This is the first story I ever published and I guess it's finished now, if I should not feel the need to write a sequel. ;) Every input is appreciated, corrections and all. As I am not a native speaker and sadly lack someone to proofread please bear with me if there are stupid mistakes. I hope you find as much joy in reading this as writing it gave me.
Inquisitor Adaar let her eyes roam around her courtyard.
Here and there people were milling around and going about their business. Soldiers and templars were training side by side. And sometimes you could see a lone mage tend to the wounded or talk to a sister of the chantry.
It was a peaceful scene, one she would not have anticipated just days before. The battles against Corypheus' mage army had been hard and taken their toll. But in the end they triumphed.
All their losses in the process, never forgotten, had meaning through this final victory.
The Inquisitor smiled. She had some plans for the night. Another game of wicked grace with the guys and afterwards .. oh afterwards. She looked over to the tavern, where she knew the Bull was drinking, talking, laughing with his brothers in arms.
Her gaze fell on a single figure, sitting before the tavern. A female mage sat there, her hands folded in her lap and looking silently up to the towers on the battlements.
She had seen that particular mage before. It was one of the healers they had aquired near Redcliffe before the majority of the mages had fallen prey to Corypheus' ambitions. Usually she was at the back of the fray, tending to the soldiers wounds and flinging lightning at every foe that came near. Her eyes seemed lively then, her dark hair standing on end, while raw energy crackled on her hands. Now she looked very small, lonely and sad, those blue eyes gazing into nothingness.
"Hey you!" Adaar saw herself walking towards the woman. She waved und smiled a big smile she hoped was as non threatening as a giant Qunari-woman like her could muster.
The mage looked up to her and immediately stood up to bow. There where not that many Qunari at the keep and in no way Adaar could be mistaken for anyone other than the Inquisitor.
"Lady Inquisitor." the mage bowed "How may I serve you?" The horned woman laughed.
"You are an eager one aren't you? Sit back down, don't put a strain on those fine legs. I just want to talk."
The mage seemed puzzled but sat down on the rough wood of the bench again. She fiddled nervously with her hands. "Talk? What about pray tell?"
"Everything .. like: Who are you? Where are you from? One has to know their followers I say." Adaar tried to look as sociable as possible. "I just want to know my people. I saw you fight with our army, but sadly I don't know you." She frowned. "To be true, I don't know half of these people as well as I'd like to. But I know these are good men and women. The commander probably knows most of the men at arms quite well .. but you are a mage." She ended her monologue and looked at the other woman expectantly.
"That I am .. a mage I mean." her brows drew together over hooded eyes. "I was born in Ferelden and lived there, almost all my life. I was in the circle of course, the tower in the middle of lake Calenhad .. it was my home for so many years." She sighed.
"Wasn't the Hero of Ferelden from the fereldan circle of mages?" Adaars face lit up. It was one of the few finer details about the fifth blight that she remembered.
"Well yes, she was. Neria Surana was .." For a moment she looked thoughful "Neria IS an outstanding mage. Her proficiency with firemagic could not be matched by any of us. Maybe it has to do with her elven heritage."
"So she was a great mage, but what kind of person was she?" Adaar seemed almost giddy. Here she had someone in her entourage who knew the Hero of Fereldan and she did not know.
"To be true, I did not know her all that well. Sorry." The mage cast her eyes down. "She was almost always with that guy, Jowan. Maker knows what she saw in him. He was .. not good for her. Or for anyone, let's just keep it at that." Now she looked upset, curious. But if she did not want to elaborate Adaar did not want to ask.
"So. That's that. You left the circle when the uprising began?"
"Yes, and fled to Redcliffe with a group of some other mages and two templars. They where good people. The templars, good men. They fought with us and died for us." Adaar could almost feel waves of guilt coming off of the woman.
