********* Emprise Du Lion************

"Mountains. Cold. Let's bring Dorian!"

Alex winced at the sarcastic tone of the fellow mage as she looked back, the swirling snow of Emprise Du Lion blanketing their coats, even though Iron Bull was still walking around with a bare chest. Dorian had wrapped various thin coats on his body already, but still he shivered violently, while Sera was busily making a snowball with her hands under her thick winter Snowfleur coat. She sighed as she turned to her friend, and she grasped his arm, "I'm so sorry, Dorian. I should have brought Vivienne or Solas along if I had known you hated the cold."

Dorian looked up at her, and seeing her guilty face, he smirked as he put an arm around her shoulders, while she wound her own arm around his waist. Ever since Dorian joined her inner circle during their time at Redcliffe, Alex had liked the sassy mage. He was very self-confident and sometimes too arrogant, but he was a mage of great skill particularly when it came to fire magic, and he has the same level of snark as Varric and Iron Bull. Solas had once remarked on their… 'physical' show of affection, but she had insisted that they were merely friends who just liked to hug each other.

After all, even though Dorian never declared it, she knew that he preferred the company of men.

"Oh please… Vivienne's silks and fashions would kill her in this temperature, especially at her age." Dorian said, and she laughed before smacking his arm, "Don't let her hear that. She'll burn you alive."

"Let her. I am not afraid of her." Dorian said, before another violent shiver passed through him that Alex felt it, "But… Fasta vass, woman, did you really need to come to this frozen hell of a town?"

"Cullen said that there were reports that red lyrium was getting smuggled from here." Alex said as they continued to walk, "We need to investigate if it's true."

"It's a bit nippy here, though." She heard Iron Bull comment, and instantly her gaze was drawn to the Qunari's muscled chest, as her head reached that particular area , and saw that his darkened nipples hardened from the cold. She looked up at the man's face, only to see him grinning, knowing at she was looking at his… as Krem once called it… pillowy man-bosoms. She grinned before smacking him on the arm. "You should really wear a shirt, Bull. Or a cloak. Don't blame me if your tits turn into icicles later on."

Sera chortled, "Titsicles." She said, laughing even louder.

Alex laughed, "Exactly."

Bull shrugged, "The cold never bothered me, anyway, boss. No need for shirts. Besides, all this red lyrium smuggling business is making me angry enough to make my blood boil. We need to take this ring down."

"True enough. We'll get our chance, Bull."

"It's probably just me, but it seems like the Mayor of Sahrnia is hiding something." Dorian said, his hand tightening at Alex's waist when she slipped at the snow to steady her. "She seemed… evasive."

"I don't know what the deal with her is, but if it has something to do with that future I saw with you, Dorian, I'm going to rip her a new one." Alex said vehemently, causing Bull to laugh and pat the top of her head. "I'm going to help you with that, boss."

They continued walking, and soon enough, they spotted one of the red lyrium mines that Cullen had said. Dorian and Alex withdrew their wands, while Bull started charging towards the soldiers. Sera threw a snow ball at one of the guards, shouting, "Eat frozen shite, friggin' red templars!"

Alex blinked as she casted a barrier at Bull, who was now happily hacking at the templars with a massive axe, while Dorian blew a templar with fire that his enemy squealed in pain, "Sera! That's not really frozen… fecal matter, right?!"

Sera laughed as she flipped, landing at a higher boulder, and shot at a templar right in the throat with her bow and arrow, "Ewww… of course not, Inky. Did ya really think I'd touch something like that?"

Dorian grinned, as he raised his hands, and immediately, a phantom figure in the shape of a deceased templar rose, and followed Bull in attacking, "I don't know, Sera. Weren't you the one that gave that marquis a box of rabbit shit that looked like Orlesian chocolates?"

Alex and Bull laughed, and Sera snorted as she shot more arrows, "I wore gloves for that, ya daft tit!"

