Lady Inquisitor Ruki Lavellan blinked slowly through reading another report from her spymaster. She huffed in boredom has she leaned on the desk in her personal quarters, platinum hair disheveled from lack of sleep and magenta eyes slowly scanning through Lelianna's penmanship trying to stop herself from reading the same line about bandits in the Hinterlands over and over again.

The sting of closing a second rift still rippled through Ruki's arm as Fade energy fizzled out of existence. "Sealed as before, you're becoming quite proficient at this," Solas leaned on his staff has he gave his approval on the other mage's actions.

"Let's hope it works on the big one," Varric chuckled halfheartedly as he loaded a bolt into Bianca to ready himself for any more demons.

And then he appeared. The Commander. His blond hair disheveled and his face and armor dirtied with soot and demon ichor. He sheathed his sword and rested hand on the hilt as he spoke directly to Lady Cassandra. The Commander's words fell deaf on the elf's ears as the world seems to slow. Her face erupted into a bright red as her ears grew darker. Smitten? For a human none the less. as the elf's mind tried to wrap around the unexpected infatuation with the ex-Templar when he directly spoke to her.

"It is? I hope they're right about you. We've lost a lot of people getting you here." Sweet Creators, his voice was like warm bread and honey.

Ruki blinked, trying to answer Commander Cullen. "Um.. you're not the only one hoping that."

Solas gave a slight nod in approval as Cullen gave her a slight smirk that pierced her like an arrow. "We'll see soon enough won't we? The way to the temple should be clear now. Lelianna will try to meet you there."

The Inquisitor jumped in her sleep as she softly gasped. That wasn't the first time the Commander has graced her in dreams. As she blinked to adjust her eyes she found Cole staring deep into the fire lit in her hearth.

He sat, crouched, unmoving. Staring into the flames as is the locked him in a trace. "Alone. Need not want, or both perhaps? Kiss scars unkissed by lips. Oh yes. It is a need." Cole mumbled into the fire not stopping to make eye contact with the Inquisitor.

"Cole? How did you get in here?" Ruki stood form her desk and made her way to the wayward spirit.

Cole looked up at her, barely able to see past the brim of his hat and the straw-colored bangs that tickled his nose. "You needed help. Your heart was racing. But there you were asleep."

Ruki's face erupted in a bright shade of crimson. "Uh.. thank you, Cole. But I'm fine-I don't need your help right now."

Cole stood up form the fire pointed towards the direction of the Commander's office. "Go, he needs you too. Or is it a want? Or both?"

Ruki peered out from her balcony across the battlements to Cullen's office. She gave a small smile. "Thank you Cole, that actually made sense-" she turned to thank him but he has vanished, same as always. Ruki sighed and chuckled to herself. "I'll probably never get use to that."

Some many thoughts ran threw Ruki's frantic mind. What if Cullen rejected her advances? He'd been so oblivious to them in the past. What if he couldn't get past is Templar programming and saw her as nothing more than a potential threat. What is he wasn't looking for a steady romance and all he wanted was someone to rut into a bed whenever he felt like?

The Inquisitor's stroll across the battlements felt like an eternity as she approached Cullen's office door. Had the door always been this large or was she going mad? Her breathing grew shallow as she raised her arm and knocked on the old wooden door. It creaked open slightly, as if the last soldier to come through didn't close it properly. "Come in," Cullen's tired voice grunted.

This is it, this is actually going to happen. If Cole says he wants me too...what do I have to fear? The elf swallowed the hard lump in her throat as she pushed the door open. "Commander, it's me." Ruki's voice was shaky and unsure, as if she actually wasn't herself.

Cullen glanced up from the papers on his desk and dropped his quill, face growing red in embarrassment from barking at the Inquisitor. "Inquisitor, I-I'm sorry. I thought it was another soldier telling me about the leaky roof in the barracks." He ran a hand through his hair to smooth out any unruly curls as he stood to meet the Inquisitor.

Sweet Creators he smells so nice. For someone that spends all day in a musty office and out in the courtyard training recruits that is.

"Was there something you needed?" the Commander's simple question made the elf's face grow hot. Even his own cheeks were betraying him, turning rosy in the candlelight of his office.

"Yes, I-um thought we could talk. Alone?" Ruki fidgeted where she stood, drawing small circles with her foot on the castle floor.

"Alone?" Cullen said, almost not believing the Inquisitor's request. He cleared his throat. "I mean, of course." The pair exited the the office to take a stroll down the battlements. It was sunset, the air was growing cooler by the moment and it was between guard rotations. Finally some alone time with her Commander she had grown smitten over the last several months. Maybe she was foolish to think it so but she fell for his looks almost right away. Thanks to some prodding from Varric about his past at Kirkwall, dismissing some vile rumors she'd heard, she started to fall for his person too. His sharp mind, his determination, his strength. And those back muscles, sweet Creators, those back muscles.

