#Quizzy Eloise

[samwise-writes]

19. “I made a mistake.”

So this ended up much longer than I had anticipated. And I am unsure if I actually like it. But I figured I needed to explain at some point why Reah was acting like such a weirdo. Anyway, this take place directly after Names

annnnd I am really feeling this Reah and Rylen pairing, soooo I probably will be posting more of them very soon. 

History

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Reah had come stomping into her younger sister’s chambers both out-raged and out-of-sorts. It was uncommon for Reah to lose her temper these days, and it took a great deal to shake the woman, so Eloise was instantly concerned by the sudden appearance and obvious foul mood her sister was in.

           “Good morning, Reah…” Eloise said cautiously. Her sister seemed lost in thought. Once Reah registered her sister’s words, she looked up and around herself as though she was seeing her surroundings for the first time. She hadn’t meant to come to Eloise’s room, she knew she was likely busy with Inquisition business, but it seemed her feet led her there anyway. She met her sister’s concerned face with an apologetic and slightly sheepish smile.

           “Oh, Eloise. Good morning. I apologize. I was… lost in thought and automatically came here...” She trailed off and took a few steps toward Eloise’s balcony.

“Do you mind if I stay here for a while?”

Eloise raised an eyebrow at her sister’s odd behaviour.

“Are you hiding from someone?” she asked, getting up from behind her desk, and moving over to stand beside her sister.

Reah winced at Eloise’s question. She looked guilty, as though she had been caught doing something wrong.

“Who are you hiding from?” Eloise asked gently, genuinely concerned.

Reah shook her head silently closing her eyes for a minute, taking a deep breath.

“It wouldn’t happen to be our very striking Knight-Captain Rylen, would it?”

Reah jumped. She hadn’t realized there was someone else in the room – she never would have asked to stay if she had realized, nor would she have even opened her mouth. She spun around to glare at the Tevinter mage.

Dorian was lounging on her sister’s chaise, smirking under his ridiculous mustache, the book he had been reading, tossed to the side. He met Reah’s gaze unflinchingly.

“Why would you be hiding from Rylen?” Eloise asked. Her curiosity was peaked now. She had observed her sister, and Cullen’s second-in-command circling each other for months now but she hadn’t realized anything had come of it.

Reah was still staring down Dorian, but his smirk only grew into a grin. Reah made a rude gesture at the mage before turning back to meet her sister’s eyes.

“I made a mistake,” Reah breathed out quietly, “I did something I promised myself I wasn’t going to do… but now that it has happened, I am not sure I can keep it from happening again.”

Eloise blinked at her sister a few times. Eloise was trying to process what exactly her sister meant, but only fully understood once Dorian piped in again with a coy: “Why would you? He is a positively delectable treat.”

“Oh!” Eloise cried out.

“Oh. Yes.” Reah said, her irritation at Dorian’s remark obvious in her voice.

Eloise hesitated. She knew her sister, and she understood now why Reah was not acting like herself.

“This doesn’t have to be a bad thing.” Elosie said softly, placing a hand on her sister’s shoulder, trying to catch Reah’s eye.

Reah shook her head vehemently.

“I said I wouldn’t let this happen. Not again. I can’t.”

Eloise sighed. “Rylen isn’t James, Reah.”

Reah visibly reacted to the mention of her past lover’s name. She shrunk away from Eloise’s touch, wrapping her arms around herself. She cursed the mage in her head, fully aware of how vulnerable she was.

Dorian was fully aware of the fact too, and he suddenly felt sorry for making his earlier comments. Clearly there was more going on than he understood.

“Who is James?” He asked quietly.

Reah’s head snapped up to look at him. This time, her eyes were not full of vitriol, but rather, tears.

“He was my fiancé” Reah breathed out, surprised at how willingly the words came to her lips in answer to the mage’s question.

“What happened to him?”

Reah walked slowly over to the chaise and collapsed down beside Dorian. She mulled over the words in her head for a few moments, before deciding to just tell it in the simplest way she could.

“As you already know,” Reah began, and Eloise moved over to sit on the edge of her bed, facing Dorian and her sister, “Eloise and I are half-sisters. We don’t talk much about our family for a reason.” She met her sister’s eye, and Eloise gave her an encouraging nod to continue. “We share the same father, Argonne Trevelyan. He had an illicit relationship when he was quite young, with an ‘unsuitable woman’” Reah paused to make a face and take a breath before continuing.

