Hello everyone I'm here with a new story to present. I replayed back inquisition and got me interested when doing the Josephine route and wanted to try something new here. Well, I'll let you guys read and I hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Age, it belongs to EA.
Family Dinner
The Montilyet Family is one of the well-known families in Antiva, having one of the largest merchant businesses in all of Thedas, a large influence in the trade of goods and on good terms with Orlais thanks to the Inquisitor's help in restoring the family trades again. The Montilyets have a manor that was outside of Antiva City where they can enjoy the peace of the countryside but did have a business shop in the city. At the front door of the manor, the Montilyet daughter, Josephine Montilyet, was walking back and forth looking concerned for someone, especially in a time like this.
What's taking her so long just to have one trip here, dinner is going to start in one hour. Worst of all, she is running late. Uugghh… she better have some explaining to do!
The Inquisitor, Ellana Lavellan, had sent a letter to Josephine when she was visiting her family that she would be coming over here on business and would arrive in one week. It had been two weeks now, and she had not shown up and was concerned given that she had talked about Ellana a lot to her parents and they wanted to meet her.
It's already sunset, please Andraste that this doesn't end badly.
As she was lost in her thoughts, she hears the front gates open and turns to see a horse coming in with a woman on it that made Josephine sight in relief. Her knight in shining armor, Ellana Lavellan, had finally arrived. Ellana took her helmet off revealing herself, her beautiful smooth face giving that smile, her long beautiful black hair with cute shining blue eyes, and while not noted, had a small scare on her cheek. Even if she is an elf, she was beautiful and didn't care what people said about her or of their relationship.
She walks up to her as she gets off the horse and hugs her before punching her in the arm. "There you are, you were supposed to arrive two weeks ago!" giving her an angry look.
Ellana was taken aback from this as she expected a warm welcome but can understand her reason for it. "We had a bit of trouble dealing with some issues like some bandits, getting sidetracked in helping some small villages, trying to keep some elf tribes safe and there might have been a breach or two that needed to be closed."
"Is that all because I've been worried sick this whole time wondering if you were okay and you are not even showing like nothing happened. The amount of assurance I had to give to my family so they wouldn't be questioning me but also you didn't send anything to confirm if you were okay. Are you trying to…" Was all she can say before being yanked into an embrace pulling her into a warm kiss causing her to calm down and soon engages in kissing her. They wished it would last forever but had to separate in order to breathe.
"I missed you so much"
"I missed you too, and sorry if I worried you."
"Its fine, I'm just stressed you missed"
"I know but at least I'm here with you now"
She soon gives her a kiss while wrapping her arms around her neck and soon Josephine began doing the same, engaging in a kissing session. But sometimes life gets in the way of things and they have not been aware that they were being watched.
"Not to be rude but shouldn't you want to go to the back for some time alone?"
Both stop kissing and turn to see that Cassandra, Cullen, and Liliana were watching them just chuckling amongst themselves. Their sight made them split from each other as they were burning red like a bouquet of roses.
"You could have shown some decency and just not look"
"Sorry ambassador, we didn't expect to see that but it is cute" Cullen said chuckling.
"Speak of which, weren't all of you supposed to head to Antiva city to speak to some official on the whole trading issue with the chantry?" Ellana asked.
"We were but Liliana wanted to stop by here just to see how Josephine was doing before we left." Cassandra pointed at Liliana as she came up to them.
"I just wanted to check how she was doing and if she was not dealing with anything of trouble."
"She is fine and I can see you still don't trust me with her, do you?"
Josephine gave a confusing look before realizing what she meant, "Is that true?"
She nodded.
"Liliana, I love you as if you were my sister, but I can handle myself and there is nothing wrong between us and I know what your thoughts are, especially saying that I may be a toy for her."
"I see that she told you about that saying," as she turned away from the embarrassment as the inquisitor laughed before turning back around, "My only reason for that conversation was to make sure that she wasn't taking advantage of you especially in times like these."
Ellana just rolled her eyes but assured her that she understands. "It's alright and I get it but…" she was soon cut off by Cullen saying, "not to intrude, but we all need to get going to the city to get things set before tomorrow."
