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It was late afternoon and Cassandra was in her usual place, taking out every aggression she had in the world on an unfortunate training dummy. The form rocked to and fro as blow after blow connected. Finally stepping back Cassandra tugged off her right glove, quickly tucking it under her arm and wiping the back of her hand across her brow.
She paused as she heard what sounded like a grunt from behind her. She turned to see a massive tiger plodding by looking rather sullen.
"Rio, what is the matter?" Cassandra asked after a moment. The tiger stopped, looking at her briefly before sitting on its haunches. Its large head hung with the most pitiable face a feline could possibly muster.
"The tavern is out of rum," Rio growled softly with a sigh.
Cassandra raised an eyebrow, clearly unsurprised that a tiger both lived at Skyhold and could talk to her. Such things had become common place and she knew her head would hurt less if she simply didn't ask questions. "That does sound like a problem."
Rio flopped down into the grass with a defeated huffing sound. "Life is no longer worth living."
Cassandra failed to stifle a laugh at the defeatist tiger. "Come now, surely there is something in the Keep that might cheer you up."
"Absolutely nothing," Rio continued, covering her face with her massive paws so that only her whiskers peeked out.
Cassandra rolled her eyes, sticking her sword in the soft ground and kneeling down next to the massive cat. Hesitating a moment, she risked reaching over and scratching behind one of Rio's large furry ears. Rio did not retract her paws but a brief twitch and stifled purr told Cassandra that the attention was not unwelcome.
"Sulking is unbecoming," Cassandra chided, continuing to scratch behind the large ear. "I shall speak to Josephine this afternoon about procuring more rum for you but you must get back to your feet and hold yourself with the decorum necessary of an Inquisition Agent."
Rio spread her fingers apart on one paw, revealing a big blue eye. "But... rum."
"Rio," Cassandra scolded. The tiger growled slightly before letting both paws slip down into the grass. "What would make you happy right now?"
The tiger raised her head off the grass slightly, her whiskers twitching as the breeze caught them. "Cookies?" she asked, hopefully.
Cassandra chuckled at the request. "I think we could probably arranged that."
Rio jumped to her feet immediately, nuzzling her head into Cassandra's shoulder so forcefully that she almost knocked the woman over. Cassandra hugged the massive cat's head for a moment with an uncharacteristic smile, stroking the white fur and eliciting a loud reverberating purr. After a moment she let go and pushed herself to her feet.
"I love cookies!" Rio exclaimed with an enthusiastic purr.
"Yes, I remember," Cassandra said with a chuckle. "Come, we'll raid the kitchen."
Rio trotted along beside the Seeker toward the keep and the inevitable promise of cookies, her tail wagging happily the entire way.