"Ser Liften caught a strike meant for me. He did not even know more than my name. But he vowed to protect us and protect us he did. I could not heal him .. all my magic was not enough." The mage looked at her hands crestfallen. "I asked myself then: what good did it ever do me."
Adaar put her hand on the mages shoulder. "I saw you help many people here at the keep. So I guess it did our cause good at least."
"Helping, beeing of use to the inquisition, it was good." the mage nodded. "But what if I'm no longer needed?"
"Hah!" The qunari laughed. "How could you not? There is still good reasons to fight for all over Orlais and Ferelden. Our army needs healers as well as soldiers. As long as you want it, you have a cause here .. and a home." She shook her head smiling. What a stupid girl that was. Adaar stood slowly. "Wait .. your name. You forgot to answer that question."
"It's Asha your grace." the small woman replied almost at the edge of hearing.
"A.. what?"
"Asha Amell, your grace." she said a little louder.
"Rejoice Asha, you're invited." Adaar grinned with a sudden idea. The mage looked puzzled.
"You're going to join a little round of wicked grace this evening and I won't take no for an answer. I'm the Inquisitor after all, it's an order. Meet me here when night falls or I will find you." She bared a row of distractingly white teeth in a terrifying grin.
"But I .." Asha began to say, but caught herself "Yes, Lady Inquisitor."
It was an order after all, so what were her options. And it could be fun, surely. But as she watched Adaar walk back towards the keep her heart skipped a beat. Wait. "A small round of wicked grace" .. Who would that include? It couldn't be.
She looked up to the battlements again and shook her head, trying to win back her composure in the cold air of the frostback mountains. There was nothing she could do but wait what the evening would entail.
The wounds of one of the soldiers in their care had festered and she had spent half the day grinding up elfroot for potions and collecting cobwebs to assist the healing process.
Miraculously there were many spider's webs lately, so at least she had not much trouble finding some. Asha did not care much for spiders, but at least the small kind did not bother her that much. Those that stood up to a mans height and had fangs as thick as the trunks of small trees where another matter entirely. Luckily they had left those behind in the hinterlands and she had not to fight any since then.
Now a completely different fight awaited her. Asha was poised to flee as she waited before the tavern for the Inquisitor to lead her to a friendly game of .. doom. At least she felt that was what awaited her.
Who was she to be invited to play with the Inquisitor and her friends? It was unreal. Maybe it was a joke. That had to be it .. a joke. Asha gave a little laugh as this insight dawned on her. But just as she turned to go a heavy hand landed on her shoulder.
"So where do you think you are going, little lady?" Asha froze on the spot. The male voice behind her chuckled. "She told me to get you, so don't you think of fleeing. She does not take well to this." He said, slowly turning her around by her shoulders.
"I'm not little." Asha said defiantly, but in a small voice.
"Hah, if you're my size almost everyone is." The Bull laughed heartily. "But I won't call you that anymore if you don't want me to."
"You won't?" Asha looked doubtful at the giants chest. She turned her head up and let her gaze wander to the underside of his prominent chin.
"No, I won't. I don't think it's fitting you all that well." The man who called himself the Iron Bull grinned. "I will find a better name for you .. Sparks."
Asha closed her fists forcefully and quenched the blue ribbons of energy that threatened to spill from her fingertips. She had almost let her fear get the better of her. Surrounded by templars and face to .. chest with one of the biggest Qunari she'd ever seen this was not a good idea.
"A bit twitchy are you? Hah!" The Bull did not seem concerned at all. "Let's see how you hold your own in a game of cards Sparks. Let's not keep them waiting any longer or she may keep me waiting later on."
Half walking herself, half being shoved by a giant hand, Asha entered the tavern. It was warm and candles burned at the tables. The smells of ale and people mingled in the nights air.
At a long table the finest heads of the inquisition sat together, laughing, talking, drinking.
Adaar rose from her seat and beckoned the mage to sit on another one right at her side.