"I agree, it is going to be late." Cassandra pointed out as the sun was almost gone. "Inquisitor, we will see you in the morning right?" She nodded in response which Cassandra smiled at.
"Alright then, we'll see you tomorrow in the morning." With that, they all gave their goodbyes, Cassandra, Cullen, and Liliana left on their horses heading to the city leaving the two alone. Once they are all gone, Josephine moves to the side of the inquisitor as she moves her hand showing the door.
"Well then shall we continue?"
Smiling, she interwined her hands with Josephine's and they both walked into the manor ready to continue their day.
Inside, she was in awe at the décor as it looks like from the winter palace. The only difference is the change in color and style. They had paints, small sculptures, and some nice furniture that made her wonder how this family was able to afford all this. As they walked to the sofa to sit down, she noticed that Josephine was concerned and she decided to ask.
"Is there something bothering you?"
Josephine breathed before speaking, "Ellana is this a good idea to meet with my parents?"
"Yes and no. I feel it would be the opportunity for them to meet the women who swept their daughters feet off the ground. At the same time, being different is something I have to prove that I can be good."
"I can understand that and my love, they'll love you the way they love me, it may be hard to accept but you've done a lot of good that it overweighs their judgment."
"I'm just afraid of what they'll think of me, not many are fond of elves, especially the way they are treated."
"There's nothing to worry about and I'm in the same boat because I'm afraid of what my parents have to say about you, but if they disrespect you, I will defend you from them, even my siblings would do the same."
"Thanks. Sometimes I wonder, why did I decide to do this?"
"Because it was your idea but also, we both love each other and are happy that we fell in love in a very weird situation."
After hearing it, she kisses Josephine on the lips and she does the same while wrapping each other in a warm embrace. But they soon were interrupted when one of the maids showed up causing them to separate from each other.
"Lady Josephine," said the maid as she walked in. "I'm sorry to interrupt you at this moment, but I came to let you know that dinner is almost ready and that your mother and father will be coming down in 10 minutes. You can head to the dinner table now."
"Thank you, I will be there. Will that be all?"
"That will be all."
"Thank you, you can return to your duties."
Soon the maid said her thanks, bowed and walked away. Once she was gone, they look at each other and smiled at each other.
"Hope you are prepared"
"I think I can handle it"
They get up from the sofa and make their way to the dinner table knowing they are going to have to prepare for the big test they have.
Entering the dining room, they can see that the table had been all set nicely with the food all there ready to be served. The tablecloth was of a light red color, plates and dinner utensils were well organized neatly for anyone to pick up, the candle holders had the candles lit up, and the wine glass was filled with wine. The inquisitor was in awe at seeing it.
"Isn't this a little too excessive?"
"I know you're not used to this but it'll grow over you, trust me."
"Well, if it isn't my sister's fiancé here to make her blush for a dinner date." They both turn to the direction of the voice to see it was Josephine's sister, Yvette Gabriella Montilyet, wearing the same dress she wore at the winter palace. "It's nice to see you again, Inquisitor."
Ellana gives her greetings but not Josephine. "You know that Ellana and I are not engaged yet." She said angrily but soon felt Ellana grabbing her by the waist, pulling her closer until they were face to face. "You know I can make that happen." She places both her hands on Josephine's cheeks, caressing them before bringing her to her lips, kissing them passionately like it was their first kiss. But soon Josephine lightly pushes her away before punching her in the shoulder.
"Do that again and I will make you sleep in the garden next to the dogs." Saying as she blushing hard like a tomato.
"Why be so rude to her, she is just trying to make it more beautiful."
"You should be the one sleeping with the dogs, since I still haven't forgiven you since you told her about the whole doll collection at the ball from the winter palace."
"Oh c'mon, it wasn't that bad, she was bound to learn sooner or later. I'm sure the Inquisitor has seen you play to one point."
"No, I haven't but… wait a minute, that doll you had in your office that looked like me, you were using it to play with your other dolls?"
