"The air around me still feels like a cage"
9:28 Dragon
Eshne sat in one of the library chairs, twirling a piece of her gingery hair in her forefinger. Her brows were furrowed while she stared into a book.
It was one of her favorites, despite its thinness, In Pursuit of Knowledge: The Travels of A Chantry Scholar by Brother Genitivi. She had looked over his passage on the Dalish hundreds of times by now.
'The Dalish, who band together in small groups of blood relatives, travel in ornately carved wagons known as aravel, drawn by large white stags called halla. The aravel are a unique sight, beautiful in their swooping curvature, and adorned with broad hoods and bright silken cloths that flap in the wind, often displaying the noble banners that once flew over that family's house. Most humans refer to the aravel as "landships," for in a strong wind it can often appear as if the elves travel in long boats with sails high overhead to announce their arrival (or warn others away). The halla are unique to the elves, and any but elven handlers consider them ornery and almost impossible to train. To the Dalish, they are noble beasts, superior in breeding to the horse. Certainly most humans would agree that the halla are as beautiful as the elves themselves; the fact that many imperial nobles maintain a bounty on halla horns that find their way into Tevinter is an affront the Dalish consider unforgivable.
Few among us can claim to have seen the Dalish landships up close. Any human who sees them on the horizon does well to head the other way. Few Dalish clans take kindly to humans intruding on their camps, and more than one tale tells of trouble-making humans who found themselves mercilessly filled with Dalish arrows.'
Eshne liked to dream sometimes that she was back with her parents, crossing through the forests of Ferelden and up near the Free Marches. Or at least that's where she thought the Dalish would travel during their nomadic trek.
She sighed, closing the book, wondering how late it was. Mages weren't given a strict schedule typically, with the exception of class times and curfew. Eshne didn't want to get in trouble again for being late to bed. She wondered if she could sneak in…
Standing up, Eshne picked up her book, walking over to the back of the library, taking hold of one of the ladders and climbed upwards. When she readed the very top, she slid the book to the back, making sure it was hidden. There were multiple copies of the book in the library, but this was the only copy of the book with her notes on the subjects written in. She knew Wynne would have had her head if she found out Eshne had written in a book.
Putting the book back must have stirred up dust, Eshne began to cough furiously, trying to keep it down as to not alert Templars she was still in the library.
She made it all the way down, trying to stifle her cough, but when she tried to walk over to her reading area she put her hand to her chest.
Not being able to keep her coughing at bay, her lungs started to seize. She couldn't breathe, wheezing as she fell to the ground. She tried to crawl over to the closest thing she could grab, the chair leg, trying to pull herself up.
Eshne couldn't concentrate on the spell to help her lungs expand. Sweat beaded down her as she painfully tried to get air. Panic set in. Where was Nani when you needed her?
She tried to close her eyes and calm herself but each time she wheezed she only started to panic. She knew she was the only one left in the library. Tears started to fall down her flushed, freckled cheeks.
Between her desperate tries to find breath she could hear the clink of armor, making her wheeze even more. Her lungs burned. She closed her eyes again.
"Maker's breath," She heard a voice, whoever it was ran towards her, "E...Eshne?"
She felt herself being cradled, her head resting against the hard steel of armor. Her eyes fluttered open while she gasped for breath.
The first thing she saw was Cullen's furrowed brow, his kind eyes glazed over, likening them to a pair of refined smoky quartz gems.
She was glad it was him, rather than one of the templars who gave her looks that made her uncomfortable.
"C…" She tried to say his name.
"Shh…" He hushed her quietly, "Don't try to talk." He took off his left glove, pushing the hair from her sweating face, "I know this sounds counteractive, but you need to try and focus. Can you try?"
Eshne nodded, trying to gasp for air, she concentrated on looking at his eyes, thinking about how they changed to a deep amber in the firelight. Her breathing started to slow.
Cullen smiled at her, "Good. Like that." He wiped away a tear from her cheek, "I suppose I should have known it was you that was here late at night." He chuckled nervously.
