[Redd]

Ashe, despite herself, found herself opening her mouth to comment, then closing it immediately upon realising she had no idea what this man's name was. Instead, she opted to take a few quick paces to catch up. "I'll take that as, you don't mind the company then?" Ashe piped up, mostly for the sake of not silently creeping up on the man. So much for hunting for Hawke. In her absence though, there was something that was compelling her towards this strange blond, curly-haired man dressed up in high ranking Templar armour. Despite how he carried himself, he definitely did not seem comfortable in the presence of a lot of people, and that was something she could definitely relate to right now.

"Hmm? Not at all." He mused, slightly surprised she'd actually come along. "Follow me, it's one of the best places here to actually hear yourself think for once." After a short walk down a dark hallway only really accented by a dark red rug, a few spaced out torches and some bird-shaped sculptures, the man stopped by a glass door and flung it open, offering it to Ashe before following through.

[Redd]

Ashe raised an eyebrow, quickly running her eyes over his get-up just to be sure she was reading this correctly, taking the offered door. The cool winter air bit against her exposed skin, though this time, she'd made a note not to wear a dress, opting for light beige pants, tall white boots and a white nug-skin jacket lined with ram fur. Her parents had originally protested the idea, but she resented dresses and maybe dressing more masculine would halt unwanted advances. She still was carrying her long sword, but this time she'd also made a note of Hawke's habits and had an anlace concealed under her jacket as well. Not that this man had bothered her enough to make her pull it out. She'd heard things about the Templar, especially Kirkwall's Templar, but this man seemed anything but malicious. Hardened maybe, weary but compared to some of the shifty glances and glares she'd seen from some of the other Templars, he seemed quite reserved in comparison.

"Not a big fan of the whole party scene, huh?" she finally asked, leaning against the balustrade, closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath.  

"Not really. Maker knows how you're supposed to keep an eye out for trouble, when there's that many people around." he huffed, taking the opposite railing and looking out into the sprawling cityscape.

[Redd]

"Trouble? Weren't your lot invited off duty?" Ashe had to question, because that was her understanding of it. The city guard were there to keep a semblance of order and there'd been some arranged friendly sparring and shows of skill in some other rooms with some of the Templar, but for the most part, they weren't there as enforcers.

"I suppose. This is Kirkwall though, there's no end to the trouble here. Qunari uprisings, demon possessions, blood mages, dragons...I..." he trailed off, cheeks touched with red. "I am so sorry, I don't mean to bore you with such things.

"Oh! Not at all, I don't mind!" Ashe straightened up, hand half extended, wanting to place a sympathetic hand on the man's shoulder but deciding against it at the last minute. She only just realised the situation, a high ranking Templar official about to reveal weaknesses to a foreign official. Maybe if she convinced him she was harmless, maybe he'd talk more. It was hard to find people at these parties who actually seemed... human, she didn't want to make it awkward right from the get-go. "I'm sorry, I'm Ashe, of the Trevelyan family. From Ostwick, by the way." she offered, this time extending her hand. "I'm not here for politics I have zero interest in all that. I barely want to be here at all, I'll be honest. I thought my friend was going to be at this thing, but I don't see her around anywhere."

The man hesitated for a second, before taking the handshake. "That's a relief." he chuckled slightly. "well, I guess you're the most normal person I've spoken to, tonight. I'm Knight-Captain Cullen, by the way."

[Redd]

Korinne pressed her back against the cold, stone wall, holding her breath and taking in every word. She'd spotted Ashe across the hall and had held off from initially greeting her, just to see if anything had changed since their last meeting. She'd expected the woman to get caught in some sort of one-sided conversation with some unfortunate hopeful, and then she'd dive in and save her like some sort of hero.

However, she'd not expected Commander-fucking-Curly to sweep on through and whisk her away. Nor did she expect Ashe to start flirting with him either.

She sighed, exhaling that held breath. She didn't really know what she'd expected, to be honest. She wasn't interest in Ashe in that way, surely. The girl was cute, definitely, with her fumbling awkwardness, those cold steel eyes and her damn perfect blonde hair (she had a type apparently) but Korinne had Anders.

Had being probably past tense in this case.

[Redd]

Sure things seemed fine on the surface, but that was just it. Whatever they had at this point was probably surface level. Anders was far too preoccupied with his own goals and ambitions to pay much attention to her any more, or to even realise their relationship was strained on any level. To make matters worse, she couldn't even help him. Whenever she tried, his symptoms, just worsened, so at this point she knew better to just leave him alone.

