Chapter Text
Cassandra was sparring in the ring, sweat was dripping from her face but her concentration was as sharp as ever. She was mildly fatigued but she handled the recruits with unsurprising ease. Everyone in Skyhold knew that Seeker Pentaghast was the best swordswoman of the whole Inquisition; even Cullen had lost at her more times he was glad to be able to count, much to Dorian amusement. She had even manhandled The Iron Bull, and more than once.
One could have many opinions on Lady Pentaghast, but everyone agreed that if you were not ready to have your own ass delivered to you, it was better not to cross her.
And of course that was a thing Varric kept doing. He half enjoyed it and half did it unconsciously, but Cassandra was ready to beat the shit out of him nine times out of ten.
'You know, you should probably offer a drink to each of those poor recruits.' The Inquisitor said gingerly walking up on him.
Damn her and her fine skills!, he rumbled between himself as his heartbeat steadied back to normal.
'As long as she stays far away from me, I'll pay drinks for all of Skyhold.' He snorted, crossing his arms and leaning on the cold hard stone of the Main Hall's entrance.
'Well, it kind of is your fault she is in such foul mood... - she chimed - She had come to trust you and you promptly stabbed her in the back.'
Varric opened his mouth to defend himself, but Lavellan shrugged it off before he could say anything.
'I know, I know. You had your reasons and I won't judge you. Hawke's here now, that is more than I could've asked for.' She offered with one of her rare smiles, squeezing his shoulder lightly.
They stood in silence for a while, watching as Cassandra kicked the asses of one recruit at a time, never faltering despite the midday sun or the continuous exertion.
'There's one thing I don't understand though...' She said out of the blue, her eyes locked on the sparring ring.
'If you like her so much, why don't you try to be a bit more...caring?' She asked.
Varric almost choke on his own spit.
He did what now?!
'Now now, your Inquisitorialness', I think you've misunderstood something here.'
'Oh did I?' She said smugly.
'Last time I checked you were writing a book for the woman, and the worst of your series at that. Tell me again how much you hate her.' She crossed her arms and gave him one of her infamous glares.
Varric couldn't reply to that. Swords & Shields was his worst serial and he was only writing it because Cassandra was reading it. It was a way to put things at ease between them, yes, but was it only that?
He sighed and turned towards the woman standing at his side.
'Whatever you say, Inquisitor.' He dismissed the whole discussion with a wave of his hand before retreating inside.
Thalia was left there to scowl, muttering things to herself. Matchmaking wasn't her favorite pass time, but she hated to see her friends denying themselves in this stubborn foolish way.
'Should I go find something for you to hit, ma'vhenan?' Solas chuckled as he stopped in front of her.
'No I'm... just frustrated, not angry.' She explained, gladly slipping between her lover's open arms.
'And why is that?' He asked, caressing her back with soothing movements.
'Because Varric and Cassandra like each other but are both too stubborn to put aside their differences to acknowledge it.' She murmured in the crook of his neck.
Solas couldn't help the chuckle that left his lips, and Thalia thought that Varric had found the perfect nickname for him. She loved the sound of that little laugh, it had always made her feel all tingly.
'I suppose you won't just stand aside and do nothing, correct?' He smiled knowingly.
Thalia took a step back but did not leave the embrace; she stood on her toes and gave him a wicked grin.
The mage shook his head but did nothing to persuade her. Not that he had the ability to do so, anyway.
'I have plans.' She said matter-of-factly.
Then she leaned to whisper in his ear.
'In the mean time, you could give me some love.' She said allusively, lightly nibbling at his long ear.
Solas went still for a second, but soon enough his body reacted to both her words and her actions.
'Ma nuvinen.' He said, his voice already husky with the promise of the pleasure to come.
The Herald Rest was unusually quiet that night, Cassandra noted while sipping her expensive wine. She was seated at a table on the second floor near the windows, her copy of ‘Swords & Shields’ open on her knees. But she was distracted, she had already read the same passage for at least five times before giving up and closing the book shut on the table.
For as much she wanted to deny her thoughts to travel towards a certain inhabitant of Skyhold, that night there was no way to keep her mind from wandering. While she was sparring, that morning, kicking the asses of all the recruits she could find in order to free herself from the residual anger that had grown inside her since the past week, she had noted Varric staring down from the entrance of the Main Hall.
That damned dwarf had stayed there for the long part of two hours, just watching, and had left soon after the Inquisitor had joined him.
I wonder what she said to him to make him run. She found herself thinking, curious about the conversation they had held.
She also didn’t miss the embrace between her and Solas, which gave her heart a sad squeeze of longing causing her to bash a poor recruit right in the face.
There was nothing wrong with being romantic, if not for when she caught herself feeling extremely lonely and longing for all those things she kept seeing and reading.
She chugged down whatever remained of her glass and groaned, suddenly angry with herself.
She had her faith, she didn’t need a-
‘Seeker!’ Bull’s load voice bellowed in her proximity, making her jump and almost braking said glass.
‘How do you get to be so sneaky?!’ she asked in disbelief. A Qunari should not be able to jump on people like that!
The Iron Bull obviously found her fright amusing and his powerful laugh filled the air of the tavern.
‘It’s not my fault you had your head in clouds! Thinking about the dwarf, were you?’ he said, taking a seat next to her.
Cassandra’s head snapped back to him and gave him a half-death-half-shocked glare.
‘What? No!’ she rejected his allusion.
When the mercenary didn’t answer and simply stared at her with a knowing smile, she felt a blush creep on her cheeks and turned away.
‘How did you know?’
‘Ben-Hassrath, remember?’* he chuckled, satisfied.
As Cassandra avoided his eyes, Bull took advantage and stole a look above them; Thalia was leaning on the railing, smiling and giving him the okay sign with her hand.
That was his cue.
A floor above the Inquisitor smiled to herself with self satisfaction.
‘She doesn’t like when other people know what she’s thinking.’ Cole said, next to her.
She put a hand on his forearm and smiled.
‘I know, but this is for her own good, I promise.’ She replied, sweet coating a bit.
It wasn’t like Cassandra needed their aid, but she was almost fed up with hers and Varric’s angry outbursts at each other, but mostly she was fed up with the sad glances they kept throwing at each other when they thought no one was watching.
So they were going to help.
‘You should not use Cole’s abilities for such things, vhenan.’ Solas said reproachfully from her other side.
Thalia grimaced.
‘I’m not using him, Solas.’ She bit back a little more hastily than she had wished to.
‘I want to help!’ the Spirit chimed in between them, at which she regained her smile.
‘See?’ she grinned up at her lover who simply sighed and set back to watch the interaction downstairs.
They spent some time like that, watching and listening to the conversation in which Krem and Blackwall had joined too at some point.
‘Cole?’
The boy hummed in response to her.
‘Would you go check on the others, please?’ she kindly requested.
Without another word he was gone.
‘So what now?’ Solas asked, curious against his better judgment.
With a smug chuckle she leaned back into his arms, resting her head on his shoulder.
‘Now we wait for them to play their parts.’ Was her simple reply.
The elder man frowned.
‘And what about you?’
There was no way she would simply stay out of the whole affair, he knew.
‘If I were to join in, then the whole operation would fail. I’ve been pestering the both of them for quite some time now, they would immediately notice I was up to something.’ She replied earnestly.
‘I’ll simply pull the strings and enjoy you, ma’vhenan.’ She added, turning just enough to gain access to his bare neck and biting down lightly.
That was enough to send a charge of pleasure through the men’s body.
‘I see.’