Thank you all so much for reading!
Bidding an affectionate farewell to the Avvar, they returned to Skyhold. As she sat her horse watching the gates open for her, Ren wondered if this was the last time she would ride into the familiar courtyard. Realistically, she imagined she would be back at some point, but she didn't intend that to be soon. Morris needed to stand on his own two feet; she needed space and time away from her former life as an Inquisitor, time to settle into a new life as a happily settled merc.
She caught Ashkaari's eye, and saw that he was thinking something similar. The corner of his mouth quirked up, and she smiled back. A message had been sent ahead to Varric about their plans for their final farewell party; Ren suspected it would be Varric's, as well. As she handed the reins to a waiting groom and swung down from the saddle, she saw the dwarf waiting for her at the entrance to the keep.
"Hey, Rusty, you're back," he said as she came up to him.
"For now. You got my message?"
"You kidding? Of course I did." He grinned. "They'll never know what hit them."
"You think it's too much?" she asked, suddenly worried.
"No. I think it's just the kick in the ass they need."
"Good." Ren grinned. "What do you need from me?"
Varric looked offended. "Please. You just enjoy your day in Skyhold, and leave everything else to me."
Ren frowned. "How did you know?"
"I think I'm the one who told you you'd have to sneak away in the dead of night if you were really serious about going."
"You might have been, at that. I'm going to miss you, Varric."
"Ditto, Rusty. Ditto." He cleared his throat. "Now, one of us has a party to prepare."
She took the hint and left him there, climbing the stairs to the main keep. The Inquisitor had passed her on his way to his own quarters, and she climbed the familiar steps and knocked at the door.
The room looked different, more sparse and efficiently organized than when she had lived there, the desk practically groaning under the weight of the papers piled there.
"You're not who I expected," Morris said.
"Cullen, right?"
"Actually, Josephine, with piles of things for me to read over that came while we were gone."
"Good point." Ren walked out onto the balcony, her fingertips dragging along the wall; she and Ashkaari had made love against that wall quite a few times.
"You miss it?" Morris asked, following her.
"Not really. I just … wanted to make sure you're going to be all right."
"You know, I think I will be. Terrified, but a little terror can be good for a person." He smiled. "Motivational."
"That's one way to look at it."
He hesitated, then said, "Dorian's planning to go back to Tevinter. I … think it's probably for the best, but …"
"Not yet?" Ren looked at him with sympathy.
Morris nodded. "Not yet."
"If I know Dorian, he won't leave until you're ready to let him go."
"That's a comforting thought." He frowned thoughtfully at her. "You're leaving soon, aren't you?"
"Yes."
"Good for you. You've earned it." He smiled. "And I think the Iron Bull was going to explode if it took much longer."
Ren chuckled. "He might have, at that."
"And no one wants to clean up that mess."
They both laughed at that. "Glad to see this job hasn't sucked away your sense of humor yet," Ren said. "Anything you want me to look at before I give it up for good?"
Morris looked around at the desk, clearly considering the question. At last he shook his head. "No, I think I'm good. Take care of yourself."
"Oh, I intend to," she assured him.
She left him feeling good about her decision. The Inquisition would be in very competent hands with Morris at the helm, far better than if she had stayed on, and he would grow with the job. She closed the door to her former quarters behind her with a sigh, feeling that finally the burden had been lifted off her shoulders once and for all.
Dorian was waiting for her in the keep. "I thought you'd go and see him." He sighed unhappily. "I wish I didn't feel I had to go."
"You'll stay until he gets his feet firmly underneath him?" she asked.
"Yes. I owe him, and you, and the Inquisition, at least that much. You'll take care of yourself? And that big mountain you're chained to?"
Ren grinned at the description. "As much as he'll let me."
"Which is not at all."
"Mostly true." She tucked an arm into Dorian's. "Buy a girl a drink while we still have the chance?"
"My pleasure."
She didn't tell him how much she would miss him; he knew.
They shared a drink in the tavern, melancholy stealing over them. Ren reflected it was about time she left, if this was how things were going to go as long as she was still in Skyhold.
Upstairs, she found Ashkaari in the midst of shoving things into packs, with utter disregard for folding or neatness. "That the Ben-Hassrath way to pack?" she asked him.
"Matter of fact, it is. A neat packing job says a lot about the packer. Shove things in wherever there's a space, it just says you're a slob, and people discount the intelligence of a slob."
"Well, that explains a lot."
He chuckled. "Didn't realize I was still such a mystery."
"You have your moments." She crossed the room to him, sliding her arms around his waist. "And I look forward to looking into every crevice and dark space you have."
Ashkaari cupped her face gently with one big hand. "You sure about that, kadan? There are a lot of them."
"Absolutely sure."
"Good." He bent toward her and kissed her tenderly. "Same goes for me."
"Really? I have crevices and dark spaces?"
"Well … not so many. But a couple."
"I'm glad to hear it. I'd hate to be boring."
He laughed at that. "I can't imagine you ever boring, my Morvoren."
Ren stood up on her tiptoes, lifting herself into another kiss. And another, and another, until they were both breathing hard. Over his shoulder, she caught a glimpse of the window, the orange of the sunset blazing outside. Reluctantly, she pushed him away. "No time to finish this, I'm afraid. The party's going to start soon, and we want to be ready for our parts."
He growled low in his throat, sneaking one more kiss before stepping back entirely. "Good point, kadan. And you have to finish packing."
