Varric watched Alysia grumble to herself while walking out of the Chantry; he noticed her walking even faster when she realized that Threnn was walking over to her. Alysia quickly turned away and pretended to not see Threnn at all and made a shortcut through Leliana's tent and jumped off the short wall, only to land right in front of Varric, who was polishing Bianca.
Varric knew something was up, he noticed it in the way her face was scrunched up and how quickly she wanted to leave the Chantry.
"Is everything alright, Snowflake?" Varric asked her.
Wordlessly, Alysia just fell dramatically beside Varric, her hair entirely burying her face.
"Why can't I just become one with the ground, Varric?" she said theatrically.
"Because that would mean that you're dead," he said, amused.
"Not literally Varric," Alysia replied while waving her hands up in the air, her face still buried with hair.
"So, what's wrong?" Varric asked again, his eyes now warm with concern.
Alysia looked up at him as if she was going to either cry or throw a very large object at someone. She scooted herself closer to the fire and patted for him to sit down beside her.
He obliged by placing Bianca on the ground next to him and turned to her.
Alysia hesitated for a moment as if trying to find the right words to explain the mess that she had found herself in. But her eyes darted to Bianca, which was now covered with little bits of snow.
"So, why Bianca? Is she some scorned lover you had back home?" she asked while pointing at Bianca with her chin.
"That's a long story, Snowflake. But… it does involve a girl and her promise."
"Ah-hah! I knew it! It always involves a girl," Alysia announced smugly while chewing on the tip of her thumb.
"One point for the Herald," Varric replied and chuckled.
"So, why can't you tell me the story? Of Bianca I mean."
"Because, it's the one story I can never tell," Varric replied while glancing at Bianca with a hint of longing in his eyes.
"Fair enough. So how did you get… Bianca?"
Varric laughed to himself and waved his finger at her, as if to deny her the answer. "So full of questions. Small steps, Herald. That's how you're going to get through this."
"I've been going through that since day one. Better me than Cassandra, don't you think?"
"True. The Seeker can be a little intense," he said while looking up at the hole in the sky. "But, she only does it because she must. We'd be living in chaos now if it weren't for you and her right now. She's just trying to make sense of this entire situation as much as you are."
Alysia looked at the dwarf in disbelief, largely because he was coming to Cassandra's side for once. She always saw them bickering most of the time and for Varric to acknowledge that Cassandra's methods mean no harm must mean that she was truly trying to help the Inquisition and those under it. Alysia blew an odd hair out of her face and smiled at Varric, who was looking at her directly.
"You're really something Varric."
"So are you, Snowflake. You mean a lot to the people here, don't forget that."
With those words Alysia honestly felt relieved somehow. Sure, there were many people who depended on her but for whatever it was worth, her title gave them hope. Hope that maybe everything would turn out okay for them and that somehow made Alysia feel that she would be okay too.
She smiled to herself and whispered something to Varrric, who nodded with a smirk on his face.
Cassandra saw Leliana stride into the war room, in her hand was a single sheet of paper. She shut the door behind her and acknowledged the room, a slight bemused expression painted her face.
"The Herald says that she won't be attending the meeting today, thus it is adjourned to another time," she announced, while absent-mindedly checking her gloves.
"Is the Lady Trevelyan alright?" Cassandra asked, her face now held a look of concern.
"Yes, yes. She is well," Leliana replied while handing the missive to her. "She has found herself rather…. occupied and Varric has assured me that he will be with her at all times."
"What is she up to, Sister Leliana?" Cullen asked as he looked up from the missive Cassandra handed to him.
Leliana shrugged but a hint of a smile appeared on her face, "She didn't really say. But a little bird tells me that… she's determined."
"Determined?" he asked, his head titled to the side.
"I better tell the Ambassador that our meeting today has been cancelled. She will not like this news," Cassandra said while walking out off the room.
Leliana smirked at Cullen and bowed, and left the room shortly after Cassandra.
Cullen found himself rooted to his spot, his mind now working. He wondered what the Herald was up to; if anything he was concerned that her reckless behavior might be her undoing. He shook his head at the thought; he knew that Varric would keep her safe and if anything the dwarf was capable of besides his writing, it was his promises. He picked up the stack of papers Cassandra left for him before the meeting started, and sighed at the amount of work that might keep him occupied through the night, he brought them with him to his cabin and tossed them precariously with the other pile of reports that were waiting for him.
Cullen rubbed his temple with his gloved fingers and sighed heavily when he felt a headache threatening to form at the back of his head; he looked at the pile of papers and back out the window, absently tracing the scar on his lip with his index finger. He decided that maybe this wasn't the best time to be reading or writing reports, some time away from being cooped up in his cabin might do him some good before busying himself with menial reports. He walked outside of his cabin and stretched his arms over his head, feeling the tension on his back ease with each stretch he made. He lowered his feet back to the ground slowly and rolled his shoulders. He blew out air from his mouth in satisfaction and strolled over to the training field, and watched his recruits focusing on their training. He glanced downwards at his sword and felt the urge to train with his men, knowing that he somehow was out of practice ever since he agreed to join the Inquisition.
