#I'm all here for the team “Merrill is not naive Merrill is just adapting but actually has more emotional intelligence than all the rest"

[greypetrel]

let me take you to my favourite place for raina/isabela/merrill!!!!!!!! please 🥺

Hi Zen!! Thanks for the prompt!

Sorry it took me a while, Raina is as always not the easiest voice to crack, for me. I wanted to keep these prompt shorts, but hey, it’s been a while and I write these three little, so I may as well not keep it so short. :P

Tis the prompt list

A roof with a view

[ Female Hawke x Merrill x Isabela | 2520 words | DA2: Act 3 | Polyamory discussions ]

let me take you to my favourite place

One night can’t really solve three years of nothing, really.

Not if those three years started with the woman Hawke liked dumping her for not wanting their relationship to be not casual, and she almost died to save her life a handful of days later.

Nevermind that one night has been one of the greatest ones of Hawke’s life, that somehow her girlfriend was more than ok in involving another person, and that nobody really cared if the beds in the Hanged Men were definitely too narrow for three people to snuggle in at once.

Old habits die hard, and when they woke up, Hawke was expecting for Bela to just… Draw back. Say it had been fun, but that was it, everyone should go on their own way.

Every little thing that happened, tho, seemed to contradict her.

Waking up next to them, Bela pressed one kiss on the both of their cheeks. Merrill giggled, Hawke gurgled. They helped each other dress up, as if it was normal -it was normal with Merrill, but Isabela added a third element that was… Something to get used to. Not in a bad way. They walked down for breakfast together, and took their usual table, Corrf didn’t need to ask them what they wanted. It turned out that he still remembered her order, from when she dragged herself outside of Gamlen’s house or from Isabela’s room. Merrill had been invited enough times by Varric for the host to know what she liked. The food was as greasy as usual, exactly what you need on a cold morning.

Everything felt out of habit, rehearsed many, many times to the point of delicious normality. And at the same time it was not. The balance of the three of them together wasn’t unknown - you don’t fight and spend together at least every Friday evening the Maker sends on Thedas for 4 years without finding a rhythm all together. And yet, there was something different. And underlying electricity, some new current right under the surface, not strong enough to move your hull all so sudden, but possibly enough to veer your route to lands unknown.

And Raina Hawke didn’t like it.

Not after the last time, not after she almost fucked everything up once, because she went sailing with no direction ahead, and learnt the hard way that a direction she needed.

“Is everything all right, vhenan?”

A gentle hand on her knee, long fingers with nails painted black, gently pressing on her leg, right before the bone. Hawke stopped bouncing it, which she had started to do without thinking, and smiled up at Merrill to her side, She knew that look, and it was a worried one.

“You looked so lost in thought.” She went on.

“It’s ok. I’m ok.”

Merrill frowned at her, unconvinced. She didn’t answer, but she squeezed her knee emphatically. It made Raina huff, and she leant forward, to press a kiss on the elf’s lips.

“Come with me.” She looked to her left, searching for Isabela’s eyes and assuring the piratess was looking back before continuing. “Both of you.”

---

The day was simply awful.

It was, simply speaking, raining cats and dogs, and raining them sideways. So sideways that Merrill’s spell wasn’t all that effective, in redirecting the water away from them.

Moving in three with arms hooked together was difficult, their boots were splorching in the mud, and they wobbled horribly to one side or the other, according to whom between Isabela and Hawke to the sides was hit by a loose drop of rain.

Luckily, the laughter made them forget the awkwardness of the morning.

“Oh! Here!”

Raina stopped abruptly, which made Merrill stumble and Isabela almost trip. In the moment, it only made them laugh more. But when they stopped laughing and looked at where Hawke was pointing, the trio fell silent, admiring.

“Hawke.”

“Mh?”

“It’s a brick wall.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“There’s no door.”

“No window.”

“Tut tut tut.”

Hawke tsked, raising her chin high and stepping forward with confidence, in two big strides. The other two had to stumble more to follow her, between not expecting the movement and the difference in height and consequent length of limbs.

“Have I ever led you astray?” She asked, rhetorically.

The silence that followed was deafening, only interrupted by the rhythmic tapping of rain over stones and beaten ground.

