Skyhold
What no one had told Kallian was how Skyhold was more than a castle; it was a small city. A village thrived outside of the towering walls, everything from food to wares available before you were even past the gates. She realized this was mostly soldiers and their families, but she wondered how many of them had been mere refugees before signing up for service. There was immense cheering as their caravan passed through the throngs of people in the massive war camp, deafening her sensitive elven ears to the point of wincing. These people certainly loved their Inquisitor, and the Inquisition itself.
She was riding with a heavier leather coat with a fur lining, hood pulled up over her ears to protect them from the bitter cold. She'd found an old horse blanket at their last camp for Little, who was still happily trotting along, tossing an upbeat bark every now and again. What she didn't expect was the giant lift upwards, taking them up to the main marketplace of the small city. She'd left the horse down below to have its own ride up to the stables, so it was just her crowded into the thing with her knapsack and her dog, along with a gaggle of other people she completely ignored.
There was far too much on the elf's mind to care to talk to Isabela, no matter how the pirate had tried on the way there. It was like one drunk mistake had come back to haunt her over ten years later with that one. She had to give the woman some credit, though; she had learned a lot from her, in bed and out. But her not-so-subtle hints at a replay was the farthest thing in her desires. She had a whole goddamned five years to makeup for with one woman, to hell with two more.
The only voice that broke through was Oghren, who gave her a nudge. "You all right, girl?"
She nodded. "As all right as I could be, old man. You off to the tavern?"
"As soon as I find the ruddy thing."
Kallian made a motion at Isabela. "Follow her, I'm sure she's headed that way."
"Go find your songbird. You know where I'll be." He patted her on the shoulder and moved on, ignoring Isabela in favor of following the flow of foot traffic, yelling for directions from the vendors. All she could do was shake her head fondly.
The Inquisitor was back on her feet, moving through the crowd in the marketplace flanked by her lover, her twin, the Seeker, Iron Bull, and the Tevinter mage. Her elven hearing was catching the argument being had between the two Trevelyans and Pentaghast, something about the Inquisitor not drinking. It made the former Warden snort. Let someone try to tell her when she could and couldn't drink, injury or not. Or, well, before... when she still drank.
It was when that chatter completely stopped- the entire courtyard went silent, for that matter- that Kallian's attention was drawn to a hooded figure hurrying down the steps that the Inquisitor and her party were about to ascend. They split down the middle and allowed the figure to pass with wide eyes, no one speaking, almost no one breathing. Her true confusion was how the cowled person's direction seemed to steamroll straight for her at the bottom of the steps. At the absolute last second, Kallian recognized that the porcelain face below the hood was framed in bright red hair.
Time came to a standstill, and the only sounds that were filtering through it were the nickers of the horse in the stables to the back of the market. Leliana had aged, but she was still beautiful. She still made Kallian's heart stop. But the look on the bard's face was not a welcoming one. When it became clear that Leliana did not plan to speak to her, Kallian opened her mouth to say something just to break the tension. Not a syllable had formed before a gloved hand shot up and a resounding crack echoed off of the stone walls around them.
Then the spymaster turned on her heel and fled back up the stairs the way she came without a single look back. Kallian slowly raised a hand to her stinging jaw, working it gently to make sure it wasn't broken. The hit had made her see stars, and when her vision cleared she saw the Inquisitor's party standing there staring at her. She gave them a shrug, pulling her knapsack further up her shoulder.
"Deserve worse, to be honest," she called up to them unashamedly. She knew she deserved more than that, and was thankful there was no dagger in her hand when she struck.
"Some things never change, eh, Tabris?" Isabela's croon floated past her as the pirate moved past towards the stairs, as well.
"Yeah, like your shite sense of humor," Tabris shot back, coupling the words with a middle finger that made the pirate laugh.
She didn't stick around to hear the rest of the cackle that begun, only slapped her thigh for Little to follow her as she made her way towards the stables. She found that Warden, Blackwall, unpacking a bag in the lower region of the barn. "Oi, this whole space taken? Doesn't look like I'm gonna be kipping in the castle any time soon."
The shem regarded her with a calculating stare. "There's a loft. But there's also other rooms. I sleep here because it's convenient. That-" he pointed out to the market where the slapped had occurred, "seemed like it had real feeling. Might wanna look into that, little one."
Kallian's face screwed up into a pained expression before she could help it. "Been dealin' with that for a while. I know when to let her cool off. If I went after her right now, she'd stab me."
"Fair enough. Blackwall." He held out his hand, and Kallian grasped it, shaking his hand once before releasing.
"Kallian Tabris." The half cocked grin he gave her told her knew full well who she was. "How long have you been a Warden?"
"Too many years to count at this point." He turned his back to her dug in his knapsack again. "Longer than you."
"Where were you during the Blight, then? Pretty sure we were all wiped out except me and Alistair, then Riordin. The three of us could have used an extra hand in Denerim. Especially an experienced one."
"I was in the south of Ferelden during the Blight. Killed my fair share of the darkspawn."
Kallian watched him for a second, wondering how they had missed a whole Warden in that mess, especially because every known Warden in Ferelden died at Ostagar when Loghain betrayed them. If what he was saying were true, he was a deserter, or he wasn't a Warden at all... especially considering how the south had fallen to the blight so quickly. She raised an eyebrow at him. "Ah, I see, mate. Who was your recruiter? We may have kin amongst the blood."
She watched his shoulders stiffen, and he cleared his throat a bit before he answered. "He was dead before you were a Warden. A long time ago."