"To work," he said to himself.
Cullen was at this task for hours, sparring for a while with his men while barking corrections out to them and occasionally praising them, to which his recruits beamed back at him determined to get another compliment. The sun was beginning to set, its lavender hue threatening to creep down from the mountains; Cullen pushed his sweaty hair out of his face and looked up towards the mountain wondering where the Herald was, concern growing. It wasn't until he heard laughters coming from up the road that made his concern dissipate; like him everyone around him stopped what they were doing to stare at the distant sound, now growing closer.
Alysia Trevelyan was now laughing with Varric who was now walking beside a very large druffalo; her hair was tied up into a loose bun, her full face coming into view. She was sitting on top of a druffalo as if it were a horse, the druffalo seemed to huff in satisfaction each time she placed her hand on its head to pet it. On each side of the druffalo were large makeshift saddlebags that appeared to contain various meats and pelts; there were bushels of elfroot, large bag of iron and other miscellaneous supplies. She got off the druffalo and pulled out a tuft of grass from her satchel for the druffalo to eat, it quickly devoured the grass while licking Alysia's palm for more. She giggled at the druffalo while scratching its chin, slowly leading it to the stable area—which was now currently unoccupied from their lack of horses. She removed whatever supplies she found from the hills and placed them on the ground with Varric's help, who was now penning the beast.
She placed large bag over her shoulder and walked straight to Harrit and started a conversation with him. Cullen watched their muffled conversation and wondered what they were talking about—a few moments later he saw Harrit beaming at her while shaking her hand. The man swiftly turned around and barked a few orders to his men, who were now looking at Alysia with pure adoration. Alysia laughed while waving her hand and walked off with Varric.
Cullen dug his sword deep into the ground absent-mindedly, he wasn't sure if he should admire her for her work or if should be annoyed at her childishness of wasting the Inquisition's time today. He stared at smith hands who were now busy at work, wondering if he could truly place his trust in a silly noblewoman.
The very next morning, Alysia refused to get out of bed. Her body ached from the work she did with Varric, groaning loudly at each muscle she moved. Absently she stared at the woods that were crackling from the hearth, she shivered slightly and wrapped the thick blanket around her tighter. She shut her eyes briefly and turned on her back to face the ceiling, and stared at it for the longest time. She rolled out of bed when she noticed the sun was slowly rising, brightening the room, she quickly got dressed and walked over the basin and washed her face, she trembled slightly at the odd trails of water that rolled down her neck. She titled her head from side to side, relieving the ache in her bones and headed off the chantry, she internally hoped that she could actually find something to eat before the meeting began—Maker only knew how long that would take.
When Alysia walked into the room, she found Cassandra deep in conversation with Josephine. Josephine shot up from the conversation when she noticed Alysia walking towards them; Josephine greeted her graciously and notified her that Cullen and Leliana would be a little late. Cassandra nodded at her curtly and offered her an extra apple that she was carrying.
"Please," Alysia said as she grabbed the apple, quickly sinking her teeth into it. She felt its juices spilling from the side of her lips, and smiled in happiness. Her stomach for the most part thanked her as it grumbled in appreciation.
"You're welcome," Cassandra said, while smiling wryly.
Alysia grinned and nodded a thank you to her silently; she leaned against the cold stones of the war room and waited for everyone else to drop in. She absently started to clench her left fingers in and out of a ball for not apparent reason; it was an action she seemed to continuously do right after sealing the rift at the Temple of Sacred Ashes.
"Does it bother you?" Josephine asked, looking up from the paper she was reading.
"Not really," Alysia replied softly while yawning.
Not long after, Cullen and Leliana both walked into the room, each of them carrying missives. Alysia straightened her back, trying her hardest to act very Herald-like; she greeted both Leliana and Cullen and asked if the meeting could finally start.
"Quiet the scene yesterday, lady Trevelyan," Leliana said while grinning at her, or rather poking fun at her.
Alysia tilted her head sideways, confused. "I don't recall causing a scene yesterday…"
Both Cassandra and Cullen snorted loudly, causing Alysia eyes to dart towards them. Cullen quickly muffled his laugh with his gloved hand and cleared his throat.
"You helped Haven and word spreads quickly in a small place like this, the people say they saw you herding a druffalo back into Haven with supplies. It was apparently a sight to behold," Cassandra said dryly while trying to stop herself from smiling.
Alysia chewed on her bottom lip while staring at all of them, they were clearly making fun of her. For the first time in a long time, she had nothing clever to spout out; neither did she have any curses for them. She rolled her eyes when she heard Cullen voice's.
"It was, Lady Seeker. Might I add that she was in fact riding the druffalo, and the sun setting behind her was as if the Maker was guiding her back home to us. She was truly the vision of Andraste's chosen one," he said while smirking at her.
Perfect, now it's his turn to mock me.
What made it even worse was his damn smirk, that stupid smirk combined with that scar on his upper lip made his teasing all the worse. She narrowed her eyes at him, she will get him for this, she thought. Before she could come up with a retort, Leliana quickly begun to speak.
