I own nothing of Dragon Age. Just Amilee.
Thank you to Hypermuffins, I was starting to think my story wasn't cutting it. As a fellow colemancer, I appreciate your feedback.
*Read her stuff, I recommend it. :)*
***Edited 4/12/17***
-Haven War Room-
"You disbanded the Templar order without the Inquisition's authority?" Cullen groused in accusation.
Cassandra interjected, "You did not see what they had done, Commander."
Radiating frustration, the blonde former templar"You all fought bravely, but that decision should have been made by all of us. Not just you."
"The order was in chaos. We had to shape it going forward or risk losing it entirely," Herah claimed in her defense.
"They didn't have a proper chain of command anymore, Cullen. With so many of the higher ranks having fallen to the red lyrium, there was no way to appoint anyone until investigations were made to make certain there would be no more subterfuge. As you already command our army, you would have been hard pressed to direct the templars as a separate entity," Amilee reasoned. "And with Cassandra lending her assistance in the field, she would not have the time to oversee them."
Josephine nodded to them both in acknowledgement of their reasoning. "I would have preferred willing allies, but the Order put their trust in our Herald. Surely that's what we wanted?"
Out of the corner of her eye, Amilee had spotted the shifting of a large hat in the corner of the room. As the others had yet to acknowledge Cole's presence, she'd let him be, keeping her focus on the conversation. It was hard though, as he was slowly circling the war table, studying the others with a great curiosity.
"A few dozen veterans are coming ahead of the rest, to help seal the Breach," Leliana noted to the others
As Cole crawled up onto the table to examine the figurines upon it, Amilee tried to withhold the snicker that bubbled up.
Having cought the sound and seeing Amilee cover her mouth, Herah raised a brow incredulously as she asked, "You find something amusing, Guardian?"
She couldn't help it. Leaning forward and holding her sides, she cackled for a moment at the ridiculousness of the situation. Ignoring the surprised faces of her fellow advisors, she gently chastised the curious spirit. "Cole! You're making a mess of the war table."
The others were startled to say the least as he revealed himself to them in a burst of smoke. As he continued to study one the round marker he'd picked up, he said calmly, "I sometimes forget you can always see me. Its alright though, I remember where the piece goes." To the others he added, "The veterans are almost here. Templars don't like to be late."
Cassandra and Cullen had pulled their swords as he'd spoken, Herah crouching to her fighting stance.
"Wait!" Amilee cried in alarm, all humor vanished. "It's alright, he's a friend."
"You know this creature?" Cassandra retorted, unwilling to lay down arms. "Of course, he's the one you were talking to when we faced Envy at Therinfall. What is he?"
"I'm Cole," he replied, as if saying so was enough explanation. He stepped down from the table to face heand Herah.
"Like I said," Amilee stated as she pushed Cassandra's sword away firmly. "He's my friend. And he has something to ask you all, right?"
"Yes," he nodded, almost eagerly.
"A moment please, Cassandra. I would like to hear why he came," Leliana offered encouragingly, the only one to have remained composed beyond Amilee.
"You help people," he said, directing his gaze around at the others under the brim of his hat. "You made them safe when they would have died. I want to do that. I can help."
"Amilee?" Herah prompted.
"He saved my life in Therinfall. Were it not for his help, I could have perished at the hands of Envy and none of you would have been the wiser. And with how much some of you trust me... In the grand scheme of things, Cole saved all of us with his intervention."
"But what does he want now?" Cassandra demanded, suspicion getting the better of her.
"Exactly what he says, Cass. He just wants to help us."
"I won't be in the way. Tiny, no trouble, no notice unless you want them to," the young man said, picking at his hand wrappings in trepidation.
Amilee wanted to reach out and still his hands with hers but instead placed her hand breifly on his shoulder, an offer of support. "His invisibility and rogue skills would benifit us when undertaking covert operations and his ability to discern the feelings of others would help in detection of enemy or ally.' She stepped back to look Cassandra in the eye. "In other words, he would be an invalueable addition to our team."
"Sounds resonable to me," Herah agreed with a nod. "If you trust him, I see no reason to turn him away."
"You're not honestly suggesting we give him run of the camp?" Cullen scoffed.
Josephine reasoned, "Not freely perhaps. But it seems a waste to- Hold on."
The puff of smoke was the only indication to Amilee that he had disappeared on them. As he placed the marker back where it belonged and took his leave, she shook her head, chest shaking with mirth as the others were dumbfounded. "Don't worry, I can always find him when needed."
Brow furrowed, Cullen prompted, "So you can see him, even when we can't."
