Chapter 5 : That's not my sword

Liethe Lavallen had her own tower in Skyhold. Access was through a door next to the Inquisitor's throne and up several flights of stairs. Several. They were a nightmare to climb after a certain point of exhaustion and more than once, several aides had found her sleeping on the wooden stairs, rather than climb the last few flights to her room.

Today, though, she'd actually gotten some use out of her room - and her bed. Waking up in her rooms in Skyhold was bliss. The sunlight shone through the stained glass windows, the fire in the grate had worked itself to crisp embers, the sheets were soft and thick. It all led to an absolutely blissful experience as she woke and stretched.

Clang!

'Dirthra'ma!' She jumped and looked over the side of the massive four poster bed at what had just made that unearthly noise. It was a sword. A now slightly blunted sword, judging by the gouge marks in her floor. A somewhat familiar sword, at that, too.

Confused as to how it had ended up in her room, she left it on the bed as she dressed and prepared mentally for whatever today was going to throw at her. It was only as she picked it up and went downstairs into the great hall that Cullen jogged up to her looking flushed and flustered and frowned. 'Inquisitor, you found my sword.'

She blinked and held it out to him. 'It may need sharpening.' She admitted ruefully.

'I could have sworn I left this with my armour last night.' Cullen frowned as he hefted it easier than she certainly had. 'Strange.'

Very strange. Not only that it should have disappeared from Cullen's loft where he undoubtedly swore he'd left it - but to have reappeared in her own rooms. On her bed. As though someone were forcing them to interact.

That little monster -

'Inquisitor, are you alright? You look furious.'

She threw Cullen a rueful look. 'Nothing to concern yourself with, Commander. I just need to talk to someone urgently about certain behaviour.'

He gave a light chuckle. 'Well, I would hate to be them.'

Undoubtedly.

Cole was sitting on one of the ramparts, idly kicking his feet. He seemed to have already known she was there. 'Your thoughts are very loud and angry.'

She'd thought about how to talk to Cole. He wasn't usually someone you could have a rational conversation with. That said, the sword was not just stepping over her boundaries but several feet inside her comfort zone and needed to be dealt with. 'That's because I am angry, Cole.'

'I wanted to help.' He replied simply and turned his gaunt, mournful face towards her. 'You think about him a lot. About what he said at Haven. How nice he looks when he gets flustered. You worry about him. You're hurting.'

She sighed and leaned against the stone beside him. 'It's a different kind of hurt to what you know, Cole.'

He nodded. 'It's softer. The pain is duller. But it's still hurting.'

Liethe realised that Cole had never really had the concept of attraction explained to him. He'd never come across this type of "hurt" before and it was confusing him. 'Is that why you took Commander Cullen's sword and left it on my bed?'

'I thought you'd hurt less if you talked to him. But I made you angry. Why did it make you angry?' Two soulful blue eyes looked up at her.

As Sera would probably say about now: Maker's pants. How was she going to talk around this one? 'This kind of hurt is something you can't help me with, Cole. It's not a wound that needs stitching, or a bad memory I want to forget. I need to figure out how to heal it on my own.'

'Why? Why can't you just talk to him and tell him and heal your hurt?'

Because quite honestly, she didn't expect Cullen to feel that way about her. When she'd joined the Inquisition in Haven, Leliana had very gently taken her aside and given her a brief rundown of why Cullen kept twitching every time she moved. She knew how hard it was for him to trust her. As a friend, as The Inquisitor, but especially as a mage. 'Because it doesn't work like that.' Liethe responded simply. 'It's something I need to work out without interference.'

Cole's legs kicked out again. 'You want me to stop helping.'

'I want you to stop stealing his things.' She replied.

The overlarge hat he was wearing dipped. 'Okay.'

Oh, well now he just looked like a kicked mabari. That was hardly fair. Liethe sighed and leaned against the parapet. 'Remind me to grab one of Varric's books for you.'

'Why?'

'It'll help you understand.'

That was if she could pry the latest edition from Cassandra's hands. To be honest, she would have rather taken on a dragon than try that. Dragons were far less aggressive than Cassandra with a new romance serial.

PSA: Do not attempt to pry a romance novel from Cassandra Pentaghast. I repeat: Do not attempt to pry a romance novel from Cassandra Pentaghast!