Oh hey look a second part. Figured it would be easier to make a second chapter then make a whole new story.

When life in Haven began to stir, Gideon pushed off the bed to get dressed. He felt sluggish and heavy, side effects for not getting any sleep. How long had he been up now? Two days? Maybe it was time to ask Solas or ask the botanist for something to help him sleep. He stumbled towards the dresser and poured a jug of water into the basin. Taking a breath, he plunged his face into the water. The coldness did exactly what he was hoping. When he came up for air, he felt slightly rejuvenated. Something that wasn't going to last too long. So he dressed quickly in a pair of riding breeches, tunic, and his Suede. Putting on his armor seemed too great of a task at the moment. Plus he would be wearing enough as they planned to set off for Val Royeaux the next day. On his way out the door he caught his reflection in the small mirror on the wall and stopped. He looked haggard with large cry circles beneath both blood shot eyes and the slight gaunt of his cheeks didn't help him look any better. Growling in disproval, he hastily combed his fingers through his hair to get some of the wild strands to fall flat. He needed a shave too. That would have to wait. Besides he was beginning to like the stubbly look.

The brisk morning air greeted him the moment he stepped outside. Maker he really hated the cool. Gideon trudge through the light slow with no real destination. People passed always with a verbal greeting or a wave. Gideon did his best to smile and return their greeting, hoping they couldn't see the strain on his face. They looked to him for guidance. To lead. And what good was he if he couldn't even drum up enough strength to put on a set of armor? When he hit the gate he realized that his feet had carried him to the front gate. Or more like to Cassandra. The seeker was out at the raining yard, as usual, hacking her sword at the training dummy with such vigor Gideon was surprised the thing was still standing. He approached her wondering if she at least got any sleep.

Cassandra caught site of Gideon coming towards her and slashed so hard at the dummy it sent a shock wave of pain up her arm. It seemed training was a good outlet for her frustration over last night events. Though she was grateful that he had been there, she was angry at herself for falling apart in the first place. There was no way that he could look at her and not see that distraught woman crying over something that couldn't be changed. She looked to the side when his footsteps grew closer and grunted before hitting the dummy again.

Well it was nice to see the steel back in the seeker's eyes again. Though judging by the red brimmed eyes she hadn't got anymore sleep after he left. He tilted his head, admiring her form a bit more than was porberly necessary. "You're a force of nature you know that."

Cassandra kept her eyes locked on the faceless dummy, "when I need to be."

His lips curved into a small lopsided grin, "Impressive."

"You flatter me."

"I'm trying."

Scoffing, she turned her back to him and moved to the next dummy.

Gideon followed much to her dislike, "did you get any sleep?"

Those red brimmed eyes turned towards him giving him the answer. Cassandra thought about moving again, but knew the herald would just follow. "I couldn't stop thinking."

"About what?"

"Am I doing the right thing?" She hacked at the dummy wondering why it seemed easy to talk to him. "The things I've set in motions could destroy everything I revered my whole life. One day they will write about me calling me a mad woman." Cassandra recoiled from her blow to adjust her grip the hilt of the sword. "A traitor, a fool. And they may be right."

Well it seemed that the seeker hadn't fully put herself back together. Gideon hated the strained he heard in her voice. Was she questioning herself because she had a breakdown? Did she not think that she was allowed to grieve? "What does your faith tell you?" He was almost afraid of her answer. If she lost her faith he was sure that Cassandra would never be whole again.

"I believe you are innocent." Cassandra drove the tip of her sword into the soft ground. "I believe more is going on here then we can see. And no one will do anything about. They will stand in the fire and complain it's hot. But is this the Maker's will?"

He arched a scared brow in question, "you don't believe I'm the Herald of Andraste?"

She turned around and found herself studying his face again. In the morning light, she could see the scars now. There was a smooth line running through his left eyebrow, nearly all the way to the lid of his eye. Along the curve of his jaw, dipping down the side and just stopping short of his throat is a deep scar weathered by time. It was jagged at the edges showing the lack of proper care the wound received. The one above his lip was small and the same discoloration from the rest of his skin as the one on his jaw. She mindlessly wondered just how he got them. "I wanted to believe that you were."

"So you don't believe it then?"

"Regardless of what I think, I know that the Maker does work in strange ways."

Gideon found himself caring a great deal just what Cassandra thought. It was her inquisition she had asked him to lead. Her cause. The only reason he was even here was because of the damn mark on his hand. "Whatever you have done, will do were things that had to be done. You didn't have a choice. You're trying to bring peace to the land and to close the breech by any means possible. Whoever looks at that and say you were in the wrong, is crazy."

"If there are consequences for my actions, I will face them without resisting. I just pray the price is not too high."

"You didn't have a choice." Gideon repeated trying to get that through her head. "No one was doing a damn thing."

"Didn't I have a choice?" Cassandra knew that she sometime made irrational choices believing it was the best course of actions. That trait had come back to bite her in the ass more than once. "My trainers always said that I was brash."

His lips twitched, "you don't say."

She scowled at him, "they said that I must think before I act. I see what must be done and do it. I don't see a point of running around in circles like a dog chasing its tail. But I am not above admitting when I'm wrong." That caused great effort on her part to confess. She didn't need him to question her in battle. Didn't need him to think she would make a choice that would endanger him or their companions. "I misjudged you did I not? I can't be so careless to do so again."

"If I was in your boots I would have done the same thing." He waved his hand, palm out so the mark was visible. "I mean having this is more than a bit suspicious."

