Work Text:
Rei and Cassandra walked toward the war room for the first meeting of the Inquisition. While they walked the length of the Chantry, Rei wondered what her role with the organization would be, and glanced at her hand. "Does it hurt?"
"Sometimes." Rei flexed her hand and Cassandra held the door open for her to walk through. She glanced at the three people in the room one by one, the last a man in armor that looked familiar. Rei's breath caught when she sensed the lyrium in his blood. Templar, her mind hissed at her, and she went rigid as their eyes met.
"Herald, these are the Inquisition advisers. Lady Josephine is our ambassador." Cassandra pointed toward the Antivan woman who curtsied. "You've already met Leliana, our Spy Master."
"Tactfully put." Leliana rolled her eyes as Cassandra pointed at her.
"And this is..."
"Which circles?" Rei frowned at Cullen, who gave her an uneasy look.
"Ferelden and Kirkwall." Cullen saw the look in her eyes go from weary to angry. He sensed ice and fire in her, and then he saw why she was familiar to him. The hair and eye colors were different, but... The woman from Ostwick, the one he tried to stop the rite being performed on.
"Commander Cullen." Cassandra continued. She ignored the look that the Herald had been giving Cullen. Rei decided to ignore the Commander for the rest of the meeting, and when it was decided that she needed to go meet some Chantry mother, that she would go the next day. It wasn't soon enough for her, but it would have to do. After the meeting was dismissed, Rei turned on her heels and briskly walked out of the room, with Cassandra at her heels.
"So, what was that all about?" Leliana gave Cullen a confused look.
"She had a sister that was transferred to Kirkwall, and was made tranquil soon after by one of Meredith's lap dogs. I, and a handful of other Templars tried to stop it happening, but we couldn't fill the mountain of paper work out in time. It was too late to try to sneak her out to another circle by the time we thought of it."
"Would you have?" Leliana was intrigued, she knew of Cullen's past and his feeling toward mages when he was in Kirkwall.
"I would have sent her to Ferelden." Cullen replied. "I may not have trusted mages, but I could see it in her eyes, something had happened in Ostwick that Meredith was covering up."
"Tell her, maybe it will help."
"Herald, might I have a moment of your time?" Cullen walked up to Rei as she stared at the breach.
"No, Knight-Captain, you may not." Rei tried to keep her tone civil, but couldn't stop all of the rage she felt from bleeding through.
"I am not Templar anymore." Cullen sighed, and turned his gaze toward the breach. "We need to come to an understanding, so that we can work together in peace."
"No, we do not need to come to any sort of understanding." Rei turned to face Cullen, and he can almost see the fire and ice he felt earlier in her eyes. "We will work together as civilly as I can, given that you are a Templar. When we are not in a meeting, you will leave me be. I don't want to get to know you, we will never be friends."
"I am not..." Cullen began, only to get cut off by Rei.
"You are, and you always will be, regardless of if you are officially with the order or not." With a last glare, Rei walked away from Cullen, as he stared at her back.