Summary: Inquisitor has just been released from his tiny cell in the dungeons. A refreshing combination of fresh air, soft wind and flying cookies welcome him to his new home. (Occurs after chapter 5 and before the beginning of chapter 6.)
The morning air filled his lung with a new found hope and joy at finally being freed of his prison cell. As Trevelyan closed his eyes and breathed in the fresh air, puffing his chest, he felt his back bones crack and straighten. It had been a while since he had seen the outside world and felt the warmth of the sun on his face. After spending so long in the darkness, he had forgotten how a simple walk in the gardens could improve his mood for the better.
He had spent the better half of the day with being the receiving end of a long and detailed interrogation by Lavellan and Cullen, down in the dungeons. There had been awkward pleasantries, some less than nice phrases, and a bit of unsavoury expressions exchanged. He might have called out on Lavellan being a rogue which in his humble opinion had no relation to neither the templar-mage war nor to the Inquisition's foundations. Cullen had frowned with confusion and Lavellan had yelled at his words and it was all so weird to be confronted by someone who held his old title. He would have yelled back but before he could do that, Lavellan had come to conclusion that being locked up was getting to his head. So at the end, their bickering hadn't mattered and he had finally been let out. He hoped it was for good.
Lavellan was probably right and Trevelyan was feeling remorse for accusing her unwarrantedly of being who she was. Yet he still felt really proud of being able to render Lavellan speechless with his story which was an almost exact recurring of the past events that they both had experienced. Her expression as he spoke of their different but somehow parallel history had been remarkable.
Trevelyan smirked to himself as he walked in the outer garden. It was mostly relaxing to enjoy the warm day even with the gossip circling around him. Hushed whispers muffled behind hands reached his ears. Wary eyes were averted every time he bothered to look in their direction and more than once he caught a lower ranked soldier gawking at his anchor. The people in the courtyard were trying so hard not to be noticed by him that they were actually attracting more attention to themselves with quickly averting their eyes and turning back on the their course to avoid him.
It was all very amusing.
Actually it was so fun to make people squirm as he waved his glowing hand towards them, Trevelyan almost forgot that he was being accompanied by a guard who followed him from a safe distance like a well behaved dog. It was probably a payback for yelling at the Inquisitor.
Right, he was just Tsion; no family name to back his past up, no circle to account for his education and no penny to his pitiful name... He was now an apostate under his existence only sanctioned by the Inquisitor's whim and curiosity. He deserved it really, having failed his own people and companions. Perhaps this was a better second chance for him to redeem himself. Well, he will do that once he manages to get out of the Skyhold.
He sighed and halted to a stop. The soldier on his tail also stopped moving. The long stairs leading to the throne chamber stood on his left and the tavern was down the same path. The training ground where the armoury laid was just up ahead as well. He wanted to inquire about his staff and weaponry with which he fell through the rift but he didn't know how to approach the armoury without raising any suspicion from his guard. It could have been easily interpreted as Trevelyan arming himself for an attempted escape and he didn't want to be wrongly accused for being in the close vicinity of the weapons.
Trevelyan considered his options and he decided to either ask Cassandra or to the quartermaster about his inventory, if either of them was at their designated places. He moved towards the other side of the tavern and further into the training grounds. Upon seeing that it was devoid of Cassandra, Trevelyan let out a relieved sigh. He really wasn't ready to face the wrath of the Seeker just yet.
He was just about to get moving again when a soft rock collided with the back of his head, surprising him. It hadn't hurt his head but regardless the shame of being hit by anything angered him. With a sudden flare he turned around to see the culprit, half suspecting his guard. When he saw that the guard was looking as bewildered as he was, Trevelyan surveyed his surroundings hastily. But there was no one nearby. He frowned and as soon as he straightened with a confused growl a second rock hit him on the head, crumbling upon impact.
His fingers went to his hair and raked his fingers through the locks to clean it. A few pieces of the rock shook loose and he managed to grab some of them before all fell onto the ground. He was surprised to notice that the rock that hit him was in fact nothing more than a ruined cookie. Upon this discovery Trevelyan automatically lifted his head up towards the second store of the tavern. He barely had enough time to protect his head from the oncoming third cookie with putting his arm over his face. The innocent cookie connected with his forearm and dropped on the ground harmlessly.
"Finally one of you divs managed to block it!" Sera's voice ringed through the empty grounds and Trevelyan smirked while he bent down, grabbed the offending cookie and threw it back at her. Due to the poor trajectory the cookie didn't even reach the balcony where Sera was perched on "Ha ha! Nice one! Let's see what you can do against all these!"
