walking down the trousers of time

[freedom_is_grey]

Ysalwen is standing by the fireplace, cloak in hand, half-turning to go out the back door and then turning back, scanning the crowd as if looking for something.

Or someone.

Liranan, too, is practically vibrating in place.

Taking cues from your person can be a difficult thing to bear, for a mabari.

He cannot make this better!

Comments

[howtoactfereldan]

Sometimes taking cues from your person is a pleasant task, as it is for Ci; Cullen is tired, but in good spirits as he and the smaller dog enter. Ci appears to be fighting the urge to dance around in circles, tripping him up. Good dogs trot alongside until told to do something else! And Ci tries very hard to be good.

(Except when chewing on boots. Chewing on boots is worth the guilt trip.)

"We're not here long," he warns her as they head for the bar. "Long enough to get something edible for both of us, and then we must go back."

...after he lets her race out back. Kirkwall is not the best place for a growing mabari.

[freedom_is_grey]

Cullen! Cullen is here!

Cullen will know what to do!

Which is why Liranan barks very loudly, grabbing Ysalwen's cloak in his mouth for a second, then letting go and racing across the bar to Cullen!

And Ci!

"Wha -- oh."

Ysalwen takes her cue after a moment of confusion, pace brisk and very determined.

Anxiety happens to other people. (Well, she can pretend.)

"Cullen."

[howtoactfereldan]

Ci barks, high-pitched, before flopping down on both front paws in front of Liranan.

"Hush," Cullen says absently, "inside voice. -- Ysalwen? Are you -- is everything...?"

[freedom_is_grey]

"Can we take a walk? A long walk. A long, very fast-paced walk, someplace where I can see anyone coming?"

She means. Um.

"I met a Seeker. Here."

And now Ysalwen is very tense.

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen opens his mouth -- and closes it.

It's Cassandra. Has to be. Unless -- did someone else find the door in the Viscount's Keep -- ?

Regardless, there's little point in getting into it until she's feeling

(safer, his hindbrain whispers)

comfortable. He nods, straightening, and gestures out to the lake. "We can walk around outside, if you'd like. I think between us and two mabari we'll be well aware of anyone who might approach."

[freedom_is_grey]

"Thank you."

There's real relief in her voice, and Liranan whines a little before licking Ci's face and turning to trot for the back door.

"I just wasn't expecting -- "

Right. Walking. To the back door and out. She'll remember to put her cloak on in a moment or two.

Or three.

[howtoactfereldan]

"I know," he says, just a touch wry as he opens the door for her.

(Of course, Ci bolts out first.)

"That's... what they do."

It is difficult to resist the urge to tell her to put on her cloak. He suspects fussing wouldn't be welcome.

[freedom_is_grey]

She makes a very disgruntled noise.

Extremely disgruntled.

"I suppose she might have been worse."

Wait.

She half-turns, walking backwards for a few steps to look at Cullen.

"Wait. You -- but she was new when I -- "

[howtoactfereldan]

"In general," he says, hastily. "I've encountered them before. But this one -- is her name Cassandra Pentaghast?"

[freedom_is_grey]

"Yes," Ysalwen says slowly, drawing out the 'y' sound quite a bit.

"Do you know her by reputation? Or do you know her? If -- "

Her mouth twists at one corner.

"How worried do I need to be? Given -- I think she knows you. Or knows of you. I'm not sure which."

On third thought, how worried does Cullen need to be?

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen lets out a breath. "I -- well. There's... news. A great deal of it."

He looks out at the lake for a moment, and starts walking. It'll be easier if he's moving. "She's -- the Right Hand of the Divine. And she and the Left Hand have come to Kirkwall. I thought this would be -- " He shakes his head. "Too much information. It's not an Exalted March, Hightown doesn't have any new heads on pikes -- and that includes mine, and the mages with us -- but yes. She... came here from the Kirkwall I know. And is trying to terrify her way through yet another interrogation, I have no doubt. But I don't know how worried you need to be. Not at all? I hope?"

[freedom_is_grey]

She keeps pace with him, arms wrapping around herself to hold everything in.

"But you're -- I mean. She doesn't frighten me."

Much.