“His parents basically banished my mother, she had worked in the Trevelyan household as a stable hand for five years. That was before anyone, including my mother, realized that she was with child. Well, once she did realized, she wrote letters to our father to let him know. Of course, her letters were intercepted by our grandparents and my father didn’t learn about my existence until I was about seven years old. By that time he had married a suitable woman, who was pregnant with Eloise. He had grown hard, and cold; quite a lot had happened within the family to make him that way.” Reah sighed, looking incredibly tired.

“Anyway, once he found out he had another child, he felt it was his right to raise me as a Trevelyan, despite my status as a bastard. So, he found out where my mother and I were living, and he took me. There was nothing my mother could do to stop him. He was a Lord, and he had a great deal of power in the area that we had been living. She never really gave up on him. I think she had hoped one day he would get out of his parents’ control and come back to her.”

Reah shook her head, staring at her boots.

“Instead, he came back for me, and left her there with nothing.” She looked up to look Dorian in the eye. “I’m told after he left with me, she lost the will to live. She became ill and died within the year. I could never forgive Argonne for that.”

Reah expelled a long breath, trying to gather her thoughts to get back on track.

“For the remainder of my life, I lived at the Trevelyan estate. However, I was never quite accepted there. I found some friends in the staff, but Eloise’s mother never did like having me around. I can understand that, I was a threat to Eloise’s claim to the Trevelyan fortune and estate.”

“Not that I wanted it” snorted Eloise.

Reah ignored her sister.

“She was a good woman in spite of her concerns about titles and who deserved to be Argonne’s rightful heir. She tried to include me in most events, and she protected me as well as she could from our father’s wrath. And she loved Eloise dearly, who had become the most important person in my life, so for that I could respect her, and in a way, love her. She is the reason that I met James. He was a younger son of a decently wealthy merchant family, that was sometimes invited to the soirees that she put on. He was the only reason that I would agree to attend the parties. I wasn’t accepted, and frankly, I didn’t want to be. These were not my people. But, the first time I met James, I must’ve been sixteen, he walked right over to me, and insisted that I dance with him. I refused multiple times, and tried to slip away from the party, so that he would stop pestering me.”

Reah smiled at the memory.

“Unfortunately for me, I hadn’t quite gained all the sneaking skills of a decent rouge, and he followed me out to the stables. He found me there, grooming one of the horses. I was annoyed that he found me so quickly, but he stayed with me the rest of the night; he stayed quiet, just observing me. After the next two parties, it became an unspoken agreement that we would meet in the stables when he would come, I taught him how to care for horses, and sometimes we would go out for a ride. Eventually, I grew to like him, and somehow… that became love. He allowed me to just be me, and that was not something that I had experienced before, in a household where I was constantly observed by everyone, other than Eloise, with suspicion.  He asked me to marry him a few years later. I was only eighteen at the time, and a part of me knew that it was too soon. But I was suffocating. Our father had become… crueller… So, I agreed to the proposal, not realizing that there was a Blight just around the corner. James’ family had travelled to Ferelden on business about two weeks before King Cailan’s army was decimated by the horde. He was killed about a week after that. He tried to help what he thought was a small group of refugees, but they turned out to be bandits. They killed him.”

Reah gave herself a few seconds before continuing.

“So. I left home shortly after that, unable to stand our father’s treatment any longer. By that time I was nineteen, and I vowed that I would never allow someone to get close to me in that way again. It just hurt too much. I learned that the only person I could rely on was myself. And that was good enough for me. I didn’t need anyone other than myself, and Eloise.”

Silence fell over the three of them for a long few minutes.

Dorian finally broke the silence.

“So, what you are concerned about is…?” He held up a hand to Reah when she opened her mouth to speak. “Rylen is not James. He can defend himself. I also saw the way he was looking at you last night. And every night before that since we arrived at Skyhold. And for some time in Haven as well.”

Reah blinked in surprise at how forcefully Dorian was speaking to her.

“Just because you have been hurt in the past, doesn’t mean that you can just close yourself off from other people.”

Eloise and Dorain shared a momentarily meaningful look. Eloise recognized the words she had spoken to Dorian after they had met with his father. 

Reah shook her head.

“I have to protect myself.”

Eloise stared at her sister.

“Why?”

Reah met Eloise’s gaze but remained silent.

“Why must you insist on being an idiot? You have to let people in! It is the only way to survive, especially in a situation like this!” Eloise swung her arms out gesturing around the room.

“This is the way that I survive!” Reah sprung up and began pacing erratically around the room, her voice bouncing off the stone walls with urgency. “Why can’t you understand that? I am weak, and the only way I can protect myself is to prevent myself from becoming weaker by relying on, and needing others!” Reah stopped her pacing with a wild look in her eyes. Eloise had shrunk back looking visibly hurt by her sister’s words.