Eshne managed a small laughed between breaths, her lungs still on fire, but she managed to slow the pace of her breathing a little more.
She felt his hand on her cheek, warm and calloused. He spoke softly to her, trying to calm her attack.
"You know, my sister Rosalie used to have breathing troubles like this. Sometimes I would sit with her and tell her stories to try and ease her down." He said, his voice wavering with nervous tension, "I remember telling her a story one time about the golem statue that was in the town square of Honnleath. That's where I'm from…" He smirked a bit, still wiping away Eshne's tears while he spoke.
"I can't quite recall what it was about. Something about it being a warrior a long time ago, but it was frozen in place after it squished its master." He issued another nervous chuckle, this time Eshne laughed weakly with him, "Stupid I know, but she liked it."
Eshne shook her head, "It's...not...not stupid." She breathed out, smiling at him faintly.
"See?" Cullen said, "It helps."
"Yeah…" Eshne agreed, her voice was tired, but her breathing slowly returned to normal, despite the burning pain that still lingered in her chest.
Her right hand went to Cullens, which had been caressing her cheek lightly. She saw him blush when she held it.
As she sighed, she closed her eyes. Taking in the sensation of his warm hand pressed up against her face, it gave her butterflies.
Cullen cleared his throat, blushing even harder, "Do you think you'll be able to stand?" His voice cracked.
Eshne nodded slightly, opening her eyes, locking with Cullens.
On impulse, Eshne grabbed his neck, pulling him down to meet her lips.
He was hesitant at first, eyes wide from the shock. But he melted into a passionate kiss, grabbing her bottom lip between his.
Eshne could feel the warmth of his cheeks, it made her smile. She thought he was charmingly cute for being bashful about her kissing him.
Hesitantly, Cullen pulled away from her, looking at her scarlett lips as he sat up. He rubbed the back of his neck, his whole face and the tips of his ears turning red.
"I um…" He sputtered out, "You...you have...v...very nice lips, Miss Surana."
Eshne giggled, "Thank you, Ser Rutherford."
She slowly sat herself upright, Cullen held her hands, helping her stand all the way up.
"I can...walk you to you chambers...if that would please you of course." Cullen stammered.
"I would like that." Eshne said softly.
Cullen let go of her hands, awkwardly putting his glove back on and avoiding her gaze.
Eshne tilted her head, "I'm sorry if I was too forward…"
"No! No," Cullen stopped her, "I don't want you to think that I don't enjoy your...well it was very nice...and not at all what I thought...oh Maker...I…"
Standing on her toes, Eshne pecked his cheek, silencing his painful stammering.
"I'll...I'll just escort you back to your dormitory." He blushed again, touching the spot on his cheek where she had kissed him.
Eshne smiled, "Thank you, ser."
They walked back slowly in a comfortable silence. Eshne pretended not to notice his constant blushing every time he looked over at her. The butterflies in her stomach were fluttering crazily each time she thought about their kissing. How he grabbed onto her lips like he had been wanting to kiss her for ages.
"Here we are." She whispered, stopping at the archway into the apprentices chambers.
"Yes. Well." Cullen cleared his throat, "I'm glad you're feeling better, Miss Surana." He smirked.
"Thank you, ser," Eshne looked down at her feet, "You really did save my life."
Cullen rubbed the back of his neck again, "I'm just happy I was able to help. I mean. It's you...not that I wouldn't have helped another mage having that problem. I just mean to say...I was glad to see you given the circumstance…"
"Good night, Cullen." Eshne spoke softly.
Cullen blushed, thankful that she stopped him from making a fool of himself again, "Good night, Eshne."
He watched her walk away, disappearing behind the wall. His stomach fluttered at the thought of them kissing.
Back behind the wall, Eshne listened to Cullen walk away. She bit her bottom lip, hugging her chest, trying to hide her grin. She bit her thumb nail, walking over to her bunk.
Crawling under the blankets, she smiled again, holding her hands over her face to hide her giddiness.
She knew she was going to have good dreams that night.