[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

[bringspeopletogether]

"Yes."

Still tentative; still hopeful. Listening to Cullen breathe in, and out, as the brandy starts to warm him.

"Somewhere a little bigger, perhaps. More room for Gru to run."

It's -- been a while since Alistair has spun out any stories of what life might be like after. A long while. With the Inquisition gone, the only after was doomed to end with Alistair gone as well, and the larger his Calling has loomed, the quieter he's fallen.

But he's still carried the hope, unvoiced. And it feels...different now. It has the weight of true possibility, not just fervent desire.

[howtoactfereldan]

“Actual room for guests,” he murmurs. “Not only stables. A practice yard.”

A small chapel, he thinks. He’s — not sure how he feels about the Chantry any longer, but he would prefer not to interfere with whatever local practice the clerics have going on. (He’s not certain whether he could sit through a service with others at this point. Too much to sort out, in his heart and mind.)

“And a garden. At least at first.”

[bringspeopletogether]

A near-soundless laugh.

"Start small and work our way up to a proper farm?"

[howtoactfereldan]

“That’s the notion,” Cullen replies, because he won’t say it’s got to be something I can manage on my own if none of this amounts to anything.

[bringspeopletogether]

"Perfect."

He finishes off the brandy; sets his mug aside, the better to hook an arm around Cullen's waist.

"What else should we have?"

[howtoactfereldan]

“Workshop,” Cullen says immediately. “For the construction of small siege engines.”

[bringspeopletogether]

Alistair's whole face lights up in delight.

"How small are we talking about? Mabari-sized? Geoffrey-sized?"

[howtoactfereldan]

“Mabari-sized, of course.”

Cullen raises a brow.

“If you’re very nice to me, Geoffrey-sized.”

[bringspeopletogether]

Alistair presses his free hand to his heart.

"I swear I will do a superbly nice deed every day until we have our new house," he says. "And our new workshop."

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen kisses his cheek.

“Start tomorrow.” Warm. A little wry. “You can have today off.”

[bringspeopletogether]

Alistair wrinkles his nose at the kiss, smiling, and leans his head against Cullen's.

"Still my favorite." Soft.

Then, after a beat: "Should at least get that letter written to Morrigan today. But nothing more taxing than that."

[howtoactfereldan]

“Do that and I’ll get the letters done to Dorian and Dagna.” Cullen lets his eyes close. “Then we... won’t do much. It’s raining. I can walk the letters down to the tavern for the next messenger and bring back dinner.”

[bringspeopletogether]

"Mm. Wonderful."

He squeezes Cullen, lightly.

"I'll...lounge aggressively in front of the fire with Gru. Assuming Ivette ever brings him back. And I'll make sure there's tea for you after you've walked through the rain."

[howtoactfereldan]

“I should make sure the stable roof doesn’t need patching.” Absent. “She deserves a better place to sleep. — you think she might like the spare room with Mia that we vacated?”

[bringspeopletogether]

Alistair makes a small, thoughtful noise.

"It's worth asking," he says. "You don't think Mia would mind?"

Because: yes. Ivette deserves an actual bed for the rest of her life after covering so ably for Alistair's inadequacies.

[howtoactfereldan]

“I’ll offer my services around the house as recompense.” Wry. “There’s also the part where she’s the Hero of Ferelden, and we lost our village in the Blight.”

(He doesn’t seem to notice the we and our.)

[bringspeopletogether]

"...A very fair point," says Alistair, laughing softly.

(He notices. It's -- good to hear it. Another small indication that Cullen's settling in, bit by bit, to the idea of having a family again.)

"Though I've a feeling she'd appreciate just being Ivette around them most of the time."

[howtoactfereldan]

“Yes, our family is acquainted with how to use people’s names instead of their titles.” He flashes a quick grin at Alistair. “Unless they’ve come up with one for you without anyone informing me. Have they?”

[bringspeopletogether]

"If they have, they haven't informed me either," he says. "Though now I'd be interested to know what they might think up. That Fellow Adjacent to the Hero of Ferelden. The Former Commander's Husband. Oi, You Over There."

[howtoactfereldan]

“They can’t use Husband-Commander.”

Cullen slips his other arm around Alistair.

“That one’s for my use only.”

[bringspeopletogether]

He leans into the embrace, eyes closing.

"I've no objection." Soft, and warm.

[howtoactfereldan]

He smooths a palm up and down Alistair’s back.

Low: “At your order, ser.”

[bringspeopletogether]

Alistair draws a slow breath. There's a very strong urge to just slump bonelessly against Cullen and let him cart Alistair over his shoulder to...wherever. Sadly, if he did that now, he might send them both toppling and knock over half the crockery around the kitchen.

The next best thing:

"I know I should get the letter over with," he murmurs, "but all I want this instant is to go catch up on the lie-in we didn't get this morning. Can we?"

Just for a little bit. And then back to business.

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen laughs quietly.

“We can — if you’re the one to leave the note for Ivette to let her know we’ve gone caboodling and she shouldn’t wait up.”

[bringspeopletogether]

At that, Alistair thumps his head onto Cullen's shoulder.

Muffled, but amused: "If you're humoring me to the point of willingly calling it caboodling, I must be very bad off indeed."