"I wanted someone to blame for the conclave. For the most holy's death and it was easy to direct that at you." Cassandra let out a heavy sigh, "I am sorry for that."

Gideon hoped that he did a good job of masking the surprise the words evoked from him. She apologized to him? Casandra wasn't one to do so lightly.

"And I want to thank you again. For last night…"

"An apology and a thank you in less than thirty seconds." Gideon couldn't help but grin. "Are you ill?"

She gave him a disgust snort before stalking off towards the front gate.

Way to go, Trevelyan. She opened a door to let him in just a fraction and now your back on your ass looking like an idiot. The urge to poke until he got a rise in her was almost instinct. Maybe it was because he had been hanging out with Varric to long. "Cassandra wait." He took off after her, most likely looking utterly ridiculous chasing after to her.

When he passed Varric, the dwarf laughed and crossed his arms over his chest, "pissed the Seeker off again, did you scruffy."

The nickname made his sputter for a second, "scruffy."

Varric rubbed his clean shaven face in explanation, "you're growing a nice beard there Herald."

"Does no one know my damn name?" He growled frustrated with himself just as much as he was with Cassandra. Figuring her out was proving harder than sealing the damn whole in the sky.

"The seeker went off towards the Chantry." Varric informed, "So what did you do?"

Gideon didn't answer him, just took off in the direction Varric had pointed to. He caught Cassandra just before she could slip into the war room. "Maker Cassandra, just stop for a second." He demanded.

She whirled on him so fast that she nearly knocked him over, "why? So you can throw words back in my face? I thought you better, perhaps I still misjudge you."

"Look I'm sorry. I shouldn't have made a joke about it. It's just…" He shoved a hand through his ash blonde hair as if somehow getting it out of his eyes would make it easier to think. "I grew up with four sisters and my favorite thing was to push their buttons. It's a habit I guess to try to see how far I can go before it blows up in my face."

"Four sisters?" Cassandra asked.

"All older." Gideon informed with a slight grin, "So you can imagine what my life was like growing up with that."

The corner of her mouth twitched, but Cassandra refused to let the smile lose. "I can only imagine."

"Oh!" The warrior pointed at the seeker now grinning from ear to ear, "You're smiling."

"I am not." Damn it yes she was. Maker how was it this man could get under her skin one moment and make her laugh the next? She wasn't use to this. Men usually didn't come within a ten foot radius of her, too afraid that she would rip out their hearts and feed it to them. With her rigid demeanor she wasn't helping the matter. So what made the herald so brave to try to push in further? Cassandra wasn't above admitting that it was nice having a man attempt it at least. "Think nothing of it, Trevelyan. I'm sure it's just a fluke."'

"Gideon." The herald stressed on a heavy sigh, "My name is Gideon. I'm named after my grandfather. A name, according to my parents, that I'm not living up too… What I just said was not the confusing to cause that face."

"Well it just occurred to me that I don't know much about you." Cassandra confessed.

"I can say the same for you."

"You would like to know more about me?"

Gideon sighed. She was acting like he just asked her to go dance naked around the streets of Haven. Was nothing simple with this woman? Once again, if he was smart then he would just walk away and save himself the head ache. And once again he proved that he wasn't because he started talking again. "Is that such a problem?"

"Well." She twisted her hands together, "no. Not exactly. I'm just curious to your motivation."

"We are going to be stuck together for a bit marching all across Thedas until the breech is closed. I would like us to be closer. Is there harm in that?"

Cassandra's dark eyes narrowed still unsure of his true motivations. "Most likely." He made a noise and she sighed. She wasn't going to be able to get on with the rest of her day until she talked to him. "Fine you can ask one question."

"Just one?" Gideon asked with a pout.

"Get on with it, Herald before I change my mind."

"Okay then." Gideon thought for a moment, "How did you become right hand of the divine? Is that reserved for some type of Templars or something."

"You mean to tell me you don't know?" Cassandra asked cautiously

He shrugged, "should I?"

"Well…umm… I've met very few people who haven't heard the story."

"Well now I need to know."

"It's not as exciting as people make it out to be." Somehow the story got bigger and bigger every time she heard it. "The short version is I uncovered a plot of the previous divine's life, saved her life, and became the right hand."

Gideon shook his head refusing her to leave without giving more information than that. "There had to be more than that."

"Sweet Andraste." Cassandra shifted uncomfortably, "you really want to know? It happened so long ago and the way the ballad's sing about it makes it so much bigger than it was."

"Well that's what happens to legends."

She grunted is disproval, "I am no legend. I simply did the right thing. Others tell it like I single handedly took down a horde of dragons and save the divines life."

"A heard of dragons?" Gideon asked earning an eye roll. "Just how many did you face?"

"In reality, I stumbled onto the plot by accident. There was a dragon, but I alone didn't defeat it. I had the help of loyal mages who rallied to the cause. Without their help both the divine and I would have died."

He let out a soft chuckle and shook his head in amusement, "you're delightful you know that." His own words surprised him.

Cassandra stiffened and immediately went into defense mode, "I object." She had to force her fidgeting hands behind her back. "There is nothing delightful about me."

"I beg to differ." Gideon insisted, "There is far more to you than you let on and it's now one of my main purposes in life to uncover it all."

"I preferred you in the stocks." Cassandra growled turning to escape into the war room. She smiled when the door slammed straight in the Herald's face.