Chapter Text
The advisors of the Inquisitions remained tight lipped as they had passed around the missive that informed them of Clan Lavellan’s loss. It had seemed such a small thing at the time to protect the Inquisitor’s home from a few lyrium addled nobles. They had discussed it at great length and decided that, like with many nobles, this was all part of The Game. A delicate hand in the art of conversation should have been ideal to set things right. Together the Inquisitor and her advisors agreed on a plan of action and followed through.
Each of the three Inquisition advisors struggled at the war table when the news of their failure had reached them. They had had wins and losses but this one was going to deeply hurt their leader.
“Let me tell her. It might be better coming from me. It was my task to complete and it is my obligation to inform her,” Josephine sighed.
“I am inclined to not tell her.” Leliana suggested with a deep frown.
Cullen startled at her suggestion. “Absolutely not. We cannot keep this kind of news from her.” He waves his hand in front of him, dismissing the idea with every bone in his body.
“Just consider what I am suggesting,” The red haired spymaster laid her hands upon the war table and leaned into them. “She is under so much stress as it is. Much is expected of her. Could this blow distract her from the goal at hand? This is her entire clan and family that has been lost. Herald of Andraste or not, this will not leave her unmarked. We need her at her best.” Shifting under her own weight she sighed, “Perhaps we should wait to tell her?”
Josephine laid down her writing tablet and laid a comforting hand on Leliana’s shoulder. “I understand why you would consider this. It’s a valid suggestion but if we are to reclaim any trust after this error, then we need to be forthcoming with her. She needs to know that we will always keep her informed of all things.”
Quiet filled the air as the three of them seemed to silently agree that the Lady Inquisitor needed to be told. Or perhaps the silence was a reflection of the sorrow they all held on behalf of Lavellan and their shame for having let her down. The stillness was interrupted by the sound of steps approaching the war room. As the doors opened loudly, the eyes of all dropped to the floor as if by an invisible force. Lavellan, Lady Inquisitor, Herald of Andraste, Dalish Elf, and unknowingly the last of her clan closed the door behind her as she entered. Ever the observant type, she noted the downcast looks of her advisors. “This,” she gestured at the three of them, “this right here is not a welcome sight. What has happened?” She walked to the war table and hoped the answer to the strange emotional aura in the room would lie somewhere on the map.
“Inquisitor…” Cullen began, his voice low. His hand lightly touched the miniature on the map where her clan had been and was the smallest of motions that came quickly to her attention. “We have some difficult news to tell you.”
She looked from the place on the map Cullen’s hand rested and then to the faces of each of her advisors. They all had visible difficulty looking her in the face. She took a sharp breath and leaned onto the table, emulating Leliana who had barely moved an inch. Josephine walked around the war table to Lavellan and placed both had hands upon the elf’s upper arms. “I’m so sorry to have to tell you this, but we have just received news that your clan, Clan Lavellan, has been attacked. As far as we know there were no survivors.”
The sharp breath of air the Inquisitor had sucked in a moment earlier was not enough air to sustain her. She felt like she could not breathe but merely gape at the figure on the map. The figure appearing to her as a tombstone rather than as a small flag.
“You must be strong, Inquisitor. We have all shared much loss together but we need you to stay focused. I am so sorry about your family.” Leliana finally looked up from the map but she knew Lavellan could not see her. It seemed like Leliana needed the reassurance that her Inquisitor could get through this. But it was too soon, much too soon to ask these things. She had hoped to motivate her to remain tough, but suddenly felt like she had been entirely insensitive.
Cullen ached for Lavellan. He could only imagine what must be running through her head right now. His own family was safe and far from the immediate dangers of the rifts and he felt his own baggage were miniscule in comparison to this moment for her. “What can I say to her?” He asked himself. Both Leiliana and Josephine were thinking similar things.
