A/N: After falling in love with DA:I and Solas and Cullen (and the entire cast, really), I wanted to write my own fanfic.

It takes place after the main events of the game, and I think it will focus a lot on F!Lavellan's relationships with the others, how her Dalish heritage affects her position as the inquisitor, and more background thoughts I wanted to embellish from the game. I also think I'll be throwing in some flashbacks to during the Inquisition to make their relationships feel more fleshed out. Of course, there will be a lot of Solas x Lavellan and Cullen x Lavellan, since I believe both relationships are wonderful! Though tbh I don't know how it'll go in the end.

If you enjoy, please please do review & favorite if you would like, as I really like to read the feedback :)

Skyhold was ablaze with celebration. In the middle of it all was Alina Lavellan, the Inquisitor, the Herald of Andraste. Praise showered down upon her from all angles, beautiful smiling faces all pointed in her direction. She smiled back wordlessly, the victory of defeating Corypheus not lost upon her. Alina walked through Skyhold with grace and recognized that her presence, her smile, her "belief" that she was truly the Herald of Andraste was of incredible importance to those she led.

The cheering and applause were thundering, shaking the very stones that held the impenetrable fortress together. Alina walked on, her head held high, surrounded by her companions. They, too, deserved as much praise and attention, and she was glad to see that they were enjoying the festivities. She had realized that the laughter and the happiness upon their faces were things she had seen little of in the recent weeks as the world grew more and more dire.

To Alina, this was all a necessary part of being the Inquisitor. She now played the role with excruciating perfection, although this wasn't always so. She smiled as she remembered her initial months in the inquisition – how out of place and how much of an oddball she was. Now she wears the mask as a permanent accessory, The Game becoming as simple as the air she breathed.

And yet, as Alina and her party reached the entrance to the main chamber of Skyhold, she felt her willingness to play the lead role faltered. She entertained the partygoers as much as she felt she could, before retiring early to her chambers. Her closest friends knew what plagued her so, but to outsiders she just seemed tired, and who wouldn't be after the ordeal they had just undergone?

Her quarters had always felt so comforting and inviting, although she realized she had had not much time to spend there, nor reason. But on the evening of Corypheus's defeat, she felt so very alone. She heard the sounds of laughter, of clinking goblets and forks scraping plates. She heard the music and the reveling and it was all well and good, but secretly in the depths of her heart, Alina felt only more and more isolated. She stood on the balcony letting the wind and cold wrap her in its arms, but she paid it no heed. Instead she wondered what it felt like if he were beside her. How differently she would feel about the end if it didn't truly mean the end, at least not for them. Reality brought her no comfort, only unanswered questions, half-truths and vague answers that were not really answers at all.

She couldn't yet bring herself to think of his face, his name. Only the vague notion of him. Sadness grew within her but tears would not come, a blank numbness replaced by increasing fire, increasing yearning, increasing bitterness.

Alina was not startled when she heard the faint rustle of another beside her.

"A mask, permanently smiling, slick and stuck like a second skin." Cole said with a pain in his voice. "Inside feeling empty, wondering, worries worming its way into the deepest trenches of your being. You miss him."

"Yes, I do." She didn't say much more than that. She didn't need to, around Cole.

"Why did he go, why didn't he tell me? What do I do to make things right? Better?" Cole leaned his arms over the railing to join Alina. He turned to her and lowered his voice to a whisper, "He hurt, he hurts, he loves you but he can't. You are his heart and there is only one, it is only you."

Alina looked beside her at her spirit friend. Cole, a young and innocent spirit of Compassion taking the form of a long-dead, tortured mage. Though many shied away from him, Alina never did. From the moment he came to her at Haven, announcing the attack of Corypheus, she felt a love and protection for him that she used to feel with her brothers back in her clan. She put her arm around his shoulder.

"I want to help you," he whispered urgently, an anxiety arising in his soft voice, "but I can't. I don't know how. I can only make you forget, but I don't think you want that."

Alina smiled. "No, I don't. It would be wrong in many ways to forget."

Cole looked puzzled, confused, as if he didn't know how to phrase what he was feeling. An odd occurrence, Alina noted. He put both of his hands on her shoulders, bringing her to face him. She had to suppress the urge to smile at his innocence in doing so, and she waited patiently for him to speak.

"I am here for you."

He said it as if he had never uttered those words before, and Alina realized, he probably hadn't. Cole's help was quick, always took the form of action, and of course, always ended with him being forgotten. She never expected this from him, especially because she had helped him become more of a spirit in the recent past.

"Thank you, Cole," Alina smiled widely, giving Cole the reassurance that he had said the right thing. He breathed a sigh of relief. She placed a kiss upon his cheek. "You will always find safety in me," Alina responded. She wanted him to understand how much he meant to her. He smiled at her in response, becoming more at ease.