It was Cullen who broke the silence by awkwardly, but sweetly, blurting out "It's a nice day," he chuckled, rubbing the nape of his neck as he always did around the Inquisitor.

Ruki was snapped out of her daydreaming by the comment. "Hm?"

Cullen gave an exasperated chuckle. "I mean... there was something you wished to discuss?"

Ruki stared at the man in front of her for a moment, pondering what to say. She was an elven mage and he a human ex-knight commander of the Templars. Everything about this felt so wrong but yet... so right. She stared into his amber eyes and sighed. "Cullen I've been thinking about you... all the time actually. And I care about you, more than I should, it's just..." Ruki's thoughts trailed off as she chewed her lip to stop it from quivering and glanced away from the man in front of her. Would it be possible? A mage and a Templar? A human and an elf?

"What's wrong?" Cullen's voice was soft as his stance relaxed, as if he was trying to make himself look smaller. As if he felt he was intimidating the Inquisitor.

He was very intimidating regardless. Those broad shoulders, his height over her, his Templar upbringing-but his soft and gentle eyes drew Ruki in as she bore into them with her own. With newfound courage, she admitted her fears. "You left the Templars, but do you trust mages? Could you think of me as anything more?" The elf tense, bracing herself for his response.

The statement caught the Commander offguard, something she knew from months of knowing him that didn't happen often. He stared at her for a moment, before blinking in surprise and cleared his throat, his face starting to redden. "I, um, I could. I-I mean I do think of you. And what I could say in a this sort of situation." The pair continued their walk down the battlements before Ruki broke the silence.

"What's stopping you?" she questioned, resting her back on the low wall of the battlement.

"You're the Inquisitor. And we're at war. And you, I," Cullen slowly closed the distance between them. "I didn't think it was possible."

There was barely space for a piece of loose parchment the pair were so close. Ruki stared into Cullen's eyes as he stared into hers. She was commenting every detail of his face to memory, pondering over how great it would feel to have his lip scar and stubble peppered face to brush against hers. The Inquisitor blushed realizing Cullen was perhaps waiting for permission to go further.

"And yet I'm still here," she finally replied, the heat in her face was unbearable as Cullen gave her a soft smile.

"So you are," his voice was smooth and quiet, barely even a whisper. Nothing like Ruki had ever heard from him before. "It seems to much to as, but I want to." The Commander wrapped his arm around the Inquisitor's waist and closed the distance between them completely. His breastplate was so cool, even through her navy woolen overshirt. They leaned into each other, lips parted. Sweet Creators she could swear she could feel his heart banging against his chest. Their lips were just about to meet when-

"Commander!" a soldier, referred to Scout Jim, barked from behind them that caused the pair to freeze and stare into each other with wide eyes, like they had been caught by a merchant lifting goods from their cart. Cullen broke away and turned to the soldier, who hadn't even glanced from his clipboard yet. You wanted a copy of Sister Leliana's report."

Cullen's face twisted into an annoyed scowl as he growled out an acknowledging "What?" at the soldier.

"Sister Leliana's report, ser? You wanted it delivered. Without delay I might add." Jim finally broke his gaze up from the clipboard to meet the scowl of the Commander. He glanced behind his Commander and saw the Inquisitor, arms folded and eyes pointed down at the floor-ears and cheeks a vibrant shade of red. The soldier glanced back at the Commander as a low growl escaped his throat and his eyes narrowed even further.

The color drained from the scout's face as he started to back away from the moment he has obviously interrupted. "Oh.. or to your office. That's what you wanted, right?" Jim all but fled for his life as he made his way back to Cullen's office, the heavy door slamming shut behind him.

Ruki sighed, glancing back up from the ground. "If you need to-" her consent for him to get back to work cut off by him crashing his lips into hers. She mewled softly into his mouth as her frozen hands slowly snaked their way around his waist.

He finally pulled away from her, the blush fading from his face as he smiled. "I'm sorry... that was, really nice," he pushed a lock of her unruly platinum hair back behind her ear.

Ruki found some courage deep within her and she chuckled. "I believe that was a kiss," she draped her hands across his shoulders, resting on the nap of his neck. "Though I can't be sure-it's all a blur."

Cullen gave a wholehearted laugh as he pressed his forehead into hers. "Yes," he cleared his throat. "Well I believe it was," his voice was quiet as it was devious. "I'm just thankful you didn't have your mare to ride off on this time around."

