25. “I can’t believe you talked me into this.” (For any OC, from the Drabble Prompts)
“I can’t believe you talked me into this.”
Tinesha giggled, the dimples in her cheeks perfectly kissable as she worked a sash around Connors’ waist. “Hey, you’re the one who said you wanted to help out, remember? It’s about time the ladies of Orlais got a trouser option.”
Sighing, Connors stood with her arms out to the side, the solemn expression of a martyr stamped on her face. “This… wasn’t what I had in mind.”
“Mhwy nhot?” Tin’s attempt to speak with pins held carefully between her pursed lips was, as usual, laughable.
“I make a poor model.”
At that, Tinesha abandoned her task and got to her feet, striding around until she was face-to-face with Connors. Or perhaps face to chest, given Connors was standing on a stool. “Now you listen here, Miss Leah Connors.” Tinesha’s voice, an odd mixture of stern but playful, seemed to fill the small room. “There is no one more perfect…” She reached out, tugging the waistcoat gently into place. “More powerful…” Tin shifted the placement of a pin near Connors’ wrist, pulling the sleeve in a bit tighter. “Or more jaw-droppingly gorgeous than you. So shush with the false modesty - you’re not fooling me.”
Connors felt her cheeks heat at the flurry of compliments, although she supposed she should have expected as much. After all, this was Tin, the self-proclaimed defender of all from their own warped perceptions of themselves. But if there was one thing Connors knew, it was better not to argue. So she gave a soft chuckle, leaned forward, and pressed a kiss to the top of Tinesha’s lips.
“That or I’ve fooled you very well.” Connors smirked slightly at the flash of indignation in Tinesha’s eyes, but she kissed the emotion away just as fast.
“Fooled everyone, then…” Tinesha meekly countered, cheeks flushed when they finally parted. “Now stop messing! I’m almost done.”
Connors just hummed, straightening and obediently holding her arms out again.
“I’ll be here as long as it takes.” Tin and Leah? <3
“I’ll be here as long as it takes.” Tin’s voice was firm yet gentle. A blend of caring and stubborn that Connors remembered so fondly from their youth. From happier times. Tin’s brown eyes practically burned a hole in her as Connors finally found the strength to meet them, and the woman leaned in imploringly. “You know that, right Leah?”
“I… I do.” Connors glanced away, taking a moment for herself. A moment to collect. Steady. Try to piece together what had set her off. Eventually, her gaze drifted towards the window. Towards the merchant who had set up shop outside their rooms. “The flowers.”
Tinesha frowned, cocking her head slightly, sleep-tousled ringlets tumbling to one side. “Flowers?” she repeated, confused, then followed Connors’ gaze. “I… oh.”
It was clear she recognised them too. Recognised the bright yellow blossoms that were the very same that grew outside Connors’ home back in Ferelden. The merchant pedaled his wares as exotic, and it was clear he had maintained them with a great degree of care. So much so that they had achieved full bloom, even in weather that did not suit them. The smell of them had woke Connors a few hours after dawn, the wind blowing from the docks carrying it straight through their bedroom window. It had arrived like a punch to the gut and left her gasping.
“Leah…” Reaching out, Tin folded her hand over Connors’. “I can ask him to move, if you want.”
Without pause, Connors shook her head. “No. It is something I need to face. I… I won’t let myself be put in a state over a few flowers.” They had been her favourite, once. It was the reason her mother had bought and planted them in the first place. Only now did Connors realise their colour was almost identical to the shade of Tin’s hair. “He can stay. I’m all right now.”
Although she seemed unconvinced, Tinesha didn’t argue. “Well, if you’re sure. You always knew more about this kind of thing than me.” She squeezed Connors’ hand gently, mustering up a reassuring smile. “But, hey, if you change your mind, just say the word. I’ll send him packing.”
While it was a bit dramatic, Connors appreciated the gesture, folding Tin’s hand in hers and bringing it to her lips. “Thank you.”
They sat in soft silence for a moment, Tin’s hand resting in Connors’, the sound of Val Royeaux stirring awake drifting from the open window along with the smell of Ferelden summer. It was a strange mix. Disconcerting, yet… warm. The more Connors forced herself to breathe it in; the more she looked and Tin as she did it; the less power she found it had over her. It was not perfect. Perhaps she was simply getting used to it, as the minutes passed. But her heart-rate slowed to its normal pace and Tin reached out, catching the cold sweat on Connors’ brow with her sleeve. “You sure you’re okay?”