As Asha meekly sat down at the Inquisitors left, the Bull took his place to Adaars right, squeezing her butt in the process. This earned him a light punch on the arm, that would probably have felled a lesser man and a wink of his lover, promising retaliation later on.
"Friends, meet one of our mages." the Inquisitor proclaimed happily. It seemed she already had one or two drinks and was in an excellent mood. "I met her today, looking all forlorn and I can't have that."
Adaar put a tankard down in front of Asha and clapped her on the back. The mage had to fight, to not embarress herself by dipping her nose into her drink at the impact.
Asha looked at the people at the table through cast down eyes. She felt awfully out of place. Beside her the beautiful Antivan, that organized all diplomatic matters at the keep smelled of sweet perfume and good cheer.
"Capital, the more the merrier." she pronounced and gave the mage a winning smile. "Some fresh blood at our table will surely make the game even more interesting."
"Fresh blood? I do not hope so and don't remind me." the dwarf Varric groaned from the other end of the table. "I saw the Bull cut a man in half just yesterday. I've seen enough blood for the rest of the week .. guts too."
"He was not cut into half." forementioned Bull protested "Four parts in one swing it was! New record."
The dwarf shook is head and the third man at the table looked a bit white around the nose. "How did you even? .. No, wait. I don't want to know." Commander Cullen, the leader of the keeps army had killed his own share of enemies, but did not seem to enjoy it half as much as the Qunari.
As he squinted at the newcomer at the table he became very still. "I remember you." he said slowly. "Enchanter Amell it was?"
"Yes Ser." the mage looked hard at her tankard, as if she were seeking a deeper truth in its dephts.
"Hm." he settled back into silence.
"What's with you lot? Let's play cards already." The Bull boomed across the table.
Sera the nimble elven girl dealt the cards. Asha was not surprised to see Seeker Cassandra and Lady Leliana at the table as well.
The mistress of spys disconcerted her. The woman had a hard gaze, even in this merry round of friends she had joined. When Asha caught a glimpse of her, during her stay at the circle at the time of the fifth blight the red haired woman had seemed so much warmer. She remembered hearing her sing with Neria, who apparently tried to teach her an old elven lullaby at the time.
Lelianas voice was still beautiful, but it lacked much of the warmth it had back then. Or maybe Asha was mistaken, she did not really know the woman. It was preposterous to think, she could judge her from the snippets she gleamed from the sidelines.
A light tap on the upper arm snapped her from her musings. "Are you in?" the Antivan asked. It was obvious the words had been uttered repeatedly and Asha hurried to make her call.
The game proceeded smoothly and soon everyone started to tell stories, mostly of a raucous kind.
"You are the newcomer at our table." Varric took the mage into his sights, "I think it's just fair to hear one of your tales. We had already heard all of Blackwalls, so maybe it's good you're here tonight." The dwarf smiled invitingly and everyone else at the table was nodding lightly, indicating there was no choice but to think of something.
"I have been quite the sheltered circle-mage." She weakly tried to wiggle out of her predicament.
"I don't know if I can come up with something as amusing.."
"Bullshit." The Iron Bull boomed. "I know you got something on you, can see that glint in your eye. Out with it!" He laughed and Asha relented.
"I'll try, but .. this was really bad." The tips of her ears reddened, if from the ale consumed or shame about the tale to come, who could say.
"So, when I was still an apprentice at the circle. I must have been thirteen or fourteen years old at the time, me and some of my friends got into a stash of fine wines that belonged to one of the enchanters." She began her story while the others looked on expectantly.
"As we were basically kids, not used to drinking and not into drinking responsibly at all, you can imagine what happened. Not long after we found the bottles, all of us were hopelessly drunk and full of bad ideas."
"Not that kids at that age tend to be full of good ideas at the best of times, eh?" Varric chuckled.
It earned him a smile from the mage. "I guess not. However, it was decided, that I should walk up to a templar and steal a kiss. Maker knows why I went along with it, I was usually never that daring."
