He clutched the letter that Leliana received from Alysia, and felt anger slowly rise in his body; he could feel it in the way on how his shoulders stiffened and his jaw slowly clenching at the words she wrote. The entire war room was silent upon the receival of her missive, neither Cassandra or Leliana knew if forming an alliance with the mages was the best way to go about the entire situation, Josephine tried to look at the situation in a brighter perspective but Cullen, Cullen was extremely furious at her. Of all the dumbest things that she had ever done, this was by far the worse.

He couldn't wait to give her a piece of his mind when she returned. His mind could not wrap around her decision in forming an alliance with the mages, had she not heard about the mage and Templar uprising in Kirkwall? It was true that she lived in the Free Marches, a place without actual governance, but in whose right mind was it a good decision to let mages come and go freely within the Inquisition? She might have had good intentions when she decided to form an alliance with the mages but had she not realized that by allowing the mages to join the Inquisition, she had given them freedom? The freedom to practice magic as they will without the Circle to loom over them. He was completely baffled by her utter foolishness in this regard.

He heard the Chantry door open, and his eyes quickly darted to the noise; he saw the woman that was the cause of his displeasure; her figure stood by the door for a moment, as if contemplating to walk into the hall. He saw her shake her head briefly and straighten her back, her eyes locking on his; she strode down the hall, her boots clicking quickly against the floor, but her chest heaved with each step she took. He knew that she was anxious.

She better be.

Alysia sat still on her horse, her fingers firmly wrapped on its reins. She bit her lower lip when her eyes moved slowly to the Chantry, they were waiting for her, and she knew that. She did not know how her advisors, especially Cullen would receive the news of the alliance. As if. She knew that she would receive a fair scolding from the Commander; after all, she should have consulted them before she made this decision.

She let out a heavy breath and got off her horse promptly, she had no other option but to face their ire, and the sooner, the better. She passed the reins of her horse to Master Dennet, who nodded cheerily at her return. She was glad at least there was someone who was happy to see her. She made her way to the Chantry swiftly, her heart pounded with each step she took; she stopped briefly by the door when she felt someone's gaze burning into her, it was Cullen, no doubt. She rolled her shoulders back and held her head high at the stern looking Commander—she had to face this, she was the fucking Herald of Andraste, if she could fall out a hole in the sky and survive, she could definitely survive her advisors yelling at her.

She heard disagreement coming from the war room, mainly Cassandra and Cullen having a go at each other about the mages, she quickly walked into the room and shut the door behind her, and it prompted everyone's attention to shift to her. Silence fell over the room as no one knew what to say or how to go about Alysia's decision, they saw her shoulders tense at their gaze but more so when Cullen growled at the sight of her.

"Have you lost your mind?" he cried out, his thundering voice filling the room. "How could you have formed an alliance with the mages? What in Maker's name were you thinking?"

Alysia clenched her fists at his yells, part of her wanted to yell back, but the other part of her knew that she deserved it. She knitted her eyebrows together and glared at him, hoping that her stare alone would make him falter. "Cullen, they are people, just like you and I are. How could I watch them fall into the hands of a ruthless Tevinter magister?"

She saw Cullen clench his jaw at her remark, his honey eyes growing dark. But somehow, there was a look of remorse in his face, as if what she said had made sense to him.

He cleared his throat and glanced back at her, his eyes returning to its amber hue. "It's not about treating them as people. How are we going to protect our people if they turn into abominations?"

Alysia drew a sharp intake of breath and what he said, he was partly true but what if he was wrong? She had met many mages in her life; some of them were terrible people, who used their magic for evil. But there were also mages like Dorian, Solas and Vivienne, who were lovely people and would think twice on hurting good people. How could he not see that? How could he not understand that there were good mages? She knew that he was a Templar, and she knew that something terrible must've happened to him at Kinloch Hold and at Kirkwall, but despite everything could he still not see that there are still good mages out there who don't deserve to be locked up from the world?

"Give them a chance. That's all I ask of you," she finally said, hoping that her few words might change his mind.

"It's not about chances—", Cullen was interrupted when the war room door burst open and in came a familiar face, swaggering into the room that was filled with tense atmosphere.

Cassandra made a choking sound when the mage sauntered over to the table and wrapped his arm around Alysia's shoulder; Alysia beamed at the mage who smirked back at her.

"Is the fun part over yet? Here I was waiting for the both of you to claw each other out," the mage said while chuckling darkly.

