DISCLAIMER: I do not own Dragon Age: Inquisition, or any of its characters.
Varric's loud laughter echoed across the emptying tavern, slamming his mug down on the table appreciatively. "Andraste's tits! You should tell stories like that more often, Icicle!"
"I don't really have that many stories, to be honest; that might be the only one worth sharing," Shaesa pointed out, leaning back in her chair and letting her head drop to one side lazily. The world around her gave off a fuzzy, warm glow. It felt a bit like the Fade did in the heat of battle, thrumming around her, only less energetic and more comforting.
"Seriously, though, you're pretty hilarious when you let your hair down a little," Varric told her. "Maybe you should do it more often."
"Is it really…" Shaesa paused for a minute as she stumbled over words, squeezing eyes shut in concentration. "Is it really appropriate for the Inquisitor to be seen in any sort of state of…of…"
Varric waved a hand dismissively. "Whatever fancy words you're searching for aren't necessary right now, Icicle. And I think that if you don't let loose every now and again, you're going to quite honestly go insane."
Shaesa sighed loudly, running a hand through her hair, catching on her already loose ponytail and pulling it out entirely. "Perhaps you're right," she agreed. "But that doesn't mean I really can, can I? We're at war, Varric."
"Well," Varric said, sighing as well. "You're right about that. But still, it's good every now and then to forget your troubles." He took a final drink from his oversized mug, setting it back down on the bar with a thunk. "But we should probably both get ourselves out of here. It's late, and who knows what time Ruffles or Curly will drag you out of bed in the morning for meetings."
Shaesa winced at the thought. "You don't suppose they'd consider some mercy?" she thought aloud as both she and Varric stood from the barstools. The room tilted alarmingly and she took a stumbling step to the right to steady herself. "Perhaps we should have stopped after a few drinks," she suggested half-jokingly.
"You were the one who kept buying," Varric reminded her.
"Fair enough."
They made it from the tavern to the castle uneventfully, chatting amiably and then parting as Varric turned to go to his own room and Shaesa continued on to the door that led to her quarters. As the heavy door closed behind her, she stared at the intimidating set of stairs before her—she had only just made it up the steps of the castle and these were far steeper.
"Hello?" Solas's voice wafted down the stairway, and Shaesa heard the lightest of footsteps start down the stairs. "Vhenan? Is that you?"
"Solas!" she called, a bit too loudly. She started up the steps, tripping more than once. Solas met her halfway, not wearing a shirt and clearly having come from bed. "You're still awake," Shaesa commented, reaching out for his hands eagerly.
Solas took her hands readily enough, a puzzled but not unpleased smile coming across his face. "I am. I was waiting for you to return. I presume you had a good time with Varric."
"I did," Shaesa replied, leaning in and kissing him quickly. His lips were quick to respond, molding into hers and kissing her back, surprised but accepting. "I missed you, though," she admitted when they pulled apart.
Solas put a hand on her cheek, tracing her lips with his thumb. "You are drunk, aren't you, ma vhenan?" he said with a smile.
"I wouldn't say drunk, exactly," Shaesa replied, her words only slurring a little bit. She placed a hand over Solas's on her cheek, turning it so their palms faced and lacing fingers together. "The world is just…a nicer place at the moment."
"Mmm," Solas answered, pressing his lips to her again. She let herself be lost in even the quickest of caresses and kisses. "I can taste it on you, vhenan. You are drunk."
Shaesa dismissed his concerns with a wave of her hand that turned a bit too enthusiastic, unbalancing her and causing a dangerous lean to the side. She would have fallen had Solas's arms not quickly wrapped around her waist. He chuckled lightly, resting his forehead against hers. "What am I going to do with you?" he murmured.
"What do you want to do?" Shaesa replied with a cheeky grin. Her hands slid down his sides, slowly and sensually.
His hands caught hers, holding them still. "Ah ah," he tutted. "Tonight is not a good night, my heart. I would not go to bed with a drunk woman."
"You wouldn't, would you?" she said, thinking back to Halamshiral and the celebration that had followed Florianne's arrest.
He grinned, seeming to catch her meaning and follow her same line of thought. "Not when I am not at a similar disadvantage," he amended. "Come, let us get you to sleep. Morning shall come soon."
