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Cassandra claimed she didn’t have the knack for writing poetry, let alone writing in a creative manner at all. But Trevelyan was determined to prove her wrong. She would prove to Cassandra that she was capable of beautiful things, because she has a beautiful mind. And not to mention a rather beautiful face as well… but that wasn’t the point she was trying to prove. Not today at least. So, on this morning, one earlier than most, she went down to Cassandra’s quarters, only to find the woman training like she always was. Cassandra saw Lylah and sheathed her blade that was previously cutting up the straw dummies.
“Fighting the most ruthless of all enemies, I see.” Lylah grinned and leaned against the nearest wall, watching Cassandra wipe sweat from her face, a small smirk crawling onto her lips. “And how long have you been training?”
“I need to keep my skills sharp. Training and practice are necessary.” Cassandra stated as she made her way over to the Inquisitor.
“Well, Cass, you get plenty of training and practice when you’re out kicking ass with me…” she paused and stared at the dark haired woman, smiling widely. “How about a break? I have something in miiiiind~.” Lylah said in a sing song voice, swaying back and forth.
“I can’t. I--” Cassandra tried to argue but Lylah took her hand and pulled.
“C’mon, Cass, I know you want to. And! Aaaand… you’ll be with me.” Lylah winked and Cassandra gave an annoyed grunt, but no more protest. She allowed herself to be led away. They went up a few flights of stairs and hushed each other multiple times as they tip-toed through the barracks. Finally, the two found themselves on the battlements, walking a bit further until they arrived at a table with two chairs. There were candles (due to the darkness of the morning, the sun hadn’t risen) and papers and a set of quills with ink. Cassandra looked at it, rose her eyebrow, and looked at the Inquisitor.
“What is all this?” she asked, gesturing to the set up.
“Oh? What is all this?” Lylah smirked and walked over to it, looking at it as if she had no idea what it was. “I had no idea any of this would be here. How strange… how very strange.” she joked sitting on one of the chairs that were before the two women. “Come on. Have a seat.”She patted the one across from her, giving Cassandra a joking look. The woman sat and looked at what was in front of her.
“Are we going to be filling out reports?” Cassandra questioned, squinting at the blank sheets of parchment laid out in front of her.
“Oh man… you know I find that to be so much fun. Just… an unending time of fun. But no, no reports.” she shook her head, handing Cassandra a quill and ink. “I just remember when after Adamant… after the Fade, you said you couldn’t write poetry or love poems--”
“Yes, I cannot.” Cassandra stated with such conviction, Lylah thought that she, herself, was in fact wrong. But she shook her head and cleared her throat.
“I don’t believe that… you have a beautiful mind, Cass. Give it a try. Look at the scenery or…” Lylah laughed. “Write about how it makes you feel when you think about changing the Seekers. Or…” she shrugged and glanced around, rubbing her arms from the morning chill. “Write about what you really love. Or love to see.” Cassandra became quiet after the comment about her beautiful mind.
“I…” she hesitated, thought about it, and nodded. “I will try.” Lylah’s smile grew wider and she grabbed her quill, the two getting to work. They were there for a while, because when Lylah glanced up, the sun was rising and she had multiple sheets of paper scribbled on with random things. Cassandra though, had much less. She’s tried, but not much had come to her. She sighed and Lylah looked over at her.
“Much luck?” she asked, leaning forward with one of her soft smiles. Cassandra stared at her paper before she looked up and saw… saw her. The Inquisitor. She’d told her to write what she loved or liked to see and… she’d found it. How could she be so blind? She was here this entire time. “Cass?” Lylah called, waving her hand in front of the Seeker’s eyes.
“I’ve… I’ve found it. Just now.” she blinked and quickly pointed to the sunset behind Lylah. The brunette turned to look, and as she did so, Cassandra quickly wrote down her thoughts. Lylah leaned back and watched the sunset, completely captivated by it. When she turned back to agree with Cassandra, the Seeker, her papers, and quill, were all gone. Lylah looked around for her to see she was already halfway down the battlements.
