Chapter inspired by: Headlock - Imogen Heap
Vaelyn sat at her desk in her quarters, feet upon the surface and chair tipped backwards, leafing through the massive tome of creatures on her lap. She'd just finished adding another entry after returning to Skyhold from several weeks of trudging through Crestwood.
Her party was just about to leave Caer Bronach with their loose ends all tied up, but a massive Highdragon flew directly over their heads and right on by to the ruins in the southern end of the region. The new residents of the freshly reclaimed keep were in an uproar and there was but a single solution. Kill it.
Iron Bull was hardly the voice of reason, Vaelyn was already a bit reckless without the encouragement. It didn't take much convincing from the overly excited Qunari to get her to chase after the winged bastard, all the while Varric and Dorian went over all the possible ways that they'd all horribly die. The battle was long but went well of course, the party only receiving minor injuries; Vaelyn earned a pretty gash across her left bicep, armor unable to completely protect her from those monstrous claws.
She glanced over all the entries of past enemies they'd fought against as she turned the heavy pages, remembering each and every battle fondly. She carefully scrutinized the finer details of the newest addition in her bestiary tome, humming appreciatively. Vaelyn wasn't sure she would have been able to remember the details of the dragon accurately to be able to sketch it. Later her and Bull would get together and go over the strategy bits and ink it in for posterity sake, information on some of the rarer beings of the world was vague and might as well be considered non-existent.
Setting down the thick tome, she picked up her personal sketch book and prepared to draft out the brooding silhouette of the ruins that sat on the cliff. The same ruins where she fought that magnificent beast. Should just couldn't get the scenery out of her head once the overcast broke.
Just before the first lines were drawn, Vaelyn's head snapped up when the door to her quarters was flung open unceremoniously. She expected her visitor to be Leliana or Cullen with important news or some such, but when she heard the giggling invader bounding up the stairs, she immediately knew who it was.
"I got it! I got it!" Sera squealed with utter glee as she pranced up the last stair and danced over to the Inquisitor's desk.
"Wai...What?" Vaelyn slid her feet back to the floor and let her chair fall back to all fours.
"I got it!" Sera repeated this time bringing her hidden arm out from behind her back. She held the balled up crimson fabric, tufts of dark fur poking out here and there.
"You didn't..." and realization dawned on the Inquisitor. "You did!" She squawked nearly jumping out of her seat.
Ever since meeting Cullen she'd been silently pining, trying to get her hands on the damned cloak thing, and it seemed as though Sera entertained a similar idea. "How did you get it!" Vaelyn inquired, eyeing the prize intently.
"Pretty easy to nab when grumpy is bathing! Just had to help with the gettin dirty, easy stuff, innit." She sang, making Vaelyn blush.
Sera untangled her conquest, taking extra care to smooth out the wrinkles and ruffling the fur back into normalcy. "Dunno how he can wear this thing all the time, kinda girly."
Vaelyn snorted.
There was another loud ruckus down the stairs again, this time colorful words and heavy foot falls rang out. Sera panicked and threw the furry cloak at Vaelyn, catching the Inquisitor unawares, hitting her face with it; getting strands of fur in her mouth.
"Gotta run! Hide the evidence!" the rogue cackled and made a beeline for the balcony.
The Inquisitor floundered for a brief second before opening one of the desk drawers and stuffing the cloak down into it, slamming it shut, and trying to pick the fur out of her mouth; attempting to regain a shred of her composure before the newest intruder appeared at her landing.
Vaelyn turned an inhuman shade of red then and slapped a hand over her mouth. Cullen apparently noticed Sera after his belongings, but for the life of her, the Inquisitor couldn't understand why the Commander was traipsing around Skyhold in nothing but his boots and breeches.
Cullen was oblivious to the Inquisitor's fluster, coming to stand next to her desk; he was a little winded from the wild goose chase, a light blush colored his cheeks and his hair was tousled and curly, missing its product.
"I saw Sera run up here, have you seen her?" his words coming out breathy.
Andraste's sweet tits. Vaelyn shook her head zealously, it was all she could manage without combusting right there.
"When I find her...I'm going to..." Cullen growled then turned on his heel and marched right back over and down the stairs.
Vaelyn couldn't make out the rest of his ramblings, but she sincerely doubted that he'd find her. Nor would he discover that it was she who had his silly cloak.
She stood up, placing her sketch book on her desk, and headed out of her quarters to deal with inquisition business; failing to see Sera creeping back in from the balcony.
Cullen felt...naked without the cloak that usually adorned his shoulders.
