Here is a 4 part series I posted in the Cassandra thread.
Synopsis: Being a seeker is what Cassandra has known her life. After her brother died because of magic, she has never trusted the mages. However, decades later when Cassandra starts developing feelings for the Inquisitor, the old ghosts come back haunting.
Part 1: Leave me Alone
It was almost midnight, but Inquisition soldiers were still active in and around the Skyhold. Inquisitor Keylan was a young man, barely 26, and shouldered the weight of the entire Inquisition. He was staring outside his room’s window; he could see the tower of Amunsheer. Amunsheer was where one of the first battles was fought between the Inquisition of old and remnants of the Tevinter Imperium.
He had been pondering over the events that took place the day before. He had sensed unease among his comrades after they had returned to the keep. It has been like this since he became the Inquisitor. Every day, he had to make harsh decisions that hurt people, kill some to save many. It felt like he was bargaining with a reaper. It didn’t matter how much he gained, he always seemed to have lost at the end.
However, today was more so than ever. But he had to set things right, those mages were innocent. Frustrated, he slammed his fist on the window pane. He turned around to leave the room, he needed air, but more than he needed someone else.
As he exited his room, his guards jumped at the sight of him. “Inquisitor!” “Marc, Lambert. Stand at ease, I am going for a walk” “Yes milord!”
The guards started walking behind him. Keylan turned around “I meant alone!”
“Sorry sir, but high seeker Cassandra gave us specific orders; we are to guard yo-”
“Well, I am the Inquisitor and I am telling you to get back to your posts.”
Both of the guards exchanged looks. Keylan saw in their eyes, they were more afraid of Cassandra then they were of him. “Grr… I will not be leaving the Skyhold. Leave me be, or your next duty will be atop Amunsheer.”
Keylan knew that he could not move the soldiers; they were part of his personal guard and their deployments were controlled by Cassandra. But the soldiers on other hand had no idea, “Please don’t tell the high seeker.” “Yes… Yes! Now leave!”
They had no Idea he had left his room to meet Cassandra. Keylan was smiling thinking, how angry she will be. ‘She looks even prettier when she is angry, scary but pretty.’
In the past two months Cassandra had warmed up to Keylan. Considering how they started their relationship, it was almost a miracle that they were now so close. Close would not be right word. Keylan liked her (a lot), but Cassandra had not shown any such inclination.
He remembered when Sera had stolen Cassandra’s sword; it was funny, until they found the sword under his bed. Cassandra was not happy.
Another time Cassandra and he had got locked together in a ruin. They had to wait for four whole hours, before Iron bull could locate another door to the ruin and open it from outside. The whole time Sera had been making lewd jokes about people getting trapped in rooms from outside the door. Just remembering that time he started blushing.
Now however, they used to take walks in the Skyhold gardens, share stories, discuss future plans about Inquisition, among other things. He had never felt so relaxed with anyone in his whole life. It felt that with her he could have his guard down and that was something he truly cherished.
Part 2: Knock knock…
Walking down the corridor, he took the first left. There was a single room at the end. The door was shut and there were no guards standing outside. He walked up to door, took a deep breath and lifted his fist to knock. But he stopped midway. ‘Maybe she is asleep. I think this can wait till tomorrow.’
Before he could move away from the door, a voice from inside the room inquired “Wh… Who is it?”
“It’s me, Keylan!”
“Please (sigh)… go away. We will talk tomorrow.” Cassandra’s voice sounded soar.
“Cassandra, are you alright?”
“I am fine! Just… leave me.”
He waited for some time before speaking; he could feel that something was not right.
“Cassandra… you can talk to me about anything… you know that right.”
No answer came from the room. He had to see her, to know if everything was alright. Cassandra might not see him that way, but she was special to him.
“Maker’s breath, Cassandra. I will break this door if you don’t open it.”
Then he heard the latch open from the inside, he pushed the door open. The entire room had been (no other word for it) destroyed. There were blade marks all over the walls, the study table had been cleaved into two, the sitting chair was missing three legs, mattress of the bed had been ripped open and feathers from the pillow were scattered all over the floor, along with several scrolls.
“Is everything alright?”
What was he saying? It was very obvious something was wrong.
Cassandra did not reply. She was still wearing her battle armor. Her shield was bent at an odd angle and laid at her feet. She was holding her sword loosely in her right hand; the blade was touching the floor. Her eyes were puffy and red and from the looks of it and tear marks on her cheek suggested, she had been crying. She was staring at the floor, avoiding Inquisitor’s gaze. How nobody had heard the ruckus, was a mystery in itself.
“What do you want!?” Cassandra inquired, still avoiding his gaze.
“I came here to talk to you… but I didn’t knew you were in the middle of remodeling your room”
Maybe it was not a good time to be funny.
“… fine I am sorry, it was a bad joke. Is everything alright?”
He moved towards her and tried to grab her shoulder. She slapped his hand away and looked him in the eye. She was mad about something. Keylan took a step back.
“We have nothing to talk about, mage.”
‘Mage!? What was that about?’ Keylan wondered.
