Just two days later found the little group nearly home. After Coracavus prison, darkspawn, and dragon on top of the hot desert, they were all exhausted and filthy. Scouts could be seen running ahead to alert Skyhold of their return and Sili had even stopped one for private instructions.

Twenty minutes later, the group crossed the threshold and sighed as they dismounted and handed the reins to Master Dennet and a stable hand. The sun was half way down, which meant that supper would be served in a few hours. Sili sighed before noticing the men were all walking away. It was somewhere secret, so said Varric, so that they could all clean up, leaving Sili alone. Shaking her head and smiling, she slowly made her way back to her room to clean up as well.

Walking through the main hall, Sili tried to make herself presentable to Skyhold's guest as she made her way towards her private quarters. She promised a number of them that after properly cleaning herself, she would return.

"Darlings, guests... please. Our dear Inquisitor has just returned from a week's trip into the desert and back." Vivienne intervened, "My dear Sili, that dear little girl Iriani is in your quarters. She had a basket with her and was waiting for you."

"Thank you, Madam Vivienne." Sili bowed, "I will be back before supper is served."

"No need to rush as I am sure you might need a few baths to get all that sand out." One of the noble's stated, but realized that it may of sounded harsher than he intended.

Sili just smiled and bowed before taking her leave and heading through the door and up the stairs. As she shut the door behind her, Sili sighed out of relief and exhaustion, but soon a simple, but lovely smell descended from her room. Iris flowers, Sili thought, That's what Iriani had in the basket.

The scent became stronger as she opened the door and walked up the flight to her room. Iriani was there was a large tub of hot water and the flowers were in vases around the room. Sili smiled as Iriani got the last few things done and turned to see the Inquisitor.

"Oh, Miss Sili! Welcome back... I was told by one of the scouts that you requested a bath in your room." Iriani smiled, "I just figured after the desert, the flowers would cheer you up as well."

"It has, thank you, Iriani." Sili smiled more, but headed to the balcony facing the mountain side.

"What are you doing out there, Miss Sili?" Iriani asked, watching Sili remove her leg plates, "Someone might be watching!"

"I am not tracking sand all over my room. I probably brought back enough to fill the garden." Sili sighed, her point proven as sand rained onto the balcony, "I have sand in everything and I don't want to sweep this after my bath."

"I could..." Iriani started.

"No, the point is to remove my armor and shake out as much of the sand here and let the winds take it." Sili replied, working on removing the armor around her legs and arms.

Iriani came over and grabbed the leg armor, shaking and bumping it against the railing as Sili worked on her arms. Iriani disappeared a moment before returning with an old sheet that had been covering the furniture. She checked over all the pieces that Sili had taken off again, placing them in the sheet and awaited the rest of the armor.

Sili sighed and braced herself for the main part of the prowler armor she wore. She liked the style, but knew she was going to hate getting it off tonight. When she was able to get the armor over her hand, sand was covering her and the entire balcony. The dark-colored leather undergarment was spackled as well.

"You weren't lying, Miss Sili. I think the garden would have a nice coating." Iriani replied, dusting off the sand from the Inquisitor, "Let me grab something to go through your hair..."

Before Sili could protest, the little elf was gone again. She resigned herself to dust herself off of anymore visible sand as well as shaking her armor. Iriani reappeared and began to comb through Sili's hair, undoing the braid as she went. With a good shake, Iriani was finished and escorted the Inquisitor back inside.

"Go into that little room and finish undressing, the water is still hot, maybe too hot." Iriani smiled, "I have someone coming for your armor to give to Harritt."

"He's going to chew me out for this." Sili replied, heading to the little room.

"It looks like it could use some repairs and he has Dagna to help." Iriani tried.

Sili smiled and nodded to that before closing the door behind her and began to remove the leather undergarment. It wasn't long before she heard someone knock and come up the stairs, Harritt himself, Sili inwardly groaned.

"The Inquisitor's armor had quite a bit of sand in it, though she tried to get most of it out." Iriani stated.

"Not to worry, I have tools and with Dagna's help... We'll have this all cleaned up and ready before tomorrow." Harritt replied, though gruffly.

"Thank you, Master Harritt." Iriani stated, "I have it all here in the sheet, hopefully that helps."

"It will, have a good night. Tell the Inquisitor that she can come down in the morning."

With that, Sili could hear the blacksmith take his leave and slowly opened the door, having only a robe to cover herself. Iriani had the windows shut with a curtain drawn over them to keep any prying eyes out, "Is there anything else I can help with?"

"No, thank you Iriani. I think a little time to myself would be nice, but could you do me a little favor?" Sili asked.

"Anything, Miss Sili." Iriani asked, looking puzzled.

"Dinner is in a few hours, could you come back half an hour before hand? I might fall asleep..." Sili replied, feeling her cheeks grow hot.

"Sure, I can do that. Though if you need my services... I will be helping in the kitchen." Iriani replied, taking her leave as well.

Sili waited to hear both doors shut before disrobing and shaking her hair a few more times. She padded over to the tub and slipped in slowly, allowing the steaming water to soak into her limbs before she sat and relaxed. Nearby, there were some soaps that Sili could only guess were 'gifts' from Vivienne.

