Uldred's body fell before me, a tide of relief rushes over me when we hear the quiet gurgle from what we wondered was his lips, leave him. Everything was so quiet now as we all share tired looks between us. I hear movement behind me but I know the sound belongs to Irving. For he was the only one we could save before he was turned… into an Abomination. He moans but I cannot bring myself to move over, to help him too his feet for my own do not want to move. I was tired, worn down to the bare minimum and my heart… I have seen much death since my time as a Warden but this just took the cake. There was nothing left of this place, nothing left that I would ever want to return too. "Irving," I can hear Wynne but she is doing her job. She was doing what we originally came up here to do. "Are you alright?" I can hear the movement as he gets to his feet but it is the vacant gaze belonging to Cullen that terrifies me the most.
We had found a group of Templars trapped behind a barrier. A field of some kind but they were all dead. None of them had survived whatever was done to them and I had seen the strongest man I had ever known, break before my eyes. He hid it well but apart of me wondered if he resented what I was and what Wynne was now. Though we had no part in this. Some how apart of me wondered if that was how it should be. That we had our boundaries for a reason. My heart sank with that thought.
"Solona, dear, is that you?" He had recognized me, though I had only wished those old eyes wouldn't. "Yes, First-Enchanter, it is I." I turn around, giving him a small smile before I hand him the Litany. "You used the Litany… how did you get this?" I did not want to think about it. To bring up the lost, dead eyes of Niall looking up at me as I pried the book from his arms. "Niall, Irving. He had the book before a Demon found him." I find myself glaring at Wynne but she doesn't bother with it. "Poor lad." That was all he had to say? I wanted to shake them both, they were acting so… then I see it. I can see the same amount of pain behind Wynne's eyes that was behind my own. The tired, weary looks of Irving. I wasn't alone at least. "We need to get to Greagoir before the Right of Annulment arrives." Alistair breaks the silence around us but I find myself wanting to stay put. Perhaps it was the silent draw to the veil up here or the fact I would have to see all the bodies over again.
But I was left little choice in the matter. My arm is caught between the fingers belonging to Alistair as we find the stairs. Cullen follows behind us, without a word we find our way to Greagoir once more. And it is the sigh of relief from the old Knight-Commander when he sees Irving. It was then that everything was explained. And we had come to realize that both men knew of Uldred and they had made plans to stop him but did not act soon enough, it seems.
We move to take our leave after we had managed to convince Irving to go to Redcliffe ahead of us to help prepare to rescue Connor. That Wynne decides to join us. I did not mind at least, she would be able to show me a few things here and there. Even though I became a Mage I still had many things to learn. It was that proof that she decided to help me finish. Though we all needed a rest.
Once more we cross the lake upon the small craft being maneuvered by Carroll until we reached the docks on the other side. "We should stay at the Inn for the rest of the night." Alistair was offering, since we all realized we wouldn't make it far without falling asleep upon the horses we had brought with us. "The Spoiled Princess does have some delicious food." I shoot a glance to Wynne but she is smiling, laughing almost. "What girl? I have been out of the Tower far more times than you, remember this." I find myself blushing under her words but only to have them shaken off when the rest of them move towards the Inn. "At least we have enough for two rooms." I shout behind them as I run to catch up.
Well I was half right, I guess. We had enough for three rooms and well those were all the rooms within the Spoiled Princess. The Innkeeper was glad to have us stay for the night though he probably wondered as to why we were all covered in many different colors, smells and other things I really didn't want on me. He looked between the four of us and realized that well two of us had to share. "I will have my usual room." I glance to Wynne and well that lead to me. "I will take the other then." The two men stared between the two of us. "What?" She offered but they shrugged. "Nothing, nothing. Looks like we have to share." I wanted to be nice and offer one of them my room but that would mean I'd have to share with one of them. So that thought left my head quick enough. "There is only one bathing area so you will have to take turns. I'll send Felsi up to start getting things settled for you." At least tonight I'd get to sleep in a nice large, comfortable bed. And well a nice hot bath was sounding pretty swell at this point.
