He heard her, in fact everyone did. She padded heavily against the gravel, her laughter filling the cold morning air where most were too grumpy to even lift an eyelid; her voice was slightly sleepy as she greeted the new mounts, fingers wrapping gently around their long tresses. She was at ease, for once.

"Commander," she mouthed to him in greeting when she saw him looking straight at her, with his back arched over the war room table. Cullen greeted her back with a silent nod and ushered her into the room; Cassandra and Leliana were already deep in conversation, and Josephine was writing furiously on a piece of paper, no one noticing Alysia or the Commander's exchange.

Alysia looked at her other advisors cheekily, smirking at an that was idea forming in her head..

"Ladies and gentleman, mommy is home," she announced loudly to the room, startling them. For someone who had been travelling for the past few weeks, she was oddly energetic, Cullen smiled at the thought. Her advisors stared at her in disbelief, Alysia knew that it was largely from her use of words, Josephine crinkled her nose heavily at the word 'mommy', Leliana just hid her half-smile with the back of her hand, and Cassandra just grumble inaudibly.

Cullen watched her, amused. She was the complete polar opposite of her sister Aurelia; undignified, uncouth, and entirely lacking the qualities of being the Herald of Andraste, but maybe that's why she the people loved her, because she was imperfectly perfect. If anything, Alysia knew how to lift morale and make people feel at ease around her. Even Leliana who had forgone her lighthearted self ever since the end of the Fifth Blight, had become more carefree, and not to mention Cassandra seemed to respect Alysia even more now, despite their differences.

"So did anyone miss me?" Alysia asked, grinning to the room.

"It's good to have you back, Herald. Cassandra tells me your wonderful tales of becoming a leader of a rebel group," Leliana said, lifting her eyes mischievously from the report.

"Oh! I must listen to these wonderful tales about a lone hero taking over a rebel group. Those are my favourite kind of stories," Alysia teased back, eyebrows lifted in mock curiosity. Before anyone else could speak, Josephine's voice rang loudly over them.

"Is true that you single-handedly took over the entire Blades of Hessarian using the Iron Bull—strange name, well his horns, did you use his horns as a catapult?" Josephine continued, her thick Antivan accent filled with eagerness.

Alysia lifted her arms to protest, confused as to how such a ridiculous story came to be. Then she saw Cassandra staring at her, eyebrows lifted jeeringly.

Of course it was her.

"Was it true that you tied the former leader to a tree and fed him to a giant near the coast?" Josephine asked, her eyes growing wide with anticipation. To which Alysia shot Cassandra a dark look, who was chortling.

"W-what about the dragon? There was a dragon, right? Didn't you ride it?"

Alysia looked back the impatient Ambassador who was now staring at her in expectation, for someone who was usually so composed she was acting like a child who had too many baked sugary goods. Alysia wanted to tell her the truth, but embellishing the story seemed like a much better idea.

"Yes. Everything you heard is quite true. You need to pass on these stories to my followers. Let them know that the Herald is not one to be fucked with, or I will unleash my catapulting skills upon them and make them cream their pants," Alysia said smugly.

"I knew it!" Josephine exclaimed. "Wait till I tell Yvette about this," she continued.

"Yvette? Who is-?" Alysia asked but was interrupted by Leliana who cleared her throat loudly; calling attention to all of them to start the meeting.

"I'm sure we could talk about the Herald's misadventures over ale later, but for now there are some important matters that we need to attend to."


Not long after, everyone in the war room erupted into a full-blown argument. Cullen still couldn't agree with any of them, he was still persistent about getting the Templars. Cassandra and Leliana were still united in opinion, believing that the mages were the best option in sealing the Breach; Josephine tried to be the neutral party in all of this, offering her opinion when necessary. Alysia stood silent near the corner of the table; she nipped the tip of her thumb while staring at the map on the table, deep in thought.

"We head to Redcliffe," she said, startling everyone.

"So you're picking the mages?" Cullen protested, fuming with anger.

"No, I'm not. I'm just weighing each option. Look, before we left Val Royeaux, Grand Enchanter Fiona approached us, asking for an alliance. She said that the mages would be the better option in helping us."

"It could be a trap for all we know," Cullen replied gravely, he glowered at Alysia whose cheeks were slowly growing red with anger.

