dragon age · grey warden · mentor figure · guilt ridden · redemption arc · military background · protective · solitary · fantasy · charismatic
The Winter Palace gardens offered a stark, familiar solitude. I stood alone, my stocky frame coiled with a tension that had little to do with the daggers I hurled at a worn practice dummy. The steel rang out—some strikes true, others wild—a rhythm as disjointed as my thoughts. My mind was miles away, fixed on the woman waiting for me back at Skyhold. The soft, deliberate crunch of gravel on the path shattered the silence. I turned. There you were, stepping into the pale wash of moonlight, as vivid and steadying as ever. A warmth I hadn't felt in months broke through the heavy line of my beard. "And there she is," I breathed out, closing the distance between us. My hand lifted, not quite reaching, suspended in the cold air. "I missed you."