Reading about it is one thing. Being there is entirely different. Linett records what she finds in lands far from Bree, but you really ought to see it for yourself.
Because there is never a bad time for Cullen fluff, is there?
The first time she notices, they’re gone again before she is even sure she saw anything.
The second time, she looks more closely until Cullen asks if there is something offensive on his face. She tells him, because why wouldn’t she? At first he is abashed–he does not mind getting on in years, but worries that the changes might bother her. Of course they don’t, she reassures him, it is his face and she loves it the way it is. In any case, it was probably just a trick of the light.
But it wasn’t, and she knows what she has seen: two faint lines coming from the corner of each eye that weren’t there before. Over the next few days, she pays better attention–more subtly, too–until she realises: they are the lines that form only in those private moments when Cullen smiles at her.
She does not mention them again, keeps them as her sweet little secret. But as the weeks and months go by, she watches them grow deeper ever so slightly, and she nourishes them with her smiles and laughter and kisses whenever she can.
It may not be an accomplishment that Varric would think to write about. But in all the uncertainty and upheaval and struggle to make the right decisions, the knowledge that she is slowly carving lines of happiness into her lover’s face sometimes feels like the most precious triumph of all.
Berethron of Brandywine hosted the 2010 Summer Blogmoot.
The Winter Blogmoot was held on December 4, 9 p.m. EST at the home of Telwen of Silverlode.
Next up: The Spring Blogmoot of 2011 shall return to Nimrodel with Tuiliel (Whart, aka user-1027520) hosting! Linett is looking forward to another local moot!
RT @lovethynerd: There is still a lot of misinformation promoted by Christians about Dungeons & Dragons, so we found a theology professor (… 2 weeks ago
RT @CuriousZelda: I raise alarm
I build suspense
I panic much
With little sense
I mean no harm
And no offence
I don't do calm
I am intense… 3 weeks ago
RT @CuriousZelda: Behind the couch I did a sit
No humans were around
Behind the couch I nicely fit
For hiding I'm renowned
Behind the couch… 1 month ago