Days had passed since the fall of Haven and the Herald. The former laid buried under rock and snow with no hope of becoming the destination of pilgrims again, while the latter seemingly rose from the dead.

Though the faithful's hope was shattered, still the Inquisition held on for dear life in the small valley they had set up camp in. Patrols were doubled up and several more scouts were added to the roster. Everyone had a job and a purpose in the movement, even if the leaders were just as lost as the people beneath them were.

In her own way, Talia pitched in with food. She would leave early morning with one of the other volunteers and hunt anything to keep the masses from starving -and- freezing to death. Her companion for the day had already headed back earlier, leaving Talia to make a small sled out of some fallen tree limbs and rope. She had managed to place two rams safe and secure on the construct, before attaching the ties to the saddle on Cullens horse.

"Don't worry handsome," she said patting the animals withers with gloved fingers. "We'll be back with everyone soon. You just pull."

The stallion snorted and started to move.

After nearly an hour of tugging and pulling, they arrived back at the campsite. The rams were brought to the cooking tents where the grateful members of the cooking staff eagerly added them to the camps supplies.

The horse, a beautiful black stallion, nuzzled her arm, probably for more of the dried apples that she had treated the animal with earlier. The stallion was the Commanders, and did not shy from much, making it a joy to work with, especially in the mountains.

"Come on handsome," she said with a smile as she lead them to the makeshift stable.

Very few animals had survived the attack. Those that did were being taken care of as though they were gifts from the maker himself. Of horses, there were only a handful, though some tracks had been seen in the valley that morning, showing that more horses had survived the attack and were just roaming free in the snows.

Perhaps this attitude of seeing and treating the animals like precious gifts is what provoked the conversation, but Talia nearly drew a blade on the stablehand that all but snatched the reins from her hands.

"You're the one that keeps stealing the Commanders horse!"

Talia blinked and looked around, wondering if she was the butt of some strange attempt of a joke.

The stable boy, no older than eighteen glared at her before he snarled a venomous, "Let. Go."

It happened so quick that the boy had no clue what had happened until blood spurted with force from his oversized nose. Talia brought her gloved hand back to the reins and pulled them free from the boys hand. Her palm had connected perfectly with his nose to cause no real damage, but his nose would bleed freely for a while unless he pinched it and stopped wailing like she had stabbed him - though the thought did cross her mind.

"Manners, Fereldan." she said, her accent thickening her words and reflecting her annoyance with his behaviour.

"You bitch!" he wailed. "The Commander will have your head for this, horse thief!"

"Thief? I?" she growled looking down at the snow beneath him and noting the splatter of crimson against it. The sight of blood never made her squeamish, It was just there floating around the edges of her mind. Against the snow in the faint lights of the camp however, it looked more and more black than red.

"What is going on here?"

Talia's mind was pulled free from her thoughts and turned her head towards Cullen as he approached. She kept quiet, expecting trouble for her treatment of the stableboy.

"She attacked me!" The now courageous stablehand said as he stood up. Blood now covered the lower half of his face and most of the front of his shirt. "I caught her stealing and she attacked me!"

Talia's eyes flicked from the stable hand to Cullen and back again.

Cullen's eyes met hers for a moment and he sighed. "Go get yourself cleaned up, Brandon. I will deal with this."

The stablehand sneered at his attacker before walking off with perhaps a bit too much pride in his step.

Once he was out of earshot, Cullen stepped closer and looked her over. "He didn't hurt you?"

Talia shook her head once before starting off with the horse again towards the stable. "I was returning him." she said simply, as though that explained the entirety of the situation.

Cullen followed and sighed again. "He thought you had stolen him and were bringing him back? That doesn't make sense."

"Welcome to the world of men." she said finally stopping the horse to let it into the small tented area where she could remove his saddle and brush him down.

"Surely that doesn't happen all the time." Cullen asked, his hands moving to help her with the saddle as they talked.

"There are always those that try to stand on others to make themselves feel better. I am a woman and an Antivan. I am sure the fact that I danced on a table the night...Haven fell, did not help matters." Talia let him take the saddle while she pulled off the padding underneath and followed him to lay it on the wagon that now held most of the gear that would have been in the stable. "His nose is broken." she added.

"I have a feeling I would have done worse to him, had I been in your shoes."

Talia glared up at him. "I do not kill on a whim." she snapped.

Cullen looked back into her eyes, confusion sweeping over his features. "I- I didn't mean to accuse you or claim that you should have killed him. I was trying to-"

Talia grabbed a brush and moved back to the far side of the stallion and started to brush. She stayed silent, not wanting to let anymore of her anger lash out at him. As she brushed, she tried to understand why his words made her so angry. She was defensive. Why should she care what he thought? He knew she was a mercenary, obviously killing would be part of that life.

"Talia?"

Her golden eyes peered over the stallions back for a moment before returning to the task at hand. She refused to speak at that moment, and let him do all the talking instead.

Another sigh escaped the Commanders lips. "Thank you is what I am trying to say. The meat you have brought in the past few days..."

"I have to live here too, Commander."

"Cullen." he said correcting her.

"What?"

"My name."

"I know that, Commander."

The edge of his lips curved into a small, frustrated smile. "Why don't you use my name?"

"You're the Commander of the Inquisition's army." She explained as she began to check the stallions hooves for any damage. "Using your name would probably not be the best."

Cullen walked around the front of the animal to watch her as she worked. "When we are just talking, I would like you to use my name."

Talia stood up as a small smile came to her lips. Half frozen fingers pulled her hair from her eyes before she spoke. "I can't use your name. If someone hears they will think we do more than talk when we are alone, unless that is what your goal."

"My...my goal? Maker no, I was just- I mean when we are sharing a conversation at the end of the day, it would be nice to be Cullen and Talia, not the Commander and the Charger. Why would you think that I would," he paused and took a breath, "mean anything else?"

Talia shook her head, "I meant nothing by it, Commander." she said now working on brushing the tangles out of the horses mane. "Is there and word on where we are headed? As much as I love this valley..."

Cullen smiled at that, "Under better circumstances, I am sure the valley would be a lovely place to visit, but I do share your interest in moving on."

"So, the answer would be..."

"We are hoping to leave in a day or two. The Herald is back with us now, so there is little holding us here."

"Where will we go?"

"Maker knows, I don't know if we have much choice. We may have to head out of these mountains and pray that our enemy is not waiting for us."

"Serious and pessimistic, you just know how to take all the fun out of life, don't you Commander?"

Cullen smiled, "Not all of us dance through life as some others can."

"How would you know? You've never seen me dance." Talia growled standing up and looking up to scan his face.

"I missed out on a lot from what I heard in the barracks." Cullen said with a smirk, though when Talia's face hardened he frowned, "Maker, I didn't mean that...that sounded far better in my head." his hand moved to rub the back of his neck, a nervous gesture that managed to soften Talia a tiny bit.

"You did miss out, Commander."

"Perhaps I will be able to catch your next performance?"

Talia gave him a dangerous smile, "Perhaps. We would need something to celebrate though."

Cullen smiled even wider.

"Commander." A page appeared behind them both. He looked tired, but in a hurry.

"Has something happened?" Culled asked, his voice steeling itself as he assumed the mantle of Commander again.

"The Herald, she wanted to see you and the others. She said she has a plan."