Ruki opened her mouth to protest but it screwed into a scowl which caused the Commander to snort with laughter. That afternoon in Haven, before a personal mission to see if the Horsemaster was making his way through the Hinterlands safely, kissing him on the cheek absentmindedly before fleeing on the back of her mare. She did love his laugh, even if it was at her expense, he sounded so young when he laughed.

Cullen shook his head at her, with a playful smirk on his face, and leaned into her again and pressed his lips into hers.

Ruki felt weightless as they tasted each other. She wanted to curse his armor for being in the way of their bodies touching, she was mostly thankful that the moment she daydreamed about all the weeks she'd known her Commander was happening. The feelings growing stronger after the fall of Haven and she awoke form consciousness, just barely, enough to look up and see him cradling her to his chest-with he, Dorian, and Cassandra calling out to the others for aide and then she'd been found. The sudden feeling of Cullen's lips leaving hers and burring into her neck, peppering her exposed skin with little kisses and fruitlessly pulling her closer to him. She groaned softly.

The Commander pulled himself away form her as if he had to break her spell on him. "I'm sorry," he stammered, eyes dilated and heavy with his infatuation with her.

"Don't be," Ruki breathlessly whispered as she sunk into the safety of his arms. She smiled as his lips graced her forehead with s gentle kiss, making extra sure to love on the scar across her forehead graciously given to her from her fight with Corypheus.

"It's late," he whispered to her. "May I have the honor of walking the Inquisitor to her quarters?" The elf's face erupted in a bright shade of red as she glanced up to Cullen, who realized the error of his sentiment to her and turned just as rosy. "No.. um... not like that... Maker's breath. At least not now... I want to.. take it slow."

Ruki chuckled and agreed to the Commander's request. It warmed her heart to see him be so soft, for all the versions of her conversation with Cullen that played through her mind as they walked she had half expected him to laugh at her for being silly and leave her on the battlements with her bleeding heart. They cut through Solas' rotunda, the other elf ached an eyebrow at the pair together but remained silent, choosing to go back to the latest ancient elven trinket they found out in the Hinterlands. As they exited Solas' sanctuary Ruki noticed Dorian and Varric sitting and chatting on wooden chairs using an old shipping crate as a table. They seemed to enthralled in their debate in what makes a good or bad plot twist in a novel to pay mind to the budding couple. Ruki lead Cullen passed the door to Josephine's office and war room before pausing at a door by the makeshift throne they had errected just recently. Ruki personally missed the padded chair she had been using, but perhaps she could sweet talk Josephine into a cushion. Cullen's honey-sweet voice broke Ruki's train of thought.

"Here you are, Inquisitor," he leaned in to kiss her but was met with a finger pressed to his lips.

She smiled at him before reaching up on her tip-toes to kiss him herself. "I believe we're beyond titles now... Cullen." She chuckled as the visible shiver he did as his name rolled off her tongue.

He nodded in compliance "Very well, Inquisi- ... Ruki," Cullen smiled saying her name aloud. "Shall I see you in the morning? Unfortunatly it will be business about Corypheus but-"

"As long as I can see you, it will always be pleasant." Ruki smiled softly. "Goodnight Cullen." She reached up and gave her Commander one last peck on his cheek, lingering at the scar there, before opening her quarter door and softly closing it behind her. She waited for a moment, to see if her Commander would bust in to shower her with more kisses and scoop her up to kiss the rest of her in her bed but sadly, the clanging of his armor getting softer as he made his way back to his office.

Unknown to the pair of new lovers, Dorian and Varric hadn't been as distracted as their debate as Ruki had thought. The dwarf and mage chuckled at the exchange they just witnessed. They had to pretend to be distracted as the Commander walked past them, face redder than Varric's tunic and a smirking like a sinning Chantry sister. After the door to Solas' rotunda closed, Dorian cracked a snicker as Varric turned to the mage next to him.

"Good thing I don't take stupid bets," Varric snorted. "I'd be putting to sovereigns into your hand right about now."

"What can I say? I know a hungry man when I see one," Dorian sipped his wine before returning to his book.

"Wait until the smut peddlers get wind of this," Varric picked Biana up from the crate and proceeded to attempt to buff a fresh scuff out of the metal on one of her arms.

Dorian sat down his book. "You wouldn't."

Varric snorted in laughter. "You're right, I won't. But this will make it into my next book, I doubt anyone would actually believe this though. The Dalish mage Inquisitor and her ex-Templar Commander. How quaint."

Dorian chuckled. "Maybe you should call it that, Varric. It would definitely someone's grab attention."