Of Pransk and Marriage Part 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age


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"How is his Lordship, Lady Trevelyan?" Dorian inquired as they sat down for evening tea. The Lady had excused herself after dinner to check up on her husband.

"Oh, he's very ill I'm afraid." She replied as she prepared the tea. "Though he will not receive any sympathy from me. Not this time! A grown man should know better than to drink himself sick." She placed a cup of tea in front of everyone. She even went out of her way to place a little milk mug next to Sera for the elf to dip her biscuits in.

"How thoughtful of you mother." Evelyn noted in a slightly sarcastic tone.

Lady Trevelyan scoffed. "I would appreciate if you didn't use that tone with young lady. You know I pride myself on being a good hostess for my esteemed guests."

"Esteemed is the word," Evelyn muttered under her breath, glancing at Cullen; Lady Trevelyan's 'least' noble visitor.

"Besides…" Lady Trevelyan continued. "Lady Jenny left a whole lot of crumbs in the milk jug when she used it for her biscuits last time. I don't particularly like crumbs in my tea."

"My apologies mam," Sera said while she stuffed her face full of baked goods, too engrossed in the sweets to fake her speech. "I'm not used to sharing."

"Nor should you be! You're a Lady after all; ladies have the privilege to take what they want." She sipped her tea. "Sharing is for commoners," she said and giggled.

Evelyn kicked her lightly in the shin. "Mother!" she exclaimed.

"Watch your behavior young Lady!" Lady Trevelyan squawked. "Just ask the Commander if he's not used to sharing. Then you'll see!" She gave Cullen a hard look, "Tell her!"

It was obvious that the subjects made Cullen uncomfortable. "Ehm.. I can't speak for all commoners. But growing up in the Templar Order, you're not supposed to own anything. Your uniform, shield, sword, bed, clothes… they're all owned by the Chantry."

Lady Trevelyan looked a little baffled by his reply. "You know Commander; I keep forgetting that you're a Templar."

"Well… used to be a Templar."

"The Trevelyans are known as a devout family, are they not?" Dorian shot in, steering the conversation and the attention away from the Commander. Cullen gave him a grateful look and went back to nursing his tea.

She nodded in agreement. "You are quite right Lord Pavus, as always. Though we in the main house are responsible for keeping the estate alive, most of our extended relatives in the lesser houses keep posts in the Chantry as well as the Templar Order." Lady Trevelyan gave Evelyn a meek smile and petted her hand, "Our Tyrion intended to join the Templars so he could watch over Evelyn when she moved away."

"Who's Tyrion?" Sera asked, mouth full of biscuits.

The elf's question confused Lady Trevelyan. "He's Evelyn's older brother of course. Or well… funny story. They're actually twins but they were born a day apart, so we would always tease Ev…"

"I had an idea mother!" Evelyn eagerly interrupted. "I was thinking that I needed a new set of gowns for the ball and the Spring Salon."

As a bird with a shiny object, this was always the best way to distract her mother. "What a marvelous idea my dear!" Lady Trevelyan enthused, "I will call for the seamstress tomorrow. I have the perfect dress in mind for you! Peach colored with golden draping, how wonderful it would go with your complexion!"

Dorian snickered at her tacky suggestion. "That sounds like a wonderful dress Lady Trevelyan."

"Oh, doesn't it!?" Lady Trevelyan could hardly contain her excitement. In all the years Evelyn had lived on this earth, she had never been interested in clothes, far less ball gowns.

"Tyrion Trevelyan… I know that name," Cullen mused out in the air.

Lady Trevelyan lost her gleeful expression. "Ahh… You might have met him at the Conclave, Commander. Lord Trevelyan sent him there to represent our family."

The Commander scratched his head, "Might be. But, my men and I were delayed on our way to Haven. We only arrived a few moments before the explosion… Maybe I heard the name in passing when we…" Cullen realized why Evelyn had never mentioned her brother. "Oh."

"First we lost our son to the Breach… and in his wake we lost our daughter to the Inquisition. Worst of all, we heard rumors that she had killed him… him and everyone else. Then we heard that she was the Herald of Andraste… she was called a heretic by our neighbors and friends. Some vowed never to speak with us again; they claimed we schemed to improve our family's position." Lady Trevelyan sighed. "Nor did we receive much news that suggested otherwise."

Evelyn side-glanced at the elf next to her. Sera seemed a little troubled by how her actions had affected the Lady. With help from Leliana, she and her Red Jenny contacts made sure that only official letters from Josephine would reach the Trevelyans. Other letters containing information about the Inquisition withheld from her parents.

