Chapter Text
Hanna didn’t often have cause to feel delicate. Herald of Andraste, Inquisitor - these were titles that required a ramrod spine and a will of steel. Everything about her was honed for battle - mentally and physically - and she often felt there was nothing of her left that was soft. She could hardly afford to be soft, to show any kind of weakness, to let any of the cracks in her carefully cultivated armor show on the surface. And so she stayed hard, she kept herself separate and aloof, and she remained the figurehead that the people needed - perhaps by now even she needed it.
She had still yet to grow accustomed to people leaping out of her way, soldiers saluting and commoners bowing as she passed through the halls and grounds of Skyhold. She cherished the moments she could let her armor go ever so slightly, when she was with the ragtag group of people whom she had begun to think of as her friends.
At the moment, however, she was standing rigidly at attention, arms behind her back, listening intently as Josephine gave her the latest report from the Exalted Plains. The Dalish were reaching out to the Inquisition for the first time, at the insistence of a young elf Hanna and her party had encountered on an earlier mission, and Solas had offered to liaise with them himself.
‘I’m reluctant to let Solas travel out alone,’ Josephine concluded, looking up from the board that was always in her hands. ‘With the instability of the Exalted Plains and the influx of Venatori in the area, it is best to send a complete party.’
‘I believe that if anyone can travel without interference, it would be Solas,’ Hanna observed. ‘He can be almost invisible if he wishes.’ Commander Cullen nodded his agreement.
‘And I don’t believe we could really stop him if he chooses to go,’ Leliana pointed out. ‘He is, after all, a free agent, and is only truly here for his interest in the magic of the Anchor.’
‘All right, then,’ Hanna decided. ‘I’ll let Solas know that he can travel to the Dalish camp if he wishes. Was there anything else, Josephine?’
‘That should be all,’ Josephine responded, lowering her board. ‘At least for now. We are still waiting on news for our next move against Corypheus - I will update you as soon as I know something useful.’ Leliana, Commander Cullen, and Hanna nodded and Hanna turned on her heel and left the war room, eager to escape to her private chambers.
‘Inquisitor!’ She groaned inwardly as Commander Cullen’s voice followed her through the heavy oak doors, but turned nonetheless, smiling politely at her Commander. ‘Do you have some time?’
‘Certainly, Commander Cullen.’ He gestured for her to follow him, and he led her through the Great Hall and out onto the battlements, towards his office, chatting amiably along the way. He let them both in, and gestured towards the chair in front of his desk. She took the offered seat, while he sat in the high-backed one on the other side.
‘There’s something I need to tell you,’ he confessed once they were both sitting at his desk. He opened the top drawer and pulled out a red wooden box about the size of a book, turning it around and gesturing for Hanna to open it. She obliged; she didn’t recognize most of the items contained in the box, but carved on the underside of the lid was the figure of Andraste.
‘What is this?’ she asked after examining the contents for a moment.
‘This is my lyrium kit,’ he responded. Hanna looked up at him, one eyebrow raised. She knew, of course, that Templars took lyrium, but she had never seen the paraphernalia for herself. ‘I’m not using it anymore.’ Her eyes widened in shock.
‘You’re not taking lyrium? But that could kill you!’ Hanna had heard stories - hearsay, really, through friends of friends of friends at the Circle - of Templars who had gone off lyrium. Most of the stories ended with the Templar going insane - or worse. ‘Why would you stop taking this?’
‘I need to be in full control. I need my mind to be my own, and I feel like I can’t do that if I’m depending on this substance. I’m aware of the risks,’ he said when she opened her mouth to protest, ‘but I feel like this will be worth it. I’ve asked Cassandra to keep an eye on me.’ He closed the box and slid it back into his desk drawer. ‘Should my abilities to lead our troops become compromised, I’ve given her orders that she should take over as Commander.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me sooner?’ Hanna demanded.
‘I didn’t wish to worry you, Inquisitor.’ He smiled ever so slightly. ‘You have enough on your plate without saddling you with my problems, as well.’
‘Your problems are my problems, Commander,’ she told him sternly. ‘It’s my duty to protect my men, and you are one of my men. I can’t protect you if you don’t keep me informed.’ His smile widened infinitesimally.
‘I promise, I will keep you abreast of the situation from now on.’ He hesitated slightly then. ‘Do you think I’m making the right choice, Inquisitor?’