"As I could anyone else. Please understand, I am vouching for his character. Were I not certain of his intentions, I would say so."
Cullen narrowed his gaze at her, almost as though he was annoyed by her defense of Cole. "How can you be so trusting of a... whatever he is, you just met?"
"You gave me that courtesy once, didn't you?" Amilee countered, a brow raised as her eyes locked with his. She was referring to when he was still a templar in Kirkwall and had turned a blind eye when he first witnessed her power.
"Thats not the same thing." His voice lowered a degree and she knew she had won the debate.
"It is and you know it."
"As you say," Cassandra sighed, also resigning from the argument. "I just hope you know what you are doing."
"I'll have people watch the boy when Amilee is indisposed, but let's not be distracted from the Breach," Leliana replied.
"We'll need your help when the Templar veterans arrive," Cullen said to Herah, . "Take time to prepare while you can."
-Later that evening-
Amilee groaned as she plopped face down on her bed, the strain from her back settling causing her to stiffen. Her body ached from sparring with Krem, one of The Iron Bull's Chargers. He'd dared to imply in passing that a mage like her couldn't handle close quarters combat with a warrior from Tevinter and she was in just the right mood to prove him otherwise.
Suffice it to say, she'd made good friends with the rest of the Chargers after handing Krem his ass. Although if she didn't know any better, the Charger's second had said it on purpose, somehow knowing she needed to blow off steam.
While First Enchanter Vivienne was very refined and wise to the ways of the Game and the Circle, she was very judgmental and apparently very vocal about her preconceived notions towards spirits and demons. When the dark skinned mage questioned Amilee's competence for allowing a demon into their ranks, Amilee had to walk away before she flat out slugged the bitch.
"The warmth and wax of the candle wanes, after too long of warring and heated exchange," Cole said suddenly from the shadows, startling her out of her recollection.
It took her a moment to process why he had said so. "No problem, hun," she murmured sleepily, to tired to sit up. "Are you settling in alright?"
"The blacksmith was sad about his daughter's death, so I found him the letter she'd written to him that he'd misplaced. Now he won't yell at his apprentice for shaping the gauntlets wrong."
"That's good. He was pretty grumpy, last time I talked to him."
"Josephine asked if I had found a bed yet and I told her I didn't sleep. How can the boy not sleep, that's so strange. Hat too big, body too thin, does he not eat either? She is very kind though, didn't say what she thought."
Smiling faintly, she rolled onto her side. "Most people haven't met anyone like you before. It'll take them time to adjust to your differences. Don't let it discourage you."
"Varric is kind. He told me a story about a lion and a mouse. He said you'd written it. I liked it."
"It's a children's story from... somewhere. It teaches that any manner of beast or being can be friends when given the opportunity."
"Kid, says the Stone, kid, kidding. He would keep me kept with a name but the cairn can't catch me," he said softly.
She hummed absently, rolling over to look up at him. "He gives everyone nicknames, whatever they remind him of most. It's one of his... Well, quirks. He's a good man though, I've known him a long time."
A sad smile played on the spirt's lips. "He calls you Doll. Small and soft, made to heft, hold, and hug in play. A gentle friend. He misses you."
She frowned at that stament. "What do you mean. We see each other every day"
Kneeling beside the bed, Cole cocked his head to see her face and her heart began to race from his nearness. "You are not the same anymore. He misses you you were before the man who hurt you. Anders."
"Oh." She shifted uncomfortably. "That was a long time ago."
"He thought it would make the man better, would make you both happy to be together. But in the end it only made you sad... And Ander's dead. He's sorry he brought you two together."
Tears pricked her eyes before she shook her head on her pillow. "He couldn't have known. It wasn't his fault."
The shadow that was his hat bowed in agreement. "I told him. He knows, but he still wishes it hadn't happened... Anders had Justice inside of him."
"Yes," she breathed the conversation heading further in a direction she didn't want it to go.
"A girl cowers as away as Blondie steps toward her. 'I will have my vengeance' he cries as takes his staff and plunges it through her stomach. Hawke didn't say the right words, couldn't pull him from darkness, too angry at him for turning you away. Justice became Vengeance. "
"Cole..." Amilee pleaded as she closed her eyes tight and placed a hand on his chest as if to stop him.
"Am I hurting you?" His brow furrowed, uncertainty in his gaze as he looked down at that hand, fingers twitching to do something, but he wasn't sure what. "I'm sorry, if I say it wrong... I just want to understand so I don't... Anders made the mistake, not Varric. It was his burden, his decision, his wrongdoing. No one else could have known his plan, he made it that way. A knight knows when to sacrifice himself so that another may prevail. He left you with hope that you could find happiness with another. He knew he hurt you, but staying would have hurt more."