Dorian understood why Eloise looked hurt, but he also knew that Reah hadn’t meant Eloise to be a weakness.

“You are not your mother.”

Eloise and Reah both stared at Dorian. He met Reah’s gaze calmly.

“You are not your mother, and you will not crumble if someone else leaves you.”

Reah visibly deflated, coming back over to Eloise and Dorian. This time she perched beside her sister. Throwing an arm around Eloise’s shoulders she pulled the younger woman a bit closer.

“I’m sorry. You know I don’t mean that you are a weakness.”

Eloise sighed. “I know.”

Dorian was not ready to let the matter go.

“You need to talk to him.”

Reah’s eyes bugged out and she sat up a bit straighter.

“No. No way. It was a mistake.”

“You two are possibly the most hard-headed women I have ever met in my entire life!” Dorian exclaimed dramatically.

“Why do you care so much?”

“Because,” Dorian smiled, “as I said, I’ve seen the way that man looks at you. He could never leave you because he is so utterly devoted to you that he would follow you across Thedas if he could.”

Reah swiped a pillow from Eloise’s bed and tossed it at Dorian. He carelessly threw up a hand and the pillow burst into flames; Eloise stared at the smouldering pieces of fabric that remained on the floor for a moment.

“Hey, that was my pillow you brute!”

“I’ll buy you a new one,” Dorian said, while still staring down Reah.

“Talk. To. Him.” Dorian drew out the words, and Reah narrowed her eyes at him.

“Who are we talking to, now?”

They all jumped, no one had heard someone else enter the room.

There, standing at the top of Eloise’s steps was no other than the Knight-Captain himself.

Eloise and Dorian both stared at Rylen, Dorian’s face rearranging itself into possibly the smuggest face Reah had ever seen. Rylen found himself unable to keep his eyes from Reah, but she was set on continuing to glare at the mage.

After what felt like hours to Reah, Rylen spoke again, holding up a small stack of vellum in one hand.

“The commander needed these brought to you, Inquisitor, but was held up by some other matters. I told him I would ensure you got them.”

Eloise blinked a few times, trying to catch up with what Rylen was saying.

“Ah, yes.” She stood, smoothing out her clothes, “Right. The reports I asked for. Thank you, Knight-Captain.” She moved over to take the stack, just as Reah jumped up. Everyone paused to look at her.

“I…” Reah looked at a loss for words, “I need to go. I have another engagement I forgot about.”

“And what, pray tell, could that be?” Dorian asked slyly, needling Reah.

She glared at the mage as she made to leave, “I have to go beat up your boyfriend.”

Dorian’s laugh followed her down the stairs and out the door of her sister’s chamber.

[samwise-though]

19. “Just stop. You’ve done enough already.”

 *Sing Song-y Voice* I’m suuuper tired so there’s probably lost of mistakes but I really wanted to get this ouuuut.

Because it’s been sitting in my asks forever. (Oops) 

I kept reading this in a really aggressive tone, but then looked at it again today and got this idea. 

(Will include which prompt list this is from later because sleep)

Cullen Rutherford x Trevelyan (Implied?)

“I – I need to go.” She made her way past a great number ofpeople, Inquisition soldiers and Wardens alike, absent-mindedly nodding tothose who acknowledged her presence with a salute, or an awed, “Your Worship.”

She made her way back through the crumbling paths that hadlead her to the courtyard where her and her party had reappeared not an hourago. It seemed oddly quiet now, the ringing of steel against steel had endedhours ago, or so she was told.

In all honesty, Eloise felt as though her time in the fadehad been much longer than a few hours. The weight of the knowledge that she hadgained, the exhaustion from the fear that had coursed through her, the fightagainst the Nightmare, and the loss of Alistair, hung heavily in each of herlimbs and in her soul.

She forced herself to keep moving forward. Guilt sat withits claws sinking deeper into her heart, with each step, until she reached thefront entrance, where she had entered the fortress that very same morning.

Her eyes swept over the scene that lay before her.

There had been more tents set up, quite close to the fortress,Elosie noted that most of them seemed to be designated to healing.

What she before mistook as the wind blowing through the deterioratingfortress, was the cries from the wounded carrying on the dry desert air. She feltas though she had an ice spell cast upon her, preventing the burning sun fromwarming her limbs.

Without realizing she began making her way over to theclosest healing tent, and immediately jumping in with the healers there.

