Work Text:
“Inquisitor Adaar,” Blackwall greets as she approaches. “What brings you down here to mingle with the commonfolk?” He’s obviously trying to hide his smirk, but his eyes crinkle at the corners and give him away. He sets his axe beside the chopping block and removes the leather gloves he wears. His hair is pulled back into a bun to keep it out of his eyes as he chops wood. He looks handsome like this, with beads of sweat on his neck and his face red from exertion. He was eager to help with the physical labor when they got to Skyhold. She hadn’t questioned him but he must have seen something in her face, because he had told her, “I was a farmboy once. Heavy lifting does not bother me.”
“You flatter me,” Katari responds. “I am commonfolk at heart, no matter what fancy title they give me.”
He laughs. “A woman after my own heart.”
He says things like that sometimes. He’s flirting, she thinks, but she’s not sure what he means by it. She’s never been pursued by a man before, Pan teases that it’s because she’s much too intimidating. When she’s wanted sex in the past she’s always been the one to initiate it and there was never any beating around the bush. She’d ask a man if he wanted to fuck and if he said yes they’d do it.
She’d had a regular arrangement with Sata-Kas a few years back. He was piggish and stupid but a good lay. Their dislike for each other added a certain element to the sex that Katari enjoyed. And it was nice that he never tried to woo her in their free time.
Katari has long since decided that Blackwall is handsome. She doesn’t usually look at humans that way, but he’s heavyset, strong, and a good man. Though she’d never admit it, she even likes his sweet flirting. She’d invited him to her bedroom once early on. He’d made an offhand comment about her having the world at her feet, himself included. It had been an interesting image, to say the least. She’d asked, without any hesitation, if he’d be interested in meeting her in her bed that night.
He’d sputtered at that and his face had turned so red she thought he might burst into flames.
“That’s an appealing offer, my Lady,” he had finally said. “I will have to think on that… carefully.” He’s yet to take her up on the offer but she’s never let rejection offend her before and she’s not about to start now.
“I was wondering if you’d like to join my party,” Katari says presently. “We will head out in two days. We must meet with a Warden in Crestwood. I thought it only fitting to invite you along.”
“I would follow you anywhere, my lady.”
He sounds so earnest that it unnerves Katari. She doesn’t know what she’s supposed to say to something like that. “Your loyalty does not go unappreciated, Blackwall,” she tells him. It comes out stiff and uncomfortable. He smiles at her nonetheless.