#flamemittens writes

Of Sunshine and Bright Spots

Pairing: Neve Gallus/Bellara Lutare Rating: T Word Count: 4.6K Summary: A series of domestic scenes between Neve Gallus and Bellara Lutare as their relationship develops. A/N: Written as a gift for @squid-head, as part of the DA Gift Exchange 2026, @aromanceforthedragonages. Big thank you to @commander-krios for organising the event so wonderfully well.

"Did you get a chance to read your latest serial?" Neve asks, cutting Bellara's thoughts in half. She gestures to the folded paper still occupying its place on the tray.

"That! Yes that. Yes, I did" Bellara says brightly. "The entrance was behind the fireplace! And it was opened by the signet ring, which was a surprise because I was expecting the tailor to—" She stops, suddenly aware. "I mean, we don't have to talk about it now, if you're busy. I don't want to bother you."

Neve laughs, and reaches for a piece of the cake. She pops it into her mouth, chews and swallows, then licks her fingertips clean. Bellara watches it all.

"Bother me?" Neve says, picking up her cup again, "Brightest spot in my whole day. Keep going."

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Pairing: Neve Gallus x F!Rook Rating: T Word Count: 3.1K Summary: The development of the relationship between Neve Gallus and Calleigh Thorne, framed by the names one calls the other.

"I've been meaning to ask" Neve begins. "You have a real name, I presume?"

"Filling in your case notes, are you?"

Neve hides her mouth from the rest of the room behind her hand, drops to a half-whisper. "I'll never tell."

"Well, for the record—" Calleigh pauses and clears her throat theatrically "—I do. And it's got nothing to do with chess."

"Go on" Neve says.

Pairing: Enver Gortash/F!Dark Urge Rating: M Word Count: 1.6K A/N: For Durgetash Week 2025, Day 4: Masquerade, with a bit of Day 2: Domestic. @bloodsweatandtyranny Summary: Morgayne and Enver prepare to attend his masquerade party.

"Oh, and there is one more thing" he says suddenly, as if he has just thought of it. "It is a masquerade after all, and we must adhere to convention, as much as you might abhor it in this case."

He dispenses with his glass, then indicates to her that she should follow him.

He leads her through to the adjoining bedchamber, and stops at a table by the large mirror. It's deliciously warm here too, thanks to the second smaller fire, burning in its grate. The rug beneath her feet feels plush and she pushes away a sudden desire to remove her shoes and feel its soft, thick fibers between her toes.

"I" he says, and the pride, the delight is thick on his voice, "have taken the liberty of making our masks."

This is the first one of these I have done in a while, and I have been tagged by many lovely folks recently: @ravelsquadespresso, @infernaldaydreams, @chronurgy, @acreaturebythewater, @optimisticgrey, @alittlelevity and @amasec - thank you all, and if I missed anyone, this is for you too! 💜

Started working on a wee Veilguard something for Calleigh (my Grey Warden warrior Rook):

A brutal slam to her back puts Calleigh on her hands and knees, shield clattering to the ground. Before she's finished berating herself for the slip in concentration, she hears the telltale sound of exploding ice. Battle over, the bloodlust fades, and other sounds filter back in now, here in this Dock Town alleyway; the distant bark of a dog, the pitter patter of the ever-present rain on her armour, her own heavy breathing—and the sound of Neve's approach. It's fast, hurried. "Alright down there?" she asks, and Calleigh knows before she looks up at her that Neve is frowning. Calleigh picks up her shield as she stands. "That was fun." Neve smiles now, in that way of hers that could mean amusement or exasperation. Oftentimes it's both. She opens her mouth to say something else, but stalls, as if the words are stuck in her throat. Instead, she reaches out to the strap that keeps Calleigh's left pauldron in place, and tightens it back up with a firm tug. "Let's get out of here. Before there are any more surprises" she says eventually. "Tell Ashur what we found." Calleigh nods. "You got it." "Come on then, Trouble." That now familiar warmth blooms in Calleigh's chest. Neve says it again later back at the Lighthouse, as the two of them sit near side by side at the desk in her room. As always, she's declined help but accepted the company. The cup of coffee Calleigh brought as a gift sits untouched still. The wisps hover quietly. "I need to get on with this" Neve says, but she doesn't move, doesn't turn back to the journals and the notes and the theories, or pick up the odd-looking pen that Calleigh has never been able to get the hang of using. "You're a distraction" Neve adds, softer now, as soft as the smile she's wearing, as soft as Calleigh has learnt her skin feels under her fingers. "What am I going to do with you, Trouble?" she says. With this, she doesn't say. "Are you open to suggestions?" Calleigh grins. "I could make you a list?" Neve laughs then, and Calleigh thinks its the best sound she's heard all day.