"Answered the call, eh? You're getting close, huh? Surprised you weren't right out there with the rest of us. When did you actually Join? Took the fateful jump into a chalice?" She decided to not let this man know she was no longer a Warden, because the more she spoke to him, the more she didn't believe he was one, either.
"Ah, I was young. Maybe on seventeen, eighteen years now."
She nodded. "Eh, you've got a few years to go, no big deal. Enjoy all this while we can, yeah?" A quick furrow of the man's eyebrows confirmed it for her. "Until then, we can sit back and enjoy the song. What's that like for you?"
"Elves from Ferelden seem to like to talk." It was a forced chuckle, but it sounded off in his throat. Kallian's ears twitched at the noise, noting the nervousness underlying the deflection.
"Any distraction from the mess I have to clean up is welcome. Even if it's bugging the beard off of you. You got plenty left, though, mate, so don't worry. But I'll let you get back to what you're doing." She gave a small wave of her hand and motioned to Little again to follow her.
"That's a nice dog, Warden Tabris."
The words made her pause, and Little gave him a grin. "She is, ser, thank you. She's more Warden than you or I, as well. Brave girl that she is," Kallian murmured fondly, scratching the dog behind an ear. She would have said the same of her best friend even if she'd still carried the taint. But as soon as she said it, she regretted it because of its implications that she suspected something. He didn't seem to notice it, though, believing himself to have played the part well enough to pass.
He hadn't.
There was just something missing about him. She couldn't tell you what it was, but it wasn't there. She made a note to bring it up with Leliana once... well, if... they talked and things were simmering down. Whatever he was hiding had to wait. She had things to do before she could deal with it, and he didn't seem like he was up to anything in particular. It didn't feel like a pressing matter, just odd that a man might pretend to be a Grey Warden in an organization that seemed to take anyone into their ranks.
Kallian went on up the dusty stairs to the loft of the barn, pleased to see the hay clean and dry, at least. The barn wasn't as biting as the walk up the mountain, but it was still chilly without a fire, and she did not see a fireplace here. She sighed as she watched Little go right to work making a bed for herself in the hay, turning circles and moving it around with her snout. She was jealous of how easy it was for the mabari to flop down on her left side and give the largest sigh of contentment she had ever heard from the canine.
"Does that mean I'm on my own, then?" She raised an eyebrow at the way the dog gave her a one eyed side look. "Fine then. I'll bring you back something from dinner, when I find it."
The dog gave a wag of her tail, then sent still as her breathing began to even out as she relaxed. The walking today had taken its toll on her, and the poor girl needed the rest. Kallian grabbed her bag with her last set of clean clothes, making a note to find a wash board after she found a bathhouse. There had to be one somewhere. Maybe after a bath, some laundry, and some food, she would find Leliana. Maybe by then she wouldn't kill her on sight.
"Inquisitor, I really don't think it wise. You should listen to your sister." Cassandra's voice was grating on Evelyn's nerves. The Seeker had picked up right where she had left off when Leliana had appeared to knock the holy shit out of Tabris, then disappeared back among the rafters of the library tower. "You're nearly healed; why put that progress at risk for inebriation? Knowing what you do of what we still must do, and soon?"
Evelyn looked at her like she was nuts and fought the urge to lift up her shirt to show that she wasn't even in a bandage now. The damn wound was more pink scar than cut now, and it was barely even noticeable as she moved with ease. "You're both paranoid, that's why. It's all but gone. I have a clear docket tomorrow, and I plan to celebrate my arrival back at the castle."
"Oh, no, you don't!" Ellen was wagging a finger at her, shaking her head. "You and Sera will both get drunk, and then the other rule will be broken repeatedly. You've both been so good that I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop."
Sera started to snicker and shot a glance at Evelyn, who smirked back at her. "Bottle or not, I'm throwing that damn shoe across the room tonight; along with her clothes."
Bull roared with laughter, while Cass and Ellen gave simultaneous exasperated sighs, and Sera gave her a light slap to her upper arm. "Don't tell the world, you tit," her imp hissed at her, elbowing her for good measure.
"At least let us give you one more round of healing before you throw it all away, I suppose," Ellen grumbled in light frustration. "Could you please go to your quarters and let Beth and I meet you there within the hour?"
"An hour? Maker's balls, I'm not getting any younger, El. What the hell do you need an hour for? Wait, never mind, don't answer that." She added that last bit when Ellen's face went turned a little red when she asked.
"Maker, it's not- look, I need a fucking drink, too, you know?" She gave a frustrated gesture towards the tavern, and Evelyn rolled her eyes.
"Hypocrite," she grumbled, and Ellen rolled her eyes back at her.
"Almost died!" Her twin whispered fiercely, eyes alight and her finger jabbing Evelyn in the shoulder hard. "Stressed out healer with a pig-headed patient!" She poked herself in the chest. "You tell me who needs the drink, Evelyn."
"If neurotic and overbearing defines 'stressed', then by all means, go drink yourself into a stupor, Ellen." Evelyn flung a hand in dismissal, over the constant bickering they'd done the past few days. It was like the closer they got to Skyhold, the worse the mothering had gotten. Ellen and Bethany both had proven to be the hovering type, and it was driving Evelyn crazy. She'd lived almost twenty-three summers without a mother, she did not need two now. "It's worth being shuttered to my quarters if it means I'll be rid of you lot in my ear."
