Cat nap

Title: Cat nap
Author: AgeOfRogues
Game: Dragon Age Inquisition
Characters/ Pairing: Fiora Lavellan/ Cullen Rutherford
Disclaimer: All characters and places belong to BioWare
Summary: Sometimes, even the most mighty need rest.

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“Inquisitor, your attention is needed in the War Room.”

“Inquisitor!  Can you help?”

“Lady Lavellan, your influence will be needed in Val Royeaux.”

“Herald, your judgement is required.”

Fiora enjoyed helping people, she really did, but she was exhausted and near to pulling at the blonde strands of hair that were already frizzing from severe lack of sleep and stress. She tried her best not to let it show;  the inquisition needed a leader with a head firmly set on her shoulders.  This had been going on for months, but she tried to never let it bother her.  How could she?  Her companions and advisors had worries and problems of their own- letting them know how she was feeling would be the opposite of helping them.

Fortunately, she had Cullen. With his warm words and a smile that curled one side of his mouth, tugging at his scar, that made her knees knock and her heart flutter in her breast, the task of being the leader of an institution to the likes of the Inquisition was not as trying. As of late, he seemed to enjoy making her blush for a change, which was as nice as it was distracting.

Fiora could really use a distraction right now.  She worried that, if one more person comes to her with their problems that she wanted to help fix, she might accidentally set their breeches on fire! More than once in the last two days, she has felt flames warming her palm and shining off the walls around her.

Before such an event could happen, she hurriedly escaped Skyhold’s main hall through the door next to where Varric preferred to haunt. Thankfully, the dwarf was not in sight, so she was able to sneak through the doorway as quietly as the heavy wood and iron contraption would allow.  On the other side, she hid for a moment in the shadows to hear whether her fellow elf companion was in residence.  She hoped that he was walking the fade or wandering the Hold, or doing whatever it was he did when she did not require his assistance with tasks to help the Inquisition.  

The Creators must have been watching over her in her task.  As she peeked around the corner and into the lowest level of the rookery, she was relieved to see Solas in a deep sleep in his chair.  Once pass him, she quickly opened and closed his door blocking the outside catwalk to Cullen’s office, her destination her main focus.  She ran fast and low along the bridge from the main building to his office and, once inside, let out a relieved sigh.  

Whilst her feelings for the commander were growing, it was still to early in their relationship to have to explain to him why she was running around with the look of a frightened Halla in her spring-green eyes. She didn’t want him to think less of her because she was running and hiding, didn’t want him thinking she was shirking her duties because she was a little tired.

Noting the Commander’s absence, she looked around for somewhere to lay her head - only for a minute. When her eyes caught on the ladder leading up to, what could only be guessed as his living quarters, she paused to contemplate whether she should or not.  She paused at the base of the large ladder leading up. Fiora was not sure of human traditions and customs when it came to relationships, so she was not sure how he would feel if she snuck up to his quarters to hide for a short time.

“I will not be up there long enough for anyone to really notice I was in here,” Fiora murmured to herself, looking up the ladder leading to his bed.  

Making up her mind, Fiora shimmied up the ladder.

What she saw when she climbed over the edge and stood, made her heart fall into her stomach with sadness.  While she might be used to sleeping under the stars or in tents and aravels, she had a feeling that the Good Commander was less than accustomed to the life.  To her knowledge, he had lived in the Chantry and then one circle or another for almost twenty years. When she looked around, it was obvious that this part of the wall surrounding the keep had yet to be repaired.  Wooden beams and dense stone blocks littered the floor from where the roof had caved in from the disrepair gained between keep inhabitants. What did he do when it rained?  When it snowed?  They had been in Skyhold long enough to have experienced both, yet he never said a word.

“Oh, Cullen.  Why didn’t you say something? I’d gladly give you my quarters if I had known you lived like this.” Fiora walked over to his bed and sat down on the edge. After a moment of looking around, an idea popped into her head. She would talk to Gati about repairing Cullen’s room as soon as possible.  She couldn’t have her commander coming down with a cold.  She couldn’t have the man that fascinated her more than any other getting sick.  Though, it would give her a reason to give him personal care. Shaking her head to dislodge the daydream that bloomed in her mind of her feeding Cullen hot soup by hand as he lay in his sick bed, she looked up at the holes in the roof.  She sighed at the feeling of sun on her skin, her body relaxing significantly, her eyes growing heavy with exhaustion. With another sigh, Fiora leaned back on the sunlight-dappled cover and felt herself begin to nod off as the bedding and mattress embraced her in its depths.

~//~

“Cullen, have you seen the Inquisitor? It has been several hours since she was last seen and it is getting dark.” Cullen turned towards the deep, accented voice of the Inquisition’s Seeker as she caught up to him in the training ring in the Bailey. He straightened, bare chest gleaming with sweat and used his tunic to wipe his face and chest from training with his men in the waning sunlight. Tossing his training sword to the soldier he had been giving some one-on-one training with, he faced the seeker.

“You have lost the Inquisitor,” he gave her his signature half smile, attempting at humor with his teasing tone. His humor dissipated when he failed to at least bring a smile to the woman’s face. “No, I have not seen her since the War Council meeting just after midday meal.  Has no one seen her?”