"Do you -- is your head going to stay not on a pike? And the rest of the people with you? I -- "

Wait. No, seriously, wait.

"I mentioned you. When she was accusing me of being a liar. I -- should I not have? Will that cause you trouble?"

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen shakes his head. "No. She did her research. She -- knows. About Kinloch. -- why would she accuse you of being a liar?"

[freedom_is_grey]

"Cousland's daughter," Ysalwen says. "I don't know if she realized I -- "

Came from Kinloch, maybe.

"I mentioned being Warden-Commander. And Arl. It -- seemed like a bid to be safe. In case she had ideas about my station and her responsibilities. Here, I mean."

Ysalwen swallows, teeth digging briefly into her lower lip.

"And elsewhere, I suppose. She asked if me I might know where she could find said Cousland. Later."

She said some other things later, too.

"She's not -- holding it over you, is she? Kinloch."

If so, Ysalwen will kill her.

[howtoactfereldan]

"No!" Startled. "No, she -- rather the opposite, in fact." But he's distracted by something else she said. "She's not -- she doesn't have ideas about -- Circles? You'd tell me if she did? I don't -- "

There is no way saying this isn't going to be mortifying. Cullen stops, rubs his hands over his face, lets them drop.

And says, low, furious (because really, fuck it): "I will do everything I can to make sure she does nothing to you. Your freedom over everything else, every time. You have my word. And my sword, should it come to it."

[freedom_is_grey]

"Oh."

Oh.

"I -- "

It's not as if she doubted it, really. Maybe she should have? Except --

"I don't think she did. Does. No. I just wasn't sure until -- . That's good to know."

She drops to crouch beside Ci, just now, and ruffles the young mabari's ears.

It's probably a better choice than hugging Cullen. Even if she wants to.

(She didn't know she was so frightened worried until a lot of that is suddenly eased.)

[howtoactfereldan]

Which means that Cullen is left standing by himself. Which is... awkward.

He clears his throat, folds his arms, looks at the ground. Not at her, though.

Low:

"I -- of course you have reason not to be sure. That's, that's why I said it. It needs to be said."

Because if Ysalwen thinks he makes bad choices now, wait until she hears the rest of it!

[freedom_is_grey]

"No!"

The word flies out without her quite meaning it to, even as she looks up from her regard of Ci, eyes wide.

"That's not -- I figured -- I wasn't actually worried. About that. I thought you -- "

This is terrible.

"I thought you would be for me. If she tried -- something. I wasn't worried. I -- was that horribly presumptuous? It was horribly presumptuous, wasn't it? To just think -- but -- you know I wouldn't do anything that -- "

[howtoactfereldan]

He's shaking his head a little. "You should be suspicious of me. It's -- it's healthy. I'm... what I am, by my own choice."

Which is the crucial part, isn't it. His choice.

"What binds me is my word. Which I've given you. So -- that much, at least, you don't have to worry about."

[freedom_is_grey]

She gets to make her choices, too. But they've had talks like this before, so --

"Thank you. It -- helps. To know that -- "

Anyway.

"Anyway, it helps. So."

She stands up again, after one last pat to Ci's back, and starts walking again. Maybe a little less rapidly.

"Um."

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen's arms stay folded, even as he walks.

(Ci stays close by his side. She might be young, but she's not stupid. She can tell when he's --

Well.)

"She troubled you," he says. "Was that -- the only thing?"

[freedom_is_grey]

Liranan stays pressed close to Ysalwen's side, too, even now.

Even after --

"No. It -- "

She inhales, holds it for a five count, then lets her breath out.

Slowly.

"She said Anders blew up the Chantry. On purpose. That's why Kirkwall -- "

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen's silence might be answer enough.

[freedom_is_grey]

"What I can't figure out is why."

It's been driving her progressively more mad as time goes on.

"He had to have known what it would do, to have a mage do that."

She shakes her head, lost for a minute inside her own pondering.

"He's always hated the system, I've always known he hated it, he'd avoid talking about it with really terrible biting jokes but you could still see it, I just -- "

[howtoactfereldan]

"Are you asking me."

Cullen's voice is soft, tired.

"It's -- it's not senseless. There's logic. If you want to know, truly -- I'll tell you."

Maker damn Cassandra.