Glimpses into the Darkness

by Herebedragons66

This work is for drabbles and short stories and writing prompt fills that are part of the "Unshaken by the Darkness" canon, but don't fit in the timeline of the actual story. I will not post anything here that would be a spoiler for an unpublished/future chapter of "Unshaken," but there may be spoilers for things that have already happened in the story.

1. Only one person I think about marrying

This was written in response to a prompt from the "Imagine your OTP" blog on Tumblr: "Imagine your OTP finding out they like each other for the first time. person A passes person B a note that says "do you like me?" and when person B opens it they blush bright red. when person A gets it back, they get really excited and decide to keep the note forever." Obviously, the circumstances are a bit different, but I still think it fits the prompt reasonably well. It takes place during Chapter 37 of Book One.

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22 Firstfall, 9:26 Dragon

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"There's only one person I ever think about marrying anyway, and I haven't seen him in just over a year."

Loghain read the words Rhianna had written. Then he read them again. Someone she hadn't seen in just over a year?

Loghain had kept careful track, and it had been exactly one year and twelve days since he sailed away from Denerim on this interminable voyage, searching for Ferelden's missing king.

But surely, she couldn't possibly have been talking about him.

Could she?

Only one person I ever think about marrying.

Maker's blood. Loghain heard Maric's voice in his head, almost as clearly as if he were in the room: "She likes you. You should marry her. You and Rhianna have a … connection. She understands you in ways I don't, even after all these years. And you understand her."

Maker's blood!

What if Maric was right? What if there was something to what he had said that day at the waterfall? Certainly, the thought of being able to spend the rest of his life with Rhianna … well, it was more appealing than Loghain wanted to admit. She was lovely, funny, charming, smart. When he was in her company, he felt . . . content. Happy, even.

No. It was ridiculous. He was so much older than her, and she was still a child. Far too young for him to consider her as a partner, as his wife. Even if the letters she sent didn't feel like they'd been written by a child. She was so articulate and insightful, her sense of humor so keen, it was easy to imagine she was older, that in the time he'd been away, she had grown into a woman. Of course, she had never been childish. Even when she was five years old, there had been a maturity about her that set her apart from everyone else. It was this, perhaps, that had drawn him to her in the first place. And if this was true, perhaps there was some chance she truly wanted to be with him. A chance that he could make her happy. Or was this nothing more than his imagination? His own wishful thinking?

Only one person I ever think about marrying.

Those words weren't his imagination. She had written them. Rhianna.

Perhaps it wasn't such a crazy idea, after all.

He read the words again, and then read her entire letter once more, from beginning to end. This time, when he read that line, he felt warmth grow inside of him. A comfortable, comforting warmth. And for the first time, the possibility of this, of making Rhianna Cousland his wife, seemed reasonable. Appropriate. Real. Something more than just the selfish fantasy of a ridiculous old man.

Aware of the gentle rocking of the ship as she passed swiftly over the ocean more than a thousand miles from home, Loghain closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, he folded the letter, carefully, tucking it back into its envelope. Then he placed it inside the pages of his copy of the Chant of Light, along with every other letter she had ever written to him.

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