HOME | DD

Description
Heat had crawled from her chest to her feet, into her stomach and now the fingers of fire were tiptoeing up her spine and into her brain. She stumbled through Lowtown, her steps becoming slower. The world around her spun. Buildings twisting in her vision. She made it to the Hightown steps before she had to sit to regain her composer.
Soft footsteps echoed in her delirium and came to rest before her. She saw familiar feet, the only things standing still in the swaying world.
"Hawke," Fenris's gravelly voice was unmistakable "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." She snapped making to stand "I just drunk a little." As she attempted to make a step her knees collapsed under her. His quick strong arms wrapped around her waist and stopped her from falling.
"You can't be drunk. You didn't even finish your first pint." He told her, his voice stern "I have seen you drink dwarfs under the table."
"Bad day then." She grumbled pushing away from him and trudging slowly and carefully up the steps and into Hightown market.
Fenris followed her, a dutiful eye locked on the staggering figure. By herself In this state she was an easy offering to any passing low life's.
again she faltered this time landing on the ground resting on her hands and knees.
"Do you want my help yet?" He asked her.
She looked up at him her eyes red, her face furrowed with pain. She raised a hand. He helped her to her feet and pulled her in close, half walking half carrying her to her estate.

The house was silent, when he opened the door. A fire crackled in the main hearth as it always did. Hawkes hound looked up and wined at him. Coming over to sniff his masters clammy hand. As he made his way towards her room Orana poked her head out of the servants quarters and gasped.
She ran to Hawke worry clearly tearing across her face.
"Her skins like fire!" She exclaimed taking her hand "I'll fetch water and a cloth." She flitted off as quickly as she had flitted in. Leaving Fenris to deal with Hawke who was growing more limp as time progressed.
He got her to the bed. Sitting her on the edge holding her up enough to assess the damage on her armour.
Her chest plate was dinged but not beyond repair, the metal caving in as much as if a hammer would hit it. The gorget that protected her throat and collar bone had been chipped, a nick from the top, but no extra markings as if the fang wasn't deflected by the armour. His heart began to sink as he looked for any evidence that the tooth had missed the one tiny opening and harmlessly glanced off.
Finding none, he hurriedly began unclasping and buckling the parts of the armour to see if his deductions were correct.
Orana arrived with a bucket of cold water, placing it next to the bed she helped hold Hawke while Fenris pulled of the last layer of padding and discarded it with the rest.
"Oh no." Orana's whisper carried through the room.
The spider queen had gotten one bite in. The graze though not deep enough to cause alarm, had become infected with the monsters venom. The one lucky fang had slid between Hawkes flesh and armour running down over top of her jugular and lodged in her collar bone.
"You stupid girl." Fenris whispered guilt beginning to weigh down his heart. "Why did you save me."
Orana's alarm subsided quicker, she wrung out the cloth folded it neatly and put it on Hawkes sweating brow.
"It's Miss Hawkes way." She answered Fenris' mumblings. "Saving people and the like." She began tucking the woman into the bed. "It's like asking a fish not to swim, asking miss Hawke not to help people."
She took a second cloth from the bucket and began to carefully wash the wound.
"Her Mage frien,d he is a healer. Perhaps we should fetch him."
"No, no Anders." Hawke protested her words slurring together "I hate Anders. Whiny blond upstart."
Fenris would have laughed if he could of, but seeing the elf maiden tend to the suppurating mess Hawkes throat was becoming, worry ate at him.
Orana threw the cloth away, and grabbed the one back off Hawkes head dunking it and cooling. Wringing it out she pushed it into Fenris' hand.
"You stay. I'll fetch him." She gathered up her skirts and padded away. Timorous wee Orana was far more collected than people gave her credit for.
Tenderly he dabbed the sweat from Hakwes brow. Sitting quietly on the edge of the bed, watching as her face screwed up with a mixture of pain and confusion. She murmured softly, struggling against the venom cursing through her veins, Eyelids flickering. Fenris' mind jumped to dark conclusions, fearing she would die.
"Faith." He whispered holding her hand in his own, feeling the heat in her skin as he kissed her fingertips "Don't leave me. I need you."