Lady Trevelyan directed her attention to Evelyn. "Don't worry my dear," she said in a warm, reaffirming tone. "When rumors about your part in the Orlesian Civil War surfaced, most of our bannorn agreed to stay put. And when you defeated that thing. We received pledges by knights from other bannorns. Just imagine how grand our estate would become if you took your place at the helm." The thought of a grander estate seemed to approve her mood.

Evelyn sighed in exasperation. "I don't want to talk about this. Not now… not ever!"

"Just think about your responsibility to this house!" Lady Trevelyan scolded. "Honestly, if you don't pick up this post. Someone from the lesser house will swoop right in and take your place."

Evelyn rolled her eyes, 'Swooping is bad' she thought sarcastically. "Then produce a new heir!"

"Don't be absurd! We're far past my prime. No, you must take responsibility!"

"I already have enough responsibility with the Inquisition! Would it be so bad if the estate went to someone else? Who is next in line?"

"Your cousin Isaac." Lady Trevelyan huffed, as he was the worst possible option.

"Isaac's not that bad. He's mastered modest in temper!" 'Though the first part of our heraldry was lost to the reigning Lord and Lady.'

"Well, he's certainly not bold in deed! He's a meek little boy, he can't fill your brothers place! It's out of the question! You should be the heir! I would rather die than see the main line perish under our care."

She couldn't take her mother's antics anymore. She had been pushed too far to take it in her stride. "Maybe you're lucky and die before that happens!"

The venomous words made Lady Trevelyan well up, "Evelyn… That was most unkind!"

Evelyn knew she had stepped over a line she had never intended to cross, but she was not in the mood to console her mother, not while being this emotional. "Good night mother! I will see you tomorrow." She said briskly and shot up from her seat, intent on leaving the day behind.

"Don't you dare walk out on me young lady!" Lady Trevelyan yelled as her daughter left the library.

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Evelyn flung herself on her bed and covered her face with the silk bed sheets. Stanton jumped up on the bed to keep her company. The little dog fumbled around for a while, until he found Evelyn's face beneath the fabric. Unmoved by her tears, he began to lick her face. It tickled a little and Evelyn had to giggle.

"You always know what to say," she smiled and petted the pup on its head. "I wish you were my mother… it would have been a lot easier." Stanton didn't seem to think this was such a bad idea, and barked happily.

While she cuddled the Mabari, someone knocked softly on her door. In want of some time alone, she didn't respond at first, but the person on the other side of the door was persistent. Evelyn sighed, "Who is it?"

"It's me," Cullen called from the other side of the door.

"In a minute!" She replied and jumped off her bed. She hurried over to the mirror on her dressing table. She wiped away her tears and hoped it would be enough to hide the fact that she had been crying. She dabbed a little powder on her cheeks to hide the redness. She promptly ran over to the door and opened it, but only so much so they could see each other's faces. "What's up?" she said nonchalantly.

"May I enter?"

"I'm not sure you should. It's a bit indecent for a man to visit an unmarried woman after her bed time."

"It's barely past seven in the evening." Cullen gave her his usual half-smirk, "And it's not like you've been decent about your bed time before."

She couldn't argue with that. Evelyn opened the door for him. "You're so depraved," she joked and sat down on her bed, focusing all her attention on Stanton.

"I'm sorry I brought up your brother."

"You didn't… my mother did." Evelyn said curtly.

Cullen sighed and seated himself next to her. "You know what I mean. You had perfectly captured her attention, and I had to bring him up again."

"She would have brought him up again eventually. She loves to talk about him… or used to at least." Evelyn smiled meekly.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

Evelyn took Cullen's hand in hers. "You told me about your demons; it's only fair that I talk about mine."

She closed her eyes to keep herself from crying, the memory of him was too painful to bear with them open. "It is as my mother said. We were twins, but he was born just before midnight, and I a couple of hours later. We were very close, but he used to mock me and say that I should look up to him as a big brother. With his two hours head start, he had seen the world far more than I had." She opened her eyes and smiled at the warm memory of her brother, "And we absolutely refused to share our birthday with each other. Our parents had to hold two separate parties for us."

"But…" She clenched Cullen's hand. "When we discovered my magical abilities, Tyrion pledged to join the Templars and follow me to the circle. We had never been apart before, as you could imagine, and he wanted to take care of me – like a real big brother. He never joined, however… and I felt so betrayed. We lost touch and didn't speak for several years. Not until…"

"Until you met him at the Conclave?"

