This chapter has been revised!
CH 2 – Sharp eyes
The following morning, even though she wanted nothing more than to sleep in – it was the first time in months that she had slept on a bed of any sort – she was up and kicking at the break of dawn. Leliana had told her that the Inquisitor was a very morning person and she thought it best to approach him in a more casual setting than the war room. She couldn't agree more. Too many sharp eyes in one room were a problem when you wanted not to be recognized.
After discarding her usual robes for something less flashy – namely a well fitted pair of leather breeches and a Rivain-styled shirt, she left her room. The quarters overlooked a rather large garden filled with what she could imagine being any sort of medicinal herbs. A gazebo stood in one corner, making a very romantic picture under the dim light of dawn.
She was still looking around when she spotted her.
Morrigan was making her way through the garden with that cat-like stride that she had always envied her. It was a bit far from up there, but Thalia could tell that she hadn't changed that much, she was even wearing the same robes too!
Old habits die hard, I guess.
She certainly was still unaware of her presence there, which meant that, for once, she was going to have the upper hand in their meeting.
How refreshing!
When the Witch disappeared behind a door, Thalia decided to head inside.
The main hall, despite the early hour, was already buzzing with people. Nobles and soldiers having breakfast alike, the servants going about their business serving food and passing through.
She made her way down calmly, absolutely in no rush.
Leliana lifted her gaze just as Thalia opened the door right in front of them. She waited for her friend to spot her, and then waved for her to join them.
That morning she had strategically decided to have breakfast with the Inquisitor and some other of his companions; it was a perfect opportunity to introduce her.
With the discerning calm that had always marked her, she approached the table and stopped just behind an empty chair.
The Spymaster swiftly rose from her seat, promptly attracting everyone's attention.
'Inquisitor, may I introduce you a dear friend of mine?' she said with a smile.
Iazell Trevelyan turned around to look at the newcomer, quickly getting up to greet her properly.
Such a fine gentleman, she thought while lightly bowing.
'My name is Thalia, Inquisitor. It is a pleasure to finally meet you, and I hope you will excuse my intrusion. I'm merely here to provide my aid to your cause.' She introduced herself sweetly.
Well, it seemed that her manners hadn't gone completely rouge, then.
'The pleasure is all mine, Milady.' He responded with a charming smile. 'And you don't have to worry, any friend of Leliana is much welcomed here at Skyhold, even more so if it brings help along.' She offered, gesturing for her to take a seat.
Thalia sat down trying to hide a chuckle that was threatening to escape her lips; it was the first time in years that someone had treated her so formally without really knowing who she was.
Leliana shot her a reprehensive look and she chastised herself in check.
'Aren't you going to introduce us as well, Charming?'
Iazell frowned at Varric's chosen nickname for himself, but ultimately obliged him.
'This is Varric Tethras, renowned author and rogue.'
'Ah, Master Tethras! I'm a big fan of your works, I must admit I've read them all!'
Leliana couldn't help but laugh when she saw her friend beam with excitement. She had always been a very good reader, always had a book in hand when she could, it probably was something she had picked up growing in the circle, she guessed.
Varric chuckled, definitely pleased to have one more fan among his acquaintances.
'l live to please' he stated, mimicking a bow.
'Lady Josephine Montilyet, Ambassador to the Inquisition.' Iazell went on.
Josie nodded and smiled to her.
'It is indeed a pleasure to have you here, Milady. I've heard much of you.'
A spark of knowledge had lit the Ambassador's eye, a sign which obviously meant that she knew who she really was.
Oh well, she had confidence that her secret was now even more secure than ever.
'The pleasure is all mine, Ambassador. I've heard many things about your extraordinary work too.' Thalia offered back.
'And this – the Inquisitor motioned to her right – is Dorian.' He simply said.
Thalia smiled fondly as she noticed the warm look he had on his face when he had said the other's name. His words could have omitted it, but his eyes spoke volumes to her.
'I'm Dorian of House Pavus, formerly of Minrathous.' He introduced himself, taking her hand plating a very soft kiss on its back.
'A pleasure.' She smiled back.
It was an awful lot of smiling that she was doing, her jaw was starting to ache.
'You said something about aiding our cause, – Iazell then said, recalling her words – does that mean that you're going to join the Inquisition?'
Thalia immediately stiffened in the chair, though her smile didn't drop, but her eyes did dart to Leliana, who shrugged. The decision was hers to make, after all.
'I'll be honest with you, Your Grace, that was not in my intentions.' She confessed, sipping the coffee that a maid had gently brought her.
Even though she was not looking at him directly, she could sense his mild disappoint.
'Then-'
'Forgive us, Inquisitor. I must steal Thalia from you for the moment. I promised her I'd find her a proper job for the time she remains here.' Leliana interjected the man's question.
