Cullen awoke feeling surprisingly well rested despite the cold, hard ground he was lying on inside the claustrophobic tent. Cullen, Skye and Lily had left for Skyhold three weeks ago and were still days away from Skyhold. They we're traveling at a much slower pace than they had been previously and as a result had only just passed through Halamshiral two days ago. Lily had loved travelling at first and insisted on stopping at every settlement they passed through. She had loved Val Royeaux the most, the ridiculous grandeur of the city had left Lily speechless, until she saw all the trinkets and pretty things they were selling at the market, then the squealing started. Cullen had to practically prise her off the city gates when it was time to leave. Eventually Lily got bored of the hours of horse back riding and once Skye told her that there were no more major settlements between them and Skyhold, Lily was eager to get there and see her new home.

Cullen stretched out as much as the medium sized tent would allow and sat up slightly, casting his gaze down to Skye's still sleeping form. Smiling slightly, he gently swept a strand of hair off her face tucking it behind her ear before casting his gaze to her other side where Lily was sleeping. Or where Lily should have been sleeping. Fear suddenly gripped Cullen's heart as he frantically started patting the bundle of sheets she should have been sleeping in, she definitely wasn't amongst them. However, his searching had disturbed Skye who was doing her usual best to stay asleep as she grumbled, trying to find a more comfortable position. Cullen was desperately trying to unbutton the tents entrance with shaking hands, the only thing stopping Cullen from going full on hysterical was the belief that no one could have made it past all the wards that Skye had laid around their small campsite and taken Lily from their tent without himself or Skye noticing. Finally, Cullen managed to undo the last button and fling himself out the tent and almost immediately nearly tripped over Lily who was sat just outside. Cullen managed to avoid crushing her as he fell and unfortunately fell face first on the ground beside her. Groaning he pushed himself over until he was lying on his back, gazing up at the sun streaming though the gaps of the leaves above him. Lily watched the whole scene with a mixture of confusion and amusement. She shuffled over to Cullen's side and peered down at his face.

"Dad, what are you doing?"

"Scaring five years off my life for nothing apparently." Cullen chuckled softly before looking at Lily's confused face. Lily didn't understand what he meant but smiled anyway.

"Lily," Cullen said, suddenly serious and sitting up. "You can't leave the tent without me or your mother with you, especially if we are asleep. What if you'd been carried off by a bear or a wolf or a…a…big bird?" Lily looked a back at him doubtful.

"A big bird?" She asked sarcastically, despite probably not knowing what that meant.

"Yes a big bird. You can get big birds, the size of dogs." Cullen exclaimed, completely making it up as he went.

"Well I've never seen one." Lily said with the air of an infant that thought they had seen everything.

"Just because you've never seen one doesn't mean they don't exist; you've never seen a dragon but you know they exist." Lily looked thoughtful for a moment.

"I still don't think big birds exist." She eventually replied. Cullen just signed and shook his head and conceded the pointless argument.

"But Lily, it is still dangerous for you to be out here alone. Please promise that you won't leave the tent unless your mother or I are with you. Promise?" Lily looked like she wanted to argue but eventually just nodded her head.

"Thank you." Cullen said hugging her to his side and kissing the top of her head. All was quiet for a moment until Lily jumped up.

"Look daddy, look what I made for you!" Lily exclaimed as she ran back to the patch of grass and wildflowers she had been sitting in before Cullen had woken up. She reached into the grass and gently pulled something up before carrying it over to Cullen. He looked down into her hands and saw a ridiculously long daisy chain. Cullen simply stared at it.

"Its…beautiful." He eventually said for lack of anything better to say.

"Look you can wear it." Lily said and she reached it over his head and let it drop on his shoulders. Even sat down he could tell that it would probably reach down to his knees.

"Grrrrrreat." Cullen said looking down at the ring of small flowers drapped over him.

"And I made one for mummy too, but hers is a tiara." Lily said as she held out another much smaller ring of daises.

"What's all this racket out here? Some people are trying to sleep." Skye said groggily, sticking her head out the tent and yawning.

"Everything's fine Skye, but you should get up if you want the present Lily made for you." Cullen said.

"You made me a present?" Skye asked, a bright smile lighting up her face and all traces of tiredness disappearing as she scrambled to get out the tent and join Lily and Cullen.

"Here you go mummy, I made you a tiara. Now bow your head so I can crown you." Lily said in a completely serious voice.

"Of course." Skye tired to reply in an equally serious voice but failing as she kept laughing, as she bowed her head.

"I now crown you Princess Mummy, the bestest princess in all the land!" Lily laughed gently placing the flowers on Skye's head.

"Thank you so much, this is such an honor." Skye gushed dramatically. The three of them laughed until they were out of breath. Cullen looked back up at the sun through the trees and realized that the sun was gaining height in the sky.

"We should get going now if we want to make some good progress to Skyhold." At the mention of Skyhold Lily's eyes lit up, she could not wait to see it and had spent the last few nights getting Cullen and Skye to describe it to her as well getting them to draw pictures of it, although Cullen pictures left a lot to be desired.

