"Are you that magic dwarf?"

Dagna looked up from her book in time to see Sera drop into the seat next to her, shaking the bench as she did so which was impressive for someone so skinny.

"I'm not a magical dwarf," Dagna said frowning. "I can't do magic, I know about magic, all about it, and I can enchant things which I suppose is magic but can't do spells or reach the fade or use lyrium or anything." She paused. "I'm definitely a dwarf though"

Sera frowned at her.

"Are you the dwarf or not?"

"Which dwarf?"

"The one who keeps blowin' up the Undercroft."

"Oh!" Dagna smiled. "Most of those were accidents."

"Most of um?" Sera asked, head titled to the side.

"I was also testing some explosives."

"You are brilliant," Sera said with a huge smile that lit up her eyes. "Dead cute too, didn't know that. Just heard stories."

"About me being cute?" Dagna squeaked.

"About you being brilliant." She was blushing and Sera carried on talking. "I need help with somin' huge and weird."

Dagna closed her book then, pushing it aside.

"Weird?"

"Well, not weird exactly, but not normal – which is why I come to you cause I know your like me. You don't do normal and all that boring shit."

"I can do not-normal," Dagna said. "Do you want a drink?"

"Brilliant, yeah, I'll get um'."

She was up and out of her seat before the Arcanist could protest. She watched as Sera bounced over to the bar in her ripped leggings and Dagna blushed when she realised she was staring at the archer's ass. She managed to look up and smile at her before she turned around. Sera came back again, bouncing all the while, ale sloshing over the sides of the mugs. She sat down again, closer this time and Dagna took a long sip of her drink.

"I'm cold."

"Right?"

"Everyone's cold – it's the bloody Frostbacks, couldn't find a nice warm ancient fortress could they, bloody elves," she said, "so everyone's cold. Are you cold? Do dwarves get cold. I mean, I know Harding does but she's like a surface dwarf. You're like a drwarfy-dwarf."

"A dwarfy-dwarf?" Dagna asked.

"Yeah, like the Inquisitor and Solas are elfy-elves, you're a dwarfy-dwarf, from like underground."

Sera confused her more and more, but she thought she might understand what she was trying to say. Maybe.

"No, I'm freezing," she said, "Lava pretty much flows through most of Orzammar, so it's always warm. And I was in the Smith Caste. Lots of forges and fires and hard work."

Sera was nodding, head moving a little wild.

"Sounds great, hot, do you miss it? I would miss. I miss Val Royeaux. Always sunny and hot and more public nudity."

"That's not how I remember Val Royeaux," Dagna said, trying to remember her brief visits to the golden city.

"We should take a trip there together," Sera said with a wink. "You'd love my Val Royeaux, it's brilliant."

She elbowed Dagna with a wink, making the dwarf spill some of her ale and she blushed again.

"So yeah, I'm fed up of being cold."

"Well, you could change clothes, they're not very warm," Dagna said, looking the elf over again, feeling her cheeks flush redder and Sera grinned at her. "I mean, not that you don't look good in that, I mean you look great, that is, I mean, I could enchant your clothes. That's easy, I do it all the time. I enchant everyone's clothes."

"Pfft. Boring!" Sera cried, taking a long glug of her drink. "Plus it would take aaaages to enchant everyone's clothes and you'd be bored and never have any time to blow anythin' up."

Dagna chuckled.

"Then what's your idea?" she asked.

"Warm snow."

"Warm snow?" Dagna asked.

"Yep."

"That's a great idea, I mean, it always snows, and it's slowly been getting worse, I think winter is coming someone said? I've still not gotten my head around seasons yet, but warm snow would benefit everyone and heat up the entire fortress, we wouldn't use as much fuel heating the place up. This is a great idea."

She beamed at Sera, jumping when the woman leaned forward, hand on her knee and kissed her on the cheek.

"I knew I'd like you," she said.

Dagna didn't reply, couldn't reply. She just smiled and finished her drink.

xxx

Dagna didn't want to let Sera down.

She wasn't sure why. She liked Sera, and well, Sera seemed to like her – did she flirt with everyone though? The Arcanist wasn't sure, she hadn't spent too much time out of the Undercroft before her recent accident. The entire room needed cleaning out, some of the equipment replacing, the blacksmith needed healing...

Dagna had been asked to leave the clean up to other members of the Inquisition.

So she had a little time to work on Sera's request.

And a little time to work on what is was about Sera she liked so much.

It was obvious, she supposed, in one way – the elf was terribly cute and Dagna had always liked cute. But she bold and brash and bonkers and like no one she had ever met before. She had only seen her in passing before, a bounce and whirl of laughter and language she'd never heard outside of a tavern before. She's only seen the aftermath of Sera, the reactions other people had to her, and the aftermath of her pranks with the Inquisitor.