Faith Hawke was in Ferelden, in her little house with her mother and father. Her arm was heavily bandaged, a sword and what was left of a shield lay in the corner of the room. She was young, she knew she was young, a teen at best, she hadn't used a sword and shield for years.
Her father glowered at her, he always seemed to tower above her, the only similarities they shared the dark red almost auburn hair and emerald eyes which burned into the truest depths of a persons soul. The twins had been banished to their room. Leaving her alone to face the disappointment of their father.
"Papa." She pleaded "Papa please don't look at me like that." Her arm ached, she held her good hand under it, cradling it in the sling he had made her after setting the bone. His kindness had ended there.
"I'm disappointed in you Faith" He said his voice deathly quiet,
"What why?" She exclaimed shocked,
"As the oldest it's your responsibility to keep your siblings safe." He elaborated leaning on his staff.
"Papa I did. I tried, I warned Carver away, he wouldn't listen. Thought he could take a cavern full of dragonlings on by himself. He didn't think that where there are dragonlings there are dragons." Her voice cracked with desperation trying to explain to her father.
"Then you failed."
"Failed?" She shouted "He came out in one piece! Me... Look at me, that's my shield arm Papa. I have a tourney in a week. It was going to be my break I was going to...."
"What?" He interrupted his deep voice cutting her off "Impress some Templar Knight and get whisked away to the chantry."
"I thought I could be a warden," She explained trying to quell the fears her father, the apostate, had of her joining the order. "Anything, to give me a chance to see the world. To be free."
"You will see enough of the world in time child." He snapped "Perhaps this was a blessing in disguise. How can you expect to protect the realm if you can't protect your family."
She bowed her head stammering he was right. The darkness enveloped her, allowing only enough light so she could see she was wading through blight filled bodies. Her own flesh covered in charred remains of people. Her tears the only thing smearing the soot. Inside her mind was screaming. She was panicking she knew she was. A terrified mind had no place with in a leader. She steeled herself and then the ogre hit.

Hawke screamed, fighting an unseen foe. Fenris tried to calm her, stroking her hair, trying to hold her arms stopping her from hurting her self. She cried her brothers name, pleaded with the gods.
Her mind had gone the way of the blight in Ferelden and what ever horrors she had lived through.

He heard the foot steps at the door before he announced himself, the Mage wasn't a cautious walker. His foot falls were heavy despite his light attire. As he peered through the door Fenris grabbed him. His hand dug into the collar of the blond man pulling him into the room and pushing him up against the solid stone walls.
"Mage this is your fault!" He shouted. Slamming him against the wall.
"And this isn't going to get us anywhere." Anders replied dryly,
Fenris swallowed his anger. Reluctantly letting him go.
Anders moved over to Hawke, inspecting the wound, touching her fevered forehead.
"Well heal her." Fenris demanded.
"I can't." Anders said plainly, beginning to bind the wound. "There is no antidote for this venom and its too far gone. She has to wait it out. If the fever breaks and she she survives the night. She will be fine." He stood walking back towards the door.
"If? IF!" Fenris barked "What do you mean If."
"Be thankful it wasn't a corrupt spider. There is no surviving the blight unless she wants to become a warden."
"Be thankful I have more pressing things to worry about than ripping your head from your shoulders." Fenris growled "Get out. Just get out."

Hawkes episodes had calmed down. She seemed to be sleeping though not all together peacefully. Fenris had given up pacing and left the room for a second to collect himself a chair. He wanted to keep vigil with out disturbing Hawke.
"Oh you're back." Her mother said leaving the hearth walking past him as he collected one of the armchairs from the study.
"Hawke is unwell." Was all he could say as he was hit with her obvious dislike.
"Orana told me as much." She paused locking him with cold eyes. "It still brings to wonder what you're doing here."
"She may not survive the night. The fever has gripped her mind." He looked at this woman that would be Hawkes mother "Some one should be with her."
The older woman scoffed. "a fever will not take that girl."
Fenris was unsure if she was overly confidant or almost disappointed. "The maker chose to take my sweet ones away, but left her because he didn't want to put up with her sheer force of will."
There was nothing he could say, grabbing the plush chair by its arms he picked it up.
"If you value your life you won't get too close." She added as he walked back into Hawkes room. He cooled the cloth again, and dabbed the tears from her cheeks before settling himself down in the chair at the end of her bed.

