Well it has certainly been a while since I last posted anything… I am so lazy. To honour my laziness I will attempt to post something every day until Christmas, or Christmas Eve depending on when my brother arrives.\
..
She hid around corners
and she hid under beds
she killed it with kisses
and from it she fled
-Florence and the Machine, Dog days are over
T'was the night before Wintersend, and all through that badass massive fortified castle known as Skyhold not a creature was stirring except the resident crazy Dalish mage.
Audra woke up when someone knocked on her window during the witching hour, she grinned and dropped out of her bed, silken sheets still tangled around her body, and slide along the floor to the window. She unlatched it and opened it enough for several parcels to be allowed through the gap, after they were in her possession she place a letter and a coin purse outside and set to sorting out the parcels.
She tore at the paper concealing them; she couldn't in good faith have that boring brown crap on them could she? That would spoil the point of hiding them in random places.
Each of the parcels were for a different member of her dear friend Inquisitor's inner circle and of course one for the Inquisitor herself, in all honesty she had great difficulty trying to find out the perfect gifts for each of them, even then she feared that they wouldn't like them. She had yet to forget that since she wouldn't r in the first place. Be here alive for long it shouldn't matter what they thought, however it was still embedded into her nature.
She dealt with Cassandra's present first, since she had learned of her like for smutty fiction she had asked after something similar to Swords and Shields, and she had received. She didn't care to read it, only skimmed through to make sure it seemed, well as long as it didn't go completely erotic she was fine with that. She wrapped it carefully in decorative paper, which was what had made the second largest dent in her savings for Wintersend.
For Cullen she had simply gotten him some random stuff an old friend had recommended, she quickly wrapped it up, still confused as to why her friend had recommended such a strange hat.
She kept going through each one until only two were left, she picked up the chessboard, in all honesty buying this for Solas was more impulse than actually thinking and debating whether or not he would like it. This was what had cost the most, having chessboards made in an Elvhen style was extremely rare, more likely than not because most Elves wouldn't have the coin to pay for it and even fewer would be interested. What made her smile and would no doubt either confuse him or have him realise what she knew was the overuse, perhaps, of Fen'Harel, the Dread Wolf.
The King was the Dread Wolf, despite an Elvhen chessboard would more commonly have Elgar'nan there instead, and, though it was faint, an image of Fen'Harel was painted over the glass chessboard. She polished it delicately, though she inwardly cursed herself for taking more care with this than any of the others, even though she did reason that it was glass. She didn't exactly realise that she had been talking to herself out loud again until a voice spoke up.
"It certainly says something about you being able to hold a conversation with yourself for so long" she jumped and scrambled to cover up everything more importantly the chessboard.
"For the love of- I didn't think that you would, I, stop freaking me out when we're alone. It makes it even worse." She was easily flustered, in no small part of how close he would usually get and her knowledge- which as of yet was still only known to her- of who he truly was. He took a few steps closer; his curiosity of what she had covered with her bed sheets was what dominated his facial expression.
"I didn't realise I had that effect on you," his lips quirked into a smile, the feeling-we all know what one- refused to abate. She placed her hands over the scar on her side below her ribs, a nervous habit.
"You have multiple effects on me, not all unpleasant, I do confess."
"Oh, really?"
"Especially when we argue, I have a strange taste in fun as I have been told." She took a step back almost tripping over the bed sheets; he grabbed her arm and steadied her. She smiled nervously; she could feel it, his power. She had yet to grow used to this places magic but she was overly sensitive to it, magic felt raw to her something restrained and controlled but raw but sometimes it felt as soft as silk. More so with him, it annoyed her, she couldn't afford this not now, though she did want it.
"I wonder what is under all that silk?"
"The Illuminati," was the first thing that sprang from her lips, "and of course several Archdemons a few apostates and the Australian government. Why do you need to know?" she took a step closer to him just as he did the same.
"What can I say? You're different from other Dalish elves. That makes you worth knowing." Their faces were a few inches from each other, she turned around suddenly, her breathing was almost erratic and she was blushing furiously. . Considering she had spent her entire life completely innocent and naïve this wasn't an uncommon reaction when she even heard of someone doing something mildly affectionate.
"I- you had best go it is rather late, oh is that the first rays of dawn I see? Best you go down and have nice adventures in the Fade or something like that." She ushered him out of her room and locked the door behind him. Of course it was still hours before any light would be seen in the sky. She slid down to the floor she picked up a heavy book off of the floor, 'the complete people's laws of Kirkwall' wasn't very exciting but it was heavy. She slammed the book into her face, twice.
"I am the strangest most confusing person to ever grace Thedas, or anywhere. " she half whispered half groaned to herself, she finished up with the gifts for Wintersend, she gathered them all into a bag placing the chessboard at the bottom. Now she couldn't get the thought of him out of her head, "Curse that bald head of his, curse it so it grows hair just enough for him to look stupid and he has to shave it."
