"Daddy?"
"Go back to sleep," Cullen mumbles, his instincts taking over before his mind acknowledges there's an unwanted presence in his bedroom. Stuffing the pillow tighter over his head, he tries to fade back to sleep. He doesn't need to check the window to know dawn is far away.
"Daddy!" the tug grows more incessant, his daughter not about to give up for anything. She's far too much like her mother.
Groaning, Cullen lifts his face from the mattress. His skin became so molded to the folds of the bed in his exhaustion, he's surprised half of it doesn't remind behind. "What is it now?" he growls. For two weeks, his four-year-old would tiptoe into their room and tug on his sleeve until he'd awaken. It was growing on his last nerve.
"There's a monster," she picks at her nightgown, wide elven eyes reflecting back his familiar honey glare. It isn't fear in his little girl's face. No, she's angry because once again her father is failing in his duty to help chase away all the scary monsters.
"Again?" Cullen struggles to pull himself from the siren call of his bed. Sleep, blissful once uninterrupted sleep. Before he dooms his feet to the floor he turns to the surprisingly quiet form beside him. "Love, isn't it your turn?"
Despite her pretense of slumber, she snorts, "I've killed enough monsters already, thank you." She tries to wad the pillow tighter to her head with her stump.
Accepting defeat, Cullen breaks from the loving embrace of his mattress to place cold feet upon the stone ground. His daughter, his reason for living, bounds off – occasionally stopping to tell him to get a move on. Yes. How dare he take his time in the middle of the night.
At the threshold of her room, bleary Cullen stumbles against the doorframe. He watches with a wary eye as his daughter digs through the nightstand. "Very good," a yawn yanks open his mouth.
Big brown eyes beam up at him just as his daughter slots the wooden shield onto her tiny arm. The other lifts her practice sword higher as she waits for orders from her commander.
The might ex-lion of Skyhold, dressed in linen pants with his hair splattered to the side, manages another yawn and mumbles, "Parry, parry. Thrust. Make sure to…" he shakes the third yawn off as his eyes close for rest, "To keep your shield up."
Unaware of her father trying to sleep while standing, the girl fights off all the evil monsters just as her mommy and daddy taught her to.