Varric was standing on top of the battlements, arms folded leaning on the concrete wall, gazing down into the courtyard of their new home.

Skyhold

So far it was gorgeous, a little worse for wear, but they couldn't have asked for anything better in his opinion. They had certainly lucked out finding this place. Wandering through a seemingly endless plane of snow for nearly a week had even him worrying for a while.

But like he said the place was nearly perfect, and he could observe pretty much everyone from up on the battlements and not be noticed, well… Not noticed very often at least.

Currently he was watching a very interesting encounter between the Inquisitor and Commander Cullen. Just as he started trying to read their lips, he was interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming from his left.

"Well hey there Chuckles! What brings you up here? " Solas showed no reaction but for a slight twitch of his eyebrow at the unfortunate nickname Varric had branded him with.

"Good afternoon, I am currently exploring the fort in an attempt to familiarize myself with all of the new space we have. I'll admit it's quite a bit larger than I expected it to be." He said glancing around. "And what of you Varric?"

"Oh you know little of this, little of that" he said directing his gaze back to the two people in the courtyard.

"Ah. Then you mean eavesdropping." Solas said following Varric's line of sight.

Varric chuckled, "Well you see Chuckles it's only eavesdropping if you're trying to hear what someone's saying, and " he said gesturing with his arms towards the courtyard "as you can hear yourself, I can't hear a thing of what's being said, therefore it's not eavesdropping"

"So you're spying on them then."

"Precisely "

Solas let out a small sigh at that "And what reason do you have to spy on our Inquisitor and the Commander?"

He didn't look back up a Solas this time, "Because it's very interesting to watch"

Solas furrowed his eyebrows at that, "and how's that?" Varric rolled his eyes and waived Solas closer to the edge with him.

"Tell me Chuckles have you ever seen our lovely Inquisitor smile? " Varric asked

Solas opened his mouth and then thinking better of it shut it. There was a long pause, "I have never thought about it but no I don't think I have. I've seen her smug and I've seen her sad and determined but I've never seen that level of emotion on face before" he started drumming his fingers on the top of the wall. "To be honest it's not an uncommon thing for Dalish elves, typically they're very apprehensive around humans for obvious reasons and only relax around those of their own kind"

"Well she doesn't seem to have an issue with that human. "Varric said nodding towards the pair whose conversation looked like it was wrapping up.

With Cullen and the Hearld

"Everyone seems to such faith in my leadership…I don't want to let anyone down..." The Inquisitor said scratching the back of her head in a nervous gesture.

"Well remember you're not running this all by yourself, but I imagine it must seem as such" Cullen said turning fully around form the table to face her.

She got quiet for a moment, "Cullen what happened back in Haven, it was close…I'm glad that you…that everyone made it out alright."

Cullen gave a smirk at that, "Me to." His face dropped and glancing to the side his eyes swirled with grief. The Inquisitor took this as a sign that the conversation was over and turned around to leave. Only to be stopped when a gloved hand reached out and grabbed her wrist. She looked down the hand but did nothing to remove it; instead she glanced up at the Commander in confusion.

"You…you stayed behind, you could have…!" He sighed suddenly the tension seeming to leave his body, but his grip did not lessen. "I will not allow the events at Haven to happen again." He said squeezing her wrist lightly, his words barely a whisper. "I swear it. " There was still sadness in his eyes but now it was over shadowed with determination and something else.

Her eyes had widened in surprise from his statement, but she surprised even herself by letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding and smiled an actual smile for the first time since she joined this crazy group.

"I'll hold you to that Cullen. " She said finally.

With Varric and Solas

Varric gave a long whistle "Wow would you look at that he actually touched her and his hand is still connected to his arm, amazing! The last time a soldier tried that he ended up missing three fingers!" he chuckled at the memory. "What do you think of that Chuckles? I don't think your theory really holds up much any…whoa!" He exclaimed jumping back suddenly.

If looks could kill then Cullen would be turned to ash where he stood. Solas looked at him like he was Coryphous himself! His glare towards the man seemed to say 'Burn in hell!' Speaking of burning…Solas's hands were producing a rather large dangerous looking blue flame, another expression of the mage's rare anger it seemed. Honestly he was surprised that they hadn't been spotted yet, actually he was more surprised that Cullen wasn't a pile of ash yet.

"Whoa! Whoa! Andrates tits! Solas calm down!" Varric said flailing his hands. For a split second he was reminded of someone he once called friend back in Kirkwall, the anger, the blue flames reflecting in his eyes… 'No! He is not Anders…most defiantly not Anders…'

"What in the world heck are you getting so worked up for? I thought you would enjoy seeing our lovely Inquisitor showing emotion for once and…oh" he said. He stopped waving his hands around dramatically and dropped them in sudden realization.

'Duh Varric, how did you not see that'

"You wish it was you don't you?"

Solas sighed heavily, the fire in his palms slowly dying out. "I don't know what you're talking about"

"Hah! Come on now Chuckles, admit it!" he said, a huge grin now adorning his face. Solas sighed once again, closing his eyes and bringing a hand up to rub his temples. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean."

"Chuckles I have written too many romance novels to not call your bluff, you wish it was you making our lovely Inquisitor smile, don't you?" even though it was posed as a question, his tone suggested it was a fact.

Solas gave him a sideways glance and then looked back down again.

'Yep, I knew it'

"Ah, well does she feel the same way?" Varric asked leaning back against the concrete wall, arms folded on his hairy chest. For a moment he was sure Solas would be too stubborn to answer his question, nevertheless he waited anyway. He likes to fancy himself a patient man after all.

"To be completely honest…I'm not sure…and I'm even less sure now…" he said softly

"Have you spent any time together? Talked about it?" He questioned

"No...Not particularly, she has often inquired about my work and past experiences however"

"Well then how did that go? Did she seem interested at all?"

"Yes she did, in fact I've never had another mortal ask me so many questions about my work, well at least not one that wasn't trying to get something out of it for their own selfish purposes" he said, his voice rising slightly in anger. "She seems genuinely interested when I tell her stories, and doesn't sneer or judge some of my…less common opinions. It is…remarkable"

Varric smiled at this, "If that's so you should speak to her about your feelings then, what stopping you?" he asked, a smirk forming on his face. Solas's face grew completely blank at the statement, and his eyes were suddenly haunted.

'I've seen that before…' he shuddered thinking about Anders did not bode well with him.

"There are many reasons…" He said looking out into the courtyard, "One being what we just witnessed"

"Hahaha yes I'll admit our awkward commander must actually have some game if the Inquisitor is that relaxed around him, that is truly impressive" he laughed. At that Solas made a grunting noise and began walking away.

"So you know what you have to do right?" Solas stopped walking.

"What's that?"

"You have to make a move." Solas stood still for a moment longer and then went on his way.

"Do it before someone else does it first!" he shouted after the retreating mage.

Turning back around to face the courtyard, he looked down at Cullen still at the wooden table trying to organize the soldiers, the Inquisitor long gone at that point. Varric felt a huge grin split across his face.

"Now THIS is interesting, this place just became perfect."