An array of cookies rained on Trevelyan who managed to swat most away "Will you just stop this!" he yelled back. Slightly panicked at the ongoing assault, Trevelyan jumped under the balcony, hoping to stay out of Sera's reach. "You have never thrown cookies at me before! What the-?" He patted the pauldrons of his armour to clean any stray crumble. Where he was safe for the time being, his guard was being attacked in his place. Instead of running away the poor man was adamant in getting Sera to seize all action. Needless to say his warnings fell on deaf ears.
As his guard was busy in his impossible task, Trevelyan took the opportunity to slip away. Down the other side of the tavern he found an open window which he promptly threw himself through. A sudden silence fell over the tavern as he got back on his feet and smiled at them. To his luck due to the early hours of the day, the tavern was mostly empty. He motioned for the bard to continue her song and in three long strides he reached the stairs in the middle of the room.
Amused, the bard resumed her singing and by the time Trevelyan's guard appeared by tavern's door, looking for him, Trevelyan had already disappeared into Sera's chambers in the second floor. Trevelyan smiled when he heard that the guard had to leave empty handed when no one answered to his calling. Just in case, he backed away in the small room until he heard Sera's giggling.
"Thanks for the assistance, Sera" Trevelyan said, nodding at her appreciatively.
"Wow, easy there!" Sera shrieked with a crinkled nose. "Who are you and how do you know me?"
"It's sort of complicated" Trevelyan sighed. He knew there was no way he could explain his situation without setting Sera off. He didn't even want to guess how devastating her reaction would be had he told her about old Elven magics he had and being pushed back in time. No, Trevelyan valued his ass. There was no way he was ever going to talk about his past to Sera, definitely not when they were alone and sober.
"Wait! You are that magey with the second-hand glowy bits, aren't you? Fell down from another Fade or rift or whatever" She exclaimed with an irritated tone and Trevelyan nodded. "Heard they were talking about you! What are you then; Some big shot trying his hand at the Inquisitor's magic and shit? Some snobbish Tevinter who made himself his own green hand, growing it in a pot?"
"What? No" He replied, eyes twitching. He really had to play it safe. He waved his left hand in her face "I didn't ask for this! I had acquired it by mistake, apparently. I- look how about some proper introductions? I am Tsion, a circle mage from Ostwick. Certainly it is rather difficult to prove it at the moment but never mind that for the time being. But I have heard about you from the running gossip, Sera right?"
"Yeah. That's right. So you are not a lord or something? That's hard to believe. You don't look little. You move all lord like and got that puffed up air in your guts. Eugh..."
"I don't know what I am right now" Tsion said with a stone sitting in his guts. He pushed back the feeling of dread festering within and tried to ignore the pain accompanying his uncertainty about this new world he found himself within. "I guess I am just Tsion, nothing and no one else"
"Pfft" she snorted, a wave of giggles escaping her mouth "Right... With that stick up your ass, I am sure you are just that!" Unable to hold himself, Trevelyan smiled in return. "Come on then, prove me how you are one of the little people."
Trevelyan probably shouldn't have risen to her bait but oh, Maker be damned, he needed to have some fun. Relax and live a little, at least until the advisors decided that they had enough of him "Hand me that jar, buttercup. I challenge you to cookie target shooting!"
"Oh, you are on!"
Within ten minutes the two of them were on the rooftop by Sera's room, having pissed of a pair of Orlesian nobles, a few crows and a considerable amount of soldiers. The jar was almost empty but there was still a handful of raisins and a couple of cookies left. By default Sera was on the lead as she found it all too easy to shoot them all at the back of the head where Tsion's aim was slightly more off. He tried using his elemental magic to his advantage though. Thankfully Sera didn't object to it seeing how he was struggling with throwing the cookie far enough to begin with.
Of course, if Solas had seen him use the arcane energy to boost his cookie's flight, and increase its trajectory, the elf probably would retrieve all of his support from Trevelyan's plight. Good thing that he didn't leave his sanctuary in the library often enough to be their target. On the other hand, a different mage was on his way towards them. Tsion didn't notice him approach but Sera with her hawk like eyes saw him before Tsion and with a flick of her wrist the cookie flew off in the unsuspecting mage's direction.
A series of Tevene curses filled the air and Tsion swallowed thickly while Sera laughed heartily. "Vishante kaffas! Sera, how many times have I asked you to stop aiming for my head. It's a nightmare trying to clean all the crumbles from my hair!"
