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Lucanis had to admit, this surprise was well worth the week of Ren sneaking off during the day while he and Viago worked. Viago had been suspicious, but the amount of work they’d gotten done had done wonders to mollify him. Enough so that when Ren asked for a day out in the world, both had been able to agree with no threat of things going horrifically wrong in their absence.
They’d spent the better part of the morning enjoying a walk through the towering trees of the Emerald Graves, Ren chattering nonstop about the forest to his pair of city boys. Lucanis had seen Ren in everything from the big city to the blighted wastes of Hossberg, and Ren had never looked more relaxed than he did today, leading his overdressed Crows through the verdant forest. He’d insisted that they dress for leisure instead of work, and wore some fine Dalish clothing himself made of soft, hardy linen with beautiful stitching.
Ren trotted with purpose down a certain road before leading them onto a deer track hidden in the long grass. They broke through the undergrowth into a small clearing that had a crystal clear creek and a riotous growth of wildflowers in every colour imaginable. A path had been made to the centre of the flowers with boughs of a fragrant tree, and on the natural blanket they made was a feast for three.
“Shoes off! The cedar is soft, I promise,” Ren commanded, taking their boots and setting them aside before he took their hands and led them toward the food. Lucanis gladly settled to one side of the food, enjoying the heat of the sun on his back, the sweet scent of the flowers and the quiet bubbling of the creek. Viago leaned back on his hands, eyes closed as he enjoyed the sun on his face. Ren sat cross legged, a smitten smile on his face as he looked between them.
“I love you, you know,” Ren said, breaking the peaceful silence. His hands were twisting nervously in his lap, though Lucanis couldn’t imagine why.
“I love you too, amor,” Lucanis said, reaching over to gently grasp one of Ren’s fiddling hands. Ren gripped his hand back and gave him a luminous smile before he turned and offered his other hand to Viago.
“You may drive me crazy on the best of days, but I love you as well,” Viago said with a soft look, slipping his glove off to accept Ren’s hand, twining their fingers together.
“I’ve… I’ve never been one to ask for help, if I need a mountain moved I’d rather move it myself. Meeting you, loving you, has shown me that I don’t actually need to do it all alone. I want to spend the rest of our lives together, if you’ll have me.”
Lucanis had never actually seen Ren look shy, and here with the sunlight shining on his white hair he found himself falling desperately in love with this one in a million elf, who had given him everything and asked for so little in return. Viago leaned forward and with the tips of his fingers tilted Ren’s blushing face up, stern visage softening at the nervous look on their usually overconfident Rook.
“I can’t speak for Lucanis, but I will happily pledge myself to you both,” Viago said softly, cupping Ren’s red cheek in his hand. Ren’s eyes started to shine with tears and adoration both.
Lucanis bit his lip when Ren’s gaze swung to him, and he couldn’t help but shift over to wrap his arms desperately tight around his beloved Warden. His breath shuddered as he soaked up the feeling of Ren warm in his arms, safe after everything they’d fought through to make it here to this beautiful clearing on this beautiful day.
“My heart has beat for you longer than you know, and I will spend the rest of our lives showing you how much I love you,” he pledged, twisting enough to shoot Viago a smile when the other Crow laid a gentle hand on his back.
Ren buried his face in Lucanis’ shoulder, one arm around his waist and his free hand holding tightly onto Viago’s hand as he took a long moment, breath catching as he tried to hold back tears of joy. He drew back after a moment, and laughed wetly when Viago’s thumb wiped a tear from his cheek.
“I made you both something, here,” Ren pulled back from Lucanis’ embrace just far enough to dig out a small cloth wrapped parcel from among the cedar boughs. He set the bundle in his lap and loosened the cloth, revealing three white bracelets nestled in the centre.
Ren picked up one of them and took Lucanis’ hand, entwining their fingers as he brought the hand up to place a kiss to the back of it. He twisted the bracelet gently so that it slid onto Lucanis’ wrist, twisting it again so that it sat perfectly just above where his glove would end. As Ren turned to gift Viago a matching one, Lucanis admired the contrast of the bracelet against his tanned skin and dark outfit.
The bracelet had three strands braided loosely together, each with an arrow carved into it that ran the whole way around his wrist. He ran a thumb gently along it and gasped softly when he found in the centre where the three strands of the bracelet overlapped a tiny carved wolf with its forehead pressed to the forehead of a crow and around them both a snake. They were stylized and rough, but so very clearly a representation of the three of them.
He looked up in wonder just in time to catch Ren’s hand in his, gently prying the bracelet out of it to pass to Viago as he copied Ren’s earlier action of pressing a kiss to the back of his hand. He drew back and Viago deftly slid the bracelet onto Ren’s arm the way he’d watched the elf do it.
“The gods blessed the broken road that led me to you,” Ren said softly, tears slipping down his face as he gazed down at their hands, each with its matching bracelet. Lucanis felt like his heart was going to burst, he was so full of love he never thought he’d get to feel.