Fandom: Dragon Age: The Veilguard Category: Gen Rating: T Word Count: 2K (Double Drabble Sequence, 10x200) Summary: A series of key events and moments in the life of Calleigh Thorne, before she became the leader of the Veilguard.

"You want to give up, throw it all away?" he asks.

Calleigh almost shrugs. "Haven't I done that already?" A silence stretches out, lengthens. "Do you feel sorry for me?"

Stroud's face is impassive. "We do not recruit Wardens out of pity" he says, voice low. "It is no kindness."

"Good" she mutters. "Don't think I deserve that."

Stroud studies her intently. "The choice is yours. I will return in the morning for your decision." He turns and leaves without a backwards glance. She's alone again.

Sleep does not find her, but a last vestige of something does.

It's felt like she's had one foot in the grave for years. So what would it matter, to put in the other?

Rating: Mature  Relationships: The Dark Urge/Enver Gortash, Enver Gortash/Original Female Character(s)  Word Count: 1.3K

A/N: A little birthday gift for @infernaldaydreams​ 💛

Summary:

"You have been busy" she says at last, her small smile returning.

"Am I not always?"

"You like to think that you are" she retorts.

He chuckles to mask the clench of his jaw, the briefest flash of amused irritation. "I gave it a name" he says next.

"Oh? Do tell."

  Enver gives Vivette his finest gift.

Tagged by @alittlelevity and @defira85, thank you both! 🩵🩵

This is a wee bit of a backstory primer fic (told via [double] drabble sequence) I'm working on for my Grey Warden Rook, Calleigh. She's 34 during Veilguard, but here she is 22, and has landed herself in jail:

Unexpected intervention, of a sort, comes several days later, with an Orlesian accent and dressed in armour she would be a fool not to recognise.

He introduces himself, from under a bristling moustache, as Warden Stroud. He gets straight to the point, reveals he's heard about what happened—and the ending she's headed for. Offers her an alternative. Says he is on the lookout for recruits, and that she could have a chance at another life.

She refuses, at first.

"You want to give up, throw it all away?" he asks.

Calleigh almost shrugs. "Haven't I done that already?" A silence stretches out, lengthens. "Do you feel sorry for me?"

Stroud's face is impassive. "We do not recruit Wardens out of pity" he says, voice low. "It is no kindness."

"Good" she mutters. "Don't think I deserve that."

Stroud studies her intently. "The choice is yours. I will return in the morning for your decision." He turns and leaves without a backwards glance. She's alone again.

Sleep does not find her, but a last vestige of something does.

It's felt like she's had one foot in the grave for years. So what would it matter, to put in the other?

Tagged by a few lovely people over the last week or two: @roguelioness, @elinorbard and @nadas-dirthalen! 💛

Here's a bit from the Jae POV thing I'm picking away at. A little fleshing out of the first proper meeting on Footfall, in Adeptus Amasecus, just after Jae has dispatched Falco's men.

"Have we met somewhere before?" Jae asks. "Impressive display" the newcomer says, as she eases onto the adjacent barstool and signals for a drink with a relaxed confidence that suggests she is comfortable in a place like this. Belongs. "You missed one, though." "Oh, there's a reason for that." If she's right, then this woman will know exactly why. "A message" she replies, taking the cue, swilling the drink in the glass she's just been handed. She turns to Jae and grins. Jae leans in then, a slight cant forwards, tipped by boldness or the alcohol or both. "A message for his employer" the woman adds. "Told by the tail between that son of a grox's legs." Jae barks a laugh. "Ha!" Then, she tries again. "Exalted One forgive my manners, but with whom do I have the honour of speaking?" Her new companion studies her over the rim of her glass, before setting it down on the counter. "Call me Nora" she says after a few beats. "Envoy of House Von Valancius. We met—I guess you could call it that—in Vladaym's palace." The memory spears through the haze of two bottles of amasec. It seems her initial assessment was correct after all—this one is the leader. She knows an opportunity when she sees it, and it helps that this particular one appears to be powerful, influential. Easy on the eye, too. "Jae Heydari" she says in return. "Professional trader, shrewd commercial broker, and—may azhi steal my tongue if I'm lying—the most honest dealer on Footfall. Although, even someone of my many countless merits can find themselves in a predicament." Nora nods, and then smiles like she knows what's coming. "If I may prevail upon your valuable time, shereen, I have a…proposition" Jae adds with a wink.