[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

[howtoactfereldan]

"He absolutely told more back then." Wry. "More and worse. Far worse."

[bringspeopletogether]

His eyebrows lift.

"You knew him, too?"

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen doesn't believe in runes to keep tea warm, but it's certainly much less of a hassle to use one to heat water for tea. He finishes fussing with the teapot and retreats to the chaise, picking up a bun on the way.

"We trained to be templars together. For several years. He never took vows, though -- the Grey Wardens came calling first."

[bringspeopletogether]

"Ohhh." Huh, says his expression as he polishes off the last of the bun. "Maybe that's why Mother liked him, then. Because he stopped being a templar."

(She must have liked him, after all; else Kieran wouldn't exist.)

A sidelong look, with a glimmer of mischief. "What was the worst joke he ever told?"

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen decides it's probably a good idea not to support or contradict Kieran's hypothesis.

Instead, he rolls his eyes -- can't quite stop himself. "He's still got this habit of replacing bits of the Chant of Light with the food he'd rather be eating."

[bringspeopletogether]

Kieran giggles. "That is pretty bad," he agrees. "I bet they didn't like that."

Having been raised by a woman like Morrigan, however, Kieran likes the idea just fine.

[howtoactfereldan]

"Try having to stand next to him when you're both supposed to be singing." Cullen is smiling despite himself. "You can't quite keep yourself from trying to hear what he's doing to it this time, while you're supposed to be concentrating yourself. Awful."

[bringspeopletogether]

"Did you ever start accidentally singing about food because of it?"

Kieran's grinning outright now.

[howtoactfereldan]

"That," Cullen says, lofty, "is a secret."

[bringspeopletogether]

"What's a secret?" comes a mumbly, sleep-blurred voice from above them. "Something good?"

Alistair peers down at them, stifling a yawn against the back of his hand. (At some point, one has to accept that this is as much sleep as they'll be getting; apparently Alistair has hit that point despite the early hour.)

[howtoactfereldan]

"...it's a secret," he repeats. "Come down here. Tea will be done soon."

[bringspeopletogether]

"I asked if he ever sang about food during the Chant of Light," says Kieran, cheerfully.

Alistair pauses midway down the ladder, eyeing Cullen, and starts to smile. "Really."

[howtoactfereldan]

"Before you get any ideas," Cullen says, "consider how many other stories about you I could tell him."

[bringspeopletogether]

Kieran perks up. "What sort of stories?"

Alistair, who's just opened his mouth to say something, pauses again. Closes his mouth.

"So," he says, with cheerful blandness, as his feet hit the floor. "What's for breakfast?"

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen laughs quietly.

"Cat sent us back with a basket." He points to it over on his desk. "Plenty left."

[bringspeopletogether]

"Wonderf -- " He cuts himself off mid-word with another yawn; sheepishly: "Wonderful."

As he shuffles over to the basket to relieve it of a bun or two, he asks Kieran, "How are you?"

"All right. Can we visit Sister Leliana after breakfast?"

Alistair blinks, and throws a quick glance Cullen's way: what's this about?

[howtoactfereldan]

"Leliana is better equipped to answer questions about the nature of Morrigan and Lavellan's arcane offensive capabilities than I am." Light. "I suggested that you two seek her out once you could put a sentence together."

(They will have to pass Fiona to get there. This has not occurred to Cullen.)

"You could bring the ravens any leftover buns. Might earn their goodwill."

[bringspeopletogether]

"Ah."

He bites into a sweet bun of his own, chewing industriously as he considers this.

"Well," he says, "I'm sure I'll feel coherent enough after this -- " He wiggles the bun from side to side. " -- and a cup of tea once it's ready. Which do you think the ravens will like more, the sweet buns or the savory ones?"

"Savory," says Kieran promptly. "They're carrion birds."

"...Right. So they are."

[howtoactfereldan]

"You mean carrion birds don't like a little dessert?" asks Cullen innocently.

[bringspeopletogether]

"They might," says Kieran, seriously. "I don't know. I've never been one."

Alistair covers any expression he might make by taking another huge bite of his breakfast.

[howtoactfereldan]

"Me either," Cullen says, and hands Alistair a cup of tea.

[bringspeopletogether]

"'Nkoo," says Alistair around a mouthful of bun, and leans to give Cullen an unthinking peck on the cheek.

[howtoactfereldan]

"Finish chewing first." Cullen wrinkles his nose.

[bringspeopletogether]

To his credit, Alistair looks properly contrite.

He swallows down his food and says, sheepishly, "I can blame that on still waking up, can't I?"

[howtoactfereldan]

Cheerful: "Absolutely not."