"Hawke, you say? That's a very special name. Would you like to hear a story?"
Who: Bethany and Varric What: Random meeting on an airplane! Where: Boston, and then in the air When: Today! Well later today
Airplanes terrified Bethany. Being enclosed in an oversized tuna can thirty-thousand feet above the surface of the planet was simply unnatural. It was made worse when take-off was delayed and she spent several extra hours trying to take her mind off the impending flight. She was sketching in a notepad and trying to ignore the man next to her. At least until he put his hand on her leg.
Bethany blinked, and then looked down at her bare leg with the man's rather gnarled hand resting on it, then she looked at the man. She held up three fingers, and he tilted his head. She held up two fingers and he shook his head. She held up one finger, and still, he didn't move his hand.
The man shrieked like a little girl as she jabbed her pencil into his lap. He was forced to switch seats with another, shorter man. He was much nicer, and his chest hair was quite amazing. She gave him a dazzling smile.
"Hello there, Sunshine," The man said, holding his hand out to her. "I'm Varric, and its a pleasure to meet you."
He was a bit older, but still kind of cute, and she found herself blushing, "Bethany. Bethany Hawke."
For a split second, Varric's eyes narrowed. Hawke. The name from his dreams. The woman looked familiar, but he wasn't sure if it had been her, or a similar looking man. Sometimes the dream was one, other times it was the other, and it all sort of bled together. He wasn't sure which way it was supposed to be. The only face that he was certain of was Marian's, and the name Hawke.
He smiled at her, "Hawke, you say? That's a very special name. Would you like to hear a story?"
Bethany chewed her lip, then nodded, smiling at him again, "Yes, I'd like that." Varric sounded familiar. She blinked, "Oh..Oh! You're the writer of the Angel series! I love those books!"
"Its nice to have such a beautiful fan." He winked at her, then launched into a grand tale of daring do. Monsters in the dark, a betrayal, a sibling falling to the darkness, only to be saved by a secretive sect. His memory was fuzzy again. Was it Bethany, or was it Carver? The only thing that fit were the taint and the Grey Wardens. Whatever, precisely, a Grey Warden was.
"The parting was not on good terms." The fasten seatbelt sign came on and Varric did as requested, before helping her with her own, "The brother went with the Wardens, and the Champion, for thats what she would become, the Champion departed with her companions and the handsome, clever dwarf."
"What happened then?" Bethany leaned forward as the plane descended, her New England accent growing stronger, "What did she tell her mother? Was anyone else tainted? Did they catch the thieving dwarf?"
Varric smiled, and gestured outside, "We've landed, Sunshine. I'm afraid it will have to wait for another time."
"Another time? You can't leave me hanging like this!"
Her face shifted a little as he picked at that memory. Was it her, or ..Carver. That was his name. Varric shook his head, "I think you'll find out soon enough. It was nice meeting you, Sunshine."
With that Varric departed. By the time Bethany got off the plane, the man was gone.