This time, Connors even managed to smile. “I’m okay.” She reached out, her hand slowly cupping Tin’s cheek. Caressing it. “I have you. That’s already more than I ever thought I’d have again.”
A fond half-smile tugged up the corner of Tinesha’s lips. “Hey… I’m flattered, but you’ve got to start setting the bar higher. You always had me. Ever since we were kids making mud pies between our houses.”
Connors actually laughed at that. It was soft and a little hollow, but Tinesha welcomed it with her usual enthusiasm, her smile widening into something bright and bold. “Your cooking hasn’t improved,” Connors informed her, and Tin made her usual show, reacting with perfect Orlesian dramaticism.
“Well I never…” She huffed and tossed her hair, nose in the air. Then her gaze slowly slid across to fix on Connors. “You’re lucky I love you. Seriously.”
Shifting on the mattress, reaching out to wrap her arms around Tin’s waist, the air thick with the smell of flowers, Connors pressed a soft kiss to the woman’s neck.
What are Connors and Tin up while everyone else is teasing the Darrus?
Lets take a little look…
“Leah?”
“Hmm?”
“It’s time to get up.”
A slight frown creased Connors’ brow; a moment of confusionwritten upon a face. “It’s… dawn?”
It was Tinesha’s laughter that brought her back to reality. Bright and effortless. A touch sleepy. “No, silly. It’s almost midday.We overslept. Again.”
Groaning softly, Connors stretched, her feet flexing underthe thin covers. It was summer in Val Royeaux. The warm nights and hot daysleft the entire city in a kind of sleepy, languid trance. Or perhaps that wasjust the nature of Orlais in general. Connors had yet to determine which was true.
She turned her head in time to catch a curtain of blondecurls rise beside her. “I used to be diligent, you know,” Tin teased, reachingup to sweep her hair back over one shoulder. “The best tailor in the plaza,open dawn ‘til dusk.” She glanced across. A soft smile curled her lips. “You’vemade a dishonest woman of me, Leah.”
Connors felt her own mouth twitch up at the corner. “I wouldnot stand between you and your work. You could have gone. Or woke me earlier.”
As if considering the proposal, Tin hummed a short,sing-song melody. She never did hum a single note like most people. Then, asthough coming to a decision in all of a few seconds, she swept forward andstole a kiss from Connors’ waiting lips. “A price I am willing to pay,” shemumbled against her lips, then broke into a giggle as Connors wrapped her arms aroundher waist and pulled her close.
“Five more minutes?”
Another melodic hum. Connors could listen to her humforever.
6c for Connors & her LI reuniting in Val Royeaux <3
#6.“We still have tomorrow.” & C. Nighttime
In which Connors breaks off from the group headed to Halamshiral to search for someone important in Val Royeaux… (approx 2000 words) <3
“Excuseme. I’m looking for a tailor.”
Thewoman paused, blinking long lashes, turning to gaze at Connors the way onemight regard a child selling baked goods. Polite, but ultimately disinterested.“My dear, this is Val Royeaux,” shereplied with a chuckle, unfurling her fan with a snap of the wrist and raisingit before her. “You are going to have to be more, ah… specific.”
“Smiley,” Connors added, and then waited. When she was metwith nothing but silence and an arched brow, she thought a little more. “Short.Blonde hair. Brown eyes.”
The Orlesian glanced at her companion, a young beardedgentleman, and gave a helpless shrug. “I am so sorry, but I simply cannot helpyou.” She made to turn away, hesitated, and then glanced back over hershoulder. “Although, perhaps try the Belle Marché or Summer Bazaar? Thosedistricts are popular among the well-dressed.”
Connors nodded, and headed in the direction indicated.
When Connors had arrived in Val Royeaux, it had been lateafternoon. Now, as she finally set foot in the Summer Bazaar after an unsuccessful search, the sun had well and trulydipped below the horizon. All around her, the lights of the Orlesian capitalrose to meet the dark, illuminating signs and shady corners, decorating thesurfaces of tables. As she passed by, a part of her imagined the display wouldbe quite beautiful. A part of her wondered if she would ever get to know whatthat felt like again.
