Sisters of Tevinter

Champion

     Kaisen yawned from where she sat, swinging her legs on the roof of the stables. Dane lounged in the sun beside her. Below, Cullen paced the lines of armored soldiers in rank, calling out drill forms and resplendent in the evening sunshine. 

      The Crow watched the commander work, fascinated by the glow of swinging swords and shouted replies in unison. All of the soldiers' movements flashed like shiny lures on the ends of a line, it was a wonder some great beast didn't come down from the sky to take hold of such a display in its teeth. 

      The Inquisition was growing in power and influence. It was interesting, how she watched their numbers grow and multiply from the very beginning. Jor was making allies, as well as a name for herself. Refugees and deserters flocked to the eyesun banner. Kaisen shook her head. She herself was content with small forces in the shadows. No one knew her name. She was rarely seen. She liked it better that way. 

    But here, in the sunset on this roof, she enjoyed being visible whenever Cullen glanced up to smile at her. The distance was enough to make him seem small, the curve of his lips even smaller, but in those moments of his distraction she felt her heart flutter and purr like a contented cat within her ribcage. Oh, she loved him. How glorious it was to see his shell of authority and poise soften just a little whenever he turned his gaze skyward. 

    Dane snuffled and yawned, nosing close and resting his head in her lap. Kaisen scritched his ears fondly, watching the soldiers raise their shields, slash, step to one side, turn, shout, repeating their earlier routine. Cullen gave a sharp call to halt just as a hornblast shook the ramparts, low and reverberating. Dane lifted his head, his nub of a tail wagging happily. 

    The gates and portcullis raised, Kaisen saw her siblings and their companions returning along the stone bridge. The soldiers shouted melodic, two note acknowledgement to their Inquistitor, who wearily raised a dagger to salute back before vanishing on the spot. 

    The soldiers jostled with cheers and whistling, some grinning, others stoic and proud. They loved their leader and her little shows. It was funny, how fond she seemed of exhibiting solidarity. Was she even doing it on purpose? Kaisen personally thought it was a waste of time. They were all just people. Even when she looked down at these fools who dressed up in pretty plates of metal to fight for something as unifying as world peace-- she laughed. 

   Idiots. 

    But she supposed they were her idiots. They were certainly Cullen's. She could support them from the shadows. That was her job. That was what she'd been hired to do. That's why she worked for the Nightingale, who had taught her to be ruthless and secretive. Maybe she'd taken all that a little farther than it had been meant to go, but it was a comforting thing. Her visage was her own layer of shiny metal. She could live with that. 

     She glanced down as Cullen turned back to his work, his cloak rippling in the spring breeze and stirring his gorgeous, fluffy hair. A smile twitched the Crow's mouth. If someone slipped through the cracks every now and then, maybe that was okay. 

     Jor had handed Blackwall over to Cassandra and Josephine in the war room, wearily explaining what little had happened. They would wait for Cullen to return from the ranks outside to discuss their final preparations for the Western Approach. For now, she paced the upper halls of the library where it circled the room of murals below. 

    She'd spoken to Solas briefly on her way up. A nod. 

     "Inquisitor." 

      "Solas."