That made Josephine blush out of control as she started to stutter on what to say. "I… um its… you see… well…" seeing the truth both the Inquisitor and Yvette began to laugh non-stop seeing the embarrassment of Josephine.
"I know you would do something like that. But I'm not surprised you wanted to live out these fantasies."
"Why you little…" as she was about to grab her sister, before two people, both male and younger than Josephine, stopped her from punching Yvette.
"No fighting here."
"Remember about being polite to others."
Ellana was surprised that they stopped her deduces that they are Josephine's brothers given how they responded towards her. Josephine soon yanks her hands away from her brothers before speaking, "Ugh, Inquisitor, these are my brothers, Antoine Montilyet and Laurien Montilyet."
"It's a pleasure to meet you two" shaking both their hands.
"Same here, we heard a lot about you and your missions, and we support you all the way through." Said Laurien.
"And we are grateful for helping restore the family honor and business." Antoine says smiling.
"I always want to help others in need and anything for Josephine. Speaking of which, wasn't there one more brother?"
"He's not here, he's currently in Orlais doing some studies, but you will get to meet him when you and my sister have your wedding." As Antoine winks at her.
Josephine becomes angry seeing what her brother did, "Why I ought a…" ready to throw a punch but stops when the doors open getting everyone's attention as a few servants enter, lining up apart from each other.
"Attention all, Lord Yves Montilyet and Lady Esperanza Lucinia have arrived." The servant said as he and the others moved to the side as the husband and wife entered in their most formal dress ever.
"I guess this is the guest you are talking about."
"Yes, this is the Inquisitor, Ellana Lavellan. Inquisitor, these are my parents Yves Montilyet and Esperanza Lucinia."
"So you are the one that my daughter wanted to marry, I can see why." Esperanza words were enough to make Ellana blush and Josephine to look away from everyone as she was more embarrassed.
Soon the other siblings and Ellana began to chuckle, seeing Josephine embarrassed. However, Ellana had to muster up her strength not to laugh only because she didn't want to be disrespectful in front of Josephine's parents.
She walks up to them to shake both their hands, "It's an honor to meet both."
"We are happy especially now that the names have been restored after years of defeat, we are grateful and we thank you for protecting our daughter, we owe you a great debt." Said Yves.
"You don't owe me anything, I do this because the world doesn't need its people divided or lost in times like these."
"I agree. Anyway, we're not here to talk politics, we're here to have dinner with our new guest." Esperanza states.
Ellana nods as everyone agrees and they begin heading to their seats on the table, with Ellana sitting next to Josephine along with Esperanza on the right side while Josephine siblings sit on the left side with Yves sitting in the front table. After sitting down the servant began to bring out the food and soon everyone began to eat.
In the middle of dinner, the children of the Montilyet and the inquisitor began talking about how things have been with the war and what their life has been before and now. For Josephine, she was annoyed at how her siblings brought some moments in her childhood that she doesn't want to remember or get embarrassed about. What made it worse is that sometimes her mother will chime in, adding more fuel to the fire resulting in the siblings arguing.
"All three of you have respect at the table! We have a guest here!" Yves said in a low but loud voice getting the attention of the Montilyet children.
"Sorry!" they said in unison.
"It's alright Yves, I understand why they argue, they are siblings. I would be embarrassed if some people said some of their childhood memories out in the open."
"Trust me Inquisitor you will learn that sooner or later when you settle down and have kids." As he eyes Josephine which causes her to blush which causes the Inquisitor to chuckle a bit.
"Speaking of which, Josephine has mentioned that you never delve into much of your personal life for being an elf." That got everyone to stop eating and turn their attention to Esperanza.
"Mother…" but Josephine is soon stopped when Ellana puts her up, letting her know it was fine.
"No, it's fine," looking at her with assurance before looking at Esperanza. "I really don't have much of a backstory to give much as I was just training and protecting myself and others. We never got a chance to live a normal life."
"How so?" As she got more interested in hearing this.
"My clan lives within the borders of the Free Marches between the territorial boundaries of the cities, we did this to protect ourselves, especially during the blight when it all happened."
