He's not entirely sure how it happens, but they wind up back on Vivienne's balcony, joined by Josephine, with two bottles of wine and some sort of Antivan smoked fish and dried fruit that Josephine had been saving for a special occasion.
Cullen doesn't drink much -- just tilts his head back against the arm of the chaise and listens to Leliana and Josephine trading stories, tossing verses of songs back and forth until Leliana provides a different set of lyrics to each one in Orlesian, and every subsequent iteration gets filthier and filthier until he's positive he's bright red and Josephine says, We should have had Cullen helping with our translation work ages ago, if his vocabulary is this well-rounded and Cullen blurts, I'd rather be pickled and fed to the Avvar, and Leliana laughs in a way Cullen's never heard from her and reaches for the lute Vivienne has had leaning artfully against a pile of books for months.
She tsks softly as she tunes it, and then tries a few chords.
Not Andraste's Mabari, you fiend, Cullen says without opening his eyes, pointing in the direction of the lute noise. You absolute -- villain.
Leliana laughs again, and then picks out the melody line to one of the first hymns children learn in the Chantry. Satisfied, then, she begins to sing.
Even as the sun goes down, the light from the new Breach remains, casting through the stained glass, making the rose window above them glow. It's -- not unpleasant.
He glances down, and sees that Leliana has an audience: people with their faces turned up, cautious faces, fearful faces, hopeful faces.
There was another night like this one, somewhere near Haven.
Cullen finishes the contents of his glass as Leliana finishes the first verse, and picks up with her on the second.
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Cullen doesn't drink much -- just tilts his head back against the arm of the chaise and listens to Leliana and Josephine trading stories, tossing verses of songs back and forth until Leliana provides a different set of lyrics to each one in Orlesian, and every subsequent iteration gets filthier and filthier until he's positive he's bright red and Josephine says, We should have had Cullen helping with our translation work ages ago, if his vocabulary is this well-rounded and Cullen blurts, I'd rather be pickled and fed to the Avvar, and Leliana laughs in a way Cullen's never heard from her and reaches for the lute Vivienne has had leaning artfully against a pile of books for months.
She tsks softly as she tunes it, and then tries a few chords.
Not Andraste's Mabari, you fiend, Cullen says without opening his eyes, pointing in the direction of the lute noise. You absolute -- villain.
Leliana laughs again, and then picks out the melody line to one of the first hymns children learn in the Chantry. Satisfied, then, she begins to sing.
Even as the sun goes down, the light from the new Breach remains, casting through the stained glass, making the rose window above them glow. It's -- not unpleasant.
He glances down, and sees that Leliana has an audience: people with their faces turned up, cautious faces, fearful faces, hopeful faces.
There was another night like this one, somewhere near Haven.
Cullen finishes the contents of his glass as Leliana finishes the first verse, and picks up with her on the second.