I don't own Dragon Age. Sadly.

Also, I notice this theme of meeting the Commander at night because neither could sleep and asking to practice together seems to be a thing.

I'm doing the thing.

All the things~!

I couldn't sleep. I paced my brightly lit little house, clutching my daggers in my hands.

"Stupid." I muttered to myself. Finally, I threw on some extra clothing for the frigid night air, slid my daggers into their sheaths, hooked them through my belt, grabbed a few extra throwing knives, and put shoes on before leaving the house and heading to the sparring ring just outside of Haven's walls.

Shoes were still a sort of new thing to me. I liked the boots I had though; they protected my feet from the cold, but I could still feel the ground beneath me; the rocks, mostly. When we went somewhere without snow, I was definitely all about throwing any shoes away, lacing up greaves to protect my legs, and off I went. If I could barefoot it all the time, I would, but snow…snow was a different enemy that no amount of calluses and attempts to ignore could defeat. Snow was cold, wet, and slippery. At least with these boots I had, I would be dry. Still slipped a bit, but not as much.

I stopped in front of a ring of practice dummies. I thought, maybe I could tire myself out enough so that when I did go back to my tiny house, I might be able to sleep. And so it began: parry, slash, hack, downward slice, leap away, repeat. I skirted around the dummies, trying my best to pretend they were real enemies. I had crunched the snow around them into fine dust after a while, the moon slowly rising in the sky, casting shadows around me. Besides the wind, and occasional sound of the night watch, it was quiet. I stopped for a moment, gazing up at the Breach.

It was hard to ignore, Blackwall was right on that. I was angry at it, angry at what had caused it. It was so wrong, and I had seen what it had done to the surrounding countryside, to it's people. I had always been different from the others in the clan, speaking with shem that we came upon, trying to understand them, talk to them, before I judged. It came from something I had heard ten years ago, from a shem that had saved my life. My thoughts flitted back to that particular incident; it had happened on a night like this, peaceful and quiet. I took in the frozen lake, the snow-capped trees. I closed my eyes for a moment, holding my daggers at my side, breathing in the night air.

I opened my eyes, feeling a surge of energy course through me, and I returned to beating the dummies with a newfound vengeance, imagining them now as demons from a rift. I was engrossed, I didn't even notice the figure approaching me until I spun around, steel clanging against steel. My daggers had stopped suddenly, as had I, and I stared wide eyed and surprised at the intruder, who was wearing quite possibly the smuggest look I had ever seen on a person.

"Cullen." I didn't even bother using his title. He wasn't in his usual feather pauldrons and huge Templar armor; he wore simple clothes, what appeared to be a fur lined coat, but his demeanor was the same.

"Herald." He inclined his head in greeting, and in one fluid movement, our weapons slid off the other's, the sound ringing in the silence. He held only his sword, but he held me with a smirk and a gaze of honey gold. "I had not expected to find anyone else out here."

"Neither had I." I relaxed my stance slightly. The commander left me with strange feelings in my gut, left my face burning, and usually had me stammering like an idiot because I couldn't form coherent thoughts around him. Yet I was wary, he didn't seem…as reserved as he usually did.

"I actually, ah…" he laughed lightly, his free hand turning to rub the back of his neck, as he usually did when embarrassed. "I couldn't sleep, so I thought…"

"Tiring yourself out might help?" I finished the thought, relaxing completely, letting my daggers fall to my sides. His gaze caught mine again, and I was thankful for the heat already in my cheeks. His smile never ceased to make me blush.

"Yes, actually." His smile sent butterflies through me.

"It seems great minds think alike." I said quietly. "You did startle me. I have to say, I'm impressed you were able to sneak up on me like that and then catch me off guard the way you did."

"I could tell from how big your eyes were when I caught your blades," he said lightly, taking a step closer. We weren't that far away from each other; I could see his breath in the night air, the moonlight and the light from the Breach casting eerie shadows across his handsome features.

"I have to ask." I said, and he raised an eyebrow at me. Clearly here, in the dead of the night, away from everyone else, especially that Fen'Harel cursed war table we have, we seemed able to…relax? Flirt? Is that what was happening? I kind of hoped so. I think. "Why couldn't you sleep?"

"Ah. And here I thought it might be about my lack of vows to keep from physical temptations'." I pursed my lips, feeling my ears and face heat up at the memory of my complete and totally stupid question a few days ago when I had quizzed him on his Templar vows. Giving up physical temptations indeed, look at the man, he was gorgeous. I'm sure he had women throwing themselves at his feet almost daily. Despite his jest, I could see his eyes darken, his eyebrows scrunching somewhat. "I am…unfortunate in that I am plagued by nightmares."

"You too?" I asked automatically.

"It seems we might have more in common then we first realized, Herald."

"Elia." I said gently, and he looked at me confused. "My name is Elia. I'm not sure anyone really knows that, but…that's my name. Not 'Herald'." I gave him an apologetic smile as realization dawned on him.

"It's a lovely name." he said quietly. I felt my heart jump into my chest, and he seemed to realize what he had said because he started stammering. "I-I mean, it's lovely to know your name-I mean, not that I didn't know it, or-"

"Commander." I said, laughing lightly. "It's alright. Varric, Solas, and Josephine are the only ones who have asked."

"You called me Cullen first." He pointed out, lazily swinging his sword. Now it was my turn to stammer.

"I-yes, well, I mean, if you'd like, I mean, if I could-" I stammered, and Cullen suddenly brought the tip of his sword to the center of my chest. I felt all color drain from my face immediately. I couldn't read the look on his face, but I recognized it as a mask, one my enemies wore every time I tore them down. "Commander-"

"Elia." His voice made me look at him. "Spar with me?" I realized, in that moment, he was telling me in his own way that it was alright for me to call him Cullen, if it was alright that he called me Elia. I smiled, before smacking his sword away with one of my daggers, leaping back lightly, landing in an offensive stance.

"Sure thing. On one condition Cullen." I said, and before the obvious grin overtook his face. "Want to be sparring buddies? I did notice how well you fought, when we first met." Cullen smirked, advancing towards me slowly.

"Agreed. I must return the compliment. It has been a while since I've seen so skilled a dual wielding swordswoman." And with that, the fight ensued.

Hooray~! Please leave me a review, let me know if it's bad or not.

Also, any advice on helping me with writing sexual tension would be GREAT, because I'm pretty sure I suck at it.