I've gone through and edited my chapters more thoroughly. Please let me know if there's anything wrong with my writing. I am dyslexic and sometimes I mess up, though i try very hard not to. Also, please let me know what you think! Feedback is very welcome! This is my first fanfiction, so I'm still getting the hang of it.

Chapter 1

Where the inquisitor falls out of bed

It was rare to get a moment to herself. It was so strange to be lying in a soft bed in the middle of the day. Sunlight streaming through the tall glass paned windows, making rainbows on the rich rug. She barely spent any time in her official quarters. Every time she came up here, there was something new and shiny slowly replacing the barren dankness she originally remembered.

Her name was Gale Trevelyan. Formerly a mage from the circle of Ostwick circle of mages. And an escapee. High born lady daughter to a wealthy and devout family. Ridiculously touted as the Herald of Andraste, and the Inquisitor of the Inquisition. Which was just a fancy way of saying if things fucked up, it was her fault.

She suppose Josie was the one behind the betterment of her living situation. A powerful leader needs proper quarters, and so forth. She couldn't fault her taste, at least. But a barren horse blanket on the cold ground in the woods had always been much more comfortable than any finery. Finery tied you down and made you its slave. Owning things was a burden. Having nothing to your name but the clothes on your back and the knife strapped to your thigh, that was true freedom. Add a loyal hound and a good horse to the mix and that was a picture of true perfection. Though lately her dreams of freedom had started featuring a second inmate.

Gale didn't know when that second figure had actually started joining her in her little daydreams of perfection, but one night she was jolted awake by a very interesting dream. A very eye opening dream. Trust and admiration are certainly fine feelings to hold for a person, she reasoned. Especially if they more than deserved it. kind and strong. loyal. fair. intelligent. ruthless. with a shy sense of humor and such lovely, lovely eyes... dammit.

She couldn't have these thoughts and feelings. She was too guilty, she lied too much. But her heart wouldn't listen and her mind was easily persuaded...

She remembered the moment when she knew she was going to most likely die. She had looked into his stunning eyes and told him to save the people, to leave her behind. There was a moment when she had wanted to reach out and touch him. If she were going to die, she would have wanted to carry that into madness. But she hadn't had time to analyze what that had meant and in the end it wouldn't have mattered if she had died. But she hadn't died. She had been lost in a frigid canvas of white, bleeding and moving on instinct. How she had found the camp was either chance or luck. Maybe divine intervention. All she knew was that one moment she was in agony, and the next his voice was shouting at her to live. His strong arms were holding her up and carrying her to safety. She would never have thought that what she felt for him was love. Or anything else just as embarrassing. She just knew such a strong sense of relief and gratitude.

But then he told her that he was so grateful that she survived. That he had been terrified for her when she had gone to give them time to escape. The sweet pain in her heart had unsettled her. Confused the holy hell out of her. She couldn't ignore it and what it implied. She couldn't ignore him and what he had started to become in her eyes. Though she hid it, only allowing herself to feel it when she was alone.

She buried her head under her soft pillow and screamed out her embarrassed frustration into the mattress. A person was supposed to use their brain to think, not uselessly daydream about strong shoulders and firm lips. With that little scar that was just so biteable she could die.

More embarrassment left her body in a series of silent curses and the inability to lie still without wanting to lash out. She flailed around for a moment, unable to hold back the nervous energy that wanted to escape, then got a hold of herself and sat up, hugging her knees to herself. Trying to wrest control of her body back from her girlish hormones. I am a leader, she told herself, uselessly. I am a warrior. I summon fire at will and render my enemies deaths of screaming agony. I will not allow myself to yearn for a man as if I were some simple maid with no common sense. I need to find something to kill.

Just then, the soldiers at the front gates signaled the return of their commander. Excitement with a curious sensation of falling ended in a loud thud as she realized she had jumped up out of bed without telling her brain of the action. Her hip and shoulder hurt as she dragged herself up and through the glass doors of her balcony to look into the courtyard. The sight of his armor made her heart slam into her throat and drop to her knees. Her hands shook. For the barest moment she allowed him to fill her vision and let out the most embarrassing sigh. Thank the Maker her balcony was very high up and none of the guards could hear her. Thank the maker HE couldn't hear her. But then the shouts for a healer reached her ears and she saw that he needed to be helped from his horse. The cold dread that followed her feet as she practically threw herself down the stairs and through doors to get to him made the pit of her stomach feel like ice.