"Not much to do. Most of it's already at the Storm Coast, and I haven't unpacked from the Frostback Basin, so there isn't a lot left."
"Still, let's get to it. I don't want to waste another minute after the party's over."
"Yes, ser." Ren grinned at him before turning to finish her packing.
Most of the Inquisition was assembled in the main keep when they walked in. As Ren paused in the doorway, the room broke out in cheers. She flushed, still not quite used to the adulation. Briefly she thought of Lucas Hawke, who had been living a life of blissful piracy for years now; he had told her he got used to being looked up to about the time it stopped. She wondered if he ever missed it, if somewhere down the road she would miss it.
The Inquisition, first at Haven and now at Skyhold, had been the first place she had ever chosen to stay, and these people had encircled her, supported her, allowed her to accomplish things she had never even dreamed of. She was grateful to them for that—and for their generosity in letting her go.
She waved her arms above her head, smiling at them all. "Thank you!" she called when she thought she had an off chance of making herself heard. "Thank you all, for everything. I will miss you, and Skyhold, very much."
Everyone was quiet, and she wondered if there was really more she needed to say. Hadn't she pretty much said it all, at one point or another?
Standing there in their silence, she took a deep breath. "Well, what are you all waiting for? Let's get this party going!"
They didn't wait to be asked again. Almost before the last word left her lips, the music had begun and people were moving onto the dance floor. Ashkaari grabbed her hand and pulled her with him, and Ren let the beat move in her blood.
The dancing went on for a while, and then Ren felt a tug on her sleeve and turned to see Varric there. "Time, Rusty," he said, pitching his voice loudly enough to be heard over the music and the pounding of the dancers' feet.
"Already?"
"We want to give everyone plenty of celebrating time. And not enough time to slip away," he added, with a meaningful glance at the objects of the surprise they had planned.
Ren followed his gaze. "I see your point." Krem and Flissa looked as though they were planning to head back to their room, and that would have spoiled everything. "Lead the way."
"Not my usual style, but I'll try it for a change."
It would have seemed a dwarf should be hard to follow through a room full of taller bodies dancing, but everyone made way for Varric without even having to be asked. He should have been the Inquisitor, Ren thought with amusement.
They arrived at the chair on the dais, the chair where Ren would never sit in judgment again, she thought with a sense of relief. That part she wouldn't miss. Varric nodded to her, and she nodded to Ashkaari. He grinned down at both of them, and then, stretching himself to the fullness of his great height, he called out over the noise of the crowd, "Attention! Cremisius Aclassi, front and center! Mistress Flissa, front and center! Make way!"
Krem and Flissa threaded through the crowd to stand in front of Ren and the Iron Bull. "Chief?" Krem asked, looking up at his boss with some trepidation.
"Don't look at me, Krem de la Crème. This is all them." He tipped a horn in Varric and Ren's direction.
"Ren?"
"Welcome to your wedding day." Ren grinned widely at Flissa's evident shock. "What, you didn't think I was going to ride off into the sunset without making sure you were hitched good and proper, did you? What would the Chargers be without you?"
"I'll drink to that," came Rocky's unmistakable voice over the crowd.
In the general chuckle that followed, Ren took Krem and Flissa's hands. "As it happens, as a former Inquisitor, I have license to join two people in wedlock, and I choose to exercise that license for the first and last time today. Krem, Flissa, do the two of you wish to marry one another?"
They both looked questioningly at each other, seeming to find comfort in each other's eyes. "Yes," Krem said. "Yes, I do."
"You're sure?" Flissa asked him softly.
"Never been more sure of anything," he assured her.
"In that case, then, yes."
"Good." Ren held their hands more tightly. "Do you promise to love one another faithfully all the days of your life?"
"We do."
"To meet all life's challenges together, to support one another and tend one another through illness and injury?" Ren was making this up as she went along, hoping she was covering all the expected promises.
"We do."
"Then … I pronounce you wedded to one another, and I wish you good health and a long and happy life together!"
The room cheered as Krem and Flissa looked at each other in confusion, clearly having expected more vows and promises.
"Dumbass, kiss her," the Iron Bull bellowed. "I've never been to one of your ceremony things before, and even I know that's what comes next."
"Thanks, Chief," Krem said dryly. "Don't know what I'd do without you." He turned to Flissa, taking her free hand, and pulled her close, kissing her softly on the lips to more cheers and catcalls.
"Inquisition! I ask for your promise, too," Ren said, when the noise had died down enough for her to be heard. "I ask you to promise to follow Inquisitor Morris, to support and protect him, to work your hardest to keep this Inquisition together and make it a force for good in Thedas."
She met Cullen's eyes, and he smiled, stepping forward out of the crowd. He drew his sword and lifted it high above his head. "Inquisition, will you promise?"
The chorus of "ayes" nearly deafened Ren, and she blinked against the tears that prickled in her eyes. These were her people—she had built this, brought them together, and she would be leaving Morris with something strong, something that could survive whatever was to come. Turning to Ashkaari, she reached for his hand.
Under cover of the sounds of their people, she said softly, for his ears only, "You ready?"
He nodded. "I thought you'd never ask, kadan."
The party went on, the Inquisition celebrating into the night. Long before it ended, the former Inquisitor and her lover were on the road heading down from the mountain, riding together into their future.
Ren and the Iron Bull's story continues in "At the Dragon's Roar", the first chapter of which is already up. Enjoy!