“Wow, that’s not offensive at all.” Raina complained.

“Well, vhenan, that one time you said you knew a shortcut for Soundermount, we did end up in a bear cave.”

“I thought you found them cute!”

“And the Bone Pit.”

“Oh! Oh, you’re right, Bela, the Bone Pit!”

“It’s a wonder we still follow her anywhere, honestly.”

“She has that look, with those blue eyes and trembling lip is difficult to tell her no…”

Hawke groaned aloud, muttering something under her breath as the two others went on for a couple of jokes still, until everything melted into a laugh. Some kind of normal, again, with something new added to the mix. Feeling even more restless for answers than before (she liked it, Maker, she did, and she really didn’t want to give it up) she pushed two crates closer to where she wanted them, and climbed on top of those.

From that, it was fairly easy to jump a little up, and hang from the lowermost balcony, and haul herself up.

“Hawke?”

“A moment.”

It was at least 2 years since she last went up there, but the memory was still ingrained in her muscles. Balcony, railing, flat roof over the first story and- Ah! Old Helmut still kept his tools there, covered by oilskin. Thank you, old Helmut. She lowered the ladder to the balcony downside and jumped back down on that, a roll of rope on her shoulder.

She never made it if not alone, but knowing that the old man used the roof outside his window as a balcony and storage space made it fairly easy to accommodate. Isabela caught up right away, and between them two, it was fairly easy to help Merrill up too. From the first half-roof to the upper balcony, and then a little jump to the next roof. A small walk on tiles, another haul on another taller building, and two roof over that, there it was.

The skyline of Low Town opened up to the fjord, now free of any other taller building. Not the best view ever, with the rain, but the low cloud caressing the uppermost peaks of the cliffs and flowing gently in the wind made for an equally picturesque scenery. The sea was almost silver in the cloudy light, the Gallows gentler through the mist. All the ship masts a forest of trees, down by the docks, gently swaying in the current and the wind, and up there, High Town seemed less imposing and less contrastingly white than the usual. More approachable, in a way. Everything was quiet, nobody really wanted to go out with that weather, nobody who could help it. Sails couldn’t leave, not with the risk of wrecking against the rocks. The city was taking a breath. From up there, with the rain cleaning the air, it almost looked pretty.

“What is this place?” It was Bela who asked, shading her eyes with her hand and looking to the horizon, eyes big.

“Ladies, let me take you to my favourite place.” Raina improvised a curtsey, with a flourish of her hand. “A prized view over the city, no one there but us and the occasional seagull. An exclusive spot which I am sharing just with you, and only you, out of the goodness of my heart.”

She rose back up, standing, but one brief look at Merrill had her effortlessly turn away. A smile still on her face that she knew perfectly well wouldn’t have been enough to hide from the elf exactly how nervous she felt. Instead, she turned and walked to the edge of the flat roof, sitting down and letting her legs dwindle in the open, smiling at the scenery.

“I found it a little after we reached here. The house was cramped, Gamlen wouldn’t stop complaining, Mother wouldn’t stop fussing over Athenril, everyone was looking at me as if I had all the answers, when I had none… I went outside and climbed up, found this roof mainly by chance. It’s a good spot for thinking, no one disturbs you, here.”

“Doesn’t Garrett know?” Merrill asked.

“Nope. Never told him.”

She leant back on her arms, not caring of the rain. She was starting to get cold, indeed, but she cared not. She loved Kirkwall from up there, she felt at place. It was easier to ignore the embarrassed silence coming from behind her, as it was easy, so high, to ignore all her problems and pretend everything was good.

Oh, she knew perfectly well where the silence came from. Merrill was worried and didn’t know what to say, and Isabela was embarrassed, not knowing what to do with so much closeness. Seven years, and she knew the both of them well enough.

She also knew that if she wanted the topic to go where she wanted, she had to speak, even if it was difficult, even if she dreaded the answer. Well, she dreaded the answer from Isabela, the great question mark. Of Merrill, she was as sure as she was that the sun would have risen the next day, and what a comfort it was to know she was there too.

