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After living in Kirkwall for around four years at this point, Tristan liked to believe that he was starting to get a handle on things. There had been no sign of any other Gray Wardens since he and his lover, Anders, had moved here. Of course, shifting templar patrols could be an issue, but with the friends he’d made, it was easy enough to hide the clinic from their prying eyes. With all the pieces of his life that had settled into somewhat of a routine, there was the one piece of it that still managed to surprise him at every turn.
His cousin, Antony Hawke, a newly minted noble after his successful trip into the Deep Roads as part of the Tethras Expedition. Of course, Ant was very grateful to Tristan’s help, not only in the Deep Roads themselves, but also with the added weight of a Hero of the Blight supporting his family’s claim to their ancestral estate in Hightown. An estate that had lain mostly empty, aside from some Tevinter slavers, since their uncle, Gamlen, had gambled it away all those years ago. Because of this gratefulness, Ant had taken upon the habit of randomly visiting Anders’ clinic in Darktown, supposedly to make sure that his cousin was doing ok, but usually just to gossip with Anders. Ant himself was clearly not very talented in the healing arts, but very good at following directions when the situation called for it.
Thus, Tristan found himself, surprised, and also not at all shocked to walk into the clinic and see his cousin and his lover gossiping towards the back of the clinic. Ant was always the unknown variable in Tristan’s life, he was never sure when the younger man would just turn up and whisk them away on another adventure, or just chat and invite them over for dinner with the rest of the Hawkes.
“How many of these diseases are out there?” Ant asked as Tristan walked up behind him.
“Oh, more than you can imagine, ranging from mildly irritating to extremely dangerous. You might check in with your elf and make sure he hasn’t been in any unsanitary situations. I know he isn’t as obvious as Isabela but it wouldn’t surprise me if he picked something up and might accidentally pass it along,” Anders advised, giving Ant a stern look.
“He isn’t my elf, Fenris is his own person and you know it. Besides, he has no reason to tell me about who he may or may not have been intimate with,” Ant said, a slight flush rising beneath his beard. Tristan only rolled his eyes at that. To the rest of them, it had been quite obvious upon their first meeting just how besotted Antony was with their prickly friend. Even though Fenris and Anders rarely got along, it became clear to the two mages that the elf had started to return some type of feeling, with most bets pointing towards something romantic brewing between the two. For someone who’d been in a committed relationship for quite some time, it was nice to see those amusingly awkward first stages all over again. Ant, however, seemed quite content to dig his head in the sand and believe that his feelings would never be returned.
“Yes, yes, keep telling yourself that, Hawke. Tristan! How’d your little trip go?” Anders said, looking towards his returning lover. Tristan couldn’t help but smile at the other man, thankfully, he only had good news.
“Who’s got diseases? My trip went wonderfully, thank you for asking. Solvitus didn’t mind too much looking into our little problem, so long as I can bring him some more rare ingredients,” Tristan reported.
“Isabela was here earlier asking about a particular itching sensation, I told her to be careful with who she lets dock in her port,” Anders explained, freely sharing the gossip as he usually did.
“Little problem?” Ant asked, frowning at his cousin. Tristan valiantly held in his internal groan. His cousin had a consistent flaw in that he would often take the issues of his friends or family and make them his own. He knew that he himself wasn’t much better at minding his business, but Ant was definitely worse than him in terms of how nosy he could get.
“Nothing for you to worry about. We haven’t talked much recently, Hawke, how are you doing?” Tristan said, waving his hand and trying to change the subject.
“We had templars practically on our doorstep the other night, it wasn’t nothing,” Anders interrupted with a frown that matched Ant’s.
“The templars are hunting you?!”
“Not us specifically, they’re just checking the refugee camps,” Tristan knew that Ant would overreact like this if he knew. Despite his cousin’s new rise in status, he definitely wasn’t anywhere near influential enough to change the way this particular wind was blowing. Besides, Ant was a mage himself, it would help no one, especially not the other members of the Hawke family, if Ant was discovered or taken to the Circle. Ant could be as protective as he liked, but Tristan had gotten used to his charming beefcake of a cousin, and wasn’t about to let him get sent to a Circle like he and Anders had been.
“But it’s not like this place is a secret, it’s only a matter of time. The Knight-Commander is out of control. Even her own people have been talking about it. The curfews. The midnight raids on mages’ families. Everyone we know, forced into hiding to avoid being made Tranquil,” Anders added, giving Tristan a stern look. He knew that Anders didn’t believe in keeping information from other mages, especially not from Ant after all he’d done to help them with Karl those years ago. It was Anders’ way of keeping their community informed and two steps ahead of the Templars.
“If they want you, they’ll have to go through me,” Tristan said, crossing his arms.
“They’d hang us both, Hero of the Blight or not. Besides, you know that this isn’t about either of us, it’s about all the other mages out there, or worse, trapped inside with her,” Anders said, his look starting out fond, then growing frustrated.
“In the meantime however, we’re managing just fine. Solvitus is going to help us out and look into their patrols,” Tristan said, clapping his hand on Hawke’s shoulder, as if to remind Anders of their audience, and to reassure his cousin. Ant on the other hand had gotten quiet and contemplative. Tristan could only hope that it didn’t indicate his cousin’s intrusive nature plotting some way to try to help them out.
“What Tristan means to say, is that the best way to help us out, is to keep your nose clean, Hawke. You get far too much attention now that you live in Hightown,” Anders said, relenting under Tristan’s gaze.
“Speaking of Hightown, sorry we missed your mother’s last soiree. Things were busy down here with that last wave of the flu,” Tristan added.
“Ugh, don’t remind me, she keeps parading me around when you two aren’t there. Carver usually just takes a night shift with the guard and is able to miss the party but only so that he doesn’t suffer my fate,” Ant said, heaving a heavy sigh. Tristan and Anders could only laugh, and then promise to spirit Hawke away for more nights spent at The Hanged Man rather than trying to charm young noblewomen under his mother’s watchful eye.