The armor that he donned was rather plain without the article, it was just something that Harritt put together so he could replace his older, well used Templar armor.
"Commander."
"I..yes...what is it?" He growled.
"Some elf outside, Sera I think, asked me to give this to you." The young solider stepped over to the Commander's desk and held out the item.
Cullen eyed the offered item, secretly investigating what he could see of it before taking into his own hand. It appeared to be a normal book, having the appearance of a journal. Turning it around in his hands revealed no title or indication of an owner. He presumed that it was stolen if Sera was the one giving it to him.
"You are dismissed, and if you see Sera again tell her she had better return what belongs to me or suffer the consequences." He threatened, the young man bolted out of the door to avoid any more of his Commander's ire.
Alone now, Cullen opened the front cover carefully. The inside of the cover was blank, except for that little inscription neatly written at the bottom corner.
Property of V. T.
The Commander promptly closed the cover and tossed it upon the cluttered surface of his desk. He glared at the inanimate objected as if it offended his mother, he was going to kill Sera for both his cloak and for giving him an item that could spell his doom. Something at the back of his mind insisted that he look at the contents of the book that lay innocently there. Cullen tried to deter himself from the nagging curiosity, the chance to see the more personal side of the lady Inquisitor was difficult to pass up.
Surely you would not pass up such a chance. His mischievous self argued.
Surely you are not suggesting I make such an obscene breach of confidence. He rebuked.
What harm could be done if you just took a quick peek? The other him chuckled darkly. You will return it to her when you get the chance, your honor demands it after all. She wouldn't even know...
Maker's balls! Cullen cursed, picking up the offending object.
When he glanced through the first few pages he noticed two things. The first was that this was in fact not a journal it was a book of sketches. The realization forced him to exhale the breath that he had unconsciously been holding. The second thing he noticed was that the sketches were very good. Vaelyn was quite talented.
With each new page turn he discovered remarkably well done and very realistic drawings of many people within the Inquisition. Cullen counted the many times someone appeared on the pages, Varric was in there a few times with different expressions. Cassandra and the other companions of the Inquisitor also made an appearance.
He counted himself...five times, nope this was the sixth drawing of himself. In all but one drawing he was serious, a frown upon his face, a normal expression for him. The other however was the only one where he was grinning. He was in awe of the beautiful detail that Vaelyn captured him in.
The eyes of the sketch version of him were gleaming with mirth, and the grin was one of true happiness. It was weird seeing himself in such a state, he had very little to be happy about. Or so he told himself.
He was more interested in why the Inquisitor bothered to draw him in the first place.
A loud, hurried knock on the door to his office startled him, interrupting his thoughts. Cullen snapped the book closed and threw it into one his desk drawers he managed to pull open just as the door swung open.
"Ah! Inquisitor." Cullen greeted with immense strain. "Is there something I can do for you?"
Vaelyn looked quite perturbed.
"I don't suppose you've seen Sera? She's taken something rather important from me."
Cullen sympathized with her,"I'm afraid I have not, my lady." Vaelyn's brow furrowed with irritation.
"Might I inquire as to what it was the elf stole?" There was a deep seated feeling in the pit of his stomach that he already knew what she was missing.
"It's a book, burgundy in color, looks similar to a journal. My initials are on the inside of the front cover..." She explained in exact detail.
Cullen swallowed thickly, "I'll keep a look out for it then, shall I, Inquisitor?"
"I...uh, your help is greatly appreciated Cullen." She smiled weakly and quickly left the office without another word.
When she was gone, Cullen dropped his elbows upon the desk and buried his face in his hands.
"Maker preserve me."
"Job's done, now what shorty?"
"Now we just sit back and enjoy the show." Varric chuckled.
This could go one of two ways. The first being that Cullen and the Inquisitor would figure out that he was manipulating the whole situation; in which case, the consequences would be dire. The other, Cullen and the Inquisitor don't discover his machination and they would...well do mushy stuff. Either way, it would make a good read in one of his serials.
"Kinda boring, innit, just sittin around waiting for them to do something."
"It'll be worth it in the end, Buttercup." Varric assured her.
As if on cue, the door to the staircase that led to the Inquisitor's quarters was pulled open. Vaelyn stepped out onto the dais, and upon her shoulders sat Cullen's missing mantle. With an impassive expression glued to her features, she marched down the few steps and towards the second door on her right, to the war room; the ends of the cloak dragging behind.
He may have let it slip to the Inquisitor that Cullen was in possession of her missing item.
"How are we gonna know what's happening if they're in that stupid room?" Sera sneered.
"I have enlisted the help of two wonderful young ladies who were more than willing to share the details of the war council." He expected it to be quite the interesting story.
