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It had been a long, hot, ugly slog through the Deep Roads, with darkspawn and those damned childer grubs blocking his way at every turn, and when Carver Hawke finally emerged from the cave, covered in sweat and blood and other fluids he didn’t want to have names for, he had no energy to do anything besides sit — he couldn’t even summon the urge to pull off his boots. He kicked his legs out in front of him, leaned back against his hands, and let out a deep sigh.
“How did it go?” Bethany settled down next to him, legs crossed, hands out over her knees. He only shook his head and closed his eyes. She poked him in the side. “C’mon, you can tell me.”
“I don’t,” he said, through gritted teeth, “want to talk about it.”
Bethany didn’t reply for a moment. “All right,” she finally said, and got up. Carver sighed again, whether in annoyance or relief he couldn’t really say. He hadn’t wanted her to leave. He just didn’t want her to keep bugging him.
Thinking back on it later, he could never decide whether he’d actually fallen asleep, or if he’d just been too mired in misery to notice her sneaking up behind him, but the next thing he knew was a deluge of cold water falling on his head. Sputtering, he leapt to his feet and turned on Bethany, who was laughing, an empty bucket in her left hand. “You… I’ll get you!” She turned and ran, and he chased after her, catching up to her halfway across camp. He tackled her, and she shrieked with giggles as he tickled her sides. “Mercy, mercy!” she gasped.
Carver sat up and shook his head at her. “What possessed you do to that?”
Bethany shrugged. “I could say you looked like you needed a bath — which is true,” she added, wrinkling her nose, and Carver chuckled. “But the truth? Well…” She ducked her head. “You know, sometimes when I’m not sure what to say to someone, how to help them, or make them feel better, I think about what Garrett would do. And then… I do the exact opposite.” Carver laughed out loud, and she grinned at him. “But today, I decided to follow his lead. And it worked, didn’t it?” She waved her hand at him. “You seem more cheerful already.”
Carver shook his head, but he couldn’t deny the smile on his face, and she knew it. “All right. You — and our brother — win this round. Race you to the river? You aren’t wrong about that bath.”