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Vivienne does not want him to help her.
Cole takes pain away. Not the way Fear did, cutting everything away, but by carefully plucking at the knots of pain to get them undone, to leave the good.
Vivienne's pain is a point of pride for her. Pain is something you live with as a mage, she has known that all of her life. You can let it eat away inside of you, or you can wear it as armor. She doesn't wear it as armor, not exactly. Cole has come to see this. She waters it down, like poison, drinking it down a little bit at a time until she has built up a resistance to it, until she is immune. Until the pain can no longer hurt her. She tempers herself like a sword to become stronger than ever. It is a point of pride for her, something she values about herself before all else.
But she is hurting, and Cole wants to help. Needs to help.
It takes many steps. Even more than the spiders did.
When they're in Val Royeaux, Cole begins. He gathers flowers by the arm-full. Crystal grace and lavender roses. His pack smells so strongly of them. The Inquisitor notices (the Inquisitor always notices) but says nothing. There is a measure of trust between them now. The Inquisitor is hard to get a read on but Cole can still feel their faith in him and it warms him. The faith that whatever Cole is doing is for the best. They make sure Cole's pack isn't crushed on the way back to Skyhold and that's that.
He waits until just before daybreak when they return, propping open the window of the small room the Quartermaster operates out of, scattering the flowers on the edge of it so that their scent is the first thing that hits him when he enters in the morning. It's a lovely mixture, and Cole watches from the upper window of the tavern as he paces around before finding them. It's time to rotate out the flowers in Skyhold - part of the decor, and he thinks himself clever for thinking of the mix. It makes him feel good about himself and he orders it straight away. Within a few days all the older bouquets have been exchanged for crystal grace and lavender roses.
Ah, the moment.
It's a mixture of seeing and feeling. Cole remains in the upper rafters of the tavern, just barely able to see Vivienne's silhouette as she brings with her a book and a glass of wine to start her day there. She stops, looking around at the flowers, and Cole feels the way her mind goes elsewhere. Back in time to a ball, the first she has attended, and everything is perfect and enchanting. Crystal grace and lavender roses line every available surface, their bouquet subtle and sweet.
Bastien comments on it, says they don't normally smell as nice, but in Vivienne's presence they are doing their best to match the enchantment of the woman before them. Enchantment, that's what the lavender roses mean. Majesty for the crystal grace. He declares them to perfectly suit her, and whenever she vists him her quarters are filled to the brim with them, no matter how short the notice, no matter how out of season.
Vivienne reaches out, fingertips brushing against the delicate flower petals. They are everywhere in Skyhold, not just in her balcony. She thinks of Bastien. His name is a painful ache in her heart, but the flowers ease it with the memory of happier times. It doesn't remove the pain, just honeys it a bit. Makes it easier for her to swallow down, to become immune to it so it will not harm her again.
She takes a few of the flowers to place on her desk as she begins a missive to Bastien's remaining family, informing them of his passing, making arrangements for his estate.
It's just a little bit of an ease. She would not have wanted more than that. In the Tavern, out of sight of her, Cole smiles and feels that maybe he has come to understand her a bit better.