To her, it seemed an indeterminate amount of time had passedas she moved from tent to tent, patient to patient, holding down, bandaging,applying ointments, doing absolutely whatever she could. Why the healersallowed her to help, in the obvious poor state she was in, is uncertain. Shewould move over to them, and they would pause, look at their inquisitor withher uncharacteristically empty eyes, and direct her to a task.

The sun moved through the sky, and eventually sunk, themoons and stars claiming their nighttime glory. Eloise was mostly certain that ahandful of her companions had come to find her, and attemped to pull her away.She remembered Varric’s voice, at one point telling her that she should comeand sit down for a moment. At another time she thought she remembered Bull threateningto pick her up and carry her to her tent to get some rest, and the head healershushing him and sending him away. She also recalled Solas. His calm presencethe only intrusion for a long while, as he stood off to the side, observing. Thenmaking his way over and gently pulling her away so that he could heal herwounds, “You cannot help them, if you do not first help yourself, da’len.”

She felt warmer and a little lighter after he went away.Somewhere in the back of her head she connected her coldness to possible bloodloss from her wounds. Most of them had been superficial, however and shecontinued to help wherever she could.

It was the early hours of the morning now. Dawn was justbeginning to break, blue shadows cast over everything, and she realized howquiet it had become. Very few cries polluted the air now, cool breezes kissingher cheeks as she replaced the bandage around a man’s leg. A pair of large, andcalloused hands fell over hers, gently taking them, thumbs rubbing over thebacks of her hands.

She realized how they ached.

“Just stop. You’ve done enough already.” The voice was familiar.Gentle, warm, understanding.

For the first time since walking out of the fortress, Eloiselooked up, and focused.

Her eyes met golden warmth.

“Eloise…?” He paused gazing back at her, concern etched intoevery aspect of his face.

“Yes, Commander?” Her voice cracked, and she cleared it,wincing. She hadn’t spoken for hours.

“You’ve made your way through every healing tent we’ve setup. There is very little left to do. It is time you rested.”

She pulled her hands from his, shaking her head furiously.

“No I… I can’t. I have to help!” She took a few steps back, “Imust help.”

He held her gaze calmly.

“You’ve helped. More than you can possibly know, Eloise. Theonly person left for you to help, is yourself.”

She realized with slight panic that every part of her bodyhad begun to fight against her. She found it very difficult suddenly to moveher feet.

“Will you help me, help you?” He asked quietly.

She let out a long sigh, before nodding her defeat. Arelieved and grateful expression bloomed across his handsome face. He made hisway over to her, and offered her his left arm, she took it and leaned againsthim heavily. He lead her slowly out into the early morning air, and back to hertent.

He helped her in and sat her on her bedroll. Then hemeticulously began removing her boots, then gloves. He paused then, hands atthe straps that held her leather armor closed looking at her. For a moment shefelt the need to protest, to insist that she could do it herself, butultimately gave in. She was much too tired to argue. It took most of herstrength to nod, consenting to his nonverbal question. He continued his work,just as focused as before, not meeting her eyes. He rid her of her jacket sothat she was left in her tunic. He moved away from her then, to some other cornerof her tent, but returned shortly after, a bowl in hand. She could see water, acup, and a bar of soap within.

She blinked at it confused.

He put down the bowl on the small table that had been placedbeside her bedroll. Eloise noted that someone had removed the maps that had oncecovered the surface. He gently helped her up and took her by the shoulders sittingher down at the stool beside the table. She wobbled momentarily on the unevensand. Then she felt his hand hover just above her, pausing for a moment, beforestarting to gently try to untangle her hair. He succeeded for the most part.She could feel how much heavier than normal her hair felt, large snarls andclumps weighted down with ichor and dust and demon blood.

He set about the arduous task of trying to clean out herhair. She couldn’t verbalise it, but she was immensely grateful of the gesture.She could tell that he was struggling.

“D’nt need tuhget it all…” she slurred out finally, knowingthat it would be nearly impossible to clean it this way. She was certain he hadmanaged to get most of it out.

She felt his hands pause, before replacing the cup back intothe bowl. Suddenly he was gently patting her hair with a towel.

“S’magical.” She slurred out. Her filter was no longerintact.

He chuckle quietly behind her, “Well I don’t know aboutthat, but I’m glad to help.”

The towel disappeared, and his hands were in her hair again,this time it took Eloise a few moments before understanding what he was doing.

“Th’fierce Commander knows how’tbraid!” She crowed joyfully.

Cullen laughed in earnest, reliefbubbling up into his chest at the first proper sign of Eloise being… well… Eloise.

