She was back again, after a couple of weeks' worth of excursion to the Fallow Mires, standing in the stable covered in mud and muck. Cullen watched from the battlements as she walked her horse over to the stable hand, brushing a lock of her auburn hair behind one of her pointed ears, getting a bit of filth in her hair by doing so. Dennet said something to her that made her laugh, and she turned from the stables with a smile on her freckled face, the sun bathing her already tanned skin.
Cullen was exasperated. He'd had a moment of vulnerability, of letting down his guard around her, and both regretted it and didn't. One one hand, it was completely out of line for him to be so casual around his commanding Inquisitor; on the other, she was simply so easy to talk to, so trusting, so calming. It seemed only natural that he was honest around her. But now the moment haunted him, as she did, as she had ever since she'd arrived at Haven. At first he thought she was a criminal, an aspiring corrupted mage in their grasp, someone dangerous for him to execute- but from the moment he'd seen her fighting on their side, doing her best to fight the demons- his suspicion turned into curiosity and fascination. He wanted to know more about her, and he regretted that as well.
He found himself thinking about her, and every time she'd returned from a mission since, he was plagued with thoughts of where she was, when would she talk to him? Would she see him training in the courtyards, approve of his methods? Did she spy the glances he gave her across the spread map of the war table, admiring the way the candlelight fell on her cheekbones and danced in her deep green eyes? Did anything in his voice give away how badly he wanted to kiss her that day in the courtyard of Skyhold?
Cullen was all questions all over again. And he did not like it.
While he was thinking, Ellana's eyes swept over the courtyard and up to the battlements where he stood, and for a moment their eyes met. Cullen jerked back with embarrassment at having been caught staring at her, and with a flush creeping up his neck he walked off back to his office to find something to do, but he would inevitably find himself thinking about her.