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Morning, day and night were always so difficult to pin down in the Lighthouse. The ever-present light in the Fade made it hard, even when the quality, shade, and feeling of the place did change over time. It didn't help that the sleep routines of most of the inhabitants were irregular at best, and verging on unhealthy for some. Not Rook. Each day, he'd start with a workout in the courtyard. Taash and Davrin would join if they were around.
Neve had started to assume it was morning when the sound drifted in through the various windows, and would go get some coffee and sit with Assan to watch. Sometimes Bellara and Lace joined her, though it was hit or miss. But, even on little sleep, it was always nice to admire the view. By the time she made her way outside this morning, Lucanis was just emerging from the dining hall with coffee, Bellara in tow with a few extra cups. They met at the stairs to her office.
"Morning Neve!" Bellara waggled her eyes conspiratorially, and handed her a cup of coffee. Neve returned an eyeroll and a smile, pretty sure that the other woman hadn't really gone to bed. Her clothes were the same as the day before, and rumpled in that way you get when you slept at a desk or workbench. "I went to look for that gadget I 'mislaid' the other day, so Lucanis made us both some coffee. After I did a quick search. I didn't find it."
"Good morning to you too, Bels," Neve looked to Lucanis, who seemed a bit bemused in addition to his usual sleep deprivation. "What brings you out? You're usually barely awake when I wander in for coffee and loiter in the dining hall for a while."
"I would love to say that I was saving you from… whatever it is that you do to your coffee, but Lace kicked me out of the kitchen," Lucanis shrugged, a smile tugging at the edge of his mouth as he stood with his arms across his chest, nursing his coffee. "Besides, I wanted to see what's so engrossing that you all have started a more regular routine in the mornings."
"Lace kicked you out?" Neve raised an eyebrow as she took a sip of her own coffee. In the distance, the sounds of running feet could be heard getting closer.
"She said she had something 'special' in mind for dinner tonight after she rolled in that giant wheel of Ferelden cheese you all picked up in Minrathous a couple of days ago," Lucanis shrugged. He started to lift his coffee for another drink when he stilled completely, openly staring as the spectacle barreling towards them from the lower courtyard came into view.
Cresting up over the stairs first were Davrin and Rook, jogging and laughing at Taash who was lagging slightly behind in full armor and carrying a large table on their back. The other two were shirtless, with Davrin in canvas pants and boots and Rook in a pair of tight shorts and nothing else. All of them were sweating and laughing as they went by, the light of the Fade reflecting off of their skin and etching every muscle and scar in incredible detail. Rook jogged backwards for a moment, throwing a wave and grin over at the group. He turned back around at just the right moment before the group plunged down the stairs, but Neve caught the stutter as he hit the first step and rolled her eyes.
"I wonder why Taash is carrying a table?" Bellara asked, cutting into the quiet after a long moment. "Did they lose a bet?"
Neve turned to answer and had to bite back a laugh as she saw Lucanis, still frozen and staring exactly as he had been. He started, feeling her gaze on him and sputtered for a second as he brushed away a few spilled drops of coffee.
"Mierda, do they just…" he gestured down towards the lower courtyard where the three were now doing one-handed pushups. Taash had lost the table, and was giving Davrin shit as they outpaced him, even in armor. Lucanis blinked hard, his eyes a little wild.
"Yep," Neve took another sip of coffee and smiled into her cup. "Every morning like clockwork."
"Sometimes Rook gives piggie-back rides if he loses one of their bets. That's how I lost a shoe over the side. It fell off on the third lap." Bellara leaned around to give Lucanis a grin as he stared at her in disbelief. "You should ask him to take you next time! You get to try to slow down the others. I got Davrin with a rolled up pair of socks!"
Lucanis was saved from reply by a sudden burst of noise as the dining hall doors crashed open with a bang, and Assan made a mad scrabbling leap into the air with a shriek. Hot on his heels was Harding, brandishing a cast-iron pan and a wooden spoon, hollering incoherently at the griffin. For his part, Assan hurried to gain altitude, flapping like mad as he fought for balance. It took Neve a moment to see what was giving him so much trouble, and then spied the very large cheese wheel firmly clamped in his beak.
"Davrin! Assan stole my cheese!" Harding ran out in to the upper courtyard, shaking the spoon. "Get down here you oversized catbird! I paid good money for that!"
Assan, dipped and moved out over the open Fade near Davrin's room and tilted his head at them all as the others ran up to see the fuss. A chorus of brief shouting rang out as the griffin swooped around, looking suddenly unsure about his prize. Harding ran back and forth near the edge trying to get some angle to get nearer, but the griffin stayed firmly out of reach.
"Assan, to me!" Davrin's voice finally broke through he confusion, and Assan's eyes trained on the man as he belted out a screech. Everyone watched in dismay as the large wheel of cheese fell free from Assan's beak as he dove towards the bench outside the dining hall where he'd been pointed. It tumbled endlessly down into the open Fade, and not for the first time, Neve wondered where things went when they fell out of the Lighthouse's orbit.