“Oh… shit was it that bad?” Lylah mumbled to herself, grabbing the papers she wrote on and cleaning up everything else. She blew out the candles and glanced at one of the nearest doorway to see Varric approaching her.
“And what was that, my lady Inquisitor?” he asked, a cocky chuckle following his quip. Lylah snorted and shook her head, shuffling through more papers, spread around the table.
“It was nothing, my lord dwarf.” she replied like a wiseass, setting her papers down onto the paper to pick up a quill that had fallen to the ground. As she was preoccupied with that, Varric snuck over to read Lylah’s papers. Varric skimmed until his grin grew large and he held in a small bout of laughter.
“The Seeker…” Lylah’s head slowly rose above the table, her still being on her knees to fetch the quill. She narrowed her eyes at Varric, and shook her head. “Of my heart… quite a lovely title, Lylah.” Lylah stared at the paper before making a weak attempt to grab at it, Varric stepping back, reading more aloud. “A woman of strength and grace, who only knows duty, cannot see I care for her, cannot see her true beauty.” Varric glanced up from behind the papers and rose his eyebrow high. “Are you wooing the Seeker?” he asked with a cheeky grin, larger than the one before. Lylah snatched the papers away, this time successfully, and smoothed them out on the table.
“I was, going to, until she ran off…” Lylah mumbled, still trying to smooth the new crinkles in the paper only to get the urge to want to shred them to bits. “Am I not… Did I come off too strong or… something? I don’t—Maybe she’s not even into women. Oh, Maker, this was stupid. This was so damn stupid.” Lylah rubbed her face and groaned, dropping back into one of the chairs.
“This is a real blow to your confidence, isn’t it?” Varric asked and placed a hand on her back. Lylah glanced up at him with a small, saddened grin and shook her head. “Well... some people just don’t know what they have until much later.” Varric pat her back as she stood, and they began to walk down the battlements, leaving the recruits to clean up the leftover items. “Did I ever tell you about Hawke and Isabela?” Lylah shook her head and looked down at him. “Hawke loved Isabela, for years. She had grown close, but was pushed away by Rivaini… but she never stopped loving her and I’m sure deep down Rivaini loved her for all those years too. She just had a harder time realizing it because she’d had a bad history. Hawke waited for years and now… those two are the happiest I think I’ve ever seen. No one is more in love than those two girls.” he smiled to himself, reminding himself to write them.
“Yeah but… I may not have years, Varric.” she glanced down at her hand, her mark, and sighed heavily. Varric paused as they neared the stairs, looking up at the Inquisitor.
“You wanna go to the tavern tonight?” he asked, raising his eyebrow. Lylah nodded and smiled.
“Oh, shit yeah. We can invite everyone else too.”
“You sure? With all that drinking, who knows what you’ll say.” Varric teased, gently poking his elbows at her ribs.
“I, hopefully, won’t be able to remember it.” the two laughed as they made their way down the stairs, and they separate ways.
~
Through a hard day’s work and roaming around the seemingly endless Hinterlands, Lylah and Varric made their way to the tavern, their companions close behind. Everyone showed, Lylah greeting them all with an already tipsy hug. The one she gave pulled was accompanied with explosion sound effects. “Vvvvaric and I already had a few.” she glanced back at the swaying dwarf on one of the bar stools, him singing to one of Maryden’s songs. She laughed loudly, and Bull smirked softly.
“And how many have you had?”
“Three?”
“Only three?” he was surprised. Lylah had gone drinking with him before and occasionally managed to keep up with his pace. “How big?” Varric answered his question by holding up a very, very large tankard of ale while cheering at the end of Maryden’s song. Bull nearly roared in approval at the drinks that were being served tonight, but looked down at the Inquisitor who was still holding onto him, practically for support. “How about we slow the role? Don’t want you throwing up--” Lylah reached up to pat his head, but only reached his cheeks, squishing them in her hands.
