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Sleep my little baby-oh
Sleep until you waken
When you wake you'll see the world
If I'm not mistaken...
Kiss a lover
Dance a measure,
Find your name
And buried treasure...
Face your life
Its pain,
Its pleasure,
Leave no path untaken.
― Neil Gaiman
Their room was cold. The fire was out. He couldn’t stand looking at it. Too many memories tonight.
The Iron Bull sat cross-legged on the stone floor. His eye was open, but unseeing. He shouldered the weight of his life with steeled determination. The past would not defeat him tonight.
“Bull?” A soft rustle of cotton sheets. Scent of warm skin drifting across his nose, familiar and comforting. Movement in the night air. Leaf in the breeze.
Sharp whistle of an arrow.
Ashes in the sky. Blood in the water. Dying screams of Tamassrans and their children. Chargers on the shore.
“Bad dreams?” Warm body beside him; close and careful not to touch.
Fingers clawing at his face, digging into an empty eye socket. Teeth at his neck. Stupid. Vitaar would take care of her.
Skinner slits the assailant’s throat from behind and spares her the pain. Throws the body to the side. Offers Bull a hand.
“Yeah.”
Explosion takes their feet out from under them. Rocky face down. Dalish twisted and not moving. Krem charging forward roaring hate. That roar would make a dragon pause.
“What can I do?”
Krem defiant. Shield up; sword swinging. Dalish on her feet again, glowing arrows fill the sky. Grimm shouts a warning. Stitches darting across the field to Rocky, still down.
“How are my boys?”
Two elves arguing. Two orders to obey.
“They’ve still got time to fall back if you signal them now!”
“Your men need to hold that position, Bull.”
What… what do I do? My boys. My orders. I’m not tal-vashoth I’m not! but my boys.
“They’re my men.”
“You need to do what’s right.”
What’s right?
I don’t know anymore.
Help me.
He turns to the Inquisitor. Wills him to hear.
Help me. I can’t help myself.
“Call the retreat!”
“Don’t!”
The horn blares across the reaches.
“They’re falling back.” Bull smiles, barely. Relief fills him. A tension he could not name has broken.
A choice has been made.
He turns down a new path.
“The Chargers are fine, Bull. Stitches and Krem got everyone back to Skyhold in one piece. A few of them are resting in the clinic, but they’re fine. They’re here, and safe, and alive.”
“That’s good, boss. That’s good.”
Slender fingers gently wiped away tears he didn’t know he shed.
*** *** ***
The noise is unbelievable.
The Chargers are out in full force. Forty-six armed and ready to roll men and women against a company of newly minted Inquisition infantry. They are outnumbered three to one.
Coin flows as bets are placed.
Commander Rutherford and Seeker Pentaghast stand before the Inquisition soldiers. Their armor glowing with strength and righteousness. Proud and fierce, they are an inspiration to behold.
The Iron Bull takes the field. The Inquisitor stands at his side, staff misting with cold energy.
Coin changes hands again. The odds are no longer in the soldiers favour.
A horn blasts across the field. The Inquisition soldiers surge forward.
The Iron Bull and his Chargers stand ready.
*** *** ***
Dorian owes Varric a great deal of coin and is bewailing his fate over in the corner. Varric simply grins and toasts the Chargers once more. Dalish clinks her mug to his, laughter spilling across the table with their ale.
Josephine treats her friends to a round of drinks in the tavern to celebrate her good fortune. Skinner accepts a drink with a surprisingly polite nod. Grimm and Rocky share a look.
The Inquisitor and Bull sit surrounded by his Chargers. Jokes are told. Songs are sung. No one laughs harder or sings louder than the Bull. Surrounded by the love, life and warmth of his family, how could he not celebrate?
He’s alive. Maybe for the first time in his life.
He loves and is loved in return.
He chose this path. Leaf helped him choose this path.
He knows his boys would have died for him; died defending him.
He’d much rather they lived to walk beside him.
This feeling.
He understands now, why some people fight so hard against impossibility. He would face down anything to protect this feeling; to protect them.
His family.