Chapter Text
“But I’m the Inquisitor!”
“Which is the exact reason you must go. Can’t you see how inspiring this will be to the people? The Inquisitor who saved the world fighting side by side with the Hero who saved Ferelden? We’d have so many people flocking to our banner we wouldn’t even know where to put them all. Besides, from my research it seems the only people capable of actually killing an archdemon are Wardens. I can not think of a more qualified Warden to slay the Archdemon than Warden-Commander Surana. ” Josephine said crisply, clearly anticipating Ava's excuses. The young mage sighed, running her hand through her dark brown hair; it was one of those rare days where she hadn’t the energy to twist her wavy locks into a complex series of braids.
“Augh. Your logic will be the death of me, Lady Montilyet.” Ava grumbled, crossing her arms across her chest.
“A worthy ending, your worship.” The Antivan ambassador said with a smug smirk. She released a piece of paper from her overloaded clipboard and handed it to Ava to examine.
“This is a letter Leliana has received from one of her contacts; it’s a supposed sighting of the Hero of Ferelden, nothing exactly concrete. But it is a start and it is imperative that we find her.” Josephine said. Ava stared at the report, her eyes practically burning a hole into the subject of the report; Ophelia Surana, the missing Hero of Ferelden. Even Ava, a Dalish clan member and Free Marcher native had heard tales of the brave Grey Warden. Never in her life did she think she would actually end up meeting her. Then again, she never thought she would be leading an army against a self proclaimed god; funny how life works.
“The Emerald Graves? What would she be doing in that area?” Ava asked, incredulous. For once, the Antivan noble had no reply.
“That is simply what the report says. However, I have more for you to go on than a simple sighting.” Josephine admitted, pacing around the room.
“You are aware of what a phylactery is, yes? All circle mages are given a phylactery when they pass their Harrowing, enabling templars to hunt them down should they ever turn apostate. While the Circle Tower was nearly destroyed during the Fifth Blight and countless phylacteries destroyed in the mage rebellion, the Hero of Ferelden’s phylactery was stored in Denerim.” Josephine explained, narrowing her eyes. Ava's skin crawled. Growing up in a Dalish clan, she had next to no experiences in with the Circle and based on the stories she was told, she was certain she’d missed out on nothing. Still though, this news of forcibly taking a mage’s blood should they ever fight for their freedom was not exactly surprising.
“And I’m guessing you want me to find it.” Ava said, piecing everything together.
“We have no idea if the phylactery remains yet in Denerim and frankly we as an organization do not have the sway to convince the chantry to let us check. You, however, do.” Josephine continued, handing Ava another piece of paper. This paper seemed to be a city map and various markers littered the worn piece of paper.
“Well seeing as I have no choice in the matter, I suppose I should get going as soon as possible. I’ll let my company know we’ll be leaving soon.” Ava said, folding the pieces of papers Josephine had given her into her pocket.
“That is the other thing, Inquisitor. I suggest that you let Commander Cullen accompany you on this mission.” Josephine said hesitantly. Ava's brows furrowed. Cullen? It wasn’t as if the two were on bad terms but they had never really spoken to each other outside of Inquisition matters and Cullen rarely accompanied anyone on a mission.
“I am aware that seems odd, believe me. However Warden-Commander Surana was once a charge of Cullen’s, I believe the two knew each other quite well. In addition to that, Cullen was a templar. You may find his tracking skills to prove invaluable.” Josephine explained, her attention diverted to a marker on the war table. That came as a shock to Ava; Cullen had never mentioned knowing the Hero of Ferelden whatsoever. While she never spoke to him about anything other than a professional matter, Ava figured anyone would be eager to mention the fact that they had been acquainted with the famous Grey Warden.
“Huh. Small world then.” Ava replied.
“I suggest you speak to the Commander about a departure time as soon as possible, Inquisitor. We are counting on you to find Warden Surana.” Josephine suggested as she beckoned Ava toward the door.
"Aren't you always?" Ava muttered under he breath as she exited the War Room.
****
Ava could count the number of times she had visited Commander Cullen’s office on both hands. Standing outside the Commander’s door, the elven mage felt out of place and slightly nervous. Even though he was extremely cordial to her, Ava had always felt to some degree that he hadn’t liked her very much; perhaps that was the paranoid mage in her speaking. Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door.
