The storm was beginning to pick up again and Gale was beginning to regret rushing into the storm. But she was committed now and had to find some shelter. She searched around, spotting a nearby cave. She urged her mare to the cave and dismounted, grabbing her reins and guiding her into the cave.

"Seems safe enough." Gale noted aloud, looking around and finding no recent signs that the cave had been in use by anyone or anything.

She untacked her mare, setting everything to the side next to her own things, and tied her reins to one of the outcroppings before hurrying outside to try and find some dry kindling to start a fire. When she finally had, she hurried back into the cave and set about getting a fire pit made.

Outside, the wind raged, picking back up again. Gale took out her tent and tried to fasten the corners to the walls of the cave in hopes to keep them from getting any wetter than they already were. After what seemed like forever, and now soaked to the bone, Gale finally managed to succeed in her task and went to her pack.

"Damn..."

All of her clothes were wet from the rain. The only things that hadn't gotten wet were her blanket and her provisions. Sighing, she pulled everything out and set the wet items by the fire to dry. She slipped out of her wet clothes, setting them with the rest of her things before grabbing the blanket and wrapping it around herself.

"Maybe I should have just waited the storm out..." Gale wondered aloud, staring into the fire. Hearing her stomach grumble, she pulled open the cloth sack she had wrapped around her provisions. She gave a couple of apples to her mare as a treat, then munched on some jerky as she listened to the raging storm. "Well, there's no turning back now."

Samuel pressed onward as fast as his gelding would carry him through the storm, searching for any sign of Gale. He searched for a few hours, having fallen far enough behind her, before he spotted a light coming from a cave. 'That has to be her.' He guided his gelding in that direction, dismounted when he reached the cave, and led his horse into the cave- finding a tent hung and secured just inside of it to keep rain from getting in. He pushed through the tent flaps, pulling his gelding behind him, and spotted Gale's horse off to the side with Gale passed out by the fire.

'Thank the Maker...'

He hurried to remove the tack from his gelding, tying his reins next to Gale's mare's and offering him a couple of apples from the pack of provisions Boris gave him. "Good boy. Rest now." He patted the gelding's neck, then turned to where Gale was laying on the floor of the cave. She was wrapped in her blanket, laying on her bed roll. He could see that her things were placed around the fire to dry and leaning down to feel, they were nearly there. Taking his own wet things from his pack and placing them with Gale's to dry, he set up his own bed roll next to hers and lay down, pulling his own blanket over his naked body.

Listening to the humming of rain against the ground and tent, the howling winds just outside, Samuel sighed as he realized how upset and worried he had been over Gale leaving him behind to go on ahead.

'Why is that?' he wondered. Then thinking back on what Boris had said the other night, he wondered if he was right. 'Am I falling for Gale?' He glanced over at her, sleeping as peaceful as one could in a storm like this.

In the time that he had known Gale, which was going on months now, he had had his ups and downs about her. Before Haven fell, he had taken joy in riling her up just to see how far he could push her. But after Haven fell, he had felt drawn to her in a different way. He had done his part to help the Inquisition and his brother, but he also did what he could just to see Gale- including purposefully forgetting to eat at meal times with the others. And the times he spent with her were enough to bring him amusement, joy, comfort, and a sense of calm. He had begun to really like her.

'But is it more than that? We aren't even friends, really.'

Samuel noticed that Gale was shivering and rolled over, pulling his blanket over them both and wrapping an arm around her. She seemed to respond to the sudden source of warmth and scooted closer, quickly settling back down into a deep slumber. Samuel smiled at that, finding that he was smiling- actually smiling- more and more around Gale. He watched her sleeping, noticing that her hair had been released from it's usual braid and pooled behind her. It was strange to see her with her hair down, but he liked it. Reaching up to brush aside a strand of hair from her cheek, Samuel let his hand linger for a moment before he too settled down for some sleep.

'Who knew riding horseback in a storm would wear you out so much...'

It must have been hours before Gale awoke to a warmth that was not there before. She had been so exhausted from trying to push through the storm that she passed out fairly quickly. When she looked for the source, feeling warmth draped over her, her face turned beet red when she found a sleeping Samuel with his arm wrapped around her.

'Maker, is he...'

Samuel stirred and looked down at her. "You're awake." He chuckled sleepily when he saw how flustered she was. "Don't worry, nothing happened." He rolled onto his back, freeing Gale.

"W-When did you get here?"

"It took me a few hours to find you in the storm and when I finally did, you were already asleep."

Gale shivered and pulled her blanket tighter around herself, glancing over at Samuel as he chuckled. "W-What?"

"You were shivering earlier, too. I was just trying to help you conserve body heat." Samuel gestured towards her things. "Your stuff should be dry by now." He closed his eyes, arms crossed behind his head.

Gale reached for her undergarments, quickly pulling them on underneath the cover of her blanket. Then, checking to make sure that Samuel wasn't looking, she hurried to stand and snatch up her dress. Sliding the warm dress over her head and arms, she pulled free her hair and grabbed her brush.

As Gale sat back down on her bed roll, brushing her hair out, Samuel sat up and looked at her. "Why did you leave?"

Gale stopped mid stroke and sighed. "I'm sorry..." She looked back at him. "I just... I had a sense that something was very wrong and knew I had to get to Denerim as fast as I could, even if it meant chancing the storm..."

"You could have just told me. You didn't have to just leave me behind like that."

Gale sighed. "I know... I wasn't thinking of anything else but getting back on the road..." She glanced back at him. "Why did you come after me? You could have just let me go on ahead and returned to Skyhold."

"You needed an escort, I volunteered for the position, and the roads are too dangerous to be travelling alone." Samuel noticed how soft and light her hair was. "Besides, did you even think to bring more provisions in case you got stuck out here?"

"No..."

"Exactly. And what if you had gotten injured? Or your horse? What then, hmm? There would have been no one- well, no one in their right mind at least- that could have come to your aid."

"Why did you come with me to begin with?"

Samuel looked at her, curiously.

"Like, really come with me."

"I don't know." Samuel shrugged and leaned back against his pack. "Perhaps it's a sense of duty. I did volunteer to be your escort and I intend to see you safely to Denerim and back."

Gale looked away, pulling her hair over her shoulder. "I'm not some job, you know..."

Samuel looked at her and sat back up, rubbing his neck. "Sorry, that came out wrong... Whether it was mercenary work or just my own nature as a man, I always saw things through to the end. No matter what came my way." He sighed. "Gale, regardless of what's happened between us, whatever our relationship is- if you can call it that- I will make sure that you get to your father safe and sound." He reached forward and touched her shoulder. "So, please, tell me before disappearing like that again?"

Gale looked at him, surprised, and nodded. "Alright."