The rest of the afternoon was spent sampling the simple but tasty food Ren had prepared and hiked all the way out to their little haven, telling stories and jokes and just enjoying the day.
It became one of Lucanis’ most precious memories as they were making it.
—----------
Bellara was the first of their group to see it, as she and Lucanis regularly made breakfast for the crew before everyone scattered to the winds on various heroic missions. Lucanis had pulled it off and set it aside so as to not get it dirty while he cut up fresh fruit Taash had brought back the night before.
Bellara, still rubbing her eyes, had pushed into the kitchen and stopped dead when she saw it sitting on the table. She looked incredulously at Lucanis, down at the bracelet and back a couple times while the assassin blithely kept on with his task.
“Um… is this yours?” she asked, voice a little odd. Lucanis turned and a soft smile spread across his face when he saw what she was pointing at.
“Yes, Rook gave it to me,” he said before turning back to the fruit. He missed Bellara’s slack jawed look at his back, before she shook herself and beamed at him.
“Congratulations!” she said before going about cooking the last of the sausages with a very cheerful attitude.
Lucanis didn’t think much of it.
—----------
That afternoon Lucanis exited the kitchen and found their pair of resident Grey Wardens tussling playfully with each other and Assan as was their wont. He shook his head with a fond smile and went to walk around them, intent on getting the cookbook he’d left in his and Ren’s room.
Davrin briefly got the upper hand and stood with Ren’s head caught under his arm, one eyebrow raised as he looked at Lucanis.
“So… are you Ghilain or is he Dellamorte now?” he asked, which floored Lucanis for a second.
“What?"
Ren slammed his fist into the back of Davrin’s knee and sent the both of them sprawling. Assan took the chance to jump and land bodily on both of them, causing both elves to shout in protest.
Lucanis rolled his eyes and walked away, muttering about Grey Wardens and required levels of crazy.
—-------
Viago’s day had been going… well, all things considered. Nothing disastrous had happened, no one who wasn’t supposed to had died and no one had come back from a contract maimed.
A good day for a Talon.
A hooded figure in Crow armour approached, face shadowed until they stood before him. He’d been expecting a letter from the Hero of Ferelden and so thought nothing of it right up until the hooded figure reached up and pushed the hood back. Viago would have stumbled if he didn’t already have one hand on his desk, staring down at the face of a girl he’d harboured regrets over for over a decade.
Her wavy red hair was longer than it had ever been when she was a Fledgeling, and her body had the curves of a woman rather than the frail form of a teenager. Her amber eyes were exactly the way he remembered them, the gaze of a predator considering if you were its next meal.
“Amber!?” he blurted just before her fist struck his sternum hard enough to wind him. He choked and threw his hand up to stall Teia from where she’d come at a run, dagger already in hand.
Ren came from the other direction at a sprint and slammed into Amber’s back, wrapping around her with an alarming degree of familiarity.
“Atty! No!” Ren cried, lifting the shorter elf up and dragging her backwards. One bare foot came up and slammed into Viago’s stomach, which toppled both Amber and Ren over onto the floor with the force. Viago fell back to cushion the blow, and it still nearly knocked him off his feet.
“Damn you Viago!” Amber snarled, thrashing against Ren’s hold.
“You’re alive!?” Viago wheezed, head still whirling with the realization that his favourite Fledgling had not in fact died those many years ago.
“I can’t believe you! How dare you! Marry MY younger brother!” Amber raged at the top of her lungs, still fighting to get out of Ren’s hold. It didn’t look like she was going anywhere fast as he’d wrapped his legs around hers and had her truly trapped.
Viago’s world froze again.
“Your what?”
Amber had been taken in by House de Riva from an orphanage, she had no blood family. He looked harder at the pair on the floor and realized that they were fighting and bickering with each other with more familiarity than he’d expected. Then the entirety of what she’d yelled sank in.
“MARRIED?!”
—--------
Lucanis scrambled through the eluvian, worry pounding in his veins because Jacobus had been weird when he’d come with the summons from Viago. The Crows between contracts had made themselves scarce, and the Diamond was nearly empty, so Lucanis hurried for the private office he and Viago had been working in as of late.
The breath left him in a rush when he saw Ren standing next to the hearth, unharmed. Viago was slumped in one of the wingback chairs, Teia standing beside him and another elf he didn’t recognize was seated in the other wingback.
“Who is this?” he asked, heart slowly regaining its normal rhythm now that he knew Ren wasn’t hurt.
“Dar’athim Ghilain,” she answered him, cutting off whatever Viago had been about to say. Ren shot him a look that was both apologetic and a plea for help.
“Lucanis, Viago, Teia, may I please introduce you to my older sister,” Ren said, wincing like he expected one of them to explode as he said it.
“Oh, you’re the one I’ve heard so much about,” Teia said, looking between Viago and Dar’athim. The two of them had locked eyes and were glaring, acting as if the rest of them weren’t even present.
“You are a de Riva,” Viago hissed, hurt and rage battling for dominance on his face. Dar’athim actually growled like a dog, until Ren reached down and laid a hand on her shoulder.
