Of Coincidences

It was another week before she returned. Sometimes Cullen wondered at the strangeness of it; here was a woman who was only just becoming known as the Herald of Andraste instead of The Prisoner, and yet was fully trusted to go off into the world for days or weeks at a time. But she always came back in one piece, more or less. The Hinterlands hadn't been a safe place since the Mage-Templar War began, so he took it as a good sign when everyone came back alive and with all their limbs. Because, more than anyone else, he knew what both sides were fully capable of.

He hadn't seen her yet, but there had been an even newer map placed at the top of his paperwork along with his requisition orders that had been filled while she was out. And he had seen the newest recruit hanging around the Blacksmith, a Grey Warden. They were a group he held nothing but respect for, but at the moment he was more focused on just where she had gone.

When he finally asked Cassandra, she struck a particularly vicious blow against the training dummy and took off its arm before she said, "A fool's errand."

Unfortunately, that seemed to be all any one of her companions could say. Cullen took a small comfort in knowing that they felt as disquieted about her being on her own as he did. She was a mage, and while he had nothing but an awed respect of the power they wielded, he knew the dangers.

Trevelyan was a "free" mage (the distinction hers when the word apostate had been used) out in a world where mages and Templars were content with trying to kill each other, or anything that moved. She would be dead against Templars, no doubt about that; and likely dead against mages, too, as he was sure they didn't so much care about their methods to power as she did. And without her, and by extension, her mark, their Inquisition may as well be dead in the water.

By sheer luck of some kind, she was now a major player in their faction whether or not anyone liked it, including her. It was why none of them could just run off whenever they wanted, by themselves.

Unfortunately, she stayed missing through the war meeting. They did their best with Cassandra standing in for her as they decided the best way to go about searching for the weapon of Tyrdda Bright-Axe and the old Andraste cult that used to live in Haven a decade ago.

It meant he left the Chantry later than he ever wanted to, and, quite literally, stumbled into the source of his day's problems.

She still wore her armor, and he noticed the bandage on her head which told him she had just seen Adan. His hands gripped her arms, and for the first time he noticed just how much smaller she was than him. All the more reason she shouldn't have stayed out all day.

"Oh, Commander," she trailed off and refused to look directly at him. It was almost amusing how easy it was to read the guilt coming from her.

"I'm afraid you're just a little too late for the meeting," he said. He felt her tense under his fingers and quickly released her.

"Oh," she breathed. "Sorry. I…didn't mean to skip out on it today."

He glanced down at her with a raised eyebrow. Her tone didn't sound apologetic at all, not in that way at least, and she winced.

"I really didn't… Especially since we leave for Val Royeaux in the morning. I didn't miss anything too important, did I?"

"I didn't make anyone worry too much?" was the unspoken question lingering behind that one that she was unsure of asking, he felt. It was strange, to see her hesitant in something for once.

"No, not at all," he said. It was a lie, pretty much, but she sighed and he saw the tension slip away. He would let her slip out without a lecture tonight, since he was sure Leliana, Cassandra and Josephine would be more than willing to do that for him.

She walked past him, likely heading toward the war room. He figured it as good a place as any to leave the conversation and was just about to bid her goodnight when she broke the silence first.

"Do you have any family, Commander?"

He paused, trying to analyze the situation. Unfortunately, he knew very little of her despite how much she had been trying to pry into his personal life. "I do."

"Are they safe?" She paused, her shoulders hunching. "From all this war and fighting, I mean."

He nodded, despite her not looking his way. "I would be surprised if they weren't." And he waited for her to say something, to elaborate on why she would even ask, but she didn't. She kept standing there, away from him, unwilling to meet his gaze. "May I inquire as to why you wanted to know?"

She glanced his way for a brief moment, too brief for him to say anything concrete on the manner of her expression, but he was almost certain she had a smile made small by pain. But she looked away too soon and shook her head. "Goodnight, Commander," was all she said before she walked away into the war room.

It was the next day, in the afternoon, when he learned the cause of why she asked. Leliana had just produced a report from a Free Marcher agent about some distant relations of hers trying to claim a rapport with her and the Inquisition. When he had inquired about her closer relations and how they felt about it, he received the news that they wanted little to do with the matter. They had suffered losses as well: while some of her siblings and cousins died at the Conclave, her younger brother was a Templar who followed the Order when it broke away. And he had been found dead earlier that day in the Hinterlands. And Cullen didn't believe in coincidences.