Six months later, he was traveling the breadth of Ferelden again with a quiet Seeker at his side. They spoke rarely, living in each others' quiet spaces, but when they did speak it was always love.

Cullen hadn't thought it possible to be so happy.

They both still lived at Skyhold, in his room that no longer had a broken roof. Cassandra hadn't liked the cold, and once she'd pointed out that it would be easier to sleep naked with a roof, he'd practically thatched the thing himself. She'd agreed he could leave a window to the stars, and he loved to watch them with her wrapped in his arms.

The keep was no less crowded and no less loud, but Cassandra wanted to stay with her Inquisition, and he wanted to stay with her. Ellana granted them whatever time he needed to be away, when it was possible. They traveled more and more, in these days of peace.

The business of the Inquisition always followed them, though, and there were times on their journeys when Cassandra watched him scribble orders and consult maps for hours. She never complained, and he stopped apologizing after she scolded him enough times. While his captains were better prepared, and Ellana never put herself in charge again, there were always things only a Commander could do. Secretly he enjoyed the work, now that it was less consuming, and he knew he was better at it than he ever would have been at farming.

She, too, had her duties, though much of them were accomplished through travel. They found mages who were afraid and brought them assurance. They rooted out Templars who'd lost their way and tried to help them. They came across pockets of the old Seekers now and then, enacting their own small helps where they could. He never felt easy with them, but Cassandra did the talking, and he entertained whatever children that were part of that group's family. Sometimes he saw her watching him with a speculative eye, and he knew without words they would have their own children someday, if the Maker willed it. Even if he didn't. They both knew children who had nowhere else to go.

But today there was no work. He'd led them to a familiar creek, and she'd laughed when he'd brought out Varric's new compendium of Swords and Shields. The dwarf had finished the story just that month as a special favor for them both. Even with Cullen's embarrassing image across the cover, he'd been grateful to the man. He and Cassandra were taking turns reading it to each other, though somehow he almost always ended up reading the saucier parts. He suspected she liked his persistent blush, even though they'd re-enacted more of the scenes than he'd thought possible on his first read.

The sister had murdered the Viscount, and Cullen more pleased with that than he would ever admit.

Today, though, she stopped him. "I'd like to simply sit with you," she said. "Talk."

He nodded agreeably and set the volume aside so she could tuck under his arm. He leaned back against the tree behind them. "You know," he said, "this was the place I first started thinking about you. Inappropriately, I mean."

"Really? What did I do to elicit that?"

"It wasn't you, exactly, it was that damned book," he said. "I read it, and I thought of you reading it, and I wondered, well, what you thought of when you were."

"I thought of you, of course," she said.

He laughed. "While that's tremendously good for my ego, I'm glad I didn't know that at the time. I wouldn't have been able to keep my hands off of you."

She eyed the hand that was caressing her arm, brushing over her breast with every few strokes. "Yes, I can see that," she said. She smiled. "Wouldn't you have been worried about incurring Iron Bull's wrath?"

He growled, but there was little heat behind it. She'd never let him forget the interest he'd imagined, nor had Iron Bull, and they tortured him with it whenever they had the inclination to . Only the fact that she always responded to his overtures more heatedly in the face of his half-faked jealousy had kept him from dueling the qunari daily. Well, that and Ellana's disapproving eye. She said it was bad for morale to have soldiers dueling over their loves. Cullen understood, and privately thought it would also start a queue at the sparring ring for Dorian's favor, who was much too popular for his own good.

Speaking of the Inquisitor. "You realize that Ellana has been planning a secret wedding for us?" he asked.

"Yes, she had me fitted for a gown under the pretense of finding formal wear for future balls," said Cassandra. "I believe her plan is to simply surprise us into our vows." She twisted her head to look at him. "She'll receive only encouragement from your sisters."

"I know," he said, shaking his head. Any irritation faded under the glow of anticipation. This journey was to Honnleath, to home, where they would help with the harvest before packing his family up for a winter in Skyhold. He thought they were utter fools for wanting to winter in the Frostbacks, but he was glad they would be fools that were close at hand. "I miss them."

"As do I. And Mia has promised to teach me to be more womanly," she said.

"Don't you dare," he said. "I like you just the way you are." His arms tightened around her, and she leaned against him more fully. Cullen sighed and sank into contentment. The river laughed and sang in front of them, the horses swished their tails in time with his heartbeat, and the leaves turning overhead lent the landscape an air of chill that belied the beauty of the day. The world was changing but finally, for once, he was staying the true inside of it. He was his own fixed point of joy.

When he laughed lightly, she squeezed his hand. "What is so amusing?"

"I was just wondering if there was anything I could do to make this place worthy of another flower," he said. He'd earned several over the last months, but that was no reason to end the challenge.

He almost felt her roll her eyes. "You're insatiable. I sometimes wonder if you've simply carried all the ardor of your sixteen year-old self with you all of these years, waiting to unleash it."

"Is that a complaint?" he asked, but there was no insecurity in it. Not anymore. He kissed the tip of her ear, then the lobe, then down her neck. "I can stop."