Her focus on the miniature on the map seemed to have her locked. Cullen enfolded his fingers around the miniature and removed it from the map. Her face contorted painfully. No one was sure whether she was about to scream in anger or cry out in sorrow. Her face was often calm, but came to life with the ferocity of her people in battle. This was as intense, but the result was uncertain to them all. She reached out to the Commander, asking for the miniature with a slow motion of her hand. He gently placed the miniature in her hand and closed her fingers around it. “My…my condolences.”
She knew that if she spoke her eyes would betray her and she would begin to cry. The pressure of tears and a quivering lip threatened every second she tried to remain calm and collected because she thought it would be easier for everyone in the room, including herself. With her one free hand she gentle removed Josephine’s comforting grasp from her arms. The sorrow was sudden and she found herself wishing she could be going into shock instead. She was beginning to search through her head for a spell to bring her relief, but found none.
She nodded, as if though simply acknowledging the situation and turned on her feet towards the door. Leliana reached her at the door and looked into her face. “If you need anything, anything at all…” The Lady Inquisitor turned quickly, and left the room with even more haste.
All three of the advisors watched her leave with heavy hearts and heard her step go from a quick walk to a hurried canter in a manner of a moment. When silence was in the hall, everyone felt the oxygen return to the room.
Cullen sat down with a thud in the closest chair. His fingers found the spot between his eyebrows and kneaded the skin there, as if though it could relieve the strain. “Maker, we could have done better,” he sighed.
“Could we have, Commander?” Leliana asked. “I truly believe we did our best and that somehow, all of this must be the Maker’s will. Poor Lavellan, she must be so crushed. I think it would be good if we could give her a little time to herself. Take up some of her duties here so that she can reflect a little.”
“Maker’s will…?” he snorted in distaste, “…I wouldn’t suggest that to our Inquisitor. I suspect you’d end up on the bad end of her good will.”
The three spend the next span of time working in their somber moods. They cleared Lavellan’s tasks to give her some time over the next few days. They also made arrangements for the retrieval of the clan’s bodies. None of them knew Dalish funerary customs for her clan and felt that was something she would have to inform them on, but that can wait for the moment.
Cullen frowned as he looked out the war room windows. He wondered if he should check on her or if that would be encroaching too much on her personal space. “I wonder how she is right now.”
The corner of Josephine’s mouth perked up into a sad smile. “Upset, no doubt.”
Leliana sighed, “You would think her leaving means she would like to be alone, but perhaps one of us should check on her. See if she needs anything.”
“Perhaps.” Cullen agreed as he continued to look out the window at the snow covering the landscape.
Josephine walked over to Cullen. They glanced at each other for a moment and then shifted their gazes outside the glass of the windows. “Cullen, you are familiar with the Inquisitor aren’t you?”
“Familiar?” He questioned. Josephine’s smile broadened and her eyes met his with playful accusation. What was she getting at and why was it pointed at him? “What do you mean, Lady Montilyet?”
“Forgive me if I am reading into things, but the two of you seem fond of each other. I thought that maybe, if you were both inclined towards one another that perhaps you would be best suited to offer her comfort.” Cullen wondered if Josephine had noticed things or was simply being her usual diplomatic self.
“I suppose her and I are on good terms, yes…” He said with a little uncertainty as to what he meant by “good terms.”
Leliana smiled and let a small chuckle escape her lips, “Oh Cullen, don’t be so modest. One does not need to be a spy master to notice that you and she are on your way to being the gossip of Skyhold.” Cullen looked at her with alarm and embarrassment.
“Gossip of…no. No, it’s not like that! She is a most remarkable woman but I would never presume to…” His hand covered his eyes. “Maker.”
“Leliana is right though, you have become close with our Lady Inquisitor. Your games in the garden, the way you both glance at each other and smile from time to time, not to mention that dance in Val Royeaux… I am not trying to tease you, Commander, but if there was anyone who might bring her comfort right now, I suspect it might be you.”
Cullen sighed deeply, “Very well.”
~+~
Continue to part two!