“I liked last night. Very, very much.” She started, her right knee starting to bounce on the ledge of the building. The movement dragged on the plaster, and some eroded and fell down to the street. Lucky there was none walking outside. “And I think you both liked it, too. So, I brought you there because I’m a terrible romantic and a great girlfriend, and I would so love to tell you both, that I would like to do that again. And call it something serious and not casual, and be official, and be exclusive. With the both of you. All three of us, together. If you also would like it, of course. I think it worked well and it could work in the future and well, there’s space enough in the house for one person more, if you want, if you want a place to stay that’s not the Hanged Man…”

Her leg was bouncing up and down, up and down. Frozen on the spot, the view in front of her and the rain kept her grounded, she said what she had to say, and now there was just her, her hair sticking to her forehead, the mist and the clouds gently floating, uncaring of how much her heart was thrumming in her ears, and the shivers down her spine.

A pair of hands touched her face, and Hawke was so tense that she actually startled. But the hands were gentle, and combed her hair back from her forehead. Long, lithe fingers, a delicate touch. Merrill. She hooked her fingers under her chin and gently pushed until Raina looked up. She was smiling, green eyes gleaming at her. She bent forward and pressed a kiss to her lips, upside down. Raina sighed into it, relieved by her presence as she always was, some of the shivers melting away.

“I would love that.” Merrill said, simple as that, before straightening back and turning around.

Her hands lowered to Hawke’s shoulder, keeping the contact. It gave Raina guts enough to actually turn and look at the third person on the roof. The one she was the most unsure of.

She turned, and wrapped an arm around Merrill’s leg, resting her face against the thigh. The chainmail and the leather were both cold against her skin, but thanks to her spell it was dry. Another grounding thing, with the hand that squeezed her shoulder, understanding the support Hawke was silently asking.

Isabela stood there, arms crossed to her chest and a furrow on her brow, looking poignantly down. It was still so strange to see her insecure, as strange it had been but the last evening to see her in such a state, when she confessed that she, actually, had feelings.

“What about you, Bela?” Merrill asked, with the same, disarming directness she always had.

The piratess took another full minute to answer, and the other two let her time to think. Well. Hawke clutched Merrill’s leg tighter as time went, and her eyes fell to the ground, jumping to the conclusion that the hesitation meant just that the woman was looking at a polite, delicate way to tell the both of them that no, it was still casual for her, she didn’t want anything to weight her down.

But when Raina was just about to call it over, raise with a witty remark and turn everything into a joke and go on with their lives, Bela spoke.

“I don’t want to stay in Kirkwall.” Isabela admitted, words weighting heavily on her voice.

But she sighed, took a deep breath and when it was starting to look like it was a no, Isabela looked back up. Same frown on her face.

“But if you so insist, and if you’re ok in not me staying all the time…” A pause, she took a deep breath. “… it would be nice to have a place to return to.”

Hawke blinked. Once and twice. Made it three. She realized she was holding her breath when her lungs started to burn. For once, she had no words to speak, too stunned, too unbelieving of what she just heard. If she spoke, the spell would have broken, and she would have found herself alone, once more. Or woke up in her room, equally alone in that too big for her mansion. It was too good to be true, surely it could not be happening to her.

Instead, she blinked a fourth time, and they were still there. Merrill to her side, fingers gently caressing her hair, and Isabela in front of them, looking nervous and vulnerable.

“Of all the times for you to end your jokes, Hawke.” The piratess complained, with a scoff, cheeks taking a redder hue as she flushed.

“I- uh-”

“A place to return to sounds good.” Bless Merrill, who giggled as she took initiative and answered.

“Yeah. Good. Good, indeed.” Was all that Raina could say, and she hid her face deeper into Merrill’s thight, groaning. Of all the times she could lose her tongue indeed.

“Well. That’s settled then, isn’t it.” Bela snorted, her laughter still a little awkward. “Luckily there’s at least one that can function in all this.”

Merrill laughed, and rose the arm that wasn’t busy hugging Raina towards Isabela, beckoning her close.

When they hugged, all three on that roof, and Hawke heard Isabela let out a deep sigh, everything started to sound a little better. The awkwardness was gone, and they all three fit together, like the pieces of a puzzle.