The Inquisitor continued up the stairs without looking to see if anyone followed, seething just a bit. She did need space, if just for a little while, but she hoped that Sera was at least tagging along. She wouldn't feel terribly if the imp were her only company for the rest of the evening. In fact, the more she thought on it, the more preferable it would be. She finally gave a look over her shoulder, calling back down to Ellen. "I'll not need your services tonight, after all. I'll stay to my quarters, but only under the order I not be disturbed unless someone is dying."
She did not wait for the answer, she reached back and grabbed Sera's hand, tugging just bit so the woman would follow her as she jogged up the remainder of the steps. "And that," she grinned to Sera as they got out of earshot, "is how you get a whole night to ourselves without so much as a pin drop. Now they think it was a compromise."
Sera blew a raspberry, chuckling under her breath. "You're a loony. Now how are we gonna get a friggin' bottle? I wanna sleep tonight."
Evelyn squeezed down on the elf's hand. "You're gonna go get two of them later, once Ellen and Bethany have had time to relax. And as far as sleeping, that makes two of us. Between this thing and your nightmares, we're a pair in a bedroll. I am hoping that damned feather stuffed Orlesian monster will change that."
"Yessss," Sera hissed in relief. "Of all the bloody things I'm happy about, it's a friggin' rich tit mattress."
The Great Hall was packed full of people awaiting her arrival, and Evelyn gave a jerk when she poked her head around the corner to see them all lining the walls, "Shit. We're going invisible."
"What? How do you still have your powders?" Sera watched her open her leather coat and reach into one of the interior pockets to produce two vials. "You haven't had a potion maker in weeks."
"I had more than enough when we left, and I've been down for almost three weeks. Here, take one. I'm going to show you how to use them, because I want you to start carrying them, too. Pinch the top. Now, snap your fingers on it as you throw it down. Very good." Both of them were now no more than shimmers of light as the alchemy did its job.
"Oh, I can have fun with this," Sera whispered gleefully, and Evelyn blindly reached for her hand again, leading her on. "Cook won't know what hit her."
"Shh." Evelyn shushed her, giving a light squeeze of warning but smiled regardless. They went directly up the middle of the Hall, no one noticing the shimmers, too wrapped up in their conversations to pay any attention to anything not announced. No one noticed the door to the Inquisitor's tower opening, either. Once it was shut behind them, Evelyn let go of a breath. "Home safe."
"Finally. Let's have a bath, yeah?"
Evelyn shook her head, then remembered that Sera couldn't see her do so. "No, I can't soak this, yet. Still on sponge baths for now, but I can do that while you soak. I'll keep you company." She let the suggestion hang in the air, already fantasizing about what else that could lead to. She wasn't joking with what she had said to Ellen. They had only behaved because they were on the move. Ellen didn't know about the knee incident in the carriage, and she planned to keep it that way. But this had been planned since that failed.
The fire in her quarters was burning brightly, a large stack of fresh wood beside it. Her Orlesian monstrosity of a bed looked inviting, but she wanted to have the road washed off of her before she threw herself into it. The doors to both balconies had been pulled shut to keep out the wind, and her bones were grateful for the gesture. There was a thudding sound that echoed as both rogues dropped their bags onto the stone floor. The powder was beginning to fade, and when Sera reappeared she was standing at the top of the steps.
"You fill the tub, I'll get food and bottles. Don't wanna have to go back later."
Evelyn watched her disappear down the stairs and felt a swooping sensation in her belly. It made her smile as she glanced at the ill-used bed waiting with fresh linen. As nice as the presentation and gesture was, she couldn't wait to ruin it later.
Fingertips rubbed through Sera's wet hair, massaging the skin of her scalp with the scented soaps left in the Inquisitor's private bath, and the feeling was unlike anything she had ever experienced. It was more than just anyone washing her hair, too. That's what made it grand. Her knees were pulled up to her chest in the water, her arms wrapped around them with her eyes closed, fully focused on the movement of her lover's fingers. Neither of them had spoken for a while, and Evelyn had begun to bathe her without really asking, with no more than holding her hand out for the cloth Sera had been using.
It had felt... private. Like, personal. Like when they were doing it, but maybe even more private. It gave her that same sense of warmth, like a blanket. Even without the talk, maybe even because they weren't talking, everything just felt... deeper. No need to talk, really, everything had been said since Evelyn had woken. So all Sera wanted to do was enjoy the moment, like Shiny had said in the carriage. Make every moment count with her.
"Did you fall asleep, imp?" The words caressed her ear in a light whisper, the coolness of Evelyn's breath on her wet neck making her shiver.
"No. Just feels good." She couldn't sleep if she tried. She had tried. And only succeeded in naps that were broken up with her jerking awake and quaking in Evelyn's arms from nightmares. Nightmares that Shiny didn't... she couldn't think about it. They had started in Adamant, but she wasn't surprised. She had figured them to go away when Evelyn woke up, but they had staunchly remained there for her return every night.
"Time to rinse, love."
Sera gave another shiver at the newly instated pet name, grinning to herself as she held her breath and quickly dunked under the water. When she came back up, she pushed her hair out of her eyes and saw Evelyn ready with a clean towel, holding it open for her. She took it gratefully and immediately dried her face then her hair, giving a grin again when she saw how Shiny's eyes were following the rivulets of water rolling down her body.
"See something you like?" She was teasing, and Evelyn raised an eyebrow at her words as she stepped away to allow her room to climb out of the tub.
"Not at all." The words were murmured in a low tone as the human took a step back towards her. She was still naked from her own basin bath earlier, and not afraid to press her dry skin against the wetness. "I see everything I love."
Heat flooded Sera's neck and chest, spreading across her cheeks as she gave a half chuckle, half sigh. "Honey tongue."
