Knight-Captain Cullen managed to stop himself just in time before slamming the door to Commander Meredith's office. He had done as ordered regarding Sabine Hawke. It was an investigation that had spanned months, and the evidence he had gathered to support her being an apostate looked solid. At least, it had looked so to him. It took Meredith all of five minutes to tear to shreds the information he had painstakingly pieced together. Ser Varnell's testimony was dismissed as libel, and she had chided Cullen on still calling the man a knight. Varnell had caused the Order significant embarrassment with his inflammatory and very public speeches against the Qunari, and consequently been dismissed. This did nothing to alter the man's stance on the matter of the foreigners, however, and he continued pursuing his agenda as before. Hawke had apparently broken up one of his rallies, and had made use of magic to do so. Despite his questionable motives, Cullen believed the former Templar's assessment of Hawke. The Captain had also been assured that a certain Sister Petrice could corroborate Varnell's insights, though his attempts to contact the cleric had been unsuccessful. The fact that the Chantry Sister was presently on an extended retreat had not impressed Meredith either. The remaining witness reports Cullen had presented to make his case were deemed either vague or unreliable.
"The situation in Kirkwall is tensed enough without Templars marching into Hightown to drag off a noble – even an upstart such as Hawke," Meredith had remarked. Cullen's bubbling indignation at such a statement – that the Order should be hampered in its duties by a group of powdered, snivelling buffoons – was promptly quenched. "Find me irrefutable proof, and I will bring her in myself."
Presently, Cullen stomped back to his office, drawing concerned looks from his aide, Ser Norris. He stepped through the door, went straight for the tapestry on the southern wall, and ripped it off with one sharp tug. He then bundled it up haphazardly, and deposited it onto Norris' desk.
"I want to replace this with a cork board," he barked.
"A cork board, Knight-Captain?" The poor aide stammered. "But that will never keep the cold out, and the southern walls are always buffeted by strong winds…"
"Then I will build a bigger fire," Cullen roared, unable to contain his fury any longer. Norris shrank back, appearing ready to take refuge beneath his desk. "Maker's breath, man, we're soldiers. What use have we of painted fabrics on the wall?"
"But that is Holy Andraste's Blessed March – " Norris' words died on his lips beneath the Captain's withering glare. "A cork board, Ser. Right away, Ser." The aide scrambled away, then turned back and gently retrieved the tapestry Cullen had so scorned, pointedly avoiding his superior's eyes.
With the board installed, Cullen moved the documents scattered on his desk onto the floor, and started sifting through them. Some he placed into a neat stack, others he carefully pinned onto the board. By the time he had worked his way through all the papers, the lamps and braziers in his office had been lit.
"Poor Norris," he chuckled, then took a step back to behold the fruits of his labour.
When he left the Knight-Commander's office, Cullen had been tempted to douse himself in lyrium and pay a visit to Serah Hawke himself. As foul as the stuff was, it had its uses, among them the ability to sense power. It worked rather counter-intuitively, however. Lyrium did not sharpen the senses to a degree that would allow a user to detect even faint magical currents. It served primarily to block magic, and generated a vacuum wherever magic dwelled.
Cullen always found the presence of mages unsettling shortly after taking lyrium. His sight would indicate that they stood right there before him, yet his mind argued against the notion. The stronger the mage, the greater Cullen's struggle became within. Templar discipline helped him function during such times, and his duties never suffered. Of course, an intense sense of wrongness often marked the presence of a demon, a possibility that significantly contributed to the paranoia some Templars developed over the years.
Luckily for the Knight-Captain, furthering his investigation on the matter of Sabine Hawke would not require the use of copious amounts of lyrium after all. One of the red strings radiating from the small piece of lavender paper bearing the suspect's name was tied to another such piece – where in the world Norris had gotten his hands on lavender paper, Cullen could not fathom – bearing the name of Sebastian Vael, Prince of Starkhaven. And there lay the Captain's unimpeachable witness.
A/N: This is an excerpt from Chapter 12 of my DA2 FanFic "Watch for that Moment" posted for all you Cullen fans. I would like to thank my wonderful beta, EasternViolet, for helping me achieve a level of polish in my writing I would not be capable of otherwise. Please visit her profile for some lovely Dragon Age fan fiction: u/3373135/EasternViolet