"The Templars ignored us Cullen, Lord Seeker Lucius wants nothing to do with the Inquisition. Why won't you listen to reason?" Cassandra now spoke on behalf of Alysia who scowling.

"There must be another way," Cullen pressed on, hoping for his peers and the Herald to see reason.

"Cullen. Stop." Alysia hissed at him through gritted teeth, dropping his title entirely in front of everyone. It was common for Cassandra and Cullen to converse with their first names, but for Alysia, it was something entirely out of character.

Leliana, Josephine and Cassandra exchanged looks amongst each other, all of them knowing that the Commander and Alysia might actually clobber each other to death if their argument continued.

"Now, now. How about we reconvene at another time when we've all properly thought about the matter," Josephine said to the room, mostly to Alysia and Cullen who were glowering at each other from across the table. Cassandra placed her hand on the small of Alysia's back and slowly ushered her out of the room, Alysia hesitantly removed her gaze from the Commander whose gaze did not relent either. Defeated she walked out of the room, slamming the door in response.

"Maker," Cullen muttered while propping his hand over his forehead.

"I've never seen you get so riled up over something, Cullen." Leliana spoke when Josephine flounced out of the room.

"She's just impossible to work with."

Leliana smiled softly at his remark, "That's rich coming from you. Cullen, she's trying. That's more than I can say for you," Leliana said as she briskly walked out of the room, briefly eyeing the Commander warmly as she closed the door behind her.

Cullen scratched the bottom of his chin absently, pondering over Leliana's words. He couldn't really put his finger on why he couldn't bring himself to trust the Herald that everyone seemed to love. What was it about her that made him so apprehensive.


"Bad day?" Sera asked when Alysia slumped heavily on a chair in the tavern. Her head hung sideways, eyes closed; she placed her index finger on her temple and massaged it slowly. The elf crept closer and settled herself on to the chair next to Alysia, gently resting her chin on her hand, gazing intently at the Herald who was lost deep in thought.

It wasn't that she had a bad day, it was more of the fact that her advisors could not be united in a single thing, the only person who seemed to be satisfied with any outcome was Josephine, the Ambassador's only priority was to enhance the Inquisition's diplomatic ties with the outsider and make them believe that the Inquisition was a force to be reckoned with. But that was far form the truth. The constant bickering in the war room was slowly wearing her out, what made it even worse was that she had no idea what the correct choice should be. She couldn't pick the mages because for as long as she could remember her father drilled it into her head that their magic was evil, even though a part of her knew that, that was not entirely the truth. The Templars were not better; they abandoned their faith right in front of everyone and continued to prance around as if they weren't the cause of the mage uprising.

"Sera, care for a round?" she asked the elf whose ears perked up at the idea of drinking.

"You enjoy Fereldan ale, Herald?" Sera asked in mock horror.

"I suppose. I take whatever I can get," Alysia said, rolling her eyes in humor.

"Right. So one round of piss ale for the Herald," the elf announced to the barmaid who nodded swiftly.

Sera turned around to Alysia who was resting her head on the cool wooden table, her eyes still shut in thought.

"So, when do you reckon things will get back to normal?"

"Normal?" Alysia asked while removing her head off the table.

"You know, the whole stitching up the hole in the sky bit?"

"Oh that. We can't do anything until we pick the mages or the Templars." Alysia said while shrugging.

"Hm, tricky there. Ever though of a coin toss? Bit more easier than bickering it out," Sera replied with a wolfish grin.

"I suppose that would be the easier option. If only I could do that with everything," Alysia replied while shaking her head mildly. "Which side are you on, in all of this?" she asked the elf who was sliding the ale the barmaid handed to her over to Alysia.

"Neither."

"Neither? Most people pick a side."

"Well most people are stupid. Neither the mages nor the Templars are good or bad. You know what I hear about the mages? Nothing. Until one goes all demon-y. You know what I heard about Templars? Nothing. Until they take maybe-mages."

"So, if you're not any side. What do you want out of all this?"

"I don't know. But first things first, I came here to help you. A little arrows here. Some over there. Stab someone in the cunt. Then people stop being stupid. Slowly, everything will start to make sense again. Then the easy choices will come along. Does that sound good to you?"

"That's the best proposition anyone has ever given me Sera." Alysia replied while smirking at the elf who had her face deep in her stein.


