AN/ A series of one shots with my Inquisitor Emery Trevelyan that closely tell the story of the Inqistion. Please leave comments and opinions, I'd love to hear them. Thank you all so much, I hope you enjoy! :)
The soft gentle light of tens of candles painted the room golden and warm. Long lazy shadows stretched over the war table, a small shadow of green clouding the Western Approach where the Herald's hand rested. She watched the light flicker and dance on her palm in exhausted fascination. Her eyes burned from hours spent writing reports of her time in the hinterlands and her meeting with mother Gisele. Ink-stained the tips of her fingers and was buried beneath her nails. Fingerprints dotted the map near where her head lay and her eyes felt heavy with sleep. Upon her retune to Haven she had been met with no long desired relief of rest, but instead ordered to write her reports while dirt from the journey still covered her hands. She did so without complaint, for Cassandra was a woman she would rather not be on the bad side. Having been on the wrong side of the warrior's blade once before.
The young Lady Trevelyan's eyes had slowly begun to close the temptation of sleep to great for her to fight, but the heavy sound of the door opening jostled her awake. It hadn't been much, the quiet patter of footsteps out in the hall had dispersed over time and she had long since stopped listing to them.
Emery sat up quickly paper sticking to her cheek only to flutter down to her lap upon her hasty rising. There in the doorway stood the Inquisitions military commander. Dressed in full armor and looking perfectly put together, as always. Emery quickly rubbed the sleep from her eyes and moved to stand upon his entry.
"Commander," She began, voice gravely and heavy from sleep. She winced at the sound of her own voice before quickly trying to recover, "I was just working on some reports." He gave her a small smile as if to ease her fridge reaction.
"Not to worry Herald, I just came to drop off some reports of my own. I apologize, I didn't mean to disturb you." He explained, his smile grew as he looked at her, he looked on the edge of humor as if holding back a laugh. A look of confusion cut across the Heralds tried features and the man before her let a chuckle escape his posed nature. The sound was deep but soft, it made Emery happy just hearing it. The casual sound coming from the man of pure professionalism seemed to break his constant barrier of order. To see him act so relaxed only went to further fuel the young nobles secret longing for the man. What was he like when he didn't guard himself?
Despite getting caught up in the sound of the man's laughed Emery Trevelyn still had no idea why he was laughing at all. She looked at him in question, having gained control of her girlish joy.
"Forgive me my Lady, but you have ink on your face." The Herald's eyebrows shot up and she quickly scampered around her chair and rushed over to the polished shield that hung on the wall by the door. The silver metal revealing a skewed and distorted image of herself, black ink smear from her left eye over the bridge of her nose and down onto her right cheek. She realized with horror that it had no doubt been the result of when she had rubbed her eyes.
"Maker be damned!" She cursed as she tried to rub the stain away, only succeeding in making the ink dark and spreading it further. She let out a sigh of frustration and turned back to the commander as he still stood in the entryway, smile still gracing his scarred lips. Something about his smile made Emery feel that her embarrassment was for a good cause, to see the man smile. But the heat that pricked into her cheeks and ears was not from happiness.
"I have no idea how I'm going to get this off." She said with a sigh, wanting to drop her head into her hands but not willing to risk more damage.
"You look a little like Hawke," He said with a chuckle. Emery returned her gaze to his, eyes warm and not burning with disappointed and annoyance as she was all but sure Cassandra would have been.
Emery chuckled, despite never having met the champion in person she knew of Cullen's dealings with Hawke back in the Kirkwall Free Marches. Varric spent much of their time in the Hinterlands telling them stories of the trouble he and his companions had found themselves in, time and time again.
"I don't think I pull it off as well as she does." Emery chimed, recalling the flawless image of Hawke that decorated Varric's book cover.
"I don't know, I happen to think it suits you." He said as he walked further into the room to set his gathered reports down on the end of the war table.