Thalia sighed in relief at her prompt intervention; she didn't wish to make their first conversation uncomfortable, and that was where it was going if he insisted for her to join.
'I'm afraid I must go. – She offered, standing up. – It's been a pleasure meeting you all.'
'Thank you, you totally saved my ass in there.' The woman muttered as they made their way through the battlements.
Leliana chuckled, she still found it funny when she was bad mouthed.
'I am afraid that the Inquisition inner circle is very sharp-eyed, I do not know for how long you will be able to keep your identity unknown.' She explained.
'Well, I gather your Ambassador already knows the truth.'
The Spymaster nodded.
'Josie has as many eyes and ears as I do across Thedas, she might have picked up the news of your arrival.'
Thalia scowled and started mumbling half-assed swears under her breath, which caused her friend to laugh.
'If being discovered has you so on edge, then I probably should mention the Ben-Hassrath spy...'
Thalia gawked at those words, and her feet even came to a stop.
'A freaking Qunari spy? – She exclaimed – Maker's balls, when were you going to mention that?!'
That was it. Leliana's last strand of composure went astray and she lost it completely.
Commander Cullen was warned of the presence of someone approaching when a musical laugh reached his ears. He glanced up in confusion and saw Leliana approaching with an unknown woman at her side, which only added to his confusion. Seeing the Spymaster so relaxed was a novelty for him, her stoic façade gone and her eyes glimmering with mirth.
It was a rare sight, he decided.
Soon the two women came to a stop inside his office, and the Sister's stoic expression was back in place. Though he could still see the remains of laughter in her gray eyes.
'Commander, it's good to see you already up. I trust you're feeling better today.' The Sister observed, implying not-so-subtly that she knew he hadn't probably moved from his desk all night and that she disapproved of his continuously straining himself.
'I do feel better, thank you.'
He paused.
'Did you need something?' he then inquired, as the other had given no further replies.
'Yes, Commander, may I introduce you a dear friend of mine, Thalia.'
Cullen, who was already standing, bowed in respect. When he rose he drifted his gaze on the newcomer.
Her cropped auburn hair, the cutting cheekbones and those green eyes felt oddly familiar, like he had already seen her somewhere.
'A pleasure.' He said, momentarily keeping his doubts to himself.
Thalia simply returned the bow, but kept her mouth shut.
Leliana must have had a twisted sense of humour or something, because it almost felt like a joke to her.
Of all the hundreds of thousands of people in the whole of Thedas, the one most qualified to take up the job of Leader of the Inquisition forces had to be him!
She remembered him very well, the young Templar that had been present at her Harrowing and the only survivor among his own Order after the Blood Mages' uprising.
'Thalia has kindly agreed to help the Inquisition in its mission. She is a former Warden and has some major information about Clarel and Corypheus she wants to share with us. She also wants to be of use in a more practical way, which is why I decided to lend you her skills.' She declared with a wicked smile plastered to her face.
Both parties involved immediately snapped their attention back to her, both with wide eyes and mouth hanging open.
Cullen shook himself first, lightly coughing into his fist.
'I don't think that'll be necessary, Sister. Surely there are more fitting tasks that Lady Thalia could be assigned to.' He said tentatively, which caused said Lady to frown in disappointment.
Was he being sexist? Implying that she couldn't manage her way through reports and troop movements?
She scoffed under her breath and went on mumbling something that neither of them could quite make out.
In that moment she felt like blowing up her cover and rub in his face her being both the Hero and the former Warden-Commander of Ferelden.
'I'm sure, Commander, that my skills could prove useful to you. You do look like shit, if you ask me.' She bluntly spat at him, earning a glare from Leliana.
She didn't care to be polite, she just wanted to assert her position; make clear that she was no petty Orlesian who didn't know which end to hold a sword.
When she focused back on the man, she noticed him looking at her in awe, his mouth ajar as if he was about to say something but did not know what.
'I-I'm sorry if I have offended you, Milady, it was not my intention...' he stuttered, rubbing the back of his neck.
Thalia sighed.
'None taken. I just want to make clear that I know what I'm doing. I'm no newbie to this kind of job.'
Silence fell over the room for some time before Leliana started to approach the door behind them.
'Very well. If this is settled, I'll leave you to work out the details of your collaboration.' She concluded in her all-business voice.
'I'll see you at dinner?'
'I'll be there.' Thalia accepted with a smile.
They had a lot of catching up to do.
By the end of the day, Cullen and Thalia had fallen in a sort of nice pace; he sat at his usual place, reading and signing reports regarding new scouted areas and everything that was strictly meant to be for the inner circle's eyes only. Thalia on the other hand, had taken charge of the roster, making up the guards' rounds all over the stronghold – Cullen had personally given her a tour of the battlements, and also taking care of the requisitions.