Grabbing one, she opened the little red jar and immediately the scent filled the area. Sili couldn't place the aroma, but it reminded her of a bakery making sweets. Though very lovely, the smell seemed too much. Another green jar yielded another spice, though not sweet, this jar smelled familiar. Like in the forests back by Wycome and she considered that one heavily, but she wanted to know what the last purple jar was.

Opening that, Sili immediately thought of Val Royeaux and closed it. She would not be like them. She knew the intention was honest, but Sili almost felt hurt that the Enchanter would do that... Fuck, this is test! With that thought, Sili dunked her head under the water a moment to think.

Three choices: smell common, elven, or nobility. This was a fucking game and Sili had walked into it, again! She came up and looked around for any other options, but all she had in her room were flowers. They were lovely and smelled better by the soap in the green jar, but how would she do that?

Then something Cassandra had said came back to her. The Seeker liked to soak in rose petals with her bath, to smell like them. Which meant Sili could do the same this with the iris flowers. Braving the cool air, Sili left the bath for the two closest vases of flowers and raced back to the welcoming waters. She placed the vases near the jars and began to pluck the petals from the flowers and drop them into the steaming water.

She did that with five of the biggest flowers she could find and swirled the petals under the water. Sili relaxed into the bath, soaking for awhile and nearly drifting off to sleep a few times. Only when the water began to cool did she grabbed the green jar and a piece of torn cloth.

She lathered her entire body and hair with the soap and scrubbed as hard as she could to get clean, leaving patches of bright red and pink all over her body. Satisfied and feeling cleaner than she had in weeks, Sili stood and rinsed all the soap from her hair and body.

Drying herself off with a large cloth before stepping out from the basin, she had to twist her hair to get the excess water out and thought a good hair cut was in order. Probably a good idea since the Winter Palace was in two days. A lot of things needed to be in order if she really thought about it. With the Winter Palace politics and having to stop an assassination from causing all out war, Sili hoped that her companions and advisors would be able to agree, though that was a rarity in itself.

Sili growled in frustration at all the times that everyone had fought her over what they made her decide. At least Cullen, Iron Bull, Varric, and Dorian understood and accepted what she had to do. Some of the others just questioned her, but never wanted to do what she had to, and it infuriated her. Though the worst ones, like Vivienne who she respected, just questioned to be questioning. Sili had to watch the Enchanters body language to know how she was really feeling.

Pushing all those thoughts from her mind, Sili walked over to her dresser to find something suitable to wear. She knew she needed something more formal than usual, but she didn't want Winter Palace attire. Shifting through what few outfits she had, Sili came upon one that Varric had 'bought' from one of the merchants that had come to Skyhold.

She knew better, Varric never bought anything as he just acquired stuff, but she still hadn't refused the gift. It was a nice, but simple dress that looked like what other women wore around Skyhold. Though this one was a few unique color, being a blue-green hue with white accents. It was something so normal, but it would still allow her to stand out just enough for effect.

Within all the hustle and bustle of Skyhold, Sili heard the far door to the tower open and shut before the one that lead to her room was knocked on, hard, but didn't open. Sili waited a moment, waiting for the door to open, but it never did. Which was unusual, as none of her normal 'guests' ever knocked like that and they knew just to come in.

Sili called down, allowing entry to whomever was there and made her way to her desk with a bottle of oil and her brush. The door opened and shut quietly and though part of her was on edge, she tried her best to keep occupied, rubbing the oil into her scalp and down to the tips of her hair.

"Inquisitor?" The voice called and Sili's eyes grew wide as the Commander of the Inquisition army stood by the stairs.

"Commander?" Sili asked, wiping her hands clean, "How may I help you?"

Sili watched as he fidgeted a moment before rubbing the back of his neck like had always did when he was nervous, "Actually, I came to check on you. I was told by Iriani that you may be still bathing so I..."

Sili laughed, brushing her hair, "I wasn't expecting anyone, but Iriani, maybe Vivienne to come so I thought nothing of it." She said as she put her brush down and walked around her room, pulling the shades back and opening the windows a little.

"Iriani said you requested a little time to yourself..." Cullen replied and Sili could hear a hint of something in his tone, but couldn't place it, "I hope I didn't intrude."

"I wanted time to myself, yes, but no... you didn't interrupt anything. I asked her to come get me just before dinner was served." Sili shrugged, "How long until that?"

"Iriani mentioned about an hour." Cullen shrugged, "Guests are starting to arrive and Josephine thought it best to greet them, if you were ready."

"Then I guess I have to stay here." Sili sighed, "I am never ready to greet or deal with nobility... Hunting demons and Venatori are easier then these events."

"Then maybe I should stay here..." Cullen laughed, before adding quickly, "To stand guard and make sure you are okay."

"Speaking of which, how are you?" Sili asked, looking at him seriously.

"Taking it slow, but I am doing fine." Cullen replied curtly.

"Cullen, I was just asking, not judging like you want me to do." Sili said, walking up to him and standing on her toes so that she was nose to nose, "I trust you and Cassandra."

Cullen's eyes meets Sili's, her eyes warm and comforting. Something in Cullen stirs and he inches closer, their lips just a whisper apart.

"Miss Sili!"

The voice caused both Cullen and Sili to jump, stepping away from one another, "Be down in a moment, Iriani." Sili sighed, looking to Cullen, "We should..."

Cullen quickly silenced her with a kiss, wrapping his arms around her mid section.