Chapter 14: A Trio of Problems

Summary: Inquisitor Adaar is: in bed with Bull; at the Winter Palace; then on the dance floor. Is there no end to her talents?

Notes: This was a challenge to write. I didn't want to delve into all the intricacies of the Winter Palace and just re-hash the whole level of the game. So... I've *tried* to neatly summarise it in amongst Kirah's bigger concerns and some lovely interactions between our favourite Qunari. I'd love to know what you think so do feel free to comment.

Bull woke up with Kirah lying on his chest, gently drawing lines and circles on his stomach and hips with her fingertips. He loved it when she did that, making even his tough skin go all sensitive.

'Sorry, boss, didn't mean to sleep over,' he mumbled sleepily. Kirah withdrew, propping herself on her elbow to look at him. Bull missed her closeness immediately, but brought his arms up casually behind his head. Last thing she needs is me stifling her.

'Hey, it's all good,' she replied with a small smile, now drawing circles on his chest, around the pec muscle closest to her. 'So, about what you did last night. The… fingering in certain places…'

'Oh that, sure.'

'No one's ever done that to me before. I don't think I'd want it all the time, but I enjoyed the way you did it.'

A pretty blush had crept across Kirah's cheeks. Bull unfolded one his arms and began to stroke the base of one of her neatly curling horns.

'You know what to say if and when you don't want that, don't you?' he asked gently.

'Yes.'

'Good. It's probably not as satisfying… internally… for females as it is for men, in humans anyway, but it's always worth a shot 'cause we're all wired differently.'

'Yeah… it felt good when you stroked the outside… inside just felt… filthy,' Kirah giggled. 'I suppose that's why I liked it… in that moment.' She straightened up to fix him with her golden eyes. 'But I don't want anything else inside there, at least for now, OK?'

'You got it.'

Kirah exhaled as though a weight had been lifted. 'So, you've been with men?' she asked.

Bull raised an eyebrow. 'A few, does that bother you?'

'No… as long as you don't miss being with a man?'

Bull studied her for a moment. He'd never had sex this good with a man or woman, and he wasn't interested in being with anyone else. The thought startled him. Clearing his throat, he answered, 'No. Like I said, as long as we're doing this, you've got my complete attention.'

Kirah smiled. 'So how do Qunari show they're serious about a relationship?' she asked.

'They don't,' Bull replied bluntly. 'We don't have sex for love. But for someone we really care about there is an old tradition. You find a dragon's tooth, break it in half and you each wear a piece. Then, no matter how far apart life takes you, you're always together.'

'That would be sweet if dragons' teeth weren't so bloody huge,' Kirah laughed.

'Well, you'd whittle it down I suppose,' Bull chuckled.

'Does it matter if it's a tooth from an old dragon skeleton, or is it more meaningful to risk incineration and death for someone you care about?'

'Ah well you see it's not just incineration; some dragons can freeze or electrify your ass off!'

With that Bull roared in an approximation of a dragon, rising up and tickling his lover, making her squeal in delight.

Kirah stood over the war table, chewing a nail, her advisors watching her closely. She was at a crossroads: pursue the imminent Warden danger or the imminent Empress assassination danger? Finally Cullen cleared his throat.

'Inquisitor, may I suggest we deal with this Warden crisis first? A demon army is a rather imposing threat-'

'Commander!' Josephine cried. 'If Empress Celene is assassinated then Orlais will fall into chaos!'

'We should go to Halamshiral first,' Leliana calmly suggested. 'So if we do lose control of the Wardens we may at least have an army to supplement our own.'

Cullen frowned.

'May being the operative word, Leliana.'

Kirah nodded. 'We'll go to the Winter Palace first and we'll do it quickly. Keep our outfits simple-', she glanced at Josephine pointedly, 'to save time. And let Hawke and Stroud keep an eye on Adamant.'

In truth, Kirah was more comfortable tackling assassins, even if it meant getting tangled in the infamous 'Game', than facing the Wardens and their demon-binding.

Pacing her room that night, the Inquisitor ran over the details. There had been precious few clues in the nightmarish future she and Dorian witnessed. All they knew was that the Empress would be killed and Orlais would descend into chaos.

The Empress' cousin, Grand Duke Gaspard de Chalons was the prime suspect in her possible assassination. Despite being next in line for the throne, he was usurped by Celene who used her superior cunning to charm the Council of Heralds. Their rivalry caused a bitter, and ongoing, civil war. But… then there was an elven spymaster, Briala, who led a huge network of spies and assassins. Leliana spoke of a possible affair between Briala and Celene, now over, which meant she toowas a suspect.

Kirah sighed and flopped down onto her bed. She wanted to stop the assassination, but she couldn't deny Orlais was already in chaos because of this damned civil war. If she could broker peace between the factions and stop an assassination, now that would be a real victory.

At the Winter Palace, the Inquisitor had the disadvantage of being most visibly Qunari. Even if the delicate masks the Orlesians wore hid something of their disgust and fear, their gasps and insults certainly did not. Bull and Cullen had been offended on her behalf, but she'd managed to quell any confrontation by reassuring them she really didn't care. What were they but weak, pampered little ferrets anyway?

Dutifully, as Josephine instructed, Kirah had gone from room to room talking the talk, eaves-dropping on some very salacious (and useful) gossip and even danced with Grand Duchess Florianne, Gaspard's sister, to rise in the court's estimation. Fortunately, it worked and within a matter of hours. Wow they really are fickle. Kirah mused.