In response, she slid out from under him and straddled his lap with all of the speed she showed in the ring. He grinned as she looked down on him imperiously. He never got tired of the light of laughter that lived in the back of her eyes. The soldiers under his command teased him about his ever-present smiles, but her happiness was hidden away for him alone. Without being prompted, he reached down and tugged his shirt over his head. The bark of the tree was rough against his back, but he would take more discomfort than that to feel the shiver of her gaze. "Better?"

"Marginally," she said. She traced the planes of his stomach with her hands and chuckled when he hissed at a teasing dip of her fingers. "You began this."

"And you wanted to talk," he said.

"We can still talk," she said, moving her fingers up to his collarbone. He snaked his hand around her waist and pulled her more flush against his hips. She didn't stop her tracings. "Did you dream of me here?"

"No," he said. "I wasn't wise enough yet." He had to stop thinking about his dreams, though, or the teasing really would become unbearable. "So, you never told me. Why flowers?"

"What do you mean?" she asked. She rolled her hips, once, and he gripped her more tightly.

Cullen tried to find his train of thought. "Why collect flowers to remind yourself of me? I'm not very flower-like," he said. He punctuated his statement by closing his mouth over the join of her neck and shoulder. He kissed her lightly, then harder, and when she moaned and moved her hand up into his hair, a sure sign she was sliding down the path of desire he craved, he finished by sucking on her skin hard enough to leave a mark.

"Hey!" she said, swatting him when he pulled back with a smile. "People will see that."

"Good," he said. "I don't want anyone to get the impression you're available for dinner on this trip."

"Perhaps I should be marking you, then," she said. "Unless you wish for the shopkeepers to be equally attentive to you as before?"

He laughed and presented his own neck for her perusal, and she spent several minutes exploring him before leaving a matching bruise. By the end of her attentions, he'd unworked the front of her breeches. He stroked over the front of her smalls with his finger after she leaned back. She shuddered and bit her lip, but she never took his eyes off of his. He increased the pressure, and she breathed in sharply.

"Are you ready?" he asked. She only nodded, and he smiled. "What do you want?"

"You," she said, and reached down to the ties of his own pants. He watched her deft fingers reach past the fabric until they disappeared to touch him into full hardness. Now it was his turn to shudder, but he wasn't ready to give himself over yet.

"Are you sure that's what you want? Not this?" he asked, dipping a finger past the fabric and across the place that made her moan and press into him. "Or this?" He kissed her newly parted lips and dipped his tongue inside her mouth, swirling it in a way that left no doubt as to what he intended.

When she took her mouth back, her eyes were heavy and lidded. She pushed the material of his pants and smalls away until he was free under the dappled warmth of the sunlight. He groaned as he watched her hand slide over him. "You, Cullen. Here and now and always," she said.

"Then I'm yours, love," he said. "For all the days you'll have me. And I hope you'll have me often," he added with a grin.

It was a sign of her want that she didn't even chastise him. Instead she drew away her clothing and paused over him, wet and hot. He held his breath as he waited, torn between watching her eyes for her pleasure or his cock as it vanished inside of her. In the end she made the choice for him, as her own eyes dipped down to watch them join.

No matter how many times he entered her, it always thrilled him to feel her surround him.

"I love you," she said quietly.

He pulled her down for another kiss, but this time he made it soft and sweet. He poured everything he felt, everything he was, into it. Under this open sky, away from the world and its noise and its needs, he was nothing but hers. "I love you, too," he said when they parted.

She smiled, a beautiful sight, but the most beautiful of all was when she came undone over him, calling and shuddering as he drove himself inside of her to his own joy.

"Thank you," he said when it was over. "For indulging me."

"I should always be thanked for so pleasant a task," she said. Her clothes were rearranged neatly, and the only sign of the pleasure he'd given her was the high color still unfaded on her cheeks. They were stretched out on the grass now, side by side, kissing and touching and talking as though they had all day.

They didn't, of course. They couldn't sleep here and couldn't even rest much longer, not when they'd promised Mia their arrival in two days time, but there was time enough for this.

"Besides," she added, "I am making up for many, many years of frustration. You were completely unaware of how stimulating you were. Are. The Seekers who went to Kirkwall the first time could not stop speaking of you on their return. And not only about your mental state."

He barked a laugh. "Glad to know I made an impression," he said. He looked down at her. "Did you fall in love with me at first sight?" His voice was teasing, but he'd always wondered. They'd stepped lightly around the beginnings of her love, when he was still so broken and she was just learning to be sad. They hadn't wanted to relive any more pain. But this was the place of peace, and the place where everything had begun for him, and it was the right time to ask.

She shook her head. "No," she said. "I knew of you, of course, because of your history and because it was my duty to know all of the Templars in positions of power. And you are very handsome, which was noticeable to anyone with eyes."

He smiled. "Yes, tell me more about how handsome I am," he said.

She snorted. "You hardly need the reminder," she said. "But I'd been prepared for your looks by the discussions of the other Seekers, and while I judged you were a good man in a situation that you had been unable to control, that was true of many Templars at the time."

"Then when was it?"