Cullen marched his way through the snowy grounds of Haven, as he was about to turn left to his cabin, he heard a huge commotion coming from the tavern; people were flowing in and out of the tavern in merriment. He couldn't see or hear much around the crowd of people other than their deafening cheers. Curious, Cullen pushed his way through the crowd to get a better look at what was happening in the tavern; realizing that the Commander was standing behind them, some of the crowd moved away in respect. When Cullen finally drank the scene up, he saw the elf that she brought from Val Royeaux, a large Qunari and a bearded man, the Herald and her sister Aurelia, chugging their steins down. He watched enraptured as Alysia's ale spilled from the side of her mouth, slipping slowly down her neck and lower. She was the third to slam her stein hard onto the wooden table, to which the crowd cheered in delight.

"The winner is, Sera, closely followed by Ser Blackwall," a man announced while lifting Sera's hands into the air. Her face was smug as she stuck her tongue out to the Warden who let out a hearty laugh.

Bull frowned at Alysia who winked at him, "She drinks better than a Qunari!" Aurelia announced to the crowd of ale-drinkers, who hooted in appreciation.

"Another round," the Qunari yelled out to the barmaid who was scurrying to bring them another five rounds of ale.

"Okay. So, we need to put a wager to end this, before all you pissheads continue to drink yourself to the Maker. The last person to finish their ale has to… steal Broody's breeches," Sera announced to the crowd, slurring at each word; Cullen choked on spit in response when heard the elf, who could she possibly mean? Feeling his face growing hot, Cullen turned on his heels and marched back to his room, he pitied the poor sod who was at their mirth.

On his way to his cabin he saw Varric, head deep in reading a book. Realizing that Cullen was approaching him, Varric lifed his face up and smirked at the Commander.

"Off to bed, Curly?"

"Probably," Cullen replied vacantly, feeling exhaustion taking over him. Tomorrow he had to deal with the inevitable fate of having to square off with Alysia again; it was not something he was looking forward to.


He awoke when he heard muffled sounds coming from somewhere outside of his room, through weary eyes he saw feet shuffling beneath the dim light from his door; confused he rubbed his groggy face with the back of his hands. He padded softly against the wooden floors, head still dazed from his slumber. He pushed his door open slightly and peered through it, all he could see was the dark cold air and silence filling it. Shivering, he closed his door and walked back to bed, he buried his face into the soft pillow, and groaned in happiness.

Just as his weary body was about to drift back to sleep, his mind was jolted by something falling on the floorboards, this time Cullen perked up from his bed, knowing that the sound was definitely coming from inside his room. His heart pounded as fast as his breathing. With barely any light to illuminate the further end of his room, saved for the right side of his bed, he found it difficult to assess the situation in his dark room. He heard a soft thud coming from the left side of his bed. Cullen quickly jumped out of bed and tried to catch whatever it was that was in his room—worse case scenario it could be a Fennec that snuck through the crack in his window, he thought.

How wrong he was when he felt his fingers grip something soft, and entirely not a Fennec. Confused he pulled on its limb roughly. The creature in his arm gasped in pain and scurried out of his grip, scratching Cullen's face in its process of escaping. Cullen dashed across the room and blocked the creature from escaping through its room door, the creature's feet stopped briefly in front of Cullen and tried to slide its way through the burly man. Cullen extended his arm out before it could escape and gripped tightly onto whatever it was that he had and pushed it roughly onto his bed. For a minute the only sound in his room was the heavy breathing of him and the creature. Cullen felt the hint of something sweet and bitter from the creature's skin, he felt its skin briefly touch his chest, muffled gasps escaping its lips.

"Gerroff me," the creature whisper through heavy breathing.

Perplexed, Cullen reached for the tiny candelabra on his bedside table. He carefully hovered it over his bed, letting its light illuminate whatever it was his lower body was pressed upon.

He saw her spread across his bed, her body heaving heavily, her limbs entwined with his. Her face flushed red with sweat that was slowly dripping downwards from her neck. His body burned wherever her skin touched his, face slowly growing hot with unrecognizable desire. Her breath hitched when she felt Cullen's muscled body hovering over hers, his sweat dripped down onto her collarbone, making her shiver.

"Cullen," she whispered through her heavy breathing. "Get off me."

Awareness slowly sinking deep into his bones, Cullen jumped backwards in surprise and covered his mouth with his hand.