"Then perhaps I should trademark it," Said said with humorous pride. "Yes, a black ink stain across my face, to strike fear into the hearts of my enemies!"
"I'm not sure fear is the right word." He said with a smile, he held his chuckle and his voice did not break in humor this time. Emery looked up at him for he had since drawn to stand just past the curve of the table where she had been seated. His sudden proximity made her throat feel tight and her words catch in her chest.
"I must look rather ridiculous," She said looking down at her ink stain hand as she ran them through one another to avoid the man before her direct gaze. Her voice having since lost its mock confidence and reverting to a much quieter more reserved tone. She felt suddenly too hot, and too close but she didn't want to move away. Lest he think she was rude and even worse yet, lest he think she didn't like it.
"Well, for someone who hasn't had a proper night's rest in weeks, has been constantly on the move and then forced to spend the night writing endless reports, you look rather wonderful." The blush in her cheeks burned even brighter and she had to force herself to control her reaction. Instead of looking up fast and shocked as she wanted she met his eyes calmly and found her words with poise, a few moments spent quickly stringing them together.
"I can't tell if that's a compliment or an insult, Commander." He smirked, his scar arching with his lip, a great distraction to the Herald.
"A compliment of course. Who would I be to insult the Herald of Andraste?"
"You'd have to be very bold." She said playfully, unaware where this confidence seemed to pull from. Perhaps her overworked mind through little of filtering her thoughts any longer.
"You've known me long enough to know I am bold in few ways my Lady." He said gently, but the sleep-deprived Herald felt no reward in letting him pass gentlemanly like.
"Very true, I wouldn't be opposed to finding out some of the more private ways you assert yourself boldly." The slick nature of the comment made the man's smirk morph into shock then embarrassment. A red blush snaking up his collar, into his cheeks all the way to the tips of his ears.
"I uh." Emery smiled for she once again had him at a loss for words. She smiled further momentarily forgetting of the ink on her face. The man took several steps away from her, running his hand over the back his neck as to her averted his eyes from hers.
"I should probably turn in for the night." He said backing closer and closer to the door. Lady Trevelyan smiled as she thought of further possibilities to torment the man by. But decided again them.
"Is it rather late?"
"I-" He looked up at her relieved by the common nature of her question. "Yes, it is. Most of the hold has gone to bed." She looked over at the half-written draft of her report, then back to the commander.
"Do you think Cassandra will kill me if I leave my reports to be finished until tomorrow?" He gave her a small chuckle as he followed her gaze to the mess of papers.
"I think you're more than safe from her rage for now. If memory serves me right she to has turned in for the evening." With a sigh of relief, Emery stepped for the door until she stood almost directly beside the commander.
"Good, then perhaps I can make it back to my cabin without anyone else seeing me." She laughed to herself. "What a story that would be, Herald of Andraste, sneaking back to her quarters in the middle of the night with ink all over her face. A grand boost to my image."
"Careful, if Varric gets a hold of an idea like that I'm sure it will become a much more scandalous tale." She groaned head rolling back, blond hair just long enough to reach the end of her neck as she bent back.
"The scolding I would get from Cassandra would be more legendary than the tale of the Warden." Cullen chuckled at her joke.
"It's good fortune that you're a rogue then." She smiled up at him as he opened the door and let her walk out in front of him.
"I suppose all that time sneaking around in the dark might just be good for something after all."
"Avoiding the seeker?"
"Of course, that woman scares me more than the blighted demons do." He laughed and the sound bounced off the empty chantry halls. His eyes went wide as he looked around in apologize as if he were afraid of waking someone in the empty building. The Herald smiled up at him while he wasn't looking.
"Perhaps I should follow your example and be a little quieter." He said with a soft chuckle as the pair walked through the large main doors into the snowy outside.
"Careful commander, if words get's out that you and I were sneaking about Haven together in the late hours, people might start to draw assumptions." His cheeks redden and she wasn't sure if it was the sudden cold wind or her witty comment. She hopped it was the ladder.