“Mmmmkay, Bull.” she smiled widely and Bull sighed, going over to Varric. More companions showed and Lylah treated them the same, giddy and giggly, her laughter even causing Sera to burst with amusement as well. Then, Cassandra entered in which Lylah found herself to be extremely excited. “Caaaasss! You came!” she gave her a long, lingering hug and moved the two of them over to the bar. In that hug, Cassandra got a whiff of just how much Lylah had been drinking.
“You are very drunk, Inqui--” Lylah sloppily pressed her finger to Cassandra’s lips and drunkenly hushed her.
“Lylah is… that is- that’s my name of… it’s my name.” she rambled, about to grab another drink on the bar top, but Bull managed to take it first, a large grin on his face. Lylah stuck out her tongue, knowing he’d not allow her to drink much now. “Are you going to have any?” Lylah asked Cassandra, leaning back in her seat, a bit too far.
“I worry that if I do, you may hurt yourself.” Cassandra grabbed Lylah’s arm and pulled her forward just as she realized that there was no back to her stool.
“Aww, you do care about me.” Lylah teased right before she was pulled onto the floor in front of Maryden by Sera, where she Dorian and the Iron Bull were all dancing. As the four goofed around in the middle of the tavern, others began to join in, the small building loud with laughing and cheering and shouting. Cassandra remained at the bar with Varric and Vivienne. And… maybe Cole? She couldn’t quite remember. She glanced at those who sat around her and saw Varric smiling at her which she rolled her eyes at. She turned around and watched the whirl of dancing… well, actually, just Lylah.
“Is there a reason you ran off this morning, Seeker?” Varric asked, Cassandra not realizing he, and the few others, had gathered around her. Cassandra made her favorite noise. Disgust.
“I’ve no idea what you mean.” she replied, looking over at him. Vivienne, who no one thought would join them in a place like this, chimed in with her sweet smile.
“Oh, darling, I believe you do. Varric told us.” she smiled and leaned toward Cassandra. The woman shook her head and pressed her lips tightly together, telling them she would not answer them.
“Pen dipping in ink. Thoughts racing, lips smiling. Fear, worry, excitement, all hidden. You see her. Inspiration. You… want to show her the poetry you wrote, the part of you that she inspired. You also want to show her other parts of you, parts only one other has seen. You--” Cole stopped when Cassandra glowered over at him, Varric surprised at what Cole had said.
“Do you fancy the Inquisitor?” he whispered, rather than shouting it out like Cassandra had thought he would. He smiled widely and Vivienne rose her eyebrow when she refused to respond. And then Varric burst into obnoxious and drunk laughter. “You actually feel emotions, Seeker? Andraste’s ass, it is the end of the world.”
“Darling, you should act upon it. Maker knows good things come from telling someone you care in a fearful time.” But Vivienne shook her head and gently touched Cassandra’s arm. “But with your little charade this morning, I wouldn’t be surprised if she thinks you dislike her.”
“Dislike her?” Cassandra repeated, pursing her lips. “Did she mistake my-- No that is not it, I was embarrassed to write what I wanted in front of her because it was about her. I was going to go to her room and… or post it to her door anonymously--”
“Maker, you’re just as bad as Aveline. Just let her know you care for her.” Varric sighed and took a swig from his drink.
“Just say it?”
“Maybe. Or, you could show her in other ways. Like what she did for you this morning.” Varric shrugged as Cassandra rubbed the back of her head. Just as she was about to ask him for ideas, there was a loud thud out where everyone was dancing. Cassandra turned and saw Lylah sprawled out and Sera laughing uncontrollably as she tried to pull her up.
“Now could be that moment, Seeker.” Varric mumbled quietly and nudged her arm.
“While she’s drunk.”