"With plenty of honey left... care to taste some?" She nudged her nose against Sera's, lightly brushing her lips across hers.
The words... always with the friggin' words, this one. Didn't care about them ever, but... she makes me care.
Sera didn't answer with words. She merely opened her mouth the next time Evelyn's lips were on hers, and whimpered with the first touch of her tongue to hers. No soldiers walking by, no moving carriage, the wound almost gone...
Have to be careful with her, that's all.
She felt Evelyn slide the towel from around her shoulders and heard it fall at her feet in the little room. Warm hands replaced it, kneading the muscles of her shoulders softly as they kissed. She felt herself being walked backwards and into the bedroom proper with Evelyn not breaking away once to see where they were going. Sera's own hands found themselves on the assassin's hips to steady herself as they moved the thirty feet or so from the tub to the bed.
It was hard to say who fell onto the perfectly made duvet first, but Sera knew for a fact it was her fists that pulled it loose; Evelyn's mouth left hers and took the slowest path across familiar territories, ignoring the impatient squirm of Sera's hips beneath her. The assassin kissed all across her chest and her stomach, nibbling lightly at her navel and the jut of her hip bones. She eventually placed herself on her front between Sera's legs, so it was easy for her to pause, prop her chin on the thief's mound, and just look at her.
"Whazzat?" Sera released the fist full of covers in her left hand to reach down and touch the side of Evelyn's face. "You okay, Shiny?"
A smile spread across Evelyn's face, and any worries Sera had drowned in her arousal. "I'm better than okay. I'm just enjoying a view I haven't had in far too long. Forgive me."
Sera blushed, but played it off with a giggle as she let her head fall back against the bed. A light bite to the inside of her thigh made her squirm. A stroke of fingers down the entirety of her slit made her shiver. She raised her head again to look down at the human just as she lowered her mouth to her her, and sealed her lips over the little throbbing bit. A flash of her tongue against the sensitive place made Sera's eyes roll backwards as her thighs shook. She bit her lip to ground herself, then reached down to thread her fingers through Evelyn's dark mane, holding her head still while her hips began to move.
Evelyn wrapped her arms around Sera's thighs and pulled them further apart as her mouth went just a bit lower, her tongue pushing into the elf with a hum of what could only be described as happiness. When one hand released Sera's thigh to replace her tongue a minute later, she hooked that leg around Evelyn's shoulder, the heel of her foot finding a home in the woman's shoulder blade. Two fingers slid inside and twisted up against the spot on her front wall, and her heel dug into the crevice of Evelyn's shoulder blade as she gave the loudest cry, yet.
Between the quick dashes of Evelyn's tongue on her little nub, and the increasing pace of the hand inside of her, Sera was pulling her own hair now with both hands. That tightness in her lower belly was spreading to her legs, and the bottoms of her feet were tingling in an embarrassingly short amount of time.
Almost lost this. The best thing I've ever had, and she was...
Despite how close to coming she was, her chest seized on the thought of Shiny dying and she instinctively reached down to haul Evelyn up to hug her tightly. Sera kissed her hard before the human had time to question her; but when Evelyn pulled back to see the tears gathered over Sera's eyes, she didn't have to. That was one of the best things about Shiny. She just knew sometimes. Sera didn't have to spill her guts, and instead of talking about it, Shiny just did something.
Like now, when she kissed around Sera's jawline as her hand began to move again inside of her. The heat of Evelyn's nudity against hers was satisfying in more than one way, something like being cold and then finding a blazing bonfire; like picking the fanciest of locks and getting the best loot. And up here, their hips were aligned with Evelyn's wrist between them, an advantage the human immediately used. The thrusts became harder, her wrist rubbed Sera's sweet spot just right outside while Evelyn's fingertips matched it inside. The tingling feeling in the bottoms of her feet was back, exacerbated by the panting whisper in her ear while Evelyn's lips traced its shell.
"You're so beautiful like this; I feel like I'm kneeling at an altar."
The words made Sera's everything physically tremble, a fact not missed by the woman inside of her. The elf felt the grin spread on Evelyn's mouth against her ear. But when Evelyn lifted her face to look at her, she saw it wasn't smug or arrogant. It was genuine, and it made Sera's heart stutter so that she felt the need to kiss it away just so her heart would start again.
"Every breath you exhale... every whimper and moan you give. It sounds like the canticles of my soul if they were ever given voice. I love you as I have never loved another, my imp."
Maker, the words, the friggin' words. They did it, had the exact affect the assassin wanted them to. Her muscles had tautened. Her entire core was throbbing incessantly with the careful precision being shown, those two fingers making such an obscenely wet noise as they moved in and out of her. Her stomach flexed as her hips shot upwards into Evelyn's next thrust, her legs locked around the woman's waist in a vice grip. She buried her face into the crook of Evelyn's neck to muffle the cry she made, then bit down into the cord of her shoulder hard to quieten it further as her eyesight went completely white.
Sera had known she needed this, known she missed it. Living it again now, with no more silence between them, was so much more than she expected. The ragged hiss of air that escaped Evelyn's lips when Sera bit her sent a smaller shock wave through her core, and her jaw flexed on the flesh in her mouth as her hips continued to jerk. Evelyn brought her down slowly until they were both still, and Sera released her hold on her shoulder. She also realized that she had embedded her nails into her shoulder blades, in essence causing her to be completely wrapped around her.
"Sorry." She whispered it in a raw voice as her limbs melted into the mattress.
"I'm not." The fond tone of the answering whisper made a lazy smile tug at the archer's mouth. "I'm honored. Do it again next time; I'll beat Ellen's ass if she tries to heal them away."