With her social position secure, the Qunari had slipped behind the scenes to the gardens and residential wings. It had been a relief to don her armour, The Iron Bull, Dorian and Cole by her side, and slice through streams of Venatori and strange rogue harlequins who'd been manoeuvred into the palace as part of the coup.

They'd explored the ornately decorated rooms, Kirah briefly wishing she and Bull could test some of those gilded four-poster beds… and uncovered enough evidence to use against the triumvirate of political masters. Now Kirah hoped she had enough to bend them to a truce and pool their resources in the fight against Corypheus. But first she had to deal with the traitor who planned to assassinate the Empress in the first place… her cousin Duchess Florianne, and Kirah's earlier dance partner.

Back in her formal wear, with a few new scratches and bruises, the eyes of the court were on the Inquisitor as she crossed the empty ballroom floor. Florianne was talking to Gaspard and Briala, her back to the Qunari who shouted: 'We owe the court one more show, your grace.'

The Duchess turned around, expressionless. 'Inquisitor?'

'The eyes of every noble in the empire are on us, your grace. Remember to smile.' Kirah smirked, walking up the steps towards her. 'This is your party. You wouldn't want them to think you'd lost control. '

'Who would not be delighted to speak with you, Inquisitor?' she smiled, backing off.

Now face to face, Kirah continued. 'I seem to recall you saying, "All I needed was to keep you out of the ballroom long enough to strike". When your archers failed to kill me in the garden, I feared you wouldn't save me this last dance.' Murmurs and gasps rippled through the court as Kirah circled Florianne, hands behind her back.

'It's so easy to lose your good graces. You even framed your brother for the murder of a council emissary. It was an ambitious plan. Celene, Gaspard, the entire Council of Heralds… all your enemies under one roof. '

'This is very entertaining,' Florianne drawled. 'But you do not imagine anyone believes your wild stories?

'That would be a matter for a judge to decide, cousin,' Celene announced from the floor above.

Florianne span around to glare at Celene before turning to her brother. 'Gaspard? You cannot believe this, you know I would never…'

But the Duke walked away in disgust, leaving the guards to drag away his sobbing sister. Kirah looked to the Empress.

'Your Imperial Majesty, I think we should speak in private,' she suggested, leaving the hushed and scandalised court to no doubt burst.

What followed on the Empress' private balcony was a verbal jousting. Briala accused Gaspard of knowing about his sister's betrayal, Gaspard accused Briala of the same. When Celene turned to the Inquisitor hoping for solidarity, Kirah accused them all of double-dealings and conspiring to allow this awful mess in the first place. Finally, however, an uneasy alliance was forged. Kirah had to believe their three great minds could achieve much if they would only stop fighting.

Celene and Gaspard announced their truce to the court, while Briala watched from the wings. Gaspard said something sensible for a change:

'We cannot be at war with each other when the Fade itself challenges our borders.'

Unbelievably, Celene wanted the party to continue. Her perpetually down-turned mouth breaking into some kind of smile as she declared, 'Tonight, we celebrate the arrival of peace. Let the festivities commence!'

Kirah couldn't quite believe things had worked out as she'd planned (and fervently hoped). Iron-Ass Tully would need a lie down if he could see her now. Back in Haven, Josephine revealed Kirah's old captain had said some surprisingly flattering things about his former mercenary. She'd always wanted to impress him and it warmed her to think of the letter she would write to him.

Finding an empty balcony, Kirah slipped away from the celebrations, and all her new fans. She inhaled deeply, the fresh night air reviving her a little until Bull's deep voice rumbled behind her.

'They ran out of that cheese dip. Asked for more, and they gave me this look, the assholes.' Bull leaned against the balcony mirroring her.

'How're you doing?'

'Strangely, we achieved all our goals so I'm enjoying a moment of peace,' she smiled.

'Sounds like a plan. You'll get kicked in the teeth again soon enough. Hang on to the good stuff.' Bull smiled, 'Come on, the music's finally got enough of a beat to dance to.' He held out his arm, charm itself. Kirah was taken aback by the gesture, and even if she wanted to just curl up in a corner and nap, she couldn't help herself.

'I'd love to.'

'Good. They're out of food,' Bull added cheekily, putting his hand on her waist and guiding her to the dance floor.

Kirah and Bull had sung in the Herald's Rest plenty of times, belting out their own versions of drinking songs and doing covers of Maryden's ballads. But they'd never danced together and suddenly Kirah felt nervous. They'd just been fighting a smorgasbord of different enemies and dealt with the perilous challenges of court and now she was nervous.

Bull immediately struck a perfect dance position, one hand on her waist, the other interlinked with her fingers. Mid-tune, he swept her into the foray as though they'd been there the whole time. Is there no end to this man's talents? she thought, a little giddy from their spinning.

'Hey, boss, I mean, Lady Inquisitor, if you look at me rather than down at the floor, you won't get giddy,' he suggested, a little amused.

'Er… sure. I just wanted to make sure my feet were doing the right thing. How… when… did you learn how to dance?'

'Ben-Hassrath have to be trained in so many weird-ass things… but I also got a bit of practice in with Krem.'

Kirah laughed out loud at the idea of the Qunari and the much smaller man waltzing around the training area. Bull grinned and swept her off her feet.