Diners laughed and clinked glasses delicately, all smilesand rouge and hair swept into elaborate up-dos. In the courtyard, youngerpeople mingled, standing elbow to elbow by the decorative hedges and trees,enjoying the warm night before the hour turned unseemly. Connors scanned thegroups disinterestedly, her gaze pausing only when she caught sight of locks of goldenhair or a bright swathe of colour on a gown. Each time, something would flare briefly inher chest, but it died as swiftly as it rose when the faces did not match theone in her mind. The one she remembered.
So, she kept walking.
The night grew darker, and although she knew that it wasunlikely she would find who she sought on the first day, it still left a hollowache in her bones. One that never seemed to fully go away. Sighing quietly,Connors gave the Summer Bazaar one last glance, before heading for the docksideinn she had purchased a room at earlier. Istill have tomorrow, she thought, boots scraping along the cobbles. Evenwithout the weight of her shield or plate, she just couldn’t seem to bring herself tolift her feet.
“… Leah?”
Connors froze as a voice cut above the hum ofthe street, clear as a bell at dawn. It was deeper than she remembered, but onlyslightly, and not enough to change the familiar way it stirred her heart intomotion. Turning sharply, Connors scanned the crowd, most of them Orlesians returning home torest or continue their drinking behind closed doors. Bright fabric, elaboratehair… it was like searching for a specific coin in a wishing fountain full of shiny pennies.
That was when someone threw open a door across thecourtyard.
The shop was TheButton Knows. The door was made of sturdy oak. Light poured out from theopening, spilling onto the street like paint, filling the cracks in thecobbles.
And in the doorway stood Tinesha.
Her golden curls were pinned back, only a few tastefulringlets tumbling past her shoulders, bouncing as she rose onto her toes as ifto get a better look at the street. Her lips, the lower slightly pinker from her habit ofbiting it in concentration, were parted and trembling, as if desperate to forma sound but unable to decide which one. Connors met her gaze, and even adistance, those eyes captured her as surely as they had all those years ago. Assurely as they had when they were girls growing up together, dancing back andforth along a line they did not know how to define until age and understanding made it perfectlyclear.
Connors almost smiled as she saw Tin’s mouth form the shapeof the words Andraste’s ass. As she raised ahand suddenly to her lips, the other bunching the fabric of her dress justabove her stomach. They stood like that for who knows how long, staringat one another, Tinesha wide-eyed with disbelief, Connors softened by relief.
She had found her.
“Leah!? I… oh Maker, d-don’t you move, you hear! Don’t you dare move!” People turned as Tinesha quite literallyshouted across the courtyard, bundling her skirts up frantically, rushing tothe stairs that led down from the shop’s porch. “Take one step and I swear tothe Maker I’ll— AH!” She cut herself off with a squeak of surprise as she missed the last step in her haste, stumbling out onto the cobbles. Ayoung couple rushed forward to help steady her but the second Tin regained footing she all but elbowed them aside, charging across the courtyard, skirtsbillowing, her delicate shoes clicking wildly against the stone.
And Connors was already there, striding through the crowd to meet her.
It was the simplest thing in the world to sweep the shorterwoman up into a crushing embrace. For Connors to wrap her arms around that familiarsoft body, curved and full and perfect, and press it close, breathing in the scent she had been subconsciously chasing for years in sprigs of lilac and thyme. Tinesha was shaking, laughing, weepingas she leaned back to cup Connors’ face in her hands, her gaze still wide with disbeliefbut her smile as bright and earnest a slice of the moon.
“M-Maker, it’s really you,” she breathed, and then succumbedto a watery, giddy laugh. “It’s really you!” Tinesha said no more as she lungedforward and kissed Connors with bruising eagerness, bumping teeth, gigglingagainst the crush of their lips, not caring at all about her makeup or her rumpled dress or thecrowd that had paused to witness the dramatic display. Connors couldn’tagree more as she tightened her arms around Tin, holding her up, closing hereyes and losing herself in the feeling of something so warm and loving that, justfor a moment, she forgot the feeling of her life – her world – being torn from her hands in a flash of green light.
“Tin,” she gasped once the woman had released her from thecrushing kiss, also breathing hard and shallow. “I’m sorry. I should have comesooner.”