“No, maybe tomorrow, or simply with your actions!” Varric replied. Cassandra stood from her seat and moved over to Lylah.
“Eyyy, Cass.” Lylah laughed and reached towards Cassandra only to have her arm fall back onto the ground. “I think… I think I danced too much.” she smiled and tried to sit up, but had no luck until Cassandra took her by the hand and helped her up. Once Lylah was up on her feet, she leaned heavily on the Seeker.
“I’ll take her to her room. You can all continue.” Cassandra said aloud, everyone watching as Cassandra placed her arm around Lylah’s waist and carefully took her out of the building. Just as they exited the building, one of Lylah’s advisors entered, Josephine and she widened her eyes.
“Is she okay?” she asked, Cassandra glancing over at her.
“She’s very--”
“Happpppy.” Lylah interrupted, her voice slurred. “I am very happy.” Josephine watched the two and nodded, Cassandra gave a small smile, and she entered the tavern, being met by loud cheering, and a very happy Blackwall. Behind her was Cullen, who stared at the two women.
“Inquisitor, are you--” Cullen became cut off by Lylah pressing her hand to his mouth, sloppily silencing him.
“Nnnnope. My name is Lylah.” she moved his lips with her hands and spoke for him. “Lllllylah.” Cassandra grabbed her hand and pulled it down, giving Cullen an apologetic look before continuing to Lylah’s quarters. Eventually, they made it to the second set of stairs, the ones that lead up to her room, and that was when Lylah’s drunkenness was at its worst. She was terribly heavy footed and Cassandra elected, after some giggling from Lylah, to just carry her, to which Lylah found it necessary to say she was a princess. She finally made it to the top, and Cassandra pushed the door open with her hip, taking her to her bed. Gently, ever so gently, she placed Lylah down on her bed, pulling a blanket up to her chin. She turned to leave until she felt a hand weakly grab her wrist.
“Hey,” she sounded slightly more sober, sighing softly. “Can you stay? I uh… I don’t like to sleep alone.” she smiled... always smiling, even when she wasn’t the happiest. Cassandra nodded, laying down next to her. Lylah gently grabbed her hand and rolled over, now facing Cassandra. “Thank you, Cass.” she whispered before she fell asleep.
~
Cassandra was the second to wake up, welcomed by Lylah’s’ soft humming. She opened one eye, seeing her pulling a new pair of clothes on, her backside fully exposed until she was fully covered. Her hair was damp and down, reaching her mid back.
“How are you awake?” Cassandra asked, wiping the sleep from her eyes. “With all you drank last night, I thought you’d be rather confined to your bed.” Lylah jumped in surprise from her voice, but turned and smiled.
“Oh, Viv… er, Vivienne gave me this drink -- potion -- thing. It tasted horrible, but it did something to just… wash it all away. I don’t even feel anything. Besides, the Inquisitor never rests!” she smiled and put her hands on her hips, jokingly proud. Cassandra gave a small smile and scooted out of her rather comfortable bed.
“I hope you slept well?” Cassandra stretched and shut her eyes for moment, Lylah braiding her hair and placing it in a bun.
“I did. And thank you for staying. And I’m sorry if I did anything d--” Cassandra stopped her, shaking her head.
“You did nothing of the sort. You were just very… giddy.” she paused and smirked. “And you fell while you were dancing. I did not personally see it, but Sera was laughing rather hard at you.” Lylah’s cheeks became a shade of pink, and she chuckled softly.
“Ha… oops. That’s uh… that’s embarrassing.” Lylah grabbed a few things from her desk and sighed. “Oh! Um, I have a meeting with my advisors so… If you want to stay and up here, that’s cool. There’s fresh water in the bathtub,” she pointed to the room nearest to Cassandra. “And if you don’t want to, that’s cool too. Maybe we can… go slay some dragons together later.” Lylah smiled and pursed her lips.
