"He's staring again," Iron Bull commented.

Tessa looked up from the message Josephine sent her, arching a confused brow at Iron Bull. The qunari had been showing her more hand-to-hand combat tricks, in case she ever had her staff taken away from her, and they decided to take a break when the messenger for Josephine came.

Gavin was also helping her train and he was glaring toward the other side of the practice ring toward the tavern.

"He stares too much if you ask me," he grumbled, taking a drink from his waterskin.

Tessa followed her brother's line of sight and her cheeks started to heat up when she saw Cullen standing with some of his soldiers. She huffed and smacked the message down on the bench they were all sitting on. "Will you quit it?! I'm not some wilting flower you need to protect!"

"I caught him looking at your arse one day. And, like I said, he stares too much," the Templar grumbled, ignoring Tessa's complaint.

Tessa huffed and stood up from her spot on the bench. She linked her fingers together and lifted them above her head to stretch.

"Keep doing that, Boss."

The Inquisitor lowered her arms and gave Bull a confused look. "Why?"

"Because it makes your tits look great. And he was staring again. Keep doing that and he might just have to make a move."

Tessa crossed her arms, arching an unamused brow at Bull. Gavin looked like he was about to kill the qunari. "What makes you think he was staring at me? He can't see much from up there."

"Men don't have to be up close to imagine."

"Will you both stop talking about this?!" Gavin seethed, standing up and grabbing his sword and shield.

Bull shrugged and stood to stretch himself. "Ready to go again, Boss?"

They practiced a while longer before Tessa made her way up to Varric. She didn't bother getting cleaned up yet. She had some time before she had to be at the war room and she knew Varric wouldn't care if she was a little sweaty and dirty.

"Varric! You said you had another lead on red lyrium mines? And when is this contact of yours supposed to arrive?" she asked, leaning forward to rest her hands on the table.

The dwarf set his quill down and pulled some letters out of his pocket. "Yeah, there's more than we anticipated too. It's going to be a bitch to find them all and destroy the lyrium there. And don't worry, she'll be here soon."

The Inquisitor hummed in thought as she read the letters. She saw what red lyrium did to the Templars at Therinfal Redoubt and she heard enough horror stories from Varric. She was determined to use the Inquisition's resources to destroy as much of the stuff as they could.

Unfortunately, Tessa could only think about what Iron Bull mentioned at the moment. She glanced down at Varric, remembering that he seemed to notice everything. "Varric, can I ask you an honest question?"

"Sure, I can't guarantee an honest answer."

Tessa sat down across from him and glanced around to make sure no one was near the table. She leaned closer to him. "Iron Bull says that the Commander stares at me frequently. Is this true?"

The biggest grin suddenly came to the dwarf's face. "I tried telling you this in Haven, but you wouldn't listen. Curly has a crush on you. Why did Tiny tell you this, if I may ask?"

Tessa pouted a little, drumming her fingertips on the top of the table. Varric had told her that Cullen liked her many times, but she assumed he was joking. Then again, Josephine told her the same thing. "Cullen was apparently staring at me while Iron Bull and I were practicing one-on-one combat."

"He stares at you when you're doing anything," Varric laughed. He glanced toward the door leading to the war room. "Like now."

Tessa turned her head toward where her throne sat so she could look out of the corner of her eye. Sure enough, Cullen was standing near the door leading to that hallway, talking to Captain Rylen.

She turned back to Varric. "No he's not. He's working with-"

"You didn't see him 10 seconds ago."

Tessa bit her lip and glanced over toward Cullen again. She had accepted the fact that she had a crush on the Commander since the moment she met him, but she had hoped that it would go away as their friendship grew.

The opposite seemed to happen, which was not good at all.

The Inquisitor tried to remember all of the little annoying things Cullen did. Like how his office and his space at the war table was a mess. Or how he would seem to forget to call her by her name constantly when they were alone. Or how he always did more than what was needed for anything. She also remembered their conversation about Kirkwall when she was upset at some point in Haven. He had let horrible things happen while he was there and he admitted to doing so, with much guilt.

She inwardly groaned when she realized that all of these things were irrelevant in the end.

None of those things, not even the last thing, made the idea of being with him less appealing. They obviously had a good friendship and Tessa found herself wanting to take the next step further every time they were alone.

But she couldn't do that.

The reminder that she was a mage and he used to be a Templar would smash that idea to pieces whenever she thought of it. It was enough to keep her quiet and not say how she was truly beginning to feel. She couldn't be with someone who could never fully trust her. And Maker knows how you would react to...intimate things, a snide voice reminded in her head.

"Books."

Tessa whipped her head around and gave Varric a confused look. "What?"

"Your nickname. I notice that you hide in the library a lot now. And I always catch you with one somewhere around here," Varric explained with a triumphant grin.

All thoughts of Cullen aside, Tessa smiled. "I like that one. Much better than Red or Glowy."

"Thought you would like it."