"Wait, why a templar? Stuck up, armoured, armed? You did not think about that much did you?" Adaar shook her head.
"I'd have done it, stuck up? So what? More's the reason." Sera piped up.
"You are right, it was no good idea and potentially dangerous, especially at how inebriated I was at the time." Asha nodded and put some coins on the table as it was her turn. Her hand was mediocre, a low pair, but she decided on bluffing.
"So there was this one recruit, that barely ever wore a helmet and he was standing guard at our floor. Lucky." A wry smile grazed her lips.
"The others were hiding around a corner and giggling hysterically I believe, while I walked up to that poor sod, full of false bravado and wine, lots of wine." As if on cue she took a swig from her ale.
"The man tried to call out to me, the usual: 'Halt, who goes there? ... Stop it mage, I said stop .. Please? What are you ...?'
I guess the pleading part was not quite usual, but he was as lost as me I guess. Totally out of his dephts with my continued, less than steady and silent advance. I had to concentrate on walking straight that much, I did not bring out a word." She sighed.
"So I kept on walking .. or more like swaying towards him. Poor guy looked like he was about to run. Luckily for me it did not seem to occur to him, that I may not be a dumb, drunk girl, but maybe n abomination, a demon in disguise. My behaviour was certainly odd enough, so I was fortunate he did not draw steel on me."
Asha looked into the round briefly and was prompted to continue with her tale by the others.
"Well, he did not draw but I drew .. myself up on him, that is. Grabbed at his breastplate, at the collar just below the neck. Then stumbled, lost my footing, tumbled to the ground and took the mountain of steel that he was down with me."
"Ouch." The Antivan grimaced. "That's not how I'd want to .. cuddle."
"Ouch fits the situation." Asha nodded. "His armour almost crushed me. As we struggled to get up again he somehow elbowed me in the gut. I, being full of wine and queasy enough as it was, then proceeded to puke all over him.
It was humiliating. I remember scuttling away from the scene, getting up as fast as I could and running down the corridor in my sodden robe. I hid under my blanket for the rest of the evening and night and did not drink a single drop of wine since then." She ended her story and looked thoughtfully at her tankard. "Ale's a different story." She concluded and took a swig.
"That would have been me." A dry voice came from the other side of the table.
Asha looked up in shock.
"Do you have any idea how hard it was to clean that armour? And the smell? The knight commander was livid." The tone of Cullens voice seemed accusing at first, but the man was smiling.
"Makers breath, woman, what a stupid thing to do."
The mage tried to become very small. How did that not occur to her. Maker, she crushed on the guy forever and could not remember his face at the one occasion he -almost- crushed her?
Adaar gave her another friendly clap on the back and signaled to the waiter.
"Some wine for our mage, something antivan maybe. She drinks red, I just know." She said and her voice did not brook any objection.
With a nice new drink of wine before her and a thinning amount of coins in her pocket Asha sat and drank and listened to the antics of her companions at the table.
In this light they almost seemed as normal as the next man, just people having fun, talking. The symbols they were for the inquisition could almost be forgotten.
The evening ended, when almost all the coins had found their way to ambassador Josephine.
Asha felt positively tipsy, but not nearly as bad as Sera. The latter was dancing on a table, to a tune only she could hear and blowing kisses to the waitress.
The commander saw Asha looking at her and remarked "Last time she was somewhere under the table halfway through the game, so this counts as an improvement."
"She is fun." The mage averted her gaze. "All of you are. You are so .. normal."
"Thanks I guess." The knight scratched at the back of his head. "About that story of yours.."
"Oh maker, please no. Don't mention it." Asha felt herself redden even more.
"I enjoyed hearing it from your perspective. It reminded me of better times." He was sounding wistful now. "Before that thing .."
"Uldred." One word was enough, both of them knew what it meant. When during the blight one of the senior enchanters came back to the circle a bloodmage and abomination all hell broke loose.
