As she left the war room, Cassandra Pentaghast pondered her situation.
She had never enjoyed the company of women before. Well, she did, but not like this.
Hold on, she never had trouble making friends with other women. Well, the women at court i Nevarra could be annoying, but the women amongst the Templar ranks were fine. She would say that she even saw some of them as sisters. Sisters-in-arms, that is.
She saw Leliana like that. They'd fought together and bled together. And Cassandra would even call Leliana her best friend, even before they founded the Inquisition together. She was a good fighter, one of the best Cassandra had ever seen. She was intelligent, too. And funny. And she made Cassandra's heart want to burst out of her chest. And-
But there was also Josephine. She was closer to the women at court, but there was something else about her. She was trained as an Orlesian bard, so she was skilled in combat. She was as intelligent as Leliana, but in a different way. A more subtle way. Her role in the Inquisition was to talk, but it wasn't talking. It was so much more. The way in which Josephine spoke to a diplomat was like an art, skillfully weaving through the Game like it was nothing more than a child's tea party. She was funny, too. And she made Cassandra's face red when she thought about her when she was alone, in her bed. She'd imagine-
Stop it, she ordered herself, forcing herself to take account of her surroundings. She'd wound up back in the training yard. Perhaps her favorite place at Skyhold. A training dummy sat in front of her, fully kitted out in gambeson and chain armor. Cassandra drew her sword. It crackled with electric magic from a ring the Inquisitor had gifted her during their adventures in the Hinterlands of Ferelden.
Cassandra gripped the leather hilt of her bastard sword. Since she'd left her shield at her bunk, she elected to use a two-handed grip. More power and a different kind of maneuverability from a one-handed grip.
She stabbed at its unprotected underarm, then the chink in the armor on its thigh. She slashed at its gorget, then bashed the pommel of her sword into the dummy's temple.
Hm, Cassandra thought, watching the electricity crackle along the metal armor of the strawman. She repeated the set. It was a rudimentary exercise, but she easily fell into the familiar movements.
Stab. Stab. Slash. Bash.
I am in love with two women, she thought.
Stab. Stab. Slash. Bash.
I am in love with two women, she thought again, testing the newly stressed word in her mind.
Stab. Stab. Slash. Bash.
I am in love with two women.
Stab. Stab. Slash. Bash.
I am in love with two women.
Stab. Stab. Slash. Bash.
I am in love with two women.
She barely noticed when she lopped the head off the training dummy.
I am in love with two women.
Cassandra Pentaghast was in love with two women.
She stood there, panting, her sword at her side. The training dummy was now an amorphous pile of hay on top of battered armor.
"Ser Cassandra?" a young voice said. Cassandra turned around to see a teenage boy. She recognized him as a messenger for the Inquisitor, his name was… Alistair, for the Warden that ended the Fifth Blight. "The Inquisitor is requesting your presence, my lady. They would like to travel to Redcliffe to treat with Arl Teagan."
Cassandra gave a loud sigh out of her nose, which frosted on the cool air. She glanced back at the dummy.
What do they need me for? she asked herself. The Arl and the Inquisitor were already well acquainted through Josephine and the incident with the Venatori in Redcliffe months ago.
"Bring me to them," Cassandra said to the page.
Josephine listened to the horn through the open window in her office.
Uuuuuuuuwhoooooooo. Uuuuwhoooo.
One long blast, one short. One long blast meant there were allies approaching; the extra short blast meant it was the Inquisitor and their party returning. They had left for Redcliffe two weeks ago, shorter than their usual escapades.
It wasn't long, so why did Josephine feel like something was missing from Skyhold? A presence she hadn't even realized was there. She stood up too fast from her desk, making her dizzy. She had to steady herself against the chair, and when the last blasts came, they felt like part of a dream.
Uuuuwhoooo. Uuuuwhoooo.
But no, they weren't part of a dream.
Two horns after a pause meant…
Wounded.
Someone in the Inquisitor's party was wounded.
Almost immediately, Josephine was out the door. She had no idea what she was running to, nor who she was running for.
The Inquisitor had of course been gone.
Who else?
The Iron Bull, their bodyguard and lover. Dorian, the unsanctioned Tevinter ambassador. And…
Cassandra.
Cassandra.
No, not her.
Oh, Maker, please not Cassandra.
Josephine ran down the halls of Skyhold, pleading with the Maker that Cassandra was okay. Of course it was Cassandra. How could it not be her? It was Cassandra she had been missing. Who she had been longing for all this time.
Rounding a corner, she ran straight into the Inquisitor.
She knocked them right over.
At first, she didn't realize who it was. An elf i nice clothes was all she saw at first. Then the familiar vallaslin, the facial tattoos that they had told her respected Mythal, the elven goddess of love, motherhood, and justice.
"Lord Inquisitor," Josephine said, shocked. "I- Are you injured?"
