Light shone in through the cracked shutters the next morning, birds singing from a tree nearby. Cullen woke up before Siara, forgetting for a moment where he was or what was happening. His eyes landed on the sleeping elf, still fast asleep where she lay next to him, her chest gently rising and falling with each breath. She looked so peaceful, with one of her arms under her head as a pillow and the other just covering her nose slightly. A ray of the morning sun shone across Siara's face and hair, making her seem to almost glow. Her braid was a mess, some of her hair escaping from it and falling in her eyes. A smile crept onto Cullen's face as he watched her, relaxing a bit took a bit of self control for him not to reach out and tuck the hair behind Siara's ear, but he didn't. Any movement would probably wake her up, and besides, there was still Jacquelyn to think about.
Jacquelyn.
He sighed, rolling onto his back and staring up at the ceiling. The situation with Jacquelyn was one mess he wasn't looking forward to dealing with, but the more he thought about it, the more he knew that it just couldn't work out with her. She'd asked him to take lyrium again, and even though this coming off lyrium again had somehow been easier this time around, that didn't change the fact that he had started taking it again. For her. If she had really cared for him, he doubted that she would have asked that of him.
"Can you keep your brooding down?"
Cullen turned his head to look at Siara, an amused smile on his face, temporarily forgetting all about his personal issues.
"Good morning," he said, trying to suppress a laugh. "I remember you being less cranky than this after just waking up."
Siara curled three of her fingers, leaving on the middle one pointed towards him, then opened her eye a crack to glare at him. The glare didn't last long, and she buried her face in the crook of her elbow to try and hide from the light. Now a laugh did escape Cullen, a quiet chuckle as he watched Siara try to escape from the morning. But he got himself once more under control quickly, sitting up and swinging his feet to the ground as he set about putting his armour on again.
"How's your ankle this morning?"
"I'm about to ready to amputate," she grumbled, her voice muffled by her arm. Cullen threw her a concerned look, meeting her eyes. She was already glaring at him, waiting for him to say something to earn the glare, half covering her face with her hand to keep the sun from her eyes.
"Do you think you'll manage the rest of the ride to South Reach?"
"So long as I keep my pride in check and allow you to help me again, yes," she grumbled, rolling onto her back and carefully forcing herself into a sitting position. She ran a hand through her hair as even more of it escaped its braid, the sunlight making it seem almost bronze as it shimmered. Cullen half looked away, silently scolding himself for the urge that was growing in him, the desire to tuck her hair behind her ears, to run his fingers through her hair. She didn't seem like the type to put much effort into looking after her hair, but Maker, he couldn't help but wonder if it was as soft as it looked.
Her hand paused, fingers entwined in her hair as she looked around in a bleary confusion.
"Are you looking for something?"
"What time is it?" she asked, lowering her hand and looking at him. He glanced around at the window, reaching out and pushing the shutter open. Sunlight streamed into the room, and Cullen could have sworn he heard a quiet hiss escape Siara as she cringed away from the light.
"Looks like it's getting close to midmorning," he told her, chuckling at her reaction. "You really don't like mornings, do you?"
"If I don't sleep, they're fine," Siara muttered back, shuffling to the edge of the bed and stretching out to grab her equipment. "When I do sleep, they're the worst fucking things that were ever invented. There's a reason that grieving the dead is referred to as 'morning'."
"You're going to be a ray of sunshine today, aren't you?"
"Careful. You're beginning to sound like I'm wearing off on you."
Cullen smiled to himself, but didn't say anything, finishing up buckling his armour into place. Siara was moving cautiously, doing her best not to jar her ankle at all. Clearly it wasn't going too well, and what colour there had been in her cheeks quickly paled, but she didn't make a sound once. Her face was set in grim determination as she shrugged her armour on over top of her white shirt, silently adjusting the buckles, making sure that everything sat comfortably.
"Do we have anything for breakfast?" she asked. It was clear she was forcing the words out, and Cullen would have been surprised if she would be able to keep anything she ate down.