They had come away with their lives, as many others did not, but much had been lost that day. It did not do to dwell on it for either of them.
"No, we don't talk about that." Cullen shook his head. "This was a good evening, I had a lot of fun and still got my pants on me, so let's not ruin it."
"Your pants?"
"Don't ask." He waved dismissively, but the tips of his ears seemed to redden.
As everyone filed out of the tavern Adaar came to stand beside the mage.
"Still talking about the good old times I wager?" She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at Cullen.
"I was just about to go. Good evening my Ladies." And with a brief bow the man was gone.
Asha sighed involuntarily.
"I hope you'll join us again Sparks." The Bull drew up behind Adaar and put his giant arms around her, looking over her shoulder.
"You play bad enough that even I have the chance to win a few silvers back and are not bad to look at, for a human." The horned man grinned just as suggestively as his lover.
"Guess you wouldn't join the two of us for what follows next, but I'd like to see you again for the cards." He winked.
Adaar elbowed the big man in the ribs and turned her head to the mage.
"Well, he is right. We enjoyed your company and still haven't heard any of your stories of the blight or what happened at the fereldan circle during it."
"While I'd love the company, you probably won't hear those stories." Asha tried to meet the eye of the imposing woman that was her Inquisitor.
"Some of these are just not mine to tell, it would not be right."
She vividly remembered the fear, when the bloodmages overran the tower, but in the lower levels, under the protection of senior enchanter Wynne, Asha had been relatively safe during the ordeal.
She just could not bear to remember the hateful look in the eyes of the broken man that came back from the upper levels, when Neria Surana freed them from Uldred.
Adaar and her Bull went out of the tavern and disappeared probably to the Inquisitors chambers. They were laughing and teasing each other all the way over to the keep, as Asha stood before the tavern watching them from behind.
A tear crept into her eye. She hurriedly whisked it away and smiled.
"Enviable, isn't it?" A soft voice came to her ear. "They have fought so much, survived such horrible fights and now they are together, in love."
"She saved us all." Asha agreed to the master of spys words.
"She sometimes reminds me of Neria." The latter admitted. "I know it sounds funny, because she's so big and strong, while Neria was a lithe elf, but.." She driftet off.
"I think I know what you mean." Asha nodded. "That iron will to better the world, to leave their touch upon it's surface and it's people. That ability to inspire, lead and decide. They got that in common I guess."
Leliana stepped up beside the mage and inclined her head.
"She found happiness at last too." She said softly.
"I'm glad."
"You remember, after we killed Uldred?"
How could she forget. "I do."
Lelianas eyes softened to the forlorn expression on the mages face.
"We saved everyone we could, yet Neria still felt she abandoned all of you in your time of most dire need."
"She came back. She helped." Asha protested.
"Yet there were losses." Leliana looked up to the stars that had appeared at the clear, dark sky above the keep. "Sit!"
They went to the bench, where Asha had been sitting with Adaar early that day.
"That night Neria and I sung." She smiled. "It gave her hope as much as it did to the rest of us, but in the end she cried herself to sleep in the arms of Alistair."
"That fair haired man with the shield and templars battle stance?" Asha had seen the glances that both fighters had given each other when marching up the tower towards their supposedly doom with Wynne. They had come back battered but victorious.
"When the Archdemon fell, both wardens lived." Leliana told her. "I had to leave them soon after, but I know they stayed together. I hope Adaar will have the same good fortune with her Bull."
"I envy them." Asha could not help herself.
"I know." The rogue stood slowly and put a hand on her shoulder. "Some of us need to be alone. You don't." She said and was gone so fast and silently, that Asha had to stifle a whelp of surprise.
With a wistful last look up at the battlements she turned and slowly walked to her barracks, where a cold bunk bed was waiting for her. She stumbled twice and almost ripped the hem of her robe, but got there eventually. When she thought about the evening she smiled. It had been so long since she genuinely had fun. The red wine was excellent too and she could not believe she missed out for so long voluntarily.