Dagna wasn't shy, she was a dwarf in a world of mages, she couldn't be shy if she wanted to stand out and get noticed but Sera made her feel a little shy. Comparatively maybe. Or perhaps because Sera was this wonderful whirlwind of colour and grace.

Whatever the reason and whatever she liked about her she wanted to impress her. She didn't want to let her down.

She had an idea, but needed a place to work.

The tavern seemed like a good idea as any and had the benefit of being where Sera was most of the time.

"Wow, you are so cute, widdle cutie," Sera said as she walked in. She looked a little drunk, cheeks flushed and an almost empty tanker of ale in her hand. "Widdle, I'm gonna call you Widdles."

"Cause I'm little?" Dagna asked with a frown. "I'm a dwarf."

"Cause you're cute," Sera said, with a big smile. "Want a drink."

"Um, yes please," she said.

"We just got back from killing a dragon!" Sera said. "It was amazing."

"Wow, really, I'd love to have seen that. Did you bring any of it back? Like some blood or some scales? What sort of dragon was it? I've only seen one type before, it was a Northern Hunter near Creastwood, so beautiful and scary, and voracious eater. Eats everything and shoots lightening..." she trailed off when she saw Sera staring at her and grinning. "What?"

"You talk a lot."

"I've been told that before," Dagna said, frowning. "Sorry."

"I like it."

That grin again and she grabbed two ales from the bar and ran off, calling after her for Dagna to follow as the barmaid shouted for her to stop. Dagna laughed and ran off up the stairs, following the drops of spilt ale.

"It was a Abyssal High Dragon," Sera said, pulling her into a little room, and down onto a padded window seat. She handed Dagna her stolen ale, and took a swig of her own. "It breathed fire. Bull got his horns burnt and I think Inky got set on fire too."

"Is she okay?" Dagna asked.

"Yeah, fine. Well, still got both her eyebrows, but her fancy-schmancy armour is done for. You'll have to help her make some more."

Dagna nodded.

"Will you tell me more about the dragon?" she asked, suddenly feeling like the shy dwarf she wasn't.

"It was bloody brilliant," she said, "next time you'll be there. I promise and you can take all the blood and guts you want."

"Yeah?"

"Bull loves killing dragons. He gets off on it. Weirdo."

She didn't say it with any malice though, laughing and drinking more of her ale and Dagna relaxed a little, listening to her tell her about the hunt and the kill, taking in all the little details that Sera came out with randomly and asking for more details when she went a little off topic. It was surprisingly easy to talk to Sera, about the dragon, about anything. Sera didn't seem to care that she rambled, or went off topic herself. And she was starting to understand her more and more.

After a little while, Dagna found herself settled into the cushions on the window seat, empty tankards on the floor a bottle of wine open and Sera's head in her lap. She wasn't sure when it started but she was stroking her fingers through the blonde hair as they talked.

She hadn't felt this settled in a long time.

It was lovely.

And she got an idea for the warm snow.

xxx

Sera helped Dagna set up a little lab on the top floor of the tavern, Cole more than willing to help because everyone was cold and very few people actually liked it.

"Cold, so cold, want warm. Toes and fingers hurt, makes me sleepy, can't get warm, can't get warm," he told them, but not who it was.

"Pack it in. Could be anybody, everyone's fucking cold," she said, blushing slightly and Dagna smiled.

"I can still enchant your clothes if you want," she said, "and make the snow warm. I don't mind, it's really easy. I can enchant your shoes too. And some gloves."

"It's okay," Sera mumbled, blushing brighter and Dagna smiled. "I'm okay."

Dagna nodded and went back to setting up a little workbench.

"But thanks," she added, leaning over and giving the dwarf a kiss on the cheek again.

"Warm now, warm and happy and hot and could make you warmer and hotter, we -"

"Cole!" Dagna snapped, blushing bright red. "I need to get to work. I'll call you if I need help."

It was directed at both blondes and Cole nodded and disappeared before her eyes, and her mind was already trying to figure out how he did it when Sera kissed her again before running off down the stairs, cackling.

When she figured out how to do it – making the snow warm was actually pretty easy. She'd had a couple of ideas but not being able to perform spells herself limited her slightly.

Not that it had ever stopped her. Dagna was known for using magic without magic. She was good at it, had built her entire life around it.

So she couldn't conjure a shield around the fortress and warm the snow as it filtered through to Skyhold.

She could create a reaction on the ground though.

That was a little more difficult though; it involved finding the right reagents, the right enchantments but Dagna was determined to make it work. Because Sera was cold and while Cole had spoken some of her thoughts aloud (she was pretty sure they were hers) she wasn't bold enough to proposition Sera directly by inviting to warm her up in the dwarf's enchanted bed. She had thought the elf the type to proposition her but she hadn't; despite the frequent compliments and random kisses that came closer and closer to her lips.

She supposed bold didn't always mean bold in love, or in bed, or whatever was going on between them and as Dagna considered it all she spilt a vial of liquid she was working on.