“Yes we do. Please… tell me what is all this about.”
Part 3: Old Ghosts
No one spoke for at least 5 minutes. In that time, the inquisitor kept stealing glances at the state of the furniture. Cassandra kept twirling the sword’s hilt with her hands and the blade kept scratching the floor.
“It’s about the mages isn’t it?” Keylan inquired. Cassandra did not speak for a while and then, she shouted, “YOU LET THEM GO!”
“They were innocent people, Cassandra. I couldn’t just execute them.”
“They had MURDERED an entire village -”
“- in self-defense.”
“- in COLD-BLOOD.”
It was a deafening silence.
“Cassandra, those mages had come to trade for food. When the cultists found out that mages had come to their village, they took one of the younglings and burned her. They were provoked, if we had been the-”
Suddenly, Cassandra lifted her sword and pointed at the Inquisitor’s chest.
“I obeyed the divine, when she said that I had to work with a mage.”
“What-”
“I obeyed, when she told me that a mage would lead the inquisition.”
“Okay, Cass-”
“But I will not stand by and let you free murderers.”
“You were THERE, CASSANDRA. You saw what they did, we took the decision together.”
“No we did not, you forced it on us.” Then she looked down and closed her eyes and murmured, “You don’t care how I feel.”
Inquisitor paused; he looked at the blade pointed at his chest, the tip was hovering over his heart. If Cassandra, so wished, she could impale him in a flash. He had never seem her this angry, he guessed that the anger was not about what happened today, something else was eating at her.
“Okay… I am really confused here. You did not say anything after what happened, even after we came back when all of us were having dinner together.”
“You are not fit to lead the inquisition; you are not fit to command us. I cannot… I will not follow a mage.”
Then Cassandra lunged. Before her blade could make contact with the inquisitor, there was a shockwave, Cassandra was pushed backward into the wall behind her; her sword flew and got impaled in the roof. Keylan moved towards Cassandra, he thought that she had been knocked out. Before he could reach her, Cassandra rolled towards the door and pulled out a dagger from her belt. She was effectively blocking his escape.
She rolled the dagger in her hand.
She started slashing viciously; Inquisitor tried his best to dodge the dagger. With every swipe she shouted
“My brother was killed by a mage…”
“I joined the seekers…”
“… because I wanted to protect people…”
“… from this curse of magic…”
“And now I myself under the influence of a mage…”
“You have been in my thoughts, my dreams…” She stopped. Both the seeker and the Inquisitor were out of breath. Keylan was going out of mind. For a brief moment, Cassandra and his eyes met. Tears swelled in her eyes, “I have been corrupted…”
With that she lunged on Keylan.
Part 4: No pain, no gain.
The Inquisitor tried to step back and slipped on the torn bed sheet lying on the floor and fell on his back. Cassandra fell with him. Keylan had hit his head on the shield and he felt dizzy, before he could gain his bearing, Cassandra jumped on him and sat with her legs on either side of Keylan. She was holding his arms under the weight of her knees, so he couldn’t free himself. She grabbed the dagger with both hands, poised for a killing blow.
“AAARRGGGGHHHH…”
Before the dagger could reach its target, Inquisitor had freed his hand to block it. The dagger sank halfway through the Inquisitor’s hand.
“Sweet, ANDRASTE! That ****** hurts!”
As soon as she saw blood, Cassandra loosed the grip on the dagger. Keylan freed his other hand and removed the dagger from his hand. He threw the dagger away. Cassandra had her face in her hands, slouching over him. She was now crying, or rather wailing.
Keylan had never seen Cassandra so vulnerable and he didn’t like it. He reached out and pushed her hands away, grabbing her face in his hands. He tried to wipe tears from her cheeks.
Keylan was heartbroken, to see Cassandra like this, “I am so… so sorry for your brother. I had no Idea. But you have to believe me, when I tell you that whatever I do, I do to ensure the survival of people of Thedas.”
“I never thought I would care for a Templar, much less a seeker, but I do. I care about you more than my life, more than this world. Trust me when I say, that I truly love you.”
She fell on him, hugging him tightly. Before he could think further, Cassandra moved her face a little closer to his. Of all the times he had seen her, this was the first time she was looking defeated and he did not like it all. He liked her strong, angry.
“A question… is this dagger poisoned? It’s kind of itching.”
“N… not likely.”
“You are not su-”
And she kissed him. It was Keylan’s first kiss and it went for about 15 minutes. It was broken by a crashing sound at the door, accompanied by several voices.
“Inquisitor!?”
There were several guards on the door along with Iron bull. Of all the people that could have seen Inquisitor and Cassandra in this state, it had to be Iron-bull.
Cassandra hugged the Inquisitor even tighter and buried her head in his chest, trying to hide from their gazes. Her armor plate was crushing him.
Iron-Bull shoved the guards away from the door and put his head inside the room.
“I would have not believed it, if I had not seen it with my own eyes. Such… such mayhem! You even put me to shame, Inquisitor. Carry on, carry on. We shall meet in the morning… or the next.” And with a wink he left the room, closing the door behind him.
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