"Leliana had noticed that you were gone for an hour each afternoon. Not improperly, nothing outside of your responsibilities, but she did not have the resources to determine what it was you were doing. It could have been a romance. It could have been lyrium-taking. It may have simply been a nap," she said. "While we did not expect subversion or treason, it is always good to know what the Knight-Commander is up to. I volunteered to find out."

"I was praying," he said, surprised. "I wasn't aware it was ever a concern."

"It wasn't, once I knew. I never told Leliana the specifics, and she never pressed. I expect because she understood that I had feelings for you that went beyond my duties," she said matter-of-factly.

"So you loved me because I was devout," he said. He frowned. "For some reason that seems even more sinful than just lust. Like that Sebastian fellow who was always trying to talk Hawke into joining him in chaste Chantry love."

She smiled. "No, not exactly," she said. She closed her eyes. "You will laugh at me."

"Never."

Cassandra took a breath. "It is difficult to describe. Kirkwall was a bleak place, and the Gallows worst of all. The stones themselves had taken on the despair that lived inside of them, and the failure of the Seekers to sense it weighed heavily on me. And you were a good man, but the damage that had been done to the place might never be healed. Certainly not by only one good man. And you had little help," she said. "But when I saw you in the garden, praying among the flowers, that was something new. Something hopeful. You were burdened but you weren't despaired. You still believed, after everything, that the Maker would find perfection to bring to that place."

Had he felt that way? He only remembered feeling desperate and lost and very alone.

"So you were devout, but it was more than that. You were true. You were unyielding. And you were so very real that everyone would one day bow to your vision and become the good that you gave them," she said. "It was like watching the creation of the world." She flushed. "That is melodramatic. But perhaps it is also true. From that day, you were the person I felt in my heart even when you were nowhere near me. I could not turn aside."

"How could I ever laugh at that?" he asked softly. "I only wish I'd been whole enough to understand what you offered to me."

"I knew that you weren't. And truthfully, knowing of your history with both Amell and Hawke, I did not think I would be a woman who appealed to you. You never looked at me as though I would be. And when Ellana entered your heart, it seemed certain," she said ruefully.

"Don't remind me of that," he said. "I'd much rather hear about how I conquered yours with only a prayer."

She smiled. "You asked me why the flowers. It was that. You are no flower, but you could still kneel among them as though you belonged. And flowers, no matter where they find root, are so easily happy, never disappointed or wanting more for themselves than what they are given. When you were there you seemed the same. You'd rooted in Kirkwall, a place of pain, but you could still be good. At peace. It was how I felt with you, as well," she said. "In the early days of the Inquisition, after the conclave, after the Divine… your presence was my happiness."

He kissed her slowly, then took her hand in his own and rolled back to stare at the sky. "Should we tell the Inquisitor that we're already married?" Someday they would invite the world into the depth of their love, he knew. But he'd needed the certainty of her, steady and quiet and only his. When he'd asked her on a road that meant nothing, near a village that was no different from any other, she'd given it with a willing and ready heart. And he loved her for that more than anything.

Cassandra laughed. "She would never forgive us," she said. "Let her find happiness in her planning. And when she surprises us with our wedding, I will be happy to take my vows again, with you. I think the Maker will allow us that small deceit."

They rode through the gate of his home steading with wide eyes. The land was covered in crops, ripe and ready to be plucked from their stalks and vines for the storehouses and markets. Though the days were turning, the farm was still full of life. When they swung off of their horses and into his family's eager embrace, he laughed as Cassandra tried to find arms enough to hold them all. They were ready to love her as much as they loved him, and he was glad.

Mia swept them all into the house and plied them with food and drink until they were warm and fuzzed. The children went to bed reluctantly, Peter took Deanna home in his cart - the long way, if Cullen was any judge - and then it was only the siblings and their lovers curled up by the fire.

His sisters smirked at every loving look he gave Cassandra, every brush of her hand against his, but he didn't mind. Better for them to triumph in his happiness than worry in his despair. When Mia asked if they would like rooms in the main or the guest house, he smiled. "The guest house, if you please. But only one room," he said. He kissed the top of Cassandra's head, and she sighed contentedly. "And if you have any flowers for the windowsill, they would be most welcome."

A/N: We have reached the end! I've posted everything at once because it is done, and you shouldn't have to wait any longer to read it! Thank you so much to everyone who's read, and especially everyone who's taken the time to comment and review. This particularly includes my guest commenters that I could never thank directly. Shom, Anne, willow, E, EB, El, Cel, Tara and anyone else I may be missing, you are all amazing. I've met so many cool people through this story, and I couldn't be more pleased that I did!

As far as this work goes, I think this is the one I'm most proud of , and the one that feels most like a cohesive, emotional whole. I hope that you all enjoyed it, and that I didn't leave you too frustrated for too long! The themes of what romance is versus what people think it is, how to define love, why we forgive and why we hurt ourselves, and how to find the grace inside of yourself even when you don't feel you deserve it are all things I had a great time exploring. Cullen and Cassandra ended up being even more perfect together than I anticipated when I began, and I love them both to tiny bits.

So thank you again for coming with me, please let me know if you liked it or found things you didn't. I write a little for me, but mostly for you!