“She’s a Ghilain, Viago, she earned her vallaslin years ago,” Ren said in a tone that invited no argument. There was a tense, oppressive silence that Dar’athim broke with a sneer at Lucanis.
“You, Viago, I could forgive eventually. I raised you to have better taste than to marry a Dellamorte , didn’t I?” she sneered and her tone hit Lucanis like a brick. He looked up at Ren, fear closing up his throat because if this was Ren’s beloved older sister he’d heard so much about couldn’t she convince Ren to leave him?
Ren, ever observant, saw the darkness welling up in Lucanis’ eyes and rushed to throw his arms around him, slapping away the hand Dar’athim put out to hold him back. Ren turned back on his sister, a snarl on his face now to match hers.
“He is my husband, Atty, and I won’t let you treat him like this! Get ahold of yourself before I make you,” Ren snarled, fangs bared and unflinching even as his sister shot to her feet and advanced on them.
“ Make me? As if you could ,” she sneered and Lucanis was just a second too slow to keep Ren from lunging at her.
The pair of elves went over backward and smashed the coffee table, Ren landing a blow that bloodied his sister's nose before she sucker punched him and used her leg to throw him off her. Dar’athim lashed out with her leg and missed when Ren threw himself to the side, hitting the wingback she’d been sitting in.
“Stop them!” Teia shouted, jumping back when the pair rolled toward her and Viago. Lucanis exchanged a quick look with Viago, who nodded, and then braced himself as he reached down into the brawl to drag Ren back while Viago grabbed Dar’athim. Once he had Ren on his feet Lucanis had to wrap his arms around Ren’s waist and bodily lift the elf off the ground to keep him from throwing himself back at his sister. He nearly went over backwards when Ren threw himself back instead of straining forward to land a sharp kick to his sister's leg that made Lucanis wince it was so strong.
Viago grunted, holding Dar’athim the way Lucanis was holding Ren, when she responded with a kick of her own that winded Ren and Lucanis could feel through his beloved’s body. Viago and Lucanis scrambled backward to create more space between their respective armfuls before any more kicks could land.
There was a tense silence for a moment as Ren spat out a mouthful of blood and Atty snorted blood from her nose, both of them still glaring.
“What is this really about? Is it because I married them? Is it-” Ren groused, spitting out another glob of blood.
“It’s because you LEFT ME!” Dar’athim shrieked, catching them all off guard as tears started to run down her face, mixing with blood before it dripped onto the floor.
The anger drained out of Ren in an instant and Lucanis set him gingerly back on his feet, feeling completely lost as Dar’athim slid to the floor, hands over her face and her shoulders shaking.
“Oh, Atty,” Ren croaked, dropping down to throw his arms around her shoulders. Viago’s face was conflicted, hands half raised as if he wanted to offer comfort and didn’t know how to.
Teia caught Lucanis’ shoulder and pulled him gently out of the room, a sad look on her face.
“Let’s leave them to sort this out,” she whispered, her gaze lingering on the de Rivas the same as his as they closed the office door behind them.
—-------------
“He ran away you know,”
Lucanis looked up warily from his cold cup of coffee, unsurprised to see Dar’athim gazing back at him from where she leaned against the wall beside the stairs down into the eluvian room. Her words took a moment to register, and he blinked as he tried to absorb that statement.
Dar’athim pushed off the wall to walk slowly toward him, hands held out and low in the Crow gesture of “I’m not going to attack you”. She really had been a Crow.
“To join the Grey Wardens. Ren ran away from home… from me,” she said, voice low and rough with an emotion Lucanis was familiar with. Bone deep exhaustion. He looked back down into the cup in his hands as she sat in Ren’s usual chair across from him.
“I didn’t know that,” he said, exhausted himself from the emotional rollercoaster of meeting her and the dark maelstrom of his own emotions now that he had.
“I’m…sorry. What I said was beneath us both, and from what Ren and Viago have told me you’re a good man… good for him. So… can we try this again?” she said with a weak smile. Lucanis looked at her contrite expression for a long moment, fighting with himself. Finally he nodded.
“Hi, my name is Atty,” she said, smile tilting the exact same way Ren’s did into mildly self-deprecating. They were as different in appearance as night from day but their mannerisms were eerie echoes of each other. He set his coffee down and stood and she did the same.
“Lucanis,” he offered his hand for her to shake and they both paused when she saw his bracelet.
“My sweet little shithead. He really did marry you,” she said with a long suffering air even as she reached out and traced a finger gently along one of the strands.
“I didn’t know-I didn’t know that’s how the Dalish got married,” he stuttered, pulling his hand back and wrapping his other hand protectively around the bracelet. He’d loved it before but now, knowing what it meant, it was all the more precious.
“Not exactly the big show that Andrastian weddings are, no,” she agreed, shooting him a wry little smile.
He offered her a wobbly little smile in return, frantically pushing down a tiny little flicker of hope that he wasn’t losing Ren after all. That maybe, just maybe, he could keep this new family he’d found.
Maybe with one more member, Ren’s beloved older sister.