The two looked up at the stars before retreating back into the Inquisitor's quarters. They sat down on her bed together, and Cole put his arm around her shoulders, knowing the importance of the gesture but still unsure of himself. When Alina began to cry, he said nothing, but instead let her sob into the folds of his shirt. He brushed her hair slowly with his fingers. Within, Cole felt uneasy at the thought of not immediately helping her. This is not how he usually helped. But as she continued to cry, he felt less and less anxious as he began to realize that this was all that she needed. That he was helping.

"Inquisitor?" A light, Antivan voice echoed through Alina's bedchambers. She awoke, the sun streaming in through the stained glass windows. She laid in bed, still, not responding to the calls. Perhaps if she stayed silent she would be left alone, left to return to her dreams.

"Inquisitor?" It came again, slightly more urgent, and slightly closer. Alina resigned to defeat.

"Good morning to you, Josie." Alina hoisted herself out of bed, still wearing her pyjamas. Oh, who was she kidding, she wore those pyjamas day in and day out when she was at Skyhold. Why she had no other clothes, she had no idea. Saving the world is more important than fashion she often told herself, although Vivienne seemed to completely prove that wrong.

"Inquisitor, how did you sleep? Did you enjoy the festivities last night?" Josephine looked slightly nervous, as if trying to gauge Alina's approval for the party she had planned the night before.

"Josie, please, call me Alina. There is no need to be so formal, especially now," Alina began, casting her advisor a sly smile, "and yes, your party was absolutely fantastic, I daresay much better than a party thrown by anybody else! Well, maybe except for Varric, but to be honest, I'm glad it was you. If I want to end up half-naked in a pool of mud with my underwear on my head again, I'll ask Varric."

"Again?" Josephine asked incredulously, nearly losing her composure. "My, my, Alina, I'm just glad I didn't have to try and spin that one into a tale for the public. I can't imagine what I would even begin to say!"

"Just call it a Dalish ritual, it'll be fine," Alina laughed. She was glad at how easily Josephine switched to calling her by her first name. "Anyway, I'm sure you did not come up here just to ask after me. Is there something wrong?"

Caught beside herself, Josephine slipped back into a much more professional manner. She cleared her throat.

"Nothing is wrong, Inquisitor, um, Alina, no. I just wanted to personally congratulate you for your victory, for your hand in saving the world! Although you have won, there are still many more matters to attend to. You are still the crux upon which the future balances. We must rebuild this world, together. Most of your companions will be staying, if you'll have them. Even Cassandra is staying for a time, before her duties as the Divine begin." Josephine stopped, noticing an almost imperceptible change in Alina's face. She dropped her speech at once and came to her side. "I am so sorry, Alina. I did not mention that I… I know about Solas. The two of you. I read Leliana's reports, that he cannot be found. I know you two were close, and I… If you need to talk, I am here."

"You don't know what that means to me, Josie," Alina relaxed, letting her head rest on Josephine's shoulder. "I am okay, for now. I would like to focus on the changes that need to be made. I can't bring him back if he does not want to come, but I will not let that stop me from doing my job." Alina's tone changed and she turned to smile at her advisor, no, her close friend, although Alina could not determine exactly when that change had occurred. "I am the Inquisitor, damn it, and I will help to rebuild this world!"

"Then let us make our way to the war table." Josephine smiled in response and followed Alina out of the room and down the hall, familiar steps that they had taken far too often.

As Alina entered the war room, she felt a renewed strength. She pushed thoughts of him to the back of her mind. Only in the quietest of moments did she ever let herself miss him, but for now she could not entertain the thought. She had duties to attend to, and if nothing else, her time as the "Inquisitor," the "Herald of Andraste," had taught her how to put on her mask. Her bravest face, in a world where she knew she never really belonged; a petite, female elf, brought unwillingly to be their leader, their savior. She did not hate that she had to help, she did not mind – but the creeping feeling of being on the outside looking in never dissipated. But if her closest friends felt so, they never betrayed it in their words, actions, or faces. They only ever looked upon her with love and admiration.

Alina requested that they all call her by her first name from now on, at least in private. In public they could call her whatever they wished. As she worked with her three advisors on developing new plans of action for the lands around Skyhold to bring them back from the brink of chaos, she felt at home. A funny feeling, she thought, as she realized that she finally found something she didn't realize she was missing all along since leaving her clan - a home.

Alina and Varric watched from the ramparts as Cullen trained with his men. She was always impressed by his willingness to be with, to train with, to ride with, his soldiers. They admired and obeyed him to no end, and would ride with him into the depths of the Deep Roads if only he were to ask. She could not deny their admiration – she, too, felt the same way about the Commander. He was strong, powerful and unwavering in the face of danger, and although she was technically above him, she always looked to him for answers.

