Hope
Returning from defeating Corypheus.
No romance (yet). Spoilers.
Disclaimer: Cullen and most characters are property of Bioware from their DA: Inquisition game. Zima is mine.
Also, I apologize that there's been so much time between chapters, but posting will probably be erratic for a month or so due to Real Life™
Zima walked slowly up the stairs toward the waiting advisers, past the saluting Inquisition soldiers as the crowd cheered in the courtyard, aware that the group who had followed her-already short one member when they entered the gate-had remained behind her at the foot of the stairs. Josephine's months of training had lent remarkable poise under such scrutiny to someone whose life had once relied on avoiding notice. When she reached the landing, she hesitated, blue eyes widening in surprise as Leliana and Cullen bowed, Josephine dropping an elegant curtsy, but she managed an uncertain smile that relaxed when Cullen stepped forward to grasp her hand in a firm handshake of one warrior and leader to another. To the Dalish woman, her friend's reserved smile but intent look expressed his feelings quite well. Corypheus was gone and they were all alive.
Zima stared at the high mountain to the right of the balcony facing outward from Skyhold, watching the sky lighten as the sun approached the peak of the mountain, resting her elbows against the bannister. She could hear the sounds of the celebration continuing in the hall below, noticing that it briefly seemed to be louder then more muffled. Curious to see who had deserted the party and opened her door, she turned toward the open doorway to the balcony, then smiled as she recognized the familiar sound of heavy boots.
"Lavellan?"
She answered the hesitant query briefly, "On the balcony."
Cullen glanced uncertainly around the door to the balcony, Derzka following closely behind him, obviously wondering if he was being too forward, but the warmth of her smile reassured him. While the advisers had occasionally had lunch in her room so they could continue discussing a particular problem or make plans, he'd never come alone or uninvited. And while she knew his quarters were upstairs from his office, she had never seen them more closely than observing the gaping hole in the ceiling from the adjacent tower. It was as if their friendship's boundaries were set at the edges of their private worlds, those little parts of each that could never entirely understand what it was to be human and Dalish. Yet here he was.
"We're not intruding, are we?" Derzka whined briefly, but her training held her in position at his heels, still not fully grown but a far cry from the rambunctious puppy she'd been a few months before.
"No, of course not." She turned back to the railing, leaning against it again. "I was just gathering my thoughts in the quiet after all the celebrating."
Cullen joined her at the railing, crossing his arms and leaning on it next to her to look out at the brightening light. "I was a little worried about you. For someone who just returned in triumph from defeating a would-be god, you seemed a little subdued at the celebration. You aren't…," he paused uncertainly, "you aren't worried by Solas's disappearance, are you?"
"No, I always knew he was only here long enough to deal with the threat Corypheus posed, that he never forgot how much at risk he was as an apostate. Honestly, though I suppose I shouldn't admit it, I'm glad he got a start on anyone who might try to track him down. All he wanted was a chance to go back to his Fade dreaming in peace."
They stood there in companionable silence, Derzka sat down with a disgusted snort that they weren't paying any attention to her. Finally Zima continued. "It's a little much to take in all at once." She shrugged without lifting up from the bannister, her short dark hair whipping around in the breeze, her dark blue eyes protected by the narrow band around her head. "We've been so focused on first the breach, then Corypheus, for months, it feels as if…I don't know, as if I'd been pushing on a log that was blocking the path of our aravels for days until it suddenly gave way and rolled free. Except more." She chuckled softly. "I'm not sure that made sense even to me."
"Actually, it does. I think, though, maybe it's always like that, but the people who are pushing directly are the ones who are left feeling most off balance."
"Off balance, I think that's the phrase I wanted." She laced her fingers together, concentrating on them. "It's strange, but Corypheus was hardly gone and all I could think was what would be the next big problem to deal with."
"There are still problems to deal with, but surely nothing as big as what we've been facing. Though I admit that I'm a bit worried about how some of the more conservative members of the Chantry are going to respond to Leliana as the new Divine."
"Probably not well because no matter how gently she tries to introduce it, the changes she wants are going to threaten their power." He turned his head to watch her profile, her brows drawn together in concentration. "Of course, that's a lot of why they're needed, but I'm very much afraid there'll be violence toward the first elves and dwarves accepted into the priesthood. They have the ability to stir up resentment with the poorest humans who'll feel threatened by any elf with authority. And if a qunari asks to join…"
Cullen continued to study her profile for a few moments, then looked down at the scattered trees, gilded with the reddish gold sunlight. "Do you plan to be one of them?"
"A priest? Me?" Startled, she straightened from the railing. "Cullen, I may be willing to do many things, but I would never be able to live that sort of lie."
Cullen straightened, then reached down to pet Derzka who had managed to wiggle forward enough to be sitting between them. "I wasn't sure, lethallan, you clearly enjoyed the time you studied with Chantry scholars before you joined us, and I know you still talk to them whenever one visits."
"I don't have faith in the Chantry, but I do believe Leliana is the best chance my people have for it to be channeled it into a form that will allow us to coexist, including Andrastrian elves. And unlike most of my people, I can accept that most non-Dalish elves have no wish to be Dalish. Briala is much more a model for them than I can ever be." She sighed, kneeling to scratch a delighted Derzka under the chin. "Sooner or later, I think Orlais will explode again, you know."
"Why do you say that? Briala and Celene seem to be working well together so far, and even if Briala's elevation isn't popular, Josephine says the nobles aren't actively resisting."
The dark-haired woman shrugged. "They have only to be patient. Celene isn't young, she is now tacitly acknowledged to have a female elven lover, and her only close heir, Gaspard, is dead. If I've learned anything from Josephine and Leliana's lessons on the Game, they're beginning to maneuver with the succession in mind. If we're very lucky, Celene will live for another forty years and someone else will have to try to head off a blood bath. And of course, there is whatever is going on with the Wardens, the qunari, Navarre's succession, and Tevinter." The mabari suddenly tried to give her a sloppy dog kiss which she managed to duck with a laugh, standing back up out of reach to the dog's disappointment.
Cullen shook his head, chuckling as he stroked Derzka's head. "I think you're ahead of even Josephine in worrying about the next problems, and this should be your night to celebrate. You gave us all hope, and now you've given us a chance to try to restore order."
"It took the entire Inquisition, lethallin, my part was as much accident as anything else." She rested her forearms back against the railing.
"Nonsense." He rested a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Whether it was providence or accident or some of both, you did everything any of us could have asked." She brought her left hand up to cover his for just a second. "You're still needed with the Inquisition, of course; it may be years before things have stabilized enough to disband it again."
Zima lowered her hand, eyes closed as she enjoyed the feel of the sun directly on her face as it cleared the mountain. "Of course, I'll stay as long as I can and do whatever is needed, but eventually, my clan will recall me to my duty with them."
"Your clan. Of course, I forgot." His hand tightened on her shoulder again for a moment then he clasped his hands on the bannister beside her, his amber eyes on her profile thoughtfully for a moment before gazing back out at the brightly lit trees and the long shadows cast by the sunrise.
Afterword
In DAI the Inquisitor doesn't seem to develop the same kind of close relationships as the Warden or Hawke with their companions. While the romance scenes on the balcony at the end of the game are sweet, I was a little disappointed that there wasn't the option to invite your favorite companion up to chat for those who didn't have a romance interest since friendship is just as valuable (and often longer lasting) in itself.