Disclaimer: I own none of the recognized characters. I am merely borrowing them to satisfy my muse
Chapter 21
"It's not very fair, you getting mad at me when I disappear, but then you go and disappear." Talon's voice caused CJ to pause in the middle of her sentence. She was sitting in the garden, her back against a tree, Tommy sitting next to her, playing with some sticks.
"Talon!" She exclaimed. "I didn't know you were arriving today!"
If she had known, she honestly probably would have locked herself in her room.
"And I didn't disappear. Cullen had an assignment for me."
"You forced Cullen to give you an assignment, you mean." Talon grinned as CJ flushed.
"I did not force him." She retorted. "I didn't hold him at knife-point."
"No, you threatened to tell Sera where he kept his store of sweets." Talon laughed. "That's blackmail."
"More like extortion." She answered.
"Why do it?"
"I'd just made a complete and utter fool out of myself, Talon. I lost control. And so I ran."
"Why?" He crouched down in front of her. "What does it matter if people see you scared? It makes you more human. People have you set on a pretty high pedestal, CJ. Right up next to me, except you're not marked. The things you do, the people you've saved, the things you've survived, you haven't done it just because you were blessed by Andraste. They see you standing up to the monsters, some of the most terrible creatures they've ever seen, and you win. That makes them start to believe they can do it to. It gives them hope."
"Which is why I can't lose control!" She exclaimed, fighting to keep the sharpness from her tone. "They need someone they can rely on. Someone to stay strong in the face of despair. I shouldn't have acted like that."
"What," Talon laughed. "Let them see that you care? That you care so much that you tackled their Inquisitor when you saw him? That you love so deeply, you didn't care who was watching? Why not?" He laughed again. "It makes you approachable. It makes us approachable. After you left, I had at least ten other soldiers approach me and shake my hand. Or clap me on the back. One even hugged me. We fight for them, CJ. We will die for them if necessary. They shouldn't be afraid to talk to us, think we are so much higher than them. So much more important than them. Because we're not."
"Sera would be pleased to hear you say that." CJ muttered, but Talon would not be dissuaded.
"And Iron Bull? For the first time people saw him speechless. Shocked. Showing real emotion instead of the mask he hides behind. Sure, they know he's loyal to me. That he was going to sacrifice his chargers if I'd have asked him to. But with your actions, they saw that there was more to him than that. More than him just being big and strong and really terrifying if he wishes to be. There must be, otherwise you wouldn't love him as much as you do." CJ flushed. "You, who carried a terrified child through a journey he otherwise wouldn't have survived. Who gave a starving family the last of her food, who willingly took the time to teach those who wanted to learn how to read. How to write. You, someone who is so good, if you love him, he must have good in him too. He must be something special, to be worthy of you."
CJ opened her mouth to protest. To tell him that he had it wrong. She wasn't worthy of Iron Bull. He deserved much better than her. Talon cut her off.
"I know, you're going to say how you don't deserve him. How he's too good for you. How he can do so much better." She blinked, surprised. "Cole was lonely without you." He said simply. "He talked to me."
"Mama, hungry." Tommy spoke up, and Talon raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Mama?"
"Only he gets to call me that." She exclaimed and Talon laughed. "Care to join us for some lunch in the kitchen?"
"So you can try and avoid Iron Bull?" He teased. CJ flushed. "You don't have to worry about him yet. He and the Chargers were detoured. They are a couple days behind us. You've still got time."
CJ shot him a dirty look. "Why am I friends with you?"
"I'm the Inquisitor!" Talon grinned at her. "Who wouldn't want to be my friend?"
"Inquisitalon!" Tommy chirped and CJ laughed at Talon's shocked look. "You're Inquisitalon!"
"I can't believe you taught him that!"