If given the chance she would play again, look into all those friendly, amiable faces and feel at home. It was the first time she could admit to that since Kinloch Hold fell.
Some days later, commander Cullen was inspecting his troups.
"Put that shield up or do you want to be killed?" He corrected the recruit for what felt like the hundredth time.
They were good lads, but some of them needed much work before they could be of use in the field. Nevertheless he tried to spend as much time with the men as he did behind the desk. Not only for his sake and the maker knew he needed time off the paperwork, but for the men to see him as well. To know him as one of theirs, so they would trust and follow more willingly into battle when needed.
Cullen saw it as his duty, to know the men and women fighting under his command as good as he was able, their faults and weaknesses just as well as their strengths. And if one of them fell, he had to be able to tell the family. Words of comfort for the bereaved did not come easy for him, but if it came to it he could say something about the deceased. His breath made small puffs of smoke in the crisp morning air. A light wind was burning on his cheeks. It was good to be here, to be alive.
"Wake up dreamer, your Inquisitor demands you stand to attention!" The voice behind him shocked the commander into a salute.
"Wait .. Adaar." He losened up again and the Inquisitor laughed loudly.
"You were so far away, I almost didn't see you from down here." She exclaimed and her mouth revealed perfect rows of white teeth.
"Thinking of those we lost." Cullen told her in a silent voice, as not to let any of the recruits hear.
"Not only at the keep I guess." Adaar remembered the talk they had, when Lyrium-withdrawal had losened her commanders tongue and he told her some things about his past in Fereldens circle tower and Kirkwall.
"All of them." Cullen nodded.
"You are always working." Adaar chided. "The breach is closed, the world is safe .. okay, safer than it was before." she corrected herself. "You know you CAN take some time off now and then?"
"And do what?" He shook his head. "Since Dorian left for Tevinter I lost my opponent in chess. I wouldn't have thought I'd ever say this, but none of the men can match his wits. We practised chess a lot back at the circle, it's just not the same playing against an untrained foe. And I'm nowhere desperate enough to ask Sera or Varric, if they even play at all."
Adaar shook her head. "I don't think they do. Varric is more one for a nice game of diamondback and I don't think you'd really look forward to play cards against him."
The commander chuckled agreeable.
"You could ask Josephine, but she got her hands full with the ambassadors and solicitors flooding the keep lately."
Cullen suddenly looked thoughtful.
"What?"
"I think there is an idea." He smiled. "Thank you Inquisitor."
"You can call me Adaar dreamer .. Just don't crush her right in the first game or she will probably not want a rematch."
"How?"
"I can read your mind." Adaar winked und turned to the training recruits.
"Do you call that a strike? My dear old grandmother could hit harder than that. Your opponent laughs at your face." She hollered at one of them.
"Pardon your grace, but your dear old grandma was a fricking seven foot Qunari." Came the retort.
"And she would have crushed your face if you held yourself like that in a fight against her.."
Cullen left the Inquisitor behind. His men were in excellent hands and he was almost sure she would not hurt them or their egos too much.
When he found her, she was up in the hayloft at the stables, trying to reach for the cobwebs in the rafters. She was balanced precariously on one foot, holding herself up with one hand, while she stretched up over the edge of the hayloft.
"Enchanter Amell?" The commander called out.
A long "Eeeep" and a short fall after, the slightly rumpled figure of mentioned Enchantress emerged from the stack of hay that had cushioned her fall.
"Commander Cullen?" She replied sheepishly. "How may I serve you?"
"Not serve, not at all .." He reached out to her, to help her up from the ground. "This is a personal request of sorts."
Ignoring the proffered hand Asha stood and ineffectively tried to dust off her robe, spiked with bits of hay. "A request?" She tried not to meet his eye. "What? Why?"