Leliana laughed under her breath at the mage, which made Cassandra groan at the spymaster who found joy in the mage's dark humor. Josephine turned to the mage and smiled politely at him, but Cullen on the other hand lifted his eyebrow at him, and rolled his eyes. Alysia glared at Cullen who was regarding Dorian with disgust, he truly was an impossible human being to work with.

"Was this the Tevinter mage you spoke of?" Leliana asked while bowing lightly at him.

"Yes, this is Dorian," Alysia introduced.

"Dorian of house Pavus. Pleased to meet your acquaintance" the mage said while bowing deeply to the room.

"He saved my life, well the Inquisition's life. So I truly am in debt to him," Alysia said while shooting him a quick smile.

"Hardly! What Alexius did threatened all of Thedas, not just the Inquisition," Dorian said while leaning his body on the brick wall of the war room.

"This threat… you spoke about it briefly in one of your letters. Could you explain what happened?" Cullen said, in hopes that maybe her actions could be justified by whatever Alexius did or was about to do.

"I'll skip reliving the tale, if that's alright. I've had enough magic talk for one day," the mage said while ruffling Alysia's hair. "But if you need me, I'll be talking to that rather interesting dwarf. Apparently he is a well-known author."

"So, you're staying?" Alysia asked, her eyes lightened with joy.

"Of course! As if I would leave my favourite Herald, in this time or in the future," he said while shooting her a wide grin.

Alysia's eyes grew wide at his unbashful confession, she skipped over to the mage and give him a hug, to which Cassandra and Cullen both made muffled disgusted noises in unison. Cullen narrowed his eyes at the both of them hugging, he had no idea why the Tevinter mage bothered him so much, but neither did he know why this particular scene made him even more annoyed. Leliana hid her smirk from under her gloved hand and shot a wry look at Cullen, who rolled his eyes at the spymaster. Which only served to make her snicker at him.

The mage ambled out of the room, not before quickly blowing a kiss towards Alysia who giggled at him. She turned her attention back to Josephine who coughed at the side of the room, prompting everyone to continue their discussion.

'Right. So about Alexius."

"Are you sure?" Cullen asked, his eyes narrowing at her tale.

"Which bit are you asking if I'm sure of? The bit where Dorian saved my life? The bit where my sister, Bull, Blackwall and Solas died before my eyes? The bit where there was lyrium all around me? The bit where Empress Celene died? Maker, Cullen. I wouldn't lie about such things," she scoffed at him.

She was beginning to wish Dorian had decided to stay in the war and re-assure her advisors about what happened to them. She knew that what happened to Dorian and her sounded farfetched, and she understood why her advisors were regarding her and her story with suspicion. But had she not survived through it, they would have witnessed everything in that ghastly future firsthand, and that was not something she wanted anyone to experience.

"We have no reason to doubt the Herald. The Inquisition has gotten this far because of her," Josephine pointed out, nodding her head to herself in agreement at her logic.

Alysia saw Cullen bury his face in his hands, and sigh behind his gloved hand. She knew that whatever chance he thought he had of winning the argument had been overturned by the witty Ambassador. She truly was conniving, Alysia thought, amused.

"But why would Alexius want you?" Cullen asked, lifting his head out of his hand. His face looked more confused now, but his eyes had a hint of desolation in it. Alysia shrugged at the Commander's question, because in truth she did not know why Alexius wanted her, in this moment she was glad that Blackwall did not kill Alexius, for he was the key to all her questions.

"But who holds such power to achieve assassinating Empress Celene?" Leliana asked gravely. The spymaster looked afraid at the very possibility of someone being able to that. Empress Celene was well loved by her people, and was regarded as "The Lioness" by those she inspired, although her ascension to the throne was considered to be illegitimate by some nobles.

"The Venatori, for one," Alysia said while resting her chin on her right hand. "And the Elder One, whom we know nothing about." The idea of a man being able to wield a legion of depraved people, willing to fight senselessly for an unknown cause frightened Alysia. Whoever the Elder One was, he clearly saw Alysia's existence as a threat, but she did not know why.

"We must gather information about this Elder One. I will send my scouts out at once to try and find out what they can about him," Leliana said to the room, while writing something down on a piece of paper. "Josephine, could you ask your people in Orlais to find out anything about the players of the Game?" she asked the ambassador who nodded swiftly and briskly walked out of the room, her heels clicking loudly on the cold floor.

"I will speak to Mother Giselle and see if the Chantry has any records of the Venatori," Cassandra said while bowing, and she excused herself out of the room nippily.