"Only if you tag me, too. Miss it." Sera let a finger trace over the imprint of her teeth in Evelyn's skin, biting her lip in want when the woman shivered under the touch. She wanted to touch other places, but she was mindful of the scab pressed against her abdomen even now. "How's your side, Shiny?"
Evelyn gave a thoughtful look, then pulled her hand free of Sera, rolling off of her to look down over the healing scar. "Seems okay, doesn't hurt, really." She caught Sera staring at it with her, and was quiet for a moment. "Does it bother you?"
Sera's eyebrows drew together. "Whatcha mean?"
Evelyn made a vague gesture at her naked torso. "It isn't as pretty as it used to be."
Sera pushed herself up on her elbow, letting a hand come out to lay on top of Evelyn's on the bed. "It's different, yeah. But trust me... it's still pretty, Shiny." She watched a blush bloom over the Inquisitor's cheeks, and it made her belly do a little flip. "Just don't wanna push it."
Evelyn gently rolled Sera over onto her back once more, only this time she straddled her thighs, letting her wet sex rest against her as she rolled her hips a bit. "If you don't touch me, I'll touch myself right here and make you watch."
"That's not really a threat, Shiny."
"I bet you fifty sovereigns that you couldn't last five minutes watching before you tried to touch." A smug little grin tugged up on one corner of Evelyn's mouth as she bent down to kiss Sera teasingly.
"Pfft, not takin' that bet." Her hands were already running down Evelyn's sides to get a grip on her ass. "I'm not a loony."
A hand cupped her jaw. "I disagree. I think you're the best kind of loony. You'd have to be, to fall in love with me."
Not like that part was hard. Just happened. But maybe that's what she means?
Before Sera could reply, a loud knock came from the door at the bottom of the steps, and Evelyn growled. "I told them not to bother me. I'm not answering it." A stubborn poke of her bottom lip spoke volumes of her stance, but Sera shook her head. As much as she wanted to keep Evelyn to herself, she was the Inquisitor.
"You gotta." Sera gave a slight push on her chest, and Evelyn groaned as another knock sounded off.
"I know." She sighed deeply, placing a kiss on the tip of Sera's nose. "We'll come back to this."
Then she was out of the bed, slipping into her long robe, tying it at the waist. Sera slipped back into the bathroom to dress herself, but she could still hear Josephine's voice as the woman topped the stairs.
"I am truly sorry to bother you on your first night back, Your Worship. But I have a letter you must see, and I must know how you want me to proceed."
Sera hurried and pulled her shirt over her head, wondering what was so important that the ambassador herself came to the Inquisitor, rather than sending a messenger. She came out of the wash room just in time to see Evelyn's hands crush a piece of paper in closed fists. "When did this arrive?" Her tone was angry, and it made Sera's feet stop. She hadn't heard that sort of anger since the night Evelyn cut Seggrit.
"With this evening's post. Leliana had it sent to me straightaway."
"He did not even ask for an invitation. He just declared he is coming." Evelyn's throat worked up and down as she looked at the paper again, and Sera took a step closer to her.
"What's goin' on?" She asked it quietly, looking over Evelyn's shoulder at the scrawl on the paper. Her eyes made it to the bottom, read the signature, and felt her eyes go wide. It was Shiny's father. "What's it say?"
"He is on his way here with my brother, to congratulate me on my victory at Adamant. I call bullshit. Our outright ignoring him before spurred this."
Sera read over the script, rolling her eyes at his pompousness, wondering as she always did how Shiny was even his daughter to start. She could say the same of Ellen, now that she knew the mage better. Neither of the twins held that noble tit attitude the man that wrote the letter had.
"Do nothing. Let him come. Do not break routine for him, be polite and formal, do not treat him as if he are a valued guest. Business as usual, and ignore him when we can. His superiority complex will get the best of him before long and he will leave." Evelyn turned and strode to the desk, picking up one of the bottles of whiskey Sera had brought earlier, uncorking it for a long chug while Sera and Josephine watched silently. "I'd like to see Maxwell, at any rate."
Josephine gave her a nod in response. "It will be as you wish, Evelyn. The finished guest rooms in the Inquisitor's tower are assigned, except the last on the bottom floor. Should I accommodate your brother there in your father's stead?"
Evelyn nodded, taking another swallow of the liquor. "Yes, and make sure his every need is met. However you treat my father, see that Max gets my own." She went to her dresser and began to pull out clothes. "I have to find Ellen. She needs to know about this." She shot a look over her shoulder at Sera. "As do you and Bethany. It's time for our first official family meeting, imp."
Family meeting? She decided not to ask about it in front of Josephine, and only gave Shiny a shrug and nod in response.
"I can have your sister sent here, if you would like. I find this is the most private room in the castle." Josie sent a silent message with her eyes that Evelyn and Sera both caught: they would be unable to avoid ears anywhere else, if anything untoward would be said.
Her lover paused in gathering her garments, mulling over the suggestion. "That would suffice. Have her and Bethany both come with haste, please?"
"It will be done. I'll leave you to the evening now, and we will catch up after the meeting tomorrow." She paused, then gave another nod before she descended the stairs. "And I am pleased you came back to us well, Inquisitor."
Evelyn gave her a smile. "Thank you, Josie. Good eve."
