Hello dear readers!

This chapter is a bit shorter, but I hope you guys enjoy it!

RussianBear27

Chapter 4

"Do you ever sleep?" Kaliana asked when Cullen visited her at the same unseemly hour as he had the previous night.

"Occasionally," Cullen jested.

Kaliana was much more prepared this evening, and more comfortable in his presence. The blanket that covered her shoulders was more for warding off the cold of the Chantry's basement, than for modesty's sake.

Cullen made himself comfortable sitting on the bed, and Kaliana snuggled up beside him. She was exhausted from the day's events and knew this visit would probably a short one.

"Do you normally enter other people's dreams?" Cullen asked her.

"Sometimes," she admitted a bit surprised by his sudden question, "but not normally, it kind of feels like I am invading someone's personal space. Usually if I enter another's dream, it is by accident or it is of a dreamer who has long since passed on."

"So you enter the dreams of dead people?" Cullen asked wearily.

"Yes, I can, but their dreams are usually old memories running on a loop. A perpetual circle of their dreams, of their life, at least that's all I've seen. I try not to wonder too far into the fade."

"Hm," was all Cullen said in reply.

"I wouldn't be able to get far anyway. I can only reach so far away from myself."

"I don't think I would mind dreaming with you," Cullen confessed.

Kaliana looked up at him, surprised. "Really?" she asked. "I could if you want. I've seen yours before," Kaliana caught herself.

"You've seen mine before?" Cullen wasn't that surprised.

"Well, I um, I see a lot of dreams in the tower. I've never entered yours, I swear. I just osbserved," Kaliana turned a bright shade of red.

"I would probably have done the same, if I were in your shoes," Cullen assured her.

Kaliana smiled, still embarrassed. They sat together for a while longer, and talked as if there was nothing in the world that could keep them apart. Cullen spoke of his family, and Kaliana wished she could meet them. Though, Cullen admitted he hadn't seen them in years, but still wrote to his sister Mia often.

As time passed, Kaliana grew more weary and finally bid Cullen goodnight. She shut the door behind him, and fell asleep moments after crawling beneath the rough sheets.

Kaliana always loved to dream. It was the only place she had complete control. The waking world was always changing, shifting, and moving at a pace she struggled to keep up with. Around every corner there always seemed to be another rule, another binding chain, another Templar. She preferred to hide from it all, in her books, in her dreams… in Cullen.

She looked for her Templar in the fade, wandering through the tall green grass of her dream. She had sculpted the trees around her into the twisting swirls that reached towards a sky forever lit by twilight. Looking down at her nightclothes, she decided they wouldn't due. A moment later she wore a fine silk dress of pale blue and silver, the long skirt trailing behind her.

She found him by a lake, standing on a rickety dock looking out over the peaceful water. He turned and saw her coming, and as she approached the dream seemed to become sharper, more lifelike. It was as if he was awake.

"Is this real?" Cullen asked softly as she joined him on the dock.

"Yes and no," Kaliana explained, "you are really seeing this in your mind, but no you are not really here." She studied their surroundings, "by the way, where is here?"

"It's…" Cullen was surprised she didn't know, "the lake I used to come to as a child. I thought you brought me here."

"No. This is your dream Cullen, and you are remarkably strong willed. You brought us to somewhere familiar to you. Normally we would be somewhere more familiar to both of us. I would have expected Kinloch."

Cullen thought for a moment, taking it all in. "I have to ask," he said cautiously, "but how do you tell this from reality? How do you know it's me and not a demon?"

Kaliana knew what he was really asking. How would he know it was really her? "Well," she began, "when demons shift into a form of another, there is always some flaw. They can imitate life, but not achieve it. People are deceived, because they want to believe and have their inner most desires granted. They are willing to overlook the flaws, in exchange their wishes are granted, but it is nothing more than endless dream. Then, of course, the demon gains control over the dreamer's physical form."

"Oh, so all I have to do to avoid being possessed is find the demon's flaw?" Cullen tried to make light of such a heavy reality.

"Well that, and resist all your deepest darkest desires being offered to you on a silver platter."

"I already have my deepest darkest desire," Cullen took her hand in his, smiling.

Kaliana smiled back, wrapping her arms around his neck. "You know, when we return to the Circle Tower, I can still visit you in your dreams if you like. It's the only place they can never find us."

Cullen was quiet for a moment, his smile shrinking away. "We agreed once we returned to the Circle this would end."

Kaliana's felt her heart constrict as he spoke.

"I love you Kaliana, but I know if they discover us I will never see you again. They will separate us forever at best. More likely you will be locked away and I will be thrown out of the order. I don't know if I can live with the reality of never seeing you again. I would never be able to forgive myself if they took you away."

Kaliana's heart sank. Deep down she knew he was right. If they were found that he would most likely be stripped of his Templar status and she could end up in Aeonar, the mage prison. It was miracle she had avoided it so far. The Templars had wanted to send her there almost as soon as she had arrived at the Circle.

Still, she didn't want this to be over, even though she knew the consequences. At first she thought she would be able to pretend that this never happened, that they would be able to go back to normal. Now, she knew it wasn't possible. "I know what I said Cullen, but I can't just let this go," she said the tears welling up in her eyes. "I can't pretend like nothing happened and walk away."

Cullen held her close, he didn't want to walk away either. He wanted to give her everything. He would give her the world to just make her smile. Try as he might, he couldn't deny his heart, and he couldn't deny his love.

"I don't know what will happen to us Kali, but I don't think I can walk away either," he spoke softly. "We will figure this out, together. Come what may."

Their waking would soon crumble to pieces, but for this moment their dreams were real. Only to be stolen by morning's light.