"All the more reason to aim for it!" she sniggered behind her hand and yelled while pointing at Tsion "He did it!" Before Tsion could even protest she bolted out of the rooftop, happily putting the window hatch of the window down behind her and successfully locking him out on the roof.
"You are not half bad, Titon" Sera snorted at him as she drew the curtains to a close. With a guilty jar in his hands and no cookies left to defend himself with, Tsion gulped and turned to face Dorian's scowling face.
"Uhm, I didn't do it?" he tried weakly and luckily Dorian's glare melted away swiftly. He crossed his arms over his chest as Tsion hugged the jar closer to his chest.
"So, Sera managed to recruit herself an accomplice? I hadn't taken you for a prankster" The young mage's light hearted voice carried through to his heart and Tsion felt heat raising up to his face, both because of shame at being caught and joy at meeting Dorian once more.
"Dorian..." Tsion stammered, frozen on his spot "You see, I was just unwinding a little. Didn't see you coming or I would have definitely intercepted the flying cookies"
"I am sure you would have, given your talent at arcane arts" His face lit up with mischief in mind "Oh, yes, I have felt you cheat with your elements. Your energy flow is much more effective than you imagine it to be and I could sense it all the way across the courtyard. Too bad it didn't help you win"
"What can I say. When you go up against a natural born archer, there is just no winning" Tsion shrugged his shoulders and if Dorian found his antics cute, he certainly didn't show it. Encouraged by the young mage's unstrained silence, Tsion got up on his feet on the roof top. Dorian chose that exact moment to smirk and lift his hands towards him.
Confused as to what Dorian was doing, Tsion narrowed his eyes and still he almost missed the exact moment when a white energy covered Dorian's fingers, a flick of his wrist conjuring ice right beneath Tsion's moving feet.
The once Inquisitor and the Herald of Andraste, let out a shriek as his feet lost their balance, not that he would ever admit it. He didn't feel the wind drawing on his face or saw the fast approaching ground due to panic overtaking all his senses. He did however felt the sting of scratches from branches as he dropped on thick bushes, face down. He groaned and wiggled until he was lying on his back over the offending bush which refuse to give under his weight. He rolled over and gently lowered himself on the ground, all the while groaning.
The ache across his face was worth the fall though. When Dorian's face appeared above him, with a somewhat concerned frown adorning his handsome face, a warmth started spreading deep within Tsion's chest.
"That didn't look like it hurt at all, minus the scrapes on your forehead" Dorian commented as a matter of fact.
"I am invincible in Skyhold." Tsion chipped back, leisurely "No fall is high and no wind is strong enough to harm me while I am here"
"You are an odd one, indeed" the mage replied and he removed a handkerchief from his pocket, gently pressing it down on his tiny cuts.
"Was this your way of warning me not to throw things at you"
"Yes, that too." Dorian laughed "But mostly it was because you caused so much trouble for me while you were unconsciously rambling my name. It took me some effort to clear my name and persuade Lady Nightingale of my innocence. I am certain Cassandra would have been ready to clap my hands and throw me in the cell next to yours had I failed to convince them."
"Sorry about it" Tsion answered, his fingers reaching out to grasp Dorian's wrist. With a tender grip he moved his fingers over the sensitive skin, rubbing and simply holding Dorian in place. The mage didn't immediately react to his hand being caressed by Tsion. It was when the man's hand dragged Dorian's palm over his lips that the young mage removed himself with a startle. The handkerchief slid off on to dirty ground beside Tsion's head.
Dorian hastily grabbed the silk cloth, shook off the dust collected on it and handed the item back to Tsion. In Tsion's opinion, the sudden blush that made its way upon his cheekbones was ever so adorable. His quick retreat out of his sight; not so much.
"You should get yourself cleaned up." Dorian said, trying to fill up the silence "That is the same armour you've been wearing since you came here, isn't it? No wonder the nobles have been keeping a safe distance from you."
"I- what?" Tsion suddenly jumped, a different sort of red appearing on his face "I don't smell... so bad..."
"Oh, I think you just got used to it" Dorian snickered "You should ask your guard to take you to the bathrooms, I've just seen him in the Hall asking all over for you."
"Right, I'll do that" Tsion whispered with a mortified expression and hid his face behind his hands, ineffectively trying to disappear from the surface of the earth.
Dorian turned on his heels with a content smirk. "Don't be ashamed. Happens to the best of us. Well, best of us except for me." With that final comment, Dorian departed the training grounds leaving Tsion to contemplate his stinking misery.