"Come, let us start with today's meeting. Maker knows that we have a lot of ground to cover."
Everyone turned their eyes to the map while Cassandra read her report loudly.
"As promised, lady Trevelyan will head down to the Hinterland to see Mother Giselle." To which Alysia groaned and rubbed her temple.
Everyone grinned at her as if reminding her that she did promise the entire room that she would go after she took care of business in Haven.
Alysia stared into the air for a moment and looked back at them, "Fine. Fine. I'll go," she said while crossing her arms.
"While you are out there, could you please speak to Master Dennet? He used to serve the previous arl of Redcliffe and took care of his mounts and is one of the finest horse-master that I've come to know. We are severely lacking in any kind of mounts besides the one… druffalo," Cullen said smirking again at her.
Stupid smirk, Alysia said to herself. How she wished she could walk across the room and hit that stupid smirk right off its face. It was so devilish yet captivating.
She pinched the bridge of her nose and blew air out of her mouth.
"Okay. Done," she said while looking away from Cullen.
"Another matter, your father has sent a missive to us. Word has reached the Free Marches of your survival and your title. He sends his… regards," Leliana said while handing the letter to Alysia who hesitantly grabbed it. She stared at it for a while and tucked it safely in her pocket.
"Right. If all other matters are taken care of for the day. Can we call it a day?" she asked, while staring at her feet.
The advisors in the room exchanged glances amongst each other and nodded at each other.
"That would be all," Josephine announced while scribbling something on to her report, while walking out of the room. Everyone in the room bowed at one another and left the room, except Alysia who was rooted to her spot, pretending to stare at the map intently.
She felt something swell from within her.
Cullen walked slowly behind Leliana, hoping to find out what the missive contained. He stopped briefly outside of her tent, and paced back and forth wondering if he should actually be asking the spymaster about this. He pushed the thought behind him and walked briskly into her tent—"You won't get any answers out of me, Cullen," Leliana said without turning to him, dropping his title entirely.
Maker, now she's mad.
"The truth should not come from me, you should ask the lady yourself," she said while turning to him.
Without replying, he nodded in understanding at her and walked out of her tent. He thought briefly about Leliana on his way to his cabin and how vastly different she was to the woman he met at the circle, she was much softer back then and was easily amused at everything. He recalled how close she was with the Hero of Fereldan, how Leliana would shoot her loving glances but her love was never reciprocated. Every now and then he would catch her staring at nothing and whatever softness she held in her previous self would show.
Cullen knew that he shouldn't have bothered asking Leliana about the missive at all, he felt guilty, because what she said was true, he should have asked Alysia himself. He remembered her face when Leliana passed her the letter, she looked horrified or rather afraid—he found that to be peculiar but more so, he wanted to know what troubled her so deeply.
Cullen turned on his heels and marched back to the Chantry, determined to find out what was bothering her. He did not know why he desperately wanted to but the desire to keep eating at him.
Cullen pushed the war room door open but he found no one there. He scratched the side of his face and wondered where Alysia was. He then proceeded to search for her in her cabin, stopping briefly to ask Varric if he had seen her. The dwarf shrugged at his question and couldn't recall if he had seen her.
He's lying.
He continued to her cabin and knocked on it. There was no reply, he waited briefly and knocked again, a deep sense of foreboding started to fill him on his third knock. He clenched his jaw and opened the door, he found no one there. Her room looked that same as she was left, the only thing missing was her satchel. He quickly shut her door and made his way towards Solas. Cullen knocked on Solas's door and heard a muffled yes for him to enter.
"What can I do for you, Commander?" Solas asked, puzzled at the Commander presence.
"Have you seen the Herald?" Cullen asked, his body trembling with suppressed anger.
"No? Can't say that I have seen her all morning," Solas said perplexed, while looking up from his parchment of paper.
"Thank you," Cullen said while walking out of Solas's cabin and shutting the door behind him.
Where in Maker's name is she?
He marched towards the training field to tell Cassandra that the Herald is possibly missing, the end of his cloak swished with each step her took. Cullen found Cassandra hitting a practice dummy, she was in mid-fight when he called out to her, Cassandra dropped her sword to the ground and looked up. She saw Cullen walking quickly towards her and wondered what his urgency was.
He looked at Cassandra squarely, his breath now racing.
"What I'm about to say is in strict confidence and no one under any circumstance is to know about this," he whispered to her.
Confounded, Cassandra nodded.
"The Herald is gone."
"Wait. What?" Cassandra exclaimed that made the recruits around her stare at her.
Cullen waved them off and stared back at Cassandra. "Hush, only the inner circle is to know about this."
"How sure are you that she is gone?"
"I don't know. I just do. In any case, I think Varric knows something."
"Varric? Why would he know where she is?" Cassandra asked, her tone now serious. Somehow whenever Varric was involved in something it always made Cassandra's stomach turn.
"We shall meet in the war room at mid-day. I will inform Josephine," Cassandra said while turning to walk back to the Chantry.
Cullen turned towards Haven's gate. He fumed at each minute they wasted on not looking for her, he definitely could not place his trust in her.