Alex killed the last templar with her Spirit Sword… a skill she learned as a Knight Enchanter under Commander Helaine and Vivienne, before walking towards one of the crates which had several documents on it. Dorian and Sera sheathed their weapons as they neared her, and she raised a piece of paper to them. "Letters from Samson. Cullen was right, this is where they're harvesting the red lyrium." She nodded towards one of the cages, which held several of the townspeople, their hands outstretched at her in supplication, "These villagers were workers for the red templars… and now their using them to grow the stuff from their bodies."

Dorian blinked in shock at her, "Like in that future Redcliffe."

Alex nodded and scowled angrily, "That's not the worst part. The mayor of Sahrnia knew of what they were doing, but still she allowed it, taking the templar's gold in exchange for more of the workers." She sneered, "She knew her people were being killed, and she didn't even care as long as she had money."

The four of them silenced, taking in the new information, until finally Bull said, "So what now, boss?"

Alex raised a hand and rubbed her throbbing temple, "Sera, pick the locks of that cage and get the people out. Dorian, head back to camp and tell the soldiers to arrest Mistress Poulin under the confirmation that she assisted the red templars and as an accessory to the murders of the townspeople. And get a thicker coat for yourself, damn it."

"Understood, Inquisitor." Dorian said as he walked away, but Alex's scowling face brightened into a smile as she shouted at him, "But come back here as soon as you can, alright?! I want that sexy posterior to back me up when I burn these templars into the snow!"

"I will be delightfully happy to cover that pert rear of yours, Lady Trevelyan!" Dorian said playfully, waving at her to head back to the camp.

Alex laughed a little before heading towards the prisoners that Sera had helped escape. She smiled at them gently, "You're all safe now. Head west from here and you'll see an Inquisition camp. My soldiers can provide you with food and blankets. You can rest there."

"Have you freed the others?" One of the villagers said, looking tired with a bleeding wound at his forehead where a templar had probably hurt him, "There are more of us. They were going to turn us into those… things!"

"I'm waiting for my companion, but when he returns, we'll head further and free the others." She said, bending over and running her hand at the man's wound, healing him with her magic. The man visibly relaxed at her touch and she placed her hand on his cheek, "Rest easy. The Inquisition will take care of you and your village."

The man nodded, tears forming in his eyes as he clasped her hand in gratitude, "Thank you very much, Inquisitor."

She smiled and looked up at Sera, who nodded and said, "Right! You lot! Everyone walk that way, yeah? Let's go!"

The people started walking, following Sera's direction and Alex crossed her arms as Iron Bull stood beside her, planting his axe to the ground beside him and copying her stance. "You're doing good work, boss."

"And we should. There are a lot of people are counting on us." She sighed tiredly, "We need to finish up here as soon as possible. We still have to give this evidence to Cullen, and then we have to meet up with Hawke's Warden friend in Crestwood."

"Anxious to get back to your dear commander, eh, boss?" Bull said, and she looked up at him to see him smiling slyly. She felt a blush creep into her face and she looked away, "I don't… Cullen doesn't… don't be daft. The Commander knows that I am the Inquisitor."

"And he also knows that behind that title is a woman who needs love and protection… and whose carpet probably matches the drapes." Bull said, smirking, and she looked up at him, scandalized. She seethed and smacked Bull's arms with her hand as the Qunari laughed. "Shut it, fool. How could you even think that Cul… the Commander thinks like that?"

Bull tapped his temple, the one near his undamaged eye, and smirked, "Ben-Hassrath, boss. We can see things nobody else sees. He looks at you like he wants you in his bed, naked and writhing with that red hot hair of yours flared about his sheets. And besides, no matter many times your puny hands try to beat me, that still doesn't hide the fact that you want to fuck him silly in return."

Alex's face flared so red that she almost looked a tomato as Bull walked away, laughing hard, shouldering his axe, thinking that he should go directly to Cullen as soon as they returned to Skyhold. After all, he had just played the wingman for him, and that the Commander probably owes him a barrel of Golden Scythe 4:90 Black for that.