#sahaarial

Fictober 2018 Day 1: “Can you feel this?”

[Inquisitor x Cullen | Though the Mark flares from time to time, Sahaarial grudgingly reveals it is like a phantom pain most of the time, as if her arm were already gone.]

Cullen has had his fair share of terrors. He knows what it feels like to be at your very lowest and see no end, no light. He remembers what it’s like to embrace death and believe, with all your heart, that there will be no dawn. And he feels the deep-seated fear that accompanies love; that someday, you will lose them. Someday, they won’t be there anymore.

A scream jerks Cullen from a dreamless sleep that night. Sahaarial sits bolt upright beside him, the Mark casting an eerie emerald sheen across her skin and illuminating her eyes.

In the Mark’s flaring light, and as Cullen desperately drags himself to full consciousness to see why she had cried out, a vehement look crosses Sahaarial’s face. “Damn you!” she hisses, suddenly gripping her arm with a ferocity that Cullen saw only in the thick of battle from her.

And in times of terror, from himself.

Fictober 2018 Day 17: “I’ll tell you but you’re not gonna like it.”

[Inquisitor x Cullen | The Iron Bull is strapped with the duty of telling Cullen about Sahaarial’s injuries after a skirmish.]

“Er, uh… Cullen?”

The Commander looks up, more than a bit disheveled, and acknowledges Bull with a quick nod. “What can I do for you, Captain?” he inquires, eyes returning to the papers strewn before him. Bull grimaces, knowing his message isn’t going to go lightly with Cullen, especially in such a high-strung state.

“You might want to sit down,” he tells Cullen slowly and stays by the door.

This piques the human’s interest, him standing straight, deliberate as he eyes Bull. Calculating. Bull recognizes the look well enough and wishes it had been Blackwall doing this instead of him. “I think I’ll stand, thank you. Are you going to spit it out?”

Bull sighs, committing. “The Boss just got back,” he starts, avoiding the bright eyes Cullen gives him at the mention of Sahaarial. “Blackwall says a second Rift surprised them, and…”

Cullen’s gaze falls icy, and he steps around his desk towards Bull, their height and evident strength difference not deterring him. “And?”

That’s right, it was Bull instead of Blackwall because the qunari could take on an incensed ex-templar on his own without significant injury.

“I’ll tell you but you’re not going to like it,” Bull admits, but Cullen seems to already realize that. “Most of the group was injured, but the Boss had closed the first Rift and was weak.” He can see Cullen’s face twisting as he realizes what Bull is telling him. “She’s in bad shape: real bad shape. You’re going to want to go see her.”

Cullen sweeps past Bull and out to the battlements before he can finish. Bull closes his eyes, the image of the distraught look veiling Cullen’s face burning into his mind. This would not happen again, for better or worse.

<- Day 16 | Fictober 2018 Masterlist | Day 18 ->

Fictober 2018 Day 23: “This is not new, it only feels like it.”

[Inquisitor x Cullen | Sahaarial wonders if it is love that she feels for Cullen.]

After having lost so much, having done so much wrong, Sahaarial knows she does not deserve him.

His warmth, next to her, seems almost out of a dream, an idealistic hope. She tells herself she will not go to his bed every day, insists she cannot; yet she still finds herself wrapped in his arms, his kiss more loving than should be possible, considering how far they had come. They still bickered, just as in their early days together, but Cullen was kinder now, knew her better, understood.

But why?

Why did he see her as a woman worth loving now?

I’m doing a Fictober prompt list with these babies of mine, so here they are!

Haneia Mahariel:

Dalish elf, short white hair, green eyes (Taint darkens her eyes), dusky skin, generally quite short

Specializes as an archer rogue

Romances Alistair

A bit cheeky, but overall is very kind

Truly loves Morrigan and Sten, and wishes they would treat her more as an equal instead of someone they have to babysit

Ending: Rebuilding Grey Wardens with Alistair (who had to sleep with Morrigan, but they both did it to save Haneia)

Nianan “Ana” Hawke:

Short black hair, piercing blue eyes, pretty tall

Specializes as an archer rogue

Romances Fenris

Enormous comic and do-gooder that finds the hilarity in just about every situation

Loves all her companions greatly, people saying they fill the void her family left

Ending: Tried to stay out of the mage-templar conflict, but eventually sided with mages, but she had strong enough relationships with her companions that only Sebastian (whom she considered one of her closest friends) abandoned her; spared Anders

Sahaarial “Haara” Lavellan:

Dalish elf, auburn curly hair, maroon eyes (but Mark bled green into her eyes), dusky skin, tall for an elf

Specializes as sword and shield warrior

Romances Cullen

A fairly sullen, emotionless woman, but does wish good upon those who have proved they are worth it

Bull LOVES her, and has made it his duty to put her in a good mood (nicknames her Boss and Haari); Blackwall treats her like a child that needs protecting, and is constantly training her as if he were her father; closest with the advisors, lives for strategy

Ending: High court approval in Orlais with Gaspard on the throne with Briala behind him; Grey Wardens help Inquisition with Alistair alive and Nianan dead; Leliana inspiring Divine; mages create College of Enchanters; templars remain in Inquisition, with Templar Order disbanded permanently; Morrigan keeps Kieran; Inquisition focused on connections

Fictober 2018 Day 8: “I know you do.”

[Hawke & Cullen | Nianan and Cullen still don’t like each other four years after the Kirkwall Rebellion.]

Sahaarial wants to roll her eyes but knows better than intervene. Varric told her the Champion of Kirkwall would get prickly when she saw that Cullen was in charge of the Inquisition’s forces, and also told her to let Nianan get it out. No matter how offended Cullen would get.

“Nice to see you haven’t gotten any taller, kid,” Nianan chides, eyeing the Commander judgmentally.

Cullen is immediately unhappy, producing indignant noises. “I’m a thirty-year-old man, Hawke!”

“Still younger than my kid sister,” Nianan chuckles, “and she’s definitely a kid.”

Fictober 2018 Day 6: “I heard enough, this ends now.”

[Inquisitor & Iron Bull | Sera and Bull make a bet on who would win in a drinking contest: Bull, or Sahaarial.]

“You’ve seen the size of her,” Bull complains. “Even if it is all muscle, there’s no way-”

“She could kick your arse!” Sera retorts, laughing. “You’re just too chicken to admit it!”

“I don’t think this is a good idea-” Bull looks up, a grin cracks over Sera’s features. “Boss! We were just-”

“-making a bet on which of us can hold their liquor better?” Sahaarial finishes, coming up to the two Inquisitor soldiers in the tavern. She looks none too pleased, but not for the reasons Sera and Bull are thinking. “I heard enough,” she tells them, the smallest of smirks climbing over her lips. “This ends now.”

Sera whoops and Bull laughs, suddenly all in. “Oh, that’s the spirit, Boss!”

Fictober 2018 Day 4: “Will that be all?”

[Cullen x Inquisitor | Cullen worries about the heavily burdened Inquisitor, to which she does not take well.]

“...and here are the most recent requisitions that have been requested,” Cullen finishes, pushing the appropriate papers towards Sahaarial over the war table. Josephine and Leliana watch his hand, then tentatively glance to the Inquisitor. They are eager to be dismissed.

The tension in the air is thick between the lovers as Cullen scowls at Sahaarial, who is obviously ignoring him. “Will that be all, Inquisitor?” he growls, making the other advisors even more uncomfortable as he uses Sahaarial’s title menacingly.

Now she looks at him, and her eyes are a fiery maroon, the green in them glinting. “Yes, Commander, that will be all.”