‘I respect your decision, Commander. I’ll support you, whatever you decide.’
‘Thank you.’ He sounded monumentally relieved. ‘Might I ask you a question before you go?’ His tone was serious again, and Hanna agreed warily. ‘What was it like?’ he asked. ‘Going through the Fade, I mean.’ Hanna was quiet for several long moments, looking down at her hands fidgeting in her lap rather than up at him.
‘You must have read my report,’ she finally responded slowly. ‘I made sure Leliana showed it to you.’
‘Yes, I read it.’ His voice was quieter now, and he sat back in his chair. Hanna could feel his eyes on her but she didn’t look up. ‘But I was just...you saw the Divine. And you saw things that no one has seen for over a thousand years. And you had seen it before.’
‘Yes,’ Hanna replied quietly, leaning back and rubbing her face with one hand. Even this small gesture was a break in her Inquisitor armor, and Commander Cullen was taken aback at this display. ‘I was there before, at the Temple. I didn’t remember until...until the Divine or...or whatever that was...until she showed me how to get my memories back. It is not something I would wish to go through again.’ She took a deep breath, carefully composing her facial features before lowering her hand and facing her Commander again. ‘It was like walking through a nightmare. Everything was impossible, but it was all right there. I could hear everything, but I couldn’t hear my own thoughts. I could see everything, all the demons and the nightmares. I could even taste it. But everything felt wrong. It was too real. It was too present, but none of it should have been possible. Even the Divine….’ She trailed off with a sigh. ‘I’m still not entirely certain if the Divine was really there or not.’ She held Cullen’s gaze firmly. ‘I wouldn’t wish the Fade on anyone.’
He nodded. ‘Thank you for sharing, Inquisitor. I just...wished to know.’ Hanna had gotten that same request many time since her return from the fade a fortnight ago, but had yet to share these details with anyone. Being the Inquisitor, the Herald, was lonely sometimes - she had to maintain a cool, professional shell, to keep the people who depended on her calm and hopeful. But even the Inquisitor needed a listening ear and a friendly face, and at this moment she found that in Commander Cullen.
Hanna stood to leave, and Cullen followed suit. ‘Thank you for listening,’ she said softly, before turning on her heel and striding out of his office.
-:-:-:-
The next day started very early - one of Leliana’s spies had just gotten back with word that some of Corypheus’s Red Templars had been spotted in the Arbor Wilds, a location previously untouched by war.
‘What could he possibly want in the Arbor Wilds?’ Commander Cullen asked, staring down at the war table, where a red spike now stuck out of the map over the Wilds.
‘If I may?’ Morrigan asked from Hanna’s left, not sounding at all like she was going to wait for permission. Hanna inclined her head graciously, nonetheless, and Morrigan continued. ‘You will recall the eluvian I showed you, Inquisitor?’ Hanna nodded - the eluvian in question was currently in an unused hall on the topmost floor of Skyhold, surrounded by furniture draped in sheets, not exactly an illustrious resting place for so priceless an artifact. ‘I believe that Corypheus is looking for elven artifacts such as that, and I believe there may be some in the Arbor Wilds. The ruins of the Temple of Mythal rest there, and it would make sense to me that there should be more ruins with artifacts contained within. Even after all these centuries, the magic should still be strong enough to aid Corypheus’s cause.’
Hanna studied Morrigan for a long moment. The sorceress had come back with them from the Winter Palace at the insistence of the Empress, and had been drifting around Skyhold ever since. She had given good advice before, and the things she said certainly made sense with what they knew of Corypheus. He desired power above all else, and the magic contained in the eluvian and in other elven artifacts would be exactly what he was searching for.
‘Leliana,’ Hanna finally said, turning back to her advisors. ‘Could you send out more spies to the Wilds? I can’t send a full force out until we have more solid proof that that is where Corypheus intends to make a move.’
‘Of course, Inquisitor.’ Leliana inclined her head. ‘I will attend to it straight away.’ Leliana strode out of the war room, muttering her plans under her breath.
‘Josephine, do you have any connections in or around the area? The more information we can gather, the better. I don’t wish to approach the area blindly, should Leliana’s spies produce anything.’
‘Yes, Inquisitor. I have the favor of several nobles in the surrounding areas, though no one has set foot within the heart of Arbor Wilds themselves in centuries. At least none that have returned.’