Once the door closed at the bottom of the steps, Evelyn crumpled a bit with her clothes in hand, looking down at them helplessly. Sera felt her heart swell, and her feet were already moving for the stationary human before she even realized. She wrapped her arms around her from behind to pull them flush, then Evelyn turned around to bury her face in Sera's neck as her arms came around her. They didn't speak; again an instance that they didn't have to. She just stood there and hugged her in silence until Evelyn reluctantly pulled away.
"They'll be here soon. I should be dressed. And I think I'm gonna need another bottle after this, so we're sneaking off to the tavern later, and we'll sleep in your room tonight."
Sera nodded, feeling unsure of what to say or do. This kind of thing never really happened in her life, unless you counted the will Lady Emmald made, but no. That wasn't the same thing. Gold and blood were different, but what did she know about blood family? She watched Evelyn change, trying not to let her thoughts show on her face. Would she marry into Evelyn's family? Did falling in love make that... a thing? And if it were a thing... would it be a good thing? A bad thing?
Would she take her name?
Sera Trevelyan.
The look on her face at the thought must have been something else, because when Evelyn next glanced at her, she did a double take. "You all right, Sera?"
"What? Yeah. I'm... I'm fine. Are you okay, Shiny?" It was equal parts deflection and genuine concern, so it was easy to pass off whatever her face had been screaming when that surname attached to her name floated through her mind for the first time.
The human gave a shrug, her dark hair falling over her face to hide it as she looked away. "I suppose I should say I'm surprised, but the more I think on it, the more I realize I'm not surprised at all." She gave a dry chuckle. "I told Josephine to ignore his letters when he wrote them at Haven, before I was Inquisitor. I should have known how insulting it would be to him for that to happen, and then for me to become not only the Herald of Andraste, but the Inquisitor, as well? Blasphemy."
"Will you see him? When he gets here?" Sera didn't know what possessed her to ask that, but she wanted to know. She had to mentally prepare for that, because she would be damned if she sent Shiny in alone to that monster.
Evelyn looked back at her, bluish green eyes flashing from behind the fall of hair. "Oh, yes," she said quietly, inclining her head. "I'll see him. I'm all for second chances now, being the Herald and all. But I trust him to fall gravely short of my expectations. And I also expect him to order an attempt on my life, if only to pose Maxwell. But he's sloppy and cowardly. Poison, likely. Maybe an assassin, but not one worth shit because he would never spend the coin for a proper one."
The human crossed the room to where she'd left the whiskey on the desk, and Sera followed to pick up the other one beside it that remained corked. The elf stared down at the bottle in her hands, turning it over as she thought to herself. "I'd kill him first."
She didn't really mean to say it out loud, but it was true. She would put an arrow between his eyes before he could lay a hand on Evelyn ever again.
A sad smile answered her quiet declaration. "That is one death I cannot relinquish to anyone but the Maker. If murder is how he dies, it will be by my hand, not yours or anyone else's imp. However," she added with a glint of mischief in her eyes now, "feel free to give him a nice Red Jenny welcome."
Sera gave her a devilish grin in return, a sort of satisfaction rolling over her. She recognized it immediately as vengeance. Her answer to everything Shiny had ever told her in private about the man that had sired her. "The shite stain piss bucket won't know what hit him."
Kallian Tabris was a born fighter. It had been ingrained in her from birth, a trait inherited from the mother she never truly knew. She had a sense of fear, she had a sense of self preservation. She could also take care of herself against the largest and most intimidating of opponents, no matter how suffocating her fear would be.
But she never thought to feel that choking fear in regards to Leliana.
She had bathed, fed, and downed some water. It was easy to find directions to where she could find the spymaster, once she'd been pointed towards Josephine Montilyet. The ambassador to the Inquisition had been not much more than a girl when Kallian last saw her, but she had developed into quite the woman. Her manners had not changed, and her smile was as charming as it ever was, trained in the ways of an Orlesian finishing school with that natural talent of setting one at ease in her presence.
She could only imagine the team she and Leliana made in a negotiation.
"Ah, Warden Tabris!" Josephine gave her a smile and a dip of her head as she approached her in her office. Her desk was littered with parchment, letters and ink wells. She went right back to whatever she was scribbling until Kallian came to a stand still in front of her.
"Lady Montilyet. It's been a long time. I am glad to find you well." She gave a glance at the large room around her, lit by sconces and a roaring fire to combat the natural chill of the castle itself. She could only imagine what a native Antivan felt like in the colder temperatures she herself had grown up accustomed to. "And that you have done well, Ambassador. This is a nice set up the Inquisition has."
Josephine inclined her head once more. "I thank you, Warden. But I'm sure I am not the reason you came to Skyhold, no?" It was a gentle prompt, not rude at all, but it still made Kallian's ears warm.
She rubbed the back of her neck, fighting the urge to touch her cheek where Leliana had slapped her before. "Er... no, not exactly."
Josephine's next smile was kind, if sympathetic. "You'll find her in her office in the rookery. I am afraid she rarely leaves her post."
"Rookery?"
An elegant finger gestured to the door she'd entered from. "There is a door directly across the main hall. Go up the flight of stairs there and take a left at the top. There is another flight of stairs that will take you up the the third floor, and that is where Leliana works."
Kallian allowed her eyes to follow in the direction Josephine had indicated and gave her grateful nod. "Thanks, Lady."
The moment Josephine's door shut behind her, she swallowed hard and bent her head down to look at her feet. They had suddenly become leaden, and her heart felt the weight of it, as well. It still baffled her that the desired outcome of her entire quest was turning out to be the hardest part, including swallowing the putrid milk of a shriek broodmother. That all of it could have been for nothing?