I found my room stuck between Wynne's and the others. I sort of figured I'd get stuck in the middle.
I toss my gear upon the floor at my feet and flopped over backwards upon the freshly made bed. The creaking sound of the others moving around in their room was a comfort, I suppose. Though I found myself wanting to crawl right up and go to sleep right then. I kick off my boots and pull off my gloves. I let them fall to the floor as I curl up in a ball and fall asleep.
A soft knock comes to my dreams but I don't want to wake up. "Solona?" I can hear Cullen call for me from the other side of the door but I sigh, sitting up slowly in the process of not wanting to get up. "The door is unlocked." My feet drop to the floor, but he opens the door slowly. "Wynne wants you to know that there is fresh water ready for you in the basin." I groan but I slowly start to stand up. "Thank you." I think he is about to leave but he doesn't, he is standing in the doorway. "Cullen," I look up to him as I move into the small hallway outside of my room. "Amell, can we talk?" I stop but I know why he wants to talk. "How about after I'm clean?" I offer but I know he is shrugging from the way he is muttering his words at this point.
I realized that after a bath like that one, I really did abuse my privileges within the Circle. Mostly it was because of my fear that some of the rumors going around about the Templars watching us bathe… I was really well, creeped out by the thought. But it really did occur to me that mostly it was because we were never allowed any sort of privacy. It was against the rules, sort to speak. But this bath, this bath felt wonderful. There were places within my body that I didn't even knew could get dirty or hurt like this. In fact even my hair hurt, which was very odd indeed.
I used what was left of Wynne's soaps and found the soft lavender smell to be mostly relaxing. It was a calming scent one that nearly was cause for me to fall asleep where I was but my fear of water really did kick in.
I pulled myself out of the water and started to dry off, taking in the fact I was covered in millions of tiny and large bruises. I even pressed a few and didn't even knew I could get bruises there.
With a spare towel I wrapped myself up and peek out into the hallway, it seemed that no one was around so I crept past the boy's door to my own. I slowly opened it hoping that maybe Cullen had gone to sleep and completely forgot the fact he wanted to talk.
But why? I kept wondering this myself when I shut the door and lit up the small candle near my bed. I knew it could either be about what happened within the Tower or… he wanted answers to questions I didn't know. Such as why he had to be the one to wander the fade. I didn't quite know that myself but at least he managed to do so otherwise we'd end up like Niall.
I dig for my hair brush within my small pack and found a spare set of clothing to slip on before bed. A yawn escaped me but I managed to brush out my hair and let it fall dripping behind me upon the bed. Despite the fact it was nearly wet now, I didn't quite mind. Until a knock came upon the door. I nearly jumped out of my skin. It was late, far later than I had already thought it was when I looked out the window. The lights were on within the Tower but I knew why. They were trying to find survivors. Ones that we might have missed, but apart of me doubted they'd find many.
"Amell?" I knew it would be Cullen but I sighed, settling myself upon the bed and trying to look as decent as I could manage. "Come in, but be quiet." My main fear was Wynne waking up. The Senior Enchanters always had a way with sleeping lightly. Though I never knew why. He came in, quietly just as I told him to do. He wasn't in his armor, just in his normal clothing. I found it odd, he seemed to fit right in with his heavy armor as he cleaved his way through enemies left and right. But when he was dressed normally, it just well I don't know how to describe it.
He was awkwardly standing before my door as it closed behind him. The air in the room was causing me to turn away, to drop my gaze and look for something less interesting to look at. "About the Tower…" I should have guessed. "Wynne had said that it will help us to talk about what had happened." Ugh, Wynne of course she would have a part in this. She had seen what we had but for her she had fought in many battles and had seen many of her friends die in the process. "So let's talk about it." I patted a spot on the bed next to me but I watched him hesitate. So I gave up waiting for him to sit down next to me. "I have seen villagers, soldiers and others die before but never my friends." Okay so I started this. "But I know now that if I had been there, there would have been nothing I could have done to stop it. I really had no idea that there were those out there who wanted to end their life in the tower. To destroy the very reason as to why we are locked inside that gilded cage." My gaze finds itself upon the Tower outside of my window. "For awhile there I believed just as they did. But now, I see things differently. There is a reason as to why we are locked within that tower. We are dangerous and destructive but we can also help this world. But sadly, I am just one woman who can barely find her way through the woods even during the daytime." I am laughing to myself, but I look up and he hadn't moved from that spot since I started. "I am just one woman, but I have all those lives within that tower to fight for. They died bravely and I will fight for them until the end." I gave him a small nod but he had yet to relax.
