On about why commissioned paintings suck or how Aline Trevallian and Cullen first kissed
Just about another ordinary day in Skyhold, The Inquisitor was there holding court sat in the throne with her stoic boring face on, and her battle commemorative outfit on . (How much she loved Viviane's seamstress for that outfit, not anyone could have made something that at the same time shows fashion taste, battlehardiness, sexiness even with all her body cover up and with a touch of cuteness added by the desert furnec tail collar . The woman is truly a finding ) Nothing out of the ordinary, in the middle of the court section, as usual the Commander took his place on the left of the throne, and stood there, in his tall serious pose holding the hilt of his sword, as he would usually do.
Appearances were everything in the Game, as Viviane usually said. In addition, to show the Inquisition strength nothing better than this scene, a strong stoic woman sat in a throne with an outfit made for warriors monarchs and her military arm near her, showing all of them that they were to be feared, showing the world that they were a power to be acknowledge. Of course, this was the show for the court, and mostly for the Orleasian. Even if they reach for the Empire support, Aline Trevalyan was a marcher , an as a marcher, she wasn't a delicate flower with ribbons and mask. She wanted the orlesians to acknowledge that Skyhold was a military base and the Inquisition an organization created to hold the world against things that mostly had to be killed, not dissuaded to stop doing bad things and enjoy the party. Either way she hated the show, she hated the game, even being skilled at it as she was , she hated it, and all of that from the outfit to Cullen's presence near her, was all planned to show them that the inquisition should be taken seriously. Some in the Inquisition didn't agree with this image that she was showing, but for once she agreed with Viviane, the show should be impressive for the viewers, the only thing that she keep of herself in the show was her ironic grim, and disdain face she usually has.
Nothing out of the ordinary, except the painter, registering the scene. When she noticed that she's just ended the sessions of the day and waited for the people to disperse. After most of the people were gone she raised herself from the throne helped in a very gallantly way by her commander and went to see the painter. Her first reaction was to ask in a polite way who was the person behind the portrait commission because this wasn't commissioned by her or the Inquisition, and the painter didn't have the right to just go there and paint them. The painter just laugh saying that this was a demand from her father who wanted to see just how regal his youngest looked in her hole as Inquisitor. The Commander put his hands on her shoulder and squeezed it in a friendly way, the same way he is used to touch her to easy her frustration on their sparing sections. His touch calmed her enough so she wouldn't do anything inappropriate, but it was plain for everyone to see that the painter was lying and the inquisitor knew it.
One month later , she was back in Skyhold after the terrible time in Emprise du Lion. She was tired , weary, sad. The worst was to come yet, cause telling Cullen about what Sanson was making with the commoners, how a men he knew was experiencing on people, it would be heartbreaking for her. They became close friends since their training in Haven and they have also been through a lot together from deciding to search for time magic to closing the breach, to being rescued by him from death by freezing to establishing themselves in Skyhold. Of course, she felt attracted by him, who wouldn't be, he was a handsome men, but she didn't think they needed the distraction of a relationship now. Specially one that was doomed to be a difficult one, she could help him with his withdraw better as a friend and also her bad dreams, and unluckiness could only make things worst for them. After all he was as unlucky as she was and for much longer, she really thought he was cursed in some kind of fashion, all the disasters that took place in Thedas related to him in some way . Also she didn't like all that angst and the awkwardness. This was never her thing, she never had a relationship that last more than 3 nights together and Cullen wasn't a one night man, this was clear.
She had had a bad feeling about the painter, but nothing could prepare her for the repercussions that the paint had. When she left her dearest prettycurlytail in the stables, Cullen was already waiting for her with a terrible expression on his face, he just said with a stern face that they needed to talk immediately, alone. Who died? Was the first thing that crossed her mind, but he was calm enough for someone important be dead, paying closer attention she noticed he was more angry than desperate, and it was a good sign. They sneak out of Skyhold and start walking in rock terrain near Skyhold walls, in a part that was hard for them to be seen from the Castle doors or from the battlements. She waited , but he didn't say anything, and them they both started a sentence together, she paused and let him speak.
From all the bad things that she could have imagined, this was the most embarrassing one. Some members of her family just arrived in Skyhold, and not for a friendly visit like her brother made in Haven before. They were there to reinforce that her as Herald of Andraste and a symbol of the Faith should behave in the proper way. And that or she married with the Commander and them let him touch her in public audiences or stayed close to her the way he did or that she assumed herself as the " virginal" bride of the maker and acted in the way that she was supposed to. When he told her all of that shit, she couldn't stop laughing hysterically. Her whole life she was the unwanted child that they didn't care to find a proper place, so they left her first in school in Orlais for 2 years in her early teens and later left her with her uncle to take part in the "working" branch of the family. They never cared about propriety from her, as long as she got political and economic leverage for the family, of course her whole life she was discrete, no one never knew what she made or with whom. And the funniest part was that she didn't even enjoyed herself with the Commander and people were already pointing fingers at her.
First the hysterical laugh then the blush and thee shame. How they do that to her? How could she look into Cullen's eyes now and not fell ashamed about what they were forcing on him. He just made a report of the situation, and she just didn't know what to say and how to react. Now she was just ashamed for putting him through such an embarrassing situation, she never thought that the way she choose to show strength was going to put him through this. He was never one to put up with nobles or nobility intrigue, he was a blunt man imagining him putting up with a demanding Lord Trevalyan, and her Orlesian social climbers in laws, just made her sad for burdening him with this shit. She should have guessed that the painter was sent by someone to make her look bad and cause some damage to her image, definitively one of her in laws, probably the Orleasian cousins that married her older brother and sister. Her first question to him was what does the painting looked like, because the sketch that she has seen before the guy was a harmless thing. He's just sighed and said that the painter put his hand on her shoulder while she was sat on the throne.
Aline took a deep breath apologized to him about her family behavior and for her lack of insight. There was nothing else that she could do, except promised that she would take care of all the trouble and force her father to apologize as well. When she was turning back to the castle to face the pain and the humiliation that waited for her, she listened him muttering something and started to turn back asking him if there was anything else she could do to repaired the nuisance that she caused him, she realized the smirk on his face and where he was looking . She just couldn't resist to tease him, and said just how sad she was cause she had got the blame and the fame without the juice parts. He wasn't prepared for the witty comment on her part and for the swaying hips that came on her walk after. He just asked her to stop and got closer to her asking if she really missed not having the "juice" parts he could help her with that, at least this was the only decent thing he could do. When she smiled this was all the consent he needed before kissing her hard, with all that contained desired that they knew they had for each other. When they broke the kiss, they were flustered and breathless, she just disentangled herself from him, gave him a chast kiss on the lips and ask him to wish her luck in her family meeting.