn't react, just sat still and stared back at him, until she let out an almost inaudible, "Oh," The grip she had on his fingers slackened, and her gaze dropped to the ground. Immediately the Vashoth grimaced. Releasing her hands, he wrapped both arms around her small frame to pull her into his chest. Asha went with no resistance, and made no noise as she leaned against him. He knew she wouldn't. Living with mercenaries meant casualties sometimes, even ones as skilled as the Valo-kas, there would always be somebody that made a mistake or lose themselves on a hot head. Asha was not a stranger to death.

Even so, they were her friends. She played and ate dinner with those men and women. Shivered with them in the winter, and sweated with them in the summer. The loss would be hard. For now she would shut down, and process the information, but tomorrow is when the fact would sink in and tear her apart.

Internally he cursed the Breach and its creator. For tearing away his friends, for hurting his daughter, and for all those people that were in the temple on that day. Leaning his head down, Kaaras rested a cheek on top of Asha's head. "I'll find who did this, and tear them apart. I promise you, Kadan." He whispered into her hair, anger seeping into his voice like a disease, deadly in its stillness.

The small human gave no outward reaction, simply breathed into her father's coat.

Leaving for the Storm Coast two days later was hard. The day after they got the news was as difficult as he feared, Asha did little else but cry, and sleep, but the day he left, she seemed to be in a functional state. An extremely somber functional, but functional none the less. She would stay that way for two weeks at least.

He was saddened to think he knew exactly how she handled loss.

Kaaras felt terrible leaving. Being alone in grief was hard, but work had to be done, and he pushed his own feelings aside for now. This excursion was the last they would make before approaching the Mages.

He loved and hated this place. It was cold and the sound of the tides was soothing, but the rain soaked into every crevice, and the air smelled of rotting wood and salt, over powering the other smells in the area. It made it hard to tell what was here and what wasn't. He inhaled through his nose, and caught the scent of something that could be a High Dragon, but could also be the bottle of blood he had in his pouch. It set him on edge, but they hadn't seen any sign of such a beast so he held himself back.

Nor did the near constant arguing coming from the three newest members of the Inquisition, help him relax in any way. It turns out that convincing Cassandra, and the others, to take a break and stay behind, while he took Sera, Vivienne, and Blackwall to see about these mercenaries, was a huge mistake.

It was the worst clash of personalities he had ever witnessed in his 35 years, and he wondered why he even considered the idea.

Sera and Vivienne were the worst. Sera saw the mage as one of the 'knobheads' her and her 'friends' dealt with daily, and so had gone out of her way to annoy the enchanter. Vivienne, of course, didn't rise to the bait, and would brush off the archer with such a coolness that drove Sera crazy, making the elf even more driven in her quest to irritate, and thus the cycle would repeat its self. Over and over and over again.

Blackwall, and the Enchanter weren't much better, but instead of a pure anger, Vivienne's rebuttals seemed to make the warden sad as well as angry, as she laid out his shortcomings without mercy. Kaaras felt a bit of sympathy for the man, but what else could you expect when you picked a fight with a master of The Game?

Sera, and Blackwall were the complete opposite. It seemed that disliking Vivian was a great ice breaker. They quickly seemed to be as thick as thieves when they decided not to attempt to antagonize the mage. Kaaras was glad at least something came about on this trip.

Vivienne of course dealt with this all with a cool grace that Kaaras found he greatly admired. Petty jabs and barbs were nothing to her.

The near constant conflict, brought the Vashoth a huge headache, even now he could feel the pulse behind his forehead. Combined with the unfortunate news, and Asha's and his own emotional fall out, made him feel twitchy, and caged. There hadn't been one bandit attack on the way here. No rogue Templars, or Mages. Nothing. The group was lucky he was only took dragon's blood so often. He might have snapped their necks if he did on a full schedule.

But he needed a fight. Soon.

When a pained scream sounded from down the hill, a thread of excitement began to spread through him as his heart began to speed up. The sound also quieted the others, finally, and he looked over to meet their eyes. At once they drew their weapons and began to run towards the sounds of a skirmish.

–

AN: So how'd you guys like the new pov? Would you like more of this? Or maybe another character's or back to Cassandra's? Please let me know

Next chapter should be iron bulls introduction and maybe redcliffe

reviews are appreciated!

I hope you enjoyed it :)