She found the silence soothing, the only sound coming from the scrapping of paper whenever a page was turned. It was a pleasing change of pace, she had to admit, having a roof over your head and being around people without being wary of their intentions.
A knock on the door caught her attention; she took her eyes off of a requisition about a geological survey of the Western Approach, and watched as Dorian casually strode into the office.
'Ah, Commander! Perfect!' he exclaimed cheerfully, though Thalia suspected he was always so. She also had to bite her tongue not to reply at the title, again.
It had been almost four years since she had stepped back of her position as Warden-Commander, but it was difficult nonetheless to hear the title and not respond.
'What is it Dorian?'Cullen asked, barely moving his eyes from the report in his hands. She wagered that the man was used to being interrupted and had mastered the art of conversing and working simultaneously.
'Iazell sends me to, and I quote, "bring your ass to dinner". He also said that if you refused I was to send Sera up to convince you.'
Thalia clearly saw Cullen wince when he heard that name.
The Commander sighed in defeat and glanced at her at the opposite side of the room.
'Go, I'll wrap it up in a couple minutes.' She simply said with a shrug.
'Oh, pardon me, Milady, I wasn't aware you were here as well.'
She chuckled, happy to see that her cover was working just fine. In a normal situation in which she had presented herself as the Hero (or as Warden-Commander), no one would have ever missed her presence in a room.
'Ah, would you like to join us, perhaps? I'm sure everyone would love to meet you.' He offered charmingly.
Yeah, I can't wait to be in the same room with the most brilliant people of the whole Inquisition and wait for someone to read through my lies! She thought, bitterly, but without losing her polite smile.
'Maybe another time, I already have a dinner invitation.' She replied apologetically.
'Well then, have a good evening.'
'You as well.'
The two men left the room soon after and Thalia could finally drop her smile.
Being polite was a pain in the ass, she was not used to it. During her time in the Circle there had been no need to hide emotions and she had brought that attitude with her even outside, during her journey to save the world. She was used to say what she thought, not smile and nod every two sentences.
'Just give it another couple weeks Thalia, and you'll be out of here.' She tried to reassure herself.
She wanted to be sure that that was how things were going to go; that once she had given them what they needed of her and had reassured Leliana she would keep in touch, she'd leave unattached and free to go where she wanted.
'If only I had somewhere to go...' she sighed, getting up and walking up to the Commander's desk.
She did not know where all that sadness was coming from, it was like an itch just beneath the skin, a feeling that would not leave her.
She shook her head and left the requisitions on the desk before walking out.
She had a dinner to attend to.
After two glasses of wine and a more than decent dinner, she finally felt relaxed. She did not remember the last time she had felt this light and off guard, it was nice feeling safe, for once.
The two old friends were seated on a balcony right outside Leliana's quarters, a bottle of wine and two glasses between them, and they had been chatting endlessly for hours now.
'I've been told that you have enjoyed your day, is it so?'
Thalia snorted when she detected the note of malice in her friend's voice.
'Why I'm not surprised you had people watching me...' she giggled, finding her concern amusing.
Leliana chuckled, satisfied with herself.
'Isn't our Commander a handsome man?' she asked, the malice now extremely forward instead of just hinted.
'He definitely got better with time...' she considered.
'You knew him?'
Thalia's brows furrowed; how could the Spymaster have missed that detail?
'So you're telling me that you got me to work with him just out of practicality and not because your sense of humour is especially twisted?' she asked suspiciously, throwing her a side glare.
'Well I did know he served in Ferelden's Circle, though I did not actually expect you knew who he was...' the other admitted.
'He was one of the Templars in charge of my dormitory, he also was present at my Harrowing... and I could have flirted with him a couple times...' she blurted out in that grumpy voice that her friend knew meant she felt embarrassed by it.
The confession obviously caused Leliana to burst out giggling.
'Yeah, yeah... very funny! Let's laugh of the poor me who had to bite her tongue every time someone entered the room asking for the Commander! It took all my strength not to reply each time! Think of how that would have gone if I had!'
She had started the sentence with the intent of pitying herself, but by the end of it she was laughing too, imagining how awkward the possible conversation could have been.
Leliana breathed in deeply, leaning back in her chair.
'I truly did miss your company.' She said, turning her head to look into her eyes.
Thalia did the same and gave her a fond smile, one of those that lit her whole face and showed the dimples at the sides of her mouth.
'I did too.'
Hey! Thank you so much for reading and for your support! I truly enjoy writing this and I'm trying not to go too much OOC! We've met the Inquisitor and some of his companions, plus Cullen, this time, next up some interesting conversations!br /
Untill next time.
Feedback is alway appreciated :)
