Layla had wandered off a little. She was still fairly close to camp, but far enough to feel she had some privacy, privacy was somewhat of a rarity for soldiers of the Inquisition, so she tried to enjoy it whenever she had the chance.

Layla had joined the Inquisition pretty early on. She originally came from a small village that was destroyed during the fifth blight. It had finally started to really recover when the breach happened and a dozen rifts suddenly appeared in and around the village, demons pouring out every day. Layla had just started Templar training when that happened, but she returned (alongside a couple of other recruits from the village) as soon as she heard what was going on. While none of them lost family members, everyone lost someone they knew and the blow hit them all hard. After the village had been evacuated, none of the former Templar recruits dared to return to their former duties, afraid to be disciplined for their actions. It was around this time that Layla heard some former Templars were now joining the Inquisition and Layla and Jona, one of the other former Templar recruits, decided to do the same.

Life in the Inquisition had been hard but Layla preferred it to her life as a Templar recruit. Jona had been her closest friend, which wasn't surprising considering everything they'd already experienced together, so when he died during the Inquisition's second attempt to close the breach, Layla felt lost for a while. The return of the Herald after her supposed death in Haven, seeing her being carried into the camp by Commander Cullen, unconscious but still alive after facing Corypheus and his archdemon alone, it had been this sight that had lit the fire inside Layla again. It wasn't the hope of revenge for her village or Jona or the other people she'd known who were now gone, it was the hope that the Inquisition might actually be strong enough to fix the world.

Since that day Layla had seen the Inquisitor up close quite often, but they'd never actually met, she would only see Inquisitor Trevelyan running through camp, crashing in a tent, and disappearing without really speaking to anyone accept maybe the requisitions officer. This time had been no different, except for the part where the commander himself had shown up at the camp.

It was no big secret among the recruits that the commander and the inquisitor had become quite intimate at one point, lately they seemed more distant but Layla thought they were just trying to be more discreet. All the more reason it was so strange seeing the commander burst into camp, jump off an exhausted looking horse, and demanding to know where the Inquisitor was as if they were trying to hide her from him. Whatever the situation was, he had soon calmed down and was now in the Inquisitor's tent, something the soldiers at camp wouldn't stop talking about. Layla thought it was quite romantic, the commander and the Inquisitor ending up together. Behind her she could hear the sounds of the camp, she wondered what was happening there right now, she felt herself blush at her own thoughts. Idly she wondered whether Jona would be here with her if he had still been alive.

Layla was thinking about Jona and how much she liked that he had always reminded her of their village before the breach, when one of the shadows behind her began to move on its own. An assassin suddenly dropped out of stealth, seconds before killing her.

Cullen woke up, he was certain he had been shouting in his sleep but when he looked at Trevelyan lying next to him, she hadn't woken up. He took a deep breath and actively tried to calm himself, something that worked but only to a certain extent. There was this strange pressure on his chest and his whole body felt on fire almost, he would normally go for a short walk when he woke up feeling like this, but he didn't want to risk waking Trevelyan up. He looked over at her again, she was lying on her side, her face turned to him but her red hair covered most of it. Maker, she's beautiful.

But what did she think of him? Cullen thought back to the time they'd spent when he had been under the influence of that potion. It was true that the potion made him act more… well more, but the feelings were genuine, they were still as intense the morning he woke up with her in his arms. How happy he had felt for a few moments before realising it was all over. Whatever she had done, or said, she had said it to a version of him he could never be, and if that was the Cullen she wanted, he didn't know how to give it to her. He wasn't as assertive or open about how he felt, and he couldn't imagine being like that again.

Now he had to work with this woman he couldn't scrub from his mind, who he could picture in his bed in exquisite detail. Maker have mercy. How was he supposed to do this? Every time they had even the slightest intimate moment between them he ended up doing something that made her even more distant. Admittedly he did not have a lot of experience in this area, so maybe he was doing everything wrong. She's the Inquisitor, maybe it is for the best that she doesn't feel the same way. But didn't she? Lately he couldn't help but wonder, and part of him felt she might actually… just this night, when they shared the briefest kiss, the way she'd said 'Cullen, please,' it almost sounded like… Cullen shook his head. Speculation was pointless.