He must have nodded off because he awoke with a start as Hawke gasped and sat up. She was franticly looking around through unseeing eyes. He crawled up the bed to her cupping her face in his hands he pressed his forehead to hers. She didn't make a noise at first, just stared at a point passed him. Until slowly her eyes came into focus.
"Fenris?" She asked her hand touching his. Her voice weak.
"I am with you."
"They're dead. They're all dead." She repeated, slowly becoming a whisper.
"Not all." He told her lying her back down, thinking that she was still dreaming.
She grabbed his arm, her burning fingers like a vice around his wrist.
"Don't leave." She said fearing he was moving away. Darker impulses were taking over, the deep seeded survival instinct that saved her from the dragon and the ogre was rising. She wanted to push him a way, she wanted him to leave for fear of the darkness reaching out to renew her life force from his. Yet in his presence she felt she could control it, continue to keep it under wraps "Please.."
He obeyed taking up a spot next to her in the grand four poster bed. Gently he prised her hand off his, laying it back across her body. Noticing for the first time the long haggard scar that ran the length of her forearm.
"What's this?" He asked her making idol conversation while she still seemed alert enough to do so. She turned her arm over before slowly blinking eyes.
"This Fenris is punishment." She took a breath formulating the sentences in her fevered mind "We all bare marks of our past, just not all are beautiful." Her hand lazily trailed up his arm for a moment following the line of the Lyrium.
"What wrong deserved that price?"
"Lack of vigilance." She rubbed the scar "Carver wanted to explore a cave. I told him no. He convinced Bethany to distract me." Her voice trailed off as she blinked slowly. "I heard the screams. I didn't even realise where he had gone." She sighed "it was a dragon, first one I had ever seen. Not as big as you might think but big enough to a sixteen year old."
"You fought a dragon when you were sixteen." Fenris reiterated.
"It wasn't so much of a fight, I told Bethany to grab Carver and run. Damn thing set fire to my shield and nearly took off my arm."
"You father was a Mage. Why did he not heal you?"
"Ah." She exclaimed "There in lies the punishment."
"Mages." He scoffed "Think its their right to dictate the world."
Hawke chuckled "Not mages, just my father, he was strict but not unjust."
She sighed "I thought my life was over. I had a small infection while it was healing, and it must have weakened the bone, after a month I went back to training, I could lift a shield but not take a hit. I was looking at becoming a tailor, or a bar wench."
Fenris laughed at the notion of Hawke being anything but Hawke,
"Arianne found me one day and handed me a hammer." She looked up at him "It's a funny thing, you don't always see the weapon of your salvation straight away."
"You two have been friends a long time then?" He asked quietly.
"The longest of times."
"I shall keep my jealousy in check next time she takes my place by you in battle. Because it was her place I stole at your side."
Hawke looked up at him, the red in her face made the green of her eyes glitter "Are we still friends at least? My life is richer for you being in it, I couldn't imagine a day With out."
"At the least." He told her "Hawke ... Faith, I am with you."

Fenris' eyes snapped open as the door moved. It was a quiet movement he almost thought it was Orana. He was surprised to see a brunette head peak through the door.
Nodding in her direction Arianne silently asked Hawkes status. He looked at the sleeping form of Hawke against his chest. Her fever had subsided, taking with it the nightmares letting her sleep soundly, after a night of mental torment.
He slipped from her and joined her friend at the door closing it behind him.
"She's better." He said his voice horse from lack of sleep. "The worst is behind us. No doubt she will be up trying to save the world later on today."
Arianne chuckled "You know Hawke well then?"
He eyed the tall human suspiciously for a moment, before realising there was no underlying maliciousness in her comment.
"It was good of you to help her." She said sadly "You were the only one who noticed anything was wrong."
"I wouldn't abandon her, just because" he paused thinking of the words.
"It's complicated?" Arianne finished "The others were gossiping after you left. Apparently you two have been dancing round the mulberry bush for quite some time now."
Fenris clenched his teeth and looked away for a minute not knowing how to react.
She held up her hands. "Your Business is your Business." She told him "I don't go for gossip. That's my best friend in there an I'm just making sure she's in good hands." She smiled her big brown eyes filling her gesture with warmth. "You're a good man."
His brow furrowed and he began to stalk off.
"Your not staying till she wakes?"
"Best not." He replied "Your here now." He said solemnly.
"I'm not replacing you,"
"I feel like perhaps I was replacing you."