She cried out snatching her hand away from the liquid that burned her, knocking another vial over. The two liquids mixed, became hot, without burning the wood of her work table or the floor of the pace around her. The air was warm and when she touched the floor where the liquid had dried and quickly evaporated it too was warm.

"Fucking stone."

She shook her injured hand, trying to shake the burn off and Sera came running up the stairs.

"You dun it yeah?" she asked, then she saw the way Dagna was holding her hand and she was at her side, pulling at the fingers and inspecting the wound. "You burnt yourself. You're not supposed to burn yourself. I don't want you to get hurt, just, you know warm and shit."

"It's nothing, just a scald."

"You need a healer."

"I'm fine."

"I'm getting a mage."

"You don't like mages," Dagna said, taking her hand back but missing the contact, even as the burning pain rushed through her. Damn she did need a healer. "Or magic," she added through gritted teeth.

"Yeah but some elfroot ain't going to fix this," she said. "Where's creepy when you need him?"

"Cole?"

"I was getting a healer," the boy said appearing behind them.

"Don't do that!" Sera snapped. "Where's the healer?"

"Coming, coming running, hoping it's not bad, can't be bad everyone would know, just an injury, I can do it, I can -"

"Stop that!" Sera said.

"Leave him Sera, it's okay."

Sera stuck her tongue out at her and Dagna chuckled. Cole settled down in his corner as they waited for the mage.

"Does it hurt?" Sera asked softly, taking her hand again.

"A little."

"Want me to kiss it better?"

"Does that ever work?" the dwarf asked.

"All the time."

She laughed and kissed Dagna on the lips, gentle and quick.

"I really like you," Dagna blurted. "I mean, I, yeah."

She blushed bright red, and half expected Sera laugh at her and bounce away but instead she kissed her, deeper this time, wrapping her thin arms around her. Dagna kissed back, a little shocked but very happy.

"I really like you too," Sera said, her own cheeks a little flushed.

Dagna went to kiss her again, but heard someone running up the stairs and went to pull away. Sera held close though, wrapping an arm around her as a young elf mage came into view.

"Someone's hurt?"

"My Widdles burnt her hand," Sera said, pulling Dagna's arm to show the mage.

"Widdles? I was hoping you'd forgotten about that?"

Sera simply grinned and beckoned the mage closer.

"Let me see the wound," the mage said.

xxx

"Are you sure about this?" Sera asked, voice a whisper.

They were hunched down in Sera's room, eyes just peaking over the edge of her window, looking out over the courtyard. It was pretty busy this morning, Cassandra and Cullen were working together to train some new recruits – the Inquisitor and Dorian were watching from the sidelines. Leliana's scouts were all over the place, guards, Bull and Krem, the courtyard below them was packed.

"It'll work, trust me," Dagna said, "just gotta wait for it to snow."

"Well when will that be?"

"I'm a magic dwarf not a seer."

"Pfft."

Dagna chuckled and kissed her on the cheek, and they were distracted from the weather as their lips met and Sera dragged the dwarf down on top of her. Dagna forgot about their plan as soon as she felt Sera slide a cold hand up underneath her tunic. She gasped and arched into her, nipping the elf's lip in response. Sera laughed, pushing the tunic up and rolling them over in the small space as best she could and sitting up with a triumphant cry. She straddled Dagna's hips and bent down to kiss her again and when they heard shouts from outside.

"Holy maker what on earth?"

It sounded like Commander Cullen and the two women looked at each other, Sera grinning before scrambling off her and climbing back up onto the window seat. Dagna followed, pushing herself into Sera's personal space, the elf wrapping an arm around her and pulling her closer.

"It's snowing!" she cried, voice full of glee and wonder and even though Dagna had spent the last few nights personally making sure Sera was warm she was glad they had done this because the look on her face made it worth it.

"What on Thedas is going on?" The Inquisitor was saying.

She and Dorian were waving their arms around now, Cassandra glaring at the snow as if she could stop it, the recruits looking at each other completely puzzled.

Dagna could feel the reaction reach them, the way the snow hit the enchanted earth and warmed it, warmed the air, that warmth radiating around Skyhold slowly as she and Sera watched from the window, both grinning and occasionally kissing.

"Told you it would work," Dagna said.

"Didn't doubt you for a second," Sera said, squeezing her tight. "It's grand this, I think I'm actually warm."

"You were warm last night."

"Yeah, but now I can be warm all the time and not just in your stupid magic bed," Sera said, poking a tongue out and Dagna pounced on her, feeling bold and brash and beautiful, tugging the elf back down top of her.

"I can warm you up right here."

"Bet you can," Sera said, kissing her deep and sweet.

She did, and over the noises Sera made they didn't hear the yells from outside their window, nor the rising heat or the explosion.

Or the way the Inquisitor yelled out both their names knowing exactly who was the blame.