Cullen hadn't spoken to her directly since their occupation of Skyhold, and it worried her gravely.

Their escape from Haven had cut too close for her liking, the entire area now buried under at least thirty feet of snow. She had been the last one to make it out of the village after delaying the bastard Corypheus, and thankfully the Inquisition had managed to find her half-frozen in the icy wilderness but a day later. Now it had been almost three weeks since the organization's arrival at the massive fortress, and she had been named Inquisitor to the cause, and still Cullen wouldn't even look at her.

Immediately the worst came to mind: perhaps he had found someone better, perhaps her new title brought an intimidation he couldn't spare to quash, whatever the reason it left her restless. Half of her wanted to go up to the man and demand what his problem was, especially after their last conversation the night before they had closed the Breach. The other half wanted to remain silent, thinking it better if the two just stuck to their duty without distractions.

Knowing it would probably be better if she had a little help, she went to Dorian, who at this point was as well aware as Bull about her situation.

"I'm afraid I'm not professional at these things, Cupcake," he told her when she approached him one afternoon. She had interrupted his reading of a specific book about Tevinter history, so it came as no surprise that his attitude was a bit snippety.

"You hang around him all the time though, Dorian. He hasn't mentioned anything about me or why I've suddenly become like the bloody Blight in his eyes?" Arian asked desperately.

Dorian let out a dramatic sigh, turning away from her to browse the selections in the bookshelf near his reading spot. "We play chess, Inquisitor. That hardly provides for a deep discussion. And no, he hasn't mentioned you aside from when you trekked the Western Approach for the soldiers a week back."

Arian sadly looked away, her heart slowly crushing beneath her chest. "Perhaps I was right then," she whispered, rubbing her arm. "Maybe he has found someone else."

"Pfft," Dorian sputtered, poking a finger at a specific title. "As if."

Arian glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "What do you mean?"

"Just because he hasn't talked about you doesn't mean he isn't in the same exact dilemma you're in at the moment," the magister replied, as if what he had said were blatantly obvious.

The elf twisted her head to look at him directly. "I'm not following," she said quietly.

Dorian groaned frustratingly, turning to face her with his arms thrown outward. "The Commander adores you! My word, are you that blind, girl?"

She jerked back a bit at his outburst, her brows knitting together simultaneously. "How do you know?" she asked with a tone of doubt. The man didn't answer at first, instead moseying over to his chair and roughly sitting down, his legs crossing at the same time his arms did.

"Whenever he moves about the stone walls, his eyes are always wandering around, like he's looking for something lost to most. Then he sees you, and he can't look away. He watches you longingly like you're some forbidden fruit he hopes to taste - yet can't seem to get a single bite."

Arian just narrowed her eyes at him in reply. "You got that from one of Varric's books, didn't you?" she said pointedly.

Dorian looked simply offended. "What, me?" he responded in feigned innocence, his hand flying over his heart though he'd been accused of some crime. "What an absurd thought!" his gaze quickly turned serious then as he bent his torso forward, his arms coming to rest on his knees. "All I'm saying, Arian, is that the man does care about you, if his little gestures and looks say anything. The reason he refuses to face you is because you terrified him at Haven. He doesn't want to get too close in fear that he may lose you again."

The Inquisitor was completely speechless. Blinking a few times, she looked downward at her hands, then toward Cullen's tower, then back to Dorian, who was still staring at her expectedly.

"How do you know this, though?" she finally asked him.

The mage leaned back in his chair once more, his head turning slightly to look out the window behind him. "I'm from Tevinter, Cupcake. There, you never see a speck of anything remotely loving, aside from the occasional lucky pair. The Commander may not have a lot of words to spout about your situation, but actions speak louder than. That is something known across every territory."

"Are you saying it's up to me, then?" Arian replied.

Dorian shrugged, his nose twitching. "It depends if you want to secure a future with him, Cupcake. I can't tell you what to decide. It'd be most rewarding however to finally see you two swapping spit instead of circling each other like lost puppy dogs."

Arian contemplated this for a moment. Even if what Dorian had said wasn't true, she supposed it wouldn't hurt to try and figure out what Cullen's issue was behind the two of them. With a confidence she didn't know she had, she decided in that span of thought what to do. She would go talk with him, explain how she felt. If he rejected her, at least she could say she had tried.

"Thank you Dorian," she said, moving to leave. "I think…I think I'll go have a word with him."

The man smiled at her, genuinely, it would seem. "Oh I do look forward to the wedding, Inquisitor," he responded with a hint of pleased snark.

Arian couldn't stop smiling, in fact her cheeks were starting to hurt because of it. She never expected this, that he'd…that Cullen would feel the same way she did. Yet here they walked along the battlements with interlaced hands after they had shared a rather interesting first kiss, Cullen glancing down at her every now and then with his own shy smile. After some time they stopped, looking out toward the span of mountains beyond Skyhold.

"I…um," Arian murmured, turning to place her hands on Cullen's chest plate. He let out a breathy chuckle, his hand coming up to twist around a strand of hair near her ear before running delicately over the pointed shell.

"You what?" he asked softly, his lips turned up in a smirk.

Arian looked downward, her cheeks flushing. Gods, it were though she were some youth again from the way she reacted.

"I…this is nice," she said in a tiny voice.

"I think so too," he replied in earnest, his hands moving down to settle on her waist.

She knew she was going to regret what came to mind next, but she couldn't stop it from passing through her lips.

"So, it never bothered you, then?"

Cullen looked at her in confusion. "What never bothered me?" he questioned.

She took a deep breath. "That I'm…you know…" then paused, hoping he'd catch on.

"…that you're an elf?" he finished, his brow quirking.

Arian sighed. "Yes, that."

Cullen stared at her for a while, and deep in the pit of her gut she knew she'd just initiated the first strike in their barely budding relationship. But to her surprise he just smiled, bringing her closer to him and nuzzling her forehead with his own, causing butterflies to erupt in her stomach.

"I've never seen you differently, Arian. Well, I mean aside from this way," he said, kissing her brow. "So no, it didn't-doesn't, bother me."

She breathed softly, her eyes closing in a sort of relief. "That's good to know," she whispered.

"You sound surprised."

The elf shook her head. "It's…foolish…but, I just figured-"

"I think you're the most beautiful person I've ever met; inside and out," Cullen responded, catching her off-guard. She suddenly felt breathless, her eyes flying upward to meet his. The tawny brown in them were glazed over with some emotion, one she wasn't sure needed to be named.

"Cullen…" she breathed.

He gently cupped her cheeks then, bringing her face to his and carefully molding their lips together. She sighed into his mouth, her fingers coming up to knot in the curly hair at the base of his neck; something she found she was beginning to really enjoy.

"I never expected to find this here...to find you here," he murmured softly, brushing his lips across hers before pecking them once more. "But I'm not complaining. Not in the slightest."

She smiled like a girl in love for the first time - and perhaps that was the case, resting her head against the front of his cloak and letting out a contented sigh.

"And neither am I."