[sandbox]

[bringspeopletogether]

Back to Skyhold. Back to work.

Alistair resumes training with the Chargers a few days after his and Cullen's return; the company got back from Halamshiral just before the Basin group showed up, Bull explains, so he was giving them a rest before picking up exercises again. Krem fills Alistair in on all the details as they're exchanging blows. Some of it is just Orlesian Worst Game Ever nonsense, but since it ends with a whole lot of shamefaced nobles with no mercenaries to their names, Alistair's pretty damn pleased.

(Maybe he can get the new mercenaries in on his plan to dress up the training dummies in Orlesian garb. Hmmmmmm.)

Cullen's in a war room meeting by the time Alistair's done. He throws some water on his face and heads for the kitchens -- maybe he can split a small meal with Kieran before Morrigan's return.

Comments

[bringspeopletogether]

"Precisely."

Alistair's grin is much steadier now, and has a good deal more cheer to it.

"Bet that's why so many royals have that pained look on their faces all the time."

[howtoactfereldan]

"A solid conclusion, Theirin," Cullen murmurs into his hair. "Well reasoned."

[bringspeopletogether]

Comfortably: "I thought so, too."

He lets his eyes drift closed.

[howtoactfereldan]

The morning will be a good enough time to tell Alistair that it might be a good idea to stay armed until they know Lavellan's fate.

Only one of us gets to fall apart at a time, he thinks, and touches his lips to Alistair's forehead.

[bringspeopletogether]

Alistair has no intention of sleeping yet. Like son, like father, though: fear is exhausting, doubly so when you finally give it a path to rush out all at once.

He runs through the Warden oath like a canticle. In war, victory. In peace, vigilance. In death, sacrifice. Death comes for all Wardens sooner rather than later. If this is the end, so be it. He just doesn't want it to end like this, with the sky rent in two and the Fade come to claim him again.

But he can hold on to that little piece of him that isn't afraid. And hold on to Cullen, quite literally, as he gives in to sleep.

[howtoactfereldan]

Well.

He'll get a handful of hours in his own bed. Just not lying down.

With a small sigh, Cullen settles back against the headboard. This won't be the first time he's slept sitting up. It won't be the last.

[bringspeopletogether]

At some point, Alistair wakes himself up by slumping so far down the headboard that he gets a crick in his back. On the downside: this might wake up Cullen as well. On the upside: a chance to lie down properly.

He wakes up a few more times after that: quick stirs to wakefulness that pass within fifteen minutes.

Kieran, on the other hand, is up for good before first light. He stays on his pallet for a time, taking in his surroundings. Eventually he pads to Alistair's shelf of books to find something to read.

[howtoactfereldan]

When Alistair migrated, Cullen did too; he sleeps on his stomach, punching his pillow under his head.

It's hard to tell when, exactly, the sky lightens. But Cullen snaps awake while it still seems dark, after Kieran's foray.

Carefully -- if Alistair is asleep at last, Cullen doesn't want to wake him yet -- Cullen sits up, rubbing his face. He should do something about his stubble, but it seems... extremely unimportant, just at the moment.

Instead, he leans over to start putting his boots on.

[bringspeopletogether]

"Good morning, ser."

Kieran has manners enough to keep his voice to a whisper. Nobody likes being woken up too early, after all.

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen looks over his shoulder -- and smiles, tired but warm.

He nods toward the ladder, and whispers, "Shall we get breakfast?"

[bringspeopletogether]

Kieran returns the nod, solemnly. Tucking the book under one arm, he pushes to his feet and heads for the ladder.

"I think my boots are still downstairs," he whispers before he descends.

(They are. Alistair coaxed Kieran into taking them off when it looked like he was two minutes away from conking out.)

[howtoactfereldan]

Good. He has a moment, while Kieran finds his boots.

"Alistair." Softly, as he squeezes Alistair's shoulder. "Kieran and I will bring you breakfast. We won't be long."

Based on last night, if Alistair wakes to find both of them gone, Cullen isn't sure it will be possible to deal with the fallout.

[bringspeopletogether]

Alistair mumbles a few formless syllables; one clumsy hand extracts itself from the blankets so he can drag it down his face. He squints up at Cullen.

Blurrily: "...Food?"

[howtoactfereldan]

"Yes."

Cullen takes Alistair's hand and presses it to the coin hanging from its chain.

"We'll return very soon. Rest."

[bringspeopletogether]

Another beat to process this. Alistair's fingers curl around the coin, absently.

"'Kay," he mumbles at last, as his eyes slip closed again. "Love you."

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen leans over and kisses Alistair's forehead. "I love you. Sleep well."







He won't trouble with the armor this early. When he hits the office floor, he has his old woolen jerkin over his shoulder; he pulls it over his head and smiles at Kieran.

"Ready?"

[bringspeopletogether]

"Yes," says Kieran. He keeps the book in hand as they step from the tower; the Breach gets a brief glance, but nothing more.

"It hasn't changed yet."

[howtoactfereldan]

"That's still good news, at this point," Cullen says quietly as they cross the bridge to the great hall. "There hasn't yet been enough time for the Inquisitor to arrive in the Valley of Sacred Ashes. The very earliest we can expect anything at all is tomorrow morning."

He holds the door open for Kieran. Solas isn't in his study. "But we'll watch the sky all the same." And the hall itself is all but deserted.

Down the stairs to the cellars. "It took three days, right after the Conclave, for the Inquisitor to be able to stop the Breach from getting worse. And it took several weeks more to close it. In the meantime we... just had to go about our business."

[bringspeopletogether]

Kieran nods. "I remember," he says, quietly. "Mother and I could see it from the Winter Palace. She said it takes a lot of power to open a Breach, and more to close it."

He hugs the book closer to his chest as they enter the kitchens.

[howtoactfereldan]

"Your mother is correct."

He looks up: the sky may be rent once more, but someone still has to make the bread in the morning. So Cullen has to stay calm, because they'll take their cue in part from how he conducts himself. "Good morning, Cat -- could we trouble you for some buns?"

The short answer: yes.

[bringspeopletogether]

Whether by virtue of being related to Alistair, or -- more likely -- being a ten-year-old boy, the buns serve to distract Kieran quite handily. A good thing, considering his next question, which arrives on their way back to the tower.

"Mother's very powerful. So is the Inquisitor. They share an old blood now, and that mark she uses is very old too. Will it be enough?"

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen huffs a breath, still smiling, but not quite as much.

"I don't know. But you know -- that isn't something I know very much about. You might do better asking Sister Nightingale."

[bringspeopletogether]

Very seriously: "But she's not awake yet."

Once they return: neither is Alistair, if the tiny snore drifting down from the loft is anything to go by.

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen laughs quietly.

"I suspect that once Alistair wakes and can form a sentence, he'd be willing to go with you to ask. They're old friends, you know."

[bringspeopletogether]

Kieran brightens a little. "Yes, she fought alongside Mother during the Blight, too. Though Mother says she's changed a lot since then."

He picks one of the sweet buns from the basket Cat provided, then glances up at the loft.

"She says Alistair has changed a lot, too."