Cullen lay in the bed rubbing his temple and avoiding the light. There shouldn't have been any light. It was nighttime. The moon and the stars and candles should not have been nearly as offensive as they were. His lyrium was running out. The Chantry had some. This Chantry was larger- the main Chantry for miles and miles. But he couldn't walk in there and say he was a Templar and needed some. The merchant that was there, having limited amounts of lyrium to sell had the prices so high Cullen would have felt guilty spending their coin on his addiction.

The problem with the addiction was that Cullen hadn't heard of anybody that was able to stop. Some of the older Templars had fought it- needed less of it- but the poison was still needed. Licking his dry lips Cullen burrowed deeper into the pillows. Solona had finally noticed a day ago. The hallucinations hadn't started but he had been temperamental and then nearly collapsed from a migraine. He could still feel his hands shaking beneath the pillows.

He was supposed to be asleep. He had been, for a little bit. Mostly because he just passed out to avoid the pressure in his head. Cullen needed to get more lyrium. The anxiety would be starting soon. Then the hallucinations. Eventually- soon he'd be a bumbling mess. Drooling all over Solona's skirts and pulling his hair out. Imagining Andraste had come to punish him or something. Cullen gave another groan.

The door opened and Cullen forced himself up right to look at the door. Solona was there, face flushed from the cold. Her hair was down, the waves tangled from the wind. Cullen's brows furrowed. She never wore her hair down outside. She quickly crossed the room to sit on the bed beside him. "Here," she said, pushing a bag he did not remember into his arms.

Cullen's movements were sluggish, clumsy as he tried to open the bag, blinking against the lights. His hands didn't stop shaking. She waited, glancing back at the door, standing to go back and lock it as he flipped the lid. Inside the bag was filled with lyrium bottles. He glanced up at her eyes wide. She shrunk down, shoulders hunched as she began to try and explain herself. "You needed it. The Chantry as more than enough. They completely monopolize the entire trade." She gave another shrug. "I took a Sister's dress from the laundry and made my way to the back. Nobody really questioned me. And those that tried to talk to me it was easy to fool. I have the temperament of a Sister I guess. And I know everything about the Chantry. We weren't allowed to miss the sermons in the Tower."

"You-" his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth, feeling fuzzy and dry.

"Once I filled the bag I just left through the back." Solona licked her lips. "You'd be surprised how well mages get at sneaking on even ground. After bed time we'd all sneak around sometimes. And the pranks we pulled-" she stopped herself from her rambling. He usually was upset that she always stopped herself. He liked listening to her talk. But with his head pounding he could only be thankful she stopped.

He'd worry about the moral implications of this after his head didn't pound anymore. His hands were shaking so much- anticipation, withdrawal he didn't know- that it was hard to get the cork out of the bottle. The lyrium burned his mouth, burned down his parched throat, made his lungs feel like they were going to explode, his stomach churn and twist uncomfortably. But the guzzled it like he always did.

Breathing deeply Cullen closed his eyes and felt the soft lull of sleep tempting him as the pressure began to ebb away. But they couldn't stay. She just stole from the Chantry. And while it was plausible- the Chantry would never think anybody would steal from it!- the implications were still very bad. If the Chantry noticed, if they were caught- Cullen groaned and forced himself to stand. "Shouldn't you rest?" she said, rushing forward to steady him. She was so small she wouldn't be much help if he just toppled over, but the gesture was appreciated.

"As much as I'd like to, you just stole from the Chantry. We're leaving now."

"Isn't that more suspicious?"

"Suspicious is not our problem." He made his way towards the bags.

"I think it is. We'll leave in the morning." She pulled on his arm and he realized he didn't even have the strength to struggle against her. Or he really did not want to. She went down with him onto the bed and that made it all the harder to struggle against her. "We'll leave like normal people. They won't notice in a bit. I took from the back of the stash."

She might have said more but Cullen was already falling asleep, nuzzling into her neck and he held her close against him. His sleep was deep and it took him forever to wake up. He remembered her shaking his shoulder once and then again some time later. He grumbled at her, grabbing her annoying hand and pulling her back into the bed.

