#enaste x josephine

[shannaraisles]

Prompt - “No. Regrets.” - @laraslandlockedblues

Wedded

"Sylaise enaste var aravel. Lama, ara las mir lath. Bellanaris."

"May you be blessed in the eyes of the Maker," the priest intoned, faltering for a moment under Josephine's hard glare before adding, "And gain the blessing of the elven gods as well."

Enaste grinned, squeezing Josephine's hand, lifting it to her lips to press a tender kiss to her wife's knuckles. They weren't invoking the blessing of all the Evanuris, though she doubted there would be any objection from that one whose name was a whispered curse. For all his activities and the mere threat of his existence, Solas would have blessed this union, for the sake of his friend if nothing else.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you ... Lord and Lady Lavellan-Montilyet."

The little bower erupted with cheers and applause as Aran turned to face his friends and family, his new wife tucked close against his side. His eyes swept first to his mothers - to Enaste and Josephine, hair touched with gray, faces lined with age, smiling and laughing and crying happy tears to see him so blessed. He had kept them waiting for this day for too long, he knew, feeling a warm thrill in his heart that his happiness was theirs, too. They had struggled to be accepted for more than twenty years, pretending to the world that they did not hear the bigoted whispers and cruel taunts the world threw at their backs as they passed. Until he was a man, he had not even been aware that not everyone supported a union of women, much less a union between elf and human, lucky to have been drawn into the merry warmth of the Montilyet family along with his mother when she had made Josephine her wife and taken her name.

He drew his wife over to the two women who had raised him, laughing as Josephine abandoned Enaste to throw her arms around Isandre, the human mage he had fallen in love with what felt like a lifetime ago. Enaste reached up to hug him in turn, the one-armed embrace no longer as strange as it had been in the months following the end of the Inquisition. She no longer bore her pain like a badge, no longer tried to hide the loss of her left arm above the elbow. He was proud of her, so proud to be her son, lifting her off her feet as she laughed and kissed his cheek.

"No regrets, Mamae?" he asked softly, setting her down on her feet once again.

He watched her eyes turn toward Josephine, saw her expression soften as years of warmth and love and companionship flickered through her mind, as her smile gentled and deepened, glowing in the radiance of the adoration shared between herself and her wife. Her one hand squeezed his fingers as she looked back to him, bright with happiness that was all her own.

"Never," she assured her son. "No. Regrets. Ever."

He laughed with her, turning to receive his kiss and embrace from Josephine, his other mamae, wiping the tear tracks from her face before allowing Isandre to pull him away toward her own parents, who were themselves old friends - Cullen and Mila Rutherford. There were so many old friends here, people who had shaped who he was and who he had become. Friends who had helped Enaste accept who she was in the aftermath of the Conclave - Chargers, scouts, advisors, Jennies. Only the Divine had been unable to attend, but even she had sent a gift to bless the marriage of the Inquisitor's son. Even Clan Lavellan had sent a representative, though they no longer acknowledged Enaste or Aran as their own.

But that didn't matter. He had a clan, built on love and trust - the Montilyets and the Rutherfords, and as time went on, there would be others. Yet he would have none of this without his Mamae, and the woman who had gently wrapped her heart in all the love she could muster.

No, no regrets. There was no need.

[shannaraisles]

Prompt - A lazy morning in bed, but person A tries to wake up person B in the nicest ways possible (stroking, petting, kissing, cooey voices) before moving on to the equivalent of an industrial bulldozer smashing through the wall. - @inquisitorsmabari

Good Morning

Slow sunlight crept through the wide windows of the Inquisitor's rooms at Skyhold. Outside, the fortress was already awake, bustling with business from one end to the other. But inside - in the warmth and softness that filled these rooms that Enaste had made her own - there was stillness.

Ggnnnnaaarrk.

Josephine opened her eyes with an affectionate sigh, turning her head toward her sleeping companion. Enaste had returned from the Frostback Basin late last night and all but fallen into bed, exhausted from the journey back home. She was sprawled now on top of the covers, bare to the world, with her backside pointed just a little up at the ceiling, and a small fist clenched underneath her jaw. And the noises she was making ...

Josephine laughed quietly to herself, rolling onto her side to trace a gentle finger over her elven lover's skin. How could she object to that appalling snoring? It meant Enaste was home and safe and sleeping peacefully. There was nothing to object to in that. One long finger gently skimmed the fall of short blonde hair back behind one pointed ear, teasing down over the sleeping mage's neck, over her shoulder, down the line of her back.