"Not a lot," he told her. "Most of our supplies were with everyone else when we got separated."
"Fantastic," Siara grumbled, clearly unimpressed. "We'll just have to find something on the way, I suppose."
"We should make it to South Reach by nightfall, at any rate. My family will have food for us."
Siara didn't say anything, just nodded. She didn't look too happy at all, and Cullen wished more than anything he could do something to take her pain away. But he also knew that there was only so much help he could actually offer Siara, only so much help she would accept, before she would start to get annoyed at him and pull away. He knew that he had to pick his battles with her, and offering to help her to get into her armour would likely be a step too far.
"I'm going to check on the horses," he said instead, "and I'll start getting them loaded up. The sooner we can get on the road, the better."
He didn't bother to wait for a reply from Siara, grabbing their discarded packs and heading out the door to where he had stashed their horses.
Siara hobbled out of the room a while later, keeping one hand on some form of surface at all times so she wouldn't have to use her injured ankle to support her weight. She hadn't even tried to get her boot back on it, the dull, throbbing pain radiating through it was already too bad. Instead, she held the boot in her free hand, dangling by her side as she cautiously made her way to where Cullen was standing with the horses prepared. He had his back to her, checking over the saddles. He briefly looked up at the sky as he heard her approach, still not looking at her.
"We're going to have to ride with a bit of speed if we're wanting to avoid getting caught in more rain," he told her.
"Terrific," she grumbled back, leaning heavily against the doorframe. "That's just what I need. I think I'll take the rain."
Cullen turned to face her, immediately noticing that her boot was in her hand, not on her foot. A frown appeared on his face and he made his way over to her.
"Are you sure you're able to ride today?"
"We don't exactly have a lot of choice in the matter. What else are we going to do? Stay here and let my ankle heal badly? Hop all the way to South Reach? I'll take riding over those options any day."
"You could ride with me."
"That will just tire the horse too much. Just help me get on my horse. I'll be fine enough to make it to your family's house, and I'll deal with the consequences later."
A tired sigh escaped Cullen, his hand moving up to rub the back of his neck as he looked over Siara, obviously making his own assessments about her condition. Siara raised an eyebrow at him, shifting her weight so she was leaning her shoulder against the doorframe so she could cross her arms at Cullen.
"I'm getting tired of you mothering me, Commander."
"It's my job to make sure there are as few casualties as possible, Blade," he retorted. "That includes you."
"I'm not dying."
"But you are injuring yourself further than you already were. Healers can't fix everything, you know, and I don't think you'll be doing a lot of fighting if your ankle is completely screwed up."
"I've heard of some perfectly good fighters with prosthetic limbs."
"Do you want to be one of them?"
Siara didn't reply, glaring at Cullen. He just raised an eyebrow at her, then held out his hand for her to take. She reluctantly took it, letting him gently pull her towards him so he could support her as they made their way over to the horses. When they reached the horse Siara would be riding, she let go of him, attaching her spare boot to the back of the saddle. She used the horse to support her weight as Cullen adjusted his grip on her, his hands now on her waist, ready to give her a boost into the saddle.
"Are you ready?" he asked, his voice closer to her ear than Siara expected. She forced herself not to stiffen at the sound, clenching her jaw as she readied herself for the pain she knew would come, and nodded. Next thing she knew, she was shifting herself into a more comfortable position in the saddle as Cullen put her feet in the stirrups, being extra careful with her injured ankle. He looked up at her, his golden eyes reflecting concern.
"Are you sure you're going to be okay?"
"Do you show this level of concern for all your recruits?" Siara grumbled. Cullen shook his head, choosing not to answer as he stepped away from her, swiftly mounting his own horse and turning back to the road nearby. Siara looked back once at the house they'd stayed in before following him. She could clearly see the ring of rain clouds around them, noting that they must be in the eye of the storm and mentally complaining about it, praying to the Maker that the rest of the trip to South Reach wouldn't take too long.