"No," they said, a grim look passing over them. "We were ambushed by darkspawn. Not Corypheus's, just regular darkspawn. Cassandra took a genlock's sword to her leg."
Josephine felt her face fall in a grimace, maybe too much.
"Don't worry," the Inquisitor reassured her, their eyebrows slightly scrunched. "She's in surgery. They say she'll be okay, but there's nothing you or I can do for her now. They're not letting anyone in to see her."
"Oh," Josephine said, "then… That's okay." She didn't sound very confident, even to herself. She wasn't sure if she was even really trying to be opaque about it. She was friends with Cassandra, after all.
But the sad, knowing smile the Inquisitor gave her said that they knew her true worries. Or her true intention.
"Do you want a drink?" they asked. "I'm heading to my quarters. We can wait for word there."
"Yes," Josephine said, "Yes, I think I'd like that."
And so they waited. Minutes ticked to hours. The Inquisitor told Josephine about the visit to Redcliffe, and Josephine filled them in about the goings on in Skyhold during their absence. Of course, they both already knew everything that had been happening from their correspondences and reports, but it was nice to hear each other talk. Reassuring. Josephine had full confidence in the mages in the hospital, but the anxiety of waiting on a loved one's injuries was still overwhelming.
Finally, after what must have been an hour and a half, they heard a page walking up the huge tower that led to the Inquisitor's chambers. They both stood, awaiting his arrival.
The messenger bowed at the entrance. "Ser Cassandra is stable. The mages say she can receive visitors in the hospital."
Josephine looked at the Inquisitor, who nodded slightly. In an instant, Josephine was gone.
Running down stairs, the hallways connecting Skyhold's different parts. The first time Josephine saw the Chantry's sunburst, she sped up. Her legs ached. Skyhold is huge, she thought. She'd never really realized it before.
She knew the room Cassandra would be. It was the largest in the hospital section of Skyhold, reserved for the Inquisitor themselves, but more often it was used for their traveling companions.
She slowed to a walk as she approached the large room. She knew what would be inside. A large bed draped in finery, a Nevarran rug. Orlesian drapes on the window. Josephine stopped a the door, allowing herself to catch her breath.
When she was ready, Josephine entered. Then stopped in her tracks.
In the bed was Cassandra. She was fast asleep, and she looked gorgeous. Here the sharp edges of her harsh face were so… peaceful. Like a sleeping bear. Josephine looked down to her leg. It was lightly bandaged, but she guessed the mages had mostly closed it.
Wait.
Josephine's gaze panned back upward, to her waist, which had a familiar arm wrapped around it.
Leliana's arm.
Josephine's breath caught with the realization.
They were together. In bed, together.
She and Leliana had been together for a time, before the Inquisition. But they had lost contact. So, when Leliana's letter inviting her to be chief ambassador for the Inquisition arrived, Josephine was shocked. She had thought… For a time, she had thought that maybe there was a chance old flames would spark again. But that hope was lost.
Until now.
Seeing Cassandra and Leliana there, sleeping together… It was like a magnet, drawing Josephine closer to them. She took one step into the room, then another, and another.
Leliana's face appeared from behind Cassandra's, at first shocked by the appearance of another person in the intimacy of a shared sleep, then happy.
Happy.
Leliana held a finger to her mouth, then patted the bed in front of Cassandra. She hadn't realized there was space there before, but it looked like they had saved a spot, just for Josephine.
Slowly, taking great care not to wake her wounded warrior, Josephine climbed into the bed, and settled into a nap.
Leliana wasn't really sure how it progressed from there.
In a painkiller-induced state, Cassandra had confessed her love for Leliana and Josephine right after the mages had finished on her and right before she fell asleep in Leliana's arms. She was grateful for the Seeker's slumber, though, for it gave her a chance to think. She chewed on the revelation for… Maker only knows how long, until Josephine arrived, breathless.
Then, Leliana did not need to think any longer.
After that, the three of them slept with each other every night. At first as friends, but soon as lovers. She and Josephine, who had both been with women (and each other) before, guided Cassandra.
Sweat still gleamed on Cassandra's forehead from their lovemaking as she snored gently. She looked so peaceful, contrary to her usual persona. Leliana couldn't help but smile. On the other side of the Seeker was Josephine. Leliana's first reciprocated love, the first person she had ever really been with. It broke Leliana's heart when they lost contact, but when Divine Justinia had ordered Leliana and Cassandra to organize the Inquisition secretly, she saw her chance. She knew Josephine was an accomplished diplomat since they left each other, and someone with those skills could be put to work easily.
But things got complicated. Cassandra made things complicated.
So, Leliana decided to stop pursuing Josie. And she didn't let herself pursue Cassandra.
Then, that day in the hospital came.
Very few people knew about the three of them. The Inquisitor. The Iron Bull. Cullen. They would tell the others, in time. After they defeated Corypheus.
But for now, they laid in bed, content in each other.