[sandbox]

[bringspeopletogether]

The letter he finally sends is maybe a little more impolitic than it ought to be, but if he doesn't send something now, he'll still be writing when his Calling arrives.



Fiona,

Ivette Cousland is looking for you. The name might ring a bell. Hero of Ferelden? Slayed the Archdemon some years ago?

Anyway. She's not having any luck, so I thought I'd try my hand at getting in touch.

Cousland's been searching for a cure for the Calling these past five years or so; she even retired as Warden-Commander of Vigil's Keep so she could pursue her research better. She knows your leaving the Wardens wasn't like mine. You didn't just walk away from Weisshaupt: you managed to un-Join somehow, with no ill effects. You're our last, best lead on the matter, so you can understand why she's rather eager to speak to you. It's very likely she doesn't have much time left, what with it being almost a decade and a half since her Joining and living through a Blight.

Frankly, I don't expect I have much time left, either.

Cullen and I are in South Reach these days. I'll always know where to find Cousland, if you'd rather speak with her directly. For all our sakes, I hope you'll be in touch.

--Alistair





Two weeks later, a raven knocks its beak against their window frame.

This is a matter best discussed in person, says the note attached to its leg. I can be to South Reach by the end of the month.

It's signed only with the letter F. Alistair spends the next few hours talking up a nervous storm, hands digging in his hair, half anxious, half furious. (This is exactly what he didn't want: for her to read this as an overture. For her to think she could have any claim to Alistair's time, Alistair's space, outside of giving him and Cousland the information they needed.)

Then he writes a letter to Cousland and sends the raven on its way.

Comments

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen takes a break from prodding the bacon to eye Gru.

"It's too hot," he warns. "You'll burn your tongue."

Pause.

"If you go get my shirt from where it's folded, I'll set aside a piece and give it to you once you come back."

[bringspeopletogether]

Gru draws himself up to his full height -- a good four and a half feet, give or take a few inches -- like a soldier coming to attention. He even manages to stop wagging his tail for a second.

Woof, he announces, then gets up to trot over to the bedroom.

A few moments of rustling and scrambling later, he pads back with Cullen's shirt clasped in his jaws as delicately as an eggshell. There's not even that much drool on it!

"...All those years in Skyhold without him," manages Alistair through his laughter. "How did we ever manage?"

[howtoactfereldan]

"We lived up a ladder," Cullen points out, and takes the shirt. "Well done, ser."

True to his word, he picks up the two pieces of bacon he set aside to cool just a little, and holds them out. Let it never be said that Cullen was not prompt with payment.

[bringspeopletogether]

WHAT. TWO PIECES. BEST DAY EVER. Delighted, Gru snaps them up, tail wagging ferociously as he devours the strips.

"Ah, yes," says Alistair in tones of great enlightenment. "How quickly I forget about things like our former living arrangements and the fact that dogs have no thumbs."

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen stops in the middle of pulling his shirt over his head to give Alistair a Look.

[highnever]

The shirt happens just in time; Ivette wanders in on the tail end of Alistair's remarks.

"And you call yourself Fereldan." She shakes her head a little, and quashes a yawn. " -- that's right. You were raised by dogs in the Anderfels."

[bringspeopletogether]

Alistair's jaw drops. Mock-affronted, he presses a hand to his chest.

"Well, good morning to you as well," he says. "And after I prepared you breakfast and everything."

[highnever]

"You're the one who told me that," she protests, and immediately drops to her knees to greet Gru. "And he hasn't prepared me breakfast, has he, it's not ready yet and he certainly didn't share with you because he's just the meanest."

Behind her, Cullen stifles a cough. When Ivette looks over he seems to have his attention firmly on the bacon.

"Dogs can do anything, can't they. Yes they can."

[bringspeopletogether]

"He got two pieces of bacon!" protests Alistair in turn. "...From Cullen, so yes, I had nothing to do with it."

He heaves a sigh and cracks a few eggs into another pan.

"Truly, I'm a worse monster than the archdemon and Corypheus combined."

[howtoactfereldan]

"It's the puns," Cullen says without looking up.

[highnever]

(It's Ivette's turn to stifle a cackle. Cullen did a better job of it.)

[bringspeopletogether]

Alistair can't suppress a snort of laughter, either.

"Just imagine," he says. "A tense battle atop a hillside, chaos everywhere, the very world at stake, and then -- "

He drops his voice into a low growl, imitating the archdemon. Or maybe Corypheus. Or both at the same time.

"I once ate an hourglass. It was time consuming."

[howtoactfereldan]

"And I just recalled that I need to talk to Bran so I should probably do that immediately," Cullen says, and goes to fetch a jerkin (and actual trousers).

It's not a retreat. It's a strategic movement.

[bringspeopletogether]

"It's a wonder he married me," Alistair says to Ivette, sotto voce, then raises his voice to call after Cullen, "Would you like toast and eggs for the road?"

[howtoactfereldan]

"When I get back," comes the reply. "Thank you."

[highnever]

"At least he's polite," Ivette says, and goes to see to the bacon herself. "Nathaniel doesn't bother."

[bringspeopletogether]

Well, Nathaniel, Alistair doesn't say, and even does a good job of keeping the sentiment off his face.

"Dangle the bacon far above his head and don't let him have it until he says 'thank you?'" he suggests. " -- Also, there's tea if you'd like any."

[highnever]

"...he's taller than you are."

Ivette... is much shorter than Alistair.

"Not like it's a frequent occurrence, anyhow." She shrugs a shoulder. "Given his father, it's not surprising."

[bringspeopletogether]

Ever the practical one, Alistair says, "That's what ladders are for."

He gives the pan of potatoes a shake. They're browning nicely, though Maker knows if they'll actually crisp up properly as well.

"And -- well, no, I suppose not. All the same."

[highnever]

She glances over her shoulder at Alistair, seems about to say something --

And then thinks better of it, giving him a small, sweet smile that doesn't quite hit her eyes, and turns back to the pan.

(There's a short list of people Ivette will allow to see her as something approaching vulnerable. Alistair isn't the entire list -- but he's at the top.)

[bringspeopletogether]

He glances over. Returns the smile, somewhat more crookedly.

After a moment, he reaches out, gives her shoulder a light squeeze, and returns to busying himself with the potatoes.

[highnever]

"Remember this?"

She pulls an amulet over her head, and holds it out.

[bringspeopletogether]

Alistair's eyebrows knit. With care, he reaches out, catching the back of the amulet with two fingers.

It takes a moment to remember where he's seen it before -- and then he exhales, softly. "Haven, wasn't it?" he asks.

(Haven carries a much different meaning with Cousland than it would with Cullen.)

[highnever]

Ivette nods.

"I should have gone to Highever instead of Amaranthine." Low, and unhappy. "I couldn't face it. Even after all this time. But I don't want -- if this doesn't work, or, or can only work for one of us -- will you pay Fergus a visit? Please?"

[bringspeopletogether]

"Of course," he murmurs. Letting the amulet slip away from his fingers, he meets Ivette's eyes. "You have my word."

And how selfish does it make him, that he lets her implication -- that if it only works for one of them, Alistair will be the one to take it -- go without remark? After Ivette has spent so long looking for a cure? Bitter shame floods him; he swallows it back.

But he can't make himself say anything like no, you ought to take it while he stands in the house he shares with his husband.