Description
Heat had crawled from her chest to her feet, into her stomach and now the fingers of fire were tiptoeing up her spine and into her brain. She stumbled through Lowtown, her steps becoming slower. The world around her spun. Buildings twisting in her vision. She made it to the Hightown steps before she had to sit to regain her composer.
Soft footsteps echoed in her delirium and came to rest before her. She saw familiar feet, the only things standing still in the swaying world.
"Hawke," Fenris's gravelly voice was unmistakable "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." She snapped making to stand "I just drunk a little." As she attempted to make a step her knees collapsed under her. His quick strong arms wrapped around her waist and stopped her from falling.
"You can't be drunk. You didn't even finish your first pint." He told her, his voice stern "I have seen you drink dwarfs under the table."
"Bad day then." She grumbled pushing away from him and trudging slowly and carefully up the steps and into Hightown market.
Fenris followed her, a dutiful eye locked on the staggering figure. By herself In this state she was an easy offering to any passing low life's.
again she faltered this time landing on the ground resting on her hands and knees.
"Do you want my help yet?" He asked her.
She looked up at him her eyes red, her face furrowed with pain. She raised a hand. He helped her to her feet and pulled her in close, half walking half carrying her to her estate.

The house was silent, when he opened the door. A fire crackled in the main hearth as it always did. Hawkes hound looked up and wined at him. Coming over to sniff his masters clammy hand. As he made his way towards her room Orana poked her head out of the servants quarters and gasped.
She ran to Hawke worry clearly tearing across her face.
"Her skins like fire!" She exclaimed taking her hand "I'll fetch water and a cloth." She flitted off as quickly as she had flitted in. Leaving Fenris to deal with Hawke who was growing more limp as time progressed.
He got her to the bed. Sitting her on the edge holding her up enough to assess the damage on her armour.
Her chest plate was dinged but not beyond repair, the metal caving in as much as if a hammer would hit it. The gorget that protected her throat and collar bone had been chipped, a nick from the top, but no extra markings as if the fang wasn't deflected by the armour. His heart began to sink as he looked for any evidence that the tooth had missed the one tiny opening and harmlessly glanced off.
Finding none, he hurriedly began unclasping and buckling the parts of the armour to see if his deductions were correct.
Orana arrived with a bucket of cold water, placing it next to the bed she helped hold Hawke while Fenris pulled of the last layer of padding and discarded it with the rest.
"Oh no." Orana's whisper carried through the room.
The spider queen had gotten one bite in. The graze though not deep enough to cause alarm, had become infected with the monsters venom. The one lucky fang had slid between Hawkes flesh and armour running down over top of her jugular and lodged in her collar bone.
"You stupid girl." Fenris whispered guilt beginning to weigh down his heart. "Why did you save me."
Orana's alarm subsided quicker, she wrung out the cloth folded it neatly and put it on Hawkes sweating brow.
"It's Miss Hawkes way." She answered Fenris' mumblings. "Saving people and the like." She began tucking the woman into the bed. "It's like asking a fish not to swim, asking miss Hawke not to help people."
She took a second cloth from the bucket and began to carefully wash the wound.
"Her Mage frien,d he is a healer. Perhaps we should fetch him."
"No, no Anders." Hawke protested her words slurring together "I hate Anders. Whiny blond upstart."
Fenris would have laughed if he could of, but seeing the elf maiden tend to the suppurating mess Hawkes throat was becoming, worry ate at him.
Orana threw the cloth away, and grabbed the one back off Hawkes head dunking it and cooling. Wringing it out she pushed it into Fenris' hand.
"You stay. I'll fetch him." She gathered up her skirts and padded away. Timorous wee Orana was far more collected than people gave her credit for.
Tenderly he dabbed the sweat from Hakwes brow. Sitting quietly on the edge of the bed, watching as her face screwed up with a mixture of pain and confusion. She murmured softly, struggling against the venom cursing through her veins, Eyelids flickering. Fenris' mind jumped to dark conclusions, fearing she would die.
"Faith." He whispered holding her hand in his own, feeling the heat in her skin as he kissed her fingertips "Don't leave me. I need you."