"So Cullen, what do you have to say about this all?" I guess I should have been kinder with my words but he relaxed a bit. I look away from him only to feel my bed dip down when he sat down next to me. "You are not alone, we are in this together despite what we saw in that tower. Uldred paid for what he did and so will all the rest of the blood mages. I see now, that there was nothing we could have done to stop it. Despite how much I would have given to have been there." He was quiet when he finished those words. "We are in this together," I offer him a small smile when I look to him. "Despite what everyone else might believe. We have the Blight to take care of and after, we can return to the Tower and help bring order to the chaos." It was the only thing I had to offer him but he did not seem to mind much. "Now we should get some sleep, yes?" I pat his hand upon the bed but he doesn't move.
"There was one last thing I had to ask." Concern hits me like a weight upon the chest. "And what is that?" He does not meet my gaze but instead moves to his feet. "How exactly did you end up at the tower?" Apart of me was angry with him for asking such a question but the other half knew that he would eventually want to know, since what he had saw within my own nightmare. "For the first five years of my life I had shown signs of being a Mage. My mother did not want to believe it and neither did my father." I sigh but want nothing more than to remember those events. "So when I did something characteristically similar to that of a Mage, they locked me away. In a very small room under the barn. By the time I was five, I grew angry with them and burned the barn down, so I could escape. The neighbors I guess saw this and saw me standing before it without a care in the world. They called for the Chantry and a group of Templars found me. All I had was a locket and the clothes upon my back."
He doesn't move when he hears me speak of it but I know he wants to say something. To do something to take the pain away. There was nothing, after years and years of pushing that nightmare away I had to relive it within the Fade. Only to have the one person in all of Thedas to see me in such a state. "Does that answer your question?" I look away as I move to slip into bed. But he doesn't move, I want him too. To get out of the room and leave me alone. "Yes, I suppose it does." He says at last but it was gentle tone in his voice that catches me as I turn to look up at him.
"Goodnight, Solona." He tells me as he moves to leave my room but I want to stop. Should I stop him? Or would he just shake me off like I was nothing? But then the memory of the fade comes back to me. "Cullen," his name leaves my lips as he pauses. "You don't have to leave." I make the offer as plain as day. But he turns. "You want me to stay?" He asks of me but what was I doing? This man was once a Templar, making him a devout follower of the Maker. "Would that be so bad?" I offer in return. His smile returns, but it is my smile. The one I have seen he has only for me. "It beats having to hear Alistair talk in his sleep." I want to laugh and ask of what he talks about but apart of me really doesn't want to know. "You can ask me as many questions as you want until we both fall asleep." I try to make the offer more appealing but instead he shakes his head. "Let's just try and get some sleep." He moves past me and reaches under the bed for a spare bedroll. At first I was surprised but I slowly come to understand that he was a gentleman through and through.
I finish getting dressed when he turns his back to me and I tell him goodnight as I crawl under the covers of the bed. But it isn't until late in the night I still find myself wide awake. I pull off one of the covers and found Cullen upon the floor. He doesn't move when he feels me curl up next to him. My head finding his shoulder as I throw the cover over the both of us. I tell him goodnight again and fall asleep upon the hard floor and the warm body of Cullen next to me.
When the morning came, I found myself back in the bed with my cover returned to me. Slightly confused but I understood why I woke up here. He had slipped back into the room with Alistair only to cause less suspense between us and our fellow companions. Suddenly, I just wanted to feed them to the Darkspawn if they start asking any questions about us.