No. Not nothing. Even if she turns me away, I still did it for us. I did it to be free to be with her. But I won't know if I don't take my cowardly arse up to face her.
That was how she found herself at a standstill at the foot of the last set of steps leading up into the rookery where she could hear the calls of birds. It was as if every fear she had buried over the past five years presented itself at once, bombarding her to the point that she did not know if she could even take another step. It all came back to what she would do if Leliana didn't want her. If she had broken her bard for good when she left. If it wasn't something she could fix. She couldn't breathe under the pressure of those thoughts, so she tried to swallow them back with deep breaths and the reminder that no matter the outcome, she still had to do this. Be it for comfort or closure, they both needed this.
What if she doesn't want me? What if she really does hate me? Did I break her? Maker, please… I know we do not speak as often as we should, but no less do I try to have faith in your will… but please, just this once, can your will be that she still loves me? Everything I did, I did for us. You know my heart, and she knows you.
Her prayers were genuine, and she felt the shame that one feels when only speaking for help, but she could not stop the request for divine intervention in this particular case. If Leliana turned her away, then she had no idea what her future would hold. She had spent the last eleven years building that future with Leliana in her mind, and without it she had a blank slate. She'd severed herself from the Order, and insulted them by doing so. Any chance at re-taking a Joining on the off chance she might survive one twice was out of the question. She could surely ask for an assignment from the Inquisitor, and make haste away from the castle if she truly believed Leliana wanted her gone. That would do, at least for the time being. She shook her head at herself as she drew to the top, taking a deep, ragged breath and releasing it slowly, her heart thundering in her ears.
Time to reap what you've sown, Tabris.
The top floor of the tower was empty save the ravens at first glance, until she saw the kneeling woman across the way, head bent and still hidden beneath that heavy purple cowl. Kallian did not soften her step to cover her presence, did not quiet her uneven breath. Even if Leliana were in prayer at the feet of this small statue of Andraste, the well trained bard would have heard her coming long before she topped the stairs. Still, she remained a respectful distance away from her, maintaining her silence while the woman finished her whispered prayer but did not move from her position on the floor.
Minutes ticked by as neither one spoke nor twitched a muscle. Kallian had the distinct impression that the bard was testing to see how long the elf would remain there under that pressure of her silence, and she refused to give into it. She would be heard, no matter how long she made her wait there.
Then Leliana took in a long, slow, deliberate breath that made the hairs on Kallian's arms stand up.
"For almost five years I've planned everything I wanted to say to you, should I ever see you again." The admission came in a flat, empty tone that did not sound at all like the woman she loved. The accent had all but faded from her voice, no longer rolling over vowels and dashing around consonants. "Now that you're standing here, I have nothing to say to you, Kallian."
Kallian tried to swallow the lump that rose in her throat at the words falling on her sensitive ears, hating the way they twitched when she was growing upset. She wrung her hands in front of her, twisting her wedding band, chewing her lip as she looked down at the floor in front of her. "Then would you listen?" she asked, half afraid of the answer. "'Cause I have things I wanna say."
Leliana laughed bitterly, shaking her head before pushing herself to her feet and turning to look at her. Her face had thinned in the years since Kallian had left, her skin even more snowy than before. Her eyes were like chunks of ice, no trace of the glittering mischief that Kallian loved, set in sockets that slightly sunk inwards and were the purplish color of a light bruise. There were lines tugging at the corners of her still beautiful mouth, a sign of no smiles ever cracking this mask that Kallian recognized as the one she wore when she was the Left Hand. When she had a duty to do that she didn't like to do, when she had detach her humanity and force it down to be the cold hearted assassin or puppet master.
The spider in the web.
She had seen it, had experienced the person wearing this mask, but never directed at her person, because of her. Judging by the lines of her face, Leliana had worn this mask for a long time.
I just hope it hasn't become her face now.
"Why should I?" Leliana demanded in a fierce whisper, her frozen gaze suddenly molten in hot anger. "Why, when you made it so perfectly clear that it is so easy for you to walk away? I woke when you kissed me. I didn't even think about you leaving me. You promised you would never, and like the fool girl that I was, I believed you. I trusted you. Five years later, you send me a note telling me you're coming home, when you never even told me you'd left!" Leliana rushed forward and shoved her towards the stairs hard, but Kallian had braced her footing so that she did not go far. "Leaving me is what you do best, so do it!"
"No." It was said simply, with no heat or edge to it. Leliana's nostrils flared as tears gathered over her eyes, but Kallian did not back down. Not yet.
"No?" Leliana repeated, her eyebrows raising high on her forehead beneath her hood.
"No. You're wrong. Loving you is what I do best, Leliana."
Leliana's hand connected with her jaw again, in the same place as before. Kallian's face turned with the force of the hit, but she merely cleared her throat lightly and looked back at Leliana, straightening her shoulders and clasping her hands behind her back. She raised her chin resolutely, not breaking her gaze from her wife's face.
"How dare you say that to me?" Leliana hissed, her upper lip curling back in a distaste that was like a dagger to the spleen for Kallian. She did not let her face crumple at the pain.
"Let me explain. Please." It was a request, not a demand. She had to be careful of that, had to be easy about how she said things. Leliana was the most sensitive person she had ever known, and also one of the most dangerous. The two things combined could be deadly.
She did not dare to let a shred of her remorse show at this moment. She knew the only way to break thorough to Leliana right now was to take what anger she gave her without having the audacity to say it hurt her just as much to walk away. To try and identify with her pain right now would only push her further away and make it seem like Kallian was claiming herself a victim, as well. She had to do this right. She couldn't afford to lose this. She just couldn't.
