[sandbox]

[bringspeopletogether]

No Orlesian nobles pounded down their door to demand their hound back, so when Alistair and Cullen left Halamshiral, the newly-dubbed Gruyere happily trotted alongside their horses.

A few weeks after -- which included some quiet conversation, a few orders placed with a few merchants, and almost an entire extra pack of gifts slung over one of their mounts -- Gru just as happily trotted along as they turned for South Reach.

Years of correspondence led Alistair to build an elaborate image of Cullen's family in his mind; Mia, perhaps, more fully realized than the others, but everyone with a name and a voice to match their letters. They're...not wholly inaccurate? But Mia's definitely shorter than he expected, and one or two of the children a little louder.

(Mia's voice, however, adopts exactly the pitch he imagined it would when Alistair brings up the whole I'm-your-brother-in-law-now thing.)

It's a nice place. Just the right kind of rambunctious, with all the kids running around; just the right kind of homey.

If only Cullen weren't -- well, reacting more or less precisely how Alistair worried he'd react to the reunion.

Comments

[howtoactfereldan]

"...will that make you jealous?"

[bringspeopletogether]

"Not at all." Comfortably. "He's earned that crown."

(Gru looks downright smug by now.)

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen laughs, the sound rusty, and touches one of the flowers on Alistair's. "And you've already got one."

[bringspeopletogether]

Cullen's laugh may be creaky, but it lightens Alistair's heart as if it were a full-throated guffaw. He grins, warm, and brushes his thumb over Cullen's cheek.

"Exactly," he says. "It'd be cruel of me to hoard all the crowns. Especially since I don't have much place to put them -- soon the whole room would be stuffed with flowers."

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen turns his head enough to kiss Alistair's palm. "Would that be such a bad thing?"

[bringspeopletogether]

"Not unless you're the sort to sneeze around too many flowers, I suppose."

He sneaks another small kiss.

"And you don't seem to be."

[howtoactfereldan]

"True." Softly. Then: "Am I too heavy?"

[bringspeopletogether]

"Never," murmurs Alistair. He draws his fingers through Cullen's hair again. "I trust you'll tell me if you want a more comfortable pillow at some point, though."

Gru flops down at their feet with a huff. Apparently the humans are going to withhold more scritches until they're done canoodling. Gross.

[howtoactfereldan]

"Maybe. -- I interrupted something," he mumbles into Alistair's hair. "I can be somewhere else if you'd like to finish."

It's only fair. Considering.

[bringspeopletogether]

"It's nothing pressing."

His fingers keep moving in slow, gentle strokes.

"Just another draft destined for the fire. I could use the break."

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen nods a little, and stills. He could press. He could ask about it.

But words aren't quite connecting. A complete thought hovers just out of reach. It's far easier just to sit here, feeling his own pulse slow down to something less frenetic.

[bringspeopletogether]

"I have some tragic news."

He whispers it with the outsize affected sorrow that warns of an incoming joke.

"Gru got to taste a bit of his namesake today, and he hated it."

[howtoactfereldan]

"Another argument in favor of him being my dog, and not yours." Amused.

[bringspeopletogether]

Alistair chuckles; tugs lightly on a lock of Cullen's hair. "Maybe he'll appreciate a nice cheddar instead," he says. "You never know. Anyway, he's our dog, remember?"

Gru wags his tail.

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen huffs, amused. "If he likes cheddar, then that should be his name."

[bringspeopletogether]

Lofty: "No, no, it's far too late for that. He's been Gru for nearly an entire month. We can't confuse the poor dog further."

Boof, agrees Gru, quietly.

[howtoactfereldan]

"Your dog after all," Cullen sighs. "Just as well, then."

[bringspeopletogether]

"Take heart," murmurs Alistair, and kisses Cullen's brow. "If you build a small trebuchet and use it to play fetch with him, you'll win his loyalty forever."

[howtoactfereldan]

"That," Cullen says, "is actually a brilliant idea."

[bringspeopletogether]

Alistair beams.

"And just think of all the calibrations you could test," he says. "Accounting for whether it's a stick, or a ball, or a wadded-up piece of paper..."

[howtoactfereldan]

"So we're going into town for supplies tomorrow, is what you're saying."

[bringspeopletogether]

"Yes." Warm; laughing. "As early as you'd like for as long as you'd like."

If Cullen has something else to occupy his mind, maybe that'll stop him from hunching into himself quite so badly. (Or give him something to talk about with his siblings that isn't so, hey, how've you been the last fifteen years?)

[howtoactfereldan]

"I suppose I'd better get to bed, then, if we're to leave before dawn."

He is about eighty-five percent kidding.

[bringspeopletogether]

Alistair nearly chokes, but quickly schools his expression.

"As you wish, my love." Serene. "Though that would require us moving."

[howtoactfereldan]

"It builds character." Cullen kisses his forehead.