My Darling, My Dear

"Kids"

5 Years Later

"No, Lena, not that sweetie, swe- sweetie come here." Cullen called across the hall. I sat nearby, feeding our youngest, Talin, while I watched Cullen try to get Dera to put down the potted plant she had picked up. She had spent the better part of the day getting her dad to chase her around Skyhold, and the past ten minuets running around the great hall, picking things up, and making her daddy get her to convince her to put them down, only to drop most of them, leaving glass and plastic littering the great hall.

I chuckled. "Hey, you wanna come over here and help. Cause I've been at this all day." He said waving in Deralena's direction tiredly.

"Can't, feeding the hungry boy!" I answered, gently lifting Talin from where he lay against my breast.

"You, are very, very lucky." He jogged off, chasing after Lena in one more attempt to catch her.

"Well, my dear, you seem to be very happy lately." Vivienne said as she sat down beside me.

"Oh, hello Vivienne. Yeah, Cullen has started training her in the fighting ring, and she is excelling at her studies so far, and now we have another little one. Cullen and I are very happy." I smiled, thinking about how Cullen was teaching Deralena how to fight with one-handed weapons.

"So all is well then?" I nodded. "Well, anyways, I got a letter from a dear friend in Val Royeaux. It seems he's fallen into some kind of trouble. All I want, is for your permission to go there for a little while to visit him. It seems quite important." She explained.

I smiled. "Vivienne, of course you can go. Since the closing of the breach, no one has any obligation to be here any more. I can't stop you from going if that's what you want to do." I maneuvered Talin so he faced my shoulder and I could burp him.

"Yes, but, I still feel, like I'm obligated to you. Like I still... serve, you."

"But you don't. Though, if you still think that you need my permission, yes, you can go." I replied earnestly.

"Thank you, Ellana. I should be enroute to Val Royeaux by tomorrow afternoon. I'll be packing if ever you need me."

"Of course," I said nodding. With that she left and Cullen took her place.

"I finally caught her, and five minutes into carrying her here, she passed out, so I took her to her room. Maybe now, I could, ah, actually get some work done," He said.

I laughed. "What?" He asked

I laughed harder. "Nothing, nothing, its just, your falling asleep in your chair. Go up to bed. After the day you've had, I don't think anyone would blame you for taking a few hours before dinner to sleep. Besides, you've handed almost all control of the army to Cassandra. I don't think she'll mind if you take a few hours for yourself."

"Yeah, maybe your right. I'm gonna take a nap. I'll see you later babe." He kissed the top of my head before jogging to the door up to our room. Talin was asleep in my arms now, so I took him up to our room as well, and found Cullen, armor and all, fast asleep in the bed. So I, with nothing to do, and my family sound asleep, decided to take a journey to the forgotten library.

The forgotten library is a small room in the basement of Skyhold. Dorian first discovered it, after trying to find some quiet place to read. It was rarely used, except for the occasional meeting between lovers, or as a place to escape to when one needed to think and couldn't go too far. Very few even know about this place, only a few of my inner circle, and curious servants. I hadn't been down here since before Deralena was born. I found a few cobwebs floating in corners still, and made myself a promise to clean those. I took a kind of solstice in the books, some completely unreadable, but some still in good condition, and the last of their kind. Some were fiction, many were filled with battle strategy, and military components that Cullen often utilized. But I came here only for the feeling of being surrounded by books. I picked up the novel that I had been reading, the latest, unpublished installment of hard in hightown. Varric wanted me to read it and tell him what I thought. So far, I thought it was an interesting read, but very unlike what he would normally write.