"Then speak. I haven't got all-"
"I'm cured."
Leliana stopped in mid snap at the words, her mouth hanging open at Kallian for a moment before she asked her to clarify. "Cured?" Her tone was still suspicious, but Kallian thought she heard something else in the tone, as well.
Kallian's hard set mouth did soften just a bit when she saw a flicker of something in Leliana's eyes that looked almost like hope, before it was buried back beneath the ire of her anger. "I no longer carry the taint in my blood. I'm no longer a Grey Warden."
"Is that what you've been doing for five years?"
Kallian gave single nod as her answer, looking away from her for the first time.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Those words weren't angry. They were weary, as if they had been asked a thousand times, and it made the elf's chest ache.
Kallian pulled her arms up across her chest, shrugging a bit and unable to meet Leliana's piercing gaze again, instead looking at the bard's hands by her sides and noticing one really important thing missing from one of her fingers. Leliana saw her focus point and curled her fingers into loose fists, hiding the obvious vacancy.
"I was going to," she mumbled, the words sounding stupid to her as soon as they came out of her mouth. The absence of the ring felt like a telling final nail, and it made her nauseous. Saliva pooled into her mouth as her head swam a bit, but she swallowed it down and took a breath to explain.
"You didn't come in until late. By then I had thought so much about what to say that I'd convinced myself it would be better if I just left. I didn't want to face the pain of your pain, and didn't want to lose my resolve to go. I didn't know if I would be strong enough to follow through if you'd asked me to stay. I left because I am a fucking coward."
"Nonsense, and you know it! I wouldn't have stopped you. I'd have come with you, at the very least-"
"You couldn't have, Leliana," Kallian pointed out bluntly. Leliana had been the fucking Left Hand. She was the spymaster. Kallian was a rogue that couldn't sleep at night, couldn't fight off the very things that made her a Warden... and useless. If she had been the girl that Duncan had saved, had she never taken the Joining... she could have been so much more for Leliana than a bed warmer.
"You know that." Still blunt, she moved on, not wanting to waste what precious time her wife was allowing her to explain her side of things. "I was just a bother, it felt like. I was bound to serve, and not you. I wanted to be free to be completely in your service, to be your agent. I couldn't do that with nightmares and cold sweats and fingers in the back of my mind poking and prodding. I couldn't. I was bloody useless to you."
Leliana still didn't looked fully convinced, but her anger was ebbing slightly. "Not a letter? Nothing to tell me of your plans? I got a letter, years ago, from Bhelen. Then nothing until you came back to Orzimmar, and then the Approach. Why nothing from you for so long?"
"I was in the Deep Roads, Leliana," Kallian said gently, and she watched the news roll over the Spymaster like full charging bronto. " Bhelen didn't tell you that? And Oghren was hearing that false Calling on our way out, that's why we were there at Adamant. I needed a Warden to help me get out after I was cured, so I took him. I owed it to him to not let him wander off to Orlais alone, so I went, too. And now he's here, at Skyhold. Alive."
"Five years in the Deep Roads." It was not a question. Kallian remembered well how the Deep Roads had affected Leliana, how well her wife knew what horrors lived in the black of the ancient thaigs below the surface.
"Four, but the majority of the time I was gone, yeah." Kallian apprehensively watched Leliana's hands raise as if she were going to choke her. The fingers opened and closed on thin air a few times, then they surged forward and grabbed her by the shirt and pulled her to Leliana so that their faces were an inch apart.
"If you ever do something like that to me again, Kallian Tabris, you need not worry how you shall perish because it will be by my hand. You have no idea what you've done to me, how I've tried to hate you," Leliana snarled, shaking her by the grip of her tunic.
"As much as I hated myself," Kallian said softly, slowly reaching up to circle her fingers around Leliana's thin wrists. "If you truly want me to go, I will. I have never denied you anything, Leliana, and I won't start now. I'm yours, whether I'm here, or elsewhere. I'm yours, and now only yours, to command, my love. I swear to it."
Leliana's face went through another contortion of emotion, her fingers tightening around the cloth clutched in them. Kallian dared not glance back at how close to the banister that they were, how easy it would be for Leliana to push her over it and let her fall to her death. But then Kallian was being pulled forward again, a mouth crashing against hers roughly.
The kiss was punishing, bruising, filled with a passion akin to hatred but spoke volumes of pent up love that was nearly bittered with time passed. But then she was being thrust away just as quickly, and Leliana was spinning on her heel to put her back to Kallian and a few paces of space between them.
"No," Leliana said thickly. Kallian could hear the restrained sob behind the voice, making her heart ache to pull the bard back to her, but knowing better than to try. "I don't want you to leave. But I can't continue this tonight. I shall come to you, when I am ready."
Kallian swallowed hard, relieved that she was not being sent away, but not happy about being dismissed. But she dared not argue. Not now. "I will be in the loft above the stables with Little, if you need me," she said agreeably, bowing in respect to her wife's station even though the other woman couldn't see. She turned to leave, but Leliana's voice speaking again stopped her.
"No. You'll take my quarters. I never use them, anyway. I have a cot here. You'll find them across the Great Hall, up the stairs above the garden, last door. We are nearly right under the Inquisitor's Tower."
She said "we", Kallian thought to herself with a flare of hope swelling in her chest, reaching up and touching her lips with her fingertips. "I'll be there."
Kallian's elven hearing picked up the derisive snort Leliana gave as she went down the stairs and her muttered reply to Kallian's last words to her.
"We'll see," she'd said.
You'll see.