‘Contact them as quickly as you can, please. With their information and whatever Leliana can bring out, we will be as prepared as possible for an assault, should it be necessary.’ Josephine nodded and followed Leliana out, her quill already scribbling furiously.
Hanna turned to Commander Cullen, the only person left in the war room with her, as Morrigan had slipped out when Leliana left.
‘Please begin preparing your men. They need to be ready at a moment’s notice, and I’m afraid this is going to be a fight like they’ve never seen before.’
‘My men will be ready,’ Cullen assured her. ‘They’ve been trained well, and they know what this is leading up to.’ His expression softened, and his voice was kind when he said, ‘You have a good army, Inquisitor. They will fight well for you, have no fear.’ He made as if to reach out to her, but thought better of it and lowered his hand again. On an impulse, Hanna reached out her own hand and rested it on his arm. Cullen’s eyes locked on her fingers resting on his forearm.
‘Thank you, Commander,’ she said, a bit surprised at her own boldness. ‘Your help has been invaluable. I...I’ve come to rely on you greatly these last few months.’
‘Anything I can do to assist you, I will,’ he vowed, his voice low, and his eyes drifted up from her hand to lock on her eyes. After a moment, he smirked slightly, the scar at the corner of his mouth stretching, and she found her eyes catching on the movement, fascinated. ‘Good day, Inquisitor,’ he said softly, stepping back and bowing at the waist before striding from the room without a backwards glance. Hanna stared after him for a moment before shaking her head and following in his footsteps. Whatever it was she and Commander Cullen had shared just then, she had no time to dwell on it.
Instead of thinking further on her Commander, she made her way across the Great Hall and up the spiral staircase to Dorian’s section of the library in the tower. She found him perusing the shelves, a look of intense concentration on his face. He must have heard her coming, for without turning he said ‘These shelves have a deplorable lack of mage history tomes. I would like to file a complaint with the Inquisition.’
‘I’ll let Josephine know,’ Hanna assured him with a chuckle, settling in the comfortable armchair Dorian usually occupied. ‘I’m sure it will be put on the top of her list, right after finding out what Corypheus is doing in the Arbor Wilds.’
‘The Arbor Wilds?’ he asked with some interest, turning away from the shelves to face Hanna.
‘Morrigan thinks Corypheus is after elven artifacts. Magical items that will help his dark ritual.’ Dorian made a thoughtful noise in his throat, his eyes drifting past her to stare contemplatively out the window behind her.
‘That might be the case,’ he mused. ‘The elves who inhabited the Arbor Wilds were deeply entrenched in magic. Their most important holy places were there. I believe the Temple of Mythal still stands - probably with the aid of some kind of old magic. I imagine he would wish to harness whatever of it remains.’ He turned and began pacing back and forth across the mouth of his alcove, one hand stroking his goatee thoughtfully. ‘Whatever it is he’s doing in the Wilds, we certainly don’t want him to achieve it. If it’s enough to get him to divert his attention away from the Inquisition, even momentarily, the rumored magic must be very strong.’ He glanced over at Hanna, who was watching his pacing with one eyebrow raised, and smirked slightly. ‘I should very much like to see whatever it is Corypheus is after.’
‘I’m sure you would,’ Hanna agreed with a smirk of her own. Dorian’s smile turned positively winsome, and Hanna couldn’t help but grin in return. ‘I believe that could be arranged,’ she conceded, and Dorian winked at her cheekily. ‘I think Cassandra should come, as well. And perhaps Varric?’
‘Or Sera,’ Dorian replied.
‘Sera?’ Hanna asked in some surprise. She hadn’t realized that Dorian and Sera were close enough for him to recommend her. ‘Whatever for?’
‘I believe she would appreciate the chance to pepper Corypheus with some of her never-ending supply of arrows, after what happened in the Fade. I think she needs to blame someone, and he’s the best she’s going to get on that front.’ Hanna stared at Dorian in amazement. Sometimes he was so flippant that it was easy to forget how astute the mage actually was.
‘Well,’ Hanna said after a moment. ‘I think I should go have a chat with our Sera, then.’
‘Good luck, my dear,’ Dorian replied, turning back to his books. ‘And you might not want to mention to her that Cassandra is going as well. You know how Sera feels about our ‘fussy-britches’.’ Hanna laughed in agreement and went to find Cassandra and Sera, deciding on her way down that she wouldn’t tell either of them of the other until it was too late for them to back out.