Surprises
I fell into a bed in the early hours of the morning, Solas at my side, and slept like I had rediscovered the secrets of uthenera.
Once the healing had been finished, my night was still only beginning. Bull and all the scouts except Elin went back to pack up the camp and bring everyone to the keep. Cassandra, Varric, Dorian, Vivienne, and Solas all began working on pyres for the dead, which we dared not delay considering that the apprentices had already breached the Veil to summon a demon. Nearly the last thing we needed was undead wandering the keep.
The very last thing we needed, though, were traitors amongst the servants - and former slaves, though I was less concerned about them - we had rescued, so I had Cole come with me as I walked through, checking to see if I could do anything for any of them.
Thankfully, it seemed their six weeks in the Western Approach had been uniformly miserable, with Venatori mages demanding blood sacrifices of anyone nearby when they came to difficult parts in the spells they cast. The fact that all the people we had freed were from Tevinter and had been taught to revere mages, and that I was a mage who had spent my power not only on servants and slaves, but on the servants and slaves of my enemies, left them in enough awe to be open to the idea that I was some sort of semi-divine herald of a god. Even if I happened to be an elf.
It might not have helped when I insisted on throwing together some soup for everyone. I knew those on pyre and camp-breakdown duty would be hungry when they were finished, and it was abundantly clear that most of the people we had freed were malnourished, so I had Cole help me find the kitchens and all the things I needed, and started cooking. A few of the elves followed me anyway, ducking in occasionally to ask if I was sure I didn't want help, regardless how many times I brushed their offers aside. Eventually Elin came and ushered them away. I overheard her telling one woman that their Inquisitor never asked anyone to do chores I wouldn't do myself.
And that was how I learned that cooking and helping out around camp were apparently now evidence of sainthood.
Fenedhis lasa.
While I waited for the soup to cook, I wrote out quick missives for both Josephine and Deshanna. Some of the people here might want to remain with the Inquisition, but some likely had families in Tevinter and would prefer to return, while others might find themselves unable to adapt to the much colder climate. A few might even want to try becoming Dalish. My goal was to make sure everyone had good options available - and that if they chose to remain in service, that they go to households where they would be treated fairly.
After a moment of thought, I added a note for Sera, asking her to double-check all of Josephine's suggestions. Sera heard things that Josephine might miss.
All of us slept late the next morning, although the scouts were awake hours before I was. Solas woke me only a little before noon with a bowl of reheated porridge. "The ravens with your letters went out earlier this morning," he told me as I ate. Grey Warden quarters were fairly spartan, and I had ceded the rooms that would usually belong to the Warden-Commander to Bull and Dorian. The bed was the largest in the keep and Bull would need it. Solas and I had taken one of the officers' rooms. Though the room was much smaller, the bed was big enough for both of us, which was all that really mattered - I could always write my letters in the kitchen as I had the night before.
"Anything else of note?" I asked him.
He leaned in and kissed me. "You're beautiful, and clever, and courageous, and I love you," he offered, making me smile. "If you want to look over the gear we have found, I would suggest you hurry and dress. Vivienne has laid claim to the best staff in the armory."
I waved that away. "She needed an upgrade. I told her to speak to Dagna, but I don't believe she made time for it before we left Skyhold."
"Then that is wholly her own fault," Solas informed me.
"Her fault, maybe - but it will be our problem if she isn't able to use the full scope of her abilities," I retorted, though I stood up from the bed even so. Now I was curious about what they had found.
Solas stayed and helped me dress, though I didn't need it and though I was completely certain he was only doing it as an excuse to touch me, not because he wanted me clothed. I understood. It had been far too many weeks since we last had more than the most fleeting moment of privacy. I leaned against him once he had finished lacing my stays, and he trailed a few kisses down my neck. "Soon," I promised us both.
"Tonight," he countered, scraping his teeth briefly across my skin.
"Tonight," I agreed, shivering with pleasure.
He brushed one more kiss just under my ear, and then took my hand. "Come," he said, "I will give you a tour of your newly acquired fortress."
"Not that I'll be able to see it," I pointed out, following him into the hall.
Dorian's voice rang out even as Solas turned to close the door. "There you are! I thought for certain you would be awake already, and have been scouring the keep for you." His footsteps echoed down the hall, coming closer, and then he came to a stop beside me. Only then did he acknowledge Solas with a brief "good morning," before returning his attention immediately to me. "Bull found something in the room we're using that he thought you might enjoy, so you're coming with me."
"Excuse me?" Solas broke in before he could haul me away, torn between amusement and genuine outrage. "And what makes you believe I am prepared to cede the pleasure of Inana's company to you?"
I smiled a little at Solas's tone, and Dorian did the same. "Don't be concerned, my dear hobo-apostate. The gift we have found is one that even you, with your lamentable taste, will be able to appreciate." He took my elbow. "Come along, now - you can seek out your paramour in an hour or so."
I looked at Solas and shrugged apologetically. "I'm curious."
He was too, though he didn't give Dorian the satisfaction of admitting it aloud, and made no further protest as the human mage led me away.
