Did you say “terribly delayed, badly written, and gratuitously long and sad story about my daughter?” (◕ ‿ ◕✿)
anyway here’s my pissy daughter being mad that someone sold her shit and giving a long dramatic speech about the first time she got to travel outside her clan
***
Cassandra knocked on Ashana’s door. Not the one leading up to the Main Hall—Ashana only stayed there when there were too many diplomats or visitors wandering around for her other rooms to be secure and private. She tried all of the rooms she could think before realizing she’d forgotten the old, collapsing room at the top of one of the towers. She made her way up and heard the quiet pandemonium inside that usually signified the elven Inquisitor’s presence.
“Inquisitor?” she asked.
Through the door, she heard a long-suffering sigh and a stream of rapid elven. It finally opened to reveal Ash wearing nothing but one of Cullen’s giant shirts. “You know my name,” she said sullenly. “You know I don’t like being called Inquisitor.”
Cassandra blinked, unsure where to begin. They made eye contact for a long minute.
“Is Aurora going to be happy you’re wearing her boyfriend’s shirt?” she said at last.
Ash shrugged. “Solas is too bony. His shirts don’t cover my ass. I can go with that but—“
“No, no!” Cassandra said quickly. “Stay clothed.”
She rolled her eyes and went back to her bed, flopping on the old mattress and momentarily disappearing in a dust cloud. The frame creaked and threatened to collapse.
Much like, as Cassandra noted with no small degree of concern, the ceiling already had.
“Is this safe?” she asked.
Ash tilted her head over the edge of the bed to look at Cassandra upside down. She wore a smirk and a challenging look. “What, is the little human girl afraid of the great big outside world?”
Cassandra ignored her. “I wanted to apologize.”
“For?”
She hesitated. “I am…not certain. You seemed angry.”
“I am.”
“Was it about the packs?”
Ash lost the sarcastic grin. Somehow, she managed to be more intimidating laying upside down than more people were standing upright with armor and a weapon. “Yes. And no.”
“I confess to some confusion.”
“You’re human. It isn’t unheard of.”
“Well, I apologize for going through your things and—“
“Don’t care about that,” she said dismissively. “I’m elven. Communal possessions are a thing.”
Cassandra floundered. Her entire apology centered around the premise of going through Ash’s things.
“Then I…apologize for selling things from our inventories?”
Ash sat up and crossed her arms.
Cassandra made what she hoped was an apologetic expression. She was not sure why Ash would be angry—she usually took care of selling the trivial things they gathered so the Inquisitor wouldn’t have to worry about it. It was one of their arrangements. “What did you sell?” Ash asked flatly. Cassandra furrowed her brow. “Two shields, an axe, a bow, some medals, a dwarven plate, a toy soldier—“ “What,” Ash asked, “was the toy?” “I think it was a little Dalish—oh.” Ash looked fixedly at her nails. “Did it look familiar?” Cassandra shrugged. “It looked similar to the one you carry aro—oh.” “You didn’t think to check before you sold your Dalish Inquisitor’s Dalish possessions?” Cassandra bristled at her tone. “I did not think a toy would be so important to a grown woman.”Before she understood what was happening, Ash had grabbed her wrist and yanked her onto the bed. Cassandra vowed to wash her clothing after.
“When I was younger, I wasn’t allowed to leave the Clan,” Ash began. She tried not to sigh. Ash had a dramatic storytelling streak as wide as Varric’s. “I wasn’t allowed to leave,” Ash continued, “because my Keeper always worried humans would hurt the children in the Clan. Because they had before. Every Clan has at least one story of abuse at the hands of humans.”Oh.“I was allowed to leave my Clan once,” she said. “One of our aravels broke down, and the Keeper sent my father into town to bargain for some parts we could use to fix it. And he took me with him. I was so excited, Esayelan. I made Keeper do my hair, and one of the older girls let me where one of her nice shirts and turned it into a dress.”