"What was so important about the borders that made your clan move around?"
"Since many of the cities and even the templars were trying to kill us, the borders were considered a safe haven. The idea was they are less likely to attack us out of fear of accidentally creating conflict with another city by crossing their borders."
"While I don't see this as a smart move as you're creating more trouble but it is understandable especially during these times for you like the Blight." Her serious expression made Ellana nervous but kept going.
"Survival was a priority for my clan, with the chantry outlawing our religion and the humans hating us, things weren't looking good and your throw in the blight, that made things ten times worse."
Esperanza looked at Ellana as she processed what she heard. "I have my opinions but the one thing I will say is that I'm great that your clan leader made the choices needed, there aren't many out in the world who are willing to take risks for the benefit of their people and it's nice your keeper passed their knowledge to you."
"Thank you for understanding." Shocked by her response but welcomed it.
"I don't mean to be rude but what about your family, it seems you had an important position in the clan you came from."
"Mother…" but Ellana stops Josephine from saying anything. "To tell you the truth, my parents died when I was a kid. I've been under the care of the keeper for a long time, and I was made First to the Keeper."
"First to the Keeper?"
"First to Keeper is like a prodigy to the keeper, we are trained under them to learn the ways of leadership and the religious aspect of the elves, so one day they would lead the clan when they pass. Sometimes we do services when the keeper is unavailable."
"Must have been through a lot, I can't imagine what it must have felt like for you."
"It wasn't always easy, having to constantly watch your back every time so you aren't attacked by the humans, creatures, or have run in with refugees that may cause troubles. In the end it was all worth it."
"I agree, even in the hardest times, I'm happy you were able to learn from this to become a great leader for the inquisition and you are the light for the people."
"Thank you, Esperanza, your words mean so much to me."
"One thing I forgot to say, you never mentioned how you and my daughter have met."
"It's complicated… I would have said we would meet at the peace conference but it never happened and I was more on the receiving end of being interrogated by her, Liliana, and Kassandra, but hey it all worked out in the end, am I right?"
Everyone turned to Josephine but she had looked away, blushing and embarrassed from what Ellana brought up and soon everyone began to laugh. "Alright, laugh all you want but it was all good as we were all shocked at the time."
"I know it was my love."
While everyone was having their laugh, Yves was deep into his thoughts when something came to his head. "Wait, about the peace conference? There is something I just remembered." Soon Everyone stopped laughing and soon all eyes turned to him. "What's wrong honey?" asked Esperanza
Yves turned to Ellana, "How did you come to this meeting at? I know you are a mage and all but you never were involved in the conflict."
Soon the attention was turned to Ellana. "Father…" Josephine said but once again was stopped by her.
"I may be a mage but I was not involved in anything. My clan wanted no involvement in this war, as they were already having dealt with blight refugees, attacks by humans, and the rebels encroaching around that area."
"But what is the importance of this conference if you weren't involved?"
"It had importance because it was like a catalyst to deciding the fate of many in Thedas and Ferelden. When my clan learned of these proceedings, the keeper sent me there to the temple to see what the proceedings were going to look like as it was the chantry that was organizing it."
"As a spy?"
She turned to Josephine to stop her just before she would say something. "Yes… you can say that but it was never for any malicious intent, the keeper was concerned about the future of our clan and wanted to know what outcome the proceedings would have."
"I see…"
She can tell that there was some hint of suspicion in the voice but kept going. "When I arrived at the temple, things looked normal, the air was tense but it seemed that both mages and templars wanted to get this over with."
"I can imagine that."
"While I was exploring around, I heard something, I don't know if it was a call for help or something so I went to investigate it but…"
"But wh-" his words were cut when he noticed her mood change from calm to sadness.
"To tell you the truth, I wish… I… I wish I could remember." As Ellana shed a small tear, thinking back as being told she is the sole survivor of the blast. This surprised everyone including Josephine.