“I do have sisters, as you know.”

He finished the braid, quickly, andtied it off. He pulled out a clean tunic and a soft pair of trousers from hersaddle bags she had sitting at the foot of her bedroll. He placed them gently inher hands.

“Change and get some sleep.”

He turned to go, but fear crept upon her again. She moved surprisingly fast, grabbing his hand.

“Please don’t leave.”

There was an edge to her voice thathe recognized. He took a deep breath and turned to face her again.

“Get changed, I’ll wait outside.Once you’re done, call to me, and I will come back and sit with you until youfall asleep.”

She wanted to be greedy and ask forhim to stay with her while she slept as well, but she knew it was likely thathe had had as much sleep as her, and that there was still much for him to do. Shewas being selfish enough asking this much.

“You promise?” She asked quietly.

His hand slipped into hers and gavea gentle squeeze.

“I promise.”

With that, she pulled her hand fromhis regretfully, and he left the tent.

Changing took longer than shethought it would, and she winced at the amount of blood and ichor that coveredher. She tried to wash it off with the remaining water, and managed a decentjob. Drying off she struggled to get into the clean clothes. She sat down on toher bed and called out for him.

He re-entered cautiously, lookingabout shyly. He rubbed the back of his neck as he came to stand fully in theentrance of her tent.

“Where… where would you like me?”

“Lay with me?”

She saw his eyes widen in the dimlight.

“Beside me. Lay beside me.” She correctedherself quickly.

He cleared his throat nervously,seemingly weighing something silently.

“You don’t have to, forget I asked,you can sit on the chair if you like.”

He blinked a few times, before decisivelystepping over to her bedroll, “You’ll have to move over then.”

She blinked up owlishly at him, andthen scooted over, making room for him.

He laid down carefully.

At first, she lay stiffly, but thenshe wiggled a few times, and curled into Cullen’s side. His breath caught inhis chest, and he was so preoccupied by the feeling of having her so close thathe almost missed what she said.

“It’s my fault. I had to make achoice. Someone had to stay.” There was a quiet sniffle, and he realized shewas crying. “Alistair died and its my fault.”

Cullen knew at this moment, arguingwith her on the merit of that statement would do no good, so he filed it awaylater to talk on the matter further and just why Alistair’s sacrifice was not her fault.

Instead, he moved to his side, andwrapped his arms around her, pulling her to his chest.

She cried for a long while, and helet her. She finally fell asleep as the sun rose over the camp. He shifted sothat the sunlight creeping through the tent, would not wake her.

“You are not to be blamed, EloiseTrevelyan. None of this is your fault.”

He whispered the words into her hair,hoping that perhaps they would reach her in her sleep and maybe, just maybe,they could help to alleviate part of the guilt she carried.

[nyf-archive]

What is your Inquisitor’s most treasured possession? (for all your Quizzies)

Finduilas: 

A Griffon Feather (or so her father claimed it to be). It was given to her one night when he was about to leave her and her mother. He had taken up the mantle of becoming a Grey Warden shortly after she turned fifteen. They had come through the area they had set up camp in, offered them help and food and what not, and her father felt drawn towards the effort. 

So, one day, he left, and about a year later, he returned with a feather. He had told her that it was from one of the mythical and faithful creatures that had once lived so long ago, and the first thing he did was put it in her hair. Two years later, he was called to war. That war took him to Ostegar, and after the news of the army all but perishing, that griffon feather that he had given her was her most prized possession afterwards. If it’s not in her hair, it’s attached to her staff or kept safely in a box in her quarters.

Eloise: 

As a ward of the circle, Elle wasn’t allowed many things, and being allowed home on privilege, her house name being one of the most familiar names in the Free Marches. But, even all the money in Thedas couldn’t buy her the comforts inside the circle. She had returned one year from her time studying and kept inside to find a staff that the love of her life had made her a staff, one to which she uses this day.

It is a silver staff, imbued with lyrium for her advantage on the battlefield (should she ever need it). At the top of the staff, there is a glass bauble of sorts, maybe even something else, and encased is a single red rose that he had given to her on one of their first interactions after he discovered she had magic. Nicolas had made it from scratch, having sought out help from his family’s blacksmith, and with is own hands, did he make the weapon for her. When Nicolas died, the staff was all she was able to keep. It was the last piece of him she had, his heart and soul had been put into the metal work.

She doesn’t use the staff, but instead, keeps it safe and protected. It is a sacred thing to her, and she only uses it when she is in judgement or about ready to go into a big fight. For, when she uses it, she knows he is near and helping her fight her hardest