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Cullen and Sienna stood at the edge of their property watching the Templar’s morning practice. While they weren’t in a current position of power, most of them still tried to keep up their talents, and most also found the act comforting, something they could still be in control of. A good distance behind the Templars was their daughter, Celeste, whose curly hair was a mess and her face smudged with dirt. She watched the Templars and tried to mimic their movements with her little wooden sword.
“I swear she is the most adorable being ever,” Sienna told her husband, grinning ear to ear.
“She is adorable, her form could use some work, but she is doing pretty well for a five-year-old,” Cullen said, wrapping an arm around her waist.
“Our five-year-old is practicing sword fighting, and your only comment is about her form?” Sienna asked with a raised eyebrow.
“I mean that is important,” Cullen said. “She will be the best, most adorable fighter one day.”
“Well, let's not get too carried away. I am not ready to think about my daughter running off into some battle,” She said.
“Well thankfully I don’t think we have to worry about that anytime soon,” Cullen agreed. “We better go get stuff ready for breakfast so they don’t starve when they are finished.”
“Yeah, we probably should. Should I collect Celeste?” She asked.
“Eh, she has enough people watching her I think,” Cullen told her, planting a kiss on the top of her head before dragging her back into the house.
Marcus stood with the group of mages in the yard, “So what are we practicing first today boss?” one of the other mages asked.
“Hey I am not the boss, practice whatever you want,” Marcus said offhandedly. He had been there longer than most of the mages and had been a higher rank than most of them before coming there, but he wasn’t going to take the job of leader away from Lady Rutherford.
“Well, the real boss isn’t here right now, so what should we practice,” the mage asked again.
“I don’t know, do fire target practice,” He said, still not super invested in the conversation. The group seemed to take the word as law though and most of the mages started to practice their aim on the group of fire-resistant dummies.
“Aren’t you going to participate?” one of the female mages asked him after they had been going for a few minutes.
“Target practice? Me? Don’t need it,” He said with a cocky grin.
“Prove it,” She challenged.
Marcus tried to not be the type of person who could be manipulated, but it was hard to back down from a good challenge. He picked up his staff and walked over to the dummies, taking a deep breath to center himself before getting his staff into position. Before he had a chance to fire though a fireball came hurling past him, almost singeing the sleeve of his robe. “What the...?” He turned around to see where the fireball had come from and saw Celeste standing a ways behind them with a large stick in her hands.
“Celeste?” He asked hesitantly, moving to walk towards her.
“I am so sorry, Marcus,” She said hurriedly, breaking down into tears, and throwing herself on the ground. A small blast of fire came from the spot she landed scorching some of the grass, and causing the little girl to start crying even harder.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” He said going over to her and crouching down so he was more on her level. “You’re okay, little one,” he told her, putting a finger under her chin so she had to look at him, tears still streaming down her face.
“It’s not okay! I almost hurt you!” She exclaimed hysterically.
“But you didn’t, and that’s what matters,” He told her, “let's go find your mother.”
“No! Don’t tell mama! She is going to be mad,” Celeste cried.
“Your mother isn’t going to be mad,” Marcus told her, he scooped her up into his arms and made his way towards the house, the little girl still crying. He could hear the whispers and murmurs behind him as he made his way.
When they made it to the house, he was thankful that it was only Sienna in the living room, “Marcus, what’s wrong?” Sienna asked noticing him immediately and taking her daughter from him.
“We were practicing aiming, and she must have been behind us mimicking our movements, and a fireball came out of the stick she was using as a staff,” he informed her.
“I understand,” Sienna said holding her daughter, who was still crying, closer. “Cullen went over to the Templar’s cabin, can you tell him to come back to the house?”
“Of course,” Marcus told her.
“Good, I can take care of this from here. Thank you so much for your help, Marcus.”
Sienna carried the crying child to her bedroom, placing her in her bed full of stuffed animals, most of them gifts from ex-inquisition personnel. She tucked her in under the covers and handed her her favorite stuffed animal, her stuffed nug from Leliana. “Celeste, sweetie, what happened?”
“I almost hurt Marcus! I didn’t mean to,” Celeste cried, burying her head into her stuffed nug.
“Well, you didn’t hurt him, that's what matters,” Sienna told her, tucking a lock of blonde curls behind her ear.
“I know, but I could of! I don’t even know what happened,” Celeste cried again, though she seemed to be calming down some.
