Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Age and all that.

This is a more direct attempt at a romance story than any other story I've ever written. Normally, when I write romance, something terrible happens and the couple doesn't get a happy ending. I want to practice actual, cute, sweet romance stories, hence this.

This is so short because it's a prologue of sorts. Honestly, though, I dunno how long the rest of the chapters will be for this, or how often it will be updated, because I have a bunch of other stories I'm gonna try to finish before I really throw myself into this one.

All feedback is welcomed and appreciated.

...-...

"Should I be scared?"

It had been a joke, a jest, a jape.

Varric couldn't tell if she'd taken it that way, though.

The Herald was always so serious—Maker help you if you called her that to her face. She delivered every comment in a simple monotone, her expression as muted as her voice, save for the fairly common occasion when her brow pinched together and her lips dipped down.

It seemed that her emotions ranged from disappointed to angry and there wasn't really anything in between.

Now, however…

Varric stared at the elf, at the blank look she was giving him, her light purple eyes reflecting the fire as it danced beside them. She was judging him.

For what, he couldn't say. He wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"Careful, Slayer, your face will freeze that way."

That didn't even warrant an eye roll. Her boots crunched against the snow as she finally shifted her weight, letting her gaze wander Haven as she crossed her arms. Metal clinked and scraped against metal as her armor rubbed together.

"You said you had a question."

"You've lived with shem—humans," Kaitrith Lavellan murmured, her voice a bit lower than usual. Her gaze finally snapped back to him, going over him once as though she might think he was a human in hiding rather than the dwarf he claimed to be. "You…understand them."

"If you're trying to ask why any one of the crazy bastards here does what they do, you're asking the wrong person." Varric's smile slipped. His words were like anchors, dragging the corners of Kaitrith's lips down.

Closing her eyes, she took in a slow, strained breath. Then another. Then she opened them, her face unreadable again. "I have a cultural question."

"Which I can't answer until you ask."

"It's…" For the briefest of moments, Varric could have sworn he saw her cheeks redden beyond the regular ruddy hue the biting cold left in its wake. She brought a hand up and coughed into it, her ears twitching as she looked around again. Kaitrith paused to narrow her eyes at a scout passing by, waiting until he'd scurried out of earshot to continue. "How do you court them?"

"You—"

"Stop that." Anger flickered in Kaitrith's eyes as her brow dipped down, her ears seeming to flatten, even so slightly.

"Stop what?"

Shifting and letting her gaze wander away from him again, her plated fingers scratched against her armor a little as she curled them, resisting the urge to make actual fists. "You're grinning."

That he was.

"Let me get this straight," Varric templed his fingers in front of himself, staring over them at her. "First, you actually do have a heart?"

Kaitrith's eye twitched.

"What? The way you swing that maul around and seem to think that the answer to every problem is to 'kill it dead', it did seem questionable."

With a huff, she uncrossed her arms, failed to find something to do with them, and re-crossed them. "Of course I have a heart."

"Second," Varric held up two fingers, pointing them toward her, "you managed to find someone you like, and your first thought was to come to me?"

"It's a mistake I won't make again," Kaitrith hissed, abruptly turning on her heels and starting to storm off.

Before she could get too far, Varric cupped his hands around his mouth and called after her, "You could start with a smile!"