"Equinor, Solium, Fenrir, Kios, Eluvia, Draconis" her thin fingers outlined the shapes in the sky.
"Ghilan'nain, Enansal, Fen'harel, Suledin, Enasal, Mythal," he took her hand in his and moved it on the same path she had just traced.
"But the stars are the same? The same patterns?"
He nodded, bringing her fingertips to his lips, delighting in the way she shivered in response. "There is a star added, or subtracted, here and there, but they are the same. The eyes tend to find the patterns."
They lay on their backs on the ground in the kitchen garden, the flames of the cook fire long extinguished. It was a perfect moonless night, and when she'd asked him about the elvish names for the constellations, he couldn't resist the urge to take her outside, right then, to where they could lie beneath the stars. True, the view might have been better from her own balconies, but the thrill of being here, together in the open, where someone might happen upon them was overwhelming.
Recently, he had become all too comfortable with the idea of being found out. Of taking her hand in public, kissing her in front of others. Allowing her to lean against him after dinner had been cleared and Varric had begun yet another story. Such heaven, to share a love so openly.
"I wish you had taught me this earlier. There have been places in our journeys that have such amazing views of the skies."
He laughed slightly. "I tried, actually."
"You did?" Evelyn glanced over at him. "When?"
"The night before you first left for the Western Approach, remember? You'd received a letter that caused some trouble. Your Lady Ambassador stopped me. I was outside your chamber door, arms full of charts." Solas crossed one foot over the other, folded his hands behind his head. "I suppose it was a good thing. I had been prepared to, well. It was what I suppose I considered an opening."
"I'd forgotten. Pity you didn't," she turned back away from him, mimicking his ankles-crossed, hands supporting head posture. "If I recall that night properly, I took a bath after she left. You could have helped me scrub."
He smiled slightly. "Pity indeed. Still, it worked out in the end, did it not?"
"Enasal," she whispered through her own smile, ignoring the question completely. She raised her hand again to the sky. "Ghilan'nain, Suledin, Mythal, Ghilan'nain, Fen'harel. Right?"
"Yes, ma'salath. Very good."
Her forehead creased as she pushed herself up on an elbow. "Do you mean that, actually? Am I?"
"Mine?" he rolled his head to one side to look up at her. "Or my love?"
"Your one love. Do you think I'm… it sounds ridiculous to say out loud." She shook her head, trying to shake the thought away.
"Do I think you are what?"
She rolled her eyes, flushed pink in the dark, "The one," she said with forced dramatic intonation.
He shook his head. "No."
Evelyn gave a short snort-laugh of incredulity. "No?"
"To call you 'the one' implies that there were others. There were not. Not like this. Not ever."
"Ever? Ever is a long time."
"Longer than you know."