"Come on mum, hurry up! Lets go! Lets go!" Lily squealed, rushing forward from Cullen's embrace to grasp Skye's arm as hard as she could, in an effort to get her mother to move faster. Skye just chuckled at her attempt and got up.

"Cullen, can you fold up the tent while I prepare us some breakfast."

"But mum that will take too long." Lily whined. "Can't we just go?"

"Ahhh Lily I know you want to see Skyhold but if we don't eat now then in an hour all I'll hear is mummy I'm hungry! Mum when can we eat?" Skye laughed jokingly poking Lily in the belly, who laughed as she tried to avoid her mother pokes.

"Come on," Skye continued, walking over to their food provisions. The faster we eat the faster we can get moving."

Less than half an hour later they were back on the road heading towards the Frostback mountains they could see in the distance.

-x-

After two more days of traveling they were less than day away from Skyhold and Lily was still excited beyond belief. She was practically bouncing in her mother's saddle, even the drop in temperature did little to dampen her spirits as they began to ascend the path up the mountain. Skye had wrapped her up in a blanket to keep her warm but that still didn't keep her still. Lily was chatting excitedly about what she thought living in Skyhold would be like and kept joking with Cullen that she would make friends with the big birds so that they wouldn't ever want to carry her away and eat her.

Cullen was half listening to Lily and Skye's conversation whilst also keeping an eye on the road ahead on them. When suddenly he noticed a couple of birds take flight from a tree not to far away from the road they were traveling along. The tall trees were thick with leaves making it impossible to see if anything was hiding among the branches. Cullen slowed his horse to a stop and Skye's followed suit, the two horse's sensing something was wrong.

"Cullen?" Skye asked as she shushed Lily, pulling her as close as possible. Cullen didn't reply but continued to look into the tops on the trees bordering the road. They remained frozen in silence for a few moments both of them trying to catch a glimpse of anything around them. A few minutes passed and nothing happened. Cullen was about to urge his horse to carry on when he heard a small sound to his right and a twig fell softly to the ground. Cullen barely had time to draw his sword when suddenly half a dozen men jumped down from the trees and surrounded them, there weapons drawn.

"Well look what we got here, a little family of pilgrims off to Skyhold." The bandit that looked to be the leader spoke. Cullen and Skye quickly looked at each other and silently agreed to not correct him.

"Pretty well armed for pilgrims, Jorder." Another bandit said, nodding his head at Cullen's sword.

"You'd be a fool not to arm yourself whilst traveling these days, I hear travelers are getting mugged all the time." The leader, Jorder, said sarcastically. He cast another glance over Cullen and Skye. "Although that is some mighty fine armor you and your missus is wearing." The leader mused.

"Come on Jorder, let's get this over with. The Inquisition's patrol will be here soon." Another bandit said.

"Shut it Kai! But my colleague does have a point, we are on a bit of a schedule so if you could just hand over any valuables and your money, we'd be much obliged."

Skye could see that Cullen was absolutely seething with anger, that these bandits would dare try and rob people on Inquisition territory was probably making his blood boil.

"Cullen." Skye whispered to get his attention. She silently pleaded with him to do as they said. While she didn't relish the idea on being mugged just outside her own castle. She did not want to risk getting into a fight with Lily with them. Make no mistake, these bandits would be hunted and found the moment she got back to Skyhold, but for now she would let them have their spoils.

"Here." Cullen grumbled and untied his coin purse from his belt and flung it at the leader, who unfortunately caught it with ease and chuckled at Cullen obvious discomfort. There was a little under four sovereigns in the purse, pocket money compared to the hundred they had left with and the thousands that the vault at Skyhold held but it was money that the Inquisition had earned and it angered Cullen greatly that some bandit would probably waste it on drink and company.

"What about you love? Any trinkets? Jewelry?" The bandit leader said looking her over. Skye held the blanket securely around Lily, trying to cover her as much as she could of her in hopes of avoiding the bandit's attention.

"I'm afraid not, all we have are some merger food provisions and camping equipment. Sorry to disappoint you." Skye said, unable to help the sarcasm in her voice.

The bandit glared at her in return and turned back to Cullen. "I'd keep better control of your wife if I were you Messere, that mouth of hers might get her into trouble." He turned away from Cullen and he nodded to one of the other bandits. "Search their bags." The bandit did as he was told and proceeded to empty in the contents of their bags onto the floor.

"Well that is disappointing." The leader said staring down at the pile of food and camping equipment. "Hmmm what to do?" He mused to himself. All was silent as the leader continued to stroke his chin in thought.

"Jorder!" The other bandit hissed. "The patrol." That seemed to shake the leader out his thought.

"Alright, alright. I guess we'll have to take the horses since you've got nothing else."

"What?!" Cullen shouted. "What do you need our horses for?"

"I'd watch your tone if I were you, my good nature will only stretch so far. Now get off your damn horse." Cullen looked like he was about to argue but caught Skye's eyes again and just huffed before dismounting.