"Enaste," she murmured in a sing-song tone, softly urging her lover to wake up.

Ggnnnnaaarrk.

Josephine rolled her eyes above her smile, hardening her touch just a little - no longer a tracing skim of a finger, but her whole hand, warm and firm, smoothing over the dimpled bottom arched toward the roof. She slithered a little closer, brushing the tip of her nose to Enaste's.

"Time to wake up, my love," she called, still soft in the lazy morning that wrapped about them.

Ggnnnnaaarrk.

"Enaste!" This was a little louder, accompanied by a gentle shake applied to the elven woman's side. "This is a ridiculous way to waste a morning better spent with you."

Enaste drew in a deep breath, her fist uncurling to rub at her nose for a moment before she relaxed back to sleep. Josephine laughed again, tilting her head to brush tender kisses to the pale shoulder closest to her.

"Please wake up, my darling," she cajoled her lover, wriggling until she could press a kiss to those snoring lips. "I have missed you so."

Ggnnnnaaarrk.

"Fine, I give up."

Josephine rolled off the bed, catching up a robe that lay nearby to cover herself, and moved down the stairs to open the door. Aran had been given a room of his own in recent months, following construction work within the tower - his door lay opposite his mother's. The ambassador knocked, and a moment later, the lad opened the door, disheveled from sleep himself. He grinned up at her.

"Is Mamae snoring?"

She chuckled, bending to kiss his hair.

"And good morning to you, too," was her greeting. "Yes, your mother is refusing to wake up. She is all yours."

Aran's grin grew wider at the kiss. He was thriving on the rarity of having two mothers, though he had yet to call Josephine Mamae and Enaste would not force him to. He loved them both dearly, but he did enjoy the feeling of conspiracy that reigned between himself and Josephine whenever Enaste was being difficult.

Given permission, he skipped past Josephine and into the Inquisitor's quarters, accelerating up the stairs as Josephine followed at a more moderate pace. She heard him yell, heard him land on the bed, heard Enaste curse ... and heard the thump as they both fell off the other side of the bed in a tangle of limbs and laughter.

Well, it was certainly one way to wake the woman she loved.

[shannaraisles]

How about 'for no reason at all' for Enaste. I haven't heard from her in a while. :) Please and thank you.

Awww, my darlin’ Enaste. Pretty apt, really, since I’m swinging into a new challenge tomorrow! Thank you, my lovely!

“... will be joining us tomorrow,” Josephine was saying. “He can be the most insufferable bore, but he has always extended the hand of friendship to the Inquisition, and in light of your triumphant victory, he deserves a place at the official celebrations. Just don’t ask him about the Blight - his stories are terrible.”

Enaste nodded absently, only really listening with half an ear. She was indulging herself, captivated by a single curl that had escaped the delicate twist of her lover’s dark hair to bounce enticingly just at the corner of her mouth. Each time Josephine gestured, or moved her head, the curl bounced, brushing the corner of her lips with wicked invitation.

“The Marquis DuRellion will, of course, be arriving sometime this afternoon.” Bounce. “I must remember to ask the servants not to put fresh flowers in his chambers.” Bounce, brush. “He is terribly sensitive to pollen, and I believe his wife will only have fresh roses in her private rooms in any case.” Bounce. “And, of course, there is the deputation from Nevarra - Lady Cassandra was very clear that she does not want to be anywhere near them for the duration of their stay.”

“Why is that?” Enaste asked as Josephine lapsed into silence.

“Hmm? Oh ...” The Antivan ambassador smiled reluctantly, the curve of her smile touching that curl and making Enaste’s heart thump just that little bit harder. “They are a very minor branch of the Pentaghast family. I am sure you have heard Cassandra’s opinions on her family.”

“Several times.” Enaste chuckled, shaking her head. Bounce went the curl, and thump went her heart. To the Void with this.

She rose to her feet, circling the desk to slide her fingers along the back of Josephine’s neck. As the dark-haired woman lifted her head in surprise, Enaste bent down, covering those smiling lips with her own in a soft kiss, tasting peaches and wine on the tongue that shyly came out to play with her own. A soft kiss that became something deeper, warmer, lazy with passion despite all the other duties that still lay ahead of them throughout the day. When she drew back, she let her lips linger just long enough to kiss the corner of her lover’s mouth where the curl had been teasing her, tucking the escaping strand away into the twist it should have remained within.

Josephine’s smile was sweetly bemused. “What was that for?” she asked with charming innocence.

Enaste grinned back at her, gently tapping the end of her nose. “No reason.”

[Kissing Prompt List!]