At first, she assumed he was cheating. She followed him, she asked Varric to spy on him, but between them, they came up with nothing and she trusted the dwarf to actually tell her if something was amiss. She'd poured out her heart and soul for this man, given him a home, a safe place, food, a sympathetic ear and this is all she got in return.

So, screw it, maybe she'd been trying to chase some fantasy, following this blonde woman around. Was it really so wrong?

[Redd]

That was a dumb question, of course it was. Chasing anything even remotely associated with happiness always came to bite her in the ass sooner or later, and she knew from every single serious partner she had, she'd just ruin their lives. Her first boyfriend, Reynard? Murdered in front of her because she picked up a contract without checking who'd put the mark out. Fenris? She couldn't really nail what happened there, but she'd spooked him enough to make him run immediately. And now Anders, who she'd probably been enabling, instead of trying to address his problems. She'd also got her twin siblings and her mother killed, because she wasn't good enough, wasn't quick enough to save them.

Such was her curse. She didn't know who she'd pissed off, maybe the Maker himself, but she simply wasn't allowed to be happy.

[Redd]

A small thought niggled at her, as she stood there, listening to idle chatter and giggles from outside, if she wasn't allowed happiness, then neither should they. She could just leave and mope at home over a bottle of wine, or she could make an ass out of herself and butt into their conversation. A normal person may have picked the latter, but if her name wasn't fucking Hawke.

Well, show time. She put on an amused grin and casually pushed the door open to announce her entrance. "Well well, Commander Curly. What are you doing with my friend out here, all alone?" she grinned at the two of them. It gave her no end of satisfaction to see them both jump apart, with guilty flushed expressions.

Cullen recovered a lot faster than Ashe did. "Hawke." Then he paused and looked between the two of them, realisation dawning over his scarred face. "Wait, she's the friend?"

[Redd]

Ashe looked like she was positively about to burst, if such a thing was possible. The poor girl. She'd met Hawke for all of a couple of days, she'd no idea just how bad the assassin could get with enough pettiness. "Y-yeah." Ashe barely peeped, knowing there was no use denying it at this point.

Korinne scoffed and folded her arms across her chest. "Y'know, I scoured the entire hall looking for you. I only managed to find you, thanks to one of my informants." she scolded, her word choice and lie deliberate here.

Ashe had zero idea just who Korinne actually was. With a best friend who was part of the Merchants Guild, a good friend who was the Captain of the Guard and the fact that she was a hero to the common folk due to fighting back an Arishok she was almost untouchable and Cullen knew it. Even more so when you considered she owned a major mining operation and had a significant amount of dirt on the Templars and had been blackmailing a good portion of them to keep them off her friends.

[Redd]

"And ease up Lord Commander," Korinne shook her head, thoroughly enjoying his indignation at her misuse of the title. "I helped the Lady out of a bad spot last time she was in the city. It's what I do best, you should know that." That earned her a scowl, but she ignored it. Though he was loathe to admit it, she'd pulled him out of some bad situations before and as she was quick to reinforce earlier, his order couldn't touch her or her magic using friends.

She was well aware she was in the process of burning bridges here, probably but fuck it right? She was The Hawke. She didn't need friends when she had the praise of a city. "Anyway, just wanted to let Ashe know I was here but, I ah, don't want to interrupt anything so. I'm headed back home now. Stay safe kids, don't get eaten by demons." she'd already turned away as she called back.

"Hawke, wait!" Ashe started after Hawke, stopping shortly after realising the woman was staying true to her word and not responding to her. She turned back to a very confused and flustered Cullen with an agonised and apologetic reaction. "I am so sorry, but I should go. It was nice meeting you though!"

[Redd]

***

Ashe placed her hands on her hips and cast a glance out across the moonlit courtyard. Empty. Well, minus a few poor souls who'd either got lost on the journey from the inn, to the great hall, or a few couples who'd, like her, taken a small break from the main party to get some fresh air. No Hawke out here, though. That was almost expected. The woman, if anything was rather predictable when it came to cold weather. Though it wasn't weather, Skyhold was located at the top of a mountain, which meant that no matter what time of year it was, it was going to be extremely cold, especially at night.

