Honey and Ink [Dragon Age: Inquisition]

Alabaster and Amber

— CW: Sexual content! Only mildly explicit! —

The Commander paced the battlements, ashen features set in alabaster and posture stiff with nerves. His neck ached from tilting his gaze up at the Breach incessantly, unable to tear his eyes from the chartreuse fury that oozed from the sky. He wasn't sure what he expected to see from here, other than the constant whirling motion of debris caught in the vortex. The sickly green cast over everything likely mirrored his current nauseated complexion, Cullen thought, rubbing his neck with a surprisingly sweaty palm. Lyric would be somewhere underneath it all by now, and as he imagined her there, his insides churned-- everything depended on her success. More than everything. A storm raged inside the Commander, winds of anticipation and rains of fear drumming a ragged beat on the walls of his chest. I will not lose you, he repeated in his mind, a too-tired prayer that he would not, could not stop reciting.

    Even if Lyric would've allowed him to accompany her, it was his duty to stay behind and protect Skyhold and its inhabitants, to prepare and mobilize what few troops they had on hand. Presently, Cullen was overseeing the mages as they formed a magical barrier over the entire fortress, coating the edges of everything with a shimmering, near-invisible armor. The silvery substance made its way over his skin as it percolated, flowing down the battlements and into the courtyard below. Now familiar, the feeling of benign magic made his heart skip a beat, because it reminded him of Lyric. You must not render yourself useless with worry. At attention, Commander.

"It's working," he said to Solas, half-statement half-question. The mage's slim frame was perched on the wall nearby, his posture shaped by concentration. 

"The mages will need to sustain incredible focus to maintain the barrier," Solas said, and a strange magic flame flickered in his palm. "But if Skyhold comes under attack, it should hold." With that, he closed his fist, and the blueish flame was snuffed out. 

"I thank you," Cullen started, but Solas was already rushing down the stairs, out of sight before the Commander could finish his sentence.

Cullen took a deep and steadying breath, exhaling with all the steady slowness of a freshwater creek. The effects of the barrier had given him a refreshed sense of resolve, it seemed, because for a moment, Cullen let himself feel hopeful. Maybe everyone was where they needed to be. Maybe this was how they would get their desired outcome. Maybe all the pieces had already fallen into place. Maybe everything would turn out in their favour. Maybe.

"I never took you for the brooding type, Commander." The sarcastic words came from behind him, carried by a voice that was deep and musical. Cassandra was leaning against the wall of the tower, looking inhumanly calm as she gazed skywards, the Breach's harsh lights spinning in her hazel irises.

"Very funny," Cullen retorted.

"You do look exceedingly worried, though-- perhaps even more than usual," Cassandra prodded, the corners of her mouth curling slightly in a friendly half-smile.

"Everything comes down to this," Cullen muttered, flickering his gaze back skywards as he spoke, once again hoping that in the brief moment he'd dared to look away, the Breach had miraculously closed. "I think I am appropriately distressed, considering... the circumstances."

"This is true," Cassandra agreed, pushing off from the wall to step closer to the Commander. "You know she will emerge victorious, yes? You must know this." Her face was, as usual, set straight and hard to read. But Cullen sensed she was more at peace in this moment than he'd ever seen her.

"But I am her Commander," he protested, resting his hand on his sword, falling into a comfortable routine of muscle memory as his brain fought for control. "And in her final fight, the Inquisition's final hour, I did not have the troops to send with her. That is a failure on my part-- and it's exactly what Corypheus expected. I gave him the opportunity. I should have known."