She remained silent and pulled her hand back, unable to form a reply.
"He was wrong to kill her. Like I was wrong to kill them. I don't want to be that again," he murmured morosely, taking her small action as a sign he needed to leave.
Even though he wasn't aware she understood his reference, he'd said it. And before she could reassure him he wasn't like Anders, he'd ghosted out the door. The hum faded swiftly as she lay on the bed awake, unable to sleep for a long time after.
-The Next Day-
"You look like shit, Guardian," Herah commented wryly as the inner circle and a group of newly acquired Templars walked the long path leading to the Temple of Sacred Ashes.
"Why thank you for noticing, Herald," Amilee quipped back dryly. "I didn't sleep well last night."
"The nightmares, again? Cassandra mentioned you've been sleeping pretty soundly the past several days. What changed?"
Due to their partnership, Amilee had disclosed most of her issues to the Qunari, in case it ever became a problem for them. Minus Cole and her otherworldly origin, of course. Since the time of the Blight, Amilee had been struggling with numerous forms of nightmarish dreams: Anders death, the battle with the Archdemon, dying in the Fade, and finding Cole's body in the sewers were the bulk of them. The worst one's though, were of her in a cemetery, reading the tombstones with the names of her friends and family on them. And no one standing beside her. What made this the worst of all nightmares was the knowledge that, if she survived long enough, the dream would one day become a reality.
Leliana and Cullen were already vaguely aware of her night terrors as well, Leliana through their missions together and Cullen through an embarrassing night of him storming her room after she awoke, screaming her head off about 'Zombies'. She had been in nothing but her underclothes, which was why she always stayed dressed when she went to bed now.
But that wasn't the reason she didn't sleep. She worried for Cole, after he admitted he still struggled with his darkness. In light of that fact, she'd come to the conclusion that ahe couldn't reveal their past to him, certain it would only cause more problems for the young man. It was last night that she decided to set aside her pining to make way for friendship, ready to support him with that struggle.
The small mage shrugged, playing it off as simple stress. "I don't know. Just worried about what's going to happen, I guess."
The Qunari smiled confidently, "We can't worry about whether or not this works. It just has to. Otherwise, who else can save the world?"
"I hope so," Amilee conceded as Herah quickened her pace to speak to Leliana. While the Qunari wasn't one for long speeches, she and Amilee had created a friendship almost unique in comparison to all others.
She turned slightly to look behind her, through the others to see what Cole was doing. Solas was speaking with him, their words too soft to hear, but from the look on their faces, it was a serious conversation.
"Hey, Doll." Varric greeted as he came up alongside her. "What's on your mind?"
She smiled down warmly at her favorite dwarf and didn't miss a beat. "How boned we'll be if this doesn't work."
He lifted his hand as he shrugged. "I don't know about you, but I've got an excellent plan B ready to go for us if this shit turns south."
"Yeah? What do you have in mind?"
"We ditch the heavyweights to fend for themselves and both run 'til our stubby little legs fall off," he said with a crazed look in his eyes.
She didn't know what she had expected out of him. Caught off guard, she burst into a fit of jovial laughter. The entire inner circle went quiet, unused to the sound of the Guardian's amusement and she quickly reigned in her mirth when she realized this.
"What?" she asked no one in particular, bristling under their critical eyes. But all she received were chuckles and shakes of the head as they continued their trek up into the mountainside.
Chuckling, Varric smiled. "Nice to see you're still in there, Doll. Thought I'd have to break out the really bad jokes if you didn't crack a smile soon." He then waved before, he too, turned away to speed up.
"Chimes dance in the wind, a sharp sound bright with music. The song almost forgotten," Cole commented, appearing to her left. "It was you for a moment and they remembered."
"They remembered what?" she asked, confounded.
His smile was soft, barely there. "That you're more than the name they gave you."
She paused, taken aback by this. She swallowed the lump that formed in her throat. "It doesn't really matter," she muttered lowly, staring hard at the ground. "I don't really matter, just getting through this and saving the people..."
Brow furrowed in confusion, the young man twisted his fingers together, eyes piercing as he contradicted her statement. "Yes, you do... I can't hear why you feel this way, but I-I know it's wrong." Almost exasperated, he placed a hand on her shoulder and mumbled, "You are just as important to them as the people we try to help. You must remember this."
Her heart clenched at his words and despite her resolve to hide her emotions, a sheen of moisture filmed over her eyes. "I... Thanks, hun. I'll try."
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