Cullen propped himself up on his elbow. Trevelyan was still lying facing him. The bedrolls were close enough to each other that Cullen could easily lean forward and reach out his hand – and so he did – to brush the hair out of Trevelyan's face. She made the softest sound and for a second Cullen worried she had been awake all along, but nothing else happened. Cullen felt relieved.

Thinking back to the last night they'd slept together in the same room, he felt he really should've asked her to stay that next morning. Been more assertive, wasn't that what she had liked about him, while he was under the influence?

A distorted shadow crossed the tent and there was something about it that made Cullen reach for his sword and the shield he had taken into the tent. Cullen got to his knees – the tent being too low to stand in – and he propped the shield up in front of him, his sword ready in his hand. Everything was quiet for just long enough to make Cullen feel like he was being overly cautious (but how could he not be, considering the strange event that had brought him her to this tent), but the second he was about to put his weapons away, the flap of the tent opened. It looked like it opened on its own, but a slight distortion of the air gave the assassin away. Immediately Cullen thrust his sword forward, he heard a sharp shriek and the assassin dropped out of stealth, his hand covering his side where Cullen had hit him. Cullen tried for a second hit, but the assassin knew better now and he quickly moved out of the way. Cullen glanced at Trevelyan, the assassin must have spotted her as well… so why was he attacking him and ignoring her? The assassin pulled out two double daggers and Cullen realised he had to get Trevelyan's help.

"Trevelyan!" Cullen's voice filled the entire tent. Trevelyan blinked, all she could see was dark shapes struggling, then a flash of metal. They were under attack. That realisation made her sleep dissipate immediately. Thankfully Cullen had taken his sword and shield into the tent and so he was not helpless fighting with a dark figure. It looked almost comical seeing the commander on his knees, his giant shield in front of him, his sword awkwardly swinging through the cramped space. Small tears in the tent showed he had been swung the sword before. Trevelyan hadn't taken her staff into her tent, she never did. Trevelyan didn't need a staff to practice magic, but Trevelyan had been one of the youngest mages to ever pass the Harrowing and since then she had almost never practiced magic without a staff. The dark figure managed to knock Cullen on his back and Trevelyan saw how he jumped on Cullen, pinning him under his own shield, quickly raising twin blades. Hoping more than believing she could, Trevelyan tried to cast a barrier, it must have worked because the twin blades came down – strangely enough not somewhere they would've been legal – and Cullen didn't let out a sound. The would-be assassin looked surprised and Cullen took advantage of this surprise to get his knees under the shield and push it, and the assassin, off his body. The assassin stumbled back, lost his balance and crashed into the side of the tent, causing the whole thing to collapse on the three of them. Trevelyan could hear blades shredding the cloth of the tent but wasn't sure who was doing what. Suddenly she felt a hand clasp around her ankle, move up her leg, grabbing her arm next, and just as she was about to defend herself she realised the hand was looking for her own hand… Trevelyan took Cullen's hand and he pulled her towards him. She heard cloth being shredded again and Cullen pulled both of them out of the tent. The heap of cloth was wildly moving as the assassin was still trapped in it. Blackwall came rushing towards the scene and attacked the collapsed tent until it was left a motionless red mess.

Trevelyan looked around her frantically, she could see so many bodies, all with cut throats. To her great relief she saw Dorian and Varric coming towards her. "Are you all right?" Dorian asked, Trevelyan nodded. "Cullen fought him off. And you?" she asked, gesturing not only to Dorian but the others as well. "Glad you were here, Curly," Varric said. "Assassins," Blackwall said, Trevelyan wasn't sure if he was telling her or venting his frustration. "There's no honour in killing men from the shadows."

"Trevelyan, are you all right?" Cullen grabbed both her arms. She had just answered this question but he was staring at her so intently she said, "I'm fine Cullen, don't worry."

The camp was quiet, there were bodies between all the tents, all this had happened without her even waking up.