She sat the bag on her modest bed before throwing open her closet for anything black and ninja like. She found a black scarf which she promptly wrapped around her head, leaving only a slit for her to see. She threw on a dark shirt and comfy pair of pants that were more of a dark grey but she wasn't too picky at this point. She took the bag and stole from her room like a thief, or someone who takes holiday's way to seriously.
She slide down the staircase rail thingamabob and raced towards the Inquisitor's staircase, she picked the lock to her room and placed her present on the Inqusitor's desk. She smiled before bolting when she heard the inquisitor speak in her sleep, something about nugs probably.
She then proceeded to Cole, who was still awake so she just handed him his.
"You can't open it until everyone is awake, alright?"
"But why?"
"But why not?" was her reply before grinning at him and going down to the next level to Sera's area. She took out the wrapped jars carefully, grimacing at the thought of all the mayhem she could cause with these. But even so she still left them outside Sera's door.
She asked Krem, whom was still awake; to hide Bull's present somewhere then she gave her the present she had gotten for her.
She then dumped Cassandra's, Blackwall's, and Cullen's presents in the armoury unwilling to go back up those stairs. She found a way up to Vivienne's area without going into Solas' mural room; she placed the package carefully on the little table. She had tried hard to get several Orlesians to work together to create this, if Vivienne didn't like it Audra would track those Orlesians down and make them pay.
It was dawn by the time she got to Leliana, she barely concealed it within her stack of reports and other stuff. Dorian's she simply put on his sleeping face.
Now she had to figure out a way to get past Solas to hide his present somewhere, she leaned over the railing, yawning, she had run all over Skyhold to hide these presents. She descended the stairs and clambered on top of the scaffolding; she sat down and leant against the wall.
'It can't hurt to just rest for a few minutes, I haven't slept at all' she clutched Solas' chessboard to her chest, she closed her eyes to her it was only for a moment.
.
Light streamed from above and it was annoying, she was sure she had closed her curtains before she went to sleep. She mumbled something about slinkies and stairs before opening her eyes. it took her a while to realise that she was indeed in a bed, not her own but a bed nonetheless, even so she didn't freak out, due to the fact she was still half asleep. It took her a minute to realise that someone was holding her.
She look down at the slender fingers holding her in place, she looked over her shoulder to see Solas sleeping peacefully.
'So much for not getting emotionally involved idiot, you just couldn't drop off the Chessboard could you?' she smiled to herself, it was a secret smile the kind reserved for when you believe no one is watching. Those smiles are always the most sincere; of course they are secret usually.
Her tightened his grip on her suddenly, and she laid her head back down on the pillow they apparently shared. This was a blissful moment; she closed her eyes and pretended that just for a few minutes, maybe hours, that there was nothing else in the world but them.
His chest was pressed up against her back; his breath tickled the back of her neck and her pointed ears. She laid her hands over his own; her heartbeat thudded in her ears. She was fine with this; it was peaceful, serene even.
A few minutes later he began to wake up; she stayed still, she had actually fallen asleep again. He supported himself with one elbow; he brushed a few strands of hair away from her face. He pressed his lips against her temple; which woke her up.
"Solas?" she murmured and turned over to face him. Her eyes only half open, "Vhenan?" she whispered.
"I am here." He whispered back, her eyes opened fully when he replied, she tried to sit up but was promptly distracted by Solas who had claimed her lips as his own. Heat spread to her cheeks; needless to say she enjoyed it. She hummed enjoying herself more than she should. But he broke away before anything could escalate to her slight displeasure.
She smiled, she almost felt all the masks she had put on melt away leaving her bare and that frightened her. She shot up muttering some form of half assed excuse before escaping- sorry- exiting with flair faster than normal. Subtle, right?
She rushed to her own quarters, leaned against the door; she couldn't help but grin to herself. Though now it frightened her, however today was Wintersend and she needed her mask.
She turned to her wall, masks lined it almost covering it completely, and she loved masks and understood completely why Orlesians wore them everywhere. She plucked one from the wall, it was a light purple and white both faded into the other, it twisted and twirled into a beautiful mask. She placed it on her bed then went to her still open closet.
She stepped inside it, searching around the back for something she hadn't worn in a long time, it was a form of armour, though she barely used it anymore because she had better stuff.
It was a mage robe, yes, with a leather thing that can only be described as a corset despite the fact it is not. The cloth was a dark blue, and combined with the hardened leather to go around the neck, mostly to hold the dress up. There were a few buckles she could manage to do, though a few would simply have to be left undone.
She slide under her bed when she heard someone knock at the door.
"No one's here!" She called out.
DONE. FIN. THE END. FINSHED. OTHER SAYINGS/WORDS THAT MEAN THIS HAS ENDED.