It was late afternoon when the Inquisitor wandered into Solas’ room, peeking in to see the streams of cool light illuminating the weathered walls. A smile graced her face as she gently pushed the wooden door open, happily savoring this brief free moment she had been able to steal away. Varlaina’s approach must have been quiet enough since the male in the room didn’t turn to look her way, instead he faced the wall, holding a brush while gazing at the swirling colors he must have just painted. The smell of it hit her nose and it wrinkled slightly.
“Solas?” Her voice rang through the bare room, echos making it seem far louder than the elven woman had intended, though it did succeed in garnering his attention. It took him a moment to realize who was there and his face softened, moving to the table and setting the brush down to fully look at her.
“Good morning, Inquisitor, how do you fair?” He blinked as soon as he saw the expression she made in return to the title. “Varlaina.” The bald elf stressed before he snickered slightly at himself. She, herself, sighed in quite an annoyed manner, setting down the basket she was holding while muttering how much she hated when people called her that. “Should I refer to you as Varric does? Smiles was it?”
“My name is just fine, Chuckles. Also, its the afternoon now.” Grinning as she used his own nickname before seeing his curious gaze at the basket she opened. “Oh, ah…. I didn’t see you earlier when we ate so I brought us some lunch to share. If that’s alright…” She cursed herself in her head, why did she always clam up whenever it came to, well, being close to him? It was hard for her to gauge him sometimes, and they had kissed. So it wasn’t extremely strange for her to want to spend more time with him, but she was never sure if she was a bother. The woman could only attribute that to her crush on him, the shyness taking over whenever they weren’t facing danger or talking about spirits and the fade.
The elven male smiled, the skin at his eyes crinkling from it. “I must have gotten too absorbed and not noticed time going by. I believe I must have stayed up all night working on it.” He seemed wistful, moving to drag another chair from against the wall to the table for them both to sit. Varlaina took the moment to steal a look up at the mural, she believed him. It seemed to practically spring up over night, yet looked so wonderfully detailed. Solas followed her eyes and took a moment to admire his own work before moving to finish unloading the plates and food.
“What are they all? Well, about I mean?” The blonde elf tilted her head at him.
“Curious as always, aren’t we? They are the memories of this place, Skyhold. Monuments of what we have faced and to display our victories. Perhaps I may fill the whole room, this seems quite likely given your adoration for putting yourself in interesting situations.” He let himself relax while he ate, his rigid posture slagging slightly against the back of the chair. It was strange for him to be able to be so calm around another person. The elf was so used to being constantly on guard that his body protested the posture, his tight muscles whining against the momentary reprise they were being given. Idly Solas rubbed his neck, letting go a large sigh as he did so. However, he hadn’t realized that his companion had been speaking the whole time, asking questions to which it seemed she had only been answered with his sigh.
Her brows were knit with worry, a constant expression she wore these days, “Am I bothering you? Should I leave? You must be tired… I just barged in here-” He cut her off with a tired smile and a warm hand atop her own. The woman’s freckles were dwarfed with pink, cheeks flaring up with color at the contact. Creators, why was his smile so handsome? “T-tell me more about the mural? What memory is it showing?” Please, anything to change the subject off herself.
In reply to the question, he rose gracefully and moved over to the wall and gazed upwards towards the ceiling. “This one is dedicated to the blast which created the breach.” He motioned at the many rifts falling to the ground, fingers tracing just above the mountains anchoring the mural to the floor. “The event that began all of this, that brought us all together.” Solas turned back to the other elf as she wandered over and moved to stand beside him. “Where we first met.” Upon hearing his own words, memories of their meeting flashed before his eyes. When they had first met, Solas didn’t think much of their inquisitor. Closing the breach was all that mattered to him, fixing his mistakes and putting the world back in order. He had no idea what power Varlaina would gain on his heart. He looked forward to their chats everyday, constantly felt his stomach do flips when she was in danger in battle. It baffled him to no end how someone like her could drag his attention away from the fade and draw him to the waking world. Gentle brushing fingers shook him from his own thoughts, peering down silently to see slender fingers nervously entwine with his own. “Why do you seem so nervous? Though, perhaps the fault lies with me.” Solas was never the best at fully displaying his emotions, years of solitude tend to do such things to a person.
“No, I just… I…” The inquisitor groaned under her breath and rubbed her brow. She struggled to find the words that didn’t make her sound like an idiot. “I don’t know what we are, and… I’m not sure what all…” Her voice trailed off, the ending of it echoing again, mocking her own doubt in herself. Varlaina glared at the wall, hating that she couldn’t just tell him all that he meant to her. Her fingers clentched his as slowly her face fell into a pained frown much to Solas’ dismay.
