For insurgoaltus

[killedwithlove]

The next day, Cole had woken Dorian up to let him know he was heading out with the Inquisitor. She wanted to go to Emprise du Lion for a few days, which meant being kind to Dorian and leaving him behind and taking Cole instead, since he never minded the cold.

Cole, Solas and Blackwall set out into Emprise du Lion with Cadash.

They were gone for eight days. Not unusual with travel times, but they came back in poor shape. Blackwall's shield was near split in half, Solas was using his staff to aid his walking and Cole was being carried in the cart rather than walking alongside the pony and talking to her.

Cadash was bloodied and bruised and looking the best of then. Which wasn't saying much, but they'd done their jobs and kept her safe. At some cost apparently.

The scouts were saying words like 'ambush' and 'slave caravans, growing the lyrium in them even before the cart drew in through the gates and people started to clamber off.

Comments

[killedwithlove]

"I don't want to stop being Compassion. But I want to be Cole as well. Cole... he wanted so much from life. He thought if he had no magic, maybe life would've been better. So I don't have magic."

It wasn't a choice he had made at the time, but one he could understand now he was more mortal.

"I'm not! I was saying that they were better choices than you used to make. You didn't start this between us. I did." He looked a little smug and pleased. "I started this. And you let me start it."

[insurgoaltus]

"No one is saying that you cannot be both... and you should be. You can be Compassion, and you can be Cole, and the only thing you shall lose is your anonymity." He thinks about it, before whispering quietly, "I believe Cole was right ... about not having magic for him, and for you."

He tipped his head, amusement flaring, before his grey eyes glinted, "That you did, and yes I did, and what a fun ride it has been."

[killedwithlove]

"I like being both." He liked being Compassion, now he remembered. But he wouldn't give up being Cole and all the new, human things he was learning.

"But Dorian," Cole said, sounding quite serious and innocent at once. "Neither of us has done any riding yet."

[insurgoaltus]

"Good." Which was the point that Dorian went back to stroking his bare spine - until Cole managed to make him choke. It was a choke that turned into a low laugh.

"Well you may ride me whenever you like -- although I believe I would prefer to ride you."

[killedwithlove]

Cole smiled, distinctly smiled into Dorian's chest. He most certainly knew what he was saying some of the time.

"Do you want to do that with me? Not now. But sometime when my leg is better and I don't have to rest it?" He didn't presume he did. Many men and women were intimate without ever doing what he knew they were talking about.

[insurgoaltus]

He could feel you smiling into his chest, you little sneaky Nug. He pinched that rather brilliant rear end, before whispering in his ear.

"Yes, I most certainly do. When you are better, perhaps I shall show you how much I want to."

[killedwithlove]

Cole gave a sharp, short shriek of surprise at the pinch, burying his face back into Dorian's chest after.

"I already know how much you want to..." He shifted slightly, cheeks starting to flush with pink again. "Feeling full and fulfilled, flushed and fluid and fluttering..." He shivered.

[insurgoaltus]

He smirked at that, before he felt his own heart jump up a notch at that. He smoothed back Cole's hair, his voice quiet and with just the right amount of purr. He, after all, knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Would you like me to do that to you?"

[killedwithlove]

"I want to do that to you. Make you feel that way. One day." He wasn't in a rush. And he'd need his strength and both legs.

"And if you are okay with you doing that to me... we can do that too. I want to try everything with you."

[insurgoaltus]

"And so you shall. One day." His eyes crinkled with amusement, grey eyes filling with warmth.

"Then we shall do everything. What would you like to do next, Nug?"

[killedwithlove]

He felt tired. Trying to heal, injured, then this... he felt tired. It was familiar and unwanted. "I don't know... My body still feel heavy."

[insurgoaltus]

"Well, that usually means you should close your eyes, and rest." Dorian pressed another kiss to Cole's forehead. "I'm here, and I shall not let anything hurt you if you do. All right?"

[killedwithlove]

"I don't want to sleep," he whispered. "I don't want to dream again. It was frightening. I don't want to go back."

[insurgoaltus]

"Well, you don't have to sleep. Just close your eyes, and rest. Shall I sing to you? I am no Nightgale, but I can carry a tune." He murmured softly.

[killedwithlove]

"Do you like singing?" He shifted slightly, his ear over Dorian's heart, so he could listen to the steady beat.

[insurgoaltus]

"I used to love it, as a child." He let his eyes half-close, his voice softening. "Singing is something I did, to help me learn spells and chants alike."

[killedwithlove]

"Then... I'd like to hear you sing." Maybe the singing would stop the fear of sleep.

[insurgoaltus]

Dorian rubbed Cole's head once more, before he tipped his head and began to sing softly,

" feel sun
Through the ashes in the sky.
Where's the one
Who'll guide into the night?

What's begun
Is the war that will
Force this divide.

What's to come
Is fire and the end of time.

I am the one
Who can recount
What we've lost.

I am the one
Who will live on.

I have run
Through the fields
Of pain and sighs.

I have fought
To see the other side.

I am the one
Who can recount
What we've lost.

I am the one
Who will live on..."

[killedwithlove]

By the time to song was over, Cole was asleep on Dorian's chest, his body heavy, breaths even and lips slack.

He didn't sleep quite like regular people. He was more relaxed, his body barely seemed alive except the small, shallow puffs of breath. While a mage's mind might travel to the Fade, Cole seemed to have at least partially abandoned his body to go there.