"You got spider's webs in your hair." He pointed out.
"I .. sorry, I'm a mess." Ashas backside hurt and all her efforts at making herself presentable again seemed to fail. She tugged at her hair dejectedly.
"I recently lost my opponent at chess." The commander began anew, "And I thought, back at the circle most of the templars and apprentices were playing. And .. as we know each other, sort of .. and I kind of, appreciate your company.." He became silent.
"You want me to play chess with you?" Ashas face lit up. "You'll lose."
The commander was taken aback. "What?"
He had not expected an answer that breezily from the meek mage.
"So you play?" He smiled now.
"I so do, mostly against myself, but .. I was good." She now met his gaze and he saw a glint in her eye that had not been there before.
"Don't underestimate me." Cullen plucked a piece of web from her hair.
As she stood there, covered in cobwebs, dust and hay, her eyes sparkling with vigor she was almost beautiful.
The commander shook those musings from his head. "Do you have more work to do or will you join me at the board?"
"A minute to clean myself up would be appreciated .. I have hay everywhere." She began and blushed.
"Certainly." Cullen averted his eyes. "Take your time, I'll wait there." And off he went.
Asha put a hand on her forehead. That had been mortifying. Everything was going so well with the webs and then the man had gone and taken her by surprise.
Perhaps she should opt for some softer haystacks. Not only did she look ruffled and dirty, but her backside hurt so much. And because it did that, she agreed to sit through a game of chess with the commander. Capital idea Asha, great. She would just have to beat him fast. What could possibly go wrong?
A change of clothes, some brushing of hair and several hours of fierce battle on the chessboard later she knew exactly how much she had underestimated her opponent.
She was more out of practice than she initially thought and the commander was used to strategic thinking. When he finally won, smiling triumphantly at her she was not sure how she would manage to rise from her seat again. She saw herself crawling back to the barracks on her knees already.
"Rematch?" Where did that come from? Her mouth obviously, but why?
"Gladly."
Maker, this would get painful.
That night when she closed her eyes, despite the pain still quite apparent from the fall, she felt incredibly content. She won her rematch and wiped that grin off his face. That grin .. How the corner of his mouth tugged upwards even as he was losing. Tugged at her heartstrings. She felt like she had taken a step back in time, back to when she first lost herself in the honey colored eyes of someone never meant for her.
"I'm taking her. It's perfect, you see that too." Adaar was lying on her bed stark naked. The skin on her lean grey body was shining with a crisscross of lighter scars. The muscles on her back were a beauty to behold, as she lay there on her belly, content in the afterglow of their lovemaking.
"I'm just saying you don't knowif she can hold herself in a fight. You already have people you trust at your back. But why not." The Bull called back into the room from the balcony.
"Seems I'm fresh out of mages." Adaar sat up on the edge of the bed. "Solas went to who knows where after the fight with Corypheus and Dorian went back to Tevinter, at least for now. Trying to right some wrongs or something. I'm sure he will do great, but I miss that charming bastard."
The Inquisitor sighed. "There is still Vivienne, but she busies herself with Maker knows what in Val Royeaux. I don't want to ask, it's probably politics. Ugh." She made a disgusted sound.
"Could call her back. But I see your point." Her lover was still looking out over the courtyard in a similar state of undress.
"As much as I appreciate the view, I think everyone down there does too." Adaar quipped.
"Hah, they can barely see me up here." Bull laughed.
"A man like you? I think they can see you bare, probably as far as Val Royeaux. Empress Celene might dream about that sight tonight."
"But only dream she can." Bull smiled brightly and turned around to his lover. "If you don't need me anymore I can go back down to the guys. My Bull's Chargers are probably itching for some action. Won't do to have them hanging around to much without proper training. Unless .."
Adaar grinned and pulled him back down on the bed.
"I think I still have need of you here. Later?"
They went down into the courtyard together. Later. Much later.