“I think I’ll go down with you, I wouldn’t want to abuse you hospitality.” Cassandra replied, nodding to Lylah. “But thank you for the offer. I do very much appreciate it.” Lylah nodded and made her way from her room, Cassandra following her out.
~
The advisors meeting ran longer than Lylah had anticipated, and much more stressful than she wanted. There were talks about Corypheus, the Venatori, the rogue Templars. All things she needed to fix right now. She was glad it was over. So bloody glad. Maybe the Maker really was on her side? Lylah snorted at the thought and continued her trek to her room, wanting to change or just nap or put on her armor and fight some shit. Who knew? As she was making her way up to her room, she saw a sheet of paper on her door, squinting her green eyes to see exactly what it said. The first thoughts that creeped into her mind was whether or not she was being evicted. Thirty days to clear out your things? Rats!
She grabbed the papers and saw in strong, yet somehow delicate handwrite a letter, which read:
There’s a surprise for you in here. And it’s something I would normally never do, but a certain charismatically annoying dwarf helped me build up the courage and do it.
- C
Lylah rose her eyebrows at the note and chuckled, “C… Ooh~ how cryptic is this?” But then she paused, narrowing her eyes jokingly at the paper. “I’ve had plenty of Cs in my life…” she pushed open the door and saw the soft glow of candles illuminating her room. “Corypheus… is that you?” she cooed, making her way up the steps. “I know your intentions are good, but I told you we have to stop this. If people see what… we…” she trailed off when she reached the top of the stairs, at the sight before her. Cassandra sat on her bed, looking so… so… “You look radiant.” Lylah mumbled out loud before she knew it. “I mean… uh, sorry Cass, sorry if--” she sighed and Cassandra smiled.
“Sorry, it’s not Corypheus.” she replied jokingly, Lylah still genuinely surprised when she did so.
“Oh no, you’re a much, much better sight to see.” Lylah smiled widely and Cassandra remembered why she was doing this, why she was up here.
“I have something for you. From the other morning.” she stood and pulled out a sheet of paper. “She has a smile as bright a sunrise. It never falters, never stops, and is always there. She always finds the bright light in the endless darkness.” Cassandra looked up from her paper, into Lylah’s. “You are my morning sunrise that I yearn for everyday. You are the owner, and the keeper, of my heart.” Lylah watched her lips and shut her eyes as he voice washed over her, as warm as a hot spring on a cold winter day.
“You are making it very hard to not kiss you right now.” Lylah whispered. Cassandra know right in front of her, their bodies nearly pressed together. Lylah now looked into Cassandra’s eyes. Her lips curved upward and Lylah hesitated to do anything. “Is this an invitation to do so?” she asked, looking from her eyes to her lips.
“It is, Lylah.” she said her name. Holy shit. Oh my gods-- Lylah could hardly even hold back as she pressed her lips to Cassandra’s, first aggressive and hungry, like she’d been wanting to do this forever (well… she had been) but slowly turned into something gentle and warm and loving. Lylah tried to move Cassandra over to the bed or, how fun, the desk, but she tripped over a pile of books and their kiss was broken by loud laughter, shared by the two of them. Lylah pressed her forehead to Cassandra’s and smiled widely.
“How about,” she was breathless as she reached up and gently ran her thumb along Cassandra’s scar. “How about you read me some more of your poetry?” Lylah mumbled, gently kissing Cassandra once more.
“That, I can do.” Cassandra gathered up the papers she’d set down on the bed, and Lylah laid on her back, Cassandra doing the same, right next to her. She had tried to skip certain pieces, but Lylah caught her hand and had her read them to her. They laughed at some, and Lylah shared her own, to divide the embarrassment. While laying on that bed, Lylah learned that Cassandra had a very ticklish spot on her neck that caused the Seeker to giggle and snort at the same time. She learned that Cassandra smelled like safety and warmth, and that she loved to be near her.
In that short amount of time, Lylah learned that she had found someone that made her smile for all the right reasons.