Cullen had nearly forgotten that the doctor would be coming to Skyhold. He had become so busy, that his mind flitted other places before occasionally resting on the name Entwhistle. Finally, the day came when the mysterious hunter was expected to arrive at their gates. One of Cullen's sergeants fetched him, a rather bewildered expression sitting on his face when he breathlessly alerted Cullen that the doctor had arrived.
Setting his paperwork aside, he told his sergeant to also notify Josephine and Cassandra.
Leaving his office, he headed down the ramparts, anticipation welling inside of him as he was to meet this Doctor Entwhistle and hopefully unlock why he recalled the name so faintly. Down below many had stopped their work to huddle around the rider who arrived on an obsidian charger. The animal was equipped with strange wooden boxes that probably contained the doctor's equipment. It was obvious, due to the lack of a staff, that this doctor was no mage, but an expert in anatomy.
The rider who had dismounted was crowded by the onlookers in Skyhold, trying to catch a glimpse of the supposed hunter. Muttering spread like wildfire among them.
"Apparently he can cure the plague."
"I don't see any staff, he's not a mage? But how can he heal the afflicted?"
"Why is his face hidden by such an odd mask. Is he Orlesian?"
Cullen pushed his way to the front. "Break it up! Go about your duties, give the doctor some breathing room," he ordered, causing many of the people to break away, though anxious glances were thrown over their shoulder as they were hoping to glimpse something amazing.
Cullen came face to face with Doctor Entwhistle who was garbed in very dark attire. A long leather trenchcoat covered much of the doctor, only opening slightly to reveal a well tailored suit. While it was finely made, it was not ornately colored or screaming for attention, like the clothing of Orlesians did. Rather, it was a dark brown coat and trousers, a white button down, a peep of suspenders, and a formal tie. Adorned on the doctor's collar lapels were platinum snakes, formed the same as on the seal of the letter; the crest of the hunters.
The mask of which the people mentioned was not an Orlesian mask, but a black leather plague mask. The people were unaccustomed to seeing it.
Doctor Entwhistle also had a sword belt on mostly, hidden beneath his coat; only the slight protrusion of a hilt was visible.
"Well if you wanted to start rumors you certainly gave them a lot to work with," Cullen remarked before he could stop himself.
The doctor cocked his head in confusion.
"Nevermind, welcome Doctor Entwhistle," he greeted. "My name is Commander Cullen Rutherford and we're glad to have you here."
"Cullen Rutherford?" the doctor repeated in a heavy accent.
"Yes…" he drawled, wondering if they even spoke the same language. He paused for a moment, taken aback that the muffled voice that he heard sounded like a woman's voice.
"Oh dear," Josephine muttered from behind as she paused, startled by the doctor's appearance. "Pardon me, it is not every day we see someone with a plague mask on. It just took me aback."
The doctor froze and then with a slight chuckled lowered her hood and pulled the mask off. "No, no, I apologize. Sometimes I forget that I am wearing this blighted thing," she mused. The doctor's voice was a strong tenor and her accent incredibly articulate and clear. It sounded faintly like a Ferelden accent, but much more cultured and refined.
Doctor Entwhistle had hair the color of ripened wheat. It was pulled back away from her face halfway, but due to the mask a few tendrils escaped the grasp of the ribbon and framed her face. She had a small narrow nose, determined stormy eyes, and shell colored lips. Two scars marked her sunkissed skin, one against the top bridge of her nose and one against her right cheekbone. She was quite clean and well groomed, but there was something almost wolfish about her.
It took Cullen a long and embarrassing moment of staring at the woman before he knew why he recognized the name.
"Leona Entwhistle?" he asked.
The doctor arched one of her brows curiously before observing him more keenly. "Oh!" she exclaimed a bit startled. "Cullen? I can't believe I didn't recognize your name sooner. Well, this is embarrassing."
Cullen chuckled, despite feeling incredibly awkward. He had recognized her name because the two of them were both from Honnleath. Leona had been the daughter of the local blacksmith, her interests had always been about plants and other scholarly focuses. He knew her somewhat, but perhaps not as well as she had deserved. He recalled that she had been picked on as a child for reading so much. Once or twice he had been among her taunters.
"Do you two know each other?" Josephine asked, not understanding what was happening between the two.
"Ahem, uh, yes. We both grew up together as children, we're from the same hometown in Ferelden," Cullen responded.
"What a small world," Josephine quipped with a small, but seemingly knowing smirk. "The two of you will have to catch up later, perhaps over a drink?" she suggested deviously.
Cullen scowled at her, but the doctor did not seem to pick up her insinuation. "That would be nice, I'll probably be disappearing for a few days once I get started with those affected by the plague. I won't be able to resurface until I'm certain the majority of my work is done."
"Do you expect to be finished so soon? We have spectacular healers here who cannot even help them," Josephine responded.
Leona, in her strange garb, pulled out white gloves from her trench coat pockets. She slipped them onto her hands and gave both of them a small smile. "Magic doesn't know the answer to all of Thedas' problems. I'm no mage, but I've devoted my life to science and anatomy. Of course, much of what I have studied, mages have assisted with, as they keep good notation of everything. However, my application of the art is different and something that any average man or woman could learn if they put themselves to such a task."
Both of them must have looked skeptical, because the doctor chuckled at them without disdain. "I suppose my work shall have to be evidence of what I can do. If possible I'd like to stay as close to the quarantined area as possible. It shall take me about a day to unpack. I have medicine I intend to prepare, a medicine I want everyone who is not displaying symptoms to drink."
"A potion?" Cullen asked.