The room fell silent as Cullen and Alysia were the only two people left in it; she briefly looked at Cullen to inspect if his anger at her had subsided. The Commander's shoulders slouched for a moment, but his eyes intently gazed at the map on the table. Unmoving, she shrugged at his posture and saw herself out, leaving the Commander to his duty.

She felt him looking at her as she left the room, wondering if she should have said something to him. Of all the accidental mistakes that she had made, angering Cullen had by far been the worse.

She sat on her bed and looked at her weary face on the stained mirror, she looked far older than she should be, she was after all only 28; the frown lines cemented onto her forehead reminded her of the past that she left behind, when was the last time had she lived her life freely? Truly and genuinely, she could not remember. Was running away a good idea? She knew that they would find out soon enough, and they would come after her and Alysia. She placed the mirror down on her bed and quickly brushed through her curls, feeling a pang of regret for doubting her decision. She knew that in this moment she had to be strong, not just for Alysia, but also for herself.

As she was about to get off her bed, she heard her door slam open, and a nimble creature leaped on to her, pushing her entirely back on to the bed. She recognized its silver locks that splayed all over its back, Aurelia smiled at her sister who buried her face into her chest. She brushed Alysia's hair lightly with her fingers, musing on the fact that despite her age, Alysia's attachment to her had never change ever since they were little girls.

"What's wrong, my love?" she cooed to her sister, who in turn sighed at the question.

Alysia lifted her head up to look at her sister, she gazed intently at her sister's beautiful face, reminding herself that whatever she saw in the distant future would never ever come to pass, not if she could help it. The cold winter breeze filled the comfortable silence in the room; Alysia laid her head on her sister's lap feeling the warmth through her dress seep into hers.

"Hey… you won't leave, will you?" Alysia asked, her eyes staring at the floor.

"And where would I go?" Aurelia asked softly, confused at her sister's unexpected question.

Alysia squeezed her sister's hand gently and smiled weakly at her.

"Thank you," she whispered, her voice shook as the words came out.

Aurelia titled her head sideways at her sister's peculiar behavior.

"Aly, you don't have to thank me. We're family."

Alysia nodded slowly and lifted her head off her sister's lap.

"Only if father looked at it that way," Alysia said while excusing herself out of the room.

Before Aurelia could call out to her sister, Alysia had already walked out of the room, she heard her sister's boots crunch against the snow in the distance, slowly fading with each step. Whatever it was that she had bottled up, it was clearly bothering her. If only she knew what was troubling her, would that have made all the difference in the world?

Alysia sighed quietly as she walked to her cabin; she prayed silently for the images in her head to stop haunting her. As she made her way to the cabin she saw Cullen standing in front of her door, waiting for her. She narrowed her eyes at the Commander who seemed distraught at something, was he going to yell at her again, she wondered. She briskly walked towards the Commander, and called out to him loudly, which served to make the Commander gasp in surprise.

"Herald I'm—", he was stopped by a groaned that escaped the tiny human's lips.

"It's Alysia, Cullen. We've been through a lot, the least you could do is call me by my name?" she asked, pleadingly.

"Yes. Sorry. Alysia," he corrected himself.

"So, what can I do for you?" she asked while quizzically looking up at him. Cullen's let out a forced cough and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand when he saw her scrutinizing him.

"It would be best if we spoke, in private," he said while smiling at her.

"Cullen, you're the only person standing in front of my door. I doubt anyone else will hear us," she said to him, to which she regretted when she saw his face fall for some reason.

She shivered uncomfortably and flexed her gloved hands, "But it's pretty cold out here. Maybe a fire would do me some good," she said while ushering Cullen into her warm room. She sat on her bed while Cullen found himself to fall comfortably on the chair, opposite of her. He felt the fire from the hearth warm him immensely; he found it odd that it was much warmer in here than in his room, even though they were built the same way.

"So, you needed to talk?" she asked, resting her head on her hands.

"Ah, yes," he stopped and scratched him chin, as if thinking of the right words to say to her. "About earlier, I'm sorry for mistrusting you," he said, letting his apology slip out of her nervous lips.

"You were right to. I mean, I deserved it," she said, setting her gaze down on her feet.

Cullen watched her face that was illuminated by a small candle burning by her bedside table. The light flickered against her tanned skin, her brows were knotted together as she stared absently to the floor, and he wondered what was going through her mind. Her long hair was braided partially, little bits of her hair clung to the side of her face, which only made Cullen want to brush it off her face, but he resisted the urge to place his callous fingers over her face. He remembered the night when she was in his room, her slender body lying on his bed. He recalled the way her sweat rolled off her bronze skin, and how she smelt of fresh rain and something sweet. He pushed the thought of her out of his mind as her gaze moved from the floor to his face, eyes full of wonder. He wanted to so badly touch her again, and he had no idea why. They never particularly hit it off ever since they met, so he found these urges to be quite alarming.