The bald mage was quiet for a few moments, the air growing stiff with the lack of sound. “I meant what I said before. You changed everything, and I must admit I am frightened at the thought of it.” He received no answer from her, “You…. wore your hair down today, it looks lovely that way.” Finally he received some sort of response from her as she timidly looked up to him. Continuing from the positive feedback, Solas moved to brush a curly strand of hair behind her pointed ear and proceeded to place a kiss on the tip of it. She froze for a moment and it made him wonder if perhaps he had done the wrong thing or misread her desires. His mind was set at ease as Varlaina turned and flung herself against him in a hug, squeezing their bodies together while letting go a small chiming laugh.
“Oh, creators! What are you trying to do to me!” She couldn’t make herself stop giggling. It was as if the atmosphere of the room changed in an instant. The charge of nerves was deluded with bubbles of laughter from the two as they embraced. “I’m sorry,” Finally getting the breath to speak as her cheek rested against the male’s chest. “I’m terrible at this… this business.”
“I do recall stating its been quite some time for myself as well. Goodness, what a pair we make.” Solas replied softly as his own laughter died down to a chuckle. He quieted and mused with himself for a moment, ending up bothering his lip as his internal debate concluded. Gently, he pushed Varlaina off his chest, but before she could give him that terrible pout of hers, his hands cupped her cheeks. Now with a clear view of her flushed face, his fingers stroked the apples of her cheeks as they gazed into each other’s eyes. “Emma lath…” (My love) He whispered the words as their lips met.
The world melted away along with her fears as they kissed. Her silky lips shivered against his own before eventually growing more brave and demanding, pushing against Solas’ as her arms wrapped around his shoulders. Carefully the male guided their bodies to a bare part of the wall, pressing her back against it as they grew more aggressive in their affections. As they kissed, his hands traveled down to her lower back, sliding along her skin to rest on her bottom, where he gave a playful squeeze. It elicited a small surprised squeal from the girl as she pulled back to stare at him wide-eyed. To her furthered surprise, Solas’ gentle face was now a more predatory gaze, lips pulled into a smirk as he watched her expression. She felt a bit like a halla cornered by a wolf, trapped against the wall by his body and his eyes.
Varlaina gingerly drew a hand back to slide it across his lower lip, feeling it still pulsing from their meeting earlier. She could feel him analyzing her movement, waiting for the perfect chance to strike. As his head dipped low again, her hand moved to the base of his neck, helping guide their lips together once more. She swore he growled lowly in his throat followed by his tongue sliding against her mouth before slipping inside. It explored meaningfully, mapping out all her features in his usual calm manner before dancing with her own clumsy one. Their dance continued before they parted only for breaths, panting now the only sound in the room. The inquisitor’s whole face felt red as she used the wall to steady herself, her knees now weak and feeling like jelly.
Solas licked his lips, nostrils flaring from his attempts at catching his breath. He caught himself and blinked,seemingly worried at the sudden loss of his composure as he quickly looked away. The blonde elf made him face her again, her own expression begging him for their chance at intimacy. They both needed this, they knew that, but they both were also so unsure of the direction they wanted this relationship to go. Solas stared at her, his own brows now knit with worry before he relented., “Ma nuvenin…” (As you wish)
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Varlaina shivered against the cold on her bare skin, holding the blanket she wrapped around herself closer. Solas was asleep beside her, and she couldn’t help but give a shy smile towards the serene look on his sleeping face. With a small sigh, she happily leant down to kiss his forehead. She was tired, but found she couldn’t sleep as peacefully as he was and had eventually just renounced herself to sitting there in the silent afterglow of their affections. She grew embarrassed thinking back on it and forced herself to stop. As the woman looked around the room to focus on something else she spotted the other elf’s supplies for his murals. Hoisting herself up in her blanket cocoon, she wandered over to the jars of paint and plaster. Varlaina’s eyes moved to the beautiful mural on the wall and his words came back to her. “The memories of this place…” Searching for where he had put his brush and retrieving it, the woman found a small hidden area of the room and knelt down to contemplate what she wanted to paint. Stealing a look back towards the sleeping man to make sure he hadn’t woken up, her focus returned to the wall. The fabled herald of Andraste bit her lip as she focused, trying to do smooth deliberate strokes to emulate Solas’ own and after sometime, she set the brush down. Setting her weight on her heels she leaned back to overlook her own little piece of art, smiling warmly at it and getting up to return to her love. As she layed down beside him again, he stirred and wrapped his arm around her sleepily, drawing her closer to him.
It would be weeks later when he discovered her little addition to his wall, stopping in his tracks at the unearthed scribble. His fingers traced her lines now, eyes filled with sorrow, knowing he had let this go on too long, knowing he would only cause her pain in the end. Tears found their way to his eyes as he tried to bury the feelings of pain and dread. “My heart…” He read the words aloud, taking in the crudely drawn picture of the two of them, both holding each end of a heart with the words written below. “My heart.” He repeated more deliberately, face marked with agony at knowing what he had to do. It was at that moment he heard the door open, and the same cheery greeting he had grown so accustomed to. Solas steeled himself with a shaky breath and stood to greet her, “Varlaina, I want to take you someplace, it reminded me of you….” A sad smile was all he could do to mask the guilty feeling forming in his stomach as he took her hand and led her away.
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