"If you don't mind me asking, the hero of Ferelden was a circle mage. Did you know her?" the inquisitor asked.

"I attended her harrowing. She was a lovely woman," the commander responded.

He raised an eyebrow. "Lovely?"

"There was some… youthful infatuation on my part. I found her… compelling." His voice was soft as he remembered her.

"You never acted on it?"

"She was one of my charges. Even if she felt the same it would have been… inappropriate. I saw her once after she became a warden. She freed the tower during the blight. I would be dead or mad if not for her. I was in a sorry state when she found me. The things I said were unkind… untoward. I regret them now. I wish she knew that."

# # # # #

Solona Amell gazed around the bustling fortress, amazed at how purposeful everyone was around her. Here she was searching for a lone man among a hundred. But surely the Inquisitor would stand out. Someone pointed her to the stables and she went to relinquish her horse. Once unsaddled, Solona brushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear. She looked around nervously. No one knew who she was. The anonymity was refreshing. Soon she would have to end it.

She walked towards what was being called the throne room. No one cast her a second look. She stood out from the nobles milling about the hall. Her riding boots were covered in mud and melted snow caused her cloak to be damp. She kept her face hidden by the cowl. Not that it mattered. Soon she would present herself to Inquisitor Trevelyan and her ruse would be up. But while the nobles ignored her and the servants passed her by, she reveled in watching this inquisition function.

She saw him standing by the dais, leaning over and chatting with the attractive man sitting in the chair. The inquisitor she figured. But while she tried to study the man that was now in charge of saving the world, she kept glancing at his partner. Could it really be him? He wasn't dressed in Templar armor and there was a stiffness to his posture she wasn't used to, but she knew that standing there was Cullen.

She swallowed. It had been years since she last saw him. She closed her eyes and pictured him on his knees, fervently praying. Her heart had broken when she realized just what atrocities the abominations and Uldred had visited upon the Templar. Using her visage to torment him. Breaking him to the point where he hadn't believed that she was real. Breaking him to the point where he had lashed out, blaming all mages for the actions of a few. The hatred in his voice towards her. In the end she had saved him, saved the tower. But he hadn't thanked her for it, instead he had begged for her to cleanse the tower of the mages, something she would have never done.

She opened her eyes and stared at the man that had caused such heartbreak with his words. He looked, well if she was being honest, he looked good. Always easy on the eyes, he held himself with a confidence he had lacked before. Perhaps the years had been good to him. She could only hope. She hesitated before announcing herself to the herald. Would he remember her? Would he still gaze at her with such hatred and fear in his eyes? Or was she already forgotten, a distant memory of a past he likely wished to forget.

Someone nudged her from behind, shaking her from her thoughts. She had come here with a purpose. After the letter Leliana had sent her informing her of the great threat to the world, Solona had hastily hurried back to civilization. She had learned more about the inquisition through her travels. How they were stabilizing the world of rifts. How they had ended the mage/Templar war. Some of the tales were so fantastical she scarcely believed them. Then again many of the tales they told of her were just as unbelievable.

She tore her gaze from Cullen and studied the man upon the throne. Short cropped red hair framed a handsome face. There was an edge to his features, something that spoke of the man's many secrets behind blue-gray eyes. He held himself with an air of nobility and whether that was because of his position or his birth, she didn't know. And yet he paled in comparison to the golden haired man to his left. She couldn't stop looking at him. She felt that familiar tightening in her gut as she remembered just the way he had affected her. Before the fall of the tower. Before she had become a Grey Warden. When she'd just been Apprentice Amell, lounging about the circle tower, dreaming of her escape. When he would smile at her and her stomach would flutter. A more innocent time. Before everything had gone to shit. That's why she stared, she told herself. He represents a time I miss. It's nothing more.

She motioned for the herald, finally ready to meet the famed inquisitor. When she gave her name, the herald's eyes grew wide and he stumbled to address the inquisitor, to announce her arrival.

# # # # #

"Warden Commander Solona Amell, Hero of Ferelden." The herald announced.

Every head in the hall turned to look at the woman standing before the throne. Even his head, especially his head. He had to have heard wrong. There was no way that she was there. Sure enough the woman lowered the cowl that covered her face and he was struck by the familiar face. She barely looked any older than the last time he had seen her. Ten years ago. It had been ten years since he'd seen her face, since he'd spoken to her. His gut tightened as he remembered his last words to her. Words that had replayed in his mind over and over since then. How he regretted those hateful words. But there was never an opportunity to take them back. And now opportunity was standing there ready to smack him in the face.

"Hero of Ferelden, it's a pleasure for you to grace our halls."

She bowed slightly, her hair falling prettily into her face. "Pleasure is mine, Inquisitor."

"We weren't expecting you. Had we known you were coming, we would have had the hall ready for you."

She chuckled and the sound warmed his stomach. "All the more reason for me not to announce my presence."

"Please join me in my war room so we can talk. Josephine, summon Leliana for me. Come Cullen."

Cullen found himself rooted in his spot. He looked at her, waiting for her to look back, but she didn't. Instead she turned to join the inquisitor out of the room.

"Are you alright, Commander?" Inquisitor Trevelyan asked him, concern in his voice. Cullen wondered if the inquisitor remembered their earlier conversation about the hero, the one where he had admitted to an ill-fated infatuation with her. He clenched his hands into fists and nodded. He followed close behind as they walked to the war room.

Once inside, he walked to his place at the table and waited with the others for Leliana. He tried not staring but it was nerve wracking how she ignored him. She probably doesn't even remember you. She is too important to remember a lone Templar from before she became the Hero. Or maybe she doesn't recognize you. Or maybe she simply hates you for the things you had said and wishes to ignore your existence.

Leliana burst through the doors and nearly barreled the other woman over with her embrace. The inquisitor raised an eyebrow at the out of character display by the spy master. Leliana finally relinquished her hold on the Hero. The inquisitor cleared his throat.

"Now that we are all here, we should get down to business. What are your intentions?" Cullen thought he detected a bit of awe in the inquisitor's voice as he spoke to the Hero.

"I'm pledging myself in service to the inquisition. What little I have, is yours."

"That's generous. Can I ask why?"

"I've been out there. I've seen the devastation. I believe the inquisition is our last hope against this force that I admit I know little about. I'm not sure of what use I can be, but I couldn't hide away. My conscience couldn't bear it."

Memories flooded Cullen's mind. She hadn't changed much. Nervousness played on his nerves causing him to shift uncomfortably. Why was he acting this way? He wasn't the same man he'd been before. Now he commanded the inquisition's army. Now he was in a position of power. How could she render him feeling so powerless then? As if reading his thoughts, she finally looked at him. He nodded his head slightly, acknowledging her. Her lip curved up in a half smile and relief flooded him. She remembered him.

Life at Skyhold just got complicated.