"Checking out curly, are we?" Varric broke her out of her reverie. "I always thought there would be something between you two, but then came Chuckles." Alina let herself only be slightly annoyed at Varric, as she knew full well that he wasn't wrong. "You know, that would make a pretty good love story. I can picture it now… A love triangle, a story of romance, intrigue, betrayal, and deceit!" Varric waved his hands around dramatically. He smiled when he saw Alina begin to laugh.

"Unfortunately for you and your stories, Varric, there would be absolutely no truth to base it on! And while you are the kind to spin tales as tall as Sundermount, I know you would hardly write straight up lies, now would you?" She gave him a wry smile before turning her eyes back to Cullen. "How can there be a love triangle if nothing ever happened between us?"

"Well look who's lying now, Inquisitor," Varric said, amused, "I'm fairly certain I didn't hear 'nothing' during the wee hours of the night coming from your quarters." He laughed. "Yeah, that's right, all of Skyhold could hear your 'nothing' clear as day. I gotta hand it to Chuckles, there. Can't say I wasn't surprised." Varric could hardly contain himself as a look of horror and embarrassment spread through Alina's vallaslin-less face. She blushed profusely and opened her mouth, but found she had no retort for the dwarf. "Nothing ever happened between Cullen and I..." She meekly stated, but Varric brushed her off with a wave of his hand.

"I respected the guy, certainly, but I always thought you and Curly would be perfect. Hey, do you think the carpet matches the drapes?" He offered nonchalantly, endlessly entertained by how good he was at embarrassing Alina. She shot him a look of bemusement, to which he replied, "I'll let you find out and report back to me, alright?"

Varric sauntered away, Bianca over his shoulder. "By the way, I heard you're going back to the Emerald Graves, soon. Bianca and I are itching for some action, so let me know when, alright?"

And so Varric left Alina, her reluctant smile spreading across her face. Varric knew how to help her laugh at her problems, she'd give him that. Even if she had entertained the idea of Cullen before, she didn't even know where to begin. Their relationship was so tangled that she wasn't even sure if she could unweave it.

First, she thought, there was the way he had initially looked upon her when he realized she was a mage. His face closed, his hand to his sword, unflinching, a second nature. He quickly came to realize she was absolutely no threat, and he warmed up considerably to her. Even so, she could not forget the way he looked at her that first time. During their time at Haven, Alina would flirt with Cullen ever so often, and she found it absolutely charming how babbling and embarrassed he would get. It was adorable and strange to her that a man so handsome could be so inexperienced, although she had to remind herself that he was a Templar for most of his life. She wondered if he was a virgin. She blushed and immediately perished the thought. During the last fight at Haven, as Cullen prepared to make their escape, she could see a tenderness in his eyes that he could not betray in words. She may have never had eyes for Solas after that, if he had told her. But as it was, he did not, and she could not linger on it any longer.

During their innumerable fights thereafter, Alina had come to find Cullen as a safe spot. Not in a way that she found she could confide in him, but in a way that let her look at him, share glances with him, in a way that nothing needed to be said. He was the pillar upon which she stood. He knew this and accepted this duty wordlessly. If Cullen had developed any more feelings for her after Haven, she did not know. He was used to hiding himself, as she was. Together, two masked dancers skirting around the same ball.

"Inquisitor, may I have a word with you?" Cullen asked, exhausted, trotting up behind Alina. She was making her way to find Blackwall, hoping to play a game of Wicked Grace, but stopped when she realized she was being beckoned for. "Yes?" she asked, trying not to stare at the way Cullen's face glistened from his swordplay.

"You may be wondering why I've been training so much more lately. Especially now that Corypheus is gone," he began, clearly trying to think of how he best wanted to express himself.

"I suppose I did notice, but I felt it was best not to question you. You are the expert in these matters, after all," Alina offered him a comforting smile.

"Well, I was doing so because I would like to… um…" Alina cocked an eyebrow at Cullen, waiting for him to continue. "I would like to join your party from now on, or whenever it may please you." He stated formally. She laughed inwardly at how regally he treated her, even after all this time, even after her insistence that he treat her like a friend.

"I would love that. We haven't had a lot of opportunities to fight together, and I want to see who is better on the battlefield. You may be an excellent leader and swordsman, but I think you'll find that my magic will leave you breathless." She smiled almost suggestively before slinking away, leaving Cullen to wonder in the sunlight if his Inquisitor had just made some sort of pass at him, or if his training had rendered him quite delirious.

A/N: Hey, so I know as far as action goes it was a whole lotta nuthin, but I do intend to pick up the pace more in later chapters. There are many threads I would like to pursue as far as F!Lavellan and her companions, and I really ya'll like it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please review! Thank you for reading lovelies!