Which made her job ten times harder. Well, job was probably a bit much, but the fact that the boozy, party animal was missing in action at her favorite type of event was bizarre. They' beaten a bad guy, one that Hawke had been intent on killing, purely out of guilt was dead. Surely that was cause for celebration, right?

[Redd]

She hadn't exactly planned to spend the entire party night scouring every last warm nook and cranny of the stronghold looking for the thief, when hiding was Hawke's specialty but... didn't she, as a long-time friend, have an obligation to at least try?

That was her reasoning behind it anyway.

Even more curious was that Varric had claimed that he hadn't seen her, but she knew better than to trust that. The two were thick as thieves and he had covered for her when the Inquisition had been looking for her all those months ago.

"No sign of her, right?" That soft voice that she'd learned to rely on over the year pulled her attention away from the courtyard. Ashe turned around to see Cullen leaning up against the stone wall, clearly still quite inebriated but free of his earlier entourage. Somehow.

[Redd]

"Didn't I just...? How did you escape those two?" Ashe chuckled, shaking her head and moving over to lean on the wall beside him. It was still cold enough that she was going to take advantage of a friend's warmth. "Maker, how did you escape Leliana?"

"I have my talents." He scoffed with a shrug and glanced up at the stars. It was unspoken but their minds were in the same place. This was awfully familiar to the first time they met. "You know she's incredibly hard to find when she doesn't want to be found."

"Well, that's just it. I don't understand why she's run off. We... we did it." Ashe grumbled, pursing her lips and folding her arms across her chest. She was being a bit dramatic, but she couldn't fathom why. She was usually the one who hated parties.

[Redd]

The corner of his lip twisted into a sad smile. "I've known her for a long time. Maybe not well, it was only ever strictly business but she was a powerful, determined woman. She came into Kirkwall with the rest of the refugees, with nothing but the clothes on her back. She was... how you can imagine, cocky and smart-mouthed but driven. She had a home to protect, she helped me with a demon problem because it would keep her family safe.

Within a few years, that woman had everyone in her pocket. The City Guard, the Merchants Guild, she had the support of the Fereldans for providing the refugees jobs in the mines, she had the support of the Marchers for driving out the Qunari." He paused for a bit, thinking through his words.

"She had her piece of Kirkwall and she was determined to protect it. I had the same thing, I had the Kinloch Hold, and I ... for the longest I felt like I'd failed. I'd sworn to protect these people and in the end, I let someone from within destroy the entire tower. The entire circle could have been annulled right there. I would have done it. Afterwards though, I was a mess. I was sent to Greenfell on a... 'mental health break' but the whole time I was wracked with guilt. I wanted to go out and... I'm ashamed to say it but hunt more mages. When Knight-Commander Greagoir came to deploy me to Kirkwall, I thought for sure I'd be put on trial for letting the Circle collapse." he flushed, a little embarrassed at the admission, but Ashe knew what he was trying to say.

[Redd]

"She - Hawke - probably felt the same way when the Chantry was destroyed. She... Maker, it's still vivid, she outright murdered her partner on the spot when she discovered he did it. I've never seen her so furious. But she probably still feels that guilt, that... hopelessness. She went through it twice, both with the Apostate and then Corypheus. If it were me, I'd be running those scenarios, in my head for years. Now with it all over, I'd be surprised if she didn't think you were going to do the same, put her on trial."

Ashe exhaled sharply, grimacing at the thought. That the rogue would be actively avoiding her for fear of punishment, when all she wanted to do was share drinks and celebrate... definitely stung deep down. After all of that, that's how Hawke reacted? There was no trust that their friendship would pull through?

[Redd]

Well, knowing how Hawke had been treated and the types of people she'd surrounded herself with over the years, it was hardly suprising, really.

"Heyy, she's smart, she'll work it out. I managed to." he soothed, catching her concerned expression, gently pulling her in closer. Ashe pressed her face against the soft fur mane of his armour, and closed her eyes for a minute, deeply breathing in. The scent and the warmth was reassuring but there was one small thing bothering her, and she knew it wasn't because of how endearing Cullen was being.

"But..." she pulled back, staring into those amber eyes, hoping she wasn't going to get the answer she thought she was going to get. "Picture for a minute, that you were in her shoes. Where would you be right now?"

There was silence, then a frown. And then panic.

"Somewhere up high."

[BP RECORDED UP TO HERE, 54 BP gained since last record]