"All I knew was I had woken up in the fade, chased by the creatures of the fade and jumped through the rift, guided by a spirit, and landed me back at the temple, what was left of it. Not one day goes by still having nightmares"
Everyone was shocked by this revelation; they had never expected that her being the sole survivor of the explosion would impact her. Soon Ellana wipes a small tear that was forming in her eye before forming a slight smile.
"But at the end of the day, this incident at the temple really helped create a change to many people, it opened the eyes of everyone to realize this isn't the time for useless disputes but the time to make peace, be allies and stop this evil that has fallen upon us. While not everyone's eyes were open, there were enough to know that something needed to be done. I'm grateful that I was at the temple that day, it made me realize many things but also prepared me for being a leader in this fractured world and I promise to everyone I will not let them down."
Hearing Ellana talk about her past and life gave Josephine a great understanding of her. She had never known the amount of stress and hardship Ellana had gone through. To see how far she had come, made her smile knowing that the world was in good hands, knowing they had a strong hero.
After a few seconds of silence, Yves broke the silence. "Inquisitor, what you have told us has been a lot for you to say but this is one of the greatest tales you ever told us. You demonstrated the strong will and courage to surpass any challenge thrown at you and even if the tragic incident knocks you down, you always get back up and fight on."
Yves stood up from his chair, "A toast to you Inquisitor," as he raised his glass, "for the strong will you possess and we pray to the Maker and Andraste for your success in fighting evil in this world. To the Inquisitor!"
"To the Inquisitor!" Everyone said in unison.
This made Ellana smile knowing that they understood her situation and treated her like she family to them, supporting her in this journey knowing it will be a long and difficult task. "Thank you all for listening."
Throughout the rest of dinner, they continued to talk normally. Things at least didn't get worse for Ellana but she knew these were some of the challenges especially when they questioned her origin. While there are many hurdles to get over, she is happy that she jumped over one.
In the guest room, Ellana was already in her night gown as she was setting up the bed speaking to Josephine who was on the edge of the bed. They were discussing what had happened at dinner along with some thoughts given the concern of their daughter dating an elf.
"Well, your family is something, especially your parents, but they seemed to be okay with us and that is something nice to hear."
"Me too but you helped restore the family name and get those assassins off of me so that added an extra point to you."
"That is true but it was all worth it."
"The part where you face my parent's questions or my brothers and sister being idiots?"
"Both" she said began to laugh as Josephine turned her head in annoyance.
After she stopped laughing, Ellana realized it was past her bedtime and needed to head to bed early because of the meeting. "It's getting late do you want to sleep here and cuddle with me?" patting the bed to motion to come but Josephine shakes her head.
"I shouldn't, the last thing I need is my parents or worse any of my siblings to come in and make a fuss about it."
Soon she walks up and wraps her right arm behind Josephine and begins slowly rubbing her stomach while her left hand massages her left shoulder. "C'mon now, you know me and besides you love when you get cuddles." "This… this is not the… *moan* right moment, I can't stay here." Ellana smiles, moves closer to her ear and whispers, "You know you want it, just give in."
Realizing this was a losing battle, she gives in, "Alright fine, but only for 10 minutes."
"Thank you and I promise I won't take your time."
"Likewise."
Letting go of Josephine, she pulls the blankets letting her slip in while fully clothed and soon joins in as they begin to cuddle each other, within just a minute, Josephine starts to yawn.
"Getting sleepy I see."
"It's because the bed is too comfortable."
"Uh-hu."
"It's the truth."
"Let's save the talking for tomorrow, you still are sleepy," as she moves a bit to turn the candle lights off and return back to Josephine arms and embrace her. "Goodnight Josephine, sweet dreams."
"Goodnight Ellana." They soon gave each other a goodnight kiss before drifting to sleep in each other's arms.
Thinking back to what Yvette said earlier made her smile because she had a special surprise for Josephine, a small box that had a special ring in it. But that is for another time, for now her main focus was the crisis of breaches around Thedas and Ferelden and who was responsible for it. The time will come when the question will be asked but for now, she just wants to enjoy sleeping with her loved one in her arms.
What do you guys think? Leave a review or comment on what you guys think and what I can improve on. Well, that's all folks, see you guys next time. Peace.