Faith Hawke was in Ferelden, in her little house with her mother and father. Her arm was heavily bandaged, a sword and what was left of a shield lay in the corner of the room. She was young, she knew she was young, a teen at best, she hadn't used a sword and shield for years.
Her father glowered at her, he always seemed to tower above her, the only similarities they shared the dark red almost auburn hair and emerald eyes which burned into the truest depths of a persons soul. The twins had been banished to their room. Leaving her alone to face the disappointment of their father.
"Papa." She pleaded "Papa please don't look at me like that." Her arm ached, she held her good hand under it, cradling it in the sling he had made her after setting the bone. His kindness had ended there.
"I'm disappointed in you Faith" He said his voice deathly quiet,
"What why?" She exclaimed shocked,
"As the oldest it's your responsibility to keep your siblings safe." He elaborated leaning on his staff.
"Papa I did. I tried, I warned Carver away, he wouldn't listen. Thought he could take a cavern full of dragonlings on by himself. He didn't think that where there are dragonlings there are dragons." Her voice cracked with desperation trying to explain to her father.
"Then you failed."
"Failed?" She shouted "He came out in one piece! Me... Look at me, that's my shield arm Papa. I have a tourney in a week. It was going to be my break I was going to...."
"What?" He interrupted his deep voice cutting her off "Impress some Templar Knight and get whisked away to the chantry."
"I thought I could be a warden," She explained trying to quell the fears her father, the apostate, had of her joining the order. "Anything, to give me a chance to see the world. To be free."
"You will see enough of the world in time child." He snapped "Perhaps this was a blessing in disguise. How can you expect to protect the realm if you can't protect your family."
She bowed her head stammering he was right. The darkness enveloped her, allowing only enough light so she could see she was wading through blight filled bodies. Her own flesh covered in charred remains of people. Her tears the only thing smearing the soot. Inside her mind was screaming. She was panicking she knew she was. A terrified mind had no place with in a leader. She steeled herself and then the ogre hit.

Hawke screamed, fighting an unseen foe. Fenris tried to calm her, stroking her hair, trying to hold her arms stopping her from hurting her self. She cried her brothers name, pleaded with the gods.
Her mind had gone the way of the blight in Ferelden and what ever horrors she had lived through.

He heard the foot steps at the door before he announced himself, the Mage wasn't a cautious walker. His foot falls were heavy despite his light attire. As he peered through the door Fenris grabbed him. His hand dug into the collar of the blond man pulling him into the room and pushing him up against the solid stone walls.
"Mage this is your fault!" He shouted. Slamming him against the wall.
"And this isn't going to get us anywhere." Anders replied dryly,
Fenris swallowed his anger. Reluctantly letting him go.
Anders moved over to Hawke, inspecting the wound, touching her fevered forehead.
"Well heal her." Fenris demanded.
"I can't." Anders said plainly, beginning to bind the wound. "There is no antidote for this venom and its too far gone. She has to wait it out. If the fever breaks and she she survives the night. She will be fine." He stood walking back towards the door.
"If? IF!" Fenris barked "What do you mean If."
"Be thankful it wasn't a corrupt spider. There is no surviving the blight unless she wants to become a warden."
"Be thankful I have more pressing things to worry about than ripping your head from your shoulders." Fenris growled "Get out. Just get out."

Hawkes episodes had calmed down. She seemed to be sleeping though not all together peacefully. Fenris had given up pacing and left the room for a second to collect himself a chair. He wanted to keep vigil with out disturbing Hawke.
"Oh you're back." Her mother said leaving the hearth walking past him as he collected one of the armchairs from the study.
"Hawke is unwell." Was all he could say as he was hit with her obvious dislike.
"Orana told me as much." She paused locking him with cold eyes. "It still brings to wonder what you're doing here."
"She may not survive the night. The fever has gripped her mind." He looked at this woman that would be Hawkes mother "Some one should be with her."
The older woman scoffed. "a fever will not take that girl."
Fenris was unsure if she was overly confidant or almost disappointed. "The maker chose to take my sweet ones away, but left her because he didn't want to put up with her sheer force of will."
There was nothing he could say, grabbing the plush chair by its arms he picked it up.
"If you value your life you won't get too close." She added as he walked back into Hawkes room. He cooled the cloth again, and dabbed the tears from her cheeks before settling himself down in the chair at the end of her bed.