I was dressed within a few minutes after waking up and rolled my hair up into the bun back upon my head. A little tired from over sleeping, I shuffle my way out of my room and down the stairs to the Tavern part of the Inn. I can hear the laughter from Wynne and Alistair as they are probably discussing something I knew nothing about. They seemed to hit it off, which was good I suppose. Alistair needed someone who could look out for him, I really wasn't that person.
"Good morning," Cullen says from behind me. While I nearly jumped out of my skin. "I didn't mean to scare you." He moves past me on the stairs and stands ahead of me. "Oh, no you didn't scare me. You just took me by surprise." A mutter from my lips but he doesn't seem to mind. He had a smile upon his face but I was glad he was at least in a better mood then he was last night. "Since we're the last ones up, we'll have to eat on the road." I feel a groan escape me but I nod, knowing that a nice warm breakfast wasn't going to happen. We had to reach Redcliffe, that was the important thing.
I jump from the stair I was upon to the floor below, which wasn't a great distance and hear the laughter from Wynne and Alistair die when they see us walking towards them. "So you two finally decided to get up, about time." I roll my eyes knowing that Alistair really shouldn't have been the one talking. Normally I had to kick him awake when we were camping. "Now that we're awake, we are leaving." A groan escapes Alistair but it is Wynne who stands up. The look of relief upon her face, I knew just how she felt. "I do believe that I would like my own horse." She calmly states but we only had two? "That would mean one of us has to walk?" I was confused but she sighed. She really didn't want to share with any of the other two. "That's fine, you can take mine." Cullen offers her and I stare at him. "That means I have to ride with… with Alistair?"
Oh Maker, this day just gets better.
After paying for the food and rooms, we are greeted by the same small boy who took our horses from us before. He was glad to see us leave, I think. Because of the events within the tower might have been resolved the nervous looks to both Wynne and I, spoke many words. He was afraid of Mages but I am use to it.
Alistair climbs upon his horse and settles himself in, a hand is outstretched towards me but I am having second thoughts. I liked Alistair but I enjoyed Cullen's quiet. I wonder if Alistair could even be quiet. I really shouldn't have thought about that because Cullen is handing me up to Alistair just as the thought crosses my mind. "Wha-?" I can't even complete the sentence before Alistair scoots back in the saddle and lets me sit before him. Suddenly the heat in the air, it just got worse. "Are you alright?" Cullen asks of me while he stands just at our side. "Wha-What? Oh I'm fine, it's just you know a little hot out here… 'tis all."
The look he gave me, the heat had just gotten worse before we start walking the horses in the direction of the highway. Cullen walks between both horses and I sigh, knowing this will be a very long day back to Redcliffe.
A/N: Once again I'm sorry it has taken me longer than I thought to get this chapter out there. But once more, those lovely shout outs to do before I crack down on the next chapter! sandradee27: i fear it could be a little bit of both, but he is a confusing figure. always taking charge but a little disgruntled towards his own feelings. sort of just lost, really. doesn't help that amell has no understanding of relationships period or how to deal with them. such as why the only one she ever saw while in the tower was anders... i think that explains all of it, really. haha, but thank you. i figured it would need to be a little different and make it more of theirs and not the games. ;) xmaster: hahaha yeah but knowing amell she would dance around the fact she likes cullen more than alistair until someone just sits her down and be like, "look you're confusing the two lads and before you know it they'll be trying to kill each other." and she'll just be like blink blink blink excuse me? hahaha it'll be amusing. but thank you! ;) pagelupin: thank you! i am so glad that you enjoy it so much! thank you, thank you! ;)
Okay like I said I am sorry it took me so long to get this out. I am working on 10 right now but it might not be out until late Friday night or Saturday night. Don't know, depends upon my plans really. And yes, there will be more Cullen/Amell action in the future. I just have to figure out when would be the best time since they're both so awkward with each other.
And like always before! I do not own Dragon Age, it belongs to Bioware! *-*