A Battered Old Journal, Chapter Five

Title: A Battered Old Journal, Chapter Five

Series: Dragon Age

Characters: OC: Mathis Hawke, OC: Tara, Varric Tethras, Cullen, F!Hawke, Merrill, OC: Elena Hawke, Carver Hawke, OC: Naris, Aveline Vallen (Hendyr), Donnic Hendyr, Isabela, Fenris, Sebastian, Anders, Gamlen Amell, Charade Amell

Words: 1,025

Summary: The fifth entry in the journal, written on the thirtieth of August in 9:56 Dragon.

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Y’know, if you’re someone who isn’t family that’s reading this, you’re might be a bit confused as to who exactly I or my family am. Well, here’s the rundown.

Mother’s name is Treva Hawke, daughter of Malcolm Hawke and Leandra Amell, sister to Carver and Bethany Hawke. She came to Kirkwall when the Blight was ravaging Ferelden and…well, a lot of hardship followed. I’m sure I haven’t heard all the stories of what happened (though I think next time Isabella’s in town I can talk a few more out of her) but she ended up being declared the city’s Champion. Saved it twice too; once from the Qunari, earning her title, and once from tearing itself apart after my father blew up the Chantry.

Now that’s a trickier subject…my father. On the one hand there’s the man who helped bring me into the world: Anders or Mathis Baur as was his name before he was taken to the Ferelden Circle. And on the other hand there’s the man who helped raise me, married my mother, and is my baby sister’s father: Cullen. A revolutionary and a sworn templar, there could be no greater difference between these two men that Mother loves. They are both, though, my father’s – one by blood and one by action.

Speaking of Cullen, there’s my baby sister: Elena Hawke. I know, I know, we both have Mother’s name but that’s because Cullen doesn’t have a last name that he recalls and it would be useless to try to contact that Chantry orphanage he was raised in. She’s a few months shy of being eight and is as much of a troublemaker as I’m told I was at her age. Though that’s mostly because I give her pointers but no one needs to know that.

That covers the immediate family but there’s also my uncle Carver Hawke. He married Merrill Alerion two years before Mother and Cullen were but the eldest of my little cousins is a year younger than Elena. They’ve been busy bees too, my aunt and uncle, and have all-together added three crazy rug rats to the crowd that seems to be constant around the Gallows. And, yes, cousins mine, you are, were, and always will be rug rats to me so don’t be making faces at this if you’re reading. That means you don’t pull Uncle’s annoyed face, Ceindrech, don’t you set the pages on fire, Eithne, and don’t either of you let Bran drool on it. Yes, I mean that even if he’s my age while reading this.

‘Course there’s Gamlen Amell, my great-uncle, but we don’t really see much of him except on mine, Elena, or one of our cousins’ birthdays. His daughter, my Cousin Charade, though, is a frequent visitor to the Gallows and I think she has her eye on one of Cullen’s templars.

As for the other names I mentioned, I never got to meet them. Grandmother apparently died in Kirkwall, a victim of a blood mage. Grandfather died years before they even left Ferelden, brought down by a disease. And my Aunt Bethany, who Uncle sometimes says I remind him of (in temperament at least), was killed by an ogre while they were fleeing from Lothering.

That’s immediate family…now there’s extended. Whew, this is going to be a list!

Aveline and Donnic Hendyr of the Guard are practically mine, Elena, and the cousins’ aunt and uncle. She’s tried for forever to pretend she doesn’t like to be called ‘Aunt’ but Donnic gave her away and told me she does. Obviously I call her that all the time now.

Of course there’s Varric Tethras, who gave me this journal. I’ve loved listening to his stories about Mother’s escapades in the city for years but, as Uncle cautioned me, I always take them with a grain of salt.

Now, the more elusive of the extended family exists in Fenris, Isabela, and Sebastian Vael.

Uncle was gone for the first few years of my life helping Sebastian reclaim Starkhaven and we haven’t really seen much of him since. He helps supply us with what we need while the world goes mad around us, though. Oh, and Mother got an invitation to his wedding; apparently he’s marrying the daughter of the Warden King. Mother finds that highly amusing considering King Alistair’s opinion of mages and how he gave the Ferelden Circle its freedom long before my father sparked his revolution.

As for Fenris and Isabela, they have this weird love-hate relationship that they both claim isn’t a relationship at all. Like Mother says though, “Everyone knows they’re knocking boots, they just don’t have the balls to say it out loud.” We see them every time Isabela decides to blow into port or whenever Varric manages to wrangle one of his out-of-nowhere lyrium shipments through her.

Oh, and of course there’s my friends Naris and Tara.

Naris is half-elf like my cousins and lives with her mother in Lowtown. She only really ended up with us as kids because somehow the Gallows became the place to bring we littles when the rest of the city was busy rebuilding. Not quite sure how that turned out but apparently with Mother and Cullen both there, everyone thought it was the safest place. She’s brash, pushy, and really mouthy but she’s a damn loyal friend, I’ll tell you that. Packs a mean wallop with a waster too – I’ve got the bruises to prove it.

Now, if anyone can be called my best friend, it’s Tara. Her father was one of the templars Cullen banished from the city because they were too steeped in Commander Meredith’s views and her mother abandoned her. I remember the first time I saw her she was crying and I took her to Mother, who assured her that she was wanted after William told her she wasn’t. Yes, the same William I accidentally killed. We survived his bullying together, studied together, played pranks together…Maker, we practically do everything together. She’s the sweetest person I know after Aunt Merrill, if a bit of a perfectionist.

Anyway, that’s it. That’s my family, blood and extended, and my friends.