Cassandra smiled at the idea of a small Ash. “You sounded very adorable.” “I was,” she said. “And then while my father was talking to a merchant, his three sons told me they had some sweets a little ways off. I had never had anything like that; the Dalish don’t really use sugar. So I went with them. I was holding one of their hands.” Cassandra closed her eyes. “They tore out my braids,” Ashana said. “And ripped my dress. And shoved me into a puddle of mud and shit. And kicked me.” When Cassandra opened her eyes, Ash was smiling. It was not a happy smile. “My father finally came to get me. And he couldn’t do anything, because we were elves. I’ve seen merchants scold their children for kicking stray mongrels. But elves? We were worse than dogs. So we just…walked away.” “Lavallen, I’m—“ “Don’t say sorry,” she cut in with surprising heat. “You can’t apologize for your entire species.” Cassandra fell silent and Ash shrugged, picking at the bottom of Cullen’s shirt. “When we were leaving, we had to pass the elven alienage. I was crying, and my father was trying to get me out without drawing any attention. And then this girl came running up. Girl? Woman? She seemed so grown up to me. And she had her hair…over her ears.” Ash’s hand came up, seemingly unbeknownst to her, to the side of her head where her hair covered the point of her ear. “She had to hide them,” Ash said. “So that she could pretend to be human. She ran over to me and…handed me a little toy soldier. You could see the wear on it. You could see she loved it. It had a little Dalish armor dress on. And it had faded vallaslin. She told me she liked my ears.” “You kept it,” Cassandra said. It wasn’t a question. “I traveled with it everywhere,” Ash said. “It reminds me to protect my people because no one else will. I would have died for my clan. It reminded me why.” “That isn’t the same one,” Cassandra said. “You were searched after you came from the Fade.” Ash shook her head. “I lost it at the Conclave. I found the new one somewhere in Crestwood, right after you made me Inquisitor. It made me realize I couldn’t give up on my promise just because a bunch of shem’len want me to be all Andrastian.” “And I sold it,” Cassandra said. “You did,” Ash said. She sighed. “I apologize, Ash. I did not realize.” She shrugged. “I’m over it.” And like that, she was. She jumped off the bed and it shuddered, leaving Cassandra to grasp desperately at the sheets. “After all, you didn’t get rid of what really matters,” she added. She held up a crystal jar filled with dried royal elfroot. Cassandra stood. “That is my cue to leave.” Ash looked up from prying the jar open with one hand and fishing around in a drawer for something that Cassandra did not want to picture. “Oh, you’re still here? Did you want to—“ “No,” Cassandra said, and sighed as Ash smirked. “I’ll just…go.” She turned to head out and paused at the door. She turned around to see Ash carefully roll elfroot in paper. “Thank you for telling me,” she said. “Telling you what?” Ash said, her voice muffled around her joint as she looked for a fire starter. She gave Cassandra a grin. “Did we talk? Who are you?” Cassandra rolled her eyes and left Ash alone to her vices. As much as the Inquisitor liked to pretend otherwise, her friends knew her fairly well. They knew she didn’t like to bare her soul, and liked it even less when others acknowledged she did. So neither of them mentioned it when three days later, a Dalish toy soldier sat on Ash’s bed. And neither of them mentioned it when Cassandra noticed it tucked into Ash’s bedroll the next week, either.
My Aesthetic is Cassandra walking through Haven after declaring the Inquisition reborn and every single soldier snapping to attention and stopping their activities as she strides by
ash: torments Cassandra mercilessly as soon as she meets her. Shows no signs of being pleasant. ash, immediately upon meeting Solas and Varric and no longer being in the company of just a human: starts flirting and teasing Varric about his crossbow
Ash: so like. Who are these people we're running towards? Cass: you'll see soon. We must help them! Ash: must we? Ash, after spotting a staff twirling elven apostate: WE MUST HELP THEM! ILL HELP THAT ONE!
Cassandra: they have decided your guilt. They need it. Ash: wow, big surprise. Bunch of humans deciding an elf is to blame. Big shocker there. Never once happened before.