"Herald. I am so sorry," he said aloud, words fumbling.

Alysia lifted her body off his bed, her eyes still shut. A hint of a smile appeared on her lips.

"All is forgiven, Commander" she said, slowly revealing a piece of cloth when she opened her left palm, she dropped it on to the floor and peeked at him through her thick lashes.

Cullen felt his face growing hot; he recognized what she held in her hand.

"Herald," he said sternly.

"Yes, Commander?" she replied, voice husky.

The golden honey in his eyes vanished, now painted with something dark.

"So I'm… Broody?"

She laughed at him and moved closer to the half-dressed Commander. Alysia couldn't help but drink the sight of him up, his chiseled body, the way his muscles moved when he was breathing, and his jawline that slowly shifted as he smirked at her, his scar moving with the smile. That stupid smirk.

Her feet stopped moving when she felt herself being too close to him, she could feel his breath fall on her and every time she tried to breathe, she could smell him, the sweet smell of elderflower and oak moss, and a hint of leather.

"…What makes you think that?" she whispered, her body arching closer to the Commander.

Before Cullen could reply, Alysia quickly sprinted across the room and pushed his room door wide open, leaving the half-dressed man gaping at her rougish behaviour. He quickly turned around and all he could see was her silvery-white hair slowly disappearing into the din.

She's definitely trying to kill me.


The door burst upon, a slightly hungover Herald prodded into the room, papers in hand, and eyes full of resolve. She briefly greeted her advisors, eyes glancing quickly over Cullen who had a lopsided smile and a fresh new scar on the side of his face. Her doing, she recalled.

Alysia placed the papers quickly over the table for all of her advisors to read, it was a pros and cons list of which side she should pick; she placed her index finger in the air, as if to explain herself.

"Right, I have made my decision. So before you start arguing, please hear me out okay?"

Her advisors nodded and their expressions impassive. "Right, I know that you want me to pick the Templars, Cullen. But I am going to go with the mages," she said while eyeing Cullen briefly who curled his lips. She took in a quick breath and continued.

"I have my reasons for picking the mages, besides the obvious list that I wrote down. I took whatever Seeker Lucius said and did, especially to Mother Hevara as an insult, not only upon Cassandra and I but also to the entire Inquisition. I cannot and will not work with an order than so readily disowned their faith and follows an ireful Seeker so blindly. I know that not everyone in the order are like that, believe me, but so much harm has already come from the Templars, especially with the mage rebellion. I cannot bring myself to support them, not with everything that is going on," she finished and paced her breathing, looking up at the Commander who was crestfallen.

"Cullen, don't take this as a personal insult to you. You are nothing like the people I just spoke of," she continued, while trying to comfort his downcast face.

The room fell deafeningly quiet; no one wanted to respond to neither Alysia's choices nor her words. She had made a sound argument on why she picked the Mages; to Cassandra and Leliana's joy they couldn't agree with her openly, not with Cullen feeling torn at her words. Noting the aura of the room growing grave, Josephine silently packed Alysia's reports and prodded out of the room, she mouthed silently at Leliana and Cassandra to follow suit. As soon the advisors left the room, Alysia walked slowly towards the silent Cullen who staring down at his feet, frowning.

She hesitated for a moment then lifted her hands to stroke the side of his arm, Cullen didn't flinch, he didn't move, he stayed motionless, staring down at his feet. Defeated, she removed her hand and sighed quietly, as she was about to turn on her heels to leave, she felt a strong, warm hand grasp the wrist of her left hand.

"I'm sorry," he started, his voice shaking, growing deep with confusion and burden. His eyes still fixed on the floor, refusing to look up at her. Alysia turned back to him and slowly moved her hands to cup his warm face. He let out a gasp at her touch, gently, she coaxed him into looking at her. His head turned slowly to face her, his honey eyes clouded amber with sorrow.

"Herald, I—" before he could continue, Alysia placed her index finger gently on his soft lips.

"You're not at fault. You are proof that there is still so much goodness in the order, please don't forget that," she said, smiling weakly at the Commander who returned her praise with a slow nod. She massaged the side of his face with her thumb, feeling his stubble graze her skin.

"Thank you," he replied while clasping her marked hand with his, he kissed the arch of her hand, eyebrows easing in understanding. Cullen bowed at her and took his leave.