He must have nodded off because he awoke with a start as Hawke gasped and sat up. She was franticly looking around through unseeing eyes. He crawled up the bed to her cupping her face in his hands he pressed his forehead to hers. She didn't make a noise at first, just stared at a point passed him. Until slowly her eyes came into focus.
"Fenris?" She asked her hand touching his. Her voice weak.
"I am with you."
"They're dead. They're all dead." She repeated, slowly becoming a whisper.
"Not all." He told her lying her back down, thinking that she was still dreaming.
She grabbed his arm, her burning fingers like a vice around his wrist.
"Don't leave." She said fearing he was moving away. Darker impulses were taking over, the deep seeded survival instinct that saved her from the dragon and the ogre was rising. She wanted to push him a way, she wanted him to leave for fear of the darkness reaching out to renew her life force from his. Yet in his presence she felt she could control it, continue to keep it under wraps "Please.."
He obeyed taking up a spot next to her in the grand four poster bed. Gently he prised her hand off his, laying it back across her body. Noticing for the first time the long haggard scar that ran the length of her forearm.
"What's this?" He asked her making idol conversation while she still seemed alert enough to do so. She turned her arm over before slowly blinking eyes.
"This Fenris is punishment." She took a breath formulating the sentences in her fevered mind "We all bare marks of our past, just not all are beautiful." Her hand lazily trailed up his arm for a moment following the line of the Lyrium.
"What wrong deserved that price?"
"Lack of vigilance." She rubbed the scar "Carver wanted to explore a cave. I told him no. He convinced Bethany to distract me." Her voice trailed off as she blinked slowly. "I heard the screams. I didn't even realise where he had gone." She sighed "it was a dragon, first one I had ever seen. Not as big as you might think but big enough to a sixteen year old."
"You fought a dragon when you were sixteen." Fenris reiterated.
"It wasn't so much of a fight, I told Bethany to grab Carver and run. Damn thing set fire to my shield and nearly took off my arm."
"You father was a Mage. Why did he not heal you?"
"Ah." She exclaimed "There in lies the punishment."
"Mages." He scoffed "Think its their right to dictate the world."
Hawke chuckled "Not mages, just my father, he was strict but not unjust."
She sighed "I thought my life was over. I had a small infection while it was healing, and it must have weakened the bone, after a month I went back to training, I could lift a shield but not take a hit. I was looking at becoming a tailor, or a bar wench."
Fenris laughed at the notion of Hawke being anything but Hawke,
"Arianne found me one day and handed me a hammer." She looked up at him "It's a funny thing, you don't always see the weapon of your salvation straight away."
"You two have been friends a long time then?" He asked quietly.
"The longest of times."
"I shall keep my jealousy in check next time she takes my place by you in battle. Because it was her place I stole at your side."
Hawke looked up at him, the red in her face made the green of her eyes glitter "Are we still friends at least? My life is richer for you being in it, I couldn't imagine a day With out."
"At the least." He told her "Hawke ... Faith, I am with you."

Fenris' eyes snapped open as the door moved. It was a quiet movement he almost thought it was Orana. He was surprised to see a brunette head peak through the door.
Nodding in her direction Arianne silently asked Hawkes status. He looked at the sleeping form of Hawke against his chest. Her fever had subsided, taking with it the nightmares letting her sleep soundly, after a night of mental torment.
He slipped from her and joined her friend at the door closing it behind him.
"She's better." He said his voice horse from lack of sleep. "The worst is behind us. No doubt she will be up trying to save the world later on today."
Arianne chuckled "You know Hawke well then?"
He eyed the tall human suspiciously for a moment, before realising there was no underlying maliciousness in her comment.
"It was good of you to help her." She said sadly "You were the only one who noticed anything was wrong."
"I wouldn't abandon her, just because" he paused thinking of the words.
"It's complicated?" Arianne finished "The others were gossiping after you left. Apparently you two have been dancing round the mulberry bush for quite some time now."
Fenris clenched his teeth and looked away for a minute not knowing how to react.
She held up her hands. "Your Business is your Business." She told him "I don't go for gossip. That's my best friend in there an I'm just making sure she's in good hands." She smiled her big brown eyes filling her gesture with warmth. "You're a good man."
His brow furrowed and he began to stalk off.
"Your not staying till she wakes?"
"Best not." He replied "Your here now." He said solemnly.
"I'm not replacing you,"
"I feel like perhaps I was replacing you."