"Cullen, no. You wanted to leave remember?" she said, poking him in the chest, her nail biting into his skin. "Get up."

Cullen opened an eye and stared at her. She had a very no-nonsense expression. There was no sort of argument to that sort of expression. That's what he got for falling in love with a women that babysat the young children for most of her life. Cullen groaned and sat up, relinquishing his hold on her. He glanced at the window. The sun wasn't up yet, though the sky was turning a golden orange.

He swung his legs over and made his way to the wash bin, splashing his face with the water and glancing at the mirror. He hadn't had the chance to shave, he realized, fine stubble across his jaw. They didn't have time now, though, and he was forced to just scratch at it as he put his boots back on- having slept in his clothes. Her hair was braided and pinned, her clothes changed and she sat in the chair waiting for him. Her smaller bag- satchel really- at her feet.

Cullen rubbed his head, still drowsy and a light headache at the edge of his senses. But he already felt so much better. He honestly wished the Chantry to the cussing Void for this. He always had. It had always been the one thing he hadn't agreed on. Though, what did he say? Don't give me the lyrium? Except it gave them their abilities. Still, they didn't have to get so addicted, did they? Cullen hoisted up his bag and looked at her. "Are you ready for this?" he asked, stifling a yawn.

"As I'll ever be," she said, standing and smoothing her dress. He led the way out, keeping her close as they walked. Both made sure to stay visible, saying goodbye to those they passed. Make sure they didn't look like they were sneaking. Still, Cullen made sure they rushed out of that town. He made sure they did not stop until the sun and crested and began its descent. They walked while they ate.

Solana, bless her, did not complain.

When they finally stopped she looked haggard, falling off her feet with a grunt, reaching down to pull off her boots and rub her feet. Her hair was falling out of her bun, her cheeks red from the strenuous walk. She glanced up at him from under her lashes as he began starting the fire for dinner. "We're going south. Back tracking," she said, stretching her legs out and leaning back on her hands. She kicked her boots aside viciously.

"I know," he said, fighting with the tie wrapped around their salted meat.

"Well I know you know. I was wondering why," she huffed.

Cullen glanced back up at her. "The easiest way to Kirkwall is going to be from the southern docks. It'll be cheaper. The sooner we get there the better."

"Kirkwall?"

"You're okay with that?" he said, suddenly panicking. He dropped the meat. Thankfully he hadn't been able to untie it yet.

"Of course. I just didn't think you were going to go for it."

Cullen nodded, swallowing the panic until it disappeared again. "We're going to have to be a lot more careful." He didn't want to scare her. He also knew she wasn't stupid. She knew the darkspawn were there. But he had to say something.

She frowned and nodded, laying back down to stare at the clouds. At least until his grunting annoyed her enough. She sat back up and crawled over to take it from him. She bumped her hip with him and he scooted over so she could begin cooking it. Cullen watched her work, desperately trying to not think about the darkspawn dragging her away from was hard, though, with the rumors all about Lothering and that it was spreading.

Cullen pulled her closer as she turned the meat. She glanced up at him and he wondered if she knew he was terrified. She didn't say anything though. She let him hold her and cooked the meat. He buried his face in her hair, closing his eyes and trying to ignore anything that wasn't her.

Short chapter today. I didn't want to force more into this chapter. So for this chapter, I would like to apologize for the shortness of Cullen's withrdawl. But nothing I was doing was working. I've had family members go through it and it sucks and I didn't really want to write about it. But I was going to because it would have shown more and some people were wanting things with the addiction and I knew I had to address it- but then Amell would not let it go that far for it to be more than headaches. She'd be smart enough to figure it out. I would have written her sneaking through the Chantry to get the lyrium but everything before this had been just in Cullen POV and suddenly switching to her POV did not seem right. So I apologize because I feel like I've gypped all of you. But then at the same time I can't really see it going through differently. So, apologies if this displeased anybody.

Still, review and let me know you're thoughts.