"Sorry, Harding," Davrin walked over and patted the griffin and sighed. "I thought he'd bring it with him, but he's still learning. I'll try to make it up to you the next time we're at the market."
"It's okay," Harding's shoulder's slumped a little. "I've just been missing my Ma's cheese and potatoes. I can make it another time."
"Why don't you just get one of the other wheels from the cheese storage?" Rook asked as he toweled off his hair and shoulders and ran the fluffy white fabric down his chest.
"What cheese storage?" Lucanis asked in mild confusion, a flush in his face spreading out along his nose as he struggled to keep eye contact. Running his free hand down his face and through his beard he collected himself. "We only have some Antivan and Navarran cheeses right now, and they're running a bit low."
"No, no. The big stacks of Ferelden cheese in the Music Room. Haven't any of you seen it?" Met with a chorus of blank faces, he returned a grin and threw the towel over his shoulder. "It's just by the Library. I'm surprised you all haven't checked it out yet. There's some crazy stuff in there."
A few minutes later, Rook stood in the Library with Lucanis and Neve while Davrin sorted things out with Assan. Harding had said something about frying the potatoes anyway and Bellara had gone with her and Taash to supervise. No one was forgetting 'Frostback Potato Surprise' night last month any time soon.
"It's just right through here," Rook pointed at the wall. Blank when they first arrived after they'd interrupted the ritual in Arlathan, it had filled in afterwards to show an outline of a circular window, looking out onto a snowy mountainside vista. A matching one on the other side of the bookcase was blank, but Neve suspected it would fill in with time.
"If this is a wind up, it's a good one," Neve folded her arms, and tipped her head towards the wall. "I'm not sure even you can walk through a painting to Ferelden, Trouble."
"So… you don't see a door then," Rook looked at Neve and Lucanis, and scratched at his stubble. "Only one thing to do."
Rook hooked an arm around each of them and tugged them both forward straight through the wall. It happened so fast her objection was only half formed when she found herself in a circular hallway, with the light from the Library behind them throwing their shadows in towards a smaller room. Lucanis was looking a little wild-eyed, with traces of Spite's purple in his irises, but it disappeared when he blinked and looked around.
"This was here the whole time?" the assassin gestured to the hallway, and then out to the Library, visible now that they were inside. "If I walk back out can I get back in?"
"Beats me," Rook rolled his shoulders, and began to stretch his arms back and forth. "This door just pops open whenever I walk past. I thought it did for everyone."
"One way to find out," Neve stepped back into the Library, and turned. The painting was gone, and in its place was a round portal, currently open. "Looks like I can see it now."
"Well, that makes it easy," Rook grinned. "But honestly, you have got to see this room."
Reaching the end of the hallway, they stopped as Neve and Lucanis took it all in. A beautiful piano, with handwritten music. Murals on the walls of dragons and gods, a book and chair with the symbols of the Inquisition, some scattered artifacts… and at least a dozen wheels of Ferelden cheese, neatly stacked.
"That is… a prodigious amount of cheese," Lucanis said, admiringly. "I'm no expert, but I believe these two match Harding's lost wheel. We should be able to bring her one, if we're brave enough to try the results."
"Do you think the Lighthouse put them here?" Neve asked, poking gingerly at one of the smaller varieties encased in red wax. "I'm not sure I trust cheese the Fade conjured up for me."
"No, I think Solas brought them here," Rook handed Neve a worn piece of paper with elvish writing in a very neat hand. She looked at it for a moment and shook her head. "I had Bellara take a look after I found it. It's a recipe for a type of roasted root vegetable and cheese dish that Clan Lavellan would make for some winter celebrations, if they could trade for the cheese. The Inquisitor's Clan."
"Does it say which kind of cheese?" Neve raised her eyebrows and looked around at the different wheels, all neatly stacked. "I bet it didn't. You think he was trying to figure it out."
"I think he misses her enough that he bought two dozen wheels of cheese from Ferelden trying to make her favorite dish," Rook shrugged. "I've seen weirder."
"Did Bellara translate the recipe?" Lucanis asked as he examined one of the larger wheels critically. "I bet Lace might know which cheese to try. It would be a shame to let them go to waste."
"And we may be able to avert another potato night disaster?" Neve chuckled.
"I did not say there would not be other benefits," Lucanis shrugged, but the glint in his eye told Neve she'd hit the mark. "I'll talk to Bellara and Lace to see what they think."
"I can start moving the cheese," Rook reached towards one of the wheels that matched Harding's lost prize, but Neve put her hand on his arm and he stopped.
"I think maybe you should get dressed first, Trouble," Neve flashed him a smile and Rook blinked at her for a moment, a flush spreading up his face like he'd been dipped in hot water.
"Right, pants. I'll be right back then," Rook nodded, and grabbed the towel still hanging over his shoulder, turning to the hallway. Neve watched as he jogged out of the room and into the Library to head upstairs, and chuckled once he was out of earshot.
Lucanis was looking the same direction as she turned back and shook his head. "Every morning?"
"Yep."
"Mierda."