“You may come in.” A terse voice replied. It sounded as if he were in a hurry. Ava shrugged and pushed the door open, surprised to see Cullen in rather casual clothes. She’d never seen him wear anything other than that ridiculously fluffy cloak and armor. Cullen straightened up immediately upon seeing her.
“Inquisitor! I, uh, wasn’t expecting you, I apologize. I thought you were one of the recruits.” Cullen said sheepishly.
“That’s alright. I figured we don’t talk nearly enough for you to know my voice.” Ava said, partly joking partly serious. Cullen frowned at her, obviously displeased with her comment.
“I apologize, Inquisitor.” he said solemnly.
“No, Cullen I was just- it actually doesn’t matter. I came here to discuss our mission.” Ava said, flustered.
“-Our- mission?”
“Contacting the Hero of Ferelden?” Ava said, confused. Recognition spread across Cullen’s face and he nodded.
“Apologies Inquisitor, I’ve been rather distracted.” Cullen said, absentminded. He sighed, staring at the enormous piles of reports on his desk. Ava grimaced. She hadn’t realized how much paperwork went on behind the scenes. For her it was just fighting on the front lines; she hadn’t put much thought into how much work it took to actually get her there.
“That’s a looot of paperwork you have there. Yikes.” Ava said, unaware of what else to say. This whole encounter felt awkward to her and she was dying to leave.
“You’re telling me.” Cullen scoffed, shuffling some papers from one side of his desk to the other. He ran his fingers through his curly blonde hair, clearly stressed, and sighed once again.
“Right. Well I figured we should leave as soon as possible. I can get my company ready to go in a few hours, if that works for you?” Ava said hesitantly.
“Yes, that would be excellent, Inquisitor.” Cullen said softly, gazing at a crumpled up piece of paper on the corner of his desk.
****
“So, you never told me you were friends with the Hero of Ferelden.” Ava said, hoping to break the awkward silence between the two. Currently, the Commander and the Inquisitor (plus Varric, Cassandra and Dorian) were en route to Denerim, where they’d hoped to find the Warden-Commander’s phylactery. So far the journey had proven relatively incident free, the only issue being the frequent awkward silences between Cullen and Ava.
“I imagine she must have been amazing to meet. Though I guess you couldn’t be aware of how great she would become at that time. Still though, I’ve always wondered what she was like.” Ava said, wistfully thinking of all the tales she’d been told about the Hero of Ferelden.
“Do you now?” Cullen said, shifting uncomfortably.
“Oh of course! She’s an inspiration to me, y’know. An elven mage kicking darkspawn ass and saving a bunch of shems? Mythal, could there be anything greater than that?” Ava said dreamily.
“Shems?” Cullen stared at her, seemingly uncomfortable yet again. Ava blushed. As usual she had spoken without thinking.
“That’s our word for humans. My clan I mean. Or, well, all Dalish clans. Have you met many Dalish, Commander?” Ava retorted, quick to change the subject.
“I’m afraid not, Inquisitor. There weren’t many clans near the Ferelden circle and I didn’t really leave the Kirkwall circle much.” Cullen admitted.
“Oh, that’s a shame. We’re a lovely bunch.” Ava said, smiling.
"By the way, you don’t have to keep calling me Inquisitor; you can call me Ava if you’d like.” the elven mage said sheepishly. Cullen gave her a slight smile and nodded.
“As you wish.” Ava felt her face burning and cringed as she imagined how red her face must have looked to the commander. Luckily her face was mostly obscured by her cloak’s hood. Never had she been so grateful for ill fitting shem clothing.
“So back to the Hero of Ferelden, why did you never mention her?” Ava asked. Once again, Cullen shifted uncomfortably as he glanced back at the curious mage.
“We weren’t as close as Josephine would have you think. If anyone’s close to her I’d say that’s Leliana. She personally accompanied the Hero on her quest.” Cullen said, almost deflecting. Ava pouted. She’d heard all the stories from Leliana before. The former bard was an excellent story teller but that didn’t account for Commander Surana’s time before becoming a Grey Warden. Cullen should have plenty of information on that.
“Trust me, I think I’ve harassed our spymaster enough with all of my questions.” Ava said, chuckling. Cullen flashed her a sympathetic smile.
“Perhaps we should make camp for the night, yes?” Cassandra called out. Ava snapped her head back looked at the Nevarran warrior with relief.
“That’s an excellent idea, I’m exhausted.”