“None that I have found. Did she not mention going on a mission?  Maybe she has gone to the garden, or the woods near Skyhold.”

“It is possible.” Cullen nodded, hiding his growing concern for Fiora’s well-being. She did not always tell him when she was leaving to do something for the Inquisition, but it was becoming more common as their relationship became more serious. “She told me nothing of any trips. Have you talked to her companions?”  When Cassandra nodded her head and said nothing more, Cullen became worried. “I will go change and help you search the Keep. She would not have left without telling someone.”

Nodding in acknowledgement, the two advisors and friends went their separate ways: Cassandra went to the great hall, Cullen to his quarters to gather his chestplate and cloak. In his office and up the ladder to his bed, he located his armor on a mannequin and gathered a clean tunic to wear under his armor as protection from the metal. Finished with his armor, he was just putting his cloak over his shoulders,  when he heard a light snore. Quietly, Cullen finished equipping his cloak, holding part of it down with a belt, and gathered his sword from next to where his armor had been. When he heard another soft inhale, he located the origin of the sound.  There was a lump in his bed that wasn’t there when he left this morning, and the soldier he had sent up with his armor said nothing of there being something in his bed. Placing his sword behind his back to appear less threatening, he gently grasped the edge of his covers and slowly pulled.  What he saw widened his eyes and caused him to drop the blanket and stand back, bringing his hands to his side.

‘Well, I found Fiora.’ he thought to himself with a slight chuckle that managed to escape his lips. This was obviously enough to rouse the sleeping Inquisitor.  With a gasp from her, Cullen watched her sit straight up and attempt to rub the sleep from her eyes, completely disregarding the hair that created a halo about her head from movement and static under his covers. The flaxen braid that fell over her shoulder was no better - it was in just as much disarray as the top of her head.  Her look of dishevelment was endearing to him- she looked as if she had just woken from a night of unbridled passion, sans the trickle of drool that trailed down her chin. Even the small hand print on her cheek from where she had used her hand as a pillow, did not take away from the sight she was before him.

Eyes completely rubbed clean of sleep, Fiora looked around and froze, her eyes growing wide when she caught sight of his boots and breeches standing before her.  A becoming blush rouged her cheeks red before, like a shot, her eyes shot up to meet his. Cullen watched her throat as it worked to swallow with nervousness.  Cullen smiled softly in an attempt to put her at ease in her compromising situation.

“My lady?  What are you doing in…*ahem* my bed?  Not that I am complaining, mind you, of course.” He paused to look to the side to gather his straying thoughts.  A blush heated his cheekbones and caused the little hairs on his neck to stand to attention; he looked back at her regardless of his discomfort.  “Are you alright?”

Fiora shrank back into the bed, drawing her knees to her chest and staring pointedly at his right hand. Cullen watched her eyes grow wide and her pupils shrink as she continued to watch it.  Looking down, he cursed to himself for not putting his sword down when he realized she was the lump in his bed. He hoped that she knew he would never knowingly use it on her, but it must still brought back memories of bandits attacking her clan.  She had told him about it after sending some of his troops to assist in defense when another band of bandits attacked her clan two weeks ago. Cullen quickly placed the weapon on the ground, his left hand held palm-out before straightening with both hands up to show he was unarmed.

“Are you alright?” Slowly, silently, Fiora moved to the edge of the bed and rose gracefully to stand before him.  

“Are you angry?  I know I should not have slept in your bed without asking, but…”

“But what?” Cullen replied as he lowered one arm and moved closer to hook a finger under her chin. Before he could, however, she backed away and lifted her head and squared her shoulders.

“I needed a place to escape, to rest.  Even though we are in a relationship, I thought it might be possible that people would not expect to find me here.  That, and when I came up here, I was only intending on sitting on the floor or something, to take a nap, but when I stood under the sunshine coming through the holes in your roof, I suddenly felt my exhaustion become overwhelming and sat down and must have fallen asleep.  I think I might have woken up once, just long enough to go under the covers because I don’t remember being under them.  When I laid down, your bed was made.” She paused. “ Are you upset with me?”

All Cullen could do is look at her in surprise and then feel a sense of pride grow in his chest. While he did worry about what people would think should they see her emerging from his room, he felt prideful that she would seek him out to defend her, even in so small a way. It took a minute to realize what she had asked.

“Angry?  With you?  Great Andraste, no.  I am glad that you were here. Your exhaustion has not gone unnoticed by me,  I am glad that you managed to steal away to get some rest.  We need you at your best for the testaments to come.  By the Void, I would have been happy to find you sleeping in the stables next to your red Hart, or even under the battlements!  Right now, your health is more important than any of ours.” Fiora blushed deep and Cullen moved towards her to embrace her in his grasp. She moved willingly as she always did.  His embrace gave her a sense of protection and shelter- something she had not felt since leaving her clan and coming to the inquisition.

“Thank you, Cullen.” Fiora murmured against his breastplate with a sigh. After a few minutes of just standing there, enjoying the others’ company.