“No.” Tinesha shook her head, tears rolling down her cheeksas she ran a thumb along the side of Connor’s face. “No, no, no, don’t you dare come here and start apologising tome, okay?” She shook her head and broke into a laugh again, but it wasdifferent this time. It was loving and fond and profoundly unsurprised. It was a laugh that had watched Connors land face-first inthe mud when she was three. That had followed her through the forest at twelve witha bundle of herbs folded carefully in its skirt. That had taken her hand for thefirst time at sixteen and kissed her so gently it hurt to pull away. Andnow, it moved right through her and filled a piece of emptiness inside Connors’chest; a hole she had carried for far too long. It was a new weight to bear,heavier than any armour or shield.
And it was perfect.
“Very well, then.” Connors lowered Tinesha to the ground gently,her arms lingering around the woman, reluctant to let go. “I… didn’t think Iwould find you so soon.”
Tin blew air through her nose, arching a perfectly shapedbrow at Connors. “Excuse me, I believe I found you. Credit where credit is due!” Shetried to maintain an imperious expression, but it wavered and cracked almostinstantly, that smile breaking through like an unstoppable force upon a face.“But… Maker’s breath, what are you doing here? Are…” Her gaze flicked down, spying the insigniawoven onto the shoulder of Connors’ tunic. “You’re with theInquisition? Leah!” She grinned, cupping her face once more in excitement. “That’s amazing!”
Connors actually felt a tingle of warmth rise to her cheeks.“It was necessary,” she replied simply. Then her gaze slid away. “After whathappened… there was nothing left for me.”
Tinesha’s expression faltered then fell, and she nodded sadly, hercurls bobbing with the motion. “I know. I… heard what happened.” She reachedbeneath Connors’ chin, tilting her face up gently. “I tried to write. Maker, I tried to get on a ship and go running back, but Pierre convinced me that I was acting crazy.”
A faint smile quirked up the corner of Connors’ lips. Itfelt… strange. Good. “He was right,” she pointed out, and Tin rolled hereyes, swatting Connors playfully on the arm.
“Oh yeah, sure. Showup out of nowhere and take my boss’s side, why don’t you?”
The two women stood there for a time, a sense of playfulnesslingering in the air between them. Theyjust watched each other, Tinesha standing so close Connors could hear therustle of her dress as she breathed. It would be nothing to sweep her off herfeet and carry her to… somewhere. Anywhere. ButConnors held back. So much had happened. So much had changed; she had changed. Tinesha was asbeautiful and vibrant as she remembered, but Connors wasn’t. Even being calledby her own first name felt foreign and strange, like an experience she had read on thepage of a book rather than one she had actually lived.
Yet, Tinesha smiled, honest and open and so full of delight it hurt. Without even an ounce of hesitation,she slipped her arm around Connors’ waist and tucked herself in close. Softblonde hair tickled Connors’ skin as Tinesha rested her head on her shoulder, pulling her in close.
“I can’t believe you’re here with me,” she murmured as Connors wrapped an arm around her. “Maker, it’s been… what…?”
“Eight years,” Connors finished softly. They walked slowly together,as if by moving at such a pace they could slow time itself. Stretch minutesinto hours and days into years, if only such a thing were possible.
“Goodness… that long?” Tinesha shook her head gently, and then perkedup again. Sobriety never did suit her, after all. “You know, I’m surprised you didn’tfind someone else, Leah. Truly! You’re in an army now, for Andraste’s sake!” She giggled. “And we did fantasise aboutwarrior ladies who could pick us up with one arm when we were teenagers. What changed?”
Another smile curved Connors’ lips. She kept her gazestraight ahead, watching the distant waterline, thumb brushing absently alongTinesha’s shoulder. “I grew up,” she replied simply. Then, after anintentionally uncertain pause, she added, “and it turns out I prefer to be the one doingthe lifting.”
Tinesha burst into a bright peal of laughter at that, the soundbubbling up from her chest like sweet wine in a narrow flute. “Well, good! Turns out I still like being sweptoff my feet.” She sighed, nestling even closer to Connors’ side, asthough unable to make enough contact to truly satisfy her that the moment wasreal. “Maker, we have so much to catch up on…”
Connors nodded softly in agreement. Their footsteps madequiet sounds along the cobbles as they passed through the final stretch of thebazaar, the crowd now little more than a trickle of life against the backdrop of night.
“We still have tomorrow.”
Tin smiled and hummed in pleased agreement,squeezing Connors warmly around the waist. All around them, the lights of theOrlesian capital rose to meet the dark, illuminating signs and shady corners, decoratingthe surfaces of tables…