“Well, you know how I can perform magic sometimes, and so can the other mages?” Sienna asked. Celeste simply nodded, tears still coming down, but the hysterics seem to have disappeared, “Well, I think you have that power too.”
“I can do magic?” Celeste asked.
“I think so sweetheart,” Sienna said, smiling at her daughter.
“Magic is scary,” Celeste said, snuggling her nug closer.
“It can be, but now that you know you have it, I can start teaching you how to control it. Knowing it’s dangerous is the first step to making it less scary,” Sienna told her.
“Is Papa going to be okay?” Celeste asked, looking at her with watery blue eyes.
“Of course, why do you ask?” Sienna said, cursing anybody that put that thought into her daughter’s head, though the fear had also gone through hers.
“Well the Templars are against magic, and Papa used to be a Templar,” Celeste told her.
“None of the Templars here are against magic? We are working towards making a better world where we don’t have to worry about that divide. Plus, Papa isn’t a Templar anymore, and I don’t think he would have married me if he was against magic,” Sienna told her, leaning over to kiss her daughter’s forehead.
“But is he going to be okay with me being magic?” She asked.
Sienna couldn’t take it anymore and moved to sit beside her daughter so she could properly snuggle her, “Your Papa loves you no matter what, don’t worry about that.” Her words thankfully came out confident, though she had some doubt. Sure he had gotten over it enough to marry a mage, and to help rehabilitate mages with the templars, but would his daughter being a mage be too much?
Once Celeste had calmed down, Sienna left her with her dolls and stuffed animals to wait for Cullen in the living room. She tried her best to soothe her anxiety. Cullen would be fine, this would all be fine. Right? Thankfully the door opened as the spiral started to get out of control. “Cullen!”
“Where is she?” Cullen asked, an odd look on his face, but he didn’t seem angry or upset.
“Can we talk about this first?” Sienna asked, approaching him carefully.
“Just let me see her, please,” Cullen pleaded.
Sienna watched him trying to figure out how best to proceed. His jaw was clenched, but the unsure look in his eyes and the waiver in his voice reassured her that he wasn’t angry. Cullen had come a long way in the time that she had known him when it came to mages, and she knew that process had started before her. He hadn’t given her any reason not to trust him. Sienna placed a hand on his arm. “Just be gentle with her. She’s had a rough day.”
Cullen nodded, that conflicted look still in his eyes as he walked past her and toward Celeste’s room. Sienna followed behind him.
“Papa?” She heard Celeste’s small voice waver a little as she made it to the doorway. Cullen had made his way over to the bed where she sat surrounded by stuffed animals and picked her up by her armpits. Sienna held her breath until he pulled her into his arms and hugged her tight.
“I love you so much,” Cullen said into her hair. Celeste clung to him as tight as he clung to her.
Celeste pulled away to look at her father. “Even if I have magic?” A pained look crossed over Cullen's face for a moment before settling into a smile.
“Even if you have magic,” he promised her.
“I love you too Papa,” she said, giving him a huge kiss on his cheek.
Celeste hadn't left her parent's side for the rest of the day and begged them to let her sleep in their bed with them, and given the circumstances, they couldn't really refuse. So Sienna and Cullen laid in bed with their daughter between them and were reminded why they didn’t usually let her sleep with them.
Celeste took up as much room as physically possible. She had a hand tucked behind her head, her elbow sticking in Sienna’s face and her other arm was thrown over onto Cullen’s side, and on top of that, her blonde curls seemed to take up most of both of their pillows. She was still the most adorable being on the planet though.
“Are you sure your okay?” Sienna asked Cullen, propping herself up on her elbow.
“I couldn't be happier,” he responded with a grin, and he meant it. If somebody had told 20-year-old Cullen that he would be happy sitting here with his mage wife and mage daughter he would have scoffed and said they were being absurd, but he couldn't ask for anything else. He wouldn't trade Sienna for the world and he loved his daughter mage or not. “She’s my daughter, and nothing is going to change that.”
“I am glad. I wish all parents handled it as well as you,” Sienna said, pushing a piece of hair off Celeste’s face.
“I am sorry if this brings up any old wounds,” He said with a frown, “But I am thankful we don't live in a day and age where we would have to give her up to the circle, because I don't think I could do it.”
“I couldn't do it either. She belongs here with us,” Sienna said looking down to admire their daughter.
Cullen leaned over to kiss Sienna before laying back down fully, “She does, and I just hope we can keep her safe.”
“We will.”