"I think we should return to Skyhold," Trevelyan said. She had said it because she felt at least some of them would want to go after the assassins and their employees right now, and that did not seem like a good idea. Everyone spread out, hoping against hope to find survivors. Trevelyan turned to do the same, but Cullen grabbed her arm and turned her to face him. "You're not leaving my side."

"You're assuming they were after me."

"Of course, who else could they be after?" Cullen's eyes were locked on hers.

"If they had just wanted to kill me they could've done that in my sleep, I suspect they wanted something else."

Cullen shook his head, "I will not allow it."

Trevelyan felt touched but she couldn't stop herself from saying: "If they had wanted to kill me, you couldn't have stopped them, if they – "

"Please don't." Cullen was still holding on to her arms.

"Cullen, I wasn't trying to…" she paused, wondering how to say this, "this is what I meant when I said I'm afraid there is too much importance placed on me and what would happen if I got killed."

"You're not getting killed."

"I might, and I don't want the Inquisition to suffer for it."

Cullen let go of her arms, "of course it would suffer because of it!" he sounded frustrated. "Whether or not you want to accept the role, you are what drives the Inquisition now, it could not exist without you." Cullen shook his head. "You did not have to see the faces of the soldiers when we believed you lost at Haven, if you had not returned…" he almost laughed. "There would be no Inquisition if you had not returned, 'don't want the Inquisition to suffer for it,' of course it would suffer for it." Cullen met her eyes, his hands were on her arms again. "I would suffer for it."

For a moment Trevelyan felt trapped in the intensity of the moment. "Well, they're gone now," she shrugged, hoping to break the tension. "So you can let go of me now."

"Never," Cullen said and his hands quickly pulled her body against his and he kissed her. For a moment she kissed him back, his arms let go of her arms and now wrapped around her waist, Trevelyan's hands reached out and cupped his face.

It wasn't until Trevelyan heard Varric very loudly exclaim something in approval that she thought about what she was doing. Slightly embarrassed (not only because of the public nature of the kiss, but also because she had been so swept up into it), Trevelyan broke the kiss off and took a step back. She could feel Cullen's eyes on her but she didn't meet his gaze. Instead she turned around and quickly moved away from him, without even saying anything. She had just had this conversation with herself, about how she shouldn't do anything to draw more attention to him, at the very least not until he knew the truth, and she couldn't talk to him until they got to Skyhold. Varric looked confused as he saw Trevelyan quickly move away from Cullen, she could see the look on his face and could only imagine what the look on Cullen's face was, but she was determined to avoid him until they returned to Skyhold and she had figured out how to explain everything, and how to explain her own behaviour.

They left within the hour, the entire journey Trevelyan made sure she was never alone with Cullen, hoping he would not bring up the kiss. It was easier to avoid talking to him once they met their men and the group traveling back to Skyhold suddenly became much larger. Perhaps it was time to tell him the truth. She feared she kept breaking his heart. Trevelyan just needed to figure out how to tell him.

As the group slowly made their way back to Skyhold, Trevelyan kept sneaking glances at the commander's back. Cullen was riding in front of her, next to Varric. Trevelyan herself was riding next to Blackwall.

"So the rumours were true?" Blackwall asked, he been silent for the duration, until now.

"Rumours?"

"About you and Cullen," Blackwall gestured to the man riding in front of them, just in case Trevelyan was thinking of another Cullen. Despite their group now being quite large, Cullen was always riding close to her, perhaps hoping to talk to her in private. Right now Cullen was listening to Varric who was telling him a story. The commander was just far enough away to assume he couldn't hear them.

"They're not, it was just a kiss."

"Ah, just a kiss?" Blackwall seemed unconvinced.

Trevelyan sighed. "We shouldn't… I don't… I'm the Inquisitor." This wasn't her real reason of course, but it was the ultimate excuse.

"Why not? You are a woman as well as the Inquisitor."

"Ah – Yes." Blackwall was ignoring the ultimate excuse and Trevelyan didn't have any others. She looked at Cullen's back again.

After a long silence Blackwall spoke again. "He seems like a good man," Blackwall said, as if he thought Trevelyan wanted her inner circle's approval before starting a relationship.

"Yes he is," she answered. But wouldn't it all be easier if he wasn't.