#hawkbela

Morning sea breeze

lovers in kirkwall

Hello and thank you for the prompt. Have a little scene with Hawke and Anders for this week's @dadrunkwriting, even though the pairing is actually Hawke x Isabela.

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"What happened to you?"

Hawke's eyes look impressive. Not for their usual bright blueness, contrasting starkly to her brown skin. That blue is nearly invisible right now, her eyes swollen shut and the skin around her eyes bruised in vivid, violet shades. 

Anders' hands already glow with healing magic and he lets his hands hover over Hawke's face. "So, who did you fight?"

"Nobody important." Hawke draws in a breath when Anders presses his magic into a particularly dark bruise. 

"Sorry, but that one is deep." Anders lowers his hands and watches the bruise fade. "How did you not get your arms up in time? That's unlike you."

Hawke looks down, wringing her hands. "We were at the docks. Once in a while, Isabela needs to look at the ships. I was distracted, she... when she looks out over the sea..." Hawke's now unswollen eyes take on a dreamy haze. After a moment, she shakes herself. "Anyway, someone threw a net over us, a fucking fishing net, can you believe that? My arms were trapped and they started hitting and punching us, but Isabela got her dagger out and cut the net, and... my eyes started swelling closed but I saw one guy come at her with a knife and..." She gestures towards her hip. The blood on the dagger has already dried.

"And where is Isabela?" 

"She's fine, took care of the loot." 

Anders knows Hawke pretty well by now, and he doesn't miss the blush creeping up her cheeks. "Really? Really, Hawke?"

Hawke crosses her arms. "What?"

"You defended your lady's life and honour and then you were too much of a coward to sweep her into your arms and kiss her?"

"Who says I want to do that?"

Anders laughs out loud. "I do. And Varric does. And I'm pretty sure all the rats in the walls say it as well."

"But... what if...?"

"Enough of that." Anders shakes his head. "You, my friend, will now march your ass over to the Hanged Man, grab your girl and kiss her like your life depends on it. And then you'll tell her you will always fight for her." 

Hawke looks at him as if he just told her to gnaw off her own thumb. "But —"

"No buts." Anders shoves her out of the door. "Doctor's orders." 

Hawke's shoulders sink in defeat. "Alright."

"It's going to be fine." Anders watches Hawke walk away, watches how her gait changes from defeated shuffling to excited skipping and grins.

Isabela worked out her favorite method years ago: always get them looking down. Wear your lowest cut shirt and brightest jewelry, and you'll have just about everyone staring away from your face. Skin and gold, jewels and an unsubtle temptation about closed doors and long nights. Almost everyone falls for at least one of those things, and by the time they realize (if they realize) that the jewelry is mostly gilded and the sex isn't happening, Isabela can be long gone.

It doesn't work so well in Kirkwall. Varric sees through it right away, too intimate with his memories and too shrewd about valuables, but that's alright. She recognizes the same tactics in him, chest hair and crossbow and stories keeping people at bay. There's an unspoken understanding between them.

Hawke though. Hawke sees through her and into her, and Isabela isn't sure how she feels about that. She should hate it. They haven't known each other long enough, and it's not like she can skip town quickly if this goes sideways. Not like she can do much of anything with the Qunari still hanging around. (And that's a point against staying with them too. It's good to have powerful friends; it's not good to have powerful friends who are increasingly visiting the base of the people who most want to kill you. Apparently Isabela can't have one without the other.)

Plus, Isabela's never quite sure if Hawke sees what's actually there or just what she wants. It's all good and well for Hawke to speak about love, about the adoration that stayed between her parents for years, but Isabela's pretty sure that kind of thing doesn't apply to her. She's a shore stranded pirate who's only possession worth noting is, well, lost. And maybe not strictly hers. It's just not exactly how romantic tales tend to start.

And yet, Hawke's eyes are always so sincere, even when she's smirking, which she does both too often and not enough, as far as Isabela is concerned. It makes her want to believe. It makes her want to do a lot of things, most of which she whispers in Hawke's ear at inappropriate moments to see the flush creep up her lovely neck, but believing is the only dangerous one. Believing has gotten smarter women than her killed. She knows that. She knows it to her very core, to that heart Hawke is convinced Isabela has hidden somewhere.

On some level I think I always understoodThat these hands of mine were clumsy not cleverAnd I tried to do the best that I couldBut try as I might I could not bring myself to hold you

It's a secret I keep tucked inside my chestWith this heart of mine thats guilty not remorsefulThere is love that doesn't have a place to restBut it would have buried you if it had settled on your shoulder

On some level I think I always understoodThat a ship could never really love an anchorSo I did the only thing that I couldAnd severed the rope to set you sailing from my harbor

There are times where I still wonder about youYou are someone I have loved but never knownAnd you'll never see the reasons I hadFor keeping my claws away when they were close enough to hurt you

I am selfish I am broken I am cruelI am all the things the might have said to youDo you ever think of me and my two handsAnd wondered whyThey never soothed your feversAnd wondered whyThey never tied your shoesAnd wondered whyThey never held you gentlyAnd wondered whyThey never had the chance to lose you

I had the great, great privilege of commissioning the wonderful @janearts. 

Jane was an absolute gem to work with, 10/10 would commission again!

I was gonna write something super cute to go with this, but school is sapping any creativity away from me, so I couldn’t come up with anything good, BUT. Minerva Hawke sheepishly giving Isabela the signature red arm band has long been one of my favorite things, and I love that I was able to get one of my fav artists to draw it.