It's time for a bit of fluff. I think we've earned it don't you? The next few chapters won't be as dark. Whether that's good or bad, I'll let you decide.

Cullen and Aerowen – Chapter 8 – Ignored is Not Bliss

The day of the joining ritual Aerowena could barely breathe. She stayed inside picking at her thumb nail for the entire morning. Too worried to eat or drink, she sat and nervously chewed her lip and tore her fingers apart. "What's one more death, right?" she whispered. She'd take this one as all the others, wouldn't she? Would his death finally break her? For the first time in so many years, she knelt down and prayed.

A knock at her door caught her off guard and she stood abruptly. Callie came in smiling. "It's done, Wena, he lives."

Aerowena let out a sigh of relief, her teeth chattering as she became aware of the cold. The first genuine smile crossed her lips as she hugged Callie tightly. She felt a little of herself come back that day. A little spark ignited within her and she felt the pull of mischief and joy once again. Thirty years to live, but thirty years with him, she'd take it and treasure it.

After four days of being largely ignored, it wasn't treasure she was thinking of. While she'd grown up a bit, the temper still waged within. She'd been rather spoiled all these months, she realized. While she'd had to do so much, she'd also been handed quite a bit on silver platters, as it were. She was good at finding angles to get what she needed, but she couldn't find one single moment to get any angle on him whatsoever.

Every day it was a new frock and fragrance meant to get his attention. Instead he ignored her. Today she wore a dress of gossamer white, low cut in the front and missing half the sides. She wore small lilies in her hair and the scent of wild flowers on her body. In fact, she admitted, he went out of his way to avoid her as much as possible. Today he wouldn't ignore her. Oh no, today she would hatch a plan even he couldn't ignore.

"Callie…" she looked at her friend leaning back in the chair across from hers.

Callie narrowed her eyes suspiciously "Weenaaa?" she mocked.

Aerowena placed her elbows on the table and framed her face with her hands. "It seems I'm having a little bit of a problem." She did her best to look innocent and guileless.

"Oh? Is he not falling at your feet weeping out love poems as the other besotted fools in the camp?"

Aerowena scrunched her face in disgust at her friend. "I do so hate it when you call me out, you know"

"That's because you treat me like you do men. You must realize at some point that I don't respond to women because I am one. One that appreciates men"

"Bah" Aerowena sat back and blew a stray hair from her eye. "It used to work on Leliana you know!"

"Yes, I'm sure you keep telling yourself that. A bard spy with the powers of persuasion had you thinking your womanly ways were "working" on her." Callie was nodding sagely and Aerowena just wanted to swat at her head.

"I can't even get him to glance at my feet, let along spout poetry" she admitted looking out the window at Cullen and the men practicing archery in the yard. "It's not like I can change that I'm a mage, you know. I can't just magically change that! Oh dear that was a dreadful pun", Aerowena winced with a laugh.

Callie's hearty laugh drew the attention of several young Wardens, including Cullen's. He looked at them both briefly and turned back to the training.

"You could always turn him into a frog if he doesn't pay attention more."

Aerowena gasped and bit her lip to keep from laughing. "It's just so tempting when you say it. If I said something like that he'd stalk from the fortress and re-enlist with the Templars." Her laughter filled the room and she turned and caught Cullen's eyes on her. Her stomach did a flip flop and her smile got even bigger. He blinked several times and then turned away.

"Hmm, back at the tower I'd figure out some way to get him alone." She nibbled the tip of her forefinger and tilted her head while she contemplated him. "Perhaps I just need be upfront?" She eyed Callie sideways arching her brow.

"Perish the thought" Callie said between giggles. "Is it possible for you to be candid in any way?"

Wistfully she returned her gaze to Cullen. "Irving once told me I can be anything I want. I can choose to be cruel and manipulative, or I can choose to use my charm while being kind. He said one day I'd learn the value of my charm and the pain it caused." Her voice was quiet and she hadn't taken her eyes off of Cullen for one moment. "I thought him terribly boorish at the time, you know. What a foolish child I was."

"Then again", she said turning back to Callie "There isn't anything to say I can't be candid and charming, is there?"

"What are you up to? No. Never mind, I don't want to know."

"Have we got any roses, Callie?" And Callie thought Wena looked exactly like a hound with a cat under its paw.

Cullen felt her gaze against his back. The fine hairs on the back of his neck were tingling constantly. Her laugh was, for lack of a better word, poetry. Everything about her was meant to set a man off guard. Was it the Maker's plan to make her so perfect? Or was it something much darker? A perfect voice to lure you into…no, he wasn't lured. He couldn't lie to himself. She'd seduced him, but he'd gone to her chamber knowing that might occur. He'd been in love then, too much in love to see that she used him. But had she used him? What had she gained from him at the time?

He looked back at her and just like that he forgot what he was doing. Her head was tilted again and she sucked or gnawed on a single finger. Something curled in his belly, something familiar and primal. She stared at him, no…she stared through him and he found himself wanting to know what she was thinking; wanting to know…her.

He forced himself to turn away and went to the sword practice yard. He had a lot of frustration to work through.