The Inquisitor called a meeting that evening to debrief on the Crestwood expedition, and to figure out what their next move was.
Cullen had been the last advisor to show up, the inquisitor's book in tow. He meant to hand it over to her after the meeting, the most opportune moment. The few minutes he waited for the Inquisitor to actually show up were almost unbearable. Leliana and Josephine hounded him about his new look. If he wasn't so concerned about Vaelyn he'd almost consider that his fellow advisors were behind the theft of his cloak; with Sera's help of course.
When the door finally swung open Cullen reflexively moved his hand onto the book sitting at the edge of the massive table.
Josephine could do nothing but cover her mouth when she looked upon the image of the lady Inquisitor standing in the doorway, the Commander's cloak draped around her shoulders. It was almost a perfect impression of someone else she knew. Leliana smiled with her whats-your-next-move grin, arms crossed over her chest.
Vaelyn's placid expression morphed into one of annoyance when she spotted a book sitting under a guarded hand. Her eyes followed the arm up to the Commander's eyes and pinned him with a fierce glare.
"So you did have it!" Vaelyn accused.
"Yes...I mean no! No I did not have it!" Cullen tried to explain helplessly. He looked to both Josephine and Leliana for assistance, but he found none.
The angry look upon her face, and the cloak flowing around her ominously had his heart skipping beats.
"Cullen." Vaelyn spoke with a dead calm. "I find it hard to believe that you had and not had it." She made her way fully into the room now, closing the heavy doors behind her as the Commander tried to placate the false accusations.
"Well you see, my lady, this morning..." Cullen began, rubbing the back of his neck anxiously. "One of my men was given the book, by Sera, who insisted that it be brought to me."
"Yet you did not return it, why is that?"
There was a mischievous glint in her eye now, Leliana noticed.
"Surely we can put this behind us, my lady..."
Vaelyn quickly interrupted him with a question of her own, "Did you look?"
"Did I what?" Cullen said dumbly.
"Did. You. Look?" She enunciated.
"Errr...I uhhh, may have peeked?"
Wrong. "So not only did you lie to me, but you looked through my personal property?" The Inquisitor said casually. The rate at which Vaelyn's tempter went from active volcano to iceberg put Cullen under greater unease.
"If you return that which is mine, I will forgive your grievances." She offered cordially.
He all but threw the blasted thing into her welcoming hand, having no desire to die this day.
Now that the book was back with its rightful owner, Vaelyn turned on her heel and marched for the door, Cullen's cloak still sitting upon her shoulders. Some how surviving their first skirmish, he wasn't doing himself any favors when he called back out to her.
"Inquisitor, if I may, I've returned what belongs to you and now I would very much like my cloak back, if you please." He ventured daringly.
She stopped then, turning her self enough to look back on Cullen and simply replied, "I do not remember agreeing to such terms, Commander." She smirked.
Cullen scowled but a thought occurred to him. "My lady, may I inquire as to why there are so many drawings of me in that book of yours?"
Vaelyn's victorious grin dissolved then, as did her assertive aura. With thoughts of revenge she had forgotten about those drawings and did not expect Cullen to bring it up like this, in front of an audience. He so easily turned the tides and she gave him the opening. In reality, there really was nothing for her to be embarrassed about, it was irrational, but the Commander only said just enough to get the gears of the rumor mill lurching to a start; that thought was far more ruinous. She silently cursed her self for taking more notice of Cullen's manly features as of late.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Commander." Vaelyn weakly denied.
Got her. "I really liked the second one, but I don't remember taking any of my armor off, or my clothes for that matter." he bluffed, but neither Leliana nor Josephine had to know.
Vaelyn paled considerably, nearly wrenching the silly book open to make sure no such drawing existed. There were no other moves to be made, he won the battle. Never in her life did she move as swiftly as she did now. In only a few movements she had the cloak off her back and balled up, and did not hesitate to throw said ball of fabric and fur at the Commander's chest.
Like a spooked halla, she dashed out of the room.
Josephine turned to pin Cullen with a scandalized look, almost mortified for the Inquisitor. "Is it true?!"
Cullen chuckled and eventually filled the room with his deep laughter.
Note:
For some reason this chapter didn't turn out like I thought it would. I suppose it's not really disappointment, but I believe I could have written it better. Was suppose to be the Inquisitor pulling a prank or two on Cullen, but it ended up as Varric pulling the strings. Always looking for the next juicy idea.
This chapter REALLY made me want to steal Cullen's cloak too.
Next chapter might end up getting serious again, we shall see!