"Cullen…?" she whispered his name, while looking up at him.

Cullen sighed and turned his gaze to meet her eyes, feeling her blue eyes grow darker as she stared into his honey eyes.

"Alysia… I'm glad that I –we, didn't lose you," he said. He gulped quietly at his sudden confession, and saw her eyes grow wide at it. He felt his face grow hot at his words, and he mumbled a curse under his breath, wondering why in Maker's name did he say that. He hoped for her to say something, anything, to change the topic. Instead she grinned widely at him and giggled, tossing her head backwards as she let her laugh rip through her.

"Cullen Rutherford, I'm afraid you're stuck with a incompetent Herald like me," she said, while straightening her face to him. She grinned back at the Commander, who smiled sweetly at her. She was caught off guard by his smile, and how it spread across his face so beautifully. Without a large table between them, she realized how handsome this man truly was. He had the most beautiful blonde locks, and to top it all off his honey eyes seemed to burn majestically against the fire in her room. She wanted to reach out to him and trace the stubbles on his jaw, and what a mighty fine jaw he had, she thought. She felt her right arm slowly lifting off her lap as he chuckled at her, his deep voice filling the room entirely.

"I'm sorry for thinking that you were incompetent," he said, grinning at her.

"No! No! I was. I am. I admit. I've been a spoilt and whiny noble, this whole time. So I get why you got mad at me when I chose the mages, especially after what happened to you Kinloch—" she gasped and covered her mouth quickly with her hand when Cullen lifted his eyebrow at her.

"Kinloch…? How do you…who told you about that?" he said, his tone growing deeper.

Alysia shifted uncomfortably on her bed and bit her bottom lip. She turned her gaze back to the Commander who had brows furrowed together.

Just as they were making amends, she had to say something stupid, she thought angrily to herself.

"Ah… I met King Alistair… he told me about what happened. After I went through… time," she said, her voice shaking as she spoke.

Cullen drew a sharp intake of breath and rested his back into the wooden chair.

"So you're not…" he trailed off, figuring out the right words to say.

"No, I'm not judging you. For anything. You did what you had to do, just like me," she murmured to him, sympathizing him for the horrible things he had to go through. And yet, he never showed anyone that he was suffering, she did not know if she should consider it to be truly commendable or stupid, but it made her appreciate his presence in the Inquisition even more.

Cullen smiled weakly at her words, letting it seep into him. He was glad that there was at least one person in this world who did not judge him for hating the mages as he did. But after Kirkwall, and thanks to Varric, his hatred for them lessened, and maybe now because of Alysia, his perception of them might change entirely.

"So… the future with Dorian. Are you...alright?"

Alysia looked up at him, surprised at his concern. He was undoubtedly the first person to ever ask how she was holding up after what Alexius had done to her and Dorian.

"I'm fine," she said while waving her hand at him, in an attempt to dismiss his seriousness. "After all, I seem to be a bad luck magnet anyways. What's another traumatic event going to do?" she said while chuckling darkly at Cullen.

She realized that her humor was in poor taste when Cullen shot her an even more concerned look. She grinned widely at him, as if to show him that will survive this, but she could not tell if he believed her entirely. It was true that whatever happened was terrifying but all she had to do was move on from it and try to be a better Herald for her people.

Cullen looked at her intently and felt sorry for her. She was an unwilling piece in the Inquisition, and still after everything she had been through, she was still willing to stand tall and fight. It was truly admirable.

"Well, I think I'm overstaying your welcome," he said while getting off the chair. He walked towards the door and for a moment he hesitated leaving, he shot her a doleful look when he saw her eyes light slightly with horror.

"If you ever need to talk, you know where to find me," he said, bowing to her before her left the room.

Alysia sat on her bed, feeling dark thoughts slowly crowding her mind. She felt bits of her fall apart at the frightening future; she dreaded thinking about the possibilities that could have befallen everyone right now if Dorian's plan didn't work. How could she live with herself knowing that she had failed everyone? Solas, Bull, Blackwall, and everyone around her now were safe, uncorrupted and free from all the affliction that could have befallen them and it was all because of Dorian. Even right now, the only reason she survived her father's plans was because of her sister, she would've been held up in isolation if her sister had not saved her. She was no Herald of Andraste; she was just a little girl playing pretend in hopes to escape her past.