Evelyn nodded. She reclaimed her hand and used it to wipe the tears rolling down her cheek. She leaned forward and buried her face in her hands. She sniffled a few times before she was able to continue, her hands still covering her face. "I stopped visiting my family when it became clear that he wouldn't join me, it was obviously very selfish of me... but I felt so alone and betrayed. But after seeing you kick your lyrium addiction, I'm glad he never did…"

"How did he respond… when he saw you again?"

"It was so surreal, to see him there. He embraced me, and he was genuinely happy to see me again, even after how I behaved towards him. I guess we both thought we would patch things up eventually, and we sort of did. Even in silence, the two of us could convey our feelings to each other. Everything seemed resolved… then the sky opened and we lost each other again… I'm sorry I never told you about him."

"Don't be! It took me ten years to talk about my time during the Blight!"

She sniveled again. "Honestly, I'm amazed that Leliana and Josephine never told anyone about him. I'm sure they knew about our relation."

"They have experienced enough loss to know when it's not up for exploitation."

Evelyn lifted her head and sat up so she could lean on Cullen. "I'm sure you're right."

They sat in silence for a while, until Evelyn rubbed her eyes and replenished the conversation. "I'm getting tired… I should probably sleep."

"Then it's time for me to leave." The Commander said and kissed her on the forehead.

"No... Please stay would you?"

Cullen lifted his eyebrow, "Are you sure that is wise? What if anyone sees me here?"

"After how rude I was to my mother? I'm sure you sleeping here would be the least of my worries."

Cullen snickered, "You're probably right."

They scooched further in on the bed. Cullen intended to hold Evelyn in his arms until she fell asleep, but the Mabari was even more intent on sleeping in-between them. They contented themselves with holding hands above Stanton's head.

"Oh, before I forget." Cullen nudged in Evelyn's hand.

"What's that?" she replied lazily, half asleep.

"Dorian said he had urgent business in Kirkwall, he'll be leaving in the morning."

Evelyn scoffed, "How did my mother take it?"

"She wasn't pleased that he didn't want to bring you along. She insisted that it would be good for you to get away for a few days."

"I think she would have been less eager if she knew the real reason he's visiting Kirkwall. I don't think she wants me to be in a joint relationship with Dorian and Bull."

"I suspect you're right." Cullen said as he yawned. "He had to assure her that his leaving was already planned, and didn't have anything to do with your behavior tonight."

"How long will he be gone?"

"He wasn't completely sure. He said the errand might take a few days, four at most."

"Well… Lucky Bull."

XXX

A/N: Please don't scold me too much. I know this became a little bit angsty…

In the mage origin for Inquisition, they never mention any siblings, only that her life had been altered by the magical abilities, so I'm not sure if she has any siblings with that origin… but I remembered that she was the youngest daughter of Lord Trevelyan if she was a rogue/warrior. This have bothered me for a while, and I just had to add a brother for it to make more sense. Sorry 'bout his death though, but death is not uncommon in Bioware (I'm looking at you ME3!). The deed is done, and he serves as one of the reasons why the Lord and the Lady aren't quite satisfied with the Inquisition, which kind of works better then what I had actually planned.

As always, thanks for following, favoring and especially reviewing. My favorite part of the day is whenever I receive a new mail from this site.


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ClaireBrink: How nice! I hope you'll continue to enjoy it. Even with the melodrama.

LadyDragon1316: As always, you're welcome to give Lord Trevelyan a real smackaroony. Though Sera are well equipped to give him the pain you want. Evelyn is maturing, little by little. She's in her early twenties in my mind, so adulthood is slowly making its way.

PetalofSins: PUPPIES!

KC Pendragon: I think you're right. Evelyn is not responsible enough to reproduce, even if her baby daddy is the most pragmatic man in all of Thedas.

Guest: Laxative is the right way to go if you want to vanquish your enemies! It seems Evelyn is on her way, though slowly. It wouldn't be a good story without Varric and Bianca ;)

Michael 13: Thank you so much! Trust me, Lord Trevelyan haven't seen anything yet!

Romanceobessed: Thank you so much, I love you so far as well! With Dorian gone for a couple of days, I'm sure the Lord and the Lady would take bigger interest in the Commander. I'm anxious to write the reaction as well, I know how the father will react… her mother is changing, If only a little, and might be open to the idea. We'll just have to see I guess.

Rebfan90: Oh! Thank you so much! Stay tuned for other epic pranks in the future!

Sunnysoul: Your review made my day! Cullen is well acquainted by tactless nobilities, he have certainly experienced his fair share of ignorance.

Lady Trevelyan is my favorite person to write for. She's so wonderfully over the top! The truth of her relationship with Cullen will commence soon, I think. Though not without a whole lot of melodrama from the Trevelyans.