"No, medicine. It will act as a guard against the plague, as long as it is not in your system. I know this sounds a bit strange, you barely know me and I'm asking you to drink something I make, but if you would prefer, I will give you a full list of the materials and a mage or soldier can watch me prepare it."
"I can see to it that you are assigned a skilled herbologist to oversee what you are making," Josephine promised.
"I can have some of my soldiers help move your materials. There's a tower that has been recently repaired, if you go down all the stairs it will lead to storage cellar that has been repurposed into the quarantine area. No one has been using it due to its proximity," Cullen informed her.
"That sounds like it shall suffice. Having my chamber slightly away from the area is a good idea, I'd prefer not to be down there all the time. I just request a tub, I'll need it to wash off and clean my clothing after I've been exposed."
"A logical request, I shall see that it is brought there," Josephine said, scribbling a few more things down. "Do you need a tour or anything else?"
"I'll just stable my own horse, he's very picky with whom he lets around. Perhaps after, someone can find me and show me around," she moved to unlatch the wood boxes that were stacked around the horse's saddle. Cullen assisted, worried they might be too heavy, but found that the crates were rather light. Only one was heavy and it contained tools and various other equipment. The saddle bags contained clothing and, in total, when unpacked, what had been laden on the horse seemed to be an immense pile beside them. Had the horse been anything aside from a Clydesdale it probably would have buckled beneath all of it.
Doctor Entwhistle led her horse to the barn and Cullen found a few of his soldiers to carefully move the belongings to the spire. "So you grew up with her?" Josephine asked when they finally had a moment alone.
"Yes… I don't know what sort of devious things you've got going on in your mind, but we didn't really know each other. She was just the girl who lived next door, nose always in a book. I was more interested with the templars than I had been with girls or anything other than fighting or the Chantry."
"A doctor, hm? It's not very often you see those, especially since a mage can easily offer so much more. Perhaps her work shall speak for itself. I truly hope she can work well where everyone else has failed thus far. There is never a cure for a plague... is there?" Josephine wondered, turning her eyes toward Cullen.
"I don't think so, I always believed it was to get rid of those dying, burn the bodies, avoid exposure… I do not know what methods could truly be better than magic."
Josephine shrugged. "Well, hopefully she can shed more light on The Order of Hunters, but right now our ill are priority… You know, despite not knowing her that well you could talk with her and try to find out more."
Cullen sighed, perturbed that Josephine kept prodding. He wondered if she knew of his bit with Mayella and wanted him to fish other places. That or she was thinking in a purely political way, using their background to try and pull information out of her. "I can try speaking with her, but I do not know her at all. I left when I was 13 for the Chantry. She is a stranger to me."
"Sometimes, just being from the same place it all it takes," the ambassador smirked before leaving Cullen to his own thoughts.
Cullen enjoyed the mild day that he had been awarded, despite the reports he needed to tend to and the letters he had to write. He had believed that it was going to remain nice until the first few flurries of snowfall graced his collar. Sighing he trekked toward the stable where Leona had brought her steed. He took his time, glancing between the stalls as he came upon the doctor, giving the finishing touches to her horse's stall.
Hearing footsteps, the woman turned and inspected him, her dark eyes like the deepest depths of the ocean. "If you have questions for me, you had best ask before I work, because you will not be seeing me for a while," she told him.
"How did you become a doctor?" he asked.
"The same way you became a templar. I met a doctor and asked to study under him."
"And a Hunter? Was that just as simple?"
Leona chuckled. "Ah yes, I met a Hunter and asked to become apart of their Order. Is that what you wish to hear? Perhaps that is a tale for another time. But I left Honnleath not too long after you did. I returned a few times, but my studies took me across Thedas to help different people. My mentor wanted me to experience the world and the resources each area offered."
"How was finding work?"
"Easier than you'd think. I did a lot of charity work, because mages are expensive healers or they're apostates. Now it makes no difference, I've got much more competition, but I charge my patients based on what I think they can afford or nothing at all. My work is about helping people and researching from what I've done. Of course, you cannot save everyone, even a mage skilled in healing knows this. Also, some people would put more trust in a doctor than someone using magic, especially after the spat between the mages and templars. I think the only reason you don't see more doctors is because of how much time it takes to learn everything. It's something you have to devote your life to."
"You did read a lot as a child. Must have gotten you ahead."
"Not at all, though I could say the same for you, always reciting rhetoric to the templars. We both had our ambitions, though mine was much quieter… And what about you, Commander? You assisted the Inquisitor in defeating Corypehus."
Cullen had never been the sort for bragging and when the woman brought it up he knew whatever words that came out of his mouth would do nothing to further his position. "Er… well, I just did my duty." Not too bad, could have been much worse if he kept on talking.
"Duty, yes…" she drawled, her eyes becoming distant as she pat the stall and then stepped away from it.
"Do… do you really have the ability to save these people from this plague."
Snapped out of her stupor, Leona gave him a hardened stare. "Yes, I do," she said confidently. "But, many are already too far gone, this I know. And they will be lost, all I can do is hasten their departure so they suffer no longer." A shadow flickered across the woman's face and Cullen wondered what it was like weighing whether or not a person would make it, putting their life in your hands, deciding what to do with it. Killing people was different, you had motives behind it. This illness… you didn't purposely want to condemn anyone, but sometimes you had to.
The doctor straightened her posture. "Well, I've got a lot of work ahead of me. Perhaps once I assess the damage and get everything under control, I can speak to you more on your knowledge of the monsters that are appearing across Thedas. I'd like to see where the Inquisition is… but the people come first."
"Yes, any knowledge you can spare to help us understand us will save lives in the future."
Leona gave a polite nod and pardoned herself, her coat fluttering behind her as she stepped into the snow flurries and hurried off in the direction of the soldiers handling her belongings.