Swords and Shields
By R2s Muse
Disclaimer: Dragon Age belongs to Bioware, etc.
Cullen found himself unconsciously slowing his pace as he turned the corner that led to Meredith's office. Her peremptory summons had been curt, which was never a good sign. He nervously catalogued his recent activities trying to identify what might have drawn her ire. She had become so unpredictable, so quick to anger and secretive, that it could be anything.
He paused outside the heavy oaken door to her office and knocked. When he heard a muffled, "Come in," he took a fortifying breath and went in. Meredith was seated behind the massive desk reading something and didn't even bother to look up at first. He stopped before her desk. "You wanted to see me, Commander?"
She slowly looked up at him and removed the reading glasses perched on her nose. Her faded blue eyes studied him, like she was trying to recall why she'd called him in, and then narrowed in disapproval. "Something dismaying has come to my attention, Knight-Captain."
"Ser?"
She slid open a drawer and took something from inside, throwing it upon the desk where it slid to a halt before him. Seeing it, he felt his cheeks immediately start to flame.
"This was found in your quarters. Is it yours?" she asked in a neutral voice.
Ignoring the uncomfortable fact that someone had been in his quarters, he wracked his brain for a straightforward response. "Erm, no." Meredith's raised eyebrow made him reconsider. "I mean, yes, in a sense. I-I'm borrowing it."
"I see. Then I presume you are aware of its contents?"
Cullen flushed and looked down at the well-thumbed manuscript. From the ornate script lettering of the title, Swords and Shields, on the cover, it wasn't hard to imagine the pulp that lay inside. It was a serial about the adventures of a templar knight-captain, Marian Hawke had said, written by her friend Varric. She had hounded and cajoled Cullen to read it until one day he discovered that she sneakily had left it behind in his quarters. He ignored the book for about a week, but eventually picked it up out of boredom one night, only to discover that the adventures were of a decidedly salacious nature. Next thing he knew, he had read it in its entirety. He swallowed nervously. "Y-yes, Ser."
"Varric Tethras is one of the Champion's companions, is he not? Presumably someone that knows you? And Kirkwall's guard-captain?"
"Yes, Ser." Cullen had no idea where she was going with this one.
"Captain, I certainly hope you are aware of how inappropriate a relationship between the templar knight-captain and the captain of the guard would be?" Meredith said in a hard voice.
Cullen felt the blood drain out of his face. Sweet blood of Andraste, she can't possibly think . . . The serial was a far cry from real life, focusing on a rather embarrassingly detailed physical romance between the knight-captain and a guardsman.
I am going to kill Hawke.
He cleared his throat. "Commander, I dearly hope you are not suggesting . . . w-what I think you're suggesting. That would be . . . completely inappropriate! As you say. T-this preposterous story has no basis in reality."
She'd eyed him wordlessly for so long he found himself starting to fidget. "I should expect not, Captain," she said finally, slowly enunciating each word. "For your sake." She put her glasses back on and looked down at the document in her hand.
"Y-yes, Ser." He turned to go and grabbed the door handle.
"Cullen."
He turned back to her expectantly. She looked at him from over her glasses. "This Varric Tethras. Does he often write this type of . . . literature?"
Cullen had to think for a minute. "I don't rightly know. I would expect so."
"I see. That is all, Captain." She turned back again to her reading, so he fled.
It wasn't until he reached his quarters that he realized Meredith had kept the book.
Fin