Evelyn walked slowly, still stiff from her many healing injuries. She wished they had been able to save the few horses they had had at Haven. They had been walking through the snow for two days now, and she was weak. She was doing her best to hide it, pretending she only struggled to move forward because of the depth of the snow, but she frequently had to stop to take a breath. Whenever she did this, the Commander would stop his walking as well and approach her, standing in silence beside her until she continued. Evelyn wondered at his actions, his patience as he watched her feign that she was merely double-checking their route. He almost looked like he was waiting expectantly for her to ask him for help. But her sudden realization in Haven's Chantry about her own feelings made her keep her eyes pointed in the opposite direction, unable to say anything as he stood watch beside her.
At the end of their second day spent walking, Evelyn finally saw that which they sought in the distance. Her breath caught in her throat at the sight; the keep that Solas had described was even larger than she had imagined, frozen and majestic, surrounded by an icy lake and snow capped mountins. She stopped walking, Cullen ever present beside her, and a smile spread across her face as she finally turned to speak to the Commander. "Skyhold…We did it," she breathed.
He turned his gaze to her, his eyes full of wonder. "You did, Herald," he said, his scar quirking up with a grin.
Inquisitor.
It still felt odd to hear, but she found as she walked through the courtyard of Skyhold that everyone she passed seemed eager to greet her with the new title. She looked up at the vast battlements surrounding her, still enchanted with the keep. It was run down, abandoned for several ages, but it was solid and defensible. As she scanned the battlements, she saw Varric waving to her from the ramparts. He gestured for her to join him, and she realized someone was standing behind him, facing away from her.
Evelyn made her way slowly up the stairs to Varric, still recovering her strength from Haven and their journey. When she reached the dwarf, she noticed that he was shifting uneasily, looking guilty.
"The events at Haven jogged my memory a little," he began. "I uh – reached out to a friend, someone who has fought Corypheus before and may be able to help."
Evelyn quirked a brow at him, and he gestured to the person standing beside him, who stood looking out at the mountains.
"Sparkles, er – Inquisitor, I'd like you to meet Marian Hawke, the Champion of Kirkwall," he said.
A small gasp escaped her as she turned to look at the back of the woman who chuckled at Varric's formal introduction. "You know, I don't really call myself that anymore," she told him. Her voice was softer than Evelyn had expected. She watched as the Champion of Kirkwall finally faced her, and was surprised by what she saw. Hawke was tanned, her skin golden and sun-kissed, and her hair, pulled loosely into a bun, was a honey gold that nearly blended into the rest of her. The eyes that looked Evelyn over as though she was sizing her up were hazel, reflecting the sunlight and making Evelyn feel that looking at Hawke was like looking straight into the sun. She was taken aback; in all of Varric's tales of the Champion, he hadn't mentioned how beautiful she was. Evelyn had expected someone tougher and meaner looking based on the stories, rather than this remarkably feminine woman standing before her.
"Inquisitor, is it?" Hawke asked, and Evelyn nodded. "You're right Varric, she is quite young."
Evelyn looked at Varric with her eyebrow raised and the dwarf gave a shrug. "It's true, Sparkles, you're practically a baby." Evelyn folded her arms defensively, feeling self-conscious under Hawke's calculating gaze.
"Varric said you know about Corypheus?" Evelyn asked, trying to change the subject and sound confident as she did so.
"Well, yes, you see – I killed him," Hawke said.
"You what?"
"Maybe you should start at the beginning, Hawke," Varric sighed.