Shaesa looked over his shoulder at the stairs apprehensively. There seemed to be more and more of them no matter how many she had climbed. Solas quickly seemed to sense her hesitation and, before she even knew it, quite literally swept her off her feet.
"Solas!" she exclaimed, wrapping her arms around his neck to stabilize herself as he started up the stairs. "Put me down!"
"The Inquisitor meeting her end on a flight of stairs when drunk is not the ending you deserve, ma vhenan," he joked, not sounding even a bit strained carrying her up the stairs. "Let us play it safe."
They reached the top of the stairs in short order, but Solas did not put her down just yet—he carried her across the room to the large bed. The displacement of the silk sheets told Shaesa that Solas had been in bed waiting for her. Solas set her down gently on her side of the bed, then kneeled in front of her to help remove her boots.
"You don't have to do that," she told him, leaning over to unlace the other one. His fingers were long and nimble, however, and he had quickly gotten one off and already was brushing her hands aside to do the other.
"Allow me this," he said with a smile. "It is so rare that you need anyone's help, vhenan; allow me the chance to do it."
"I don't need help," she insisted half-heartedly, not really caring enough to argue. Solas pulled her other boot off, setting it beside the first, and then looked up at her.
"Of course you don't," he agreed. "Perhaps just allow me to pretend, then." He stared at her so adoringly, it made Shaesa's heart flutter in her chest. She reached up to the first clasp of her shirt at her neck, undoing it slowly under his gaze.
He didn't stop her as she continued to undo the clasps, her shirt slowly falling away. She threw it aside before, just as slowly, untying her breast band. Solas shook his head. "Vhenan," he said, his tone almost able to called warning. His eyes, however, did not leave her chest as it was revealed to him.
She hooked her fingers into the tops of her leggings next, lifting her hips to slowly pulled them off. His hands took over, slowly dragging the leggings down her legs. The cold air of the bedroom left goosepimples on her exposed flesh.
Shaesa couldn't seem to keep her hands still. She reached out, cupping a hand on Solas's cheek, bending over practically in half to reach his lips with hers and engaging him in a much more passionate kiss than the first two.
Solas readily kissed her back, their lips forming perfectly around each other, tongues brushing together fleetingly. Slowly, Solas rose, never breaking their kiss. He pressed more firmly against Shaesa, getting closer and closer until she lay back on the bed, allowing him to lie on top of her as they kissed, exploring each other. She could feel his hands sliding from her loose hair to her waist to hips, examining each small curve her svelte body had to offer; everywhere his gentle hands touched left her skin warm.
He broke the kiss first, sighing and pulling away, lightly touching his forehead to hers, shaking his head ever so slightly. "You would tempt even the most chaste of men, ma vhenan," he told her.
Shaesa sighed as well, closing her eyes slightly. "You're not going to sleep with me, are you?" she asked.
His smile could be heard even without her eyes open. "Not tonight, no," he said again, repeating his decision from earlier as he pushed himself up from where he lay atop her.
Another sigh from Shaesa, heavier this time and she ran a hand through her blonde curls. "I thought I could convince you," she told him, a bit disappointed. "Any boy from my clan would have been beside himself at such an enthusiastic offer."
"I am a man, not a boy," Solas told her, taking her hand and pulling her back to a sitting position. "And I am in love with you, not the unachievable dream they made you into."
Shaesa couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face at his words. She scooted up to the top of the bed, sliding herself under the covers. "What have I done?" she wondered out loud, staring at him as he too climbed into the bed.
"What?" he asked, wrapping his arm around her to hold her close. She snuggled into his arms, wrapping one around his stomach to hold him as he did her.
She turned her face up to look at him as he tilted his down to look at hers, noses practically touching. "I love you," she said breathlessly. "I've fallen in love. I'm such an idiot. I swore that would never happen in my life."
Solas smiled at her. "Allow yourself a little lack of self-control for once, ma vhenan."
"You're one to talk," she retorted, turning away from him and laying her head on his chest, listening to the steady beating of his heart.
Solas chuckled lightly, and she felt him press a kiss to the top of her head as she closed her eyes. "Sleep, ma vhenan. I shall see you in the Fade and we can argue to your heart's content."
Sleep she did, safe in the arms of the man she foolishly loved.