"So what is it you've found?" I asked once I was certain we were far enough from Solas that he wouldn't hear. The room I had given Dorian and Bull was just down the hall and up a short flight of stairs, at the top of one of the towers.
"Well, I won't spoil the surprise," he said as we began mounting the stairs, "but it appears that the leader of the Venatori here either liked keeping trophies or playing dress-up."
I tilted my head in an implied question, but Dorian only smiled and opened the door to the room they were sharing. "Took you long enough," Bull grumbled from somewhere ahead - the floor, I realized as Dorian drew me closer. He was examining the contents of a large chest. He got to his feet as we stopped beside him. "I laid it out on the bed," he told us, doing nothing to reveal what he was actually talking about. "You any good at knots, Boss?"
"Uh...yes?" I replied, still bewildered. Aravels were called land- ships for a reason. The masts required a certain amount of rigging for stability, and of course we needed to be able to adjust the sails. That meant ropes and knots - and I didn't need much sight to be able to tie a decent knot.
"Good, then this might not take too long." One of his enormous hands closed on my elbow, and, for perhaps the first time in my life, I felt dainty like elven women usually were.
He guided me to the side of the bed, and I looked down, bending a little to better understand what I was seeing. There was a pair of loose trousers - probably linen - arranged beneath a tooled and brightly-dyed leather skirt, which was cut out on either side so it hung to the knees front and back but still allowed for free movement. Above that ensemble, there was a long strip of what looked likely to be some sort of samite based on the weave, arranged so that the two ends crossed. It was patterned in simple stripes, copper on blue, and matched the leather skirt. Laid out beside all of this were multiple lengths of bright red silk cord.
"It's...clothes?" I hazarded, based mostly on the trousers. I really didn't know how a single strip of cloth was supposed to serve as a top, unless Qunari - I assumed it was something Qunari, based on the fact that Bull was the one presenting it - wrapped their torsos the way Dalish did our feet. But the cloth didn't seem long enough to fully wrap a human's torso, let alone a Qunari's, and the rest of the ensemble seemed of a standard size, meant to be wrapped and tied until it fit.
"Technically, it's armor," Bull told me, laughing when I sent a skeptical look in his direction. "This set would have been used for sparring, most likely - an antaam-saar meant to be worn in battle usually has enchantments worked in to protect against magic."
"You really don't wear shirts under the Qun," I said, eyeing the strip of fabric and remembering Krem's jab.
Iron Bull laughed again. "Par Vollen and Seheron are hot. If we tried to dress in plate - or even full leather - we would lose more to heat-stroke than to the Vints and Tal-Vashoth combined. Besides, Seheron doesn't have nice, smooth roads for marching. It's mostly thick, trackless jungle. Contortions and climbing are often necessary to go anywhere."
"All right, fair enough - but why are you giving this to me?" I asked.
"Inana," Dorian chided me, his voice flat.
"Obviously it's revealing," I replied impatiently, "but Solas hates the Qun."
Bull and Dorian paused significantly, and then both began to laugh. "Oh my precious little lamb ," Dorian snorted, "that hatred is precisely what makes it forbidden, and therefore desirable ."
"Besides," Bull added slyly, "a little wisp of a thing like you isn't going to need all of this cord. I'm sure a smart guy like Solas can come up with a use for the extra. Tell him it's a special gift from me."
Dorian apparently found that extremely funny. "I would pay to see his mind implode when he realizes someone - especially you, the dreaded Ben-Hassrath spy - has observed him closely enough to reach a conclusion regarding his...preferences."
"You think so? I think you're underestimating him. Bet you ten royals he knows exactly how closely I've been watching him," Bull replied.
"And how would we even determine who had won such a wager?" Dorian demanded.
I couldn't see either of them very clearly - Bull was too tall and Dorian too far away - but I could feel both of them staring at me. I crossed my arms. "Absolutely not."
"We aren't asking for details," Dorian wheedled.
"Eh, speak for yourself," Bull contradicted him. "I would love to hear a few details."
"You're a brute," Dorian informed him with what sounded suspiciously like affection, "and you know Inana isn't going to agree to that. We don't need details - we just need to know who was more right."
"Dorian, she can't see you fluttering your lashes," Bull reminded him.
"I was doing no such - " the mage began in a huff.
"You absolutely were."
"Please, Inana," Dorian said, declining to continue the argument and coming close enough to take both my hands in his. "I am desperate in my need to better understand the way your hobo-apostate's mind works, or I fear I have no hope of ever convincing him to see a tailor. Incidentally, and with no relationship to why I'm making the request, I also love winning money."
His beseeching tone was too funny to resist, and once I started laughing, he knew he had won.
"My precious friend," he said, clutching one of my hands to his heart, "you are entirely too good for this world."
"Entirely too good for you , maybe," Bull rumbled. "Now, come here and let me show you how to put this on. We'll do it over your clothes - besides the knotwork, it's simple enough."
You can assume Inana and Solas had enjoyed the costume and had sex. Also, Dorian lost the bet.
Sorry, that chapter is explicit.