HAWKE
Hawke watched expressions of anger and pain course through his eyes, as they restlessly flitted around the room in disdain. In the three years that she had come to know him, she had never seen Fenris this way—searching for stability over his emotions. He had always acted with complete caution and a demeanor of control that she had admired. Even amidst their most heated debates, over magic and mage's rights, he would always remain collected while he voiced his opinions. His body was tensing, his hands balled into fists; he was pacing anxiously back and forth. She could tell that he was struggling to maintain his composure.
"Do you want to talk about it?" She half whispered.
Fenris halted and turned towards her, his green eyes boring deep into hers with obvious rage. "No, I don't want to talk about it!" he snapped. "This could be a trap! Danarius could have sent Hadriana here to tell me about this sister. Even if he didn't, trying to find her would still be suicide. Danarius has to know about her and has to know that Hadriana knows!" Fenris raised his blood soaked fist to eye level, dropping his voice an octave lower as he continued. "...but all that matters is that I finally got to crush this bitch's heart! May she rot, and all other mages with her!"
Fenris turned his back to her and, without thinking, she reached out her right arm, caught him mid stride, and gently placed her fingertips upon his left shoulder. She was shocked by the magnitude of excitement that went coursing through her fingers as she touched him, but the feeling was quickly replaced with confusion. His reaction, a quick jerk of his left shoulder to release her touch, threw her off balance. Before she had time to move past his rejection and gather her thoughts, his lips parted and uttered, with lashing severity, "Don't comfort me!"
She watched, addled, as he inhaled deeply and shifted his eyes from hers to the ground, where Hadriana's body lay limp and lifeless. The muscles in his forearms pulsated as he agitatedly dug his fingers into his palms. Drops of blood began to pool on the ground from his right fist; the fist that he had used to tear Hadriana's heart from her chest, mere moments earlier. As he exhaled, his eyes moved back to hers with narrowed intensity. Her breath caught in her chest with recognition of the hostility that flashed behind them.
"You saw what was done here. There's always going to be some reason, some excuse why mages need to do this; even if I found my sister, who knows what the Magister's have done to her!" He clenched his jaw and in a much steadier tone, questioned her with finality. "What does magic touch that it doesn't spoil?"
She struggled to keep her face from betraying the sting of his words that were, clearly, directed at her. Fenris shifted his eyes from hers, to the ground. He inhaled deeply and then exhaled slowly, releasing all tension in his body. He rounded his shoulders and hung his head as he mumbled, "I… need to go." He then turned his back to the group, and exited through the door of the cavern.
It was Anders's voice that broke the silence. "And here I've always been under the impression that he was our biggest fan!" he jested. "This is crushing..." he continued, with amused accentuated sarcasm."However will I keep from crying into my pillow tonight?"
She remained motionless, her eyes transfixed upon the door that Fenris had just passed through. Her mind was racing through all that had just transpired. She was confused and hurt. In the past three years, since they had met, she and Fenris had grown quite close. They had been through a lot together. Most recently, they had been spending many nights alone, immersed in conversation, wine, and books, as she taught him how to read (a privilege that his former master, Danarius, had not allowed of his pet slave).
Titan (her Mabari war hound), bounded to her right side and nudged his head under her dangling finger tips. Without releasing her gaze upon the door and still deep in thought, she subconsciously scratched his head and massaged around his ear. It had only been a few days, since Fenris had opened up to her about his past and how he had escaped from Danarius. He had told her things, that night, which he had never told anyone else. She cared about him and her feelings for him had been quickly escalating into something more than friendship. Their daily exchanges had become a constant foreplay with secret flirtations and carefully exchanged long glances. She had thought, or perhaps hoped, that his feelings towards her were the same. Merrill sashayed to her side, opposite of Titan, and intertwined her fingers within Hawke's as she leaned in, resting her head against her shoulder.
Anders was still musing to himself, when he added with a contemptible smirk upon his face. "You would think that he would remember that he hates all mages, before entering a dank and dark cavern with three of them..."
When she didn't offer more than a quick glance in his direction, he drew silent and suddenly aware of her distracted fixation on the door. Anders moved in front of her, blocking her view and breaking her trance, causing her eyes to lock with his.
"Aven?" he softly whispered. Her eyes flickered at his surprising use of her first name. With tender concern in his tone, he continued, "He'll be fine; he just needs to cool off. Come on, let's get out of here."
(Fenris, Anders, Merrill and *some* dialogue, © Bioware)