"I reckon if we sell them, we'll get a couple sovereigns for em both." The leader said to one of his band. That just only angered Cullen more, the fool clearly had no idea what the horses were worth and he hated to think they'd end up as some idiot's farm horses. Patting the side of Milo's neck, he walked over to Skye's horse Abby to help Skye and Lily dismount. Lily raised her arms and reached them around Cullen neck as he lifted her off the horse and held her close, tears silently falling down her face. She was scared but was trying her best not to show it, Cullen simply held her tighter. However as Lily had unwrapped herself from the blanket that was covering her, the sun shone brightly and reflected off the bracelet on Lily's wrist, unfortunately attracting the attention of the bandit leader.

"Don't you know it's a sin to lie." Jorder said walking towards the three of them. Skye looked confused for a moment before she realized what he was talking about. Skye quickly jumped off the horse and intercepted the leader before he got close to Cullen and Lily.

"It has little monetary value. Please. It's only value is sentimental." Skye pleaded.

"Don't matter to me sweet heart, it's worth something and that's good enough for me." He said and he tried to walk around Skye to get to Lily. Suddenly Lily could no longer keep her tears silent and her cries filled the air. That was the last straw for Skye. As the leader tried to walk past her she grabbed his arm.

"Touch my daughter, "she whispered, "and it'll be the last thing you ever do."

"I said your mouth would get you into trouble." The bandit leader said as he began reaching for his sword. But before he could lay a hand on it, Skye sent him flying backwards with a spell of repulsion and then un strapped her staff from the side of her horse.

"Don't just stand their men, kill her." The second bandit shouted as he went to help his leader. The four other bandits started to converge on Skye but she blocked their advance with a wall of fire, scaring off the horses. Cullen however spotted movement just beyond the trees and saw that there were at least three archers taking aim at them. Cullen quickly bent down and grabbed his shield from his back and used it shield Lily and as much of himself as he could.

"Archers!" He shouted and Skye threw up an arcane shield just in time to deflect the arrows. Cullen heard the bounce of the metal arrows against his shield.

"Cullen." Skye shouted as she walked backwards towards them whilst trying to maintain her wall of fire. "Can you take out the bandits, while I concentrate on the archers." Cullen could see that maintaining her shield and wall of fire was quickly draining her.

Cullen nodded to Skye and turned to Lily, pushing her behind Skye's legs so that her arcane shield would protect them both. "Stay here." He said quickly kissing the top of her head.

Turning to the men just beyond the wall of fire. "When I say, dissipate the wall of fire." Cullen said. "Now!" He shouted as he ran at the fire, which dissipated just as he was about to run in to it. Using his shield, he bashed into the unsuspecting bandit beyond it and quickly swung his sword at another. These bandits were poorly trained and their equipment was of very poor quality. Cullen easily dispatched the four of them and looked over to see the archers were either dead or had run off.

"Cullen!" Skye shouted. Cullen turned back to Skye and watched in horror as the bandit leader and another bandit advance on Skye, using his shield to deflect her attacks. Any spells that Skye would have used in any other situation would have either been a risk to Lily or left her vulnerable. Cullen knew he wouldn't be able to reach them in time but he rushed towards them anyway. The bandit leader raised his sword above his head to swing down on Skye.

"NO!" Cullen shouted, when suddenly an arrow flew straight past his face and pierced the back of the bandit leaders armor. Time seemed to stop as the bandit leader looked down to see the tip of an arrow protruding from his chest. He then slumped to the floor dead. Everyone turned to see who had shot the arrow and saw Varric and a group of Inquisition soldiers running towards them.

"Commander! Captain Turner Ser. Are you alright Ser?" Captain Turner said rushing to his Commanders side.

"Yes thank you Captain. Your timing is greatly appreciated." Cullen said clapping the captain's shoulders before rushing over to Skye, who was cradling Lily as she softly cried. Cullen embraced them both.

"Shush, it's okay. You're safe." He whispered to her.

"Your worship." The captain bowed to Skye. "What would you have us do with this one?" He asked indicating to the one remaining bandit.

"I beg you Your Worship, we didn't know who you were. Honest!" The bandit begged.

"Take him away." Skye said. "I will decide what to do with him once we reach Skyhold."

"Yes Your Worship." The captain said.

"You alright Skye?" Varric asked. "Don't think I've ever seen you look so scared."

"Yes thank you Varric. What are you doing out here anyway?" Passing Lily to Cullen and turning to Varric

"Well…" Varric said looking sad. "I was actually heading back to Kirkwall."

"Oh Varric, I'm sorry for nearly missing your goodbye." Skye said.

"It's okay, I knew you were busy. How was you mission by the way? Success?"

"Yes very successful. Varric, I'd like you to be the first meet Lily." Skye indicated to Cullen who Varric only just noticed was holding a small girl in his arms, a girl that smiled and waved shyly before trying to hide her in face in the fur of Cullen's armor. Varric just looked confused.

"Lily, this is Varric, a very good friend of mine." Skye said trying to coax the girl to look at Varric again.

"And Varric," Skye said turning back to him with a massive smile on her face. "This is Lily, my daughter." Cullen thought the look on Varric's face was terrifically comical, his face continuously switching between the three of them.

"Even I didn't see this twist coming." Varric eventually laughed.

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